Chapter 11: You Are All My Wings (Patreon)

The images on the light screen kept flowing on.

Over these past years, Gusttave had led Wise and Belle through nearly every deep mountain and old forest, burning down over a hundred "ghost villages," killing several hundred thousand people, and rescuing nearly thirty thousand women and children who had been trafficked and held captive.

Every time he rescued a group of people, he'd send word to the nearest Way of Great Peace outpost, and dedicated staff would take over their resettlement.

The rescued would be sent to towns under the Way of Great Peace's rule, given land and housing, or taught a trade — slowly rebuilding lives worth living.

Years of traveling through the deep mountains had changed both Wise and Belle considerably.

Belle was still as fiery and impulsive as ever, but there was now a touch of composure about her brow.

She no longer made a fuss over every little thing, and when she ran into injustice, she no longer responded with plain anger — instead she'd first consider whether something deeper lay behind it, and what the most effective solution might be.

In Gusttave's words: "She's finally grown a brain."

Belle chased him halfway across a mountain for that remark.

Wise's change was even greater than her sister's.

She still had that same gentle, composed air — plain robes, long hair, a soft voice, like a pool of still water. But look closely into her eyes, and beneath that stillness lay something far deeper than before.

It was the kind of look that only came after witnessing the true suffering of the mortal world.

Over these years, following in Gusttave's footsteps, she had witnessed far too much.

She had seen villagers penned and slaughtered like livestock by yao who kept them as herds; she had seen cult followers, brainwashed, willingly offer up their own children as sacrifices to so-called "gods."

She had seen traffickers haggling over living human beings as if they were mere goods; she had seen murder-for-profit inns whose backyards held more buried bones than the bowls and plates inside.

Every single time, Gusttave made sure she and Belle watched with their own eyes.

Watching the guilty be executed. Watching the victims be rescued. Watching village after village of hidden filth and corruption burn to ash.

Belle once asked him, "Why do you make us watch all this?"

Gusttave's answer was simple: "Because you're daughters of the Dongfang spirit clan. Your bloodline means you were born standing on high ground. And anyone standing on high ground who can't see the mire below will never know what they're fighting for."

Belle said nothing at the time — she only clenched her fists.

Wise said nothing either, but she took those words to heart.

As the years passed, Belle grew from a little girl into a young woman.

She no longer teased her sister about her relationship with Gusttave the way she used to.

Because whenever she brought it up, her sister would turn the tables and tease her right back with the same thing.

After all, after so many years following Gusttave around, her sister wasn't the only one caught up in something ambiguous with him.

Even she herself had, without quite realizing it, built up a deep emotional bond with Gusttave.

After years of traveling, Gusttave finally returned to the headquarters of the Way of Great Peace — which was also the capital of the human race.

Most of the evils and hidden dangers lurking these past years had been swept clean by Gusttave. It was time to rest for a while.

Not long after Gusttave brought the Dongfang sisters home, Feixiao came knocking.

Compared to how Gusttave's own faked "death" had left an unforgettable mark on Huohuo and Tingyun, Feixiao had spent a genuine ten years traveling the world at Gusttave's side.

She was also the one whose bond with Gusttave ran the deepest.

The moment she heard Gusttave was home, she rushed over without delay.

When Feixiao kicked the front gate open, Gusttave was sitting in the courtyard drinking tea.

The rosewood gate studded with copper rivets let out a groan of protest and slammed hard into the wall.

Feixiao still looked the same young girl she'd been for a hundred years, dressed in a crisp blue-patterned short jacket. Her deep blue eyes lit up in an instant, burning bright, and in a few strides she rushed forward and threw her arms around Gusttave, holding on tight.

There was no hiding the excitement in her voice. "You're finally back! I waited for you in Tushan for years — I thought you were going to hide from me again."

Gusttave saw the genuine joy in her eyes, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Things were mostly taken care of, so of course I came back."

Feixiao went on, "I heard you've been running around all these years with two pink-haired girls from who knows where. I bet everything you said about liking me and my sister was a lie!"

But Belle wasn't having it. "Who are you calling a pink-haired girl, you stinking fox spirit!"

Feixiao slowly let go of Gusttave and turned around.

But since she still had a child's body, Feixiao could only look up at Belle, which made the whole scene look rather comical.

"Pink-haired girl," Feixiao said, biting off each word. "Say that again?"

"Fine, I'll say it! Stink-ing. Fox. Spirit!" Belle planted her hands on her hips, tilted her chin up, and spat out each word one at a time, her ponytail whipping behind her head like a tail. "Don't think just because you've lived a long time you're something special! My sister and I have traveled all over with this guy for years — what haven't we seen? And you just show up and start hugging him without any shame!"

Feixiao bristled at that. "I'm hugging my own husband — what business is it of yours, an outsider?"

The moment those words landed, Belle's bravado deflated a little.

It was true — as close as Wise and Belle were with Gusttave, they hadn't actually married him yet, so strictly speaking, they were indeed outsiders.

Still, Belle shot back, unwilling to back down. "No wonder they call you a fox spirit — so shameless, jumping straight to calling him your husband. I never heard about the Daoist of Great Peace holding a wedding with anyone."

Hearing that, Feixiao's confidence wilted too.

Because what Belle said was also true — while rumors about Gusttave and the three Tushan sisters had spread far and wide, no wedding had ever actually taken place.

So in a sense, Feixiao was an outsider too.

[March 7th: Hahahaha, a full-scale love-rivalry showdown live!]

[Asta: Classic main-cast confrontation moment. Recommend screen recording.]

[Hu Tao: Ooh, This Director loves a good show! I wonder how this Daoist of Great Peace is going to choose in the end?]

[Silver Wolf: Dying laughing — after all that, turns out both of them are outsiders.]

[Welt Yang (Star Rail): That's not quite fair to say. There's no officially recognized document, sure, but going by how deep their feelings run, you really can't call them outsiders.]

[Elysia: Such a complicated love square. Guess it's all this guy's fault for being such a flirt?]

[Mobius: You, who's always flirting with pretty girls yourself, have no right to say that about him.]

[Elysia: I'm not flirting at all~ Everything I feel is genuine affection, okay?]

Gusttave looked at the two girls squared off in front of him — one with her ponytail bristling, puffed up with anger, the other with her fox ears standing on end, refusing to back down — and helplessly raised a hand to rub his temples.

"All right, that's enough arguing. You're both my wings — I can't do without either of you."

Gusttave's words fell lightly into the air, and for a beat, the courtyard went quiet.

[Author's Note: Mid-Autumn Festival reading event! Recharge 100 and get 500 VIP coupons free — grab it now! (Event period: September 25 to September 27)]