Chapter 316: High Council’s Meeting
Chapter 316: High Council’s Meeting
Author’s Note: Please check out my new Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance story - Promised To The Shadows
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"Because they both have refused to meet anyone, especially you."
Xiang Ling felt as if the world around her disappeared completely when she heard those heartbreaking words. She would have loved to question their authenticity, but one look at the Heavenly Empress’ sympathetic gaze and she knew the woman wasn’t lying.
It took everything inside her to keep a straight face and not show just how much she was hurting deep inside. During the past couple of days, she kept telling herself that she was prepared incase the two men were going to dismiss their mortal feelings for her as a passing phase of their life tribulations, but nothing could have prepared her for being ignored by them to this point. Not accepting their mortal feelings was one thing, but ignoring her entirely was a completely different matter, and it didn’t sit right with her.
Still, she remained composed as she finished the tea and finally took her leave to return to her palace. She was so overwhelmed with emotions that it took her forever to return to her private quarters, and as soon as she was behind closed doors of her bed-chamber, she collapsed on the floor under the weight of heartache that was eating her from the inside.
Not a sound escaped her lips, but her eyes didn’t held back at all. Tears burned her eyes and blured her vision as they rolled down her cheeks and landed on her lap. Her entire body shook as she cried in silence, feeling something breaking deep within herself.
She kept wondering if she was thinking too much and the men just wanted to avoid meeting her because of the upcoming council meeting, but no matter how much she tried to make herself understand that there could be other reasons behind their decision, her heart wasn’t ready to listen to anything.
She tried searching for Zhang Xuan’s presence inside her space or somewhere in the Celestial Realm, but she came up empty. The man was nowhere to be found, and it only made her feel more lonely.
She had no idea for how long she kept crying there on the floor. Maybe it was only for few minutes or maybe for hours. But all the crying exhausted her and she somehow fell asleep right there on the floor. It wasn’t until only an hour was left before the council meeting did someone decided to wake her up.
Xiang Ling opened her eyes and found Little Pink fluttering its wings while it hovered over her with a serious look on its cute face.
"Master, you should wake up or you will be late for the council meeting." Little Pink told her and Xiang Ling slowly nodded her head in understanding, thanking the spirit beast for waking her up on time.
"Master, are you alright? You don’t look good today for some reason." The voice belonged to Xuelin who appeared next to Xiang Ling and helped her in a sitting position. Both the spirit beasts were clearly worried for their master’s well-being as they were able to sense that she was feeling very down after her talk with the Heavenly Empress.
"I’m alright. You two don’t need to worry. Help me pick a dress and select my jewelry, I will go and take a bath first." She told her two contracted beasts before she stood up and headed inside her space to take a bath. As an Immortal, she didn’t need to bath as her divine powers always kept her clean. However, after spending such a long time in the Mortal Realm, she was used to taking a bath almost every day.
She quickly took a bath and then got ready for the meeting. Since she was a High Immortal, she needed to dress accordingly. She chose a dark blue colored silk dress that was paired with a transparent white outer robe. Xuelin combed her hair before styling them beautifully with a set of hairpins that matched with the rest of her jewelry. With her makeup done, she finally stepped out of her palace and immediately recieved the compliments from anyone who noticed her.
High Immortal Xing was known for her ethereal beauty throughout the five Realms, and as the fairies and other immortals caught a glimpse of her, they were unable to hold back their amazement.
Xiang Ling returned everyone’s greetings and thanked them for their compliments as she once again made her way toward the Heavenly Realm where the council meeting was going to take place. She met many familiar faces as she arrived at the palace and her old friends immediately surrounded her as they congratulated her on her promotion.
She chatted with them for a while, trying to focus anywhere but on the conflict of emotions that was going on inside her. And while it was easier said than done, she still kept a facade as if she was brimming with happiness.
It was finally the time for the meeting and she stepped inside the Grand Hall with the other High Immortal and Supreme Immortals. As they took their seats, the rulers of the other Realms started entering the Hall.
She watched with a straight face as one after other, she watched familiar faces entering. The first one was Wu Tian who settled down at his seat. Next came Zhe Yuan who immediately found her and gave her a bright smile without any care in the world. Xin Cheng and Dao Ming arrived next, and while they both noticed her, neither looked at her for more than a second let alone smiling at her.
And while she knew why the two were ignoring her, it didn’t help with her already hurt feelings. Finally, the arrival of the Heavenly Emperor and Empress was announced along with the arrival of Li Xian and Wei Guang.
From her seat, she watched as the two men entered the hall, following right behind the Emperor and Empress.