While Shi Yi and the Stone Emperor conversed, in an unassuming corner of the imperial palace, two beautiful women stood together, exchanging remarks about Shi Yi.
"He's impressive—neither servile nor overbearing. Even under the pressure of a human emperor's aura, he didn't show a trace of fear."
"He's so young, though. What was Father thinking? Even if he wants to arrange a betrothal, couldn't it wait a few years?"
"You're only a few years older than him. Besides, the Fire Emperor already betrothed his only princess. The Stone Kingdom can't fall behind. You're already the closest in age to him."
"That's easy for you to say, but will he accept me?"
"Accept or not, it's not his choice. He needs the protection of the Stone Kingdom, even the Fire Kingdom. Whether he accepts it or not, you and the Fire Kingdom princess are his."
"You're right. Accepting or not isn't up to him or me. Neither of us has the freedom to choose."
Clearly, these two refined beauties were the Stone Kingdom's Sixteenth Princess and Fairy Yue Chan from the Upper Realm. Their private rapport seemed amicable.
The Sixteenth Princess needed no introduction. By the Stone Emperor's arrangement, she was nominally Shi Yi's betrothed. If he wished, she could bear his child at any time.
As for Fairy Yue Chan, she hailed from the Upper Realm's Heaven-Mending Sect, a secondary body of its saintess.
Raised in the Lower Realm's Eight Domains, she honed her Dao through trials, tempering herself in the mortal world.
"No control over one's fate…"
A flicker of unease passed through Yue Chan's eyes. She realized she, too, lacked agency. Some things were beyond her power to resist or choose.
She was the secondary body, while the primary body cultivated in seclusion. The secondary body wandered the mortal world, only to eventually surrender its identity and merge unconditionally with the primary.
Why?
Why must she sacrifice everything to merge, while the primary reaped the benefits without effort?
Did the primary not know that the primary-secondary body technique granted the secondary body its own independent consciousness?
Meanwhile, Shi Yi was oblivious to being the subject of their discussion or their sighs of helplessness. Having bid farewell to the Stone Emperor, he was on his way back to the Martial King's Manor.
But on the road home, he encountered a sizzling figure.
"Little brother, all alone? Are you lost?"
A sultry woman suddenly blocked his path, striking a provocative pose.
Had Shi Yi's reflexes been slower, he'd have crashed into her. But reacting too quickly, he realized, wasn't exactly ideal either.
"Don't add 'little' on purpose. I understand you fine. I'm not lost," Shi Yi said, spreading his hands.
He couldn't fathom why women insisted on tacking "little" onto "brother."
And this approach—wasn't it a bit too obvious? As if he wouldn't notice her ulterior motives?
"Small but sharp-witted. Sister meant your age, little brother. Where's your mind wandering?"
The woman extended a delicate finger, poking Shi Yi's forehead. She found him amusing—barely eleven, yet already guarding his masculine pride.
"I'm not overthinking. You are. May I ask what business you have?"
Shi Yi didn't mind the poke, instead probing her intentions. Blocking him mid-path meant she had something to ask.
"Little brother, not long ago, a fragmented Taoist scripture surfaced in the Desolation Domain. Three golden lotuses bloomed, and Dao chants filled the Stone Kingdom. You wouldn't claim ignorance, would you?"
Her eyes roamed over Shi Yi, as if seeing through him.
"I know," Shi Yi replied calmly.
His composed face betrayed no emotion, briefly making her doubt her judgment.
But she quickly reaffirmed her suspicion. She refused to believe Shi Yi was unconnected to the fragmented scripture.
"According to Sister's investigation, you were gone for five years, recently returned from the Great Wilderness, and soon after, a fragmented Taoist scripture appeared in the Stone Kingdom. I don't believe that's mere coincidence."
The woman smiled seductively, her voice soul-melting, capable of softening the hardest resolve.
Before her, even the strongest-willed man would struggle to resist.
She was scorching.
She needed no overt action—her voice and smile alone could topple kings, luring them into ruin unaware.
"You suspect me?"
Shi Yi's tone remained steady.
Let her burn; he was immune to her fire.
No choice.
Since opening his ten Heavenly Passages, with thirteen supreme Taoist scriptures anchoring his soul's sea of consciousness, he hadn't felt unsettled in ages.
What was a Dao heart? He didn't know. He only knew that petty tricks like charm or allure couldn't sway him.
Unless Liu Shen herself intervened, that might work. He'd even play along willingly.
But this woman?
Shi Yi felt nothing.
Not that he was uninterested in women.
Nor had he become some desireless sage.
His immunity to charm didn't mean immunity to women.
He was not only interested but very interested.
"Suspicion… If you insist on putting it that way, I suppose you could."
The woman was slightly surprised by Shi Yi's steadfast Dao heart but soon found it expected. A Double-Pupiled bearer wouldn't fall for feminine wiles.
So, was his earlier "small but sharp-witted" act deliberate?
She suddenly found Shi Yi unsettling.
This man was beyond her control.
"Then keep suspecting!"
Shi Yi glanced at her, turned, and left. Some things were better left unsaid—silence avoided missteps. He had no interest in discussing the Scripture of Salvation with her.
Deep down, he knew many were secretly seeking the scripture, and some suspected him. But none had been as direct as this sizzling woman.
Even the Stone Emperor, with his meandering chatter, had subtly probed about the scripture.
But Shi Yi's open demeanor—suspect all you want—had dispelled their doubts.
"Little brother, leaving already? Sister wanted to chat more!"
The woman froze, glancing at herself, then at Shi Yi's retreating figure. She couldn't believe her allure had sunk so low.
She was always the one to walk away.
No man had ever left her first.
"No thanks. We've nothing to discuss. Besides, I don't even know who you are," Shi Yi said without turning back.
"Sister's from the Heavenly Fox Clan. Ask around—who doesn't know the Heavenly Fox Fairy?"
Unlike Yue Chan, she hadn't cultivated a primary-secondary body technique. She had a main identity and an alias. Her main body was her true self; her alias, a spiritual clone. She usually appeared as the Heavenly Fox Fairy clone.
A spiritual clone differed from a dharma body. A dharma body was a non-human race's humanoid form, while a spiritual clone was an avatar, typically nurtured in Heavenly Passages, with strength one realm below its creator.
"Heavenly Fox Fairy?"
Shi Yi scratched his head, recalling her. Wasn't she the Enchantress?
The Enchantress had two identities: her true self and her Heavenly Fox clone.
But where were her tails?
Puzzled but uninterested in verifying, Shi Yi didn't look back to check. Knowing her identity was enough; not everything needed probing.
Unbeknownst to him, her lack of fox tails stemmed from her taunting in the Void God Realm, which enraged the true Fairy Yuechan. Yuechan had destroyed her Heavenly Fox clone.
Though death in the Void God Realm only harmed essence, spirit, and vitality, her real-world Heavenly Fox clone had been damaged, preventing her tails from manifesting.
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