The black hair of his memories was gone, now being replaced by long straight hair as fiery red as fire that fell freely in a cascade down the back of the girl who once held the most important place in Bai Zemin’s heart and whom he thought of most in those days. On the other hand, those soft eyes had gained a lot more resolve and one could even see a flash of heroism and bravery flickering like a bright flame which caused the weak not to dare to keep their eyes fixed on her for too long.
Her body was not as sexy as Wu Yijun’s body and her proportions were closer to Shangguan Bing Xue’s but slightly below in the chest area. The crimson red dress matched her long hair and clung tantalizingly to her practically perfect body but without affecting movement at all.
Without a doubt, she was the kind of woman who regardless of where she went was destined to become the center of attention. Even within this hall, only Meng Qi and Cai Jingyi could compare to her in terms of confidence and appearance and only Nangong Lingxin surpassed her devilishly seductive body by a notch.
She was the woman who years ago ruled in the mind of Bai Zemin and took over his heart. Her appearance had changed, not only had her body properly matured but even the aura surrounding her was completely different from the softness and gentleness Bai Zemin remembered.
Had it not been for her face, Bai Zemin might not have recognized her at all. At the end of the day, regardless of bad or good experiences, first love was hard to forget.
However, as Bai Zemin looked at this past love now, he realized something important.
His heart was not shaken at all, there were no emotions revived at all. There was no anger, shame, discomfort, pressure, desire for revenge… There was nothing there. As Bai Zemin looked at Feng Tian Wu now, he realized that far from hating her he was actually grateful… Because it was thanks to her that he was who he was today.
After a casual glance, the eyes of Bai Zemin turned away from her and he did not give her a second glance again despite being a little surprised by her soul strength.
He and Feng Tian Wu lived in different worlds even though they were both soul evolvers, not only were their paths far from each other but she would definitely not remember the nobody who stupidly thought he was loved.
Bai Zemin’s level of indifference was so, so high, that not only his family did not notice anything strange but even Lilith who was glued to him in invisible mode did not feel the slightest change in his heart rhythm.
Bai Zemin was surprised to meet her here, he was also surprised to feel her strength, but that was all. He would not interfere in her life in any way and she would not interfere in his; the two of them would be two complete strangers, there was no need to do any different.
“Look, it’s the Feng Family.”
“As expected from one of the three strongest families in our establishment, the confidence in their bearing is different.”
“Feng Tian Wu is still as beautiful as ever…”
“You dare to approach her?”
“… Forget it… Her eyes are too scary.”
“…”
Again, whispers and murmurs were heard for a while before everyone began to relax.
The father of Feng Tian Wu was named Feng Hong and he only needed to fulfill one last requirement to evolve into the Second Order. Feng Hong was the overall leader of the Phoenix Guild and was a powerful mage focused on fire-type magic whose destructive attacks could not be ignored even by the two strongest Second Order existences in the establishment.
With his identity, there was no shortage of people who approached the Fang Family in an attempt to forge friendships. Feng Hong, despite his serious and sturdy appearance that did not quite fit the appearance of a normal mage, seemed to be a rather friendly man as he chatted with all the guests who approached him.
On the other hand, Feng Tian Wu was indifferent. She didn’t approach anyone and all those brave enough to try to engage her in conversation left after realizing that each and every one of her replies was disinterested and boring. She sat in one of the farthest seats and while drinking a glass of red wine began to look around bored.
The place where Bai Zemin and the rest stood was also receiving a lot of attention and there was no shortage of people approaching them to express goodwill, besides, with so many women looking at him it was impossible for Feng Tian Wu not to look in that direction. However, while her eyes flashed with a hint of surprise at his appearance, she did not linger too long and simply continued to glance around the area in boredom.
Time passed slowly and gradually the needles of the clock began to approach 22 o’clock in the evening.
The party was slowly entering the climax as even the soft music from the beginning started to play a little louder, livening things up and urging couples to dance on the dance floor. With the first young man daring and inviting a beautiful young lady, gradually the center of the room filled with people of all ages dancing to the music.
Eating like kings and drinking alcohol, the fun soon reached the point where the slight tension disappeared from the bodies of all the young people. Amidst laughter and jokes, new friendships of all kinds slowly began to take shape and this also helped the adults to relax and get closer to other families that in the past they might not have been able to get close to.
Bai Zemin and Meng Qi received many invitations to dance but both politely declined. While Ye Linger chatted with Zhong De’s mother and Bai Delan chatted with some smart big shots that after seeing the rise of the Bai family came over to say a few good words, the brother-sister duo chatted with each other quietly or laughed at each other’s jokes.
Zhong De was suddenly asked to dance by a girl who did not dare to ask Bai Zemin to dance after she saw him reject young girls prettier than her. The silent Zhong De looked at his mother in concern but under her instigation, he accepted the young beauty’s invitation and headed to the dance ground.
“How envious I feel right now.” The voice of Lilith sounded beside him even though Bai Zemin couldn’t see her. “I’d love to show up and dance next to you, have fun normally… But I’m afraid that unless I take my Lili form such a thing will not be possible.”
Bai Zemin turned his face slightly and whispered softly, “Don’t worry, Lilith. Believe me when I say that we will have many such parties and plenty of time to join hands and dance.”
Lilith could not appear at the party looking like Lili since Bai Zemin would have no way of explaining who she was to Wu Keqian or Sun Ling. After all, the parents of Wu Yijun already knew that only seven of them had come from Yanqing District and if Bai Zemin simply told them that he happened to meet a normal human alive outside the base when there shouldn’t be anyone for thousands of miles around it would definitely raise too much suspicion.
It was not the time yet.
Lilith immediately calmed down when she heard the words spoken by Bai Zemin and like an excited little girl exclaimed in a voice that only he could hear, “It’s a promise!”
Bai Zemin chuckled and was about to say something when he felt a slight pulling on his right sleeve.
“What’s wrong, Meng Qi?”
Meng Qi looked at him with a gentle smile on her beautiful face and extended a hand forward as she slightly tilted her body and brought her other hand behind her back, “Princess, may I have your hand to dance this piece?”
Bai Zemin was stunned for a second before he began to laugh out loud. He reached out his hand and placed it on top of his younger sister’s hand as he acted shyly, “Of course you may, honorable knight.”
The track Meng Qi chose was a slow one that was danced very close to each other, Bai Zemin naturally realized that she did it on purpose but did not understand the reason. However, he soon figured it out.
“Big brother, that girl from before is called Feng Tian Wu…” Meng Qi hesitantly whispered as she rested her head on his chest and let herself be guided by him. “The girl who hurt you in the past was also called by that name… Could it be…”
“That’s her.” Bai Zemin did not hide this fact as there was no need to do so in the first place. “They are both the same person, truly a coincidence not to be expected.”
Even though she could feel his natural indifference, Meng Qi still couldn’t help but ask with hatred and poison in his voice, “What will you do? Take revenge? With big brother’s strength, that Feng anything and her family will be destroyed in the blink of an eye!”
“… Girl, since when did you become this cruel?” Bai Zemin asked not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
“Hmph! Anyone who hurts you has no right to exist!” Meng Qi declared as if it was natural.
“Em. She’s right.” Lilith seemed to agree as she said with a giggle, “Your little sister Meng Qi already likes me. I hope I can get along with my pretty sister-in-law hehe…”
Sister-in-law… Bai Zemin couldn’t help but feel warm when he heard the way Lilith called Meng Qi. The fact that she said such a thing meant that she really considered herself his full-fledged woman.
“Meng Qi, you don’t need to think about Feng Tian Wu or the past.” He said in a soft voice. “I don’t hate her at all, you shouldn’t hate her either. Of course, this doesn’t mean we will be friends or anything like that. It’s just that we will each walk our own path, our lives are meant to be lived in the heavens, and Feng Tian Wu despite being a powerful First Order mage will never reach our heights. She is just a passenger in our lives. That’s all.”
Meng Qi was surprised by the arrogant words of her big brother, however, after thinking about it for a moment she understood. Bai Zemin would soon become the sole ruler and king of all of China and in the future, he might even become the emperor of Earth considering how young he was and the power he already held. On the other hand, Feng Tian Wu was really unworthy of mention. Therefore, after considering it for several seconds, she finally nodded in agreement:
“You are right. That Feng Tian Wu woman will surely want to bang her head against the wall when she figures out what she missed.”
Bai Zemin chuckled and did not pursue the matter further.
To him, Feng Tian Wu was a case closed. She was part of his past and would always be part of his past, Bai Zemin did not immaturely deny it. However, the past was past; now he had to live for today and look forward to tomorrow.
After dancing with Meng Qi, Bai Zemin took her hand and was leading her back when suddenly the music cut out and the lights dimmed a little.
When he and everyone else looked toward the door to see what was going on, what he found was a group of about five or six people.
But the thing in question was that when Bai Zemin’s eyes landed on the first person in the group he couldn’t help but cough under his breath, “Daaamn, you must be joking… This daddy must be cursed by the goddess of fate or something.”
