Back at Peace Estate, Hai Xuang was inside his chamber. The peace talks between Hai Lao and Lan Mei had lasted for a few days. Hai Xuang was absent from the talks because he was resting to recover from his wounds.

While he wasn’t involved in the talks, he wasn’t oblivious about it. Hai Lao, Xin Lie, and Li Jiang visited daily and advised him about the progress. The talks had been difficult. The long conflicts had left enmity between the two sides that was difficult to mend. Both sides demanded compensation and were unwilling to yield.

Nevertheless, both sides agreed that prolonged conflicts wouldn’t benefit anyone. They should at least work to return the condition to what it was before the previous lord’s meeting, when the situation truly began to escalate.

While Hai Xuang appreciated the daily visits from his three relatives, he yearned most for another person’s visit. Lan Mei also visited Hai Xuang daily. She chose the time when the others had left before she made her visit. She felt indebted because Hai Xuang suffered his wounds from protecting her.

"Sister Lan Mei, your visit is what brightens my entire day," Hai Xuang said when she entered the room.

Lan Mei chuckled and took a seat beside Hai Xuang’s bed. "How are your wounds?"

"Thanks to your people’s care, they are healing nicely. I think I can leave this room in a couple more days," Hai Xuang answered. "What about you? How are the talks today?"

"Haven’t you already heard it from the group who visited you before me?" Lan Mei asked, before following up with a sigh. "Your warning is spot on. Your brother is a difficult person to persuade. However, I must say we made progress. Not a big one, but I understand that we must take small steps in matters such as this. It involved the will of the nations, after all. It is difficult to bring two opposite sides together except by small steps, one at a time. I believe this will be only the first of many peace talks to come."

"Great! That means I get to visit this place and meet you again."

Lan Mei blushed hearing that.

"Uh, sorry. I was out of line," Hai Xuang said.

Lan Mei shook her head timidly. "That’s fine. I’m also glad if we get to meet more often."

Sensing that the conversation had become slightly awkward, Hai Xuang tried to change the topic. "You know what will fast-track these peace talks?"

"What?" Lan Mei asked.

"For our two head honchos to come and speak between themselves instead of having us small folks bicker among ourselves. We can’t make the big decisions anyway. We still must go back and consult with them. Why don’t they just come and be done with it?"

Lan Mei laughed lightly. "If they do that, it will end up in a contest of ego. The result will not be mediation. They will instead escalate the conflict further. They might even end up fighting."

Hai Xuang chuckled. "Now that I think about it. Yeah, you are right. It was a bad idea."

"That’s why we have these peace talks first before our two leaders meet. It is our role to hash out most of the unpleasantries and come up with something we can both agree on. Only after then should our leaders meet."

"Sigh... Why is it so difficult to bring along two people? If only our leaders could tone down their pride and think of the people whose lives are affected by their quarrel, everything would be so much easier."

Lan Mei joined in the sighing. "The matter of bringing together two people might sound easy, but it is also the hardest thing to do. Even in the case that both sides are willing, there are still various circumstances that serve as obstacles."

Lan Mei’s speech caused Hai Xuang to look at her. His gaze instead drew Lan Mei to look back. The two stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before looking away.

"I... I think it is time for me to leave." Lan Mei stood from her seat.

Before she could leave, Hai Xuang grabbed her hand. She stopped and stared at him in surprise. Hai Xuang was surprised himself. He had acted without thinking. His hand reached for hers spontaneously. He didn’t understand why. It was as if he had a thought that if he didn’t, he might never see her again.

Though her hand was grabbed, Lan Mei didn’t pull it away. She also didn’t understand why. It was as if she had the thought that if she did, she would lose whatever thin connections she had with him, and she didn’t wish that to happen.

The two stayed like that in silence. They didn’t look at one another, but their hands held each other. Slowly, their eyes turned and met. In that instant, they knew how each other felt. They knew it was wrong. They knew the world would condemn them for it. They knew they wouldn’t have a happy ending, and there would be repercussions for many people.

Even so, they no longer cared.

Hai Xuang pulled, and Lan Mei let him. She fell into his embrace. Their lips came together. Their bodies joined soon. They felt their hearts melt and become one.

---------------

Amon was inside a cave. He was cultivating inside the cave because he sensed rich Earth elements inside. There were very few places with divine elemental energies in the lower world. Hence, he didn’t waste it when he stumbled upon the place. He used these elements to cultivate his divine cultivation path.

He also had a Heirloom Pill at the ready. He estimated it should have been three months since he last consumed this pill. He ate it, and a burst of aura exuded from him.

He grinned widely. He had entered the Demigod Realm of the divine path. He was now a Beginning King Stage cultivator.

While he was still reveling in the increase of his cultivation level, he received a mental message from Lin Li. He grinned even wider then. Everything had gone as planned. The seed he had planted throughout the years had finally sprouted. Nevertheless, it would still be some time before his plan came to full bloom.

Something else took his attention. It was the silky cocoon inside his black space ring. Yuka had remained in that condition for several days. He didn’t understand why it took so long. From the record he had read, the Zuanze butterfly usually required only one day to evolve.

His mental image appeared within the black space ring, beside the shaking silky cocoon. Strand upon strand of the threads that formed the cocoon fell off. The number of threads falling increased over time. Until suddenly, the cocoon exploded, releasing a thick fog of white dust.

The white dust obscured everything. Amon couldn’t sense through the fog. He used his absolute control over the dimension to blow the dust away. It dispersed, revealing a figure unlike the being before the cocoon state.

Yuka was smaller than she was before. She was now the size of a human and had the perfect shape of an attractive woman. Yet, shape was all that resembled her to a woman. She had no feature that could make anyone believe she was a human.

Her skin was translucent and emitted a dim green light. One could see through the glowing skin and see the colorful blood vessels underneath. Her face was without eyes, ears, or a nose. Only a mouth graced that face. On her back was a pair of butterfly wings with pointy ends. One of the wings was covered in white feathers, and the other one was black. Those wings still possessed her signature large eyes.

Amon frowned upon seeing Yuka’s new form. This evolution was unlike the records he had read about the Zuanze Butterfly. He expected her to evolve into a spirit beast of the Lower Primordial grade. What he sensed from her, however, was more powerful.

Yuka turned to Amon’s mental image and smiled. Amon sensed intense danger then.

She exited the black space ring’s dimension and appeared outside in the cave where Amon was cultivating. Her glowing body expanded as the large vertical mouth filled with sharp teeth appeared. The mouth clamped where Amon sat. However, she bit only air.

Amon had dashed away the moment she appeared.

"Hehe. Even with my current speed, I still can’t get a jump on you. As I thought, you have the power of precognition when it comes to danger," Yuka chuckled.

Amon observed her with alarm. After gauging her burst of aura just now, he understood that she had evolved into a Higher Primordial Beast. Not only that, but she should be an upper-class among the Higher Primordial Beasts. This put her at the same power level as Yao Ai’s Vermillion Vulture or a Peak Overlord Stage cultivator.

Yuka smiled. Without a proper face, her smiling expression was unsettlingly creepy.