157. Closest Of Friends
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'Zhurong Fen!'
Fei Yun knelt upright to behold the beautiful person before him, and his hand subconsciously lifted, reaching out for her like he had done so many times in his dreams.
'A-Fen...!'
Fei Yun opened his mouth to speak, but his tongue felt incredibly heavy, and all he managed was an intelligible stutter.
'A-Fen!!' He mentally repeated her name. 'Impossib-!!!'
"'Impossible!'... Right?" Zhurong Fen spoke, a small smirk on her lips.
She leaned down and gently caressed his face. "A-Yun... My dear A-Yun. Even when the truth is staring you in the face, you still won't see it!" She pushed his chin aside and straightened, as Fei Yun sat heavily in disbelief...
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Meanwhile, the newly awakened Mortals were still wondering which black dragon was responsible for all this?
And how it all tied to the real villain and mastermind.
"Everyone!" Yin Xing called out, drawing their attention back to him. "There is more to the story, but I will let you see it for yourselves."
He held out a hand and a glowing scroll appeared over it, along with two stars circling it.
"I set out to search the stars merely to clear my brother's name, but I didn't expect to find a problematic star." His tone had taken on an unusual bitter note.
"This star defied the laws of the skies, and though its owner still lives, it was cleverly hidden in the Fate Sea region, mimicking the dead!"
He had been looking for the late Sky Empress's star within the Fate Sea region when he had found a strange star.
And now, they all watched as the edict rose up with the two stars, expanding to cover the skies.
This time, Yin Xing cast a different spell, more powerful than the last...
It was essentially like the resounding edict which had proclaimed Bailong guilty in the past, but this edict held visions from the two stars, and this time, it enshrouded every living soul within Yu Shui City in a final vision, including the Immortals and demons.
It was also much shorter than the previous one as it only focused on two individuals...
Feng Yuexia, the Late Sky Empress...
And Zhurong Fen, Princess of Sky Realm, and 'Late' Floral Deity.
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On the night of Zhurong Fen's birth, the infant absorbed all her mother's powers somehow, leading to her mother's death.
The Medicine Immortal had never seen this before...
But the infant's primordial form was a Grand Triple-Tiered Crystal Ice Lotus... An extremely rare Primordial form among flowers, with only one presently in existence:
The child's maternal grandmother and the current Floral Deity.
This form blessed Zhurong Fen with immense powers, including the Flower-Heart Technique which would allow her to infuse her qi into other flowers without any significant loss, and was especially useful for nurturing the floral young, growing them to their full potential.
This made Zhurong Fen the best choice as the next floral deity, and that, coupled with her father's immense grief, led to her banishment to the Floral Realm.
In less than three thousand years Zhurong Fen was extremely popular in the Floral Realm!
This was partly because of her natural beauty and charm, but mostly because she indeed showed the potential to surpass her Grandmother, the Floral Deity!
But unlike her grandmother who had been an ambitious and fearsome fireball in her youth, Zhurong Fen seemed pure and innocent, preferring to spend endless days tending to the floral young in the flower fields...
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Time passed, and Zhurong Haotian asked Zhurong Fen to return as the Sky Princess.
But Zhurong Fen was not interested.
'Not yet.' She thought, and she bowed her head, intending to decline.
But then the throne room doors swung open...
And that moment brought the biggest stumbling block in Zhurong Fen's lifetime.
Yin Xiaolong...!
Yin Xiaolong instantly became the oject of Zhurong Fen's desires... The only thing she ever really wanted outside her own goals...
She could find no imperfection in him, and she instantly locked onto him.
So Zhurong Fen accepted her father's invitation to stay in Sky palace, and she relentlessly pursued Yin Xiaolong after that, not even caring about her own face to chase.
But Yin Xiaolong simply could not be toppled...
It didn't matter how beautiful, or talented, or cunning, or forward Zhurong Fen was. Yin Xiaolong never let her cross the line of his 'Little sister', and he proved more than capable of dispelling even the most powerful flower charms she shot at him.
It was as if Yin Xiaolong was an unreachable summit, and the more she climbed, the higher out of her reach he became.
And the more out of her reach he became, the more desirable he seemed, especially when one considered his Four-Petal Garden, his connection to the War Hall, the Wealth Deity, and even the sheer amount of trust the Sky Emperor placed with him.
Yin Xiaolong was a formidable force of power...
But try as she might, he was too good at evading all her advances.
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Years passed and Zhurong Fen and Feng Yuexia (Sky Empress) became the closest of friends, inseparable whenever they were within Sky Palace, and visiting each other whenever Zhurong Fen had to return to the Floral realm.
Happiness and sadness drifted by...
Yan Liwei appeared in Central Sky Realm raising doubts about Feng Yuexia's identity, and leading to her eventual downfall after Yan Liwei was proven as the real golden phoenix.
This of course led Yuexia to lose her family and nearly cost her the position of Crown Princess.
And Zhurong Fen was with her through it all...
Then came Yin Xiaolong's wedding to Yan Liwei, just a year after.
More time passed, and the Civil war came and went.
Zhurong Fen became the Floral deity, and Feng Yuexia became the Sky Empress.
Yet these friends journeyed to visit themselves as often as possible, and they were hailed in Sky Realm as the closest of friends, second only to the trio of Tianlong, Bailong, and Fei Yun.
But then...
Feng Yuexia became pregnant...
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Feng Yuexia, Empress of Sky Realm, was said to be close friends with the Floral deity.
But she herself knew better.
They were only close because she would never dare defy Zhurong Fen.
Zhurong Fen simply held too much of her secrets!
So if Zhurong Fen came to see her at Sky Palace, she would definitely meet her, and more importantly, if Zhurong Fen summoned her to the Floral Realm, she wouldn't hesitate to go over.
All these interactions between 'Master' and 'underling' had somehow been misinterpreted as 'friendship' but they both wanted it that way!
It made everyone believe Zhurong Fen was pure and innocent.
And it saved Feng Yuexia's pride.
As for Tianlong...
Yuexia had never particularly loved Zhurong Tianlong in any undying way.
Her ambition from childhood was to rise as Sky Empress, so she had clung to Tianlong even though she herself had considered him a weakling in the past.
And through endless trials, she had finally achieved her goal with Zhurong Fen's help.
But then Zhurong Fen had other plans...
Yuexia had not been Sky Empress for a few days when Zhurong Fen instructed her to lead Tianlong to ruin, promising to make her the ruler of the Bird Clan.
Naturally Feng Yuexia was hesitant!
After all, she had strived to be the Empress for so long!
But once again, she remembered...
Zhurong Fen held her secrets!
From the fact that she slayed thousands of flowers yearly, simply to keep her beauty, to the fact that she had been actively involved in pretending to be the Golden Phoenix, and to the fact that she had deliberately manipulated Tianlong from the start...
Zhurong Fen knew all the many way in which Yuexia's hands were dirty!
It was simply unwise to go against her.
And beside, though Bird Clan Ruler wasn't as high a position as Sky Empress, it meant Feng Yuexia would be overall the ruler there, rather than be under a King here in the palace.
So Yuexia obeyed.
...until she discovered she was pregnant...!
All through her marriage with Tianlong, she had deceived him saying she didn't want a child yet because things weren't safe.
Being together for thousands of years without offspring wasn't uncommon amongst Immortals...
They had an eternity to look forward to, and with that came a freedom to have heirs early or late, with many choosing to enjoy thousands of years as a couple before raising children.
Yuexia had played on this, reminding Tianlong that they had all the time in the world...
However, despite all the seals to prevent it, Tianlong's dragon seed had insisted on being born, placing Yuexia in a dangerous position.
'What do I do?!' She wondered, feeling as if she stood precariously atop two boats veering in different directions, a foot on each one.
In one boat was Zhurong Fen.
But moving into that boat likely meant getting rid of the child...
Yuexia didn't fully know Zhurong Fen's plans, but her actions seemed like she wanted the Sky throne.
Would she permit the birth of a legitimate heir now?!
Yet the child had somehow drawn forth all Yuexia's protective instincts, and she couldn't bring herself to destroy it!
Which meant the boat with Tianlong was the most secure one.
'He's the child's father... Why not remain by his side...?!' She found herself thinking.
Besides, even if she became the Bird Clan Ruler and somehow convinced Zhurong Fen to spare her child, her reputation would be in shambles.
Whereas beside Tianlong, she would honorable in the highest way! Tianlong would love her and their child, and she would be the mother of the future Crown Prince!
And so, Feng Yuexia began to avoid Zhurong Fen, setting up a wall of excuses between them...
...which lasted only two months...
The child's existence was revealed to Zhurong Fen, and she instantly guessed Feng Yuexia's shift in loyalty.
So she sent Yuexia a chilling warning,
"If you insist on having that child, you will die with it...!"
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