Yan Tianhen thought for a moment, then blinked and asked, “Maybe that third successor is very powerful?”
Feng Jingyu snorted and replied coldly, “His strength is mediocre, he can only dance and write calligraphy all day, and he doesn’t even try to cultivate. I’m afraid that he lacks even the determination to be the Crown Prince.”
Yan Tianhen was puzzled, “Then why is he still fighting for the position of Crown Prince?”
Feng Jingyu replied, “He has no choice. Even if he doesn’t fight for the position, there’s no other way to live. He can only force himself to fight. Alas, it’s a pity the emperor doesn’t like him. See, even the Ling family were destroyed.”
Yan Tianhen nodded thoughtfully, “But why does the Ling family support such a weak successor?”
“The Ling family only supports the highest ranking heir. This is their family rule.” Feng Jingyu said lightly.
Yan Tianhen lamented, “What a pity.”
Feng Jingyu nodded, his dark golden-red eyes fixed on Ling Chigu, who had already begun displaying qualities of his former glory. “He’s not the only pitiful one. Being born in the royal family means they’re destined to have their freedom shackled. Did you know, before the third heir, there was a higher ranking successor? But his soul was crushed to death as soon as he was born, and he could never be reborn again. Then there was another heir. When he was four or five years old, a diviner from a family of prophets who could peer into the heavens asserted that the child would be an exceptional furnace. But he was also a Divine Devil who would surely bring about chaos to the Nine Lands and the decline of Daoism. As a result, his family suffered and the child’s mother took great pains to protect him, begging even great ancestors for help before finally sending the child away with much difficulty…”
Feng Jingyu’s black beak curled, revealing a disdainful expression, “Unfortunately, because of this, a brilliant and perfect couple broke up and parted ways. Whether the child’s mother is dead or alive now is still unknown.”
As Yan Tianhen listened, his heart felt tight and his eyes burned hot with tears.
He didn’t know where this feeling came from but after thinking about it, a pitiful family like that needed some compassion.
Yan Tianhen sniffed, “What about you? Who did you support before?”
Feng Jingyu looked away contemptuously and answered with dark bitterness, “Back then, I stayed out of the way and supported no one. The Phoenix clan were almighty beings since birth. All we needed to do was guard the Western Land and bring good fortune to the Qianyuan dynasty. Unexpectedly, someone forced me to choose a side and even wanted to take this king’s life. He, did they really think that this king is easy to mess with?”
The emperor forced him to assist the Crown Prince. He refused to obey and was hunted down. Had it not been for the phoenixes’ rebirth ability, his soul would have been scattered to fragments, just like his father’s.
In that case, Feng Jingyu might as well support a successor who had always been hated, held in contempt, and feared by the people in power and assist him all the way to take the throne so that those who shamelessly gave him no face would have a big shock waiting for them; then kill them, problem solved!
He was a phoenix, he shouldn’t have this kind of belligerence. Yet, who let him have a father who didn’t care about him and a mother who didn’t love him while growing up? It’s no wonder he turned crooked. Although he thought this way when he went through a rebirth via fire, he never would have imagined that he would meet an heir to the throne with such a complex relationship to the Nine Lands in a place like the Five Continents where birds don’t even shit!
What a fate it must be. This must be called heaven’s will!
Feng Jingyu was so excited that he couldn’t wait for Yan Tianhen to become more powerful and poke a hole into the heavens. What diviner’s prediction? What bringing chaos to the world and the downfall of Daoism?
He, Feng Jingyu, would act as he pleased even if it shocked and astounded the world.
If Yan Tianhen was a weakling, there was still another choice. He just needed to wait and see for the time being.
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“Being so delusional is a disease; must be treated.” Yan Tianhen carefully plucked the feathers from the phoenix’s head.
Feng Jingyu: “….”
Feng Jingyu watched as Yan Tianhen turned around and left the Mass Grave Ridge with him. Unable to restrain himself, he shouted out in a youthful voice, “This king is serious and never lies. You have to believe me. You have to follow me to kill in all four directions and destroy those shameless self-righteous and ugly scoundrels!”
“Yes, I believe you.” Yan Tianhen dotingly answered.
Feng Jingyu wanted to go berserk. He struggled angrily and exclaimed, “Do you know how old this king is? Don’t use that kind of tone for children to coax me!”
Yan Tianhen placed Feng Jingyu on the palm of his hand and told him, “But you are small.”
Feng Jingyu thought Yan Tianhen was talking about his body and replied, “I will grow up and become very beautiful. “
Yan Tianhen thought about it and turned Feng Jingyu upside down with his belly and claws facing upward.
Taking advantage of Feng Jingyu’s unresponsiveness, Yan Tianhen stretched out his index finger to flick gently on the phoenix’s unspeakable part.
“…” What the fuck? You want to die?
Yan Tianhen said innocently, “You are still too small. I don’t think you will grow much even in the future.”
Feng Jingyu’s whole body was petrified and then his expression cracked little by little. He was the king of birds, the Monarch of the Western Lands but his most honorable bird tintin was not only flicked once by this little brat but was also insulted as having a little tintin that will never grow?
If even this can be tolerated, then what can’t be tolerated?!
In order to protect his dignity as the king of birds, Feng Jingyu cried out as if his heart was broken. He turned over while chirping and wailing, covering his tintin part with his wings while crying so pitifully.
“Ying, ying, ying! What a bully to birds!”
Yan Tianhen realized that he had probably hurt Maomao’s self-esteem and rushed to apologize—
“Oops, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have exposed your shortcomings. At least you’re a male. I realized you can’t say things like birds are small.”
“Chirp, chirp, chirp! Ying!” Feng Jingyu cried even harder when he heard this.
“It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.” Yan Tianhen deeply reflected on himself and said, “A greater man doesn’t take note of a lesser man's faults. I will go with you in the future to beat up those bad guys who hurt you, okay?”
Feng Jingyu was still chirping and crying.
In the past, he wouldn’t have acted like this. The phoenix king was always proud and domineering but probably because of his rebirth, he had returned to his infant stage. Feng Jingyu suddenly found that he couldn’t quite control his own emotions!
Why would you bully him like this? He was clearly still a baby!
As a result, Yan Tianhen kept trying to coax and please him, while Feng Jingyu kept crying from being so wronged all the way.
Back in the Lin household, Lin Xuanzhi still hadn’t fallen asleep even though it was already midnight. When Yan Tianhen reached their small courtyard, he saw a lamp lit up in Lin Xuanzhi’s room from a distance. His smile deepened as he quickly ran upstairs.
Feng Jingyu didn’t bother looking at these two small children kissing and falling in love. He flew into Yan Tianhen’s room where his favorite bird nest was.
Although it was very different from the luxurious big bed of the West Imperial Palace like the difference between clouds and mud, Feng Jingyu felt that his nest was the safest and most comfortable place to sleep in in the world.
When Yan Tianhen entered the room, Lin Xuanzhi had just finished crafting a set of magical tools before he could put it away.
Yan Tianhen was immediately attracted to the beautiful hair accessories that looked transparent and colorful.
He carefully picked up a butterfly-shaped hairpin and said admiringly, “What a beautiful hairpin. Who is it made for?”
“The hairpin is an attack weapon and the other hair ornaments are all matched with defensive properties.” Lin Xuanzhi explained simply and comprehensively. He got up from the couch, saying, “When I left, Wan Linghua asked me to make a set of tools with both attack and defensive abilities for her Shimei. I thought about it. Female cultivators probably preferred this kind of hair accessory, so I refined it into this appearance.”
When he heard this, Yan Tianhen raised his head and smiled. He looked at Lin Xuanzhi with a twinkle in his eyes, “Dage, I’m not jealous or paranoid. You don’t have to explain so much. “
Lin Xuanzhi reached out and knocked on Yan Tianhen’s forehead with a smile, “You don’t think so? You’re not eating vinegar? Have you forgotten a few days ago that a certain someone got jealous when I didn’t tell him I rejected a marriage proposal, and he threw all the things I gave him back to me?”
Yan Tianhen’s face turned red at once. He stuck out his tongue and said wryly, “I can’t take all the blame. Who told you not to explain it clearly to me?”
“Well…” Lin Xuanzhi chuckled and swiped at Yan Tianhen’s nose, “However, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known that my family’s Ah Hen was drinking a bucket of vinegar and I also wouldn’t have known that Ah Hen liked his Dage so much. “
“Who likes you …” Yan Tianhen blurted out and then he caught Lin Xuanzhi’s beautiful eyes, which seemed to draw people in. He involuntarily changed his mind, “Okay, I still like my Dage very much.”
Lin Xuanzhi laughed happily. He held Yan Tianhen in his arms and kissed him for a while.
Although he couldn’t eat, it was alright to hold him up and kiss.
After the intimacy, Lin Xuanzhi asked Yan Tianhen about his practice today. Yan Tianhen excitedly told him he accomplished making corpse puppets with the Yin Flame Palm and Ling Chigu was promoted to the rank of corpse general. He was able to control hundreds of skeleton corpse legions and told Lin Xuanzhi other important and outstanding achievements he’d done, recounting everything honestly to him.
Lin Xuanzhi was naturally very satisfied.
Since Shen Changgeng and Shen family’s elder almost overpowered him last time in the Pill Limit Mysterious Land, Lin Xuanzhi increasingly thought that as long as Ah Hen could keep his life, it didn’t matter if he practiced the demonic arts.
He knew that this idea was extremely dangerous and might bring about a powerful enemy to the righteous cultivators of Daoism in the future, causing chaos. However, between the existence of Dao and Yan Tianhen, Lin Xuanzhi ultimately chose Yan Tianhen.
This kind of choice was not easy for Lin Xuanzhi to make because he had a clear mind and a strong sense of responsibility. In theory, he should be stopping Yan Tianhen and preventing him from doing this. He should have nipped it in the bud when he first found out that Yan Tianhen was practicing demonic cultivation as an alternative skill given to him by the Ghost Masked Man.
However, he couldn’t.
Lin Xuanzhi had a scale in his heart being weighed down by what was more important— the world or Ah Hen.
Yan Tianhen, of course, didn’t know that Lin Xuanzhi was going through a painful struggle between heaven and man. He joyfully chatted about what Feng Jingyu told him, completely selling the phoenix out.
—