Feeling that his ma.s.sive body would make it inconvenient for him to move around, he asked, "Miss Gu, may I return to my human form?"

"Hmm, of course."

A handsome man immediately replaced the adorable fish. The man took a peek outside and remarked, "Yun Yanli is not even here yet."

They were in the stone array for about half an hour. The mythological beast had roughly calculated Yun Yanli"s speed and reckoned that he should be here by now. However, the entire place was still in its usual serenity. 

Gu Xijiu took a look for herself, and calmly said, "He is already here and has been listening to our conversation for two minutes."

Kun Xueyi said nothing more.

Behind a large boulder on the outskirts of the formation, Yun Yanli heard his name being called out. Gu Xijiu did not make the formation soundproof, so if anyone paid attention, they could easily hear any discussions even if they were situated outside the formation.

Since Gu Xijiu was very familiar with this array, she could tell when Yun Yanli had arrived. Yun Yanli wanted to quickly break into the formation at once but stopped to listen to the conversation between Gu Xijiu and Kun Xueyi. He hid himself using an invisibility spell and tried to get more information first before making a move.

In the end, all that he heard were useless pieces of information on how the fish planned to skin him and that the fish was a well-grown Kun that was looking for a lover. Yun Yanli was prepared to stay hidden a little longer, but Gu Xijiu had exposed his presence to Kun Xueyi. 

Kun Xueyi teased, "It looks like Governor Yun is a coward. He has to hide himself despite his power. Yun Yanli, you are just playing hard to get, aren"t you? Are you shy to face me? Or are you too afraid to face us?"

Yun Yanli was completely annoyed. Apart from retrieving the pearl, he swore to skin Kun Xueyi and shred his body into pieces. Since they knew that he was here, Yun Yanli no longer had any reason to hide. "Kun Yunzhan, I am coming for you! If I fail to skin you, I will change my name!"

Kun Xueyi laughed out loud. "You can use mine. If you marry me, you can even have my surname as well."

Gu Xijiu burst out laughing at that last remark. 

Yun Yanli was a straight man and preferred to be direct when handling any matters. Gu Xijiu knew him very well. Hence, his encounter with this wayward Kun had been a painful exchange for the proud man. Bewildered, she started wondering if he could be h.o.m.os.e.xual.

Yun Yanli decided to shut his mouth. Any further mockery would drive him crazy. All he wanted was to kill Kun Xueyi and skip all this useless talk. 

From the outside, Yun Yanli could not see anything that happened between Gu Xijiu and the mythological beast. He could only hear their voices. He took a look at the stone array and thought that it was merely an ordinary array formation. Being one of the strongest beings in the Shura World, he did not see the need to take any precautions and boldly ventured into the unknown.

However, as soon as he stepped past a certain point, everything around him suddenly changed dramatically. All the stones disappeared, and he found himself in a grand palace with glittering articles of gold and glamor everywhere.

There was a sea of clouds outside, and a garden with magnificent flowers. Majestically carved pillars with jade inlays scattered the garden. This was his home in the Upper Bound. Not far from him was Lingxiao Hall. A couple could be seen embracing at the door. They were his parents, the previous Celestial Emperor and Empress.

Overwhelmed, Yun Yanli quickly paced towards the couple and kneeled before them. "Father! Mother! You… You are both alive!"

The Celestial Emperor helped him up. "Li-Er (Yun Yanli), you may rise."