In his youth, Marshal Jun had been fiery and brash, a true soldier. Though tempered by age, old habits, like being a terrible yet avid chess player, remained. He hated being let win but flipped the board when he lost.
"Besides, I've got plenty of grandsons. Why force him to marry in?" Marshal Jun said slowly, sidestepping the earlier question.
"Heh!" The man chuckled, changing the subject. He tapped the stone table. "What about Prince Tao?"
Prince Tao's ties to the Demon Sect were known to few, but the stakes were high, potentially affecting the court and the righteous sects.
If even Prince Tao was involved, who else in the family might be? The new emperor knew, but his stance? That'd take days to clarify.
Marshal Jun scoffed. "If he wants dignity, give it to him. If not? Let him explain himself to Emperor Ming."
The middle-aged man sighed. Expecting nuance from this old brute was his mistake.
Qing wandered the outer imperial city, distracted.
The palace, designed by a master of old, gleamed with red eaves and golden splendor, a testament to Bright Hua's rise. Yet traces of its origins as a mountainside fortress lingered: bunkers at the base, cannon scars amid the gardens.
The inner city was the original stronghold; the outer, a later expansion. Emperor Ming had moved his court and harem here for comfort, with the grand hall for morning assemblies just past the Black Tortoise Gate.
Palace staff knelt and hailed Qing as she passed, but she disliked the reverence, it distanced her from the Dao. Casting a subtle illusion to lower her presence, she avoided their attention.
Her mind flashed to Li's joyful smile when speaking of Feng, then to the embrace she'd witnessed at the Jun residence.
She knew Marshal Jun had meant for her to see it.
He could've welcomed her formally but instead guided her to that rooftop view. Qing didn't resent him; she just felt a strange tightness in her chest recalling Feng and Suya's embrace, a new, unfamiliar sensation.
Lost in thought, she found herself at Yong Row.
She stopped before that foul, dilapidated house, stunned. Why had she come here?
Yong Row was desolate, Elder Mu's shack even more so. The stench was unbearable, no one would check if he died and rotted away.
For Elder Mu, though, it was his sanctuary.
He awoke as usual, his towering erection in hand, rubbing his grimy, blackened balls. His groin was a mess of black and graying hair, his pockmarked sack a mix of decay and vigor. Per routine, he fantasized about the fairy princess while stroking, ready to release a night's worth of pent-up seed.
The thick shaft rose, its slit oozing sticky fluid, lubricating his fingers. The wet "squelch" filled the air as the glistening, red-hot rod swelled, its purple head like a dragon emerging from lava.
In his haze, Elder Mu saw her, his dream, his terror, his desire. Even recalling her murderous glare sent shivers of fear and ecstasy through him, driving him mad.
"Princess! Fairy! Princess…"
He whimpered, stroking faster, his breathing ragged. His tattered shirt couldn't hide his bony, wrinkled chest, ribs stark against sagging, spotted skin, an ugly, nauseating sight.
"Knock knock!"
A sudden rap at the door jolted him like lightning. His raging cock wilted with his courage. Clutching his filthy, yellowed blanket, he curled up, trembling.
"Wuu… don't kill me, don't kill me…"
His cowardly sobs leaked from the covers, his claw-like fingers gripping the rag tight, pleading pitifully.
Outside, the visitor paused, frowning at the intensified male musk, a mix of hormones and years of rot, oddly lascivious.
Wiser from last time, Qing didn't step inside.
Yet her cheeks flushed instinctively, her calm heart rippling. Her pulse quickened beyond expectation, stirring her wavering resolve into something vague and bizarre.
*Since things with Feng have come to this…*
Why not use Elder Mu to break her illusions?
She wouldn't admit it, but seeing Feng with his confidantes had already thrown her heart into chaos.
Hearing Elder Mu's whimpers, Qing reached for the door, then hesitated, recalling her last visit, drenched in hot, thick semen, the stench overwhelming her senses.
But then Feng's peaceful smile with Suya flashed in her mind. Gritting her teeth, she pushed the door open.
A wave of stench, hundreds of times worse than before, hit her. Her ears burned, her racing heart sped up, and even her steady breathing grew shallow.
The room was a disaster, pools of semen on the floor, streaks of dried and wet seed on the ceiling, beams, and walls.
Qing's body heated inexplicably. Why?
Since reaching the Flawless Realm, her body had been perfected, free of impurities. She'd never experienced the monthly cycles her teasing sect sisters giggled about.
Beyond some vague Daoist texts on yin-yang union, Qing was a blank slate about love and lust.
At Xian Sect, no man dared approach the god-gifted fairy.
"Get up. I'm not here to kill you."
Adjusting her breath, careful not to inhale too deeply the foul, lascivious air, Qing spoke softly, seeing Elder Mu cowering on his bed.
Hearing that angelic voice he adored, Elder Mu forgot his fear, throwing off the blanket. He sat up, chest bare, staring at the girl before him with cloudy eyes.
"P-Princess… F-Fairy…"
His wrinkled face lit up with unfeigned joy, like a child beholding the world's greatest treasure, his hoarse voice stammering.
Seeing such pure delight on his repulsive face, Qing felt conflicted.
She wasn't shallow, beauty or ugliness meant nothing before the Dao.
But she instinctively recoiled from the aimless desire and decayed stagnation in people like him, the fate a cultivator with a heart for the Dao dreaded most.
Elder Mu reeked of twilight, like a forgotten grave, yet bore a simplicity that even Qing couldn't ignore, a twisted, natural complexity.
She didn't know his past, but it made her think of herself…
Since descending the mountain, her mind had grown heavy, her thoughts tangled, lacking the purity Elder Mu somehow retained.
Though warped…
As she mused, the thick scent and rising heat flustered her, clashing with her senses.
*What am I thinking? Why am I here…*
Before she could sink deeper, her gaze caught Elder Mu's sagging thighs, and the monstrous thing between them, rising hard and hot, a python ready to strike.
"Shameless! Vile!"
Pure as paper in matters of desire, she snapped instinctively. Unaware, a flush crept up her swan-like neck, tinting her moon-cool face and delicate ears.
Elder Mu's eyes widened. Even a true eunuch would stir at this, let alone his altered body, its surging lust overwhelming. His hairy, grotesque cock swelled to its full thirty-plus centimeters, veins throbbing, standing unaided, roaring at the fairy, its purple head leaking fresh, lewd fluid.
Faced with this horror, the inexperienced fairy stepped back, suppressing a strange restlessness. She recited a calming mantra, regaining her cool, moon-bright gaze.
"…I'm leaving."
She spoke flatly, avoiding his gaze and the iron-like rod, turning to go.
"…Pretend I was never here."
Why had she added that? Her steps quickened, almost fleeing.
Elder Mu gaped as the door swung open, a breeze cutting through the miasma, carrying away her faint fragrance, virginal and rich.