The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

The courtyard remained silent for several breaths.

The members of the Wanhua Chamber of Commerce stared blankly at the snow-white giant deer in the arena, completely dumbfounded.

No one could understand how such a huge creature could suddenly emerge from the tightly sealed cloud carriage.

The chamber of commerce member who was supposed to be guarding the carriage was wide-eyed and frantically rubbing his cheeks, wondering if he was still half asleep and hallucinating.

The officials and soldiers from the capital that Yuan Shuying brought also looked surprised and subconsciously pressed their weapons at their waists.

Only Yuan Shuying herself had a slight change in her gaze, which lingered on the golden-green antlers on Qi Ji's head, and her expression already showed some understanding.

"It wasn't a human, but a white deer-like beast!"

Su Yanji's pupils contracted slightly.

In all her years in charge of the Chamber of Commerce, she had witnessed countless strange occurrences, but she had never encountered a bizarre case of a strange beast silently sneaking into a cargo compartment.

She was always decisive; her surprise lasted only two seconds before she immediately ordered in a deep voice, "What are you all standing there for? Take it!"

Upon hearing this, the guards of the surrounding merchant guild immediately came to their senses, drew their swords, and surrounded Qi Ji.

Although Qi Ji felt a little guilty about dismantling someone's car and taking their precious medicine, he was not about to surrender without a fight.

His gaze swept across the surroundings.

For the sake of the scenery, the Banglijian (Banglijian) planted many ancient trees around the Guangting (Guangting) courtyard, which are lush with branches and leaves and have deep roots.

This actually made things convenient for Qi Ji.

"Sorry, I can't let you catch me."

A golden-green light shone from between the antlers on Qi Ji's head, activating the [All Trees Pay Homage] realm.

"Buzz"

The next second, the ground shook violently, and thick tree roots burst out of the soil, like agile giant pythons, coiling around the charging guards.

At the same time, branches and vines attacked from mid-air, and in the blink of an eye, the dozen or so thugs at the front were tightly bound by branches and roots, unable to move.

Exclamations of surprise rose and fell.

The guards were both shocked and horrified, struggling desperately, but the branches, under the power of [All Trees Pay Homage], were noticeably more resilient and tightened their grip.

Fortunately, Qi Ji had no intention of hurting anyone. He only restrained their movements and stopped. However, this supernatural ability to control plants out of thin air was astonishing to others.

"What exactly is going on?"

Zhu Ya also drew her sword and rushed forward, but after taking only two steps, her ankle was tightly wrapped by a tree root, her body stiffened, and she almost fell.

She was both shocked and anxious, and swung her sword to cut it, but the blade landed on the tree root and only cut it in half before getting stuck.

Su Yanji stood there, her expression completely changed.

She originally thought it was just a white deer, a strange beast. Even if it was strong, it was still a beast. But the way it controlled plants and trees was something else entirely.

"Could this be... a spirit beast?!"

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw Qi Ji's figure slightly lower, clearly indicating that he was about to leave.

"Trying to leave?"

Su Yanji snorted coldly, touched the ground with her toes, and suddenly rose into the air. She used her lightness skill and was several zhang high.

The gilded whip at her waist was drawn with a snap, a flash of golden light accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, and lashed out fiercely at Qi Ji's hind legs, determined to capture the white deer.

In mid-air, Qi Ji didn't even turn around.

The fluffy, snow-white tail behind him, resembling a whisk, suddenly tensed and condensed, like a supple whip, which he then lashed backward.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the tail tip struck the gilded whip precisely.

A powerful and heavy force rebounded from the whip, and Su Yanji felt his tiger's mouth go numb, almost causing the whip to slip from his hand.

She caught her breath, lost her strength, and fell back to the ground.

When they looked up again, they saw that the snow-white figure leaped over the high wall more than a hundred meters away with a few leaps, and disappeared into the streets and houses in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a courtyard full of guards who were tied up and lying on the ground, and a courtyard full of people who were dumbfounded.

"Damn it!"

Su Yanji's face was ashen, and his hand holding the long whip was trembling slightly.

She took a deep breath, turned around and shouted, "Go, check it out and see if anything is missing from that car."

Several managers rushed into the damaged carriage and searched frantically. A moment later, someone ran out, pale-faced: "Chairman, those five precious herbs that were supposed to be auctioned... they're all gone!"

"The precious medicine has disappeared..."

Su Yanji's chest heaved with anger, her bright face as cold as if covered with frost.

The five precious medicinal herbs were priceless, yet they were stolen and eaten by a deer, and the truck was even dismantled. This was an absolute rip-off. Just as she was about to demand to know who was guarding the cargo compartment, a clear, cold voice came from the side.

"President Su."

Yuan Shuying walked over slowly, her undamaged right eye holding a scrutinizing look.

"Please explain why the auspicious white deer emerged from your merchant guild's carriage? Could it be... that your guild captured it and smuggled it into the capital?"

"The auspicious white deer..."

Su Yanji's heart skipped a beat.

She realized it immediately.

This white deer is no ordinary mythical beast; it is the very same white deer that caused the destruction of the old branch, which King Bilin could never forget, and which he bestowed upon it the title of a national auspicious beast.

It emerged from its own caravan, and to onlookers, it looked as if its own merchant guild had captured the auspicious beast and secretly transported it into the capital.

This is a huge misunderstanding.

If this isn't handled properly, the core business I've been planning for this trip could very well fall through.

"Your Highness, that's not how it is..."

Just as Su Yanji was about to explain, a clamor of voices suddenly arose outside the State Ceremonial Office.

A large number of people flocked in from all directions, pointing and discussing inside the courtyard.

The scene of the white deer breaking out of the carriage and leaping away was witnessed by many people watching the caravan. In the capital, the legend of the auspicious white deer had already spread widely, and everyone recognized it at a glance.

"It's a white deer, an auspicious beast!"

"They actually captured a mythical beast; no wonder they were using a large cart to cover themselves up."

"These foreign merchants are so audacious, daring to disrespect the auspicious beast."

"Your Highness! You must stand up for the auspicious beast! These people are blaspheming the gods and will be punished by heaven."

Accusations and shouts rose and fell, and the crowd was filled with indignation.

Su Yanji stood there, his face so dark it could drip ink.

She cursed Qi Ji eight hundred times in her heart—stealing the precious medicine and dismantling her car was bad enough, but to leave with such a huge black pot was simply to ruin her business. If she could catch him, she would definitely whip him dozens of times.

The instigator of this turmoil has long since moved beyond the scope of the State Administration of Rites.

Qi Ji leaped and bounded across the scattered rooftops of the capital, his hooves lightly touching the roof tiles, his figure as lithe as a flying bird.

He looked down and saw that the streets and alleys were crisscrossed, the population was dense, and the shops and restaurants were lined up one after another. The prosperity of the city far exceeded that of any city he had ever seen before.

"This city is quite impressive," Qi Ji muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered something.

When I consumed three precious herbs before, my spiritual energy points exceeded one hundred. After consuming two more, I had already accumulated enough for a physical enhancement.

"Oh right, I almost forgot to upgrade it once."

Qi Ji immediately stopped and landed steadily on the roof of a tall building.

Facing the wind above the capital, Qi Ji had a sudden thought and immediately consumed 100 spirit points to activate the physique enhancement.