Chapter 2799: Chapter 2799: Strangers

Zen stood there uncertainly and frowned. “You called her Little Master?”

Lavender, Nelly and Laquisha exchanged knowing glances, then they all turned to face Zen. “We have all become Elvinia's disciples!” Nelly beamed. “Since Elvinia is still quite young, we address her as 'Little Master'.”

Zen shot a glance at Elvinia, who stared back at him unflinchingly.

“But since you are fine, let's go back already,” Zen said.

He figured it wasn't appropriate for his wives to stay in the Phoenix Palace. He couldn't fathom why they needed to become disciples of Elvinia.

However, to his surprise, both Nelly and Laquisha shook their heads. Even Lavender smiled wistfully without saying a word.

Zen knew Lavender wouldn't ever go against his wishes, but he could tell from her reaction that she also thought the Phoenix Palace would be an excellent place to cultivate.

He scratched his head, trying to figure out what to do.

Initially, the girls had been against the idea. However, since Elvinia didn't cause them trouble and instead treated them as those direct descendants sincerely, they warmed up to the idea of training under her.

They considered their options. The Phoenix Palace was definitely superior compared to the environment outside the Dragon City. Even the Flow Sword Sect couldn't come close to it. After all, it was built by Eastern Emperor Taiyi; of course its resources were of the best quality.

Besides, Elvinia did give them advice from time to time. No one could deny her talent. With her input and their good understandings, they made notable progress more rapidly than before.

As a result, the three girls started calling her Little Master...

Seeing Zen's upset expression, Laquisha came forward and held his hand in hers. “It's safe here.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “If we were in the Dragon City, we might not be able to reach the Other Shore in decades. We can save a lot of time here!”

There were many challenges on the way to the Other Shore, such as the nine lines and the huge whirlpools on the Sea of Truth, which posed a great risk. No one knew how many people were lost to the whirlpools or died on the nine lines. However, this risk could be greatly reduced if they could train in the Phoenix Palace.

Zen sighed. He knew this was true.

Even if he had earned a lot of divine crystals by virtue of his Instant Enlightenment, he would not be able to provide such a good environment for the girls.

But seeing Elvinia gloating over him, he couldn't help but feel exasperated.

“Why did you bring them here?” Zen suddenly asked her.

Elvinia hesitated for a while. “I want to get the Truth Enlightenment.”

On the day of the Seven Mountains Meeting, Elvinia had been severely humiliated by Zen since he had more words of the Truth Enlightenment than she did. ŔＡɴǑᛒËṤ

She lost to Zen not because she was not powerful enough, but because her understanding of the Truth Enlightenment was inferior to Zen.

This fed her hunger to grow stronger, but naturally, her pride didn't let her ask Zen for the words directly.

Thus, when she found out that Zen had family cultivating in the Dragon City, she arranged to have them brought to the Phoenix Palace.

Her initial plan was to blackmail Zen into handing over his Truth Enlightenment by holding these women hostage.

On the other hand, Nelly, Lavender and Laquisha all had a bad feeling about the arrangement in the first place. However, it turned out to be rather beneficial for them; the only disadvantage was Elvinia was difficult to get along with. They didn't even know her true identity until they asked a maid.

After meeting the three girls, gradually, Elvinia grew to be almost fond of them. She even gave them several tips about cultivating.

Once Zen finally understood what had really happened in the past few days, he sighed and waved his hand gently.

Whoosh!

A piece of rice paper materialized in his hand.

“Fine. I have already shared one hundred and fifty words of the Truth Enlightenment with several people. In fact, if you had asked Athemar or any of the other elders, you could've easily gotten it.” Zen gently touched the scroll of rice paper, and it unfurled before him.

Then, with a slight gesture, Zen produced an ink brush in his other hand.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

With quick and vigorous movements, Zen wrote down one hundred and eighty words of the Truth Enlightenment.

“I've only deciphered the last thirty words recently. No one knows about it. I'm giving this to you in exchange for teaching my girls,” Zen said as he gently pushed the rice paper to fly towards Elvinia.

Elvinia had been indifferent about everything her whole life. Her sole interest was to improve her cultivation, so she didn't mind taking the time to give Nelly, Laquisha and Lavender some tips. It also seemed as though she'd taken a liking towards teaching.

Elvinia snatched the paper eagerly, gulping down every word Zen wrote down.

After that, she carefully folded the rice paper. “Is there any more? If the Truth Enlightenment has been deciphered completely, it should be more than this.”

Zen chuckled. There was no way he was going to give it all to her in one go.

“It's hard to decipher the rest. This is all.” He paused, raising his eyebrow. “If they can successfully break through to the Other Shore, I might be able to decipher something by then...”

Elvinia knitted her brows, dubious as to whether Zen was speaking the truth. However, there was nothing she could do about it; in fact, she was already quite happy with the hundred and eighty words.

As Zen waved goodbye to Nelly, Laquisha and Lavender, he gently reminded them to stay safe. Then, he turned to leave the Fire Bearing Hall.

When Zen arrived at the door of the Fire Bearing Hall, he found Flamine there waiting for him. There seemed to be a concerned look on her face, as though she wanted to tell him something, but she hesitated.

“Lady Flamine,” he said, “do you have something to tell me?”

Flamine, noticing Zen had come out alone, realized that the three women would be staying at the Phoenix Palace.

“It is true that cultivating in the Phoenix Palace is far better than that in the Dragon City. If they stay here, they will be treated as direct descendants of the Oneness Sky Palace,” said Flamine cautiously.

“Thank you, Lady Flamine,” said Zen as he politely nodded his head.

Flamine suddenly stretched out her hand and pressed a green jade token onto his palm. “This is the token of the Phoenix Palace. You must take it the next time you come here.” Her eyes flashed seriously. “You were lucky to have entered the Primitive Illusion and emerged from it in one piece, but the next time, you won't be so lucky...”

Zen knew the guards would up their defense the next time he came here. If he were to visit the Phoenix Palace again, he knew that what Flamine said was true.

Zen gratefully took the token and held it up to his eyes to observe it closely. Without a word, he stuffed it into his space ring.

As Zen finally took his leave, Flamine called to him softly, “If you have the time, you should come here more often...”

She smiled mischievously. Zen waved, but couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy.

He knew he was definitely going to come back sometime in the future, since the girls were cultivating here. But what did that have to do with Flamine?

When Zen exited the gates of the Phoenix Palace, the dense, white mist of the Primitive Illusion ebbed away, giving him a path. The road before him seemed to be made of mist, soft as cotton.

After flying along the road for a while, Zen arrived at the Cloudy Mountain Palace on the hillside.

Zen was surprised to be met by three figures by a big stone that marked the front of the Cloudy Mountain Palace -- an old man in black flanked by two young men. While Zen had passed by the Cloudy Mountain Palace several times before, he'd never seen them before.