Accompanying the Phoenix

Chapter 23.1

Chen Li opened her mouth, noticing the smell of alcohol coming off his body . At first, she wanted to reprimand him for drinking despite having such serious injuries, but now that the situation is already like this, it would be better for her to not say anything . She turned her head and returned to her tent, leaving Mo Fang kneeling there . He didn’t get up for a very long time .

The next day, Chen Li watched as Mo Fang left the field camp . She sighed in her heart, even in thousands of years, it was very rare to find somebody who liked her, nevermind brave enough to confess their feelings . However, the time was not right . If she was to like somebody, she will give all that she can give to that one person . What the future may hold, Chen Li doesn’t know . But, right now, Xing Yun is still in her heart . Although Xing Yun had already passed away, she still would not be able to like anybody else at this time because it would be equivalent to betraying her former heart . At the moment, she was unworthy of another person’s love .

In addition… Chen Li’s head ached, only sighing in the end . It also wasn’t Immortal Fu Rong fault .

As Chen Li looked up at the clear sky, her heart couldn’t help but relax a little . Today, she’s leading Sir God Xing Zhi to another one of the seals . Then, the sky will become clearer and the soldiers here would become even happier as well . Her lips hooked up as she leaned on the fence . Its been so long since she looked forward to something .

It was already quite far into the day when Xing Zhi finally arrived, who walked lazily to her . Chen Li forced her temper down and asked him, “Might Sir God know what the time is?”

Xing Zhi ignored her jabs, instead asking in a soft voice, “Have you blown out a tune yet?”

Chen Li’s face stiffened as she recalled how she had blasted the leaf into the wood last night . She coughed and changed the topic, “Let us talk about formal matters first . Yesterday, you said where 2 of the sealing items were hidden . We’ve already gotten the one on the mountain peak, so, today, we’ll be going to the lake bottom . Yesterday’s purification has made the clouds much more distinct, so now we can harness the power of the clouds to go to the lake instead . ”

“En . ”

Unlike yesterday’s, today’s trip to the lake was much smoother . But when they reached the lake, Chen Li couldn’t help but frown . Year by year, the lake has been absorbing miasma from the air, causing the water to turn into a muddy, turbid brown . This, rather than calling it lake water, it would be much more accurate to call it a quagmire . Xing Zhi looked as if he didn’t notice the water’s filthy state, just turning his head to call Chen Li, “Let’s go down . ”

Chen Li gawked at him, stunned as her eyes inspected him closely . “Go down?” She hurriedly shook her head, “We can’t . The soldier that usually patrols here never went down . Without a map, I also can’t help you get down there . Sir God must venture down there by himself . I’ll be waiting for you onshore . ”

Xing Zhi asked Chen Li, smiling, “Can King swim?”

Chen Li was born with an innate disliking of water, and, as such, it is unlikely for her to succeed at learning any magical arts that has to do with water . Naturally, she cannot swim as well . Nevermind this pond that you couldn’t even see the bottom of, even the small pond in Xing Yun’s courtyard was enough to drown her . Usually Chen Li hated exposing weaknesses in front of others, but in order to help right now, she had no choice . “Cannot . ”

“Water evading techniques?”

“No . ”

Xing Zhi nodded . Chen Li obediently stepped back, planning to wait for him when she suddenly heard him say, “So, I can only hold you . ”

“What?” Chen Li was baffled, “Wait a minute!” Without waiting for Chen Li to refuse, Xing Zhi’s fingers moved and she could only see darkness . However, her ears could still hear a “gululu” sound, the sound of bubbles . Knowing that they’re in the water, Chen Li’s heart tightened, the palm of her hands pushing up against a warm body . At this time with no other choice, Chen Li gripped onto Xing Zhi’s hands tightly . She felt suffocated, her whole body stiff from fear .

“There’s no need to be so nervous . ” Xing Zhi’s faint voice sounded in front of her . “Just breathe normally like you do on land . My water evading technique won’t be easily blown apart by you . ”

Having heard what was said, Chen Li hesitantly took a breath . Once she realised that she actually didn’t breathe in water, Chen Li took a big sigh of relief . Rest assured, she breathed normally . But after her nervousness disappeared, what was left in Chen Li’s heart was irrepressible anger . “How could you be so unreasonable!”

“Don’t let go of my hand, or else my water evading techniques will become useless for you . ”

Hearing this, although her heart was filled with fury, Chen Li still obediently gripped his hand . Her mouth was still dissatisfied as she shouted, “I can only see darkness, so what did you drag me into the water for! Let me go up!”

“Because I’m too scared to go alone . ”

A sentence of understated words were spoken in front of her, causing Chen Li choke, not knowing what to say . She continued to choke for a long time and silently cursed . You, an old man that has lived in the Sky Outside Heaven for who knows how many years, in Heaven and Earth, what storms have you not seen! Still scared of a little pond? You’re just having fun teasing me, ah!

But remembering that glowing character on the mountain yesterday, Chen Li was sure that this man has a plan in mind, a good reason for dragging her inside the pond . Thus, she kept these thoughts in mind as she followed behind Xing Zhi with incomparable vigilance . That was, until Xing Zhi’s footsteps came to a halt, speaking in a soft voice, “At last . ” Throughout the whole trip, nothing had happened at all .

Chen Li’s felt rather confused . Suddenly, a flash of light ran past the corner of her eye . She fixed her eyes on the object to see a strange, stone shaped figure rushing out from the blue light . It landed on Xing Zhi’s palm, resembling a summit . He softly closed his eyes and started to repeat incantations that Chen Li couldn’t understand . All the water around them began to shake and tremble . Suddenly, part of the small stone figure crumbled to dust, revealing transparent, crystalline lenses inside . The crystal clear light caused Chen Li’s eyes to tingle with pain . More and more dust fell from the small stone figure, revealing a translucent, frozen icicle!

With the injection of Xing Zhi’s power, Chen Li could feel the water turning colder and colder . Inside the icicle, it looked as if water was constantly stirring . Suddenly, the currents of water within the icicle broke out from it’s top point, gushing straight up the lake . The limpid, clear water gushed out from the icicle unceasingly, making the jet black, thick, viscous lake water gradually turn clean and translucent .

Chen Li raised her head in the water, watching as the sun’s warmth spread through the bottom of the lake, her tense heart enjoying a rare moment of tranquillity . The constantly gushing water from the icicle was like a newfound spring in her heart, washing away all traces of suspicion and wariness .

“Later, the lake can have fish . ”

“Naturally . ”

Chen Li turned her head back to look at Xing Zhi, “Isn’t there still 2 more seals here? Where is it? Quickly, find them . ”

“The other two, you don’t need to worry about . ” Xing Zhi gently patted the icicle, appearing to comfort it . He pulled on Chen Li’s hand to go back, “One is in the field camp, within the earth, under the stone training platform . In a moment when we get back, you can command the soldiers to leave while we get the seal . Another one is on the fine gold chains in the ruins . It’s very close to the Space-Time Rip . ”

So actually, he already knew where he’d placed the seals… Chen Li mulled it over, muttering, “The mountain summit’s seal was wood, the lake bottom is water, under the stone training platform is earth, near the Space-Time Rip is gold . Out of the 5 elements, there’s only 4 . ” She frowned,”Isn’t there still fire? If the 5 elements are incomplete, then the Vast Doubled Seal may not be able to fully display its power . ”

Xing Zhi smiled, “After I get the other 2 seals, then I myself will be going alone to get the last ‘fire’ seal . King can rest assured, since Xing Zhi has come here, you can be sure that the boundary will be left completely purified . ” He turned to go, but suddenly his clothes got hooked onto the icicle . Xing Zhi subconsciously let go of Chen Li’s hand to fixed his robes . He looked back to see Chen Li’s raised eyebrow as she looked at her hands, before turning to glance at him .

Xing Zhi was surprised and shook his head, laughing, “Exposed . ” Thinking that she was going to scold him, but he looked up to see Chen Li’s stunned eyes . His lips hooked up into a thin smile as he continued to walk . “Let’s go back . ”