"I'm not sure what this young girl is doing, but I've to say this, in the entire last week she made me keep my eyes trained on her like a hawk."
The old man muttered as he settled down on his seat after getting tired of standing in front of the small window that opened towards the backyard of Li Ming's cabin.
Miraculously the sun was shining brightly up in the sky over the Snow Fields, though it did not melt the thick snow which was covering the ground.
"All I know is that she has been working very hard for the past entire week. She alone cleared away the snow from the backyard, built that tent-like thing, and currently, she is getting the soil ready. I think you are going to lose poorly Master." The Heaven Emperor said with his voice filled with admiration for the girl.
He had been observing her for a week now. She hadn't left his thoughts for a single second this entire time.
She would come out of her room early in the morning around six-thirty and would immediately start preparing a delicious breakfast.
Being an Immortal, the Heaven Emperor wasn't used to eat food daily. He would barely eat once or twice a year on special occasions but for the past entire week, he had been eating three times a day without skipping once.
The food that she cooked was beyond delicious and so were the teas and wines that accompanied the food.
After breakfast, she would immediately start working on the backyard work which she referred to as a nursery.
She would work there till noon before taking a short break to prepare the lunch and after eating she would once again return to work on building her nursery.
She barely took any rest as she worked till five in the evening before finally stopping the work to take a long bath.
She would start preparing dinner at six-thirty and by eight o'clock she would retire to her room and could only be seen the next morning.
The two of them had barely exchanged ten sentences between them in the past week, though there were moments when he felt an immense pull towards her.
Moments where he could not move his eyes from her, moments where he wanted to glare at his Master for making fun of her hard work and taking her lightly.
Though, he could see the appreciation in his Master's eyes. Of course, the old man had also observed Li Ming's hard work. He was just too proud to say it loud.
On the other hand, the Heaven Emperor was sure that he was not the only one who was feeling those strong emotions.
He could see in her eyes that she was also going through these same sensations.
A doubt had started taking over his heart and brain as those feelings were increasing with each passing day.
He just needed to confirm his doubt but wasn't sure how to do that.
The voice of his Master finally brought him out of his thoughts.
"...think that growing vegetables in this place is possible? How stupid! We barely get any sunlight here and even if there is sunlight, it won't be enough to keep the plants alive. They will soon die in this chilling temperature."
The old man was not actually wrong. It was surely not easy to grow something in the Snow Fields but at the same time, it also wasn't impossible.
This only made the Heaven Emperor more curious to know exactly what the young girl was going to do to win the challenge.
Out of nowhere they suddenly heard a loud angry sound coming from the nursery.
The two men passed each other a quick surprised glance before they both rushed towards the backyard of the cabin to see what had happened.
As they both entered the nursery the first thing that came into their view were beautifully and neatly prepared rows of beds.
Fresh manure was mixed properly with the soil and there was some weird kind of crystal balls hanging all over the roof of the nursery.
"Are you two really tired of your lives? How dare you to step into my nursery without my permission? I have really spoiled the two of you!"
Both the men immediately stopped in their tracks as the sharp angry voice of Li Ming entered their ears.
The old man even gulped down his saliva as he imagined the girl setting another thing on fire because he dared to step into the nursery.
The Heaven Emperor wasn't worried about the girl setting something or anything on fire. Rather, he was feeling bad for upsetting the girl by entering into her nursery without her permission.
As the two men were busy in their world of thoughts, they suddenly heard two sharp shrieks coming from the second part of the nursery which was separated by drapes.
Next second, two white as snow fluff balls came running out from behind the drapes as they kept shrieking.
"Master, please hear me out. It was Snowy's plan. He was the one who wanted to surprise you and made me accompany him. I didn't do anything, really!" Mallow cried out desperately in order to save herself as she took shelter behind a pair of legs draped in golden robes.
Snowy did the same as he also hid behind the golden robed man, not caring whoever the owner of those legs was and at the same time glaring at Mallow for putting all the blame on his head.
He now regretted including Mallow in all his tricks and naughty plans. At first, he was the boss and she was the assistant but in the past year, the little fox had grown up and become smart.
The Heaven Emperor looked with surprise at the two snowballs who were hiding behind him and then turned to look at the girl who had also emerged out from behind the drapes.
Li Ming didn't pass a single glance at the two men who were standing in front of her like statues.
Her eyes were trained on the Heaven Emperor's legs where she could see two of Mallow's tails wagging.
Yeah, she knew the real identity of the golden robed man. He introduced himself and the old man on the very first night when they were having dinner.
She almost choked when she realized that the person sitting opposite her was the Ruler of the entire Heaven Realm and was also titled as the caretaker of the Mortal Realm.
On the other hand, the real identity of the old man was almost as shocking. She initially had no plans of challenging the Master of Immortals, but who knew that she would end up doing exactly that.
Since the deed was already done, she had no other choice but to continue with her challenge but she made sure to not upset the Heaven Emperor in any way.
After all, the Heaven Emperor was the one with the highest authority in the three realms. She would become the definition of the word idiot if she ended up upsetting the ruler of the Heavens.
"You two, come out right now. I neither have the time nor the patience to deal with the two of you."
Her tone did not sound angry anymore but it wasn't warm and soothing either.
When the two devils didn't make any move to come out from behind the Heaven Emperor, Li Ming let out an irritated sigh.
"I'll leave both of you out in this chilling cold tonight if you two don't come out right now." Li Ming threatened with a strict tone.
The old man was busy staring at Li Ming and then at the two fluffballs. The little puppy looked like a normal one but on the other hand, the little fox was a fourth rank spirit beast.
There were a total of ten ranks in the spiritual beasts with the tenth rank as the highest and strongest.
To see a fourth rank small spirit fox was a surprising sight, not an impossible but definitely a rare one.
"You have become more cold-hearted than before," Snowy muttered as he slowly came out from behind the golden robed man.
More than anyone else, he knew exactly how cold his Master could be when she was angry. It won't be shocking if she really left him and Mallow out during the night to freeze in the cold.
Mallow followed his steps and also came out from her hiding spot, though she remained completely silent, just staring at Li Ming with her puppy eyes.
Of course, Li Ming heard Snowy mumbling. "And you are becoming more and more disobedient. Just because I'm not punishing you for your pranks and games that you go around pulling on the pixies and the sups, doesn't mean that I'm not aware of them. You are taking too much advantage of my busy schedule and my love."
For the very first time, Mallow actually saw Li Ming getting angry at them and one look at Snowy's guilty face made it clear that he too was aware of it.
It was actually true that Snowy had become more naughty in the past few months but it was nothing more than his usual self.
But of course, if there was anyone who could understand Li Ming through her facade, it's only Snowy.