◎Forget it, you fool.◎
Mid-Cloud Ridge.
Feng Beihe stood atop a snowy peak, tilting his head slightly to gaze up at the Nine Heavens, hidden behind clouds hundreds of zhang overhead, his eyes utterly indifferent.
On an otherwise bare chessboard, a Snow Owl chattered: “…That Shadow Vine is like a rabid dog. It would rather let the spirit fruit it spent a hundred years growing rot on the vine than hand it over. It wouldn’t listen to reason, so I had to take it by force.”
A black chess piece spun deftly between Feng Beihe’s five fingers. He didn’t look up. “Did you get it?”
“No.” The Snow Owl showed him its tail feathers, nearly plucked bald, and drooped. “Who knows what that damned thing eats to grow—it reeks of sinister power. I… my apologies for my incompetence.”
“What does it eat?” Feng Beihe said flatly. “Corpses. It grows on corpses.”
The Snow Owl went blank.
The Junior Venerable is… familiar with that Shadow Vine?
A dragon’s cry suddenly rang out from the Nine Heavens. A black dragon came riding the clouds, and torrential rain fell instantly over the snowy peak, freezing into ice with the frost chill.
Freezing rain came rattling down.
The Snow Owl squawked miserably as it was pelted, flapping under a stone table to hide.
Soon, the black dragon landed atop the peak.
Yun Gui assumed human form and, expressionless, tossed a blood-soaked figure at Feng Beihe’s feet.
Feng Beihe looked down—and his pupils contracted sharply.
The Snow Deer Physician was on the edge of death, unconscious—and his entire frost spirit vein was saturated with fire-attribute power.
Feng Beihe’s face didn’t change. “What is the Venerated Father’s intention here?”
“Didn’t the Junior Venerable pride himself on reading the Venerable One’s mind?” Yun Gui said coldly. “How is it you don’t understand now?”
Feng Beihe’s fingers tightened imperceptibly around the chess piece.
Yun Gui couldn’t be bothered to say more. With a cold laugh, she warned: “Feng Beihe, guard that bird life of yours carefully. Pray you never fall into my hands!”
With that, she became a black dragon once more and departed with a roar.
The freezing rain came hammering down again.
Feng Beihe’s expression was blank, his thoughts impossible to read.
In all the vast Nine Heavens there were only the Immortal Venerable and those two dragons—and the Dragon Clan was unwaveringly loyal to the Venerable, nearly impossible to buy. The only one who moved freely in and out of the Nine Heavens was the Snow Deer Physician.
But the Snow Deer Clan had always been proud, never involving itself in the struggles of the Three Clans.
By fortunate coincidence, Feng Beihe had made this snow deer’s acquaintance, then plotted for him—arranging his successful appointment as the Nine Heavens’ “Snow Deer Physician” on the merit of cultivating Golden Radiance Grass—turning him into an obedient chess piece.
—The intel that “the Immortal Venerable was secretly seeking the Shadow Vine Fruit” had come from the Snow Deer Physician too.
The Immortal Venerable had always turned a blind eye to the matter. Why erupt over it now, of all times?
Had the Snow Deer Physician misspoken—or done something wrong?
And what about the Linked Azure Water?
Feng Beihe’s brow knitted. His five fingers moved, hardly at all.
The surrounding snow, which had been drifting down gently, whipped up like a raging storm.
The Snow Owl cowered under the table, peeking up timidly—and its sharp eyes caught a pinch of jet-black powder drifting down through Feng Beihe’s fingers.
—That black chess piece had been crushed to powder in his bare grip.
The Snow Owl ducked its head low.
Even in its stupidity it could tell Feng Beihe was furious, and it didn’t dare come anywhere near him.
After who knew how long, the knife-like wind and snow raging around them finally died down, and Feng Beihe’s icy voice came: “Go find the Shadow Vine again. Do not let Feng Xingyun beat you to it.”
“At once,” the Snow Owl said quickly.
The Nine Heavens.
Fu Yuqiu slept wonderfully in the cloud-soft bed, and when he opened his eyes again, daylight already flooded outside.
Beside him came the soft rustle of clothing.
Fu Yuqiu splayed his legs and strained to stretch his chubby body, then turned his head over in a daze.
The Immortal Venerable sat at the edge of the bed, hair loose, outer robe draped loosely about his shoulders.
He seemed lost in thought. At the white sparrow’s stirring, he turned his head and regarded him expressionlessly.
At that expression, Fu Yuqiu jolted.
Angry?
But I didn’t do anything.
The Immortal Venerable’s gaze was cold. His golden eyes seethed like rolling storm clouds, icy menace brimming beneath.
He was displeased.
Fu Yuqiu was utterly baffled, unable to fathom what a Living Yama could possibly be displeased about.
Getting up on the wrong side of the bed?
The brewing menace around the Immortal Venerable grew heavier and heavier. His jaw tightened; his hand curled into claws, reaching toward the sparrow with slow, restrained motion.
Fu Yuqiu, still bleary with sleep, watched those slender, beautiful fingers reach for him, wholly unaware that his death was at hand.
What’s the hand for? Fu Yuqiu tilted his head, gazing in a daze.
The hand drew closer—and only then did Fu Yuqiu notice: across the Immortal Venerable’s wrist, across his entire hand, droplets of water were slowly seeping out.
Plip. One fell onto the bedding.
It wasn’t sweat. It was more like vapor condensing—as if fire within him were boiling water straight out of his flesh.
The Snow Deer Physician had once said: “You have even suffered ‘Water Poison.'”
So this was… Water Poison?
Ohhh, Fu Yuqiu thought. Drying his hands again?
He understood.
The Immortal Venerable’s hand, veins standing out, had reached right in front of him. Those five fingers seemed to harbor tremendous force; one slight pinch would crush this white sparrow into paste.
The murderous fury within him surged up all at once, and those golden eyes turned scarlet through and through in an instant.
He was tired of it.
He had decided to kill this bird.
Everything in this world that hopped and fluttered deserved to die.
Why should…
In the next instant, something warm suddenly nuzzled into the Immortal Venerable’s ice-cold palm.
His five fingers twitched violently.
The Immortal Venerable stared, stunned.
The white sparrow had strained up onto his feet and was rubbing his round, chubby body firmly against the water-soaked palm, once, twice.
The Immortal Venerable: “……”
Warmth and softness spread slowly from his palm through his whole body. His frozen heart felt as if a tail feather had brushed across it—ticklish and numb.
The Immortal Venerable looked down at him.
Fu Yuqiu was busily flapping his wings to bounce himself upward, using the feathers on his head to push at the droplets on the Immortal Venerable’s palm, working diligently as a hand towel.
Honestly, what a hassle, he grumbled inwardly. Gets angry over water on his hands—how is his temper worse than mine?
Just as he was diligently “drying” the ill-tempered Immortal Venerable’s hands, Fu Yuqiu suddenly felt himself go weightless—he was being scooped up.
Fu Yuqiu looked up, puzzled.
The murderous displeasure in the Immortal Venerable’s eyes had vanished, replaced in a blink by the usual Living Yama—courteous, elegant, and capricious.
“Does the Little Highness like water?” he asked mildly.
Fu Yuqiu tilted his head, not knowing what he was up to, but nodded anyway.
Grass likes water. Perfectly natural.
The Immortal Venerable smiled. “Behind the sleeping hall of the Nine Heavens there is a Sweet Spring. Care to go?”
At the word “spring,” Fu Yuqiu nodded so hard his head blurred.
Sweet Spring! Water!
The Immortal Venerable’s smile didn’t fade, but his golden eyes turned deep and unreadable.
“Yun Shou.”
Yun Shou came clattering in. “Your orders, Venerable One?”
The Immortal Venerable tossed the white sparrow from his hand; Fu Yuqiu’s whole body bounced off a soft gauze of cloud and was caught in Yun Shou’s arms.
“Take the Little Highness to the Sweet Spring to play.”
Yun Shou’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “But he’s carrying—”
The Immortal Venerable glanced coldly at him through the gauze of white mist.
Yun Shou fell silent at once, cradled the sparrow, bowed, and hurried off.
The Immortal Venerable sat alone at the edge of the bed. The wind lifted the layers of white gauze that trailed to the floor, briefly revealing a pair of cold, fierce golden eyes.
Linked Azure Water…
Fu Yuqiu was borne happily along in Yun Shou’s hands toward the Sweet Spring, ready to burst into song.
Only after the joy ebbed did he feel he’d forgotten something.
Fu Yuqiu racked his brains for ages and couldn’t recall it.
But he was easygoing by nature; if he couldn’t remember, he wouldn’t force it. He waited in high spirits for his long drink from the Sweet Spring!
Behind the sleeping hall was a scene straight out of a fairyland, wreathed in mist like the dense fog of a late autumn morning.
Before long, they arrived.
“Spring” was perhaps a misnomer—it was more a secluded pool, water murmuring, fed by several spring eyes that poured forth clear water without end.
The spiritual power in the water was denser even than the Secluded Sound Valley’s.
Fu Yuqiu’s eyes went straight.
Heaven’s Dao favors its gifted spirit treasures above all with this kind of primal power.
Yun Shou crossed his arms and ground his teeth ferociously at the sidelines.
The Linked Azure Water this Little Snowball carried was the one spirit treasure that could best counter the Immortal Venerable.
The Immortal Venerable’s foundation had been poisoned from childhood by the previous Vermilion Bird Immortal Venerable with every toxin imaginable, and after ascending to the seat of Immortal Venerable, his soul had been gravely damaged—none knew why. Every so often, he needed the Sweet Spring’s power to steady his soul.
If the Linked Azure Water truly entered the spring eye…
Then the Immortal Venerable’s ever-jesting “my days are numbered” would become the truth.
At that thought, Yun Shou bared his teeth, azure scales rising along his arms, eyes locked on the white sparrow standing with his back to him at the water’s edge.
If he makes one single move to throw the Linked Azure Water into the spring, I’ll swallow him in one gulp! Yun Shou fumed inwardly. What is the Venerable One thinking, knowing he carries the Linked Azure Water and still letting him come to the Sweet Spring?
At that very moment, the round little ball with its back to him suddenly leapt without a sound, straight into the Sweet Spring.
Sploosh.
Yun Shou: “!!!”
Yun Shou’s scales stood on end.
This Little Snowball is ruthless enough to gamble his life—diving into the spring eye together with the Linked Azure Water inside him?!
In the sleeping hall, the Immortal Venerable’s scarlet eyes snapped open.
The clouds of the Nine Heavens churned without warning.
At the pool’s edge, the snow-white mist seemed to come alive, baring skull-like human faces in clutching, clawing shapes, hissing low and grim.
Countless hollow eyes fixed on Fu Yuqiu all at once, like hell’s asuras hunting souls to drag them down—eerie, phantom-like, wicked.
Yun Shou roared, transforming on the spot into an enormous azure dragon, and lunged at the Sweet Spring, jaws agape.
He was going to eat this treacherous Little Snowball!
But the moment he reached the pool’s edge, fangs bared wide, his gaze locked stiff on the little snowball floating in the water.
Yun Shou: “???”
The white sparrow had leapt into the pool, whole body soaked.
Bird feathers shed water somewhat, so the plumes floating on the surface gleamed sleek and snow-bright.
Fu Yuqiu floated on the water with his eyes comfortably narrowed, legs paddling furiously beneath, the whole bird slowly spinning in circles.
—Every inch of him spelled out pure bliss.
Yun Shou: “……”
The clouds: “……”
In the sleeping hall, the Immortal Venerable’s gaze stilled for a heartbeat, and a rare thread of confusion crossed his face.
This white sparrow…
Was taking a bath in the Sweet Spring?
In an instant, the wrathful ghosts at the water’s edge dissolved back into drifting mist.
Yun Shou was dumbfounded. “What are you doing?” he asked, incredulous.
If you’re not scheming to throw the Linked Azure Water into the spring eye, what are you splashing around for?!
Fu Yuqiu glugged down a few mouthfuls of water, lazily opened his eyes, and glimpsed the mist at the shore slinking away in what looked like dejection.
He tilted his head, bewildered, his jet-black eyes misted over as though soaked in water vapor, hazy and innocent.
The sparrow’s whole face read: Ugh, what now?
Yun Shou: “……”
In all his years, Yun Shou had dealt with countless traitors who came to assassinate the Immortal Venerable—but never had he been left so utterly speechless.
One need only place the Linked Azure Water into the spring eye just yonder to cripple the Immortal Venerable.
The Venerable One had personally delivered the opportunity right up to him—and what was this white ball doing?!
Taking a bath?!
If the Azure Luan Junior Venerable knew, he’d probably vomit three liters of blood.
Fu Yuqiu couldn’t comprehend Yun Shou’s breakdown and went right on paddling about the Sweet Spring.
Watching the white ball drift toward the spring eye, Yun Shou pulled himself together again.
No—the Azure Luan Junior Venerable dared send this sparrow to the Nine Heavens, so he must have a plan. This sparrow can’t possibly be this stupid! Yun Shou went on guard. Maybe he’s waiting for me to drop my guard, then he’ll run over and drop the Linked Azure Water into the water!
Yun Shou braced for battle, claws at the ready.
And then…
He watched, wide-eyed, as Fu Yuqiu paddled his little claws in a full circle around the spring eye.
The white sparrow never once glanced at the spring eye, splashing merrily, letting the surge from the spring push him right back to shore.
Yun Shou: “……”
No mistake about it. This white sparrow was a fool, through and through.
Had Fu Yuqiu been in his secluded-grass form, he’d have soaked in the Sweet Spring forever. But the sparrow shell instinctively balked at staying in water too long, so after only a short swim he clambered ashore.
Water had soaked through his down. Fu Yuqiu looked down at himself and nearly wept.
He’d assumed the white sparrow was only puffed up with fluff—turned out he was genuinely solid all the way through.
Fu Yuqiu missed his grass form’s elegant silhouette, his emerald leaves, his slender roots, and shook himself in a huff, spraying water everywhere.
Yun Shou, still in dragon form, lay rigidly to one side and took the spray full in the face.
Had he taken a faceful of water before, Yun Shou would have exploded.
But now he could only stare at Fu Yuqiu, deadpan with disbelief.
Fu Yuqiu shook himself until every feather stood on end, more puzzled than Yun Shou, his whole face asking: Did you eat something wrong? Why aren’t you exploding?
Yun Shou: “……”
“I—you—he—ARGH!” For the first time in his life, Yun Shou didn’t know what to say. After a long moment he said, deflated: “Forget it. You fool.”
Fu Yuqiu: “???”
What was that for?! Where did THAT come from?!
Inner hall.
The Immortal Venerable’s golden eyes were warm and still. After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed.
