AZI Volume 6 Chapter 28
The next day, the Lan Si Restaurant announces their plans to host an auction—to allow bidding on the Spirit Extracts in three days' time.
Since this is an unplanned sale, Spirit Extracts will be the sole items to be auctioned there.
And the moment this piece of news is received by the interested parties, fund allocations of various organizations are immediately rearranged to allow the purchase of as many extracts as possible.
...…
"…"
Waking up some time during sunset, Long Hua finds himself hugging onto a pillow.
Raising a yawn, he grabs his phone to check the time—being 6:25 PM.
"…"
Sitting up and scratching his head, Long Hua gets off the bed and heads into the shower.
While in the shower—
"…"
Long Hua sees a reflection of himself in front of the mirror.
Through this reflection, he notices that his eyes are currently giving off a greater degree of sharpness.
"…"
Adjusting his mood, along with the muscles around his eyes, Long Hua gradually reduces this sharpness.
...…
Upon getting himself cleaned up, Long Hua moves to the yacht's deck.
Coincidentally, Tian Cheng just so happens to have finished meal preparations, as she places a plate of steak down on the table.
"…"
Seating himself, Long Hua picks up the knife and fork.
"…"
Grabbing a plate of the same dish, Tian Cheng seats herself to Long Hua's left, and reports—
"The Lan Si Restaurant has announced that they will be hosting an auction in three days' time."
Hearing this, Long Hua picks up a sliced piece of meat, and remarks—
"I can already hear the people who will be attending that event cussing at my name."
"Does that mean master will attend as well?"
"Hmm. Shall see."
"…"
"…"
Eating their dinner quietly, Long Hua finishes first, and picks up his plate to bring it to the sink, to which, Tian Cheng asks—
"Why not simply leave it there? I'll be washing the plates after I finish."
"Not like I got anything better to do. Occasionally doing something mundane without the use of divine arts isn't so bad."
"I see?"
Despite getting the cuffs of his bathrobes wet, Long Hua doesn't mind it, as he rinses the plate and utensils of their grime.
Just as Tian Cheng had finished her meal, Long Hua sets his tableware aside—to dry, while also wiping his hands with a towel.
Seating himself again, Long Hua takes out the calabash that contains cherry blossom wine, and downs a mouthful.
Rather quickly, Tian Cheng leaves her tableware to dry as well, and reseats herself.
"…"
Directing a glance at Tian Cheng, Long Hua asks—
"So, anything you'd like to share?"
"…? Meaning?"
Being asked a question of this nature, the Tai Xuan Emperor can't help but feel a hint of nervousness, to which, Long Hua explains—
"Despite being a doll, your experience at this point is much more extraordinary than most of the people in this world. How does the food here taste, and how does fighting weapon spirits feel?"
"…"
Pondering about how a doll would answer such questions within her head, the Tai Xuan Emperor replies—
"Food in the end is food, simply nourishment that keeps the body going. As for fighting weapon spirits… Simply accomplishing one's assigned tasks."
Towards this answer, Long Hua can't help but heave a sigh of disappointment, as he says—
"You do know that one of these days—I'll be leaving the entirety of the Everlasting Spirit Realm behind, right?"
Opening her magenta-colored eyes, and turning to Long Hua, Tian Cheng asks—
"Does master not intend to bring me along?"
"Originally, I did, but now… No plans to do so."
"Why?"
"…"
Towards the question, Long Hua replies with an odd smile before downing another mouthful of wine.
"…?"
Seeing that smile on Long Hua's face, the Tai Xuan Emperor feels a sense of familiarity towards the former, but rather quickly she rejects the notion, and using her vessel, she asks—
"…Then what of the Tai Xuan Emperor?"
"She…"
Blinking his eyes once, and shaking his head, Long Hua answers—
"No plans to keep her with me forever."
"…Because she's akin to a ticking time bomb?"
"That's part of the reason, yes. However…"
Narrowing his eyes, Long Hua raises a sigh, and continues to say—
"She has her own aspirations; it wouldn't be right for me to force her to stay—even if that divine weapon of hers is handy."
"…"
Hearing this, the Tai Xuan Emperor turns silent.
...…
Within the dreamscape, the Tai Xuan Emperor stands still with a look of shock on her face.
She originally thought that Long Hua would keep the divine weapon to himself until the end, thus forcing her to stay by his side.
Placing a hand near her chin, the Tai Xuan Emperor mutters—
"This isn't like him at all… The *-laoban that I know of is a selfish prick. …Is this a test? Or maybe… Maybe, this is something that's akin to the calm before the storm? …Hmm."
Looking back on her memories, the Tai Xuan Emperor attempts to think of moments where Long Hua had acted as easy-going as this—prior to stabbing his conversation partner in the back when an opening is revealed.
"…Five cases of something like this...…"
One of the side effects from having lived for so long—is one's distorted thought process of being distrustful towards anything others tell them.
For the Tai Xuan Emperor, this is especially so—because she had ruled over an entire planet in the distant past.
And navigating through the political waters of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm, the task basically required her to maintain a skeptical mindset towards everything.
"…"
Recalling the odd smile on Long Hua's face again, the Tai Xuan Emperor shakes her head with vigor.
...…
"…"
Staring directly into Long Hua's eyes, the Tai Xuan Emperor uses her vessel to ask—
"What made master change your mind to not bring me along?"
Being asked this again, Long Hua sets the calabash down; and deciding to give a straight answer, he asks back—
"Aren't you afraid of that unpleasant bastard?"
"…"
Hearing this to be the reason, the Tai Xuan Emperor is shocked once more, while Long Hua continues to say—
"I need to settle my grudge with that guy eventually. If your fears make you unable to stand against him, then you shouldn't come along."
"…Is master not afraid of death?"
"I'll probably die, but…"
Clutching his chest, a fierce light of hatred ignites in Long Hua's eyes, as he states—
"Some grudges cannot and should not—just be forgotten about. I… Truth be told, I wanted to rush at that bastard the moment he revealed himself to be the killer of my entire clan, but… I'm far too weak to do that."
If Long Hua had to be more honest with himself, he doesn't care less about his clan; however—
(Father cared greatly about our ruined household… As his son, I'm obligated to settle this matter in his place—one way or another.)
Even taking his father out of consideration, the curse sown upon him by that unpleasant individual—which ultimately resulted in him walking through numerous lifetimes, just this alone is more than enough reason for Long Hua to want to give that individual a beating.