Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Winter left and spring came, another three months passing by in the blink of an eye.
A small boat floated on the surface of a small lake outside Silver Eyes City.
Tang Jie lay on the boat, basking in the sun, a veiled bamboo hat shading his face.
Strangely, in the reflection on the water, the person on the boat was having a drink.
"Big Brother!"
A crisp and sweet voice rang out.
Another figure appeared on the boat. It was Yiyi, who, despite being disguised, exuded the mindset of a little girl with every move she made. Standing next to Tang Jie, she saw that he was asleep and giggled as she lifted his bamboo hat.
But behind the veil was a faceless person.
Yiyi froze, and then she felt the back of her neck tense up as someone lifted her up.
The space around her shifted. The water was still the water, and the boat was still the boat, but the boat on the water had switched places with its reflection. The Tang Jie on the boat was now drinking wine and holding up Yiyi, while the reflection in the water was sound asleep, now missing his hat.
Tang Jie grabbed the hat from Yiyi's hands and pushed it into the water.
The bamboo hat reappeared on the face of the reflection.
Yiyi was dumbfounded. She looked at Tang Jie and then at the reflection. "Big Brother, what is this?"
Tang Jie chuckled. "Just a little inversion of Reality and Illusion."
"But…" Yiyi pointed at the hat and then at Tang Jie, clearly confused. If this Tang Jie was real, then the hat should be fake, so how could it have ended up in her hand?
Tang Jie patted her. "Silly girl, when the real becomes fake, fake becomes real. How can you be sure that the one you're speaking with right now is the real one?"
Space shifted again, and the drinking Tang Jie returned to being a reflection. The Tang Jie before her took off the bamboo hat and grinned at her, no longer appearing faceless.
Yiyi clapped her hands and laughed in understanding. "So Big Brother can switch between reflections. So fun! I want to learn too!"
"That won't be easy." Tang Jie hugged Yiyi and scratched his nose. "You should cultivate the Imperial Ember Lotus Mantra first."
"Relax, Big Brother. Take a look." Yiyi waved a hand, producing numerous petals in her hand.
Unlike before, as these petals drifted in the air, they spun on their own, whistling and giving off a golden luster. As a petal fell from the air and landed on the boat, flecks of hundred-year-old Ironwood, tougher than metal, went flying into the air, the petal only stopping after it had dug three inches into the wood.
Yiyi waved her hand again, and all the petals fluttered down, bursting into explosions. The petal that had cut into the boat also exploded, sending half of the boat flying. But the boat still floated atop the water rather than capsizing.
"What do you think?" Yiyi proudly asked.
"Not bad. You've already managed to master the conversion to the Metal and Fire powers, but you still lack Water and Earth. Keep working on it." Tang Jie patted the boat, and the ruined boat became a reflection while the boat they were seated on became complete.
Yiyi was very curious about what Tang Jie was doing, but while she wanted to study it, Tang Jie said, "Today is the day to pick up the medicine. Go to Dongjin Pass and pick it up."
"Oh!" Yiyi grew excited at the mention of the medicine's arrival.
The medicine from Dongjin Pass was the primary support for the cultivation of Yiyi and the avatar.
Over the months, seven batches of medicine had been sent over from Dongjin Pass. Thanks to all the Origin Spirit Pills, the avatar's strength had been able to grow by leaps and bounds, and not too long ago, it had attained the middle phase of the Heart Demon Tier.
Of course, behind this high-speed improvement was numerous resources.
The vast sea of resources Tang Jie had taken from the two fiend empires, other than what had been used to support Little Three, had been used for this purpose.
With Yiyi gone to Dongjin Pass, Tang Jie had nothing to do, so he returned to Silver Eyes Palace.
Just as he was about to head to the imperial study, a servant reported, "The Cloud Fairy Concubine has requested your presence."
As Lin Xin was a human, Lin Xin's servants were mostly human. In any case, it wasn't rare for fiends and humans to mix together among the fiends.
Tang Jie was taken aback by Lin Xin's invitation. "Is there a problem?"
"The concubine did not say."
"Understood." After some thought, Tang Jie decided to make his way to the Cloud Fairy Palace. After all, the Cloud Fairy was nominally his most favored concubine.
Over the last two years, Tang Jie and Lin Xin had worked together extremely well, even acting out various quarrels in the palace.
In order to "steal back" their emperor from Lin Xin, the other women of the harem had done everything in their power. Initially, Lin Xin had suffered rather badly from all their backstabbing plots.
Alas, the other concubines had no idea that they were fighting an unwinnable war. No matter how many times Lin Xin was framed, she would never be toppled. But the concubines didn't give up when they saw that their efforts were having no effect, and they attacked with even greater frenzy. At the height of the harem conflict, Lin Xin was even accused of having an affair, and someone even had her serve poisoned tea to Tang Jie. Alas, even the crime of attempting to kill the emperor couldn't fell the Cloud Fairy Concubine. On the contrary, when Tang Jie investigated the matter, he discovered the plots of a few of the concubines and had them executed.
In that period of time, countless dramas played out in the harem, the concubines joining hands and crazily attacking Lin Xin, their daring matching the most exaggerated palace dramas. Lin Xin rapidly matured under all these assaults, and she managed to slay several of the concubines through her own methods. Of course, she had no need to trick Tang Jie. After she framed someone, she would tell the truth to Tang Jie, appearing rather happy and pleased as she did. As for Tang Jie, he evaluated her plans, pointing out their flaws and strengths, where she had done poorly and he had to clean up after her.
This was perhaps the strangest palace struggle in the world.
If those concubines had known that they were fighting a war they could never win, they probably would have died from sheer anger first.
Tang Jie coldly watched on as these women battled it out in the harem.
Over the last two years, the number of women in the harem had dwindled, several of them dying and quite a few being removed. The only one unaffected was the empress. Even though Lan Ling had also tried to frame Lin Xin several times, Tang Jie had warned Lin Xin never to touch Lan Ling. In any case, Lin Xin had the invincible shield that was Tang Jie, so nothing could touch her.
Fewer women meant fewer people thinking of ways to get in bed with Tang Jie, so Tang Jie finally had some rare free time, and even Lin Xin could take breaks.
Lin Xin sending over a servant to request his presence like today was rather rare.
Upon arriving at Cloud Fairy Palace, Tang Jie saw Lin Xin seated on a silk-cushioned stool, eating fruit.
Her slender fingers peeled a dragon's eye fruit. Just as she was about to put it into her mouth, she saw Tang Jie come in. She smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you're here."
Without rising, she offered the fruit to Tang Jie, her movements indescribably elegant and refined, like a noble lady rather than that wild woman trapped in the cage.
Tang Jie moved over and took a bite. Smiling, he said, "Fruit peeled by my beloved consort is always delicious."
Dismissing the servants, Tang Jie sat down and said, "What did you want to see me for?"
The alluring look in Lin Xin's eyes suddenly disappeared, and she asked Tang Jie, "Don't you want to know why Silver Eyes locked me up?"
Tang Jie was stunned.
When it came to Lin Xin's personal affairs, Tang Jie and Lin Xin had a tacit understanding.
Given that this woman could go three hundred days without eating or drinking, Tang Jie knew that Lin Xin had some secret in her body.
But he didn't ask, because this ensured that their collaboration went smoothly.
In these two years, while Lin Xin had yet to attain the freedom Tang Jie had promised, under Tang Jie's protection, she had lived comfortably, probably living better than she ever had among humans.
But today, her sudden suggestion flabbergasted Tang Jie.
Lin Xin put a dragon's eye fruit into her mouth. "Silver Eyes locked me up because I have something in my body. It's precisely this thing that makes my body different from usual, unable to cultivate but also very tenacious."
"What is it?"
Sorrow flashed in her eyes. "I don't know. I only know that I had it when I was born."
As she spoke, she opened up her clothes, her actions frightening Tang Jie.
And then Tang Jie saw a small snake tattooed on her chest.
The little snake rested right between her breasts and was a gray-green color.
Tang Jie frowned as he wondered what this was.
At this moment, the little snake moved.
It began to move like it was alive, slithering around Lin Xin's body before finally stopping at the side of her waist, freezing there as if it was a snake-shaped birthmark that had always been there.
"What is this?" Tang Jie said in shock.
He had never seen something so strange.
Lin Xin shook her head. "I don't know. I've had this snake since I was born, but it didn't move then. The first time it moved was on my fifth birthday… That day, my parents were so scared that they couldn't speak."
Lin Xin softly continued.
"On my sixth birthday, it moved again. Father thought I was possessed, so he had an exorcist try and get rid of it. That exorcist cast spells around my home the entire day and then said everything was fine. The next day, the exorcist choked to death while eating.
"On my seventh birthday, it once more moved. Father requested a Spirit Disciple to come and cast a spell art to drive out demons… That night, that Spirit Disciple slipped into the water and drowned.
"Father didn't give up. On my eighth birthday, as expected, the snake moved again, but Father was ready this time. He requested a famous Spirit Master to come and drive out the ghost. That Spirit Master was ruthless, slicing off that part of my flesh carrying the snake with his sword. But after one day, my wound had completely recovered, not even leaving a scar, and the snake was still there. As for that Spirit Master… he suffered spiritual energy backlash while cultivating and died from energy corruption."
Tang Jie's blood ran cold at this tale.
Lin Xin looked at Tang Jie and smiled. "Isn't it rather scary? But it was only the beginning. Every year, on my birthday, this snake would move. Father thought of every way to stop it, but he always failed. Instead, all those Spirit Masters he hired at high price would die for various reasons. As time went on, this matter became known, and everyone regarded me as a star of calamity, an ill omen, and nobody dared to come and try to exorcise ghosts from me anymore.
"At that time, my father seemed to accept it. Since this snake had never harmed me, why try and drive it away? Thus, he let it be on my body, until the day of my sixteenth birthday…"
"What happened on that day?" Tang Jie asked.
"I was raped."
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