Precious Love

  I turned around and said to the eight stenographers, "Later, you all follow the housekeeper to rest. I'll find you this afternoon. Remember, without my order, don't take a step out of the room, got it?"

  "We understand." The expressions of these guys were all very calm, it was clear that their mental quality was not bad, it seemed that the Beast Emperor had indeed put in a lot of effort to cultivate them.

  I saw the servants and maids around me still staring blankly at me, suddenly I shouted: "What are you all looking at? Go do what you should be doing!"

  Everyone suddenly knelt down on the ground at the same time and shouted in unison: "Congratulations to Third Master for his promotion."

  I couldn't help but feel both angry and amused, this group of beastmen, all are just small-time powers, seeing me gaining momentum, immediately started flattering me. "Alright, get up, disperse." I waved my hand impatiently, turning around to leave the main hall first.

  After eating something casually, I didn't rest for a moment and came to the large room arranged by the butler. The eight people sent by the Beast Emperor stood up and saluted as soon as they saw me enter.

  This room is really big, about seventy pings in size. On both sides are beds for them to rest on, and in front of each bed there is a large table with paper and pen placed on it, I don't know if they asked for it themselves or the housekeeper prepared it.

  I glanced at them and said, "Due to the urgency of time, today's task for everyone will be a bit heavier. Since you are all skilled in shorthand, I'll speak very quickly later on, and you'll take turns recording. What you record must not be leaked out under any circumstances, or else don't blame me for being impolite. If you've asked the servants in the mansion, you should know what kind of person I am. Today's task is to have each of you complete one book. In order, you, the first one, after finishing recording, organize it yourself." I called out a werewolf. The werewolf calmly ran to his own desk and said, "Your Highness, you can start speaking now."

  I pulled over a chair and sat down, thought for a moment and said: "Remember clearly, the book is called 'Continental Military Revelation', divided into ten volumes, sixty-six chapters, first volume, first chapter..." I started to let these stenographers record what I recited, and was surprised to find that their hands were extremely fast, which made me increase my recitation speed again and again.

  I spent the whole afternoon in this big house.

  In the late afternoon, I stretched my waist and said: "It's time to eat, let's stop here for today. You all performed extremely well, far beyond my expectations. Originally, I thought it would be fine to get eight copies done, but I didn't expect your memorization skills to be so impressive, exceeding the task. I will speak highly of you in front of His Majesty."

  I finished recording sixteen books and I'm so excited that I even started praising people.

  Eight scribes did not get excited because of my excitement, but stood up calmly and saluted me: "Thank you for the promotion." A wave of fatigue came over me, after all, I had used my brain for a whole day, it was really too tiring.

  "You all go to rest early, if you want to eat something just order the servant." I rushed out of the study and went straight to my mother's bedroom. As soon as I arrived at the door, I met a maid coming out from inside. Seeing me, the maid hurriedly saluted: "Third young master."

  "Has my mother eaten yet?"

  "I just ate."

  "Go ahead." I pushed open the door and walked into my mother's room. My mother was sitting in a chair, staring blankly at the two gems I had given her.

  "Mother, I'm home."

  My mother looked up at me and her complexion was much better than yesterday, with a hint of rosiness. "How are you feeling today?"

  Her mother gazed at the two gemstones with a hint of intoxication: "It's much better than before. These two stones are truly magical, especially the green tourmaline. I've only heard that it can absorb the essence of nature and convert natural energy into life force, providing it endlessly to those close to it who need it. I didn't expect it to be so magical. With this chicken blood stone, in just one day's work, I feel my body is much better than before."

  My mother spoke so much for the first time, it seems that her heart has revived with hope. I smiled and said: "This is all the Duke's intention towards you, of course it works."

  My mother's gaze shifted from the gemstone to my face, her eyes were quite strange, and indifference occupied most of it.

  She gave me a cold smile and said, "If I'm not mistaken, you're thinking of using me as a bargaining chip to defect to the Dragon God Empire, right? If that's what you think, then you're greatly mistaken."

  A surge of intense anger burst forth from me, and I slammed my massive palm onto the table, reducing the sturdy purple sandalwood to powder. The dim light was disrupted by the airflow, flickering unsteadily.

  My mother wasn't intimidated by me at all, raised her head and said: "How, did I hit your sore spot? You beastmen, not a single good thing."

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm down my excited mood, I was afraid that if this continued, it would trigger my madness.

  "Mother, you may insult my character if you wish, but do not insult the feelings I have for you. Yes, the Duke has been kind to me and is even planning to marry his daughter to me, but I have never forgotten that I was born into a beastman family. Although I am a half-breed, a mongrel in the eyes of most people, I don't care. I will prove with my own actions that I am the strongest."

  I wiped away the tears that had flowed unknowingly, and continued to say: "Not bad, I admit it, I really like the life on the side of the Dragon God Empire. There is a simple folk custom, wise governance, and the people I love are all beckoning me. If I want to stay there, I don't need you as my stepping stone at all. Do you know? I didn't even tell the Duke that I am your son. Because, I don't know if I count as your flesh and blood in your eyes. But what I want to tell you is that the one who violently assaulted you was King Rayo of Baimon, and those who persecuted you were him and his concubines. What does this have to do with me? Why do you hate me from start to finish?"

  My mother heard this and her whole body started trembling, excitedly yelling at me: "Although you are not that beast, but after all, you are his kind, your birth brings nothing but shame to me."

  My expression calmed down, there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. As for my mother, I no longer have any illusions about her.

  I said faintly, "Since you think so, I won't say more. This time I returned to the Beastmen, my biggest goal is to help the Beast Emperor unify the entire tribe and make it stronger. Maybe you don't know, the Beast Emperor has recognized me as his adopted son. If I were to please the Dragon God's Duke, would I do this? In a few days, I will leave here to do what I should do. You take care of yourself at home, if you want to see Lin Feng again, then please take care of your body. When I think you can, I will naturally send you back. Finally, I want to say that I hate Lei Ao just like you, because it was his fault that my beloved grandmother left. Sending you back to the Dragon God Empire is only to fulfill the dream of you and the Duke as a loving couple, I have no other purpose. You rest early, I'm leaving."

  With an overwhelmingly oppressive mood, I returned to my room. Without any rest, I immediately began practicing the Tian Mo Quan. Only dark magic could calm me down.

  Early in the morning, I brought the sixteen books that I had finished recording yesterday to the imperial palace. As soon as I arrived at the gate of the palace, before I could even speak, the guards immediately stepped aside and said, "Your Highness, please enter."

  "I asked in surprise: 'Don't we need to inform others about this?'"

  The leader of the guards humbly said: "No need, Your Majesty has ordered that from now on, whenever Your Highness comes to pay respects, you will be allowed to pass through. His Majesty is waiting for you in the imperial study."

  "Oh? Alright." Does the Beast Emperor really have no suspicions of me at all? With doubts, I entered the imperial palace.

  "Your son Leixiang requests an audience."

  "Come in."

  I stepped into the imperial study, and inside, there was only the Beast Emperor alone, seemingly reviewing a memorial.

  "Your Majesty, you summoned me, but I don't know what this is about?"

  The Beast Emperor smiled and said, "There's no need for us to meet so infrequently as father and son. Were you satisfied with the person I sent yesterday?"

  I nodded and said: "Very satisfied, all are first-class shorthand experts. You see, this is our achievement yesterday." As I spoke, I handed over the book that had been recorded well.

  "The Beast King said with a smile: 'No need to be in such a hurry, you've just returned to the country, why don't you take a good rest?'"

  I scratched my head and said, "There are too many things waiting for me to do, it's better to finish them as soon as possible."

  The Beast Emperor flipped through the records, his expression changing continuously. After a long time, he closed the volume and let out a deep breath: "No wonder the Dragon God is so powerful, these theoretical records are indeed unheard of by me. Lei Xiang, you have truly made great contributions this time. Alright, I will order someone to start using these as teaching materials for training later."

  He also said that I was in a hurry, but he wasn't any better than me. "Right, and it's not convenient for you to work from home, I have to ask someone to announce when I want to see you. How about this, why don't you move into the palace? We can discuss things easily." The Beast Emperor said after a pause. Letting me move into the imperial palace, isn't that like putting a bird in a cage? I tactfully said: "Father, let's just forget it, I'm used to being outdoors, moving in would be easy to mess up the rules of the palace."

  The Beast Emperor smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I'll let you not follow so many rules, that's enough. By the way, since you have conflicts with your father's concubine, why don't you bring your mother here too? There are plenty of good things here, absolutely satisfying for both of you, and this can also avoid unnecessary conflicts in the future."

  When I heard him say that, my heart skipped a beat. Indeed, once the war on the front line is over and Lei Hu comes back to find his mother dead at my hands, won't he fight me to the death? With his father protecting him, I couldn't do anything to him, although I'm not afraid, but if he secretly plots against his mother, that would be a loss. Anyway, I'll be leaving the city in a few days to go quell the bandits, this place can't hold me back, and my mother will get better care here, why not?

  Thinking of this, I hesitated and said: "Since it's like that, then I'll take my leave from His Majesty the Emperor first."

  The Beast Emperor burst out laughing and said, "There's no need for us father and son to say thanks or anything. Later, I'll have someone escort you back, and you can bring whatever you need over. Also, don't forget to bring that group of quick-witted people with you. Yesterday, I didn't think of it, so let's just make you suffer a bit more."

  "I kowtowed and said: 'Your Majesty, don't say such things, you're breaking your son's heart.'"

  The Beast Emperor said: "There's nothing else, you move house today and continue recording those things tomorrow."

  "Yes, your son will retire."

  I brought a group of palace guards back to the Wang Fu, actually, I didn't have much to move either. Daily necessities were all available in the palace and were better than before. It was enough to just bring some clothes for Hei Long.

  I arrived at the entrance of my mother's bedroom, took a deep breath and decided that no matter how she would scold me later, I had to persuade her to go into the palace with me. If all else failed, I would have to force her to follow me, after all, it was relatively safer there.

  "Mother, I'm home."

  Unexpectedly, her mother responded: "Mm, sit down."

  I said calmly: "This time I came to ask you to move."

  Her mother smiled bleakly and said, "I didn't have a home to begin with, how can I talk about moving? Tell me, where do you want me to go?"

  Seeing my mother in pain, I felt uncomfortable too: "It's like this, the Beast Emperor has decided to let me move into the palace for convenience sake, and also requires you to go with me. After all, I just killed Lei Hu's mother, so it can avoid some unnecessary trouble." My mother raised her head, and her gaze was no longer as cold as before. She smiled and said: "Foolish child, you've been deceived." I didn't hear what she said at all, my eyes only had her smile from just now. Although my mother's hair is white, and there are wrinkles on her face, looking very old, but from the smile just now, I can still vaguely see her elegance from back then.

  "What did you say?"

  Mother smiled slightly again and said: "I just said, silly boy, you were deceived."

  She called me a silly boy, and she actually used such a familiar term to address me. I secretly pinched my thigh, the intense pain told me that this was not a dream.

  I foolishly asked: "Why did you say I was deceived?"

  "Isn't it obvious? They're afraid you won't work hard, so they specially invited me over. If you make any unusual moves... You're a smart person, no need for me to say more."

  A single sentence from Mother suddenly awakened me from my dream, yes, after all I am not the Beast Emperor's biological son, why would they trust me so much and let me bring Mother into the imperial palace, it turned out to be for this purpose.

  I scratched my head and said, "So that's how it is. I didn't think of that. In that case, you'd better not go. I'll go tell the Beast Emperor instead."

  "Mother snorted and said, 'No, I'll go with you to the imperial palace. If I don't go with you, even if you speak the truth, others may not believe you, and perhaps they will take action against you immediately.'"

  "Isn't it unsafe for you to enter the palace?"

  Mother smiled bitterly: "There's no such thing as safety or not, am I safe here? You can't guard me 24 hours a day, can you? Entering the palace is at least temporarily safe. Son, ginger is still spicy when it's old, in the future if there's anything you don't understand, you should ask me more, after all, I was also a talented woman at Tian Du College back then."

  "Son, she actually called me son. I couldn't hold back my tears and fell to the ground with a thud, sobbing loudly: 'Mother, you...you finally acknowledge me?'"

  My mother's eyes also turned red, she put her hand on my head and said kindly for the first time: "Child, I figured it out last night, you were right, what fault is yours, the one who was wrong is him. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, all these years, mom has let you suffer injustice. From now on, mom will definitely make it up to you."

  After listening to my mother's words, I lay on her knees and cried loudly like a child. The depression in my heart was fully vented in the crying voice. My mother's tears kept dripping on my head, her hands were so warm, so warm. Motherly love, the thing I wanted most, actually came when I thought there was no hope at all.

  After a long while, the crying stopped. I suddenly lifted my head, wiped away the tears on my mother's face and said firmly: "Mother, I swear to you that even if it costs me my life, I will help you fulfill your wish. I never want to see you shed tears of pain and humiliation again. I want to make you the happiest mother in the world."

  Mother held my arms, and tears flowed again: "Good child, get up quickly, help your mother clean up, we will enter the palace now. Once inside the palace gate, it's as deep as the sea, I don't know if I'll have another chance to come out."

  I stood up and supported my mother, saying: "Don't worry. The imperial palace can't hold us back. I plan to make the Beastman Empire strong in three years' time. Three years from now is when we'll leave, and no one will be able to stop us."

  "Alright, no more talking, have you packed up your own things?"

  I nodded and said, "After packing up, I think you should be the same as me. In this house, what can we take away? To be honest, if it weren't for not wanting to go out naked, I really didn't want to take anything away."

  Mother didn't say a word, carefully putting the two precious stones she gave me into her bosom, saying: "Alright, let's go."

  Seeing her with nothing in hand, I was taken aback and asked: "Don't you bring some spare clothes?"

  "Mother smiled and shook her head, saying: 'Now the Beast Emperor needs you, he can still afford to wrong me. Let's go.' Although this was a small matter, it could still be seen that my mother had regained hope, and her wisdom was above mine."

  Out of his mother's room, he called the housekeeper and instructed: "For the time being, I won't be back to live here. When Father returns, tell him about my killing of the ugly woman as it really happened."

  "Yes, Third Young Master."

  "Mother, let's go." I carefully helped my mother into the carriage and mounted Black Dragon myself. As we left the Bei Meng Wang Fu, I turned back to look at the place where I had lived for over a decade, and surprisingly, I felt like I never wanted to set foot in it again. Perhaps leaving this place was a kind of liberation for both me and my mother.

  In the palace, the Beast King had already arranged for us to have a place to stay, it was a separate large courtyard, with only four maids serving, guards were all on the outside, the environment was quiet and elegant, and even planted many different kinds of plants.

  My mother smiled faintly at me and said in a low voice, "It seems that your utility value in the eyes of the Beast Emperor is not small. In the beastman tribe, even if you are a real prince, you may not have this treatment."

  "Isn't it better for me to devote myself to him even more? But this is also good, in this environment, it's more suitable for you to rest. By the way, Mother, I've never asked you before, when you were at Tiandu College, did you learn magic or martial arts?"

  Mother looked around and shook her head, saying: "No, I mainly studied liberal arts and etiquette at Tiandu College. Lin Feng should have told you that I was the Imperial Princess back then. What's the use of learning those fighting skills for me? If I had strong kung fu, how could I... Alas..." I happily said: "You didn't learn it. That's great."

  "Mother said in surprise: 'What's good about this? You've just added another burden.'"

  "Don't say that, what I said is good because if you haven't learned any martial skills or magic, then I can use magic to heal you without worrying about any conflicts."

  "Magic healing? You're still using luminescent magic? I don't think so."

  I gave a mysterious smile and said: "You'll know later. Alright, you don't need to serve us here, all of you can go down now."

  There were maids standing around me, I always felt awkward, besides, who knows if they came to spy on us.

  As I watched the maids all go down, I silently chanted the Heavenly Demon Incantation, and after confirming that there was no one around, I whispered: "Mother, what I'm learning isn't light magic, but dark magic."

  It's actually dark magic, but I don't want Mother to know that I can turn into a fallen angel yet, so I intentionally said it was dark magic. Mother looked at me in surprise and said, "Dark magic?"

  "Yes, dark magic also has many recovery spells, and for your current state, they might be more useful. I also learned them unintentionally. Whether or not they are effective, I will teach you some qigong exercises to help with the circulation of qi and blood. You can practice every day, which will aid in your physical recovery. I will definitely use the shortest amount of time to help your body recover."

  Her mother smiled kindly and said, "Everything will be fine, I'll just follow your arrangements."

  "Time is pressing, I won't be able to stay here with you for long, let's start now." I pulled my mother into the room and had her sit cross-legged, instructing her: "No matter what discomfort you may feel later, you must endure it. I will control the extent of it." My mother closed her eyes and said: "Come on, let me see how powerful your dark magic is, son."

  Due to tension, I slightly sweated on my forehead. Using magic and Dou Qi to kill people was what I was best at, but saving people was a rare occurrence for the first time, and this time it was even my mother, which made me unable to be careless.

  I took a deep breath, calming my emotions, and chanted: "At the cost of my life, with my soul as an offering, great Dark God, as your servant, I beg of you, grant me the saving power of darkness."

  This is the fourth-level recovery magic of Dark Arts - Dark Repair. The Tianmo Jue says that this magic can recover from all abnormal states and adjust physical conditions. I'm also using it for the first time, so I'm being extra careful. A purple-black energy ball concentrates on my hand, I separate a small portion, slowly inputting it into my mother's body, observing her condition.

  My mother's body shook all over, her face turned pale, and I quickly placed my other hand on her head to check her condition. My mother's pulse was extremely weak, and even such a small amount of magical energy had difficulty running through her body. The Dark Repair spell was actually quite good, although it ran slowly, but I found that every time it ran through a section of the pulse, it would repair that section like a normal person, expanding the pulse and increasing its elasticity, making it less likely to break.

  I withdrew the other dark magic, my hands pressed against Mother's back, slowly pushing the small portion of energy that had entered her body to run. After the hundred meridians were completed, I carefully withdrew this portion of energy into my body. Only after withdrawing did I realize that it was already dark. Just like when I first practiced the Crazy God Technique, a large amount of black liquid seeped out from Mother's body, and the smell...

  Not long after I finished, my mother let out a sigh of relief: "Ah, what a comfort."

  "How are you feeling?"

  Mother opened her eyes and moved her hands, exclaiming: "Oh dear, I'm dying of suffering."

  Her sudden cry of surprise really startled me, and I hastily asked: "What's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?"

  "Mother said: 'Don't worry, I'm fine, but look at this mess, what's going on?'"

  Hearing her say that, I finally put my mind at ease and explained: "It's nothing, it's a normal situation. The toxins accumulated in your body were all forced out by me using magic, taking a bath will make you feel better."

  "Oh."

  I shouted loudly: "Come in."

  Two maidservants rushed in with the footsteps, although the room was filled with a foul smell, they didn't react at all and respectfully said: "What are your orders, Your Highness?"

  I took a look at my mother's disheveled appearance and burst out laughing: "You guys quickly attend to my mother, take her to wash up, then prepare some food, she needs to replenish herself."

  A maid stepped forward two steps and said: "The hot water is ready, madam. Let us help you."

  Mother herself got out of bed and said: "Don't support me, it's been a long time since I've felt so comfortable. Originally, my chest always felt stuffy, now it's much better."

  I smiled and said: "This is just the beginning, I still need to give you a few more treatments, but your meridians are still relatively fragile now, I'm afraid you can't take it, let's talk about it in a few days."

  "It's been so many years, I'm not in a hurry, take me to bathe quickly, it's uncomfortable to be sticky. Maybe because she had just untied the knots between the Duke and me, my mother became much more cheerful."

  After mother finished bathing, I found that her original pale complexion was gone, replaced by a rosy glow, and even wrinkles seemed to have decreased a lot. Her thin body also seemed to be more robust.

  That night, I slept exceptionally sweetly. The next day, I started my busy life, having to memorize a certain number of books with those speedsters every day, and under the coordination of Beast Emperor, selecting people who would set out with me and the beast god's messengers, and assisting Beast Emperor in training them.

  Half a month later...

  "I report to the Emperor, I have completely translated the things brought back from the Dragon God Empire. Time is pressing, and I want to set out to suppress the bandits as soon as possible." I stood in the imperial study, reporting to the Beast Emperor.

  "Good, I've roughly gone through those things you translated, they're all very useful. How many people are you planning to bring this time?"

  I smiled slightly and said: "Just bring those twenty people I chose, didn't you already give them to me as my personal guards?"

  "The Beast Emperor said in surprise: 'You're just bringing that many people? It's too few. You also know the number of bandits.'"

  "I replied confidently, 'Although there are many bandits, most of them are just a mob. Moreover, it's rare to encounter large groups of bandits; they're usually scattered and can be defeated one by one. If I were to encounter a group that's too much for me to handle, I could always ask for your assistance.'"

  "The Beast King thought for a moment and said, 'Alright, but you must be careful. You should know that this time, you can't mobilize local manpower, everything has to rely on yourself. If danger arises, even if I send troops over, it's likely to be too late, so you have to be extra cautious. Get ready, depart in three days.'"

  I knelt down and knocked my head, saying: "Your son obeys the order." Finally, I am going to start my killing journey. No matter what, I will eliminate all bandits and remove these tumors for the beastmen people.

  My mother is practicing the Su Lun Dou Qi I taught her in the backyard, this Dou Qi's power isn't very great, but it's extremely beneficial for nourishing one's vital energy and breath, it's the most useful for my mother, and it was carefully selected by me from many Dou Qi.

  In recent days, my mother's physical condition has made a qualitative leap compared to before. Her face is rosy and radiant, her skin has regained some elasticity, and she no longer looks so old.

  After more than ten days of getting along, the distance between my mother and me is developing by leaps and bounds. Her meticulous care for me has moved me deeply, and I have finally experienced what true maternal love is.

  There's nothing I won't discuss with my mother before making a decision, and her intelligence and wisdom make me admire her greatly. When Mother heard the footsteps, she slowly stopped what she was doing, closed her eyes and said: "Xiang Er, you're back?"

  "Yes, mother, why don't you practice anymore?"

  "Mother opened her eyes and smiled: 'Practice is not a matter of overnight success, gradual progress is the best way. Being too impatient will only lead to madness. Remember this sentence.'"

  I nodded and said, "Yes, I will remember."

  "Let's go back to the room and talk," said my mother, getting up from her seat. Perhaps because I was about to leave, a hint of worry remained on her face. After entering the room, she gestured for me to sit down: "Have you set a date?"

  "Yes, the Beast Emperor ordered me to depart in three days. I've decided to bring those twenty Imperial Guards with me."

  "Mother nodded and said: 'It's better this way, fewer people will make it easier to get things done. However, you must pay attention to safety and be cautious in everything, even if you're facing a very weak opponent, you should still go all out.'"

  "I understand the principle of a lion catching a rabbit, don't worry. I'll go prepare first and then help you with your qigong tomorrow."

  "Go ahead. I'm fine myself, these days, I seem to have regained my vitality, it seems that you saying I can restore my original appearance is still very hopeful."

  "Mother, I'm leaving."