Fire Refining Starry Sky.
The stunning master with flowing white hair and a black skirt held her handsome little disciple as they slowly descended from the sky onto the vast altar. From a distance, they resembled a classic painting of the Madonna cradling her child.
After landing, Chen Xi did not release Yan Zhen. With a light tap of one foot, she summoned a stone bed. Then, using her spiritual power, she arranged the bedding and draped the gauze curtains. Only then did she settle comfortably on the edge of the bed. She positioned Yan Zhen sideways across her lap, letting him rest in the crook of her arm, and leisurely studied him.
Yan Zhen felt a surge of guilt. He tensed his body, desperately trying to appear pure and innocent—essentially, to cute his way out of trouble.
“Zhen’er.”
“Here!”
Chen Xi reached out and gently touched his cheek.
“Was it Jialan who turned you into this form?”
Yan Zhen gave a weak hum of agreement.
“Back then, this master wanted to shrink you down to see what you looked like as a child, but you refused. How is it that Jialan could do it?”
“Well…”
“Zhen’er, do you usually take this form when you’re alone with Jialan?”
“Master, hear me out~”
“No need for explanations. This master cherishes you too much to force you, which is why she let Jialan take such a huge advantage. Had I known, I would have been more insistent—savored every one of your past forms, recorded them all with the Reflecting Light Mirror for posterity. That would have been far better than letting Jialan sneak them away in secret.”
For Chen Xi, the time before she met Yan Zhen was nothing but a void. She longed to fill it, to weave herself into every moment of her disciple’s life.
By turning him back into his younger self, for instance, and showering him with all sorts of affection…
But Yan Zhen had been too shy, too resistant to that form of making up for lost time. So Chen Xi had yielded to his wishes and abandoned the idea. Yet with Jialan, he had gone along with it half-heartedly.
To claim she felt no jealousy at all would have been a lie.
Chen Xi discontentedly pinched her precious disciple’s cheek.
“Naughty Zhen’er~”
Yan Zhen quickly clasped her hand and pleaded for mercy.
“Master, I know I was wrong. Please don’t be mad, okay?”
He even rubbed his cheek against her palm affectionately.
Chen Xi’s irritation melted away in an instant. Watching him blink those big, sparkling eyes over and over, the picture of obedience, she felt a rush of fondness. Still, she couldn’t help saying what was on her mind.
“You say the words, but who knows what you’re really thinking… Zhen’er, you have more than one master now. This master must seem unimportant by comparison.”
“How could that ever be?” Yan Zhen replied at once. “Master, you’ve always been the most important person in my heart.”
Chen Xi’s mood lifted, and she asked softly,
“Then tell me, Zhen’er—is this master better, or are Jialan and the Evil Consort?”
This question felt awfully familiar.
Yan Zhen looped his arms around his beautiful master’s neck, planted a kiss on her cheek, and declared without hesitation,
“No matter who I compare you to, Master—you’re the best!”
“Zhen’er…” Chen Xi’s heart nearly melted. “You’re the best in this master’s heart too. Better than anyone.”
Master and disciple came together in a kiss. One large, one small, the contrast was striking—but their passion burned as hot and sweet as ever.
When their lips finally parted, Yan Zhen murmured shyly,
“Master… could you change me back now?”
Chen Xi paused thoughtfully.
“I could… but this form has its charms. This master can hold all of you completely in her arms.”
“But like this, it’s… you know.”
“W-Well, you have a point.”
Chen Xi suddenly fixed her precious disciple with an intense stare. Twin flushes bloomed on her lovely cheeks.
“It seems… not entirely impossible.”
Yan Zhen jolted in alarm. He clamped his legs together and gaped at his beautiful master in shock.
“Master???”
“Ahem.” Chen Xi snapped out of it and forced a smile. “This master was only teasing, Zhen’er~”
“Um…” Yan Zhen hesitated, then ventured, “…If Master really wants to try, I-I wouldn’t mind.”
Silence fell.
Master and disciple locked eyes, the air between them growing thick with ambiguity.
Chen Xi bit her lip. Memories flooded her—of Jialan stealing countless moments behind her back, of the Evil Consort’s relentless overreaching. She steeled her resolve.
“Zhen’er, let this master pamper you. All right?”
Yan Zhen’s eyes mirrored his beautiful master’s incomparably radiant face. Every nuance of her expression brimmed with indulgent love for him, stirring him until he could no longer hold back.
“Master…”
He hopped down from her lap. Beneath her startled gaze, he swept her up in a princess carry and tossed her onto the center of the bed. Then he bounced up after her.
“Master!”
Chen Xi flung open her arms and caught her pouncing precious disciple.
“Come here, Zhen’er. This master loves you~”
The gauze curtains on either side drifted slowly shut, veiling the exquisite springtime vista within.
Outside.
The Evil Consort and Jialan Fairy both sat up in bed, collars half-undone, eyes glued to the crystal pendant hovering between them.
But Chen Xi had sealed the Fire Refining Starry Sky completely. Even as Mystic Saints, neither could pierce the multitude of restraint seals to glimpse what lay inside.
Still, they could well imagine Chen Xi lost in sweet intimacies with their Yan’er, reveling in bliss.
A sour pang twisted in the Evil Consort’s chest. Jialan Fairy felt as if her favorite little Yan’er might slip away to Chen Xi forever.
“Jialan, didn’t you plant the White Lotus Mark on Yan’er? Can’t you teleport in like last time?”
“The Fire Refining Starry Sky is a true Cave Heaven World at its core—nothing like your Evil God Clan’s God Mountain.”
God Mountain’s interior had been remade from a Shattered Grotto-Heaven, missing the laws of a genuine Cave Heaven. That left exploitable gaps.
The Fire Refining Starry Sky was another matter entirely—especially under the watch of Chen Xi, its world spirit. They might have slipped in before the seal; now, it was impossible.
Just like the Dead City: without the Death City Core, a locked gate meant no entry by teleportation.
“Useless.”
“And you, Evil Consort? Don’t you have the Yin Mo Death Seal imprinted on Yan’er’s hand?”
The Evil Consort gave a cold snort. At a loss for options, she met Jialan Fairy’s glare with her own.
After an unknowable stretch of time, both women sensed a faint ripple in the Fire Refining Starry Sky’s sealing restraints. They perked up at once. Without a second’s hesitation, they invoked their powers—one attuning to the White Lotus Mark, the other activating the Yin Mo Death Seal—and teleported inside. They materialized right on the altar’s stone bed, still in their kneeling posture.
An intoxicating haze hung in the air. Fixing their eyes, the two women beheld Chen Xi lying in the center, flat on her back. Her white hair fanned out behind her, limbs entwined around Yan Zhen like a bride on her wedding night—clinging so fiercely she seemed intent on merging him into her very body.
Yan Zhen was all but swallowed up by Chen Xi. Only his two little legs protruded.
The sight rocked the Evil Consort and Jialan Fairy to their cores—like stumbling into a whole new world.
“Chen Xi, you—you actually—”
“Ahh…”
Chen Xi’s starry eyes fluttered open, slightly unfocused. She glanced at the Evil Consort, then at Jialan, and tightened her embrace.
“I won’t let Zhen’er go to you. He’s my disciple… and my husband~~~”
