4 The Things You Do for Love

If before Feng Wu Shuang was "merely" flabbergasted, now she simply was horrified. She knew Hou Hui would never lie to her. Not only did he disdain to lie but he couldn't. There was however one grave issue in this gift.

"But you don't cultivate the path of yang. Your first ancient path was yin. How did you manage to cultivate a Dao Revelation pure yang orb?"

To do so would require a considerable amount of time and a higher cultivation base. Higher by at least one realm. But that wasn't even the main issue. Among the eight ancient paths, there were opposed paths which couldn't be easily cultivated together. Yin and yang, truth and fate, light and darkness, life and death. Hou Hui had already cultivated truth, fate, yin, and life to the peak of Dao Threading. To add yang to the mix would probably be harder for him than breaking through the Great Dao Immortal Realm. Not only harder but also incomparably painful. It was said that cultivating five paths to the peak of Dao Threading was harder than becoming a God. That alone was enough to describe how daunting a task it was.

"Well, since I had some free time, I decided to cultivate a fifth ancient path. It was more difficult than expected but I still managed to bring it to early Dao Threading in two hundred years. In the future, it should be faster."

Hou Hui nonchalantly said.

"In the future? Don't tell me…you put all of it in that orb?"

Although she could already guess the answer, she couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I did. How else do you think it can achieve such results? Here take it."

With a flicker of his hand, Hou Hui summoned a dazzling orb of pure golden light which he threw at Feng Wu Shuang.

Absentmindedly grabbing it, she looked at it for an instant with dazed, wide eyes and a hint of fright. And upon being sure it truly was what it was, she unleashed a delayed scream.

"AAAAAAARGH!

Seeing and hearing her overwhelmed reaction, although he let nothing transpire on his detached visage, Hou Hui was proud and elated.

Good volume! If I can't even get that level of volume from you, am I still a man?

He inwardly thought while struggling to stop his lips from curling into a victorious smile.

"Imbecile! Rotten imbecile! How can you be so stupid? I make one random comment about temperature hundreds of years ago and this is what you do? I am a phoenix, you dimwit! A phoenix! Who cares about the cold? It's uncomfortable yes but If I don't want to feel it I won't! You actually went through the hardships of cultivating a fifth path for two hundred years to make me portable woodfire?! AAAAARGH!"

"How rude! It's two hundred years of my cultivation. According to my calculations, it would take you a hundred years to breakthrough to the middle stage and another five hundred at least to reach the late stage. That's at least four hundred and fifty years of time I'm saving you. To say nothing about the great benefits between late and peak."

"Great benefits?"

"At least thirty percent of the time reduced and no bottlenecks."

Hou Hui stressed by showing three fingers with his right hand and rubbing his chin with the left.

"Scoundrel! GREAT SCOUNDREL! You won't make me submit! Quickly take it back! I will not watch you spend two hundred years of hard labor on something I will definitely reach in due time, no matter how much of a shortcut it is! How could you do something like this?!"

While it was remarkably enticing, she was certain that if she accepted it now, he would definitely do something similar in the future, and she couldn't accept that.

It was now Hou Hui's turn to be flabbergasted. Had he done something wrong? Women were truly peculiar existences to comprehend and thousands of years of asceticism had made it more difficult for him. However, he was quick-witted, and in a wronged, puppy-like, loving voice quickly replied.

"B-but I would only do it for you."

"Oh…"

Immediately, Feng Wu Shuang calmed down, and as her gaze wandered between his wronged face and the orb within her hand, she reckoned it wouldn't be so bad to accept it just this once. After all, it was the first gift he had put so much effort in.

"O-Ok. J-just this time. But don't do anything like this again!"

She blurted out, turned heels to prevent him from seeing her rosy cheeks while pressing the orb firmly against her chest, and began darting toward the exit.

But before she could leave, Hou Hui grabbed her arm and pulled her into a soft yet firm embrace while planting his soft lips on hers; kissing her passionately and sending his tongue to intertwine with hers. At first, she was frozen in shock but quickly recomposed herself and melted in his arms, putting the orb away in her interspatial bracelet so that she could freely enlace him.

After a moment that seemed like a blissful eternity, Hou Hui broke the kiss.

"Another gift to make you think of me since I won't be seeing you for a while."

He sweetly said while keeping his face dangerously close to hers.

"Why did you stop?"

She asked with expectant eyes and without a hint of shame.

"Because now I have to go…"

"Hum…ok. When you come back…we will…experiment more."

And with that said, she left.

Meanwhile, Hou Hui's arms were crossed beneath his back and he looked at her departing form with the gaze of a victorious expert.

Once she was out of sight, he proudly said.

"Feng Wu Shuang you're still too tender. No matter how difficult women can get, if after five centuries this eminence still doesn't know how to coax you, this eminence would have truly lived in vain."

..........

With butterflies fluttering in her stomach, Feng Wu Shuang was flying home. All the great families held residences in the heavenly capital and the phoenix clan was, of course, no exception. But as she flew toward the residence, a hovering figure barred her path.

It was a young, teenaged looking man with bright silver hairs hanging loosely at his back and a wild, unbridled gaze of the same color. While handsome in his golden robe, he brimmed with an unrestrained arrogance that would put most people ill at ease. It was indeed not the usual pride and aloofness of the dragon race but purely and simply the arrogance of a spoiled young master used to having the world grovel at his feet. There was nothing he couldn't do, nothing he couldn't have, and he wanted the whole world to know it.

"Wu Shuang, long time no see."

"Third prince, I don't remember us being close enough for you to address me in such manner."

Feng Wu Shuang cold reply only served to amuse Long Ming who eyed her as if she already was his property.

"Wu Shuang. This prince heard you once again went to the abode of that useless brother of mine. While this prince doesn't care about such trivialities, this prince hopes you can choose your acquaintances more carefully to avoid ruining your reputation. After all, you are the princess of the phoenix clan."

"Since the third prince knows this young lady's status, the first prince should not meddle with this young lady's affairs. Otherwise, this young lady's divine father might be displeased."

The mention of her father and the bone-chilling tone with which she addressed him did nothing to deter Long Ming who nonchalantly continued.

"The Phoenix God might be able to deter others, but you should very well know that this prince is unafraid. In the entirety of the Celestial Realm, no, in the entirety of the universe, who dares touch this prince? God or not, who possesses that courage? This prince is the second legitimate son of the Heavenly Emperor! As long as this status hangs above this prince's head. Even deities must swallow their anger."

Those rash, insolent, and completely inadmissible words would have been severely punished in another era. But in this one, Feng Wu Shuang knew he was right. If in past eras the emperor's power could be balanced by the hegemons of the great clans, in this one it simply was impossible. Because throughout the universe, Tian Tu, the Heavenly Emperor, was invincible. In fact, it wasn't just him. In this era, the dragon clan was just too powerful. They had too many Gods, too many Great Dao Immortals And if that wasn't enough, their two most powerful members also turned out to be the most powerful beings in the universe.

If that wasn't enough, even in this generation, the trend seemed to continue as, among the seven sons of heaven, the dragon clan alone occupied three spots.

"But besides a good father, what do you have going for you? Although you rank among the seven sons, your ranking is quite backward wouldn't you say? Second, to last doesn't seem like anything to be proud of."

However, Feng Wu Shuang had underestimated the amount of self-satisfaction Long Ming was endowed with as he replied.

"Although this prince only ranks six, this prince is also the youngest on the list. In a thousand years this prince will rank second, and in two thousand this prince shall be first!"

But as he thought there was nothing else for her to say, Feng Wu Shuang struck back.

"Because in two thousand years Long Wei will no longer be on the list. That is the only reason why you could ever rank first. He is only five hundred years older than you, yet you cannot imagine a world in which you catch up to him. Truly a man full of ambition. This young lady truly admires you!"

"You! So, what? At least this prince is ranked. What about that eldest brother of mine? No need to speak about the strongest immortals below the age of five thousand. Whether he can become an immortal or not is still up for debate. How is such a waste worthy of your affection while this prince isn't?"

To this Feng Wu Shuang didn't answer. There was only contempt and ridicule in her eyes as she flew by a fuming Long Ming and returned to her abode.

Still trembling from being reminded of the profound gap between Long Wei and himself, Long Ming cast an infuriated glance toward the phoenix mansion but ultimately took no further action.

"Feng Wu Shuang. Hou Hui is not worthy of you! You will ultimately belong to this prince!"

He then disappeared in a ray of silver light.

..........

Meanwhile, following Feng Wu Shuang's advice, Hou Hui had left for his uncle's residence. Unlike other direct members of the imperial family, the Yin-Yang God didn't reside in the heavenly palace but possessed his own private residence in the capital.

"As expected, as soon as I left, the Empress' spies have been tailing me."

Though he wasn't surprised, Hou Hui was still unable to comprehend why the empress would work so hard to keep track of all his moves. It was almost as if he was the most favored imperial consort and not an isolated imperial prince. Truly incomprehensible.

"The things you do for love."

And with a deep sigh, he landed in front of the Yin-Yang God's residence.