Inside the luxurious private room of the hotel Bi Ji had booked, warm yellow ceiling lights made the spacious room feel quiet and serene.
A faint, fresh fragrance of grass and trees hung in the air, the unique scent of the Emerald Swan Clan.
"Confess, and you'll be treated leniently. Resist, and you'll be dealt with strictly."
Bi Ji sat lazily with her legs crossed in the middle of a wide leather sofa.
She wore a beautifully tailored long dress in plain white and pale greenish white. The soft fabric clung to her graceful figure like flowing water, tracing the full, voluptuous curves unique to a mature woman.
Her neckline gaped slightly, revealing a dazzling glimpse of snowy skin and a deep cleavage. Long emerald hair fell over her rounded shoulders, with a few strands resting languidly against her fair collarbones.
On the single sofa opposite Bi Ji, Yang Fan, who looked about twelve, sat stiffly upright, already beaded with cold sweat.
On the carpet beside him, six-year-old Na'er hugged a cushion. Her large, amethyst-like eyes roamed curiously between the two of them, long lashes fluttering as she looked sweet and innocent.
"Are you still going to keep secrets from the big sister you've been thinking about so much?"
Bi Ji leaned toward him slightly, and a richer fragrance of grass and trees enveloped Yang Fan at once.
She reached out a slender, fair finger and gently touched the space between his brows.
Her touch was as gentle as it could be, but a faint, warm emerald Soul Power swirled around her fingertip.
The Soul Power carried no hint of aggression, yet it was like a finely woven net, probing gently but irresistibly into Yang Fan's sea of consciousness.
Yang Fan's body trembled slightly. He didn't dare move, and could only feel that warm power coursing through him.
I hope the Heart of Eros is up to the task and can hide me and Lan Yin.
Bi Ji's emerald eyes brimmed with curiosity. Her lovely brows furrowed slightly as her red lips parted, her voice so soft it seemed to melt into his bones. "Your spiritual power is fluctuating wildly, and... there seems to be something inside you that even you can't control."
Her tone was like that of a patient elder coaxing a younger one to speak from the heart. Yet as she leaned forward, the invisible pressure of a top-tier Soul Beast with six hundred thousand years of cultivation transformed into an intensely oppressive gentleness.
Yang Fan couldn't muster even the slightest thought of resisting.
Think fast, you brick-headed idiot! Come up with an excuse!
Fortunately, the Heart of Eros was a divine artifact after all. Even damaged, it wasn't something an ordinary Ferocious Beast could understand. Perhaps only the Silver Dragon King beside them, in her complete form, had any chance of seeing through it.
"I..." Yang Fan swallowed. Looking into Bi Ji's eyes, which seemed able to see through everything, he finally gave up resisting.
He lowered his head and quietly told her the whole story he had made up.
He was a transmigrator, just like Sea God Tang San, though he had crossed over in his own body. He had a Martial Soul with the ability to appraise and disguise things, as well as a spatial ring that had come with him...
As for the crucial details—the Heart of Eros, the jumps through the timeline, and his knowledge of the plot—Yang Fan didn't mention any of them. He brushed them aside with other half-true, half-false excuses. When he lacked the strength to protect himself, pretending to be a somewhat unusual transmigrator was probably the best choice.
That would make Bi Ji lower her guard because of his age and strength, while still giving him enough value to propose working together later.
After hearing Yang Fan's account, the suspicion in Bi Ji's eyes only deepened. Could he really have figured out that Na'er was different and identified her with nothing but a Martial Soul's appraisal ability?
But she wasn't the sort to throw her weight around. Using her power to pressure him was already the limit; she disdained and refused to resort to anything else.
She withdrew the Soul Power probing into his sea of consciousness, then reached out and gently pressed Yang Fan's head against her shoulder.
His cheek instantly met softness that was astonishingly yielding and warm. The intoxicating, mature fragrance filled his nostrils.
"Is that true? Don't lie to big sister, okay?" Bi Ji gently combed her fingers through Yang Fan's hair, chiding him softly.
Her chin rested lightly on the crown of his head. Her full chest rose and fell with each breath, and the extreme gentleness and warmth of a mature woman eased some of Yang Fan's unease.
Na'er, seated nearby, blinked. As if she sensed something, she reached out a small hand and tugged gently at the hem of Bi Ji's dress where it hung over the sofa. In her childish voice, she said, "Big sister Bi Ji, Brother Yang Fan would never lie!"
At that, Bi Ji lowered her gaze to Na'er. Her stunning face, which had held a hint of sternness, melted in an instant into a smile so radiant even Yang Fan was briefly entranced.
She freed one arm to draw Na'er into her embrace as well, letting both children nestle in her soft, warm arms.
"It's all right," Bi Ji soothed them gently, her emerald eyes full of maternal concern and a trace of anger.
Her little lord was so adorable!
That damn planar will really was unforgivable!
The Soul Beast Clan was already down on its luck, and it still had to suppress them?
When her little lord had taken human form, it had struck her with a Heaven's Tribulation, leaving her amnesiac and giving birth to this new, pure personality. If the little lord hadn't possessed the authority over space and time, they would never have dared let her wander around. It was only because they could no longer keep an eye on her.
In fact, Di Tian had originally planned to send the Scarlet King to follow her.
But for some reason—perhaps because her human-leaning stance had made life in the Star Dou Forest troublesome, or perhaps because she remembered the lesson of the Auspicious Beast ten thousand years ago—she began to wonder:
Wouldn't letting the Scarlet King, or some other Ferocious Beast as simple-minded and brawn-over-brains as he was, follow her only bring about another tragedy like the Auspicious Beast's?
So she decided she wanted to get out and clear her head, and volunteered to take on the task of watching over her little lord.
Then, near Eastsea City, several Titled Douluo from Shrek and the Tang Sect had suddenly chased her for days, shouting "transformed Soul Beast" as they hunted her down.
For some reason, she couldn't reach Di Tian. If she hadn't had a high-level Soul Tool she'd traded with humans to protect herself, she might have met with disaster. She had no idea what had happened along the way to make those people give up the chase.
She had only found her little lord yesterday. With her cultivation, she could naturally sense that something about Yang Fan was strange, so she had let him approach her little lord while secretly observing his intentions.
Only when that brat mentioned her name just now and suspected that he'd been exposed had she shown herself to question Yang Fan.
Now it seemed that both she and her little lord's trip to Eastsea had once again been targeted by the planar will. If Yang Fan's transmigration hadn't disrupted its interference, both her little lord and she would have been in danger.
Lying in this gentle embrace, Yang Fan looked at the scene and suddenly felt a little guilty.
Is it really okay to tell so many lies?
No. I have to do this. Na'er has only lost her memories; Bi Ji is still a Ferocious Beast.
If I really told the truth, wouldn't I risk being killed and looted, or locked up under surveillance?
If they kept me under their control, my cheat would be useless. I absolutely couldn't pin my hopes on other people's pity.
Besides, I wasn't exactly lying. I was only hiding a few insignificant truths. Otherwise, there'd have been no way to fool Bi Ji, that old woman.
That broad-minded old woman, he added in his heart after a moment's thought.
"Stop leaning on me. You're acting like a child who hasn't grown up."
Bi Ji pushed Yang Fan's little head away and sent him off, keeping only Na'er in her arms, like a porcelain doll.
Her mood changed faster than turning a page. What a stingy woman!
(￢_￢)
Yang Fan grumbled inwardly.