In the empire of stars, the nine sura kings' meeting continued to progress.

Niutou said, "So, mad scientist, I heard that some of your creations escaped from their cells and rampaged through seven nearby kingdoms, three of which were sura kingdoms."

Fenghe shrugged. "Those are all rumors. My creations never escaped or rampaged; I was just conducting a small-scale experiment. I was shocked to learn that the nearby sura kingdoms were incapable of dealing with even the least of my creations."

Shouta snorted. "Let the weak sura kingdoms die—they aren't needed."

Fenghe continued, "Right, sixth brother, I heard that you cleared your entire kingdom of humans for one of your little games."

Niutou's face turned dark. "Don't insult me, mad scientist. These aren't games for me—they're my true feelings."

"Oh, is that so? How many times have you expressed your true feelings to human women, then?"

Niutou frowned. "Thirty times, forty times, give or take—I don't remember the precise number!"

Fenghe shook his head. "If you can't even remember how many times you've done it, how can you be so confident your feelings are real?"

Niutou replied slowly, "You need to inject all your feelings into a flower to have it bloom for you, don't you? I don't need to remember how many times I've done so to do it over and over again. And when the flower blooms, when it reaches the acme of its beauty, you pluck it and destroy it, petal by petal—I'm shivering just remembering the ecstasy I feel from doing so."

Fenghe looked at him agape. "I knew you were perverted, but not to what extent. I've really underestimated you."

Moyan shook his head. "By this point, you can't call it 'perversion' anymore. It's 'craziness'."

"I'm no pervert! If you have to give me a title, call me a florist. It takes time and effort, wealth and power and deliberation. The more you put in to secure a flower's bloom, the greater the pleasure you feel when you reap the rewards. I'm sure all of you can understand this ecstasy."

The other sura kings noisily moved their chairs away from Niutou.

"Right, seamster, I heard you made something particularly interesting recently."

Fenghe rolled his eyes as he introduced his own creation. "A true Argos indeed, with 360 pairs of eyes embedded all over his body, even on the soles of his feet. To make this creature, I had to kill 180 humans."

Moyan was happily listening to Fenghe's recounting when the sura king Suiyue walked in.

Niutou waved a hand at him. "Ah, the gerontophile."

Suiyue tsked at him. "You simply don't understand the charm of the old. People are like wine, and they mature as they age. What's wrong with liking those slightly older than I am?"

Niutou's lips spasmed. "Slightly older? They're five times your age! Most people take lovers differing by no more than a decade in age, and even the crazy ones might span only two or three decades, but you're closing in on a century's worth of difference!"

Suiyue shrugged. "Love transcends the boundaries of time."

"And gender?" Niutou questioned.

Suiyue replied seriously, "If our fifth brother were present, he would agree. You have sex with the opposite sex only to procreate; true love is with those of the same sex."

Everyone turned silent. No one suspected that they would be able to change Suiyue's perspective with just a single argument.

Shouta sighed. "I can't believe someone dared to make a move against a sura king, particularly one of us."

Shicang narrowed his eyes. "And I can't imagine that one of us would lose against a human."

The last sura king, Gaoyuan, walked into the room. His gaze swept over the meeting table. "It looks like we've all gathered."

He sat down at the last empty chair and placed a flagon of wine on the table. Shouta asked, "Is this to memorialize our departed brothers?"

"It really was a pity that our fifth brother's dead. We got along very well, and I don't know who I'll have such deep conversations with in the future. Just like me, he's a cultured sura."

Gaoyuan sighed. "I've had a chef specifically brew this wine to commemorate his passing. Have a taste and see if you like it—if you do, I'm planning on spreading it far and wide across the sura lands."

Gaoyuan poured a cup of white-colored wine for everyone, then raised his cup high into the air. "To our fifth and seventh brothers."

The sura kings consumed the wine and began to frown. Only Gaoyuan sipped at it slowly, as though trying to savor each drop. Fenghe placed the cup down and smiled wryly.

Shouta asked, "Why does this wine taste strange?"

Moyan shook his head. "I don't like the flavor."

Niutou's frown cut across his head. "There's something familiar but foreign about this taste. I don't like it."

Suiyue turned to him. "Is that so? I like the taste myself, but I don't think it's aged enough. Do you have any vintages of this kind?"

Gaoyuan shook his head. "This is a novel brew."

"In that case, let me order a thousand casks of this wine, aged for at least ten years, in advance!"

Gaoyuan nodded. "As many as you want. Once it's ready, I'll contact you."

Shicang turned to Fenghe and asked curiously, "Why haven't you had a taste?"

Fenghe smiled back at him kindly. "Have you all considered what our youngest brother might brew wine with?"

The kings all around the table froze.

Shouta, Moyan, and Niutou's cups smashed against the ground with three identical clinks.

Hoping against hope, Shouta forced back his fear as he asked, "Ninth brother, how did you brew this wine?"

"With the best ingredients, of course."

"Which are...?"

"The testicles of 99 different species."

Shouta, Moyan, and Niutou's eyes all widened as they tried to retch up the wine they had swallowed.

Gaoyuan continued, "My chef's currently working on an even more high-quality brew, involving the testicles of 999 different species. Shall I send you all a complimentary cask when it's ready?"

Suiyue clapped his hands. "That would be great!"

Shouta grimaced as he called out, "Ninth brother, what have we done to you to deserve this?"

Moyan added, "Why have us consume such poisoned wine? We're brothers, aren't we? We can sort everything out with a pleasant conversation instead!"