The high from their shopping spree and the satisfying confrontation with Qian Renxue carried the trio back to their estate. The moment the grand wooden gates clicked shut behind them, sealing them inside their private paradise, Ning Rongrong's playful energy deflated, replaced by a sharp, focused curiosity. Zhu Zhuqing, likewise, crossed her arms, her expression analytical.
They didn't go to the living room. They marched straight to the kitchen, where they knew Ah Yin would be preparing their dinner.
They burst through the door. Ah Yin was standing by the counter, humming softly as she sliced a spirit vegetable with practiced, graceful movements. She looked up, the picture of a serene, dutiful maid, a soft, welcoming smile on her beautiful face.
"Young Misses, Master," she began. "You've returned. Dinner will be ready in…"
"Sister Ah Yin!" Ning Rongrong interrupted, her voice sharp and loud, cutting the maid's pleasantry short. "Stop pretending!"
Ah Yin froze, the knife hovering in her hand. A look of perfect, practiced confusion crossed her features. "Young Miss? I… I don't understand."
Zhu Zhuqing stepped forward, her gaze as cold and piercing as ice. "We know. He told us. Are you really a Spirit Douluo?"
Ah Yin's body went rigid. Her crimson eyes snapped instantly to Zhang Tian, who was leaning against the doorframe, a calm, amused smile on his face. Her gaze held a single, clear question: How much did you tell them?
Zhang Tian pushed himself off the doorframe and walked into the kitchen, his mental voice a calm, smooth current that flowed directly into her mind.
'It's fine, my Empress,' he projected. 'Qian Renxue was at the meeting. I needed to reveal your power as a trump card. They know you are a Level 88 Spirit Douluo. They know your spirit mutated into the Blood Silver Grass, just like mine, and that your abilities are similar but far stronger. They think you are my secret guardian, bound to me by some unknown pact, and that you enjoy the "hobby" of acting as our maid. They do not know you are the Empress, nor do they know about our… intimate relationship. Play the part of the powerful, hidden protector.'
Ah Yin processed the information in a fraction of a second. The mask of the confused, pitiful servant dissolved. She let out a long, slow sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She set the knife down and turned to face the two stunned girls.
Her entire demeanor changed. The humble subservience vanished, replaced by an aura of cold, ancient power. It wasn't the fury she reserved for her enemies, but the calm, unassailable authority of a being who knew her own worth.
"He told you, did he?" she said, her voice no longer the soft murmur of a maid, but a rich, resonant melody of pure power. "I suppose the game was bound to end eventually. Yes. It is as he said."
She raised her hand. "Blood Silver Grass."
It was not the single, pathetic blade of common grass she had shown them before. A magnificent, terrifyingly beautiful crimson vine, thick with golden, scale-like patterns, erupted from her palm.
And then, the rings appeared.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Eight spirit rings, spiraling up her arm in a breathtaking display of power. Two brilliant yellow. Two deep purple. And four rings as black as a starless night, each one pulsing with the menacing, ancient power of a ten-thousand-year-old beast.
The oppressive weight of a Level 88 Spirit Douluo filled the kitchen, a pressure so immense it made the very air feel thick and heavy.
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing stared, their mouths agape, their minds completely, blissfully blank. They had known, logically, what a Level 88 Spirit Douluo was. But to see it, to feel it, emanating from the woman who had been serving them tea and washing their clothes for the past year… it was reality-shattering.
"Wow…" Ning Rongrong breathed, her eyes sparkling with a new, even more profound level of awe. "So you… you really are a monster! You were just pretending this entire time!"
Instead of feeling betrayed, she was thrilled. This just proved, once again, that her husband was the most amazing, mysterious, and powerful man in the world, surrounded by secrets and hidden power.
"But what can you do?" Zhu Zhuqing asked, her practical mind already moving past the shock, her gaze fixed on Ah Yin's magnificent spirit rings. "What are your abilities?"
Ah Yin looked at Zhang Tian, a silent question. He just shrugged, giving her a small nod of permission.
Ah Yin smiled, a slow, proud expression. This was far more fun than pretending to be pitiful. "My abilities are… similar to my Master's," she said, her voice a low, melodic purr. "But, perhaps, a little more… refined."
She gestured to a simple wooden cup on the counter. A single crimson vine snaked out, weaving itself with impossible speed and intricacy into a perfect, miniature replica of the cup. A construct.
"Like that," she said. "But also…"
Another vine shot out and touched Ning Rongrong's arm. Before Rongrong could even react, the world around her vanished. She was no longer in a kitchen. She was standing on the stage of the Great Spirit Arena, the roar of the crowd deafening, a massive, fire-wreathed Spirit King charging directly at her. She shrieked, her own pagoda appearing in her hand on pure instinct.
And then, just as quickly, the vision vanished. She was back in the kitchen, panting, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Illusions," Ah Yin explained calmly, retracting her vine. "As long as I make physical contact, I can project whatever I wish directly into an opponent's mind."
Zhu Zhuqing stared, her analytical mind instantly grasping the terrifying tactical potential of such an ability.
"And finally," Ah Yin said, "this."
Another vine erupted from her palm. It was soft, pliable, a deep crimson. And then, with a thought, it transformed. The soft plant matter hardened, shifted, taking on a multi-faceted, crystalline sheen. It was now a spear of unbreakable, ruby-red crystal.
"Crystallization," she explained. "I can trade the flexibility of my grass for absolute defensive and offensive power. In this state, my vines are nearly indestructible."
The two girls were speechless. They had just been given a glimpse into the true arsenal that stood behind their small team. The conversation that followed lasted the entire night, a whirlwind of excited questions, strategic planning, and a profound, newfound respect for the beautiful, terrifying woman who had been hiding in plain sight.
The next morning, at the northern gate of Heaven Dou City, their full hunting party assembled. It was a strange, eclectic, and overwhelmingly powerful group.
Zhang Tian stood at the center, flanked by his two beautiful fiancées. Qian Renxue was a vision in her practical, white traveling robes, her golden hair tied back, her violet eyes holding a cool, unreadable light.
Behind her, the two Titled Douluos, She Long and Ci Xue, stood like twin statues of death, their presences deliberately unshielded, a clear, unmistakable warning to anyone who might be watching.
Ah Yin stood a respectful step behind Zhang Tian, once again in her humble maid's uniform, her aura completely suppressed, her head bowed. She was the perfect, invisible trump card.
And then, the final member arrived.
Liu Erlong strode towards them, her fiery red hair a stark, beautiful contrast to the crimson leather armor that clung to every powerful, voluptuous curve of her body. She was the picture of a proud, powerful woman, her face a mask of cool professionalism, though her heart was hammering a frantic, secret rhythm at the sight of her true Master.
She nodded respectfully to Qian Renxue, recognizing her instantly as the beautiful woman whom Zhang Tian goes to meet and who resides in the Imperial Palace of this Heaven Dou Empire.
Finally, her gaze settled on Zhang Tian. "Mister Zhang Tian," she said, her voice a low, smooth, and perfectly professional sound. "We are all here. As you requested. But you have still not told me why we are traveling to the Dragoncry Thunder Canyon. It is a dangerous place, the sacred land of… of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. To enter without permission is to declare war. I must know what spirit beast could possibly be worth such a risk."
Zhang Tian met her gaze, his expression unreadable. "A thirty-three-thousand-year-old Thunder Hell Prison Vine," he said simply. "It has been sighted deep within the canyon. It is the only beast suitable for my fifth spirit ring."
Liu Erlong's eyes widened slightly. A plant that fed on pure lightning. Such a creature was a myth, a legend. If it truly existed, it would indeed be a prize worth risking a war for. And for him, a man whose spirit was a plant type, it was the perfect, god-sent ring. She nodded, her expression grim. "I understand."
With the final member of their party in place, the strange, temporary alliance set off. They moved quickly, their powerful Spirit Master bodies covering the ground at a relentless pace. The journey took days, leaving the civilized lands of the Heaven Dou Empire far behind, pushing deep into the wild, untamed territories that bordered the Blue Lightning Clan's ancestral home.
Finally, they reached the border. It was not a wall, or a fence. It was a series of tall, stone monoliths, carved with the roaring visage of a dragon, crackling with a faint, residual electrical energy.
"This is it," Liu Erlong said, her voice low and tense. "From this point on, we are in their territory. The patrols here are constant, and they are not forgiving of trespassers. Most are Spirit Saints, and the captains are often Spirit Douluo elders of the clan."
"Do not worry," Zhang Tian said calmly. He turned and gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod to the humble maid standing behind him.
Ah Yin stepped forward. She did not speak. She did not move. She simply… released her power.
An invisible, intangible, and utterly profound bubble of energy expanded from her body. It was not a physical barrier. It was a sensory void. The Blood Silver Domain. It washed over the entire group, enveloping Zhang Tian, his two fiancées, Qian Renxue, Liu Erlong, and even the two astonished, hidden Titled Douluos who were shadowing them from a distance.
Liu Erlong's eyes widened. She knew this feeling. She had felt it before. That night. Outside Yu Xiaogang's window. The night her entire world had changed. 'So this… this is her power,' she thought, her heart hammering with a mixture of awe and a new, profound respect.
Qian Renxue and her two guardians were even more stunned.
'My spiritual sense… it's been blinded!' She Long hissed in his mind. 'I can't feel anything outside of this… this bubble! Not the wind, not the trees, not the ground!'
'This camouflage is perfect,' Qian Renxue thought, her analytical mind reeling. 'It doesn't just hide our presence. It erases it. This woman… she is far more dangerous than I thought.'
They moved forward, a silent, invisible contingent of ghosts. They passed within a hundred meters of a patrol, two grim-faced Spirit Saint elders of the Blue Lightning Clan. The elders paused, sniffing the air, a confused look on their faces, as if they had just sensed something… wrong. But their spiritual senses told them nothing. They saw nothing, felt nothing. With a shrug, they continued on their patrol, completely oblivious to the party of apex predators that had just glided past them.
With Ah Yin's perfect domain shielding them, they moved with impunity. Qian Renxue now took the lead, guiding them through the dense, unfamiliar forest, following the detailed map her agents had provided.
After another full day of travel, they arrived.
The sound reached them first. A low, constant, rumbling crackle, like a storm that never ended. And then, they stepped out of the dense forest and onto a high, rocky precipice.
The sight before them stole their breath.
They stood at the edge of a canyon so vast it seemed to split the world in two. It was a colossal, jagged wound in the earth, a labyrinth of black, obsidian-like rock and shattered peaks that stretched as far as the eye could see. The air was thick with the sharp, acidic smell of ozone.
But it was the sky above the canyon that held the true terror. It was not blue. It was a permanent, swirling vortex of dark, angry, purple-black clouds. And from this vortex, the storm raged.
It was not rain that fell. It was lightning.
Constant, random, and terrifyingly powerful bolts of violet-white energy rained down from the sky, striking the canyon floor with a relentless, chaotic fury. Each impact was a deafening, explosive CRACK-BOOM that sent shockwaves echoing through the rock. A bolt struck a nearby, needle-like spire of rock a few miles away, and the entire, mountain-sized peak simply disintegrated, turning into a cloud of pulverized dust.
Ning Rongrong stared, her face pale, her hand clutching Zhang Tian's arm. "My gods…" she whispered. "How can anything… live in there?"
This was the Dragoncry Thunder Canyon. A place where the heavens themselves were at war with the earth. And somewhere, deep within that beautiful, terrifying hellscape, the spirit beast for Zhang Tian's fifth spirit ring was waiting.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon