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“I call to order the first meeting of the Council of Wives,” Wu Meiying announced.

Everyone in Wu Jian’s group had been given their own little hut. They weren’t much, but they had a lot of soft fur rugs, blankets, and pillows inside that were surprisingly comfortable to lounge on.

She, Hou Jingshu, and Zhou Lihua were all sitting inside of her hut. They lounged in a triangle on several sets of pillows and fur rugs.

“So… why are we having this… Council of Wives… as you call it?” asked Hou Jingshu. She looked both skeptical and confused.

“Well…” Wu Meiying paused, then slumped. “I just realized… I haven’t really been trying to form a bond with you guys like I did in the past, and I thought this would be a good way for us to do that.”

When they were younger, Wu Meiying had actively befriended Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua because she knew they were going to be important to Wu Jian. She hadn’t known how important at the time. Her powers had been inconsistent and only showed glimpses of possible futures because she hadn’t been a cultivator yet.

After becoming a cultivator, Wu Meiying had been forced to flee and seek refuge from the Heavenly Sword Sect. She never saw the two young women after that. They had only reunited during their battle against the Zhou Clan, and then, Wu Meiying had been unconscious because she used all of her Qi to both teleport them to another continent and transport them through time.

“I’d like to correct you on something,” Hou Jingshu said after a moment, her voice hardening. “It’s not that you just haven’t been trying to form a bond with us. You have been actively trying to sabotage our relationships with Wu Jian.”

Wu Meiying looked away. She hadn’t done anything that she thought was too awful, but it was true that she had been preventing them from being physically intimate with Wu Jian. The idea of her Wu Jian being with another woman had made her physically ill, and she’d done all she could to prevent that from happening. 

She knew it was wrong. She had been the one to push these two onto Wu Jian, and now she was trying to remove them from the equation. It was selfish of her.

“That’s… another reason I’m doing this,” she said at last. “I want to make amends, but I… don’t really know what to do. I thought that, by forming the Council of Wives, I could find a way to truly earn your trust and forgiveness again, and form a bond with you both like we had when we were kids.”

Wu Meiying knew she had wronged them both and genuinely wanted to make amends, but this was new territory for her. Even after living thousands of lifetimes, she’d never once tried to share Wu Jian with another.

Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua looked at each other. It was like they were having a silent conversation. Wu Meiying did not like how close those two were like they were leaving her out of the equation.

“I have already forgiven you,” Zhou Lihua said softly after a minute, “Though my trust in you has disappeared after the way you treated me. But, I am willing to give you a chance.”

“If Lili is willing to give you a chance, then far be it for me to not to the same.” Hou Jingshu glared at Wu Meiying. “But you are going to have to work your ass off if you want my forgiveness.”

“I understand,” Wu Meiying said softly.

“So,” leaning back, Hou Jingshu continued to stare at Wu Meiying, “what is this Council of Wives for, exactly? What is its purpose?”

“To form a stronger bond between us, Wu Jian’s women, and to also help Wu Jian so he doesn’t have as many burdens,” Wu Meiying answered immediately.

“There was something odd about the way you talk about Wu Jian’s women…” Hou Jingshu muttered.

“There are going to be more, aren’t there?” While it was posed as a question, the way Zhou Lihua narrowed her eyes as she spoke said she already suspected the answer.

Wu Meiying grimaced. “There very well might be. I haven’t been able to look at any of our futures because of the enchantments on those necklaces, but I did before giving those to you. Through your futures, I saw several women orbiting Wu Jian. I don’t know if they will become a part of his harem like us, but if they do, I--we need to be ready to accept them.”

After Wu Jian spoke to her, Wu Meiying recognized that she needed to change and begin proactively supporting him. The first step was getting close to Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua again. However, beyond that, she needed to think about the other women who would play a part in Wu Jian’s future. There were quite a few of them, including Huǒ Yujie of the Phoenix Clan and Hua Xu, the mysterious elder of the Ice Phoenix Sect.

“I do agree that we should form tighter bonds and be ready to accept more women who might join Wu Jian,” Zhou Lihua murmured, then smiled self-deprecatingly. “Though a part of me dislikes the idea of him having more women. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m so willing to forgive you. I understand, to an extent, how you feel.”

“Th-thank you,” Wu Meiying murmured.

“In that case, what do you suggest we do right now?” asked Hou Jingshu.

Wu Meiying thought for a moment. “I suppose… it would be a good idea to share everything I know with you. You already know a bit, but there is a lot about myself that I haven’t told you, so I’ll be completely honest about my past. In exchange, maybe you two could tell me what you’ve been up to after we all parted ways?”

Hou Jingshu thought for a moment, then nodded. “All right, yeah, we can do that. How about you start us off, Mei?”

Wu Meiying’s eyes brightened when Hou Jingshu called her “Mei.” It was the term of endearment that Wu Jian used the most, but Hou Jingshu hadn’t called her that since they were children. She took this as proof that Hou Jingshu was going to try and re-forge the bond they had as kids.

“Of course. Where do I begin? I guess I should first tell you about my life as a goddess…”

***

Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua listened to Wu Meiying in silence as she told them about her numerous lives. There were far too many for her to go over. She had lived thousands of lifetimes. So, she mostly stuck with the ones where something major happened.

“Wow,” was all Zhou Lihua could say after Wu Meiying finished talking.

“You’re terrifying. Has anyone told you that?” Hou Jingshu was on something completely different. “Who in their right mind would kill their beloved’s family just because he married someone else…? And he didn’t even know you at the time…”

Hou Jingshu was referring to one of the stories Wu Meiying had told them. This one started with Wu Meiying breaking through to the Hunger Realm at 18, regaining all her memories, and going off to find Wu Jian. While being constantly pursued by her former apprentices forces, she eventually found Wu Jian, but he was already married. He hadn’t achieved cultivation and married a woman who worked at a flower shop. Wu Meiying, heartbroken, tired, and nearing death after thousands of fights, had broken completely. She killed Wu Jian and his wife in a fit of rage, then killed herself because she couldn’t bear to live without him.

It was a terrifying tale. It helped illustrate to Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua just how broken Wu Meiying really was.

“I-I know what I did was wrong.” Wu Meiying looked away. “That’s why I decided not to search for him in my next life… I don’t even know what he did in that life…”

“I understand that, but still…” Hou Jingshu began, but then shook her head. “Well, at least, now I understand a bit more about you. It was clear to me that you had changed greatly after we met again. I had always wondered why. Now I know.”

The Wu Meiying who sat with them now and the Wu Meiying who they knew as a child felt like a completely different person. It was more than just growing up. Hou Jingshu might have grown older and wiser, but she was still herself at heart. Wu Meiying felt like a stranger.

“I’ve been through a lot,” Wu Meiying said with a sad smile. “I’ve lived so many lifetimes now that I’m not even sure which part of me from my first life even remains.”

There was a moment of silent reflection. It wasn’t necessarily comfortable, but no one seemed willing to break it at first.

Zhou Lihua eventually coughed into her hands.

“I think we’ve heard enough depressing stories for now. Why don’t we talk about something more pleasant?”

Hou Jingshu and Wu Meiying turned to her.

“Like what?” asked Hou Jingshu.

Zhou Lihua’s cheeks flushed red as she licked her lips. “Like… what we love about Wu Jian, maybe?”

“I’ll go first! Let me go first!” Wu Meiying suddenly raised her hand like a child in a classroom.

Zhou Lihua gave her an almost imperceptible smile. “All right. Mei can go first. What do you love about Wu Jian?”

“Everything!” Wu Meiying stated without hesitation.

…Crickets.

Zhou Lihua turned to Hou Jingshu. “What do you like about Wu Jian?”

“Don’t ignore me!” Wu Meiying shouted with a pout.

Hou Jingshu did just that. “There’s a lot that I like about him, but if I really had to name something, it’s how caring he is and his sense of duty.”

Zhou Lihua nodded. “I know what you mean. Wu Jian is always showing concern for our wellbeing and doing his best to support us. I love how far he is willing to go just to make sure we feel safe and protected, though I also worry that he is trying to take on all of our burdens himself.”

“I get that, too! Like, I’m pretty strong, you know? He can stand to rely on me a bit more! But I also kinda like how he tries to take on everyone’s problem because I know how much he loves us,” Hou Jingshu said, nodding several times.

“It’s quite the conundrum,” Zhou Lihua agreed.

Wu Meiying looked back and forth between the two women as they spoke easily with each other. Her face rapidly paled as she realized they had much more concrete things to say about Wu Jian than she did. She thought fast. She needed to come up with something to say!

“I… I really like how passionate he is, but how he tries to hold himself back because he doesn’t want to force himself on me!”

“He does do that, yeah.” Hou Jingshu agreed. “To be honest, that’s actually something I don’t like about him. I mean, we’ve already had sex! He shouldn’t feel the need to hold back anymore and just ravish me!”

“… Are you trying to make me jealous?” Wu Meiying asked with a growl in her voice.

“Ah. I forgot you haven’t slept with him yet.” Hou Jingshu looked embarrassed. “I mean… you could if you really wanted to…”

“No,” Wu Meiying shook her head. “We cannot. There are only a few ways to reach the Divine Origin Realm, and many of them are unavailable in this small world due to its lack of mana. If we want to reach that realm, then we need to hold back on sex until we are at the Perfection Realm.”

Zhou Lihua and Hou Jingshu glanced at each other, then back at Wu Meiying. The woman furrowed her brow at them.

“What? What’s with that look?” she asked.

“Um… there is a way you can be intimate with Jian without giving away your chastity,” Zhou Lihua muttered, her cheeks so red they looked like they might blow up with fire at any moment.

Wu Meiying blinked. “Wait. Really? What is it?”

Zhou Lihua turned her head in embarrassment. She just couldn’t say it. Hou Jingshu had no trouble saying it, however.

“Butt sex.”

Wu Meiying blinked. Then again. Then one more time.

“Butt… sex…?”

“Yeah, like, you know, taking it up the anus?” Zhou Lihua covered her hands as Hou Jingshu made a circle with her index and thumb, then shoved a finger through it. “Like this.”

“Oh…” Wu Meiying sat back, stumped.

Then her eyes widened.

“OH!”

She jumped to her feet.

“I’m so sorry, but I’d like to call the first meeting of the Council of Wives to a close. We’ll convene at least once a week. I’ll set a date for us later. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find Jian.”

“And there she goes,” Hou Jingshu muttered as Wu Meiying bolted out of her own tent and began shouting for Wu Jian.

“I can’t believe you told her that,” Zhou Lihua muttered in embarrassment.

Hou Jingshu shrugged.  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want her getting upset every time he sleeps with me. Maybe having anal sex with Jian will help remove that stick up Wu Meiying’s ass.”

“Considering he’s gonna be shoving his stick in there, I’m not sure that analogy works,” Zhou Lihua muttered with a sigh.