Chapter 72: The Daughter Who Will Give Birth to a Daughter
In the stunned gaze of the old man, pale flames erupted around Xia Feng's body, swirling around his shoulders before erupting into a magnificent pair of fire-feathered wings—brilliant, holy white plumes humming with energy.
Buzz—
The fiery aura pulsed outward, rustling the surrounding trees as the man in his pristine white suit slowly levitated.
"Is that... my Vermilion Bird Armor?" The old man gaped, his head tilting back. Though his connection to the spirit weapon had been severed, he could still sense it—the armor's crimson flames had transformed into this sacred white blaze, its very essence seemingly elevated.
Strangest of all, the azure embers of the armor almost seemed... joyful, as if celebrating their new owner's strength.
"Watch closely. This is how you use a spirit weapon."
With a flick of his wings, Xia Feng vanished—reappearing behind the elder in a streak of white lightning.
Shink. The bloodied blade pierced the old man's back.
"W-wait! Don't kill me!" The elder clutched his chest, trembling. "I'll tell you everything about the prince!"
Xia Feng paused, glancing thoughtfully at Mu Qingtong. "He's right. Killing him now would be a waste. What do you think, Miss Mu?"
"Yes! I-I'll talk! Anything!" the old man babbled, desperate.
"The dead," Mu Qingtong remarked coolly, "are far more reliable witnesses."
Her golden eyes locked onto Xia Feng. "Kill him. I'll make the corpse speak."
The elder's face drained of color. "Wh-what kind of—"
Thud. The blade found his heart. His shocked expression froze, lips parting in a final whisper:
"...Monsters."
Xia Feng smirked, withdrawing the knife. "Your stage, Miss Mu."
The black-clad woman stepped forward, pressing a palm to the dead man's forehead.
A translucent spirit rose—a man in his thirties, his ghostly pupils now glowing with golden sigils that rotated slowly in their hollow sockets.
Hypnosis postmortem? Xia Feng observed, intrigued. So far, he'd confirmed two of her abilities: hypnosis, and that eerie body-control technique (trigger unknown—definitely not eye contact).
Given her Alpha-class weapon, he guessed she had a third power yet to reveal.
"Why did the prince take Li Hongdou?" Mu Qingtong asked, tone clinical.
The specter answered dully: "Only by making Li Hongdou acknowledge the princess as her mother can the birth ceremony be completed."
"Elaborate."
"The princess's [Vitality] was erased by the Imaginary River. The [World Will] now rejects her. To regain its recognition—to rebirth her soul into flesh—she must reclaim [Vitality]."
"The ceremony requires vast spiritual materials and Infinite Stones. The prince gathered these weeks ago. Only [Vitality] remains."
"To obtain it, she needs a life-identity recognized by the [World]. Such identities stem from one's deepest obsessions."
Xia Feng frowned as the spirit rambled on in its hollow monotone.
"The princess's obsession... is to have a daughter. But her body is entombed in the Ice God's Casket, her soul trapped within three meters of the Imaginary River's flow. She cannot conceive..."
Ah. Xia Feng's eyes narrowed. So the princess needed the title of "mother" to reclaim her existence—but her state made childbirth impossible.
"Then why not just adopt some random girl?" he cut in.
The spirit responded sluggishly: "Yue Hongli refused. 'I've never even married,' she said. 'How can I have a daughter?'"
This princess can talk? Xia Feng listened as the ghost elaborated:
The prince had staged an elaborate wedding between Yue Hongli's soul-form (which drifted three meters from her body, vacant-eyed and childlike in comprehension) and a nobleman—all to fulfill her fixation on matrimony.
Though her spectral self rarely responded coherently, she'd grasped one thing:
She was now a bride.
Thus, the princess acknowledged the stepdaughters the prince presented.
Yet the Imaginary River's domain persisted—proof the [World Will] remained unconvinced.
The soul-body's recognition meant nothing. But the prince wasn't discouraged. He still had one true candidate: Li Hongdou.
And so began Mushroom's years-long resistance against forced motherhood.
After intermittent struggles spanning two or three years, the prince—faced with her unwavering refusal—temporarily abandoned this approach. Fine, he'd decided. I'll simply sire another child.
He impregnated several women, fathering three daughters. The exhaustive effort left him half-dead—only for the princess's soul to declare:
"I want... a daughter... who can bear... her own daughter."
The prince nearly shattered his teeth.
A daughter who could reproduce?! Were it not for the soul-body's evident idiocy, he'd have suspected deliberate mockery.
But as royalty, he'd witnessed stranger demands. Undeterred, he attempted every solution:
Arranging Yue Hongli's remarriage to a man with an adult daughter: "A woman... weds... only once."
Artificial womb experiments: Rejected by the [World Will]
Temporal acceleration spells: Disrupted by the Imaginary River
All failures.
Then came the realization: Li Hongdou was the only viable candidate. Without her, the birth ceremony became an unsolvable paradox.
Having finally collected the Infinite Stones, the prince hosted his annual gala—specifically inviting Xia Feng. Though Li Hongdou had left his estate, years of surveillance revealed her one vulnerability:
Xia Feng.
Control him, and the rebellious "daughter" would comply.
Yet fate, it seemed, delighted in chaos. The banquet became a circus of catastrophes—Li Siwen's vendetta against Xia Feng clashing spectacularly with Liszt's designs.
Didn't that fool coordinate with his son?! the prince had raged. If Xia Feng died prematurely—
...
Pingshan Hospital Ruins
The red-gowned woman hovered before the glass coffin, her veiled fox-face tilting upward.
The prince watched from three meters away—the invisible barrier enforced by the Imaginary River. His outstretched hand hovered mid-reach before dropping.
"Soon, my princess," he murmured. "Soon you'll awaken... and meet your king."
(Chapter End)