Chapter 504: Future Plans

With my first goal determined, I decided to head back to Amane’s place where I told all the other girls to wait for me at. With Space Magic, that was easy. A simple teleport brought me exactly where I wanted to go. Getting there the normal way would’ve been a pain, considering while I knew I was in the Fortress, I had no idea which District I was in. It was a huge place, after all. It would’ve taken a while to figure out.

“Alright… this should be the plac-“

“Big Brother Xuan Kai!”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before I heard a person call out my name, and the next instant, an incredibly cute white-haired girl had dove into my arms for a hug.

“Mm… you’re back…”

“Not crying this time?” I taunted, grinning as I patted Qing Yue’s head.

“Hmph, I knew you were going to be just fine this time around,” Qing Yue replied, pouting slightly as she rubbed her face against my chest. “You’re my big brother, after all—the same one who survived a trip to the Death Realm and back~”

“Fair enough,” I chuckled. “And where are the others?”

“Inside,” Qing Yue said, then twirled around. “Follow me.”

*****

– An Hour Later –

After finishing telling the girls about everything that my father—X—told me, they were awe-struck and utterly stunned.

“So the leader of the Midnight Syndicate… is in fact your father…?” Feng Mian murmured, eyes widened. “That’s… wow.”

I nodded. “Imagine how I felt when I first realized.”

“So the revenge you’ve been searching for all this time… was all merely a fake orchestrated act made up by your parents?” Lan Xiao Su gasped. “That’s horrible…”

“Yeah. Even if it was to ultimately protect him… that’s not a great method,” Yu An Yan agreed, and even Zhao Xiuying nodded.

“The ends, do not, justify, the means.”

“And now, you even have to fight him as an enemy…?” Feng Mian concluded, sighing and shaking her head. “I honestly don’t know what to say…”

“Yeah. It’s a mess. Even I haven’t completely gotten over it yet, but… we have to move on,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “First off… Lorelei, can you create a replica of that map we saw inside the Earth Empyrean’s lair?”

Lorelei exited my soul realm in a flash and nodded, as Yu An Xue handed her a piece of paper and a pen. Then, she went to work, beautifully creating an exact replica of the map we had seen in the lair in that mountain.

Despite being a Soulfox, she handled the pen with great dexterity. What was truly impressive, however, was the fact that she was still in her fox form, and using her tail to hold the writing utensil. She seemed to have perfect control over the way the ink flowed on the paper, and like magic, in the matter of a few minutes, the drawing was complete.

“… Wow,” the other girls breathed as the map was complete, and Lorelei set down the pen calmly before gently hopping onto my arm and climbing to my shoulder where her reserved seat was.

“This is a map of the Empyreans’ lairs,” I explained. “Each holds a power inside, and if I am able to obtain all of them, then… we will all receive a blessing.”

“Us too?” Lin Luo asked, raising an eyebrow in skepticism. I nodded.

“Yeah. And that blessing is… immortality.”

At this, all of their eyes widened.

“I-Immortality…?” Yu An Yan murmured. “As in… become gods?”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “To clarify, immortality here refers to never dying of old age. We will essentially stop growing older from where we are… eternal youth, basically.”

I expected them to be disappointed upon hearing this, but to my surprise, their eyes all lit up even more.

“Woah… eternal youth?!”

“That’s, like, every girl’s dream!”

“Fufu~ awfully considerate, Xuan Kai… now, where are these lairs?”

“Uh… well…” I scratched my cheek awkwardly, then glanced at the map. “This is an ancient relic of a map, so we’ll need to figure out the modern geographical locations of the places marked here. Is anyone specialized in history?”

Lan Xiao Su timidly raised her hand. “Um… I am decent at it? I’ve read a couple of books before, so…”

“I’m quite certain that is a  severe  understatement, but eh,” Flaria said with a shrug. “Guess we’ll leave it to you?”

I nodded. “It’s in your hands, Xiao Su.”

Lan Xiao Su nodded firmly. “It will take some time as I have to reference many different textbooks, but… I should have all the locations solved by tonight.”

“Great,” I replied, then yawned and stretched my arms. “Ahh… well, I think I’m going to sleep. I didn’t get to do that much last night, after all.”

“I shall join you, master,” Mei Gui said, to which Feng Mian gave a sigh.

“Mei Gui, you can do that another time… he wants to rest-“

“Actually, I need to talk to you anyway, Mei Gui,” I interrupted. “I appreciate the thought, Feng Mian, but I might as well talk to her before going to sleep. I can stay awake for another few minutes.”

“I see. Well, if you say so…” Feng Mian smiled and winked at Mei Gui, but the latter girl’s heart wasn’t in it, and I knew why.

I headed upstairs into Amane’s private chambers after that, since she said I could rest there. Mei Gui followed me, and not long after, we were finally alone in the room. I shut the door tightly, locked it, then cast a sound barrier around just in case. I didn’t care if any of the other girls heard this, but it would be troublesome if an outsider did.

“Master, I-“

“Stop,” I said before she could even muster out a single sentence. “I know what you’re trying to say. I also know you feel guilty. But really… there’s no reason for that.”

“But… it is my fault that you now have to fight against your father, and he even said that I…”

“Relax,” I sighed, patting her head and pulling her into a close embrace. “Listen, Mei Gui. You are not the only reason I am fighting against my father. If magic disappears from this world altogether… I’ll go back to my past self. Other people have never experienced that pain of not having any power, but I know it all too well.”

Lowering my voice, I continued. “So… if I have to say, I’m fighting my father because I’m selfish. I wanted power so bad back then. And now that I have it… no way in hell I’m giving it up. That’s why I’m fighting, alright? You are part of the reason, of course, but not the main one. So there is no reason to feel guilty. Even if you didn’t exist, I would still fight back against my father in this situation.”

“Master… are you… only saying this to make me feel better…? If that is the case, then-“

“Since when have I lied to you?”

“That’s…”

“I may have hidden many things from you and the other girls… but to you in particular, I never lied. Lying to you would’ve been impossible anyway, since you can see right through them, can you not? I am not just saying this to make you feel better.”

“Master…” Mei Gui smiled slightly, burrowing her tear-stricken face against my neck and sobbing softly into them. I ran my fingers along her beautiful silver hair like a parent might comfort their child.

“Mei Gui… I just have one question.”

“What question…?” She asked softly, curious.

“My father told me that you are the Primordial Chaos. I am assuming your memories are simply too apart for you to have realized that, but… he also mentioned you as dangerous. I believe you will never betray me, but… I want to hear it from your own mouth. Will you ever hurt me, Mei Gui?”

Immediately, Mei Gui backed away and shook her head furiously.

“Of course not, Master! Unless your life was at risk, I would never hurt you unless you specifically ordered me to. When I was a mere stone, you gave me life. When I was but a living doll, you gave me personality. When I was nameless, you gave me a name. All of that… those are debts that cannot be repaid, no matter what. The only thing I can do to make up for that… is to stay by Master’s side forever as a faithful and loyal servant.”

“I see… that’s all I needed to hear,” I said, smiling slightly. I used a lie-checker spell just now, and Mei Gui hadn’t been lying when she said any of that.

And yet, I could not help but feel worried. I didn’t think my father was lying when he said Chaos was dangerous. Even if Mei Gui herself didn’t will it, perhaps…

Never mind.

I decided to just go to sleep, not thinking about it, and Mei Gui ended up joining me anyway. She could only replenish energy by sleeping with me, after all.