Dong Zhenkang tested opening his mouth as wide as possible. Squinting his eyes. Twitching his nose, scrunching his forehead, and even making his eyebrows dance. Everything felt weird. He knew what he had signed up for, but it was still a strange experience to go through.

He was not taking it well.

Wu Xui, ơn the other hand, seemed very happy with what she had received. The entire experience and every other modification she added to herself the moment she had learned it was possible. Augmenting certain body parts he was not averse to at all. Which included a bit of her face, though she did not look much different, just enhanced.

At the very least it had put Dong ZhenKang in a better light with her.

She was pleased with him, his suggestions, and the willingness to take care of any monetary obligations for everything that she had wanted made more. Or better.

"Don't fuss so much, Dong Dong. You look wonderful." Wu Xui said, looking over her shoulder in their massive pavilion. She was currently writing notes in her little journal. Regaling her future self with all she experienced with Dong ZhenKang during the past few days.

It was something he could not possibly understand, but didn't really care to question.

There were better things to worry about. Mostly revolving around the extravagance Wu Xui seemed to keep around her at all times. He had seen all the brushes, makeup, and cushion in her spacial ring during their time within his old manor, but this was beyond even that.

Wu Xui had not pulled back any punches. Doing things he would have expected the rich mortal nobles of a large city would commit to. Which included a pavilion that could house five people comfortably with space for storage and a kitchen too. The only thing missing from the entire thing was a half dozen servants buzzing around her.

Such frivolous things did not sit right with Dong ZhenKang.

He couldn't have imagined himself to sit around in such plump cushions, on a bed that was closer to clouds than feathers and straw, and with arrays that regulated the temperature. Never too cold. Never too warm. Just perfect at all times.

Dong ZhenKang couldn't have imagined a day like this. Yet here he was. Doing this for a woman he had not known for longer than a few months of time. His greatest weakness rearing its head once more. Not to mention that Wu Xui had been the greatest he had ever been with. It was not even close.

"I never thought I'd have to go back and remove my Snake Face and use my original. It's just a strange thing, Xu Xu. I've had that look for decades now."

Wu Xui turned around from her journal. Setting the quill back into the ink pot and giving him her full, undivided attention. Studying him for a second. Humming and nodding, whispering to herself. Until she finally reached a conclusion.

"I liked your old look," Wu Xui said with absolute certainty. "But I like this one better. Your sharp features and less boxy chin appeal to me. More so than the Snake Face you carried before this. Though I do wonder…"

Dong ZhenKang knew what was about to come. Questions. Curiosity. Things that may drive a wedge between what they had going on between them. Everything he had attempted to hide for half a century already. Running from an endless horde of Demonic Cultivators and losing his own path of righteousness on the way.

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"Why the whole change—"

They snapped their heads to the entrance of their tent in unison. Silence and their previous conversation forgotten. Someone or something appeared. Directly within their clearing and without anything to have warned them. Not the arrays he had set up, or even the traps Wu Xui had hidden around the forest. They had not hesitated to use their most powerful items when their situation was so precarious.

Only for a single figure to bypass it all.

Dong ZhenKang and Wu Xui both recognized a simple fact. The figure had let them find him.

They got up from their seats. Eyes meeting. Wu Xui's face was pale, but hard set and determined. They would either fight to the death here or figure out how to talk their way out. Both requiring they deal with whoever it was outside of their—

"Hurry now. While I am still in a good mood." The stranger said. Old and masculine.

They nodded to each other and stepped out of the clearing. Only for Dong ZhenKang to immediately drop to his knees. Eyes widening. Fear gripping his chest. His head began to spin as he saw a familiar figure he had seen so long ago. A figure of myth he had hoped to never encounter.

Wu Xui turned to look at him. Shocked. "Dong Dong?"

He pointed at the old frail senior, arm shaking. The guant skeletal frame. The hollow eyes. The dark gray discus he rode on, hovering above the ground.

We're dead. No worse than dead.

Dong ZhenKang could still remember the old man's arrival when the sects were still open. Fighting his sect's patriarch to an even draw, neither one capable of defeating the other without destroying everything and everyone within the vicinity. A gentleman's agreement to prevent mutual destruction.

Both monsters had worked too hard to develop everything they had only for a stray Qi blast to ruin it all.

"Well, well, well…" Zi Zhen stepped off his throne. A massive smile bloomed on his face. "To think I would find a Zhong son out here. So deep within my territory."

Wu Xui jumped back from Dong ZhenKang. Her eyes snapping back and forth between the old man and the Zhong son. "Dong Dong? What does he mean? Who is this old man and why does he call you a Zhong?"

"That old man is the terror himself. Patriarch of the Dark Gate Palace. Zi fucking Zhen."

Wu Xui fainted.

"You've heard of me, little boy?" Zi Zhen said as he stepped up to Dong ZhenKang.

"Who hasn't."

Zi Zhen laughed.

The thought to fight back, maybe even attempt to escape crossed Dong ZhenKang's mind. But he knew better. Everyone did. There was no escaping Zi Zhen. It was impossible for him or anyone else that wasn't the literal peak of this and the previous two generations as well. He had only seen his own Sect Master Zhong An to ever stand toe to toe with the ancient monster. Though rumors did claim a few others.

Yet, that was all they were. Rumors.

"What is your name Zhong son?" Zi Zhen patted his head like a kindly grandfather. His palm and fingers without any meat on them. "I happened to be looking for a certain Dong ZhenKang. Who was supposed to be you, and yet here we are. Your identity being questioned. I'm assuming you've been using talismans and a Snake Face to hide your true self for some time now?"

Dong ZhenKang nodded.

"Well? What's your name? Don't take my kindness for granted."

"Zhong Da."

"Good. Good. Me and you Zhong Da. We have much to discuss and much to plan. I have things I require of you. People I want you to watch for me. Preferably from a very close position. You and your little plaything over there."

Zhong Da nodded again. There was no other response that could be applicable at this instant other than that. Anything else would lead to his immediate and horrific death. Or worse. A thousand years of torture. Unimaginable horrors beyond anything he could wrap his mind around. If the stories were true.

He was not about to test it out.

Zi Zhen smiled. "Perfect. Follow me into this lovely tent. I'll explain more once we are inside. In the meantime, take care of her. Don't want to ruin my plan because of a little fear. That would not do well for me."

Zi Zhen stepped into the tent. Zhong Da jumped to his feet and ran to Wu Xui. He would need to have a very long conversation with her. Hopefully, somehow convince her he was still the same person. Not a true Zhong any longer. Not the enemy of all Demonic Cultivators wherever they may be or whoever they were.

That identity had been lost to him the moment he laid with the village widow and was locked out of the mountain sect. The array closed shut. He truly was Dong ZhenKang in all that it carried. He couldn't possibly be anything else after so long a time and so ruined a cultivation, Dao, and core.

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