Is the Goddess a Pushover Again Today

1: 1

I am the Goddess Cranemoor, worshipped by heaven and earth.

While taming Qionqi, I accidentally killed the disciple who had followed me for over a hundred years.

To atone, I drew out my Divine Essence and sent her into the Cycle of Reincarnation.

Then I demoted my own celestial rank, disguised myself as a servant of Cranemoor, and went to her family's home in person to beg forgiveness.

On the first day, they asked me to give my cultivation to the eldest sister.

I did not hesitate. I channeled a thousand years of cultivation to help her forge an immortal body.

On the second day, they forced me to steal the Goddess's dark phoenix mount and hand it over to the second brother.

I gritted my teeth and gave up Nyxphoenix too, though it hurt to part with him.

On the third day, they ordered me to bathe, change, and go serve as old master Glen Henson's concubine.

The Cosmic Pouch at my waist stirred.

Even Qionqi rolled over, unable to help laughing at me.

They're working you like a beast of burden, and you're taking it?

I'm a ferocious beast of the ancient age, and I got caught by a spineless coward like you!

I squeezed the Cosmic Pouch hard.

Everything I had bottled up over the past few days, I took it all out on Qionqi.

I came here to atone. Nothing they ask of me is too much.

After all, I'm the one who ended Tinglan's life with my own hands. And she died innocent, killed under my care.

Qionqi scoffed, then drawled his warning.

You wait and see. This family will only push further and further.

My nose is the sharpest there is. I can smell the greed on them.

I lifted my eyes and looked again at Old Mrs. Henson before me.

She was Tinglan's mother, and one of the elders of the fox clan.

Long ago she had committed a great crime, and was sentenced never to ascend to immortality.

So all three children she bore came out with mediocre talent.

The year I took Tinglan in, it was only because I saw how diligent and hardworking she was that my heart softened for a moment.

And now this woman had grown old, her looks faded, cast aside by her own husband.

So she had set her sights on the immortal bloodline in my body.

She thought I was nothing more than a low-ranking servant of Cranemoor, an easy mark to squeeze.

I bent at the waist toward her and refused, my voice perfectly even.

This is one thing I cannot do. I cannot be a concubine.

Old Mrs. Henson knocked over the teacup on the spot, and the scalding tea splashed all over me.

Then she lashed out with her fox tails and hoisted me up into the air.

My youngest daughter Tinglan is dead, and you won't even bear me one child to make up for it? You dare tell me you can't be a concubine?

No. Tonight you'll climb into the old master's bed, and until you've borne him a child to pay the debt, don't think you'll set one foot outside this fox den!

I had hidden my divine breath, and now I could not move.

Qionqi thrashed around inside the Cosmic Pouch, so furious he started arguing the case.

This wretched fox can't even make anything of herself, and she's forcing someone else to breed. Does she think her husband's some lump of gold?

Cranemoor! Open this pouch for me. I'll jump out and swallow her whole!

With great effort, I forced a few words out.

Mrs. Henson, I came to repay a debt of gratitude. That is exactly why I don't want to bring harm on your family.

At that she loosened her tail, giving me a chance to plead my case.

I wrote out my own birth chart and handed it to her to see.

Mrs. Henson, I was born to bring ruin on any husband. In all the wide world, only at the Goddess's side can such a fierce birth chart be held down.

If an ordinary immortal so much as touched me, I fear he'd lose his very immortal rank.

My refusal is for the old master's own sake.

Hearing that I was destined to bring ruin on any husband, Old Mrs. Henson recoiled as if from a snake, jerking back several steps.

As luck would have it, just then Tinglan's second brother, Christopher Henson, came riding back on the dark wind, and caught those very words.

His brow furrowed, and suspicion took root.

Mother, I think it's obvious. She just doesn't want to be Father's concubine, so she made up this lie to fool you!

The way I see it, knock her out, send her straight to Father's bed, get a litter of fox pups out of her, and she'll behave soon enough.

Unhurried, I held out both my hands to him instead.

Fine. Then tie me up, go ahead.

The Lord of Destinies' Book of Fate records it plain enough. This birth chart of mine is truly a rare one. I doubt I'll find a decent husband in all this life.

If I'm to be a concubine, then a concubine I'll be. I accept it.

Mother and son were both cowed by what I said.

They exchanged looks, and neither dared step forward, each afraid of catching some curse off me.

But my thoughts went back to Tinglan while she still lived, how she always saved up the celestial dew the Celestial Palace supplied.

She said her mother feared nothing more than being laughed at for growing old and losing her looks.

So she wanted to save up more to bring home, to nourish her mother well.

I drew a Fairyberry seed from my sleeve and set it gently on the table.

It took me five thousand years to find this one seed. Nourish it with spiritual power day by day, and the fruit it bears can keep one's looks unfading and add a hundred years of life.

Since I cannot be a concubine, let this be my compensation.

Mrs. Henson's face lit up, and she quickly gathered the seed into her sleeve.

But Christopher Henson beside her would have none of it, pointing at my face and cursing me out.

Nourish it with spiritual power? You're trying to work my mother to death!

If you mean to give it, then plant it and grow it yourself for my mother. Only then does it count as sincere!

You've served at the Goddess's side all this time. Grow it within ten days, that's not asking too much of you, is it?

I froze for a moment, but in the end I nodded.

Only now Qionqi in the Cosmic Pouch was displeased again.

Ever since he'd gone into the Cosmic Pouch, his stomach growled with hunger every day.

And now he had to sit in meditation with me before a fruit tree, day and night.

In the dead of night, he finally couldn't take it, and spoke up in a mournful drawl.

Cranemoor, don't tell me you'll end up so spineless that even I get thrown in to plow two acres for their family

2: 2

I knew that Qionqi, being an ancient ferocious beast, had his own pride and his own temper.

So I gave him my solemn word that I would never, under any circumstances, betray him.

But by the next morning, that promise nearly went up in smoke.

Christopher Henson came looking for me in high spirits, wanting me to sneak Qionqi out.

I clamped a hand over the Cosmic Pouch at once and quickly asked him why.

He pulled out a fistful of Bonemelt Powder, pleased with his own cleverness, and said,

"I heard the Goddess subdued that Qionqi and sealed him inside the Cosmic Pouch."

"When you let him out, throw down a handful of Bonemelt Powder first, and he'll go limp for sure."

"Now that I've got Nyxphoenix, taming that beast will be easy."

"Once word gets out that I defeated Qionqi, the Goddess is bound to take me as her disciple. She might even want to marry me..."

Before I could get a word out, a sinister, cold laugh came from inside the Cosmic Pouch.

Qionqi was almost mad with rage in there.

"Come on, stuff a few more handfuls of that Bonemelt Powder in my mouth first."

"If I don't crush this little beast the second I get out, then I've lived all these years for nothing!"

My expression turned grave too, and I warned him that Qionqi was an ancient ferocious beast, his true form immortal and undying.

A mere handful of Bonemelt Powder wouldn't subdue him. It would only get Christopher killed for nothing.

But Christopher's face darkened, certain now that I simply looked down on him.

I met his eyes plainly and tried to reason with him.

"You are Tinglan's second brother. I would never bring you harm."

"Dozens of high-ranking immortals once fought Qionqi for three days and three nights, and every one of them still died at his hands."

"And you have not yet forged your immortal bones. Against Qionqi, it can only end in your death."

The mention of immortal bones only made Christopher angrier.

Back when I split off a millennium of cultivation and gave it to his eldest sister, Valerie Henson, to help her forge her immortal bones, he had burned with envy the whole time.

He'd come to me in private again and again to demand the same, and I had refused him every time.

Not out of stinginess. It was that even if he received the cultivation, he could never forge immortal bones at all.

That was why I had agreed to give him Nyxphoenix, as compensation.

What I had not expected was that this time he'd come up with an entirely different idea.

Christopher produced the Bone Whistle I had given him and summoned Nyxphoenix.

"This is a mount the Goddess raised with care for years. Its spirit power has to be considerable."

"And after all these days, the Goddess hasn't come looking for Nyxphoenix. She clearly doesn't care about one measly beast."

"So why not take Nyxphoenix's spirit power for myself, use it to forge my immortal bones? I'll be stronger than my sister for sure!"

I shook my head and rejected the idea again.

"These dark cultivation arts might work on someone else. But on you, of all people, they won't."

Humiliated and enraged, Christopher whipped out his lash and left a red welt across my face in an instant.

"You're nothing but a lowly celestial servant. You think a stint waiting on the Goddess gives you the right to run your mouth at me?"

"I haven't even tried yet. How would you know I can't do it?"

My fingertips brushed lightly across my cheek, and the welt vanished wherever they passed.

I hadn't wanted to tell him the truth at first for fear of driving a wedge between him and his mother.

But now that he insisted on getting to the bottom of it, I no longer cared to hide it.

So, holding down the displeasure in my eyes, I told him plainly,

"Because from the moment you were born, your roots were fated to be feeble. You have no talent for immortality."

"Forcibly absorbing Nyxphoenix's spirit power will only make your body burst, and you will die."

The whip slipped quietly from Christopher's hand, and his face crumpled in defeat.

"How is that possible? I've cultivated for nearly a hundred years, and no one has ever told me this."

"And my little sister's roots are worse than mine, yet she gets to be the Goddess's disciple."

"My eldest sister too. She took just a thousand years of your cultivation and grew immortal bones. So why is it that with me, it's this can't and that can't..."

I laid out the reasons one by one.

When his mother gave birth to Valerie Henson, she had not yet committed her great crime and suffered heaven's punishment.

So Valerie needed only to cultivate diligently, and immortal bones would come.

As for Tinglan, I could hardly tell him the real reason. I had feared she would push herself too hard in her cultivation just to see me.

I was afraid she would die in front of me before she ever succeeded, and that was the only reason I had reluctantly taken her as my disciple.

Once he understood it all, Christopher's eyes went red with fury, and he moved to take it out on me again.

But Nyxphoenix instinctively moved to protect me and pecked out one of his eyes.

When the sound of Christopher hitting the ground, screaming and begging for mercy, reached the pouch,

Qionqi laughed with unusual delight.

"Cranemoor, who'd have guessed your bird has more backbone than you do."

"Cooped up all this time, and I finally get to hold my head up for once!"

3: 3

After losing his eye, Christopher went home and threw a fit, demanding I compensate him with a thousand years of my cultivation.

The old master Glen Henson was greedier still. He talked about how one's body, hair, and skin were gifts from one's parents, and opened his mouth asking for three thousand.

I refused outright, and there was weariness in my voice.

"I told all of you long ago. Christopher has no immortal root. Force cultivation into him and it will only destroy him."

Then my gaze settled on the corner of the den.

"Mrs. Henson, you of all people should understand this best."

Her face went stiff, and she lowered her head, saying nothing.

Clearly, she had never told the rest of the family this secret.

The next moment, Valerie Henson stepped through the mouth of the den.

She had been in seclusion for cultivation a long while, and her immortal root was steady now.

The eyes she turned on me carried a proud, looking-down-from-above scorn.

"This little celestial servant is right. You truly don't have good roots and bones."

"But it isn't entirely hopeless."

At those words, Christopher's face lit up with joy, and he pressed her at once for what method could help him become immortal.

From the moment Valerie fixed her stare on me,

I understood what her words had meant.

Even Qionqi, inside the pouch, guessed part of it, and asked in a slow drawl,

"Cranemoor, this little wretch isn't planning to skin you, tear out your sinews, and dig out your immortal bones for him, is she?"

"If she dares, you just take her straight into the Cosmic Pouch and let me have a taste of her."

He had guessed right.

Valerie drew out an Ice Blade and handed it to Christopher.

"They all say our little sister Tinglan died on the road to subduing Qionqi."

"But the Goddess would never send you to make amends for no reason."

"You're the one who killed her, aren't you?"

The way Tinglan looked in her last moment, scattering into nothing, was still branded into my heart, and it would not fade.

Before she followed me to subdue Qionqi, she had said, all light and eager, that she wanted to pick up a few discarded scales from Qionqi's old lair to bring back and forge protective armor for her big sister and second brother.

And yet on the battlefield I doubted her, thought her heart was set on treachery, and killed her with my own hands without hesitation.

I am sustained by heaven and earth. I have no father, no mother. I never knew what it felt like to have family beside me.

But Tinglan chattered in my ear day after day, until it was as if I had learned again what it meant to hold someone dear.

Someone who longed so deeply to go home, and I was the one who severed the road back with my own hands.

At the thought, something clenched hard around my heart.

So I was silent for a moment, then gave them a nod.

Valerie smiled, pleased, and pushed Christopher forward.

"A life for a life, then. And anyway, once the immortal bones are carved out, you can still reincarnate and be born again as a mortal."

"Second brother, didn't you want to become immortal? Then kill her, and avenge our little sister."

Christopher froze where he stood, hesitating.

"Big sister, she was sent by the Goddess, after all."

"If I lay a hand on her, won't it bring down heaven's punishment?"

Qionqi knew his voice couldn't be heard by the people outside.

But he still couldn't help saying,

"If you really kill this useless worm, you won't have to wait for heaven's punishment. The lightning tribulation will chase you down and strike you every single day."

But when Christopher's blade drove into my heart, I did not struggle.

Nyxphoenix caught the smell of my blood and came diving down from the Nine Heavens to guard my life.

But Valerie was an immortal now.

To her eyes, Nyxphoenix was only a nourishing spirit-creature.

So she turned to Christopher and asked for it.

"You're bored of this Nyxphoenix anyway. Big sister will take it off your hands with pleasure."

And with that, she made to go out and kill it.

I caught the hem of her robe, trying to stop her.

But she kicked me down to the ground and shook out her plain white robe with disgust.

Outside the den, Nyxphoenix let out a shrill, anguished cry, and my blood dripped drop by drop into the Cosmic Pouch.

Qionqi bristled with rage, threatening me through gritted teeth,

"Cranemoor, is something wrong with your head?"

"That Nyxphoenix was raised at your side from birth. You used to grieve half a day over a single lost feather."

"If you don't fight back, I swear I'll hang myself right here inside this Cosmic Pouch."

4: 4

I soothed Qionqi through my thoughts.

"It's fine. My Nyxphoenix isn't so fragile."

"I held her back just now because I was afraid she'd hurt you, since you've only just become immortal."

And sure enough, a bird's cry burst out beyond the den, followed at once by Valerie Henson's scream.

Nyxphoenix snapped one of her arms, then flung her down from a great height. Her insides were ruined.

Even an immortal body would need many days to recover from that.

Christopher Henson's hand shook, and he stumbled back a few steps in fright.

Only then could I sink to the ground and catch my breath.

Christopher had been blowing the Bone Whistle at Nyxphoenix the whole time, desperate.

Because I'd told him Nyxphoenix would obey only that.

But I'd never realized that, to save me, Nyxphoenix would ignore the whistle entirely.

Nyxphoenix swept into the den, caught me in her beak, and carried me out. Still not satisfied, it seemed, she turned back and loosed a stream of dark fire that burned the whole fox den to the ground.

I wanted to stop her, but the world went black and I fainted dead away.

When I woke again, I was inside the Goddess Hall.

Nyxphoenix was in the clear pool beside me, unhurried, pecking her feathers clean, probably to wash off the ill luck of that fox den.

My body was whole, without a single mark left on it.

But I knew that fire of hers was enough to badly cripple Tinglan's family.

After turning it over and over, I still decided to go in person, as the Goddess, and explain the misunderstanding clearly. Whatever they asked for, I would try to grant.

Qionqi had long since grown used to this sort of thing.

So when I returned to the fox den, he only gave a cold snort.

"They all say the Goddess loves the world. Well, today I've truly seen it."

"But I'm still going to keep reincarnating as a villain. Being a good person is stifling!"

I carried nourishing spirit-medicine in hand, the treasure pouch stuffed with a thousand magical treasures tucked against my chest.

I'd meant to call on them in good faith, heal Valerie Henson's wounds, and let Christopher Henson pick whatever treasure suited him.

But before I even reached the door, I heard the family inside plotting to go before the Goddess and accuse me, meaning to pin the blame on me for stealing Nyxphoenix and letting her hurt people.

Then Christopher's timid voice came through, and it stopped me cold.

"If the Goddess finds out Tinglan died because we poisoned her, won't she punish us instead?"

Valerie's furious voice answered at once.

"Only the few of us know about the poison! Even that wretched celestial servant took the blame. If you don't bring it up, who could ever trace it back?"

"Besides, that useless Tinglan latched onto the Goddess first. What chance did that leave the two of us?"

And so they came to an agreement, still set on going to accuse me.

I stood in the corner, looking at the Fairyberry that had just fruited on the branch, and fell into a long silence.

After a while, I asked Qionqi, "Didn't you say it was stifling in there?"

"How about I send them to you, to ease the boredom?"

Qionqi lifted his head, a little surprised, and grinned wide.

"Oh? Finally couldn't stand it anymore?"

"That's right. No more holding back."