Today was a good day.
Yan Lin took a quick bath, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and happily rushed toward the bridal chamber like a groom about to marry his bride.
Standing before the Queen's bedchamber, Yan Lin's heart raced and his hands trembled.
After guarding his chastity for over a decade, he was finally about to see the moon after the clouds parted.
Yan Lin straightened himself up once more, cleared his throat twice, and only after composing himself did he call into the inner chamber, "Your Majesty, I'm coming in."
"Mm..."
With the Queen's soft, intoxicating permission, Yan Lin pushed open the bedchamber doors with a creak.
At the same time, there was a splash from the fish pond outside. A large fish leaped high from the water before hurriedly falling back, sending sprays of water onto the twin red lotuses floating in the pond.
At the center of the pond stood a snake-shaped fountain statue, its spray falling evenly across the water and sending ripples rolling outward as fish swam and leaped about happily.
The twin red lotuses could not withstand the playful disturbance. The waves splashed up by the frolicking fish rocked them unsteadily, though they soon righted themselves. Dotted with glistening droplets, the red lotuses resembled hibiscus emerging from the water, their crimson beauty even more captivating beneath the sunlight.
Eastern Desert City.
The underground lava world welcomed two uninvited guests once again.
One of them wore the ornate robes of a Sixth-Grade Alchemist. He was a rather handsome middle-aged man.
The other was a burly giant of a man, built as powerfully as the Hulk, with faint traces of a lion's and tiger's imposing aura in his features.
"Old He, it looks like someone beat us to the Heavenly Flame."
The burly