When dawn plastered over the sky, Zhanying had already gotten up from bed and taken a seat in the courtyard outside his chamber, sipping tea.

Xiao was sitting opposite him, eyeing him with narrowed eyes. "Why is my junior in your room?"

"She wanted to spend the night with me, so I appeased her," he replied.

Xiao's eyes popped wide. "I-I think should know by now that she is naïve to this kind of thing, she probably means nothing in her reckless words. Did Your Highness really do . . . something to her?"

"Is she that desirable that I should?" He cocked his head to the side.

Xiao crossed his arms. "Oh yes, yes, I forgot. Your Highness is blind, of course you don't know."

"Rather, I don't care. I may not be one with morals, but I don't stoop that low. Besides, I'm not interested in worldly affairs." He blew the surface of the steamy tea before lifting his gaze to Xiao. "You will take me to see the Phantom Lord, Phantom General. I have many issues I must report to him due to his hospitality."

"Of course," Xiao grumbled as he stood up. "Come then."

Zhanying placed down his cup and stood up to follow Xiao, but just as they were about to exit the courtyard, Jingrui had awoken. She scurried down the stairs of the veranda with her usual havoc-loving nature as she ran to his side.

"You are going to meet the Phantom Lord? Why didn't you wake me up?" her enthusiastic voice burst into his ears.

"Because I will go alone," Zhanying told her, and before she could blurt out complaints, he added, "The Phantom Lord is dangerous. If he is not happy, he might just as well execute you, and even I won't be able to save you then."

Jingrui went pale at his words, and she didn't dare pester him to let her go too. "I'll wait for you outside the hall with Senior then."

Passing through several compounds, they arrived at the main hall where the Phantom Lord resided. Xiao gave a heavy sigh as he gestured for Zhanying to go inside. "Take your time."

Zhanying spared no glance at him and walked through the arch of the large door. Upon entering the hall, the large metal door slammed shut with a piercing creak. Within the tensed hall, the air thickened with the scent of jiu, the same medication he had been using for the past thousands of years—strange, that someone who held a healthy flow of Qi such as the Phantom Lord would be deluging himself within the unpleasurable scent.

He took steps towards the throne, and the Phantom Lord spun to him. "Greetings, Celestial Prince, I have been expecting you."

Zhanying continued walking on the velvet carpet, not returning the greeting. Each step he took rang with supremacy, and as he paid attention to every fine detail of the hall, he realised that the air held a vague scent of rotten flesh hidden within the intoxicating medication. His eyes darkened as he paused his steps before the throne. "Does that imply that you know what happened last night?" he asked with an abundant threat.

"Precisely. And you have sought my audience in order to know of the truth, is that correct?" The Phantom Lord placed down his jade cup of wine and stood up from his throne, not attempting to deny it. "I have no intention to lie to you, Celestial Prince. I shall tell you honestly then, but I think someone as smart as you must have already drawn your own conclusions."

Zhanying tilted his head back towards the ceiling. "You have used the forbidden spell of corpse manipulation. I do not understand those who would strive to the extent of using such a pointless spell unless they have suffered from a great loss and lost all sense of reasoning."

The Phantom Lord nodded slowly. "You are quite sharp with your words, Prince. Perhaps I have lost all my sense of reasoning . . . but when you love someone so deeply, there is no such thing as reason."

A barren feeling took over Zhanying as his gaze darkened. He had thought the saying, 'love was the enemy of reason', was a myth until he stood before this senseless man. It was no wonder that even his mother had always reminded him to remain adamant to the world, and perhaps, his insensate was the reason he could survive all these years.

The Phantom Lord began to pace back and forth as his hands fidgeted with each other. "I know what you are thinking, Celestial Prince. You must think love to be stupid. You've been aloof to worldly affairs all these years, of course, you can't understand."

Zhanying stood stiffly, not fretting a finger. "I may not understand, but do proceed. Perhaps you could somehow justify yourself without reasons."

The Phantom Lord sneered as he descended the stairs until he stood level with Zhanying. "Bad things happened in my past, and I will not relive the details. But many millennia ago, I was pursued by the bad guys, so I fled to these mountains as no one would dare pursue me to the Gate of Hell.

"I established my sect and began taking in disciples. I made a name for myself as the Phantom Lord, the revered sect leader every immortal dreamed of working under. I began to get back on track until one day. . ." His voice split, and he quickly cleared his throat. "A female disciple was admitted into the sect. She was more radiant than the sun and more graceful than the moon. I was deeply infatuated, and I've loved her for many years, until one day her fate came to an end.

"But when you love, the fire that is set ablaze within your heart becomes too ferocious to put out. In order for me to pass through my never-ending cascade of grief, I decided to practice corpse manipulation." The mention of corpse manipulation sparked a sudden thrill in the Phantom Lord's voice, drowning out all the sorrow. "I would lure girls from all around the mountain—mortal and immortal alike—to come to me so I could kill them. . ."

The Phantom Lord stopped his pacing as he whooshed towards Zhanying, his mask an inch away from his face. His crooked fingers were held out by Zhanying's face, but he didn't dare touch him. "I would slowly and slowly slice them. But don't worry Celestial Prince, I stitch them right back up, so that they would look like my Mei, my precious love."

Zhanying furrowed his brows. Each word the Phantom Lord spouted clouded his mind until he could no longer fathom the Phantom Lord's justification. At that point, he no longer tried to understand. "As a Celestial Tribe's Prince, I couldn't care less of your sect's ludicrous practice. I won't drag you to the Heavenly Emperor for breaking the usage of forbidden spells nor will I stop you. It is not within my interest. But. . ." His eyes flashed with a sudden callous, and the Phantom Lord, who stood an inch near him, backed away a few paces. "You could have lured anyone, but you just had to lure my Bao Bao." A taunting chuckle rumbled out of his lips. "Did you really think it would be fun to play with fire?"