Chapter 717: A Part of Fate
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
The exterior city, the interior city, the defense walls, the royal palace…
As Hao Ren got closer, he saw the city’s overall layout.
The magnificent presence was quite similar to the Capital City of the Tang Dynasty!
The Taichi Palace was in the center of the city, and the East Palace and West Palace which were on either side of the Taichi Palace were more majestic than the East Ocean Dragon Palace!
Many cities interlaced with each other, and teams of demon soldiers patrolled inside and outside of the cities in order.
Most of the demon beasts resided in the Demon Sea, and only the demon beasts that could transform were able to live in the cities! There were many small demon kings, and the big demon kings were civil and military officials!
Su Han was slightly surprised because she didn’t expect that this would be the situation under the Demon Sea.
Even the Soul Formation Realm cultivators and Heavenly Dragon couldn’t enter this core region of the Demon Sea, but Hao Ren and Su Han were fortunate to see this by following Lady Zhen!
Whoosh!
Eighteen rays of lights shot from a distance.
“Welcome back, Queen Zhen!” The 18 armored demon generals lined up horizontally and cupped their hands toward Lady Zhen respectfully.
“Um…” Lady Zhen raised her hand and yawned lazily as she asked, “All done?”
“Queen Zhen, other than the big demon king, Qiong Qi, who had escaped, we executed all other big and small demon kings!” the demon generals answered.
“Nevermind. Qiong Qi is too strong for you guys to deal with. You guys can go back,” Lady Zhen waved her hand.
These eighteen demon generals turned into eighteen rays of lights and dashed toward the eighteen directions.
Judging from the attitude of these eighteen big demon kings, Lady Zhen had the absolute authority in the region. She probably managed many cities and controlled numerous soldiers.
This demon kingdom under her control was mighty and prosperous!
The white feather under Lady Zhen moved forward and drifted into the royal palace.
“Master!”
Duan Yao who was practicing sword techniques in front of the Taichi Palace saw Lady Zhen and ran toward her quickly and happily.
However, her expression suddenly turned cold when she saw Hao Ren and Su Han as well.
She was wearing a long pink skirt and looked skinny and pretty. Under the lights of the magnificent palace, she looked just like a little Lady Zhen.
Lady Zhen put away the feather, inserted it into her hair bun, and walked toward the Pity Flower Palace on the side.
Duan Yao followed Lady Zhen and looked at Hao Ren. She felt like Hao Ren’s realm was slightly different than before.
Then, she looked at Hao Ren in disdain when she saw Su Han.
“As expected, this Hao Ren isn’t a good person. The girls around him are always changing!” she thought.
Su Han squinted at Duan Yao with a casual gaze, but she was surprised when she discovered that Duan Yao was in the Nascent Soul Realm.
It seemed like Duan Yao was having a good life in the Demon Sea, and Lady Zhen seemed to treat her very well.
There were many beautiful maids in the palace. When they saw that Lady Zhen had brought over guests, they quickly moved to the corners on both ends.
Lady Zhen entered the Pity Flower Palace, walked inside a tranquil courtyard, and pushed open the door of an elegantly furnished room. Then, she patted the corner of her skirt and sat on a Taishi chair 1 .
There weren’t any other decorations other than a colorful flower and bird painting which was hanging in the room.
Duan Yao immediately took a pot of hot water from the maid outside when she saw Lady Zhen sitting down. Then, she returned to the room and poured some tea for Lady Zhen.
Afterward, she walked to Hao Ren and Su Han and poured them some tea with an unwilling expression.
When she was on Sixth Heaven, people always served her, and she had never done these things that maids did. That was the reason why she was arrogant and domineering before.
Yet, in Lady Zhen’s territory, she was tame like a bunny. As soon as Lady Zhen sat down, she immediately poured her tea. If Lady Zhen seemed slightly exhausted, she would take the initiative to massage her legs and shoulders.
At this moment, she saw Hao Ren and Su Han picking up their teacups, and she gritted her teeth before standing beside Lady Zhen.
Duan Yao was Lady Zhen’s disciple, and Su Han and Hao Ren were Lady Zhen’s guests. In this situation, her status was already lower than theirs. Unless Lady Zhen asked her to sit down, she wouldn’t sit down presumptuously.
Lady Zhen didn’t ask Duan Yao to sit down; she let her stand deliberately to discipline her a bit more.
Since Lady Zhen wanted Duan Yao to become the No.1 Demonic Girl in the world, the latter couldn’t be too overbearing. In the future, she still had to marry someone when the time came.
Hao Ren took a sip of tea and looked at Lady Zhen without looking at Duan Yao. He asked, “Auntie, are you planning to settle us here?”
Lady Zhen was glad to be addressed as Auntie by Hao Ren. Hao Ren was now the blood brother of Zhen Yuan Zi, but he still addressed her as Auntie. In this case, her status was higher than Zhen Yuan Zi’s.
Of course, such a joke quickly went through her mind. She wouldn’t hold the status to herself. The actual reason that she was glad was that Hao Ren didn’t put up an attitude because of his association with Zhen Yuan Zi.
“How was the battle in the Nine Dragon Palace?” Lady Zhen picked up the teacup and blew on it to cool it down as she asked Hao Ren.
“Auntie, do you want to listen to the detailed version or the brief one?” Hao Ren asked.
“Of course, as detailed as possible,” Lady Zhen smiled.
She always felt mysterious to Hao Ren, so he didn’t dare to treat her as an ordinary beautiful woman. He also didn’t dare to hide things from her.
Thus, Hao Ren started with how they entered Nine Dragon Palace, how they entered the Baxia Palace, how they reached the Heaven-Reaching Tower, and how they fought against Qiu Niu. He described everything in detail but omitted that night he spent with Su Han in the cave.
Duan Yao who stood beside Lady Zhen widened her eyes and listened carefully as well. Sparkles appeared in her eyes as if she also yearned for this dangerous and exciting adventure. It also seemed like she imagined the thrilling scene that Hao Ren encountered in the process.
Su Han also listened seriously. When she heard that Hao Ren omitted the night in the cave on purpose, her face turned red. She picked up the teacup and took a small sip slowly.
If Lady Zhen didn’t suddenly appear, she might have had the wedding ceremony with Hao Ren…
“A tiny bit of my spirit senses was on the purple gold hairpin. Now, I know more after you told me the details.” Lady Zhen listened to Hao Ren’s description thoroughly and nodded in satisfaction.
Hao Ren nodded and didn’t think much. Yet, Su Han who was holding the teacup suddenly sat upright and felt awkward.
Lady Zhen’s words obviously had other meaning.
Since a tiny bit of Lady Zhen’s spirit senses remained in the purple gold hairpin, then Lady Zhen probably knew everything that Hao Ren and Su Han encountered.
Which meant… the purple gold hairpin which was at the cave entrance that night… in between stacked dry woods and swaying bonfire…
“There’s nothing wrong that you guys like each other.” Lady Zhen lowered her head slightly and seemed like she was in a melancholy state. She repeated the phrases that Zhen Yuan Zi said before, “The feeling of affinity had passed…”
Su Han suddenly pondered when she heard this poem for the second time.
“You guys can rest here for a bit. This is a great place for cultivation. I will come to you guys if there’s anything.” Lady Zhen stood up elegantly and said to them.
Hao Ren looked at Lady Zhen in bafflement. “Why does it sound like she is trapping us here?” Hao Ren thought.
Hao Ren didn’t understand Lady Zhen’s intention because she didn’t say anything about sending them back nor having them stay here for a set time.
Su Han didn’t mind since the nature essence intensity was high in the Demon Sea.
“Nuan Xin, Nuan Yi, stay at the door. Follow Mr. Hao and Ms. Su’s orders if they need anything.”
Lady Zhen walked out of the door and said to two maids.
It sounded like Lady Zhen didn’t want Hao Ren and Su Han to walk around this palace randomly. She also didn’t plan to separate Hao Ren and Su Han into different rooms.
“Yes, Queen Zhen,” the two maids saluted towards Lady Zhen.
Hao Ren looked at their realm and was surprised to find that they were both small demon kings. Hao Ren couldn’t head out even if he wanted to with them guarding the door.
Lady Zhen walked softly toward a distance. Duan Yao who followed her turned her head to look at Hao Ren before speeding up and disappearing in a corner with Lady Zhen.
“Choose between sleep or cultivation…” Su Han said to Hao Ren and turned to walk toward the room.
It seemed like she was settling down, and she didn’t even plan to go back before reaching peak Qian-level or the Heavenly Dragon Realm.
“I choose to sleep,” Hao Ren looked at her and said.
“Then, I’ll cultivate,” Su Han replied briefly and went into the room.
This room was very simple. The exterior was a small hall with tables and chairs for welcoming guest, and the interior was a small bedroom for resting and only contained one flatbed and a mat a top.
Su Han’s white boots were thrown away. Now, she climbed on top of the hard bed barefooted and crossed her legs to cultivate.
Black tights wrapped around her long legs. Even though those weren’t the long robes for cultivation, her posture still looked beautiful.
The purple sweater was also dried up and fitted her body curve tightly.
The nature essence intensity at the center of the Demon Sea was higher than any places that Su Han had been to. Certainly, she had to cultivate effectively with her time.
Even those demon beasts with weak talent could cultivate to level 10 and pass Heavenly Tribulations.
A cultivator like Su Han who was at top-tier Qian-level would definitely benefit from here.
Hao Ren reached out his arms and legs, sliding himself on the bed and didn’t want to move anymore. His nature essence was recovered through Zhen Yuan Zi’s Immortal Fruit. However, his body which was almost destroyed by Qiu Niu still suffered from severe pain.
He was lying in front of Su Han, and the latter still hadn’t closed her eyes yet. When she saw Hao Ren like this, she could only roll her eyes helplessly.
“Sigh…” Hao Ren was slightly worried about Zhao Kuo as well as Zhao Yanzi and Xie Yujia. Since he couldn’t do anything at the moment, he took out the jade slip which contained the Mystic Water Sword Techniques from his necklace and put his spirit senses into it. He suddenly found that the scripts and images in it were clearly revealed.