Painting No. 69: Reunion at the Golden Triangle【Chapter One】

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Watching the Celestial Emperor grow ever more engrossed in battle within the painting, she noted that he, too, avoided recklessly charging into the heart of the battlefield, instead dueling with solitary gods along the fringes. Sang Sang tossed most of her energy supplements and crystals into a corner of the painting, then made her way to an untouched corner, unscathed by the storm, and grabbed the little toy mecha as it tried to burrow into a flowerpot.

“Xiao Jin, do you have nothing you want to tell me?”

Dangling by one tiny hand, Xiao Jin kicked his little legs, trying to climb up. “Tell you what?”

Sang Sang gave her hand a shake. The little mecha, who had just managed to scramble onto her palm, was shaken off and hung there again.

“Do you need me to remind you?”

Xiao Jin looked up at her, shifting his left foot onto his right, then his right onto his left. When he saw Sang Sang wasn’t about to let him go, his little head drooped in defeat. “It was the Celestial Emperor who said he wanted to surprise you. I just helped pack him up in the delivery box.”

Sang Sang lifted him a bit higher, narrowing her eyes. “I thought you only scanned and discovered the Celestial Emperor, then pretended not to know. So, you actually helped him wrap up the package? No wonder the temple had such a loophole. If people can just be mailed in as parcels, wouldn’t the enemy have infiltrated long ago and turned the place into a sieve?”

“The Celestial Emperor said he’d been away so long he was afraid you’d forget him. He wanted to help you recall your beautiful memories together.” Xiao Jin risked a glance at her face, and seeing her dangerous expression, grew all the more pitiful.

“Heh.” Sang Sang gave a hollow laugh, set Xiao Jin down, and sighed with disappointment. “I thought I was important to you, but the moment the Celestial Emperor arrives, you team up to give me a fright. Of course, to you, the Celestial Emperor is the most special—everyone else must take a back seat.”

“No, no, no!” Xiao Jin panicked, hopping up and scurrying in circles around her. “You’re important too, Sang Sang—just as special as the Celestial Emperor! I’ll never lie to you again. If the Celestial Emperor tries to trick you, I’ll help you expose him.”

Sang Sang’s face remained wounded.

Xiao Jin wiped her brow, kneaded her shoulders, combed her hair, and found clean clothes for her to change into. Then he brought out the design plan for Interstellar City to discuss with her, directed the black butterfly to deliver juice and snacks—doing his utmost to please her, until Sang Sang almost wanted to refuse the attention.

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His attempts at humanity were becoming more apparent—where had he learned all this?

“Senna is here!”

At Xiao Jin’s shout, Sang Sang, who’d been lounging on a chair getting her shoulders massaged, immediately leapt up, waved to summon the “Tomb of the Gods,” and yanked out the Celestial Emperor, who was still fighting fervently inside. She continuously brushed him with holy light to heal his wounds, restoring both his mental and inner strength. Xiao Jin hurried to rearrange the mulberry treehouse back to normal.

“Sang Sang. I wasn’t finished yet. Where did you get those divine wills in there? They’re perfect for tempering one’s own will.” The Celestial Emperor stretched languidly in the holy light, looking thoroughly relaxed.

“They’re from the Tomb of the Gods. The painting lets us play anytime. If we get a chance to visit the real tomb, it’ll be even more fun.” Sang Sang glanced at the Celestial Emperor—his wounds had vanished, but his clothes were in tatters. She quickly pushed him toward the bathroom. “Xiao Jin, fetch a school uniform for him. I’ll get the door.”

Senna hadn’t returned to his own quarters; instead, he was on Yaslan’s small planet, meditating to cleanse the distracting thoughts that had accumulated through cycles of reincarnation. Because of the Saint of a Hundred Flowers, he had once been too careless and erased his own child’s soul, preventing their birth. Unless he untied this knot, his cultivation could not progress. This time, the illusionary cycle had sealed his powers, forcing him to endure hardship as a suffering infant for four hundred years, yet the knot unexpectedly loosened, and his bottleneck seemed ready to break. It was a surprising boon.

But that joy vanished when, upon awakening, he received news of violent energy clashes in Sang Hongye’s dormitory. He rushed to the teleportation gate in alarm. Though the dorms in the Sprout District were highly secure, they weren’t impervious—who was Sang Hongye fighting? How long had he been meditating? Was he too late, had Sang Hongye already come to harm?

Senna burst through the portal into Sang Sang’s cultivation room, only to find her standing at the door, neat and refreshed, a ball of maple leaves adorning her hair above her ear, radiating a lightness and ease he had never seen before. There was no trace of recent combat on her at all, and he finally breathed easy.

“Uncle, finished with your personal affairs? I just had Black Butterfly prepare a feast. Stay and eat with us?” Sang Sang invited with a smile.

Before Senna could reply, he sensed a stranger’s aura within the dormitory and immediately tensed again.

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“Sang Sang, do you have any other colors for these clothes? White gets dirty too easily.” The Celestial Emperor frowned, tugging at the buttons on his collar as he turned into the hallway. Seeing Senna, his relaxed demeanor vanished, danger flashing in his eyes—the very air around them thickened. He stared at Senna as if the man were prey, his lively voice dropping to a low, resonant tone: “Sang Sang, who is this?”

“Senna, my temporary guardian—and possibly yours. He’s helped me a lot this past year, and I’ll probably need his help in the future too.” Sang Sang’s eyes flashed with admiration as she saw the Celestial Emperor in the white, gold-trimmed school robe. The uniform, with its memory properties, fitted itself perfectly to whoever wore it, regardless of gender, presenting a neutral style. On him, it looked especially striking, setting off his dark golden eyes.

She walked over and found he had grown since their last multidimensional video call. Though his features were those of a boy of thirteen or fourteen, he already towered over her by half a head. Perhaps all the nutrients he absorbed went to his height, for he was thin as a reed, with only a hint of roundness to his cheeks. His large, spirited eyes and water-soaked hair—still dripping—fell around his ears, seeping into his clothes. She twirled a finger through his hair, drawing the excess water into a small orb at her fingertip.

“Thank you, but I don’t need a guardian.” The stagnant energy in the air began to flow again; the Celestial Emperor relaxed and sent the water orb drifting to a flowerpot on the balcony. He caught Sang Sang’s hand and placed Xiao Jin on her shoulder.

Senna, meanwhile, finally smiled. He checked his terminal and found several notifications, one from Sang Hongye’s logistics team announcing their arrival. The identity of the person before him was clear. “So…you’re the Celestial Emperor? You’ve already arrived? By my count, you shouldn’t be here for several more days. Did Lord Kane use the remote teleportation array?”

“Yes.” The Celestial Emperor nodded offhandedly, then turned to Sang Sang. “They’re still handling entry formalities. I took a temporary pass to see you first. I brought you some of Tom’s gifts—local specialties from our journey. Want to try them now?”

Sang Sang licked her lips. “We’ve prepared plenty of temple specialties, too. Let’s eat together when everyone’s here. The paperwork should be done by now. I’ll go ask Teacher Yaslan for leave. Wait for me—I’ll come back and we can greet them together…”

“No need to ask me. You’re already far ahead in your coursework. You have the afternoon off—stay and spend time with your friends from home. I’ll let Aya know.” Yaslan walked out from the cultivation room. He had received Senna’s message upon his arrival and was only a step behind. Casting his gaze over the Celestial Emperor, he sensed the fierce aura and frowned slightly.

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