The moment donghua felt his conscious coming back to him, he knew something was wrong. He felt empty somehow. Thinking back to the moment before he fainted, he remembered it all. The flashbacks came rolling at the speed of light and his only thought was xaio bai, she was hurt and someone had taken her away from.

The moment he realized his arms were empty because someone had dared to take his wounded little fox away from him. He lost all control over his emotions. And for a god with powers like him, controlling his emotions was more important than breathing. The instant his control evaporated; his anger became a tool for universal destruction.

It wasn't just mo yuan who had sensed the change in weather was because of donghua's anger, bai zhi and zhe yan had felt it too. Their suspicions were confirmed when lightning came raining down on the fox den from all sides. They quickly went to find donghua before he destroyed the whole den. As they approached, the waves of anger that were coming from donghua told them that he had lost all semblance of control over his emotions. Realizing what this meant, they rushed and saw donghua coming out of the room he was in with a wild, crazed look in his eyes. The anger that rolled off him in bursts of power had destroyed everything down this hallway, they could even feel the ancient walls cracking under pressure. As he moved, it looked like he was frantically searching for something or someone. With a start they realized he was looking for feng jiu and now with a cure for his anger in their hands, they fearfully stepped in front of him.

"where is she?" That was all donghua said to them.

"she is here, my lord." Bai zhi said in a timid voice, trying to keep his feet underneath him, lest his anger blows him away.

"you dare to take her from me" donghua roared increasing the power fuelling his anger. By now all the occupants of the fox den had gathered there. They were nothing but children compared to the three ancient gods in the hallway, they had no idea what donghua's anger could do if not treated carefully and rightfully so, they were scared for their lives.

Seeing donghua's anger rise, both the ancient gods, kowtowed in front of donghua, hoping to soothe his anger.

"We dare not to do so, my lord. She is sleeping in the next room, my lord. Please calm down, my lord before the fox den crumbles down. This little den cannot handle the weight of your anger, my lord." Zhe yan said kneeling at his feet.

The moment donghua heard she was nearby, his anger started receding. He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, taking control of his emotions again. Back to normal, he looked down at zhe yan and bai zhi still bashing their heads.

"rise. Take me to her. And explain what happened." With a wave of his hand, the fox den was reinforced back to its original strength.

Rising bai zhi and zhe yan lead him to her all the while zhe yan explained what had happened but not telling him about feng jiu's current situation till she was in front of them. At least, with feng jiu in front of him, we won't end up at the tip of canghe, zhe yann thought to himself.

When donghua finally saw xaio bai in front of him, his body sagged in relief. That lasted until zhe yan told him something was wrong with her spirit.

"explain" came the hard-cold command.

As zhe yan explained that for the past month every aspect of her being had been perfectly fine until two weeks ago when her spirit had slowly started to retreat within itself.

Donghua sat beside her unconscious form and started checking her vitals and then her aura. The moment he touched her aura with his, it expanded and he looked at it in amazement.

Bai zhi had been by donghua's side for millenia's now. So even though the old rock showed no expressions, he could still read his subtle eye movements albeit with much difficulty. And right now, donghua's wide eyes told him something was wrong.

"what is wrong, dijun? Is she okay?" Bai zhi asked softly.

Donghua mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "aura" but no one understood what he was saying.

Impatient, bai qian interrupted, "well? Will you tell us or not?"

"seventeen!" Came the admonishing voice of mo yuan from the doorway. He had been watching from there, silently.

"xaio bai's aura and cultivation had grown immensely. Hers are now upto par with my own."

It took the audience a few moments to understand that xaio bai was feng jiu and the implication of what he had said. Gobsmacked, they stared at donghua.

Finally, bai yi picked up his jaw off the floor to ask how.

"I am not sure of that. But she did not ascend to high immortal or high god. She surpassed them all. Yehua, how many bolts does the heavenly ruler has to receive on ascension?"

"330 lightning bolts," answered ye hua.

"and how many did xaio bai receive?" Donghua asked again.

"900+100, your majesty", ye hua answered.

"how many bolts did I receive on unifying the realms?", donghua looked at mo yuan, directing the question towards him.

"900 bolts" mo yuan answered.

"so, if we rule out the 100 as possible backfire, that about balances the tally, does it not, bai yi?" Donghua looked at bai yi, who could only nod his head in affirmation.

"the lightning bolts are the heavens' methods of unlocking the power within our spirits. It happens mainly when an immortal has succeeded in maintaining control over his spirit. Not everyone ascends to high god or high immortal because not every spirit is the same. Before, I entertain any further questions, I need to check xaio bai's spirit first."

With that, he channeled her spirit and found what zhe yan had said to be true. Her spirit was contracting second by second. Although the contraction was extremely small and the process slow, this was fatal. If left uncured, she would die in roughly a month.

Donghua was disconcerted by what was happening. In his extremely long life, he had never heard or seen of something like this before. Also, from the state of her ascension, he was sure her situation was tied to him somehow, but how he didn't know. After analyzing everything, he could come up with only one way to find the answers he needed. He needed to look inside himself.

Getting up from the bed, he created a spirit stabilizing aura around her. Taking a step back, he materialized canghe, and tossed it up. Immediately, the sword multiplied and expanded around feng jiu's bed, forming a crystal wall from its blade up to the ceiling where it was merged the sword's hilt and sealed the aura within. Turning back towards zhe yan and looked at him.

Zhe yan understood the silent command and stepped forward. Donghua conjured a small transparent orb of power and pushed it inside zhe yan.

"I have put her in a spirit stabilizing aura of my own. You need to make sure it is channelized and regulated within her body properly. I have granted you access inside the seal but make sure you do not use any high-powered magic inside." Donghua instructed zhe yan.

Turning towards the rest, he said, "no one is to use any high-powered magic inside this den under any situation. Treat it like the rules of the mortal realm except for this time, if you fail there will be no backfire. You will automatically end up without your head on canghe. Moyuan makes sure none of them end up being fodder for my sword, otherwise, xaiobai will be very angry when she wakes up." He nodded towards mo yuan and then turned towards bai yi.

"take me to the exact point and place where xaio bai was born." Bai yi nodded and asked him to follow. As he was leaving, he called out, "bai zhi", and the fox emperor followed behind.

Bai yi was extremely confused but knew his daughter's life was at stake so he complied silently. Moving out the fox den, he led dijun to a cave in the valley a few miles off the back road of qing qui. Stopping outside the cave, he addressed dijun.

"xaio jiu was born at the mouth of this cave. After the last great war, when your majesty has retired us from service, I and her mother were returning back to the fox den through the backroads not far from here when she went into labor. I was trying to get her inside the cave but only managed to bring her to it's mouth before xaio jiu came out screaming." Bai yi smiled to himself remembering that sweet moment of feng jiu's birth.

Donghua turned to bai zhi and commanded, "I am going to find some answers. I am not to be disturbed unless and until, the matter directly concerns her. In that case, only, say her name three times in my ear to bring me back."

Done with the instructions, he went to the point bai yi had indicated at, sat down in the lotus position, and retreated within himself.

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A/n 

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