.
Back at the present, Yin Long smiled a bit fondly.
"At the time, Zhao LanFen assumed I wanted her to avenge the Shadow clan, because I told her as much. But in truth, my life had simply become empty, after Lien's death.
"Until that stubborn disciple of mine, invaded my home." "And besides..." He turned his attention back to Yun Qin. "Zhao LanFen and I, had the same enemy..."
"Though she doesn't know it, LanFen's ultimate enemy is none other than this person before me."
"Yin Long, I'm not your enemy." Yun Qin countered. "Humans are the enemy. I don't seek to turn the world upside down. The world is already upside down. I'm merely placing it the right way up.
"You refused to understand me, back then, though I explained it time and time again, and you even corrupted Lien into doing such a thing...
"However, I will try yet again to explain it." He placed his hands behind his back, and elegantly paced before them.
"In the past, do you recall those long and blissful days? The years before the demon war?"
Zhao ZhuYong's and Shuǐ ChangSheng's neck had whipped sharply towards themselves again...
'Before the demon war?!'
'How old are these demons?!'
Yun Qin continued to speak. "The disease that was humans crawled on the earth's surface even then, far too greedy for the world to handle..." He sighed and shook his head from side to side, like he was explaining to a small child.
"The greed and ambition of humans grew and grew to an immeasurable high, and isn't that still the case in these times? Even now, the Sects are filled with so much greed, that it was too easy for me to slither in and gain control over most of Xin Dao."
Yin Long, "You insult humans, and yet you've been using them to do your bidding for thousands of years?"
Yun Qin, "Of course. One may detest the mindlessness of his own cattle, but won't hesitate to use them to plough his fields. I told you back then... Why lift a finger, when they can do every thing themselves?"
Yin Long, "So you still intend breed hatred and groom choas? You've been preparing Shuǐ YanXuan to challenge me, but that's not your ultimate goal.
"After he succeeds, you will reveal everything he has done to the world, and the Clan Leaders would no longer accept him as High Grandmaster. Which will lead to a massive conflict in Xin Dao. You want to start a war."
Yun Qin rose an eyebrow and smiled, giving a brief glimpse of Shuǐ JunHo's usual youthful air. "A war is exactly what I need."
He struck without warning, sending a dense ray of light toward Yin Long, but Yin Long raised a hand, and a large qi shield blocked the attack.
Shuǐ ChangSheng and Zhao ZhuYong instinctively used their arms to shield against the sheer force of aura, but luckily, they were still encased within the white shield Yin Long had initially used to protect them.
Yun Qin had appeared behind Yin Long, wielding a long black sword, which again, looked far too similar to LanFen's own, but as he attacked Yin Long, his sword was met with another sword, and the two clashed.
The ensuing force was unbelievable.
The floor dented beneath their feet, spreading outward in a spiral quake of destruction. A fierce wind blew about, sending several people flying, regardless of their side.
"Run! Flee quickly!" Wei Zhu Qing ordered her cultivators, and most other Clan Leaders did the same.
Ming Shen Zhu hurriedly carried his twin away from harm, and most of the Alliance struggled to assist anyone who couldn't escape on their own.
Wei Zhu Qing and her opponent had leapt away to continue their battle elsewhere, and again, the rest followed suit, as the initial battle shifted a good distance away from the abyss.
Even the white shield that had been protecting Zhao ZhuYong and Shuǐ ChangSheng, quaked around them, and Zhao ZhuYong hastily leapt away with his friend.
Yin Long shifted his foot slightly, and held his free hand in a seal. A giant Yin-yang appeared beneath them, and Yun Qin hastily leapt away, as numerous swords emerged from the large symbol, and began to attack Yun Qin.
Shuǐ ChénLín's illusory Swords were no where on the level of these ones, and though Yun Qin found them a bit easy to block or destroy, even he didn't seem to be taking them lightly.
While Yun Qin fought off the illusory swords, Yin Long appeared before Zhao ZhuYong and Shuǐ ChangSheng. "You two... I will leave this to you." He said, holding out his palm.
A bright blue wisp of smoke appeared, hovering above his palm for a moment, and then floating over to them.
"My ice seal is within LanFen, so this will lead you to where she is. Go and bring her back!" And with that, he locked them within a qi shield, which blocked out the sights and sounds of the battle.
Zhao ZhuYong and Shuǐ ChangSheng felt the shield lift of the floor, and in the next instant, they were speeding toward the abyss...
.
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Meanwhile, deep in the abyss, LanFen took a deep breath, then stepped into the gaping cave. The light talismans followed at her direction, but only a few steps in, and they completely vanished, leaving her in abject darkness.
More surprising, Shushu's aura had completely disappeared. "Shushu!" She called out several times, but to no response.
She was suddenly filled with fear, and took an automatic step backwards, but in that moment,
"Zhao LanFen!!" The familiar voice called out to her, and she swivelled instantly.
"Zhao LanFen!!" Shuǐ ChénLín's voice came again, and LanFen moved without realizing it.
She found herself encircled in his arms. "Shuǐ Chén!" She pulled away, then felt for his face in the dark, checking if he was fine. "How did you get here? Did Elder Shuǐ throw you into the Abyss?!!"
Several light blue orbs flared to life around them like fireflies, bathing them both in a soft light, and LanFen noticed Shuǐ ChénLín was staring down at her with a furious expression.
He had dived into the deep abyss, but had easily floated down to the ground.
Since his transformation, his senses had become impossibly heightened, and the first thing be had smelled, had been the overwhelming scent of LanFen's blood.
He had fallen to his knees, and he felt the familiar wave of pain that had washed over him at the top of the abyss.
In that pain, he had began to transform again, but this time, he caught himself.
He quickly controlled the powers and rose to his feet, refusing to assume the worst, and as if to encourage him, he felt the first flicker of LanFen's aura.
He followed the same instincts that had led him to Luo Abyss, and they had led him to a certain place.
He had disappeared and reappeared to find himself a small distance from the odd gaping cave, just in time to see LanFen step into it with Shushu.
And here he was, after following her in.
"Zhao LanFen!" Shuǐ ChénLín thundered, and his irises flashed a bright white. "How dare you do such a stupid thing?! Do you believe I will live, if anything happens to you?
"Will that be considered 'Living'? Let me tell you, if you do something like this again, I will follow you instantly, so your sacrifice will be a waste!"
He pulled LanFen back into his embrace, hugging her as if she might disappear any second. "And how can you just enter such a forbidding looking place?! Your lack of fear is a problem!!!"
Tears rolled down LanFen's eyes, beyond her control.
At the instant she had leapt into the abyss, she had been filled with so much pain and regret, so holding Shuǐ ChénLín like this, was like breathing after nearly drowning. "I'm Sorry." She said simply.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and possessively, and their eyes fluttered closed in the soft light of the blue orbs.
And because their eyes were shut, they didn't notice that Shubi had appeared again, hovering beside them. The sword glowed, and the jade pendant around LanFen's neck responded.
Before long, the light from the two items had filled the cave with bright light, which engulfed Shuǐ ChénLín and LanFen.
A sudden warmth was what made Shuǐ ChénLín and LanFen to open their eyes, and they found themselves surrounded by the bright light of day.
Instead of the dark, dark walls of the cave, the were, out in the open on a luscious green cliff, surrounded by beautiful flowers
They looked around to find an extremely beautiful young woman, with long flowing dark hair, dressed in dazzling red robes.
LanFen didn't know who the woman was, but one look at her face made her turn to Shuǐ ChénLín, who had gone completely still.
"Mother." He quietly said, confirming LanFen's suspicion.
But wasn't Lady Lien a thousands year old demon, with long pure white hair?
Why did the person before them, look and feel completely human...?
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* Beginning of the Origin Arc!
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At the bottom of the abyss, the shield with Shuǐ ChangSheng and Zhao ZhuYong had approached a certain cave, and it suddenly opened.
But rather than the darkness of night, it was daylight...
One second, it had been dark, and Shuǐ ChangSheng had been thinking of Lien, and in the next instant, she had appeared right in front of him.
She looked the same as always, except that she was dressed in dazzling red robes, which seemed to glow in the bright sunlight.
Lien's hair was also a rich and long black, as opposed to the pure white hair they had known her with.
She had turned to look at Shuǐ ChangSheng with sheer love and admiration on her features, and she ran towards him.
"A-Lien!" He called to her, opening his arms wide, ready to receive her, but the weight he expected to feel, never came, and she passed right through him, into the arms of a youthful young man, who had been waiting to receive her in much the same way.
Zhao ZhuYong placed a comforting hand on Shuǐ ChangSheng's shoulder. "I'm not sure how we got to this place, but I think this is just a memory..." He said simply, and after a sigh, they both turned to watch.
"Master Yun! I feared you wouldn't return!" She hit him several times. "You suddenly disappeared so close to our wedding, so I feared something had happened! Should I never see you again?!"
'Master Yun?' They both thought.
As they watched, the young man's eyes had lit up. "Heh! Even if you leave, won't I follow you?" He planted a fast kiss on her lips, then leapt out of her reach.
"You-!!" Lien pointed furiously at him, and proceeded to chase him around.
After a while, he turned suddenly and let her catch him, but he lifted her into the air and spun around in dizzying circles.
They both laughed as he spun, till they collapsed onto the soft grass, still laughing. The young man was dressed in all white, which contrasted Lien's blood-red robes, and made them resemble two blossoming flowers amid the green grassy field.
As Shuǐ ChangSheng watched them, he was filled with immense sadness, as his own memories of Lien overlapped, like waves covering other waves...
Yun Qin took Lien's hand, then pulled her into his arms. "Have I been forgiven?" He asked.
"Maybe." Lien replied, shyly fiddling with one of the locks of her long hair, which hung down the sides of her face. "It depends on why you disappeared?"
'Say anything, but don't say you've changed your mind!' She thought.
Shuǐ ChangSheng and Zhao ZhuYong looked at each other, surprised that they had clearly heard Lien's thoughts, and had even felt a mild rush of her panic.
"Er..." Yun Qin had forrowed his brows and thought, 'I can't tell Lien-er about my journey yet!'
Again, Shuǐ ChangSheng and Zhao ZhuYong had heard his thoughts, which was surprising. Wasn't this one person's memory?
Yun sat up suddenly, and he held out his palm to Lien. A beautiful Jade dragon pendent appeared, glistening in the sunlight. "I went to get you this!" He lied. "It's a special Jade pendant, none like it in the world!"
Lien scoffed, then brought out an identical pendant. "Ha! Brother Yin Long handed this to me just last week, since I was looking for you!"
"Ei?!" Yun Qin was obviously flustered, as he scratched the back of his head. "Ehehehe, wear this one instead!" He quickly put the pendant around her neck. Don't part with it."
"Why will I accept yours, when Yin Long gifted me his before you did?" She asked, but made no move to take off Yun Qin's own pendant. "Tell me, didn't he find it before you?"
"Tch! That disloyal disciple of mine! I owned both of them, and gave him one of such a precious item, but he gave it away?!"
"Ah, so you gave it to him first? Master Yun, you have plenty of love to go around." She rose to her feet and dusted her robes.
"Er... Lien-er... Lien-er! It's because it's something only useful to demons! Where are you going?" But she ignored him, and begun flying away.
"Lien-er!" Yun Qin had hastily followed, their laughter filling the skies as he chased after her.
Zhao ZhuYong turned to look at Shuǐ ChangSheng, who was still visibly shaken, as it had been a bit like watching his wife with another man...
"Shuǐ Chang, did you know Yun Lien was once human?" Zhao ZhuYong asked.
"I didn't know anything." He replied a bit sadly, unable to help the tears that formed in his eyes.
Zhao ZhuYong placed a consoling hand on his friend's shoulder again. "Shuǐ Chang, these might be a memory far older than we realize... A memory even Lien probably wasn't aware of.
"You realize that this 'Master Yun' fellow she was with, is currently the same 'Yun Qin' within Shuǐ JunHo's body, don't you?"
His voice was the same, and even his aura was the same, but unlike the fierce and deadly aura they had felt at Luo abyss, this Yun Qin's aura was warm and mild... Untainted by whatever had driven him to his current state.
Zhao ZhuYong continued. "Shuǐ Chang. We're not sure what this place is, but it might be a spiritual record of events, since we can even feel and hear a few thoughts of those in it.
"Either way, we might unravel worse things in this place, so make your heart firm. Don't belittle the Lien you knew. Don't let anything taint your own precious memories with the version of Yun Lien you Loved!"
Meanwhile, completely unaware of their presence, LanFen and Shuǐ ChénLín also stood not far from them, having just experienced the same memory.
'Ah, this was the origin of the jade pendant. Turns out there were two of them?' Shuǐ ChénLín thought, feeling a bit numb, but he smiled down at LanFen, as her hand entered his, and squeezed tightly.
All four stood in silence, two unaware of two, but shortly after that, the scene changed again, taking the four back to an even older time, when a beautifully dressed demon, found a human infant in a field of lilies...
.
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Once there was a Sage who lived atop a high mountain.
The Sage had walked a righteous path, cutting off all temptations, and he cultivated till he was in the Light Realm.
The Sage was all alone, but he had a friend of sorts, a demon who hated humans, but loved the sage.
"*Lao Sheng! I've come to spend the day with you!" Yun the demon often said, whenever he appeared in his pure white robes.
*Old man Sheng, or 'old sage'
Yun usually held up four large gourds of wine, which swung from an adjoining rope, and which he would likely end up drinking all by himself.
This particular day, Yun brought five gourds of wine.
"Wine clouds the mind and obscures clarity..." The Sage always replied. "What mischief brings you this way again?"
"Do not be so set in your ways..." Yun replied, fanning the scent of the wine towards the sage. "I found something a short distance away, and I brought it to you."
He disappeared and reappeared shortly, holding a small bundle. It was a new born infant he had found.
"I detest you humans, so I briefly considered putting it out of its Misery... But I remembered you're a lonely old geezer, so I brought it to keep you company!"
The Sage scowled at him. "If you detest humans, stop showing your face here! I'm human! And besides, I don't need such a distraction around!"
Still the Sage's hand automatically pointed. "Drop it in that corner there!"
"Lao Sheng! I knew you wouldn't abandon a baby! I even brought an extra gourd of wine to celebrate!"
And that was how a lonely sage, and a human-hating demon, came to raise a human child from nowhere.
"I will name you Lien, after the rare 'Blood Lotus', which is hidden somewhere on this mountain." The Sage decided.
"How boring!" Yun protested. "Might as well name her Baihe, since I found her in a field of Lilies!"
But Lien it was, and Lien it remained.
Years and Years passed as Lien grew, and she followed in the Sage's footsteps, focusing on her cultivation.
Yun, who never wanted to draw close to her, suddenly found himself coming to the mountain more frequently, at least once or twice, every three months.
Lien had learned to expect him, and she eagerly anticipated his return, waiting for his usual flurry of pure white robes to appear.
After his arrival, he usually patted Lien on the head, then handed her some candy. Then he trained with her as well, teaching her many different styles.
Like the sage, Lien fought with a flute. The flute brought forth a shower of beautiful red petals, which flew around doing her bidding.
As a child, that 'bidding' included attaching themselves to Yun's face, mimicking a bizarre red beard and moustache, which made them both laugh!
Yun also patiently taught Lien about the many rare herbs of the mountain, and taught her numerous healing techniques.
Perhaps because of Lien's name, she fell into a cave when she was ten, and discovered the long lost 'Blood Lotus' of the mountain.
"Ho? How Lucky!" Yun helped her preserve it, so she could carry it wherever she went. "This is a special qiankun pouch, that can preserve small living items.
"*Xiao Lien, this blood lotus can heal any ailment under the heavens, but you should not waste it... A petal will disappear each time it's used, and it will be useless when they are all gone."
*Little Lien.
By the time Lien was seventeen, she had already become a cultivator and healer.
This was because Yun had trained her through the years, by bringing numerous pigs for her to practice on.
"I've infected this pig with an ailment." Yun usually said. "In two days, I want you to identify it and cure it."
This left Lien in a mad scramble to identify what Yun had done to the pig, whether the pig showed any symtoms, and what could cure it.
Lien failed so many times!
But though Yun showed mild displeasure, he would patiently explain.
"Pigs and humans would react differently to a so called ailment, but whatever causes an ailment, would react the same way with certain herbs.
"The sage possesses numerous scrolls and writings, and I've brought a large number of scrolls for you... I expected you to pour the pig's blood on certain herbs, then cross reference how it reacts with what you already know, or what is in the scrolls." He would usually flick her forehead after that.
Either way, after such hellish training, Lien became a healer without even seeing any humans, except for herself and the sage!
Yun also taught her to hunt the lesser demons on the mountain, and had her practice her cultivation with them.
Her innocent red petal shower had turned deadly, and though the petals looked harmless and beautiful, they could be the softest or sharpest things on the earth.
Once, on Yun's direction, Lien had used them to skewer a whole large tree into tiny shavings of wood, all in a minute!
But now that Lien was seventeen, she desired to explore the world, as she wondered what lay beyond the mountain.
"There's nothing to see out there. You should remain here and focus on cultivation." The Sage had said, and Yun nodded in agreement.
"You should listen to the old geezer. The world away from here, is no place for you." He flicked her nose, earning himself her displeased scowl.
But Yun just grinned at her.
"Xiao Lien! You've become disrespectful... You used to chase me around, calling me 'Uncle! uncle!', but the other day, you even referred to me as 'the wine-drinking loaf', and now you glare at me like this?! Lao sheng! Our *'thousand gold' is turning out to be cheap bronze!!"
* daughters were referred to as to 'thousand gold'
Lien couldn't help beaming at him. She was not sure why, but it had gotten increasingly hard to refer to Yun as her 'Uncle'.
This was likely because her sole experience was limited to just two men... The Sage grew older and older each day, but Yun had never one changed, and he now looked less than ten years older than she was.
Yun patted her head, same as always. "Listen to the old man, and don't go anywhere..." He advised, before disappearing in a flurry of his usual white robes.
Being obedient to the sage, Lien abandoned all thought of leaving the mountain, and she grew her skills.
However, the Sage eventually died, and Lien and Yun grieved him.
"Has the owner of the nest flown off, never to return?" Yun was pouring a cup of liquor, and he placed it by the Sage's funeral plaque. "Lao Sheng, I was your greatest distraction, but you were my greatest companion..."
After a small and simple funeral, Yun rose to leave, but Lien clutched his sleeve.
No spoken words were necessary, as he had learned to read Lien over the years.
He sighed.
"Xiao Lien, if you are to accompany me, you have to promise never to leave my side. You also will not interfere in any human matter I tell you to avoid... Will you do as I say?"
"Umh."
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