Demon Realm

It had been a hectic and rushed trip. Immortals and demons could travel to the mortal realm, but using magic there always came with a price. And she had used lots of magic in a short span of time. She was exhausted. 

She took a nice hot bath, got to bed, and sighed. Her thoughts wandered to the brief time the former demon queen had possessed her. She had taken the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the enchantments, the knowledge proving quite helpful for her current plan. 

The weapon, an inconspicuous-looking knife with a ruby handle, was a whole world in itself. The souls trapped in there would constantly bring each other down, tormenting each other with their grief, keeping every soul in there trapped forever. Much like Dong Hua's soul-locking jade or the ten-evil lotus ward, but unlike the power of Dong Hua's cultivation keeping the trapped souls in there, the knife would use the resentful energy of the trapped spirits. It would be especially excruciating for immortals who cultivated positive energy. It would only mean endless captivity for her specific target, who had an exceptionally soft, innocent heart. 

Once she recuperated enough magic, she would also need to activate the puppets. If she were to spy on the purple-clad deity and his family successfully, she would have to be extremely careful not to give herself away. Her unsuspecting, naive husband should have placed the puppets in their final destination by now. It was always a mystery to her how Yan Chiwu had managed to become the demon king. He did not even have the basic instincts of a demon. He had cluelessly walked into her plot and landed a hand. 

"Darling, are you still unwell?" the rushed, worried voice of that unsuspecting, naive husband of hers broke her chain of thoughts.

"My Lord, you are back? I am so sorry I could not come and welcome you back myself. I am still feeling quite out of sorts. I have had the physician look at me, and I am following his instructions, but he says I would still need to rest some more," she tried to sound disappointed, keeping up her act.

He was worried. "Ji Heng, should we ask for help from the immortals? I know in the past, Ice Face helped you with the poison in your body. Is that what is acting up again? If so, I can ask my friend Xiao Jiu, and she can ask her husband to help us out. Ice Face is so in love with her. I am pretty sure he won't refuse her," Yan Chiwu said, feeling a little smug about coming up with this idea.

She felt herself drowning in vinegar at his words. Dong Hua, the man she wanted, would help her only if another woman asked him to? Why was life so unfair?

"My Lord, thank you for your concern. I know you want only the best for me. Your abundant love for me makes you say this. But right now, I am sure our physician is helping me enough. Let's wait for a little while more. If we feel like whatever is going on with me is not getting fixed, we can always reach out to the immortals. As the queen of the demon realm, it is my duty to make our kingdom self-sufficient. Exploring our options here and giving our physicians a chance to improve their craft is what I should do as their dihou. Don't you agree, my lord?" she asked. She saw her words have the desired effect when she saw his face.

His face showed a mixture of so many emotions - she found amazement and pride in them and was satisfied her plan was working. 

"My dihou, I am so fortunate to have you. And you are right, as always. I will speak with our physicians to see if they need anything to speed up the process. I will arrange for any herbs or any ingredients they need. We will spare no effort in finding a cure for you, my love." she heard him say with all the soft, gooeyness of a love-sick fool in his voice.

"Enough about me, My Lord. Tell me how your visit was. How are things going on in the Sky Kingdom? All good, I hope?" she was fishing for information. 

"Hmm... All good. I met with Dong Hua, Lian Song, and Cheng Yu. Ah, and I also ran into Jie Lu. All are good and happy. It was great to catch up with them," Yan Chiwu said.

"That's great. I am glad all of them are in peace. And also glad you got to see your friends. I am sure you must have also enjoyed your friend Xiao Jiu, I mean, dihou Feng Jiu's cooking, am I right?" she inquired, sounding innocent.

"No, that was the only thing I missed. I did not get to meet with Xiao Jiu at all. Xiao Jiu has gone into seclusion to prepare for her upcoming ascension trial. So it was Cheng Yu who arranged all the food and drinks." the demon lord explained. "

"Oh... Maybe next time then," Ji Heng said offhandedly. But this was indeed new information and something she could use to her advantage.

After fussing over her for longer than she would have liked, he finally left her alone.

Ji Heng analyzed her plan again. Ascension trial would mean Feng Jiu would be in the mortal realm. The prudes that the celestials were, they always made the deity have amnesia water before the trial began, so Feng Jiu would have no recollection of ever being an immortal, much less being a powerful celestial queen who was able to defeat the feared former demon queen. She smiled an evil smile and closed her eyes.

That little deity had stolen from Ji Heng something that the demon queen wanted the most. Now Ji Heng would make sure the Quingqui sovereign would pay heavily for her crime. Ji Heng lost too much her whole life, and now even the heavens would agree that she deserved all the happiness. It was only fair for her to be Dong Hua's Dijun dihou. No one else came close, certainly not that little red fox.

Yes, she would make her attach in the mortal realm when her opponent was at her weakest. It would not do to dirty her own hands in the process, though. She would have to find a willing wielder of that knife when it would be time to deliver the final blow. Who could that be now? 

With that question in her mind, she drifted into sleep, her thoughts taking her back to Tai Chen Palace at another time.