Feng jiu stared at donghua with incredulousness in her eyes. She couldn't believe how easily he had tricked her. He had manipulated her words with such precision that she was left with no other choice but to accept the ring without uttering a word about it. Shocked at what he had done, she spoke in his mind, "you cheated me. Was that all a play?"

Both of them turned to take their seats on the throne while, donghua, replied to feng jiu, "I didn't cheat and no, that wasn't a play. I warned you against taking Zhong lin's punishment on your head but you refused to heed my warnings. I just saw a situation in front of me and changed it to favor my needs. Are you objecting, xaio bai?"

Even though, he had spoken in her mind, she could still feel his arched eyebrow that went along with a sentence like this. Not knowing how to decipher his words or meaning behind them, she called out a soft, hesitant "no" in response to his question.

Donghua watched as feng jiu was busy reflecting on what had happened. He didn't want this to subdue her happiness and excitement for today. So, trying to lift up her spirits again, he said, "let it go, little love. That ring was a gift intended to show you how much I love and adore you. My little fox, my entire being revolves around you. So, what use do I have for life, if I do not have you. Don't question my love for you, jiu'er."

This time she could feel the heart wrenching emotions behind his words. The genuineness of his words moved her soft, compassionate heart. She felt his hand reach out for hers, gingerly as if he was worried, she would retract her hand. Shaking her head at his hesitation, she gave him her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. With a gentle voice, she replied, "I will never question your love, donghua. No matter the situation, that will never happen. You should not entertain such absurd thoughts, my love. Even though, I do not agree with the magic of the ring, I love the ring itself. So, I will accept it as a token of your love."

Rendered speechless by her words, he just blinked to take in the marvelous beauty that was his wife, both inside and outside. He raised her hand to his face and pressed a loving kiss on the back of her hand. Donghua turned back to face the now seated guests and called out, "begin."

After his declaration to commence, the banquet began in the earnest. Several performances took place, among which even Zhong lin brought out a zither and played a beautiful piece in celebration of his lord and lady. Cheng yu also, performed a breathtaking dance that highlighted on the union of once separated lovers. Feng jiu noticed that though the focus was on separated lovers, the story was much different than hers and dong hua's, it seemed to her the story was based on someone else. To verify her doubts, she turned her head to see lian song's reaction to the performance and sure enough, sky kingdom's third prince was having a tough time in controlling his emotions. They need to sort themselves out now, it's been long enough for them, feng jiu though to herself.

After the performances were over, it came time for the gifts. The lords and ladies in the banquet brought presents from all over the realms. The assortment was huge and invaluable but for feng jiu it held little importance, since most of these gifts were a way for the lords to show off. But this was the way, the world worked. So, she bore through it. With such invaluable gifts coming in, the red packets had to be equally as prized if not more. Since, it was dijun's wedding banquet, Zhong lin spared no expense. The nobility from all over the realms was given the most exorbitant gift of multiple pure white jade pieces in their red packets whereas the people of qing qui got huge pouches full of gold pieces. When the oohs and aahs over the packets, sounded all over the room, Zhong lin gave himself a mental pat on the back for a job well done.

After the highlights of the event were out of the way, everyone focused on enjoying the food and wine. Zhe yan had fondly provided the most delicious batch of his peach wine for feng jiu's wedding and the effects of that could be seen clearly after just an hour. Since, the party was about to get exceedingly robust with the consumption of such alcohol, donghua was edging to leave. He signalled this to bai zhi. He waited as bai zhi gathered the whole family and came their way to talk to feng jiu before they left.

Along with the bai's also, came lian song. Dong hua scrutinized him with an inquisitive eye till he signalled a request for a private conversation. Assessing him carefully, dong hua nodded his confirmation. He turned to feng jiu and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"your family wants to talk to you, xaio bai. I'll give you all some time to say your good byes. And when I return, we'll be leaving for bihai cangling, all right?" Feng jiu gave a small, shy small as she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Dong walked towards the adjoining balcony with lian song trailing behind him. Reaching the ledge, he raised a privacy shield around them. Lian song took his cue to speak after they were encased in the shield.

"your majesty, you were right about the island of ash. Something or someone had tampered with the seal you had placed on the lei niaos there. After investigating for several weeks, I found traces of a faint red dust at the bottom of the black sea."

He pulled out a small pouch from the inside of his robe and handed it over to dong hua. Taking the pouch from lian song, he pulled it open and upended it in his hand. A pinch of faint shimmer with a reddish hue to it, fell out in his hand. Dong hua instantly knew what this dust was but just to make sure, he tested it for the owner's spirit. Placing his other hand on top of the dust, he searched for the owner's spiritual energy. The signature he received off the dust was one he knew very well.

Turning to lian song, he spoke, "convince ye hua and hao de into making a list of every sealed creature in all of the realms. The list should date back to the earliest recorded seal ever placed. Use the excuse of the lei niaos, if needed. But ensure that the process is completed within a period of three years. Also, make sure that no realm or land or dessert or sea is left out from this investigation. You will face problem in cooperating with the demon realm. So, deploy the spies immediately. If there is any further complication in dealings with the demon realm, contact me directly."

Dong hua raised his palm and materialized four scrolls; each scroll had a name written on the outside, in donghua's elaborate handwriting. He handed the scrolls over to lian song before he continued, "these missives are meant for Zhong lin, mo yuan, zhe yan and bai zhi each. Start from Zhong lin tomorrow and then to the others. Each of the gods will give you the record of every creature they have ever sealed. Along with them, go and check every single seal personally. If there is even a slight offset in the seal or the place around it, redo the seal again. The list you will receive from zhong lin is the most prominent one. Those are the creatures that either I have personally sealed or they have been secured by my previous generals. For those seals, you will need the help of all the three high gods. It's possible that you and mo yuan might need to tap into the one percent power xaio bai gave you. Those ancient seals might even try to drain you if you use your own powers. In that case, channel only xaio bai's energy source and not your own. Lian song make sure that all the seals are accounted for and checked by you personally, if even one seal is left out, then this time, we might not be facing the friendly lei niaos."

Lian song understood the gravity of the situation but he still couldn't comprehend one thing. So, he asked, "I do not understand one thing, with all these seals, what exactly are we looking for, here?"

The matter was so grave that dong hua had to make him understand what he was dealing with here.

"try to remember, lian song what had taken place just before you told me about the disturbances near the lei niaos' seal?"

"dijun, lei niao's were sealed in the island of ash and I reported about the storms near those islands that day in qingqui after..." the pieces finally clicked in lian song's brain. But still it was hard for him to fathom such a possibility. So, for assurance, he looked at dong hua's face who nodded in confirmation.

To further elucidate the matter, donghua swiped a hand above the faint red dust in his palm. At his call, a familiar red mark appeared above his palm. It was the mark of an unfurled phoenix flower.

In explanation, donghua continued, "xaio bai is the source of all living, so when she came back in her true form, the message of her arrival was sent to every living in this universe, irrespective of their origin, nature or existence. Even the immortals received the missive, though they didn't know how to comprehend it. Out of the total two percent of her power that was released that day, one percent had been absorbed by the lands of qingqui but the other one percent of xaio bai's power was sent as the message of her arrival. "

"This power reached every living present in this universe and some of those had been sealed off from the world for longer periods of time. Because of the lower denomination of the power, it wasn't strong enough to undo the seals. But even that one percent had caused significant damage to the seals protecting several fatal creatures. This was the reason why the lei niao's seal was weakened. Though they were able to breakthrough the seal because of their increased numbers. When I secured the island of ash, it was meant to lock off only one creature not a whole horde of them. So, they escaped early."

"By my calculations, we have less than four years before other creatures start breaking down their shields. Every shield across the realms has been weakened at its very core. So, it is imperative that we redo each and every seal, if needed. Every one of these creatures were locked off for one reason only, lian song and that was the safety of the realms. If even one is unleashed, the consequences could be dire."

"remember, this conversation will remain only between you and me. No soul should get to know about this. Not even xaio bai, lian song."

After dong hua finished, there was nothing left for lian song to say. His brain was still trying to process the information dijun had divulged. Seeing that they were done here, donghua magicked away the dust and pulled down the privacy shield. He made his way back to feng jiu.

The bai family skedaddled after he appeared back at feng jiu's side. Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her back against him before saying, "you done with your goodbyes, little fox? You won't be seeing them again for a couple months at least. So, it will be better to say everything you want, right now?"

Feng jiu scrunched up her face in a pout as she replied, "you make me sound like a child, dijun."

He flicked his fingers against her forehead softly as he said, "you are a child from here, little fox." Then bent down to whisper in her ear, "even though I have made a woman out of you, I still love your innocent nature, jiu'er."

Feng jiu ducked down her head to her embarrassment at his words as she drawled out a long "dijun" in reproach. Dong hua though just smirked and pulled her close as they faded from the court.