Free Web NovelChapter 233: Chapter 233: Leaving Beast God City
Da Hu and Xiao Hu were playing nearby. With their sharp eyes, they saw their Female Mother and Beast Father kissing, so they each demanded one for themselves.
Yu An smiled and kissed each of them on the forehead. The two boys then shot their Beast Father a triumphant look.
’See? We don’t need to make a deal to get kisses!’
Feng Xuan wasn’t happy about this. He grumbled, "An’an, I feel like I got a bad deal."
"Oh, right. Since you recovered those memories last night, why don’t we... work a little harder? Maybe..."
Feng Xuan was kicked away. Yu An shot him a look before taking the two Zaizai back into the house.
Feng Xuan, who had just had the door shut in his face: "..." ƒrēewebnovel.com
With the three of them—father and sons—living in the Beast God Hall, something like this was impossible to hide. Not that Yu An had any intention of hiding it, anyway.
In just a few short days, everyone in the Beast God Hall knew that they had a new Lord, as well as two young masters.
Ao Yi and the others were naturally aware of this. They, too, had come from the Divine Mountain. Before them, the positions of the four Hall Masters—East, South, West, and North—had been held by other people. The Beast God had chosen them as the new Hall Masters, and by calculation, they had only been in their roles for about a year longer than Yu An.
The mission they had received was to assist Yu An, the Hall Master. Of course, if Yu An were to do something wrong or act disloyally toward the Beast God, the four of them could report directly to the Beast God.
Before Yu An had assumed her post, the four of them had intended to follow this rule strictly. Following orders was one part of it; the other was the Beast God’s promise that whoever exposed her could take her place as Hall Master.
But after meeting Yu An, they made a strange discovery: they couldn’t bring themselves to report her. Of course, Yu An hadn’t been in her position for long, and there was nothing to report anyway.
But this time...
Ao Er asked hesitantly, "Should we report this matter to the Beast God?"
"What’s there to report?" Ao Si drawled, crossing his legs casually. "Love between a man and a woman is only natural. The Hall Master is a normal person, after all. What’s wrong with her having a man and children?"
"South Hall Master, are you that eager to take her place?"
Ao Er shot him an annoyed glare. "Who’s eager to take her place? I’m just suspicious of that man’s identity."
"The Hall Master previously said she never had a man or children. For them to suddenly appear now... I’m just worried it might be detrimental to the Beast God Hall."
Ao Si shrugged. "Who cares? Maybe the Hall Master was too embarrassed to admit it before. After all, here in the Endless Land, abandoning one’s husband and children is just as scorned as abandoning one’s wife and children."
Ao Yi voiced his agreement. "The two young masters are, after all, the Hall Master’s own flesh and blood. Even if she doesn’t want to acknowledge the man’s status, the bond between a mother and her children is unbreakable."
"The East Hall Master is right," Ao Shan chimed in. "We should just focus on our own duties. Besides, the Beast God is sleeping. How could we possibly disturb the great being over such a trivial matter?"
Since they all felt that way, Ao Er decided to wash his hands of the matter.
As long as the Hall Master wasn’t doing anything to harm the Beast God Hall, he had no desire to speak ill of her behind her back. It would make him look like a petty schemer.
Besides--
Ao Er asked himself: if Yu An really did do something to harm the Beast God Hall, he... wouldn’t necessarily report it to the Beast God. (He definitely wouldn’t.)
He knew where his loyalties lay.
’Huh? But I’m not actually that close with Yu An, am I?’
Using the excuse of recovering her memories, Feng Xuan coaxed and cajoled Yu An into spending several nights alone with him in their room. Fortunately, thanks to her Wood Element Ability, she was always back to her lively self in no time.
But no matter how amazing her superpower was, Yu An refused to let him keep messing around like this. If it continued, she felt like she’d be completely drained!
She and Feng Xuan had gone from being strangers at the beginning to acting like an old married couple. The transition hadn’t taken long at all, as if this was how they were always meant to be.
It just went to show, sometimes the body’s instincts were far more reliable than memory.
Yu An felt that for someone as vigilant as herself to be able to relax completely in Feng Xuan’s presence, their relationship must be that of life-and-death companions.
Feng Xuan corrected her, "We’re a loving couple. What’s all this about ’life-and-death companions’? That makes us sound like sworn brothers."
Yu An replied perfunctorily, "Uh-huh, a loving couple... Oh, right. I have to leave Beast God City for a while in a couple of days."
The Endless Land was divided into cities and villages of various sizes. These settlements weren’t governed by City Lords or village chiefs, but by messengers from the branch temples of the Beast God Hall.
The city where the main Beast God Hall was located was called Beast God City. As the Hall Master, Yu An was effectively the City Lord of Beast God City.
Feng Xuan froze for a moment. "Where are you going?"
"A strange incident has occurred in Qi Yuan City. The messenger there couldn’t resolve it and has reported it here. The East Hall Master went to investigate not long ago but was also unable to solve it."
When those in the lower ranks couldn’t solve a problem, it naturally fell to Yu An, the Hall Master, to take action.
"Then the Zaizai and I will go with you," Feng Xuan said, hugging her tightly. "An’an, we can’t be separated again."
"Don’t worry, I had no intention of leaving you here."
Yu An patted his back reassuringly. "You and the Zaizai will come with me. If there’s anything you need to pack, get it ready ahead of time."
Small, important items could be placed in her space. Larger things weren’t a problem either, as they would have a carriage.
Feng Xuan thought for a moment. "There’s nothing we need to pack. We just need to bring ourselves."
"All right, then. Go tell Da Hu and Xiao Hu. We’ll set out in two days."
Since Ao Yi had been there once before, he was to accompany Yu An. However, on the day of their departure, they encountered a strange problem.
Feng Xuan and the two Zaizai were completely unable to leave the bounds of Beast God City. Even when Yu An tried putting them into her storage space, they were forcibly ejected the moment she stepped past the city’s perimeter.
Yu An found a secluded spot and tried many different methods, but none of them succeeded.
"How about this," she said helplessly. "You guys go back to the Beast God Hall for now. I’ll return as soon as I’m finished with this business. Don’t worry, I have plenty of guards with me, not to mention my superpower and my storage space. I’ll be fine."
Feng Xuan was reluctant to let her go, but there was no other option. He could only take Da Hu and Xiao Hu and watch as Yu An departed.
Da Hu was a little anxious. "Beast Father, will Female Mother be okay?"
"Of course she will," Feng Xuan said with a smile. "Your Female Mother is so powerful. Who could possibly hurt her?"
He said this, but he couldn’t help the worry gnawing at him.
The messenger from Qi Yuan City couldn’t clearly explain what the problem was. His brother-in-law had gone for a look and also couldn’t put it into words, only saying that Yu An would understand once she saw it for herself.
’A strange incident... just the sound of it is troublesome. I just hope An’an can return safely, recover her memories quickly, and our family can be properly reunited soon.’
At this thought, Feng Xuan couldn’t help but curse the Beast God a few more times in his mind.
What he didn’t know was that, far away on the Divine Mountain, the sleeping Beast God frowned almost imperceptibly. The faint golden light that always surrounded it dimmed by the smallest fraction.
The amount lost, relative to the whole, was like a single drop of water in the ocean—completely unnoticeable.
But, it was gone all the same.
Moreover, these "droplets" were continuing to disappear at a slow but steady rate, a fact the Beast God had not yet noticed.
Or perhaps, It had noticed something was amiss, but being asleep, It could not awaken to stop it. Or perhaps It disdained to stop it. Or perhaps... It was powerless to stop it.
