What Exactly Is My Relationship with Feng Xiao?
Ji Chaoyun slept all the way until the sun was already sinking toward the horizon.
Sleeping for so long left his head muddled, and when he first woke, he was still somewhat dazed. The person holding him quickly noticed that he was awake and lowered his head to find his lips, giving them a light peck. “Sleep well?”
Ji Chaoyun was too tired to keep his eyes open. With a faint nasal quality to his voice, he mumbled, “Dizzy...”
“You slept too long.” Feng Qi played with Ji Chaoyun’s hair and, while the other was still not fully awake, took the chance to steal quite a bit more affection. “Get up and have some congee.”
Ji Chaoyun rubbed his stomach and did indeed feel somewhat hungry. “But I don’t want congee.”
“Hm? Didn’t you say this morning...”
Ji Chaoyun said, “I want Changyuan Pavilion’s sour jujube pastries.”
“...” Feng Qi stared at Ji Chaoyun for a long while before finally yielding beneath that innocent gaze. “Fine. I’ll go buy them for you.”
Ji Chaoyun immediately brightened and sat up. “Let’s go together.”
He quickly threw on his clothes, put on his shoes, then sat before the dressing mirror to comb his hair.
Feng Qi strolled over and teased, “The academy forbids disciples from going down the mountain except on rest days. Have you already forgotten that rule?”
Ji Chaoyun’s movements stopped.
He really had forgotten.
Everyone knew Second Prince Feng had always treated the academy rules as though they were nothing. After spending so long around him, Ji Chaoyun had also become someone stained black by staying close to ink, tossing every rule and prohibition to the back of his mind.
He lowered his head. His expression remained normal, yet a faint sense of grievance seemed to show between his brows. “...Then let’s not go down the mountain.”
Feng Qi laughed lightly, took the comb from Ji Chaoyun’s hand, and continued combing his hair for him. “You’ve gone half a month without attending lessons on the main peak. Now you’re afraid of breaking this one little rule? If I take you down the mountain, no one will dare stop us.”
“How can you say that?” Ji Chaoyun replied. “I asked the Immortal Venerable for leave so I could prepare for the Heaven Ranking Tournament. That doesn’t count as breaking the rules.”
Feng Qi smiled without speaking. He did not tell Ji Chaoyun that if he had not mentioned the matter to Immortal Tianshu, Immortal Kaiyang would never have agreed to his leave so readily.
Feng Qi skillfully tied up Ji Chaoyun’s hair. “Come on. We didn’t reserve a table ahead of time today. If we’re too late, there might not be any seats.”
“I... maybe we really shouldn’t go.” Ji Chaoyun spoke weakly.
Feng Qi raised a brow. “Then you don’t want the pastries anymore?”
“...” Ji Chaoyun hesitated for a long while before shaking his head without much conviction. “I won’t eat them.”
Feng Qi finally failed to hold back his laughter and pinched Ji Chaoyun’s cheek. “Look at that aggrieved face, as though I’ve mistreated you. Wait here. I’ll buy them and bring them back.”
“But...”
Feng Qi smiled. “It’s fine. I’m happy to let you order me around.”
☁
Feng Qi went down the mountain with practiced ease and had Changyuan Pavilion pack up the pastries Ji Chaoyun wanted, along with a few local dishes he liked. By the time he returned to Hongmeng Academy, night had already fallen.
He had just stepped through the mountain gate when he saw a disciple waiting there.
Feng Qi stopped. “My uncle is looking for me?”
“Yes.” The disciple bowed to Feng Qi. “Someone went to Wenqu Peak earlier and learned that Second Prince was not at the disciples’ residence, so I was told to wait here. Immortal Tianshu is waiting for you at Hall of Inquiry.”
“For what?”
“This disciple does not know.”
Feng Qi narrowed his eyes suspiciously, a faint unease rising in his heart.
When Feng Qi arrived outside the Hall of Inquiry, he had just raised a hand to knock when the doors opened on their own. Immortal Tianshu sat at the front of the main hall, his head lowered as he looked through something.
Feng Qi stepped inside.
The doors closed again. Feng Qi set the things in his hands on a side table and bowed toward Tianshu. “Uncle.”
“Sit.” Tianshu sighed.
Feng Qi asked, “What’s troubling Uncle?”
Tianshu shook his head and tossed what he was holding. A sheet of paper floated lightly toward Feng Qi. Only then did Feng Qi see that it was a letter.
He raised a hand to catch it and unfolded it.
The letter was not long. Feng Qi read through it carefully, his brows drawing tightly together. “The demonic seal...”
Tianshu said, “According to reports from various regions, many fissures similar to the one at Linhai Village have appeared throughout both the Immortal Realm and the mortal realm. Those fissures are not yet large enough for demons to pass through directly, but no one knows whether they will continue expanding.”
“Yan Huaqing has made his move.”
“Yan Huaqing...” Tianshu pondered for a moment. “You fought him before. What do you make of him?”
“A madman.”
Feng Qi said coldly, “His temperament is vicious and cruel. He will use any means necessary, and his actions cannot be judged by ordinary reasoning.”
Tianshu studied him for a long moment before looking away. “Enough. Fortunately, every fissure discovered so far remains under the Immortal Realm’s control. I have already informed the major immortal clans that the Immortal Realm Alliance will be reestablished. Each clan will dispatch forces to seal the fissures and face this coming calamity.”
“It won’t work.” Feng Qi shook his head. “Uncle still hasn’t realized it? Yan Huaqing is doing this deliberately.”
“What do you mean?”
Feng Qi said, “If the demons truly possessed a way to break the seal, they would never tear open so many fissures so openly and let the Immortal Realm discover them. They would do what they did at Linhai Village, quietly letting demonic aura seep through and releasing demon soldiers little by little.”
“Then why would they...”
“This is a warning.” Feng Qi’s gaze darkened, as though he could see through empty space to that Demon Venerable who always smiled so pleasantly. “He is warning everyone in the Immortal Realm that the demons are about to appear and telling us to prepare to welcome them.”
“This...”
Feng Qi continued, “In any case, sealing the fissures is important, but what matters more is finding Yan Huaqing’s agent within the Immortal Realm as soon as possible... the other portion of his soul.”
Tianshu shook his head with a sigh. “Easier said than done. Even if what the Dragon King of Lingyuan Sea said is true, and Yan Huaqing left half of his soul in the Immortal Realm, it has never revealed the slightest trace all these years. Trying to find it now would be no different from searching the sea for a needle.”
Feng Qi said, “Then we find a way to restore the seal.”
“We’ve tried. It can’t be done.” Tianshu said, “That seal was laid down by Feng Xiao himself. Even when the Immortal Realm was at the height of its strength, all its power combined would still have been insufficient to restore his seal.”
“No.”
“What did you say?”
“I said there should still be a way to reinforce the seal.” Feng Qi raised his eyes. “The three treasures Feng Xiao left behind.”
Tianshu looked puzzled. “Wasn’t it said before that those three treasures did not actually exist?”
Feng Qi hesitated for a moment before saying quietly, “I once encountered a remnant of Feng Xiao’s divine consciousness inside an illusion.”
“What?!” Tianshu abruptly rose to his feet. Seeming to realize that his reaction had been too intense, he cleared his throat and walked toward Feng Qi. “What did he tell you?”
Feng Qi gave him a strange look but did not press the matter. He answered truthfully, “He told me to recover the artifact stolen by the demons, find Mount Sumeru, and gather the three treasures. Once all three were gathered, the seal could be reinforced.”
“...Looking back now, some of what he said was true and some was false, but I don’t think the part about reinforcing the seal was a lie. There is only one thing I do not understand. He told me that once I found the first two artifacts, I would learn what the one left with the Phoenix Clan was. Why, then, do we still have no clue even now?”
Tianshu fell silent for a long time. Eventually, he asked, “Those were truly his exact words?”
“Of course.”
“Then I understand.” Tianshu looked thoughtfully at Feng Qi and said quietly, “This matter... I will discuss it with your elder brother. You should return for now.”
Feng Qi frowned suspiciously. “That’s all?”
“What else do you want?”
Feng Qi’s lips curved. “I have told Uncle everything I know without holding anything back, yet why do I feel that Uncle is hiding something from me?”
“...” Tianshu turned around and returned to the main seat. “What exactly are you trying to ask?”
Feng Qi met his gaze and said calmly, “Who am I?”
Tianshu’s expression seemed to stiffen for an instant. “You are the Second Prince of the Phoenix Clan. Who else could you be?”
“That answer might work on others, but with the doors closed and only us here, there’s no need for that.” Feng Qi said, “Father found me on the battlefield and brought me back. I was never originally from Fengming Valley. If you truly knew nothing of my origins, why would all of you have treated me with such favor?”
“...Uncle, who am I?”
Tianshu lifted the tea beside him and took a sip, seemingly using it to conceal something. He did not answer.
Feng Qi stood. “Perhaps I can ask it another way. Uncle, what exactly is my relationship with Feng Xiao?”
The atmosphere within the hall grew heavy at once. After a long while, Tianshu finally said slowly, “Don’t you already know?”
Feng Qi frowned slightly. Tianshu continued, “You and Feng Xiao are indeed connected by blood.”
Feng Qi froze. “But Feng Xiao clearly had no brothers or blood relatives, much less a wife, sons, or daughters...”
Tianshu interrupted him. “Feng Xiao was the first phoenix between heaven and earth. Have you never wondered why the Phoenix Clan still regards him as our ancestor when he left no descendants?”
“...Phoenixes are born from heavenly fire, and the phoenix progenitor himself was the incarnation of that heavenly fire.”
“When Feng Xiao descended with the heavenly fire, he was born in the mortal realm. A heavenly god descended, entered his name into the divine registry, and brought him to the Divine Realm. The sparks of heavenly fire left behind in the mortal realm absorbed the power released when Feng Xiao attained divinity, and from them, new phoenixes were born.”
“That power was not enough to allow the other phoenixes to attain divinity and ascend to the heavens, but it granted them an extraordinary gift for cultivation. Generation after generation cultivated until they eventually ascended as immortals. In the Immortal Realm, they found a place called Fengming Valley and settled there, becoming the Phoenix Clan of today.”
Feng Qi asked, “Then I...”
Tianshu looked at Feng Qi, his expression earnest and sincere. “You are a phoenix formed from a spark of the heavenly fire left behind when Feng Xiao fell.”
Feng Qi looked confused. “So that’s why I was able to open the seal of Feng Xiao’s Divine Pact?”
“Mm... perhaps.” Tianshu’s gaze darted aside. He took another sip of tea and continued, “Divine power originally existed within the blood of the Phoenix Clan, but after tens of millions of years and countless generations, we gradually lost it. Only you are different. You are the existence in this world closest to Feng Xiao.”
Feng Qi could vaguely sense that something about those words was not right, yet he could not say exactly what. “Then why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Tianshu spread his hands. “What use would telling you have been? Your cultivation is indeed extraordinary, and you may even have inherited some of Feng Xiao’s power. Yet no matter how much you resemble him, you are not him. We could hardly expect a child like you to go fight the demons.”
Feng Qi could find no way to refute that. Half-convinced, he murmured, “Mm. That does seem reasonable...”
Tianshu said, “Now that you understand, go back. Stop filling your head with nonsense all day. We will handle the matter of the demons. You need not worry about it anymore.”
“Yes...” Tianshu’s explanation had left Feng Qi’s thoughts in complete disorder, yet he still could not identify what felt strange about it. He bowed. “Then this disciple will take his leave.”
Still thinking, he withdrew from the Hall of Inquiry.
The doors of the hall closed. Tianshu let out a long breath, took a sip of the cold tea, and muttered uneasily, “He really has grown up. Harder to fool with each passing d—”
Before he could finish speaking, Feng Qi abruptly pushed open the doors of the Hall of Inquiry again.
Tianshu was so startled that his hand jerked, spilling tea all over himself. “Why are you back again?”
“Sorry.” Feng Qi had not heard what he had just said. He walked straight to the table and picked up the food box. “I forgot the pastries I bought for my little dragon.”
Tianshu broke out in a cold sweat. Only after Feng Qi stepped out of the hall again did he snap, “You went down the mountain without permission again?!”
Feng Qi ignored him and quickly slipped away.
☁︎₊˚⊹ The Author’s Jade-Slip Aside ⊹˚₊☁︎
Tianshu: This is too hard for me.
His memories will be restored soon, probably next week. 【It is Friday today, right???】
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