Moving as fast as tumbling thunderbolt, Yuemi's form blurred past the Evernight Palace, following her Divine Sense to return to Xinzi's side. Urgency twisted the Lord-Regent's riveting looks. Her target stood within reach, like a ray of light at the end of a long tunnel. Alas, as soon as she grabbed that ray, Yuemi landed before a mesmerizing giant that—for once in her life—she didn't want to see: the Zhen-body.
'What is going on? Don't tell me that he…' Testing her conjectures, Yuemi vanished again, letting her Spiritual Sense loose to chase Xinzi's Divine Soul. But again, as soon as she seemed to reach her target, she reappeared by the Immortal Qi Pool, right before the inert Zhen-body.
'Bastard! He's forcing me to waste time!' Yuemi realized. As if reading through her thoughts, the inert Zhen-body's eyes trembled, and its lips curled up as, in mechanical fashion, it cracked its neck. Before this change, Yuemi's face twisted uncontrollably.
"You…are controlling your true shell from the comfort of the Xinzi-body, and using it to alter the laws of space so that, no matter where I go, I will always return to this place," Yuemi grumbled the words, her hands tightening at the realization that, with each second that she wasted here, Xinzi's plan carried on. Just by losing the Face-Erasing Whip, Yuemi had committed a terrible offense. But considering Xinzi's cruelty, her crimes would get worse real fast.
"True. I don't want you to go. I want you to stay with me and talk." Xinzi didn't deny Yuemi's words. His moves, at first mechanical, grew more fluid as he spoke, and with an impish smirk, he ambled at Yuemi.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Yuemi ignored him, her eyes scanning all directions as she sought ways to break the spatial alteration. Alas, not only did Xinzi's Divine Powers surpass Yuemi's but with the Celestial Dao Bones' connection to Heaven's Laws, even proper Divine Spirits of the Space Pantheon might not be able to break through this lockdown fast enough.
"No, you're a brilliant mind. A brilliant and tormented mind that reclined into madness to deal with deception and betrayal. Yuemi, you've always been a bit on the lunatic side, but it wasn't until the old man went rogue that you truly lost it," Xinzi said and leaned forward, keeping his third eye closed to not stir Yuemi's defenses.
"Confusion, rage, helplessness—all three ransacked the sanity that once kept your mind sharp and balanced. Now, you've lost interest in progress and court self-destruction on the daily. Seeing you waste your immortal life and potential like this, my heart…aches for you. And the only reason why I returned to the Xinzi body was so I could say the words that my Sovereign Heart wouldn't allow me to." Here, Xinzi wrapped his arms around Yuemi's waist, maintaining eye-contact while pulling her with a gentle tug.
His mellow tone sweetened her mood, and the Lord-Regent drank Xinzi's words, her eyes turning moist as her heart drummed—begging her to believe that each word came straight from Xinzi's heart.
"To have a heart so unique that no one can echo your emotions or see past the skin and bones is…heart-wrenching. Just like me, every day you spend hours before tall mirrors, seeking partners in your reflection. Yuemi, I don't need my third eye to understand what goes on in your head, because I—and only I—can resonate with you." Xinzi's face softened. His right hand rose towards Yuemi's cheek, brushing it with loving strokes while the left pulled her closer to his lips.
Yuemi's brain clashed with her emotions, her desires, and all the insecurities that her frenzied mind kept bottled up surged to the face. Her guard broke, and she held on Xinzi's shoulders.
"I am not the old man. Cultivation aside, I beat him at his peak in all aspects. You don't have to keep letting the fear of a repeat lead you astray. If you want me, I'm here, and never going anywhere.
Yuemi, I can't stand hearing you call me Zhen'er. Never could, never will, because what I want is to hear you say…A'Zhen." Like a cracking dam bashed in by tidal waves, Yuemi's defenses collapsed entirely. Xinzi's lips pressed on hers, and she rose on her toes, enabling him to lead her into a languorous dance.
Thus, they coiled. At first on their foot, the two's hands roamed one another, teasing the nerves and making their blood flow faster as the heat picked and the embrace grew more passionate. In charge, Xinzi led Yuemi to the ground—his hands folding on hers while his tongue played unscrupulous games. Aroused, Yuemi shifted the poses, now lying on top of Xinzi and nibbling at his neck.
Minutes of smooching passed in a flash, Yuemi's beating heart demanded more, and her hands reached for Xinzi's belt, eager to untie it all. But at that time, one figure barged in, its eyes widening in horror as Yuemi fiddled with Xinzi's belt.
"Highborn slut! Hengye Yuemi, how dare you molest the Greatest One?!" The third elder's voice boomed across the room, sending ripples through the nearby Immortal Qi Pool.
Alarmed, Yuemi spun towards the third elder, instinctively trying to fix her disheveled appearance. But then, she remembered Xinzi's words, and with a sneer, ignored the intruder.
"Get lost! This is all consensual," Yuemi said, but by the time she had shifted back to Xinzi, his body had turned limp, all light gone from his eyes as—like a lifeless puppet—he hung underneath the Lord-Regent.
Realizing that Xinzi had abandoned the body right before the third elder made his entrance, Yuemi's eyes stretched impossibly.
"Slut! Slut! Not content of molesting our lord to the point that he fled back to his decoy shell, you won't even let his inert shell off! And what shell is this? The body cultivated through thousands of years of our Divine Ancestor's painstaking efforts! Damn you! Damn you! Hengye Yuemi, today, no one can save you!" Pointing his trembling index at Yuemi, the third elder raged, and simultaneously contacted all elders of the Evernight Palace—feeding them all he'd seen.
Yuemi floundered, her head tilting left and right as she held onto Xinzi's body.
"Wait…no, he was here just a second ago. Zhen'er, A'Zhen…no! How can you say those words and just…? A'Zhen, don't do this to me!" Yuemi squealed in grief, balled up her fists and smashed at the Zhen-body's chest. If till now, the Thousand-Faced Shadow's watched it all quietly, once Yuemi started beating the Zhen-body with her bare fists, for the imperceptible split of a second, the faces grimaced.
"Blasphemous bitch! Stop this at once!" Horror-struck by this succession of profane deeds, the third elder flew towards Yuemi, his cultivation surging to tie the Lord-Regent's hands in the air.
"I said…GET LOST!" The overwhelming aura of an Immortal Emperor erupted alongside Yuemi's Divine Power, shredding through the third elder's Heavenly Immortal cultivation base, and sending him to crash into the ebony walls—the adamantine structure cracked upon impact.
The third elder's bones broke, his organs burst into a feast of gore, and as blood poured out of his mangled eye sockets, he pointed a trembling finger at Yuemi…then burst into laughter.
"You…ahahaha! You even dare to strike down a Night Spirit elder without just cause. My sacrifice is nothing…today, the elder council…will bring you down!" Yuemi's hands hanged beside her, her world abuzz as she processed the absurdity of her outburst.
Night Spirits were divines, and most divine clans' ancestral laws forbade the abuse of a Divine Spirit without just cause. No need to mention elders, even the lowest-ranked Night Spirits in the lower archipelagos couldn't be killed without a trial. Only Gods could break this rule.
Yuemi could get away with abusing her Night Spirit maids because of the fear that she instilled into them, and the fact that they relied on her status. But an elder? Brutalized to this point just for trying to reason with her?
Anyone else would be butchered for this offense. And even the Lord-Regent…wouldn't get off scot-free.
"It's a setup! A setup! A'Zhen….WHY?!"