Spring chamber, long night, even dreams are filled with passion. The candles had burned to red stubs, incense smoke hung heavy, and silk garments were scattered in disarray. Finally, the wind stopped, and rain ceased outside. I rubbed my eyes and sat up from the arms of my pillow companion: “Master, the rain has stopped…” As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted them and fell silent, but he pinched my face hard.

“I was wrong,” I mumbled. “Yinze…”

Having said this, my cheeks burned as I lowered my head. Even now, calling him by name still feels very embarrassing. I remembered the first time he demanded I change how I addressed him was on the second night. No matter how intimate we became, I always felt Master was Master—at first, I refused to change.

After being severely punished by him, I forced myself to call him “Divine Lord.” After being punished again, I changed to calling him “Divine Lord Yinze,” with the same result. Finally, after being taught countless lessons, I honestly called him by his given name directly, though I still made mistakes many times.

Yinze… I always felt that calling him this way made our relationship very special.

Turning over, I faced Yinze who was lying there looking at me directly. His silhouette was bathed in moonlight—nose like a snow peak, skin rivaling ice and frost, long hair scattered across the pillow. A pair of deep, contemplative eyes were gazing at me thoughtfully.

After so many days of intimate contact, I no longer felt afraid of him. I leaned over and poked the water pattern on his cheekbone with my index finger: “This—did you always have it?”

“Yes, this is the water god’s mark, something I was born with.”

“Lord Lingyin also governs water and is a god. Why doesn’t he have this mark?”

“He governs water but isn’t a water god. A water god appears only once every five thousand years, born in the Water Domain Heaven, able to manipulate all waters of heaven and earth. But before being appointed as Divine Lord, these divine powers are restricted, so this mark only reappears after becoming the Cangying God.”

“So you were born a water god?”

“Mm.”

I blinked and clapped my hands in delight: “So amazing! I do admire you…”

Of course, Yinze never accepted such flattery. He just smiled without warmth, like an adult seeing through a child’s tricks, not bothering to argue with me. But even this sharp, arrogant side of him—I loved it immensely.

My heart was as sweet as if filled with honey. I wanted to get closer to him. But as I moved forward, my lower back was twisted and injured. I grimaced and howled, pressing the painful spot. He slid his hand to my lower back, injecting divine power, and the pain immediately disappeared.

I felt the awe of witnessing Nüwa creating humans, but thinking that continuing to drool over him was rather undignified, I buried my head against his collarbone, enjoying this moment of happiness as his lover.

I knew that, except for death, which is determined by heaven, no matter what injuries I suffered at other times, as the supreme god of our water clan, he could bring me back from death. Moreover, he would never again use a master’s authority to suppress me or say I was bold and disrespectful. No matter how many questions I asked, he would answer me. No matter what I did to him—touching his face, biting his chin, patting his bottom, nibbling his shoulder, snuggling around in his arms—he wouldn’t resist at all, letting me make as much fuss as I wanted.

The feeling of being infinitely indulged was intoxicating. I couldn’t help but smile foolishly: “So this is what it feels like to push Master down.”

“You pushed me down?” Yinze smiled disdainfully. “Far from skillful enough.”

I thought about it, suddenly understanding, and my face flushed red: “That’s not what I meant at all.” A series of chaotic, shameful memories flooded my mind, and my legs started aching again because of this.

I rubbed the painful spot: “I am getting old. Now my whole body aches and feels terrible.”

Hearing the word “old,” Yinze, who had been healing me, raised an eyebrow. I said: “You’re different—gods and spirits can’t be compared. Even living to ten thousand years old wouldn’t matter. Besides, doing that so frequently for so many consecutive days—who could normally endure it…”

“Others put on their pants and refuse to acknowledge the person, but our Wei’er is lying in my arms, already refusing to acknowledge me. Two hours ago, you were still begging me to use…” Before he could finish, I silenced him with a forceful kiss.

I heard him chuckle softly, then he kissed me back with extreme tenderness, undoing the silk gauze I had just draped over my shoulders and lifting me onto him while he leaned against the wall. He stroked my hair, proceeding slowly with intimate matters.

Our foreheads touched, exchanging each other’s breath, four lips almost pressed together yet not quite touching. However, because we were so close, saying even one word would result in softly kissing the other.

“Yinze.”

“Mm?”

I didn’t want to bring this up, but if we delayed any longer, things might go wrong. I said reluctantly, “You know, this time I only came out to play with my brother and didn’t tell Second Sister. Suozhao temporarily can’t do without me. I might need to go back and stay for a while…”

“Alright.”

“But I’m a bit reluctant to leave you. I might miss you terribly…” I gripped his hand tightly. “Will you write to me?”

“I don’t have time to write letters.”

Though I had already guessed Yinze was this type of person, I still couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. I didn’t speak, just nodded silently. He said, “However, I can go with you.”

In his bright eyes, I saw my expression of delighted surprise. His eyes also became gentler than moonlight because of this: “Wei’er, now I can’t leave you either.”

Outside the moon tower in mid-air, ten thousand qing of azure brilliance, small windows bright as day. Flowing Cloud Intoxication poured backward from the wine pot into the air, then into my mouth. He held my lips, slowly sucking and tasting bit by bit.

At this moment, light smoke drifted, stars fell from the sky, Flowing Cloud Intoxication seeped into my blood, and even my heart became intoxicated along with it.

Yinze had the body of a supreme god—not drinking or eating caused no harm. He also shared his divine power with me, so I didn’t feel tired or hungry either. Therefore, for seven days, except for bathing and using the toilet, I hardly got out of bed at all. Speaking of using the toilet, I learned that gods don’t need to if they don’t eat large amounts, so every time I said I needed to “relieve myself,” seeing how Yinze looked at me—both attractive and annoying—was simply unbearable.

Speaking of bathing, if it were before, I would have thought bathing with a man was improper and shameless. But now I could confidently say that matters as small as an embroidery needle couldn’t stump me—that’s right, from the first time we bathed together, so-called shame, propriety, and reserve had long been worn away by his shamelessness into floating clouds on the horizon.

Then we were intimate in the room for another half hour, bathed together, dressed properly, and left Yinze’s bedchamber, preparing to go to my room to pack luggage.

Having not gone out for too long, when moonlight fell on my body, I felt like I’d fallen into a pile of wheat chaff—uncomfortable all over. Though everyone in Cangying Manor had gone to sleep, I was still very conscious. Only when we reached my door did I take his arm and lean my head on his shoulder: “It’s wonderful that you can come back with me. My second sister is a great person, and she’s Suozhao’s first empress…”

Noticing Yinze’s gaze fixed on the distance, I also looked over. There was a new small bridge over water, a hexagonal pavilion, evening colors passing through the pavilion, and lonely shadows in solitude.

That person wore a jade crown, black hair to his shoulders, dressed in blue and white Cangying disciple robes and boots, with a light fur cloud robe over them, a precious sword in hand. This made his figure appear even more slender, quite the style of a young sword immortal. Recognizing it was my brother, I suddenly dropped Yinze’s arm, momentarily flustered and at a loss.

My brother walked from the pavilion onto the red wooden curved bridge, looking at me from afar: “It’s good that you’re alright. I’m going back to rest.”

I quickly ran onto the bridge and grabbed my brother’s sleeve: “Brother…”

At this moment, still shadows sank like jade, and my brother’s clear pupils also reflected jade-like light. He glanced at Yinze behind me and said, “I know what you want to say. You don’t need to specifically explain to me. Besides, the entire Cangying Manor knows now. It’s just that matters between generations—speaking of it isn’t glorious, and it’s hard to stop wagging tongues. Think about how to handle this.”

“I don’t care what others say.” I lowered my head. “I only care about Brother’s opinion.”

“My opinion? You still care about my opinion?” My brother suddenly smiled bitterly. “Do you want to ask what I think about you and Master committing incest? Or do you want to know what I think about your plan to take Master back and tell Second Sister you’ve privately pledged yourselves for life? Now, everyone in Cangying Manor knows you slept in his room for seven days without coming out for even a moment! Are you still my sister? If this spreads to Suozhao, how will you face people?”

His words made my face flush hot and cold: “But I like him.”

Fu Chenzhi said coldly, “What do you like about him? He’s over seven thousand years older than you, even older than Immortal Lord Xuxing.”

“That doesn’t matter. I just like him.”

“That’s because he presents himself as a handsome man. If he looked like Immortal Lord Xuxing, would you still be moved?”

I was stunned for a moment, then looked back at Yinze. The pool light rippled, reflecting like stars on his indigo long robe. His features were delicate and refined, standing remarkably tall, with an otherworldly noble air about him that was hard to describe. Thinking that he had heard all our words, yet he remained calm and composed, that elegance from the upper realm could be said to outshine the sun and the moon.

I closed my eyes, imagining him as an old man, then turned back: “If he had been an old man before we got together, I definitely wouldn’t have been moved. But if he became an old man now, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Weiwei, you’ve truly gone mad. If you want to marry, fine. But he’s your master, your elder.”

“Not anymore. After I marry him, it’ll be a proper marriage—no one can say anything about us.”

My brother closed his eyes, as if waiting for the qi and blood in his chest to calm, then said slowly: “So you’ve already discussed this topic.”

I hesitated: “This… not yet. But I think he definitely will…”

Without another word, he flew directly to Yinze, his bearing stern: “Master, everyone already knows about your relationship. Now that you’ve climbed high and removed the ladder, you will take responsibility for Weiwei, won’t you?”

Yinze said, “This is a private matter between Wei’er and me. Others may not interfere.”

Yinze had always been like this—not fond of words, keeping everything clear in his mind. If he answered “I will take responsibility,” it would probably seem rather strange.

We both understood his personality, but for some reason, my brother was instantly enraged. His hands slowly and forcefully clenched into fists, his eye sockets reddening as he lowered his voice: “Master, Weiwei and I grew up together. She’s the closest person to me in this world. If anyone hurts her, I won’t let them off lightly, not even Master.”

I quickly ran over and tugged my brother’s sleeve: “Brother, you’re making too big a deal of this. Yin… Master is just this temperament—he will take responsibility for me.” But he wouldn’t listen, still wanting to push my hand away, but I held on tight, and we pulled back and forth for a long time.

Yinze’s gaze swept lightly over our hands, he frowned, grabbed my other wrist and pulled me to his side: “Go back to pack. We leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

My brother had been trying to push me away, but after Yinze pulled me away, his eyes suddenly turned blood red. I saw a flash of white light in the night. Before I could see the situation clearly, I heard the sharp sound of metal hitting ice, then Yinze held me and dodged back sharply! In the blink of an eye, we were more than ten meters away from my brother.

In the distance, the precious sword my brother was wielding had its tassel falling from the air, then sharp sword qi splashed up pond water, water droplets forming curtains, shocking open in all directions, coincidentally cutting off the wooden bridge under our feet. However, the ice wall that had been blocking our previous position didn’t show even a scratch.

My brother was indeed very strong now, but compared to Yinze, there was still a vast difference. He didn’t give up, taking his precious sword, eyes blood red, and charging at us wildly. Yinze hooked his right index finger, placing it on his left chest. A silver light flashed across the jade ring, and another ice wall blocked in front of my brother. Before my brother could turn around, there was a sharp “clang” sound, and three ice walls trapped my brother inside.

Finally, my brother’s entire body was also frozen like an ice sculpture in this ice room, unable to move.

Yinze lowered his arm, saying thoughtfully: “Chenzhi’s problem is becoming difficult to handle.”

“Brother is possessed again?”

“As his age and magical power increase, this condition will become harder and harder to control, especially at night. So we can’t leave him here—we must keep him with us at all times. Otherwise, if this reaches the Heavenly Emperor, his life might be in danger.”

I said in surprise: “Life in danger! It’s just possession—is it that serious?”

“It’s not that simple. When there’s a chance later, I’ll explain it to you.”

Early the next morning, we set out to return to Suozhao. I had thought that after the events of these seven days had made such a commotion, we would face pointing and whispering, but everything was no different from usual. My brother returned to normal, and even Lord Lingyin only teasingly said, “The little couple’s seven days of love—wonderful, wonderful,” then made no further comments.

However, when Goddess Qingwu heard that Yinze was leaving, she specially rushed over from White Tiger Heaven, saying she wanted to see the Divine Lord off. Seeing the two of them chatting happily to the side, I felt as uncomfortable as if I’d been stuck in a thorn bush, and while preparing luggage with my brother, I was always absent-minded.

Finally, when they finished talking, Yinze called my brother over to give instructions, but Goddess Qingwu walked toward me.

She smiled at me slightly: “You don’t need to be so defensive toward me. That little spark between Divine Lord Yinze and me was extinguished eight years ago.”

“Eight years?”

“That’s right, after you left Tianshi City. This time, I’m afraid he’s serious.” Her voice was soft and melodious, comparable to the most beautiful zhengyu music in the nine heavens. “The Divine Lord is handsome and refined—he has many admirers even in the divine realm, but unfortunately, none caught his eye. So you’re a lucky girl.”

After hearing this, it would be strange not to feel flattered. I thought my joy was overflowing on my face, and I saw Goddess Qingwu’s smile deepen: “He doesn’t even mind that you’re just a spirit—it shows that though the Divine Lord appears cold as ice and snow, he’s deeply sentimental.”

“Thank you, Goddess, for telling me this. I just don’t understand—as you said, I’m not extraordinarily beautiful, and my background is truly negligible to him. Why would he care for me… I’m not very confident.”

“I said the Divine Lord is a sentimental person, and very stubborn. For a thousand years, once he acknowledges someone, as long as people and things are related to that person, he’ll go through fire and water for them.”

“…A thousand years?”

“Yes. For a thousand years, as long as it concerned Zhaohua Ji, he valued it more than his affairs.”

Hearing this name, I was confused for a moment, certain I’d seen it in books: “Zhaohua Ji—isn’t she the daughter of Northern Black Emperor Ye Guangji?”

“Yes. I didn’t expect you to know something about the divine realm. But speaking of coincidences, she has some connection to your Suozhao, too. Has anyone told you what Suozhao means?”

I recited the answer my teacher had taught: “Going upstream against the current to see the divine.”

“Your understanding of ‘zhao’ might be ‘divine,’ but it means light, referring to Zhaohua Ji. She was a goddess who governed light but loved quiet moonlit nights, so Divine Lord Yinze built Suozhao for her to appreciate the moon.”

“Wait, why is what you’re saying different from what Yinze told me? He told me Suozhao was built for my brother’s mother—they were old friends…” Speaking of this, I suddenly stopped.

Goddess Qingwu laughed: “What a silly girl. We should be talking about the same person. Zhaohua Ji is your brother’s mother, originally named Shangyan.”

I puzzled over this question for about two quarters of an hour, then stopped thinking about it. Goddess Qingwu liked Yinze—this was an undeniable fact. Shangyan had passed away many years ago. Goddess Qingwu brought her up now to frighten me simply because she was quite displeased that Yinze and I were together.

Everyone has a past, and besides, Yinze had lived over seven thousand years—having one or two women he’d liked was perfectly normal. As long as he liked me now, I wouldn’t bother asking about other women and troubling myself.

The only thing I couldn’t understand was: if Shangyan was Zhaohua Ji, then she was also a high-ranking god. Unless my brother’s father was a mortal or wandering immortal, allowing her to give birth to an immortal, otherwise, however she gave birth, it should have been a god. Moreover, my brother was born in the immortal realm but was immediately abandoned in Jiuzhou after not many years, necessarily because Shangyan couldn’t bring him back to the divine realm.

I didn’t understand why she couldn’t bring my brother back to the divine realm. Also, what truly made me curious was: what kind of remarkable man could make Shangyan abandon Yinze and turn to his embrace, even washing her face with tears daily, unwilling to look back at the devoted Yinze… No, no, I couldn’t think about this—if I kept thinking, I’d get jealous too.

Returning to Suozhao, I had Yinze hide his divine power and water pattern mark, temporarily disguising himself as an ordinary immortal, and we met Second Sister first. Yinze even properly bowed to Second Sister, making me break out in cold sweat. Despite this, everyone in the palace, including Second Sister, was still quite shocked by his bearing, and countless people privately asked me about his background. I couldn’t have been more proud.

After Second Sister’s reception ceremony ended, I finally went back to see Xuanyue. As soon as it saw me, it immediately pounced like a bee, sticking to my shoulder, and didn’t leave for the entire day after that. Then I took Yinze around Zichao Palace and showed him the Cangying God statue on the altar.

Seeing that old man, he took advantage of no one being around to transform into that sculpture’s appearance, putting one hand behind his back and stroking his beard: “So this is how I appear in your eyes.” This made me both nervous and want to laugh.

At the same time, I spoke to him more and more boldly, even telling him Kongshu’s story. After hearing it, Yinze thought for a moment and said, “As long as your second sister takes a liking to a man, you’ll step aside. If she took a liking to me, what would you do?”

I pointed at him without hesitation: “Mine!” Then clenched my hand into a fist. “If she dares to steal him, I’ll fight her until we’re both bloody.”

“Fortunately, you answered cleverly. If you’d said you didn’t mind, you probably wouldn’t have a good time.”

“What, you want to seduce my second sister?”

“Dealing with matters as they come, dealing with people as they are. I’ll disturb her slightly at midnight.”

“That’s still seducing her.”

“No, I’m having you disturb her at midnight.”

I tilted my head, looking at him in confusion. Me disturb Second Sister at midnight? Second Sister and I have such a good relationship—disturbing her at midnight wouldn’t matter…

I hadn’t thought deeply about it originally, but seeing Xuanyue flying in the air, actually shyly covering its eyes with its claws, not afraid of falling from mid-air.

Strange, what was it being shy about?

Wait.

Yinze said he would have me disturb her at midnight? Could he mean making noise in my bedchamber to disturb Second Sister… and this noise would be…

My face flushed red, speaking incoherently: “You, you, you… You’re shameless!”

Yinze pinched my face and chuckled: “Wei’er, what are you thinking? Why are you blushing like this?”

Xuanyue seemed unable to watch anymore, wiggling its little bottom, letting out an “ao” cry, and flapping its wings and burrowing into the grass.