... alright. So, I can't see her information.
Big deal.
I spent almost four decades back on Earth not being able to see anyone's information.
Granted, there wasn't anybody on Earth who could blink and kill me with the wind produced from it, but hey, there were guns and shit.
Ugh.
Ignoring the mounting anxiety, I slowly walked over.
"Forgive my tardiness, Senior," I said as I walked up to the table, bowing toward her. "And for having you wait."
"... hmm." she hummed, her eyes creasing as she stared at me. "No."
"H-huh?"
"Politeness doesn't suit you," she said. "Wouldn't you agree, little Yimu?"
"Uh..." the young man sitting opposite of her stuttered, clearly just as weirded out as I was.
"See? Even little Yimu agrees!"
"I didn't know that sound was the sound of agreement. You learn something new every day," I said, testing the waters while glancing over at her. Her lips stretched out into a smile that turned into a momentary laugh.
"Please, sit," she said. "I see your new friend is quite attached to you."
"Ah, yes," I said, sitting down. Just as I did, a cup of steaming jasmine tea appeared on the table in front of me. "Apparently she's decided to make the nest out of my hair."
"Oh? A she?" she exclaimed softly. "Aah. What a shame, then."
"..." I near winced, feeling a bit stifled.
To be fair, my only other exposure to someone at a level of an 'Emperor' or an 'Empress' was Long Tao. Even then, in that childish body, he'd occasionally make me so nervous I wanted to start rambling for days about how much I loved Transformer cartoons as a kid and how disappointing the movies were.
It was as though both him and her had this uncanny capacity to see through me, and they never quite bothered hiding it by revealing that they knew through those weird smiles of theirs.
"What? Not even a pretense that you aren't going to take her away?" she asked, taking a sip of the tea.
[Lu Naǒ says she likes the fire in the woman; Lu Naǒ orders you to kidnap her and bring her with you, so she can feed on the flames]
"I'm not quite sure you'd want her to stay," I said. "She just ordered me to kidnap you so she can feed on your flames."
"Pfft, ha ha ha," her laughter was oddly... refreshing. Not in the 'oh, a pretty woman laughed, how cute!', but more so in how weirdly unrestrained it was. Even the young man who was now seated to my right reacted with a confused look as she slowly calmed down. "Indeed. Every text I've ever read about phoenixes mentioned they had... strange personalities, let's say. She's a fiery one, huh? I'm glad."
"Me too."
"Hm. Us women need the fire in us to survive in this world," she said. "I'd seen the same kind in all your girls, little Daoist. Though they may all be talented monsters who should not be in this realm... that is secondary. In life, you'll slowly learn, talent is a fluid thing. There exist innumerable things under the heavens that can change and twist and remold one's fate. But... you seem to already know that."
"..." she smiled quite cryptically. I'm pretty sure she knew I had the means of changing talent, though there was likely a zero chance she knew it was through the system. "All I want for my kids is to be happy. Everything else comes secondary."
"... they're quite blessed."
"No," I said. "It's the opposite."
"Hear that, little Yimu?" she turned toward the young man who awkwardly stuttered yet again.
"Uh, y-yes..."
"I never did introduce you two, huh?" she said. "Young Daoist, this is little Yimu, who was selected by a random draw to descend to our humble corner here and investigate what transpired over at the Eternal Mountain."
"How do you do," I nodded toward the young man; though I feel like I should probably call him 'Senior', every fiber of my being was against it as he looked about half my age.
Right, Creator's Eye! I shelved it after it failed on the woman, but it won't fail on him too, right?
[--Creator's Eye Used][Target: Han Yimu][--Host's realm is insufficient. Spend 1,000 CP to partially view the target's status?]
Sheesh.
A thousand?
I mean, it's not as though I couldn't afford it at this point, especially because I'd actually shot up to around 60,000 after the recent breakthrough--I'll really have to go back through all the notifications once I get some free time--but that's a lot. Nonetheless, I spent it, viewing the status just as the young man replied.
"Fine, Senior," oh? He's calling me Senior? Probably because of how the woman's been treating me.
[Target: Han Yimu][Age: 28][Talent: ???][Cultivation Realm: Peak Sovereign Realm][Cultivation Method: Carnage of the Thousand Souls (???)][Cultivation Arts: Violent Burst (low-Divine), Soul Annihilation (low-Divine), Encasing of a Thousand Souls (???)...][...][Traits][Heavenly Chosen (Legendary) -- as someone chosen by the Heavens, he will always get favorable outcomes no matter what][Genius (Legendary) -- once-in-a-generation genius, capable of understanding things at speeds well beyond normal; can more easily evolve and upgrade existing arts and has the chance to naturally discern the weaknesses of others' arts by merely observing them once][Tortured (Legendary) -- overcome with guilt that has manifested into a Heart Demon; any attempts at a breakthrough into the next realm will result in a certain death][Spear Heart (Legendary) -- trace of Spear Qi circulates in his heart, refining it; all spear-related arts are easily understood][Shy (Epic) -- an extremely shy person by nature; will avoid conflicts where possible and interact with people a limited amount only][Remaining Traits are currently locked][...][Assessing suitability...][Numerous anomalies discovered; only three are viewable by the host][...][Blood of the Spear (Divine) -- a direct descendant of someone who had mastered the Spear to the level of Dao. However, as the target has been using swords all his life, the physique is at the cusp of being destroyed][Tainted Heart (Divine) -- the target is overcome with guilt as they believe to have been at fault for a great tragedy that befell their Sect when they were young][Bearer of Dao (???) -- a small trace of Dao resides within the target, allowing them to elevate above the Heavenly Laws. The requirements for breakthroughs are naturally lowered][...][Recommendation: the most pressing thing is the target's Heart Demon; if not cured quickly, there is a chance that they will die young and unrealized][Final Assessment: a talent beyond the scope of assessment; if properly raised, they are guaranteed to ascend to the position of an Emperor. However, strange darkness lurks within their circumstances; Host is advised to proceed with caution]
... huh.
Okay, discard everything else for a second--this isn't the first time the system has warned me about 'tangling' myself up with something or somebody, but it wasn't never quite this explicit, but also extremely vague. All I know is that I do have a way to quite easily help the kid; the question is... how the hell does that woman know that I do? Or did she just make the wildest guess imaginable?
"I wasn't mistaken," the woman's voice startled me out of my thoughts as I looked over at her. She was back to smiling quite mysteriously. "You noticed even quicker than I did. Marvelous, little Daoist. Truly marvelous."