Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Ying’er led Xu Yuan to a cluster of courtyards in the northwestern corner of the estate, a place guarded so heavily it almost felt excessive.

Xu Yuan knew this area well. In the enormous Xu residence of Stillwater, this was the only part of the property the Third Young Master had no authority to enter. Of course, that might also have had something to do with his habit of borrowing things from home and then selling them off.

He had long suspected there was something like a treasury hidden somewhere in this district. Otherwise, there was no reason for them to guard against him like he was a thief, even if he was the Third Young Master. That said, he did have memories of going inside before. His father and Xu Changge would occasionally call him over, and that telephone was located underground in this very area. Though calling it a telephone was generous.

What was there for an old man and his son to talk about, anyway? With Xu Changge, if things got heated enough, the two of them could at least trade a few insults. But with his father, the Chancellor, there was simply no common language between them at all.

Every conversation followed more or less the same script.

“Father, you were looking for me?”

“Mhm.”

“How have you been lately?”

...

“I’ve been fine.”

“Mhm.”

“Mhm.”

...

The other side would ask something, this side would answer something, and once the answer was done, both sides would fall silent together. They would stay silent until the awkwardness became unbearable, and then the line from the Imperial Capital would cut off without a word.

For that father of his, calling him did not necessarily mean there was something important to discuss. Most of the time, he probably just wanted to hear his son’s voice.

The underground chamber was vast and still.

Inside the huge room, there was only a single crystal sphere floating in midair. But the moment one extended one’s soul sense, it was easy to detect the countless formation patterns engraved beneath it. This was the real time communication device of this world.

Xu Yuan stood silently before the crystal sphere. He had already been here for two minutes. After the brief exchange of routine questions, the two sides had now been standing there awkwardly for nearly thirty seconds. Just as expected, things had turned painfully stiff again.

After quite a while more, Xu Yuan’s lips twitched. In the end, he was the one who took the initiative and spoke first. “Well... I’ve reached the eighth rank.”

Silence hung for two seconds. Then the crystal sphere flickered with light. A steady middle aged man’s voice came through, calm and level, so level it sounded almost entirely devoid of emotion.

“Mhm.” But after the word left his mouth, the man on the other end seemed to realize his tone had been a little too flat. He paused, then added, “That’s very good.”

Maybe it was the influence of those old memories, but when Xu Yuan heard that, a laugh escaped him before he could stop it. He caught himself immediately and forced it back down. Still, that brief laugh had probably carried across.

The crystal shimmered again, and the voice on the other side asked, “I heard from Changge that your constitution is in very good shape now?”

Hearing that, Xu Yuan quietly relaxed and answered, “It’s nothing special. I’m only a little better than him. Just an Innate Dao Physique, that’s all.”

After a moment of silence, he heard a faint exhale. The man on the other end seemed like he wanted to laugh, but held it in. When he spoke again, his voice was still as calm and even as ever, though now it carried a few words of instruction.

“It is a good thing that you can cultivate now. Increase your strength as quickly as possible. If you run out of the pills Changge gave you, go to the estate steward and ask for more.”

Like Xu Changge, this father of his did not ask where Xu Yuan’s physique had come from. Xu Yinhe had risen from a commoner to the man who now held overwhelming power in the Great Flame Empire.

Along the way, he had naturally encountered more than his fair share of fortunes and opportunities. His child was now grown. If the boy wanted to speak, he as a father would cover for him. If he did not want to speak, then so be it.

Xu Yuan’s eyes lit up at those words. But after thinking for a second, he still said, “Ahem, Father, the reason my cultivation has been progressing so quickly is not just because of me. Zhou Chen has also helped. The art he cultivates can assist my training.”

He had not forgotten his promise. To him, this was only a single sentence. To Zhou Chen, though, that sentence might mean a bottle of medicine that could raise his cultivation. Better not forget something like that.

There was silence on the other end for a moment before the voice came again. “Zhou Chen? The art he cultivates does indeed have that effect.”

“Mhm,” Xu Yuan replied.

“Very good.”

It was a word of praise. As for whether that praise was meant for Zhou Chen, or for Xu Yuan, who had somehow gotten Zhou Chen to help him willingly, that was harder to say.

After a pause, the voice continued, “I will make arrangements regarding Zhou Chen.”

And then, just like that, the familiar silence returned. This time, however, it lasted less than ten seconds.

Xu Yuan hesitated slightly, but still asked, “Father, what exactly is Qin Weijiu’s background?”

“Mhm?” At that question, the man on the other end gave a small sound of surprise, then answered in that measured tone of his, “You are interested?”

When speaking of this matter, that steady voice which rarely revealed any emotion carried a distinct trace of amusement.

Si Ziyu and Ying’er had already organized and reported all of Xu Yuan’s actions over the past few days to Xu Yinhe one by one.

He had been very satisfied with how the boy handled the matter of the Bewitching Soul Devil Body. Compared to this little bit of cultivation progress, what truly pleased him was that his son had finally started using his brain for proper things.

Xu Yuan answered as if it were only natural, “Of course I’m interested. If my soul hadn’t already been naturally condensed because of my Innate Soul Physique, I’d probably have been controlled by that fox by now. Something like that obviously deserves attention.”

Qin Weijiu even knew about Burial Village. There was no way his background was simple.

Xu Yuan might not be able to uncover anything with his own limited investigation, but his old man definitely had ways.

After hearing that, the other side fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “Very well. Changge, you explain Qin Weijiu’s background to your little brother.”

Xu Yuan fell silent. Wonderful. No wonder his old man had sounded like he was about to laugh earlier. So Xu Changge had been eavesdropping beside him the whole time. How absolutely shameless.

ᯓ➤

Imperial Capital

The scent of the royal celeste sandalwood, nominally reserved exclusively for the imperial family, drifted through the study. A soft breeze slipped in through the open lattice window, carrying the fragrance into every corner of the room.

The room was very quiet. A crystal sphere several times smaller than the one beneath the Stillwater estate floated silently in midair.

An older man and a younger one sat kneeling across from each other at a tea tray carved with dragons and phoenixes, sipping tea and speaking at an unhurried pace. Their features were similar.

The younger man was strikingly handsome, dressed in a luxurious azure robe.

The elder had graying temples and wore a black flood-dragon robe. He was stern, dignified, and extraordinary in bearing, especially those eyes of his. One look into them was enough to send a chill down the spine.

At this moment, however, that middle-aged man’s gaze held a rare trace of quiet amusement.

Xu Changge lifted his eyes and glanced at his father helplessly, then spoke softly to the little brother on the other end who had just been bragging that his talent was better than his. “Qin Weijiu is no simple person. More than ten years ago, when I was in Southriver Prefecture, I traveled with him once. When we first met—”

“I know that already.”

The crystal sphere suddenly cut in.

Xu Changge continued in the same mild tone. “At the Celeste Assembly 13 years ago, he and I—”

“I know that too.” The crystal sphere interrupted again.

Xu Changge silently glanced at the father sitting opposite him. Seeing that the man’s expression remained perfectly unchanged, he forced himself to hold back.

He let out a breath. “Qin Weijiu is from one of the sects, born into a thousand-year-old clan...”

“Hah... Are you going to really make me repeat myself a third time?” The voice coming from the crystal sighed.

Xu Changge’s fist tightened slightly.

The crystal sphere spoke with the gravity of an elder offering heartfelt advice. “Xu Changge... can you just get to the point?”

Xu Changge did not continue. Instead, he softly called the other party’s name. “Xu Changtian.”

“Hm?”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Heh. Was I wrong? Aren’t these things common knowledge across the world...”

“After a while, I need to make a trip to Ninesource,” Xu Changge said abruptly.

Xu Yuan froze for a moment when he heard that, then immediately went silent. Ninesource was only 40 miles from Stillwater in a straight line.

“Hmph.”

Seeing that Xu Yuan had finally stopped talking, Xu Changge gave a cold snort, then began, in that same slow and careful voice, to explain Qin Weijiu’s background to his younger brother. He was astonishingly thorough, covering almost everything from the man’s birth up to the present day. And he placed special emphasis on several major suspicious points.

By the time Xu Yuan had listened to it all, something stirred faintly in his heart. Clearly, while he himself had been absorbed in cultivation, Xu Changge, as the elder brother, had put in a tremendous amount of work investigating Qin Weijiu’s background.

After a long silence, Xu Yuan suddenly asked in a low voice, “Father, do you know of a place called Burial Village?”