Number One Under Heaven

Tian Yi and Han Yixue quickly arrived at the ‘stairs’ to the next floor.

“.....”

Han Yixue looked at the wooden boat that had the exact same details as the one she just rode on.

‘Don’t tell me I have to endure more of that torture?!’ she cried to herself.

The torture that she spoke of was sitting in front of Tian Yi where they had to face each other for the entire ride! And the worst part was that she was unable to force herself to look away because that would be extremely rude towards him---- at least that was what she believed!

Tian Yi was able to look at her without thinking too much, so she believed that she had to do the same or it would seem rude!

“Do you need help?” Tian Yi asked her thinking that she was still scared of jumping in.

“T-That’s not it…” she said.

“?”

He looked at her with a confused expression on his face. If not that, then why does she have such a frown on her face?

*Huff* *Huff*

Heavy breathing noises could suddenly be heard coming from behind them, and that caused them to turn around.

“Y-You are…” Han Yixue’s eyes opened wide after seeing the figure who was supposed be behind the counter gasping for air in front of them.

*Huff* *Huff*

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei was breathing heavily, but it was not because she ran out of air after running here.

“Y-Y-Young Master…?” she said, her voice trembling.

‘Young Master?” Han Yixue looked at Tian Yi.

He was the only one there, so that girl must be calling for him. And it would not be weird for her to chase after them after what had just happened…

“Young Master… Is that… really you…?” she called for him again.

A bitter smile hung on Tian Yi's face as he spoke, “It has been a while, Dongmei. How is your new work? Are you enjoying it?”

“.....”

Han Yixue’s eyes widened even more as she watched tears fall from the girl’s eyes!

‘Why is she crying all of a sudden?!’ she cried inside her heart.

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei began walking towards them, but each of her steps was unbalanced, it looked as if she was going to fall any second.

“....”

Han Yixue did not know how to react when she began walking towards them, so she hid behind Tian Yi and held his right hand with both of her hands. The horrifying experience she had just witnessed from this girl was still haunting her.

“!!!!”

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei instantly stopped walking and stared at them with a shocked expression. She was so shocked that even her tears had stopped falling! What the in Heaven’s name was this girl doing?! How can she do something as preposterous as grabbing his hands?!

“Y-Young Master… A-Are you h-heading to the t-third floor? I-If so, c-can this one follow?” she managed to speak without stuttering at every word.

“Can you ignore what you saw today if I agreed?” he asked with a bitter smile.

“Y-YES!” she answered, accidentally shouting out loud.

“Okay then, you can follow us,” he nodded with a bright smile.

“Eh?” Han Yixue could not believe that he would let her follow them! What will happen to them if she went crazy again? Not to mention the wooden boat only has two seats, so how was she going to follow them?

Although she was worried about this girl following them, she was very curious about their relationship. Maybe her presence will even allow her to learn more about Tian Yi…

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei started walking towards them again, and after she arrived in front of them, she slowly kneeled onto the floor with her head lowered.

“Heavenly Guardian Dongmei greets his----”

Suddenly, a pair of hands surprised her by grabbing onto the sides of her shoulders and pulling her body right back up.

“?!?!?!?”

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei looked at Tian Yi who was touching her with a dumbfounded expression. He touched her?! He actually touched her?!?!?!

“Let’s not waste time on something with no importance. Come, let’s head to the 3rd floor already,” said Tian Yi.

“.....”

She did not know how to react and could only slowly nod her head!

“Good, Yixue, hold on.”

Tian Yi wrapped his hand around her waist again, and they both jumped onto the wooden boat.

Splash.

The black water splashed due to the impact, scaring the living hell out of Han Yixue. That story of losing her soul forever if she ever fell into the water still scares her.

“.....”

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei could only watch their intimate actions with a loose jaw. Who the hell is this girl?!

“Dongmei, what are you still standing there for?” Tian Yi called for her.

“Ah! This one apologizes for making his----”

“What did I just say? Just get on the boat,” he interrupted her again.

“Y-yes!”

Han Yixue watched as Heavenly Guardian Dongmei wave her hand for one second and another wooden boat appearing out of nowhere the next second.

After the wooden boat appeared, Heavenly Guardian Dongmei jumped onto it, and they began drifting into the darkness soon after.

“.....”

“........”

“..............”

It has been a good minute since the boat began moving, yet nobody spoke a word.

Han Yixue had her eyes glued to the peerlessly beautiful girl next to them. This girl wanted to follow them, yet she has been quiet this entire time. If she was only here to disrupt their atmosphere, then she is doing a damn good job!

However, no matter how annoying this girl’s presence was to her, she could not help but admire her beauty. This girl not only looks like a fairy, but she also looks very young! If she had to take a guess at her age, then she would definitely say that this girl only looks to be in her mid-twenties!

While Han Yixue was looking at her, Heavenly Guardian Dongmei was also doing the same. She stared right at Han Yixue’s eyes as if she wanted to see through her soul.

‘She has the ‘Treasure of the Azure Dragon God’ eyes? I only know of two other people who have this type of eyes...’ she thought.

“Dongmei---”

“YES?!” she replied instantly. Tian Yi’s sudden call had surprised her.

“You did not answer my question before. How is your new job?” he asked her.

“Ah… This one apolo---”

“.....”

She paused because Tian Yi was staring at her with narrowed eyes.

“I-It’s boring, I guess…” she said with a hesitant tone. Was it really okay for her to speak to him without any formality?

“Boring? Why is that?” he asked.

“Because all I do nowadays is just sit there and make sure nobody is doing anything that they are not supposed to----” she suddenly remembers her actions a moment ago and began sweating.

Noticing that, Tian Yi said, “What happened just now was my fault. Sorry, I bothered you during your work---- again…”

‘Again?’ Han Yixue wondered why he meant by that.

“Please do not say that, Young Master! What you have done before only made my days even brighter,” she said, her tears about to start falling again.

“Is that so…?”

“Ah, you can stop calling me Young Master; just Tian Yi is fine,” he suddenly added.

"Absolutely not! I have a limit, and the way I am speaking now is already past that limit! I do not dare to surpass it even further,” she said with a stubborn tone.

“You are as stubborn as always,” he said with a bitter smile.

"The days I had spent as your servant was truly a blessing..." she sighed.

‘Eh?! Servant?!’ Han Yixue had just heard something shocking and unexpected!

“If only mother did not…” Tian Yi also sighed.

“....”

A sorrowful expression appeared on her face. “Although we were only temporary servants, I still enjoyed every day working as your servant. But because of the constant joking from the other servants, we were all unable to continue serving you. That was our biggest regret in life, and it is still to this day,” she said with a heavy tone.

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei was actually one of the females that used to be Tian Yi’s servant when he was young. However, her fellow sisters were always joking about his face being so handsome that they were having a hard time working because of it; which ended up making the Empress misunderstand it as complaints and replacing them with male servants as the result. Such actions had made them regret it every day of their life for the past few years.

While they still have high standings within the family, it was just not the same. Look at her now, a Heavenly Guardian, a title that was extremely prestigious. She was in such a powerful position, yet she was not as happy as her older days, which was also the cause of her short tempers.

“I would be lying if I said it was the same without you girls because after you all had left, the atmosphere just wasn’t the same… It just wasn’t as fun as before. The new servants always have a serious expression on their face and would not play with me even if I asked, so I eventually decided to leave. Even I could only take so much of that place before leaving...” said Tian Yi.

“Eh? Is that why Young Master left the house? Because we were gone?” Heavenly Guardian Dongmei asked.

“I will not lie, but even if you girls had stayed, I would’ve still left the house. It was my dream to travel the world, so it would’ve happened eventually. However, with that said, I would’ve definitely stayed longer if you girls did not leave,” he said.

Han Yixue watched them talk back and forth while she was in her own thoughts, ‘So this girl used to be Master’s servant, and because she left, it caused the atmosphere to change around the house, which ended up making him run away?’

‘So Young Master prefers us over our replacements, huh?’ Heavenly Guardian Dongmei smiled to herself knowing that they had impacted his life in such a way.

“Young Master…” she called him.

“Yes?”

“Do you still remember that time where you walked in on us during our bath time…. naked?”

“....”

“........”

The place had instantly turned dead quiet! And Han Yixue was staring at Tian Yi with her mouth wide open.

“I-I can’t say I do…” Tian Yi finally replied.

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei chucked at his reactions, and said, “I am not surprised. You were still very young at that time after all. I believe you were only 4 years old at that time. Ah, my sister’s reaction after that was too funny, so I had to mention it.”

“I-Is that so? Sorry if I had caused any trouble at that time,” he said.

Tian Yi could feel a drop of cold sweat on his back. Although it was unclear, he remembers being scolded by both his parents because he had wanted to take a bath in the middle of the night, and not wanting to get caught, he decided to use another bath instead of his own!

“Young Master, how has life been after you had left? Was it fun?” she changed the subject.

Tian Yi smiled at that question. “Of course! I have experienced so many new things, I even made some new friends,” he said.

“Is that so? Then I guess it was worth the trouble…” she said with a weird tone.

Because of his disappearance, the entire Palace was flipped upside down by the Celestial Emperor. Even she was terrified of being in that place during that chaotic time period!

“Dongmei,” he suddenly called her.

“Yes, Young Master?”

“When the time comes for me to return to the house, would you also return with me? This time as a permanent servant, of course,” he said with a serious expression.

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei did not reply and only looked at him with a surprised face.

“B-But her Majesty---”

“I am no longer a child,” he interrupted her, “I will be the one to decide, not my parents.”

“That is if you want to, of course. If you rather continue with your current duties, or even if you want to do something else, I will help you achieve it. That is the least I can do for you, someone who has been taking care of me since I was a kid,” warm lights flickered within his eyes.

“Y-Young Master…”

Tears were mixed into the Celestial Ocean as Heavenly Guardian Dongmei nod her head vigorously, “Yes! I will gladly do anything as long as it is for Young Master!”

Tian Yi nodded, “I do not know when I will return, but you can have this.”

A rainbow orb of light appears on his palms, and he held it in front of her.

“T-This is…”

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei stares at the rainbow light with disbelief. “Y-Young Master, I am not worthy enough to accept a position like that! Just serving as a regular servant is already enough for me!”

“Dongmei, not only were you one of my very first servants, but you were also there to witness my growth since day one. If you are not worthy, then who is?”

“B-But still…” her hands were already halfway there, but she was still hesitant in accepting the rainbow light.

“How about this? If someone dares to say that you are unworthy, then I will personally go meet that individual and see whether or not they are worthy,” he said.

“.....”

Heavenly Guardian Dongmei was silent for a moment before nodding, and she accepted the rainbow glow.

*RUMBLE*

The Jade Slip room inside the Celestial Palace suddenly began to tremble.

“IT’S HERE!”

Tian Qiang instantly stood up and prepared to chase whatever is about to come.

*Whoosh*

A rainbow glow came out from one of the still colored Jade Slip, and it disappeared into the distance like a shooting star.

Tian Qiang also disappeared from the room.

“I’ve got you now, you little brat! It will only be a matter of time before I get ahold of you!” he laughed as he chased the rainbow light into the starry sky.