For some reason, Wen Shuyu paused and stopped in her tracks, then turned and dragged her maid away.
Maid Fuling: ?
How strange! Her mistress actually turned and left upon seeing His Highness the Crown Prince.
Meanwhile, at the same spot.
Xiao Jingchen’s ink-dark eyes fixed on Wen Shuyu’s retreating figure, his fingertips rubbing tightly beneath his sleeves.
De Sheng, the eunuch standing outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, exclaimed in surprise, “Your Highness, wasn’t that the County Princess just now? This old servant didn’t see wrongly, did I? She actually didn’t come over to find you this time? She…”
Before De Sheng could finish, Xiao Jingchen flicked his sleeve and left.
Only a faint sentence drifted into De Sheng’s ears: “Can’t even see clearly from this close? If your eyes are bad, go see the imperial physician. Don’t go blind, Eunuch.”
De Sheng: ?
Was His Highness talking about him?
Why did he feel like His Highness seemed angry? Why the sarcasm?
No, no, it must be an illusion. Someone as kind-hearted as His Highness wouldn’t get angry—he must be concerned about him. Could his eyesight really be failing? He should go see the imperial physician; he mustn’t disappoint His Highness’s good intentions.
…
Inside the carriage traveling from the palace to the Prime Minister’s residence, Wen Shuyu leaned back leisurely, reading a book on talisman cultivation.
Outside the carriage, Fuling quietly lifted a corner of the curtain and asked curiously, “Miss? Why did you leave as soon as you saw His Highness the Crown Prince?”
Wen Shuyu looked up. “What else could I do? I’d just been scolded by Aunt Empress and Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. The palace is full of ears and eyes. If someone saw me pestering Xiao Jingchen again right afterward, refusing to learn my lesson, I’d have to go back and get lectured again. My ears are about to grow calluses.”
“Besides, I already forced a kiss on him at the brothel today. Let’s call it a day for now and spare him. I’ll continue tomorrow.”
“Fuling, I think I can’t keep going about this so haphazardly. I’ve decided: starting tomorrow, I’ll use my brain to pursue him. I’ll make a detailed plan.”
“This time, I won’t listen to anyone. Fuling, don’t interfere. I have my own rhythm.”
Fuling: “…”
She wasn’t interfering; she didn’t dare.
Three years, over a thousand days, failing every time—and her mistress still maintained her own rhythm.
If her mistress put this kind of perseverance into cultivation, forget Ascension to godhood—to speak a treasonous thought, even the position of the Heavenly Dao would have to be vacated for her to sit in.
Wen Shuyu wasted no time. She set down the talisman cultivation book, pasted a sound-isolating talisman on the carriage, and calmly began devising her meticulous plan.
She picked up a brush, wrote “Forty-Two Stratagems” on the cover, opened to the first page, and started writing “Stratagem One.”
“Master! Xiao Liu has finally found you! Waaah… Master!”
Just as she was about to start writing, an earth-shaking, wolf-like wail sounded beside her ear.
Seeing a snot-bubbling creature fly in through the window and land before her, Wen Shuyu was so startled her cleanliness obsession flared up.
With a “thump,” swift as lightning, she kicked the thing flying out.
“What a huge golden fly with wings!” Wen Shuyu patted her chest as she recovered. “Scared me to death. Good thing I reacted quickly. So dirty—these days, even flies can cry buckets of snot.”
The qilin divine beast that was kicked out: ??
Wen Shuyu closed her Forty-Two Stratagems and locked eyes with the Kylin Beast that had flown back in.
She blinked her eyes, finally seeing clearly—oh, it turned out to be a qilin with wings, glowing all over with golden light and looking quite beautiful. As someone who cared deeply about appearances, she kept staring without driving it away again.
The little beast’s eyes were red, covering its sore bottom with grievance: “I’m not a fly, I’m a divine beast qilin. You’ve always called me ‘Xiao Liu.’ You’ve lost your memory, that’s why you don’t remember me.”
Wen Shuyu pointed at herself: “I’ve lost my memory? Then who was I before?”
Xiao Liu spoke earnestly, word by word: “You are… Heavenly Dao!”
“The protector of three thousand worlds, the kindest, most righteous, and most powerful existence in this universe.”
“Pfft—” Wen Shuyu, who had just taken a sip of tea, spat it out and pointed at herself again. “Me? Heavenly Dao? Kind and righteous?”
“Are you kidding me, buddy?”
“How on earth did you manage to put those words together? And on top of that, apply them to me?”
“Did a donkey kick your head before you came here, making you lose your senses? I think you need to go to the capital and ask around about my reputation.”
Xiao Liu scratched its head: “No matter how bad your reputation is, you’re still Heavenly Dao. With your Dao bone and spiritual power, you’re definitely the strongest person revered by everyone in the mortal realm. Surely your reputation can’t be worse than that good-for-nothing Wen Shuyu everyone gossips about in the teahouse for forcibly taking common men.”
Wen Shuyu smiled insincerely: “What a coincidence. Let me introduce myself—I’m Wen Shuyu.”
Xiao Liu: “…”
Someone, please tell it—
How could its Heavenly Dao possibly become a useless person in the mortal realm?
…
In the Eastern Palace, inside the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.
Xiao Jingchen was leisurely pouring tea from a pot. Amidst the rising steam, he stopped precisely when the cup was seven-tenths full. Dressed in a robe patterned with bamboo, he leaned against the low table, his snow-white clothes and dark hair cascading down, exuding an air of immortal grace.
That is, if one ignored the thing beside him, black as coal and calling itself “Demon Heart,” which had been screaming in utter despair.
“Demon Venerable! It’s fine if you’ve lost your memory and don’t remember me! But do you remember how you lost your demon bone?”
Demon Heart felt like it was going insane.
It had gone through countless hardships to find its Demon Venerable, only to discover right away that its master had lost his demon bone! Without the demon bone, how could he restore his demonic form?
The sky had fallen.
Demon Heart wanted to smash its head against something. In hundreds of millions of years, it had never encountered such a thorny problem.
Fuming with demonic energy, it raged: “Your demonic energy is gone, your demon bone is gone! Someone replaced the demon bone inside you with Heavenly Dao’s wretched Dao bone, and your demonic energy has turned into spiritual power! It must be that damned woman, Heavenly Dao. Where did she hide your noble demon bone after extracting it?”
“She actually stole the noblest demon bone of our demon race! Damnable Heavenly Dao, I’ll settle accounts with her!”
“Where is she? I’ll find out where the demon bone is! I’m so angry I could kill her!”
“You’re being a bit too noisy,” Xiao Jingchen’s voice remained as gentle and elegant as ever, looking at it kindly as he reminded, “I don’t know who you are, nor do I have any memory of this Heavenly Dao or Demon Venerable you speak of. So, telling me all this is useless—it’ll only tire you out the more you talk.”
“Although you seem to have lived a long time, don’t suddenly die of anger. Don’t strain your liver or stir up too much fire; you should take care of your health.”
“But since you know me, I’ll offer you tea. Have a seat.”
Demon Heart: “…”
It would have to be out of its mind to dare drink the Demon Venerable’s tea.
Although the Demon Venerable’s demon bone had been replaced, given his vile nature, it was unlikely to change even over thousands or tens of thousands of years.
Despite his current ethereal and immortal appearance, his heart was surely scheming how to torment others. That tea was something it dared not drink.
Seeing it remain motionless and even warily shrink back, Xiao Jingchen suddenly smiled.
The smile was so gentle it felt like a spring breeze, yet to the “Demon Heart,” it carried an inexplicable sense of eeriness.
“You’re called Demon Heart, aren’t you? You seem to know me quite well?”
He picked up a pristine handkerchief and wiped his hands, then smiled gently again, speaking softly, “However, I don’t like the feeling of being seen through. What do you think… should be done about it?”
Under Demon Heart’s horrified gaze.
He slowly shook his head, as if in regret: “Old friends reuniting, yet the hospitality is lacking. That’s not good.”
“How about I kill you, as a gift for our reunion?”