Chapter 38 Blasphemy "May I sit on your lotus throne?"

When Hua Xun opened her eyes again, she saw the familiar jade-white palace, its ornate carvings radiating a divine charm.

Blinking, Hua Xun vaguely remembered falling asleep in the palm of the Divine Lord, and waking up to return to her room on White Mist Cliff.

Hua Xun thought of something, raised her hand, looked at her five clean and white fingers, examined them repeatedly, and then happily sat up and flew towards the palace in front of her.

"My Lord, I have regained my human form."

As Shenjun Jiuqing sat quietly on the lotus platform, he suddenly heard this clear shout that broke the silence of the cliff. A smile appeared in his eyes, and he looked up at the palace entrance.

Sure enough, in no time, a figure in emerald green flew in and landed in front of the celestial curtain. Seemingly startled by his appearance, the figure paused for a moment before running forward.

The girl lifted the celestial veil, cautiously peeking her head in, and looked up, asking, "My Lord?"

The deity smiled gently and said, "Come here."

The girl's eyes lit up instantly, and she leaped up joyfully, but the moment she landed on the high platform, her body swayed and she transformed back into her original crow form.

Hua Xun blinked, looking at the God in disbelief.

The deity sighed helplessly, "The demon core has only returned to your body for one night, do not get excited."

Hua Xun wanted to ask the God when she could maintain her human form stably, but when she spoke, only a "chirping" sound came out.

She suddenly understood the helplessness of Liu Huo when he couldn't speak.

Hua Xun sighed listlessly.

Before him appeared a hand, white and clear, and following the hand, he saw the flawless face of the divine lord.

Hua Xun's eyes lit up, and she hopped and flew into the God's palm.

The deity lifted her up and placed her in front of him as before: "Absorb the spiritual energy of immortals for another day, and your human body will be stabilized."

Hua Xun nestled in the God-King's palm, gently nuzzling his chest, no longer caring when she would regain her human form.

The image-recording mirror, lifted by golden divine power, flew into the air.

Hua Xun became interested, looked at the bronze mirror, looked up at the deity, and called out softly twice.

The deity smiled, and a beam of golden light from his fingertip pierced into the mirror, where the image of the storyteller from the human realm reappeared.

Hua Xun suddenly remembered something and pecked the God's palm.

The deity lowered his eyes: "Hmm?"

Hua Xun smacked his lips, indicating to the deity that it was time to eat some pastries and drink some sweet water.

The deity laughed and sighed, "What a greedy crow."

With a flick of her sleeve, a plate of pear blossom cake and a bamboo tube of sweet water flew out of Hua Xun's purse.

Hua Xun was satisfied. Together with the God, she watched the storyteller in the mirror recounting anecdotes and interesting stories about the human race, occasionally nibbling on some pastries and sipping some sweet water.

Perhaps it was the protective divine light of the deity that had a calming effect, perhaps it was because the spiritual energy in her meridians was still sparse, or perhaps it was because she had eaten and drunk her fill, but after watching for about an hour, Hua Xun felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her.

Before she could finish hearing the story, she fell asleep in the god's palm.

Sensing the gradually calming breathing of the crow, the Divine Lord tapped the recording mirror in the void, instantly transforming it into an ordinary bronze mirror.

The deity lowered his head and quietly looked at the obedient black bird lying in his palm. After a long while, he raised his hand, and a golden light, like a divine hand, brushed away the scattered feathers on her wings.

Hua Xun felt a slight movement on the wings, opened her eyes groggily, and let out a soft cry.

The deity's fingers clenched slightly as he withdrew his divine power and calmly said, "The feathers are ruffled."

Upon hearing this, Hua Xun tilted her head and fell asleep again.

The deity withdrew his gaze, slowly flew to the ground, and walked slowly outside.

The White Mist Cliff, once shrouded in ethereal mist, is now covered in peach blossoms, their petals fluttering lightly in the air.

He walked into the fallen petals, smiling as he gazed at the distant drifting clouds.

In such a landscape, falling asleep seems like an extremely beautiful thing.

*

Nourished by the divine light protecting her, Hua Xun slept soundly and deeply.

When I woke up again, it was already evening at White Mist Cliff.

Hua Xun opened her eyes and felt that something was wrong. When she realized that she had regained her human form and was lying on the body of the God, she was so shocked that she fell backward and crashed into the celestial mist.

Hua Xun wanted to cry out in surprise, but when she saw the God-King's eyes closed and his face lightly asleep, she swallowed her words.

The deity sat quietly at the jade table under the peach tree, one hand supporting his forehead and the other placed in front of him, like a sleeping god, his black hair and white robes swaying leisurely with divine power.

The deity is taking a short rest.

Hua Xun even softened her breathing, tilting her head back to look intently at the God's face.

After an unknown amount of time, her gaze involuntarily fell on the God's lips, their clear, glass-like color seemingly devoid of any impurities.

Hua Xun stared intently, her heart pounding uncontrollably, as she cautiously moved closer.

His fingers trembled slightly as he conceived the blasphemous thought of the deity, yet he was powerless to stop it, and unwilling to stop it.

Just as they were about to touch the God's lips, a loud, long cry pierced the silence of the sky.

Hua Xun straightened up guiltily. Before her consciousness could react, she quickly transformed back into her original form and nestled back into the God Lord's arms.

The fiery streak, trailing a long tail, descended upon the White Mist Cliff like a flame, dispelling the ethereal mist.

Hua Xun buried her head in her wings in shame and refused to move.

Liu Huo saw the God from afar and flew over happily, chirping a few times as if he were talking to the God.

"Yes, I'm back early." The gentle voice of the Divine Lord rang out above Hua Xun's head.

Hua Xun's wings trembled.

Has the deity awakened?

Did the deity know about her rebellious behavior just now?

If the god knew she wanted to blaspheme...

Hua Xun dared not think any further.

Liu Huo cried out a few more times.

Hua Xun felt the deity gently pat her head: "Liu Huo is speaking to you."

Hua Xun didn't expect that her pretending to be asleep would fool the God, so she silently raised her head from under her wings, looking left and right, but she didn't dare to look at the God.

"Still unable to regain human form?" the deity asked with concern.

Hua Xun blinked upon hearing this.

The deity was unaware that she had regained her human form, so how could he not know what she had just tried to do to him?

With this thought, Hua Xun immediately relaxed and looked up at the God with an innocent expression.

The deity looked at her, smiled, and raised his hand.

Hua Xun reluctantly flew away from the God's palm, turned her head to look at Liu Huo, and chirped twice.

Liu Huo seemed to only then realize who she was, and opened her eyes wide: "Jie Jie".

Then she looked at the purse that was placed on the table.

Hua Xun frowned in confusion and followed Liu Huo's gaze. When she saw the scattered pieces of pastry on the purse, her eyes widened suddenly.

She seems to have... forgotten something very important.

"Huh?" Liu Huo looked at her in confusion.

A hint of embarrassment flashed in Hua Xun's eyes as she quietly flapped her wings and flew backward.

Seeing this, Liu Huo knew perfectly well that she had never used the jade he had given her to buy pastries. He was instantly enraged, his eyes blazing with fire, and he flapped his wings to peck at her.

Hua Xun hurriedly flew towards the back of the palace, dodging as she flew.

However, Liu Huo's size was much larger than her true form. With ten flaps of her wings, Hua Xun could catch up with Liu Huo in an instant.

When she was almost caught by the raging fire again, Hua Xun didn't care about anything else and quickly transformed into human form, nimbly flying around the palace on the wind.

Perhaps due to her progress in her training, she felt herself flying faster and faster, so fast that the scenery on both sides was rushing past and becoming difficult to see.

Unable to catch up with her, the flames roared angrily behind her.

Hua Xun, realizing she was in the wrong, glanced back at the aggrieved Liu Huo, silently landed beside the God, picked up the purse, and said to the smiling God with eyes full of surprise, "God, I can regain my human form!"

The deity smiled and nodded.

Hua Xun took out a bag of the remaining pastries from her purse and handed it to Liu Huo, who was flying over. She smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Sorry, I came back in a bit of a rush this time. I'll definitely remember next time."

Liu Huo looked at the pastries, then at her, then at the God.

After a long while, it exhaled heavily from its nostrils, picked up the pastry, turned its head, and flew towards the palace.

Hua Xun breathed a sigh of relief, turned to look at the Divine Lord, and said with lingering fear, "That was close."

The deity smiled and said, "The flowing fire won't hurt you."

“I know,” Hua Xun walked up to the God, her tone full of trust, “The God is here.”

The deity gazed at her, his eyes slightly lowered.

Hua Xun looked at the purse on the table and suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, I also bought you a gift."

"I was unable to give it to you in time when I was with the human race."

The deity looked at her purse with suspicion.

Hua Xun was finally able to use her magic. With a wave of her hand, she took out all the lanterns, storybooks, and other novel trinkets she had bought at the human night market and filled the table with them.

The deity looked at these objects.

He remembered their scent, and he assumed that she had bought them while playing with Yunxi at night because she thought it was fun.

So... it was for him?

"Look, you can see different flowers when you look at this lantern from different directions." Hua Xun rotated the lantern, and the flower seeds inside changed accordingly.

“There’s also the tangram, the nine-linked rings…” Hua Xun showed them off one by one like a treasure, “I’ve been playing with them for a while, but it shouldn’t take the Divine Lord that long.”

"And this!" Hua Xun took out the painted pottery phoenix and handed it to the deity. "Doesn't this look like Liu Huo?"

The deity gazed at the long-tailed golden crow porcelain piece, which had been dyed fiery red, his round eyes looking blank and silly, and nodded with a smile.

“I think it looks just like it!” Hua Xun’s eyes lit up. “I’ll go get it and show it to Liu Huo.”

The girl moved like the wind, and in an instant she had run towards the distant palace.

The deity gazed at her retreating figure for a long time before turning his gaze to the gifts given to him.

Her jade-white fingers brushed across the lantern, and its soft light shone brightly on the misty cliff as night fell.

Golden lights lifted the lantern and slowly hung it on a peach branch.

It became a desolate divine realm, the only place with signs of human life, after tens of thousands of years of solitude.

"God, save me!" A short while later, the girl's cry rang out, mixed with a hint of gloating laughter.

Hua Xun was pecked out by Liu Huo once again, simply because it was furious that she had compared the ceramic bird made by the human race to its divine bird.

Fortunately, it knew it couldn't catch up with her now and wanted to continue eating pastries, so it didn't chase her too far.

Hua Xun returned to the God's side and, in a preemptive act, accused Liu Huo, saying, "Liu Huo's temper is getting worse and worse."

The deity looked at her helplessly, then said, "Your wind manipulation technique..."

"Hmm?" Hua Xun asked, puzzled.

"...Great progress," the deity said calmly, "Why are you so diligent in practicing this magic?"

Hua Xun was slightly taken aback as those memories, which she hadn't recalled for a long time and refused to touch again, suddenly flooded her mind.

The god looked at the girl who suddenly seemed to have realized something, and his smile faded a little.

“I was on the run for several years, and I almost got caught many times, making myself look like a fool,” Hua Xun grinned. “After Baili Sheng taught me the Wind Control Technique, I felt much better.”

"Although what he taught was wrong, and even almost shattered my demon core, it also made me realize..."

"If you learn how to run away, you'll be able to escape faster than others in the future."

The deity couldn't help but raise his hand and gently touch her hair.

Hua Xun felt the touch on her head, looked up, and laughed, "Divine Lord, you praised my great progress, does that mean I really fly very fast?"

The deity replied, "He is comparable to an immortal."

Hua Xun's cheeks flushed from the God's praise. Her eyes darted around, and when she caught sight of the lanterns swaying on the peach branches, she exclaimed in delight, "You hung up the lanterns?"

The deity followed her gaze and, after a few moments, said, "You have given me a gift, and I may grant you one wish."

Hua Xun's eyes lit up, and she subconsciously voiced the thought that had been on her mind for a while: "May I sit on your lotus platform?"

The deity was unusually silent.

Hua Xun asked anxiously, "Is it not allowed? Or is it that ordinary people can't sit on the lotus platform...?"

Before she could finish speaking, Hua Xun felt her body become lighter.

She saw herself and the God-King transform into tiny golden rays, disappearing beneath the peach blossom tree, and then slowly coalescing into a form on the high platform behind the celestial curtain.

The difference this time is that the Divine Lord stands on a high platform next to the lotus throne, while Hua Xun sits upright on the lotus throne.

Hua Xun curiously explored this lotus platform that belonged to the gods, touching and feeling the coolness emanating from the jade that penetrated her soul.

"How is it?" The God-King's tone was slightly doubtful.

She was the first person besides him to sit on this lotus platform.

"It's a bit cold," Hua Xun said frankly, "and a bit hard. The space isn't very big either; it's not as comfortable as a bed."

Jiuqing chuckled softly.

Hua Xun stared blankly at the rare, relaxed smile on the god's face, then suddenly sat up and leaned close to him: "God, if we are to search for the Earth Soul again, could you descend to the mortal realm with me in your true form?"

When the deity met her focused and expectant gaze, he actually had the urge to look away.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances," he replied.

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Author's note: Just going about my daily routine (doge)