Ch 31 – Is This What Friends Are Like?

“Your Excellency, we have a lead on that mysterious person.” The man offered the Supreme Governor a slight bow.

The Supreme Governor glanced up at him.

He had once suspected that the man beside Kersz was disguising his appearance, and that perhaps he was one of Kersz’s business partners who had undergone cosmetic surgery.

It came as a surprise that any information could be unearthed about that face.

The man continued: “The Facai system reacted to that photo.”

The Supreme Governor slammed his hands down on the table: “What did you say?!”

Facai had reacted to the photo? Wasn’t Facai the only remaining AI system from a destroyed alien civilization?

Could that robot be a product of such a civilization?

“How did Facai react?” The Supreme Governor asked.

“It dug at the ground as if trying to break free, then barked at the photo. It’s tail was spinning like a propeller,” said the man.

“Judging from its reaction, the person in the photo must bear the appearance of its master,” said the Supreme Governor. “Dogs only react that way to people they are close to.”

The man reminded him: “Your Excellency, Facai thinks it’s a wolf.”

“Yes, it does think that.” The Supreme Governor took a sip of tea, then shrugged. “Do you think that if I considered myself to be a particle collider, I would have a more imposing presence?”

The man lowered his head even further.

“Since we’re already talking behind its back, some respect can be left aside,” said the Supreme Governor. “Just like how I know you talk behind my back.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” said the man.

The Supreme Governor waved him away.

The man bowed deeply and slowly withdrew.

Once the office door closed, the Supreme Governor pulled up the image of the green-eyed man again.

This was the only information they had.

Eliciting such a reaction from Facai…..related to an alien civilization…..

But this man looked so human.

From the video, it was clear that the alien had initially intended to offer a proper greeting to the fleet’s lieutenant colonel. However, the other side was alarmed by the sight of Kersz standing next to him, and launched a preemptive strike.

This alien was someone who could be won over.

The Supreme Governor crossed one leg over the other and rubbed his chin.

Perhaps he could have been won over before, but that was likely not the case at present.

He was attacked and branded a wanted criminal, and Kersz was also by his side.

Tch. How troublesome.

This alien’s technology might be even more powerful and advanced than Facai’s.

The most pressing task was to rescind the arrest warrant for this guest and extend an olive branch to him.

Suddenly, the Supreme Governor recalled the message 152 had sent to him: [A robot wants to capture father and use him as a breeding stud.]

Extend an olive branch?

What exactly was this alien robot here for?

What was this robot doing to Kersz and 152?

*

*

“Tau!” Yu Xi stamped his foot. “Keep an eye on your dinosaur! It scattered all the little toys you made everywhere!”

The little dinosaur hid behind Tau, clutching his trouser leg with its little claws.

“He’s just a dinosaur,” Tau said defensively. “What’s wrong with him hiding food?”

“He has a learning system! You just aren’t teaching him properly!” Yu Xi was very angry. The small snacks made by Tau were scattered everywhere, and someone might get hurt if they weren’t careful.

“Why should he learn these things? There’s no dinosaur society for him to integrate into in the future.” Tau felt that Yu Xi was blowing things out of proportion.

“Because we also count as a small society!” said Yu Xi.

Tau: “You’re a robot. It’s not like you’ll get hurt.”

Yu Xi: “I won’t, but Kersz has already been jabbed so many times!”

“Then why hasn’t he come to speak to me about it himself?” Tau hugged the little dinosaur to his chest.

“Oh, because I can still tolerate it,” Kersz said. “If I can’t anymore, I won’t come speak to you about it. I’ll just pick up a gun and shoot the little thing into dust, and you can make a new one.”

Tau and the little dinosaur in his arms both gasped in shock.

The little dinosaur clutched Tau, whose lips were trembling.

“That’s going a little too far,” Yu Xi told Kersz.

Kersz spread his hands, wearing a particularly innocent look.

“But managing the little dinosaur is your responsibility!” Yu Xi then pointed a finger at Tau. “Overindulgence is not the same as love! You must let the little dinosaur establish itself in this world safely, freely, and in harmony with itself.”

Tau looked both frightened and bewildered.

He understood what he was hearing, but only to a certain point.

Establish itself in this world?

He was supposed to teach it how to do that?

He hadn’t even established himself in this world. He was still a person without a household registration.

Yu Xi was aware that he was putting Tau in a difficult position: “If you don’t want the conflict between the dinosaur and us to escalate, you must learn!”

Tau looked at the dinosaur, then at Kersz.

When he noticed his gaze, Kersz drew his sidearm.

Tau hugged the dinosaur tighter.

“I understand.” Tau finally relented.

What else could be done? Kersz could move against his dinosaur, but Tau couldn’t move against the people Kersz cared about.

Everyone Kersz cared about before was dead. Now, the one Kersz cared about was Yu Xi…..and how could he possibly beat Yu Xi? He was restricted here by Yu Xi, and there was nothing he could do.

“You need to give him love in moderation,” Yu Xi continued. “Your love must give him a foothold and empower him to manage his own discomfort. Otherwise, he will only experience extreme highs and lows. You need to let him have control over his own emotions!”

This was simply beyond Tau’s comprehension.

Yu Xi: “Otherwise, he will live a very painful life if you don’t give him the tools to survive in this world. He will become arrogant due to a little luck, and collapse because of a small setback.”

“Do you want it to be like this?”

Tau didn’t want it to be like this.

“Your father’s youngest son, Curtis, is a typical example,” Kersz added.

“I can’t let him become like Curtis!” Tau shook his head repeatedly.

He had to think of a way.

He really did need to educate this little dinosaur.

But who should he consult?

Yu Xi?

Yu Xi and Kersz were occupied with their relationship, and Yu Xi had never raised a child before, so he might not know how to.

Kersz?

No. Kersz was absolutely not an option. His parents had actually raised him pretty well, but Kersz was now a lunatic.

Then who else?

Who else was there?

*

*

One day later.

“What did you just say?” Fusya, who had met up with Tau again just now, was incredulous when faced with such a question. “You’re asking me how to raise your child?”

“En. I heard you’ve looked after Curtis.” In fact, Tau knew that Fusya had taught many other children, because Fusya had given him the same lessons.

If it had only been Curtis he looked after, Tau wouldn’t have come to ask Fusya’s opinion.

“Even if you’ve never raised children, you’re a very positive person,” Tau said.

Had Yu Xi or Kersz been here at this moment, they would have realized that Tau had already been led astray.

To Tau, Fusya was the person he knew who was most clear about his own place in this world.

Because Fusya was once an Illegitimate, but had long since obtained citizenship. He had his own career, an independent personality, and was more positive and motivated than most people.

Tau hoped that the little dinosaur would also be positive and optimistic, even though he really disliked hearing people talk constantly about “positive energy.”

Fusya had never expected that anyone would ask him such a question.

“It’s like this – they say I spoil my child too much. I don’t think spoiling children a bit is a bad thing, but someone threatened me and said they would beat my child if I continued to indulge him.” Tau was putting it mildly. Kersz’s exact words were that he would shoot the little dinosaur.

“This is indeed rather troublesome.” Fusya nodded.

Tau sent Fusya a beseeching look: “Could you share some of your experience with me?”

“You need to help him establish a routine, such as daily activities, regular exercise, and mealtimes. “

Fusya generously shared his thoughts: “Have him consume media focused on mindfulness.”

“Mindfulness?”

“Positive and uplifting things, nothing dark and gritty. Those things are too destructive to the mind.”

Fusya believed that those Illegitimates became the way they were because they were exposed to too much darkness and cruelty.

Therefore, dark and gritty literary works could also lead people into disorder.

While Tau thought that Fusya’s words made sense, Fusya was beginning to waver in his suspicion that Tau was actually an Illegitimate.

An Illegitimate wouldn’t be concerned about the education of their child.

Fusya reported all of this to the Supreme Governor.

After listening, the Supreme Governor asked a meaningful question: “He believes in your so-called positive energy?”

“There will always be people who recognize quality when they see it.” It was through his positive energy that Fusya was able to break free of the shackles of being an Illegitimate.

“It seems he’s not an Illegitimate.” That father was so ignorant that he could be considered a fool. He believed whatever anyone told him.

After growing up, his child would realize that they had endured a terrible upbringing.

Their father believed everything others told him, deceived every day of his life and credulously taking everything as truth.

Why couldn’t that alien robot try to trick this stupid single father into becoming a breeding stud? Was it because he feared his intelligence level would be passed down to his offspring?

“I think you look down on the advice I give you,” Fusya told the Supreme Governor.

“How can that be?” The Supreme Governor denied. “It’s just that I sometimes feel melancholy about the future. After all, my future seems to lie in a small, dark room.”

“That can also be positive and uplifting.”

“Indeed, it has a unique, poignant flavor.” The Supreme Governor hummed in agreement.

While they were debating back and forth, a subordinate sent him a message.

The Facai system had reacted again.

The Facai system never answered their questions, and it didn’t give them the specific origins of the person in the photo.

But it had emitted two unfamiliar tones.

The subordinate had recorded them.

“Yu…..Qi?” The Supreme Governor tried and failed to repeat what he heard.

That was a very strange name.

The Supreme Governor instructed his subordinates to keep a close eye on the Facai system, lest it develop thoughts of running away.

But those subordinates expressed that Facai was very well-behaved, to the point that it was almost taciturn.

Facai must have some connection to that alien robot.

Yu Xi was unaware that the Supreme Governor had already guessed that he wasn’t a product of this society. He was occupied with another matter – secretly touching Kersz.

Kersz took a nap and Yu Xi lay down next to him, listening to his breathing and heartbeat. Only after Kersz had truly fallen asleep did Yu Xi begin to sneakily make his move.

After Kersz agreed to be a good human for him, Yu Xi felt that he had more concerns than ever. He hadn’t even been able to properly feel Kersz’s warmth.

Yu Xi carefully arranged Kersz and began to touch him, starting from the head.

As he touched, Yu Xi felt that this wasn’t quite enough.

He only had two hands, and he also wanted to touch Kersz with his mouth.

Yu Xi touched every part of Kersz’s head, then kissed him with his lips.

When he began to touch Kersz’s neck, he sensed that his breathing was off. Kersz was about to wake up.

Yu Xi tried to slip away, but Kersz instinctively hugged the person in his arms.

Yu Xi’s lips trembled.

Kersz opened his eyes and looked down at him.

“Are you seeing how humans taste?” Kersz asked him.

“En. After all, I really like humans,” Yu Xi said in an attempt to rationalize his behavior.

Kersz assisted him in this endeavor: “So that’s how it is, ah…..then did I disturb you?”

“Y-you didn’t.” Yu Xi’s hands trembled slightly. “I like when you’re awake. I like looking into your eyes.”

“I’m very honored.” Kersz released Yu Xi. “Please continue.”

Yu Xi: “Is….is it okay?”

Kersz didn’t dare meet Yu Xi’s gaze: “I get it. You’ve been waiting for humans, and now that you’ve finally found one and have such a good relationship with him, you must really want to touch him.”

Yu Xi: “Ah…..right! Yes, yes, yes! Because you’re human, and I especially like humans.”

Kersz: “En.”

Yu Xi tentatively reached out his hand.

He touched for a while, somewhat awkwardly, and then glanced at Kersz’s slightly reddened eyes.

Yu Xi began to lie through his teeth: “I didn’t touch your head just now. Can I touch it?”

Kersz: “Go ahead.”

“Can I touch it with my mouth? I’ve nibbled on you before.” Yu Xi looked particularly innocent.

Kersz: “O-of course.”

Yu Xi maintained a distance and didn’t use his lips to touch any sensitive parts of the human’s body.

But he had kissed Kersz when he was comforting him before, and his lips were particularly soft.

Yu Xi casually kissed Kersz’s cheek, purposely bypassing his mouth.

Then he avoided Kersz’s mouth again and kissed the other side of his face.

After going back and forth like this three or four times, he finally gritted his teeth and kissed Kersz smack dab on the mouth.

Kersz went completely still.

“Aiya, how did I mess up like this?” Yu Xi said this with a particularly guilty conscience. “But it’s not a big deal. I kissed your lips when I was excited earlier, didn’t I?”

Kersz: ……

Yu Xi: “Right, right. My good friend, what was it you did back then?”

Kersz: “W-what did I do?”

“I don’t know either. It seemed like you stuck your tongue out.” While claiming ignorance, Yu Xi described exactly what had occurred. “You pulled a prank on me and licked me.”

Kersz: ……

“Aiya, what is a human tongue like? I’ve almost forgotten,” Yu Xi blathered on.

Kersz shakily opened his mouth and stuck out the tip of his tongue.

“Oh~ So that’s what it’s like.” Yu Xi’s tone was particularly grandiose. “Heavens, this is the first time I’ve observed one so closely. I want to kiss it.”

You want to what?!

Before Kersz could react, Yu Xi had already leaned down and kissed him.

Kersz felt his tongue become entangled with Yu Xi’s.

This…..this was kissing? Yu Xi was kissing him.

Yu Xi’s kisses grew deeper and more tender. Kersz reflexively placed his hands on Yu Xi’s chest and pushed him lightly, but Yu Xi grabbed his wrists and pressed them over his head, one over the other, to prevent him from moving.

Kersz’s reaction was really so interesting. 

If Yu Xi went even further, would Kersz’s behavior also escalate?

Yu Xi continued to kiss him. His cyan eyes flared and the breathing lights on his face pulsed faster – all signs of Yu Xi’s excitement.

Ya, Kersz’s collar was open. How could he not button his clothes?

He should help him with it.

Yu Xi reached out with his hand.

Hmm, but what was underneath the buttons?

Aiya, so curious!

Kersz’s eyes suddenly widened, and his back arched.

Yu Xi was kneeling directly above him. There was originally a gap between them, but when Kersz arched his back, he pressed his chest directly against Yu Xi.

“Heavens, do you want me to hug you?” Yu Xi was frantic. He only had two hands. One was holding Kersz down, while the other was feeling this amazing human.

Heavens! He wished he had two more arms to hug Kersz with.

Kersz was beginning to lose his composure.

Wasn’t Yu Xi’s exploration of his oral cavity a bit too comprehensive? Kersz forgot to swallow, and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.

Kersz hurriedly swallowed, but this only made the extra tongue in his mouth follow his movements and become even more audacious.

The human’s reactions were indeed very interesting. Very adorable.

Kersz, this space pirate, was trembling. His muscles were shaking.

Huh? Why was Kersz suddenly reacting so strongly? Did he want to get away from him?

Oh~ Kersz had found himself in a rather embarrassing situation, and needed to go to the bathroom.

The cunning robot pretended not to notice.

Yu Xi felt guilty, but for some reason, Kersz’s reaction emboldened him.

Kersz was even more desperate to pull away, and made a whimpering sound in his throat.

Yu Xi pretended not to hear it, and continued to hold Kersz captive with one hand while feeling the human’s body with the other.

Kersz’s wuwuwu sounds grew in frequency, and at some point, his vision began to blur. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to return to normal, but his efforts were in vain.

Kersz’s muscles tensed all at once, and a moment later, he collapsed back onto the bed.

His heart rate soared, and his breathing became labored.

Yu Xi released Kersz, and this time, he didn’t move.

“My god, I didn’t even touch it…..” When he came to his senses, Kersz was somewhat devastated by his good-for-nothing body.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Yu Xi continued to feign ignorance.

Kersz looked directly at Yu Xi.

He was smiling an exhilarated smile.

The breathing light on his face pulsed. If Yu Xi had a heartbeat, it probably wouldn’t be making any less noise than Kersz’s.

Kersz didn’t call him out. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Ah? Oh, okay, okay!” Yu Xi quickly made way for him.

Kersz got out of bed, then heard Yu Xi ask: “Do you need help? F-friend.”

When he heard the word “friend,” Kersz nearly collapsed.

Yu Xi hurried forward to support him.

Yu Xi escorted Kersz to the bathroom and considerately closed the door.

Kersz looked toward the doorway.

He knew that Yu Xi was crouching there, listening to his movements.

Their friendship had indeed taken a turn for the chaotic.

This robot was really pushing his luck.

However…..

Kersz didn’t find it upsetting at all. In fact, he was a little fascinated by the way Yu Xi had restrained him earlier.

As if he was forcibly keeping him by his side.

“Hiss.” Kersz looked down and was even more helpless.

Those people were right to call him a lunatic.

“Mm…..ah…..” Kersz had his back to the door when he suddenly heard a very, very small click.

A certain robot had secretly opened the door to check on him.

Suddenly, a wicked thought crossed his mind. He stopped suppressing his voice and didn’t turn around, feigning ignorance.

“Mm, Yu Xi ~” He called out Yu Xi’s name, still with his back turned.

A long moment passed, and Yu Xi didn’t speak up to warn him.

Kersz felt his excitement grow.

Ah…..

As long as nothing was discovered, they didn’t need to take that dangerous step for the time being. They could still be friends.

As for whether the current situation was an absurd overstepping of boundaries……who cared? In any case, Kersz had never felt so good, both anxious and excited.

The two emotions swirled around inside of him. He was losing his mind.

Yu Xi’s eyes were blown wide, his pupils constantly dilating and contracting as he took in the scene in the bathroom.

Kersz kept calling his name – as if he was speaking to him, or as if he was preparing to give all of himself to Yu Xi.

The breathing lights on Yu Xi’s body didn’t go dark for a very long time.

He didn’t just want to kiss and touch. He wanted to completely devour this good human of his.

It was best to digest him completely, leaving not even a speck behind.

When everything was over, Yu Xi quietly closed the door again.

He waited a while, and then Kersz came out after showering and changing clothes.

Yu Xi looked up and smiled at Kersz, who smiled back at him.

“Waiting for me at the door again?” Kersz appeared to be genuinely oblivious. “Good friend.”

“En.” Yu Xi nodded cheerfully.

“Did you get bored?” Kersz asked him.

“No, because I knew you would come out.” Yu Xi stood up.

Once more, they communicated like friends. As if that chaotic, sticky mess from before was nothing but a dream.

---

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Chapter 30 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 32

Ch. 101 – The Serpent God, Naga

“What’s wrong?” Hao Chen suddenly asked Feng Ye.

He deliberately lowered his voice, and since the others were still a distance away, only Feng Ye could hear him.

Feng Ye was somewhat taken aback. He was lost in thought, but hadn’t been showing it too obviously. No one else had noticed, but Hao Chen did.

Not only had he noticed, but he even inquired with concern.

Unfortunately, Feng Ye’s eyes flickered and he only responded with two words: “It’s nothing.”

Fearing that Hao Chen would press for more information, Feng Ye took a few steps forward to stand with Fang Yang and the others.

He didn’t want to tell Hao Chen, just as he had never told anyone else about that period he never wanted to revisit…..that nightmarish past.

Hao Chen narrowed his eyes at Feng Ye’s evasiveness. This dragon was hiding a little secret.

Feng Ye, as it happened, had quite a few secrets. For example, no one in this world knew how he had managed to transform from a jiao into Yinglong.

There were innumerable jiao in the Southern Sea. Although they were also referred to as dragons, their name just barely contained the character for “dragon,” and they were worlds apart from the real thing.

The true dragon in the Eastern Sea was a righteous god in the heavenly realm, and a very powerful one at that, equal to Hao Chen. He had existed since ancient times, ruling over the Eastern Sea.

In the end, a jiao was nothing more than a type of beast. In the mortal realm, their strength could be considered enormous, but in the heavenly realm, they were so weak that they became food for various divine birds.

Jiao did look similar to dragons, except that they lacked majestic dragon horns and had one less claw.

Perhaps due to the similarities, there was a rumor that jiao were capable of transforming into dragons.

Yet that, too, was merely a rumor. No jiao had ever succeeded in this endeavor. Indeed, throughout the heavenly realm, the true dragon of the Eastern Sea remained the only being who could, in the truest sense of the word, be called a dragon.

Until Yinglong appeared out of nowhere.

After Yinglong was deified, out of boredom and a desire for gossip after waking up, Hao Chen had also made inquiries into how Yinglong had become a god.

But no matter how thoroughly he inquired, all he found out was that Yinglong was originally just a common jiao from the Southern Sea. This jiao had accidentally entered the Emberless Horizon and remained there for three hundred years, and when it emerged, it had become the all-powerful Yinglong.

That three hundred years was the key to his transformation from a jiao into a dragon. But to those outside, this history was a blank slate, because there were no living beings in the Emberless Horizon. That world, composed entirely of the lingering resentment in heaven and earth, only devoured the souls that strayed into it.

Naturally, there were no witnesses who could reveal the whole truth.

Hao Chen suddenly realized that, to this day, all he knew about Feng Ye was his identity as the God of War. Even this was a supposition of his, not something Feng Ye had told him personally.

He really knew nothing else.

He didn’t know what this person had been through, nor how he had become what he was now.

Not long ago, he was still gloating over having climbed onto the dragon’s head, but now he realized that, even compared to others, the distance between him and Feng Ye was perhaps…..not that close.

Feng Ye wouldn’t disclose his secrets to anyone, including Hao Chen.

A sense of frustrated defeat settled over Hao Chen. He had thought he was already very close to Feng Ye, never expecting that it was only wishful thinking on his part.

He tapped his palm lightly with his folding fan, and despite his frustration, a renewed fighting spirit arose within him. Judging from Feng Ye’s expression, he must have a connection to Western Qiang. And this city had existed over a thousand years ago, which was roughly before Feng Ye had cultivated into Yinglong.

This timing was no coincidence.

Perhaps this was his chance to truly enter Feng Ye’s heart.

Upon realizing this, Hao Chen immediately curbed his carefree attitude. He claimed to be accompanying Feng Ye to find the Living Soil, but that was never a concern of his. He was only here to use this opportunity to seduce the dragon.

He followed Feng Ye forward. Feng Ye had stepped up next to Fang Yang, and Hao Chen nudged the boy aside to claim the spot next to Feng Ye for himself.

Fang Yang said nothing when Hao Chen cut in next to him, just quietly sidling closer to Cao Zirui to make room.

Then he turned to Wang Wu across from him and asked: “What’s that engraved on the stone platform?”

He and Cao Zirui had been inspecting it for some time, and had also noticed the patterns peeking through the gaps in the vines. But because it was only a broken section, neither of them could make out what the carving depicted.

“This, ah.” Wang Wu glanced at it and explained, “This is Naga, the great serpent god the people of Western Qiang worshipped.”

“The serpent god, Naga?” Fang Yang asked uncertainly. “Is the serpent god also a great god of the heavenly realm?”

He currently only knew of two great gods, Yinglong and the Kunpeng. This snake was the third one to possess the title of “great god.”

Faced with this question, Wang Wu exchanged a glance with Zhao Yi, then shrugged and said with a hint of impatience: “I don’t know. The people of Western Qiang were the only ones who worshiped this serpent god, and after their kingdom fell, there hasn’t been any word of others worshipping it. Who knows what kind of god it is?”

He wasn’t actually here to be a tour guide, so why were these people dawdling around the stone platform? 

Oblivious to Wang Wu’s impatience, Fang Yang turned to Cao Zirui, who knew a little more about these things than he did.

Cao Zirui shook his head: “I’ve never heard of such a god.”

Of course he hadn’t heard of it. Neither had Hao Chen.

He had been in the heavenly realm for so long that he had basically heard of most of the gods, big and small, even if he didn’t know them all by heart.

He had never heard of any serpent deities in the heavens. There were certainly serpent-like gods, but Naga…..this god seemed to be something that was made up by mortals.

There were actually quite a few gods invented by mortals. Since they had never set foot in the heavenly realm, they naturally had no idea how many gods resided there, and simply fabricated some from their own imaginations. 

But this serpent god…..Hao Chen wouldn’t have thought much of it before, simply assuming that it was another fictional god. However, recalling the battle where Yinglong appeared in Lingxiao Sword Sect, the black mist that possessed Xue Ren had transformed into a giant python, which somewhat resembled the serpent god Naga.

Moreover, the humanoid form conjured by the black mist resembled Yinglong, and Feng Ye’s attitude seemed to hint at a connection to the kingdom of Western Qiang. Hao Chen didn’t believe that this was all a coincidence.

He felt that all of the clues in his head were a jumbled mess. They were likely all connected, but he was unable to find the thread linking them all together.

His gaze inadvertently shifted toward Feng Ye again, and he hoped to find some inspiration by observing his attitude.

Feng Ye kept his eyes lowered, seemingly lost in his own little world. No one else seemed to notice.

Even though he had pushed Fang Yang aside to stand close to Feng Ye, he was still so far from him. Hao Chen stared at Feng Ye’s profile, lost in thought.

Although he had just mustered his fighting spirit, it was somewhat dampened in the face of Feng Ye’s cold and aloof exterior.

He was a peng bird with a wingspan of tens of thousands of li, and could traverse that distance with a flap of his wings. There was no canyon he couldn’t cross, no road he was unable to reach.

But the distance between him and Feng Ye seemed like an insurmountable chasm.

---

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Chapter 100 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 102

Ch. 100 – Western Qiang

T/N: Posting two chapters because they’re super short!

---

Before Fang Yang could figure anything out, Wang Wu changed the subject: “Do you know which country the ruins we’re heading toward belonged to?”

There was a brief silence. Feng Ye thought about it, and found that he really couldn’t remember. He had come here to find the Living Soil, and hadn’t paid attention to the history of the city buried beneath Longqiu.

When nobody answered, Cao Zirui replied: “Western Qiang.”

His purpose in coming here mirrored Feng Ye’s: both were searching for the Living Soil. Along the way, Cao Zirui had gradually realized that Feng Ye coming here was no coincidence, and that the Living Soil was his goal as well.

But Feng Ye didn’t have Jianmu in his possession, so what use did he have for the Living Soil?

Cao Zirui refrained from asking him directly, because he remembered his master’s instructions. The search for the Living Soil must be carried out in secret, and the fact that the small jar he carried on his back contained the Jianmu sprout could not be revealed to others.

Regardless of Feng Ye’s true motives for seeking out the Living Soil, his coming here provided a convenient shield for Cao Zirui, so he never asked.

He had done his own research before departing, carefully studying historical files and receiving guidance from Ji Chengyue. In some ways, his understanding of Longqiu was even deeper than Feng Ye’s.

Therefore, he was able to immediately answer which country the ruins belonged to. And he was even able to explain it to the history novice Fang Yang, who looked completely stumped: “It was an ancient kingdom that existed over a thousand years ago. It only lasted for a little over a hundred years before being destroyed by the rising Southern Chu.”

“All of the former cities of Western Qiang have changed hands, except for this royal city. Because the King of Southern Chu disliked Longqiu’s climate, he returned to his old capital in the south and abandoned the city. Later, a massive earthquake struck and caused the landscape to crumble, destroying the royal city completely. Now, only a few ruins still stand above ground, and the rest are buried deep under the soil.”

“Haha, you know a lot, young man!” Wang Wu praised him. Then he said: “Let me give you another test. Western Qiang was originally just a tribe in Longqiu, yet within a few short years, it grew powerful enough to conquer the central plains and become a unified dynasty. Do you know why?”

Cao Zirui honestly shook his head. He wasn’t here to be an archeologist, so how could he possess comprehensive knowledge about the history of Western Qiang?

“Because of their priest,” answered Wang Wu.

But he might as well have not answered at all, because Feng Ye and the others were still completely baffled.

“Can a priest influence the fate of a nation?” Fang Yang raised his hand as he asked this question. He didn’t feel that it was possible. How could one person’s power determine the prosperity of an entire country?

“Hehe.” Wang Wu chuckled meaningfully and shook his head: “This priest was no ordinary person.”

“The people of Western Qiang valued martial prowess, and although the King of Western Qiang was brave and skilled in battle, the world at that time was filled with warlords. Each was a powerful ruler who held dominion over their own regions, yet it was Western Qiang who achieved the final victory, thanks to their priest.”

“Western Qiang firmly believed in the power of the supernatural. The priest in charge of sacrifices held a high position, and the sacrificial methods were passed down from generation to generation. And the priest who assisted the King of Western Qiang in his unification efforts was known as the Ghost Mask Priest. He was an unprecedented genius, with eight ghost generals under his command.”

Eight ghost generals…..the others were puzzled by these three words, because they had never heard the history of Western Qiang, let alone anything about ghost generals.

Feng Ye alone was stunned when he heard this. Although he quickly masked his brief lapse in composure, Hao Chen still caught a faint trace of it. 

What’s so strange about these eight ghost generals? Hao Chen wondered.

Just then, Fang Yang asked: “What are those eight ghost generals? Were they very powerful?”

“They were indeed very capable generals, but they were different from ordinary ones. They…..” Wang Wu drew out the suspense before saying: “As ghost generals, they were naturally ghosts.”

“Malicious ghosts,” Wang Wu added.

Malicious ghosts…..Feng Ye was stunned once again.

Hao Chen was the only one who noticed Feng Ye’s unusual behavior, while Wang Wu and the others continued their discussion.

“Malicous ghosts?!” Fang Yang exclaimed in shock. “You mean the priest of Western Qiang could control ghosts?”

“That’s right,” Wang Wu affirmed with a nod. “He not only knew how to control ghosts, but how to refine them. This technique was passed down through generations of Western Qiang priests. Back then, it was considered remarkable for a priest to create even one ghost general. The Ghost Mask Priest, however, was exceptionally talented, and created eight.”

“They felt no pain, and had no emotions. When they fought, they killed anyone who got in their way, massacring a hundred people at once. They were invincible. In every battle, large or small, whenever one of these legendary generals was dispatched, Western Qiang was sure to emerge victorious. It was precisely for this reason that Western Qiang prevailed over all of the other powers and unified the land.”

Fang Yang and Cao Zirui exchanged a brief glance, the same thought flickering through their eyes: since the priests of Western Qiang could control ghosts and had passed the technique down through generations, it must be considered a method of cultivation.

Such cultivation methods were actually quite common, and many tribes hidden deep in the mountains had their own specializations. Outsiders called it witchcraft, but to cultivators, it was nothing more than a kind of technique.

Just as their Lingxiao Sword Sect specialized in swordsmanship, the ghost path and the sword path were simply two different inclinations, and could not be judged as good or evil.

But the ghost path inevitably involved spirits, and spirits were originally living people. The method they used to refine these ghosts was what would ultimately determine whether the priests of Western Qiang were righteous or demonic.

However, this was not something that should be discussed in front of Wang Wu and Zhao Yi, so the two communicated with their eyes rather than speaking.

And while Hao Chen appeared to be listening to Wang Wu, he was actually observing Feng Ye.

Feng Ye seemed to be in a prolonged daze, his mind wandering farther the longer Wang Wu spoke.

Despite receiving no response from the others, Wang Wu continued talking on his own.

He rubbed his hands together, and after such a long build-up, finally got to what he’d wanted to say in the first place: “When the Southern Chu army captured the royal city, they returned to their capital after only a few days, leaving many of the treasures in the city untouched. They planned to move it all away later, but then a massive earthquake struck and buried the entire royal city of Western Qiang underground. The Southern Chu army tried to search for it, but to no avail.”

“Over the past thousand years, many people have come to search for the treasure of Western Qiang, but none have ever found it. I’ve heard that besides gold, silver, and jade, this royal city also contains many magic artifacts that are rarely seen in the human world, which can also communicate with spirits and gods. These items originally belonged to the priests, but now, they’ve been left to gather dust deep under the earth. Who knows when – or if – anyone will discover them and bring these treasures back into the light of day?” Wang Wu let out a performative sigh.

When he was done speaking, he observed the expressions of Feng Ye and the other three. He certainly wasn’t wasting so much breath just to educate these four people; how could a bandit have such good intentions?

He just wanted to tell them that there was treasure buried beneath these ruins that could tempt even cultivators, so that they would be lured underground to fight that man-eating monster.

Although he already believed that Feng Ye and his crew had come here for the treasure, what if they hadn’t? If they just so happened to be unaware of the treasure’s existence and had no intention of searching for it underground, then his and Zhao Yi’s hopes would be dashed.

So he deliberately put on this show, regardless of whether Feng Ye and the others knew about it or not. He explained it all frankly and openly, both to lower their guard and to increase their chances of this plan succeeding.

He had cooked up quite the elaborate scheme. But unfortunately, three of these four people showed absolutely no signs of being tempted.

The two older ones were completely distracted, and didn’t appear to have heard a word he said. And as for the two younger ones…..Cao Zirui was completely indifferent to the idea of treasure, as he clearly wasn’t short of money.

Only Fang Yang looked somewhat eager.

This made Wang Wu a little uneasy. In the end, he wondered if Feng Ye and his party would actually follow his plan and descend into the underground city in search of the treasure.

“We’re here,” Zhao Yi said abruptly, having been leading the way.

Lost in his own thoughts, Feng Ye looked up when he heard this. He spied a stone platform hidden amongst the trees, seemingly part of some kind of structure. It sat tilted in the soil, with only a small corner of it showing.

This small section was part of a larger building, but to the people on the surface, it had the appearance of a three-meter-high rock formation.

The stone platform was wreathed in vines, and the land around it was densely covered in green grass, making it blend in seamlessly with the environment. If Zhao Yi hadn’t pointed it out, Fang Yang and the others wouldn’t have noticed that this stone platform was any different from the other stones on the mountain.

Fang Yang exclaimed in amazement. Although he could only see a small part of it, he could still faintly glimpse the grandeur of Western Qiang.

He pulled Cao Zirui along and ran ahead to get a closer look at the ruins.

Feng Ye, on the other hand, went no closer. Standing at a distance, he was able to clearly see the patterns peeking through the vines on the stone platform.

There were two parallel, spiralling curves, with fine lines drawn between them like scales.

Snake scales.

This stone platform was only a collapsed corner piece, and the others didn’t know what it had looked like when it was intact.

But Feng Ye did.

It had been a stone pillar approximately twenty meters high, with a carving of a colossal serpent curled around the top.

The people of Western Qiang firmly believed in the power of the supernatural, worshipping and offering sacrifices to the snake god pictured in the engravings.

This stone pillar with a snake curled around it was the idol of the Western Qiang people. These idols, varying in size, could be seen everywhere in the royal city.

The tallest stone pillar in the center of the city was twenty meters high, so tall that wherever one fled to within the imperial city, they could still see the giant snake on that stone pillar.

Back then, this was the scene Feng Ye saw every time he opened his eyes: the giant stone snake flicking its tongue as its cold eyes gazed down at the subjects below.

As it gazed at Feng Ye.

This stone statue was everywhere, and so were its eyes. Under its gaze, there was nowhere to escape.

Feng Ye hadn’t recognized the name of Western Qiang when he first heard it, because similar names were not uncommon throughout the world.

But then he heard about the eight ghost generals…..and now, looking at the stone pillar before him bearing the broken form of a snake, he could finally be certain.

He had been here before when he…..was not yet Yinglong.

---

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Chapter 99 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 101

These tiny, transparent spiders were all gu.

They were quite similar to the one that had previously controlled Cheng Shuo, but their abilities were not quite as great.

However, security checks at the palace entrance were strict, and these miniscule spiders were easier to smuggle in than centipedes or similar creatures. Furthermore, these gu had a weak presence, and would not easily attract attention.

When the gu Cheng Shuo was carrying was destroyed, the mother gu in Dingbei-wang’s possession died as well. Its death indicated that the Qin family must have suspected gu as the cause, and someone had purged it from Cheng Shuo.

Bai Liyu knew perfectly well who had destroyed the gu.

There usually weren’t any gu masters in the capital city, but the well-known Saintess of Nanjiang had just arrived.

It seemed that the Qin family had sought the help of Situ Anli. However, it came as a surprise to Bai Liyu that the Qin family’s first reaction was to enlist her help rather than make Nanjiang their prime suspect.

This thwarted his plan to shift the blame onto them, but then again, no one knew that he was the one behind it.

Those inside the palace must be aware of the existence of the gu by now, and Situ Anli possessed a small green snake that was said to be the king of all gu, capable of detecting their scent and eliminating them.

It was not the right time for everything to come to light, so in order to avoid discovery and having the matter traced back to him, Bai Liyu intended to conceal the matter for a while longer.

That was why he had brought these tiny creatures into the palace today. There was a high probability that they would not be discovered, and they could be kept in the palace for use at a later date.

He stuck his fingertips into the pouch, and two small spiders crawled onto them.

He then extended his fingers through the sedan curtain, and the two gu crawled along the wooden frame one after another to hide themselves in the hair of two sedan bearers.

Bai Liyu stowed away the pouch, but left a small opening at the top so that the gu could crawl out on their own later on.

The sedan chairs soon came to a stop outside Haiyan Hall, and the vassal kings disembarked, following Bai Lihong inside.

Everyone other than Nanjiang-wang was unaware that Qin Xiao had woken up.

But when they stepped inside the hall, they found that a tall, imposing figure was already present there.

That person stood with his back to the door, wearing black and gold embroidered robes. His hair was tied up with a golden guan, and even his back profile exuded an intimidating aura.

It was Qin Xiao!

Hearing the noise behind him, Qin Xiao turned around with a tranquil expression. His deep-set eyes swept over everyone present, and the look on his face softened slightly when he looked at Bai Lihong. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“No need for formalities,” Bai Lihong said at once. He paced to QIn Xiao’s side, then turned back to the crowd and said: “Everyone, please take your seats.”

Everyone readily agreed.

Their expressions remained composed, but inwardly, not a single one of them was calm.

Qin Xiao wasn’t dead!

He might not even have been seriously injured – otherwise, how could he be standing there, looking perfectly fine?

Or could it be that Chu Jiubian had actually healed him?

This was the advantage of having a god on one’s side.

Everyone’s thoughts were a mess, and they were also curious as to Chu Jiubian’s whereabouts. Why was Qin Xiao here, but the other party was nowhere to be seen?

But none of them opened their mouths to ask, and instead headed for their seats.

Just then, Empress Dowager Xiao Ruohan arrived, accompanied by the Saintess of Nanjiang and her two children.

When female members of the Imperial family entered the palace, the proper etiquette was to first go and pay their respects to the mistress of the inner palace.

That person was currently the Empress Dowager, so when Situ Anli arrived at the palace gates with her two children, she had parted ways with Bai Lihao and gone to see Xiao Ruohan first.

Upon seeing the Empress Dowager, the vassal kings were also required to pay their respects.

Xiao Ruohan was their legitimate mother according to lineage.

As she watched these powerful and influential vassal kings greet her with respect, an indescribable satisfaction came over Xiao Ruohan.

This was power. This was status.

As a woman, she was unable to participate in politics, but she had already reached the highest position a woman could attain in her lifetime.

Although Bai Lihong was currently the one on the throne, diminishing her ability to wield her power, she had truly enjoyed a period of great influence under Emperor Yingzong’s reign. It was only recently, after suffering setbacks at the hands of Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian, that she had tempered her ambition.

But now, witnessing such a show of obeisance by these vassal kings, she felt as if she had regained the feeling of being second only to the emperor and above everyone else.

She walked up to her high position and took the seat second only to Bai Lihong’s, then said mildly: “You may rise.”

The vassal kings expressed their gratitude before rising and taking their seats.

Bai Liyu swept his gaze over Situ Anli, who was seated beside Nanjiang-wang. He didn’t see the little green snake, but something that small could easily be hidden in her sleeve.

Therefore, not daring to be too obvious, he unobtrusively loosened his own sleeve.

The tiny, almost invisible spiders all crawled out – a total of six – and skittered down his robes. Very quickly, they concealed themselves in the shadows and crawled up the massive stone pillars toward the ceiling beams.

A bell rang outside the palace, and the first and second-rank officials who had received invitations finally arrived outside Haiyan Hall. Led by the leaders of the Six Ministries, they all filed inside.

After another series of elaborate formalities, they all took their seats.

And once they were seated, they noticed that Chu Jiubian was still absent, and that there was an empty seat next to Qin Xiao.

Seated across from Qin Xiao, Xiao Ruohan said with a slight smile: “Why is the seat next to Ning-wang empty? I see that all of the vassal kings have arrived, so who is this seat reserved for?”

This occasion was different from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to rank, Jiannan-wang could not sit beside her, and it would also be inappropriate for any of the other vassal kings to do so. Therefore, she was currently alone on her side, while Qin Xiao sat across from her along with an empty seat, which was presumably reserved for Chu Jiubian.

But Chu Jiubian was the Grand Tutor, and could in no way compare to the status of these vassal kings. If he sat there, it would be considered an act of overstepping his authority.

At present, Xiao Ruohan was deliberately feigning ignorance.

What she didn’t know was that the instant she voiced this question, Chu Jiubian had already entered the hall.

He had activated the function he previously used in Hexi Prefecture, rendering him invisible to everyone around him.

But for some inexplicable reason, even though Bai Lihong didn’t seem to notice him, the moment he stepped through the palace gates, Qin Xiao looked directly at him.

He wasn’t just looking over because he sensed something. The other man was actually able to see him, and was even staring at him rather boldly.

Chu Jiubian coolly met his gaze, and continued onward without pause.

As he moved, his jewelry made a crisp tinkling sound.

The pure white silk was cool against his skin, but the long, fluffy fox fur cape draped over his shoulders and trailing to his ankles masked much of the chill. 

Although it wasn’t quite dinnertime, the sky had already gone dark on this winter evening.

Many lamps had been lit in the hall, and the warm yellow light looked very inviting.

Chu Jiubian’s tall boots encased his calves, and his long, straight legs moved beautifully with every step.

His long, silver-white hair flowed freely, but interwoven within it were delicate silver chains that caught the light as he moved.

Qin Xiao watched, barely blinking. His gaze moved from from the young man’s legs hidden beneath silk trousers to the taut lines of his body accentuated by his belt, then to his pale, slender neck and his aloof face.

He was like the bright, radiant moon high above.

This was a god.

A god who could not be blasphemed.

The jut of Qin Xiao’s throat bobbed slightly, and his eyes went dark and deep.

Chu Jiubian walked unhurriedly past the officials on both sides, but none of them noticed his presence.

“What is Ning-wang looking at?” Xiao Ruohan was a little embarrassed at being ignored, and her tone grew colder. “Could this position next to Ning-wang truly be reserved for Grand Tutor Chu?”

Qin Xiao finally tore his gaze away, and when he once again looked at the Empress Dowager opposite him, a faint smile appeared on his face: “What are you saying? ‘Grand Tutor’ is an official title, and it would be against proper etiquette for such a person to sit above the vassal kings.”

A tiny spider had made its way from a ceiling beam to the stone pillar behind Qin Xiao. It rapidly skittered down, then climbed onto the table and into Qin Xiao’s cup, where it lay motionlessly.

A warning notification also sounded in Chu Jiubian’s mind.

[Warning! Warning! There are hidden gu in the palace! Locations have been marked for Host. Please be careful!]

Chu Jiubian’s eyes narrowed sharply.

He had suspected that the gu master might strike again today.

Being accused of something, no matter what it might be, would be a terrible thing for anyone present today.

But Chu Jiubian thought that if the other person were to actually take action, they would surely target someone inside the palace, such as Bai Lihao, Qin Xiao, or himself, or perhaps Xiao Ruohan.

As for everyone else, there would be plenty of opportunities to target them outside of the palace.

Therefore, he had discussed with the System in advance and learned that its poison detection function could also detect the venemous gu, which put his heart at ease.

He had intentionally arrived a little late, partly out of the desire to frighten these people with his invisibility trick, and partly because he had prepared some things outside of the palace and given them to the secret guards.

Of course, he had one more reason: waiting for the gu master to make their first move.

If Chu Jiubian were present, that person might be intimidated by his “divine presence” and act with more hesitation and caution. However, it seemed that with their audacity and style of operation, they weren’t afraid of anything.

Chu Jiubian looked up and saw six points of green light illuminated in the hall.

One of them was next to Xiao Ruohan, two were in the beams above Bai Lihong’s head, and there were three more.

One was located above the head of Minister of Revenue Su Sheng, and one more was hidden in the hair of Anhuai-wang Bai Liming.

The last one was in Qin Xiao’s cup.

Su Sheng and Anhuai-wang? A sudden flash of insight struck Chu Jiubian, and he instantly understood a few things.

He reached Qin Xiao and sat down in the seat next to him.

“So Ning-wang does understand,” Xiao Ruohan said with a smile. “Then the person sitting there…..”

“Is me,” Chu Jiubian said, his clear, cold voice standing out distinctly in the already quiet hall.

Xiao Ruohan was startled, and looked to the side at the previously empty seat. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she froze in place.

The eyes of everyone else in the hall were also fixed on Chu Jiubian, their expressions filled with shock.

Only the Situ siblings, sitting behind their parents, lit up at the sight. They craned their necks to look at Chu Jiubian, and their eyes filled with excitement and awe when they glimpsed his appearance.

This was the Divine Lord, ah!

His presence was so powerful! And he was so handsome!

No wonder the High Priest was so devoted to him, even to the point of following him down to the mortal world!

The others, however, did not share their excitement. Each one of them was terrified, their limbs going ice-cold.

When had Chu Jiubian appeared?

Why had nobody noticed?

Upon seeing Chu Jiubian’s attire, the first and second-rank officials instantly felt as if they had been transported back to the day of the coronation ceremony.

At long last, they finally remembered that Grand Tutor Chu, who had been working alongside them for so long, was actually a god!

The hall was eerily silent. The vassal kings stared fixedly at Chu Jiubian, their hearts roiling with indescribable turmoil.

This was a god.

They had only heard of his reputation, and now that they had finally laid eyes on him, they realized that the rumors had not done him justice.

Chu Jiubian disregarded the reactions of everyone around him. Reaching out, he took Qin Xiao’s cup and plucked the spider out of it.

Bai Liyu’s pupils quivered slightly, but his face revealed nothing.

The others in the hall, knowing that they would be meeting the Nanjiang Saintess, had educated themselves somewhat on the topic of gu.

Now, upon seeing this, they all turned their gazes toward Situ Anli.

However, the Nanjiang royals didn’t react at all, maintaining their composed demeanors.

“Troubling the Saintess,” said Chu Jiubian. He took a small lighter that could be concealed in his palm out of System Storage, then lit it.

With a crackle, the flame burned the spider to ashes.

He put the lighter away, leaving everyone even more astonished when they saw a flame appear out of thin air at his fingertips. And what shocked them even more was that Chu Jiubian was able to detect even such miniscule gu.

Situ Anli actually hadn’t detected them either, but she knew that this gu master was highly skilled to have even been able to deceive her snake. But Chu Jiubian’s ability to detect gu was even more formidable. Upon receiving the request, she gave a soft “Yes,” and the little green snake in her hair slithered out. It licked the fingernail on her little finger, then moved quickly around the hall to swallow the remaining five gu.

Bai Liyu, however, was not watching the snake. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Chu Jiubian and smiled silently, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

This was an overwhelming show of force.

“Please keep a closer eye on your belongings,” Chu Jiubian said in a soft voice. His gaze never settled on any one person, just like those deities enshrined in the temples.

He said nothing more.

Qin Xiao then said: “Your Majesty, let’s commence the banquet.”

Bai Lihong gave a nod, and Hong Fu announced the start of the banquet.

The palace servants who had long been making preparations in the inner chambers immediately filed out, carrying trays laden with food and drink.

At the same time, a deafening roar erupted outside the palace.

Those at the banquet jolted to alertness, staring in shock at what was happening outside.

But when they turned back, they found that Chu Jiubian, Qin Xiao, and even the palace servants weren’t reacting at all.

“Those are fireworks,” Bai Lihong said with a toothy grin. “A gift from the Divine Lord to everyone.”

Chu Jiubian had taken Qin Xiao and Bai Lihong outside the capital a few days prior and found a place to set off some fireworks for them. Those serving the food inside the palace were also not the usual attendants, but QIn Xiao’s secret guards.

Everything was done secretly and precisely, so that it could all be demonstrated in front of the officials and vassal kings today as a reminder of Chu Jiubian’s divine status.

Everyone was initially in shock, but when Minister of Works Jian Hongzhuo was the first to get up and walk outside, the others came to their senses and followed him out.

Even Xiao Ruohan, who had lost her composure and clutched at her chest, pulled herself together and straightened her expression, then rose to leave the main hall.

When she caught sight of the scene outside, she was dumbfounded.

The sky was filled with fireworks, the dazzling bursts of light illuminating the night sky like a scene out of a storybook.

The officials couldn’t help but recall that assasination attempt, when Chu Jiubian had used similar bursts of sound to kill the assassins.

Then were these beautiful fireworks actually deadly weapons?

Perhaps it was just as well that the vassal kings were unaware of the previous incident involving Chu Jiubian.

But the loud bangs and the magnificent sight before them gave them a clear understanding of who Chu Jiubian actually was.

Did he not, in fact, have the right to sit in such a high position?

A long while later, when the fireworks were finished, everyone was still somewhat dazed, and waited a little longer before returning to the palace hall.

After such a display of power, even if any of them were as reckless and daring as Bai Liyu, they wouldn’t dare to do anything now.

With no further incidents, the food was served, and everyone clinked glasses and toasted one another.

They all maintained peaceful and friendly demeanors, as if they truly were one big family.

However, everyone’s gazes would occasionally fall upon Chu Jiubian.

Watching Chu Jiubian from a distance, Jiannan-wang Bai Lihai then glanced at Qin Xiao with an almost unconcealable malice in his eyes.

He drank cup after cup of wine, and before long, he was feeling rather inebriated.

Dingbei-wang revealed no signs of a guilty conscience after having his plot exposed. He continued to smile and drink in a composed manner, his subtle gaze sweeping across Chu Jiubian’s face intermittently.

A god?

Did this mean that whoever sat on the throne would be favored by the gods?

Chu Jiubian was no inexperienced child. He very much understood the looks he was receiving, but he didn’t pay them much attention.

He couldn’t control how these people looked at him, nor what filthy thoughts occupied their minds, but the day would come when these people would no longer have the opportunity to pry into his life.

Qin Xiao had not yet fully recovered, so he avoided drinking much alcohol, but for some reason, he still felt a little tipsy.

Seeing the way those people were staring at Chu Jiubian, he also felt irritable.

After only a shichen, the palace banquet came to an end.

The vassal kings departed one by one, and although there were still many palace attendants in the vast hall, it seemed much emptier than before.

The Imperial banquet and New Year’s festivities, which had been in the works for so long, were finally over.

The storm had passed.

After the fifteenth day of the month, these vassal kings would all be expected to depart and return to their respective fiefdoms.

Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao stood side by side under the eaves. The wind and snow blurred their vision, giving them only a faint glimpse of the figures receding into the distance, gradually becoming smaller until they vanished from sight.

The next time they met, it would likely be as enemies on the battlefield.

Historian Xun Xiuran gathered his book and walked out of the hall, stopping beside Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian to bid them farewell with a respectful bow.

Qin Xiao nodded and said: “Go ahead. Tomorrow, this lord will send someone to deliver your rewards.”

Xun Xiuran accepted this neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Historians earned very little. They were not allowed to associate freely with others, and certainly could not engage in business or form financial connections, lest bias be introduced into their historical records.

Therefore, he was unable to reveal any enthusiasm when offered a reward by Qin Xiao, and could only respond mildly.

After bidding farewell to the two lords, he turned and left.

However, the ground was somewhat slippery from the snowfall, and after taking only a few steps, he lost his balance, dropping the book in his arms.

After regaining his footing, he quickly bowed to his two superiors and apologized.

“It’s fine,” said Qin Xiao.

But for some reason, Chu Jiubian’s first reaction was to bend down and pick up the book.

Before returning it to Xun Xiuran, he casually glanced at its contents.

But with just one glance, he seemed to have been struck by lightning.

On the upturned page, the record read:  [Ning-wang Qin Xiao led his army to defeat a border kingdom in the Western Regions and was seriously injured. Grand Tutor Chu, using his remarkable medical skills, healed him in only three days.]

If he wasn’t mistaken, the version in the original work had read:  [Ning-wang Qin Xiao led his army to defeat a border kingdom in the Western Regions and was seriously injured. It took him three months to recover.]

Why was the content in the original text nearly identical to the description written by the official historian?

Was it a coincidence?

Was this the original setting?

Or perhaps, the book he read back then wasn’t a male protagonist novel, but a historical record, or perhaps Bai Lihong’s biography?

If that was the case, then had the world he transmigrated into been real from the very beginning?

“What’s wrong?” Qin Xiao’s voice snapped Chu Jiubian back to his senses.

He blinked, concealing the turmoil in his heart. Then he returned the book to Xun Xiuran and said: “Be more careful.”

Xun Xiuran had noticed his momentary lapse in composure, but didn’t question him about it. After giving them another formal bow, he left without further ado.

Chu Jiubian watched his retreating figure, the swirling snow unable to conceal his upright posture.

The world around him seemed to blur.

He suddenly wondered whether the things he had read in the original novel, along with the reviews of other readers, were real or fabrication.

He was aware of his poor mental state, and knew that he was perhaps only a step away from truly going insane. So was it possible that even back then, he was already having trouble distinguishing between illusion and reality?

Chu Jiubian as he existed now…..was he real or fake?

Could everything he was currently experiencing be merely a delusion?

Chu Jiubian unconsciously picked at his hand. A stinging sensation resulted, and he paused, lowering his head.

Qin Xiao, who had been observing him closely, followed his gaze. His expression froze when he saw the blood oozing under the other man’s fingernail, and he reached out to grasp his wrist, lifting it up.

A ringing sound echoed in Chu Jiubian’s ears, and the world before him seemed to distort. A sharp, piercing pang shot through his head.

It was nerve pain.

He couldn’t make out Qin Xiao’s expression clearly, nor could he hear his voice.

“Qin Xiao,” he said, but he couldn’t even hear himself.

“How can a person…..distingush between reality and illusion?” he asked.

The young man wore a bewildered expression, his eyes vacant.

Qin Xiao suddenly recalled what had happened before. This wasn’t the first time Chu Jiubian had hurt himself. But why did he do it?

“Chu Jiubian,” he called out, but the other person seemed to be completely deaf.

Qin Xiao’s expression grew even colder. Grasping the young man’s wrist, he strode into Fengtian Hall in just two steps.

The hall was completely empty.

Chu Jiubian stumbled, and before he could regain his balance, Qin Xiao pulled him into the shadows, where he pressed him back-first against a thick vermillion stone pillar.

In the next moment, the man’s strong body and scorching lips pressed against him.

Chu Jiubian blinked, and the ringing in his ears faded away.

The man’s distinctive scent hit his nose. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his jaw relaxed.

Sensing this change, Qin Xiao’s breathing became uneven and he pressed against him even harder, the veins on his arm bulging as he wrapped it around the young man’s waist.

With his other hand, he grabbed Chu Jiubian’s hands and pinned them above his head, giving him no chance to resist.

Chu Jiubian tilted his head back slightly. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his body trembled.

After some time, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his lip.

This was the only method Qin Xiao could think of to bring Chu Jiubian back to reality without causing him to suffer further side effects.

Chu Jiubian opened his eyes, his bewildered gaze meeting those deep, piercing eyes that were so close at hand. His vision gradually came back into focus.

The nerve pain seemed to have subsided somewhat, but the stinging sensation in his lip and the taste of blood in his mouth became more pronounced.

Qin Xiao released his grip on those rosy lips, but continued to hold him tightly in his arms, their noses almost touching.

“Look with your eyes, and touch with your hands.”

Qin Xiao pitched his voice low.

He took one of Chu Jiubian’s hands and placed it over his heart, saying: “What you feel in your heart is reality.”

A continuous heat leached into his skin, and his cold hand gradually warmed.

Chu Jiubian stared fixedly at the man for a long time, the rapid, powerful beating of his heart a constant reminder of how real all of this was.

Without knowing why, he suddenly licked his lips.

Qin Xiao lowered his gaze, and when he looked up again, his expression had become somewhat fierce.

Chu Jiubian’s eyelashes fluttered. He gently pushed the other man away, taking care not to touch his wound.

Then, he turned and quickly walked around the pillar toward the back hall.

At the same time, he said inwardly: “Scan him.”

[Although the patient moved around quite a lot, it did not affect the wound. Please rest assured.]

Chu Jiubian pursed his lips. They felt a little numb, and the bitten area still stung.

That dog.

He muttered a curse under his breath, then asked: “Do you have a higher dosage of the medication?”

[This System has only detected minor abnomalities in Host’s mental state. Excessive medication may harm the body, and is not recommended.]

Chu Jiubian was taken aback.

Only minor abnormalities?

Qin Xiao gazed after the young man’s retreating figure. He raised his hand to softly wipe away the moisture at the corners of his mouth, but didn’t actually touch his lips.

He closed his eyes, then took two deep breaths before opening them again and walking toward the back hall.

*

*
Outside the palace, the vassal kings said their farewells to each other, then boarded their carraiges and set off for their respective residences.

Bai Lizheng walked slowly, and Bai Lihao told his wife and children to return to the carriage first, while he also slowed his pace to walk alongside the the other vassal king. He knew that Bai Lizheng surely had questions for him.

As expected, once the other vassal kings around them had departed, Bai Lizheng stopped in his tracks. Gazing after the carriages in the distance, he asked: “When did you establish contact with the palace?”

“After arriving in the capital.” Bai Lihao wasn’t lying.

Although his children felt an extraordinary amount of closeness and trust for Chu Jiubian, he and Situ Anli had only established contact with him and Qin Xiao after helping to purge the gu from Cheng Shuo.

Or rather, they had established a business transaction.

They had proved that they harbored no ill will toward His Majesty and that they had not attacked Qin Xiao’s man, while Qin Xiao vowed not to attack Nanjiang.

It was a quiet transaction, which was beneficial for both parties.

As for whether they would cooperate or engage in other transactions in the future, Bai Lihao was not opposed to the idea.

“Some things are better not to get involved in.” Bai Lizheng turned his head to look at him, his expression as serious as ever. “It is possible to live well for a long time by remaining in your secluded corner of the world, minding your own business, and taking care of your own people.”

He was a mild-mannered, almost old-fashioned sort of person.

From beginning to end, all he desired was to live self-sufficiently on his own land and provide better lives for the common people in his territory. Developing the economy and building up his military forces was merely a means to protect himself and his people.

If possible, he would never want to send those thousands of Pingxi troops into battle.

Bai Lihao understood him, and could also emphasize with him.

He used to think the same way.

But ever since the drought, he was no longer able to hold that mindset.

As a vassal king of considerable power, there was no chance that he could remain aloof and insulated; he would inevitably be drawn into a conflict sooner or later. Only when the entire territory of Great Ning was truly stable and Imperial power was supreme could this unrest be thoroughly quelled.

Even Bai Lizheng, whether he wanted it or not, would be drawn into the chaos.

But Bai Lihao didn’t try to persuade him at this moment. He simply smiled and nodded, saying: “I understand.”

Bai Lizheng understood him equally well. At the realization that he had no intention of backing down, he could only let out a sigh and turn to go, leaving him only with the words: “Take care of yourself.”

Bai Lihao stood in place, watching his carriage trundle away.

It remained to be seen if, in the future, the two brothers would fight side by side or become bitter rivals.

“Husband.” The curtain of a nearby carriage was drawn up, and a woman’s gentle voice sounded from within.

Bai Lihao snapped out of his daze and looked toward her, only to see her retreat while two smaller faces appeared in her place.

He laughed softly, then went over and boarded the carriage.

With a family of four squeezed into the carriage, it actually felt nice and warm.

“A-Die,” Situ Zhaoling said, smiling as she held her mother’s arm. “Don’t worry, following the Grand Tutor is definitely the right thing to do.”

Situ Zhaoyao also nodded: “That’s right, A-Die, we just saw firsthand what Grand Tutor Chu is capable of. And there’s the High Priest too. With two gods on his side, His Majesty won’t lose.”

Bai Lihao raised a hand and tapped him gently between the eyebrows: “Don’t recklessly discuss government affairs outside of our home.”

Situ Zhaoyao just smiled and said: “Then how about we discuss the young Emperor? That little one is so cute and clever.”

“He really is!” Situ Zhaoling’s eyes lit up. “His cheeks look so soft. I wonder how it would feel to pinch them.”

“You two,” Situ Anli said helplessly. “We’ve really spoiled you both.”

Despite her words, her eyes were full of affection and indulgence.

She knew her children well. Even though they were lively and immature at home, they were very well-behaved and sensible outside of it, so she wasn’t worried at all.

The carriage moved farther and farther away, eventually vanishing into the snowstorm.

Before long, the wind subsided a bit even as the snow came down harder.

*

*

In the main hall of Dingbei-wang’s residence, Bai Liyu reclined on a couch in scarlet inner garments. The fire in the brazier beside him burned brightly.

He toyed with a small porcelain bottle in his hand about half the size of his palm, which contained a transparent spider.

Vessels twisted throughout its clear body, carrying streams of blood.

Another person sat in a nearby chair, completely shrouded in a black robe, with their face concealed.

The black-robed figure was the first to break the long silence, speaking in a voice that was not immediately identifiable as male or female: “Your Highness, there are still two surviving gu left. They may be of some use.”

There was a smile on Bai Liyu’s lips, and his expression was relaxed.

Upon hearing this, he closed the lid of the porcelain jar and casually tossed it to the black-robed person.

The other party quickly caught it. Gloves covered their hands, leaving absolutely no skin exposed.

“Your skills are far inferior to those of Situ Anli,” Bai Liyu said, slow and soft.

The black-robed person tightened their grip on the jar and said in a low voice: “It was this subordinate’s mistake. Next time……”

“Next time?” Bai Liyu tilted his head and regarded them with a smile. “Next time, you’ll be defeated even more soundly.”

The black-robed person lowered their head and said nothing.

Bai Liyu looked away and said mildly: “Leave.”

After a brief pause, the black-robed person rose, then turned and left the room.

At the same time, another person emerged from the inner chambers. This person was clothed in light red gauze, with a slender waist and long hair that flowed down their back. Their face appeared to be that of a man, but when they spoke, their voice was soft and melodious.

“Your Highness, this one is here to serve you.” The man walked to the side of the bed and slowly sat down.

Bai Liyu regarded him with a smile. As he drew closer, he gently stroked that smooth, long black hair, even as his eyes held a deep, thoughtful expression.

Before, he had preferred this long black hair, but now he seemed to favor silvery-white.

With a slight wave of his hand, the lights in the room dimmed to create an intimate atmosphere.

*

*

Inside the palace.

Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao were currently in the main room of Yangxin Hall, as they intended to stay up all night with the child to celebrate the New Year.

Bai Lihong sat at the table, cradling his little face in his hands and swinging his short legs back and forth. As time passed, his eyes became unfocused and his little head began to sway.

He was clearly very sleepy.

However, this was a custom in Great Ning, and when the late Empress was still alive, she would celebrate the New Year with the child in such a way.

Bai Lihong remembered the previous New Year, and recalled his mother saying that children should stay up late on New Year’s Eve to ensure a safe and peaceful year ahead.

So despite feeling somewhat hazy from exhaustion, he continued to persevere.

Qin Xiao was an injured patient, and Chu Jiubian wanted him to rest, but he insisted that he wasn’t tired and wanted to stay.

Meanwhile, Hong Fu, Xiao Xiangzi, Xiao Yuzi, and the other palace servants were outside, casually chatting around two large round tables and showing no signs of being tired.

Chu Jiubian watched the child yawn, and his own resulting yawn brought moisture to his eyes.

Qin Xiao turned his head to look at him. His gaze automatically swept across the nearly invisible wound on his lip, and his throat bobbed.

Chu Jiubian glanced at him and said: “Are you not tired?”

Qin Xiao looked away: “No.”

Chu Jiubian used the System to check the time and saw that there were still two hours until midnight.

This wasn’t sustainable.

He considered it for a moment, and realized that he didn’t really know what to do during a New Year’s Eve vigil.

During previous years, he was always at some sort of gala venue.

Before entering the entertainment circle, he would always spend the New Year at home by himself or at the shop where he worked, alone as always.

And his memories of the New Year during his childhood were all filled with arguments, the stench of alcohol, and crying.

Back then, he had loved the sound of fireworks exploding outside; the windows and the entire old, dilapidated building would shake, drowning out the sounds in the living room and allowing his tense body to relax.

“System, what do normal people do for the New Year?” Chu Jiubian asked.

[Host, according to the statistics, many people eat dumplings, watch TV, play cards, and give out red envelopes…..]

The System gave many more examples before Chu Jiubian snapped back to reality.

“Give me three decks of playing cards,” he said.

Everyone currently in the palace were trusted individuals, and they all believed in Chu Jiubian’s divine identity, so he had no compunctions about revealing another “miracle” in front of them.

Thus, he directly took out three decks of playing cards.

Upon seeing this, the sleepy child immediately woke up.

“Xiansheng, what are those?” He stared curiously at the boxes of playing cards.

Chu Jiubian said with a smile: “Something fun.”

“Wow,” the child said with wide eyes.

Chu Jiubian called Xiao Xiangzi and Xiao Yuzi inside and gave them two of the decks, teaching them a simple game to play.

Such a game could be taught to children, so there was no need to call for Hong Fu himself.

After hearing the rules, the two young eunuchs nodded repeatedly to demonstrate their understanding, then quickly returned to the outer room.

When Chu Jiubian heard them explaining the rules to the others, he looked at Qin Xiao and Bai Lihong and said: “Let’s play a game that’s different from theirs.”

Since there were three of them, they naturally played “Fight the Landlord.”

But this being Great Ning, “Fight the Landlord” naturally became “Fight the Noble Family.” Upon hearing this, Bai Lihong said with a pout: “Xiansheng, I don’t want to be part of a noble family, and neither do you.”

Qin Xiao chuckled: “That’s just what it’s called.”

“It doesn’t sound good,” Bai Lihong said with a hmph.

“What’s wrong with it?” Qin Xiao said deliberately, “Our Qin family is also considered a noble family.”

“That’s different.” Bai Lihong refuted earnestly. “The Qin family is good and the noble families are bad.”

Qin Xiao hesitated.

Chu Jiubian looked at Bai Lihong, feeling somewhat touched.

As expected of the protagonist who would eventually overthrow the noble families. He possessed such wisdom at such a young age.

Perhaps the child didn’t yet understand the meaning of his words, but he had already instinctively begun to dislike the existence of these powerful families, and also held no good feelings toward those powerful and influential figures.

Chu Jiubian suddenly remembered what had occurred after the palace banquet.

Every word and sentence of Xun Xiuran’s historical record involved this dynasty and the powerful officials in the Imperial Court, but it was unknown if there was any mention made of the common people.

As for why the historical record was the same as the original novel, Chu Jiubian had not investigated further.

Qin Xiao was right – since he was personally experiencing the reality of this world, there was no need to be constrained by the so-called “original story.”

And in any case, many things had changed since his arrival in this world.

Whether the original novel or the historical record, he was able to overwrite both the process and the ending of the story.

Chu Jiubian looked at Bai Lihong and said: “Then what does Your Majesty think it should be called?”

Bai Lihong thought for a moment, then said: “Let’s call it ‘Fight the Bully!’”

“Alright, ‘Fight the Bully’ it is.”

The child promptly wriggled his little feet and shoulders, giving him a shy smile.

Chu Jiubian smiled back and reached out to ruffle the child’s hair. But Qin Xiao unexpectedly reached out as well, and their hands met atop the child’s head.

All three of them froze.

Bai Lihong was the first to react. He moved his head around, rubbing it against the hands of the two adults with a giggle.

Without looking at Qin Xiao, Chu Jiubian calmly retracted his hand.

Qin Xiao, however, didn’t turn his eyes away from the other man.

The palace servants outside had already begun to play, and were making even more of a commotion than before.

The three people inside the room also commenced their game of “Fight the Bully.” Chu Jiubian took the part of the bully first, fearing that the other two wouldn’t understand the rules, which resulted in wins and losses on both sides.

Later on, Bai Lihong decided to take on the challenge and rushed to play the bully.

He was indeed a very intelligent child. Neither Chu Jiubian nor Qin Xiao held back, and both sides experienced victory and failure.

Time passed by unnoticed, and by the time they stopped, Qin Xiao had played the bully twice, only to be defeated both times by Chu Jiubian and Bai Lihong.

“Jiujiu lost again!” Bai Lihong clapped his hands in delight.

At the same time, the servants outside began to shout jubilantly: “Happy New Year!”

Hong Fu entered the inner chamber with a broad smile and said: “Your Majesty, My Lord, Young Master, it’s time. Let’s go out and set off fireworks.”

“Fireworks!” Bai Lihong happily jumped down from his stool.

Hong Fu helped him put on his outer garment and a thick cloak, and even flipped the hood of the cloak over his head before they left the inner hall together.

Chu Jiubian stood up as well and said: “Let’s go watch them too.”

“En.” Qin Xiao grabbed their two cloaks and handed one to Chu Jiubian.

The group went outside the palace, where more than a dozen fireworks Chu Jiubian had purchased from the System were already set up in the vast courtyard.

“Begin!” Bai Lihong shouted in a crisp voice.

“Yes,” several palace servants replied in unison, and those standing on either side lit the fuses with tinderboxes.

Two fireworks went off at once, exploding midair in a burst of brilliant sparks and creating a dreamlike spectacle.

In Cining Palace, the servants heard the sound and secretly peeked outside.

Empress Dowager Xiao Ruohan had already changed into her nightclothes. The sound startled her at first, and then her expression darkened.

There was no one who wouldn’t enjoy their first time seeing fireworks. She wanted to see them again, but at the thought that they were something Chu Jiubian had created to entertain the young Emperor, her mood soured.

“Mistress, shall we go out and take a look?” the matron asked softly. “What if a spark lands in our courtyard? Wouldn’t that cause an awful disaster? It’s better to go and keep an eye on things.”

This was just to provide her with an excuse.

Xiao Ruohan felt aggrieved, but as she listened to the noises outside, she still said: “Help me change my clothes.”

In another part of the palace, An Wuji and Qin Chaoyang stood side by side, watching the fireworks being set off near Yangxin Hall.

“Truly amazing!” An Wuji exclaimed.

Qin Chaoyang: “Indeed, but I wonder when fireworks will be able to be produced as weapons.”

“Weapons?” An Wuji’s eyebrows rose. “Are you referring to the loud blasts when the Young Master killed those assassins?”

“En,” said Qin Chaoyang. “Anything with the ability to hurt someone can be used as a weapon.”

In his opinion, the sound of the fireworks was similar to the blasts he heard that day, but the sound back then was still louder.

The fireworks were spectacular.

Little Bai Lihong stood in front of Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian’s legs, gazing upward with bright eyes.

He suddenly clasped his small hands in front of his chest and said with a sincere expression on his little face: “I hope my mother and grandparents can see these beautiful fireworks up in heaven.” 

He murmured this under his breath, and his voice was completely drowned out by the sound of the fireworks.

Chu Jiubian was also looking up at the innumerable sparks in the sky, their light intermittently illuminating his face.

Qin Xiao wasn’t watching the fireworks – he was looking solely at Chu Jiubian.

As the fireworks dwindled away, Chu Jiubian’s first year in Great Ning came to an end.

Only after the young Emperor had fallen asleep did Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian leave the hall.

When he saw Chu Jiubian preparing to leave the courtyard, Qin Xiao caught up to him in two steps and said: “Where are you going?”

“To Yaotai Residence,” Chu Jiubian said.

Qin Xiao grasped his wrist, and the two of them came to a stop.

Their eyes met, and Qin Xiao said: “Don’t leave, I won’t touch you.”

Chu Jiubian: “ ? ”

What did he mean by touch him?

Chu Jiubian actually didn’t want to go, but he thought that Qin Chuan might come to see Qin Xiao again because of the holiday, so it would be best for him to leave in order to avoid crashing the brothers’ reunion.

Seeing that Qin Xiao had no intention of letting him go, Chu Jiubian asked: “Isn’t there someone you need to wait for?”

“No,” said Qin Xiao. “You go back to the palace first. I’ll visit the Qin family compound and come back soon.”

As the elder brother, it was only right that he should go back and visit his younger sibling.

Chu Jiubian didn’t refuse: “Alright, but I’m going to sleep after I wash up. I won’t wait for you.”

“En.” Qin Xiao thought that the underfloor heating in the palace was a beautiful thing.

---

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Chapter 75 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 77

Ch. 99 – Vicious Dog

Feng Ye stopped beside the wooden house and tilted his head back, clearly meaning to drive away his passenger.

The crow flapped his wings to steady himself. Though he was unwilling, they had reached their destination, and he had no excuse to linger any longer on the dragon’s head.

So the crow first crouched low, then spread his wings wide and gave Feng Ye’s head one last reluctant pat before taking flight.

He flew into the wooden house, and before Feng Ye could follow him inside, Hao Chen stepped out.

The corners of his eyes were tilted up, victory written all over his face.

For he had finally fulfilled a small, personal wish.

Feng Ye was in human form and didn’t have dragon horns, and the crow was just an avatar rather than the real thing. But in spirit, Hao Chen had indeed been sitting next to Yinglong’s dragon horns.

He was probably the first person ever to do so. Given Yinglong’s reputation, no one would dare to approach him, let alone dare to climb up to his dragon horns.

But he dared.

Hao Chen couldn’t help but open his fan and give it a proud flutter.

Feng Ye keenly noticed that there was a small purple flower on this fan, the same one that had been in the crow’s feathers earlier.

It was unknown what method Hao Chen had used, but the flower had transformed into a painting on the fan, preserving it in perpetuity.

But although he noticed this, he didn’t call attention to it.

Hao Chen didn’t mention it either. He didn’t say a word about what had just happened, and simply asked in a perfunctory manner: “Has Fellow Daoist Feng Ye sobered up after wandering around for so long?”

I’ve been sober for a while now, Feng Ye thought. He had originally been a little tipsy, but the subtle provocation of the crow brushing his sensitive spot had shocked him back to sobriety.

Although he had ultimately accepted the crow’s wildflower as a compromise, he still couldn’t help but shudder when he recalled how those feathers had brushed against his inverse scale.

It had felt so strange. This was the first time someone other than himself had touched it, and Feng Ye didn’t want to bring it up again, lest he have to keep reliving that feeling.

So he nodded, deciding to just change the subject. He glanced into the room, and when he saw no sign of Fang Yang and his friend, he asked: “Where’d they go?”

“They’re playing with the dog behind the house,” said Hao Chen.

No sooner had Hao Chen finished speaking than a beastly howl and two shouts of surprise sounded from behind the house.

The two exchanged a glance, then tacitly made their way toward the back.

Turning the corner, they caught sight of a large brown-grey dog. The rope around its neck pulled taut as it lunged with all its might, baring its fangs as if determined to rip into the two boys in front of it.

Shaken to their cores, Fang Yang and Cao Zirui clutched their chests in fright.

“What’s going on?” Feng Ye asked, surveying the scene.

Only when he spoke did Fang Yang notice their arrival. He took a moment to catch his breath. Then, still shaken, he explained the situation to Feng Ye: “I was just feeding it the leftover rabbit, but it wouldn’t eat it when I offered the bones to it. I tried to put a bone near its mouth, and it suddenly lunged and startled me.”

Cao Zirui nodded in agreement. The incident was just as Fang Yang had described it. If the dog hadn’t been leashed, it would have bitten off Fang Yang’s hand when it suddenly attacked.

When he heard this, Feng Ye turned his head to regard the big dog that was still struggling to lunge forward. It was likely a hybrid between a dog and a wolf, and was therefore bigger and fiercer than a domestic dog, with a bloodthirsty gleam in its eyes.

And near the big dog were a few scattered rabbit bones with scraps of meat still attached. This dog, however, ignored them. It observed Feng Ye and the other three, but ultimately settled its gaze back on Fang Yang and Cao Zirui. 

The look on its face was like that of a wild beast locking onto prey. In stark contrast to the human principle of giving way to the elderly, the young, the ill, and the disabled, beasts regarded these four types as their ideal prey.

Compared to Feng Ye and Hao Chen, who were both tall adults, these two teenagers would obviously be easier to hunt.

And fresh flesh and blood tasted much better than roasted rabbit bones. Unable to break free of its leash, the big dog could only lick its chops, dribbling foul-smelling saliva as it growled deep in its throat.

This dog has probably killed people before, thought Feng Ye.

An ordinary hunting dog wouldn’t target humans. But this dog was different, openly displaying its intention to attack Fang Yang and Cao Zirui them moment it had the opportunity.

But it made sense that wicked people would raise a wicked dog. Its owners were bandits who killed and robbed, and this dog had likely helped its owners commit many crimes.

Feng Ye didn’t mention this, and only said: “If it won’t eat, then so be it. Let’s pack up and get ready to leave.”

“Okay,” Fang Yang replied. As he was about to go back to the house and gather his things, he cast one last look toward the big dog, only to find that its beastly eyes were fixed on him.

The rope tightened again as the dog opened its jaws to reveal sharp fangs, barking repeatedly at Fang Yang.

Fang Yang was once again given a fright. Most of the dogs he encountered in his hometown were gentle and friendly, and unlike this fierce creature, he could pet them freely.

He didn’t realize that this was no ordinary domestic dog, nor did he understand that in the eyes of this big dog, he was nothing more than prey.

But he also abandoned any thought of befriending it. He grabbed Cao Zirui, then took off running into the house without looking back.

But the escape of its prey only fueled the dog’s aggression, and it struggled more and more violently, trying to break free of the rope around its neck.

As it pulled, the wooden stake anchoring the rope to the ground began to loosen.

Feng Ye suddenly sent it a casual glance.

To a wild beast, eye contact was a provocation.

But while this vicious dog had attacked Fang Yang when he looked at it before, at this moment, it stopped barking and lay down obediently on the ground with its tail tucked.

It also retracted its fangs, behaving itself well.

Feng Ye then turned and left with Hao Chen following behind him. But before leaving, Hao Chen cast one last look back at the big dog, which was now curled up on the ground and even trembling slightly with fear, showing no hint of its former ferocity.

It seemed that even vicious dogs feared vicious dragons.

Although this dragon only appeared vicious on the surface – a little secret that only Hao Chen knew.

The two made their way back to the house. When Fang Yang and the others were ready to set off, Wang Wu and Zhao Yi had not yet returned from the riverbank. 

The wooden house these two lived in was anything but tidy. Leftover dishes were piled up and attracting flies with no one bothering to wash them, and all sorts of trash was scattered throughout the house.

They had originally come to ask for directions, but ended up receiving a free roasted rabbit instead. Fang Yang felt a little embarrassed, and took the initiative to suggest that everyone help Wang Wu and Zhao Yi clean up as a way of repaying them.

This was good way to express their gratitude. It was just that…..Feng Ye glanced at the embroidery needles and thread, as well as the cloth tiger he had noticed upon first entering the room.

There was an unfinished pattern on the embroidered cloth, red flowers that were often favored by women. If someone told him that those burly bandits were skilled embroiderers, Feng Ye wouldn’t believe it.

The cloth tiger was clearly a child’s toy. Wang Wu and Zhao Yi were bandits who had fled to the mountains to evade government soldiers, so where did a child come into the picture?

This wooden house likely didn’t belong to the two of them. They had simply taken it as their own. And as for the original owners of the house, judging by the amount of dust collected on the cloth tiger, they had probably already met with misfortune.

It seemed that these two bandits had committed no shortage of heinous acts, and treating them to roasted rabbit was not done out of the kindness of their hearts.

But Feng Ye didn’t intend to reveal everything yet, and would even allow the bandits to lead them along. The man-eating monster in the ruins Wang Wu had mentioned might be related to his true purpose for this trip. Thus, he agreed with Fang Yang’s suggestion to help with the cleaning.

Of the four of them, three could be said to have some experience with cleaning. While Hao Chen had never done such things previously, even if he hadn’t picked up anything else during his days at Lingxiao Sword Sect, he had certainly mastered the art of sweeping the floor.

Cao Zirui was the only one without sufficient skills. He had been a young master at home, and a favored personal disciple within the sect. Pampered wherever he went, he had naturally never done such rough work.

But he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty, and simply imitated Fang Yang. Working together, the four of them made quick work of tidying up.

Wang Wu and Zhao Yi took their time coming back, and when they arrived, they were met with a completely renovated house.

Feigning politeness, Wang Wu offered perfunctory words of thanks to Feng Ye and his group. Then, unable to conceal his impatience, he eagerly put forth a suggestion: “It’s getting late, so let’s set off shortly.”

Although his eagerness stemmed from his desire to get Feng Ye and the others to the ruins as soon as possible, this suited Feng Ye’s plans perfectly, and he gave a cooperative nod.

Wang Wu was secretly delighted. He ran off to change his clothes, which had been soaked by river water, then grabbed a dead rabbit and threw it to the big dog behind the house.

This dog wouldn’t eat the roasted rabbit bones Fang Yang offered it, but it immediately devoured the still bloody rabbit corpse.

Its sharp teeth ripped open the rabbit’s belly, and blood smeared across its nose and mouth as it feasted.

Fang Yang glanced at it once, and dared not look again. Eating roasted rabbit was one thing, but seeing the bloody internal organs being pulled directly from the rabbit’s body was another.

After changing his clothes and feeding the dog, Wang Wu waved his hand and set off with Zhao Yi and the others in tow.

The mountain path was rugged, but traversing it didn’t pose a challenge to their group. Wang Wu and Zhao Yi, these two mountain bandits, had grown accustomed to a life of hiding in the mountains and were very familiar with its paths.

Feng Ye and his group all had a foundation in spiritual cultivation, so maintaining their balance on the mountain paths was not difficult for them.

So they moved forward at a fast pace, even laughing and chatting as they went. It all looked very harmonious.

“By the way, Wang-xiong, what type of breed is your dog? It’s so fierce, ah.” As they were talking, Fang Yang recalled the big dog that had given him such a fright, and couldn’t help but ask about it.

“Oh, that thing? Hehe.” Wang Wu stroked his beard, saying with some pride: “That’s a wolfhound, a mix of a wolf and the mongrel dogs that live in the mountains. It is indeed very ferocious. When it was only eight months old, not yet an adult, it had already killed …..”

He abruptly cut himself off, as if he had realized that he shouldn’t speak the next words on his tongue.

Feng Ye glanced at Wang Wu.

“What did it kill?” Asked the perpetually oblivious Fang Yang.

Wang Wu paused briefly before replying: “It…..it killed the neighbor’s chicken.”

That’s clearly not what you were going to say, thought Feng Ye.

Although Fang Yang hadn’t realized this, he did sense that something was wrong.

Wang Wu had been speaking with great pride before, and what was there to be proud of about a pet dog killing the neighbor’s chicken? Where he came from, such a vicious dog would be severely beaten by its owner.

---

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Chapter 98 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 100

Ch 30 – No Love, No Hate

Tau hugged his little dinosaur as he walked past the sofa where Yu Xi and Kersz were sitting side by side, and glanced toward the two before looking away.

A while later, he walked past again with the little dinosaur still in his arms. Tau glanced at Yu Xi and Kersz again: “Are you two trying to hold hands?”

“Ah?!” Yu Xi was startled, and Kersz fixed Tau with a glare.

“Just now, you were awkwardly moving your hands closer to each other. I’ve walked back and forth so many times, yet you’re still being so hesitant.” Tau didn’t understand.

But he did understand one thing: “Are you two in a relationship?”

“Of course not, we’re friends,” said Yu Xi.

Yu Xi was somewhat eager to experience that legendary romance, and naturally, it would be even better if it was Kersz sharing that experience with him.

But Yu Xi was a little afraid. Or rather, terrified.

Dating your friend was not a good choice, because romantic love and friendship were two different things, and it was even possible to lose that friendship in the end. Yu Xi only had one good human, and that was Kersz. He didn’t want to lose him.

“Friends?” Tau looked down at the little dinosaur in his arms waving its forelimbs, and couldn’t bring himself to say the rest.

He felt that Yu Xi and Kersz were the type of friends whose relationship was not completely platonic. Those kinds of messy, chaotic friends would fool around behind each other’s backs and then pretend like it didn’t happen.

Tau had only encountered these types of “friends” on certain special missions.

Had they slept together last time? Perhaps.

Wasn’t that sort of thing unpleasant? To prove their affection, they participated in such an unenjoyable exercise that wasn’t pleasurable at all between two humans.

It was said that doing that with an android was the ultimate pleasure.

As he pondered this, Tau felt that something was amiss. Thinking about it carefully, he realized that he had forgotten that Yu Xi was a robot, not a human.

Oh! No wonder Kersz sold his body so readily. It turned out that he was being pleasured by Yu Xi.

As expected of a degenerate space pirate.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kersz asked Tau.

Tau turned his head away: “I’m not.”

“No? Your forehead was all scrunched up one moment, then relaxed in the next. You’ve been thinking about me behind my back quite a lot, eh?” Kersz didn’t believe that he had no thoughts about him.

Tau feigned ignorance and left while feeding the little dinosaur.

“He’s really presumptuous, ah,” Kersz said. “One day, he’ll know what it feels like too.”

“Mm.” Yu Xi didn’t hear what Kersz was saying at all. He wanted to hold Kersz’s hand, but he kept reaching out and pulling his hand back, not sure how to go about it.

Kersz noticed this, of course, and wanted to firmly grasp Yu Xi’s hand and put an end to his hesitation and unease.

But he didn’t dare.

He wasn’t sure what he actually felt for Yu Xi. He…..he seemed to be dreaming about Yu Xi far too often.

But wouldn’t things go wrong if their relationship developed too quickly?

Besides, Yu Xi already had everything, so what more could Kersz give him?

Kersz was somewhat disheartened. He worried that something bad might happen if he and Yu Xi got together impulsively. If the two of them never spoke to each other again, he would truly have no friends left.

They were both excited to take things a step further, but afraid that any further changes would destroy what they already had.

What they had at the moment was too perfect.

Yu Xi felt incredibly happy, yet incredibly discontent.

How could such contradictory emotions exist within him at the same time?

Was there a problem with his emotion module?

Yu Xi and Kersz were unable to resolve their physical intimacy issue for the time being, but they soon discovered that Tau seemed be dealing with an issue of his own. 

Curtis introduced them to a new friend – a man about the same age as the Supreme Governor.

Tau recognized this person. He was another Illegitimate.

This man was the illegitimate child of Curtis’s grandfather, but he hadn’t participated in missions. He had been taken in by another of Curtis’s relatives who’d lost a child, and the adoption took place before he even began to carry out his assigned work.

This was an extraordinary fate. A man who went from being an illegitimate child to becoming a citizen with a name and a surname.

The guy was also very annoying.

This wasn’t Tau’s first time meeting him.

“Why do I feel that there’s an aura of lifelessness around you? It’s very familiar.” The man asked with some confusion, taking a seat next to Tau.

Curtis explained to the man: “Don’t say anything more. He’s a single father.”

Tau remained silent.

“Oh, your family experienced a tragedy?” The man understood, and quite naturally placed an arm around Tau’s shoulders. “Friend, I empathize with you. I’ve lost a lot too. But you have a child, so you need to be more positive.”

This comforting technique was very odd. Even Yu Xi found it strange.

“It will take some time to get back on my feet. I hope I can get through this.” Tau hadn’t forgotten the role he was playing.

“But the more depressed you are, the worse your situation will become,” said the man.

Yu Xi tugged at Kersz’s sleeve when he heard this, and asked once Kersz lowered his head toward him: “Why do I feel like he has an intellectual disability?”

Kersz’s eyes widened. He thought so too, but he never expected to hear those words from Yu Xi’s mouth.

“Offering comfort to a stranger is a very risky thing to do,” said Yu Xi. “After all, you don’t know what kind of person they are, much less what they’ve been through, so randomly offering comfort can lead to disaster.”

Kersz nodded: “That’s true.”

“Uncle Fusya, stop babbling about positivity all the time.” Curtis rolled his eyes.

Fusya had always been like this, always talking about “positive energy” and telling people to think more optimistically.

Curtis and Fusya were very familiar with one another, all because Fusya had discovered the resentment in Curtis’s heart.

Fusya often went to Curtis’s side to take care of him, but he also kept his “positive energy” in mind all day long.

Fusya was very worried upon learning that Curtis had made three new friends. He felt that the type of friends Curtis tended to make were all the bad sort, fairweather friends who only knew how to lead this kid astray.

He was even more dissatisfied when he laid eyes upon the lifeless Tau.

He was just like those “Illegitimates.”

Fusya had also been an Illegitimate, so he was very familiar with the deathly aura that emanated from these individuals.

Fusya initially thought that these people intended to harm Curtis, but realized that this wasn’t the case when he saw Kersz and Yu Xi.

Kersz and Yu Xi didn’t carry that deathly aura that repulsed him, and were both very vibrant.

When Yu Xi first saw Fusya, his eyes glimmered, and he seemed to really want the man to touch him.

This sort of inner longing was something that Illegitimates lacked.

Could it be said that Tau had fallen to such a state after losing his wife?

With this in mind, Fusya extended a private invitation to Tau, wanting to help him overcome his grief.

“My god.” Kersz couldn’t take it anymore. He took exception to Fusya spending time with his friend, but there was nothing he could do to stop him. “Where do you plan to take him? To the Philanthropic Museum?”

“No one can discover a reason to live in a place like that!” Curtis said, “What he needs is the numbness of alcohol. It won’t do any good to stare at some rich lord’s philanthropic donations.”

“You’re being ridiculous. I find meaning in such things. Have you forgotten what I used to be?” Fusya asked Curtis.

Curtis fell silent.

Fusya proceeded to ask Tau again, though his invitation was now bordering on aggressive.

“Can I come along?” Yu Xi was very interested in Fusya’s plans.

“I’m sorry, baby, but this is your uncle’s healing journey.” Fusya reached out and patted Yu Xi’s head.

Yu Xi nuzzled against Fusya’s palm.

But unlike other humans on this first-class planet, who would exclaim in appreciation at the child’s affectionate gesture, he simply maintained his smile and withdrew his hand.

This left Yu Xi, who was trying to act cute, at a bit of a loss.

At this point, shouldn’t Fusya say something akin to “this child is so cute” and continue to stroke him, or even ask Kersz if he could hold the child?

Even that little scoundrel Curtis would react like this, ah.

Yu Xi felt as if he had been brushed off.

Fuysa proceeded to invite Tau again.

Tau had no other choice. He accepted the invitation.

That very evening, Fusya compiled all of the details of their conversation and sent them to the Supreme Governor.

“You suspect that this man named ‘Kaye’ is an Illegitimate?” the Supreme Governor said over the call.

“Yes, he has a repulsive, lifeless aura around him.” Fusya nodded.

“Do the other two not seem like Illegitimates?” the Supreme Governor asked.

“They do not. The older one is always staring at the younger one, who seems curious about everything,” Fusya said.

“Give me some time. An Illegitimate wouldn’’t care about a so-called ‘child.’ No matter how good his acting is, there will always be flaws,” Fusya said.

“If there are any problems, inform me at once,” said the Supreme Governor.

Fusya nodded in agreement, then reminded the Supreme Governor: “Don’t frown so much all the time.”

The Supreme Governor: “Hm?”

“Dwelling on too many unhappy things will shorten your lifespan. You should be more positive and optimistic,” Fusya advised. “You need to expose yourself to more positive things. Although I’m trying to test Kaye, visiting the Philanthropic Museum can definitely instill positivity in people. Shall I take pictures for you?”

The Supreme Governor remained silent.

“Being the Supreme Governor must be exhausting, so you need to adjust your mood. Uncle and Auntie certainly hoped that you would grow into a positive and optimistic child,” Fusya continued.

The Supreme Governor: “There is a reason for my unhappiness.”

“No matter the reason, you should smile when it’s time to smile,” said Fusya. “I have a few books on ‘maintaining happiness,’ which are very well-written. You can take a look when you have some free time, and I’ll discuss them with you later.”

The Supreme Governor: “A robot wants to kidnap me and make me a breeding stud.”

Fusya: …..

Fusya: “Ah?”

“This message was sent by my illegitimate child.” The Supreme Governor took a sip of tea, his face expressionless. “Should I really smile? If I’m captured and used as a breeding stud, should I still smile?”

Fusya’s mind was unable to process this information.

“I can’t imagine the horrific treatment I’ll face, but I’ll smile when it happens. Thank you for your advice, Cousin.” The Supreme Governor then hung up the call.

Fusya was still unable to react.

He sent a message to the Supreme Governor’s wife, asking her if she was aware of this matter.

The Supreme Governor would never tell such a lame, over-the-top joke.

The High Lord was quick to reply: [It’s true, hahaha.]

Fusya: ……

What was there to laugh about, ah?

When Fusya fell asleep, he was still consumed by worry for his cousin.

He even dreamed of the Supreme Governor being locked up in a cage.

He didn’t sleep well that night. Upon waking, he found that he looked somewhat unwell, with a puffy face and dark circles under his eyes.

Fusya lay in a medical pod for a while, then patted his cheeks and gave himself a standard smile in the mirror.

He looked up at the window, where sunlight filtered through the semi-transparent curtains and fell on the vase below, which held flowers in full bloom.

Such beautiful flowers were a rare find in interstellar space. Fusya had the system spray some water on them, pretending it was dew.

Now, they looked even more perfect.

Fuysa then lifted his shirt in front of the mirror, showing off his well-developed muscles.

He was always very self-disciplined.

This was what a positive, normal life should look like.

Today was a beautiful, perfect day, marred only by that man he suspected of being an Illegitimate.

If not for having to test that man, Fusya’s day would be even happier.

Thinking of this, Fusya reached up and patted his face again.

Wrong, wrong, how could he think like that? That wasn’t positive at all!

Right, he was doing this for his nephew! He had to make sure there were no problems with his nephew’s friend.

Fusya changed his clothes and headed to the meeting spot.

Tau arrived early.

Kersz and Yu Xi didn’t restrict him in any way. Yu Xi only said that if he was exposed, he would make Tau deliver food to his breeding stud father, so that he could witness his pathetic state firsthand.

Sitting at the entrance of the museum, Tau looked more lifeless than ever.

This wasn’t due to Yu Xi’s threats. He was already used to those. But when he went out today, the little dinosaur had called him “Daddy” in a childish voice.

And suddenly, Tau didn’t want to go out anymore. He wanted to stay with the little dinosaur. This was the first time he had been called “Daddy.”

But it was not to be. Kersz and Yu Xi repeatedly urged him to hurry up and leave.

Tau wasn’t sure if the food he’d made would be enough for the little dinosaur. His skills had yet to improve, and the food he made wasn’t refined enough. He wanted the little dinosaur to eat more delicious food.

He wanted to keep hearing it call him “Daddy.”

“You’re here so early?” Fusya greeted Tau.

Tau stared at him, then replied listlessly: “Yeah.”

After that, Tau followed Fusya around for a stroll. During their conversation, Tau came to the realization that Fusya harbored suspicions about him and was probing for information.

As for why he was probing for information…..his father probably had his eye on him.

Tau had always been aware that Fusya had a good relationship with the Supreme Governor. Fusya could even be considered Tau’s teacher, as he had taught him some of his concealment skills.

Tau had never doubted Fusya’s acumen, and was aware of how difficult he was to deal with. Once Fusya suspected him, he would utilize every means to learn everything about him.

In other words, it would be a long while before he could accompany the little dinosaur again. He had to go out and deal with Fusya.

Tau was a little frustrated.

Especially after visiting the museum. Yu Xi even gave him a call because the little dinosaur missed him.

The little dinosaur only knew the word “daddy” at the moment, and could only convey its emotions through this one word.

Tau had the illusion that his heart was being gripped by the little dinosaur’s claws, and he yearned to go back and see it.

This reaction of his surprised Fusya.

He sensed resentment from Tau, but an Illegitimate wouldn’t harbor such an emotion.

Could it be that he had misjudged the situation?

No, it was better to test him a little more just to be on the safe side.

He arranged to meet Tau again the next day, feeling that Tau disliked him even more now.

When Tau got home, he found Yu Xi and Kersz playing the hand-holding game again, very close but still not touching.

They sat side by side on the sofa, heads turned away from each other.

Kersz’s trembling hand was hovering over Yu Xi’s, as if something was wrong with his nerves.

Tau strode forward.

“Ya~ You’re back! The dinosaur missed you a lot!” Yu Xi said with a smile.

Tau slapped Kersz’s hand, forcing it to touch Yu Xi’s.

“Ya ya ya!” Yu Xi exclaimed in surprise.

“What are you doing?!” Kersz demanded.

“When you threatened me before, didn’t you say you were going to capture my father and use him as a breeding stud?” Tau asked Yu Xi.

Yu Xi was still making ‘ya ya ya’ sounds, and nodded as he made them.

“Where are you going to lock him up? Do you have a plan?” Tau asked.

Yu Xi: “Ah?”

“Oh! I’ve prepared a very well-protected room for him…..well, to be precise, it should be called a prison,” Yu Xi explained. “But I’ve arranged some really cute decorations for it in hopes that he can live very happily there for the rest of his life.”

Tau: “Do you have a photo of it?”

Yu Xi: “I can get one.” He could have the planet’s surveillance system take it.

“I want a copy,” said Tau.

Yu Xi didn’t understand: “What do you need a photo for? Are you going to secretly analyze the prison for escape routes?”

“He won’t be able to escape. No matter what you try, none of you will be able to escape the planet by any means.” Yu Xi shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know why, but I want my father to see the photo too,” said Tau. “This might be his future home.”

Yu Xi: “Ah?”

Kersz: “Hiss!”

“You can watch while I send the message,” said Tau.

Yu Xi and Kersz exchanged a glance.

Yu Xi: “Is this okay? Why do I feel like he’s acting really strange?”

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Kersz decided to watch the spectacle: “Let him give it a try?”

Yu Xi was still somewhat uneasy, but he chose to trust Kersz’s judgment.

Yu Xi took a picture using the surveillance system, and then he and Kersz watched as Tau relayed the message.

The steps Tau took to send the message were complicated, but Yu Xi quickly discerned the pattern.

*

*

Fusya was reporting the interim results of his investigation to the Supreme Governor.

Tau indeed exhibited many negative emotions that Fusya couldn’t understand. He didn’t like those emotions, but he had to admit that the other’s behavior was somewhat unlike that of an Illegitimate.

“His expression was especially rich after he received a call, as if he was worried about someone,” Fusya said. “He really does seem to have a child.”

“So the lifeless aura he carries is truly due to the loss of his spouse?” the Supreme Governor asked.

“It’s unfortunate that they’re not members of the Interstellar Alliance, so we’re unable to investigate their backgrounds,” Fusya lamented.

Just as the Supreme Governor was about to speak again, a communication panel suddenly popped up.

[Lord Governor, another message from 152 has arrived! He even posted a photo!]

Fuysa noticed the shift in the Supreme Governor’s expression and asked him about it.

“That kidnapped 152 is contacting me again.” The Supreme Governor shared his screen so that Fusya could see it too.

152’s new message was still very perplexing. 

[They said that if I cause them any trouble or don’t obey them, they’ll kidnap Father and make him a breeding stud.]

[I’m trying to be obedient, but I keep running into trouble.]

This was followed by a photo that had been pieced together and reconstructed.

[This is the dwelling they prepared for Father. If I fail, this is where he will become a stud.]

[The environment is quite nice. Father can adapt to it.]

The Supreme Governor: …..

The Supreme Governor frowned: “Have I offended 152?” Why did he feel like the other party was threatening him?

Fusya: “Isn’t this blanket a little too pink?”

The Supreme Governor: “Fusya.”

Fusya: “Pardon me. I’ve missed the point, haven’t I?”

The Supreme Governor let out a heavy sigh.

Fusya continued: “Hey, look, there’s a framed photo of you sitting there.”

The Supreme Governor: …..

The Supreme Governor: “Fusya, if I’m captured, I will definitely recommend you to them.”

“You would let space pirates take away our entire family?” Fusya was shocked.

The Supreme Governor: “Just you. There are plenty of other family members.”

Fusya: “If I’m captured, I will implicate the entire family.”

The Supreme Governor fell silent.

Then he commended him: “Such ruthless methods.”

The Supreme Governor ended the call.

Not long after, his wife called him.

Before the High Lord could even open her mouth, she discovered that a family comedy movie was playing on the other end of the line.

“When did your tastes change?” the High Lord asked him.

“I just had a sudden longing to have an ordinary family. There’s too much backstabbing and infighting in ours.” The Supreme Governor’s expression was still as unaffected as ever.

*

*

“Do you hate your father?” Kersz asked Tau.

“I’ve never hated my father,” said Tau.

Yu Xi disagreed: “But if I hadn’t stopped you just now, you were even planning to splice the Supreme Governor’s image onto the prison photo as a demonstration.”

“Only to cause my father to feel a sense of crisis.” As he answered, Tau was preparing food for the little dinosaur, which was nuzzling against him.

The little dinosaur had missed Tau terribly, and wished it could be with him every moment.

But Tau had agreed to meet Fusya again tomorrow, so he would have to part ways with it again.

“I still want to splice my father’s photo in,” Tau said.

Kersz: “This is the definition of hatred.”

Tau: “No. I don’t have such feelings.”

---

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Chapter 29 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 31

Ch. 98 – Mountain Flower

“We brothers have stayed in the mountains for a while now. We initially came here to avoid the government troops, but now that the heat has died down, what are we still doing here?” 

“Isn’t it for the legendary treasure inside the ruins?!” Wang Wu slapped his thigh.

Zhao Yi nodded in agreement.

“But that place is too eerie. Of all the creatures we sent to scout ahead, which of them came back alive? In the end, they all became skeletons in that pit. Let me think…..”

Wang Wu stroked his messy, unkempt beard, which resembled overgrown weeds: “Staying here like this isn’t going to work. There is absolutely no way that the two of us can deal with that man-eating place. As wonderful as the treasure is, without the ability to take it, we can only stare at it helplessly.”

“But now this group of people has come to our doorstep, and they’re heading directly for the city ruins. They might also be searching for that treasure. We can’t deal with that thing, but these cultivators might just be able to.”

“But once they’ve dealt with it, won’t they make off with the treasure?” Zhao Yi interjected.

“Eh, it’s worth the gamble! We can’t just stay here forever, can we?” Wang Wu detailed his plan to Zhao Yi: “There are three possible outcomes if we take them to the ruins.”

He held up three fingers: “One, they’re eaten by that ghostly thing too. Two, they fight the monster to a standstill and both sides perish. Three, they return victorious.”

“If it’s the third outcome, we can forget about everything. We don’t have the ability to retrieve the treasure, nor do we have the ability to take them down. We’ll just have to accept our fate. But judging by how young they are, even if they are cultivators, they’re probably just greenhorns with limited proficiency. In my opinion, the third outcome has a very small probability of happening.”

Wang Wu’s analysis was very logical and insightful. Despite his rugged appearance, he was a meticulous soul. “If it’s the second outcome, we can look for an opportunity to snatch up the benefits while the snipe and the clam are fighting each other.” 

“Finally, if even they are incapable of fighting the thing in the ruins, we have even less of a chance. We’ll no longer need to sit idly by on this mountain of treasure with no way to get to it. But while we might not be able to take the treasure ourselves, we can take it from these cultivators.”

“We’ll loot the treasure from their corpses, hehe…..” At this point, Wang Wu couldn’t help but chuckle smugly over his flawless plan. “These cultivators must possess treasures that are impossible to find in the mortal world. If we take just one and sell it, we’ll be able to live a life of wealth and honor!”

“And to go even further, we might be able to use their magical treasures to enter the immortal realm!” Wang Wu spoke with great excitement.

As Zhao Yi listened to his words, his eyes brightened more and more. It made sense. Rather than waiting in vain for this treasure that could only be looked at but not held, it was better to take a gamble.

“So, how about it? Want to take a gamble with me?” asked Wang Wu.

“Damn it – I’ll take the gamble!” Zhao Yi growled fiercely.

“That’s right!” Wang Wu stepped onto the bank from the stream and hooked his arm around Zhao Yi’s neck, saying in a low voice: “This afternoon, we’ll behave ourselves and lead the way to the entrance of the ruins. Then….”

The two discussed back and forth how to lure Feng Ye and his group into the deadly ruins, completely unaware that a human and a bird were listening to their plan from behind a tree.

Feng Ye tilted his head, and a tuft of fluffy feathers against his neck tickled him slightly.

He wondered if taking a mile when given an inch was Hao Chen’s motto. It probably was.

This fellow was pretending to be frightened, scooting closer and closer to him. In the end, he put one foot into Feng Ye’s collar and curled his whole body tightly around Feng Ye’s neck.

There was a common rumor that dragons possessed a scale that couldn’t be touched, lest they fly into a rage.

And this scale – or “inverse scale” – grew on the neck, where the crow was currently nestling.

There was some truth and some falsehood to this rumor.

This sensitive spot was definitely not to be touched casually. If it was, whether it was Feng Ye or the dragon in the Eastern Sea, they would fly into a towering rage.

Because this scale, which grew upside down, was actually the most sensitive spot on a dragon’s body. Even a light touch was uncomfortable, much like a ticklish person being tickled on the sides.

And this sensitive spot was considered to be extremely private by the dragon race.

A stranger touching a dragon’s inverse scale was like someone groping a pure young maiden. It would be strange for a dragon, which were violent by nature, not to get angry.

There were, however, exceptions. A dragon’s lover could touch it however much they wanted. 

Hao Chen was clearly not Feng Ye’s lover, so when the crow neared that most sensitive of spots, Feng Ye tilted his neck to avoid it.

But the more he evaded, the closer the crow pressed against him, until the tips of his feathers eventually touched that sensitive spot.

The feathers were soft, and their fine, dense down felt like a tiny brush. Although it was only a light graze, it still sent a shiver through Feng Ye’s entire body.

A wave of furious offense came over him, and Feng Ye snatched the crow off his shoulder, glaring at the bewildered bird.

The crow blinked up at Feng Ye, wearing an innocent expression.

And he was indeed quite innocent, because the fact that a dragon’s inverse scale was its most sensitive spot was something only known to dragons themselves. Outsiders had no way of knowing.

But ignorance was no excuse.

Feng Ye understood this principle, and had no intention of letting the crow off easy.

Thus, he grabbed the crow’s wings with both hands and ruffled all of its feathers, stroking them against the grain until he had thoroughly disheveled its soft plumage.

The power of his avatar was limited, and Hao Chen was unable to break free from Feng Ye’s grip as his feathers were rumpled in retaliation.

But even though Feng Ye was petting against the grain, it was still….a little enjoyable…..

So enjoyable that he wanted him to do it again.

After preening his feathers back into place with his beak, Hao Chen looked at Feng Ye with bright eyes, his anticipation evident.

However, Feng Ye had no intention of continuing. He had already gleaned sufficient information from the conversation between the two mountain bandits. Their plan didn’t concern him much, because he wasn’t going to keep them around long enough for them to put their plan into action.

Therefore, Feng Ye started the trek back, throwing Hao Chen off from where he had once again climbed up to hitch a free ride on his shoulder.

Hao Chen thought to himself, Perhaps I’ve been standing on the same side for too long, and Feng Ye’s shoulder is a little tired.

The crow thoughtfully flew up to perch on the other shoulder, only to be thrown off once again.

Just as he relentlessly made a third attempt, Feng Ye caught the crow mid-air and uttered two cold words with a grim expression: “Fly yourself.”

The crow flapped his wings and hovered in place, using his eyes to rebuke Feng Ye for his ruthless abandonment. 

It had clearly been fine for him to perch there a moment ago, but now it suddenly wasn’t allowed even though he had purchased a ticket.

Feng Ye completely disregarded the crow’s accusing look and continued on his way toward the wooden house.

The crow watched Feng Ye’s retreating figure, in no rush to give chase.

He sensed very acutely that this dragon was angry.

But he couldn’t figure out the reason for his anger. He hadn’t done anything wrong, ah. In the end, he could only attribute it to the unpredictable temper of a drunken dragon.

Anyway, no matter how angry he was, Hao Chen would just coax him!

Another idea occurred to him, and his eyes lit up.

Feng Ye saw the crow disappear for a while, and then fly back with something else in his beak.

It was a small, pale purple flower. The exact variety was unclear, but it was probably a wildflower unique to Longqiu.

The crow hovered in front of Feng Ye, as if offering the wildflower to him.

He had already been fooled once, and there was no reason to fall for it a second time. If he accepted this wildflower, the crow would have a legitimate excuse to take advantage of him again.

Still burning with offense, Feng Ye remained expressionless, unmoved by the crow’s gift.

He fixed the crow with a cold stare. Standing in place was nothing to him, but the crow was so small that he could only look Feng Ye in the eye when he flew up to him.

So he continued to flap his wings, hovering in the air. But his stamina was limited, and crows were not particularly endurance-based birds. He couldn’t maintain his altitude, and slowly began to descend.

He flew lower and lower, before finally, he landed on the ground.

Feng Ye simply lifted one long leg and stepped over the head of the exhausted crow huddled on the ground.

The crow stood alone on the muddy mountain path, watching Feng Ye head on his way without looking back

As he watched, Feng Ye steps began to slow, and he came to a sudden stop just as he was about to disappear from sight.

Walking back the way he had come, he approached the crow and crouched down. Then he took the flower from the crow’s beak, but instead of wearing it himself, he placed it in the feathers on the crow’s head.

But this could be considered a gift received. The crow shook his feathers and happily prepared to fly back onto Feng Ye’s shoulder.

Feng Ye raised a hand to stop him, and with a serious expression, laid down one basic rule: “No standing on the shoulder.”

Otherwise, given Hao Chen’s style, he would definitely end up provoking him again. Therefore, Feng Ye simply cut off the possibility of Hao Chen touching his sensitive spot again at the root.

There were only so many places on a person’s body to perch. If not on the shoulder, then where?

The crow’s gaze rose higher and higher, and he found his answer.

Feng Ye walked back to the wooden house with a crow perched atop his head. And on the crow’s head, tucked behind its ear, was an unidentified wildflower.

Although the petals were purple, deep within the pistil lay a deep golden hue, a color even sweeter than honey.

---

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Chapter 97 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 99

Inside the quiet room, the howling wind outside and the faint tapping on the window were exceptionally clear.

Qin Xiao sat up at once. The movement accidentally pulled at his wound, and he raised a hand to press against it.

He glanced out the window, then turned his head to look at the person next to him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.

Chu Jiubian could hazard a guess as to that person’s identity. He sat up, looking at Qin Xiao’s hazy figure in the darkness.

After that one series of knocks on the window, there was silence.

Chu Jiubian smiled. The warmth in his expression faded, and his heart grew calm and still.

Qin Xiao trusted him completely, enough to entrust him with his power and the safety and future of Bai Lihong, but he still harbored some reservations about him. For example, Qin Xiao definitely didn’t want him to know the identity of the person outside.

Then Chu Jiubian would just leave. Qin Xiao was still injured, and he wouldn’t force him to go out and meet that person in the snow and wind.

He threw back the covers, and just as he was about to get out of bed, he heard the man say in a low voice: “Stay lying down for now.”

With that, Qin Xiao got out of bed, casually lowering the bedcurtain behind him to block the view.

Chu Jiubian was at somewhat of a loss.

Qin Xiao put on his shoes and draped a robe over himself, then went to the table. He took out a tinderbox, simultaneously speaking toward the window: “Come in.”

The window opened, and a dark figure rushed into the room with a gust of wind and snow.

As the window closed again, Qin Xiao lit an oil lamp.

A dim, yellowish light illuminated the room. Chu Jiubian sat within the bed curtains, and could vaguely make out two figures standing by the table. Both were tall and imposing, but Qin Xiao’s shoulders seemed to be slightly broader.

The other person had his back to the curtain, so Chu Jiubian was unable to see his face, but he knew without a doubt that it was Qin Chuan.

It was dim inside the bedcurtains, and those outside would be unable to see him clearly unless they came very close. But Qin Chuan was very discreet, and continued to keep his back to the bed.

“Have a seat.” Qin Xiao sat down himself and poured a cup of hot tea, handing it to Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan sat down opposite him and drank the tea, feeling much more comfortable afterward.

After receiving permission from the High Priest, he had immediately set off and traveled without rest, and finally arrived tonight after a day and a night.

He carefully observed Qin Xiao’s face. Although he looked a bit thinner, he seemed to be in good spirits.

“Don’t worry,” Qin Xiao said. “I already sent someone to deliver a message to you, but I didn’t expect that you would come in person.”

Upon regaining consciousness, the first thing he did was seek out Qin Chaoyang and ask him to pass a message to Qin Chuan.

But before the message even reached him, Qin Chuan had already set off in this direction.

Of course, even if he had read the letter, and even though the High Priest had assured him that Qin Xiao was fine, he still needed to see for himself in order to be completely at ease.

“En, but I didn’t come here just to see you,” Qin Chuan said. “It’s the New Year, and I wanted to come and see the celebrations in the capital, as well as check on how you’re recovering from your injury.”

Qin Xiao smiled and said: “Then as you can see, Chu Jiubian saved me and I’m doing fine.”

At the mention of his name, Chu Jiubian automatically glanced toward the bed curtain.

Qin Chuan sensed his gaze, and his expression immediately became strange.

Just a moment ago, he had heard Qin Xiao speaking to someone while he was outside the window, and initially thought that Qin Xiao had finally found a partner.

But unexpectedly, it was Chu Jiubian!

These two were actually together?

Qin Chuan recalled the high and mighty deity in the Divine Realm, then looked at Qin Xiao with a rare mix of emotions.

He knew that Qin Xiao was very formidable, that there was no one else like him in this world, and that he was arguably the person most worthy of Chu Jiubian.

But he was indeed a “person,” and now there was a god with his eye on Chu Jiubian.

Although the High Priest had never said so explicitly, all of his actions indirectly helped Chu Jiubian, and their relationship was incredibly ambiguous and complex.

But if Chu Jiubian was now involved with Qin Xiao…..

Qin Chuan wasn’t sure how to react, but he instinctively wanted to warn Qin Xiao.

However, when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he was unable to speak them.

Qin Xiao noticed his hesitation and asked: “What is it you want to say?”

After a moment of silence, Qin Chuan said dryly: “You…..you’re really something.”

Daring to get involved with a god was not something that just anyone would do.

Qin Xiao frowned slightly: “What?”

Chu Jiubian, however, seemed to understand what he meant. He was somewhat speechless, and also a little embarrassed.

What was this feeling of being caught red-handed?

Wasn’t it a bit too strange?

“It’s nothing.” Qin Chuan’s words were mystifying.

Qin Xiao didn’t know why he had reacted in such a way, but he dropped the subject rather than dwelling on it. “Is there anything else?” he asked.

“That’s all.” Qin Chuan hesitated, then added, “I’ll leave after the New Year.”

Qin Xiao nodded: “Will you be staying at the palace?”

“I already have a residence.” Qin Chuan stood and walked to the window, but before leaving, he couldn’t resist turning back to say, “Take care of yourself.”

Qin Xiao smiled: “Understood.”

He had thought that Qin Chuan was concerned about his injuries, but it turned out that he was worried about something else entirely.

He was wondering whether a mortal could withstand being with a god.

Qin Chuan had wanted to find an opportunity to question the High Priest, but since doing so would be like pulling the teeth from a tiger’s mouth, he decided against it.

With Qin Chuan’s departure, silence returned to the room.

Belatedly, Chu Jiubian realized what he had just experienced.

Qin Xiao hadn’t concealed Qin Chuan’s existence at all. He had even spoken with him in front of Chu Jiubian without any hesitation.

His mind was in chaos, and he didn’t quite know how to face Qin Xiao.

Thus, when Qin Xiao blew out the lamp and went over to lift the bed curtain, he found the young man lying with his back to him, almost completely hidden beneath the covers.

Qin Xiao got into bed and lay flat on his back.

Chu Jiubian’s body was slightly tense, his eyes shut tightly.

“That was Qin Chuan, my younger brother.” Qin Xiao spoke softly, and without regard for whether or not Chu Jiubian had actually fallen asleep. “He left home at a young age and lived independently, never receiving  any protection from the Qin family.”

“We are both legitimate sons, yet I enjoyed wealth and luxury in the capital, while he was out in the jianghu, unable to even see his family.”

“We all owe him a debt.”

Chu Jiubian kept his eyes closed, and his body slowly relaxed.

Qin Xiao rarely spoke of family matters like he was doing now. He seemed to be making no attempt to hide his inner thoughts. He felt guilty and wanted to make amends, but wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Chu Jiubian found it difficult to understand why Qin Xiao felt indebted, given his seemingly emotionally detached nature. But he suspected that Qin Xiao had never voiced these thoughts to anyone before.

Qin Xiao seemed to enjoy sharing things with him.

Chu Jiubian habitually tried not to pay attention to such things, without giving much thought to the reasons behind it.

However, he turned over to face Qin Xiao, observing the man’s faint outline in the darkness.

Qin Xiao said nothing more, simply staring at him through the darkness with an intense, piercing gaze.

A long stretch of time passed, and when Qin Xiao spoke again, his voice was slightly hoarse: “Do you think it’s a little hot in this room?”

“It’s fine.” Despite lying here for so long, Chu Jiuian’s hands and feet were still cold.

“En,” Qin Xiao replied. Then he added, “I’ve more or less recovered. Why don’t you go back to Yaotai Residence to sleep tomorrow?”

Was he trying to get rid of him?

After talking about how hot it was, he immediately wanted him to leave. This…..

Chu Jiubian raised his eyebrows, then moved slightly closer to Qin Xiao.

His cold hand touched the man’s warm forearm, and his muscles visibly tensed – though whether this was due to the cold or for some other reason was unclear.

“If you’re hot, I’ll cool you down.” Chu Jiubian closed his eyes and moved his feet closer to Qin Xiao’s legs, using the other man’s body heat to warm them.

Yaotai Residence didn’t have underfloor heating, and when he returned there today, the temperature wasn’t nearly as nice as it was here.

The conditions here were so good, so why let himself freeze?

Besides, the bed was big enough. There was plenty of room for the two of them to sleep.

Feeling the coolness against his arm and legs, Qin Xiao remained frozen.

Cooling down a bit did help, but Chu Jiubian using his limbs to achieve the effect was worse than not cooling down at all.

*

*

The next day, the vassal kings left the city in a long procession.

The scale of the event was immense to the point of being intimidating, but some people couldn’t resist the urge to take part in the excitement.

Meanwhile, at the Qin family compound, Cheng Shuo finally woke up.

Qin Chuan was sitting in the room with a mask covering his face, his gaze fixed intently on the other person.

Cheng Shuo was initially dazed, but then the memories of what happened before came trickling back.

From the moment he joyfully accepted the assignment and prepared to accompany Qin Xiao on the campaign, through dozens of battles, and then to conquering the Sai Kingdom and expanding the territory of Great Ning.

Finally, he remembered how he obtained the repeating crossbow from Qin Xiao. Just as he was about to leave with it, he lost control of himself, took out the weapon, and leveled it at the other man.

After that, his memory was completely blank.

“You were poisoned by gu.” Qin Chuan deliberately lowered his voice, which sounded slightly hoarse. “Do you know who did it?”

Cheng Shuo assumed that he was one of Qin Xiao’s secret guards responsible for interrogation, and didn’t suspect anything. He thought hard for a long time, until his head ached so much that it felt as if it was about to explode, before he suddenly remembered a single vague shred of information.

Before he set off for battle, his concubine at home prepared his belongings for him and even gave him a sachet. She instructed him to only open it after achieving a great victory, promising that it held a surprise for him.

This concubine’s name was Liu Ayan, whom he had brought back with him when he was still stationed in the Northern Desert with QIn Jingzhao. She was an orphan, and her background was unblemished.

But in hindsight, he couldn’t remember opening the sachet, nor could he recall a small portion of his memories afterward.

Then Liu Ayan should be the prime suspect.

Qin Chuan immediately stood and went out, ordering someone to fetch Liu Ayan.

Cheng Shuo’s family members were all under the control of the Qin family, and now that this incident had occurred, surveillance had become even stricter.

Liu Ayan seemed to have known that once Cheng Shuo woke up, her own fate was sealed, so to be on the safe side, she made preparations to end her own life beforehand.

However, her attendants were keeping a close watch on her, and restrained her before she could take action.

She was quickly brought before Qin Chuan, bound hand and foot.

It was unknown how Qin Chuan conducted the interrogation, but by the time Chu Jiubian received the news, it was revealed that Liu Ayan was an assassin loyal to the Lu family, and that she had initially approached Qin Jingzhao with ulterior motives.

However, Qin Jingzhao and his wife were deeply in love, and she was unable to find a place for herself in their relationship.

Therefore, she was forced to settle for the less ideal option, and ended up becoming involved with Cheng Shuo.

Subsequently, Cheng Shuo demonstrated impeccable behavior and gave her no opportunity to act against him. Even the Lu family tacitly accepted that she was a “dead” pawn.

Said pawn was only able to come into play when Cheng Shuo accompanied Qin Xiao on his military campaign.

“The Lu family again?” Chu Jiubian frowned.

The Lu family certainly had the ability to plant their own people, and the Sai Kingdom’s invasion had also been the result of a conspiracy between the Lu family and Dingbei-wang.

What role had Dingbei-wang played in the Lu family’s actions?

Liu Ayan was a loyal assassin belonging to the Lu family, but she had never learned how to cultivate gu, so they must have been given to her by someone else.

Then could that gu master be one of Dingbei-wang’s people?

Qin Xiao watched the snowflakes falling outside the window, and said calmly: “Once the Imperial Examinations are over, it will be time to settle accounts.”

The current situation was completely different from what it was a month ago.

Qin Xiao and Bai Lihong were no longer fighting alone. They held good reputations, prestige, and accomplishments in the hearts of the common people, along with a legitimate claim to the throne and Chu Jiubian, a divine being.

Everything was in place, aside from one crucial element.

Once they had the right people in place, they would be able to confidently dismantle the power of the noble families within the Imperial Court.

At that time, all hidden secrets would be brought to light. Those who were guilty would be punished, and those who deserved death would face justice.

There was a tough battle ahead of them.

*

*

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the thirtieth day of the month, the vassal kings, having concluded their fasting and ritual observance, all returned to the capital.

This scene was even more lively than on they day they had left, with crowds of people filling the streets and alleys, craning their necks to catch another glimpse of the vassal kings.

It was as if catching even a glimpse of their magnificence would elevate their own status.

The procession of horses and carriages didn’t linger long as they returned to their respective residences.

The Imperial banquet was scheduled for this evening, but they still needed to change into the brand-new princely robes sent to them by the palace, bring the gifts they had prepared for the Emperor, and enter the palace early to pay their respects.

Inside the palace.

After waking up from a nap, Bai Lihong put on his new miniature dragon robes, as well as a scaled-down version of the formal twelve-tasseled Imperial crown.

This was the child’s second time wearing such a crown, and unlike when he had first ascended the throne, he no longer felt the same fear and helplessness. Now, he was even at leisure to playfully swing the crown around.

Qin Xiao also changed into his black and gold embroidered robes. Standing tall and upright, with a calm and composed demeanor, he showed no signs whatsoever of being injured.

Chu Jiubian, on the other hand, wore his first-rank crimson-purple official robes, just like the other ministers of the Six Ministries.

But according to his attire and the established protocols, he could only sit at a table with the other ministers on the second tier of seats below the main platform.

Bai Lihong sat on a couch with his face cupped in his hands. “Isn’t Xiansheng going to sit with Jiujiu?” he asked.

His uncle would be sitting beside him, so he could rest assured.

But if Xiansheng was there too, he would feel even better.

He also felt that it would be perfectly acceptable to sit together with Xiansheng, and was uncomfortable with him sitting so far away.

Chu Jiubian smiled and said: “Xiansheng won’t be able to sit with you this time.”

The child pouted, looking very unhappy.

Perhaps knowing that there would always be someone beside him as a safety net, Bai Lihong didn’t seem to be in any hurry to grow up. Instead, he retained the childish mentality and behavior typical of children his age, often acting spoiled and cute toward Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian.

For a child who was only a little over three years old and had already experienced so much, he was doing remarkably well.

Therefore, although Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian had never openly discussed the matter, they had come to a tacit agreement to not put excessive pressure on Bai Lihong to mature too quickly, unwilling to place too much responsibility on his shoulders at such a young age.

Hong Fu had initially been in a hurry, and wished that Bai Lihong could learn even faster.

But as time went by and he saw the increasingly vibrant and joyful expressions on His Majesty’s face, he also stopped pushing him so hard.

At present, Bai Lihong was deliberately acting spoiled toward Chu Jiubian. 

He was making it explicitly clear that “Miaomiao is unhappy!”

Qin Xiao glanced toward Chu Jiubian and swept his eyes over the official robes he was wearing. At once, he remembered the outfit Chu Jiubian had been wearing when they first met.

It had been strange and intricate, completely out of place in this world.

However, it was indeed attire suited to a “deity,” and at tonight’s Imperial banquet, Chu Jiubian could certainly attend in such a capacity.

The man’s gaze was somewhat abnormal, and Chu Jiubian looked over at him, asking: “What’s on your mind?”

“Perhaps the Young Master could assume a different identity in support of our Emperor,” Qin Xiao said with a smile.

If a “god” were to attend the banquet, as an emperor who claimed to rule by divine right, Bai Lihong would naturally gain widespread acclaim.

Chu Jiubian understood his meaning, but he still hesitated.

That outfit was fine to wear inside the Divine Realm, but wearing it now would be somewhat embarrassing.

Qin Xiao noticed his uncertainty and said: “If you don’t like the idea, then just forget about it.”

However, if things continued like this, Chu Jiubian’s social status would remain somewhat low.

It would be best to grant him a royal title as well.

However, conferring a royal title was not something that could be done at the drop of a hat. It required official documents, numerous procedures, and even rituals at the ancestral temple, so it was certainly not possible to do so today.

Chu Jiubian remained silent, neither agreeing nor refusing.

After about a shichen, all of the vassal kings had gathered outside the palace in preparation to pay their respects.

Even though Jiannan-wang Bai Lihai still resided in the capital, he also held the title of vassal king and was required to act in accordance with the others, without exception.

And in terms of seniority, his rank was below those of the other vassal kings.

Yet he showed no hint of displeasure, maintaining a consistent smile, along with the occasional light cough to give off the impression that he was sickly and frail.

Over the past few days, the vassal kings had grown somewhat familiar with one another. All of them were aware that Bai Lihai was putting on an act, but none intended to expose him.

Exposing this sort of thing would be pointless and a waste of energy.

Only Anhuai-wang Bai Liming, who was standing closer to Bai Lihai, approached him with a worried look and asked in a low voice: “How are you feeling? Did you catch a cold?”

They had sat together previously at Dongjiang-wang’s banquet, and since they were of the same generation, they were naturally more familiar with each other than they were with the others.

Bai Lihai shook his head, a smile on his pale face: “It’s nothing, I’m always like this during the winter. I’ll just bear with it, and it will pass.”

“That won’t do,” Bai Liming said with a frown. “This lord has some rare and precious tonics at his residence. Someone will send them over to you tomorrow.”

“Then this didi offers his thanks to Anhuai-wang.”

The two had only exchanged a few words when Hong Fu personally led his men to the palace gates, sedan chairs in tow. He offered the vassal kings a formal bow, then invited them to climb in.

Riding a sedan chair inside the Imperial Palace was normally forbidden, but an exception had been made today in order to demonstrate the Emperor’s high regard for the vassal kings.

These people had not yet seen the Emperor since arriving in the capital, and were very curious about the young boy.

Today’s banquet was being held in Haiyan Hall. The interior was decorated similarly to how it was during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but with more red and gold to represent the Imperial family.

Chu Jiubian had personally overseen the selection of dishes and wine, ensuring that the child would have the best possible experience.

However, the vassal kings would not proceed directly to Haiyan Hall upon entering the palace. Instead, they would first go to Fengtian Hall to pay their respects to the Emperor and present their New Year’s gifts, then follow the Emperor to Haiyan Hall to take their seats.

The group arrived at the long path leading to Fengtian Hall. The palace gates were open, and Eunuch Hong loudly invited everyone to enter.

Led by Bai Liyue, the seven vassal kings and Jiannan-wang all entered the palace hall.

Subordinate officials were not allowed to look directly at the Emperor’s face, but since the vassal kings were members of the Imperial family, there were fewer restrictions for them in this regard.

Therefore, they dipped into deep bows, and only after receiving a tender “rise” from the young boy did they lift their eyes toward the throne.

The small child sat upon the large, ornate golden throne, clad in golden robes with his ceremonial headdress gently swaying. His bright, clear eyes gazed upon these imposing vassal kings, revealing no hint of fear, but instead conveying a subtle sense of authority.

They were all bewildered.

This was not entirely because His Majesty already possessed a certain Imperial bearing at such a young age, but because at this time, Chu Jiubian and Qin Xiao had still not made an appearance.

Other than Nanjiang-wang, the same thought immediately occurred to everyone else — 

Could it be that Qin Xiao was still in unconscious?

If so, then the young Emperor would preside over today’s banquet alone.

Although they had no intention of stirring up trouble at an Imperial banquet, it wouldn’t be out of the question to set a few traps for the child in order to spread some unpleasant rumors about him.

Their minds were full of twists and turns, yet on the surface, they all appeared exceptionally friendly.

Even Bai Liyan wore a hint of “affection” on his face, and looked upon Bai Lihong as if he were his own child.

This approach gave them the appearance of affability, but also indicated that they didn’t take Bai Lihong’s status as Emperor seriously.

To them, Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian were the biggest threats; Bai Lihong was merely a puppet.

“Thank you all for traveling so far. You must be tired.” Bai Lihong’s voice was childish, but his tone sounded very mature. “A few days ago, this Emperor caught a cold and was unable to meet with you all. Hoping you will understand.”

His speech was clear and articulate, and his tone was entirely proper.

No one knew whether these words were his own or if he had been coached to say them by Qin Xiao and Chu Jiubian, but Bai Lihong’s performance undeniably exceeded their expectations.

Those with younger family members couldn’t help but compare their own children to Bai Lihong, and inevitably found them lacking.

They couldn’t even be compared.

If it were any other child, even with some verbal coaching, they would still be intimidated and lose their composure upon seeing so many powerful and imposing figures.

Unlike Bai Lihong, who was completely at ease and revealed no signs of nervousness whatsoever.

Upon receiving an apology from the Emperor, everyone hastened to say, “We don’t dare.”

Once the pleasantries were exchanged, as the eldest amongst the vassal kings, Bai Liyue stepped forward and said: “Your Majesty, this subject has brought a gift for you. It is…..”

The vassal kings came forward one after another to present their gifts, which consisted primarily of flashy and impractical paintings, calligraphy, and jade figurines.

None of them were to Bai Lihong’s liking.

But the young boy remembered what Eunuch Hong had taught him: “An Emperor must not show his true emotions on his face.” So even though he was bored, he still maintained a faint smile and spoke well of each gift.

Everyone was even more deeply moved, but at the same time, they felt an inexplicable sense of pressure.

Independently of each other, many of them arrived at the same conclusion — they absolutely could not allow Bai Lihong to grow up.

Anhuai-wang Bai Liming, on the other hand, was very fond of this adorable little emperor. They had met privately in the palace before, where they had a meal and admired the plum blossoms. The little one said such adorable things in a sweet, gentle voice, and was also very considerate of others.

If such a child could grow up to be an adult emperor, Bai Liming would feel very much at ease.

Nanjiang-wang Bai Lihao lowered his gaze slightly, a subtle hint of cunning in his eyes.

He possessed a good understanding of Chu Jiubian’s methods and character, as well as those of Qin Xiao. The young Emperor’s performance today was equally impressive, and in fact, his voice and tone even bore some resemblance to that of his mentors.

It was easy to imagine that when Bai Lihong grew up, he would become an emperor who embodied the intelligence and character of those two individuals.

How brilliant must this child be?

And what kind of future would he lead the Great Ning Dynasty toward?

Once the lengthy gift-giving ceremony came to an end, Bai Lihong spoke calmly and unhurriedly despite his impatience: “Thank you for your efforts. It is getting late, so please follow this Emperor to Haiyang Hall.”

Everyone readily agreed, and they all left the hall in a grand procession to board their respective sedan chairs.

Sitting inside his sedan chair, Bai Liyue fixed his gaze on the curtain, as if attempting to see through it to the Emperor’s sedan chair at the head of the procession.

Even a mere baby was able to lord his authority over them.

This was Imperial power.

He ran his fingertips softly over the jade pendant at his waist, his eyes dark and overcast.

Dingbei-wang Bai Liyu reclined casually inside his sedan chair, which swayed gently with the steps of the sedan-bearers.

The intelligence he received stated that Qin Xiao had yet to awaken, and it seemed to be correct. The other party was indeed in grave peril.

This would make things easier.

He took a small pouch from his waist. Inside were some dried flower petals and a few tiny, almost transparent spiders that were barely visible to the naked eye.

Each one was only the size of a grain of rice.

---

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Chapter 74 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 76

Ch. 97 – Ticket to the Show

It took Hao Chen a moment to realize that Feng Ye was teasing him, but despite understanding, he still felt that something about Feng Ye was off.

Feng Ye didn’t seem like the type of person to joke around like that, ah. Thinking of the bowls of wine Feng Ye had drunk earlier, Hao Chen couldn’t help but look down at Feng Ye laying on his lower abdomen.

He couldn’t get a good look at him, but just then, Feng Ye raised his head and sat up straight again.

Hao Chen finally got a clear view of Feng Ye’s face. He wasn’t flushed or out of breath, and didn’t look drunk at all.

But those weren’t requirements for drunkenness. Some people could drink without showing any physical indications, even if they were so drunk that they couldn’t distinguish between humans and animals.

“Are you drunk?” Hao Chen raised five fingers and waved them in front of Feng Ye’s eyes.

“Not drunk,” was Feng Ye’s immediate retort.

He’s definitely drunk, Hao Chen concluded. Every drunk person would claim they weren’t.

Although he had previously used Feng Ye’s intolerance to alcohol as an excuse, this dragon unexpectedly couldn’t hold his liquor.

Alcohol tolerance varied from person to person, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise if someone handled it well or poorly. But right then, Hao Chen was genuinely shocked.

Given Yinglong’s reputation, he should be the kind of person who could drink a hundred cups without getting drunk, but it turned out that he could only drink three.

But when Hao Chen thought about it further, rumors tended to be unreliable. Before getting to know Feng Ye, how could he have imagined that this dragon, sharp-featured and covered in scales, actually had a soft heart?

This contrast inexplicably…..delighted him.

Hao Chen suppressed the urge to revert to his original form and roll around in the sea. Softening his voice, he coaxed the drunken dragon: “Alright, alright, you’re not drunk. Let me help you outside to get some fresh air.”

Feng Ye: “…..”

He really wasn’t drunk. He was just…..slightly tipsy.

Feng Ye didn’t drink often. In fact, he rarely drank at all.

Alcohol numbed the brain and slowed down reaction time, so he almost never drank of his own accord.

Having just drunk three bowls of wine, he was momentarily intoxicated, causing his rationality to falter long enough for him to inadvertently act before thinking.

But what was done was done. Just as he was wracking his brains for a reason to explain his loss of composure, Hao Chen handed him the perfect excuse. Pretending to be drunk was indeed a good option….

With this in mind, Feng Ye nodded obediently and prepared to go out for fresh air with Hao Chen’s assistance.

Seeing this, Fang Yang and Cao Zirui more or less understood the reason behind Feng Ye’s childish behavior just moments ago – as it turned out, he was drunk.

They exchanged a knowing glance. Why else would this Useless Shixiong try to listen to the sound of the sea for no reason? You couldn’t judge the logic of a drunkard.

Zhao Yi then nudged Wang Wu, who was slumped over the table. Although he had succumbed to the liquor, he wasn’t fully unconscious, and this nudge caused him to lift his head again.

Zhao Yi put his arm around Wang Wu’s shoulders and pulled him up, explaining to the others: “I’ll help him to the river to wash his face. Please make yourselves at home, we’ll be right back.”

Fang Yang and Cao Zirui nodded, and the former even offered enthusiastically: “Can I help you at all?”

As he spoke, he started to get up and help Zhao Yi support Wang Wu.

“No need!” Zhao Yi immediately declined his offer and quickened his pace, wary of Fang Yang following them.

Stepping outside, they saw Feng Ye and Hao Chen, who had come out before them. Zhao Yi nodded at them in greeting, then guided Wang Wu straight toward the river.

The river wasn’t near the house, and could only be reached by trekking through the forest. Wang Wu and Zhao Yi’s figures gradually vanished into the woods.

Feng Ye, with Hao Chen’s support, strolled around performatively a few times. When the other two had almost disappeared from sight, he suddenly brushed off Hao Chen’s hand and came up with an excuse to separate from him: “Didn’t you say you were tired earlier? How about you go back and rest for a while? We still have a journey ahead of us this afternoon. I’ll just stroll around by myself.”

Hao Chen wanted to say that he wasn’t tired now. Actually…..he wasn’t that tired before, either.

But he had used it as an excuse to make Feng Ye carry him all this way, and if he came clean now, it might not end well for him.

“Okay.” Hao Chen had no choice but to take Feng Ye’s suggestion.

He reluctantly said farewell to Feng Ye, then walked toward the wooden house.

Feng Ye watched Hao Chen leave, then turned and entered the forest.

Hao Chen immediately turned around and glanced back. It was blatantly obvious that Feng Ye had sent him away so that he could do something.

Although he wanted to go and watch the show in person, he could try a different approach…..a method he had used many times before.

Hao Chen approached the back of the wooden house. He deliberately chose this spot because it was unlikely for anyone to go there, making it convenient for him to cast his spell.

But just as he was about to take out his folding fan, he saw that Fang Yang and Cao Zirui, who should have been resting inside the house, were also there.

And next to them was a large dog, about half the height of a person.

The dog must belong to Wang Wu and his companion. It had brownish-grey fur, erect ears, and a slightly longer muzzle than most dogs. Its eyes were also much fiercer than those of a domesticated pet, and although it was nominally a dog, it really looked a lot like a wolf.

Facing the strangers standing before it, it crouched down and bared its fangs, letting out a threatening growl.

Judging by his ferocious appearance, it would have certainly pounced on the two people in front of it and bit them if it wasn’t tied back by a rope.

But teenagers always loved to play with cats and dogs, and no amount of aggression could stop them. Besides, the dog was leashed. It could do nothing but posture, powerless to harm them.

Therefore, Fang Yang crouched down in front of the big dog. He calculated the length of the rope to ensure that he was too far away for the dog to bite him, then confidently waved the leftover rabbit bone in front of the dog’s nose.

Cao Zirui stood behind him. He didn’t participate, but he did watch with great interest as Fang Yang played with the dog.

Seeing this, Hao Chen didn’t disturb the two of them. He turned around, deciding to find another place for himself.

Hao Chen entered the wooden house. Then he unfolded his fan and pulled off a rib from the outermost side, which transformed into a shiny black feather in his hand.

Hao Chen casually tossed the feather aside. As it fell to the floor, it transformed in the blink of an eye into a crow with spread wings, which then flapped its way into the woods.

Just as he was about to close his eyes and switch his perspective to his avatar, Hao Chen suddenly recalled that each time he released his avatar, it seemed to meet a terrible end.

He had used it three times in total, and was caught by Feng Ye twice. Feng Ye had even destroyed half of his previous fan.

Hopefully Feng Ye would be gentler this time, otherwise his newly-replaced folding fan would be missing a rib.

Hao Chen silently offered up a small prayer, then closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was looking down from above.

The vast land was laid out before him as he soared overhead.

Humans moved slowly through the forest due to the vegetation that often blocked their path, and sometimes had to take detours.

But birds didn’t have such a problem, as there was nothing to block their path in the sky. Therefore, although Hao Chen was the last to set off, he moved much faster than the three who had a head start and didn’t miss the opening of the show.

When he arrived, Wang Wu and Zhao Yi had just reached the riverbank.

Wang Wu was still completely drunk. He wasn’t faking it. He had genuinely been defeated by Hao Chen’s drinking capacity, and was dragged all the way here by Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi, who had been playing the good guy with Wang Wu for so long in front of their guests, finally ran out of patience and threw his drunken companion into the river.

It wasn’t a true river, but more of a trickling mountain stream where the deepest part only reached the ankle.

Wang Wu fell headfirst into the river, and didn’t react immediately.

A few moments later, bubbles began to gurgle up around Wang Wu’s face, and with a loud curse, he abruptly sprang to his feet out of the water.

The icy river water and the lingering fear of nearly drowning instantly brought him back to his senses. Looking around, he immediately spotted Zhao Yi standing on the shore with his arms crossed, and realized who the culprit was.

One curse hadn’t satisfied him, so he cursed again: “Motherfucker! Zhao Yi, are you out of your damn mind?!”

Zhao Yi replied with a sneer: “Aren’t you the one out of your mind? You didn’t even consider whether or not the two of us can handle that group, and just let them stay.”

“Why can’t we handle them?” Wang Wu shot back defiantly, wiping the water out of his eyes.

“A couple swigs of alcohol and you’ve practically forgotten your own surname! Those four are clearly not ordinary people. They’re definitely trained martial artists. And looking at their hands at the dinner table just now, three of them had callouses on their thumbs, indicating that they’ve been practicing for many years.” Zhao Yi scoffed at Wang Wu, who was still standing in the middle of the stream. “We could have tried a sleeping draught if we still had any, but we’ve been in this godsforsaken place for too long and we’re out of stock. With your pathetic skills, do you actually think you can take four people at once?”

Wang Wu didn’t care whether or not Zhao Yi’s analysis was reasonable. He had drunk a belly full of water, and was also holding a stomachful of anger. Zhao Yi’s tone sparked his temper, and he decided to vent his anger first before getting down to business. So he went right up to Zhao Yi and presented him with a string of warm greetings, from his children and grandchildren to eighteen generations of his ancestors, not missing a single one.

Not to be outdone, Zhao Yi expressed his longing for all of Wang Wu’s female relatives.

The two traded blows back and forth, and it was impossible to determine who had the upper hand.

The crow found itself a branch of suitable height and watched with great interest as the bandits fought amongst themselves.

Just as he was watching intently, he sensed a gust of wind approaching from the side.

The crow immediately flapped his wings and soared into the air to dodge.

When he looked closely, he found that it was a small twig the size of a thumb, which had been casually picked up and thrown directly at his perch.

Someone had taken a cheap shot at him.

In a place like this, there was basically only one person who would be bored enough to pick on a little crow.

Hao Chen flew off and quickly located Feng Ye, who was hiding behind a large tree as he watched the show.

Feng Ye, who was clearly a bit drunk but refused to admit it.

Although he claimed to just be slightly tipsy, drunk was drunk. At most, he was a little less inebriated than that, but he still wasn’t quite the same as usual.

The crow landed on the tree closest to Feng Ye and perched in the canopy, looking toward where Feng Ye was standing beneath the opposite tree.

Feng Ye was also looking up at him. 

It seems he noticed me long before, thought Hao Chen.

Although neither of them had explicitly revealed their identities to each other, they were both largely aware of the truth. In that case, there was no need for him to pretend to be some ordinary crow passing by.

With this in mind, a bold idea suddenly occurred to Hao Chen.

Feng Ye saw the pitch-black crow stare at him for a moment, and then it suddenly flew away without a word.

Is he angry? But I didn’t even hit him, Feng Ye thought with some confusion.

But before he could finish this thought, the crow was already returning with something clutched in its beak.

It was bright red, like some sort of berry.

This time, the crow didn’t perch on a branch. Instead, he flew straight to Feng Ye and hovered in front of him, flapping his wings.

Feng Ye figured this meant that he should take the berry, so he stretched out a hand and did so.

With his delivery successful, the crow then perched comfortably on Feng Ye’s shoulder.

Feng Ye turned his head to the side, staring silently at the crow on his shoulder. Hao Chen never learns his lesson, he thought to himself. He had destroyed Hao Chen’s avatar last time, and this time he actually dared to stand on top of him.

But things were different now, and Feng Ye had no intention of destroying it again. He already owed Hao Chen a fan, and if he owed him another one, his debt would grow even larger.

Oblivious to the thoughts running through his mind, Hao Chen actually dared to land directly on his shoulder. He even stared him directly in the eye, puffing out his fluffy chest with an air of complete self-righteousness.

What logic was this?

Feng Ye squeezed the berry in his hand, then suddenly realized what it meant.

This berry was a ticket – a ticket to stand on his shoulder.

As the saying went, be grateful when fed, and be obliging when someone gives you money. Although the berry was small, he had indeed accepted it.

Feng Ye: “…..”

He’d fallen for it.

A man and a bird hid behind a tree, avoiding the attention of Wang Wu and Zhao Yi. Even though the crow’s flapping had made some noise, who would suspect an ordinary little crow?

Feng Ye resigned himself to the extra passenger on his shoulder. Meanwhile, the two mountain bandits had finished their quarrel.

After cursing for a while, they had mostly vented their anger and could finally discuss serious matters.

“If you want to die, go on and do it yourself. I won’t accompany you,” Zhao Yi concluded, subtly shifting his feet as if to say that he would abandon his comrade if Wang Wu didn’t heed his advice.

There was never any genuine affection among mountain bandits. They were all the sort who valued money over their own lives, and if working alone wasn’t so inconvenient, they would never team up with others.

“What do you mean, I ‘want to die?’ Zhao Yi, tell me honestly, have I ever done anything that I wasn’t absolutely sure about?” 

Wang Wu’s words did make Zhao Yi a little uncertain. It was true. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to partner with Wang Wu for so long.

He couldn’t help but ask: “Then what’s your plan? Can you take all four of them at once?”

Wang Wu raised a finger and waved it. Instead of answering the question, he brought up Zhao Yi’s earlier speculation: “You said before that they’re all trained martial artists, but I don’t think that’s entirely true. We’ve traveled far and wide over the years and heard tales of people who cultivate to immortality, traversing heaven and earth and summoning the wind and rain.”

“You mean to say that they…..” Zhao Yi asked hesitantly.

“Don’t you think those people are strange? They’re clearly traveling without any proper luggage, and their tiny bundles shouldn’t last them more than a day or two. What gave them the confidence to enter this mountain forest? And did you notice that person’s clothes? That fellow named Feng Ye – I saw him spill a little wine on his clothes, and it just rolled right off. Have you ever seen fabric like that?”

Wang Wu answered his own question: “I’ve never heard of any place that can produce such fabric. They can only be those legendary cultivators.”

“And you still dare to make a move on them?! Are you insane?!” Wang Wu had convinced Zhao Yi, but this only increased his horror.

If they were ordinary martial artists, they still might be able to escape if they couldn’t defeat them. But who knew what sort of powers these mysterious cultivators possessed?

Some stories claimed that they were able to behead people from thousands of li away.

“Hehe.” Seeing the look of horror on Zhao Yi’s face, Wang Wu merely let out an easy chuckle. “Didn’t you hear their destination? They’re going to the ruins of the ancient city. You know how that place…..”

“Eats people.” Wang Wu deliberately lowered his voice when he spoke these two words.

A cold wind blew through the forest right at that moment. The crow put on a show of fear, tucking his feathers in as he moved a little closer to Feng Ye’s neck.

---

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Chapter 96 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 98

Ch 29 – Why Are You Sad?

“So you’re a father too?!” Curtis was deeply shocked. Tau had never mentioned having a child, ah, and his attitude toward Kersz had been strange, as if he was repelled by him.

But when they met this time, Tau’s mental state had clearly shifted. He seemed absent-minded, and people would have to repeat themselves two or three times before he heard them.

Curtis thought he was ill at first, but then Tau admitted that he was worried about his child.

His little dinosaur was back at home. He had prepared food and beautiful clothes for it, but he worried that it might run around and get into trouble.

Tau suddenly realized that he had forgotten to add guardrails for the little dinosaur. He wanted to go back, but Yu Xi and Kersz wouldn’t let him.

“I’m worried that he’ll get hurt. I thought I did my best, but I just realized that I still overlooked something.” Tau’s anxiety was genuine, but he was also subconsciously playing his role.

Curtis was dying of envy.

There seemed to be an unusually high concentration of good fathers in this galaxy, but he was the unlucky guy who had missed out.

“Why haven’t I heard you talk about your partner?”

Curtis also wanted to envy other people’s mothers, but he suddenly realized that these two had never mentioned their significant others.

Tau simply stared at Curtis without saying a word.

Curtis blinked, then let out a gasp: “C-could something have happened to them?”

Tau didn’t answer, but Yu Xi hummed in response where he was sitting on Kersz’s lap.

The dinosaur’s mother had indeed met with an accident, all because of that giant meteorite from the Cretaceous period.

Curtis immediately apologized to Tau, who shook his head with a cold expression and remained silent.

Curtis had no intention of asking where Yu Xi’s mother was. What if it ended up being another tragedy?

Yu Xi actually felt that Curtis’s family background was a bit abnormal. He asked Tau and Kersz about it, and then realized that his stereotypes came entirely from his deep memories of the humans who had not yet left Earth.

This was the interstellar world.

Curtis’s parents definitely had feelings for each other, and the bond between them was profound.

But this profoundess was different from what Yu Xi understood.

The Supreme Governor and the High Lord were very satisfied with each other’s personalities and families, and their genes were compatible, so they formed an alliance and started a family together.

They spent some time together each year, but for the majority of the time, they remained at their own posts.

Tau was quite certain that the two of them had never reached the point of being “deeply in love,” because it was too awkward and undignified for humans to sleep together. They believed that it was disrespectful to the other party.

Such private issues could be resolved with their respective androids.

Yu Xi let out a sigh when he learned about this situation. He had known that humans’ sense of boundaries would become stronger and stronger.

But then he couldn’t help but inquire: “They don’t even sleep together! What kind of marriage is that?! They could have simply framed it as forming an alliance, ah!I”

This level of intimacy would have been considered friendship at best among the ancient humans!

These interstellar partners only put on a facade of intimacy!

However, Kersz later comforted Yu Xi with some good news. For example, although his own parents had a good relationship, he had no idea if they were ever intimate, because adults would never talk about that kind of thing in front of children.

But his parents did live together.

Yu Xi wanted to ask for more details, but he also knew that Kersz’s past was a tender spot for him. So after hesitating for a long time, he decided not to ask Kersz if he had ever seen his parents kiss.

This was all because Curtis had started to talk about his family of origin the moment he met them, and after hearing about it so many times, Yu Xi also became interested in such things.

But he couldn’t exactly interrogate Kersz, because he hadn’t been in a good mood lately, and kept waking up in the middle of the night.

Yu Xi was unaware that the reason for his frequent waking was to check if Yu Xi had suddenly powered down. He didn’t know what ‘anytime’ meant in regard to Yu Xi’s depleting lifespan.

In fact, Kersz later realized that since Yu Xi’s concept of time was different from his own, perhaps ‘anytime’ could be a very long time away.

But Yu Xi had also made it clear that he might not outlive Kersz.

Kersz also asked Yu Xi what would happen to the compressed galaxy when he shut down, and Yu Xi replied that it would be permanently sealed inside the galaxy-dot-zip file. To outsiders, the only proof that the galaxy had ever existed would be the brilliant gemstone on his necklace.

Yu Xi understood Kersz’s worry, and assured him that the necklace wasn’t so easy to break, and that Kersz might be able to sell it for a good price later on.

Kersz was not pleased by this.

But he felt that he should be pleased. Strictly speaking, he and Yu Xi hadn’t known each other for very long, and Yu Xi’s necklace was indeed a big danger.

The length of Yu Xi’s existence was not something Kersz could control. He should breathe a sigh of relief that humanity had escaped a catastrophe.

But Kersz wasn’t happy.

“This nutrient solution is disgusting.” Yu Xi put down his cup. He hated the artificial flavoring.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t drink it.” Kersz’s voice was so gentle that Yu Xi didn’t realize it was him speaking at first.

Even Curtis and Tau were taken aback.

Oblivious to it all, Kersz wiped tiny Yu Xi’s mouth, then leaned down and softly pressed his lips to the top of his head.

Yu Xi’s eyes widened. He was completely blindsided.

What was wrong with Kersz? Why did he seem so fragile?

Kersz looked at him, and a moment later, he pressed his cheek against Yu Xi’s and gently nuzzled against it.

Such an intimate gesture startled Yu Xi into curling into a ball.

Something was definitely wrong with Kersz. He was so upset.

When the three of them returned home, Yu Xi formally took Kersz’s hand to indicate that they needed to talk.

“Are you unhappy because we talked about your parents?” Yu Xi asked.

Tau was sitting near them, but he was clearly distracted.

Yu Xi suggested that Tau go and keep his little dinosaur company, and the man happily ran off.

“No.” Kersz looked into Yu Xi’s greenish-blue eyes.

He had encountered this robot by accident…..by a wonderful accident, he now thought.

“I just don’t think that my luck is very good,” Kersz said. “It seems like every good thing eventually leaves me.”

Yu Xi sucked in a breath. Sure enough, this child had psychological problems.

“I read a lot of books as a kid,” Kersz said, “most of them fairytales. I thought I was lucky enough to stumble upon a ‘fairyland’ where everyone could forget their troubles and no longer have to worry about the future.”

This was one of the most popular fairytales in the Interstellar Alliance. The young protagonist encountered a lost extraterrestrial visitor, and they embarked on an adventure behind the parents’ backs to send the alien back to its wondrous ‘fairyland.’

Young Kersz would always sneak out of bed once his parents were asleep, then go to the storage room and rummage around in search of any extraterrestrials.

Later on, he stopped believing in such things.

He thought he had changed – that he had broken down, becoming mad and unfeeling.

No one could take anything away from him again, because now he was the executioner.

Yu Xi sat up straight and told Kersz that he could confide everything to him, and that he would never criticize Kersz’s actions.

Kersz smiled. He didn’t like talking about the past, because it was a dream he could never return to.

Yet he suddenly found himself lacking resistance against this little robot from a ‘fairyland.’

Kersz had been well-protected by his parents, and unlike Curtis’s, his father and mother had lived together.

Kersz was aware that his family had been closer than other people’s families, and under the care of his parents, he always felt like he was growing up slower than others.

But his learning ability was excellent.

“My family wasn’t anything special, but my parents had pretty good jobs. They were maintenance personnel for the central AI consciousness mainframe.” There was little pride on Kersz’s face as he said this, and a whole lot more indifference. “They knew all the underlying code and backdoors to the database.”

Their lives were relatively affluent, and at that time, Kersz was considered to be a genius. His ability to learn was unparalleled, and he remained one of the best among his classmates through graduation.

Kersz once thought that his life would be smooth sailing. He would graduate peacefully, secure a decent job, and perhaps find a lover with whom to spend the rest of his life.

Instead, he received news of his parents’ passing.

“It was said that the servers suddenly malfunctioned, causing a meltdown. Everyone in the compartment died, including my parents.” Those people generously gave Kersz a large sum of compensation money and told him that his parents were heroes of the Alliance.

They also widely publicized their condolences on the StarNet, and countless people who were unfamiliar with Kersz’s parents joined in to express their grief.

Kersz was in a state of shock, and wasn’t even sure if he was sad, nor if he was still alive.

“The downside of having such a good relationship with my parents was that I couldn’t handle them leaving,” Kersz said.

When reporters tried to interview Kersz about his parents’ lives, he was finally able to react.

He was indescribably offended, feeling that his parents and the relationship between them was being treated as an entertainment exhibit.

Those people forcibly inserted themselves into his emotions. They seemed to want to impose a set of standards on him, hoping that the orphaned child of ‘heroes’ would put on a show of pitifulness and vulnerability in front of the cameras, acting according to their expectations.

All to satisfy the voyeuristic tendencies of those self-righteous bastards.

Kersz went berserk. He insulted countless people, and was attacked by countless others.

At that time, he was in a state of rage and confusion. He didn’t understand why those unrelated people were so angry with him when he was only refusing to be a spectacle.

“I was too young then, and I didn’t want to believe that my parents were dead. I had no basis for my suspicion that there might be a conspiracy behind it all.” Kersz just wanted an outlet for his emotions, and needed to find someone to blame.

“It was precisely because I had no proof that I never hid my suspicions about my parents’ deaths from the outside world. I refused the medal the authorities offered me and lost my temper, telling them that it was all a conspiracy and that I would uncover the truth.” Kersz took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

He genuinely did attempt to uncover the truth, even though he had no evidence or clues in his hands. This was all because he was unable to put his emotions to rest.

“Perhaps I seemed too confident in my assertion, because some people thought I had actually discovered something.” At that time, Kerz had already enlisted in the military.

He continuously made contact with his parents’ former colleagues and friends, piecing together clues about their deaths.

And little by little, he actually discovered a problem.

He told his uncle, who had always supported and encouraged him, about his discovery. That uncle was his father’s childhood friend, and told Kersz that he had also been investigating the death of his father.

But after giving him that information, Kersz was immediately dismissed from his post under the charge of “abusing power for personal gain.”

So Kersz didn’t like to talk about his past. He felt that in this story, he was just a helpless fool who could be manipulated at will.

“That sort of impotent rage was just screaming to the world, ‘I’m so pitiful.’ I kept trusting people and getting taken advantage of,” Kersz said. “It was so pointless.”

Yu Xi understood: “So you’ve kept it all to yourself?”

“It’s even more pointless to guess what others will think about it.” Kersz shrugged.

Yu Xi put his arm around Kersz’s shoulder: “Do you want me to help you investigate the cause of your parents’ deaths?”

“I already know the cause. Back then, two coalitions clashed at the border of the Interstellar Alliance. The Alliance was on the verge of unleashing weapons of mass destruction, and more than a dozen third-class planets were to be abandoned as a lost cause.” Kersz said, “My parents discovered that the authorities were going to completely cut off communications with those third-class planets and destroy those people’s identity cards.”

“They did cut off communications, but a backdoor was left open. My parents intended to expose the plot before the weapons were activated, but their actions were discovered. Then, they died.”

“But those people are dead too.” Kersz raised an eyebrow at Yu Xi. “I killed all of the culprits, those people who were so secure in their power that they thought they were above everyone else. Oh, right. The reason I’m being hunted down is because I killed the former leader of the Star Union.”

Yu Xi: “Wow! No wonder I saw on the news that a new leader is being elected.”

Kersz: “Are you pretending to be shocked?”

Yu Xi: “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been around humans for so long, and I’ve seen so many leaders. He’s nothing special – just another human.”

“Yes, ah. Nothing special, just another human.” Kersz smiled. “Why do people have to take themselves so seriously?”

He directed his smile toward Yu Xi: “But I might be beyond saving, someone who is just longing for warmth.”

“I….I don’t want you to shut down.”

Yu Xi was puzzled: “What? Once I shut down, my necklace will stabilize completely and the galaxy inside won’t go out of control.” He felt that Kersz’s words ran somewhat contrary to his character.

Kersz was a lone wolf, but he still cared about his fellow humans to some extent.

Although he and Kersz were friends, it wouldn’t be Kersz’s fault when he shut down. He didn’t need to put so much pressure on himself. He just needed to allow himself some time to grieve the passing of a friend.

“I understand what you’re saying,” Kersz said helplessly, “But I want you to stay.”

Yu Xi tilted his head slightly.

“Not because I’m worried about the galaxy exploding, but because I….I still want to see you, not the you who has shut down. I want you to keep responding to me.” Kersz didn’t dare look him in the eye.

It had been a very long time since anyone had responded to him like Yu Xi did.

He responded to all of his stupid questions.

Yu Xi finally grasped Kersz’s meaning: “Wait! You mean you want me to stay with you?” He repeated what Kersz had already said.

“Just me?! Personally?!” Yu Xi was astounded.

“Just you,” Kersz said with some embarrassment.

“Heavens! Heavens!” Yu Xi exclaimed in disbelief.

He had always carried human emotions with him, but he knew that those feelings had nothing to do with him personally.

He was once a robot vacuum cleaner. The child mistook him for a family pet, and when the family’s cat and dog died, the parents continuously repaired the old machine for the child’s sake.

Later, when the child grew up and the parents passed away, Yu Xi became evidence of the parents’ love.

That grown-up child placed all of his yearning for his parents onto Yu Xi.

Yu Xi really liked this sort of emotion. He was born from such feelings, although none of them were directed toward him personally.

He was the oldest robot in existence, a piece of technology from before humanity entered interstellar space, and part of a family legacy.

As time went by, the emotions directed toward him became increasingly vague, drifting further and further from him.

He was always just one of many, and the least important one at that.

Just like when he was a robot vacuum cleaner at home. When it was running, the big fat cat would occasionally sit on him mischievously, curious about what he was doing.

But his program had always been the least significant one of all.

Humanity would always have its own future to strive for.

Yu Xi would always answer: “Wow, amazing, and then what?” as the humans carried him forward.

But when humanity rushed toward death, they refused to take him with them, and he didn’t know what to do.

“Heavens!” Yu Xi felt his eyes becoming wet.

Was he malfunctioning?

“What’s wrong?!” Kersz leaped up and quickly wiped away Yu Xi’s tears.

“Heavens.” Yu Xi kept repeating the same word.

When Yu Xi came into the world, he was destined to live the rest of his life as a robot vacuum, wandering around in perpetuity as he watched humans do their own thing.

Why would a loner like Kersz sit down at his side and tell him that he didn’t want Yu Xi to shut down?

How could this intense emotion be directed at him?

At a robot vacuum cleaner?

Was he no longer a symbol of someone else’s feelings, but a vessel for emotions himself?

“Heavens, how did I ever pick up a human like you?!” Yu Xi was losing control of himself. He couldn’t keep the tears from welling up in his eyes, and he didn’t want to anymore.

If he was broken, then he was broken. He had a feeling that he was beyond repair.

As Kersz wiped away his tears, Yu Xi reached out and cupped Kersz’s face in his hands. Then he leaned in slowly and pressed a gentle kiss to Kersz’s lips.

Kersz froze.

“You are my human,” Yu Xi said. “You are my good human.”

Good human – what kind of strange appellation was that?

Kersz intended to ask, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.

Kersz stared into Yu Xi’s eyes, and Yu Xi couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing his lips again.

He knew that such contact was somewhat inappropriate, but he also felt that it was permissible between him and Kersz.

Yu Xi’s lips were cool, and very soft.

In the wake of the second kiss, Kersz finally came back to his senses and said: “I’m so worried that you won’t respond when I wake up tomorrow.”

Yu Xi: “Ah? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you’ll have shut down.” In the end, this would have all just been a beautiful dream for Kersz.

And when he awoke from that dream, he would continue to wander around the desolate universe, filled with hatred and with nowhere to lay his head.

Yu Xi: …..

Yu Xi released Kersz’s face: “I have more than three hundred years before I shut down.”

Kersz choked.

“But I remember you saying that you could shut down at any time, ah,” Kersz said, slow to respond.

“For me, three hundred years is just a moment in the grand scheme of things,” said Yu Xi.

Kersz: “You said I might outlive you.”

“Miracles are always possible. If you’re a long-lived old man, then you could indeed live longer than me,” Yu Xi said.

Kersz remained silent.

Yu Xi finally understood what Kersz had been so sad about lately: “Oh! Wait! You were upset because of me? You thought I could just die tomorrow?!”

When Kersz finally realized the actual state of things, he started to get a little angry.

“Goodness! I’m so sorry! I didn’t explain it clearly!” Yu Xi was regretful, but also a bit happy at the knowledge that Kersz’s pain stemmed from the possibility of him shutting down.

He immediately cupped Kersz’s face in his hands again and kissed him on the lips: “I’m so sorry! I scared you, oh heavens, worrying is really bad for your health. I’ll have to give you a checkup later.”

“Heavens! Heavens!” Yu Xi kissed him twice, then stroked Kersz’s hair, kissed him twice more, and rubbed his back.

His coaxing prevented Kersz from venting his anger, and Yu Xi’s touching and stroking dissipated that anger entirely.

When Yu Xi pressed his lips to Kersz’s again, Kersz licked them.

Yu Xi abruptly leaned back and covered his mouth with his hand.

Kersz gave him an innocent look.

“You can be really naughty sometimes,” Yu Xi said.

“It’s because I’m a space pirate,” Kersz said.

“No, you’re my good human,” Yu Xi corrected him. “A good human who’s a little strange.”

Yes, very strange, ah.

There were so many humans in the universe, habitable planets teeming with them, yet Kersz felt that Yu Xi’s was the best place to stay.

Yu Xi felt a contentment that was hard to describe. If he had to put it into words…..

It was just when he sat atop the tallest building on the planet, gazing up at the starry sky like he had done countless times in the past

Yu Xi would always talk out loud, then use loudspeakers spread across the earth to respond to himself, engaging in a lively and boisterous question-and-answer game.

Now there was someone next to him. Someone who had come over and sat down of his own volition.

Yu Xi had thought that this human would continue to live his own life inside a building, just like all the other humans.

But he didn’t.

In his mind, the human climbed up to the rooftop and sat down, gazing at the sky with Yu Xi.

They felt the blowing wind together, neither of them speaking a word. But when the human wrapped his arms tightly around himself, Yu Xi draped a blanket over him.

They huddled even closer together.

The broadcasts all across the planet fell silent.

Silence. The entire planet was silent, but Yu Xi felt so warm. The person next to him was so warm.

Yu Xi swung his legs, and the human next to him copied his movements.

Yu Xi wanted to laugh. He wanted to laugh at how sly and mischievous the human beside him was.

He laughed and so did the human, and they huddled close together.

This once silent planet seemed to suddenly be filled with sound.

Yu Xi told Kersz about this feeling, and asked him what he thought.

Kersz put an end to his mischief and gazed intently at Yu Xi for a long time.

Finally, he said: “I found that extraterrestrial visitor in the storeroom.”

In that fairy tale, there was an extraterrestrial visitor from “fairyland,” and only good children were capable of seeing it.

As a child, Kersz would often search his family’s storeroom. In order to prove that he was a good child, he would often donate his savings and actively strive to do “good deeds.”

Later, when he grew up, he realized that there were no fairy tales in this world, and that there were no “aliens that only good children could see.”

Fairy tales had no basis in reality, and were completely illogical.

Furthermore, that little brat who believed in fairytales had been corrupted beyond recognition by reality. He dropped onto a mining planet and nearly died in that place, where he witnessed humanity’s most primal desires.

He had also killed people. Many, many people.

He accepted the reality that his parents were gone, and repeatedly reminded himself that they were just two dead people who would never return.

In the future, he would never have the opportunity to love them again.

He told himself that he could no longer be so foolish. That he couldn’t vent his true feelings everywhere, screaming and wailing like a helpless child.

He had to smile – smile in a way that made others uncomfortable, because that was the only way he could make others cry.

He wanted to remain unfathomable to everyone, to never place his trust in any of them, because people were selfish creatures and were only looking out for their own futures.

This was nothing out of the ordinary. It was only natural.

He needed to understand that.

Then, no longer clinging to his dangerous innocence, he dragged those people down with him into hell.

But somehow, as he neared death, he seemed to break through the door of that old storeroom again.

The surroundings were silent. Exhausted, Kersz closed his eyes and fell asleep there.

And when he opened his eyes again, he found that extraterrestrial from “fairyland.”

His eyes were as beautiful as a saltwater lake under sunlight.

The extraterrestrial reached out a hand to him and said: “Good child, let’s go on an adventure together behind everyone’s backs.”

Their future seemed to be as boundless as the starry night sky, as vast as the cosmos.

Like sparks that had been ignited, they ran hand in hand as they were carried upward on hot thermal currents.

Defying gravity, they soared toward the infinite beyond.

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Chapter 28 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 30