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

As she thought reflected on the creature she had just fought, she realised that it may be true that the Lernaean Hydra may have a distant lineage to a draconic bloodline which explained how this serpent had evolved into such a formidable demon beast. Its numerous heads and miraculous regenerative powers were definitely not ordinary and typical of beasts! This meant that these Silver Moondrakes may have in fact succeeded in raising it to Black Gold Rank. Fortunately, it had not felt it was the optimum time to consume the fruits and push through for a breakthrough yet, if not, this battle would have gone very differently!

She harvested the fruits with the entire vine attached to preserve the medicinal freshness. This was the most potent spirit herb she had obtained so far! Even the Blood Essence Wolfsbane and the Dragon Spiked Datura did not compare to the extremely berserk energy that was contained within, which in normal circumstances, could only be refined and absorbed by a powerful beast with the constitution befitting a dragon's bloodline.

Even for her, she would have to be very careful when she eventually utilised it because if she were interrupted halfway and her focus could not be completely on purifying the vigorous energy, it was conceivable that she could explode from the immense overpowering force within her!

They still had a few more days to travel before reaching the Ning You City Ruins, which was relatively uneventful except for encountering a pair of Silver Ranked Arcadian Warboars, of which they delightedly roasted for its tender meat.

As they sat around a fire enjoying the juicy flavour, lightly seasoned by some spices that Du Ze had brought, Ziyun asked Ning'Er, "So what are we heading to these ruins for? Other than a tempering exercise for us, there seems to be a specific purpose that you want to go there."

The others all looked at Ning'Er in anticipation of her answer. They had wondered the same thing and Linjian had initially felt a tinge of frustration when they first set out that she had not told him why there were going on this expedition. In actual fact, it had completely slipped her mind after the events with her grandparents and she had not purposely withheld information from her friends.

Linjian looked at her with a weird expression and taking a deep sigh, he asked, "Ning'Er, are you ok if we speak privately?"

"Mmnn..." she nodded and looked at him in curiosity as he stood up and motioned for her to follow him.

They walked away from the fire for a few hundred yards in complete silence until they reached a clearing the forest. It was a full moon that night and they sat down on a log that had fallen over from a recent storm.

"What's on your mind, Linjian?" Ning'Er tentatively questioned.

He looked straight into her eyes and could see the moonlight reflected within her soft, brown pupils. "Well...I'm not sure how to put this. It's clear that there are things that you're finding hard to tell your friends, and to tell me. Every time someone asks about how you know the miraculous things you keep coming up with, it's obvious that you're struggling to make up a reason. I want you to know...that you can trust me. Whatever it is, I'll stand by your side."

She kept quiet for awhile as she pondered over her words. "To be honest...I've been meaning to tell you, and the others, for awhile. It would actually help if you guys could understand the burden I carry and help to explain why I'm so hard on everyone all the time. I just didn't know where to start."

"Are you ready tonight?" he gently asked as he reached over to hold her hand.

She felt as though a heavy weight had lifted from her shoulders as it hit her how much responsibility she had tried to bear alone. There was no reason for her to feel so isolated in trying to save the world based on what she had experienced in her past life. In truth, she even wondered if her conviction that she needed to be the 'hero' came from a place of pride and arrogance. Why couldn't the team carry it along with her every step of the way?

"Let's head back to the rest. I'm ready to share the responsibility I've tried to carry alone." she said, with a grateful expression as she squeezed the hand that held hers. "I'm sorry...Linjian, I should have come to a place where I could trust you with my secrets sooner..."

He smiled at her. "Don't be silly. Stop trying to make yourself to be a bad person. I've known since I met you that your heart always desires to help, protect and support those around you. It's why...it's why I fell for you so hard."

Hand in hand, they walked back to the fire where Du Ze and Ziyun were still trying to guess what they went off to talk about.

"I have something to share..." Ning'Er began.

Ziyun gave a loud gasp and put her hands over her mouth. "Marriage so quickly??? Are you serious?"

Ning'Er and Linjian looked at each other and burst out laughing, unable to control themselves for awhile. It felt good to be among friends.

"No, no, no...we only just started dating. Actually what I wanted to talk about is something that only Ziyun knows at this point." Ning'Er glanced at her friend who gave her a look of realisation. "It's like this...this is the second life I'm living. Miraculously, at the point that I died in my previous life, I was reincarnated into my younger self with all the memories and knowledge from before..."

Ning'Er could see Linjian's expression go through a myriad of changes. From disbelief, to shock and amazement, and at some points, a knowing connection as he remembered something she had done or said in the past. Although reincarnation seemed like a far-fetched concept that he had not heard was possible, it started to make perfect sense to him when he put the pieces together with whatever he had experienced with Ning'Er.

Her ancient purifying art that he had experienced firsthand to refine and assimilate spirit herbs of incredibly berserk and dangerous energy was not something Glory City had seen the likes of before. The cultivation methods that she had imparted to her group of friends and him were of a higher tier than even those found in the City Lord's Mansion, and her own cultivation technique was at an incomprehensible tier of power. Her profound knowledge of applied inscriptions and the martial arts she possessed were also clearly on a whole different level.

And once in awhile, when they had their deep conversations with each other, she would let slip some knowledge or anticipation of things to come, in a way that had been completely inexplicable to him. It was almost as though she were seeing things from a bird's eye view instead of from a first person perspective, and making decisions and analyses based on a roadmap in her mind that only she could see.

It all finally made sense.

Ziyun had heard some of the stories before but this time, Ning'Er didn't hold back in communicating the dangers that they would need to be wary of because she knew she didn't want to carry it alone anymore.

She told them of the demon beast horde which would come in the near future, and the machinations of the Dark Guild in partnership with the Sacred Family to sabotage and take over Glory City. Tears dripped down from her face as she described Ye Zong's death to the Demon Lord, and she saw Ziyun crying along. She told them that beyond Glory City, there were many other civilisations, races, continents and even realms that they could not even imagine. They were truly like frogs at the bottom of a well right now!

Then, she took time to detail the final battle with the Sage Emperor, the one who had sealed time and space in their realm, and who intended to refine the different realms for himself. She explained how the Heavenly Dao Inscription Array of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths seal allowed this practically invincible adversary to reconstruct his body no matter how many times he died. She revealed that her final goal was to defeat him and destroy this seal once and for all in order to save three worlds within the Draconic Ruins Realm that the Sage Emperor controlled and suppressed.

Her friends looked at her in sympathy as they realised the burden that she had chosen to bear. Although the miraculous reincarnation was not something she had made a conscious decision to go through, it took courage and altruism to take responsibility for the future of humanity in this timeline when she could have just chosen to enjoy life based on what she knew. It helped them to see her unwavering principles and values, which they each knew they wanted to support with all their power.

Somehow as she saw their faces earnestly supporting her and acknowledging the significance of her words, she felt a warm sensation growing in her soul. With shock she suddenly realised that something was happening in her soul realm. The green vine that had lay dormant was actually stirring, reacting to her feelings of camaraderie with her friends. The top of the vine abruptly sprouted three fresh buds, but then, as quickly as they started, the changes stopped.

She was unsure what had happened because Nie Li had never explained this vine that had come from within him to her before. However, as she reached her perception into the buds, she was surprised to find that her physical senses had grown much sharper. It was as though her skin could feel every small ebb and flow of the wind around her.

Her eyes shot wide open as she recognised this feeling. It was similar to what she had experienced when she had first comprehended the Law of Lightning in her previous life. But how could this be possible because you could only start on that road of comprehending laws when you were Legend Rank! It seemed as though the green vine approved of her feelings in bringing her friends into her trust and was helping her to comprehend laws.

She wondered to herself if this was the reason why Nie Li had been able to comprehend so many laws so rapidly before. By the time they fought the Sage Emperor, he had completely mastered five different laws! Without hesitating any longer, she sat down and began meditating on the Law of Wind that the vine seemed to be prompting her to begin with. As she knocked on this door of comprehension, she saw one of the three buds on the vine turning white.