Rising Phoenix

She went from corpse to corpse, sometimes using her sword to turn a body over as she called out quietly: “Your Highness…”

“Your Highness…”

The smoke scratched at her throat and her coughing continued, her voice growing more and more desperate as time went on — if Ning Yi was alive, why would the enemy leave? If Ning Yi was not dead, why did he not respond?

Feng Zhiwei counted every single body, even finding the corpses of the post house officer and the building’s guards. Two hundred and twelve bodies lay strewn haphazardly, and only a couple guards were missing alongside Chunyu Meng and Ning Yi.

Only one last stretch of courtyard was left, but the blaze was growing; this last area had been lit first and was now surrounded by the inferno. Feng Zhiwei stood, leaning against her sword, hesitation flickering in her eyes with the reflection of the flame — no one could survive inside that fire, and if she dived in to investigate, she might lose her life as well.

But the hesitation flickered and then disappeared; she limped over to a vat of rainwater and climbed in, soaking herself completely. She took her outer robes and wrapped them over her mouth and nose, muffling her coughing as she dove into the smoke and blaze.

As soon as she stepped through she lamented her idiocy — no one could survive in such a huge fire!

Her soaked clothes dried almost instantly and her eyes grew red and swollen with the heavy smoke; hot tears dripped from her eyes and sizzled in the air while the wooden beam above her crackled and groaned. Fragments of wood hailed down followed by angry sparks and crackles. Feng Zhiwei jumped from ruined furniture to ruined furniture, pulling out and examining corpses along her way. Every time she pulled out a corpse from the fallen wood her heart would tighten, and every time some modicum of relief would fill her when she saw that the body was not Ning Yi’s. Soon, her clothes began to blacken with smoke and the beginnings of fire.

Feng Zhiwei whipped her head around — Ning Yi, where are you?

A tongue of flame shot out beside her, burning a slice of her hair and blistering her cheek; she jerked backwards and stepped onto something soft.

She lowered her eyes — it was a Chang Ying Guard whom she had already checked, but not that she looked down at it she noticed something strange about its posture. She turned; a group of corpses lay nearby.

This was not the main building as was more of a kitchen; in front of Feng Zhiwei was a stove and the adjoining room was used for storage; there was nothing special about this room — why were these bodies all grouped here?

And the bodies faced outwards as if protecting something.

Feng Zhiwei smothered a flame curling up on her clothes and scanned the room once more.

That stove…

Strange.

Feng Zhiwei’s eyes flashed and she dashed forward, squatting and grabbing the handle of the little fire-place’s iron door. She yanked!

“Shua!”

A brilliant, snowy light shot out from the dark alcove behind the door.

Feng Zhiwei was a right beside the metal door and a sea of fire raged, sealing her retreat.

“Pa!”

Feng Zhiwei could only viciously slam the door shut!

Metal clanged and a spear tip punctured through the finger-thick metal door, stopping an inch away from Feng Zhiwei’s eyes.

If her reaction had been a moment too slow, the spear would have taken her life.

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If she had reacted incorrectly, the strike would have forced her back into the raging blaze.

Feng Zhiwei’s heart raced, but joy lifted her up as she recognized the spearhead.

The spear of the Chang Ying Guard.

“Chunyu!” She called out hoarsely, “It’s Wei…”

The metal door snapped open and a hand flashed forward like a bolt of lightning!

The steady hand was not aggressive, so Feng Zhiwei kept her composure, allowing the arm to move her.

As she was pulled through the opening, she felt as if something swept over her body, but there was no time to investigate and then the metal door was shut once more.

The space was stifling, but it was incomparably preferable to the sea of fire outside; despite the heat, a dreadful cold seemed to hang in the air. Feng Zhiwei blinked rapidly in the darkness, vaguely deciphering Chunyu Meng beside her; a green light flashed nearby and she turned, finally seeing Ning Yi’s back as he faced away from her.

Happiness filled her heart and she began moving over when Chunyu Meng pulled her back; her foot pulled against the ground and she heard water sloshing. Pausing, she turned and said: “This…”

Before she could speak another word, Chunyu Meng clamped a hand over her mouth. She watched as he slowly extracted his spear from the metal door, clearly avoiding any sound. Her heart jumped, but she was still confused — why could they not make noise?

And had Ning Yi not turned around?

The green light flashed again and Feng Zhiwei’s eyes fell wide.

She finally saw clearly — the green light had not been a flame, but something’s eyes!

She could not make out any details, but the thing seemed around the size of a young rabbit — it squatted before Ning Yi its appendages reaching out towards him. Despite its size, the small creature gave off the aura of a ruler.

The pair of eyes blinked and every time they opened a green light would flash, a pure, beautiful green like a spring river or the most lustrous jade, inviting the eyes.

Feng Zhiwei could not help but stare, but then Chunyu Meng covered her eyes. As her sight went dark, she felt tears pool in her suddenly aching eyes.

Chunyu Meng used a single hand to cover her eyes and mouth, twisting around with his other hand to write in her palm: Prince forbids sound. Don’t look at it.

Feng Zhiwei shucked Chunyu Meng’s hand away and examined Ning Yi; he was an unmoving stone across from the creature. Confusion filled Feng Zhiwei — clearly this creature was special, and it might even be the ‘The Royal[1]’ that the assailants had been referring to; why was Ning Yi just sitting in front of it, and why was it just pointing its claws at Ning Yi, neither of them moving?

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She watched the thing move, avoiding its eyes; its claws wandering slowly, aimlessly drifting in the air. At any sound, it would flick the appendage and shoot out a tiny, grey flash of something.

The thing was blind and its beautiful eyes useless, but it had extremely keen hearing. Ning Yi could not move, and he commanded Chunyu Meng to be silent.

Chunyu Meng continued writing in her palm: Minnan Poison Eye Insect[2]. Do not look at it.

[1] In the recent chapter I translated 大王 as Big Man. Now after knowing what it is, I changed it to The Royal.

[2] 蛊