The two palace maids knelt in silence in front of the woman garbed in red. The woman looked young, not looking any older than twenty, her face was flawless and her expression was delicate. However, as her long fingers raked across one of the maids' cheeks, drawing a thin line of blood, one could see the chill in her eyes.
What was also peculiar, was the bleeding maid's expression; there was not the slightest ripple in her unflinching gaze, as tiny drops of blood drew from her thin open wound.
The woman in the regal red robe and the two kneeling maids looked at each other, each one of them looking as stoic and frosty as the other. No words had been spoken between them ever since the woman summoned both maids over into her room.
"What a stupid girl." Qing Lian sighed, her hands carressing with the black threads oozing off the maids' bodies. Those threads were only visible to her.
The threads, the malice; her liberation, was her eyes in the world. Who would have known; she had spent and wasted so much time seeking favour from her ex-Shifu, her ex – martial brothers, the Royal Princes... . All in pursuit of the ultimate power, where she would stand above all and no longer suffer.
Of course, one's way to seek the pinnacle of the world was to continue to cultivate the Dao, but she was not stupid to proceed through that painful path. She knew her talent was subpar. Even back in Hui Lin sect, if she did not receive so many favours from her martial brothers, she would not have been able to even reach her rank of Martial-Artist. Those brothers – especially Ao Xiang – doted on her a lot and gave her precious pills and herbs to aid in her cultivation.
But for her, to be liberated by this so-called malice, totally defeated the arduous path of Dao cultivation.
The maids had just returned from their daily observing task in the city. From other Daemons like them, they received news of Zuo Shan'er and the incoming Yin maiden from Ping sect.
Qing Lian knew, it would be far too dangerous to let Ji YuLan come close. It was one thing for the Yin maiden to sense the malice in her; but an entirely different ball game if she brought along a lot of beast-masters. Qing Lian's mortal body was not adequate to be the perfect vessel of malice, she was still vulnerable to purifying fire.
Which is why she had been laying low in the Imperial Palace, expending her effort to liberate her ultimate protector.
Zuo JinLong.
A very obstinate old man. Despite her effort to corrode his Dantians, directly invading his qi flow as they tumbled in the sheets almost every night, the man was still very much his old-self.
If anything, he became more muddled, but not exactly in a way that Qing Lian wanted. She was the Empress in the shadows and Zuo JinLong never gave her a coronation ceremony – not that she really wanted one. She just wanted to stay hidden until her blessing was strong enough to control Zuo JinLong, the Dynasty, and finally even the cultivation world.
She now had the Emperor's sole affection though, as his harem of women became her puppets. All but one: she had sent Lady Mei Gui away as soon as she arrived in Imperial City years ago. Zuo JinLong did not object much either. For her, it was best to not have that particular concubine in the same vicinity as herself. Lady Mei Gui had seen and interacted with her before in Hui Lin sect; if they were to meet each other, Lady Mei Gui would definitely be able to identity her and might become her hindrance, especially since her influence on Zuo JinLong was not as strong yet.
A eunuch outside announced the Emperor's arrival with his shrill effeminate voice, causing the two maids to finally let out a semblance of human emotion. Their expressions quickly turned humble as they docilely stood to one side.
The Emperor did not spare a glance at the two maids, and went straight towards the woman, a tender smile on his face,
"Ying-er."
The woman's lips twitched slightly, but she gracefully put her hands on the Emperor's upturned palms. As the two of them exchanged pleasantries and looked every bit a loving couple, the woman laid her head on his shoulder, tracing her fingers on the dragon embroidery on his robe,
"JinLong," She whispered softly, with a touch of coy. She had learnt a lot during their time together. Zuo JinLong always saw someone else in her; along the way, she learnt how to speak, how to adjust her gestures and expressions to be the person he always tried to see in her.
She did not care though. The man was powerful, his Dantian was solid and his qi was a comfortable fire. As she adjusted to his wavelength, she could invade him easier.
It would just be a matter of time, Qing Lian was convinced of it. For one that was as powerful and greedy as Zuo JinLong, his 'want' must not be ordinary as well. Also taking into account that he was practically a stone's throw away from being a Sage, it was a given that liberating him would not be an easy task.
"You have always been a good woman, Ying-er" Zuo JinLong rasped, his hands already removing the red robes that were the barrier between him and what he was seeking for.
Soon, the woman in front of him stood bashfully, her dainty hands tried to cover her bosom and the porcelain nakedness of her skin. Zuo JinLong beckoned for her to get closer, and the woman knowingly removed his own robes.
Soon, he was whispering her name into her ears, as he made love to her, her skin feeling softer than the silk sheet underneath the both of them.
Qing Lian, in between her moans and her heart that was filled with raging comforting fire, no longer cared about Zuo Shan'er, or that the name she kept hearing coming out of Zuo JinLong's hot lips was never hers.
The maids had long gone; one of them – the one that bore a thin red line on her cheek, steadily made her way outside the Palace. Her initially vacant eyes turned expressive as her lips were pulled into a smile. She had just been given a gift from her Mistress from their initial meeting. The blessing inside of her had been strengthened, causing her to be able to spread it to as many people as she wished.
It might not be as potent as Zuo Shan'er's – after all, the Princess had been liberated for a long while and the blessing in her had been strengthened with the flow of time. Nevertheless, by liberating the young maid and ordering her to go out of the Palace, she knew that the Mistress wanted her to impede Zuo Shan'er from reaching the Imperial City.
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The stronghold of Lingdi – the last major military town that protected the Imperial City – might as well be Daemons town. Shen Wei and Ao Xiang stood back to back with their heaving chests. Shen Wei had his 'Wei Feng' gripped tightly in his arms, while Ao Xiang concentrated in maintaining his Fire Phoenix.
Another soldier in armor – a Daemon that attacked with his claws instead of his saber – leapt towards Ao Xiang, and Shen Wei grimly cut the soldier's head off.
He had lost count of how many people he had killed. Most of them were soldiers, and knowing the military might of Zuo Dynasty, these men should have been Martial-Artists, or low levelled Enlighteneds. However, although he was himself an upper ranked Enlightened, he was not able to gauge those soldiers' cultivations. Combined with their limbs that were somehow longer and their claws as sharp as a shards of metal, Shen Wei and his friends had quickly realized that those soldiers had turned into Daemons.
Not far from him, Zuo ZhouLei, Xiao Zi, and Zhen Zhu were protecting Lu Bing and a handful of beast-masters whose Fire Phoenixes were kept busy purifying in all directions they could manage.
Zuo Shan'er had led them to Lingdi, which was the only route to be taken if they were to proceed to the Imperial City. Despite their initial doubt in the Princess, they quickly realized that she was correct, if not more than they were comfortable with. Their greeting as they stepped into town was to be attacked by a group of ragged townspeople. If they did not have previous experience encountering Daemons before, they might have thought those people were merely crazy beggars. But as they cut one down, more came, and soon they realized that the town was already forsaken, even before they arrived.
Being caught off-guard, one beast-master of their group had been killed. The surviving beast-masters immediately summoned their Fire Phoenixes, but the birds could only purify so many people, and they had no choice but to try to kill the rest, trying to minimize the casualties to as little townspeople as possible.
Shen Wei could only curse himself for his stupidity. Knowing that Lingdi was a stronghold town, and that the soldiers' cultivation should have been able to be sensed a mile away, he should have been able to tell that something was amiss when he could not sense any Martial-Artists or Enlightenedss in town.
He and Ao Xiang had both burnt their only communication talisman, to carry the grave message to their sects to ask for aid.
Behind their line of defense, Zuo Shan'er stammered,
"No... no... . I have not done anything... . Why is this town so overrun? There should only be a couple... ."
"What?" Shen Wei shouted in between clangs of his blade and the never-ending attacking soldiers. One of them got too close to Zuo Shan'er and Shen Wei jumped closer to protect her, his back facing her as he shielded her.
Zuo Shan'er trembled. These people were clearly Daemons and should be doing her bidding. But why was she also being attacked? She clearly had not blessed these people and soldiers, but they should be able to tell that she was above them – she was a carrier after all, one of their Masters, so to speak.
But even though she was a carrier, she did not have the ability to defend herself. Even Qing Lian herself did not have a sudden surge of cultivation breakthrough after she was liberated. Such was the nature of the blessing: one could either be the carrier, and somewhat retained their memories and personalities; or they could be normal Daemons that might be stronger than even a Sage, but losing the slightest trait of humanity, driven by their lust and 'want's.
Her red-rimmed eyes darted from the Wu Shan sect's senior disciple's protective back, and towards Zuo ZhouLei who was currently too far for her to reach.
She bit her lips and decided to bless Shen Wei. For now, she needed a protector. With Zuo ZhouLei to be blessed later as well, she could have two protectors.
She concentrated the recoiling energy inside her and she waited for the right opportunity to touch Shen Wei's exposed wrist as he moved about. Her eyes glinted as her fingers nimbly reached out and concentrated the black silky threads to flow from her fingers onto Shen Wei's skin that was only a touch away.
However, what happened next was out of her expectation. As soon as her fingers lightly touched Shen Wei's sword gripping hand as he blocked yet another attack for her, her whole body recoiled backwards, as if he had attacked her instead. Her eyes widened in shock, and her brain could only register the scorching pain on the tips of her fingers that had made contact with Shen Wei before.
As if her thin skin had been sliced with a knife.
She recoiled backwards suddenly, as of burnt by fire, and it caused Shen Wei to also be surprised. He did not even feel her touch before; with the anguished expression on her face, he could only guess that a Daemon had somehow gotten to Zuo Shan'er.
Ao Xiang immediately summoned the Earth Tortoise to protect Zuo Shan'er whose face was now deathly pale as she tried to swallow back the blood already clawing up her throat. Her eyes widened in horror though, as she saw Shen Wei concernedly got closer to her. She shifted her body furthee to avoid his touch, causing Shen Wei to frown.
"I-I am alright." She randomly pointed at a townperson-Daemon nearby, "That person managed to hit me when you were not looking."
Shen Wei pursed his lips and felt irate at his inability to sense the Daemons' presence, "Stay inside the barrier. Don't go anywhere."
Zuo Shan'er forced a smile. The Earth Tortoise's barrier was a prison for her anyway; unless the summoner released the barrier, she would not be able to escape from within.
Zuo ZhouLei soon joined Shen Wei to fend off more Daemons. The Enlighteneds of their group were still holding strong, but the Martial-Artists had visibly gotten tired as their movements slowed down. They had been fighting for almost the whole day without rest. Soon, either they would become Daemon fodders, or Lingdi would not have anymore living people left. They did not even have the chance to check the city to see if there were any normal people left.
Although Zuo ZhouLei wanted to lend his own qi to Ao Xiang to strengthen the Fire Phoenix, he also had to fight.
"Lei... ." Zuo Shan'er weakly called out, "I am hurt."
"Didn't you just say you were alright before?" Shen Wei was vexed. His precious Shidi had better things to do than babysit a Princess, no matter how valuable she was in sensing a Daemon. Instead, wasn't their whole current predicament because Zuo Shan'er had directed them to this place? Such a dangerous place that not only he might perish, but Zuo ZhouLei might also be impacted.
Shen Wei was perplexed at his own thought. He had always thought of Zuo ZhouLei as his most precious brother, but never really had to think about how important the latter was for him. Wu Shan sect had always been peaceful and the both of them had grown into adulthood and cultivated with little worries. The only headache Shen Wei had was when Zuo ZhouLei returned from his 'picking-the-red-lotus' mission with bits of amnesia and stagnation on cultivation. But now that they were faced with death, Shen Wei really wanted to just escape with their lives.
To hell with this whole Daemon issue and the living humans in Lingdi, who might still be cowering in their houses somewhere, waiting for their rescue.
Besides, what was Zuo Shan'er playing at? Shen Wei himself knew that Zuo ZhouLei had no one else in his mind except the Yin maiden Ji YuLan, who was also his friend.
Now, if one was to ask him to choose between Zuo Shan'er and Ji YuLan, Shen Wei would definitely throw his dice in the latter's basket. Though at the moment, he disliked Ji YuLan just a little, because of her disappearance for more than eight solid years. Did she want to be an old wrinkly woman before she re-appears in front of them again?
He quickly shook his head off his useless mundane thoughts as he cut off yet another Daemon's head. Now even his grip began to feel numb.
Zuo ZhouLei sighed and was just ignoring his DaShixiong and Zuo Shan'er as he parried another attack. However, he suddenly paused and looked towards a distance. In fact, Shen Wei and Ao Xiang also paused and looked towards the same direction that he was looking at.
"Zuo BingTan's qi!" Ao Xiang exclaimed.
"And Zuo JinHai!" Shen Wei and Zuo ZhouLei said in unison, both feeling elated, "They must have recovered. And the other person's qi... seem to be Cao Lu's!"
Zhen Zhu's and Xiao Zi's faces brightened at the mention of their DaShijie's name. They were only low-ranked Enlighteneds and could not clearly distinguish the higher-ranked cultivators' qi. However, as they honed their senses, they could sense three strong familiar qi coming their way.
And as everyone looked at each other, feeling a mixture of relief and delight as their spirits surged because of the arrival of their friends, they also felt a fourth qi. None of them could tell who the powerful qi belonged to, it was a crushing pressure that could easily suffocate lower ranked cultivators.
"For heaven's sakes, what have you gotten yourselves into?!" Cao Lu's bellowing scream was heard way before they actually saw her actual figure. However, soon they could see her white-robed figure stained in red, as she battled her way through the never-ending Daemons. To her left and her right, Zuo BingTan and Zuo JinHai swung their swords nimbly and with sharpness as if they had not been badly hurt just days ago.
But the most striking figure was not the three siblings that fought as if they were generals summoned from hell, but the white-robed Asura that had suddenly leapt from behind them, cutting through a thick-armored soldier that almost flanked Cao Lu's turning body as the latter fended another attack.
If Cao Lu's white robe was already decorated with stains of blood from her sword's victims, the woman's white dress was as if it had a natural repellent against such filth. She leapt and thrusted her thin long sword with precision and agility that could not be seen with the naked eye.
All Zuo ZhouLei could see though, was her burning gaze as the woman's lustrous eyes were fixated towards his group, still separated from the four newcomers by a swarm of Daemons. Her eyes darted quickly from one person to another, searching.
Then, even as chaos befell, nothing else mattered apart from that tiny smile he saw on her lips, as she finally laid her eyes on him. A triumphant smile, as if she had set her eyes on a priceless treasure.
Zuo ZhouLei felt that today – setting the fact that he was in Lingdi with a horde of Daemons – was one of the best days in his life.
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