"Lalala, lalala-lalala-lala, oh Zhen'er, follow my tune." Alone in her room, with her white tiger crawling nearby, Yuemi held Xinzi's monk-body, twirling and singing with rattling gaiety and complete abandon. The inert body didn't follow Yuemi's dance, but the Lord-Regent didn't care, pulling its hands and bending its feet so it'd keep up the pace.
"Zhen'er, why won't you follow my tune? Oh yes, I forgot, your soul is in your true shell. Sad, I've always wanted you to lead me into one wild dance. Oh, Zhen'er, so many look down on my acts and deeds, finding them distasteful for a Night Spirit—unworthy of the Hengye clan. But I, the sad marquess, insist on twirling in my own madness. My madness will prevail, enabling me to taste the elusive fruit that led Wuxin astray.
Was it happiness? Did we not have that? Did his heart demand lust, rage, hatred, grief and despair, the most suffocating of emotions and desires? Tell me, Zhen'er...oh, what am I saying? You're not Zhen'er, you're Xinzi. Zhen'er is worse than any of us, and with his stainless heart, can feel nothing besides his sovereign dignity." Yuemi's steps came to a halt, and hand on the Xinzi-body's back, she massaged the flesh left charred by the Face-Erasing Whip.
Xinzi could maintain any front that he wanted to, but the tribulation lightning unleashed by the Face-Erasing Whip wasn't something that one could just shrug off. Why was he in such a hurry to return to his true shell? So he could control the situation? Maybe, but more importantly, he didn't want to let the agony he suppressed twist his face and give Yuemi...the satisfaction of victory.
But without the Hengye clan's divine methods or some form of heretical means these wounds wouldn't heal, tormenting Xinzi for months, years or more, with both physical and psychological destruction.
Initially, Yuemi hoped that with the whip's damages, Xinzi's Dao Bones would be weakened enough that she could study the interior of his body without hindrance. But quite the contrary, the more damages the bones suffered, the more rebellious and overbearing their Divine Power became. If not for Yongye being fine with the bones, Yuemi would be considering ways to remove them.
Her fingers poked through the charred back, but as they neared the Heaven-Trampling Dao Bones, searing light gushed out, not only forcing out the intrusion but setting the Lord-Regent's fingers ablaze.
"Lord-Regent, the Dao-Cleansing Pool is ready," several of Yuemi's first-class maids rushed in. Unlike the third and second class maids—slaves from various spirit or aquatic races—first-class maids were all Night Spirits born and bred in the Evernight palace. Even Yuemi couldn't execute them on a whim. It would be a bad look.
Still...
Divine light erupted from Yuemi's body, sending the newcomers flying towards ebony walls. As solid as adamantine pillars, the ebony walls didn't crack. The maids, however, spurted blood—their spines shattered upon impact.
"You've disturbed our embrace. That was not nice. Oh wait...I was the one that told you to warn me when the pool was ready. My bad, my bad." Yuemi tapped her cheek and stretched one hand out. Immortal Qi rolled forth, seeping the maids' mortal shells, and fixing their broken bones. Used to their mistress' madness, they got back on their feet and bowed in thanks.
"The Great Elder is personally watching over the pool and hopes that Your Venerable Excellency will bring the decoy shell as soon as possible."
"Damn old fogey. Why is he there? And why as soon as possible? Yes, it does make sense. If we can erase the marks left by the Inverse Dao Seal on the body, suppressing its effects on the Soul shouldn't be an issue." In his Zhen-body, Xinzi's had nothing to fear from a mortal world's Heavenly Dao. It was nice enough of him to not abuse it. In what world would it dare to seek trouble when its strongest abilities didn't exceed the Immortal Realm?
But in the Xinzi body, different rules applied. Granted that our monk had his own plans, the Hengye clan couldn't risk having Xinzi's soul compromised because of the Inverse Dao Seals, and thus planned to erase, or at least suppress them, through the Dao-Cleansing Pool. Yuemi herself endeavored for this. But now...she hesitated.
"I'm starting to wonder if this is a good idea. The Dao-Cleansing Pool will also heal most of the damages caused by the Face-Erasing Whip—preventing Zhen'er from learning from his mistakes. Forget it, Zhen'er must feel the burn. Let the whip work its magic, so he doesn't grow balls the size of the moon and start plotting things that he shouldn't. Zhen'er, this...is for your own good." Yuemi arched her back and rolled her head in a theatrical show of grief.
The maids, however, couldn't accept the words—their eyes narrowing at Yuemi.
"Lord-Regent, this isn't wise. You'll widen the rift between the Greatest One and you. You're not the Divine Ancestor and cannot afford to antagonize our Zhen at every turn. In less than 100 years, he will recover the Records and complete the Ancestral Task. Afterward, we will all ascend to Heaven where you'll lose any of the authority that you now hold over him. Even if the Divine Ancestor enables you to cross the Divine Consecration Ladder and become a true deity, if the Zhen wants to kill you, no one will stop it!" The most senior of the maids, who'd been by Yuemi's side for thousands of years, refused to let her dig a deeper hole than she had already.
'Nonsense. If lunatics could be reasoned with, would they still be lunatics?' As practical as any Divine Spirit worth the name, the others restrained themselves, wondering why their superior bothered with pointless rhetoric. Holding onto the Xinzi-body, and with her right hand burning still, Yuemi ambled at the senior maid, leaning over and peering into her eyes as if attempting to find some defects within.
"You are correct. But who told you that I wouldn't be fine with that result?"
"Huh?" From the concerned maid to the ones staying silent, all blinked as their jaws dropped at Yuemi's rhetorical question.
"If Zhen'er despises me enough to choke the life out of me....wouldn't my face forever be imprinted in his heart? Yes, that's it! Why did I not think of this before?" Struck by a wave of enlightenment, Yuemi let go of the Xinzi body, and with her hand burning still, ambled out of her room.
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