The hotel they checked into looked quite ordinary from the outside, lacking any semblance of five-star luxury. It was situated halfway up a nameless mountain.

Upon closer inspection, however, the decor resembled the architecture of Hua Country's Tang Dynasty. Each room was a separate suite, spaced about twenty meters apart. From an environmental standpoint, finding such a quiet and beautiful hotel in the international metropolis of Kyoto was quite a feat.

There was even a misty, infinity-style hot spring in the backyard. From there, you could gaze down upon the mountainside covered in cherry trees and the bustling city of Kyoto in the distance, giving the illusion that the hot spring was floating in the air. The only shame was that it wasn't the cherry blossom season; otherwise, it would have been even more beautiful.

On the way here, Ruan Tang had mentioned that the hotel's cherry blossom hot spring was one of the most famous and distinctive in the country.

Xu Lai chuckled, "Yiyi, go have a soak in the hot spring first. Once your mom is done with her work, we'll go eat."

Xu Yiyi's big eyes twinkled mischievously. "Daddy, are you letting me soak first so I won't be a third wheel tonight?"

Before Xu Lai could respond, Xu Yiyi muttered, "Qian Xiao said that when a man and a woman bathe together, it's called a 'mandarin duck hotpot.'"

"It's a 'mandarin duck bath'..." Beibei poked her head out of his pocket and corrected in a low voice. "You're making me hungry with all that talk of hotpot."

"Oh, right, a mandarin duck bath!"

"..."

A vein throbbed on Xu Lai's forehead. He gently tapped his daughter's head. That little brat, Kid Qian. How dare he lead my precious daughter astray? The next time I see him, I'll kick him at least three times!

And so, Xu Yiyi and Beibei went to soak in the hot spring. The child and the monster, both wearing cute children's swimwear, leaned against the edge of the infinity pool, gazing out at the forest.

The sun was setting. The reflection of the fading sun settled on the lake at the foot of the mountain, where a young man and woman were sketching the scenery.

Beibei propped her chin on her hands and said with regret, "Too bad the cherry blossoms aren't in bloom."

"Yeah," Yiyi murmured, nodding her little head. "It'd be nice if they could bloom."

Standing to one side, Xu Lai laughed lightly. "You want the flowers to bloom? That's simple."

"Huh?"

Unlike the expectant Xu Yiyi, Beibei remained expressionless. Simple? The blooming season for cherry blossoms depends on their variety and the time of year. Although the Human Race has greenhouses and various methods to alter a flowering period, if you think about it deeply, changing a flowering period means altering a plant's life cycle. As things stand, not even a monster from the Demon King Realm could do that! Xu Lai might be powerful, but that's just brute strength. To make all the cherry blossoms on the mountain bloom... you'd probably need an immortal.

"Yiyi, close your eyes and count down from three. A surprise is about to happen," Xu Lai said.

Xu Yiyi happily closed her eyes without a second thought about how difficult the task was. She unconditionally believed in Xu Lai!

"Three."

"Two."

"One..."

As his voice faded, Xu Yiyi opened her eyes, which now sparkled with wonder.

Everywhere she looked, the cherry trees were slowly sprouting new branches that quickly burgeoned with green leaves. Flower buds swelled and then burst open!

By the lake, the young man who was sketching glanced up at the view before continuing to draw his outline. He suddenly furrowed his brow. That last glance... the scenery looked different from before! What was wrong?

Puzzled, he was about to ask his girlfriend when he saw Hina, who was usually exceptionally ladylike and spoke as softly as a buzzing mosquito, shout with a trembling voice, "The flowers... The flowers are blooming!"

"What?"

The young man didn't hear her clearly, but he quickly understood what she meant. The cherry blossom trees covering the mountain bloomed in succession, like a line of dominoes tipped over by God. The wave of blossoms started from the far left, swept past them, and continued to the very right.

The two of them were completely stunned. By the time they snapped out of it and thought to record a video, the blossoming process was already over. Even so, the incredulous pair still recorded the aftermath and posted it online. In just three short hours, their video, titled "Cherry Blossoms under God's Feet," garnered a staggering four million likes!

Of course, that was all in the future and had nothing to do with Xu Lai. At this moment, gazing at his daughter's joyful face, his heart was filled with contentment.

"...Xu Lai, how... how did you do it?" Beibei didn't perceive the beauty. Instead, she felt a chill creep up her spine. As a monster, she knew what reversing a life cycle represented. This is tantamount to controlling time! If he can control plants, what about sentient beings like humans or monsters? The very thought was terrifying!

"I'll teach you," Xu Lai instructed. "First, your Spiritual Power goes like this, then like this, and finally like this. Got it?"

Beibei was speechless. Are you messing with me? You're definitely messing with me! If she weren't certain she couldn't beat him, Beibei would have loved to teach him a harsh lesson. Like this, then like that... Is that even human language?

Wait, the Haitang flowers on Mount Haitang also bloom year-round, regardless of the season... Beibei suddenly realized this, and her scalp tingled once more. Her gaze toward Xu Lai was now filled with deep awe.

This man's power surpasses the very limits of my imagination. This is not something a human can do. Only a god... could do such a thing!

"Daddy, look there," Xu Yiyi suddenly said, pointing toward the setting sun.

Xu Lai's body tensed. "Daughter, do you want the sun to stay a little longer? I'll make it stop right now!"

Make the sun stop? Not even Kuafu would dare to think of such a thing. Beibei was too scared to speak. She horrifyingly had the feeling that Xu Lai could actually do it.

"Eh? Why make it stop?" Xu Yiyi scratched her head. "I want to eat that cloud. It's so golden and shiny, it must be delicious."

Well, alright then... Beibei didn't know what to say, so she just chimed in, "I'll have one too."

「By eight o'clock that evening.」

When Ruan Tang dragged her exhausted body back to the hotel room, she found Xu Yiyi and Beibei already fast asleep in bed.

Ruan Tang was taken aback. "Why are they asleep? I booked a private room at a Japanese restaurant on the way back. I was planning to take Yiyi to try it."

"The two of us can still go," Xu Lai said. "Our daughter and Beibei played themselves out. I made them a simple dinner, and they fell asleep right after."

"Did you eat?" Ruan Tang raised an eyebrow.

"No, I was waiting for you."

"Oh." Ruan Tang pondered for a moment, then said, "Then let's go to the Japanese place for lunch tomorrow. We'll just grab a quick bite tonight."

"Whatever we eat is fine." She laid down beside her daughter, rubbing her forehead. "I'm so tired, so sleepy... I just want to sleep. We'll talk about it later."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.