Chapter 71: Fú Shēng Arrives on a Dragon |
[January 14, 2024]...
The ground trembled suddenly, and the Demon emperor’s face became serious. She replaced her mask and morphed back into the black clad indifferent king. “There must be something going on outside if the vibrations can be felt all the way down here.” With Shěn Lí in hand, the Demon emperor formed a magic circle and returned them his chambers instantly.
Shěn Lí could feel the thick miasma in the air before even pushing the door open. She frowned, but saw that the Demon emperor had already opened the door and exited.
Despite the many battles Shěn Lí witnessed, she was still shocked by the sight in front of her. The once majestic palace was now filled with rubble and ash from collapsed pavilions and buildings. Corpses lay scattered everywhere, and everything was stained with blood. Close by, a big, green dragon roared upwards; it felt like the deafening sound penetrated the sky itself. The Demon emperor murmured in disbelief. “The Abyss Ruins. . . this monster,” he gritted his teeth, “actually escaped.”
Shěn Lí was shocked to the core. This. . . was a monster from the Ruins?! It made it from the border all the way to the capital?! Moreover, if one escaped, there would surely be others. Shěn Lí pulled out her silver spear and stood in front of the emperor. Just as she did, she saw a person standing high above the dragon’s head. Shěn Lí clenched her fists at the sight of him, and in a voice from hell said, “Fú Shēng!”
This mess was his doing! The lives lost. . . it was all because of him again! Hatred, old and new, welled up in her heart. Shěn Lí’s eyes suddenly turned red, and her nails suddenly grew long. She didn’t hear the Demon emperor trying to stop her, and had in an instant moved like silent lightning behind Fú Shēng. She raised her silver spear and stabbed it directly into Fú Shēng’s neck.
For a moment, blood spurted out of Fú Shēng’s torn jugular, splattering red everywhere. But Shěn Lí didn’t stop. And when she saw Fú Shēng’s figure gradually disappearing with the wind, she spun around and swept her spear across. The tip brushed passed the hair on Fú Shēng’s sideburn, forcing him to leap back two steps to the edge of the dragon’s arched spine. Fine strands of hair scattered down like silk threads. He smiled gloomily as he said, “Your Highness, your skills have improved quite a bit.”
Shěn Lí didn’t wait to collect her breath before she spun her spear like a flashing blossom. A loud, deep shout rang out, and the spear pierced through the dragon’s skull with the power of a sledge hammer. The savageness of it smashed the dragon’s head down with a loud “Boom!”. Dust and debris flew everywhere. And for a while, the dragon’s tail thrashed wildly about before finally settling down limply on the ground. The blow had knocked it unconscious.
Shěn Lí stood on the dragon’s head with her silver spear as the dust settled around her. Her bright red eyes fell on Fú Shēng like a cold sword. The eyes that had been filled with irrationality before was now exuding extreme violence and deep calculation. It was enough to pierce one’s gut cold.
“Hahaha! Okay! Okay! Azure Sky king has become so powerful. Truly a great blessing for my generation!” It looked like he had fully recovered from his burn injuries before; there wasn’t a trace of scarring on his face. He curled his lips coldly. “I came today to lure you back to the Demon realm, but you were already here. Things couldn’t have worked out better . . ”
Shěn Lí frowned hearing this. What was Fú Shēng up to? She glanced at the monster beneath her feet, then asked, “What happened to the barrier around the Ruins?”
“Oh, it was High God Xíng Zhǐ’s fault that the seal became unstable. This can’t be blamed on me, can it?” Fú Shēng narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Oh, yes, why was it again that High God Xíng Zhǐ made a mistake? It’s really beyond me. Your Highness is unfairly accusing me here.” He smiled ambiguously. “I’m the last person who wants the seal to break. Though it would be a trivial matter if the Demon realm was destroyed, I’d have a tremendous headache if all the demon beasts were buried along with it.”
The seal around the Ruins was powerful. When he first created it, Xíng Zhǐ had to rely on the power of nature and use the five elements to connect the Ruins to the Demon realm. For thousands of years now, because of this, the Ruins had been a part of the Demon realm. If it disappeared, all the monsters inside it would be destroyed, and the Demon realm would be buried along with them.
Shěn Lí knew this, but when Fú Shēng said it, it made it seem like something even more sinister was afoot.
Shěn Lí moved again and slashed at Fú Shēng’s head, screaming, “What are you planning?!”
With a sudden smile, Fú Shēng swung his sword and blocked. “This time, I am here to invite Your Highness to talk about something serious.” He raised his sword and took the initiative to attack. The clang of their weapons connecting echoed as he talked. “Your Highness is an integral part of the plan!”
“How could I, a king, do as you wish?!” As soon as Shěn Lí finished talking, flames enveloped her spear, and she aimed it for his head. Fú Shēng raised his sword horizontally to block, but before the two weapons connected, his sword began to go limp, as if it was melting. Shěn Lí slashed at Fú Shēng’s throat.
Out of desperation, Fú Shēng leaned back and rolled to the ground. He was in a tough situation and barely dodged the blade. He touched his hand to his neck and felt the burning heat come off his skin. A wild expression split his face. “Yes. . . that is how it should be!” He stared at Shěn Lí crazily then turned his eyes to the sky and laughed. “Azure Sky king, I will take you with me today! Fulfill my long cherished thousand-year dream!”
He pulled a piccolo out of nowhere and blew out a crisp melody. Suddenly, a dark cloud appeared, and above it were thousands of monster beasts!
Shěn Lí’s brow darkened as she remembered the scene she witnessed when she returned to the Demon realm from the Immortal realm: corpses of generals stored in tents, and flags hanging in front of thousands of homes. She clenched her spear and spoke as if she was uttering an oath. “Not again! This time, I won’t let you act so recklessly!”
But just as Shěn Lí was preparing herself, a gust of wind passed in front of her and a black figure appeared between her and Fú Shēng.
The Demon emperor said, “Retreat.”
Stunned, Shěn Lí asked in surprise. “Master?”
The Demon emperor turned his head and glanced quickly at her. “Leave here and go to the Immortal realm.”
“Master. . . why?”
Before the Demon emperor could answer, Fú Shēng laughed out loud. “Shěn Mùyuè, Shěn Mùyuè, even after so long your senses are still so keen, truly worthy of being the Master’s disciple.”
Fú Shēng laughed when Shěn Mùyuè remained silent. “Shěn Lí, don’t you want to save the Demon realm? I have a way that can separate the Demon realm from the Abyss Ruins. If you’re willing to help me, the Demon realm won’t be shackled to the Abyss Ruins anymore.”
Shěn Lí frowned at his words.
The Demon emperor interrupted Fú Shēng to say, “Shěn Lí, don’t be enticed by his words.”
“Whether or not she will be enticed is up to her.” Fú Shēng said. “Xíng Zhǐ uses the five elements in the Demon realm to connect the Abyss Ruins to the Demon realm. Therefore, once the elements are cut off, the Demon realm will be freed. Of the five elements used, I have found four substitutes and am only lacking one more – fire. The Demon relam won’t have anything more to do with the Abyss Ruins as long as all five elemental seals are replaced.” Fú Shēng smiled coldly. “Your Highness, would you like to help me?”
Shěn Lí frowned. “You want me to replace the fire seal?”
The smile on Fú Shēng’s face was a little crazy, and the Demon emperor’s voice turned cold. “Don’t listen to anymore of his nonsense. The seal will decline in time. There are few things in this world that can compare to the power of the Heavenly Dao. So even if he finds other objects to substitute with, they will only hold the Abyss Ruins temporarily. He just wants to release the monsters inside the Abyss Ruins before it is destroyed.”
Fú Shēng grinned. “The mountain god is wood, the earth immortal is earth, the third prince of Běihǎi is water, and the golden snake’s core is gold. Your Highness, you should understand what I am trying to say.”
Shěn Lí was stunned.
“I will help you release the Demon realm from the Ruins, and you will help me release the monster beasts inside. This way, when the Ruins collapse, the Demon realm won’t be harmed.”
Shěn Lí’s stunned expression didn’t last long. She frowned and said, “So what? Thousands of monster beasts loose in the Demon realm is just as bad. Since it’s still destruction, I’m afraid I can’t let you have your way.”
Fú Shēng smirked. “In that case, don’t blame me for being cruel.”
The piccolo sounded again and sounds of fighting came from the air above. When the cloud capsized and monster demons spilled out, the Demon emperor covered Shěn Lí. He shouted, “Their target is you! Go and hide in the Immortal realm, and make sure they don’t catch you!”
Shěn Lí gritted her teeth. “How can I run away by myself at a time like this?!”
“If they get you and change the seal, then the Abyss Ruins will open and all the monsters inside will escape. The chaos will be unimaginably hard to control.” The Demon emperor’s voice was fierce. “This is your emperor’s order! Leave immediately!” The Demon emperor pushed Shěn Lí out and stepped forward, a silver sword appearing in his hand.
The Demon emperor pulled off his mask, and his body morphed into its female form. She shouted up and waved her sword, forming a magic array that spread out and blocked the monster demons from moving forward.
This was the same long sword Shěn Lí’s master used to teach her martial arts since she was a child, from simple barriers to complex moves, from the time when she couldn’t hold a branch firmly in her hands to when she could carry a spear and go out on the battlefield alone. For Shěn Lí, her master wasn’t just someone who taught her martial arts, but was someone who accompanied her through all the changes in her life. She studied spells and practiced martial arts so diligently in order to give her master and the people of the demon realm a peaceful life.
But now. . . now her master would have to fight desperately for her, and the demon realm was also suffering because of her. On top of that, she was even told to leave behind all the things she wanted to protect more than anything else. Wasn’t this. . . backwards?!
How could she leave?!
Fú Shēng smiled like a crazed lunatic. “Shěn Mùyuè! You’re cocky and overestimating your abilities! Let me see how you plan to stop thousands of my monster demons with that broken body of yours!”
Shěn Mùyuè smiled and with an extremely contemptuous look on her face said, “You dare talk about others when you’re just a defective product yourself?” It was the same expression Shěn Lí would make, or more accurately, she had deeply influenced Shěn Lí’s persona and had always been Shěn Lí’s role model.
Shěn Mùyuè’s words cut straight to Fú Shēng’s heart. His face changed, twisting with hatred. “Even at death’s door, you still have a smart mouth.”
The piccolo chirped. Monster demons broke through the barrier and landed on the ground. Dozens swarmed around Shěn Mùyuè, as if to bury her under them.
Shěn Mùyuè’s eyes were cold and so was the aura of the sword’s metal. Sword qi rose and dozens of monsters were pierced through the throat, but were not killed. They collapsed and squirmed on the ground for two revolutions then got back up again. The monsters were still a problem, and there were dozens of them. Fú Shēng laughed like a maniac.
Shěn Mùyuè twisted her wrist and looked left and right, as if trying to find an opportunity to attack. But in that moment, a sharp pain stabbed inside her chest, and she suddenly vomited black blood. The injury from before was acting up and the pain made her arch her back.
The monsters seized the opportunity and swarmed her, burying her under their bodies as if to eat her alive. But in that instant, a raging flame surrounded the demons, burning them from the center outward. Their skin scorched and their flesh rotted away. The fire spread and caught easily, jumping from one body to another as long as a monster was within reach. Howling in pain, the monsters dispersed.
Shěn Lí stood in front of Shěn Mùyuè holding a silver spear. Shěn Mùyuè covered her chest and gritted her teeth. “Why didn’t you leave?!”
Shěn Lí stared at Fú Shēng coldly. “Why does Your Majesty only think about Shěn Lí being kidnapped, but not about how Shěn Lí can defeat them?”
The smile on Fú Shēng’s face became stranger as he stared at the fire burning from Shěn Lí’s body.
“You can show off your schemes in hell!” Shěn Lí yelled out.
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