Free Web NovelThis was the second time Wen Yuzhi had combed through a Saint Clan member’s mental sea.
The first time had been Woke.
Back then, he still wasn’t very skilled at controlling his mental energy. In the end, he’d relied on instinct—clumsy and nervous—yet still managed to complete the combing and soothing.
But now, after practicing using his mental energy to coax seeds into sprouting, Wen Yuzhi’s control had become more and more proficient.
So even combing through Mansendis’s mental sea, he didn’t panic.
He first extended those soft, squishy mental-energy feelers.
Mental energy as soft as marshmallow carefully slipped into Mansendis’s mental sea.
Wen Yuzhi had assumed this would take a long time.
Because even when he combed through Woke’s mental sea, he hadn’t been able to plunge straight into the deepest part at the start.
He’d had to soothe the restless mental energy in the outer edges first, and only then—little by little—could he cautiously probe deeper.
But this time, combing through Mansendis...
Wen Yuzhi realized his mental energy was getting in unusually smoothly.
Those soft mental-energy feelers moved almost without resistance, all the way to a place that should have been the hardest to approach.
It was as if Mansendis had absolutely no defenses against Wen Yuzhi’s mental energy.
He completely allowed the cub into his territory. On any royal-blood, that was something that simply could not happen.
The coldness rooted in blood, the fiercely strong individual will of the Salilaino—made them keep wary, unfamiliar distance from one another.
In that state, they couldn’t accept another of their kind’s mental energy getting close, much less entering their mental sea.
Not even blood relatives. freewebnσvel.cѳm
At the very least, Mansendis would never allow Tasiya’s mental energy near him. Even the smallest hint of it would be treated as provocation the instant it appeared.
But the same behavior, when it came from Wen Yuzhi, didn’t trigger that disgust or rejection in him.
For this child he loved, Mansendis gave almost the greatest degree of trust he could give—without a trace of vigilance.
That was why Wen Yuzhi’s mental energy could pass through so smoothly, without obstruction.
In Mansendis’s subconscious, he allowed the cub to come close, and he was willing to open his heart to him.
He probably hadn’t even realized it himself—his heart had already accepted this child long ago.
You could say Wen Yuzhi was the only exception in Mansendis’s life.
Mansendis gave him all his [N O V E L I G H T] feelings—he could even place his weakness into the cub’s hands personally.
If Wen Yuzhi wanted to, he could use this chance to easily destroy Mansendis’s mental sea.
Once the mental sea was damaged, even Mansendis would die.
And with Mansendis’s strength, this was most likely the only chance anyone would ever have to kill him.
On the underground black market, bounties related to killing the Saint Clan’s sovereign didn’t list a price.
Which meant as long as someone could kill Mansendis, the person who completed the bounty could name any price they wanted.
There was no defined upper limit.
Yet with an opportunity this once-in-a-thousand-years...
Wen Yuzhi didn’t do it.
The moment his soft mental energy arrived in the silver-haired sovereign’s mental sea, Wen Yuzhi’s first reaction was—
cold.
So cold.
Unlike Woke’s chaotic, disorderly mental sea, Mansendis’s mental sea could be called calm.
It was just... too calm.
There were no raging, crazed mental-energy storms.
No crumbling ruins on the verge of collapse.
There was only an endless expanse of white.
As far as he could see, aside from that pure icy white, there was nothing else at all.
—Empty, and desolate.
Wen Yuzhi felt like he’d arrived at a corner of the universe the world had forgotten.
There was no sense of time passing here.
Every sound felt shut out. The surroundings were so quiet it was almost frightening.
And the moment he entered, that lonely, cold hollowness rushed at him head-on.
...So this was Dad’s mental sea?
Wen Yuzhi’s soft mental-energy feelers hesitated, circling nearby.
A person’s mental sea often represented the truest part of the heart.
After all, expressions and mannerisms could be faked.
But the state of the mental sea couldn’t.
And this mental sea in front of him reflected Mansendis’s real heart—an empty, dead stillness.
There was nothing here.
Barren. Withered.
Wen Yuzhi hadn’t imagined Mansendis’s mental sea would look like this.
Wen Yuzhi’s mental energy was full of life, warm and soft by nature—he didn’t want Mansendis’s mental sea to stay like this.
So, driven by the feelings of his own body, those gentle mental-energy feelers immediately began to move.
They scattered a patch of seeds into the endless white.
Very quickly, the seeds cracked open and sprouted, and a soft stretch of grass appeared in this once-empty world.
The grass was still tender, but it carried vigorous life.
And that bright green became the rare, vivid streak of color in the white expanse.
But Wen Yuzhi didn’t stop there.
If there was grass, then there should be flowers and trees.
Those soft mental-energy feelers, urged on by the cub himself, practically turned into a hardworking little gardener.
They planted tree after tree in the white world, and beneath them, all kinds of flowers and plants.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, everything here changed completely.
From a barren, cold emptiness—
to a world now dotted with green.
That green brought life. It made the place feel less icy.
If you could look down from above at the entire mental sea, you’d see that vivid life spreading from the outer edges, steadily creeping toward the center.
And without realizing it, Wen Yuzhi’s mental energy slowly reached the center of this mental sea.
There, he saw a silver giant beast curled low on the ground, eyes closed, as if sleeping.
Its body was still enormous—towering, overwhelming.
This was...
Dad?
Wen Yuzhi recognized the beast-form appearance of Mansendis.
Only, unlike the fear he’d felt the first time he saw the silver giant beast on Kanirila, seeing it again now made him feel only closeness.
But soon...
Wen Yuzhi realized something else.
This giant beast had no reaction at all to his arrival.
It slept there quietly in the white world, letting that coldness and loneliness swallow it whole.
Wen Yuzhi’s heart tightened.
Without thinking, he pushed his mental energy forward and rushed toward the silver giant beast.
The moment the cub’s soft mental energy reached it, it clung on, sticky and snug.
It curled itself into a little lump and pressed tightly against the beast’s massive paw.
Just like Wen Yuzhi did in daily life—nestling against Mansendis’s hand.
Only...
When the giant beast didn’t respond, the cub’s soft mental energy immediately felt a strange, sour grievance.
Dad...
It gently rubbed against the beast’s paw.
Like it wanted the beast to pat it.
Because in daily life, Mansendis really did like to stroke the cub’s soft hair from time to time.
Wen Yuzhi was used to it.
But now the beast kept its eyes shut, unmoving. With no response, no patting, those mental-energy feelers drooped.
Maybe it sensed the cub’s low, sad mood.
The sleeping beast seemed to struggle awake from a dream. It slowly opened its eyes, and what filled its vision was a vast, lush green.
It froze for a moment.
But then, as if it noticed something, it lowered its head.
Beside its paw, it saw the cub’s mental energy curled up into a little ball.
Plump, like a fluffy lump of cotton candy.
The beast had no memories.
But it could sense something familiar, something close, coming from the cub.
And also...
the cub’s aggrieved, downcast feelings.
For some reason, the beast’s heart suddenly felt like it was being clenched tight.
As if an instinctive voice was telling it—
don’t let the cub feel sad.
And in the next instant—
the beast hurriedly scooped that soft little lump up with its paw and held it in its palm.
It didn’t know how to coax it.
So it just held it there, clumsily, like a treasure.
Wen Yuzhi sensed the beast had awakened, and that earlier grievance and sadness vanished on the spot.
The cub pressed tightly against the giant paw.
Dad... pat me...
Pat?
Sensing what the cub wanted, the beast hesitated, glancing at its sharp claws.
It thought for a few seconds, then decided—
The beast opened its mouth and simply tucked the little green lump right into its mouth.
That way, it was safe.
There was nowhere safer than inside its mouth.
Hide the cub here.
It felt completely at ease.
And Wen Yuzhi felt his vision go dark in an instant.
Then he remembered the sight of the giant beast opening its mouth at him just now...
So...
Did Dad just... eat his mental energy?!
OmegaD Omega
B-But... he wasn’t tasty at all...
N-No, wait!
This wasn’t about tasting good or not!
He couldn’t be eaten!
Wen Yuzhi hurriedly sent the meaning that he wanted to come out. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The beast struggled with it for a moment.
Truthfully, it didn’t want to let the cub out.
This was the best place it had finally found—the most suitable place to keep the cub.
But Wen Yuzhi clearly wasn’t used to this kind of darkness.
Sensing the cub didn’t like it, the beast finally opened its mouth slowly and let the swallowed little lump out again.
Plop.
Wen Yuzhi landed on the soft grass.
And he was drenched in the giant beast’s scent.
The beast seemed to think the cub wrapped head to toe in its scent looked very cute. It lowered its head and gently bumped Wen Yuzhi with its nose.
That “gentle bump” sent Wen Yuzhi rolling across the ground twice.
Even his mental energy felt dizzy.
The beast lightly bullied the cub for a moment—then quickly gathered the little lump back into its palm like it was precious.
Even now, it still wanted to swallow the cub again.
The beast didn’t know that in the outside world there was a phrase: so cute you want to take one bite.
Its mood right now was basically exactly that.
It was almost reluctant to let go of the cub in its palm, wishing it could keep the cub on itself at all times.
And Wen Yuzhi, who’d been dizzy a second ago, sensed the beast’s restless urge and immediately stopped being dizzy.
He had a mission!
Wen Yuzhi hadn’t forgotten—he’d come here to comb through Mansendis’s mental sea.
Even if what just happened wasn’t quite what he’d expected at first, it still wasn’t too late to start now.
Wen Yuzhi quickly gathered himself.
He began combing through this mental sea with his mental energy.
As the cub’s mental-energy feelers continued to drift and roam, a warm, soft sensation spread outward like ripples.
Wherever it reached, the seeds and plants he’d scattered earlier seemed to drink in rain and dew, growing wildly.
In this once-barren world, the breath of life finally appeared.
Wen Yuzhi’s purpose was simple.
He wanted flowers to bloom everywhere.
He wanted Mansendis’s mental sea to stop being cold and lonely.
And with them as company, the sleeping giant beast wouldn’t feel alone anymore.
It could sleep in a sea of flowers—and when it woke, there would be a new round of lush life.
That was what Wen Yuzhi thought.
So that was what he did.
He toured his own results, and a satisfaction he couldn’t quite put into words rose in his heart.
Only...
Even looking at this world now full of flowers, grass, and trees, Wen Yuzhi still felt like something was missing.
What was it...?
Suddenly, he seemed to think of something.
In the next moment—
that mental-energy lump vanished, replaced by a small butterfly.
The butterfly appeared here.
It fluttered its wings, wobbling as it flew toward the giant beast.
And then—
it landed on the beast’s rugged, jagged horn.
At last, everything seemed to fall into harmony.
The giant beast lay curled in the endless sea of flowers, slowly closing its eyes as if about to sink back into sleep at any moment.
And on its head, a small butterfly rested on its horn.
Giant beast. Butterfly. Sea of flowers.
In this moment, the scene looked like a quiet, beautiful painting.
The giant beast fell asleep.
The butterfly fell asleep with it.
The whole world went still.
And in reality, the silver-haired sovereign also unknowingly closed his eyes.
As the cub combed through his mental sea, he—rarely—fell asleep.
A palm-sized little cub lay against his chest. It seemed exhausted too, falling asleep against Dad.
Whether inside the mental sea or outside it, in sleep, Wen Yuzhi clung tightly to Mansendis.
The butterfly did, too.
The little doll did, too.
And after it became clear the father and son had both fallen asleep, the bone spines guarding nearby remained silent. But their ever-spreading body sealed off this place, even blocking the corridor outside.
Pale joints coiled along the walls, as if firmly fencing the inside in.
Alvin, along with the anxious Yiluo and Feier, had been searching for the little prince who’d vanished after going to the restroom.
They followed the trail here, just in time to see the bone spines sealing the area.
But before they could approach, Mond stopped them.
The older chief affairs officer made a quieting gesture.
“The king and the little prince are both asleep.”
Mond spoke, then added a warning: “From now on, no one is allowed to get close to here.”
Mond had already lost track of how long it had been since Mansendis rested.
Since taking the throne, there had been too many things waiting for him to handle.
He had to clean up Tasiya’s mess and the wreckage left by the other royal-blood. He also had to lead the restless Saint Clan through one upheaval after another.
During Mansendis’s reign, the Saint Clan’s territory kept expanding, and their power shook the entire interstellar world.
But the price of that was that Mansendis had almost no time to rest.
And under that day-after-day strain, his mental sea gradually worsened.
Sometimes Mond felt like Mansendis was a bowstring pulled taut.
The silver-haired sovereign was too ruthless with himself—too cold.
He didn’t even leave himself a moment to breathe.
Mond knew Mansendis got tired, too.
But the silver-haired sovereign never showed it.
He kept everything pressed down, forcing every move to better fit the role of sovereign.
Mond had watched all of it.
And Mond also hoped Mansendis could rest properly for once.
Even if it was only... to sleep for a while.
