20 Birds of The Same Kind

A purple beam shot from the Heavenly Demon Tablet and from it emerged the form of a handsome, white-robed youth. Naturally, that "youth" was Hou Hui. And while hovering above the Ancient Sea, he couldn't help but take a profound breath.

"No matter how thin, an atmosphere filled with spiritual qi is still more to my liking."

He then cast a thankful glance at the Ancient Sea and with clasped hands, respectfully bowed.

"Thank you for the opportunity you've given me. I will never forget your kindness!"

However, this time there was no response to be received.

Hou Hui thought nothing of it, straightened his back and summoned the Ancient Sea Shuttle within his right palm.

"Although I know why you've been protecting the remains of the Ancient Sea Country, I've pledged to help get rid of this thing so I hope you will not mind."

Still, there was no answer. Hou Hui took that as a yes and without further ado, he flung the Ancient Sea Shuttle toward the sky. He then made a grasping motion and the Heavenly Demon Tablet shrunk and flew into his left palm.

Although powerful, there was no way for him to destroy a divine artifact with his current cultivation base. Thus, from the very beginning, he had planned to make use of the Heavenly Demon Tablet to solve that problem.

After imprinting his spiritual sense on the Heavenly Demon Tablet, Hou Hui channeled the vast divine power held within, merged it with his ancient laws, and hurled it at the shuttle!

*BANG*

In the blink of an eye, the Heavenly Demon Tablet turned into a purple meteor and slammed into the shuttle in an ear-splitting explosion.

The shuttle crackled, flew backward and split in a burst of divine blue light. But as the fragments scattered, Hou Hui waved his sleeves and drew them toward his palm with strong suction force. Held within a light orb, the fragments floated above his palm.

Raising his free hand, Hou Hui summoned a dark green cauldron rippling with vast immortal qi. The fragments were thrown into it and slowly melted by searing immortal fire. He then extracted the formed liquid and poured it into a fox seal shaped mold and while cooling it with yin laws, also injected a vast amount of immortal qi, truth, and life laws which further enhanced the quality of the forming bronze fox seal.

There was one last ingredient to add. Hou Hui cut open his chest and extracted a drop of origin blood which he poured into the mix.

"Condense!"

Hou Hui's hands moved in incantation gestures, condensed twelve hexagrams of white light which then merged into the bronze seal.

The Ancient Sea World's sky was once again illuminated by a brief flash of light after which a perfectly shaped, palm-sized bronze fox seal appeared within Hou Hui's palm.

"Grade Twelve Immortal Rank Blood Artifact."

While Hou Hui neither lacked nor needed artifacts in his battles, in some situations, they were still of paramount importance. Public situations in which he couldn't freely use his cultivation base could straightforwardly be dealt with through powerful artifacts. Therefore, he was determined to refine one to his liking.

Artifact refining was a hobby he shared with his imperial uncle, so that wasn't difficult.

Moreover, while he didn't lack grade ten artifacts, he didn't have a single offensive one of the twelfth grade. In fact, besides the cauldron, he had no other.

Now it was different. At full power, a grave twelve artifact was comparable to a peak stage Great Dao Immortal Realm expert. Naturally, without a sufficient cultivation base, it would be impossible to make use of its full power.

Unless it was a blood artifact. Even if they were in soul transcendence, as long as the immortal artifact belonged to their lineage, one could make use of its full power.

"I wonder if those kids have properly behaved themselves since I left."

He then turned into a beam of light and flew toward the Azure Cloud Country.

In the meantime, the Ancient Sea World was once overwhelmed by a new commotion. The vibrations created by the shuttle's destruction had spread throughout the entire world and alarmed many of the cultivators in seclusion. Quickly, they all made their way toward the Ancient Sea and were shocked to feel the strands of divine qi which still lingered within the air.

"What the hell happened here?"

"The nature of this lingering qi is vastly different from our world's spiritual qi. Could it be immortal qi?"

"No, I have been in contact with immortal qi before. This is a force of a much higher grade. Could it be…"

"This is the second seismic wave to shake our world in the past few days. What the hell is going on?"

But then, an authoritarian, booming voice rose from the Ancient Sea.

"This is merely the result of The Azure Cloud Country's divine artifact being destroyed. Do not bother my rest and return from whence you came!"

The vast power contained within that voice caused those cultivators' souls to tremble and without delay, they flew back to their respective dens. Quickly, however, news of the artifact's destruction spread throughout the many channels of the world. And as for the foreign worlds, although they weren't aware of what had transpired, if they showed interest in the artifact, it wouldn't be long before they became aware of its fate.

….

As soon as he reached the Azure Cloud imperial city, Hou Hui swept it with his spiritual sense and teleported toward the Qing siblings. However, what he saw upon arrival swiftly covered his forehead with an armada of black lines.

"Aaaargh, hungry! So hungry!"

"Oh, my stomach hurts!"

"Aarrgh, I've not eaten anything for the past three days!"

"Oh…food, please give me some food…"

"Help, help!"

The trio of siblings was rolling on the ground and releasing mournful howls while complaining about their lack of nutrition. Quickly, they gathered quite the crowd.

"Poor children, please take this bun."

"You can have my chicken leg."

"I have a few biscuits for you."

Many of the good-natured folks didn't hesitate to bring out their reserves to help feed the "poor children." Seeing this, Hou Hui truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The protective seal he had granted them could not only protect them from physical harm but also replenished their strength and made them immune to hunger. As long as it was there, they absolutely didn't need to worry about nutrition.

Swindling! They were simply swindling!

"A good heart is not necessarily a good thing. The good man will often be ruthlessly taken advantage off by the swindler. Today those words have been proven true."

He then waved his sleeve and teleported the four of them outside the city.

"Hungry, hungry, huh-huh? Elder brother? Why did you suddenly appear in front of us?"

Qing Yun asked in confusion.

"Aaaargh! Where is the food?"

The gluttonous trio was in disarray. Their formation collapsed by panic at the thought of losing all this hardly swindled food. But as they ran in circles, looking for their food, Hou Hui roared.

"Halt!"

And immediately, they came to a halt.

"Good. Very good. You actually dared swindle those good people in these difficult times. Today I must severely punish you!"

Hearing this the trio was dismayed and quickly a faction was formed to push the instigator toward the spear.

"It's Qing Yun! He's the one who forced us. We didn't want to!"

The twins exclaimed in synch while pointing wronged, accusatory fingers at Qing Yun.

"Absolutely no conscience! Weren't you the one saying that once we left, we wouldn't be able to taste the good things of the imperial cities anymore? Didn't you say that immortals were anorexics who would spend centuries without a meat pie? Now you actually…"

Qing Yun fumed. But his anger was royally ignored by the twins who quickly rushed toward Hou Hui and grabbed the corners of his robe. In any case, there was a bigger brother now. Did they still need to be afraid of him?

However, since the discipline was required, Hou Hui couldn't afford to be soft.

"Unpardonably wicked! Not only did you fail to swindle any good thing, but you also made me your big brother lose face!"

"Huh? That's the crime?"

"Naturally! If you are going to swindle the good people, at least do it in a grand and lofty manner and deceive them to their underpants! What are a few buns and drumsticks making me look like? No face!"

The trio was astonished. To think that this was what he was actually worried about! Truly birds of the same kinds would flock together.

Understanding their mistake, they aligned in a new three-man formation and apologetically bowed.

"Big brother we're sorry. In the future, we will make sure to swindle in a grand and lofty manner!"

*Hum* *Hum*

"Well, since it's your first offense, I will let you of...this time."

Hou Hui concluded after clearing his throat.

"Time to leave for the Heavenly World!"

And before they could let out the tiniest of sounds, the siblings were shrunk and swallowed within his sleeves.

Hou Hui then turned into a beam of light and flew toward the starry sky.

....

In the meantime, within the Yin-Yang God's residence, two men were engaged in a chess match. One was the Yin-Yang God himself, Zui Gao, while the other was an arguably more handsome golden-haired man whose similarly colored eyes glittered with great interest. With impeccable bearing and a finely chiseled face, he stood at more than seven feet, yet maintained a slender shape that didn't look out of place on him. His flawless, porcelain-like skin appeared completely devoid of imperfections, and his body emitted a natural, soothing charm that made his presence feel both mesmerizing and comforting. But though he looked no older than thirty, he had lived and ruled the three realms for more than a hundred thousand years. He was Tian Tu, the Heavenly Emperor.

And while his presence could put the world at ease, it had been a very long time since Zui Gao could, in front of him, feel comfortable.

"Imperial brother. I'm in a dilemma."

Tian Tu began.

"While Long Xi Li's death was more than deserved, he was after all a direct descendant of our clan. Although our cultivation base is leagues above him, the Western Dragon King being our great uncle, we still must show him due respect. Now his only request is to have a body to bury but…there is no body to bury. What to do?"

Hearing those words, Zui Gao remained unfazed.

"I'm afraid we can only tell him the truth and hope he's not too upset."

"Oh? And what truth would that be exactly?"

To this, Zui Gao didn't answer.

Tian Tu wasn't bothered and leisurely moved another chess piece.

"In the last thousands of years, you have been taking very good care of him. There is nothing wrong with that, but I hope you can remember that there is a limit to the things I can tolerate. If a child gets too rebellious, he ultimately must be punished."

"And for Yue Li, as my empress, if she's sentenced to confinement by someone other than me, where does that put my imperial dignity?"

"If your majesty wishes to release her, there is nothing I can say. However, to avoid a conflict of interest, I must withdraw from my position as head of the law enforcement division of the imperial dragon clan."

Zui Gao coolly replied.

"That is unacceptable. You are a pillar of the state with prestige only second to mine. You can only be promoted and never demoted. How about this? Using the excuse of the emergency divine summit, I will release Yue Li. That way we can preserve both our faces. In any case, I know deep down you cannot bear having her locked up."

"As your majesty wishes."

But although it only made him more uncomfortable, Zui Gao ignored the last remark.

"Oh, as my elder brother, why must you in private address me in such a formal manner? Didn't we use to be much closer than this?"

Oddly, while Tian Tu said those words, he never lost his smile. And despite sounding true, they felt quite hollow.

"You are the emperor, I am your subject. Let the past remain in the past. It doesn't interest me."