Mie Xingzhe, with his mouth sealed, could only stay where he was and grieve in silence. The sobs trapped in his throat kept pleading with Li Luoning not to do this. His eyes trembled without stopping, and tears were about to spill over. He shook his head wildly, as if begging for mercy.
Li Luoning remained silent. He gave Mie Xingzhe a sorrowful, cold glance and continued,
"Since Yun Wannian is my disciple, then his lack of discipline is my fault as his master. Xiayi is willing to trade my inner core for my disciple's life and ask the Immortal Lord to forgive what he has done."
As he spoke, Li Luoning slowly raised his hand to his chest. After a flash of red-gold light, a golden core wrapped in scarlet flame floated in his palm.
Looking at the Chixi Pill in Li Luoning's hand, a trace of satisfaction flashed quickly through Situ Fanzhi's eyes.
"Immortal Master Xiayi, this Chixi golden core is a rare inner core seen only once in a hundred years. Are you truly willing to give up everything you now have for such an insignificant little disciple? Once the inner core leaves your body, all your former cultivation will vanish. From then on, you will be nothing but an empty spiritual shell, not even as strong as an ordinary human body. The moment your will weakens, you may fade into nothing. Are you truly willing?" Situ Fanzhi asked.
"Xiayi... has no regrets."
Li Luoning handed over the Chixi Pill and pressed one hand over his chest. Once the Chixi Pill left his body, he could clearly feel the warmth in his chest fading. The spiritual power inside him turned into strands of mist and scattered from his body.
"If you insist, then this Immortal Lord will not stop you any further. Life and death are fated, so your wish shall be granted," Situ Fanzhi said after taking the Chixi Pill.
"But as for Yun Wannian, though the death penalty may be spared, he cannot escape punishment. I can choose not to pursue the matter of Yun Wannian killing a fellow disciple, but turning against his side in battle is still no different from treason. That must still be punished. Men, take Yun Wannian away and break his tendons and shatter his bones."
"Stop!" Li Luoning shouted sharply.
"Immortal Lord, Xiayi has already traded the Chixi Pill for my disciple's life. There should be no further punishment for what he has done. Why does the Immortal Lord go back on his word?" Li Luoning asked.
Oushi Nan, who had been hiding nearby to watch the show, could not help covering his forehead. Shaking his head, he said,
"I already told you not to rush it. Ah, you never listen." With a sigh, he turned and strolled away.
"It is true that you gave up the Chixi Pill, but that only spared him the crime of killing a fellow disciple. This Immortal Lord governs Liaoyin Immortal Realm, and naturally I must give the other immortal sects an explanation. Since the rules are written as they are, then the rules will be followed. Seize him!" Situ Fanzhi ordered.
"Who dares!" Li Luoning summoned his sword and stood protectively in front of Mie Xingzhe.
Mie Xingzhe looked at the master before him with a storm of emotions in his eyes. He had thought his master would never forgive him for the rest of his life.
"Immortal Master Xiayi, do not say I failed to warn you. Without the Chixi Pill, you are no different from a cripple now. If you truly mean to fight, you may not even leave Shangqing Hall alive," Situ Fanzhi threatened.
"Then I will like to try it and see."
"Take both of them down !" Situ Fanzhi ordered.
Even without the help of the Chixi Pill, Li Luoning's skill was still more than enough. Dealing with the immortal soldiers in front of him was no trouble at all.
A violent strike came down from behind Li Luoning. When he saw who it was—
"War God Qingyuan!"
"Master Xiayi, stop it," Qingyuan said.
"War God Qingyuan, do you mean to have me stand by and watch Nian be sent to his death?"
"That is not what Qingyuan means. The Immortal Lord will judge this matter himself. Why must Immortal Master Xiayi be so stubborn?" Qingyuan tried to persuade him.
"Judge it himself? I already handed over the Chixi Pill in exchange for Nian's life, yet he still wants him dragged away and have his tendons broken and bones crushed. This is his judgment?" Li Luoning raised his voice and demanded.
"There are laws in Liaoyin Immortal Realm. Even if Yun Wannian killed a fellow disciple unintentionally, rules are still rules. Why must Xiayi insist on going against them?"
"Qingyuan, let me ask you this. If the one kneeling here today were Yue Ruling, what would you do?"
At that question, Qingyuan fell silent. How could he not understand Li Luoning's meaning? If Yue Ruling were the one kneeling there, he would likely be fighting just as hard to protect her.
Just as the two of them were locked in a dead end, Situ Fanzhi sent a strike flying toward the kneeling Mie Xingzhe. Li Luoning had his back to him and had not yet noticed, but something in Qingyuan's face told him something was wrong. He saw a powerful spell flying straight at Mie Xingzhe. Without time to think, Li Luoning shoved the kneeling Mie Xingzhe to the ground, and the strike landed squarely on Li Luoning instead.
"Master!" "Immortal Master Xiayi!"
The blow tore through Li Luoning's body in agony. A rush of warmth surged up, and bright red blood sprayed across the white stone floor of Shangqing Hall. The world before his eyes blurred. His body swayed uncontrollably, and from his lips came only a faint murmur,
"Niannian... run..."
Then he could no longer hold himself up and collapsed forward.
"Master! Master, wake up!"
Mie Xingzhe crawled over in a panic, gathered Li Luoning into his arms, and called to him again and again. No matter how Mie Xingzhe shook him, there was no response at all.
Seeing Li Luoning lying there unconscious, Situ Fanzhi waved his hand again.
"Take him!"
Looking at his master, whose breath had grown weak in his arms, all the emotions Mie Xingzhe had buried over these past days suddenly broke loose in one instant.
"Whoever dares touch my master will be buried with him!"
As soon as Mie Xingzhe shouted those furious words, a powerful golden seal appeared around him, wrapping both him and Li Luoning tightly within it. No matter how the immortal soldiers struck it, it did not crack in the slightest.
Situ Fanzhi was deeply displeased by the Floating Light Golden Seal that Mie Xingzhe had summoned. He jumped down from his immortal seat and came to the barrier himself, summoning a weapon to strike at the seal's protection.
Mie Xingzhe ignored everything happening around him. He only kept calling to the unconscious Li Luoning in his arms.
"Master, Master, please wake up. Please do not leave me. Please do not do this."
Suddenly, a pale blue light slowly drifted up from Li Luoning's body and gently wound itself around both him and Mie Xingzhe.
Mie Xingzhe, tears blurring his sight, stared at the blue power beside them in confusion and let it gradually wrap around him and his master.
"How can this be? That power is... the Wings of Yinglong!"
Situ Fanzhi recognized it at once. He knew the power of the Yinglong clan better than anyone. It had to be a life-saving power Yingde Gengchen had left behind for Li Luoning.
Just as the Wings of Yingde were about to carry the two away, Situ Fanzhi could not hold back any longer. Gathering his breath, he raised his hand, and a blinding golden light slowly formed before him. Then he thrust both hands forward. The power whirled violently, so strong that Shangqing Hall trembled with it. Desperate to seize the Floating Light Golden Seal, Situ Fanzhi drove the force down at the master and disciple.
Perhaps Mie Xingzhe had already exhausted himself when he summoned the powerful Floating Light Golden Seal, or perhaps he truly no longer had the strength left. His awareness began to fade, and the Floating Light Golden Seal weakened with it. As his mind grew dimmer and dimmer, cracks began to appear in the golden seal around them. Situ Fanzhi's golden light was almost through.
Then, suddenly, a figure flashed past him. The Green Cloud twin blades in Qingyuan's hand were snatched away in the same instant.
"Ruling! What are you doing?"
Yue Ruling. was now standing in front of Mie Xingzhe, twin blades raised between Situ Fanzhi and Mie Xingzhe.
"Sister Ruling!" Mie Xingzhe softly called to her.
"Go! Now!"
Yue Ruling with all her strength, she struck out with one palm at Mie Xingzhe and Li Luoning.
With that force, master and disciple were thrown out of Shangqing Hall. At the same time, the Wings of Yingde fully wrapped around them, and in one flash of blue light, they disappeared.
Seeing that the two had already been forced out of Shangqing Hall, Yue Ruling could no longer hold on. Her body was pressed lower and lower.With one sharp cracking sound, both her knees slammed to the ground, blood at the corner of her mouth, and she collapsed forward.
"War General Yue Ruling, for secretly aiding a wanted criminal, is from this day stripped of all immortal duties and cast into the Fallen Immortal Prison to await punishment."Situ Fanzhi said.
Still unwilling to accept that the master and disciple had escaped, Situ Fanzhi glared hatefully in the direction they had fled and then stormed away with a violent sweep of his sleeve.
Inside Hua Ruoying's room at Nangzhe's residence,
A ghost servant came in as usual to deliver food. But after looking around the room, he saw no sign of Hua Ruoying. Sensing that something was wrong, he turned to report it at once. But the moment he turned, he found Hua Ruoying right in front of him. Before he could even open his mouth, Hua Ruoying blew out a cloud of powder.
"Datura East Powder... sorry about this. I do not really want to do it either. But if your master found out you let me escape, you would probably die much worse than this. No need to thank me."
Hua Ruoying dusted off her hands as she spoke. She sniffed the leftover poison powder on her fingers, frowned in disgust, then crouched and searched the servant's clothes. She tore off his waist token and escaped.
"She ran away?"
When Nangzhe returned and heard the ghost servant's report, he crushed the teacup in his hand in anger.
"When did this happen?"
The servant kneeling before him was so frightened by Nangzhe's expression that he quickly bowed his head and answered,
"This servant does not know when Miss Ruoying left. It was only when the servant sent to deliver lunch never returned that I sent someone to check. We found the one delivering the meal already dead in Miss Ruoying's room."
Nangzhe's eyes trembled slightly. Violence darkened his pupils, and in a low, rough voice he said,
"A whole pack of useless trash. You cannot even keep watch over one woman."
A shard from the broken teacup shot from his fingers and sliced open the servant's throat.
By then, Hua Ruoying had already crossed the border of Pingyan Land. To keep Nangzhe from catching her, she had deliberately taken a longer route, planning to return to Wuming Demon Mountain through Xueling Ridge.
"Whew... finally made it out."
Hua Ruoying leaned against a rock and let out a long breath. Then, in a daze, she heard the sound of water nearby. Thinking she should find some to drink, she followed the sound of the stream.
She washed her face quickly and drank a few mouthfuls. Just then, a light rain began to fall. Hua Ruoying quickly raised her hand over her head and looked for a tree to shelter under, but the corner of her eye caught something between the pebbles.
"This is... Qingping's mother's hairpin! Why is it here? Did Qingping come here?"
She stared at the thing in her hand. She knew that hairpin far too well.
As she was thinking, a wriggling little shadow slowly drifted out from one of the flowers on the hairpin. It circled the hairpin once, then stopped in front of Hua Ruoying.
"You again. Who exactly are you?" Hua Ruoying asked the little shadow.
The little shadow turned once in her palm and circled the hairpin again.
"You know where the owner of this hairpin is?"
It seemed she had understood it correctly.
The little shadow bounced twice in agreement and flew off in one direction.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Hua Ruoying immediately followed after it.
At Kunlun Hill, inside a cave,
Li Minghan sat collapsed on the ground like a defeated soldier. His hair hung in tangles over his face. He looked utterly drained. His eyes were empty and dim, his face filthy and worn. His body had wasted down so far that the shape of his bones showed clearly. One hand was locked in place by a thick iron chain.
Shentu Zhuojia's boots slowly came into view before Li Minghan. At the sight of that familiar pattern, Li Minghan finally reacted. He raised his head and looked up at Shentu Zhuojia, who had come to see him.
"Brother."
Li Minghan's voice was thin and weak.
Seeing Li Minghan in such a state, Shentu Zhuojia found he had nothing he wanted to say. There was no emotion left in his eyes. He did not know how he ought to deal with the person before him, nor what to do with the bond that still existed between them.
"Did brother come to see whether I am dead yet?" Li Minghan laughed at himself and tucked a strand of hair beside his face with slender fingers.
"Minghan, if you are willing to hand over the cure to Qikuo, this Sovereign will spare your life," Shentu Zhuojia said after forcing his emotions back under control.
"Heh. Brother must be joking."
Li Minghan gave a scornful little snort and brushed the dirt from his clothes, looking carefree and almost mocking.
"If you hand over the cure to Qikuo, I promise that so long as you never leave this cave again, I will not kill you," Shentu Zhuojia said, making his voice sound as steady as he could.
"Even if I do not hand over the antidote, brother still would not kill me."
Li Minghan seemed to understand Shentu Zhuojia perfectly. He was certain that no matter what happened, Shentu Zhuojia would never kill him. Even for the sake of the entire demon realm, he would have to leave him alive.
Hearing those words, Shentu Zhuojia shut his eyes in pain and turned his back.
"After all this, how can you still be this stubborn and blind?"
"Have I not always been like this? From the first day brother knew me, I was already this kind of person. If there is blame to place, then blame your own poor judgment for choosing me back then. You cannot blame me."
Li Minghan spread his hands innocently.
"No matter what, Yingde Dragon King was still my uncle, and you were his adopted son. If you stop causing trouble from now on, I can keep you safe in this cave for the rest of your life," Shentu Zhuojia said calmly.
"I do not care! I never cared about being his damned adopted son. He only kept me because I looked like Li Luoning. If not for Li Luoning, none of what happened now would ever have happened. I want him dead. As long as I am alive, I will always want him dead. This is what he owes me. This is what all of you owe me!"
Li Minghan roared those words.
"Enough!"
Shentu Zhuojia shouted, and slapped Li Minghan hard across the face. The red mark showed at once.