Xu Fu's current mood could only be described as extremely excited.
Others found it difficult to understand Xu Fu's state of mind. Even seekers of immortality like her were all pursuing immortal affinity, unlike Xu Fu, who simply wanted to see immortals.
After countless voyages across the sea, countless brushes with life and death, what she had always pursued was the very existence of immortals and gods, those manifestations of Mystery itself—existences so rarely seen by mortals. This yearning had been carved into her bones. It could even be said to be a desire born from something like an Origin impulse.
Rovi was the first immortal-god she had ever seen, and even more, the first immortal-god she had seen who was so gentle toward her.
In Xu Fu's heart, he had therefore taken on an absolutely irreplaceable position, one carved into something like her Origin itself.
"Emperor-Lord, Emperor-Lord~"
She needed no guide, nor any further words. At this moment, the girl headed toward the inn with excitement written all over her face.
Light from her curse arts had long since lit up within her swaying, oversized robes. As a seeker of immortality, Xu Fu's attainment in the arts was naturally profound, having already reached a realm infinitely close to the "Divine Spirit-class" of immortals and gods.
And so, shrouded in that flowing light, even though the inn in the capital of Yan was bustling with people as a place where countless merchants and travelers briefly lodged and rested, no one noticed her existence.
Xu Fu, whose personality was already timid and even somewhat afraid of strangers, naturally kept her head lowered as she walked straight ahead.
Following Rovi's aura in her senses—following the direction of the Emperor-Lord's existence in her memory.
Her soft legs, wrapped in black silk, landed on the ground, and the short skirt swaying beneath her robes fluttered lightly. The farther she went, the happier Xu Fu's expression became.
Emperor-Lord, Emperor-Lord...
"Emperor-Lord, we meet again"—would saying that be a little too abrupt?
"Emperor-Lord, hello, I'm Xu Fu, the one you met before"—but that seems a little too distant...
The closer she came to her destination, and the more she imagined how she should act once they met, the more inexplicable nervousness surfaced on Xu Fu's face.
This feeling was complicated and hard to describe, but to the girl, it was something she gladly accepted...
"Emperor-Lord—"
Ahead, Xu Fu finally saw the figure she had longed for day and night... She passed straight through the wall and entered, but what came into view was, between gauze curtains, two figures embracing each other...
"Eh!? The Emperor-Lord, and... Immortal Yu?" Xu Fu froze, and the small girl tilted her head.
Was the Emperor-Lord in that kind of relationship with Immortal Yu?
She stood rooted in place.
Then, somewhat at a loss, she heard a voice rise beside her. "Entering without knocking is impolite, little girl."
"I-I'm sorry!" Xu Fu instantly hugged her head, pressing both hands over her hat until its tall peak dipped slightly. She carefully looked to the side and let out a surprised sound. "Emperor-Lord? Why are you over there...? Then over there is..."
"So noisy. How annoying. Why does someone bother me every time I sleep!?" On the bed, Yu Mei-ren propped herself up slightly, her crimson lips pursed and her face full of displeasure. "Wait, what is this?"
What she was pressing beneath her was a "doll" made in Rovi's likeness.
"It's a 'puppet'!?" Xu Fu's eyes lit up.
Standing beside her, leaning against the wall, Rovi smiled. "I had no choice. Just now, someone insisted on holding me and refused to let go no matter what, so I could only replace myself with a puppet."
"Ugh." Though Yu Mei-ren had been woken up, she was still muddled. "You actually dared trick me?"
"I'm going to... eat you—hah!"
Yu Mei-ren, whose drunkenness had yet to fade, looked especially terrifying.
Xu Fu looked at Yu Mei-ren, then at Rovi beside her, and tilted her head. Of course she would not know that Rovi had only used an "art" the instant she entered, slipping free from Yu Mei-ren's embrace and using a "form-shaping puppet" Noble Phantasm taken from the Gate of Babylon to make it look like himself, creating this scene without anyone noticing.
For Rovi, avoiding certain awkward situations had practically become instinct.
And so at this moment, he still looked completely composed.
"A puppet?"
When I go back, I'm definitely going to make a big Emperor-Lord doll too!
Xu Fu thought.
On the bed, Yu Mei-ren rubbed her eyes, her consciousness gradually clearing. The first thing she saw was that, apart from Rovi, there was now another figure in the room.
She instantly became wary, then relaxed the moment she saw clearly, only to raise her brows again. "Oh, it's you, little girl."
The girl-like immortal's face was faintly red. She did not mention the Rovi "doll" beneath her, and instead very skillfully changed the subject.
She had been hazy with drunkenness earlier, but thinking back now, Yu Mei-ren still had some memory of it.
She had indeed forcibly held onto Rovi.
She had indeed refused to let him leave.
And...
He actually had not left.
He had not left her...
Yu Mei-ren instinctively picked up the "Rovi" beneath her, intending to pretend she was throwing it away, only to suddenly pause and stare off slightly.
Speaking of which, Xu Fu had approached.
But why had she not noticed any sign of it at all?
Even drunk, she should not have lacked even the slightest instinctive vigilance.
Had she really become this lax?
Yu Mei-ren fell into deep thought.
Rovi merely bent slightly and rubbed Xu Fu's head, easing her tension. "Remember, come in through the door next time. Otherwise, I'll be angry."
"I-I'm sorry, Emperor-Lord. I was just... just too happy that I could see you here..." Xu Fu shrank her head back a little, though her face remained flushed with excitement.
"You came here specifically to find me, didn't you?"
"Yes..."
Xu Fu handed over the letter Great Qin had sent to Rovi. She said, "The King of Qin—um, I hear he's a very frightening person—wrote to tell me that you were here, Emperor-Lord, and asked me to deliver this letter to you..."
Rovi looked at the letter in his hand. Though that King of Qin held the strongest state under heaven, it seemed that, at least for now, he remained cautious and prudent. Or rather, though he had the ambition to eye all under heaven like a tiger, he also had the greater strategy of guarding against the unexpected and advancing step by step.
Thinking about it, that was only natural. The first person to truly unify the Nine Provinces of Yan and Huang in the real sense could not possibly have relied on luck alone.
Still less could such a feat be accomplished with a few empty words about "magnanimity."
Schemes and calculation were absolutely indispensable.
The King of Qin had written this letter. He knew Rovi's whereabouts, yet instead of sending someone directly to deliver it, he had sent it to Xu Fu and borrowed Xu Fu's hand to pass it on to Rovi.
This was to avoid offending Rovi, and even more, to express Great Qin's sincerity.
Majestic Great Qin was already waiting beyond the pass for the Immortal Lord's entry into Qin.
Seeing Rovi's thoughtful expression, Xu Fu hurriedly said, "But Emperor-Lord, please don't misunderstand..."
"I-I didn't come here to recruit you on Qin's behalf. I haven't even been to Qin. I only came because... because I heard you were here."
"I-I hope I can stay by your side and obey your instructions!"
"No matter what you ask me to do..."
Xu Fu's goal was very simple. She merely wanted to see Rovi.
She wanted to follow Rovi, and no matter what Rovi wished her to do, she would obey without fail.
Without the slightest hesitation!
However...
"Great Qin? Perfect. I was just about to go there." Rovi smiled.
Yu Mei-ren, who had risen from the bed, looked at Xu Fu, then at Rovi, and unconsciously tightened her hold on the "Rovi doll" in her arms.
An inexplicable feeling surfaced in her heart...
A sense of crisis?
But in truth, Qin was already where Rovi had planned to go next. Not only because he had now traveled through the six states east of Hangu Pass, and had recently met the successors of the Hundred Schools, leaving nothing else beyond the pass that he needed to see. There was also a certain sentiment in his heart.
Qin would march east, with the momentum to unify all under heaven. But as a transmigrator, Rovi knew very well that Qin did not merely have the possibility of unifying all under heaven.
Qin would inevitably unify all under heaven.
The unification of the Nine Provinces began from this point.
"You... you're going to Great Qin?" Xu Fu tilted her head, somewhat surprised, her crimson lips parting slightly.
Rovi reached out again.
In an instant, Xu Fu abruptly took off the square hat on her head, revealing a head of smooth black hair.
Her face was full of nervousness, yet her eyes looked over with anticipation.
Rovi paused. After thinking for a moment, he still reached out. No matter what, his impression of Xu Fu was quite good.
This child also held great respect and adoration toward him as "Emperor-Lord."
Though that respect and adoration was somewhat too fervent, for now, there were no signs of anything else.
Deliberately distancing himself would be more likely to cause problems.
And so, in that instant, the warning bells already present in Yu Mei-ren's heart rang loudly!
"Wherever you go, I'll go!" Feeling the warmth of his hand stroking her head, the girl looked extremely happy.
Rovi withdrew his hand, strands of hair slipping through his palm. "Yu Mei-ren, what do you say?"
"Do you even need to ask? You want to leave me behind? Dream on!" Yu Mei-ren revealed a pair of sharp fangs.
"Then let's go to Qin together and take a look." Rovi swept his sleeve. "Let's see what bearing that King Zheng of Qin truly has—"
"How do you plan to go? This is Yan. Qin is a long way from here..."
"Um, I have a boat, and a carriage too..."
"Shut up. No one asked you to speak!"
"Eh... I-I'm sorry!"
Yu Mei-ren's attitude toward Xu Fu suddenly became very poor, but Xu Fu still looked as though she was trembling in fear. This made Yu Mei-ren suddenly feel that this girl... might actually be very scheming?
"Have you forgotten what my status is?" Rovi, off to the side, sounded rather helpless.
After all, he was Taiyi of Taiyi gives birth to water, Water Official Great Emperor who governed the circulation of water through heaven, earth, and man.
"I will enter Qin in the names of Taiyi and Donghua. How could I ride a mortal carriage or horse?" Rovi swept his sleeve and said, "Xu Fu, do you need to make any preparations?"
Xu Fu looked puzzled. "Preparations?"
"That's right." Rovi nodded. "We will set out for Qin in two or three days."
"Eh? We're leaving that soon?" Xu Fu froze.
Yu Mei-ren said, "If you don't want to go, you don't have to."
That was exactly what she hoped.
"No, of course I want to go! Wherever the Emperor-Lord goes, I'll go!" Xu Fu frantically raised her hand.
"Since we're all going, then—we go together!"
"I-I can just wait here," Xu Fu said timidly.
Though Yu Mei-ren was displeased, for Rovi's sake, she would not forcibly drive Xu Fu away.
Rovi nodded and said, "Then the two of you should each rest for now."
"Hoo. Then I'm going back to sleep. My head is still a little dizzy." Yu Mei-ren shook her head and lay back down again.
Her hands clutched the Rovi doll tightly.
Xu Fu showed an envious expression, and grew even more determined in her heart.
However, she did not leave. Instead, she found a place to sit, her back straight, her pretty face carrying irrepressible joy. "I-I can stay right here."
To her, being in the same room as the Emperor-Lord was absolutely an honor.
Rovi did not stop her. He merely walked to the window of the inn and gazed outside.
At this moment, the Divine Land had long since entered night. Darkness shrouded the world, and amid scattered specks of light, the stars shone brilliantly.
There was no wind and no rain. It was clear, fine weather.
But that was only temporary.
Rovi slowly closed his eyes. His robes moved without wind, and his black hair rose.
An invisible field spread outward with him at its center. And so clouds and mist began to gather in the sky. Water vapor began to condense in the air. And upon the earth, rivers, lakes, and seas began to tremble.
The water qi of heaven, earth, and man circulated back and forth through the three realms.
...
On the streets of Yan, pedestrians were still walking when their steps suddenly halted and they raised their heads. "Why is it raining?"
"It's raining. Hurry home!" someone shouted, rushing forward in haste.
Some were too slow to dodge it and could only take shelter under the nearest eaves. "Strange, strange. There was no wind or rain a moment ago, so why has such heavy rain suddenly started falling!?"
Rain poured down. The clarity of one second before was now submerged beneath water vapor. Dark clouds covered the sky, blocking the sun, moon, and stars. Falling rain linked together like pillars of water connecting heaven and earth, the sound of water striking the ground and gathering like rivers.
A dense, heavy rain fell in an instant.
"Is this the Emperor-Lord exercising his power?" Master Huangshi, who had not yet left Yan, stood on a stone bridge with his hands behind his back, tilting his head up. The rain fell upon his shoulders, yet not a drop clung to him.
The Mohist Juzi and many dark silhouettes stood in the darkness, watching intently. They saw the vast water vapor follow the terrain, all heading in one direction.
The waters followed the branches of one of Huaxia's two mother rivers—the Great River, later known as the Yellow River. They flowed from north to south into the main trunk of the Great River in the lands of Qi, then rose layer upon layer against the terrain from east to west, as if pouring backward toward the Wei River.
The Wei River was one of the Great River's largest tributaries. It flowed through the vast land and passed over the fertile plains leading straight beyond Hangu Pass.
At the bottom of the Wei River, in the deepest darkness wrapped by countless chains, Wuzhiqi's true body, the ancient demon-god manifested in the form of a woman with silver hair, abruptly opened its eyes.
Dwelling within the water, Wuzhiqi, who had once controlled this stretch of the Wei River, sensed dense water vapor in this moment.
...
Within the capital of Yan, Rovi opened his eyes. "Lend me the river."
Wuzhiqi looked extremely pleased. "Gladly. This way, I'll have even more reason to ask you for help later!"
And so the demon-god at the bottom of the river stirred up waves. Though she was sealed, the fact that she could let an avatar move outside proved that this seal did not bind her completely.
Thus, from north to south, from east to west, vast water vapor pierced across the Divine Land from end to end, linking together in this moment.
Rovi would take it as his boat and enter Qin Pass and Xianyang as a lone sail.
Rain still roared through the capital of Yan. The Mohist Juzi abruptly startled awake. When he looked again at the rain before him, what he saw no longer seemed to be rain.
It was...
Ten thousand chariots and riders about to enter Qin.
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