Such jokes naturally reached the ears of the Heavenly Mother Saint. She summoned her son and asked why he had made his earthly reputation so foul.

Dong Yuan didn’t care about that bit of mortal incense and fortune, but knowing Wei Jie was behind the mischief was what he found most unacceptable.

In his view, Wei Jie was the greatest obstacle between himself and the Phoenix.

Remembering the Phoenix’s decisiveness when she broke with him—if she hadn’t fallen for someone else, how could she have cut ties so cleanly?

Thinking of this, Dong Yuan’s expression was no longer leisurely, just coldly silent. A mother knows her child best—seeing this, Rong Yao immediately understood his obsession.

She felt that unless the Phoenix matter were explained clearly, Dong Yuan would never give up.

So Rong Yao said coldly: “You’ve seen it yourself—the demon clan’s sacred light has restarted, and the demon clan’s bloodline that should have been severed has been restored. Without a true god willingly contributing their soul to nourish it, the demon clan’s divine tree could never have revived from withered wood! Can’t you see? The Phoenix has long been gone. She used her soul to aid the demon clan in its revival. Even if she were truly still here, she should be punished by the Heavenly Way and scattered to nothing!”

These words from the Heavenly Mother were what Dong Yuan had always avoided acknowledging. He refused to believe that the Phoenix would willingly exhaust her primordial soul for a group of hideous demons!

Even if this were true, someone must have forced the Phoenix. And the one who forced and framed the Phoenix could only be Emperor Gu Yan—no one else!

To oppose him, Emperor Gu Yan truly used every possible means! That bastard persecuted the Phoenix this way, preventing him and the Phoenix from ever meeting again!

Emperor Gu Yan… no! Wei Jie! If I don’t scatter your soul completely, how can I resolve the hatred in my heart?

Thinking this, the white jade brick floor beneath his feet trembled slightly and immediately cracked.

Rong Yao hadn’t seen her son this angry in a long time. She said calmly, “Dong Yuan, don’t disappoint me. You are the god destined to inherit the Heavenly Emperor’s rule over the six realms. If you’re still entangled in romantic love, how can you reach the supreme divine realm?”

Dong Yuan smiled slightly and said softly, “But if there’s unwillingness and resentment in my heart, wouldn’t it be even harder to reach the supreme divine realm? Mother, you should know that the Phoenix is the knot in my heart I cannot untie. If becoming a god means having regrets in my heart, how would that differ from mortal men in the human world? Mother, I want to go to the mortal realm once more. At minimum, I must determine whether Cui Xiaoxiao is truly the Phoenix’s reincarnation!”

Rong Yao knew Dong Yuan was difficult to persuade—in this aspect, he took after her.

If he made one trip to the mortal realm and could see the truth clearly and let go, that wouldn’t be bad either.

Thinking this, Rong Yao said lightly: “Haven’t you already found a suitable host in the human world? Just don’t act recklessly again. Don’t think that being the Heavenly Emperor’s son means you can do whatever you want. Your father god has been in closed-door cultivation, and many ancient great gods don’t submit to the Heavenly Emperor!”

After giving these instructions, she waved her hand and let her son leave her immortal residence.

After Dong Yuan left, Rong Yao summoned the goddess who served her—Mirror Lake Fairy. What Mirror Lake Fairy held in her hands was the Book of Life and Death from the Underworld.

“Previously, when underworld demon beasts escaped, the Wei family’s guard was lax, so this servant took this from the Underworld…”

Rong Yao looked at the Book of Life and Death, using divine power to make the pages turn automatically. After quickly reading through it once, she frowned slightly: “That Cui Xiaoxiao truly has no past life and no afterlife…”

Mirror Lake Fairy astutely continued: “If her origins are truly as you deduced, Heavenly Mother—that the Phoenix originally used her soul to nurture the demon clan saint—then isn’t this Cui Xiaoxiao an evil creature born against the Heavenly Way? How can such an evil woman exist in this world? Perhaps the current chaos in the mortal world’s Heavenly Way is because of her erroneous existence…”

Rong Yao reached out to stir the fish pond beside her, attracting a school of fish. She casually created a handful of golden pills and scattered these spiritual elixirs—which mortal cultivators could only dream of—into the pond as fish food.

While feeding the fish, she said seemingly casually: “If that’s truly the case, what should be done?”

Mirror Lake Fairy was a demon immortal who had cultivated her current form. Originally, she was just a red carp in this fish pond who, blessed by the Heavenly Mother’s favor, ate golden pills daily. Her cultivation soared, and within a hundred years, she evolved into human form, then, after five hundred more years, achieved immortality.

As they say, when drinking water, don’t forget who dug the well. When the Heavenly Mother stirred the fish pond’s waves, Mirror Lake knew she should be sensible and repay her debt.

So she spoke eloquently: “The current mortal world is not the time when that evil woman Cui Xiaoxiao should exist. In that case, if we want to correct the Heavenly Way, there are methods…”

After hearing her whispered plans, Rong Yao turned and smiled: “Though I’ve taken in many fairies, when it comes to critical moments, you’re the one who can truly help. This shows my golden pills weren’t wasted on you all those years… You are of the water clan and have many connections with the lower realm. These matters—I’ll leave them to you to handle…”

Mirror Lake Fairy accepted the command and hurried away.

Rong Yao scattered all the remaining golden pills into the fish pond, watched the fish chase the pills for a while, clapped her hands, and looked north toward the distant horizon.

There was the palace where the Heavenly Emperor practiced in closed-door cultivation. By her count, she hadn’t seen the Heavenly Emperor for six hundred years.

She had just advised her son not to be delayed by romantic feelings, and she was the same. As for marital affection, between her and the Heavenly Emperor, aside from mutual respect, there was nothing else.

That Heavenly Emperor’s heart contained only the great love of the supreme Heavenly Way—she and their son had long been absent from his thoughts.

After three thousand years of bitter cultivation, what she finally gained was a truth known to every resentful wife in the mortal world—that men generally cannot be relied upon, whether they are human or divine.

If the Heavenly Emperor learned of the troubles Dong Yuan had caused, he would likely enforce justice impartially and punish severely.

Rong Yao was too lazy to go before the Heavenly Emperor to trade on what little affection remained. Better to clean up this mess while everything could still be managed…

Thinking this, she returned to the Book of Life and Death and began reading through it again. This time, she wanted to calculate without omission and resolve all outstanding debts early!

As for Dong Yuan, after discussing with his mother his desire to thoroughly investigate whether the Phoenix had reincarnated, he once again possessed a soul in the lower realm.

But when he opened his eyes, he discovered his entire body was wrapped in meteoric iron chains, bound in a not-very-large iron cage.

Guarding Ghost Sect disciples threw a copper basin inside, containing murky, suspicious liquid.

“You should be grateful to have anything to drink! Do you think you’re still the young master of Lingyun Pavilion? Keep being picky, and I’ll make you drink my piss!”

It turned out that these past few days, Qin Lingxiao had been constantly seeking opportunities to escape, being very uncooperative, angering the Ghost Sect disciples guarding him, who were now threatening him harshly.

Dong Yuan saw the wounds covering the body he now inhabited and could guess that this body’s original owner had lived worse than a dog these past few days.

This Lord Can, knowing he still needed this body, still treated it so poorly—was he preparing for him to use a tortured, broken body?

Thinking this, Dong Yuan couldn’t help but flex his arms forcefully, immediately snapping the iron chains wrapped around his body.

Seeing this, those Ghost Sect disciples were greatly startled—two immediately ran out of the ship’s cabin to report to Lord Can.

But when Dong Yuan in the cage tried to break the cage’s bars, his heart sank—he discovered he couldn’t summon continuous strength and couldn’t snap this cage made of Nine Heavens meteoric iron as easily as he’d broken the chains.

Those two bars only bent and deformed slightly, not enough for him to get out.

After thinking briefly, Dong Yuan understood the root cause. The recent widespread popular resentment’s damage to his divine status was this severe!

If he were in the heavenly realm, this bit of damage would be negligible, but now that he had come to the mortal world, this backlash was immediately apparent.

Just then, Lord Can hurried down, and seeing the change in Qin Lingxiao’s demeanor, immediately knew that the god Dong Yuan had descended to the mortal world again.

Lord Can calmly glanced at the half-bent bars, immediately waved for a nearby Talisman Sect disciple to unlock the cage with a key, and smiled: “This iron cage’s material isn’t easy to collect. Fortunately, the god showed mercy and didn’t break it completely. Otherwise, when the god isn’t present, I really wouldn’t know what to use to confine someone as powerful as Qin Lingxiao.”

Dong Yuan smiled mysteriously, not revealing his current weakness. After all, Lord Can wasn’t a kind person, and Dong Yuan’s grievances with the Da Qi royal family couldn’t be detailed one by one.

If Lord Can grasped his weakness, given this former Da Qi monarch’s nature, he might dare to do something bold.

By then, his fate might not be better than Qin Lingxiao, who was forced to eat dog food.

After Dong Yuan left the iron cage and stood on the ship’s bow, he discovered that Lord Can had not docked these past few days, constantly wandering at sea.

Lord Can carefully explained the recent events to Dong Yuan. Following Dong Yuan’s previous arrangements, he had Ghost Sect disciples use invisibility talismans to return to the demon island, took the poisonous blood of several young yaksha, used gold to create fake dragon scales, soaked them in poisonous blood, then wrapped them with fish gelatin and attached fish bladders before throwing them back into the sea.

When those fishermen salvaged the gold, they naturally couldn’t wait to wipe off the adhesive on the scales, naturally getting pricked by the deliberately left sharp spikes on the scales, then poisoned by yaksha toxin.

This water yaksha poison took effect quickly and could be transmitted from person to person. When it affected a large area, the matter of the demon clan toxins causing chaos in the world could be formally reported to the heavenly court.

But who would have thought that Wei Jie and Cui Xiaoxiao would use such clever rhetoric, somehow convincing a group of foolish people to believe rumors and turn around to smash his temples!

Standing on the ship’s bow, Dong Yuan silently gathered his qi and discovered his divine power was indeed constrained as if by invisible iron chains, unable to flow freely!

He knew he couldn’t stay long in the mortal world to avoid changes, so he wanted to quickly see Cui Xiaoxiao.

Thinking this, he instructed Lord Can: “Head toward the village where Cui Xiaoxiao is located.”

Lord Can immediately ordered the sailors to change course toward the coastline, breaking waves as they sailed forward…

As for the “epidemic” in the fishing village, because of Cui Xiaoxiao’s saint’s blood, its spread was quickly stopped.

The “dragon scales” those villagers had salvaged at sea were also collected by Tang Youshu, who burned them with fire talismans into molten gold, evaporating the toxins within.

As for the gold remaining after burning, Tang Youshu distributed it all to the village households who had lost family members and other poisoned families.

After all, those who died this time were all the family breadwinners who went to sea fishing, leaving behind orphans and widows who truly couldn’t survive.

Seeing those orphaned elderly and half-grown children kneeling on the ground, thanking the immortal master, Xiaoxiao felt somewhat sad.

When midnight came, she sat on the village rooftop, leaning against Wei Jie’s broad embrace, saying somewhat wistfully: “I shouldn’t have appeared in this time two hundred years ago. If not for me, Dong Yuan wouldn’t have awakened those water yaksha, and those villagers who died might not have suffered this disaster, and their families wouldn’t have had to experience this sorrow.”

Wei Jie understood Xiaoxiao best. Though she claimed to be from a background of petty swindlers, she had the most tender and sensitive heart.

Unexpectedly, during these days, she had silently taken the deaths of these villagers upon herself. Wei Jie couldn’t help but grip her shoulders tightly.

“What does this have to do with you? The water yaksha poison was spread by Dong Yuan’s orders. If you hadn’t awakened those water yaksha, no one would have discovered Fu Niang’s activities on the sea island. By then, she would have harmed even more people, stealing their lifespans to nourish those demon fetuses. Now, you stopped Fu Niang early—have you calculated how many people you’ve saved?”

Wei Jie had rarely been able to say so many words lately, except when in bed. Xiaoxiao looked up at him. At this moment, Wei Jie’s straight nose and thin lips showed he was looking at her with focused seriousness, saying word by word: “I’ve accumulated several lifetimes of good fortune just to meet you, who crossed two hundred years. Otherwise, how could our destinies have connected?”

Xiaoxiao knew he was right. When she was born in the same era as him, she was still just Little Black Phoenix. When she reincarnated as a human, he was long gone from the world.

For two people separated by two hundred years to meet, know each other, and finally love each other was heaven’s greatest gift to the unfortunate Wei Jie and her.

Both of them warmed each other and became inseparable.

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but smile sweetly at Wei Jie, finally making Wei Jie show his canine teeth and smile back at her.

This mutual silly smiling had become Wei Jie and Xiaoxiao’s recent daily routine. Two people who knew each other’s hearts could feel a sweet satisfaction in their chests just by looking at each other without saying anything—of course, this was only Xiaoxiao’s feeling.

When Wei Jie saw the fair-skinned, large-eyed girl with enchanting glances smiling at him like this, besides feeling his chest swell, other places also swelled to the point of bursting.

He inevitably had to scoop up the girl and rush frantically toward the house.

Seeing him like this, Xiaoxiao could only laugh helplessly while patting his chest: “You’re acting like Ji Xiang with an aphrodisiac talisman stuck on him—you could start a fire with any tree trunk!”

Wei Jie usually chatted with Xiaoxiao and knew she had raised an old dog named Ji Xiang two hundred years ago, so this comparison from the little girl was truly insulting!

If he didn’t make her burst into flames in a moment, she wouldn’t know her man’s prowess!

For a time, after the candlelight in the room was extinguished, there was playful laughter and intimate sweetness, and later the sounds gradually diminished as layer upon layer of curtains fell.

Those subtle, ambiguous sounds reached the ears of Dong Yuan, who had just come ashore.

At this moment, he stood on a hilltop not far from the village, the sharp sea breeze blowing his robes, making him appear solitary.

He stood with his hands behind his back without speaking, his sharp divine eyes naturally able to see far.

But that house was gradually obscured by the barrier Wei Jie emanated, and soon even the sounds couldn’t be heard.

It seemed Wei Jie’s possessiveness was quite strong—he didn’t want others to overhear his woman’s enchanting sounds.

But as a romantic as Divine Son Dong Yuan, he could naturally imagine the passion within the house at this moment.

Though his mother said the Phoenix had scattered into nothing, he still held a thread of hope for Cui Xiaoxiao. Because in that girl, there were too many things similar to the Phoenix.

Even now, Dong Yuan felt that Xiaoxiao’s every smile and frown increasingly carried the Phoenix’s charm.

That girl was the only one in this world connected to the Phoenix.

Only now did Dong Yuan finally vaguely understand that he seemed unable to ever find his Phoenix again.

That woman who appeared uncompetitive and undemanding, who always silently watched him flirt ambiguously with other goddesses, and never cried or made jealous scenes.

So much so that he mistakenly believed she, like those goddesses, understood she couldn’t have the luxury of monopolizing him.

But unexpectedly, when she became heartless, she wouldn’t leave him even half a thought, not even a trace of soul!

And the demon woman she nurtured with her soul wouldn’t even look at him, throwing herself wholeheartedly into his lifelong enemy’s embrace, making love passionately before his very eyes…

Was this the Phoenix’s deliberate revenge?

Dong Yuan momentarily lost focus, recalling bits and pieces of his time with the Phoenix. Back then, when his relationship with the Phoenix was good, yet unwilling to be faithful to one person, he had half-jokingly tested her: “If you discovered I don’t love only you, what would you do?”

The Phoenix had smiled unchanged but looked at him with focused eyes: “If you betray me, I won’t cling either. From then on, across the vast netherworld and azure heavens, we shall forget each other between heaven and earth…”

That moment seemed right before his eyes, but as Dong Yuan recalled it, he saw in those clear, bright eyes a firm coldness he had never noticed before…

Perhaps she had seen through his deceptive games much earlier than he knew, just giving him chances again and again.

Until he used her completely, wounded her thoroughly, making her decide never to look back and forget each other, thus…

Dong Yuan suddenly felt pain in his forehead. When he reached up to touch it, his divine seal was bleeding again.

He took out a handkerchief to wipe it and smiled coldly toward that house with flickering lamplight.

Who was he? The son of the Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Mother Saint, who from birth had enjoyed all honors and glory, with a lifespan equal to heaven’s.

Yet he was angered to the point of divine status damage because of “what cannot be obtained in this life”?

This humiliation was even more unacceptable than the humiliation itself!

Let that bastard enjoy a moment of tenderness! Because soon, Wei Jie would understand how powerless it was to be a mortal, how heaven didn’t fulfill human wishes!

At this moment, Dong Yuan finally made up his mind: Cui Xiaoxiao, whether or not you are the Phoenix’s reincarnation, I will not allow you to stay together with Wei Jie forever!

The night gradually deepened, everything fermenting and brewing before dawn, awaiting unknown storms.