Meanwhile, in the upper realm, a certain Fox God was facing a somewhat similar torture.
The reach of The Celestial Realm was far and wide. While each realm had its own dominions, rulers and kingdoms, it was an unshakeable truth that Heaven governed over Earth, Hell, and the Netherworld.
Heaven's authority was not only over itself but over hundreds if not thousands of worlds across, ancient and newly born alike.
The Celestial Realm known as the Land of The Gods, consisted of many different worlds governed by separate rulers, and superior to all was the Royal Dragon Clan and its ruler, the Jade Emperor.
The Jade Emperor sends envoys to monitor the leadership of different worlds in Heaven, ensuring that everyone abides by the realm's supreme laws.
The rulers of the separate worlds in the upper planes of Heaven's dominion are leaders of prominent clans, known to be superior in terms of power and intellect. Similarly to a caste system, there is structure and balance within the classes.
The Sovereign God acts as the lord of each world. A Sovereign God's word was law, not only with the backing and seal of the Jade Emperor but with a sheer difference of power. The measure of their strength was unfathomable.
There was only one exception to their authority, filial piety.
Even gods had parents, at least, the ones of the newer generation.
While Bai Qingyue was officially Sovereign Lord of the Huli Jing realm, his mother, Hong Meigui, took charge and acted as matron ruler.
Except for Bai Qingyue, all cowered before her. Hong Meigui's reach went far beyond the Huli Jing's realm. As a goddess of the Red Fox clan, considered to be of lower rank, she achieved higher status by marrying into the ruling Bai clan. Some were in awe of her accomplishments while others found her manipulative and conniving.
But for foxes, to be called manipulative and conniving was considered high praise.
The all-powerful, domineering Fox Lord with accumulated cultivation of over a dozen millennia bowed down as he greeted his mother, the Celestial Huli Jing's matron.
Inside the dark and deserted palace, stone walls inlaid with riches and gold beyond one's wildest imagination stretched for miles like a maze of wealth and beauty. Where once the glow of precious metals illuminated the halls, bustling with servants rushing to and fro at their lords' and mistresses' commands, now that same light seemed to have grown dim and cold, falling on barren marble floors and lifeless chambers. Everything was at a standstill.
There, in a magnificent and gloomy throne room, sat a beautiful woman with golden mischievous eyes and a cruel smirk adorning her youthful face. Before her, stood a tall beguiling man who could make mountains crumble and empires fall with a flick of his wrist.
It was to be a private family meeting on this moonless night.
Bai Qingyue had been raised solely by his mother for as long as he could remember. Naturally, he had always bowed obediently to her whims and demands. It was only at this point when he realized that even filial piety had reached its limit.
"Greetings, mother." His voice was laced with frost, lacking any hint of warmth or affectionate emotion. Atop his head twitched a pair of white fox ears, and from the lowest end of his back sprouted a majestic count of eight large tails in matching colour.
He was dressed in the traditional white robes adorning the crest of the Bai clan sewn to the back. A nine-tailed leaping fox.
His silvery, silken hair framed his lean yet muscular form like a curtain. Although it obscured his features somewhat, it couldn't hide the murderous glare emitting from his blazing phoenix eyes. His thin lips stretched into a straight, hard line.
The matron barked a childish laugh. "Glare all you want, boy. You may rule over others but for your mother, you will always be a declawed little cub!" She jeered as if her son's anger was mere amusement to pass the time.
Hong Meigui, mother of Bai Qingyue was known as one of the most beautiful and alluring women in all of Heaven's Realm. She was a vision that made both men and women alike lose their minds over.
Her skin shone like the moon and her lips were the colour of fresh blood. Hong Meigui's curvaceous figure lazily sprawled on the Bai Lord's throne. Curly red hair cascaded down her back like a lion's mane. Nine orange tinted tails with pointy milky white tips curled around her hips, with matching ears peeking out of the ginger locks.
Even the Jade Emperor once courted her and wanted to take her as a royal concubine, however, Hong Meigui chose to wed the Bai clan's former Sovereign Lord.
"I will not follow through with your plan. You cannot imprison me forever." Bai Qingyue had no intention of playing any more of her games.
Hong Meigui rose from her seat in a sudden flash of fury.
Her sheer oppressive aura had caused the weakened Bai Qingyue, having just lost most of his cultivation from his failed lightning tribulation and its aftermath, to cough blood and nearly collapse to the floor.
Even in his frail condition, he confronted his mother. His willpower challenging her aggressive force set to subdue him at every turn.
"You will submit to me, boy!" Hong Meigui screamed as she increased the intensity of her might to discipline her unruly cub.
Bai Qingyue would have never bent to his mother's powers, having easily overpowered her ages ago. Yet in his vulnerable state, she was all too capable of dominating him, both in strength and as a parent.
"I will not marry your maternal clan's princess. I feel nothing for her." Despite his blood circulating backwards and dripping to the floor, Bai Qingyue's voice was serene and conversational, as if they were sipping tea while gazing at the lovely scenery.
"Unruly child! you will marry whoever I wish for you to marry. My maternal clan has been carefully grooming the Red Fox's princess for you. She has the bearing, ranking and prestige to be your consort. She is the only suitable choice for you." Hong Meigui's voice rang through the halls.
"It is impossible. There is only one person I can be with in this life-" Bai Qingyue's voice cracked, struggling under the immense pressure. It was as if a gust of freezing wind forced him to his knees, biting at him like needles in the air, piercing through his flesh and clothes.
"-and it's not her." He finished his sentence through the torture.
Although he never received motherly affection from Hong Meigui, throughout all his life Bai Qingyue had always shown the proper respect a child would to his mother. When his father abandoned the clan and his mother took over after his birth, he supported her. As he grew older, he stood by her side when the elder fox gods within Bai clan frowned upon her as an outsider. When he finally attained the role of Sovereign God, he still permitted his mother to boss everyone else around.
Certainly, that had been a mistake on his part since now she felt she could boss him around.
Hong Meigui realized force doesn't crack this iceberg she called her son and altered her tactic. She theatrically collapsed back on the throne, her hand clutching her forehead in exasperation. The pressure in the air immediately ceased.
"Why won't you listen to your mother? I only want what's best for you. I arranged for this match in advance since you were a baby!" Hong Meigui sounded like a distraught princess who wasn't being allowed to eat her favourite daily snack.
Bai Qingyue wanted her to understand but knew all too well that she was incapable of doing so.
There were many fox clans within the Huli Jing tribe, though the Bai clan stood apart from the others not only by leadership. The Bai clan's men and women were plagued with what some would call a blessing and others would call it a curse.
They were unable to be with anyone else but their fated person. The force of a political union between a fox from the Bai clan and another always led to tragedies throughout the aeons of their existence.
This tale spanned back to ancient times in the primordial godly realm, when the Bai clan's might was at its greatest. They were bestowed with a blood curse of a soulmate. The hex passed down through all the generations that were to follow.
The last union between Bai Qingyue's mother and father was precisely one of those occasions when the clan rebelled the primaeval curse and established a political marriage. While the Red Fox clan was lesser in terms of prestige, they held vast lands and trade routes with other nations and realms. One could label them as wise businessmen. The Red Fox clan made a well-known name for themselves and the marriage was advantageous on both ends.
It was thus for all the parties involved, except his father.
Bai Qingyue did not have many recollections of his predecessor, but his mother's obsession for the previous Sovereign Lord was well known among the Huli Jing. It was a fruitless attempt on her part to force the former lord into marriage, utilizing the elder fox gods to pressure him into it, because shortly after Bai Qingyue was conceived, his father vanished. Leaving his weeping mother to harden her heart and lose her mind with grief.
It was a sad fact that Hong Meigui raised Bai Qingyue only out of responsibility to raise him as a future Sovereign God.
And so, knowing his mother would never understand what he was going through, Bai Qingyue explained in the simplest of terms.
"Because I won't be able to get my thing up with anyone else, except her."