Dong Hua picked up a sutra scroll to distract him for a while until his littlefox wakes up. He didn't want to disturb her rest.

Feng Jiu flutter her eyes to find herself hugging her husband rock body. His white sandalwood scent was unmistakable. She peeked thru her lashes to see his marvelous frame only to flush and chuckle.

Dong Hua knew that his mischievous little fox finally woke up from her nap. He internally decided to play along with whatever emerging scheme she was developing. His lips curved a bit to a small wistful smile. He continued with his reading ignoring her on purpose waiting on her next move.

Feng Jiu stretched and felt herself relaxed and comfortable. She cutely yawn, breaking Dong Hua's concentration. "How was your nap?"

"It was what I needed it." Feng Jiu laid down her head back into Dong Hua's lap and grabbed a strand of his hair to play with. She was carefully inspecting his mood for some reason she could tell that he was suppressing his emotions. His body was a bit tense. "Did it help?"

Dong Hua didn't comprehend her question. "What exactly little fox?"

"The sutra that you are reading. Did it helped you calm down?"

He chuckled to her sensitivity "To some extend yes."

"Hmm. I can feel that you are trying to hold your composure Dong Hua. Do you want to talk about whatever is bothering you? It might help you if you talk to me about it."

Dong Hua was not used being questioned and probed for information. He hated the idea of being interrogated in the first place. But he realized that his little fox being empathic was concerned about his emotional state so he conceded the idea of being more open to her and communicative as her partner. He remembered his promise to be more sensitive and work toward their relationship to avoid more misunderstandings. Making a great effort, he compartmentalized his ego, self-sufficient trait and decided to go with her flow. Feng Jiu looked at him tenderly with caring and devotion. Her innocent gaze made him put the scroll down.

"All right little fox. Let's talk."

Feng Jiu got comfortable on her pillow and accommodated his pillow so he can lay close to her and began their conversation. "I'm all ears Dong Hua."

There was an awkward silence between them. "I have never done this Jiu'er, please bear with me." Dong Hua hesitantly said.

"I know Dong Hua. I want you to feel comfortable talking to me. I earnestly love you and whatever is bothering you I can feel it. I know how much you hate to give explanations to others. But I'm not like the others, am I?"

"No, you are not little fox, you are my lifeline."

"Then let me be part of your worries too. And let me extend you my protection and covering."

"I know you are always trying to protect me. I'm not use to that."

"I understand your perspective Dong Hua, but there are different levels of protection, you know."

"So what type of protection are you offering to this ancient soul?"

"The protection of your heart and mind. It is difficult to focus on your higher feelings and sensitivity if you feel dreadful and unprotected. I want to be that shield."

Dong Hua smiled at her proposal. "Jiu'er when you came into my life and planted your love deep inside my being, as I internally watched the pieces of my ice hardened heart crumble to dust, I found something buried deep within. A consciousness that I had never felt or experienced before, and yet felt very familiar. My life would never be the same again because I finally given control of my whole heart to you. I stood in this new found consciousness and witnessed all types of feelings, that I learned to repress over eons of disconnecting myself from all types of worries and desires and witnessed them with great clarity as though I had been awakened for the first time. As I witnessed all these feelings and emotions wash over me in waves, I felt something was profoundly different. I allowed myself to just be and realized that also can be frightening. It proved to myself that no fear is greater than the strength within. I knew then that I would be okay, maybe even better than okay if I learned to regain control of these emotions that I was feeling. But I was not counting that they will greatly affect my perception." Dong Hua was scanning Feng Jiu's reaction.

Feng Jiu encouraged him to continue. "Go on"

"What I'm trying to say is that when anything bad or harmful touches you, I get extremely angry and get blinded of my primordial mission of keeping it together. In the past when harmful situations around me surfaced I didn't have a motive to react since I disassociated myself from all world affairs and build a wall around my heart for not to lose control. Now that wall no longer stands, so I have to deal with raw emotions at the moment they creep in that affects me in a big way. It feels like I'm starting from zero again and is really frustrating to me at this point of life. How do I deal with these difficult emotions when they arise, like a tsunami or a volcano? When the difficult emotions arise, I put everything and everyone in danger including you Jiu'er."

"Dong Hua I've clearly seen that. But learning to understand the causal chain of anger's arising as well as the undesirable, destructive outflows of anger and its malicious cousin hatred can help strengthen your will to intelligently control it. Moreover, recognizing the positive sides of anger – such as its pointed ability to perceive what is wrong in situations, including injustice and unfairness – helps moderate your blind reactivity to it and generate constructive responses. You are the almighty Dong Hua Dijun and nobody can even come close to overpower you. But what you do fail to see is that I'm not made out of glass and I'm not that fragile, so give me the opportunity to deal with things that I know will trigger your anger and that are connected to me; let me handle them. Mo Yan and Zhe Yan are not always by your side to keep you on track. It will be a way to shield you from losing control of your emotions when you feel vulnerable. I'm your partner remember that."

"Little fox, do you know what you mean to me?" Dong Hua murmured. "If something happens to you, because of me losing control. . ." His voice trails off, his brow creasing, and the pain that flashes across his face is almost palpable. He looks so vulnerable—his fear very much apparent and Feng Jiu perceived it.

"Nothing's going to happen to me," Feng Jiu reassured him, her voice soothing his worries. She reaches up and caressed his face, running her fingers through his unexpectedly soft cheek. "It's like touching silk", she smirked. "I'm not so little anymore husband."

"How can I forget that my little fox is more powerful now as my equal? Just..."

"Just what Dong Hua?" Dong Hua went on alert mode. He got up from the bed and scanned the room. He felt an unknown presence with them.

"Dong Hua what's wrong?" Feng Jiu honed her senses deeper. She was able to pin point a strange presence too. Feng Jiu moved closer to the curtains where the tiny spy was hiding. She waved her hand and hit it with her energy. They were able to see how it disappeared into black smoke.

"Miao Lou spy here on Qing Qui?" Feng Jiu frowned at Dong Hua.

"You and I need to create a better security network here Jiu'er. This is a warning that we need to heed. We had a breach on Nine Heavens not long ago. Miao Lou is using everything she can think of for her to destroy peace within all realms. We can't let this happen."

Feng Jiu stared at Dong Hua and smiled at him. "You are right husband; we can't let her get her way. What kind of breach? Gugu didn't alerted me."

"The incident was kept under wraps. Only a few people were aware of it."

"What happened?"

"Someone tried to retrieve your fate scroll Jiu'er using a puppet. The impostor attacked Si Ming and almost killed him. I worked directly with Ye Hua to enforce the forcefield security."

"During our three months separation?"

"Yes, little fox."

"So, you were busy working in Nine Heavens?"

"I was."

"No wonder..." Feng Jiu lowered her face.

"Look at me Jiu'er. I didn't want you to worry about me back then. That is why I didn't disclose this to you thinking that I was protecting you. I was wrong, please forgive me little fox. It was all my fault that you greatly suffered and went thru a painful trial." Dong Hua was getting worked up.

"You know about my trial?" Feng Jiu hesitantly asked.

"Of course, I do, you are my wife!!! I read your scroll Jiu'er and I was furious about the events that you endured and who was there with you. I tried to get to you but I couldn't. I know Si Ming left out some details on the scroll on purpose." Dong Hua was mad and jealous remembering what he read.

"Calm down Dong Hua. You know that trials are for us to cultivate and ascend. It doesn't matter how much I suffered or what I endured. I'm fine husband. I'm glad that you were able to come to my aid and got us back. That's what is important." Feng Jiu grabbed his hands to calm him down. She was afraid that he probed her further for those details.

"I know that you are fine but at what price! This is what I'm talking about Jiu'er, because of my incapability of sheltering you from harm it caused you to suffer even more. Yet again I failed you." Dong Hua closed his eyes frustrated.

"Dong Hua, what you fail to see is that is Fate hand working against us. We knew that it's not going to be easy for us. We vowed to face all obstacles together while adapting each with other in our relationship. Both of us are new on this. We are still learning how to appropriately maneuver our differences. Give yourself some credit Dong Hua, I think we are doing okay so far. Both of us have heavy responsibilities and people depend and trust their lives to us as their rulers. I get that. What I don't get is your constant negativity to see that is okay to mess up big or small. We learn from our mistakes Dong Hua. We are immortals but we're not perfect beings. No one is! I'm not saying this to justify our part, please don't misunderstand me here. This is us right now my love. You and me trying to work together for the sake of peace keeping. I will gladly sweat, cry, bleed, die by your side Dong Hua every step of the way no matter how hard of difficult the situation or how powerful our enemy might be. I'm here with you, let me in. I was born for you to help you, guide you, support you, share your burdens, please you in every way. I won't back down or go back. It's time for you to stop controlling things that are not meant to be controlled and learn to delegate things to me so I can assist you in our responsibilities."

"Jiu'er I don't do well when things mess up. Is my perfectionist and dominant nature to make sure everything runs smoothly to prevent any problems." He nagged her.

"And my stubborn nature prevents me to give up on things. Nobody handles failure well Dong Hua. You are not even immune from failure. It takes cooperation to make things work. I'm willing to cooperate with you. The question is, are you?" Feng Jiu pointed her finger to him. She was getting mad too.

Dong Hua was speechless for a moment. He's railing in every word that his little fox is telling him. He looked at Feng Jiu not sure how to respond.

Feng Jiu huffed; she was getting exasperated with the path of their conversation. She breathed in hard and lowered her tone not to add more fuel between them.

"Dong Hua I'm a queen and your empress. I'm not by your side to look pretty or be a trophy wife. I'm by your side with all of me, the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm more capable than you think. I don't possess these powers for nothing. I've loved you for so long and I get to know your good and bad side. Besides, you don't have an ugly side, even when you misbehave." Feng Jiu softly elbow him tickled.

Dong Hua smiled a bit. Only his little fox can divert his frustration with her occurrences. "Come here little fox." He opened his arms for her to come to his embrace. "I'm sorry. You are right. I'm willing to work with you in everything. I already promised you that. So, I won't break my word. You're my equal and you already proved to me how powerful you really are."

Feng Jiu sweetly smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I love you my madly husband Dijun"

"And I love you my sweet little fox."

"Husband, let's not argue anymore."

"Agreed."

"I need to talk to di die so we can start my training. After our conversation with Bai Yi, we didn't check to see if he fully recuperated."

"I have to admit that our interaction with Bai Yi didn't end well Jiu'er. But Zhe Yan is okay. He most likely worries about you. It will be best if we go to his home just to reassure him that you are fine. Also, we need to inform your elders regarding the reinforcement on Qing Qui forcefield security. We have work to do Jiu'er. Furthermore, I need to go back to Tai Chen and check things out. It has been a while since we've been there."

"Yes husband. We have lots to do."

Dong Hua and Feng Jiu dedicated the next six months to enforce Qing Qui forcefield security. They traveled the eastern region and ensured that every need was taken care of. Dong Hua and Feng Jiu perfected a security network for the entire Qing Qui. Dong Hua personally build a central network and monitored it. Any strange readings will alert him right away, to ensure that no more spies big or small will infiltrate their territory.

Feng Jiu didn't waste any time, in between her monarch duties, she set time and daily trained with Zhe Yan and Dong Hua to augment her new powers. Zhe Yan felt so proud of his daughter. She was excelling in her training. Dong Hua felt that his wife had grown. She was able to keep up with his level of hexes and enchantments.

"Little fox is time for our sparing. After that I will create a combat illusion exercise. We will both fight against it. I want you to train with me just like we did on your preparation for your weapon ceremony before. Do you remember the exercise we did?

"I do husband."

Let's begin. Dong Hua and Feng Jiu fought using his fighting style movements he coordinated with Feng Jiu. He wanted her to learn them in case they had to go into battle together. The key was to fight as one with no distractions. This will curve Feng Jiu's will and stick to a persuasive fighting routine and at the same time use her powers to protect them both. Feng Jiu did well on the combat exercise. She enjoyed fighting alongside Dong Hua.

Zhe Yan shared with her the ancient magic secrets that only phoenixes were capable to do. He admonished her not to use them on a daily basis for her own safety. Feng Jiu's mind was able to retain levels of information that she wasn't able to do before. She also implemented a schedule for meditation and relaxation. She learned to cultivate her essence during that time when she was by herself and was able to fully understand the meaning of the nine levels of meditation.

During that period of time Dong Hua and Feng Jiu were busy with work and didn't have time to be with each other. Their love sustained them during their time apart. Dong Hua was at Tai Chen while Feng Jiu remained at Qing Qui attending her duties. They will daily communicate thru portals that they secretly casted when they were alone. They made sure to nurture each other feelings while being apart to safeguard their relationship wouldn't suffer because of their separation. Feng Jiu will send his meals cooked by her and Dong Hua made sure that his supply of sandalwood incense was plenty. Feng Jiu daily checked with Zhong Li about the renovation process at Tai Chen and also about his master health. She was on top of things at a distance. Dong Hua made sure to leave surprise love notes for his precious little fox, she enjoyed his details. Feng Jiu often daydreamed about their passionate trysts during court sessions and was caught off guard by her grandfather a couple of times.

"Xiao Jiu focus kittling. Where is your mind today? Focus!!"

"Sorry grandfather."

"Missing your husband perhaps?"

"Terribly" Feng Jiu pouted to her grandfather. He hugged Feng Jiu to offer her some comfort.

At Nine Heavens...

Dong Hua was at court during the morning session, Lian Song notice Dong Hua's gaze being abnormally absent. He concluded that he was missing his wife.