As Venus's voice fell, both her and Hogg's gazes simultaneously landed on Li Yuan.
A Great Sage of the Empire and the Royal Preceptor of the Kingdom stood there as properly as two students waiting for a lecture.
The teahouse was so quiet that only the breathing of the few individuals could be heard. Li Yuan, however, was in no mood to guess what they were thinking. He raised a hand to rub his temples, his tone carrying an undisguised exhaustion.
“If you two only have these things to say, then please leave.”
Hearing this, the two exchanged a glance, neither of them daring to say anything more.
Although Venus and Hogg could both see a trace of defiance in each other's eyes, they silently sat down to drink their tea, the atmosphere temporarily growing heavy and somewhat awkward.
After about ten minutes, both of them finished their tea. Li Yuan stood up and made a polite but firm gesture toward the door.
When Venus reached the door, she looked back at him, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she only sighed softly, turned, and disappeared into the night.
Hogg bowed slightly to Li Yuan, whispering, “Take care, Mr. Li,” before following her out.
Standing behind the bar counter, Li Yuan closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He felt that the two of them might actually get along surprisingly well... He raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, then smoothed out his cyan robe.
In the next instant, his figure vanished soundlessly, like a thin mist scattered by the wind.
Inside the small world, the ocean breeze on the isolated island swept over him, carrying the damp scent of the spiritual spring.
In the distance, the vast ocean formed by the spiritual spring shimmered under the faint light. Occasionally, unknown spirit birds skimmed across the water's surface, leaving faint ripples in their wake.
The air was thick with dense spiritual qi, and even the soil glowed with a faint, elusive pale-gold luster.
Li Yuan had just landed in the yard in front of the cottage, and before he could even steady himself, a snowy-white figure rushed out of the house at an incredibly absurd speed.
With a flash of the white shadow, a fluffy head slammed squarely into his chest.
The impact was so forceful that Li Yuan gasped in pain. He staggered backward several steps before barely managing to steady himself, coughing twice from the dull ache in his chest.
“You absolute bastard!”
The white fox—Hui—stepped back, tilting her head up, her golden vertical pupils burning with blazing rage.
Eight tails puffed out behind her like bristling dandelions, and even her tenth tail, which had not yet fully formed, was trembling slightly. She was clearly furious.
“Didn't I tell you not to make such a big scene? Huh?”
Her voice was so sharp it almost rivaled a soprano's, sounding exceptionally grating on this peaceful, isolated island.
“First it's a decree, and then it's the River of Time! If you're so capable, why didn't you just trigger the Ascension Lightning Tribulation? You might as well have blasted this entire world to pieces while you were at it, saving me the trouble of worrying about you!”
Li Yuan clutched his chest, his lips twitching in pain. “I didn't want to do that either... but wasn't it necessary to completely sever that redundant thread of karmic ties? Leaving that thing around would have been a lingering hazard after all—”
“You needed all of “that” just to sever a thread of karmic ties?”
Hui didn't give him a chance to finish. She slammed her front paw heavily onto the dirt ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
“Decreeing heaven and earth, turning the River of Time upside down—who are you trying to fool? You just found it too troublesome and wanted to get it over with in one go. Now look at what you've done! This world's Heavenly Dao won't be able to manifest for tens of thousands of years. We'll have to wait so much longer!”
By the time she reached her last sentence, her expression shifted from anger to deep distress. Her tails drooped behind her, making her look like a fox whose savings of several millennia had just been stolen.
She paced back and forth a couple of times before glaring up at Li Yuan, the resentment in her eyes so thick it almost seemed to solidify.
“Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting? I finally managed to wait until this world's Heavenly Dao began to take shape. I was looking forward to using its laws to get us out of here in another ten thousand years or so. But you! You just slapped the timeline tens of thousands of years into the future with a single strike!”
Seeing her like this, Li Yuan felt a twinge of guilt.
He gave an awkward smile and took a tentative half-step forward, reaching out his hand to pat her head to comfort her.
But before he could even touch her fur, Hui nimbly dodged by tilting her head. She backed away two steps, baring her teeth to reveal two sharp fangs.
Gritting her teeth, she growled from the depths of her throat, “If I weren't unable to beat you, I would have thrashed you long ago.”
Though her words were filled with murderous intent, coming from a fluffy white fox, the intimidation factor was somewhat diminished.
However, Li Yuan knew very well that she was, after all, the Demon Queen of Kyushu. When she spoke of “thrashing” someone, she truly meant beating them until their soul and physical form were utterly annihilated.
So, he sheepishly withdrew his hand and tactfully changed the subject, deliberately softening his tone:
“How is her situation?”
Hui rolled her eyes at him and snorted, her tone filled with impatience.
“She has already finished merging with my tail. Right now, her soul is adapting to the new body. Once the transition period is over, she will wake up before long.”
Hearing this, Li Yuan's expression turned a bit more serious as he bowed slightly to her.
“Thank you.”
Hui sneered at his gratitude.
She flicked her tails and turned around, but her mouth didn't stop as she launched into another round of sarcasm:
“Save your thanks. It's not like I gave you the tail for free. Calculate for yourself how much I've invested in you since we first met. It hasn't even been that long, and you've already made me sacrifice another tail—do you have any idea how long it takes to grow one back? Several thousand years! Do you think they just pop up like the spiritual spring here?”
Li Yuan did not argue. He walked over to the low table in front of the cottage, sat cross-legged on the ground with his hands resting on his knees, and quietly listened to her scold him.
Hui complained for a long time, lecturing him on everything from the preciousness of her tail to the absurd things Li Yuan had done back on the Kyushu Continent, and then from those absurdities to how he had repeatedly caused trouble for her.
However, her speaking speed gradually slowed, and her voice grew softer. Perhaps she was tired and her throat was dry, or perhaps she found it quite boring to see Li Yuan submissively accepting it all without talking back.
She paced over to his side, bent her four legs, and lay down beside him, her nine tails slowly spreading out behind her like a fluffy white carpet.
She tilted her head, her vertical pupils casting a sideways glance at him, her tone finally returning to its usual laziness. “What do you plan to do next?”
Li Yuan rested his hands on his knees, gazing at the endless sea of the spiritual spring in the distance, and replied calmly:
“Let everything take its natural course.”
Before his words could even land, Hui snorted mockingly.
“Take its natural course?” Resting her head on her front paws, she closed her eyes lazily.
“If you really let things take their natural course, you wouldn't be here. Who was the one who solemnly vowed to be a dutiful teahouse owner and keep out of other people's business? And the result? You still rushed out to meddle in those troublesome affairs anyway.”
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