“Haah…” XiuYing sighed, feeling deeply overwhelmed by exhaustion.
Her current body struggled to keep pace with her status as the Empress of the Jade Dominion.
Her gaze drifted toward the battlefield, where the corpses of cultivators littered the inner pavilion, victims of the attacks from the scattered sword Qi telekinesis.
The metallic stench filled the air, a grim reminder of the chaos that had ensued.
After the passage of time and the suffocating layer of smoke that had recently settled, her breathing quickened, a clear sign of her body’s frailty—an adult reduced to the state of a newborn.
“Here…”
Suddenly, a voice broke through the haze of her thoughts, drawing her attention.
As she turned her gaze, the atmosphere around her shifted, the metallic scent sharpening, while the sound of crumbling rocks echoed ominously.
Her focus landed on a man who regarded her with a calm yet intense expression.
His deep amber eyes glimmered with an unsettling intensity, as though he were conveying a message: he had no genuine intentions behind the offering of the handkerchief he held.
“Isn’t it rather regrettable for an Empress to fall to such depths?” Ryuk remarked, his eyes scanning the malnourished woman before him, who appeared as fragile as someone on the brink of death.
A smile curled beneath the half black mask that obscured his features, clearly signaling that XiuYing’s instincts were spot on—he harbored no genuine goodwill.
“Cough! How do you know that?” XiuYing managed to ask, accepting the handkerchief and coughing into it to obscure her face.
In this critical moment, her pride took a backseat to the more pressing concern of survival.
She had successfully navigated the trials laid before her; however, it seemed that the person who had taken over her body was aware that XiuYing would be reborn within the Celestial Phoenix Order, rather than on the other side.
This was evident from those who attacked the inner pavilion of the Phoenix Order. Clearly, their energy signatures indicated that they were once soldiers of the Capital City, but now they were following the orders of the new empress.
Now, the trials lay in ruins, and her only hope resided in the matriarch of the Phoenix Order, facing down someone as formidable as the man before her.
“Would you prefer that I answer your question, or would you prefer my assistance in exchange for a small deal?”
Ryuk leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a whisper that remained unmistakable to those with enhanced mana senses.
To contain their conversation, he activated a barrier through his system, isolating them from the outside world.
Of course, XiuYing, in her weakened state, remained unaware of this protective measure.
As he leaned closer, his eyes locked onto hers, drawing nearer until he halted, practically whispering the words into the charged air between them.
“…I am listening,” She replied, aware that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t change the fact that she could only see into the souls of others.
This limitation was largely due to her soul’s strength.
In any confrontation, even an average adult could easily kill her at this moment.
Should that happen, her soul would have to begin anew, and this cycle would repeat itself over and over until she became strong enough to survive or regained her former power.
While this existence granted her a form of immortality, it also came with a significant vulnerability: those who were aware of her predicament could easily condemn her to an endless cycle of rebirth.
“Are you really a phoenix?” Ryuk asked, narrowing his eyes as he leaned in, their faces mere inches apart.
When their gazes locked, a clear intensity crackled between them.
XiuYing felt her pulse quicken, her pupils dilating at his words.
He sensed the slight hitch in her breath and the instinctive tension in her facial muscles, unbidden, a smile slowly spreading across Ryuk’s face.
“H-how do you know this?” Xiu Ying’s eyes widened, realizing that not only did he recognize her as the Empress of the Jade Dominion, but he also knew of her bloodline and lineage, suggesting that he was privy to far more information than he had revealed thus far.
Feeling a rush of anxiety, she glanced around to see if anyone had overheard him.
To her surprise, the surroundings felt calmer than she had expected, even as the gravity of the situation grew more pronounced.
“You can be reborn from ashes, having chosen the Celestial Phoenix order as your birthplace… everything about you screams your true identity,” Ryuk explained, deliberately omitting different logical explanations, not wanting to reveal that he had obtained this knowledge from the system.
Instead, he opted for a logical approach, noting how phoenixes possess the ability to rise anew from their ashes.
He also pointed out that after losing her physical form, she had managed to reconstruct her body from scratch.
As for her choice on both sides of the Jade Dominion, it was clear she had aligned herself with the Celestial Phoenix order rather than the Dragon domain.
“….So, you figured it out from all of that?” XiuYing felt a flicker of suspicion, but she couldn’t deny that his points were valid.
Suddenly, a thought struck her, prompting her to ask, “How do you know that a phoenix can be born from its ashes?”
This piece of information was confidential—reserved for those harboring the Phoenix bloodline.
Only they, along with the original phoenixes, were privy to it.
In the human zone, very few were aware of this truth.
‘Was it such a well-guarded secret?’ Ryuk mused. He had assumed his reasoning was entirely sound until now.
He had articulated that theory based on knowledge from his previous life, which mentioned phoenixes’ rebirth from ashes in various mythologies.
But as XiuYing questioned him, it dawned on him that this was likely a significant secret, as evidenced by the shock in her widened eyes and the unmistakable eagerness in her expression—she seemed desperate to hear his answer.
“….You want to know the answer?” Ryuk asked, realizing that the only option available to him was to play along, given that he couldn’t just reveal that he knew it from his past world.
It seemed wiser to sidestep the question than to risk revealing too much.
“What do you want? Just tell me,” XiuYing replied, clenching her fists in frustration.
She recognized that she was cornered, forced to agree to whatever terms he set, even if they did not align with her favor.
This was her only chance—especially as those from the capital city were now attacking this location—which was her only hope to reach the capital city.
It was evident that she couldn’t rely on anyone for help, not even the matriarch, whom she had once considered a source of support.
This masked young man in front of her was her only option.
“Let me sweeten the deal,” Ryuk stepped back to maintain a respectful distance while keeping his gaze locked on hers, his eyes narrowed with amber pupils reflecting her figure.
She looked almost ghostly, her hair casting shadows over her face, her complexion ghostly pale, bones visible beneath the skin, and dark circles resting beneath her eyes.
It was a ghastly sight, but Ryuk didn’t care; attractiveness mattered little to him—he had already seen how those possessing otherworldly beauty were often more horrendous inside.
He tried to make their negotiation feel more equitable, making sure that she was not able to reject what he wanted, as he added, “I will also help you reclaim your true strength.”
‘!’
“This?” XiuYing’s eyes reflected a clear turmoil as she processed his words.
He spoke with such confidence that it felt both unbelievable and somehow inviting—a part of her wanted to believe him.
However, the reality was that the woman who had taken over her body was powerful enough to defeat her.
For him to be able to restore her strength, he would either need to be stronger than her or possess the means to defeat Idolse Rhea.
Yet, even amidst the betrayal of her defeat, one truth remained: she had lost, and that was what mattered in this moment.
With a deep exhale to steady herself, she braced for his demands, understanding that if he truly had the ability to restore her strength, making a deal with him was a necessary risk.
“What do you want?” she inquired, her voice steady despite the tumult within.
[Finally! Host, do it, do it! (≧▽≦)]
‘….’ Ryuk, hearing the system, which was far more enthusiastic than him, only stood blankly.
He hesitated; he recognized that this was going to be a hassle.
Nonetheless, he understood the importance of the moment.
Instead of getting bogged down by thoughts of morals or pride, he knew he needed to find a way to make both himself and Esme strong enough.
With that resolve pushing him forward, he looked at XiuYing with a straight face and declared,
“XiuYing Fenghuang, in exchange for fulfilling my side of the deal, I want you to dual cultivate with me.”
[ You Nailed It, Host (✷ ╹▽╹ ✷)]
