24: Chapter 24 Cultivating Feelings

The Soul Realm's East Courtyard, early morning.

Medusa had just pushed open the courtyard gate when she saw a dark-clothed figure squatting under a dark-leafed osmanthus tree. He was lying face-to-face on the ground with Xiao Xiao, their two heads—one large and one small—huddled together, doing who knows what. Xiao Xiao's two braided pigtails trailed on the muddy ground, the silver bells at the ends jingling as she twisted excitedly. Her knees were covered in mud, and her little dress was smudged with dry leaf debris; she was clearly having a wild time. Medusa leaned against the doorframe, her purple eyes narrowing slightly.

"What are you two doing?"

"Mama!" Xiao Xiao bounced up from the ground, holding two insects she had just dug out of the mud. She ran excitedly to Medusa, the insects still squirming in her palm. "Uncle said these bugs are called Soul-Eating Ants. When they grow up, they can get as big as a fist, and their teeth can bite through Void Stones! He helped me catch two and said I can keep them as pets. If anyone bullies me later, they can help me beat up the bad guys!" The little girl spoke with great animation, and at the end, she poked the carapace of one of the Soul-Eating Ants with her finger. The ant didn't bite her, obediently curling into a ball.

Medusa's gaze slowly shifted from her daughter's excited little face to the man under the tree. Hun Feng had already stood up and was nonchalantly patting the mud off his knees, but his dark martial robes were stained with mud and water around the cuffs and waist. His lapel even bore three small muddy handprints—clearly left by Xiao Xiao in her earlier excitement. As the dignified Young Clan Leader of the Hun Clan and a Six-Star Dou Sheng, he currently looked like a farmer who had just finished rolling around in a muddy field. Seeing Medusa staring at him, he adjusted his cuffs without changing his expression, his tone as composed as if he had prepared this explanation beforehand.

"Xiao Xiao said she wanted a pet. The Soul Realm doesn't have much else, but we have plenty of insects. Soul-Eating Ants are raised by Hun Clan guards from a young age; they have a gentle temperament and a nest can live for three hundred years. Once grown, they are closest to children."

"Uncle said if I raise them well, they can even help me guard the door! Then I won't be afraid when Mama isn't home!" Xiao Xiao carefully held the two Soul-Eating Ants in her palms, looking up at Medusa with bright, sparkling eyes.

"Xiao Xiao, go wash your hands first. Leave the ants on the stone table; don't bring them into the house." Medusa's voice remained cold and hard, but there was no blame in her tone. Xiao Xiao gave an affirmative shout and ran toward the stone table with the two Soul-Eating Ants, placing them on a saucer. She then scooped half a ladle of water from the water vat in the corner of the courtyard. While washing her muddy paws, she turned back and shouted to Hun Feng, "Uncle, will you take me to the edge of the Soul Pond to catch more later? There were even bigger ones there last time!"

"Sure. This afternoon, I'll have Yao Yao prepare fishing rods and get you something to eat while we're at it." Hun Feng replied casually, his tone like he was talking to a neighbor's child. He then looked up and met Medusa's purple eyes, smiling slightly. "Good morning, Queen."

Medusa didn't respond to his morning greeting. She watched him for a few moments—this man smiled so naturally in front of her daughter, a world apart from the condescending person who had previously said "there's no future in following Xiao Yan." She had lived for over three hundred years and seen countless schemes, but she had never seen a Six-Star Dou Sheng so calm and composed while covered in mud spots. She didn't know whether to mock him or ignore him, so she eventually just looked away coldly and turned to enter the house. However, she didn't tell him to leave, nor did she make Xiao Xiao throw away the insects.

From behind her came Xiao Xiao's inquisitive chatter and Hun Feng's serious answers—"Uncle, can you tell if the ants are male or female?" "Yes. The ones with wide abdominal plates are male, and the narrow ones are female. These two of yours happen to be a pair. When they grow up, they can even have baby ants." "Then if they have babies, can I keep one for Mama?" "Ask your mother; she's the one who decides."

Inside, Medusa listened as she poured herself a cup of cold tea and drank it in one gulp. The icy liquid went down her throat, barely suppressing the agitation in her chest. She held the cup and stood for a moment, her purple eyes falling through the window lattice onto the man in the courtyard who was spinning her daughter around on his shoulders. She coldly looked away when he turned around.

In the afternoon, Hun Feng indeed took Xiao Xiao to the edge of the Soul Pond. It wasn't to catch ants—the Soul Pond was a sacred ground of the Hun Clan, with three layers of guards within a three-mile radius. In the muddy flats where Soul-Eating Ants were raised on the outskirts, the ants could grow as thick as a thumb; they had even caught one the size of a fist, which Yao Yao had skewered and roasted over a slow fire that very day. As for the actual depths of the Soul Pond, even he, the Young Clan Leader, had to report before entering. Currently, Xiao Xiao was squatting barefoot on the stone steps by the water, casting a bamboo pole tied with silk thread into the water. She was seriously mimicking his instructions, making the bait hop once and pause twice on the water's surface. As for whether she could catch anything—the rod was carved for her by Hun Feng, and the bait was the molted skin of Soul-Eating Ant larvae. The unintelligent Soul Fish in the water loved that scent.

"Uncle, how did you and my mama meet?" Xiao Xiao suddenly asked, her eyes still fixed on the water.

Hun Feng leaned against a tree trunk, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the sky. "We met at the Nine Serene Yellow Springs. Your mama had just finished her breakthrough; her hair was still dripping with water, and she looked like someone you shouldn't mess with." He chuckled. "She was quite fierce."

Xiao Xiao shook her head to defend her mother. "Mama isn't fierce; she just doesn't like to smile." She cast her line again and continued in a crisp voice, "But Uncle, you're different."

"How am I different?"

"I don't know if you're fierce or not, but you're not afraid of my mama. Back at the Starfall Pavilion, the uncles who came to talk to me were all afraid of her, but you aren't." She lifted the bamboo pole, the empty hook splashing a string of water droplets. Her little face was full of an expectant conclusion. "Will you come and play with me every day from now on?"

Hun Feng reached out and rubbed the top of her head, making the silver bells on her pigtails ring crisply. "Sure."

A white figure flitted into the courtyard. The movement was extremely light, but Medusa sensed it from inside the house and pushed the door open. She saw Yao Yao leaning against a corridor pillar, whispering into Hun Feng's ear. Yao Yao held an information jade slip she had just retrieved from their secret agents. Seeing Medusa come out, she didn't avoid her; instead, she winked at Medusa, her peach-blossom eyes full of mischievous amusement.

"Young Master, there's movement from the Starfall Pavilion—Xiao Yan has come out of seclusion. Mid-stage Two-Star Dou Sheng, and his refinement of the four types of Heavenly Flames is significantly higher than it was in the Demon Flame Space. It seems Gu Xun'er took good care of him during this time. Two nights ago, he went to the ruins of the Sky Mansion and stood before the debris for a full hour. Then, he began frantically searching through the ruins—looking for traces of your aura, Young Master. Early this morning, he went to the Nine Serene Yellow Springs and found your soul imprint and the scorch marks of the Sea Heart Flame. He exploded on the spot. According to reports from our agents, when he left the Nine Serene Yellow Springs, he didn't even use a spatial teleportation array; he tore through space directly and chased toward the Soul Realm for three hundred miles before being stopped and persuaded to turn back by Gu Qingyang."

Hun Feng nodded. Xiao Yan's alertness was indeed worthy of a Child of Destiny; he had found the clues at the Nine Serene Yellow Springs so quickly. However, it was too late to check the traces at the bottom of the springs now. The scorch marks of the Sea Heart Flame were intentionally left on the surface by him to let Xiao Yan know he was the one who took Medusa. People only show flaws when they are anxious; the more flaws Xiao Yan showed, the more proactive his next step would be. However, the fact that Xiao Yan had found his aura residue in the ruins so quickly was a bit unexpected.

"There's even more explosive news." Yao Yao glanced at Xiao Xiao, who was squatting by the stone table feeding the ants, and lowered her voice, though her schadenfreude was impossible to hide. "Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Zhan, is still imprisoned in the dungeon of the Hall of Souls' Tiangang Hall. This matter was previously sidelined by the series of upheavals in the Sky Mansion Alliance, and Xiao Yan hasn't had time to deal with it. Now that his wife and daughter have been taken by you, Young Master, and his old man is still in the hands of the Hall of Souls, these three things hitting him at once caused Xiao Yan to break down on the spot at the Starfall Pavilion ruins. Our agents say he spoke with Gu Xun'er for three hours yesterday, insisting on coming to the Soul Realm alone to demand answers, but he was stopped by a weeping Gu Xun'er."

"Of course she had to stop him," Hun Feng sneered. "A Two-Star Dou Sheng charging into the Soul Realm alone—it would be a feat if he even managed to see me. But with so many things piling up on the same day—losing his wife, having his daughter taken away, and his father being as good as dead—tsk, even I'm starting to feel anxious for him."

"So, Young Master," Yao Yao tucked away the jade slip, her peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents as she leaned in half a step and lowered her voice. "Congratulations on pushing the Fluke Brother to this point. Is the next step to take his life while he's down?"

"No rush. He has Gu Xun'er watching him and Gu Qingyang guarding the outside; a direct fight isn't cost-effective. Let him stew for a while longer. Once he reaches the limit of what he can endure, he'll deliver himself to our doorstep." Hun Feng cut himself off and asked, "Where's Xiao Xiao?"

"In the courtyard feeding the ants. The two you caught for her have grown a circle fatter than yesterday, and Medusa is watching from the side." When Yao Yao mentioned that name, her tone took on a few layers of implication. "Young Master, these past few days you've done nothing but cultivate or play with Xiao Xiao, yet Medusa still hasn't said a word to you. However, today she asked me about your usual cultivation hours—I said you generally cultivate in the morning and are free in the afternoon. She didn't ask anything else."

Hun Feng raised an eyebrow and didn't respond, a faint, imperceptible smile flickering in the depths of his eyes. He wasn't in a hurry. Feelings weren't something that could be rushed, especially with someone like Medusa. From reading the original work in his past life, he knew Medusa wasn't a woman who could be subdued by force. She had only one weakness—her daughter. Thus, everything he did was focused on Xiao Xiao: catching ants with her, carving fishing rods, and teaching her to cultivate. These things seemed to have nothing to do with pursuing Medusa, but every single one of them would reach Medusa's ears through Xiao Xiao. He wasn't trying to please Medusa; he was letting Xiao Xiao speak for him. A daughter saying 'Uncle is very good to me' was more effective than him saying 'I will treat you well' ten thousand times. He could already feel the change these past few days—although Medusa still didn't talk to him, she no longer intentionally avoided being in the same place as him, nor did she stop Xiao Xiao from running to his courtyard. Today, she had even asked about his schedule.

Yao Yao naturally felt it too. She leaned against the pillar, watching Medusa in the courtyard take a Soul-Eating Ant handed to her by Xiao Xiao. That cold and peerlessly beautiful face was expressionless, but when her purple eyes looked at her daughter incessantly talking about how "Uncle said the ants are male or female," the chill at the corners of her eyes clearly faded a bit. She looked down and pinched Xiao Xiao's little face, her movement as light as if she were touching a piece of white jade that would shatter at a touch.

"Mama, Uncle is taking me fishing again this afternoon." Xiao Xiao looked up at her and smiled, her mouth—missing two teeth—looking sweet as honey.

"I know." Medusa replied, not saying no.

Yao Yao watched this scene from under the corridor, silently calculating for her master: Day one of playing together, Medusa didn't even look at him; Day two, Medusa began to tacitly allow him into the courtyard; Day three, Medusa began to ask about his schedule. At this rate, the Young Master's next move probably wouldn't need her prompting. She kicked a Soul-Eating Ant larva crawling on the pillar, flipping it over, and muttered, "Faster than I thought."