"Y-You... bastard, wake up." Yi Ran found her world spinning. She pressed onto the demon's headless body, and scratched his cold skin. "Hurry up. We... we still have work to do..."
The demon did not wake up.
Yi Ran shook his decapitated body some more.
"What kind of joke is this..." Her smile had gradually faded away, like a wind dancing into the never ending void of darkness. Yi Ran's face paled, as her mouth twitched. She just sat there, poking at the demon's body.
The Boss and Nu Wang looked at her.
Yi Ran sat in silence.
Slowly, the realization began to pour into her. Colour was drained of her small body, and her hair swayed back and forth to the current of winds. "Bo Fan is dead." Coldness became solid, with frost seeping into her eyes, full of hatred. Yi Ran whipped her head at the Boss.
"Why did you kill him?" Her voice was exasperated.
Yi Ran felt like she was going to go crazy. "You promised us that you'd never kill us! You promised that we'll be safe underneath you! If we serve you... if we are your puppets..."
"You also promised me that... YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU'D BRING AH-SHA BACK TO LIFE!" Yi Ran pulled at the ends of her hair. "Was that a lie too? You were never planning to bring Ah-Sha back to life, were you? In the beginning, you lied to me... You were just using us to get power from the ancient dragon... you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, you're a liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR!!!"
The Boss remained indifferent to her screams.
His robe was blocking the racing winds, and was like a block of unmoving ice. "Now that you know my motives, does it make a difference?"
The layer of black mist looming over the Boss' face had grown in size. It condensed, and roared wildly like an uncontrollable beast. "You will still die."
Yi Ran's face paled. She clutched at her head.
The jade bracelet hung around her wrist—it was the bracelet which Ping Sha had gifted her when they were young. It turned out to be merely an abuse of her feelings, but it was also what made her want to bring Ping Sha back to life.
The Boss didn't blink.
He unsheathed his sword, brought it up above, then slammed it down onto Yi Ran's neck. The Boss watched, as blood spilled out shockingly—
"What?" Suddenly, he raised his head.
The spillage of blood had vanished like a mist, as if there'd never been blood. The Boss frowned, and he noticed how Yi Ran went missing. He gnashed his teeth, and noticed a certain "female ghost" had also gone missing. The sound of pipa strings had lingered in the air.
"That Nu Wang..." The Boss understood. Nu Wang had prepared an illusion beforehand, and saved Yi Ran from dying in his clutches.
"But," the Boss laughed. He turned to look at the dead demon, "You were too late."
The ancient dragon will be mine.
*****
Nu Wang raced past the winds, as she carried the unconscious body of Yi Ran on her back. She grimaced, as she swallowed a handful of cold air.
I need to find help, Nu Wang knew that.
But... who could she possibly find?
Someone strong. Someone capable of defeating our Boss... Immediately, the image of three couples had popped in the female ghost's mind. Nu Wang was stunned at her own thought. She gritted her teeth, then decided. No matter what, Boss must die.
*****
Nobody knew how it happened.
The next day, a scream ripped through Cang Qiong Mountain. "Peak Master Shen! A female ghost with a lady demonic cultivator wants to see you!" The maidservant was running in a hurry, and almost tripped over a fruit vine. Thankfully, she did not, and got the message across.
A tea cup was shattered indignantly, inside Luo Binghe's hand.
"Hah? So our enemies have sent themselves to their death?" He laughed.
Instead, Xie Lian shook his head. "Something doesn't seem right. It's only Yi Ran and Nu Wang? What about Bo Fan, the demon?"
Wei Wuxian nodded. "You're right. That doesn't make sense."
They looked at one another, and didn't know what to do. Lan Zhan raised his eyebrows, "We should go check out the situation." The three couples agreed with HanGuang-Jun's deduction, and decided to venture out of their bamboo hut.
When they arrived at the scene, they saw two battered women.
Yi Ran was groggy. She was awake, and yet, she appeared haggard—as if she was half-dead.
Meanwhile, the real dead one was Nu Wang. The female ghost wore a pleading expression on her face, as if what she was about to do had her life on the line.
"Are you looking for a fight?" Luo Binghe huffed.
"We can give you a fight." Hua Cheng sneered.
Nu Wang shook her head. "We're not looking for a fight. We want... your help." The latter of the sentence had caught the three couples off guard. They stared at the female ghost, as if she was growing horns out from her head.
"...are you serious?" Shen Qingqiu was exasperated.
Nu Wang's eyes didn't seem to lie. She held her breath, then continued. "Bo Fan, he... he died from our Boss. We want to... we want to avenge him, and kill Boss."
The three couples were shocked at the news. The puppets are rebelling?
"What makes you think that we'll trust you?" Wei Wuxian's eyes narrowed. "You've attempted to kill Cang Qiong Mountain, Yunmeng Jiang, Square Town, and the Four Great Clans. What makes you think you're qualified to ask help from us?"
Nu Wang shrunk. Those were all Boss' orders.
However, she just sat there and said nothing. After all, she couldn't openly refute anything of what Wei Wuxian said.
"Please..." All of a sudden, Nu Wang placed her head on the cobblestone ground. She kowtowed, and banged her forehead on the ground. "I beg you to help us." She continued to bang her head. There was no blood, but from the harsh sounds of contact, one could imagine how much pain the female ghost had experienced.
The three couples didn't know how to respond.
"We need your help..." Nu Wang begged. "Please help us stop our Boss from summoning the ancient dragon. Please help us kill him. We have the same goal. We want to avenge Bo Fan. Please help us..."
The female ghost cried for an entire night.
Even when the three couples left, Nu Wang's cries had echoed throughout the entire Cang Qiong Mountain. When the sun rose back from the horizon, Nu Wang was still kowtowing.
Yi Ran patted her back. "Nu Wang... you should stop."
She huffed angrily. They're obviously not going to help us.
All of a sudden, Nu Wang's cries had vanished. She raised her head up from the ground—Yi Ran gasped when she saw maggots of flesh crawling out of the female ghost's wounded forehead. It was creepy as hell, as if the underworld was eating away at Nu Wang's face.
"It's happening." Nu Wang showed fear for the first time.
Yi Ran looked at her, puzzled. "What's happening?"
Nu Wang grimaced, "The ancient dragon."
Out of nowhere, a blanket of darkness had enveloped the skies. It completely blocked the sun and its warm beams; it was a bringer of nothingness.
"What is this?" Xie Lian saw the phenomenon.
Hua Cheng quickly scanned the darkness. It was like the earth had lost its sun. The planet lost its light. The world was devoid of what had made it so bright.
"Look up!" In the world of no light, there was something of colour.
Gold shone in the air, and spun brilliantly on the spot. It wasn't the sun—the sun couldn't spin and couldn't morph. Instead, it appeared like some kind of thread, which constantly weaved itself into loopholes, while also untying itself into loose shreds. It turned out... this was actually the dragon!
The dragon had golden scales, unrivalled to any pure gold mined from a cave of treasures. It was long, and twirled around in the obsidian black sky.
Its whiskers snaked around its body, and the wind guided itself forwards.
"No..." Nu Wang's heart sunk. It's over.
All of a sudden, six streams of light had dashed across the void sky—
It was the three couples! They raced through the surroundings, and seemed to rip past space and time. Within an instant, they arrived underneath the ancient dragon.
Lan Zhan took out his guqin and frowned. "What is the ancient dragon doing here?"
"How will we send it back?" Shen Qingqiu bit his bottom lip.
Xie Lian was also wondering how to do such a thing. Right after the War between Ghost Nation and the Four Great Clans... now, there's an ancient dragon to deal with! It was only problems right after problems!
"How was it summoned in the first place..." Luo Binghe grumbled.
Nobody could answer his question. All of a sudden, they noticed another figure amidst the black skies. It was a tall man—the Boss...!
"BOSS! WE WILL KILL YOU!" A cry came from the West.
It was Yi Ran, who yelled at the top of her lungs. Her voice reverberated all across the bamboo sprouts, past the running rivers, and winding winds. "YOU WILL PAY BACK FOR WHAT YOU DID! YOU WILL DIE FROM MY HANDS!" Her face was burning red from the yelling.
"Be quiet." Nu Wang instructed. "We are no match for him, but..."
The Boss did not care for the loud yelling. Instead, he turned to look at the ancient dragon. He threw his hands up in the sky, and bellowed, "Now come here, my beloved ancient dragon! Let me kill you, and finally gain the power that I have been longing for ALL THIS TIME!"
The three couples frowned.
They ran forward, and wanted to immediately kill the tall man—instead, they were too late.
The ancient dragon sensed a malicious presence. Its whiskers twitched to the sound, as if it had its own consciousness. It snorted, letting out a loud puff of air throughout the skies. Its golden scales shone past the clouds, and bent both time and existence.
Then, the ancient dragon swooped down.
Its long and golden body had plummeted at the Boss, with its mouth gauged wide open... The Boss unsheathed his sword, then sliced at the opponent—
In an instant, the Boss was chopped into only mere flesh and gore.
He was eaten, and swallowed down into the dragon's throat.
"No..." Nu Wang shook on the spot. "This isn't the ancient dragon. This is... another dragon." The ancient dragon was a legend that prohibited itself from feasting or eating humans. This dragon was not the ancient dragon.
"A malicious dragon." Yi Ran turned pale.
The malicious dragon turned to look at the three couples. Naturally, they did not back down. Why should they back down?
"It's not the ancient dragon," Hua Cheng noticed. "We can kill it."
Xie Lian frowned. "It will take a lot of effort. I can sense that it's strong."
Hua Cheng wanted to coax his lover. Instead, he was instantly knocked off his feet, and sent flying into the nearest boulder—
Author's Little Theatre:
Expectations
Question for Yi Ran: "Why do you want to bring Ping Sha back to life?"
Yi Ran: Of course it's because I love him!
Reality
Question for Yi Ran: "Why do you want to bring Ping Sha back to life?"
Yi Ran: Of course it's so that I can beat him up in person! 💢
Anyways...
Shall we count down to the finale chapter?
Fun fact. You might find this surprising, but the next chapter will be the finale. Bring your chips, and let's enjoy a good show!