Chapter 26

The Depth of Feelings

“Each one of you is a direct disciple of your Master and Divine Lord Yin Ze. Therefore, from now on, your behavior, speech, and intentions must be extremely careful. Remember, the most important thing after entering my Cangying Sect is...”

At this point, my uncle stroked his white beard, and his eyes, which were nine-tenths similar to Yin Ze’s, quietly scanned each of us, “Before you reach adulthood or graduate, you are absolutely forbidden to fall in love, make private commitments, or violate the sect’s rules. If you do, you will be punished by having your cultivation reduced by thirty years at the very least, and expelled from the sect at the most. Do you all understand?”

Dozens of disciples answered together, “Disciples understand.”

Thirty years of cultivation, that’s too harsh. These immortals have such long lives and so many rules. I don’t have many decades in my life, and if I’m punished, I’ll have to start from scratch. Moreover, after officially entering the sect, the master who taught us most of the time was actually my uncle, the white-haired elder in front of me. I originally thought it was the Divine Lord.

“I knew it. With Master’s personality, there’s no way he’d have the patience to teach us personally. But, as the son of an old friend, Fu Chenzi is lucky enough to be able to spar with Yin Ze privately.

One day, after reporting to my uncle, I practiced some basic skills on Bai Di Mountain. Just as Yin Ze was away again, Fu Chenzi took me to tour Tian Shi City and helped Yin Ze buy some things to bring back to Cangying Palace. Tian Shi City is different from Qinghong Mountain. While it is surrounded by towering peaks, it is not built on rolling hills.

This place is filled with immortal energy, with jade springs splashing, green willows swaying on painted bridges, and silver law arrays and tall towers built among the clouds. Even the largest stone steps are suspended in mid-air, and because of the swirling water, the entire city is like being immersed in a shallow blue sea, with mist like ripples and birds like fish, rippling throughout the city’s countless households.

This is also a major economic hub of the Eastern Dragon Heaven, with markets overflowing with treasures and houses filled with riches. After a day of sightseeing, I was truly amazed by many things.

There are immortal energy pavilions where people can rest. Inside, they cultivate immortal trees transplanted from Mount Kunlun. Just by sitting and resting around the trees, one can quickly relax and improve their spiritual power. There are water pipe lounges, where servants serve you three cups of fragrant wine. While half-drunk and half-awake, you can smoke emerald cigarettes and soak in lotus ponds, feeling incredibly relaxed. There is a botanical garden that covers eight acres, selling plants and seeds from various worlds.

For the first time, I learned that the same seed can grow differently in different realms. For example, roses bloom in the summer in the Nine Continents, in the autumn in the Demon Realm, the flowers in the Ghost Realm are blue-green, in the Immortal Realm the flowers are particularly large, and in the Divine Realm they not only glow but the stems and leaves slightly wrap around the flower buds. In the Demon Realm, they don’t bloom but instead grow deep green thorns.

So in the botanical garden, we can buy original seeds, or we can buy exotic flowers cultivated by flower fairies. Of course, the latter is very expensive and requires regular care for the plants. In addition, we also saw many plants that are unique to the Eastern Dragon Heaven, such as the Heavenly Flow Bamboo.

This bamboo is only one meter tall, with bright blue bamboo joints as smooth as jade. It only grows in water, and the bamboo shoots are so small it’s pitiful. I hesitated for a long time, but still asked Fu Chenzi to buy it. As soon as we left the botanical garden, it was eaten by a customer’s pet piyao...

We also went to the Dragon’s Eye Chess Game. This is a place where old immortals love to go. They only need to sit on the clouds, close their eyes and meditate, and they can spend days and nights there.

When I first went to observe, I only saw countless white-haired old immortals floating in the sky. They sat motionless, like a bunch of stakes, and I thought I had mistakenly entered the ancestral hall of the deceased. I was so scared that I almost ran away. Later, I took a closer look and realized that the chess pieces on their chessboards were actually moving back and forth. Some irritable old immortals would even use spells to knock their opponent’s chess pieces flying.

In Tian Shi City, there is also the largest exotic beast tower in the Eastern Seven Constellations. It specializes in selling or exhibiting various exotic beasts and eggs of different sizes. You can also transform unformed exotic beasts into human form within a limited time. I saw with my own eyes a tamer transform a green-eyed tree spirit into a green-eyed beauty. I felt a cold gleam in my eyes and looked at Xuan Yue with a mischievous smile.

Xuan Yue quickly flew away, but before he could escape the door, he was transformed into human form by the shapeshifter invited by Fu Chenzi: a little boy with red hair fell from the sky, with a pair of small wings on his back. He was still clawing with his hands like a tiger. When he realized something was wrong, he turned his head.

He had fluffy hair, a small braid, and a pair of big, watery eyes. The corners of his eyes were upturned, and he opened his small mouth, revealing a pair of sharp tiger teeth. He looked at us and whimpered, “Aww, aww...”

So this is what Xuan Yue looks like in human form...

So cute, what a beautiful child! I was fascinated by Xuan Yue’s appearance and wanted to squish him, but the shapeshifter looked at his hands in confusion and said, “Strange, why does this white tiger have red hair after being transformed into a human? Even his eyebrows are red? It seems like there was a problem with my magic. I won’t charge you for this transformation.”

After Xuan Yue was transformed back, I quickly grabbed Fu Chenzi and hugged Xuan Yue, running away.

After we went out, we took a walk on the street and saw a row of golden ranking lists in front of the Qinglong Temple.

Fu Chenzi told me that each jade tablet engraved with a name on these lists was made from the colorful jade of the Wenyu tree. The most conspicuous one at the top was the “Divine Realm Ranking List”. At the top of the first row, it said “Heavenly Emperor”, and the jade hanging below it was engraved with “Haotian”. In the second row, above it, it said “Divine Lord”, and there were ten jade tablets below, the first one saying “Yin Ze”.

“Our Master is so amazing,” I said, looking at the ranking list with folded hands, “Look, he’s actually in the second row. Doesn’t that mean he’s the second most powerful god in the Six Realms?”

Fu Chenzi said, “The ranking list of the Demon Realm is not included here, so we can’t say that absolutely. But it’s certain that he is the second most powerful in the immortal realm.”

I continued to look at the next ranking list, the “Divine Realm Battle Merit Ranking List”. There was no Heavenly Emperor on it, so Yin Ze was the first. Looking at the next “Subduing Demons and Exorcising Ghosts Ranking List”, I asked in confusion, “Why isn’t Master on this list? It’s almost the same as the previous one, but with different rankings.”

“No, he’s here,” Fu Chenzi pointed to the second to last row.

“Why is that? Doesn’t Master like subduing demons and exorcising ghosts?”

“He doesn’t. Master thinks that subduing demons privately is just a small matter, and subduing demons privately is a job for immortals, so he’s not interested. And...” He opened his mouth, then said, “Nothing, let’s go somewhere else.”

Then, we went to a very interesting place, the servant market. It was actually an exotic beast market, where you could find humanoid or semi-humanoid demonic beasts. Nine out of ten servants here were tamed demons, with only a small number being scattered immortals or spirits.

While Fu Chenzi went to the nearby spice shop to buy something, I peeked into the market.

I was dazzled by the mountain of demons in front of me, and a pair of slender hands reached out and stroked my chin. I took a step back and saw a young man in a black robe with green eyes and pale purple lips appear in front of me, with a cold smile, “Miss, are you here alone?”

“No, no, no, I came with someone else!” I waved my hands frantically.

But he acted as if he hadn’t heard me and continued to approach me step by step. Just as his hand was about to touch me again, another hand slapped his away, and then a young man in a red robe turned around and smiled at me slightly, “Don’t scare her like that. Are you alright, miss?”

This smile was completely different from the black-robed young man’s, both pitiful and alluring.

Looking at that face, I was instantly captivated. The young man in red walked over slowly, propped his hands on his knees, and winked at me. His small face was more beautiful than a flower, “Miss, if you live alone, wouldn’t you feel lonely? Take me with you. I will definitely not cause you any trouble, and I will let you enjoy endless nights of spring and daydreams of drunkenly forgetting your sorrows...”

I didn’t understand what he was saying, I just held my face and stared dumbly at his beautiful face, smiling, “Okay, okay, okay.”

Just as the young man in red was about to take my hand, there was a “bang” sound, and smoke filled the air. Both he and the black-robed young man disappeared, and what appeared on the ground was a red fox and a black scorpion.

Then, the back of my neck was grabbed and I was pulled back.

Fu Chenzi lowered his head and pinched my cheek, “At such a young age, you’re already learning to flirt with fox spirits and snake spirits. It’s a good thing you don’t have any money, otherwise, you would really buy these two to relieve your boredom, wouldn’t you?”

I waved my hands sadly, “It hurts! Brother! Brother! Big brother! I was wrong...”

“Come with me! That’s the end of our outing today!”

On the way back, I realized that my brother was actually quite handsome. In just half a street, there were as many as seventeen fairies who came to flirt with him, thirteen of them female and four male. Ten of them said they were willing to sell themselves cheaply and be his servants.

Of course, as I expected, Fu Chenzi ignored them all. No matter how charming they were, he remained unmoved, his eyes never leaving the path, like a man who only loved men.

Of course, although his attitude was stern, my brother still loved me very much. After I went back, at my plea, he once again helped me copy the “Zen Medicine Essentials” that Yin Ze had assigned me.

A few days later, I finished the task, and Yin Ze happened to return from the lower realm. I took the thick stack of papers to find him. Hearing that he was resting in his bedroom, I thought this was a good opportunity. I could put the papers at the door and escape, so he wouldn’t have time to check and would be unlikely to discover that someone else had copied for me.

Arriving at the door of Yin Ze’s room, I pushed the door open a little to see if he was already asleep. Unexpectedly, there was light smoke and the fragrance of incense inside, and on a pearl table made from the tears of mermaids, a firefly lamp flickered. Yin Ze was lying on a reclining chair, sipping the fine wine he had bought from the land spirit.

And beside him, a woman in red was sitting, her red fur robe spread out on the ground. Under the flower yellow on her forehead, a pair of seductive fox eyes were constantly sending flirtatious glances at him.

I had been seduced by that red fox spirit once before, and those charming eyes had been unforgettable, so I realized in a moment that this was a female fox. Her eyes were fixed on him, and her fingers were teasingly tugging at the collar of her dress, occasionally revealing her shoulders and collarbone, then quickly covering them up.

The scene was so beautiful that ordinary men would have lost their souls and rushed over, but Yin Ze just smiled gently and cunningly, as if he had seen through her little trick. However, the first thing he said was not to the female fox, but to me, “Have you seen enough?”

I tightened my shoulders and stammered, “Mas-Master, I, I’ve finished copying.”

“Bring it in.”

I could only push the door open and go in. Yin Ze sent the fox woman away and took the stack of papers I handed over. He flipped through a few pages quickly, then threw it back to me, “Copy it again.”

I said, “Why?”

Yin Ze said, “You didn’t write it yourself. I didn’t increase the amount, I just told you to copy it again, and you’re asking me why?”

The room was filled with smoke, and Yin Ze’s face was as beautiful as a painting, in stark contrast to the flamboyant of the fox woman.

It turned out that when Master said he had a “general understanding” of fox women in the Floating Pagoda Star Sea, this was what he meant. At this moment, I heard the fox woman cover her mouth and let out a soft laugh.

Although her voice was low, the way she tried to cover her mouth made me inexplicably angry, “What’s wrong with letting someone else copy it? It’s my brother, it’s the same if he copies it for me.”

After saying that, I was even startled by myself. I’ve always been a good girl in everyone’s eyes, and I rarely talked back like this. Even when I was a little princess, I had never been so bold.

Master’s long silence made me realize that I had really messed up this time.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t get angry at all, but simply said calmly, “Luo Wei, are you trying to go against me?”

I was very scared, but I still argued, “Disciple is not going against Master, Disciple has done nothing wrong, why do I have to copy so many words?”

Yin Ze said, “Then why didn’t you refute me at that time? You only come up with excuses now that you’ve been caught. Don’t you think it’s too late?”

The fox spirit was indeed worthy of the name, she never acted as a peacemaker like a proper wife, but stood aside with her hands folded, occasionally amused by our conversation.

And Master, who had smiled so gently at the fox spirit just now, was as cold as ice towards me now, which made me even angrier.

I said, “How dare I refute you? You’re so fierce, if I refuted you, wouldn’t I be asking for trouble?”

Yin Ze was finally a little annoyed, “Luo Wei, I’m not going to argue with you today because you’re young and rebellious. If it were anyone else, they would have been expelled from the sect long ago. Go to the meditation room and kneel there, don’t let anyone visit you, and don’t come out without my permission!”

I clenched my fists and threw the stack of paper on the ground, then slammed the door and left.

Not long after being punished to kneel in the meditation room, Fu Chenzi came to comfort me at the door, “Weiwei, what’s wrong with you today? You were caught copying someone else’s work and should have been punished severely, but you even dared to talk back to Master. That’s not like you.”

“I don’t care about such a master. You have no idea what he was doing in the room with that fox demon, just thinking about it makes me want to vomit!” I stuck out my tongue and made a gagging sound.

“That’s a fox fairy, not a fox demon. There’s a difference.”

“They’re essentially the same thing, just fox spirits! He has so much free time to go out and pick up fox spirits, but he doesn’t have time to care about us, he doesn’t care about us at all!”

Fu Chenzi was silent for a moment, then said, “Weiwei, Master is also a man, this is his personal matter, we can’t judge him.”

I was speechless. Brother was right, it was Master’s private matter, and as his disciple, I had no right to judge him. Fu Chenzi consoled me for a while before finally leaving. However, I was still feeling depressed. Even though I knew I was wrong, I was still angry when I thought of Master’s cold and frosty face.

After that, I was punished by Yin Ze to kneel until the next morning. Finally, a servant came in and said that Divine Lord Yin Ze allowed me to go out and have breakfast.

Although I was so hungry that my eyes were spinning, the anger in my chest still hadn’t been vented. I refused to go out no matter what. After another day, I was so weak from hunger that I lay on the ground like a corpse, too weak to even open my eyes.

Finally, after another servant was driven away by me, a clear voice like wine sounded outside, “Is she still unwilling to come out?”

“Yes, Divine Lord.”

I suddenly opened my eyes and tried to get up, but I couldn’t move.

A pair of white boots with dark blue edges appeared in my vision. A cold voice came from above, “Have you had enough?”

“No.” I just couldn’t swallow my pride.

“Then you can stay there.” The robe swayed slightly, and the boots turned away.

Just as he was about to leave, I couldn’t help but say, “Master doesn’t treat me well at all, he doesn’t care about me at all.”

He paused and said, “What do you want me to do to treat you well?”

“That fox woman, you found her after reading a book, right?” I snorted, “I was also picked up by Master, why do I always get scolded by you?”

He chuckled and said, “After saying so much, it turns out you’re jealous of that fox woman.”

I hurriedly said, “No, no, I just feel it’s unfair!”

“That fox woman is not my disciple, she’s just a companion for me to pass the time with, and she’ll disappear after a while.” He walked back and stood in front of me, “Don’t be silly, get up.”

I felt my ears perk up and I raised my head to look at Yin Ze, “Do you mean that I will be the one to stay with you forever?”

Yin Ze said, “It depends on you. I don’t mind.”

“Then I won’t make trouble anymore!” I got up from the ground energetically, “Disciple will go and copy the ‘Zen Medicine Essentials’ a hundred times!”

But as soon as I stood up, my vision blurred, and Master also became a blurry figure. Then my eyes rolled back, and I fell backwards.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in the meditation room.

I realized that I was in a corridor, curled up in the arms of another person.

I lifted my heavy head and found that the person holding me horizontally was actually Master, and my uncle was walking beside us.

I was still a little dizzy, but I was instantly sobered up. Seeing me open my eyes, my uncle said, “Luo Wei, don’t cause any more trouble for your Master. The Divine Realm has a lot of affairs to deal with at the moment, and your Master has been running around the Second Realm of Immortals for several days. He was supposed to meet the Heavenly Emperor today, but because of your temper tantrum, it was delayed. Can you be sensible?”

For a moment, I felt extremely guilty. I opened my mouth to say something, but Yin Ze said, “Have some food before you talk.”

I was stunned for a moment, then I looked up at Master’s profile and buried my head in his chest. Tears uncontrollably streamed down my face.