Meeting the Mistress

"Chirp..."

The Fire Phoenix seemed to have absorbed enough spiritual energy, and its intelligence appeared to be recovering.

Its two tiny eyes peered through the crack between the Twin Fish Plate Small World and the Heavenly Pool, seeing the sturdy Azure Emperor Divine Tree.

"Chirp chirp... chirp chirp."

The Fire Phoenix looked delighted. It took flight and shot straight toward the crack between them.

"No, don't."

Lu Chen had no idea what consequences would follow if the crack was broken through.

He hurriedly mobilized his spiritual energy, trying to stop the Fire Phoenix.

But the Fire Phoenix was too fast. Before his spiritual energy could be activated, it had already smashed through the crack.

"Boom..."

With a thunderous crash, the connection between the Heavenly Pool and the Small World was breached.

The spiritual energy of the two regions began to flow together.

The spiritual energy within the Twin Fish Plate Small World gradually became a reserve source of energy at Lu Chen's back.

"Chirp chirp."

The Fire Phoenix flew onto Nantian Wan'er's shoulder and gave Lu Chen two cheerful chirps, as though trying to curry favor with him.

"Whew... Good thing it didn't have any adverse effects. It even seems to have sped up the fusion."

Feeling the changes after the crack shattered, Lu Chen looked at the chattering Fire Phoenix with some relief.

"Why has your Heavenly Pool become like this? How could there be two Azure Emperor Divine Trees?"

Wind Dragon had fallen unconscious during the final Heavenly Tribulation.

He did not know what had happened afterward, nor did he know that Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er now shared a Heavenly Pool.

"!@#￥%...&*"

Using the compressed sound-transmission technique he had learned at Wind Dragon's residence, Lu Chen transmitted the entire sequence of events into Wind Dragon's mind.

"So that's how it was. It seems this sturdy Azure Emperor Divine Tree should have some connection to you."

Having understood the entire course of events, Wind Dragon began to consider the purpose behind it.

Taking this opportunity, Lu Chen gave the two Azure Emperor Divine Trees new names according to the innate and acquired formations of the Eight Trigrams Diagram.

"Why do I feel that her intelligence is so weak?"

Lu Chen looked at the Fire Phoenix and reached out to grab her, but his hand seemed a little too heavy.

The Fire Phoenix pecked Lu Chen once in dissatisfaction.

"Brother Lu, be gentler. She's still just a newborn bird."

Looking at the tiny Fire Phoenix, Nantian Wan'er felt a joy of shared bloodline in her heart.

"The Fire Phoenix's spiritual power may be so weak because she was sealed inside the scroll for too long. Her intelligence regressed."

"Back then, Lord Beast King went through untold hardships to hatch her from her egg. But there was no longer any innate spiritual power in this world to sustain the Fire Phoenix's consumption, so he had no choice but to seal her within the scroll."

Lu Chen said, "Then why is she able to recover now? We don't seem to have innate spiritual power either."

Wind Dragon thought for a moment. "It should be because of the Azure Emperor Divine Tree's influence on the Fire Phoenix. The Azure Emperor Divine Tree is, after all, an innate divine ability. What it condenses should also be innate spiritual energy."

"After all, this Azure Emperor Divine Tree of yours is something never seen before. Back then, even several great figures could only condense a few dozen of them."

As though she had heard Wind Dragon mention the Azure Emperor Divine Tree, the Fire Phoenix chirped at him, agreeing with his words.

The Fire Phoenix took flight and landed on the innate Azure Emperor Divine Tree, beginning to build a nest.

The Fire Phoenix's aura connected the Small World to the Beast King's Mansion.

Control over the Beast King's Mansion successfully linked to the Small World.

Lu Chen could control the Beast King's Mansion through the Small World.

"Come out, my army of demonic beasts."

Lu Chen raised both hands high, striking a somewhat embarrassingly dramatic pose as he lifted the seal on the Beast King's Mansion gates.

A hundred thousand demonic beasts charged out, kicking up towering clouds of dust.

"Brother Lu... watch out, behind you."

Seeing the hundred thousand demonic beasts behind Lu Chen and the dust they continuously stirred up,

Nantian Wan'er thought a riot had broken out within the Twin Fish Plate Small World.

"It's fine. I'm their king now. They won't hurt me."

"Come! Descend! My subjects!"

Lu Chen kept waving his hands as he summoned the demonic beasts.

Seeing Lu Chen's embarrassingly dramatic movements,

Wind Dragon truly could not bear to watch. He covered his eyes with his dragon tail.

"Roar..."

The hundred thousand demonic beasts sensed the fragrance of freedom and kept roaring as they gathered around Lu Chen.

"Brother Lu, are these really your demonic beasts? Even the Demonic Beast Abyss of our Nantian Sect has never had so many powerful demonic beasts."

"It's true. Look at my memories."

Nantian Wan'er sensed Lu Chen's memories and understood everything that had just happened.

Circles upon circles of demonic beasts surrounded Lu Chen.

Sensing the power of the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline, the hundred thousand demonic beasts continuously offered their power of faith to Lu Chen and the Fire Phoenix.

"Is this the Mistress? That mark between her brows... the mark of the Phoenix Clan bloodline?"

Red Fox looked at Nantian Wan'er and muttered to herself.

"I can only see her past. Her future is a blank expanse."

With both hands behind his back, Bai Ze cast an art. "But judging from the present, she truly will become our Mistress."

"Then why is her future empty?"

"That's hard to say. Let's first do what we need to do. We'll understand once we encounter it in the future."

Bai Ze was the first to take human form. He cupped his hands toward Nantian Wan'er in salute.

"Greetings, Mistress."

The demonic beasts behind him spoke in human language. "Greetings, Mistress."

The moment Nantian Wan'er heard those words, her face flushed scarlet.

"It hasn't reached that stage yet. It doesn't count, it doesn't count. Brother Lu still hasn't made his feelings clear to me."

"What is a Mistress? Is she the female master of this world? If so, then Wan'er truly is the Mistress."

Lu Chen turned toward Nantian Wan'er and spoke.

"Brother Lu, are you serious? You want to marry me? You want me to be the Mistress?"

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Nantian Wan'er's face turned bright red, her chest rising and falling without pause.

"I didn't say I wanted to marry you. I said I wanted you to be the Mistress. By the way, what does marrying you mean?"

Since childhood, Lu Chen had always focused on exploring how to cultivate. He knew nothing at all about matters between men and women.

That single sentence nearly made Nantian Wan'er's old injuries flare up again from anger.

Her little face was forcibly flushed crimson from holding it in.

Seeing that Nantian Wan'er was ignoring him, her face red from restraint,

Lu Chen walked to her side and asked, "Wan'er, has your Cold Poison flared up again? Why is your face so red?"

"Hmph, I'm fine."

Nantian Wan'er directly walked away from Lu Chen.

"Wan'er, Wan'er, why are you ignoring me? I can't sense what you're thinking anymore."

Lu Chen chased after Nantian Wan'er, asking question after question.

The people behind Bai Ze transformed into human form and watched Lu Chen's actions with cold sweat on their faces.

"Lord Wind Dragon, does the king have some problem with his emotional intelligence? Has he always been like this?"

Hearing Bai Ze's question, Wind Dragon covered his eyes with his dragon claws, unwilling to explain.

"Did we choose the wrong person? He really isn't gentle with girls."

Red Fox felt somewhat displeased. What she hated most was seeing girls suffer grievances.

"I'm going to teach the king what it means to cherish beauty and treasure jade."

With that, Red Fox rushed after Lu Chen and began lecturing him nonstop.

Through his conversation with Wind Dragon, Bai Ze had already understood the current situation, though there were still some questions he needed to investigate himself.

Bai Ze waved his hand, sending the demonic beasts that had yet to take human form back around the Beast King's Mansion.

They went to find suitable places to live and continue cultivating.

Bai Ze began continuously exploring the changes in the Heavenly Pool and the Twin Fish Plate Small World.

Unfortunately, Bai Ze did not possess authority over the Small World. Before he had gone very far, he was blocked by an invisible wall of air.

"Looks like I need to obtain a pass for the Small World first."

Bai Ze came to Lu Chen's side. Red Fox had already used an illusion technique to trap Lu Chen deep within it.

Nantian Wan'er and Wind Dragon were watching from the side.

"Girls are meant to be cherished. You cannot bully them."

"Girls are meant to be treasured. You cannot wrong them."

"Girls..."

Watching Lu Chen's condition, Nantian Wan'er felt somewhat worried.

"Big Sister Red Fox, is this really alright? Brother Lu looks like he's in a lot of pain."

Red Fox said, "It's alright. This illusion technique won't harm him."

"But... but when I look at Brother Lu, he really seems to be suffering."

"Why don't we stop? Brother Lu may simply have never encountered these things before. He'll understand after he sees them in the future."

Nantian Wan'er kept twisting the corner of her clothes between her hands, muttering nonstop under her breath.

Wind Dragon said, "Do you want him to keep bullying you in the future?"

"N-No, but..."

Nantian Wan'er was still a little hesitant.

"Then there's nothing to worry about. Little Lu is just asking for it. He even dared mock me. A little training will set him straight. Red Fox, increase the intensity."

Wind Dragon was still thinking about Lu Chen mocking him for having a hoarding habit, so he had Red Fox continuously increase the intensity.

"Alright. Any man who doesn't know how to cherish beauty and treasure jade, no matter who he is, is never worthy of forgiveness."

"Star Shadow Follows Form."

Red Fox seemed to have some unpleasant memories of her own. Seizing the chance, she released all of them onto Lu Chen.

Lu Chen's body began to twitch continuously.

"Brother Lu, Brother Lu."

Nantian Wan'er hurriedly supported Lu Chen, trying to wake him.

"What's happening? Brother Lu seems to be in so much pain. Can't you wake him first?"

Seeing that she had no way to wake Lu Chen,

Nantian Wan'er grew flustered and helpless. Two streams of tears instantly flowed down her face.

Seeing Nantian Wan'er like this, Wind Dragon could not bear it and stopped Red Fox from continuing the illusion technique.

"This is bad. I can't control the illusion anymore. The illusion has gone out of control."

Red Fox used every method she knew to break the spell, but she could not wake Lu Chen.

"What should we do, then? You're all so powerful. Please save Brother Lu, alright?"

Hearing that Lu Chen was trapped within the illusion, Nantian Wan'er became even more frantic.

Red Fox said, "The king has become immersed in the illusion. He must rely on himself to escape."

Bai Ze said, "Sigh... He can only rely on himself now."

Nantian Wan'er held Lu Chen as tears continued to fall.

She did not know that the three old monsters who had lived for thousands of years had already exchanged glances in private.

Red Fox quietly altered the illusion array.

One minute, two minutes...

In Nantian Wan'er's arms, Lu Chen gradually calmed down.

His breathing began to steady.

"Right, Brother Lu's consciousness and mine are connected. Maybe I can wake him."

Nantian Wan'er suddenly remembered that her thoughts and Lu Chen's coexisted, and she hurriedly sank her consciousness into Lu Chen's mind.