"Would any one of you lads like some tea?" With a charming smile that none could see due to his blood mask, Xinzi asked. Silence dropped on the scene. Zi Feng, Guang Fanghu and Lord Hanxing all raised their eyes towards Xinzi, staring absentmindedly at the tea plate in his hand.
"What?" Guang Fanghu and Lord Hanxing couldn't believe their ears. Zi Feng, on the other hand, merely blinked in confusion, her eyes shifting between the aromatic teas and Xinzi's blood mask.
"Tea? Tea? Hahaha! Did he just ask us if we wanted tea?! Hateful son of a b—" Lord Hanxing had barely started his new rant that formless forces slammed into his mouth, sending five teeth flying while bloodying his tongue and throat.
"Careful, my mother's name isn't what an insect such as you can profane. If you do not want to spend the rest of eternity enjoying the most abject of tortures, you better shut up now. Oh, you've shut up already? My apologies, I didn't notice."
"AAAAARGH!" In a delayed response, Lord Hanxing held his bleeding mouth, howling in grief. To avoid pointless resistance, Xinzi suppressed both Hanxing and Guang Fanghu's cultivation bases, making them—who didn't cultivate Blood Energy—no different from mortals.
As such, Xinzi's casual blow shredded through Lord Hanxing's body, sending the fallen elder into a world of agony.
The castration pain he kept suppressed by howling profanities at Guang Fanghu and Zi Feng resurfaced as well, adding to his sorrow. Tumbling down, Lord Hanxing rolled on the floor, tears streaming down his cheek as he wondered why things had taken such an obscene turn for the worst.
"I will...take some." After glancing back and forth at the tea and Xinzi's mask, Zi Feng, who only knew about tea thanks to Lady Ziyun's memories, said and stretched her hands out.
"Well, it's not like you have anything to gain from poisoning us, right? I will take some as well." Learning from Hanxing's mistakes, Guang Fanghu realized that diplomacy was his only way to make it out alive, and so suppressed his fiery temper—reaching out for Xinzi's tea.
"We also have desserts coming in if you'd like some. You see, I like to make my guests comfortable. Especially when we have important business to discuss. I'm sure you'll like the dessert deliveryman, he's an old friend of yours," Xinzi said, put one warm teacup into Guang Fanghu's hand, then raised another one for Zi Feng, this time blowing away some of the heat first.
The discrepancy in their treatments didn't surprise Guang Fanghu. But on the ground, as if too lost in dementia to make sense of the situation, Lord Hanxing's eyes went bloodshot, and with murderous dagger eyes, stared at Xinzi and Zi Feng.
Still, this time around, he kept his mouth shut—not that eager to receive a more thorough beatdown.
"Since you don't want it, I will keep it to myself. Would be rude to let good tea go to waste, right?" Xinzi said, lifted up his mask just enough to reveal his lips, and while still standing, sipped the tea.
Zi Feng stared at those lips, wondering what the face behind the mask looked like—a dreary silence settled in.
"Bloodstone Patriarch, what do you want from us? You've already conquered the White Immortal Sect, stolen our disciples, plundered our resources, and showcased your dominance. Why keep us captive after conquering our sect? For torture? I don't understand the persistence. We...have neither grievance nor enmity." Guang Fanghu broke the ice, speaking the words that swelled Hanxing's heart with rage.
"All along, you've been making terrible assumptions. Just because you can't see the person behind the mask, doesn't mean that you and I are not acquaintances. Who is to say that I'm not one of your disciples. What about an elder?" Xinzi asked. Immediately, Guang Fanghu's grip on the teacup loosened, and his eyes trembled.
Indeed, if not for an inside job, how could about 10,000 sect disciples—including sons and daughters of the Dong and Zi clans—turn coat with none of them ever realizing it? If not for an inside job, how could the Bloodstone Patriarch have such a thorough understanding of the sect's formations, and such high mastery of yin and yang that he could crack their ancient arrays without breaking a sweat?
Information regarding the sect's recent gains could be attributed to a leak, but all the aforementioned proved that the Bloodstone Patriarch had long established a strong presence in the White Immortal Sect.
Various elders' names flashed in Guang Fanghu's mind. But of all the White Immortal Sect elders, only one wasn't present during the assault. As for disciples, there were just too many.
'Don't tell me...no, how could he be this...' Guang Fanghu's body shook uncontrollably.
"Don't worry. Once you see the deliveryman, everything will become clear," Xinzi said, and at that time, a 1.91-meters-tall bald figure waltzed into the scene, carrying a plate of cinnamon cakes and buttermilk biscuits.
"The desserts have arrived!" Dressed in a white robe that paired the Clear Heart Monastery's monk garb with the White Immortal Sect's colors, the herculean man towered above all on the scene, his intimidating figure forming a sharp contrast with his gentle smile and the sweet desserts he carried.
At the same time, the Bloodstone Patriarch pulled down his blood mask, revealing a handsome face that, skin tone, hair and eye color aside, was a perfect mirror of the newcomer's looks. Like twins, they stood side by side, sweeping Hanxing and Guang Fanghu with clear amusement.
"No...no...nooo! How could it be...you?!" The teacup fell off Guang Fanghu's hand, shattering on the ground. Lord Hanxing's rage made way for bottomless terror, and he clutched his shoulders, shivering to no end.
"Of course, it is me. From the morning of the world, till the last star falls from the night, it will always be me," Xinzi said. This time, he didn't ask for permission, quietly putting cakes and biscuits into the shocked trio's hands.
Without a care for the shock that his arrival induced, Xinzi sat at Zi Feng's right, winking at her as the Klesha Avatar sat at her left. Her eyes couldn't stop moving back and forth between the two. Guang Fanghu and Lord Hanxing fared no better, but unlike Zi Feng, who merely experienced shock and curiosity, the two had been seized by a rollercoaster of wild emotions.
"Greetings, father-in-law. Greetings, great elder.
Father-in-law, as you know, I've been kicked out of the Clear Heart Monastery, so their version of Lianism no longer applies to me. I look forward to my wedding with your daughter. You can feel at ease, knowing that I will take care of her for a lifetime—eternity even, because for those that stand on my side, an eternity of bliss is the bare minimum," Xinzi said, only glancing at Guang Fanghu for a second before shifting his eyes back to Zi Feng.
"There's someone else that I want to take care of. Lord Hanixng, do me a favor and give up any right that you have on Zi Feng. Make a Dao Pledge to cut all ties with her, and I will not only spare your life but give you a supreme technique. Trust me, you'll love it. It was made specifically for men like you.
I will not force her to join my side and court her favors properly. But, I can no longer tolerate this sweetheart being wasted on your good-for-nothing self." Though he spoke to Lord Hanxing, Xinzi only stared at Zi Feng, luring her gaze into his while maintaining eye contact.
It was as if the others on the scene belonged to another world—their existence made irrelevant by the silent exchange between Xinzi and Zi Feng.
Neither Hanxing nor Guang Fanghu could formulate coherent thoughts. Their brains shut down, and like braindead mollusks, they faced Xinzi.
"Who...are you?" Guang Fanghu asked at last—yet dreaded the answer.
"Hengye Zhen, contemporary God-Monarch of the Eternal Night Dynasty," Xinzi said, unwittingly causing the uncle and nephew pair to suffer a panic attack.
