Chapter 73: Liù Míng |
[February 11, 2024]...
Shěn Lí was stunned when her eyes met his. Emotions filled her heart, but before she could sort them out, a smaller tongue shot out from the middle of the split tongue. The tip was like a sharp sword and it “dinged” when Mò Fāng blocked it with his blade. However, the blade cracked and gave way. Mo Fang was skewered straight through then tossed aside like a rag doll.
Behind him, hot blood splashed Shěn Lí’s face. She opened her eyes wide, feeling as though she was watching the scene in slow motion. Images of scattered scenes flashed through her mind when she watched Mò Fāng being tossed out so casually. She saw them fighting together, returning triumphantly together, raising a glass and laughing together, singing and dancing together. She even remembered when he’d injured her so severely she reverted to her demon form back when she ran away to escape the marriage decree. His act had allowed her to escape to the human world and hide.
Reflecting on it now, Fú Shēng must have hoped she would marry into the Immortal realm so they would have an easier time with the Ruins. Mò Fāng letting her get away was surely an act of disobedience and went against Fú Shēng’s plans.
This man. . . even though he harmed the Demon realm, he had never harmed her.
Such a person. . .
A sharp roar came from the Ruins, and the tongue shot out again, trying to wrap around Shěn Lí. Murderous aura suddenly rose around her, and her eyes turned red. Before the tongue could reach her, she threw her silver spear and nailed the tip to the ground. Screams came from the inside the Ruins. She didn’t care; she ran straight to Mò Fāng and watched as his black blood soaked the ground surrounding him. Shěn Lí squatted down, her eyes dark. She reached her hand out, but hesitated, unsure whether to touch him or not.
“I’m no longer torn between two things.” He said hoarsely, looking at Shěn Lí with his eyes completely at peace; there was no sorrow or joy. “Your Highness, please forgive me. . . ”
Shěn Lí’s lips trembled. “I won’t. Get up. When this is over, you will have to atone for your betrayal.”
Shěn Lí immediately interrupted him. “Get up! Even the phoenix fire couldn’t burn you to death. This is just a minor injury! Get up! Don’t try to fool me for sympathy!” She clenched her fists unwillingly. She had seen too many deaths and could clearly see the signs.
“I have had a heart condition since I was a child, and I shouldn’t have lived for long. But every day for three hundred years, Fú Shēng nourished me with this blood, so I’m like him and can resurrect from death. But no power in this world is inexhaustible. Fú Shēng’s power is almost depleted, and I. . . I can not live for much longer.”
Shěn Lí gritted her teeth. Her throat tightened and she couldn’t say anything.
“I have lived my life with hate, living because of other people’s agendas, and not allowed to even die. Only now can my wish be fulfilled. . . ” The redness in his eyes disappeared, and his black eyes became crystal clear, like the waves of light in a pool of water reflecting everything back up. “Your Highness. . . I like it best. . . when you have your hair tied, and it’s dancing with the wind like a battle flag that will never fall. . . ”
He said, “Don’t lose. . . ” Then his light dimmed and silence fell.
Shěn Lí’s clenched fists were balled so tight that her hand trembled.
The tongue, having recovered, began squirming again before snaking its way toward Shěn Lí.
Shěn Lí stood up quietly and loosened her fists, calling forth her red-tasseled spear.
“Why. . . ” The bangs on her forehead blocked her eyes. “Isn’t he your young master?” With a wave of her spear, she hit the tongue and swept it away. Shěn Lí’s body filled with killing intent as she spoke. “To not spare even your own people, truly insane and heartless!”
“Hehehe.” The strange laughter came from the Ruins. “My son is unfilial and has time and time again delayed important events because of personal affairs. It’s only right I should take his life.”
After hearing this, Shěn Lí frowned. “Liù Míng. . . ”
“I haven’t heard my name in such a long time, it feels so foreign.” The voice inside laughed strangely. “Hurry up little girl, High God Xíng Zhǐ will be here soon.”
The moment he finished speaking, a figure in white appeared not more than three steps away from Shěn Lí. The person reached out his hand to pull her back, but tendrils of black energy sneaking out beat him to her. It wrapped its tendrils around her waist and dragged her toward the Ruins.
As the flames around Shěn Lí burned, a shrill scream rang out from the black tendrils. It sounded a lot like Fú Shēng. Shěn Lí increased the intensity of her flames until all the tendrils burned away. Just then, the sharp tongue jumped out again, and though it was afraid of having its skin and body burned by the fire, it had orders it needed to obey. And so it engaged Shěn Lí and tried its best to drag her into the Ruins.
The anger on Xíng Zhǐ’s face was obvious. A blue ice sword materialized in his hand, but he didn’t dare swing it carelessly because of the seal surrounding the Ruins. He went to catch up, but a sudden surge in miasma erupted, and dozens of monster demons escaped! They surrounded him, holding him back for just a moment. That minor delay was enough for the tongue to drag Shěn Lí into the Ruins.
Shěn Lí felt her surroundings go dark, and the tongue that was wrapped around her withdrew immediately. The flames around her body illuminated the darkness and showed the countless monsters floating around as they stared at her with their chilly gazes. She looked behind her, wanting to escape, but all she saw was darkness. The entrance was nowhere in sight.
Suddenly a ball of dark fire floated before her; its shape slowing morphing into an eyeball. Shěn Lí looked at it coldly and asked, “Liù Míng?”
It laughed slyly. “Little girl, we meet again.”
Shěn Lí frowned. “How are you still even alive?” Liù Míng had to be dead, after having been decapitated by High God. And yet this eyeball. . .
The eyeball narrowed itself slightly, as if it was smiling. “Little girl, you can stop guessing. I am indeed dead. This is but a wisp of my soul.”
A loud noise came from outside the Ruins as soon as he finished speaking. Shěn Lí knew it had to be Xíng Zhǐ doing something. The monster beasts around her shifted, and their eyes disappeared, apparently having run out to intercept Xíng Zhǐ.
“Little girl, we can’t hold the one outside off for long. My plan is about to finally come to fruition. Come with me quickly.”
“Ha.” Shěn Lí sneered, and flames erupted even more fiercely around her. The sheer power of it forced Liù Míng to move away from her. “Why should I obey your orders? Today is the day we all. . . ” Shěn Lí trailed off. Just as she was about to finish her sentence, she remembered what Xíng Zhǐ had once said to her, and her brows darkened, her gaze becoming firm. “No matter what scheme you have planned, Xíng Zhǐ will not let it succeed.”
She believed in him with every fiber of her being.
“Little girl, do you really thing the gods are omnipotent?” Liù Míng sneered. “Why have they been disappearing for the last thousand years? Why has the Heavenly Dao not given birth to a new god in so long?” He smiled strangely, making Shěn Lí’s heart feel strange. “A power capable of contending with the Heavenly Dao is indeed formidable and arrogant. In the early days of ancient times, when the heavens and earth were in disarray, perhaps they were necessary to establish a pure and clear space for all things. However, in the present, there is no need for such godly interventions. Having served their purpose, they can only be revered or restrained. They will fade in time now that their reason for existence is gone.”
Liù Míng’s sneer remained firmly in place as he continued. “You know, they’ve become the abandoned children of Heaven. High God Xíng Zhǐ is just the proof that the gods are barely hanging on.”
A chill invaded Shěn Lí’s heart, and Xíng Zhǐ’s apathetic smile came to mind. She became incredibly distressed all of a sudden.
“He opened the Abyss Ruins thousands of years ago by borrowing the power of the five elements anchored in the Demon realm. His divine power has only faded more with time. Do you think he has the energy to open another Abyss Ruins?”
Liù Míng continued as he watched the intensity of Shěn Lí’s flames fluctuate in time with her emotions. “The trash Celestial realm relied on High God Xíng Zhǐ’s backing to run rampant all over the three realms. Otherwise, by themselves, how could those weaklings stand up to me, the top echelon of the Demon realm? I would have torn them apart. . . ”
Shěn Lí closed her eyes and quieted her mind. “It’s true that the Celestial realm is weak and that the Demon realm have suffered injustice, but your approach isn’t right. Creating monster demons and inflicting harm to yourself before even hurting your own enemies is foolish. Why should the common demon folk die in vain for the whims of those in power?” Shěn Lí stared at him with a fire in her eyes. “I refuse to help you.”
Liù Míng was silent for a moment, then he said, “Are you unwilling to help your father?” Before Shěn Lí could react, he added, “Besides, you don’t have a say in the matter.” He called out softly, “Fú Shēng,” and a ball of black energy surrounded Liù Míng. “My subordinate is here. He can’t take physical form, so he can only appear like this. . . ”
“How long can you last?”
Fú Shēng was silent, then finally replied respectfully, “I can hold on for half an hour.”
“That will be sufficient.” Liù Míng spoke in a cold voice. “Go.”
The black energy seemed to bow its head down as it spoke. “As my lord bids.”
Shěn Lí frowned as she watched black gas rushing towards her. It wrapped itself around her body of flames like a black cloth. She was startled and used all her power to push out at it. The Ruins trembled, but the black gas did not dissipate. Fú Shēng was using all his strength to suppress her flame, until he finally managed to completely wrap the flames inside the black gas.
Shěn Lí struggled unsuccessfully to move it. Through gritted teeth she said, “He killed Mò Fāng, and now he’s using you like this! He’s never looked at you as a person!”
Without the flames acting as a shroud of protection around her, the claw of a monster demon beast was able to reach out and grab Shěn Lí, easily whisking her away.
Shěn Lí was furious. “You are too foolishly loyal!”
But Fú Shēng, who had turned in black energy, remained silent.
Liù Míng’s laughter was wild and filled with joy. “This is why I created them; more loyal than dogs, they will never betray me.”
Shěn Lí gritted her teeth in hatred while Liù Míng suddenly changed his tone. “Little girl, do you feel it?” As soon as he finished asking the question, Shěn Lí felt a wave of heat come their way. The heat. . . Shěn Lí was stared stunned toward its direction.
The ball of light restrained by iron chains was particularly dazzling in the darkness. Inside was a huge phoenix, a beautiful figure whose gorgeous feathers were bathed flames. Such a pose, it was easy to feel the power emanating from its sleeping form.
The faint aura from it was oddly familiar to Shěn Lí – a bloodline connection that pierced through space. Shěn Lí couldn’t take her eyes off it.
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