"Greetings, Your Highness." Even under that gaze, He Ziming remained composed. Wearing a gentle smile, he inclined his head slightly in respect.
His bearing truly resembled his father's.
He Xian looked him up and down.
It was a very distinctive bearing, transcendent and saintly, standing high above the mortal world like an immortal exiled from heaven.
As though everything worldly would only sully that sanctity, he formed a realm unto himself, beyond the reach of all living beings in the mortal world.
This reminded He Xian of his own father. Setting every other perspective aside, his father was unquestionably a good father. He treated him very well and had been genuinely delighted by his birth, even awakening from his seclusion to "break beyond kingship" and personally spending ten years with him during his childhood.
He Xian had already accepted He Wushuang as his father from the bottom of his heart, regardless of what the future held.
"Good!" He Xian let the matter pass just like that and turned to the other two women who had come with him.
One of the women wore a veil. She was ethereally graceful, her white robes purer than snow, with an air of never having tasted the smoke of mortal hearths. He Xian could tell that she was an Emperor Clan heir.
Although a veil covered her face, it only lent her beauty a greater sense of mystery.
A watery mist shrouded her eyes, stirring the heart and inviting tender affection. With her gorgeous red lips, she was a bewitching enchantress.
He Xian's gaze, however, settled on the other woman.
She too possessed exquisite beauty, with luminous skin, lively eyes, and smooth, silky hair. Like a fairy descending from the lunar palace, she carried an air untouched by the smoke of mortal hearths.
This woman was likewise extraordinarily beautiful, a rare sight in the world.
She was human. That was what had caught He Xian's attention. "Mo Xian?"
"This humble woman is Hua Lan. Greetings, Your Highness!"
"This humble woman is Mo Xian. Greetings, Your Highness!"
Both women paid their respects to He Xian.
He Xian nodded slightly in acknowledgment and looked at Chi Menghong. It really was as he had said.
"Set aside three leaves of the Enlightenment Tea you seized."
Chi Menghong also looked at He Ziming and the two women. Somewhat reluctantly, he strode forward and flung out three Jade Jars with a wave of his hand, sending them streaking through the air.
"What are you unhappy about? You already seized more than a dozen Enlightenment Tea leaves," He Xian rebuked him, shooting Chi Menghong another displeased glance.
The three Jade Jars stood suspended in the air.
One leaf shimmered with the light of the Dao, shaped like a Dao platform. Three lifelike golden lotuses actually sat upon it, entwined with countless Dao patterns.
Another resembled a seed, crimson as blood, like a demonic seed. Deep within it lurked a hazy, hideous ghostly figure bound in chains.
The last was a Dao diagram, crystalline and transparent. It was circular, a yin-yang diagram in which utmost yang embraced yin and utmost yin embraced yang, interwoven with primordial patterns.
"Choose! One each. Consider these my welcoming gifts to you," He Xian then told He Ziming and the two women.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Hua Lan, whose delicate, vulnerable beauty most invited affection, was the first to thank him. As one might expect, her voice was lovely and tender.
She reached for the blood-red seed first, making He Xian give her another look.
The one who appeared the most fragile had the strongest killing intent.
"You choose first!" He Ziming offered with great courtesy.
"All right. Thank you, Brother Ziming." Mo Xian, the woman who resembled a fairy from the lunar palace, dispensed with further formalities and reached for the Dao diagram.
Naturally, only the Dao platform remained for He Ziming.
Still, none of the three could contain their excitement.
"Go brew your tea and comprehend the Dao." Seeing their expressions, He Xian was understanding enough to let them go drink their tea and seek enlightenment.
They hurried off to Snow Mountain.
"Why did you give them three of the Enlightenment Tea leaves I seized?" Chi Menghong approached just then, his gaze brooding.
"Because I don't have any." He Xian glanced at Chi Menghong.
"Then why didn't you tell them to give away three?" Chi Menghong looked toward Gu Rong and the Heavenly Blade.
"Because you're the weakest." He Xian struck straight at his soul.
With that, he walked around Chi Menghong without looking at his expression again. It was surely an ugly one, though.
They gathered snow and brewed tea.
Soon, He Ziming, Mo Xian, and the other woman returned from the distant Snow Mountain and began brewing tea atop Enlightenment Mountain. A delicate fragrance wafted through the air.
The three sat cross-legged to comprehend the Dao.
Their vital essence transformed into three streams of blood energy that pierced the sea of clouds and surged straight upward, churning like a vast ocean.
He Xian looked at Hua Lan. She should be the only woman among the Six Little Emperors; he had heard a little about her. Then he looked at Mo Xian again, briefly considering something.
He waited until they finished comprehending the Dao.
"Thank you, Your Highness." As soon as Mo Xian opened her eyes, she saw an extraordinarily handsome face staring at her. His identity, however, gave her a fright.
"You're human, aren't you?" He Xian asked.
"Yes, human." Mo Xian lowered her head, her heartbeat quickening slightly. It had nothing to do with romance, though. Her status was lowly, and many in the Foreign Realm disliked humans and would target her.
Although a great Emperor Clan had taken an interest in her cultivation talent, it had also taken an interest in her bloodline. It merely wanted to use her as a tool for breeding descendants, unless she could attain the Undying realm.
Mo Xian's standing in the Foreign Realm was not as lofty as one might imagine.
Even though she could travel alongside members of the Emperor Clan and address them as senior brothers and junior sisters.
"Lift your head." He Xian tipped up Mo Xian's chin with a finger. "You're quite pretty. From now on, you'll be my maidservant! I happen to need you."
He looked north.
He Xian did not care whose child bride she was, unless they could produce an Undying King's decree.
Seeing this, He Fa not only refrained from stopping him but walked away with a gratified expression. How wonderful to spread the branches and grow more leaves! How wonderful! The middle-aged Undying's lips kept moving slightly, as though he were muttering something.
"Huh?" Mo Xian's eyes widened. How had she suddenly become a maidservant? She was rather unwilling.
She had clearly been such a cool, aloof fairy, yet now that contrast made her look endearing.
Mo Xian's eyes widened, filled with bewilderment.
"Your Highness, Your Highness! I want to be your maidservant too!" Hua Lan, the Emperor Clan descendant whose appearance invited tender affection, had also finished comprehending the Dao.
She turned to He Xian and volunteered.
Her large eyes were filled with watery mist, making her look exceedingly adorable.
"Why?" He Xian asked.
"Because beauties belong with heroes, and Your Highness is the mightiest hero beneath this sky. Naturally, you deserve this humble girl. Besides, the reason I came to Enlightenment Mountain was to become Your Highness's maidservant," Hua Lan said with an innocent expression.
She even boldly hugged one of He Xian's arms and wheedled beside his ear.
"Beauties belong with heroes? That's an excellent saying. I accept." He Xian readily agreed to her request.
Besides, he really was short of followers. He would be heading to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, and his entourage had to befit his standing.
Moreover, he did not believe a woman could pose any threat to him.
Whether they harbored divided loyalties or wholehearted sincerity, his words were decrees. Others could only bear them and work on accepting them themselves.
Otherwise, he would have fought for his fearsome reputation and status for nothing.
He Xian naturally saw the unwillingness in Mo Xian's eyes, but he did not care. What did her unwillingness have to do with him? He Xian was only responsible for making the decision.
She probably just wanted to focus on cultivating.