This is romance, you know? This is romance, you know?
In the eyes of Feng Jinyu, the Phoenix Princess, she ought to have truly loved Song Yayan once.
Because for her, the standard for “love” was exceptionally low.
She loved the wildflowers by the roadside, the sparrows perched on the branches, the fish swimming in mountain streams, the dewdrops hanging from blades of grass at dawn, the white frost crystallized upon maple leaves in autumn…
She loved this world.
In temperament, the Phoenix Clan was not as aloof as the Yuan-chu. At best, they could be considered “high-minded.”
“High-minded” meant that they lived atop the lofty Qixiao Mountain, their thoughts clear and pure, as transparent as spring water, with scarcely a trace of worldly smoke and fire upon them.
They did not regard themselves as divine beings, yet among the Five Phoenix Clans, they possessed more of the qualities of gods than any other.
The Phoenix Clan maintained a righteous household tradition, and their elite education was second to none. From childhood, everyone memorized the core values of the cultivation world by heart. Each and every one of them was the very model of a gentleman or a lady.
In those days, Feng Yuandu had been rigid and reserved, unable to tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes. He was so strict with others and himself that he could seem almost inhuman. Three times a day, he would lecture his young companions, constantly clashing with the free-spirited Jiang Xuesheng—only to lose every time—all because of the family he had been raised in.
Feng Jinyu was the same.
From childhood, she had devoted herself to cultivation on Qixiao Mountain. She studied everything from swordsmanship and spellcraft to the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Until the Phoenix Clan fell, she had never once set foot beyond the mountain gates.
Her elders had been strict, and her studies arduous. She was not a delicate flower raised in a hothouse, but she truly was the sort of immortal beauty who could substitute plum blossoms for food and brew tea with melted snow.
In simple terms—
Feng Jinyu had been born upon a moral high ground and had never imagined that the world contained dark valleys as well.
Toward mortals, she had always held a pure and simple compassion. She merely thought them fragile, insignificant, and short-lived—beings who needed her protection.
In her view, since Song Yayan had treated her with genuine sincerity, she ought to repay him with all she had.
She understood little about romantic love between men and women, but she had no sense of social barriers. She had wanted only to find a quiet place to settle down, then, once her cultivation had matured, travel to the Demon Realm in search of her people.
Song Yayan had earnestly sought her hand in marriage and put on every appearance of sincerity. She had felt favorably toward him as well, so naturally she had agreed to everything.
…And then it had ended like this.
Paper could never conceal a fire forever, and Feng Jinyu was no brainless sweet innocent.
From various clues, she discovered that the Fengyi Sect had been secretly colluding with a group of suspicious “mysterious people.” From them, the sect had obtained “spirit medicine,” which it secretly used on spirit beasts to force them into submission, rather than forming contracts with them by mutual consent.
Even the secret realm where the autumn hunting tournament was held had been a gift from those mysterious people.
Right up until the moment Sect Master Song surrounded her with his disciples and pushed her into the stone prison, Feng Jinyu had still held on to her wholehearted sincerity. She had given the Fengyi Sect the benefit of the doubt, believing that “there must be some misunderstanding.”
The answer was no.
From beginning to end, it had all been an elaborate deception.
This Qixiao Mountain, which had built its reputation by deceiving the world, and the Fengyi Sect, which had merely imitated the Phoenix Clan to disastrous effect, were both golden cages Song Yayan had personally built for her.
He had only one purpose: to keep the phoenix from ever spreading its wings again, and make her his canary.
Nothing more.
Now, the young girl’s pure and flawless dream had awakened.
A reflection of flowers in a mirror, the moon in water—ultimately, it had all been empty words.
…
“Mine—mine… Aaaaah!!! You—you dare…?!”
In the dim cavern, Song Yayan clutched his groin. His entire body seemed like a lump of rotten flesh as he writhed on the ground, struggling and howling in agony.
Shu Fu did not spare him a glance. She stepped directly over his kidneys and called toward the dark stone prison, “Sister, are you all right?”
There was a moment of silence from within the stone prison. Then a gentle, soothing voice rang out, carrying the faintest trace of hesitation.
“May I ask who you are…?”
“…”
Even Shu Fu was dazed for a moment when she heard this.
She truly had not expected that, after everything she had endured, Feng Jinyu would still speak to a complete stranger with such gentleness and courtesy.
“Princess, it’s me! I’m Anzhi!”
Before Shu Fu could speak, the Fat Cheep perched on her shoulder had already leapt down. He charged forward on his tiny legs, clacking rapidly across the ground. His heart was bursting with joy and excitement, and for the moment he had completely forgotten that he could make himself larger.
“Princess, I’ve come to rescue you! Although I was only just rescued myself—I mean, I came to rescue you together with the person who saved me! I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Anyway, we’re safe now!”
“Anzhi?”
Feng Jinyu’s voice, calm and tranquil as a lake, rippled for the first time.
“Anzhi, are you all right? Were you hurt? Did they mistreat you?”
“They mistreated me quite thoroughly! But I wasn’t afraid!”
Xie Anzhi proudly puffed out his chest, his pointed beak angled toward the ceiling. The entire bird looked even more like a fluffy ball of down.
“Princess, let’s get out of this wretched place!”
“But there are still many spirit beasts trapped here…”
Feng Jinyu’s voice held a trace of hesitation, but she had already emerged from the shadows deep within the cavern, illuminated by the ghostly blue firefly-light in Jiang Xuesheng’s hand.
“…”
Shu Fu carefully examined her face and sighed inwardly at the blessings of creation.
If Jiang Xuesheng was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and Ming Xiao the most handsome woman, then the princess before her could undoubtedly contend for first or second place on any ranking of the most beautiful women.
As a side note, if there were any competitors, they would probably be Shu Fu herself—she had never been modest in this regard—and Liu Ruyi in women’s clothing.
Feng Jinyu was extraordinarily beautiful. Her beauty was ethereal and otherworldly. If one said that “a beauty is like a flower,” then she required a qualification: she was like countless luminous white flowers, glittering and floating upon a pitch-black sea. It was not a scene that seemed capable of existing in reality.
It was as though her beauty, too, could not exist in the mortal world.
She held jade in her heart and jade in her hands; she herself was like jade.
“Many thanks to all of you Immortals for keeping Anzhi safe.”
Feng Jinyu gathered her robes and bowed. Her bright eyes were clear as crystal, their pale irises like a blue sky washed clean after a summer storm.
“There are many spirit beasts in this cavern, all suffering from gu poison. I wonder if you might…”
“You’re imprisoned in this cave yourself, yet you’re not asking whether you can escape. You still have the leisure to worry about others?”
Xie Fangnian suddenly spoke. His opening words were an outright rebuke, startling everyone present.
“What if we save the other beasts, but have no time to save you?”
His words were somewhat rude, but Feng Jinyu did not take offense in the slightest. She merely smiled faintly.
“Heaven and earth are the furnace, creation the craftsman, yin and yang the fuel, and all things the metal being forged. I, too, am one of all things. To be within the furnace and suffer its trials and pains is itself a form of tempering.”
“Tempering?”
Xie Fangnian’s tone shifted. He pressed her sternly.
“Have you ever considered that you may be the only surviving bloodline of the Phoenix Clan? If you die here, then the Phoenix Clan will truly be extinct.”
“If I abandon all living beings, then the soul of the Phoenix Clan will die.”
Feng Jinyu’s voice was soft, but her words were unyielding.
“Once the soul has perished, what difference is there between leaving behind only the bloodline and leaving behind an empty shell? What difference is there between that and a walking corpse?”
Within the dark, damp, freezing stone cavern, the girl’s peaceful, lovely voice drifted clear as a bell. It was as though a pure white, richly fragrant orchid had bloomed from a crack in the rock.
"Senior, the Phoenix Clan holds its head high with a clear conscience. We would rather die speaking out than live in silence."
"Hmph. Not too bright upstairs, but you sure have a silver tongue."
Xie Fangnian let out a snort of disdain, though he didn't bicker with her further. His cat paw brushed idly against the prison door, fiddling with it a few times before the magical restriction sealing it came undone.
Shu Fu raised her sword and struck — the Lone Light Sword had finally found a chance to shine, and it hummed with barely contained excitement. With a sharp clang, the iron lock clattered to the ground, and three of the forearm-thick iron bars were sliced clean through by her blade.
"Princess! I missed you so much!"
Fat Cheep fluttered his tiny wings and launched himself into the air, shifting into a size no bigger than a throw pillow just in time to settle perfectly in Feng Jinyu's embrace.
Qin Huan spoke hurriedly, "There are other spirit beasts here too. I'll go release all of them right now. If we alert the Fengyi Sect and this blows up, it'll be a total mess."
Shu Fu nodded firmly. "Good. I'll go with you."
"Haha... how dare you... do this to me... and think you can just... leave?"
A hoarse, raspy male voice like a gong that had been smashed suddenly rang out from under their feet, low and guttural like a devil's murmur from hell, startling even Shu Fu.
"Whoa there, my good grandson! You're still not dead yet?"
"You... don't get to run... none of you get to run..."
Song Yayan was soaked in cold sweat, crawling across the ground caked with blood and filth. The pain wracked his body so badly he curled up, his limbs twisted into an ugly, worm-like shape that looked like an S from one angle and a B from the other.
His mind was already muddled, but his mouth wouldn't stop running, spewing venomous curses at Shu Fu like a garbage truck dumping its load.
"You bitch, how dare you do this to me... the Song family, the Fengyi Sect, and the 'Immortal' backing us will never let you get away with this... Haha, you don't even know, do you? I already took that 'miracle elixir' — the second I get hurt, the Immortal will find out right away..."
Shu Fu said, "That 'Immortal' you're talking about, is it Demon Lord Six Poisons?"
Song Yayan choked on his words immediately.
The "Immortal" — the mysterious figure who had been supplying the Fengyi Sect with aid this whole time — had never revealed his name. The Song family knew perfectly well this person was no good, and after a few rounds of probing, they had more or less guessed his identity, but they had kept it unspoken, pretending to be in the dark even when they knew full well.
Now Shu Fu had torn off that last fig leaf without a shred of mercy, laying bare their shameful scheme of colluding with demonic cultivators for profit.
She clapped her hands together, almost giddy with excitement. "The Demon Lord is going to come running right to us? What a wonderful surprise! Thank you so much for telling me, I'm absolutely thrilled!"
To show just how excited she was, she delivered a fierce kick right between Song Yayan's legs. In an instant, his family jewels were shattered to mush, and the pain nearly knocked him unconscious.
Song Yayan: "!!!@#￥#%&%@*￥？！？！！"
What in the world... is this woman?!
Jiang Xuesheng spoke up at that moment, his tone calm and unhurried as he reminded her, "Fuer, be careful. 'They' are already here."
"Here already?"
Shu Fu tensed up on high alert immediately, and soon caught the faint rustling, scuttling sounds coming from the darkness — like countless creatures crawling across the ground.
In the corner of the cavern lit by the fluorescent glow, she saw it clearly — swarms of pitch-black, shiny, strange bugs pouring out from the cracks in the rock, covering the ground bit by bit, raising their sharp, saber-like antennae right at them.
At the same time, Bai Tian's shocked shout came from the entrance.
"Ugh, what are these bugs?! They're so disgusting!!"
"A-Tian, don't panic! Watch me burn them all to ash with my Fiery Cloud Spear! Use your fire spells too!"
"How many of these bugs even are there? We can't burn through them all! Does that mean this entire mountain has been hollowed out by bugs?!"
"We'll each guard one side of the entrance! I can't let my cat get hurt back there!"
"Fine... wait a second, did I just get dragged into some huge mess again????"
......
Seeing how urgent the situation was, Shu Fu made a split-second decision and called out to Qin Huan loudly, "Friend Qin, release the spirit beasts quickly and get them into my painting scroll!"
"No, there are far too many spirit beasts in this place. The 'Langyuan' realm has limited spiritual power, it can't hold this many living beings."
Jiang Xuesheng didn't even mind that Shu Fu was using their new bridal chamber as a zoo. He pointed out the situation calmly, "These bugs have probably spread all over the entire Mount Qiwu. If we want to get all the spirit beasts out of here safely, the only place we can go is up, into the air."
Shu Fu turned to the rest of the group at once. "Everyone, do any of you have a large flying artifact? A flying boat... you know, something like an aircraft?"
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
They were traveling light, with nothing but the clothes on their backs — who brings a whole Noah's Ark with them on a trip?
At this critical moment, Fat Cheep Xie Anzhi stepped forward. He hopped down from Feng Jinyu's embrace, fluffed out all his feathers and said loudly.
"I can try!"
— And then he started expanding.
Not the metaphorical "blowing up with overconfidence" kind of expanding. Physical, literal expanding.
One times size, three times, ten times, fifty times.
The already plump, round Fat Cheep was like a balloon slowly filling with air, growing bigger and fatter nonstop until he filled the entire cavern!
"I... I can keep growing! I can do this!"
Xie Anzhi, now a giant Fat Cheep, spoke in a deep, muffled voice, sounding almost childishly proud. "If I get big enough, I can carry every single spirit beast in this cave on my back!"
"Fuer, it's time to clear a path for him."
Jiang Xuesheng's voice held a faint smile as he lifted his arm to wrap around Shu Fu's shoulders, pulling her close to him. "Once is a coincidence, twice is a habit. You already did this back in Wei City, doing it again now shouldn't be hard for you, right?"
Shu Fu chuckled. "Of course it's not hard. Don't underestimate me, sir. But this bird is so absurdly huge, I'll have to put in a bit of work to carve a hole through the ceiling for him."
The second she finished speaking, another hand — or rather, a soft, fluffy cat paw — pressed gently against the side of her neck. Xie Fangnian's cool voice came from right next to her ear.
"In that case, I might as well do you another favor, and help Master Tanhua share the burden."
"..."
Jiang Xuesheng went silent for a few seconds, then calmly grabbed the White Cat by the scruff of his neck, lifted him off Shu Fu's shoulder, and dropped him gently on the ground.
"Fuer has already formed her golden core now. She doesn't need me to channel spiritual power to her anymore to slice right through a mountain with her sword. This is our little... intimate game. What's it to you?"
Xie Fangnian: "?????"
