The body of the beast had started transforming under the shining purple glow and subsequently, began absorbing it. As the light faded, a gigantic yet magnificent bird came into sight.

From the beast had emerged a bird that was roughly the size of the celestial palace, with an exquisite purple body that glowed in a silver luminescence. Its two wings shimmered with a thunderous silver power and large deadly claws, had sprouted from the previous black hole. It had the face of a majestic bird and a sharp, pointy beak that could crush mountains in it, yet the most striking part was the bird's multi ended tail. Toward the end of the bird's body, a single tail emerged which further divided itself into multiple separate tailends except for the two tails at both sides. These long, sinewy, outer two tails were twice the size of its other tails and ended in a curvaceous point of wings, in multiple hues of purple. At the same time, its children had also finished their transformation and were a very close replica of their mother except for their size and color. The whole fleet of these birds was huge but still, they were half the size of their mother, and instead of her glorious purple body, these birds possessed a white body with hues of golden for their wings and tails.

As the birds were now free and returned back to their original state, donghua and feng jiu descended to the top of the steps of the celestial palace. They were not alone though. Along with them came the ginormous purple bird, but as it descended towards the palace, it kept reducing its size. Even at a quarter of its original size, the bird was still thrice the size of a normal immortal.

When they landed, donghua slid his arm around feng jiu's waist and scanned the gaping faces around him. originally, he had not planned for such a wide showcase of feng jiu's powers, so soon but since, the situation had arisen in such a manner, he only felt relieved that he no longer would have to arrange for such a setting in the future. Living such a long life, dong hua had recognized the fact that power was the one thing, people tended to be most suspicious about until they have seen or experienced it, firsthand. As such with feng jiu's growing power and rule, it would have been necessary for her to showcase these powers, not just to support her authority but also, to prevent any mistrust and discord within the realms.

Scanning over their faces, donghua stopped at the questioning face of bai yi. Donghua pointed with his chin, telling him to ask the question that mulled inside him. bai yi nodded at the permission and asked, "what is that?"

Feng jiu had been busy caressing the purple bird when she heard her father's question. Even though the object of his question was obvious, she still turned to see him pointing towards the bird beside her. Snuggling her hand inside the bird's soft purple feathers, she turned to answer her father's question.

"father, this is a lei niao, a thunderbird. A lei niao is the spirit of thunder and rain and everything in between." Pointing at the purple lei niao beside her, she continued, "but this one here, she was the first lei niao that was born when dijun's primordial lightning had hit hellfire. We don't know for certain when that had happened but it was before the pre-historic times. When she was still in her infant years, she got trapped inside the black sea for thousands of years. Over time, the demonic powers of the black sea superseded her primordial spirit and trapped her inside the demon body you saw before. Being the first of her kind, her powers are vast and varied but due to being trapped inside a demonic form, she couldn't control her powers and wreaked havoc, after being thrown out of the black sea, on the shores of the island of ash. Because of the horrendous damage caused, she ended up being imprisoned by dijun."

Bai yi asked again, "if she was in solitary imprisonment on the island, how did her children came to be? Is there another demonic lei niao on that island?"

Shaking her head, feng jiu replied, "no, father. There is no other lei niao in the whole universe except for this one and her twelve children up there. You see, since she was born from the culmination of lightning and hellfire, she needs no other to procreate. During her 100,000 years of imprisonment, she would accumulate a huge amount of lightning inside her, over the years and every time this accumulated power was released, an offspring was born out of it. at the beginning, she was unable to control her powers because of her demonic form and ended up birthing most of them quite frequently. But over time she learned how to regulate it. that is how her twelve children were born."

Bai yi understood what was being said and stepped back, finished with his questions but this time it was ye hua that spoke, "that hell fire, qian qian and bai zhen escaped it unscathed, how is that possible?"

Feng jiu smiled softly at ye hua. She could see he was still frayed at the prospect of seeing her aunt in danger. So trying to soothe his poor heart, she replied in a balmy voice, "uncle ye hua, I will never leave my dear aunt and uncle unprotected, now would I?"

Not expecting a response, she continued, "they carry my mark, anything that may seek to harm them will never get through. I understand that the prospect of hellfire is terrifying but for me, it is a little different. I believe that dijun has told everyone here about my true existence." As she said this, she looked around with the stature of a queen, daring anyone to defy her. Turning back to ye hua she continued, "fire comes from me. since the phoenixes were the first primordial spirit animals in this universe, the red fire phoenix is my innate form. But what holds importance here is, that a phoenix symbolizes fire and rebirth. Being the source of all phoenix, I am also the source of all fire in this universe, even hellfire. Just the way dijun controls the ice, and no form of ice or water can cause him harm, similarly, no fire can harm me. you can't destroy your source, that is the law of nature."

After she finished, this time the second prince of the west sea, stepped forward. Bowing, he greeted her before asking, "your majesty, if I may be so bold to ask, what we saw happening just before, that looked like a process of some sort, would you mind shedding some light on it?"

Feng jiu gazed carefully at the man asking the question, before a smile spread through her face, addressing the man, she nodded before speaking, "your highness, if my memory serves me right, you are su moye, my fourth uncle's good friend?"

Su moye smiled at her recognition and nodded. Feng jiu replied afterward, "you are right in your assessment, second prince. That indeed was a process, the process of purification. As I said before, the lei niaos were stuck in a demonic form. to bring them back to their native form, it was necessary to flush away every demonic trace on their body and soul. Such purification is possible only through the purest source of their origin. Consequently, I used my phoenix hellfire and dijun had to use his storms of lightning." Feng jiu felt that explanation must suffice for the prying ears present there at that time. Scanning around the faces, she noticed that hao de had slowly moved through the crowd, towards the lei niao beside her. She could see the fascination in his eyes as she thought, apparently, the heavenly lord never learns his lesson. She shook her head as she said, "I won't touch the lei niao, if I were you...." She stopped, "...third prince."

Lian song was taken aback at hearing his designation being called, questioningly he faced feng jiu, who was looking at him. though, on carefully studying her expressions and situation, he understood that even though she had addressed him, her warning had been for his father, the heavenly lord, who had etched closer to the bird. He restrained the chuckle that threatened to burst out of him, as he said, "I apologize, your majesty. But the lei niao is just too magnificent."

Feng jiu's face softened at lian song but her voice was hard as she directed her comment towards the heavenly lord, "it's better to control your urges, isn't it, your majesty?"

Hao de was embarrassed at getting caught and could just give a small nod of his head.

Feng jiu though continued, "don't take me wrong, third prince. I say this out of concern for your safety. Wild current streams unbidden throughout the whole body of a lei niao. if you were to touch it without her permission, you would end up getting electrocuted within every inch of your being. And I'm sorry to say that, no one would be able to survive that."

"but these lei niao's are under my protection now, so if you really want to experience the true nature of a lei niao, you are welcome to visit my lands. After they have adapted and settled into their original bodies, I would take you to meet them again." feng jiu told lian song with sincerity this time. honored, he bowed and accepted her invitation.

Donghua was done with this little gathering, though. He faced hao de and simply said, "the bai's would be leaving with me for tai chen palace." The moment he finished, he, feng jiu and the purple lei niao faded from the celestial palace. Behind them, the bai's, zhe yan and the flock of twelve birds also faded into a white luminescence.

At taichen palace, everyone materialized inside the front courtyard. Zhong lin emerged from the inside, to greet his master and address the guests. Donghua waited till he was done with his greetings before he cut in, "zhonglin, I believe you received my letter last night and understand your responsibilities."

Zhonglin nodded as he said, "yes, your majesty. I would not disappoint you. I will make sure the realms never forget your marriage."

"I trust you to do your best. From now on, make sure xaio bai's mother and grandmother are not short of anything they might need or want for the arrangement of this wedding. Go to qingqui with the fox emperor and the fox kings after we are done here."

Zhonglin bowed and accepted. Donghua then turned his attention towards bai zhi and bai yi.

"as I told you, last night, I will be taking xaio bai with me for some rest and recuperation to bihai cangling. But since xaio bai wants to go explore her island first, we'll be going there first for a week. Afterward, we'll be staying in bihai cangling till the day of the wedding."

Bai zhi could only agree. Donghua had left no space for any question and even if he were to try, he didn't think it possible to change donghua's mind.

Feng jiu, though had something else going through her brain as she continuously pulled on donghua's arm, while he was talking to her grandfather. With each pull, she kept increasing the force behind it and started swinging his hand around like a pendulum. Finally, when she succeeded and donghua gave her his full attention, she stopped swinging his arm around. He put his hand on top of hers and with an expressionless face said, "ouch".

Feng jiu caressed his arm as she gazed up at his face with a small smile and huge eyes. Understanding that she wanted something, donghua asked, "what is it, xaio bai? what do you want?"

She hitched up her smile a notch, and with an extremely sweet voice asked, "dijun, this purple lei niao doesn't want to be separated from me. she's very adamant about it. I also don't want to let her go, dijun"

"and what do you want to do about it, xaio bai?"

"can I please, keep her with me? she can be my pet. I have always wanted one but never got the chance to get one before, dijun." She was pleading so sweetly, with such innocence and love that donghua wanted to give her everything he had. Even though his mind was made, he decided to tease feng jiu about it first. Raising an eyebrow, with a skeptical expression, he asked, "and why should I do that?"

Feng jiu decided to lay it on thick, "dijun, you are the almighty God, you are so benevolent. Surely, you wouldn't refuse me such a simple request."

But donghua was too thick-skinned for such persuasions to work. He also wanted to see what ideas she could come up with. So, he just kept a bored expression on his face and stared at her extensively.

Feng jiu tried again as the previous tactic hadn't worked. This time she tried to bribe him. "dijun, I will make you all the sweets you want, anything you prefer, I will make it for you." But even that didn't work on donghua. He just kept staring with an impassive face. Racking her brains for her past experiences of persuasion and coercion, she finally came up with the perfect plan. Spreading her fingers wide, she created a privacy shield around them.

Donghua was even more intrigued by the appearance of the privacy shield. He couldn't wait to hear what his little fox had turned up with. Glancing down at her, he found her earlier smile now folded up in a pout with a downward tilt to her eyes, she said softly, "don't you love me, dijun? Can't you give me such a small thing?"

Donghua wanted to laugh. His clever little fox was trying to extort him and that too, with such an ideal counter. Thick-skinned as he was, he decided to take advantage of the little privacy shield she had erected. With his arm around her waist, he pulled her directly against him. his hard chest pressing against her soft curves. With feng jiu's hand still around his upper arms. He bent his face down to her level and rubbed his nose tenderly against hers as he said, "xaio bai, why does it feel like you are trying to blackmail me?"

Feng jiu was enjoying the soft motion of his nose against hers but she heard his question clearly. Pressing her hands against his chest, she pulled her face back a little as she addressed his question, "why would you think that, dijun?"

Donghua didn't move his face away as he responded, "well, I couldn't feel your sincerity or your love when you said it?"

She pondered on that for a moment before asking, "will you allow me to keep her, if I could make you feel my sincerity and love?" Donghua nodded as he waited for her next argument.

But what came this time wasn't an argument. Feng jiu caught him totally off guard as she pushed up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips in a soft kiss against his cheek. Dong hua could still feel the pressure of her lips as he put a hand on that cheek and held it there, watching feng jiu with wide eyes. This wasn't what he had counted on.

Feng jiu pushed forward and hid her face in his chest as he asked, "what was that, little love? don't get me wrong, I loved it but I am curious to know how that entered your mind, xaio bai."

Feng jiu lifted her head a little out of his chest as she said, "you can't refuse me now. I proved my love and sincerity to you. Now you have to allow me to keep her with me."

Donghua caressed her hair as he answered, "okay, xaio bai but now you'll have to show me your love and sincerity many times a day."

Feng jiu pulled out of her hiding space to make sure, "really?" with donghua's nod of agreement. She pulled down his face and planted several kisses all around his face. Donghua chuckled at her excitement and hummed with delight at being the source of that excitement and the love she showered him with.

A few minutes later, though she realized what she had done and went back to hiding her face in his chest. He laughed at her clear shyness now as he lowered the privacy shield.

That was the view everyone was greeted with, a laughing donghua with feng jiu hidden in his arms. Since the bai's and zhe yan had seen him laughing before they were a little less shocked than the open-mouthed zhonglin who looked like he was trying to catch flies in his mouth. Ignoring his gaping face, donghua announced, "before we leave, I have just one announcement to make. This purple lei niao is now xaio bai's pet." Cutting in fenjiu exclaimed, "and I have named her xaio guang."

Since the name literally meant little light and there was nothing little or light about that bird, everyone choked on air.

Donghua, though just laughed harder and dematerialized with feng jiu and the birds.

Author's note

this is purely for reference. since there are many differences between the creature described above and this one.

I do not own this image. the rights for the image rest with the owner. the image was taken from pinterest.

P.s. sorry for the late update.