Clenching the hem of her dress, Chun Xu gritted her teeth, and as her cheeks twitched at Xinzi's words, her eyes reddened. Again with that line of thought, again with those reproaches. Did every woman of the world have to shut down her brain and present a bubbly front to be welcomed by the opposite gender?
"Master often says that men feel threatened by a woman's intelligence. I didn't think that you belonged to that category. I am not Dong Ling and pride myself on having a functional brain. Why should I not use that brain to minimize mistakes and incidents? I thought that you, out of all people, would understand. After all, it's not like you routinely play with the heartstrings of those around you to engineer the outcomes you desire." Sarcasm laced Chun Xu's last sentence, but sill she looked down, unwilling to let Xinzi glance at her reddening eyes.
Even when she tried to ax our monk, Chun Xu believed that of all the people she routinely interacted with, Xinzi's thought process was the closest to hers. To have him question her nature was no different from getting smacked out of the blue by a bosom buddy.
"You misunderstand. I'm not asking you to be Dong Ling," Xinzi said, pulled Chun Xu's hand aside and lay on her thighs—staring directly into her eyes.
"I don't think that I'm smarter than you, but since I can rely on an accumulation of knowledge that'd leave senior experts questioning their existence, in brain games, you're not my match. In battles, you fall short as well. So why would I feel intimidated by you? No, I just want you to be a person." As he spoke, Xinzi stretched one hand at Chun Xu's cheeks, stroking with loving care.
"Yes, I trick, change, scheme, ruin and slaughter as I see fit, but there are times when you have to let the schemer rest and give the person in you a chance to not only express itself, but embrace all the wonders of humanity. If you can't do that, what's the point of having a human body?" Xinzi rhetorically asked, and to this, Chun Xu had nothing to say.
The longer Chun Xu peered into Xinzi's eyes, the more they pulled her in. Silence settled on the scene, with Chun Xu's face standing increasingly close to Xinzi's. Here, the Sword Fairy's did the unexpected, pressed on Xinzi's cheeks, and fed him a mouthful of the wine she held. But before the liquor slid down Xinzi's throat, Chun Xu pulled his face up, locking her lips on his, and drinking straight out of his mouth.
Xinzi smiled at the move, giving Chun Xu the opportunity to do as she pleased. The smooch went on for a minute, but once the wine's effects kicked in, the Sword Fairy reeled back—rocked by the overpowering effects of the Wailing Immortal Blood Wine.
"Good girl. Don't worry, this wine was distilled so that even mortals can drink it without turning into fireballs. Here's an extra reward for you," Xinzi said and snapped his fingers. Red silk threads surged from his palm, coiling and meshing into a thin piece of red lace panties. The panties dropped on Chun Xu's face, and the Sword Fairy's cheeks burned underneath them.
"Get…lost!" Chun Xu managed to say before the drunken haze took over, forcing her to let the immortal wine work its magic and fill her body with a transformative rush of Blood Energy and Immortal Qi.
Amused, Xinzi waved Chun Xu goodbye, picked up the unconscious Xiao Hu, and returned to the Liberation Temple. There, the five Hengye elders waited in the same position that Xinzi left them in. "Prolong the Immortal Rhythm for a couple days. I don't want the White Immortal sect's leaders to connect it to me," Xinzi said. As soon as Xinzi and the Hengye elders left the sect, the Immortal Rhythm would vanish—enabling the White Immortal sect leaders to figure out the cause of this event.
"As you command, Greatest One!" The five elders replied in sync, and stretched their hands out, condensing five balls of Immortal Qi that sank into the White Immortal sect's soil. For 72 hours, these Qi Orbs would ensured that the Immortal Rhythm continued, enabling the sect to grow massively.
The third elder snapped his fingers, and in a whirlwind of dark energies, Xinzi and co. crossed the void—returning to the Evernight Palace.
…
Towering pillars of obsidian stones stood in ordered columns, supporting a jaw-dropping roof that stretched so far and wide that mortal eyes couldn't trace its edges. The palace stood on colorful clouds, defying all gravitational laws to loom over a colossal archipelago. Xinzi and the five elders landed at the entrance. No door stood in the way, as if the palace's builders dared all experts across the world to walk in uninvited.
Fleeting memories flashed in Xinzi's mind, and he raised his eyes, facing a procession of hundreds of Night Spirits that respectfully stood at the palace's entrance. One woman led them all, and though a mourning veil covered her face, Xinzi could recognize her with one glance: Hengye Yuemi.
The Night Spirits kneeled, Yuemi stepped forward, her black puffy dress trailing on the clouds as she ambled at Xinzi.
"Zhen'er…Zhen'er!" At first, it was a smile. Then, a maniacal grin stretched Yuemi's lips. That grin made even the Hengye elders flinch—feeling as if ants crawled on their skins. Xinzi, however, stayed stoic.
His Divine Soul leaped out of his body, piloting the mortal shell. Divine Light surged from body and soul—showcasing two sources of Divine Power that formed a sharp contrast. The soul's Divine Powers fell in line with the norm, but the body's challenged that very norm, defying the laws of heaven and earth. Worse, the body's Divine Powers eclipsed even the soul's, making the assembled Night Spirits marvel at its depth.
Needless to say, all knew that Xinzi's locks prevented his Divine Soul from releasing even one percent of his Divine Powers. But that little bit was already a match for a God-Child's, making the body's prowess impossible to comprehend.
"Greetings, Lord-Regent," Xinzi said, showing Yuemi no familiarity. The Lord-Regent stopped dead in her tracks, glancing between Xinzi's body, Xiao Hu on his shoulder, and the divine form that hovered above.
"Zhen'er, you're breaking my heart. It has been 12 years since we last met, and that's the first thing you say? Why won't you call me…mother?" Hengye Yuemi's voice stayed at a level tone, but her eyes stretched to the limits, and the dementia that sparkled within revealed itself fully.
Yuemi's words startled all Night Spirits. Some kowtowed, others balled up their fists, but when they recalled that Hengye Yuemi held Yongye's whip, they dared not step forward.
"The anointed emissary of the Thousand-Faced God isn't qualified to be my mother. Lord-Regent, your humor never fails to amuse me, but it might not have the same effect on the deity that you serve. Tread carefully," Xinzi said, and without a care for Yuemi's twisted emotions, flew into the palace. His mortal shell stayed behind, ambling at Yuemi with cold indifference.
Here, the Lord-Regent regained her senses. Her eyes trailed on Xiao Hu, then Xinzi's body, moving back and forth between the two, and restraining the urge to tear off Xiao Hu's head. 'Lord-Regent, this is an importance piece of the investigation you aim to put My Divine Self through, and a chosen of Heaven's Will as well. Again, tread carefully.' Xinzi's voice echoed in Yuemi's mind.
'Screw Heaven. Zhen'er, do you care for this creature?' Even in a mental message, Yuemi's voice trembled, and she looked at Xiao Hu as if it wasn't a person, but a lethal beast she needed to execute as soon as possible.
'If you want to kill, kill. But then don't ask me to provide answers I no longer can. Hengye Yuemi, at best, you're a preceptor. A preceptor with the right to beat a rogue young master is still just a preceptor. It's not your place to decide who My Divine Self can favor. And if you will not curb that insolence of yours, I have no qualms asking My Divine Mother to replace you with a more trustworthy warden. The Thousand-Faced God may favor you, but it will not take your side over mine. So do your job and stop annoying me.' Xinzi said, and if those that knew our monk could hear him, they'd be baffled by his tone. Xinzi was never one for condescending manners. But once separated from his mortal body, he turned into a cold, oppressive entity with no care for anyone but himself.
Divine Souls didn't have a complete emotional spectrum, and remembering this detail, Yuemi realized that Xinzi wouldn't mind using her erratic emotions to play her against herself and stay in control of all she did. Pulling a deep breath, the Lord-Regent reverted to a calm, smiling face.
"Take this mortal creature to rest and gather all memories that her soul contains. I will be in the Ancestral Hall, doing my job, and disciplining….my little boy."