Of course, Bai Zhang bitterly thought, his son would jump straight to the worst possible part of the discussion.
"It was a misunderstanding, as I said…"
Hearing his father's mumbles, Bai Qingyue's almond-shaped eyes narrowed dangerously, and he scraped his claws against the chair.
"Speak properly, or you can forget about mending your ties with the clan."
Bai Zhang sighed. There was simply no good way to explain how he had almost killed his daughter-in-law!
"Before I tell you of my misdeeds, I would like to formally inform you of my discoveries, both as Sovereign Lord and as my son."
Bai Qingyue levelled his golden-eyed glare at his father's charcoal-black irises. Bai Zhang shed his human mask, revealing starch pale hair a near-identical shade to Bai Qingyue's own colour.
Without the mortal disguise, Bai Zhang's otherworldly appearance was visible once more; a pair of fox ears sprouted from his head, and nine large, fluffy tails swished behind him, almost overtaking all free space within the spacious chamber.
It was widely known that Bai Qingyue was the Sovereign Lord. He had a lot of weight on his shoulders, and carried his trouble-filled clan with pride, but he was still very young for an immortal deity. He had only recently passed the age of ten thousand years.
Bai Zhang, however, had lived far over sixty thousand. His sheer presence was almost too much for his own barrier to contain, and the force-field cracked from his formerly suppressed internal energy.
Bai Qingyue's eyes lit up like lanterns as he stared at Bai Zhang's true form. How convenient it was for him to stumble upon his guilt-ridden father, who was brimming with far too much vitality for his old bones to handle. He would have to fulfil his filial duty and unburden his father of the immense internal force that could hardly be contained inside him.
Bai Zheng spoke again, beginning to clarify his position. He told Bai Qingyue of the drugging on his wedding night, which all Bai Clan members were aware of.
Had Bai Qingyue not found his fated person so early, the clan elders would have subjected him to the same fate. Their fear of losing the only lineage capable of producing a Sovereign Lord was such that they would use any means necessary to make sure there was an heir.
Bai Zhang was both happy for and slightly envious of his fortunate son. Not only did Bai Qingyue find his soulmate at a young age, but she was female, too, and so, could potentially continue the lineage.
As for Bai Zhang? He came to this low-ranked world after working on a tracking device, which could potentially lead the rest of the clan to their fated partners. The tracker led him to this realm, and after sixty thousand years of solitude, his fated person had ended up walking up to his very doorstep.
However, the god of luck had not smiled on him, for when he had finally met his fated person, they had turned out to be a young boy named Liu Wei.
The curse worked in mysterious ways, and did not choose a specific vessel. Throughout the cycle of reincarnation, the souls' compatibility would remain constant, but the vessels changed with each new life. The soulmate bond did not only defy the pattern of yin and yang, but also defied species and status.
For example, a Bai Fox's partner could be of the same sex, or be a simple, non sentient animal, or even be a random tree. The possibilities were endless.
Despite Liu Wei's gender and age, Bai Zhang's attraction to the boy had been instantaneous. Not in a sexual manner, but in an overprotective one. He had nurtured Liu Wei as he had waited for him to grow to adulthood.
Originally, he had planned on returning alongside his lover to reclaim leadership of the clan. When he had found out his fated person was male, however, he knew that his time as patriarch of the clan had come to an end.
For the cursed foxes, their fated partner meant everything to them. He would not dare do anything to harm his person for the sake of the clan; he would rather have killed himself.
If he had gone back with his fated partner, the elders may have tried to assassinate Liu Wei in the hopes of his reincarnation being female, or they may have tried to force Bai Zhang to copulate with his wife again. He had changed his original plan, and so decided to live his life peacefully with his lover.
They remained together on the earthly plane, and eventually, Liu Wei matured enough for them to join as a true couple.
Those were the best years of Bai Zhang's life.
Unfortunately, it appeared good things were not meant to last.
Tragedy had struck all too soon. Perhaps he had been too engrossed in happiness, and so karma had decided to balance his life.
The dreadful day upon which he heard of Liu Wei's passing, he had almost killed himself then and there. Only revenge had driven him to persevere.
In a fit of insanity, he nearly exterminated every single demonic cultivation sect, and every inhabitant thereof. Only a few remained, survived the slaughter. His body had been filled with malevolent energy, and it had taken him years of closed cultivation to purify it.
A god would not always be struck by punishment if they acted immorally. Gods were not humans, thus, their lives were guided by a different set of virtues, and their fates were not preordained.
The punishment for gods who had gone rogue was placed on them by the same cosmic energy which created all living beings. The lightning bolts a god received upon higher ascension were given by that same source of energy.
For Bai Zhang to be so contaminated with evil energy, he had to have strayed so far that he was almost entirely altered into a fallen god.
After he had purified his dantian, he had concentrated on finding ways to undo the terrible curse. His research bore little fruit, and his bitterness and loneliness consumed him even more.
When one did not know what they were missing, they would not feel quite so sorrowful. But, once they had lost their source of happiness, it was nearly impossible to continue living with the heartbreak…
Just as had happened to Bai Zhang's own parents. His noble father had died, and his grief-stricken mother had soon joined his resting soul.
Bai Zhang had never entertained the thought of ever having a son of his own, particularly not during the time he had escaped his position. Much less had he ever thought he would have a son who had already found his destined partner.
At first, listening to his father's tale, Bai Qingyue just snorted. Bai Zhang was simply attempting to redeem himself. But as he continued to speak, all that Bai Qingyue had left was solemn understanding.
How had Bai Qingyue felt when he thought Li Meirong had died? It had been as though someone had grabbed his still-beating heart and ripped the organ out of his chest.
In a rare act of sympathy, Bai Qingyue jumped up onto the wooden desk, high enough to reach his father, and patted his bowed back in silent understanding.
However, the intimate and almost soft air in the room turned sour the moment Bai Zhang reached the end of his explanation.
"…so, when I met Li Meirong, thinking her a thief, I condensed my energy to pressure her into a confession."
The shrewd old fox explained himself very nicely, but Bai Qingyue knew better than to believe he had been anything close to gentle!
The little fox snarled threateningly, bright eyes flaring even brighter as he seethed with rage.
Condensing energy to pressure a person? Was that not simply a sugar-coated way of describing torture?!
A pair of senior, outer-sect disciples walked through the long, narrow inner halls, sweeping and polishing surfaces as they passed by.
"Aargh!"
While sweeping the marble floor near Grandmaster Zhu Zhang's study, they were startled by the unmistakable sound of someone being beaten. The pained grunt and short shout belonged to an adult man, while a squeaky canine growl drifted out from the cracked barrier.
"Father or not, see if I don't bite you to death!"
"…" The disciples looked at each other, speechless, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Was their all-powerful Grandmaster being bitten – or beaten – by a rabid dog?!