As Long Di conversed with Long Zhe and Mina about their current situation, he had no idea that his brother conspired against him by assuming the role of the ultimate wingman.
****
“Alright, that’s just about it,” Long Di finally said.
“You’re satisfied?” Long Zhe asked.
Mina crossed her arms. “Satisfied is a strong word. More like eating a cupcake, but the wrapper escaped our clutches. You have no idea how unsatisfying that is. It’s just… livable after… barely by the way.”
“So we’re done here, right?” Long Zhe asked.
Long Zhe didn't know how or when, but for some reason speaking with Long Di just placed him in a strange state of passive indifference and it angered him that he didn’t feel angry about it. I mean, can you just feel the paradox there?
It’s weird!
“We’re done-ish” Long Di performed dysfunctional jazz hands with one hand.
Long Zhe couldn’t even be bothered to begin to comprehend what any of that meant, so he took to the skies to await the arrival of a certain someone.
Long Di stared in the direction he took off in and was relieved when he didn’t go far away enough to a point where the draconic aura couldn’t be felt. If there was one thing he realised, it was that the draconic aura made what he was sure would surely be a very lively forest a nice tropical vacation.
Long Di looked over to where Shen Ling and Pebbles were talking in hushed tones. They had their backs to him and at one point they looked over their shoulders to glance at him before turning back to talk even more animatedly and in even husher (I made it a word) tones if you could believe it.
“I don’t see that working out for me in the long run,” he said to himself. “Hold on, did Shen Ling just turn around to look at me? How does that even make sense?”
Shaking his head, he walked over to where Xiannu Liang was cultivating and sat in the lotus position right in front of her.
He waited for a good thirty minutes before her cauldrons slowly receded, and she finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Long Di’s lifeless eyes.
Sweet God, that’s boringly terrifying!
This was supposed to be something that frightened her, but Long Di’s eyes were devoid of so much emotion that it was incapable of frightening her in this light. In a dark alley where the masses couldn’t hear her screams? Most definitely. But in a brightly lit forest? No. If anything, it was downright disturbing, but Long Di didn’t know the meaning of the word.
“How you doing?” he asked her.
“Good? how about you?” she asked him.
“Meh,” he shrugged his shoulders. He then stuck his thumb behind him over yonder. “I think they’re scheming against me.”
Xiannu Liang looked behind him to see Shen Ling, Pebbles joined now by Mina fervently discussing something.
They stopped what they were doing as they all looked over their shoulder to stare at Long Di. Suspiciousness painted Pebbles and Shen Ling’s features while Mina stared at them with a mix of curiosity and disgust.
After that, they turned back around and resumed their earlier discussion. She then shifted her gaze back to Long Di who was still staring at her in the same pose, thumb pointed back and all, as if he couldn’t care less about what that was all about.
“You ready?” Long Di asked her.
Her brows then furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Hong!
Long Di’s profound myriad heavenseize physique activated in response and a powerful heavenly pressure unfurled that caused Xiannu Liang to pale as the colour drained from her face.
Her body then uncontrollably shook as a feeling of inferiority welled within her.
Long Di then placed his hand on her shoulder to assure her. “Steady your heart.”
Xiannu Liang started to take deep breaths to collect herself.
Long Di waited on her as he thought to himself. ‘I had a weird feeling back when I used my heavenly pressure in tandem with my voice. What was that all about? It’s like I could control everything. Well, sh*t still hit the fan but still… that’s the feeling I got.’
“I-I think I’m ready.” Xiannu Liang’s voice broke his thoughts when he saw that she was much better than before. She was still a little pale, but that’s all there was to it.
It would seem her time in the heavenly denial of Long Di’s cultivation technique had strengthened her will a great deal. Even earlier when he had erected his qi shield to protect everyone from the draconic aura of Long Zhe, he hadn’t been able to block it entirely, but Xiannu Liang actually fared much better than he had expected.
Though based on what he saw befall Jia Yan back then, it was still clear that both their experiences were VERY different.
Whoosh!
A powerful surge of spiritual energy wafted from Long Di in unending waves as he focused on the spiritual vein root.
It was like a sun blazing with spiritual energy as a silvery radiance lit up the space around it for countless miles.
Long Di realised that there were no spiritual stones around and was wondering to himself what was up with that.
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“Okay, I’m gonna start now.” Long Di held two hands out with his palms facing Xiannu Liang.
What do I-”
“Just do what I’m doing,” Long Di instructed her.
She held her hands out just like him and when their palms touched, Long Di clasped her hands, inciting a faint blush on her face.
Before she could react, an overwhelming volume of spiritual energy rushed into her body causing her eyes to widen in shock.
“You DO have the spiritual vein roo-”
“Stop wasting my spiritual energy. I could give this to Shen Ling y’kno… I think.” Long Di said, reminding her this was for her to cultivate with.
She quickly suppressed her shock and entered a meditative state.
It wasn’t her fault she was surprised. After all, based on what she saw, Long Di had given the spiritual vein root to the Grand Preceptor. For him to whip it out now out of nowhere would be shocking to anyone who didn’t know what was up.
Even the ‘conspirators’ over yonder were shocked by this as they stared slack-jawed at the scene before them.
Of course, this wasn’t enough to hold them for long. Not too much time, before they collected their jaws and began conversing amongst themselves once more.
D-D-Dum…
Xiannu Liang cauldrons materialised behind her as they rotated at their own pace before they were forced to increase in speed to handle the influx of spiritual energy.
Her ninth duan trembled as blazing spiritual energy engulfed it. Its emerald colour brightened while profound designs were being carved onto its surface by an invisible hand.
The designs were plentiful, but at no point did they appear too much, as if this was how it was always meant to be. Xiannu Liang herself didn’t see this as she was focused on guiding the tsunamic tide of spiritual energy as much as she could to bring this cauldron to an acceptable grade.
Whoosh!
Waves of spiritual energy bellowed out as the star furiously blazed inside Long Di’s physique, suffusing the area around with profoundly pure spiritual energy.
The amount was so plentiful that even Long Di was unable to pour it all into Xiannu Liang’s body. Not that he could, even if he had the ability.
Forcing so much spiritual energy into Xiannu Liang’s body would be enough to cause her body to expand and explode. So his not having the ability was inconsequential, but it still pained him somewhat to see so much spiritual energy just rippling outwards, seemingly being wasted.
His only solace was that he could get more whenever he wanted, so in reality it was… meh.
…
Back in the Demon Region.
Past many-pillared halls of stone in a room where no prying eyes could see stood two figures who decided the direction of the demon race.
One was a beautiful violet-skinned beauty with lower back length black hair that carried with it a dark navy blue hue. It framed her face, which was etched into an icy expression.
She also bore a striking resemblance to Yaomu Shou, and long imperial robes adorned her body perfectly.
The other figure was an old man with a hunched-over back relieved slightly by the cane he leaned on. His skin colour had faded long ago from the buffeting of time. His hair was also white while wrinkles settled in so deep in his skin that it seemed like even his bones sported the very same.
A simple hemp robe was all the extravagance he sported. It was as faded as everything else about him due to the number of washes it endured. The phrase ‘humbled simplicity’ was an apt way to describe him.
Of course, these two figures were none other than the Demon King, Yaomu Wei and the Grand Preceptor.
“So he’s left?” Yaomu Wei asked though she knew the answer already.
The Grand Preceptor nodded with a smile. “Yes, he has.”
“Hhmm…” Yaomu Wei paused for a moment before she asked again. “What of the Dragons?”
“Their appearance was unexpected, but they were surprisingly cooperative,” the Grand Preceptor admitted with a chuckle.
He then added, “I might have been a tad heavy-handed with the little one that arrived on the scene later on, but she had ‘escaped’ under my rage all the same, so she should be fine.”
Yaomu Wei massaged her brows as if a headache was coming on when everything was said and done.
The Grand Preceptor naturally caught this and commented. “The Abyss Ghost…”
“Please, don’t…” she waved her hand to cut him off, not wanting to get into it… not now, anyway. “Things rarely go the way we’d like them to.”
“She has at least placed this paper lantern in the middle of a lake with the Imperial Edict.” The Grand Preceptor stated.
He then continued. “The suppression was a way out. The drawback for it though is that-”
“They will question us for it,” Yaomu Wei finished for him.
“True… but this gives us time,” the Grand Preceptor swished his white beard as he thought about everything. “She has done well, yet what lies is not a reward, but punishment.”
“Speaking of…” Yaomu Wei’s attention was piqued by this. “What of her wishes?”
“Ah yes,” the Grand Preceptor knew at once who she was referring to and informed her. “As per the Tri successor’s wishes, he was dubbed the new owner. It wasn’t too far from what we had in mind.”
“Keep an eye on him,” Yaomu Wei advised. “She probably did this after being advised to by this Long Di and I don’t know his plan.”
“Well, the Zi family has already made preparations from their end so everything became easier from our end. No move we make at this point should appear suspicious,” he reported.
“Good.” Yaomu Wei nodded, pleased with this at the very least. The Zi family had made decent contributions throughout all this.”
“Quite true. A reward might be in order,” the Grand Preceptor added.
After a while, a sombre mood suddenly filled the small room.
“You don’t approve.” Yaomu Wei said seemingly out of nowhere.
A smile, wry in nature this time around, found its way to the Grand Preceptor’s face before he responded. “It’s a heavy burden for her spirit, will and who she is at her core. She doesn’t know.”
“Why should she know?” Yaomu Wei’s voice fell a few degrees as it slightly rose. “Just so she can wallow in the inevitability of it? Should I regret what was done!? I share the same fate!”
Her voice sent forth a burst of echo that shook the confines of the small room.
The Grand Preceptor remained silent before he spoke once more. “Like I said… she doesn’t know. The boy may be able to change things. Based on what I’ve seen, there is a small chance.”
“Chances are volatile and prone to change,” she responded. “I sent my Edict, and he passed. I sent you, and he passed. Since even the Dragons are receptive to this… plan, if you can even call it that. Just monitor the situation for now. I will continue on the path already set. It won’t be too late to change it if… just if.”
The Grand Preceptor chuckled at this. “We would allow him passage ‘if’ he passed. That ‘if’ on its own is a miracle in itself, no? There is no reason not to expect another.”
“I only hope that we haven’t used up our quota of such a rare commodity by allowing this.” Yaomu Wei replied.
Ta, ta…
A double tap of the Grand Preceptor’s cane caused both his and the King’s bodies to blur.
“Come now,” he said as their bodies faded from this space. “You know the old saying. Good things oft happen in pairs, my dear Bi successor.”