While Zhang Tian was... "busy"... a different scene unfolded in another wing of the hotel. Qian Renxue, in an effort to bond with the women her lover now kept close, had arranged for a private afternoon. She, Ah Yin, and Jin Xi were spending time together.
Qian Renxue was still trying to understand the two new additions to their inner circle. Ah Yin, or 'Yin' as she was called, was Zhang Tian's most trusted aide. She was quiet, her power hidden deep, and she carried herself with a grace that Qian Renxue found herself respecting. The other, Jin Xi, was a complete enigma. This "distant relative" was as naive as a newborn, yet her crimson eyes held a strange, ancient wisdom.
"I thought we could relax," Qian Renxue said, leading them into a private chamber. "The Spirit Hall may be... what it is... but its hospitality is unmatched."
The room was a sanctuary of steam, soft music, and fragrant oils. A team of beautiful, soft-spoken women in Spirit Hall attendant robes were there to serve them. This was one of the hotel's most exclusive private spas.
Jin Xi looked around, her crimson eyes wide with wonder. "What is this place? It's... warm. And it smells like... like a thousand flowers."
"It's a spa, Jin Xi," Qian Renxue explained, a small, amused smile on her face. "A place for humans to relax."
"Relax?" Jin Xi asked, genuinely confused. "Why? We are not being hunted. Why would we be tense?"
Ah Yin, who had been coaching Jin Xi on human customs for weeks, gave a gentle, almost invisible nudge. "Jin Xi," she whispered, "it is a human custom. A sign of... luxury. Just... enjoy it."
"Oh. Right. Human customs." Jin Xi nodded, trying to look serious.
They were led to three soft, padded tables. The attendants, their hands warm and strong, began their work.
Jin Xi gasped as one of the women began to massage her feet. "What is this?! She's... she's rubbing me! Is this a punishment? Did I do something wrong?"
Qian Renxue let out a genuine, surprised laugh. "No, Jin Xi, it's a massage. It is meant to ease the tension in your muscles. It's supposed to feel good."
"Feel... good?" Jin Xi's instincts were screaming that having a stranger touch her was a sign of weakness, of being captured. But… it did feel… nice. "Oh. It feels like... like tiny, warm raindrops. Or... like being groomed. But with hands. How strange."
Ah Yin just smiled, her own eyes closed as an attendant worked on her shoulders. She let out a soft, pleased sigh. It was a pleasant change from her constant, silent vigil, both as Zhang Tian's guardian and as Jin Xi's.
Qian Renxue found herself charmed by the girl's blunt, strange honesty. Her naivety was like a fresh, clean breeze. "So, Jin Xi," she asked, her own voice relaxed, "your reclusive clan... it must be very different from Spirit City. Is this your first time seeing such a large... pack... of humans?"
Jin Xi, remembering Ah Yin's coaching about 'packs' and 'dens,' quickly corrected herself. "I mean... a city. Yes. It is. Our home... it is very quiet. We only have... trees. And rocks."
Ah Yin, lying on the next table, mentally facepalmed. 'Trees and rocks? That's the best she could come up with?'
Qian Renxue just smiled. "Trees and rocks? It sounds... peaceful. Very different from here."
"Lady Renxue," Ah Yin interjected, her voice a smooth, polite murmur. "You are very kind to show us this. The... resources... of Spirit City are on another level. Even in Heaven Dou, I have not seen such luxury provided for mere tournament guests."
"The Spirit Hall understands the importance of image," Qian Renxue explained, her voice taking on a hint of its old, analytical tone. "They project power in everything they do. From their architecture, which is built to awe and intimidate, to their hospitality, which is designed to buy loyalty. Every part of this city is a weapon."
"You are very smart, Renxue," Jin Xi said suddenly, her voice a soft, genuine sound. "And you are very nice. Not like the other humans I met. Some of them tried to steal my shiny stones. One of them even tried to put me in a cage."
Qian Renxue sat up, her robe slipping from her shoulder. "Put you in a cage? Goodness. You have had a difficult journey."
Jin Xi just nodded. She looked at Qian Renxue, her crimson eyes holding a strange, clear light. "But you feel different," she said, her voice full of simple conviction. "You feel... warm. Like the sun. And your fate... your thread... it's all golden and bright."
Ah Yin's eyes snapped open. 'Jin Xi! Too much!'
But Qian Renxue just stared, completely taken aback. "My... thread?" She was not used to such simple, genuine, and frankly bizarre affection. A faint, real smile touched her lips, a smile that reached her violet eyes. "Thank you, Jin Xi. You are... very sweet."
Later, as the three women were relaxing in Qian Renxue's private suite, dressed in comfortable, silk robes and sipping tea, Zhang Tian arrived.
His energy filled the room the moment he entered. The light, relaxed atmosphere of their "girls' afternoon" instantly became tense, charged.
Ah Yin and Jin Xi stood, bowing their heads respectfully.
"Renxue," he said, his voice a low, serious sound that immediately cut through the air. "May I have a word with you? Alone?"
Qian Renxue's heart gave a small, nervous leap. "Of course."
Ah Yin and Jin Xi were dismissed, Ah Yin giving Zhang Tian a subtle, questioning look, which he ignored. Jin Xi just looked curious, her gaze bouncing between the two of them before Ah Yin gently guided her out of the room.
He led Qian Renxue out onto the massive, private balcony of her suite. The sun was beginning to set, and the imposing, dark spires of Spirit City were like the teeth of some great, sleeping beast against the orange sky. The air was cool.
"She's invited me." He didn't waste time.
"She?" Qian Renxue asked, though she already knew.
"Your mother," he said, his voice flat. "The Supreme Pontiff. She has invited me to the palace. This evening. Alone."
Qian Renxue's blood ran cold. She froze. "What? Alone? Tonight? No." Her voice was a low, urgent hiss. "It's a trap, Zhang Tian. You can't go."
"She's not a fool," she continued, her mind racing, her hands clenching at her sides. "She knows you are allied with my grandfather. She has heard of your power. She might be seeing you as a threat. She will try to kill you, or worse, control you."
"No, she won't," he said calmly. "It's not an execution. It's a... summons. An evaluation." He looked out at the massive, dark palace in the distance. "She wants to see the boy who commands her daughter's attention. She wants to see the boy who leads the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect's new power. She is curious. She wants to measure me."
"Curiosity?" Qian Renxue let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "My mother's curiosity is a dangerous thing. It's the curiosity of a spider examining a fly before she drains it dry."
"But," he said, turning to face her, his blue eyes serious, his gaze pinning her. "I am not going alone."
"You... you're taking someone?" A flash of hope. "Grandfather? Or one of the Seven Treasure Sect's Titled Douluos?"
"No," he said. "I am bringing you."
"What?!" She was stunned. "Me? But... she... she knows I'm back in Spirit City, of course, my grandfather would have told her. But... I haven't seen her. I haven't... I haven't spoken to her, not truly, in years."
Her voice became a low, bitter whisper. "Our meetings are... cold, Zhang Tian. They are formalities at the Elder Hall, once or twice a year. I bow. She nods. I call her 'Your Holiness.' She calls me 'Holy Maiden.' She is not my mother. She is the Supreme Pontiff. I... I don't... I don't dare meet her."
"I know," he said, his voice softening, "And that is exactly the point."
He stepped closer, taking her hands. They were cold as ice. "You told me, a year ago, in that imperial palace," he said, his voice a soft, gentle sound, "that your greatest wish was to reconcile with her. I told you I would help you."
He looked into her wide, violet eyes. "This," he said, "is the first step. I need to see the wound before I can heal it. I need to see her reaction. I need to see how she looks at you, how she speaks to you, when you are not in a formal setting. When you are... with me."
Qian Renxue stared at him, her heart a wild, frantic drum against her ribs. He… he remembered. After all this time. After the tournament, after his women, after his research, after all the political games... he had remembered. His promise. To her.
A wave of emotion so powerful it made her dizzy, so overwhelming it stole her breath, washed over her. Before she could even think, before her lifetimes of training in control and deception could stop her, she lunged forward.
She grabbed the front of his robes, her hands twisting in the fine fabric. She pulled his face down to hers. And she kissed him.
It was not a gentle, teasing kiss. It was a desperate, frantic, and all-consuming one. It was a kiss that held a year's worth of pent-up hope, of crushing fear, of a desperate, aching loneliness. It was the raw, unshielded heart of a woman who had been alone her entire life.
Zhang Tian, surprised by her sudden, raw passion, responded in kind. He didn't just accept the kiss; he conquered it. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand sliding up her back, tangling in her golden hair, the other sliding down, his hand a firm, possessive brand on her waist. He pulled her tight against him, his mouth answering her desperate plea with a firm, dominant promise.
His hand on her waist wasn't content. It slid lower, his fingers tracing the curve of her hip, finding the full, round swell of her buttock, squeezing it with a possessive, almost bruising, force.
Qian Renxue moaned into the kiss, her body melting against him, her own hands, which had been clutching his robes, now tangling in his hair, pulling him even closer.
His other hand, the one in her hair, slid down, under her loose-fitting silk robe, his fingers finding the bare, warm skin of her back, his touch like fire.
She pulled back, her breathing ragged, her violet eyes shining with unshed tears, her face flushed a deep, beautiful crimson. "It seems..." she panted, her voice a husky whisper, "you are helping me... but you are also taking the opportunity to... to enjoy my beauty. Is that the real reason, Zhang Tian? You just want to add me to your collection?" Her tone was teasing, but with a sharp, needy, and almost desperate edge.
Zhang Tian just smirked, his hand on her butt giving another, harder squeeze, making her gasp.
SMACK.
The sound was sharp, stinging. He spanked her, not playfully, but with a sharp sting of dominance that made her entire body jolt.
"Ah!" she cried out, a sound of pure, unfeleing shock.
"You can think that if you like," he whispered, his lips moving to her neck, kissing the pulse that hammered there. "Does it matter? Do you... dislike it?" He kissed his way down, his tongue tracing the line of her collarbone, his lips brushing the high, proud swell of her cleavage, visible above the loose V of her robe.
"Ah... No..." she moaned, her head falling back, her hands clutching his shoulders. "I... I don't dislike it. But you... you are a rascal."
"I am your rascal," he corrected her, his voice a low growl.
She finally, with a strength she didn't know she possessed, pushed him back just enough to breathe, her body trembling. "I… I will go," she whispered, her voice unsteady. "I will come with you."
A new, more immediate fear entered her eyes, chasing away the haze of passion. "But… husband…" she said, her voice a low, worried sound. "She is still my mother. She is… powerful. And she is unstable. What if she does try to harm you? She is not bound by logic."
"Should I… should I send a message to my grandfather?" she asked, her voice a low, worried sound. "He is in the Elder Hall, just on the other side of the city. If I tell him, he can come. He can… he can protect you."
Zhang Tian just smiled, a gentle, reassuring expression. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of golden hair behind her ear. "No," he said, his voice a firm, steady sound. "We will not involve him. Not yet. This must be a meeting between us, and her."
"But Zhang Tian—"
"She is the Supreme Pontiff," he continued, his voice low, confident. "She is the leader of the most powerful organization in the world. She will not be so crude, so... foolish, as to try and assassinate me in her own palace, on the eve of the tournament, with the Emperor and all the great sects watching. She is a woman of pride. She will not risk the scandal."
He took her hand. It was still cold. "She has invited a guest. And I," he said, his eyes gleaming with a new, dangerous light, "am simply bringing a... plus-one. A surprise for the host."
Qian Renxue looked at him, at his calm, confident face. Her fear melted away, replaced by a new, terrifying, and wonderful hope. She squeezed his hand.
"Then... let's not keep my mother waiting."
~~
A/N: Check out my BTTH Fanfic [Doupo: Plundering the Plot with God-Tier Comprehension].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon.
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04