Translated by Luen Translations

Edited by Siren and Birdie

Chapter 7: The God King Brothers (1)

A red robe with small sleeves fluttered and crimson hair hung down. A ruby embedded in a silver band decorated his forehead and it sparkled under the light of the night pearl. Lu Xiaocan stood up high on the treetop, waving at Tian Zhen. “We meet again. Do you still remember me, Gray Phoenix?”

Receiving too much attention wasn't a good thing. Tian Zhen wanted to cry.

‘I don’t remember you, little monster.’

“You’re that little soldier that escaped from my hands?” Lu Xiaocan recognized Wen Xi and his big eyes were filled with amazement, “You received ten of my strikes and you still didn’t die?”

He quickly relaxed and happily smiled at Tian Zhen. “Gray Phoenix, was it you who healed him?”

Tian Zhen’s heart twitched.

The deeply hidden expert, Wen Xi, was actually injured under “his” hands and moreover, it was ten strikes! ‘Exactly how strong was this little monster? Do I have any chances of escaping today?’

Lu Xiaocan rudely pointed at Wen Xi and ordered, “This heavenly king orders you to kill yourself!”

Wen Xi had already resumed his calm attitude and he smiled. “I have yet to become that foolish.”

‘Let me go. I’m willing to kill myself!’ Tian Zhen struggled, wanting to come out from his arms. ‘What is considered foolish? Allowing this freak of a monster to make his move—now that would be called foolish.’

Lu Xiaocan, however, clasped his hands behind his back and with great arrogance, treaded two steps forward. “Don’t think of playing tricks on me. You guys can’t escape.”

Without any forewarning, the branch underneath his feet sank. He suddenly jumped, throwing himself directly towards the two people. He was nimble and quick and looked exactly like a rabbit that had escaped from a cage. A ball of magic flickered within the palm of his small hand and lightning from the center of his palm went straight at Wen Xi.

Wen Xi had long since been on guard and upon seeing this, he rapidly retreated while carrying Tian Zhen. Unfortunately, Lu Xiaocan’s skills were unexpectedly far from what Tian Zhen had thought. He chuckled and then turned over, transforming into a streak of red lightning. He passed over the two people and intercepted their path.

In the end, the result of trying to escape was being unable to escape. Wen Xi inwardly gave a bitter laugh. If it was truly Heaven’s Will that he was destined to die here, then there was nothing he could do about it.

He simply put Tian Zhen aside, “Little phoenix, many thanks to you. Now go!”

‘Just by relying on my pair of wings, how far could I escape? Wouldn’t it be better to help a person to the very end?’ Tian Zhen gave a long sigh and turned around. She then charged towards Lu Xiaocan, ruthlessly wanting to peck his head.

“Little phoenix!” Wen Xi was alarmed. Quickly understanding her intention, he hesitated for a second before changing into a gush of wind and advanced.

Sure enough, Lu Xiaocan captured Tian Zhen and no longer pursued Wen Xi. After all, capturing a little celestial soldier wasn't a priority. He held onto Tian Zhen and dropped down on top of a large block of stone. He gave a “huh” sound and then lifted her wings, “It can’t be seen, but you sure have some guts.”

‘Is this little monster a rabbit spirit?’ Tian Zhen glared at that pair of round, red eyes. She stretched her head and used all her strength to peck.

Of course, the above mentioned fierceness was only limited to her imagination.

Tian Zhen’s guts were very small.

Lu Xiaocan bared his teeth, put out a very fierce appearance, and then pulled her neck feathers. “You dared to peck me?”

‘Children really were pure devils.’ Tian Zhen trembled.

Seeing that she was scared, Lu Xiaocan was greatly pleased. Blinking in satisfaction, he said, “If I kill you, Uncle Zhao Hua will get angry. Fuhuang* said before not to kill members of the Bird God race.”

(T/N: Fuhuang (父皇) means imperial father.)

‘I know, that’s why I dared to abandon myself to help others.’ Tian Zhen relaxed.

Lu Xiaocan cocked his head and thought out loud, “Although you look ugly, I still like you a tiny bit. It would be better if you return to the Devil Realm with me!”

‘Devil Realm, fuhuang, he’s definitely the Devil God’s son!’ Tian Zhen rolled her eyes. No wonder he was so treacherous and two-faced at such a young age. ‘Do you like me or do you like my blood?’

Sure enough, Lu Xiaocan immediately said afterwards, “because your blood is too useful!”

‘Damn, you little XXXX!’ Facing a child, for the first time in her life, Tian Zhen had the urge to scream out swear words. The painful thing was that, no matter how much a bird screamed out, the opposite party wouldn’t understand her words.

It was very clear that Lu Xiaocan had no intention of taking her feelings into consideration. With the intent to raise a bird, he began to consider the series of problems that he would come across in the future. The small face showed an extremely worried and awkward expression.

“If I bring you back, fuhuang will blame me when he sees you.”

Lu Xiaocan was distressed while Tian Zhen was pleased.

“I’ll just say that Uncle Zhao Hua gave you to me.”

Now Lu Xiaocan was pleased while Tian Zhen was distressed.

“But he won’t believe it……”

‘Right! Exactly!!’

“Then I’ll be stealthy and won't let him find out!”

‘F*ck!’

…………

During the period of time in which these l sentences were uttered, Tian Zhen’s heart had gone up and down and had already been trampled on several times. Fortunately, none of the number of methods Lu Xiaocan had thought of were considered as the right one. In the end, he showed a child's helpless expression. “Whatever, I can’t raise a bird. Bringing you back with me would be really troublesome. It’s better if I return you to Uncle Zhao Hua.”

‘What a well-behaved little shota!’ Tian Zhen shed tears of gratitude.

“Pure phoenix blood is rare, so give me some more drops to keep.” Lu Xiaocan was immeasurably self-satisfied by this idea. He took out a knife, pulled up her neck, and cut at it right away.

‘Do you take this old woman to be a blood bank for you to use?’ Tian Zhen wanted to cry but had no tears.

‘In fact, being a bird isn’t so good either. At the very least, she couldn’t be a phoenix. If I could do things over again, I’d rather have become a crow.……’

Dusk, twilight, dusk again, followed by twilight…

The carriage shook. A faint, delicate fragrance came from a warm hug. A hand was softly placed on her back and would occasionally tidy her feathers for her. Tian Zhen was motionless with her head dangling about. 

That day, Wen Xi had gone back and notified the others. By the time Zhao Huajun had rushed over, Lu Xiaocan had already left while she lay passed out on top of a stone block with her two legs straight up in the air, facing the sky.

“As expected of someone born of the phoenix race. How is it?”

“Thanks to Your Majesty’s great blessing, there’s no longer a problem.”

The God Emperor was very appreciative of her act of altruism and lifted up his hand in approval.

Zhao Huajun said, “This act has taken a toll on it……”

‘Right, I’ve lost too much blood, I’m dizzy, my vision’s blurry, and my heart is agitated. I won't be able to endure you old men playing jokes on me again and again.’ Tian Zhen pulled back her body as much as possible and her claws tightly grabbed on the front lapel of Zhao Huajun’s robe.

The God Emperor raised his eyebrows. “Zhen had a mind to bestow a reward on her for the praiseworthy action and wanted to see the condition of her injury. What has gotten you worried, cousin?”

‘Yesterday you were still cordially using “I”, today you’re completely revealing your original self and using “zhen”.’ Tian Zhen closed her eyes and pretended to not have heard that. She inwardly cursed. ‘Aren’t you just using your identity as the highest leader to pressurize others? Like hell you’re that great. I bet you don’t know that those wives of yours are clamorously fighting and that that loyal and devoted cousin is actually secretly setting up a honey trap for you.’

“The Bird God race’s people ought to carry out Your Majesty’s orders. How could it dare to ask for a reward?” Zhao Huajun smiled and presented Tian Zhen, “Your servant was worried that since it was injured, it would be lacking in manners in front of Your Majesty.”

The God Emperor suddenly also smiled and raised his hand. “Nevermind. Our official business is urgent. Once you return, reward it on my behalf, Zhao Huajun.” 

Zhao Huajun promised and then got up and lifted the curtain of the carriage. He took Tian Zhen and then passed her to Wen Xi who was beside the carriage on horseback. He himself returned inside of the carriage to discuss official matters with the God Emperor.

After traveling on the road for five days, the terrain in front of them gradually leveled out and in the distance, you could see the outline of the long, vast snow-capped mountains. Clouds and mist curled around it and emanating from there, was a heavy murderous aura. It looked like they weren’t that far off from the battlefield at Dong Yuan Yin Mountain. 

Wen Xi asked with a smile on his face. “Little phoenix, have you gotten better these past few days?”

With the favor of having saved his life, in these past few days, he naturally looked after Tian Zhen often and they became more familiar with each other. Tian Zhen gave a low cry to express her response.

Wen Xi’s gaze twinkled. “You can understand speech right?”

Tian Zhen was silent.

‘This person wasn’t simple. How could she hide her interactions with Zhao Huajun from him?’

“But you haven’t told Zhao Huajun and the others about my secrets right?” Wen Xi patted her back, “Why are you helping me?”

‘I also didn’t expect that I would help you.’ Tian Zhen blinked at him.

Wen Xi didn’t ask again. He smiled and sighed. “You lazy phoenix, you only eat and sleep. When will you be able to cultivate into human form?”

Tian Zhen objected.

‘What’s so amazing about turning from a bird to a person? I turned from a person to a bird. This is a real skill!’

Right at that moment, ten people dressed in battle attire riding on heavenly horses rushed here from a distance. They stopped in front of the troops and dismounted before greeting the leading general, Yue Zu, up ahead. They said a few words before general Yue Zu led those men to the carriage.

“General Bo Haigui, in accordance with the War God’s orders, has come to greet Zhao Huajun.”

In a flash, the imperial bodyguard raised half of the carriage’s curtain and Zhao Huajun was sitting upright inside it. He asked with a smile on his face, “What is the situation of the battle?”

Bo Haigui respectfully answered, “For the time being, the Devil God is still trapped inside the spell and there are yet to be any movements. Only, the Devil Realm’s elder and younger kings quickly led soldiers over just now and are fighting with the War God. At this moment, the battle's outcome is unknown.”

Zhao Huajun looked at the God Emperor beside him and after understanding his intention, said, “In that case, you’ll lead me to the front to have a look.”

Bo Haigui complied. 

The troops began moving again. Tian Zhen was incomparably excited.

Two armies were poised for the oncoming battle, and the gods and devils were about to wage the war. ‘I’m going to go watch the celestial soldiers “train” and raise their ranks.’

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