"How long are you going to sleep?" A nagging voice sounded in Xiu Xiang's ears. She recognized that tone. She spent ten years with that person. How could she not recognize it?
"Let me sleep a little longer," she groaned. She was so tired. Her body felt like a thousand pounds, making her want to sleep forever.
"This lazy disciple!"
"Ow!" She felt a fist slammed down on her head, forcing her to get up immediately. She was back in the void of her unconscious state. The luscious scenery brought about a wave of nostalgia. Standing in front of her was the Demon King. He looked far younger than the last time she saw him. His hair was no longer white but black. There was a youthful look to his face as if he has never weathered a war.
"Master...?" She was almost unsure if the person standing in front of her was the same person.
"It looks like you freed my soul after all," the Demon King said with a chuckle. No sooner had he spoken, there came a soft whistle in the distance. Before Xiu Xiang could ask what that whistle sound was, the Demon King gave off a soft smile. He snapped his fingers and the golden shackles on her wrists shattered, freeing her limbs at last.
"You're no longer tied down to the golden restraints, however, you will no longer be able to return to the body you inhabited," the Demon King said.
"What's going to happen to me? Am I going to Heaven?" she asked. The Demon King gave out a hearty laugh in reply.
"Still stupid as always. What did I say before? You're a descendant of the Phoenix. You can't die. Not yet anyways. You have a chance to be reborn," he explained.
The whistle sounded again, this time louder and almost a bit demanding.
"Looks like my time is up. Someone is waiting for me," the Demon King said.
"Waiting for you?" Her question was answered by the appearance of a man dressed in white robes with wide sleeves. He appeared next to the Demon King looking quite irritated. The way he held himself contrasted with the Demon King. While the Demon King looked humorous and relaxed, the man in white held himself in a very composed manner. He reminded her a lot of Wei Xing.
"Huang Er, isn't it about time to leave?" The man in white asked.
"You're...!" Xiu Xiang's memories came rushing back to her. He was the man who appeared in the cave and killed Feng Yue.
"My name is Han Ming, the founder of Tian Ling Sect," he explained.
So, that was why Wei Xing called him Great Grandmaster, she thought.
He was very beautiful for a man. If it wasn't for his deep soulful voice, Xiu Xiang would've thought that the man was a woman. She bowed respectfully and thanked him for his help.
"Even after a thousand years, the battle has yet to end between the righteous cultivators and demons," Han Ming sighed regretfully.
"Ah Ming, let's leave it to the younger generation to deal with it. I think it's about time we finally leave," the Demon King suggested. He wrapped a playful arm around his shoulders and winked at him. Han Ming furrowed his brows at him and muttered, "You were the one who was stalling."
The Demon King ignored his words and patted Xiu Xiang dotingly on the head.
"Long ago, I got greedy and tried to take over the world. The one I loved ended up sealing me away and dying in my place. Now I can finally reunite with him. Whatever you do, don't make the same mistakes I did."
Xiu Xiang eyed the two of them and saw the affection in each other's eyes. She wondered what the past was between the two of them, but she didn't ask.
Just like that the two souls walked hand in hand and soon floated off. Xiu Xiang felt her soul traveling backwards. She felt herself fall further and further like the time when she first fell into the abyss.
What was the point of all that? Xiu Xiang wanted to laugh. She had no body to return to. Was she going to stay in this darkness forever?
No sooner had she thought this, a bright light erupted from beneath her. The darkness was blown away and she was soon engulfed in the bright light. Her body felt lighter than before. Suddenly, her body was jerked upwards as if someone had hooked her by the navel. Her body zoomed up higher and higher.
"I'm finally going to Heaven?" she thought. The light was too intense for her, so she quickly closed her eyes, then covered it with her arms. She felt her body slammed down on something hard and cold. The impact was so hard, she felt the wind get knocked out of her. Gasping for air, she rolled over to her side and finally opened her eyes. She was no longer in that dark void, but rather in a strange icy cave. Strange glowing rocks were embedded into the ice, giving light to her surroundings.
"Why do I always get thrown in the weirdest places after waking up?" Xiu Xiang muttered. She looked down to examine herself to make sure that there weren't any injuries. There weren't, except she couldn't hide the shock on her face. She was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, clothing that should not be of this world. It's been a long time since she last seen clothes like these, but she was almost sure that these were the clothes she was wearing before she transmigrated.
"No way..." She shot up like a lightning bolt and searched around for anything that could give off her reflection. After a while of searching, she came upon a thick layer of ice. It wasn't the greatest reflection, but it was enough for her to know that she was no longer the Demoness but rather her true self. The 'her' in the real world.
"How...?" She wasn't sure how this happened but it did. A cold breeze swept past her and she unconsciously snapped her fingers.
No fire power.
She was no longer a demon. Deciding that it was best to take things one step at a time, she figured the best course of action was to find a way out of the cold first.
The icy cave was like a giant maze as she strolled down multiple paths. Just when she thought she was going to be lost in the cave forever, she felt a strange energy emitting from a certain direction. Following the energy, she managed to come upon a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing was an ice platform. On top of that platform was a body. It wasn't just any body either. It was the body of the Demoness.
"Isn't this...?" Xiu Xiang seemed to have lost her voice as she went up to inspect the body. The Demoness looked nothing like a corpse. In fact, she looked more like she was sleeping peacefully. Just what was going on?
She didn't get the chance to wonder for long because she felt a murderous aura behind her. A blast of purple energy shot toward her back and she quickly jumped to the side to avoid it. The purple energy struck the ice walls with a thunderous roar. However, it didn't shatter the walls. Most likely the attacker didn't want to hurt the body of the Demoness. She looked over her shoulder to see who the attacker was and her jaw dropped down from shock.
Standing at the mouth of the clearing was a handsome man dressed in all black. His eyes were a deep dark purple. A strange red mark was etched on his forehead and he looked quite pissed.
"How did you enter this cave? I placed such a strong barrier on the entrance! Speak! Who sent you?!" The voice was ten times colder than the cave itself.
"Wei Xing...?" The man standing before her was definitely Wei Xing, she was sure of it, only that his aura felt different. It was as if he was no longer the same person from before. Just what happened during the time she was gone?
Wei Xing gathered energy at the palm of his hands, ready to attack if necessary.
"You have ten seconds to explain yourself," he hissed.
"I..." Xiu Xiang's voice was stuck in her throat. Her memories came rushing back to her.
"...I'll become a demon. That way we can be together forever..."
Her hands unconsciously went up to cover her mouth. Her eyes welled up with tears as she stared at the man standing before her. Wei Xing had followed through with his words. He really did turn into a demon. What had she done to him? In the novel, he was supposed to kill the Demoness and become one of the world's highly sought-after righteous hero.
She was so intent on freeing herself that she never thought about the backlash that it would cause to others. What else had changed from her actions?
She didn't get to answer because her ten seconds were up. Wei Xing was ruthless as he shot out a beam of dark energy at her.
"Wait!" Xiu Xiang inadvertently tapped into a pool of dense spiritual energy inside of her and immediately escaped her imminent death. She twirled out of danger, landing a good distance away from him.
Ever since the death of the Demoness, Wei Xing had cultivated to the point where his speed and strength was unreachable. The beam he had shot at her only consisted of half his strength but even then, the strangely dressed girl before him shouldn't have been able to dodge it.
The action of Xiu Xiang surprised not just Wei Xing but herself as well. She was sure that she had become human. She hadn't expected her body to retain spiritual energy!
"Who are you?!" Wei Xing roared. He shot out another attack, stronger than before. Xiu Xiang had no choice but to defend herself. She erected a thick barrier, blocking the attack. It was strong enough to block the first attack but not that second. She dodged again, bouncing off the icy walls.
The fight didn't last long. The cave itself started to rumble as if it was being attacked from the outside. Wei Xing had forgotten all about Xiu Xiang and raced for the Demoness's body. He wrapped himself protectively over the dead body and just in time too. Cracks started to form on the icy walls and pieces of jagged ice started to rain down on them. Wei Xing erected a protective barrier around the Demoness's body and soon disappeared on the spot.
Xiu Xiang figured Wei Xing thought she was less of a threat than whatever that had caused the fissure within the cave. She took one last look at the body of the demoness and chased after Wei Xing, knowing that she could tap into her spiritual energy now.
She had lost track of Wei Xing but she didn't care. She felt a large amount of spiritual energy straight ahead. Using it as a guide, she eventually came upon an exit. The sky was a crystal blue with no cloud in sight. A view of a snowy mountain range could be seen in the distance, surprising Xiu Xiang. There was only one place where a snowy mountain range could be. She was up in the north. When she first saw Wei Xing, she thought she had ended up in the Demon Realm. Who would've thought, she ended up in the north of the human realm instead?
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by voices beneath her. She looked down to find a scary hundred foot drop.
Below where she had exited were two groups. One was Wei Xing and a bunch of demons led by Hua Jian, who was still alive. The other group were righteous light cultivators, many of whom were from the Qing Qiu Sect. She recognized most of their faces. They were the same people who attacked the Demon Realm when she was still the Demon King.
"We'll never stop avenging the death of our sect leader! You heathens!" shouted one of the people from the Qing Qiu Sect. He looked like the one in charge. Even from this distance, Xiu Xiang could tell that he was quite handsome. If he was the one in charge of Qing Qiu Sect after the death of Sect Leader Qiu, then he could only be Hai Kuang, the strongest disciple within Qing Qiu Sect. He was a mediocre character who constantly fought with Wei Xing for Bai Qing's affections. "Return Bai Qing to us at once, demons!"
How did a mediocre character like him come to lead the sect? She didn't get to think long when Hai Kuang sent out a massive attack at Wei Xing. A barrier erected in front of Wei Xing so it didn't hit him. Instead it traveled past him and slammed against the mountain wall behind him. Xiu Xiang didn't realize how far out she was leaning when the mountain range shook from the strength of that attack.
"Holy crap! How far did the story stray for a mediocre character to power up this much?" This thought didn't linger as she suddenly lost her footing.
Crap!
She wasn't worried that she would fall to her death. This hundred foot drop was a breeze now that her body was swirling with dense spiritual energy. She hit the ground with a boom, causing a large crater to form underneath her feet.
When she finally stood up straight, she realized both sides were staring at her like the enemy. Xiu Xiang stood awkwardly in between the righteous cultivators and Wei Xing. The righteous cultivators drew their blades at her and at Wei Xing formed a dense ball of energy in his palm.
"Uh... excuse me?"