24 Chapter 26: A Phoenix Bathed in Fire Part 2

Fu Yuqiu, the foremost beauty of the immortal path — beautiful indeed, but blind of eye and heart, hopeless at judging people. He was deceived by a sanctimonious man and battered, body and soul, until his very soul scattered.

Then heaven dropped a stroke of fortune, and in a single rebirth, Fu Yuqiu became the white sparrow the Immortal Venerable kept in a golden cage. His daily task: act cute and go chirp chirp chirp for that plush-obsessed, mercurial supreme Immortal Venerable.

Fu Yuqiu vowed to defend his dignity to the death. He would *not* chirp.

Until, one day, he suddenly discovered that the scum who had hounded him to his death respectfully addressed the Immortal Venerable as "Venerated Father" — and trembled through a full kneeling ceremony just to pay his morning respects.

Fu Yuqiu: "..."

Well, isn't this convenient?

The sparrow who had refused to make a sound, mistaken all along for a mute bird, abruptly bounced up from the Venerable's palm, hopping with life: "Chirp chirp chirp!!"

Immortal Venerable: "???"

~~~

The supreme Immortal Venerable had newly acquired a white sparrow, which he played with in his palm all day long.

One day, as the Junior Venerable — the Venerable's adopted son and heir apparent — came respectfully to pay his respects, the sparrow in his palm suddenly assumed human form and landed in the Venerable's arms.

Fu Yuqiu grinned at the dumbstruck scum: "Good son, call me Father."

The scum: "???"