Chapter 327: The Heavenly Demon And The Heavenly Empress Live Together Again
Listen While Reading: Every Day Is a Good Day
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After using all the items I could and getting a lot of new and useful goodies, I moved to finally have breakfast. Everyone was already about to finish their meals; I really ended up taking my damn time. I hurriedly sat down and apologized for being so late. The Heavenly Demon seemed angry, but Song forgave me; the rest of my friends seemed as welcoming as ever.
Zero One and Zero Two were there too, enjoying their food; the younger sister was still making weird faces when she ate, but she was definitely enjoying the act of eating more and more as she got used to it. It's just that her faces... the faces she makes are weird, that's all.
Master made sure to explain to them what had happened in the morning; nobody really knew what the pill truly was except the Heavenly Demon who got really furious.
“H-How did you even make such a pill?!” He screamed in utter disbelief. “T-This shouldn’t be possible… I had tried so many times… I even used fragments of black heaven and white Heaven, and it never worked?!”
“I used special items that I was gifted, so it can’t really be compared, master, sorry,” I shrugged. “However, I also learned the Heavenly Alchemy Arts!”
“This disciple of mine might be too cocky after all…” he sighed. “From getting a pill I’ve aimed my entire life for to then obtaining Heavenly Alchemy Arts like it’s a walk in the park… What else are you going to do? Ascend beyond the Venerable Realm?!”
“Uh, maybe?” I wondered.
“You weren’t supposed to respond!” he sighed. “Well, anyways! Get ready; today your training begins anew. You’ll have a week before you go after the other tree. In that time, you’ll train three days with me and then three days with Hue Xian, understood?”
“I see… Is this going to be the very last of the teachings?” I wondered.
“Not completely,” said the Heavenly Empress. “We’ll teach you half of it now, and then the other half once the second tree is destroyed.”
“I see… So you’re dividing the time, and, yeah, it makes sense,” I nodded. “What about everyone else, though?”
“Like before, they shall train on their own on different trials!” said the Heavenly Demon. “Don’t worry about them; worry about yourself, my foolish disciple. You better prepare yourself for a world of pain.”
“What? Are you going to beat me again?” I sighed. “I’ve grown used to that already; my body’s as tough as a mountain!”
“What? Beating? Hah! You’ll ask me to do that once you go through what I have planned…” He smiled viciously, his eyes glowing red; he looked like a living creepypasta. “Heheh… Hahaha!”
Was he enjoying it so much? He’s truly the evil incarnate!
“Papa, don’t be mean with Anna!”
Suddenly, however, Song interrupted him.
“You have to be a good master… and not be mean!”
“B-But my son, I must be strict! Don’t you see how this girl is already?! If I ever act nice once, it’ll get all over her head, and she’ll neglect her training.”
“Hmm… Is that true, Anna?”
Song looked at me with his baby eyes.
I couldn’t lie to him…
“A-A bit? Ahem! I’m diligent, I mean! Anyway, I don’t mind him being rough with me,” I said. “I don’t want to force him to be what he isn’t. My master is my master, and that’s all there is to it. I love him how he is!”
“W-Wha…?!” The Heavenly Demon groaned, looking flustered. “Saying such things, as if I was your father or something, enough! Quickly finish your meals and then meet me at the rooftop.”
He quickly stepped out of the table after eating; however, as he was leaving…
“Hey, you’re forgetting something.”
The Heavenly Empress was crossing her arms, glaring at him.
“Huh? What?”
“Who made this food?”
“…You?”
“And?”
“And what?”
“You’re really hopeless… You should be grateful; say “thanks” once in your life!”
“Ah? Well, thanks?”
“Ugh, it doesn’t hold the same feeling anymore… I don’t have to force you to say that, you know?”
“Well, it’s just how I am! What do you want me to do…”
“Hm, is that really how you are? I know you well! You’re actively acting like this because you don’t want to look me in the eyes, don’t you?”
“H-Huh? That’s a misunderstanding, woman…!”
Then, master glanced at the heavenly demon, her sharp golden eyes squinting.
“If you’re truly a man, you’ll tell me right away what your problem with me is.”
“T-There’s… no problem at all…”
“What?”
“You heard me the first time! It’s… It’s all my problem; it’s my fault I… that Song… what happened to him. It’s all on me, I… I’ve never been mad at you.”
“You… you haven’t? I thought you always hated me since then...”
“I could never hate the only woman that ever loved me…”
Oh wow, this was just happening, right?
The Heavenly Demon sighed, glancing at the floor.
The Heavenly Empress remained in silence; she didn’t know what to say.
“Han…!”
“I have to go now; Anna’s training will begin shortly, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Ah, yes…”
The Heavenly Empress sighed as the Heavenly Demon flew out of the window, reaching the rooftop.
Ah, I guess it is still too complicated; it can’t be solved so easily, even more after all these years.
But ugh, before I leave this world, I really want them to reconcile and make Song happy by making the family they once were…
But what can I even do? I feel bad about even trying to get into that myself.
I feel that, among many things, this is not something I should meddle with; this is their personal lives and emotions, after all.
It’s up to them what they do. But if they ever come asking me about it, I might help!
“Mama… Will you reconcile with Dad? wondered Song.
“Reconcile?” Song’s mother gasped for a moment. “I’m sorry, Song… It just... so much happened. I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you the family you deserve.”
She suddenly hugged her son, shedding a small tear.
“Mama…”
Song hugged back his mother, then caressed the feathers in her neck.
“I think Papa still loves Mama…” he said with a smile. “He just said he didn’t hate you, and he still remembers that you loved him! S-So… I think there’s a chance!”
“Hmm…” his mother sighed. “I don’t know; I’ll see what happens. It’s not like I… uh, ah, this is embarrassing. Someone like me, talking about romance. I am a Venerable and the Empress of the Heavenly Court! Forget it for now, son. Your mother is fine.”
No, no, no!
Wait!
That pride…
That damn pride is what makes these two have such a hard time reconciling.
Ugh, they don’t even hate each other, and they probably still have lingering feelings.
But their pride as Venerables, it always gets in the way.
Romance is definitely not my genre; dammit, I just have no clue what to do to help them, and I’m too shy to do it anyway.
Where is Dionysus when I most need his Romantic Tips?!
“Um, master… I think you should… try to, err, push aside that pride of yours?” I asked her, suddenly making her flinch.
“Anna?” she wondered.
“I know this is not the place for me to give any opinion, and I might be being disrespectful too…” I sighed. “But I… ugh, I don’t want you two to end like this. How about this? I’ll take things out with that grumpy crow.”
“But why go so far? This has nothing to do with you…” said master. “You don’t really need to do this, really.”
“But after everything you’ve done for me, I want to see you smile too, master.” I said, holding her hands. “I want you to be happy…”
“Hahh…” she sighed. “I… I’ll think about this.”
“Thanks!” I beamed happily. “Anyways, how’s the formation going?”
“You can see it outside; come,” she guided me to the garden after I finished eating.
There was a huge formation, resembling a giant magic circle but using Murim Alchemy instead, covered in Chinese letters-like Runes and surrounded by several totems and pillars.
“This is a Heaven and Earth Formation,” she said. “I’ve designed it to one day ascend even further, but it is nothing but a small and stupid dream. However, it should be able to help you increase the chances of absorption and survival with that dangerously powerful pill.”
“I see!” I nodded. “That’s nice… Thanks for doing that for me, master; even when you didn’t need to, you went far for me… Huh?”
“A-Ah… I know what you’re trying to pull here!” She sighed, crossing her arms. “Well, don’t you have an appointment with that lone crow? Go and learn his wicked arts.”
“Alright…”
I walked back to my friends first, as I might not see them for the rest of the day, or maybe for several days consecutively.
“Alright guys, I’ll get going,” I said.
“Good luck, Anna,” Wait Tian gave me a head pat with her very big paws. “We’ll be waiting for your return. We’ll also do our best to get stronger. I think I’m getting somewhere as well; my abilities are beginning to blossom into different forms.”
“Yeah, do that even more,” I nodded. “Try to activate your skills and fully meld them with your Martial Arts until you don’t need to activate them anymore to use their powers. That transformation too, try to use it a lot and try to see its limits, for how long you can maintain it, in which forms, and so on.”
“Ah, right! Thank you for the tips!” Wai Tian smiled cutely.
I couldn’t resist and petted her head back while also caressing the fur beneath her chin; it was the softest.
“Best of lucks, young master,” said Fang Shuan. “I will also be improving my own soul even further, and perhaps even further refine or cultivate this body. I think that, through the methods I’ve seen and learned from Zero One or Zero Two, there might be a way.”
“Really?” I wondered.
“Yes, because his entire body is metallic, I started to consider if it could be possible to add internal structures and to overall improve his entire body,” said Zero One. “Mechanize it in a way that makes it more complex while also keeping its special properties, such as a semi-liquid metal body that can easily regenerate.”
“Interesting…” I nodded.
“A-Also, good luck, Anna! I’ll be cheering for you! And Zero Two as well!” said Zero One. “Right, sis?”
“Eh…” Zero Two shrugged.
“I’ll try my best to not take too long learning these things so we can spend some time at the end of the day too,” I said. “We need to train our own things after all, right?”
“Oh yeah!” nodded Zero One. “Also, I was thinking, can you sponsor Zero Two?”
“She’s already so strong, though…” I said. “But it’s a possibility, yeah.”
I could probably just do it for the Skill I could inherit from her…
“I’ll do it later, maybe tonight.”
“Ok!”
“Take care, young lady Anna,” said Yin Sheng with a very polite tone of voice, as always.
“Thank you, Yin. You too, train hard, alright?” I said. “Do what I told Wai Tian too, with the transformations and such.”
“I shall; please don’t worry,” he nodded. “The new friend you’ve brought, Sara, is an excellent sparring partner too. Our techniques are assassination-based, and although different, we are good opponents, and we’ve learned from one another, right, Sara?”
“Ah yeah!” nodded Sara, who was drinking green tea. “Good luck, Anna; don’t die against that crow.”
“I won’t!” I nodded. “I’m glad you’ve adapted so quickly to this place, Sara…”
“Ah, well, it was either that or… staying holed up in my room,” shrugged Sara, smiling slightly.
“Anna!”
Song ran to my side, hugging my legs.
“Do your best! Show my grumpy daddy what you’ve got!”
“Okey! Sure! Heheh! And you also make sure to train with your mom, alright?”
“Y-Yes! Thanks to your powers, I have many skills now! S-So I’ll train them to the best of my abilities… so I can be useful later!”
“Good boy!”
These… these are the friends I have in Murim.
They’re perhaps as precious as all these martial arts I’ve gained and trained.
No, even more precious.
I wish Kevin, Annabelle, and Baihe were here too, so we could all be together, train, laugh, and eat as a school of disciples.
I miss them too… more than I thought I would.
And my brother too, and his girlfriend, and… well, everyone.
One step at a time, Anna, one step at a time.
Reminiscing about your family and friends and missing them is not going to make things easier or faster.
Focus on what’s in front of you first.
“So you’re here…”
The Heavenly Demon greeted me with a vicious smile.
“Prepare yourself, Anna, to get your last Cursed Seal! It won’t be easy.”
“I’m ready for anything…”
I glanced at my master, my eyes full of resolve.
“Hoh?”
He rubbed his beaked chin.
And then he smiled.
“Then let’s begin!”
“Where am I going? A trial or something?”
“No such thing! To get your last Cursed Seal… you must defeat me in combat!”
“You know that’s not so scary after I beat you the first time-”
BAAAM!
Before I could continue talking, the Heavenly Demon was already behind me, kicking my back and pummeling me into the ground below.
That old crow bastard, always with his sneak attacks!
“This is my rematch, Anna! Back then I wasn’t feeling that strong, but now? I’m a new man! Hahahaha! I’ll show you what a True Venerable’s power is all about!”
“Bring it on!”
I roared back, stepping through the skies as I clashed against him.
CLASH!
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