Mesmerized with that smile, one that had visited his dreams over and again, Zuo ZhouLei did not notice that he had staggered backwards in his stupor, causing him to step inside the Earth Tortoise' barrier.
Zuo Shan'er, knowing that the arrival of her natural enemy would potentially rob her all of her 'wants', decisively lunged forward to pull Zuo ZhouLei's belt. From every pore of her skin, the black threads surged forward in a mad dance to claim another mortal vessel. She concentrated all she could as she clung onto Zuo ZhouLei's standing figure, taking the chance of his absentmindedness to pull his robes and bring his face to hers. If she could just directly kiss that pair of lips and let the blessing consume him, consume them both, bind and strengthen them into a limitless future. He would be able to see that everything she did was for him, for their happiness together.
Qing Lian said it would be the quickest way to bless someone – by way of intimate contact. Zuo Shan'er had always wanted to do that anyway. This day, she decided that this want would come true, as well as the other desire she had for this man she had coveted since a long time ago.
This man could only be hers. She had set her eyes on him first, she had met him first. How could she let another woman that had come into his life much much later, steal what was supposed to be hers?
But she did not even have the chance to entertain her thoughts further. Zuo ZhouLei was caught off-guard and stumbled to the ground as he was pulled by her, his body now only short of touching her as he held his weight with both arms, using all his might to not let him crash into her. In his confusion and surprise, Zuo Shan'er took another chance to pull his head closer.
And as soon as she touched both of his cheeks, she screamed. To everyone else, it was a howl. Even the Daemons stopped in their attacks, and some of the lesser Daemons – those that used to be normal townspeople – trembled in fright. The howl was as if Zuo Shan'er was being tortured with the cruellest method under the sun; she felt as if her palms, that had just touched Zuo ZHouLei's skin, had been sliced open, her flesh dug out, and doused with vinegar and salt.
It was a similar pain to what she had experienced earlier, when she had touched Shen Wei slightly. But this time, the pain was multiplied a thousands-fold, causing the black threads to recoil back into her body, burrowing into her flesh and bones. The burning sparks of fire she numbly felt coursing from her palms into her blood stream caused her blessing – the malice – to try to replenish itself by eating her alive.
She did not have any strong qi normally possessed by a Dao cultivator. The malice could only begin to eat her alive, eat her flesh, all her memories.
She wailed in agony. A few Daemons cowered and actually ran away, leaving the soldiers-Daemons standing immobile, as if they were not sure what was happening.
Zuo ZhouLei felt a static coldness on his skin, where Zuo Shan'er had touched him before. He saw tiny sparks of lightning danced in front of his eyes, and could even swear that he also saw a shadow of a serpent with golden and purple scales. In fact, when Zuo Shan'er barely touched him before, and when he had been caught off-guard, the dragon seemed to have materialized from his own Dantians. But as soon as the static feeling dissipated, the serpent was gone.
Nevertheless, Zuo ZhouLei knew that It had protected him. The manifestation was bizarre, but he did not want to ponder about it further. Soon forgotten of his disorientation and upset, his heart immediately warmed as he felt a soft cooling touch on his clenching wrist.
The woman of his dreams, the only woman that mattered in his life, was now here, by his side.
Ji YuLan immediately interlinked her fingers with his own, and Zuo ZhouLei felt that this forsaken Lingdi had turned into heaven. They exchanged a silent tender gaze at each other, one telling the other the longing and calling of their soul from the deepest part of themselves.
They existed; they were together, perhaps from the past lifetime to the current one, and hopefully to the next. And that was all that mattered. An invisible thread would always bind them together, linking their existence to each other, transcending the limit of death.
As he tightened his hold on YuLan's fingers, Zuo ZhouLei recalled that he had asked Ji Yulan to wait for him to be worthy. Who would have known that although he tried to the mightiest he could, his cultivation could never breakthrough that barrier of the upper Enlightened.
Eight years passed, and judging from her Qi's unreadable depth, she was now a Sage. What was the point of asking her to wait? If she wanted him, even if he was a worm she wanted to use to be ground into pills, he would gladly give his life here and now. Besides, if she had not come, he was not even sure if he would leave Lingdi alive.
Shameful as it might, to have been rescued by a woman, Zuo ZhouLei felt that it was not a bad thing at all to put his life in her hands.
Fortunately, they were the only two people who were lost in their own world, while their friends tried to ignore their blatant display of affection. Those people still at least had their normal brains functioning as they looked at the still-writhing Zuo Shan'er. All of them had now stepped into the barrier, with Ao Xiang dissipating his Fire Phoenix and concentrating his qi in expanding the Earth Tortoise' barrier instead. Outside the barrier, the Daemons hissed and clawed at empty air at their direction, none of them dared to get closer.
"... What happened to her?" Cao Lu whispered to Zuo BingTan, causing the latter to reply exasperatedly,
"CaoLu-jie, why don't you ask someone who had been here from the start? I am as blind as you to the whole situation, alright?"
Soon, everyone balked as a rotting stench started to emanate from Zuo Shan'er. The stench caused YuLan to suddenly be reminded of the current predicament they were in. She pulled away slightly from Zuo ZhouLei to release their grip of each other. Her fingers were released, only for her whole body to be pulled into Zuo ZhouLei's embrace. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he rested his chin on her hair, as he sneaked his arms to circle from under her sleeves, his hands finally clasping her own in front of her.
Everyone else tried to keep their expression as flat as possible, trying their best to ignore the pair's sudden display of spring that was very unsuitable with the rotting stench everyone was being assaulted with.
YuLan could feel warmth creeping up her cheeks, but she let her body settle in Zuo ZhouLei's embrace. She decided she deserved that much anyway. From the last one to the next, then being separated for eight years; for her, this hug was long overdue.
"She is a Daemon." YuLan said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, we know that," Cao Lu rolled her eyes, "You have told me that after all. But why is she rolling on the ground?"
Although all of them still had their swords unsheathed and their eyes shone with vigilance, the current Zuo Shan'er did not seem to impose any danger.
YuLan ignored Cao Lu's snarky question, "There must be an innate ability in Lei that is similar to what DaShijie, BingTan-xiong, and JinHai-xiong have. I am not sure if Zuo ZhouLei gained his natural defense against malice from cultivation pills, but it seems that the reaction is much stronger so she could not even transfer the tiniest bit of malice into him."
"Which is fortunate for her, because if she did, I would have sent her to the ninth layer of hell myself." YuLan added coldly inside her heart. Heaven knew how her heart almost stopped when Zuo Shan'er managed to get her claws on Zuo ZhouLei. From Zuo Shan'er's movement, YuLan knew what the Princess had intended to do, and with a kiss to boot!
But as much as she disliked Zuo Shan'er, from her previous experience being in the dreamscape with Ming, Bian, and Yue; as well as Zuo BingTan's explanation about his state of mind while being possessed by malice, YuLan felt that the young woman was actually pitiful.
If malice had not got into her, she might be able to live a normal life and quite possibly find another happiness. Zuo ZhouLei would always be off-limits, but there would be no shortage of suitable suitors for a Princess.
"Malice is corroding her." YuLan softly sighed. The blackness inside Zuo Shan'er tried to survive, but Zuo Shan'er's Dantians were just those of a normal human. A Dao practitioner's lifespan would be longer, even if they were possessed by malice, as their Dantians contained qi that was the source of energy for the malice. However, when the parasite did not have anything to feed on, it could only destroy the vessel it was in, until it finally died itself.
Although 'die' might not be the correct term, as malice itself was merely a collective manifestation of unfulfilled earthly desire.
The only way to save Zuo Shan'er was to purify her, but Ao Xiang was already doing all he could to sustain the barrier of the Earth Tortoise. If he were to summon another Fire Phoenix as well, he would need to release the barrier as he had expended quite a fair amount of energy in the previous fights. In such circumstances, they doubted they could fight the other Daemons that were still eagerly waiting outside the barrier.
"Don't we have to save her?" Zuo BingTan said, but he did not sound too sure himself. He could only relate because he had been in a similar situation himself, but he could not feel too sympathetic with this cousin of his, as she was the cause of him being in such state anyway.
Lu Bing and the other beast-masters looked at each other and lowered their heads. They barely had any energy to keep standing, how could they summon a spirit beast? Apart from that, they did not have an inkling of pity for the Princess who brought them into Lingdi. Even one of their friends had been killed not long after they entered town.
"ZhouLei... . Lei... ." Zuo Shan'er rasped hoarsely, in the midst of the agony she seemed to still be in. YuLan could see the black threads emanating off her body, trying to reach for another vessel, but none was close enough for it to reach. The rotting stench persisted.
"I... . I just want to be with you. I ... want. I have always wanted. You are the ... the only one I have ever wanted. Won't you just look my way for once? For once? That's all I ever want... ."
YuLan felt Lei's hold on her body tightened.
A woman's shriek was heard from a distance, soon followed by Xiao Zi's remark in disbelief,
"Mother?"
YuLan turned to look towards the source of the scream. The swarm of Daemons on their west side had somehow dispersed, attracted by a small group of humans that were now trying to fend off their assault.
The group seemed to have some skilled Martial-Artists as guards, and the woman dressed in a light purple dress, who the guards seemed to be protecting, was also adept in sword art. However, they had clearly been taken off-guard as they quickly lost their escape path.
"Why is Lady Mei Gui in Lingdi? She should be in the Imperial Palace!" Cao Lu yelled.
"Mother!" Xiao Zi frantically tried to step outside the barrier. Ao Xiang grabbed her hand in surprise, but in her panic, she brushed him off. Her mind was solely focused on the woman in purple, who was being cornered with each passing moment. One of her guards had fallen, another was in dire straits.
Although cultivation wise, the Daemons and the guards were all Martial-Artists, once a Martial-Artist turned into a Daemon, they possessed strength way beyond their cultivation level.
Shen Wei clucked his tongue and he soon stepped outside the barrier as well, followed by Cao Lu, Zuo BingTan, and Zuo JinHai.
Ao Xiang's gaze was grim, YuLan was certain that the man only wished he could tie Xiao Zi to his side. However, Ao Xiang could not follow Xiao Zi either, as he was not a direct combatant and was most useful for his summoning ability. And at the moment, his Earth Tortoise was the only barrier between the Daemons and the small number of people inside who could no longer fight. Zhen Zhu, Lu Bing, Ding Shun, and Yu Mei were amongst them.
Zuo ZhouLei finally released YuLan of his hold, but he did not let go of her hand. His eyes were affixed at Shen Wei's figure, who was trying to cut a path towards where Lady Mei Gui was. Xiao Zi was by his side as well, but the two Enlightened were barely able to fend off the attacks that seemed to be coming from all directions. The short distance was like an uncrossable ocean.
Shen Wei barely missed an attack, as Zuo BingTan intercepted a Daemon's sharp claws with his blade. YuLan could feel Zuo ZhouLei's grip tightened. She was also worried about Xiao Zi, who seemed to be losing all reason because of Lady Mei Gui's predicament.
"Lei."
Zuo ZhouLei turned to look at her. In his eyes, there was absolute devotion, but he could not conceal the anxiety and worry he had. YuLan forced a smile. Despite everything, these were their friends, their family. And today, these people, dear to both of them, were in dire danger.
"Help Ao Xiang with the Fire Phoenix." YuLan squeezed his palm, "I will be the barrier. Please save everyone."
There was no further explanation needed. The younger man brushed his fingers lightly on her cheek, before quickly pooling his concentration on his Dantians, channelling all the qi contained within. YuLan knew that this was the only path to take if they wanted to have the slightest chance to save everyone.
She also knew, because she had seen him do it before, that although his cultivation level was currently lower than her, his qi was much stronger and almost boundless. And although he did not have the ability to summon spirit beasts, his qi was the source of energy for them. Hence Zuo ZhouLei was always able to sustain their existence as well, and for longer periods of time,
YuLan stepped outside the barrier; as if she was a gust of vortex protecting a treasure inside the eye of the storm, her blade danced as the unblemished metal cut across horde of Daemons that swarmed her way. Her attacks were but a blur to the Martial-Artists she was protecting. Soon Ao Xiang released his Earth Tortoise' barrier altogether, as he could see that YuLan managed to defend them from the Daemons by herself.
He hastily focused in summoning the Fire Phoenix once more. The bird, that was smaller in size than before, due to Ao Xiang's depleting qi, hovered around for a while, seemingly unsure of the direction it should purify. The whole town was full of Daemons, while there was only one Fire Phoenix.
It soon sensed Lei's stream of qi and decisively flew towards him. A burst of energy it received from the Enlightened boost its appearance to soar as tall as a two-storey building.
In the middle of his concentration, Zuo ZhouLei barely could split his attention towards the white-robed swordswoman that was still protecting him, Ao Xiang, and the others; and to Shen Wei, who was still fighting far from his reach. Zuo ZhouLei saw that his DaShixiong had managed to bring Xiao Zi and himself closer to reach Lady Mei Gui.
Zuo ZhouLei was just about to feed more energy to the Fire Phoenix. To sustain a spirit beast's existence was a form of control. He had learnt how to do it from Ao Xiang a long time ago, although the latter was always the summoner. Affinity wise though, Zuo ZhouLei seemed to have better connection with the spirit beasts. His qi was more compatible to sustain them and make their manifestation more powerful as well. However, he had to be careful to not let his qi be absorbed too much or too soon if he did not want to empty, or worse, damage his Dantians.
But such theories could no longer be in Zuo ZhouLei's mind, as he saw a Daemon creeping up soundlessly and about to thrust its claws into Shen Wei's back.
A dull bang was heard, a sound of a sudden qi explosion.
YuLan's head turned in horror. She could no longer see Zuo ZhouLei as her surrounding became as white and hazy. Before the whiteness though, she seemed to have seen a flicker of a Fire Phoenix' tail feather, but she had never seen such size of a feather.
In fact, if one would see Lingdi from a distance, they would see a humongous Fire Phoenix – white in color, instead of the usual fiery red – engulfing the town in with the span of its wings. The screech of the spirit beast could not be heard by any of the cultivators currently in town, but the Sages from Ping sect, Wu Shan sect, and Hui Lin sect would be able to feel the tremor, a quake reverberated to the depth of their Dantians. The energy felt across rivers and mountains that currently separated those Sages from Lingdi, felt pure and strong, as if an immortal had graced the continent and decided to flaunt their strength. In fact, none of them had ever seen an immortal, but they knew that the qi they had just felt, was above their comprehension.
The blinding light passed for a few breathes, and no one made a sound. YuLan was probably the only one staggering towards where she had seen Zuo ZhouLei last, to reach for him, to feel him.
And when finally, her sense of touch felt his figure, the light dissipated. She quickly reached for his face and whispered his name.
Ao Xiang dropped to the ground, the giant Fire Phoenix had also disappeared.
Around them, the Daemons started to fall one by one, as if someone had snuffed them out like candles. YuLan watched Zuo ZhouLei's gaze affixed towards a distance. Close to where Shen Wei was standing in bewilderment as he saw a Daemon, with claws just a feather's touch away from him, suddenly dropped to the ground as well. Finally no one was left standing, apart from the cultivators, Lady Mei Gui, and her leftover guards.
Zuo ZhouLei slowly turned to look at her. There was a light smile gracing his lips, as his eyes softly bore into her.
She barely let out a sigh of relief, then the young man fainted in her arms.
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Runexi's notes (somewhat mucho importante):
This is not explained in the chapters, as the flow of the story was told from different perspectives of the characters (as well as the general perspective). But I will explain here and hopefully it will add more depth to this whole malice thing:
Zuo ZhouLei is an incarnation of Lei the sky deity. Being one of the heaven's sons, obviously he has a perfect immortal soul. Malice, a collected manifestation of mortals' greed, could never corrupt an immortal soul. Hence, he naturally repelled Zuo Shan'er's 'blessing'.
Bian was never corrupted by malice. He just turned cuckoo because he had never undergone tribulation to collect his own karma. But as he invaded various bodies (Hank, then Crown Prince Zhang KongJing), he accumulated bad karma. This bad karma might turn into malice (an unfulfilled 'want'/desire attributes to malice), one that would be very dangerous if possessed by a true immortal.
Fortunately, Crown Prince Zhang KongJing was Yue's incarnation. Yue is also a true immortal, and his soul could somewhat prevent Bian from totally blackening. But Yue's good karma he collected during his short mortal life as Zhang KongJing was not enough to pull Bian completely from the darkness Bian himself created.
The one who also saved Bian was none other than Lei, as Lei imparted his own soul/karma to his brother. This caused Lei's accumulated karma to lessen, his soul slightly fragmented as he had to expend quite a bit of soul power to 'free' Bian. As Ming said, this caused Lei to be unable to 'ascend' as he wished (Zuo ZhouLei used to have freakish cultivation talent, this was before Lei imparted part of his soul to save Bian).
Other people who have parts of Lei's soul/karma:
YuLan – from their various incarnations throughout different lifetimes. She is not a true immortal though, so she was still susceptible to malice if she did not have the necessary cultivation level (as an Enlightened, she could still be hurt/corrupted. But as a Sage, if she were to touch Zuo Shan'er, she would also likely hurt the latter. Because YuLan had a part of a true immortal's soul."
Shen Wei - You know who he is and who he used to be. Although a mortal, the sky deity first inadvertently passed a part of his soul during their lives as Lee and Jet; then as SongLi and BuFeng. This would not have been possible though, if Jet did not love Lee, or if BuFeng did not love SongLi, and obviously Shen Wei loved Zuo ZhouLei. Truly a good brother whose karma transcended the boundary of mortal lives.
An immortal could bless a mortal or spirit with their soul, though they must be careful as this might cause their own to be badly fragmented, even destroyed. (like the sky deity had done towards the flower spirit, which has led all of us from book 0, to book 1, and now. Haha)
Immortals could also have 'debts' towards a mortal, such as Yue towards YuLan because Zhang KongJing killed YuLan; such as Lee towards James (hence, the book after this one 😊)
And I just had to stop there, on another cliffhanger. HarHar