"What's the meaning of this, Kami?"
"I didn't wish for you to find out like this," Luhei Kami sighed, he then recounted the chain of events and the rumors regarding their daughter having potentially fallen in love with Noire.
He would often emphasize how Noire is the reason for all this mess, and that their daughter is in danger because of him.
Then he proceeded to explain the situation about the Northern Region and the current dilemma.
"If I may indulge in the conversation between you two, since Lady Anastasia has Monster Bloodline, and she's much or less similar to our cultivation level, can't she try and scout?" Lord Xue intervened with an idea.
"Indeed, there are fewer chances of her being chased out, and we don't have to worry about her safety unless she starts a fight with a Phoenix.
Many of the Nine Lords began to discuss the matters of Kami's wife, and his face couldn't help but darken.
He hasn't been able to spend intimate time with his wife for three years, and now every lord turned into a sly fox to send her away.
He can't rebuke their argument, it was fairly reasonable, he could only hope his wife would decline the offer.
Meanwhile, everyone in the room was eyeing Anastasia, and the latter was eyeing the projection of Noire.
Multiple thoughts ran across her mind, if the information was true, that indicates Noire has at least three women by his side including her daughter.
Furthermore, one of them is a backwater begger who just stepped into the world of cultivation, and the other is a mere merchant.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Anastasia glared at Yu Juan, somewhat blaming him for being an incompetent father.
She can't allow her daughter to degrade herself to such a disposition, so with or without the plan set by these Lords, she planned to visit the Northern Region and bring her daughter back to her side nonetheless.
"I understand the situation," Anastasia held her chin with a pensive look as if hesitating about the difficulty of this task.
After a while of stressful silence, Anastasia gave a dejected sigh.
"Alright, the Luhei Household will do you all this favor for now."
"..."
The entire room suddenly became silent.
Doing us a favor?
What does that mean?!
'That's my wife!' Lord Luhei's eyes lit up, but he was quick to conceal it.
Indeed, Anastasia isn't a human nor she is obliged to maintain the monopoly of the Nine Families, so in truth, she is doing the families a favor.
On the other hand, she also implied she's doing it under the name of Luhei Household, meaning that the remaining Eight Families are now indebted to them.
Shrewd! Quick thinking! Now, this is a good meeting gift.
"Haha, surely you must be jesting, right?"
"Am I? Lord..." Anastasia creased her eyebrows lightly to try and remember the name of whoever spoke.
Ultimately, "Doesn't matter, whatever your name is, if you don't want my favor, you can clad yourself in battle-gear and march to the Northern Region yourself." Anastasia snorted coldly.
"You-...! Don't try to play the charitable, we all know you would have gone to fetch up your daughter either way!" The Lord was beaming with irritation.
The weight of favor is just that heavy, and for the Luhei Household to simply gather eight of them under the rug from a simple picnic, how can he tolerate this? The Luhei Household is already at the top when the aspects of prowess are discussed, who knows how far their prestige will advance now?
It's all that shrewd wolven fault! She might as well be a fox instead!
"Hey now, let's relax... Avalas, we have no choice. Even if she went on her own accord, simply granting us the information after her return is also worthy of being called a favor..."
As always, Lord Xue tried to rekindle reason and logic.
Putting it this way, everyone else couldn't help but acknowledge it.
Anastasia gave Lord Xue an approving smile, if anyone is a fox, it will be him. Anastasia decided to keep an eye on Lord Xue's movement from now on.
"Then it's settled! When will you set on your journey, Anastasia?" Lord Luhei asked.
"I'll set off immediately by the break of tomorrow, I have a gift for my husband tonight." With a seductive wink, Anastasia excused herself from the hall.
Once she turned her head, a sinister glint flashed across her eyes.
'Now, let's see if those human sluts are worthy to share my daughter's man.'
Anastasia maliciously licked her bottom lip as she walked out.
"..."
"Lord Luhei, are you sure about this?"
"Hm? What do you mean?" Lord Luhei stared back at Lord Xue with a blank expression.
"Cough... We're not children anymore, Kami... I'm sure we've all sensed her killing intent just now... What if she..."
"Don't worry don't worry! It's the Northern Region, as long you're a monster race, the Phoenix Household will maintain the 'Law Of Jungle'. So, if she played around a little, she'll be fine."
Gulp...
Lord Xue didn't know how to let Lord Luhei know that his worries were the exact opposite.
It's been three years, if the information is authentic, that Noire is a peerless genius.
Three years of growth time... Would it be worth it to offend him now?
- - - -
Rumble...
Boom... Boom... Boom...
The clatter of lightning and reverberating claps of wind became more frequent, and deep down within the roots of the soil, some bizarre power fluctuations began to seep out towards the surface.
Currently, under the starry sky, Tianshi was still practicing the 'Primal Predator' movement technique, her progress was that of breaking the sound barrier every 12 steps, closing in on her goal of 10.
'As I thought, darling is mysterious! I miss him, but I understand his reasoning.'
Due to the oscillations of sound vibration, and having her cultivation base sealed, Tianshi remained oblivious to the unusual movement hundreds of kilometers under the surface of her feet.
...
Meanwhile, in a massive palace center in the Northern Region, Lady Kirin humbled herself before an astounding beauty.
The beauty had silver strands of hair, sharp facial features, a slender frame, and porcelain skin.
She was endowed with a peerless hourglass figure, and an ice chill atmosphere crept out from her touch.
Even her throne had turned into an ice sculpture without her need to emit any power fluctuations.
The Phoenix Empress.
The only entity in the Shadowed Continent that has a battle prowess comparable to the Celestial Realm.
"My Queen, if this goes on any longer, I'm afraid it'll awake the Python; Arima... He's been dormant for a while now, I speculate that he made a breakthrough from the threshold of Peak Eclipse Realm..."
Phoenix Empress gazed down at Kirin, her eyes carrying a peculiar warmth that she has only shown to the kin of her race.
Then she said, "Nothing is without a consequence, let nature take its course."
Kirin has no idea why the Queen forbid everyone from revealing the fact about a dormant beast that was half step into the Celestial Realm, and even if she found it unwise... She didn't dare complain.
She just hopes this doesn't backfire on the Queen.
'That Noire person, his mystery always alarms me, as if he's...' Kirin didn't dare proceed with her imagination...
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers underneath the Raging Clouds Forest, Arima slowly regained consciousness with an excruciating headache...