I truly don’t know how many more shocks I’ll have to endure before things settle down. I hadn’t even recovered from the surprise of their master-disciple relationship when I heard this astonishing declaration. There’s something I’ve never been willing to recall—what he said outside the prison that time…
Originally, I thought he was just acting impulsively at the time, but unexpectedly, he brought up old matters again now. I immediately felt my entire face become like a steaming ripe tomato. Yinze’s gaze only lingered on us for a moment before he continued sipping his wine, laughing: “Two children who haven’t even grown all their hair yet are already learning to make private marriage vows. Chenzhi, do you understand what a wife is?”
Though he smiled, when criticizing people, he was naturally intimidating. Fu Chenzhi seemed somewhat afraid too, but his attitude didn’t change: “I know. A wife is a woman one spends their entire life with.”
Yinze said, “Well answered. Then let me ask you, do you know how much longer this little water spirit’s life is?”
“Over two hundred years.”
“Then, do you know how much longer your life is?”
Fu Chenzhi remained silent. Yinze had a pair of very beautiful eyes. These eyes held sophistication that didn’t match his youthful appearance, yet had been refined by time into winter moon-like coldness.
He quietly examined us both, saying: “To immortals, over two hundred years is but a fleeting instant. She is a spirit, you are an immortal—your fundamental natures are different. When paths differ, there can be no mutual planning, let alone the three teas and six rites of marriage.”
I waved my hands repeatedly: “Taishi Jun, you misunderstand. Brother is joking. I’m his sister! I don’t know what medicine he took wrong to joke about such things…”
“Chenzhi, it seems this little girl is much cleverer than you, knowing to bide her time and hide her intentions.” Yinze hummed lightly in his throat and continued drinking.
“Wait… Taishi Jun, this isn’t hiding intentions.” I truly couldn’t explain myself clearly. “He is my brother. We grew up in the same place. Though we have no blood relation, our affection is like siblings. We’ve never done anything improper, except for that one time he coupled with me without my permission…”
Fu Chenzhi was so shocked he couldn’t even speak, just suddenly turned to stare at me. Yinze, who had been drinking, also paused suddenly at my words before continuing to drink. Fu Chenzhi said: “Weiwei, what nonsense are you spouting?”
As Confucius said, “Learning without application brings heavenly punishment.” Indeed, using such literary and official-sounding vocabulary, I had stunned both immortals. Living application is the key to speaking eloquently.
I smiled proudly: “Coupling! Have you forgotten? Near Zichao Palace, under the bright moon, beside the dungeon, in the grass—we indeed coupled that once.”
Finally, Yinze also choked slightly, covering his mouth with his hand and coughing a few times. Haha, even the Divine Lord was conquered by me—my words were quite sophisticated. Yinze cast me an incomprehensible, complex look: “Bright moon, dungeon, grass?”
I nodded: “Yes. Only that once, never again after. Brother was very serious about it, but I just laughed it off.”
Yinze said, “I underestimated you—truly an open-minded girl.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! Do you understand what that word means?” In the middle of the night, Fu Chenzhi’s face was flushed.
I became even more pleased, stroking my chin: “Of course I understand. Would I use it if I didn’t? But I didn’t take it to heart. After all, it was very brief—you didn’t stay long before hurrying away.”
Yinze said nothing more but glanced at Fu Chenzhi and cleared his throat. For some reason, I read a trace of mockery in his eyes.
And Fu Chenzhi seemed to have collapsed, covering my mouth, grabbing my arm, bidding farewell to Yinze, and dragging me out of Yiyao Hall. After we left, he commanded with unusual seriousness: “Listen well—no matter who you’re in front of, never mention those two words again!”
So fierce. I dryly said “alright,” then casually asked: “Even when it’s just us two, I can’t say it?”
Fu Chenzhi first froze, then fell into serious contemplation. His eyes flickered, his eyelashes dark and bright in the moonlight, as if truly puzzled by this question.
I waved my hand in front of him, and only then did he come back to his senses, still putting on his older brother demeanor: “You can’t be too unrestrained in front of me either.”
“So is that a yes or no?”
His face was inexplicably flushed slightly red again, but he still couldn’t say those two words, “yes,” only lightly nodding his head.
I just love seeing him tolerate me in every way. Feeling cheerful, I extended my hand toward him: “Brother, I’m going back to my room to rest. First, couple with me for a moment.”
The result was him scolding me severely and ordering me to roll back to my room alone to sleep. Fu Chenzhi was becoming stranger and stranger. Doesn’t “coupling” mean holding hands? From childhood, we’d held hands countless times. Just now, I only wanted to high-five him. What was he getting angry about…
Even more tragic was that the next day, Fu Chenzhi brought bad news: he had to go elsewhere in the immortal realm on business for Divine Lord Yinze. The matter was urgent and he had to leave immediately, so he couldn’t take me along. So he was disappearing again for ten days to half a month. During this time, I’d have to stay at Qinghong Mountain alone.
Thinking carefully, the gap between his current strength and mine was by no means small. If I maintained my current state, following him would probably just make me his burden. If I didn’t follow him, wouldn’t this be just like before? No, yesterday the Divine Lord said my lifespan was just that little bit—I didn’t want to waste my life here.
Actually, after seeing Fu Chenzhi’s immortal arts, I began calculating in my heart: such a great opportunity to find a master absolutely couldn’t be missed. Indeed, Divine Lord Yinze might not necessarily accept me as a disciple, but as long as I pleased him, maybe I could find a backdoor like a mouse digging a hole, and get a different master—that would be most fortunate.
With such a grand plan, the next day I ran to Yiyao Hall, saying I wanted to see Taishi Jun, then got chased out by patrolling disciples.
So I spent the entire remaining day crouched behind stone lions, scanning them with calculating eyes, finally finding an opening at dusk to slip inside.
Passing the study, I heard two men’s voices inside. One voice was easily recognizable—Divine Lord Yinze. I raised both hands, covering my eyes to block the light. Through the door crack, I also saw the other person, Divine Lord Lingyin.
They stood beside a desk, discussing over a map several meters long. Before long, Divine Lord Lingyin drew twice on the table surface, actually using magic to lift the map into the air. Suddenly, the transparent map came alive: magnificent mountains and rivers, babbling streams, drifting clouds and mist, southern flowing scenery gleaming with light. Above this landscape, tens of thousands of water streams slowly rotated, seemingly having countless connections with the lower realm.
He waved his finger, withdrawing about ten percent of the water. The lower realm immediately experienced dried rivers and fragmentation. He tried several different water withdrawal methods. The world below changed differently, but the final result was the same vast drought.
Divine Lord Lingyin sighed: “Drought rises from underground—the first to be affected will be Jiuzhou. Boss, what can be done about this?”
“This natural disaster is a fated calamity of the Six Paths—it seems unavoidable. For the lower realm to avoid this calamity, there’s probably only one method.” Divine Lord Yinze pointed at the floating map, and immediately, three red beams spread from the map’s center, dividing it into three large pieces. “If the spiritual energy of the Jiuzhou continent is dispersed, it can at least last fifty years.”
Divine Lord Lingyin said, “In that case, war is unavoidable. War brings countless casualties and devastation—that’s not much better… However, this is the only method. Boss, what are your current plans? The current Han Emperor has powerful ministers monopolizing court politics, military strongmen. Should I go clean him out?”
Divine Lord Yinze said, “Lingyin, how many times must I tell you—Jiuzhou has heavy turbid energy. You’re from the divine realm. Unless necessary, you cannot act personally.”
Divine Lord Lingyin laughed: “Haha, you’re not even afraid of demonic energy, yet fear turbid energy. I think in the entire divine realm, only you consider Jiuzhou’s turbid energy heavy. Boss, don’t discriminate against all beings. The Heavenly Emperor has criticized this temperament of yours countless times.”
Divine Lord Yinze said coldly: “Don’t use the Heavenly Emperor to pressure me—you know I’m not afraid of him.”
“Yes, yes, yes. What are your current plans?”
“Disguise as a noble family son and find a Minister Wang to offer strategies.”
“Disguise? I like that. We’ll need several people.” Divine Lord Lingyin chuckled. “We can find some fairy sisters as maidservants.”
“Unnecessary. This journey must be low-key. You and the little girl at the door will suffice.”
Divine Lord Lingyin said in a strange tone: “What, me again…”
Before I could retreat, the door opened automatically. I maintained the pose of covering my brow and looking into the distance, blinked, and smiled with radiant sunshine: “Greetings, Taishi Jun! Taishi Jun still has a glowing complexion today, full of energy! What instructions does Taishi Jun have?”
Divine Lord Yinze rubbed his forehead, sat in a chair, and waved at Divine Lord Lingyin: “You tell her.”
Divine Lord Lingyin also didn’t understand Yinze’s thinking. He looked at him, then at me, and repeated what Yinze had just instructed.
I nodded like garlic, then he waved his sleeve, and a flash of water light passed. Looking down, I saw my hair had turned black. Xuanyue, originally flying on my shoulder, had also become a small white cat, curled into a furry ball in my arms. Xuanyue looked down at those two furry paws and mewed in fright, nearly falling to the ground.
Yinze glanced at me: “This will do. Her spiritual power is weak—no need to transform into a mortal.”
Divine Lord Lingyin received the order, waved his wide sleeves again, and drew an ice magic circle on the ground: “Little water spirit, come in.” He stepped in himself and disappeared.
I quickly followed. The person walking ahead of me was no longer Divine Lord Lingyin, but a slender-waisted woman holding a fan.
However, she stood with one hand on her hip, fanning herself crudely—a man at first glance. She turned to look at me, immediately restraining her movements. The small round fan covered half her face, and those expressive, seductive eyes winked at me: “Miss Luo, am I beautiful?”
My goodness, it was Divine Lord Lingyin. I couldn’t help shivering.
After a moment, another person emerged from the teleportation circle—a tall, burly, bearded general. Though his appearance had changed greatly, I recognized Yinze’s eyes.
Divine Lord Lingyin waved his fan: “Oh my, my husband is truly robust and powerful, imposing from all sides.”
Yinze said, “Your identity today is not my wife.”
“Then what is it?”
“You’ll know once we go in.”
At this moment, we seemed to be standing beside a high official’s mansion. Looking around, peach blossoms were scattered, abandoned beside the road. Just then, a general strode out from the gate. He was seven feet tall with narrow eyes and a long beard, his expression utterly calm and composed, as if enjoying flowers and moon in Jiangnan.
However, when he reached the corner, he nimbly mounted his horse and galloped away frantically as if fleeing.
Not long after he left, a large number of pursuers rushed from the mansion, shouting: “Quick! Catch Cao Cao, don’t let him escape!!”
Soldiers swarmed like water, and in the blink of an eye, they had chased Cao Cao and disappeared at the end of the main road.
Yinze waited quietly for a moment, gave us a meaningful look, then stepped forward and bowed to the few remaining guard soldiers: “I am Ma Xiao from Xiliang, seeking an audience with Grand Preceptor Dong.”