A corner of the mouth quirked, a low grunt escaping, "Even if you two get together, I’m forcing my way in! The Star Alliance doesn't mandate monogamy, you know! As long as everyone agrees, polygamy and polyandry are both legal in the Star Alliance! Hehe, good men are rare, and a Seven-Star Grand Venerable is unheard of! Even if I have to drug and violate you, I won’t let you escape!"

To the right of Fuya.Ming’s sleeping quarters was a stretch of rolling flower hills. The gently sloping terrain was covered with a type of flower that possessed long, slender stalks and blossoms the size of a fist. At first glance, they resembled the lotus flowers of Earth, but their petals were exceptionally fine, pale white with the faintest tinge of pale blue. When the strong wind swept across the hills, vast swathes of the white flowers bowed low, their delicate stalks bending forcefully, the blossoms trembling and swirling in the breeze. Petals looked as if they could detach from their stems at any moment and drift away, yet not a single petal was ever truly carried off by the wind.

These white flowers were an exact mirror of the impression Fuya.Ming gave: pure, elegant, possessing the heart of a sage yet rigid as iron. No matter how fierce the external gales or how foul the external climate, even if the stalks were blown flat against the earth, these flowers would always rear up proudly given the chance, their pristine white petals perpetually unstained by even the slightest dust.

At the crest of a small knoll in the very center of the sea of flowers stood an exquisitely crafted pavilion. Three slender pillars of crystal, carved with myriad intricate patterns, supported the structure. Surrounding it were screens fashioned from polished, semi-translucent seashells, which could be unfolded. If the wind intensified, pulling these screens open meant that not a single draft could penetrate the pavilion.

A small round table, three small stools, two wine barrels, more than a dozen bottles, and three people.

Gu Xiechen and Fuya.Ming exchanged smiles, simply looking at one another, laughing together, a profound, unspoken understanding blooming effortlessly in their hearts.

Jin watched one, then the other, gritting her teeth as she used a dagger to pry open the cork of a wine bottle. She slowly laid out three thumbnail-sized crystal cups and dripped a single bead of thick, honey-like golden nectar into each. With a flick of her wrist, after three drops were released, Jin swiftly scooped three spoonfuls of colorless, odorless liquor from the barrel and poured it into the cups. Gently swirling the cups, the golden nectar and the colorless liquid rapidly merged into a hazy, pale golden beverage, a thread of golden luminescence swirling within the liquid before plunging into a tiny, fresh flower.

Pouting in anger, Jin snatched up her cup and drained it in one loud hiss.

Fuya.Ming smiled. She picked up a cup and offered it to Gu Xiechen, who eagerly accepted it with both hands. The cups were small, and their fingers intentionally or unintentionally brushed against each other. Gu Xiechen’s hand was cool, like a shard of profound ice on a summer day; Fuya.Ming’s was warm, like a brilliant sunbeam in autumn. As their fingers met, they both felt a surge of warmth and a streak of cold air flood into their hearts. Both their bodies shivered slightly, and then they looked at each other and laughed again.

Clink. The two small cups lightly tapped together. Gu Xiechen raised his cup and downed the contents in one go.

It was rich and fragrant! The liquid entered his mouth, but Gu Xiechen tasted nothing at all. He merely raised his empty cup and smiled at Fuya.Ming.

Fuya.Ming also raised her empty cup and smiled back at Gu Xiechen.

Jin dryly lifted her empty cup, but no one paid her any mind. Infuriated, Jin bit down hard, grabbed the bottle whose cork she had opened, and glugged down nearly half of the thick golden nectar. Blinking her eyes, Jin suddenly gave a small snort, rolled her eyes, and pitched sideways onto Gu Xiechen. With a slurred mumble, she groaned, "I'm so dizzy... I... I'm drunk..."

Gu Xiechen chuckled, “Heh heh.” With a sweep of his wide sleeve, an invisible, immense force locked onto Jin, preventing her from closing even an inch more distance to Gu Xiechen, no matter how hard she strained every muscle. Gu Xiechen flicked a finger, and a stream of Taiyin Xuan Gang pierced directly through Jin’s back. A bone-chilling cold surged within her body, instantly incinerating the small amount of alcohol that had just entered her stomach. It all vaporized into a dense plume of alcoholic breath blasting from the top of Jin’s head. Jin shuddered violently, staring blankly at Gu Xiechen, the scheme she had hoped to use to get closer to him while feigning drunkenness utterly thwarted.

Fuya.Ming covered her mouth to stifle a laugh; she had seen plenty of Jin’s little tricks. Watching Gu Xiechen deal with Jin now filled her heart with warmth.

Gu Xiechen smiled too. He drew out his Fuyao Fan and lightly fanned himself a few times, then suddenly addressed Fuya.Ming, “The day before yesterday, during my skirmish, beneath that mountain—was there a stone chamber there? Do you know about it?”

By this time, Gu Xiechen was no longer using honorifics when addressing Fuya.Ming, and she accepted this transition as perfectly natural, not taking offense in the slightest. Instead, she looked at Gu Xiechen with profound astonishment and exclaimed, “That place—how did you know about it? And how did you get inside?”

Jin suddenly sprang up, pointing fiercely at Gu Xiechen and shrieking, “Spatial abilities! Did you actually manage to get in there?”

Gu Xiechen grinned, $! “I also know that people from the Exorcist Knights were inside. All one hundred three thousand four hundred fifty-eight members of the Exorcist Knights—I killed them all. It won't affect the Kingdom of Yafik, will it?”

Thud. Jin sank back into her seat in terror, staring blankly at Gu Xiechen. She asked, word by careful word, “Killed them all?”

Fuya.Ming also looked at Gu Xiechen, her face fixed in shock: “The Exorcist Knights, you… he…”

Gu Xiechen looked at Fuya.Ming and smiled, “It was Kan Hua who was curious and found that cavern. However, those people weren't friendly; they attacked us on sight. I couldn’t keep control, and I wiped them all out. It shouldn't be a problem, right?”

Fuya.Ming gazed at Gu Xiechen, then suddenly laughed, “Why are you suddenly choosing to confess this to me?”

Gu Xiechen stated calmly, “Just to ease my conscience. If I hide this from you, it might become a demon in my heart later on. Why bother with that?”

“Heart demon?” Fuya.Ming repeated the novel term Gu Xiechen used, which he had acquired from the Star Alliance Passage F6 organization, nodding slowly. “A very interesting way to put it. A demon of the spirit, meaning a kind of psychological shadow, a mental illness, is that correct?”

Gu Xiechen nodded slowly. Fuya.Ming was indeed astute and perceptive, easily grasping the meaning of ‘heart demon.’ But a heart demon was far more potent than a mere shadow.

Jin clutched Gu Xiechen’s sleeve, screaming, “Then—what about the Divine Realm? The Divine Realm that the Exorcist Knights guarded for tens of thousands of years? The Divine Realm that sealed the ancient demon—where is it?”

Gu Xiechen flicked his sleeve, shaking off Jin’s fingers. He looked at Fuya.Ming and laughed, “That Divine Realm is actually a cave-dwelling left behind by our ancestors. In your language, it’s a ‘temporary palace’ (Xing Gong). If you wish, I can share everything inside with you.”

Fuya.Ming looked into Gu Xiechen’s eyes; those dark pupils were crystal clear, untainted by any extraneous element. The heavy feeling that had weighed on Fuya.Ming’s heart for days suddenly lifted. The Exorcist Knights were destroyed? Had the greatest malignancy parasitizing the Kingdom of Yafik finally vanished? Just how powerful was this man before her?

And what he said about that Divine Realm being the ‘temporary palace’ of his ‘clan’ ancestors! Did the humans of the Earth Federation possess such formidable strength?

They must, right? Fuya.Ming recalled Gu Xiechen, who could sweep away several Tier-One warships with a wave of his sleeve and throw half a fleet into chaos with a single fan motion, as well as Xin Jia, Mo Liqing, and the others who had easily crushed a massive fleet with miraculous power. What Gu Xiechen said must be true; he was certainly not lying to her.

Slowly settling back into her seat, Fuya.Ming smiled at Gu Xiechen, “Very well. I have always been curious about that Divine Realm. What is inside?”

Gu Xiechen nodded and chuckled, “Some powerful weapons—you saw them when I destroyed those Tier-One warships. And also, the method to cultivate the kind of immense power I possess.”

Gu Xiechen had already decided to pass on both the Huanyuan Zhen Dian and the Taiyin Zhen Jing to Fuya.Ming. Even without the powerful energy core, Fuya.Ming might not be able to form a Congenital Body, but achieving mastery through cultivation would be effortless. With the Er Yi Duotian Pills, various miraculous elixir recipes, and abundant spiritual herbs from Heaven Star, raising a cultivation prodigy would be trivially easy. At this moment, Fang Bangchen absolutely possessed such capability and confidence.

Jin, feeling jealous, grabbed Gu Xiechen’s sleeve, swinging it slightly, and looked at him flirtatiously, “Then, what about me?”

Gu Xiechen’s gaze, clear yet utterly devoid of emotion, swept over Jin. It struck Jin like a bolt of lightning from the blue sky, causing her to instinctively release his sleeve. That look was terrifying; vast, empty, and boundless, as if gazing upon a still, dead ocean. Such a gaze seemed to freeze Jin’s very soul solid.

“You detestable fellow…” Jin glared angrily at Gu Xiechen, her two eyeballs beginning to swivel around again.

Fuya.Ming laughed happily. Gu Xiechen truly was someone who could bring her a sense of security. A method to cultivate power as immense as his? Could abilities (Yi Neng) also be cultivated? Didn't the capable only improve their power by gradually stimulating their innate potential? Was there actually a way for ordinary people to cultivate into Grand Venerables?

Gently blending two cups of the delicate Golden Bowl Flower wine, Fuya.Ming presented a cup to Gu Xiechen. Ding. The two cups tapped lightly, and their fingers met again.

After draining the wine, a slender beam of light shot out from the vambrace on Fuya.Ming’s left arm, expanding in the blink of an eye into a small light screen. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Yafik appeared in the screen, trembling with apprehension, muttering a few hasty words to Fuya.Ming.

The Star Alliance had finalized its punitive decision against the Dokel Federation—that wicked nation would be utterly dismantled. Hundreds of foreign envoys from various nations were rushing toward the planet Yafik; they needed to negotiate how to carve up the Dokel Federation and how their own nations could secure the greatest benefits. A single Dokel Federation was too small; hundreds of nations dividing up such a minor territory meant the profit margin was too thin; securing even a slightly larger share was beneficial.

Fuya.Ming tilted her head in contemplation for a moment, then suddenly smiled at Gu Xiechen and extended her hand, “If I were to bestow upon you the title of Court Knight of the Kingdom of Yafik and appoint you as the Kingdom of Yafik’s Plenipotentiary Envoy for Foreign Affairs, would you accept my conferment?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Xiechen rose, took hold of Fuya.Ming’s delicate hand, and gently lowered his head to kiss the back of her hand, saying in a warm tone, “This is my honor, Your Gracious Majesty the Queen…” The Dokel Federation? I will secure the largest piece of the cake for you! From this day forward, the Kingdom of Yafik will also be half of my homeland.

With that kiss, the side of both Gu Xiechen’s and Fuya.Ming’s bodies felt numb. They looked at each other, their spirits intoxicated.

Jin, rolling her eyes, sat to the side, muttering indistinctly as she poured cup after cup of wine down her throat.

For more novels, visit storyread.net.