The next day.
The morning sun had just risen, illuminating the great road with light.
Tiny, fragmented rays of sunlight filtered through the ancient circular window, spilling onto the windowsill.
Cheng Guang had already awoken, but he was still pretending to be asleep.
Clasping a fair and smooth body in his embrace, three thousand strands of black hair were messily spread beside him as he inhaled a faint, delicate fragrance, his eyes reflecting a complex emotion.
It was gone.
For the first time, it was gone.
Cheng Guang discovered that the greatest advantage of the royal bloodline of Great Xia that he had integrated with, apart from being able to practice Spirit Dao, was the tremendous enhancement of his abilities.
Whether it was physical or mental strength, his were several times more robust than that of an ordinary person.
Even though last night's battle was extremely intense, he hadn't lost.
Cheng Guang was awake.
Qing Luan was also awake.
She was pretending to be asleep just the same.
However, unlike Cheng Guang, it wasn't that she didn't want to get up.
She simply couldn't.
Even as a martial artist of the Fourth-grade Divine Realm, facing this sort of situation, she surprisingly couldn't outlast Cheng Guang, who had not even begun to cultivate.
After a while, Qing Luan's body finally regained some strength.
She propped herself up with difficulty, sat up, and began to put on her slightly disheveled robe.
Once dressed, she stood before the mirror to examine her appearance.
Her features were still beautiful, but now they bore a charm she had never possessed before.
Her demeanor had subtly matured.
This complexity in Qing Luan's beautiful eyes confirmed that there were no obvious changes to her appearance, and she headed towards the door.
Reaching the door, Qing Luan turned back to glance at Cheng Guang lying on the bed.
She slowly began to speak.
"The Family Head will be back soon, have you figured out how to deal with him?"
Qing Luan didn't directly address Cheng Guang's identity, asking instead with a calm demeanor.
Upon hearing Qing Luan's question, Cheng Guang could no longer feign death, he opened his eyes, slightly sat up, leaned against the wall, his gaze falling upon Qing Luan, and then he smiled.
"I have my ways."
Qing Luan nodded slightly without speaking, waiting for Cheng Guang to continue.
But Cheng Guang fell silent directly, apparently having no intention of saying more, which caused Qing Luan to grit her teeth in frustration.
"If you won't talk, so be it. I just hope your method works, otherwise…"
Towards the end, Qing Luan's voice gradually weakened, becoming barely audible.
She didn't linger and turned to leave.
There were not many people in the Princely Heir's courtyard.
Only Lin Cheng was lounging under a willow tree, yawning listlessly.
A cultivator of his level could go without sleep for seven or eight days without feeling tired, just a bit bored.
Seeing Qing Luan limp out, Lin Cheng's eyes showed bewilderment, wondering what had happened to her.
Could warming a bed result in an injury?
However, after thinking it over, Lin Cheng suddenly seemed to realize something and a smile appeared on his face.
Right.
It must be because Qing Luan angered the Princely Heir while warming his bed, and that's why the Princely Heir gave her a lesson, beating her all night long.
No wonder there were noises coming from the Princely Heir's room now and then last night.
Although Lin Cheng didn't approach and didn't know what happened inside, he could roughly guess that the battle must have been extremely tense.
Qing Luan probably got hit hard.
This thought made Lin Cheng feel a bit of schadenfreude as he watched Qing Luan leave with a chuckle.
Qing Luan didn't notice Lin Cheng's silly expression; she had no mind to think about so much right now as she had some aftermath matters to deal with.
In her heart, she had already figured out that the Princely Heir was most likely that coachman, even though it wasn't directly pointed out last night, his several actions had already proved this point.
She couldn't understand how Cheng Guang managed to hide and change his aura, how he could act so similar to the Princely Heir.
In the past, when he tried to impersonate him, there were quite a few flaws.
This time, however, the act was near perfect.
Qing Luan had many questions in her mind. If it had been before, she would definitely have delved deeply, but now, she didn't want to think about these matters without practical significance anymore.
Whether she liked it or not, she was on Cheng Guang's dark ship now.
If the ship capsized, Cheng Guang would die, and so would she.
Even if not for Cheng Guang's sake, Qing Luan had to consider her own.
So.
She needed to know when the Family Head would return.
She also needed to know when the Princely Heir would come back.
Prepare in advance for any emergencies that might occur.
...
After Qing Luan left.
The bedroom returned to its serenity.
Cheng Guang didn't get up right away, but instead, he started to recall the cold, mechanical voice from midnight last night.
Since he didn't have the time, nor the mindset to listen then, he just used his memory to temporarily save the information.
His strong memory allowed him to temporarily establish a memory memo.
[In the thirty-fourth year of Zhensheng, on the ninth day of the seventh month, three days into becoming a member of the Heavenly Human Realm, you felt that you were extremely filial after burning paper offerings for your father, satisfying your own father's wish to see you achieve this realm.]
[After returning home, looking at Duke Zhen's Mansion, once glorious and now in such a state of disrepair, your heart is both guilty and in pain.]
[All of this started with the calamity caused by that woman; your mother once arranged a good marriage for you, but you did not agree and instead fell in love with a woman you met by chance.]
[Back then, you were deeply in love with the woman you met unexpectedly, but you never thought that she was actually one of the top ten Demon Kings from the Devil Region, the daughter of the Green Hill Fox King, who had been wandering in the human world since childhood and had been hiding her identity.]
[Her approach to you and the deep love she made you feel were all premeditated, with the sole purpose of using the influence and resources of Duke Zhen's Mansion to return to her fox tribe and restore its glory.]
[Back then, you became an undignified lapdog, allowing her to do as she pleased in Duke Zhen's Mansion. Your parents tried to persuade you, but you refused to listen.]
[It wasn't until your fiancee disappeared on your wedding night that you realized the truth, but by then, most of the mansion's resources had already been drained.]
[With your strength at the time, you were unable to defeat her or find her. Duke Zhen Guo, Cheng Shiyuan, heard the news and came from the borderlands. His robust body soon became much weaker, and he went alone into the Devil Region to seek justice for you.]
[The Devil Region was shaken, all ten Demon Kings emerged, and Duke Zhen Guo, Cheng Shiyuan, despite not being at a disadvantage, was after all alone and outnumbered. He wiped out several fox tribes in the Devil Region before returning.]
[And with that, the matter was dropped.]
[Remembering this humiliation makes you extremely uncomfortable. Now that you have ascended to the Heavenly Human Realm, you swear to teach that bad woman a lesson she deserves.]
[Newbie Task 3: Take revenge on the Saintess of the Green Hill Fox tribe, Bai Shuxuan.]
[Task Reward: Charm Eyes (Divine Power)]
Cheng Guang felt a momentary shock as he recalled what the cold voice had mentioned last night.
The dignified Princely Heir, to end up as a lapdog in the future?
Wait a moment.
Why am I using the word 'also'?
...