Chapter 5: Meeting

But she did indeed have a small bit of selfishness; she truly hated betrayal.

The words she had spoken to Ling before coming here were a clear hint.

Yun Fei had laid the best choice out right before her eyes.

If she insisted on continuing down this path, Yun Fei would have no choice but to follow the trail and drag out the person behind her.

Having entered the Purple Ethereal Palace after all, she didn’t want rumors of a mole to leak out.

“Ding-ding, dang-dang—”

The clock inside the grand hall chimed on time.

Immediately following, the doors of the hall slowly swung open, and a group of ministers dressed in official robes filed in one after another, finding their respective seats.

Because Yun Fei had already taken her seat in the place belonging to the Young Master before they arrived, she was quickly noticed by the ministers.

After they were seated, the sounds of whispered discussions drifted into Yun Fei’s ears in fits and starts.

“Are those rumors from the outside world true? Is the Young Highness really like the rumors say…”

“Shush! Watch your words! Do you want to lose your head?”

“…”

“Everyone, it is rare for us to gather like this today. Here, I have one matter to announce, and another matter to discuss with you all.”

Seeing everyone settle down, Yun Ming spoke up at the appropriate time.

Hearing Yun Ming’s words, the various ministers immediately sat up straight, gazing intently at Yun Ming to listen to her announcement.

The matter to be announced was easy to guess.

It was undoubtedly the gender transition of the Young Highness. As the descendant of the Demon Sovereign of the Demon Realm and the representative of its top combat power, Yun Fei was held in high regard. Yun Ming naturally had to give everyone an explanation.

“You have likely heard the rumors regarding our Demon Realm’s Young Master. I am here to clarify that due to bloodline issues, the Young Master previously exhibited abnormal external characteristics. This caused the Young Master to appear as a male for the majority of the time, and only as a female for a small portion of it. Now, while the Young Master was out gaining experience not long ago, she was fortunate enough to obtain a supreme treasure. After consuming it, her external characteristics have finally returned to normal, and she will now appear as a normal female.”

When she finished speaking, a collective gasp erupted from the assembled ministers, and even Yun Fei herself widened her eyes.

She had appeared as a female for a small portion of the time before?

What kind of joke was this?

Had her Mother included that one experience where she went undercover in women’s clothing?

Wait, wasn’t this a bit too underhanded?

Yun Fei kept casting questioning glances toward Yun Ming, but unfortunately, Yun Ming ignored her entirely.

However, Yun Fei was quite dissatisfied with her male self being dismissed like that!

Did that mean her male self was just an anomaly, an error that shouldn’t have existed?

She was numb!

Completely overwhelmed!

Yun Fei was speechless at this moment and lacked the strength to refute it further.

In such a public setting, nothing she said would help anyway.

“Ahem… since the situation has been cleared up, we shall begin our second topic.”

The whispering stopped once more, and everyone present listened intently, including Yun Fei.

What else did her Mother have planned?

Surprisingly, she hadn’t mentioned a single word to her before the meeting.

This made her extremely curious.

“As everyone knows, our Demon Realm has been at a ceasefire with the Profane Realm for decades. The reasons for this are complex, but a major factor is that the Heavenly Ladder connecting the Profane, Demon, and Mortal Realms mysteriously collapsed. Strange and exceptionally violent creatures also began to appear within the territories of the Profane and Demon Realms. Their individual combat power is not strong, but they possess a special power capable of infecting living beings. Without exception, those infected turn into those same violent, bloodthirsty monsters. For this reason, we were forced into a ceasefire and quickly gathered our strength to combat them. The Profane Realm established the Dawn Academy there, which previously only recruited the geniuses of the Profane Realm for training. Just recently, they extended an olive branch to the Demon Realm. Regarding this, what are everyone’s views?”

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Then, someone suddenly stood up from their seat, frowning.

“Sovereign, in my opinion, their actions are incredibly abnormal. Our two realms have a millennium of grievances. If I may speak frankly, this cannot be erased overnight. This action surely hides a trap!”

“Oho~ Why is Old Demon Chu so cautious today? That doesn’t seem like your style at all. But could you perhaps listen to my views first?”

The one speaking this time was an elegant man dressed in white robes, holding a feather fan.

A pair of affectionate peach-blossom eyes glanced toward Yun Fei’s direction with great interest before immediately looking away.

“As far as I know, the first batch of graduates from this Dawn Academy entered an infected Secret Realm six months ago, and not a single one survived. The original Secret Realm had cultivation level restrictions, so the elders of the academy could only watch as their soul stones shattered one by one… Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

The man casually dropped a piece of earth-shattering news, shocking everyone in the room.

“Xiao Yi, can your information be verified?”

It was the first time Yun Fei had seen her Mother make such a serious expression.

Her sense of danger told her that if what Xiao Yi said was true, then these Void Creatures might not be as simple as they currently appeared.

“Sovereign~ I am the largest intelligence broker between the two realms. Could I possibly be lying?”

“If that is truly the case, then Dawn Academy’s actions are actually intended to unite the Profane Realm and the Demon Realm to jointly resist the unknown and dangerous Void. But one must always be wary of others; who knows if they will stab us in the back.”

“Then, Sovereign, should we arrange for some people to go there for further studies?”

“Of course. Our battlefields against the Void are much more numerous than those in the Profane Realm, and the pressure on the front lines is very high. If we can learn something on this trip, it might be a way to increase our combat power.”

“I obey the Sovereign’s command. This old man will go and select a few clansmen who meet the age requirements.”

“I will go as well.”

“Me too.”

“Mhm. This is the first time, so let’s not send too many people. We will observe the situation first.”

Once the matter of the Dawn Academy had been discussed, Yun Ming immediately dismissed the crowd so as not to hinder everyone’s work.

“Mother, has the situation with the Void truly become that severe?”

Yun Fei’s tone was slightly worried.

She had been to the front lines of the fight against the Void before, and it was an extremely eerie scene.

The earth was covered in patches of a strange, pure white sticky substance that constantly eroded physical matter.

Creatures infected by that pure white, including plants, were undoubtedly covered by that mass, attacking surrounding life forms indiscriminately in a very bizarre fashion.

That scene still stirred ripples of discomfort in her heart to this day.

That psychological discomfort, combined with the fear that naturally burst from her heart due to her lack of strength, haunted her mind and refused to dissipate for a long time.

“Mhm… Fei’er, it seems that the moment in the Prophecy has begun to show its first signs.”

Yun Ming was full of melancholy, her eyes staring straight at the horizon.

The light that had pierced through the clouds again after many days appeared to her eyes now like an image of the apocalypse.

“Prophecy? What Prophecy? Mother, you never mentioned this to me?”

While Yun Fei’s eyes widened, she couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.

Just how many things was her dear Mother hiding?

When the time came, she’d better not say that her turning into a girl was also something she had personally planned!