“Anh, You met Yue’s brother, right? What kind of person is he?” Mai asked as she and Huy looked through the Vermillion Bird Treasury. She was surprised that Huy was just letting her look around and take anything she liked. She wondered if the followers would be mad if they knew that he was doing this. She had told Huy that she wasn't sure if it was okay if she took anything but Huy had assured her that it was fine and that she'd probably be able to find something she'd like that Huy wouldn't have a use for since the previous Vermillion Bird was a woman so some of their tastes weren't aligned.

"Xia Guiren...I didn't know him that well. I knew the rumors relating to him though..." Huy murmured, he was taking a look around the treasury as well, he had already looked around it when he came to the temple the first time but he hadn't really taken a close look at anything in particular.

"Rumors?" Mai asked and turned to Huy.

"Yes, there were plenty of rumors regarding him. He was the second disciple of Fei Xiang, one of the 9 immortal lords so he was always the talk of the cultivation world." Huy explained.

'The 9 immortal lords? Wait doesn't that mean Fei Xiang is over 100 years old?' Mai thought to herself, shocked, she figured Fei Xiang was quite an amazing person but she didn't think he'd be one of the immortal lords.

The immortal lords were mages who had mastered the three arts and achieved immortality, the youngest person to ever reach that level was 98 years old, and that was more than 50 years ago. It seemed like an easy task but for most people, it was practically impossible. Most people get stuck in mastering the three arts when they reach either the magical arts or the martial arts, a few people get stuck on the mystical arts too but people are more likely to fail at the other two. Magical arts involved making your core level equal your core type, and even if your core was a low type it would be very difficult to make progress as you got closer to that level. Mai herself had been stuck right before Gold level for a few years now. when it came to martial arts the issue usually came from the fact that people usually did it last. After spending years and years mastering mystical and magical arts, it was hard to do something physical like martial arts.

"The rumors weren't usually negative, Xia Guiren was usually being praised for being so strong and for being a proper disciple for Fei Xiang. Any negative rumors came from people who were jealous of his core or jealous that he was Fei Xiang's disciple. Miss Yue probably looked up to him a lot, they seemed close even though Xia Guiren was usually traveling with Fei Xiang and the two other disciples. He was a very strong and reliable person." Huy said and smiled sadly.

"He was pretty close to being the youngest immortal lord, he was projected to reach that point by 55. It's a shame really, I don't think anyone other than him and maybe Fei Xiang's third disciple could reach that level."

"...Huh? Is Xia Guiren...dead?" Mai asked, almost dropping a small ruby hairpiece she had in her hand as she came to her conclusion.

"He and his wife and daughter passed away in March of this year... Miss Yue is probably trying to hide it from you but she's definitely grieving." Huy murmured.

As Mai listened she thought of Yue's expression as he saw Alice's dead body in London. And then Yue's expression as Huy gave his condolences to him in Paris.

"Wait were they killed?! By Demonic cultivators?" Mai suddenly asked as he remembered the pained look on Yue's face in Wolfsstadt as he saw the magic circle on the ground in the werewolves' cave.

"They were killed but no one knows much about the people who killed them. They were an organization that was allegedly destroyed by Fei Xiang and his other two disciples after what they did to Xia Guiren." Huy answered and tilted his head in confusion.

"If it's alleged... Then the chances that they weren't fully destroyed and that they're going after Yue... or maybe a new target altogether..." Mai murmured and looked nervous.

"Wait what do you mean?" Huy asked, concerned by what Mai was implying.

Mai recounted what had happened in Wolfsstadt and what she had heard from Yue about what happened in the grimoire auction in Paris and the Lich from London.

"That is quite worrisome. It might be that someone is targeting Miss Yue...But it could always be a coincidence... and maybe Miss Yue is just reminded of the incident because of how traumatic it probably was for her and not because they were similar?" Huy mumbled and tried to calm Mai's nerves by hugging her.

"But what if it's not a coincidence? What if someone is trying to hurt Yue? Yue is strong and so is Viktor but it's not like they're immortal or invulnerable to damage or something..." Mai murmured, she didn't want to think of what could go wrong but she couldn't help but do so, especially since she knew that even without the threat of some organization trying to kill him, Yue wasn't a constant in her life. Yue could easily disappear from her life. Maybe not as easily now because of school but the second they graduate, Yue could just leave forever.

"I'll figure it out," Huy said and smiled at Mai.

"How-"

"I'm apparently a god, we'll see what I can do for the sake of my belov--"

There was silence as both Mai and Huy turned red with embarrassment. Huy silently cursed himself. Of course, trying to act tough goes wrong in the worst way possible.

"I-"

"I'm happy so don't take it back Anh," Mai said with a slight smile and silently looked through the treasury a bit more.

Huy felt a bit relieved but he was still embarrassed that he slipped up like that. That was really not the best time to slip up and say the wrong thing but he was glad Mai's spirits were lifted by it. He stared at her and smiled. He was quite embarrassed to say it but he had really been terrified of Mai when they first met.

Mai was just 10 years old when they met but she was much more headstrong than him despite being so much younger. She also seemed to hate him for a long time and he was terrified that she'd never open up to him. Their relationship was quite messy for some time and he didn't really know how Mai suddenly developed feelings for him after being so adamant about not wanting him to be her brother but he was glad things changed. He had always expected that he'd have to marry Mai so he never complained, it was only natural. It was the best way to repay her parents for all they'd done for him so he thought that it'd be fine to marry her even if he didn't feel anything. At some point though... He developed feelings for her.

'She probably caught on long before I did.' Huy thought to himself and chuckled. He slipped his hand in his pocket and smiled at the little red box he had been hiding there.

"Just a little while longer..."

"What is it Anh?" Mai asked, hearing Huy's whisper.

Huy quickly hid the box and smiled.

"Nothing."

---

Viktor was sitting on a couch inside a secret room in the main Ivanov house. He was sitting beside his mother who was stroking his hair with a slightly saddened expression. Viktor was having his blood drawn by Andrei and usually, he would’ve been angry or snappy toward him while it happened but it was the third week in a row and he was just tired now.

Elena moved Viktor so he could rest his head in his lap as she noticed that he was falling asleep.

“Lucky you, you get to miss the competition,” Elena murmured and smiled a little down at Viktor. Viktor responded with a breathy chuckle as he fell asleep.

Elena looked at Andrei and her smile disappeared.

“It’s bad again this week?” She asked despite knowing the answer. Andrei nodded in response as he examined the vial of blood he got from Viktor.

"What can we even do Andrei? You can't just keep drawing his blood so often if it's just going to go back to this every week." Elena said and sighed, she was already sick of the whole situation.

"...Let's just tell my parents about it already. They can help figure something out..." Elena suggested and looked at Andrei with a pleading gaze.

"...Alright," Andrei murmured but he still looked unsure.

"They're not going to suddenly hate you because of this, Andrei. They know you didn't intend for everything to work out this way." Elena said and smiled at him a little, trying to be reassuring.

"They might regret letting you marry into such a messed up family though," Andrei mumbled and sighed.

"They won't. But even if they do, who cares? Your parents certainly did not approve of me yet here I am."

"Well, you like your parents. And so do I. So I don't want them to regret letting us marry..." Andrei sighed and sat down beside Elena and Viktor.

"Well, I think my relationship with my parents is much easier to give up than my son's life," Elena murmured and moved Andrei so he was resting his head on her shoulder.

“You’re right…” Andrei murmured and relaxed a bit, glancing down at Viktor.

“Speaking of relationships...Are you ever going to try and fix that?” Elena said and pointed between Viktor and Andrei.

“No, this is fine. If he has no expectations for me I don’t have to worry about letting him down.”  Andrei said and smiled a bit, kissing Elena’s shoulder before standing back up and starting to put away the blood he had drawn from Viktor.

“Ivanov men sure are stubborn.” Elena sighed.

'Especially you.' Elena thought to herself silently as she poked Viktor's cheek.