The Golden Radiance Token trembled again, and suddenly addressed Yunrong, saying,
"You girl, when you are with that inferior disciple of mine, why is it that you don't learn anything good but specialize in secretly criticizing your master? That's a bad habit."
"Truly, 'when there's a new bride, the matchmaker is thrown over the wall.'"
"Without Master arranging it, with Tao Qian's slow-warming nature, you think you can dream about having Kitten's cubs? Heh, you'd have to wait a long time."
"Don't look at that boy and say his peach blossom luck is very good, from his days as a Loose Cultivator, he had entanglements with quite a few women, and after joining Penglai Sea, he gathered a big lot of aunts and sisters. That Aunt Bai Yin even pressed him against a tree, he was clearly laughing in his heart, yet he still pretended not to act, just like a gentleman. Master helped you to enlighten this kind of blockhead, what's wrong with giving some benefits?"
"Daoist Taizhen once had some misunderstandings with me in our early years. As her disciple and my disciple-in-law, it is just right for you to resolve them. I've always been curious about the Haotian Divine Mirror. Next time you borrow it for me to take a look, and I will tell you all about that boy's troublesome peach blossom relationships..."
Tao Qian never imagined that while he was talking, his own cheap Master would start to speak ill of him.
His expression changed slightly, and he was about to interrupt and change the subject.
But he quickly saw Yunrong's face showing no signs of annoyance; on the contrary, she seemed extremely interested, listening with relish. Moreover, at this moment, she went along with Duobao's words and casually said,
"My lord's temperament, Yunrong already understands well; it suits my taste exactly."
"I've also seen his aunts and sisters in his heart mirror. Among them, I like Master Xiao the most, and also Senior Sister Lingji. In the future, I plan to approach them by borrowing my husband's name to get close to them, to get along well with them."
Having heard this,
Now it was Tao Qian, Yuan Gong, and Duobao's turn to be speechless.
After a while, Duobao's voice, full of dissatisfaction, came through,
"Lucky dog, you've picked up another treasure."
"I'll tell you one more thing, regarding Qiantang, as long as you follow the plan, there should be a good outcome."
"Just remember, do not linger afterward. Once your identity is exposed, return to the mountain immediately."
"Remember, remember!"
After those words, the Golden Radiance Token made no more sound.
Tao Qian, quick-witted, immediately put the Yuan Gong statue into the People Species Bag, narrowly escaping another round of teasing from a Master.
Then, he looked at his wife with eyes filled with a faint grievance.
He could sense that Yunrong wasn't lying with that one sentence.
"Good heavens, help! My wife could very well be a double...?"
In Tao Qian's heart, a myriad of strange thoughts churned.
He actually forgot that the two were soul-bonded.
As he brought out his past life's concepts and ideas, Yunrong caught on to them immediately, and the various bizarre and lewd terms first caused her face to blush, then turn to intense curiosity.
She studied them carefully for a few breaths and then asked sincerely,
"Husband, why worry about these things?"
"My fondness for Master Xiao and Sister Lingji is all because I borrowed the sight of your Heart Soul."
"That is to say, it's not me who is most fond of the two of them but you, husband."
"Aunt Bai Yin you also like, but since I am a cat, and Aunt is a snake, you said in your heart that Aunt's body is chill and probably uncomfortable to sleep with..."
After Yunrong's questions, Tao Qian's face stiffened.
Fortunately, salvation arrived at this moment.
There was an earlier agreement for Zheng Yin to summon him to meet with Devil Concubine Yuan Mingzhen using the Heavenly Track Secret Technique.
Now, the time had come.
This time the method used was more secretive, namely an encounter within a dream.
Accordingly, Tao Qian simply took Yunrong along.
The two's bodies were seated in the quiet room, apparently cultivating a secret technique.
Yet their Heart Souls borrowed the Heavenly Track and silently entered Yuan Mingzhen's dream.
...
Within a magnificent, grandiose Imperial Palace, breathtaking in every way,
One could see everywhere, a great number of eunuchs and palace maids, each unable to hide signs of mutation, their bodies covered in lumps and pus-filled boils.
On the deepest dragon bed lay an old man, ancient to the extreme, filled with decay that seemed to permeate every corner.
Despite this, the elder still exuded a heart-stopping True Dragon aura. His eyes were turbid, his exposed skin was covered with rotten spots, and when he opened his mouth, sharp, dense teeth were revealed, along with sticky strands of saliva.
At this moment, the old man was breathing rapidly, his face filled with a strong desire to survive.
He completely ignored all the civil and military officials in the palace and representatives of various forces; his greedy gaze was fixed on a woman who was slowly approaching, stunningly beautiful and unparalleled in the world.
Hoarsely, as if shouting from the depths of his decaying spiritual resonance, he said,
"Quick… come here."
"Let me eat… eat you."
"As long as I eat you, our Zhu Dynasty can continue to live…"
It wasn't just the elder shouting and urging.
All around, others were urging as well.
Even the family members who had escorted the woman, each of them eager, were pushing her to go forward.
As she slowly approached, everyone saw the elder on the dragon bed suddenly mutate. Amidst a spray of pus and blood, a decrepit, obese monster appeared, shaking with fatty tumors all over its body, wearing monk's robes, holding a Buddha's bowl, and with a dragon's body and a human head. Its long and bony dragon claws reached out, and filthy obscenities spilled from its mouth continuously.
Looking at this situation, he seemed to want to strip the magnificent phoenix crown and cloud robe from the female protagonist's body publicly, with rough hurry.
One would expect that such a terrifying spectacle would have scared the woman into fainting.
However, that did not happen. It seemed as if a blaze of golden light burst forth from her, and she took step after step forward, her body growing incredibly tall. The originally faint cries of the Heavenly Phoenix suddenly intensified.
When she arrived in front of the elder, accompanied by a piercing screech, nine Heavenly Phoenix phantasms emerged and dove directly behind the elder in the void, beginning to devour a certain aura.
The elder's body suddenly stiffened, and those meat pillar tentacles disintegrated into flying ashes as if burned by flames.
"No...!"
"You are not the Primordial Consort… you are the Devil Concubine… the one who steals the fortune of our Zhu family."
The elder screamed, his eyes filled with fury and despair.
The woman, whose face covering had been lifted at some unknown time, simply looked at the completely mutated and fallen civil and military officials, eunuchs, palace maids, and the Forbidden Army guards, and so on.
Her eyes were full of disappointment as she shook her head and said,
"The Zhu family's fortune? In such a state, what fortune is there to speak of?"
"But indeed, it was I, Yuan Mingzhen, who filled the last shovel of earth for your Zhu Dynasty."
Having said this, with the screech of the Heavenly Phoenix and the burst of golden light, she blew the decaying, pus-filled Imperial Palace to smithereens.
However, after the Imperial Palace was destroyed, Yuan Mingzhen did not sit upon the imperial throne.
The new scene that emerged: Yuan Mingzhen stood before an incredibly tempting throne, with many figures of power appearing around her, including the Xie Family, Guanyin Temple, Free Temple, and the aristocratic families of the Imperial City that had been around for a thousand years... Everyone's faces were twisted with urgency, all urging her to sit on the throne.
But she didn't even glance at the position, her face showing a stubborn expression. Instead, she turned her gaze elsewhere.
As she watched, a glimmer flickered.
A young Daoist, holding a plum blossom Kitten in his arms, slowly appeared before her.
If not Tao Qian, then who else could it be.
Yuan Mingzhen, who had been solemn, upon seeing Tao Qian's face, suddenly said,
"Tao Master, if Mingzhen remembers correctly, this should be our second meeting."
"Actually, Mingzhen has always had a question to ask Tao Master, and wonders if today, you might resolve my doubts."
Normally, Tao Qian would think that the "second time" Yuan Mingzhen was referring to was the debate earlier that evening and this present moment.
But strangely, Tao Qian understood that Yuan Mingzhen was referring to the first time they met, when Tao Qian was fleeing for his life and encountered her in the Phoenix Chariot.
He had thought Yuan Mingzhen hadn't noticed him at that time, but now it seems he was mistaken.
"Yuann Daoist, please ask."
"The first time Mingzhen saw the Tao Master, I mistook you for someone who had come to rescue me from the sea of suffering, yet you only slipped into the Phoenix Chariot, gave Mingzhen a glance, and then left."
"Later, when Mingzhen obtained the Imperial City and the Spring and Autumn Chariot, I learned of the causes and consequences from this Ancestor God Treasure."
"It never occurred to me that Tao Master would have such courage, willing to destroy the Mountain and River Map, such a treasure, for the sake of all living beings in the world, nor did I expect that Mingzhen was once one of Tao Master's choices for saving the world."
"It's just unfortunate that, in the end, you didn't choose me."
"What Mingzhen wants to know is, if it had been Senior Sister Lingji in the Phoenix Chariot at that time, would Tao Master have chosen her, taking another path, instead of the Yang Sui Uprising."