Whenever a new Heavenly City Fragment entered his Inner World, it would be licked by the Inner World and lose “something”. As for what that something was, even Sister White Dragon and Senior White could not figure it out.

However, every time that “something” was licked off, the scholarly faction’s world of the golden lotus was no longer picky with the fragment and would be willing to take it in.

So now, when the Heavenly Emperor mentioned that something was missing from the fragments, Song Shuhang immediately thought of that.

He could also infer from the Heavenly Emperor’s tone that that “something” was probably very important to her, possibly even more important than the Ancient Heavenly City Fragments themselves.

But knowing all this, he definitely could not admit to what had happened.

He could not admit to it even if he was beaten to death!

Song Shuhang put on a deadpan face in order to prevent the Heavenly Emperor from reading his thoughts through his facial expression.

“It seems that Senior Song is the one who did it.” The Heavenly Emperor’s voice continued to sound in his ear. “Your deadpan expression has betrayed you. Don’t bother making excuses.”

Song Shuhang: “…”

You can read my expression even though I’m in this state?

It seems that even putting on a deadpan face isn’t enough to prevent a big shot from using the face-reading technique on me!

“Are you thinking of running away? Come back here!” The Heavenly Emperor admonished as she stretched out her hand, locking down space.

Sixteen’s body froze in place, and she became unable to move.

Sister White Dragon turned her head and shouted, “What are you doing?!”

The Heavenly Emperor had sent her voice to Song Shuhang through a private channel. As such, neither Sixteen nor Sister White Dragon heard any of her words.

From Sister White Dragon’s perspective, Sixteen was leaving after completing the deal when the Heavenly Emperor suddenly attacked and pulled her back. This caused Sister White Dragon to lose her temper.

And when she lost her temper, even Slow-Witted Song would get beaten up.

This time around, she also felt like hitting all the people with the surname Song around her. In the past, some of Slow-Witted Song’s friends who had the same surname as him had ended up getting implicated.

Fortunately, Song Shuhang only had his head left and looked really miserable, so she could not bring herself to hit him.

Sister White Dragon waved her claws and severed the force that the Heavenly Emperor was exerting on Sixteen, allowing her to move once again.

“Why don’t you ask that witty Senior Song right next to you?” The Heavenly Emperor stood up from her throne and descended down toward them.

Sister White Dragon turned to look at Song Shuhang and asked, “Shuhang, what did you do?”

Song Shuhang replied in a hushed voice, “Please call me Song ‘I Accidentally Took an Intermediary Fee’ Shuhang.”

Sister White Dragon was speechless.

Sixteen recalled what happened in Song Shuhang’s Inner World and asked, “Is it because of what your Inner World licked from the fragments?”

Song Shuhang nodded in response.

Song Shuhang replied, “And looking at how angry the Heavenly Emperor is, what I licked off from the fragments should be something very important, even more so than the Ancient Heavenly City Fragments themselves.”

Sister White Dragon asked, “Can’t you spit it out?”

“Sister White Dragon, can you spit out something once you’ve digested it?” Song Shuhang asked rhetorically. He did give it a try earlier, but the Inner World had already absorbed whatever it had licked.

Sister White Dragon was at a loss as to what to do.

“Song~ Stupid~ Losing money~” Fairy Creation’s head drilled out from the top of Song Shuhang’s head, which made it look as if Sixteen was holding two heads.

As soon as Song Shuhang heard the words “losing money”, he thought of the Ruler of Shadows and felt a sharp pain.

When he was trying to summon Fairy Creation earlier, she did not come out. Yet when it was time to rend his heart, she took the initiative to pop out.

However, he could not refute Fairy Creation’s words. He could only resort to giving the Heavenly Emperor compensation.

Sister White Dragon sighed and turned to look at the Heavenly Emperor. “We will compensate you for what you’ve lost.”

The Heavenly Emperor’s eyes narrowed, and a meaningful smile surfaced on her face.

With her long legs, she strode down from her throne and came to the edge of the immortal boat palace. “The intermediary fee that Senior Song took was my path.”

She did not keep it a secret and went straight to the point.

Sister White Dragon asked, “Are you joking?”

A person’s path was an abstract thing, no different from a concept.

Each path was different from the other, and even something like the “path of fire” had dozens of different versions and renditions.

Moreover, the path that an Immortal had chosen to walk would become theirs, and other people would no longer be able to walk that same path.

This was the reason Pavilion Master Chu was so surprised when she realized that Slow-Witted Song could use Cheng Lin’s path to immortality.

Yet, the Heavenly Emperor was now claiming that Shuhang had taken away her path!

“Do you think I’d joke about this matter?” The Heavenly Emperor stepped into the air and arrived before Sixteen. “So, Fellow Daoist Golden Dragon, Senior Song, how are you going to compensate me?”

As she had taken possession of Soft Feather’s ghost spirit, she was considerably tall. She looked imposing as she stood in front of them and looked down at Song Shuhang’s head, which was held in Sixteen’s arms.

“Song~ No imposing aura~ Dumb.” Fairy Creation refused to take it lying down, so she stretched her neck forcefully, trying to raise her eye level a little bit higher.

However, her height was still not enough, so Fairy Creation began to call for reinforcements. She used the language of the ancient era to call the virtuous lamia. “@#%×”

In the next moment, the virtuous lamia’s head emerged from Fairy Creation’s head.

And so, a skyscraper of human heads was created…

Song Shuhang’s head was in Sixteen’s arms.

Fairy Creation stretched her neck as far as possible and emerged from above Song Shuhang’s head.

The virtuous lamia also stretched her neck as much as possible, popping its head out above Fairy Creation’s head.

Three heads stacked upon each other, looking imposing as well.

The Heavenly Emperor looked at the messed-up sight before her, which included the belle of the Heavenly City, Fairy @#%×, and felt heartbroken for some reason.

Song Shuhang pondered for some time before saying, “Since you can retrieve your path from the Ancient Heavenly City Fragments, then… Why don’t you come into my world and take it back?”

What was done was done, and he could not change the past.

Even if he had to bite the bullet, he had to think of a way to resolve the problem.

Although he was reluctant to expose this trump card, he could only let the Heavenly Emperor enter his Inner World and see if she could absorb back her path that had been licked away by the Inner World.

At the same time, Song Shuhang ordered the Inner World Assistant to block and conceal all the Heavenly City Fragments other than the Virtuous Palace, the Palace of Winter, and the Inner Demon Cave.

As the Inner World continued to evolve, it acquired more and more functions. As such, it was not difficult for him to shield a part of it from the eyes of other people.

Last but not least, the Inner World and the world of the black lotus were connected…