Tales of Demons and Gods : The Legend of Xiao Ning'Er

Chen Linjian remembers something and turns to Xiao Ning'Er, "Ning'Er, as we agreed, you're allowed to have the first pick of whatever you want before we distribute the treasure." She gazed at him with a pensive look. With four silver ranked warriors, he could have easily pretended to forget his agreement with her and taken the lion's share of the treasure, using their superior strength to intimidate Ziyun and herself.

But he didn't. She had thought that he may have had some characteristics of a spoilt silk-pants, being a direct descendant of one of the three most influential families in Glory City but through this expedition, he had showed that he had some backbone, along with a decent sense of integrity and honour. She took note of this because she knew that in the future, she would need reliable allies.

She decided not to take advantage of his goodwill by making any unnecessary requests, "Thanks, Linjian...how about I just take this lamp over here?" She walked over to a beautifully carved stone platform, of which there a mysterious lamp blinking with dim light sitting on top. She already knew what it contained because Nie Li had told her about it in her past life, and she had seen firsthand the unique and useful capabilities of the demon beast that was contained within the lamp.

It was the spirit of a Shadow Devil, an extremely rare and unfathomable demon beast. It's said that back when the Snow Wind Empire was already extinct, only seven Shadow Devil demon spirits were left and were made into seven lamps that were placed in a temple in the Divine Continent. Later, these lamps were stolen by thieves and were leaked throughout the world.

Chen Linjian was surprised that she only chose one plain-looking item. He had thought she would be tempted by the numerous valuable items that lay around the chamber. "How about this?" he proposed. "We'll split all the treasure into seven equal parts. The six of us here will take six of the portions, and the seventh will be distributed to the ones who went back to Glory City early...and to the families of those who didn't make it..."

Once again, he was being more than fair, choosing not to use his greater strength to bully the girls into accepting unfair terms. Everyone agreed and began sorting through the different treasures to ensure that the seven piles at the end would be as balanced as possible.

There was still one more thing she needed to check based on Nie Li's stories. He had found an invaluable page from the Temporal Demon Spirit Book here in her alternate timeline, and if she could find it, this miraculous artifact could be more valuable than all the treasure here! This book was the very reason why Nie Li was able to spend hundreds of years in an alternate space-time dimension, which helped him reach his godlike knowledge of inscription patterns, alchemy and cultivation. At the same time, they had analysed and concluded that this book was directly linked to the mysterious green vine in her soul realm that had enabled her to be reborn again in this timeline.

The Temporal Demon Spirit Book was a mystical and powerful book that fell into the Draconic Ruins Realm along with a severely wounded Supreme Expert in ages gone past. On the verge of death, he encountered six ancient masters and attempted to steal their soul essences in order to treat his wounds. However, these six masters fought back and were able to defeat him. Before he died, the Supreme Expert tore the book to shreds. Most of the pages streaked across the sky and disappeared, however eight remained in the hands of the masters, who divided it among themselves.

In Xiao Ning'Er's previous life, Nie Li had managed to collect five remnant pages of this book and he was able to activate the esoteric inscriptions on each page to enter into a special time-space dimension in order to cultivate for twenty whole years, which would happen in a moment in the real world. This had allowed him to exponentially increase his strength with inconceivable speed in order to confront the Sage Emperor.

Through Xiao Ning'Er's extensive experience, she was able to avoid any traps laid out in the passageway leading to the tomb she was looking for. Unfortunately, when she arrived at the stone coffin, the page that Nie Li had told her was there was missing. Disappointed, she turned to leave when she caught sight of a familiar pendant lying in the corner of the coffin.

It was the Abstruse Gemstone Pendant that Nie Li had given Ziyun in the past! So this is where he had found it. Ziyun would hold it in her hands and caress it gently every time she missed Nie Li, and it was one of her most precious possessions. This gemstone was a rare ancient treasure the colour of azure blue and if you looked closely, its interior resembled a starry nebula. Wearing it, a cultivator would be able to increase their cultivation speed by at least three times!

Xiao Ning' Er thought for awhile as she remembered the amazing adventures she had shared with her friends in the alternate timeline, and she decided to give the pendant to Nie Li to give to Ziyun. She hoped that they would be able to find love with each other again for a third lifetime, and somehow, letting him gift the pendant to Ziyun felt right to her.

She quickly made her way back to the stone chamber where the rest were. They had finished splitting up the treasure into seven relatively even piles. They placed it within their respective interspatial rings and got ready to head home, anticipating how the city would respond to their unprecedented discovery in the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.

When they climbed up the stone steps leading back to the military grounds, they saw that the sun was already high in the sky, signifying that it was around midday. They quickly remembered that they were still surrounded by dangerous demon beasts and took a careful, defensive position as they traveled in the direction of Glory City.

Although they still saw glimpses of Giant Blue Armed Apes, they were pleasantly surprised when the apes seemed to want nothing to do with this dangerous group of children with their smelly poisonous arrows. This enabled their progress to be relatively smooth as they quickly arrived back at the lush canyon containing the river.

Continuing to keep a low profile so as to not attract demon beasts, they journeyed cautiously, setting up camp in the evenings so that they would not have to travel in the dark. They were almost reaching the end of the canyon leading back to the mountain path when they saw a large man leaning on a tree in front of them, quietly observing them.

They abruptly stopped with a start as they were taken completely by surprise. "Hi! We didn't expect to see anyone here, would you like to journey with us to Glory City? It's safer in a group..." Chen Linjian tentatively asked.

'That straightforward and honest...and gullible approach again.' Xiao Ning'Er thought to herself. 'How does he know if it's safe to invite a complete stranger to travel with us? Do men even think these things through?'

She observed the man carefully because although he was standing in the shade of a tree in the distance, he was starting to look strangely familiar. He was wearing a black cloak and peeking out of the hood over his face, she could see streaks of blond hair.

The realisation hit her like a lightning strike in her mind, "Deacon Yun Hua! The Dark Guild!!"

She had encountered him in the past with Nie Li. He was a gold-ranked expert and none of them in the group could hope to match him at this point of time. At the same time, he probably had other subordinates hidden nearby as well.

She furtively looked around to try to discover whether there were others hiding in the trees, as she murmured in a low tone, "Everyone, be careful! He's from the Dark Guild and there may be others hiding..."

Yun Hua's alert, feral eyes observed them in the same way a hungry beast would look at a fat, delicious snack. He noticed their sudden increase in wariness towards him and smiled evilly, "It seems that you've noticed that I've come with bad intentions." His voice was rough and gravelly as he chuckled, "I won't keep you guessing. I'm from the Dark Guild and I'm thinking that your noble families will pay a tidy ransom to get their beloved children back!"

"No one will get hurt if you don't struggle but..." He left his next words hanging as an unspoken threat to them.

Xiao Ning'Er was frozen for awhile with indecision because she didn't know whether there were more enemies out of sight, when she suddenly felt an explosive burst of soul force from her side. She looked over in shock as she saw that Linjian had transformed into the demon spirit he had integrated with. The Divine Family had actually found a Divine Winged Lion King for their direct descendant, a demon beast that would reach the very peak of black gold rank in adulthood!

Chen Linjian had panicked as he thought about the treasures in their interspatial rings. They had just found it and hadn't even had the chance to celebrate. Now it was going to be stolen away immediately? He couldn't accept that reality in his mind.

"There's only one of him, attack!" he instructed his underlings as they quickly merged with their demon spirits and prepared for battle.

Yun Hua's eyes glimmered with cold intent and his mouth turned upwards with a confident smile. He casually transformed into his Black Star Tiger demon spirit, a menacing beast with ferocious strength and speed.

"Some naughty kids need to be taught a lesson!" he roared, as he walked ominously towards their group. Three black-robed men suddenly appeared from their sides and back.