(MC POV)
I stared at the succub-- I mean... The phoenix girl in front of me, doing my absolute best to maintain my poker face.
She licked her fingers and turned to me, "Hey, can you make some of that again? I'd really like to taste more of it."
I considered how to answer her and decided to keep myself in character for now, "Who are you? How can you do that to our Sect's phoenix?!"
She looked down at her feet, as though only just realising that there was a phoenix there.
"Huh? What's this baby doing here?"
Oh yeah... She's more than a millenia years old, so a century old phoenix is practically like a baby to her.
You wouldn't have guessed her age by how she's acting.... Then again, neither could you guess Iris's so... Ahem... I suppose I shouldn't say anything more.
Though now I'm curious if this baby phoenix is stronger than her since it's a resident of the Earthen Plane.
The Elders leapt onto the stage and surrounded us, all of them with not so friendly expressions on their faces.
"Intruder! How did you get past our barrier?!" One of the old men demanded.
Oh yeah, I guess I see her as a friend too, so the barrier didn't keep her out either. Now that I think about it, I don't really see a lot of people as enemies do I? Like even the 'crazy practitioner' I despised turned out to be my cute little sister just trying her best for me.
Well... This pretty much means everyone I know can pass through this barrier huh... Oh well, since I'm already here it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
Since she most likely doesn't know I tempered with it, Feng Jie was understandably confused by the question.
She looked at the old man with a raised eyebrow, "Barrier? I don't remember there being one though. Are you sure you guys even have one? I was simply flying overhead when I smelt that delicious Phoenix Flame and I just had to taste it~"
How did you even smell it? Is this a phoenix thing? If it was, I most definitely don't know about it.
Does this mean dragons like to eat Dragon Flame too? Maybe I should ask Cai Hong.
'Why not just use your omniscience, Master?'
Don't think I forgot how useless omniscience was during our little scuffle, I'm not going to rely on it to the point I can't figure things out myself.
'Ufufufu~ I suppose this side of Master is cute too~'
You're talking quite a lot now, surprisingly.
'Ara? Isn't this way of talking much more intimate? I get tp share Master's thoughts with mine~'
Where did my privacy go? Then again... You've been watching me all this while so I suppose I never had any, huh?
'Ufufufu~ What is this 'privacy' thing you're talking about, Master?'
And here she learnt to be sarcastic too...
Well at least she's starting to prefer this version of me instead of the other one where I have a stick up my ass.
The Elder was obviously not amused by Feng Jie's answer, "You! You're courting death! Surrender quietly now!"
"Oya? A bunch of old farts think they can bring me in? I may be weakened here but that Phoenix Flame I just ate is still enough to burn all of you."
"You dare?!" The Elder roared.
I coughed and raised my hand, interrupting the two groups glaring at each other.
"Before you guys start fighting... Can I ask if I passed? I managed to materialise a Phoenix Flame and the bird was most definitely going to eat it before this woman came falling out of the sky."
Everyone stared at me incredulously.
I raised an eyebrow, "What? My future's on the line ok? Wouldn't I be kicked out if I failed? I don't want people to start saying that this doesn't count or whatever later and then make me fail because of that. Don't act like you guys didn't think of that, some of you were definitely betting I would fail."
One of the Elders furrowed his brows at me, "Our Ancestor Phoenix just got stomped on by this insolent cur and all you can think about is whether you passed your stupid test?! Do you want to be expelled right now, Wugui?! Even your grandfather wouldn't be able to save you for this!"
I gestured to Feng Jie, "The 'insolent cur' you're referring to is also a phoenix, you know? One that's more ancient than our... Erm... 'Ancestor Phoenix'."
Yong Gong pushed his way in front of the crowd, "Stop spouting nonsense Wugui! You're just covering up your own failure aren't you?! You think you can pass just by materialising a small flame like that?!"
Beside him was that Piao Liang girl, "That's right! That woman is just some whore you hired to make yourself look good didn't you?! You can't even get another girl to pay attention to you without paying them!"
I turned up my nose at her, "Girl... Stop flattering yourself. The girls I actually pay attention to are galaxies above you in terms of beauty alone."
Most of the boys began jeering upon hearing my words, a few of them even suggesting that I turned gay because their 'goddess Piao Liang' rejected me.
The Elder who was threatening me snorted, "If this woman is really a phoenix, then I'm Master Lin. How delusional can you get?"
Seriously? Did no one see her eat the Phoenix Flame? Who else would eat Phoenix Flames aside from a phoenix? Or is this another thing about this Sect that I don't know about? Do you guys also eat them like candies or something?
I crossed my arms, "Oh really now? Then why don't you show your true form then, 'Master Lin'?"
He waved his hand, "Enough! We'll deal with your audacity later, first we have to deal with this scoundrel!"
Feng Jie was ignoring them and instead looking at me curiously, "For someone who can create such a wondrous Phoenix Flame, why are you being treated like trash?"
I shrugged, "They don't know talent even when it's right in front of them."
She smirked at my answer, "How bold... Well unfortunately for you, I already have my heart set on another so I have no interest in you."
She's talking about me isn't she? The only thing is if she's still infatuated with my female form or does gender not matter to her?
Not noticing my grimace, she turned to the other Elders, "The boy is right though, it seems everyone here really is blind. If this is the standard of the fabled Earthen Plane, then I am thoroughly disappointed."
Not waiting for them to react to her words, she leapt up into the air and did a somersault, her body bursting into flames before changing into her original phoenix form three times the size of the 'Ancestor Phoenix'.
Hmm... Is it just me or does she seem to be radiating much stronger flames than before?
This happened after eating that small speck of my Phoenix Flame? Gee... I wonder what would have happened if this baby phoenix ate it then? Should I be glad that it didn't?
Well, at least now they believe my words right?
Why is Iris giggling?
