“A-Rong…” Wenren Li carefully cradled the phoenix egg, no larger than the size of his palm. His heartbeat alternated between fast and slow, beyond his control.
He was certain this was Chen Yixin, yet more urgently than ever before, he longed for Chen Yixin’s response. Only Chen Yixin’s response could reassure him, could make him believe that they had reunited once again.
But within the Sea of Ice Extremity of the Upper Realm, even Chen Yixin’s soul had nearly been frozen solid. That he could successfully be guided here was due largely to the Wheel of Reincarnation and Wenren Li. At this moment, his soul still could not immediately awaken.
Wenren Li continued holding the phoenix egg like this for a very, very long time. Only after all eighty-one Soul-Gathering Lamps had gone out, and Han Zichuan and the others waiting below Shuanghe Mountain came forward to ask about the results, did he gradually return to himself.
“Prepare a quiet chamber for me here on Shuanghe Mountain,” Wenren Li instructed before Han Zichuan could even open his mouth to ask.
“Yes,” Han Zichuan nodded. Looking inward, he could still only see Wenren Li’s back facing him. Other than that, he could sense nothing at all. Whether this had succeeded or failed, his heart still hung in suspense.
Han Zichuan departed and dispatched disciples to quickly construct a small single-room palace halfway up Shuanghe Mountain. Time was short, so perfection was impossible, but it was sufficient to fulfill Wenren Li’s request for a quiet chamber.
“Demon Lord, please follow me. The quiet chamber has already been prepared.”
As Han Zichuan spoke, he lifted his gaze and saw Wenren Li approaching him. The icy-blue phoenix egg in Wenren Li’s arms likewise entered his sight. Unconsciously, a smile rose to his lips. At last, Taixuan’s final hope had been preserved.
“If the Demon Lord has any instructions, please speak freely. The entirety of Heaven’s Secret Sect is willing to cooperate with all our strength.”
At this, Wenren Li gave a slight nod, then went all the way into the chamber. Han Zichuan still seemed to want a few more looks at their Divine Son in phoenix egg form, but the door was already shut by Wenren Li. At the same time, a barrier was casually laid down, completely isolating any possible snooping from Han Zichuan.
Wenren Li walked all the way to the bed and sat cross-legged while holding the phoenix egg. After calming his emotions, he began doing everything he could to help Chen Yixin awaken. The phoenix egg was so cold it hurt the hands, yet within it, vitality was limitless.
As Wenren Li fully circulated his cultivation art, a sentence suddenly flashed through his mind.
“This life is not the time for it to be born. Even I cannot fully comprehend it…”
Wenren Li’s eyes opened. Ripples stirred within his silver eyes, making them appear profoundly mystical. At that moment, the phoenix egg, which had shown no reaction until now, suddenly moved lightly within Wenren Li’s arms. Then it bounced up and directly slammed into Wenren Li’s chin.
While catching the phoenix egg, Wenren Li helplessly covered his chin. Not just anyone could withstand being rammed like that by the egg of a divine bird.
“A-Rong,” Wenren Li gently stroked the phoenix egg, whose blue glow and icy aura were gradually receding. Unable to suppress the joy in his heart, he lowered his head and pressed a kiss against the egg. “A-Rong has returned.”
Within Wenren Li’s kiss, the phoenix egg settled down. Then it rubbed lightly from side to side a few times before a childish, tender voice rang out within Wenren Li’s sea of consciousness.
“A-Li, why is it only you here? Where are my Elder Brother Qingruo and Big Brother Linyu and the others? They promised that once I woke up from this sleep, they would take me home. A-Li’s place is very nice, but I can’t let Linyu move into the home shared by my elder brother Qingruo and me so quickly…”
The childish voice continued chattering on and on. Yet aside from Chen Yixin calling him “A-Li,” Wenren Li could not really understand the rest anymore.
“Hmph, don’t think I don’t know Big Brother Linyu wants to steal Elder Brother Qingruo from me. Of course, Emperor A-Li, you’re good too…”
“A-Rong…” Wenren Li frowned slightly, uncertain whether Chen Yixin’s memories had been affected while passing through the Wheel of Reincarnation. “A-Rong, I am your A-Li, that’s true, but I’m not some emperor.”
“Ah? A-Li became mine?” Chen Yixin completely missed the point. His tone was filled with excitement mixed with a bit of shyness. As a phoenix egg utterly obsessed with his Elder Brother, he had followed Qingruo and seen much of the world. Aside from being unable to hatch, he could not really be treated like an ordinary phoenix egg.
“A-Li became mine, became mine, mine… my A-Li!”
“Mhm,” Wenren Li did not understand what there was about this fact that could make Chen Yixin so happy and excitedly bouncing around, yet his tightly wound emotions gradually relaxed within Chen Yixin’s cheerful tone.
“I’m not leaving anymore. I’m going to live in Yuxu Palace. I’m going to watch over my A-Li. No one is allowed to steal him!”
After that childish yet domineering declaration, a pair of bright spiritual wings spread open from the phoenix egg. Then it tightly clung to Wenren Li’s neck and rubbed against him frantically before once more beginning its excited stream of chatter.
“Mine, A-Li is mine, the strongest A-Li is mine, the A-Li who can beat Elder Brother and Linyu is mine…”
Chen Yixin’s voice grew weaker and weaker, and the spiritual wings gradually faded away as well. Before the phoenix egg could tumble down, Wenren Li caught it. Holding the phoenix egg again, he carefully began pondering Chen Yixin’s earlier words.
“A-Rong mistook me for someone else? Who is Qingruo? Who is Linyu?”
The door to the quiet chamber opened again half a month later. Wenren Li had already fed the phoenix egg many precious things, yet it was like a bottomless pit, impossible to fill, much less hatch.
“Let’s return to the Demon Palace first. I’ll try other methods for you afterward.”
After feeding Chen Yixin’s phoenix egg more than half the treasures he carried on him, Wenren Li finally gave up on this most primitive method. Holding Chen Yixin in phoenix egg form, he stepped out from the quiet chamber. Soon afterward, Han Zichuan and most of Heaven’s Secret Sect arrived.
“We welcome the Divine Son’s return,” Han Zichuan said with a slight bow. Aside from him, everyone else knelt in greeting.
“I’ll have someone deliver the gift of thanks later,” Wenren Li swept a glance over them and left behind those words before vanishing with Chen Yixin from before the palace of Shuanghe Mountain. As for Chen Yixin, who was being welcomed, he likewise had no mood to pay them much attention. Faintly, he had already sensed that something was wrong.
Even the aura of heaven and earth had changed, let alone the difference between the Upper and Lower Realms. Yet Wenren Li had not figured out how to ask Chen Yixin about it, while Chen Yixin, contrary to those previous lively days, became quiet instead. All the way until they reached the Southern Domain, he remained silently curled within Wenren Li’s arms, every bit a deeply melancholic phoenix egg.
“A-Rong, rest easy. This place is our home,” Wenren Li said. With a wave of his hand, the concealed protective grand formation dispersed. Wu Fei and the others within, having already been alarmed, immediately came out to receive them.
“We welcome the Demon Lord’s return!”
“Rise,” Wenren Li gestured to them. He walked all the way into the discussion hall and sat down. Without giving Wu Fei and the others a chance to ask questions, he directly issued his command. “Reorganize the demon guards. Soon, you will follow this lord to campaign against the Nether Domain, and then unify the Southern Domain in one stroke.”
“Yes!” The voices of Wu Fei, Ping Cheng, and the others rose an entire level higher. Though their Li Kui Demon Palace was effectively the uncrowned king of the Southern Domain, the Southern Domain was still divided among the Ten Lords, each ruling independently. When facing the Immortal Dao, they had never truly been united.
Moreover, they vaguely sensed that unifying the Southern Domain was only the first step. Wenren Li’s ambitions likely extended far beyond this.
Yet the limit of what they could imagine was merely the unification of Taixuan. At this moment, they still could not conceive of the great achievements that would come in the future.
Everyone else withdrew from the hall. Wu Fei and Ping Cheng lingered two steps behind, clearly still wanting to ask something. “And the Demon Consort and Nan Ke and the others…”
“Nan Ke and the others should return in a few days. A-Rong is here.”
Wenren Li’s sleeve completely concealed the phoenix egg, which had been excessively well-behaved these past few days. Only when he lifted the sleeve could Wu Fei and Ping Cheng catch a glimpse. Naturally, they still had many doubts in their hearts, but asking that single question had already reached their limit. They dared not ask anything further.
They bowed and withdrew. Only then did Wenren Li reveal Chen Yixin from beneath his sleeve.
“A-Rong, I do not know who this Qingruo you speak of is, nor do I know who Linyu is. I am only Wenren Li, Demon Lord of the Southern Domain of Taixuan, not some emperor.”
But Chen Yixin still refused to give up. Clinging to Wenren Li’s hand, he quietly asked again, “Then where is Uncle Ancheng?”
“I don’t know.” Wenren Li shook his head.
“And Shuwen? Tianyun? …What about Great White, the immortal crane you kept in your rear courtyard, and Crimson Jade, the qilin?”
Naturally, Wenren Li softened toward Chen Yixin like this. Yet these were not things he could deceive Chen Yixin about, nor should he deceive him. “I don’t know.”
“And Fairy Hengle, who secretly liked you?” Chen Yixin asked that question somewhat unwillingly, but he felt those were the kinds of people Wenren Li would most likely remember.
“I don’t know,” Wenren Li answered with the same shake of his head.
“Then where did my Elder Brother Qingruo go? Did he elope with Big Brother Linyu and abandon me…”
Wenren Li increasingly felt that the people Chen Yixin spoke of were beings that transcended this time and space. Yet at this moment, he deeply understood Chen Yixin’s feelings. Wenren Li had lived for thirty thousand years, but the longest-lived cultivators in Taixuan only reached three thousand years. He had experienced far too many deaths and departures.
“I want you.” Wenren Li gently stroked the phoenix egg, doing his utmost to soothe Chen Yixin’s emotions. Only afterward did he begin telling him about their present—how they met over a hundred years ago within the Burning Heaven Nether Palace, the wedding announced to the world ten years ago, the sudden separation at the Northern Sea, then reunion and separation once again.
He used his usual straightforward and simple words to tell Chen Yixin everything. Yet by the time he finished, the crimson sun at the horizon had already set, and the phoenix egg in his arms had become utterly absorbed in listening.
“So after I hatched, I originally married you, and now I’ve been harmed into this state again…”
Angered by these bizarre and winding experiences, Chen Yixin temporarily forgot his sadness. His blue spiritual wings spread open once more as he clung to Wenren Li’s arm. “A-Li, since we were already married before, I won’t deny it.”
“I’ll quickly fall in love with you again!”
After saying this, Chen Yixin continued rubbing against Wenren Li. Then, in a low voice, he asked, “What about A-Li? Will A-Li dislike me and stop loving me because I forgot everything?”
“No,” Wenren Li still harbored doubts about whether the A-Li Chen Yixin spoke of was truly him, but those words were still pleasing to hear. “I like A-Rong.”
“Mhm.” The phoenix egg immediately burrowed against Wenren Li’s chest. Accidentally nudging open part of his collar, it directly wriggled inside. “This place is good. This is the tree I want to sleep in…”
Wenren Li covered the phoenix egg at his chest, its presence impossible to ignore. After a long while, a trace of a smile finally surfaced on his face.
“It’s enough that you came back.” As long as Chen Yixin had returned, even if he had forgotten, they could still fall in love again and become husband and husband once more.
But falling in love with an egg was still something that rather tested one’s skills.
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