Her father...
To Shen Li, this form of address was very unfamiliar to her. Her knowledge of this person only came from a few short descriptions given by the Demon Sovereign. Even before the Demon Sovereign had told her everything, she did not even know that her father was a demon beast.
However, their bloodline was so bewildering. Just standing off to the side, looking at the existence that was so similar to her own true form, Shen Li could fully attest that there was a connection between them.
As that eye floated swayingly towards the sphere of light, he chanted something in a low voice. Suddenly, the sphere of light vibrated.
"Good child, good child."
Liu Ming was so excited that his voice almost cracked.
"You should wake up. Wake up, it's time to go out."
As soon as Shen Li's figure moved, the black energy that was wrapped around her body held her even tighter, so much so that it wrapped around her nose and mouth, making her unable to form a sound.
Suddenly, the sleeping phoenix opened its eyes and a beam of light flashed in the phoenix's eyes. The light swept out from the Ruins of Heavenly Poles to places far away in the distance.
As the iron chains that surrounded the sphere of light trembled, the entire ruins lightly shook, too. Liu Ming gave a fierce smile, his eye was filled with madness.
"Get up, I have already ordered people to replace the remaining four seals. After replacing you, you don't need to be the seal of the Ruins of Heavenly Poles anymore. You will soon be free."
So he was using her to replace her father... Shen Li smiled wryly.
Therefore, even if she refused, she could not even refuse with peace in mind...
The raging flames on the phoenix's plumes were scorching hot. In the sphere of light, it could not spread its wings, but it was not even angry when it was the one being shackled. The raging flames on its body burned so much that it was almost white, so dazzling that Shen Li could not look straight at it.
However, in the blink of an eye, the scorching light diminished. When Shen Li looked back, she saw that the fire phoenix's body had morphed. Its wings slowly turned into arms with five individual fingers, and skin grew on its face, turning into facial features of a human. While the feathers on its body turned into orange-red clothes that were well-fitted like they were sewn close to the body.
As he raised his head, his Adam's apple slid gently within his smooth, contoured neck. Then a very soft sigh came out from his lips.
The breath seemed to carry the heat that had accumulated for thousands of years. It sprayed onto the inner wall of the sphere of light, causing the sphere to suddenly make a "ka-cha" sound.
"Liu Yu..."
Before his eyes even opened, he instinctively called out this name. Then slowly, the blurriness in his eyes became clearer,
"Liu Yu."
Liu Ming slowly floated to the place before him.
"Good boy, look at me."
Only then did Feng Lai's eyes slowly converge and fall on Liu Ming.
Liu Ming was so excited,
"Just wait a little bit, I will release you soon."
"Where is Liu Yu?"
"Liu Yu... Has been dead for a long time."
As Feng Lai's body froze, he quietly lowered his head.
"Dead?"
"Yes."
Liu Ming's voice was so sly,
"Abandoned by the world, died because of the deities, and the person who caused her death is just outside the Ruins of Heavenly Poles..."
"She can't die."
Feng Lai clenched his fists tightly,
"I still haven't made it back yet, how can she die?"
The flames around him flickered, causing the sphere of light to tremble. Shen Li wanted to explain and stop him, but the black energy coiling around her seemed to have exhausted all of her life force, preventing her from budging.
Then the sphere of light split open. Liu Ming's eye was wide open and his voice was shaking violently with excitement.
"Come out, child. Kill the deity out there and avenge Liu Yu, come out!"
As the sphere of light burst completely, Feng Lai was like a mysterious arrow shooting off from the bow, rushing toward one direction. Liu Ming, who was floating before him, was still laughing heartily.
However, the laughter abruptly grunted to a stop. It was because the flames on Feng Lai's body had completely consumed the last remnant of his soul!
In the direction that Feng Lai left, there was only an extremely bright light left in his wake. When Shen Li heard a loud noise in the distance, the light from outside leaked into the dark Ruins of Heavenly Poles.
Then the demon beasts rioted and ran frantically in the direction that Feng Lai had left.
Shocked, Shen Li wanted to rush forward and stop them. However, Fu Sheng stubbornly dragged her and pulled her towards the iron chains.
Shen Li was furious.
"Liu Ming is now dead! Why do you still follow his orders and do such a thing?!"
Approaching the iron chains, Fu Sheng no longer coiled around Shen Li, but the aura of her raging flames immediately attracted those iron chains that proceeded to bind Shen Li's hands and feet like they had self-awareness. As if something was connected to her bloodline, Shen Li only felt her entire body become powerless, as if her strength was drained completely by the iron chains.
The trembling in the Ruins of Heavenly Poles stopped and everything was temporarily quiet. As Fu Sheng was drifting around Shen Li, his voice as if exhausted.
"Congratulations to the Lord on achieving his greatest wish."
However, apart from achieving their wish, they had nothing else left.
"What a bunch of stubborn lunatics."
Shen Li said coldly, only in exchange for Fu Sheng's endless silence.
Outside the Ruins of Heavenly Poles, two figures were fighting against each other. One was extremely cold ice and the other was extremely hot fire. With every mutual collison, the force created a tremor between heaven and earth every time.
All of a sudden, the red figure abruptly stopped attacking. With a wave of the divine sword in the deity in white's hand, Feng Lai was knocked down from midair and made a big hole in the ground. However, before the dust even settled, Xing Zhi pursued and attacked. Within the misty yellow sand, the force of the fighting between the two figures tore a huge fissure in the earth.
Meanwhile behind the two of them, although the Ruins of Heavenly Poles had stopped collapsing, the gate was still open and the demon beasts inside were rushing outside, carrying sinister expressions.
However, it was like they were blocked by some invisible force and could not escape. At that time, when Xing Zhi had temporarily formed the enchantment barrier, he had already blocked thousands of demon beasts by himself, and then he began to fight against Feng Lai by himself, too. He was already at his limit.
Then, when Xing Zhi was fighting against Feng Lai, a demon beast suddenly clawed the enchantment barrier with its sharp talons.
Suddenly, a tiny hole broke through the enchantment barrier!
Without a change in his expression, Xing Zhi just waved his hand in the air and the crack in the enchantment barrier became whole again.
However, it was just in this moment of delay, Feng Lai's extremely eye-catching longsword suddenly attacked. Xing Zhi raised his sword to block, but he did not block the strike in time and the sharp sword with the poisonous flames slashed directly at Xing Zhi's shoulder, and his blood gushed out.
This was already a serious injury, but he did not even frown and went from defensive to offensive, forcing Feng Lai to retreat.
As the poisonous flames burned on his shoulder, Xing Zhi conjured the Water Prohibition Technique in his left hand.
He covered the wound, extinguished the flames, and stopped the bleeding. However, by the time he finished doing these things, Feng Lai had disappeared, going who knows where when he looked up again.
Xing Zhi frowned, there was no time to pursue him right now. When his head turned back, the demon beasts in the Ruins of Heavenly Poles were struggling to get out.
Xing Zhi knew that behind them, in the darkness of the ruins, Shen Li was still there.
He put the divine sword away and walked towards the Ruins of Heavenly Poles. However, even with such a slight movement, the wound on his shoulder opened again and the blood soaked a major part of his clothes.
Xing Zhi simply recovered the wound and re-conjured the Water Prohibition Technique to stop the bleeding.
Standing in front of the Ruins of Heavenly Poles, the demon beasts inside all carried a sinister expression. They were full of resentment as if they wanted to swallow him up. As he looked up at them, his gaze was frosty.
"If you don't want to die, get out of the way."
He stopped looking at them. As his eyes gazed in front of him, with each step, he entered the enchantment barrier.
The demon beasts that were crowding at the gate, temporarily scurried off to the side to make way for him, letting Xing Zhi to amble slowly into the dark depths of the Ruins of Heavenly Poles. In the darkness, a slightly-built demon beast saw that there was a wound on Xing Zhi's right shoulder, so it quietly hid behind him.
When he walked by, it suddenly rushed forward, but no one saw how Xing Zhi made his move. When they all came back to themselves, that demon beast had already turned into mincemeat, hovering in the ruins and turning into ashes.
No other demon beast dared to advance toward him again.
All the demon beasts were crowding the gate of the Ruins of Heavenly Poles. Therefore, the deeper he went, the quieter the place became. And when he saw a place where there was a faint firelight, there was only a lone figure dangling on the iron chains.
"Shen Li."
He called out softly.
The person whose eyes were closed in resting mode opened her eyes. He was standing too far away, and the flames on Shen Li's body could not illuminate him.
Shen Li smiled.
"You're late. The guys who plotted against us and harmed us, not one of them is left. We got rid of them with our own hands."
Just a moment before Xing Zhi's arrival, Fu Sheng, who was only a remnant of black energy, had turned into ashes and disappeared into the endless darkness of the Ruins of Heavenly Poles.
When Xing Zhi slowly walked toward her, only then did Shen Li see the injury on his shoulder. Alarmed, her expression sank.
"He... Injured you?"
Xing Zhi reached out and stroked her cheek, but the blood on his hand was inadvertently smeared onto her face. Seeing her smeared face, Xing Zhi smiled.
"Yes, I was badly beaten by my father-in-law. Then my father-in-law ran away."
Unable to laugh, Shen Li was silent for a while, and then she sighed.
"Just now, I was only imprisoned here for a short time, I felt lonely and uncomfortable. There was nothing around me, it was like losing all of my five senses, even for myself, I don't know if I'm alive or dead. This experience is really unpleasant. To think that he was imprisoned here for over a thousand years..."
Xing Zhi lowered his hand and asked softly.
"Do you blame me?"
It was he who established the Ruins of Heavenly Poles. It was he who imprisoned Feng Lai as the Seal of Fire for a thousand years of his life. And now, it was because of this that Shen Li had to suffer such a tragedy and was used as a substitute...
"Blame? Maybe just a little bit."
As Xing Zhi's throat tightened, he lowered his eyes. Shen Li's hands and feet were trapped, but when she saw Xing Zhi like this, she gave a quick smile and rubbed her head against his chin.
"I'm just expressing my personal feelings."
"Do you think that I, Shen Li, am such an idiot who can't see the situation clearly?"
Shen Li said,
"From your point of view, what you did is understandable. Let's change positions, if I stood in the same position as you back then, then I would only do the same thing as you. You took on your responsibilities, did what you had to do, and like a hero, you saved so many people. You are the most amazing deity in this world."
Touched, Xing Zhi reached out and took a hold of Shen Li's head, pressing her head onto his uninjured shoulder.
"In this long life of mine, it is my greatest luck to meet someone like you, Shen Li."
Shen Li was silent, she knew that he still had something to say. Facing today's situation, there had to be a definitive answer. As expected, after a while, Xing Zhi patted her on the back and said.
"Shen Li, I..."
"I will be with you."
Shen Li said,
"No matter what, I will always be with you."
For a moment, Xing Zhi was stunned, and then he nodded and chuckled.
"Okay."