[[Book 2 (FINAL book) of "One Lifetime is Never Enough"]]
"I would have waited for you forever."
The lament of a faraway voice that she had missed - that she had been longing to answer to - echoed in her mind.
"But, you are no longer here."
The des...
Ao Xiang and Shen Wei served as the people in charge of delivering the Imperial personages through the forest to the Autumn Hill. Being two practitioners who were adept in barriers and seals, it was not a difficult thing for them to set up arrays as they went along, making the path they protected safe enough for normal humans to pass through. Since morning, they had also isolated the Autumn Hill from the condensation of qi by setting up seals around it.
Once the guests were safely inside the Autumn Hill's barriers, they took off all the seals they had initially set up inside the forest. This way, no one below the Enlightened ranks could get in or out.
Autumn Hill, though was only simply decorated for that day's banquet, was a far cry from the desolate area it usually was. The normally uninhabited lone structure - that was usually used for the Sages' temporary residence during their meditation - was cleaned and manicured. Although it was far from the splendor of the Palace and the Imperial Gardens, Hui Lin sect did put some effort to properly cater to Zuo JinLong.
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Zuo Mei Zi or Xiao Zi, Zuo JinHai, Zuo BingTan, Zuo Shan'er, and Zuo ZhouLei were seated together with Lady Mei Gui, outside the main building,
Separated from them by a small courtyard, Zuo Chen Lu or Cao Lu, Shen Wei, Ao Xiang, and the Sages of Hui Lin sect sat together in a circle along with Emperor Zuo JinLong. These were the main 'brains' of the meeting that was masked as a banquet.
The Emperor wanted to take some of the practitioners back to the Imperial City, to assist protecting his citizens from the Daemons. Although the issue of Daemons was less in the Imperial City, it still caused considerable chaos for the citizens' livelihood. The malice that had caused trouble had done nothing more than to possess domestic animals, but it had become a common occurrence for his officials to report happenings of a goat biting its owner, or a chicken that had suddenly grown an extra head.
It had impacted mostly the farmers and working-class citizens. Soon, the people would not have enough meat to eat, as they could do nothing else but to kill the affected animals.
Ao Xiang, Shen Wei, and Cao Lu recited the experience they had when encountering the malice-possessed Liu Yan in the Land of Yanshi. And how the previously kind disciple of Hui Lin sect had nothing left but intent to kill them.
Sage Guang Wu was Sage Guang Qu's blood brother. He was previously Liu Yan's master. How could he not feel aggrieved for losing his succeeding disciple, and worse to have heard that Liu Yan – the person that he had groomed for years – to have succumbed to malice?
"These are the ancient scrolls that Hui Lin sect has, that contain all information about Daemons and malice." Sage Guang Wu spread some scrolls that were made of thin bamboo skins onto the circular table. He and his fellow martial brothers had seen the scrolls countless times before, he had merely taken it out so the Emperor could take a look.
