"! Are you insane? Are you saying that you are stronger than great ancestors and experts of my True Phoenix Clan!? A Martial Emperor level cultivator saying such bold words!?" Empress practically screamed.
"Insane? Maybe I am... But I never said that Martial Emperor is my limit. Me and my wife are currently Martial Emperors only because we sealed our cultivation to comfortably stay in the Mortal Realm."
"Y-you! What is your real cultivation?"
"I can't tell you that now, that's a secret. But rest assured that we don't fear anyone. Even if the whole True Phoenix Clan came at us we won't be at a disadvantage."
After saying that, Red took a sip of his wine, calmly looking at Empress Aeriel, whose face was changing colors in real-time. She was so shocked that she didn't know what to say. Should she believe him? Was he bluffing? But it truly seemed that he was stronger than he showed. She felt it earlier herself.
But... was he that strong to not care about the True Phoenix Clan!? It took her a while to compose herself. She didn't have any means of confirming this and even if he was bluffing, there was nothing that she could do at the moment. Then, a thought popped inside of her mind.
"If you are so strong, can you take me back to my clan? If you can I will make sure that you receive the highest possible rewards from my clan!"
"I can, but not now. I plan to stay in the Mortal Realm for a while more and after that I plan to stay in the Celestial Realm for some time as well before going to the God Realm and eventually to your clan. There is also another reason why I won't bring you back now..."
Red could easily bring her back to her clan, but after thinking, it was better not to do that for the moment. She was a Daughter of Destiny and her destiny value was very high. She was destined to go back to her clan eventually and gain many opportunities on the way.
From what he knew from novels he read in his previous life, he had an idea of how the concept of Sons and Daughters of Destiny worked. The Heavenly Dao would grant them many opportunities and fortunes along their way through their lives just like protagonists of novels he read.
Their life was also destined to never be boring and there would always be some plot happening around them. Red was more interested in staying close to this Empress Aeriel while she was growing as he felt there would be a lot of interesting moments around her!
Also, he was not just doing this for his selfish reasons just so he could have his fun. Since she was a Daughter of Destiny with such high fate value she will advance more on her destined journey than if she returned back to her clan.
Maybe she would advance faster in early stages if she went back to her clan but continuing her destined journey was still better for her. He didn't even need to ask system for this, he felt confident that he was right!
[Host, you are being narcissistic! But... your thinking is indeed right in this case...]
'Hehe, system, praise me more!'
[Who is praising you!]
'Is my system becoming a tsundere?' Red started wondering.
[......]
The Empress Aeriel, who was sitting on the side, felt confused. Was this man trying to deceive her!?
"Are you saying that you can't do it? Were you trying to deceive me with your words earlier? What other reason could there be?" She was now sneering at him. She felt that she was finally taking control of the argument.
"Do you believe in destiny?" Red just watched her calmly, not surprised by her thinking.
"Destiny? As a member of the True Phoenix Clan, I indeed know that there exists a force of destiny under the Heavenly Dao. But what does this have to do with anything?"
"Well, let me be honest with you. I can see destiny values of others and, in the world under the Heavenly Dao, there are people who are called Sons and Daughters of Destiny. Those people have a very high destiny value, much higher than normal beings around them. They are protected by the Heavenly Dao and they are destined to encounter many opportunities in their lives so... they are basically predestined to become strong."
He paused, taking a sip of wine before continuing...
"And I can see that you are a Daughter of Destiny. Your destiny value is quite high and you will encounter many opportunities on your way to become strong. It's better to follow your destined path and gradually increase your strength before going back to your clan as you will reach greater heights that way."
Red decided to be completely honest. He didn't know if she would believe him or not but it was worth a try. He was also interested to see what her reaction would be and he wasn't disappointed.
As soon as he said that he saw her eyes going wide again. He quite enjoyed her changing expressions from the moment she arrived at his home. Such a beautiful woman must be teased in the future! And who wouldn't like a white-haired, cold beauty like this?
The Empress was silently thinking for a few minutes. What he said did make sense, but she was still not sure if she could trust him. This all might have been his ploy to deceive her! Noticing that she was still thinking, Red had an idea.
'System, is there a way for me to show her a display or something similar of her clan?'
[Yes, Host. I can create a mirror that can display any place in existence, at any time, as if you were looking at it with your own eyes. It can not be discovered by the beings on the other side. Does the Host want me to display a place in front of you or would the Host like me to create an artifact that Host can use?]
'System, you are too good. Create an artifact that I can use!'
[Ding! The requested artifact - World Mirror - has been created and stored in the system storage.]
'Nice name...'
Waving his hand, Red summoned a mirror from the system space. The mirror was in an oval shape with a thick black frame surrounding it - carved with images of many stars and planets glowing in blue energy. The size of the mirror looked about the size of a 70" TV.
Seeing the mirror, the Empress Aeriel stopped her thoughts and looked at him with confusion. She wondered what this man was trying to do now!
Red snapped his fingers and instantly a a projection of another world was projected through the mirror. The world looked beautiful and surreal, with many flying islands and falling waterfalls.
There were many palaces and cities on each of the flying islands, and on one central island there was an enormous palace spanning the full size of the island. There were bird-like beings of varying colors flying around, and those were all phoenixes from the True Phoenix Clan.
!!!!!!
The Empress Aeriel instantly jumped up from her seat and approached the mirror with stars in her eyes. Small tears were already welling up in her eyes at this moment.
"T-this... This! How?" She touched the mirror and leaned in as if she could feel the wind blowing on the other side.
"This is my artifact, the World Mirror. With this artifact I can see a real-time projection of any place I want."
The Empress Aeriel stayed silent for a while, as if enjoying the scene. Then another thought popped in her mind.
"Can you change the place of this projection? Can you show me the situation in the grand hall of that palace?"
She pointed at the central palace on the projection.
"Sure..." Red snapped his fingers again and the image changed, now showing a grand hall of the central palace.
The grand hall looked spacious with a lot of pillars through the hall. There was a grand staircase on the end of the hall leading to a golden throne on top. On the golden throne sat a woman quite similar to Empress Aeriel.
The woman looked a bit older and exuded the natural charm of an older and more experienced woman, but Aeriel herself was not too different - she also exuded a natural charm and confidence far above her age, which was normal since she was a reincarnated phoenix.
"Mother!" The Empress Aeriel yelled loudly. Tears now started falling down her cheeks freely and there was longing and sadness in her eyes. She touched the mirror again as if trying to go through it.
"She can't hear or feel you. This is only a real-time projection and not a portal. Calm down, now you know that your home and your mother are fine."
Red walked towards her and raised his hands to her cheeks, gently wiping out her tears with his fingers. He continued to speak.
"Don't worry, you will meet her in the future. For now you must be patient and continue on your path."
She slowly calmed down and for some reason, she didn't mind him having a physical contact with her. In all of her life she never let anyone except her mother have any intimate contact with her, especially not men. But for some reason she felt comfortable around him now. She now believed his words more, although still not fully, she still wanted to believe him.
Waving his hand and taking the mirror back to his system storage, Red turned around and sat back at his seat on the table while patting Eve's head.
The little gesture of him touching the Empress Aeriel didn't escape her eyes and she was feeling very jealous now! Red felt that so he went back to comfort her.
Empress Aeriel was silent for a minute before she spoke...
"So, what now?"
"What now? You tell me. You were the one who came here asking for my help with something."
"And you said that you might help me after our discussion."
"You are right. I will help you if it's not too much trouble. But I don't need any rewards from you as I can have anything I want, little phoenix."
"Don't call me little phoenix!"
"Hehehe, why? When you are so cute you need to have a cute name, no?"
"C-cute!?" She immediately blushed, she was never called cute before! Beautiful, strong, scary - yes, but never cute!
"Yes, you are. But put that aside for now, what form of address would you like me to use? My Empress? Your Majesty? Honey?"
"Y-you! Stop messing around!" She stomped her feet on the ground in exasperation, she never felt this embarrassed in both of her lives!
"Well, if you don't tell me, I will just continue calling you little phoenix."
"Ariel... Just call me Aeriel." She muttered silently.
Red barely managed to hear it, but he did, and he smiled.
"Okay, Aeriel. Now tell me, what do you need my help with?"
He smirked when he saw her glaring at him angrily. She was reaching her limit now! Was this man intentionally teasing and bullying her now!?
But she couldn't do anything. The person in front of her was much stronger than her and she also needs his help, not to mention that this man had a wife who was also stronger than her! She angrily sat back on her seat and took a deep breath to calm down.
* * * * * *
[A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! If you have any suggestions, please comment.]