"Young Master, what is it that you require of..." The rest of Su Bojing's sentence fell off as he saw the oppressive aura around Tianyi. The air quite literally distorted around Tianyi due to his leaking and uncontrolled pressure.
"Did you hear?" Tianyi asked, his voice low.
"Hear what?" Su Bojing was almost afraid to know as the depressing aura around Tianyi dramatically increased. "Young Master, please calm down! Your emotion is making your true qi run rampant. The palace walls won't be able to last if you don't!"
Su Bojing was afraid his words didn't reach Tianyi, but he saw Tianyi breathe in deeply before releasing the air. Instantly, the oppressive atmosphere diminished by over ninety percent, but a small portion still clung onto Tianyi's skin. Tianyi collapsed onto a chair and placed both hands on his face.
"So...um...what happened?" Su Bojing asked after finally gathering his courage.
"Earlier, I went out with Older Cousin Chen to tour the capital. You know that, right?" Tianyi started off.
Su Bojing nodded. He still remembered because he had wanted to go, but Tianyi insisted on him staying. The excuse was to check in on what happened to the members of the Leakless Sect who were attacked on their way back among other information Tianyi wanted.
"The truth was, I actually went to the One Jade Flower Pavillion with Older Cousin Chen." Tianyi decided to elaborate upon seeing the confusion on Su Bojing's face. "It's an entertainment establishment where you can seek the talents of women."
Su Bojing made an "oh" face upon understanding Tianyi's meaning. His gaze towards Tianyi became strange. Thinking back, Tianyi was already over twenty, but Su Bojing had never heard of him having any relationship with those of the opposite sex. Furthermore, despite being already over twenty, Tianyi still had the appearance of youth in the midst of puberty. So logically speaking, Tianyi would be at the age where he started showing interest in such a matter.
Crack
The image of Tianyi Su Bojing had built fractured. His gaze became complicated towards the youth slumped in his chair, regret visibly clinging to him. Ah, so geniuses are people too, Su Bojing thought. To him, geniuses like Su Wanyu, Xia Yushan, and Xi Tianyi were like the epitome of perfection, able to do no wrong. There were people of another world, high up in the heavens while he was a beast on land. But now, he felt he had seen the truth, and the distance between him and Tianyi had shortened.
Tianyi continued speaking. He wasn't looking for a conversation but someone to vent on. "My mother originally wanted to go tour the streets with me, but I rejected her since I did not want her to follow me to that kind place. But it turns out that she followed me with her Immortal sense!"
Ah, Su Bojing could see where this was going.
"So when I returned, I was met with my mother waiting for me! And that traitor, Older Cousin Chen, ditched me and ran away!" Tianyi huffed as he leaned against the chair as if all his bones had gone soft. "Under the eyes of everyone, she started to lecture me!"
Su Bojing nodded. For a descendant of an Immortal to visit those places was indeed slightly inappropriate. But the next second, his thoughts came to a screeching halt at Tianyi's tirade.
"She then started to lecture me about the nature of sex between a man and woman in front of everyone! EVERYONE!!!" Tianyi practically screamed the last part. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to chided that seeking unknown women outside is dangerous? That I should make sure that the women's body was safe before doing the deed? And that if I really wanted to, I should ask my mother to help me find a girl or two to vent!?"
Tianyi screamed into his hands. He could recall the condensing awkward tension in the atmosphere the more his mother spoke. Even his Emperor-Uncle, although he seemed to acknowledge his sister's words, didn't find it appropriate to speak of such matters openly. Did someone preach the same speech to his mother in a public space when she was young, and that's why she repeated it with him? If the culprit of such an act ever landed in Tianyi's hand, he would make the culprit wish for death but unable to die!
Sometimes Tianyi forgot that his mother was raised as an imperial princess and her sense of values and common sense differed from his. This was even more so when considering his morals and common sense had been developed on Earth, a land where one person could not rule the world based on personal strength.
"Pft!"
Tianyi's body stiffened. His gaze became dangerous as he focused it on Su Bojing. His voice became low as he said, "Did you just laugh, Su Bojing?"
Su Bojing started to hack as he tried to contain his laughter. "No...haha...of course...not....hahahahahahahaha...!!!" He tried, he really tried, but he could not contain his laughter as his image of Tianyi and Grand Elder Xi shattered completely as he imagined the scene.
Tianyi didn't leave his room again until Daoyi came out of her secluded cultivation, which was a week later.
When Daoyi exited her secluded cultivation, there were three silvery-blue wisps inside of Spiritual Core. She now had the confidence to confront her dear father and the retired duke of the Jiang Clan.
Daoyi's eyes became unfocused as she recalled her mother's smile. It had been a truly gentle smile, full of motherly love yet filled with helplessness. It was the world's most beautiful yet tragic smile. It was also the only light Daoyi had before darkness submerged the world. She had thought the darkness would continue to follow her until she escaped from that living hell of a place, but luck was on her side as she met Tianyi and her Master.
Daoyi didn't particularly care for the Xu Clan that her mother spoke of, but it was the only other time her mother would smile that wasn't because of her. When her mother spoke of the Xu Clan, she spoke of the Xu Clan's glory days.
Her mother would speak of the Xu Clan's treasure, the Spectral Spirit Rising Jewel. It was the clan's origin. The great ancestor found the treasure and derived a cultivation method that allowed them to display soul techniques despite being only in the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm. With it, the clan had risen to prominence in one of the myriad lower realms. The clan had even migrated to the Huang Realm using the jewel despite none of them ascending to Immortality.
But that jewel was also the calamity of the clan. The Spectral Spirit Rising Jewel had a far larger origin than any of the Xu Clan members could imagine. When news of the treasure leaked out of the clan, the Xu Clan became guilty of treasuring a jade ring, inviting the disaster of those who coveted the jewel.
It was her mother's greatest regret. As the sole child of the patriarch, her mother had been tasked with escaping with the Spectral Spirit Rising Jewel in the hopes of one day taking vengeance for the clan. But alas, she had been ambushed, her Spiritual Core was shattered, and the Spectral Spirit Rising Jewel had been fractured. But she managed to keep on a shard of the fractured jewel and escape.
But what was the use? Her Spiritual Core had been shattered, and her life would not last long. Had she not been discovered and taken as a concubine of Duke Qi, she would have long perished. When she became pregnant, Daoyi's other thought of using the child as her tool of revenge. But such thoughts instantly disappeared when her mother saw the infant Daoyi. Her named her Daoyi in the hopes that she would walk her path according to her will.
If Daoyi could take revenge, good; if not, so be it. Daoyi's mother wholeheartedly taught Daoyi, hoping one day she could become strong enough to leave the duke's influence. But that all abruptly changed one day, her mother told her to never cultivate and instead marry well and live peacefully. Perhaps that had been when her mother had discovered her Water Spiritual Vein.
Daoyi had no great attachment for the Xu Clan, but it was her mother's last wish, her last obsession. If she had enough power, Daoyi didn't mind fulfilling her mother's wish. And right now, she had enough power to take the shattered jewel fragment from the Jiang Family.
"Senior Brother," Daoyi greeted when she saw Tianyi approach her. He was trying his hardest not to make any discomfort obvious.
"Are you going to the duke's estate now?" Tianyi asked, treading lightly as if he was afraid she might shatter at any moment.
Daoyi shook her head. "It's too late right now. It's better to go tomorrow. Of course, I won't inform them of my visit. That way, they won't be as on guard."
"I see, that's good," Tianyi said. "Are you tired, hungry? I was about to have dinner with mother, would you like to join?"
"That sounds pleasing," Daoyi said as she joined Tianyi on his way to see her master. Along the way, a hint of mischievousness appeared in her eyes as she sly glanced at Tianyi. "Senior Brother, I heard some interesting news recently."
Tianyi almost stumbled over thin air at Daoyi's words, causing her to stifle her giggles. But he tried to play it off as nothing as if that would cover up for his fumble. "I see. What news have you heard?"
"Is it true that you had an orgy with ten women at the brothel?"
This time, Tianyi did trip over thin air and fell onto the ground, causing the whole imperial palace to rumble from the force of Tianyi's fall. A large crater was now a permanent fixture of the imperial palace where Tianyi fell.
Daoyi felt sweat coat her palms. She just meant it as a joke, something to tease her senior brother that always tried to act mature even with his teenage appearance. But she never imagined that Tianyi tripping onto the ground would result in such considerable collateral damage. If Tianyi could cause such destruction from merely tripping, Daoyi didn't want to know what it was like to be on the receiving end of his punches.
Despite the episode, Daoyi enjoyed her dinner with the awkward mother-son combo. She had to stifle her laughter several times when her master would start lecturing Tianyi on proper sexual deeds, who appeared like he wanted to retaliate with a few words of his own but held them back in the end. Instead, he settled for glaring sulkily at Daoyi.
Daoyi laughed out loud when he did.
But all things good thing must come to an end. Soon it was the day she would face her family and reclaim her mother's property.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Tianyi asked, his worry evident.
Daoyi smiled as she shook her head. "Thank you for your concern, but this is something I want to do myself."
She was sure she had already said this once, but Tianyi was still worried. Surprisingly, her master did not say anything. Maybe it was confidence in her strength in being able to help Daoyi should anything unexpected occurred. After all, she was able to keep an eye on Tianyi when he visited the One Jade Flower Pavillion.
Daoyi didn't directly travel to Duke Qi's estate by herself. No matter what, she was still an official titled princess of the second rank of the Xi Dynasty. Even though she was out of the country for most years, the emperor could easily appropriate some servants and carriage for her just as he had just done. In fact, he had set aside the property and servants for Daoyi for years since she was Mengfei's disciple.
She wasn't tensed as she expected. Perhaps the dinner and interaction with Tianyi and her master had calmed her heart. When she had left, her father and the duchess had been powerful figures she could only worship from under. The only way to escape their influence was to leave the country as the Xi Dynasty only had four titled dukes, their influence was second only to the emperor.
Unexpectedly, when Daoyi reached the duke's estate, the whole main branch was already outside waiting for her. Should she say as expected as one of the Four Great Dukes of the Xi Dynasty? Even though her visit was supposed to be a surprise, Duke Qi still got wind of it.
"We greet the Princess Xian De of the Second Rank!"
Even though we were family by blood, imperial privilege prioritized that they address me by my title instead of as their daughter. In addition, Daoyi wondered how much humiliation her family was feeling. Yesterday was today, and today is not tomorrow. No one knows what the future would bring. Their station was once high above her, and her death was something that could be decided on a whim. But in the blink of an eye, the roles have reversed. She was the one looking down at them from a high place.