When Hermione heard Arthur's answer, the motion of chewing abruptly stopped.
Earlier, when she was underwater, she hadn't clearly seen what the Chishui Fish looked like. She only knew from Arthur's later description that Chishui were a type of magical creature with human faces.
Which meant—
She had just been eating a fish with a human face.
The moment that realization hit her, Hermione felt a wave of nausea rise up.
Fortunately, Arthur himself found the human-faced part impossible to eat, so when grilling the fish, he had already chopped off the head and tossed it into the Zen Garden, where it was decomposed into nutrients for plants.
It was precisely because of this that Hermione hadn't recognized the fish as a Chishui and had eaten it without hesitation.
The others, however, didn't think much of it. At the end of the day, a Chishui was still just a fish.
Ranni came from the Lands Between, a place with an extremely liberal food culture—people there would eat just about anything. There was even a being known as the Dung Eater lurking in the sewers beneath the capital.
As for Huoxuan, she had traveled far and wide in her younger days—she had even made it to Britannia. She'd tried her fair share of bizarre local delicacies. Not to mention that plant spirits and monster cultivators were common in the East; she had eaten them before, and even used some as ingredients for alchemy.
Huangxi needed no explanation at all. The Chishui Fish were brought here from Qingqiu by the phoenixes themselves. Part of the reason was to hide the cave-heaven, and the other part was simple—
They tasted good.
Seeing the discomfort on Hermione's face, Arthur gently reassured her.
"Hermione, they're just fish. Don't overthink it."
Hermione nodded. With Arthur's comfort, the nausea eased quite a bit, though she still couldn't bring herself to eat the grilled fish in front of her.
Seeing this, Arthur took out some beef from his system space and quickly made her a steak instead.
As for Hermione's untouched Chishui fish, Huangxi accepted it without the slightest hesitation.
As they ate and chatted, Arthur asked Huangxi,
"By the way, Huangxi—would it be alright if we collected some of the heavenly materials here?"
He gestured toward the trees laden with pearls, gemstones, and jade-like growths.
"That's fine," Huangxi nodded readily. "Arthur, please help yourself."
These things were of little use to the Phoenix Clan anyway. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been left growing openly on trees.
"Thank you," Arthur said. "And you don't need to be so formal. Just call us by name—no need to keep calling me 'Immortal.'"
Huangxi nodded. It seemed this Immortal was quite easygoing.
Arthur then asked,
"That ancient tree in the middle of the lake—what species is it? A mulberry tree?"
He recognized all the flora in the cave-heaven except for that towering ancient tree on the small island at the lake's center. Its leaves somewhat resembled those of a mulberry, hence his question.
"That's a Fusang Tree," Huangxi replied. "Long ago, the Li Zhu once lived here. Later, they left as well."
"However, before leaving, the Li Zhu clan leader left behind his prematurely deceased child and used the immense life force of these immortal trees to nurture it, hoping it could be revived."
Arthur was slightly surprised.
So this was the legendary Fusang Tree.
The Li Zhu Huangxi mentioned referred to the Sun Crow, also known as the Three-Legged Golden Crow—the divine bird said to reside within the sun.
"Wait," Arthur frowned slightly, recalling the Classic of Mountains and Seas. "Aren't the Three-Legged Golden Crows supposed to live in Tanggu?"
"Is that so?" Huangxi tilted her head. "I'm not sure. Maybe they migrated there after leaving."
Fair enough. Asking a shut-in phoenix who hadn't left home for thousands of years about migration routes was probably too much.
Arthur recalled various ancient texts. Some records indeed described the Three-Legged Golden Crow as a divine bird serving the Queen Mother of the West. Others placed them in locations beyond Tanggu.
And since the Golden Crows were a clan, it made sense that they might have split up after leaving.
Perhaps the incident of Ten Suns Rising Together, followed by Hou Yi shooting them down, forced them to scatter—otherwise, some powerful beings annoyed by the unbearable heat might have wiped them out entirely.
"Could you take us to see the child that was left behind?" Arthur asked.
"Now?" Huangxi looked down at the grilled fish in her hands, clearly reluctant to put it aside.
"Tomorrow," Arthur replied.
It was already dark. For reasons unknown, the lighting inside these cave-heavens still followed the outside world's day-night cycle.
And after eating, no one really felt like moving around.
Arthur decided they would act the next day.
After dinner, Arthur even invited Huangxi to hang out inside his tent.
The tent was spacious, and if they got tired, they could sleep there without issue.
That night, Huangxi actually stayed in Arthur's tent, experiencing the convenience of modern life for the first time.
The tent had three bedrooms and a living room—Huoxuan took one room, Huangxi took another.
As for the remaining room—
Arthur, Ranni, and Hermione didn't squeeze together.
Instead, they returned to the Zen Garden, each to their own rooms.
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Harry was also sleeping in a tent, and he was having a terrible time.
Let us rewind slightly, to that same morning.
Harry jolted awake from bed, his heart pounding.
He had just had a strange nightmare.
When he tried to recall its contents, nothing clear came to mind. All that remained was a vague impression—
A flash of green light,
and a sound that was neither a human scream nor the whistle of a kettle coming to a boil.
Lily, in her ghostly form, emerged from nowhere, concern written all over her face.
"What's wrong, Harry?"
"Nothing, Mum," Harry replied. "Just a bad dream."
Lily was worried.
A wizard's dreams often carried special meanings or omens. Wizards talented in divination could even foresee future events through dreams.
She didn't know what Harry had seen—but she chose not to voice her concerns. Saying it out loud would only add to his burden.
Instead, she changed the subject.
"Since you're awake, go wash up. Don't forget your plans with Ron and the others."
Harry nodded. With Lily's reminder, he remembered—Ron had invited him to watch the Quidditch World Cup, and today was the departure day.
With Lily accompanying him, Harry was still staying at his aunt's house.
At the start of summer break, when Harry brought Lily back to Privet Drive, Petunia had fainted on the spot after seeing her sister's ghost.
Since then, the Dursleys had kept a respectful—if distant—attitude toward Harry.
After washing up, the Weasley twins arrived in their flying car just in time.
Harry didn't bother with breakfast. He grabbed a sandwich and rushed out the door.
Once in the car, George focused on driving while Fred spoke.
"You don't need to rush like this. Little Ronnie probably isn't even awake yet."
It was still very early—the sky was barely light.
"It's fine," Harry said. "I didn't want to keep you waiting."
Fred nodded, then asked,
"Just you?"
He had expected Harry to bring Lupin—or at least Sirius.
Speaking of which, Lupin was no longer a professor.
Hogwarts, after all, had its fair share of sharp minds.
When Snape covered Lupin's classes, he skipped large portions of the textbook and went straight into detailed lectures on werewolves.
Some students connected the dots—Lupin's monthly absences around the full moon, combined with those lessons—and deduced the truth.
The rumor spread.
Parents grew concerned. To them, Lupin was a ticking time bomb, a danger to their children.
They complained to the Ministry, demanding his dismissal.
As acting headmaster, Snape naturally didn't stop this.
In fact, he was delighted.
And so, Lupin was dismissed.
Harry had invited both Lupin and Sirius to the World Cup.
But Sirius, having spent years in Azkaban, had grown withdrawn and disliked noisy crowds.
Lupin, on the other hand, was approaching a full moon and feared transforming in a crowded stadium.
Thankfully, Harry wasn't alone.
"Of course not," Harry replied. "My mum's with me."
As he spoke, Lily emerged from behind him and greeted the twins.
"Hello, Weasley boys."
When out in public, Lily usually hid inside Harry's pocket or similar places to avoid being seen by Muggles.
Ghost companions could freely change their size and shape, without needing to be recalled—far more convenient than Draco's dragon.
"Hi, Aunt Lily," the twins greeted cheerfully.
They already knew about her.
Ghosts didn't need sleep. While at Hogwarts, Lily would sometimes wander the castle at night while Harry slept, reminiscing about her school days.
Once, during a nighttime escapade, the twins ran into Lily strolling through the corridors.
The two pranksters and one ghost ended up chatting for quite a while.
Lily's first impression of the Weasley twins was excellent.
In their mischief and vitality, she saw echoes of James.
After learning they worked for Arthur, Lily didn't hide her true identity from them.
To avoid causing trouble for Harry, she usually altered her appearance when showing herself at Hogwarts.
Returning from the dead as a soul was simply too extraordinary.
Unlike ordinary ghosts, who lingered out of fear of death—
She had come back from the underworld.
If wizards burdened by regret learned the truth, there was no telling what kind of trouble they might bring to Harry.
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