Chapter 63. Do you want to rescue Zhou Keyi, or do you care about Yun Weisi more?

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The Zhaoyue princess looked fragile and gentle.

It was probably due to one of her eyes being wounded, as well as the fact that women generally cared about their appearance a lot, that after the princess entered the palace, she only greeted her elders politely and wished for them to be in good health. Apart from that, she had not said anything that should not be said. She sat down quietly, and no one could discern her expression behind the veil.

When the battle began, the princess had hidden in a corner. Obviously, she was dreadfully frightened, but did her best to keep a calm exterior and tried to maintain the dignity of a princess.

If nothing unforeseen had happened, after today’s banquet, she would have stayed here, becoming a part of the emperor’s harem. Maybe, she would have even become one of the highest-ranking consorts, but certainly not an empress. Of course, the princess was an honorable beauty, the pride of her whole nation, but this was her destiny.

However, after the mishap in the palace, everything had changed. The victors, the empress dowager and Song Nanyan, did not know whether Zhaoyue had schemed with the others, so, surely, they would not allow the princess to enter the palace. The princess was faced with the fate of returning back to her country, which was an unprecedented case. Even though she was an emperor’s daughter, she had lost face.

While the empress dowager was interrogating King Hui, the princess was hiding around the corner. Only Changming was heading towards her.

“Are you the Zhaoyue Princess?” he asked.

His tone was cold and indifferent; his voice was completely measured.

The princess hung her head soundlessly.

“Take off your veil,” Changming said again.

The princess only retreated a bit.

As others saw it, it was a classic example of a timid woman being bullied.

Even Yue Chengbo found the sight of this difficult to watch, but, despite that, he was in no rush to help her.

Before that, he had not noticed that Han Ye was possessed by a demon, but Changming realised it.

Feng Suhuai frowned slightly and wanted to stop him, but Changming moved faster. He saw that the princess was not going to react, so he stretched out his arm as fast as a lightning bolt, and snatched the veil from the princess.

The veil was gone, and the delicate, plaintive face with its reddened eyes came into everyone’s sight.

The Zhaoyue princess gasped and raised her hand to cover the reddened eye with shame and annoyance.

“What are you doing!”

Changming said: “Give me the emperor’s fleeting souls.”

The Zhaoyue princess was confused. She took a few steps back, getting even angrier.

“Empress Dowager, many things happened in the palace today. Originally, we intended to stay here to provide assistance, but our small country, Zhaoyue, has never plotted against your country. I implore the Empress Dowager to exercise her judgement. I really have no idea what this gentleman is talking about!”

She was frail and sensitive from birth, and even when she was talking resentfully, she did not seem too angry, making people like and pity her.

The empress dowager also thought that it was possible that You had colluded with King Hui today, while Zhaoyue had simply been dragged into the matter.

After all, Zhaoyue was small and weak. It could not exist without relying on the two big countries.

But before she managed to say anything, Changming moved towards the Zhaoyue princess!

His movements were so quick that people could not even see them clearly!

Changming did not show even a trace of mercy with this attack. Cultivators could tell that if the Zhaoyue princess did not dodge it, her eyes would surely be stabbed and she would be blinded as a result!

Feng Suhuai was unable to continue watching this. Even though she was half a step late, she still wanted to thwart him.

“Stop!”

Both Yue Chengbo and Xie Chunxi, startled, reached out for Changming.

Let alone the Zhaoyue princess, a slim weak girl with not an inch of steel—those cultivators who made an assault on common innocent people who had no way to defend themselves were not regarded as decent people. Moreover, the princess’s status was special, and they had a lot to ask of her.

With not an inch of steel: defenceless

Nothing could be wrong with her.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, when the danger became imminent, the princess dodged!

She retreated swiftly, even stretching her jade-like arm forward to cast a barrier of spiritual powers to obstruct Changming’s way. After that, more than a dozen golden flowers bloomed in front of her.

These golden flowers were exquisite and delicately made, and looked like the decorative elements on women’s hairpins. But, in the middle of the air, they burst into golden threads that tightly tied up Changming.

Feng Suhuai’s expression changed!

She knew what these golden flowers were.

There were spiritual gu in the West that turned into flowers after falling onto the ground; fluttering in the wind, like golden threads and silver willow branches, they were as lustrous as rays of sunlight.

They were called Golden Flower Gu. They were neither a weapon, nor a spiritual technique, but a type of gu.

It was beautiful indeed, but at the same time frightening. As soon as it touched skin, it would ignite, burning the victim until there not a single bone was left, and nothing would be able to save them anymore. Let alone a common person, even a cultivator would get a migraine trying to handle it.

Although Zhaoyue was located in the southeast, who would have anticipated the Zhaoyue princess to have hidden such a gu?!

The princess was not going to rush into the battle. She knew that there were many talented people around, especially Changming—it was unlikely that these Golden Flower Gu would hold him for too long. She quickly turned around to leave, intending to use the head-start she had as no one had yet to catch up to her, and escape with her teleportation tool.

But just when she touched her jade pendant, a life-threatening force hit her from behind all of a sudden. The princess did not even turn her head. She just raised her sleeve, and flew to the side, turning into a phantom like an immortal.

Even Feng Suhuai, with her level of cultivation, had not noticed that the Zhaoyue princess had been concealing her true powers, let alone the empress dowager, Song Nanyan and the others.

Not until Changming attacked her ruthlessly, bringing her face-to-face with her imminent death and backing her into a corner.

But the Zhaoyue princess’ way was still barred. A blinding ray of white light swept right towards her, forceful like a sudden clap of thunder, completely inescapable!

The princess squinted slightly. Black qi was surging in her left eye, and her swollen right eye turned even redder, as if full of tears that would not fall; this difference was incredibly weird.

Under such circumstances, since her identity had already been exposed, and she wanted to escape unscathed, she could only demonstrate her real powers.

This originally flawless trap, because of one Jiufang Changming, had crumbled into pieces. If it wasn’t for him, they would have already captured the Imperial Palace and the capital itself. How did this problem appear? In the end, it was all because of Jiang Li’s carelessness!

Jiufang Changming…

This name rolled through her mind several times, and the Zhaoyue princess raised her hands, unexpectedly blocking the sword light!

Her clothing was fluttering in the wind, but her figure stood unmoved. The sword light was hanging in the air in front of her, so dazzlingly bright that people could not help closing their eyes.

The princess waved her hand abruptly, and black flames erupted in front of her, warding off the sword glow, and forcing it to shoot away!

She had brought her spiritual powers into play, so, naturally, her black qi could no longer remain hidden. It was surging around her in fierce currents, like a black lotus of the underworld, indescribably beautiful yet blood-chilling.

A hand tore open the void, tightly gripped the ricocheting sword light, and forced it to stop.

After that, an arm, a shoulder, and then, the upper half of a body came into view.

Yun Hai appeared.

He turned towards the black lotus, entered it, holding the Chunzhao Sword, and was engulfed by the flames in a split second.

That black fire was spreading extremely fast, extending to every direction from the princess’ feet. For many people, it was too late to evade it, and they fell into the darkness.

Yun Hai’s expression was somber. Ever since he touched the Chunzhao Sword he had sent to her himself, he realized that the Zhaoyue princess had a higher level of cultivation than any other demon he had encountered before.

The Chunzhao Sword used to follow Changming in the past, and Yun Hai had started using it after him, bringing it wherever he went, and imbuing it with his spiritual powers day and night. They had long since almost become one, but, unexpectedly, his enemy had managed to move it. It was clear that her actual strength was overwhelming, exceeding all his expectations.

Before, when they had left the Celestial Library Pagoda, Changming had said that the Basin of Plenty from it was actually a ceremonial vessel like a Soul Gathering Pearl. The day a senior monk would have opened the pagoda for the eye-opening ceremony, the common people would have worshipped it as a deity, burnt incense on bended knees, and all that faith would have turned into a flow of power, continuously absorbed by the Basin of Plenty. After a certain period of time, the small amount of the power would have grown into a large one, and the whole Celestial Library Pagoda would have turned into a new, indomitable Basin of Plenty.

Just how frightening would it have been if the fate of Yuru Town had been repeated in the capital of Luo?

As for the Zhaoyue princess, who seemed to have no connection to the Celestial Library Pagoda—from the way she was acting now, it looked like there had to be a link between them.

Those Golden Flower Gu could not harm Changming. He had already freed himself from them, but was captured by the Zhaoyue princess’ black flames.

What were demons?

When the sky and the earth had just appeared, some people received blessings from deities. Of course, sinister lands like remote and deserted dense forests full of poisonous qi gave birth to primates.

The Sacred Mountain Wan was a place with the relics of deities, as well as the seal that cut off the Human World from the Darkest Abyss.

But there were always restless people who were ready to challenge the seal.

Just because it’s an ancient rule, must it be undisputed?

Even some people did not believe it, and demons even less.

Each creature of the Abyss was living in darkness. If it wanted to survive, it had to be more stealthy and deceitful than others.

That was why demons were the nemesis of humans since the very beginning.

Even cultivators, if their powers were just a bit lacking, found it hard to not be affected.

Experienced demons could easily guess a human’s weak spots, stirring all kinds of ideas in their hearts. Sometimes, they did not even have to do much themselves, as their victims would bring about their own destruction.

What about an emperor? If he already holds the whole world in his hands, can he get anything he desires, or will there still be something he can’t obtain?

Changming saw a crying person.

He wasn’t even twenty; he was, with no doubt, only a youngster.

He was crying very broken-heartedly, his head buried in his bent knees. Changming could only see his trembling shoulders, but not his face. An invisible barrier confined him within a circle, trapping him inside.

Even though Changming could not see his face, he knew who this person was.

Because he was dressed in dragon robes.

Dragon robes: emperor’s court dress

“His life soul is here, with me,” the Zhaoyue princess said, her voice coming from nearby.

Her peerlessly graceful steps were very alluring.

With every step she made, a flower bloomed under her feet. But they burst like black lotuses, leading people astray to their doom.

“You want to save him, but you can’t. Because he doesn’t want to leave.”

The princess stopped behind the youngster’s back, bent down and gently stroked his head. The boy stopped crying and raised his head, looking at the princess in a daze. After some time, he reached his arms out and embraced her legs, clinging to her like a devoted lover, reluctant to let her go.

“He isn’t an immortal soul I stole. He just doesn’t want to leave. I didn’t expect him to lead you here.”

The princess repeated her words, sighing slightly.

“Jiufang Changming, it’s an honor to meet you at last. Many people have mentioned your name, but I never thought we’re fated to meet, especially in a place like this. My name is Ling Long.”

Changming did not bat an eyelid: “I thought that Ling Long was the Zhaoyue princess’ maiden name.”

The princess smiled: “Now, I am the princess, and the princess is me, so, of course, my name is Ling Long. I’ve heard that you’ve been studying at a Buddhist sect, and your understanding of their teachings is quite deep. Why are you bound to appearances?”

Bound to appearances: it contradicts Buddhist doctrines since one shouldn’t be deceived by mere appearance

Who would have expected that one day, even a demon would preach to Jiufang Changming about appearances. This situation was really amusing.

But Changming did not laugh, and even lowered his head slightly.

“Your words have a point.”

Princess Ling Long said: “You saw it yourself: he loves me ardently and refuses to leave, I didn’t lock him up here. You broke the formation in the Celestial Library Pagoda, so this battle can be considered as your minor victory. I can give you his life soul, and one of two other pieces of information, but you will let me go. How does it sound?”

Changming: “We’ll see after you speak.”

“The first piece of information is about Zhou Keyi’s life. I know that you are hurrying to the Wanlian Buddhist Temple to rescue him. But have you ever thought that this trip might be for nothing? The second one is, of course, about Yun Weisi’s possession. I have a way for him to return to normal. But these are two questions, while you can only get one answer.”

Princess Ling Long revealed a meaningful smile.

“Jiufang Changming, do you want to rescue Zhou Keyi’s life, or do you care about Yun Weisi more?”

The author has something to say:

A small scene unrelated to the main text:

Zhou Keyi: How can you ask such inhumane questions? Do you think he will choose me???

The princess: Sorry, I’m not a human.

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