Phoenix's Requiem

The holy maiden told Yun Ruoyan that, ever since she became the holy maiden, the silver dragon elder would force her to enter that cavernous area in which many demonic dragon descendants had been imprisoned. Her role was to activate the formation inscribed on the gigantic pillar and extract their fresh blood.

Yun Ruoyan asked why the silver dragon elder didn’t do it himself. It certainly didn’t appear as if the holy maiden was in cahoots with the elder; instead, she seemed to be forced to perform the rites on the elder’s behalf, and her distraught expression was clear proof of that.

“Because activating the formation requires that you bear their anger, grievance, sorrow, and all sorts of dark emotions, ones that can easily crush you and make you fall apart. Nobody would be willing to bear such pain if they didn’t have to,” the holy maiden replied. “My previous servants were unable to deal with the grievance hanging in the air, but I’m surprised that you were hardly affected.

Yun Ruoyan had naturally felt the resentment and anger, but as a member of the demonic dragon bloodline herself, those feelings didn’t have much of an effect on her. “In that case, do you know what the silver dragon elder wants their blood for?” She changed the topic.

“To make holy water,” the holy maiden replied, confirming Yun Ruoyan’s guess.

“Using people’s blood to make holy water?!” Yun Ruoyan clenched her fists. Her father’s blood had gone into the holy water that the silver dragon elder imbibed!

“Do you know whom the silver dragon elder was speaking to at the end? What purpose does he serve?” The holy maiden had been in a weakened state ever since finishing the rites, and she barely doubted Yun Ruoyan at all. She answered any question that Yun Ruoyan posed, as if she were unbottling her emotions and resentment at the rite itself. Whenever she answered a question, her expression became a fraction more relaxed.

“All I know about that man is from his conversations with the silver dragon elder. His name is Long Yin, and he’s from a lower realm called the Chenyuan continent. Because his bloodline is relatively pure, the silver dragon elder chose to use him as the eye of the formation.” The holy maiden told Yun Ruoyan that Long Yin, by committing suicide, could both have ended his own suffering and paralyzed the rites, but the elder had threatened him to replace him with his daughter if he did so, forcing her to bear the same pain that he bore now.

In order to protect his daughter, Long Yin had no choice but to survive.

Emotion swirled in Yun Ruoyan’s heart. “The silver dragon elder’s a demon,” she spat out. “Are you willing to remain his accomplice?”

The holy maiden opened her eyes and looked toward her. “No, of course not. The rites are a nightmare, but as the holy maiden, I have no choice but to perform them.”

“Are you unwilling to give up your position as the holy maiden?” Yun Ruoyan pressed.

The holy maiden shook her head. “No, but I don’t know how. My only option seems to be to anger the silver dragon elder into deposing me, but my plight would be worse than it is now.”

“And if I can help you? Are you willing to risk it all for your freedom?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

The holy maiden frowned as she glanced at Yun Ruoyan and found a pair of sparkling eyes looking back at her. She had always thought that Yun Ruoyan was just a regular, if somewhat ugly, servant—nothing more than an agile, deft, kind-hearted girl from the silver dragon clan.

But to say those words so confidently, with such resolute eyes…

“Who are you? Tell me!”

Yun Ruoyan believed that it was time to reveal her identity, but she was also prepared for being attacked. If the holy maiden were to betray her after the revelation, she would incapacitate or kill her without hesitation.

Everything rested on the holy maiden’s choice.

“My name is Yun Ruoyan, and I’m from the Chenyuan continent. The man inside the pillar is my father,” she said. “I came here to rescue my father.”

The holy maiden blinked, clearly needing some time to process Yun Ruoyan’s words.

Yun Ruoyan continued, “To tell you the truth, I initially planned on kidnapping you and using you as a hostage to threaten the silver dragon elder. However, I then found out that you were also a victim, which is why I’m telling you about myself now. If you’re willing, my companions and I can help you escape from your current situation and grant you the freedom you desire.

“You have companions?” the holy maiden asked in shock. “I’ve never heard of anyone from a lower realm being able to make it inside the silver dragon palace…”

“I couldn’t have done it alone, of course. That’s why I have companions. I promise I’ll get you out safely if you agree,” Yun Ruoyan replied seriously.

“If I don’t, will you kill me?”

“No.” Yun Ruoyan smiled. “As long as you don’t try to attack me, I won’t hurt you. I have a means of making you forget that you had this conversation with me.” Yun Ruoyan was quite certain that she would be able to use her bewitching fog against the holy maiden given her current cultivation.

“Let me consider,” the holy maiden finally replied.

That night, Yun Ruoyan told Li Mo what she had seen during the sacrificial rites and mentioned that she had already reached out to the holy maiden.

“Yan’er, do you think the holy maiden will agree to work with us?”

“I think so,” Yun Ruoyan replied. “She hates her current situation. If she agrees, our plan will get a lot simpler.”

The next day, the holy maiden agreed. “What do we do next?” she asked. Perhaps because she could see a potential path to freedom, she seemed far more energetic and lively than before.

“Can you think of a plan to lure Yin Xiao out of the castle? We can use him to threaten the silver dragon elder.”

“It won’t be difficult to do so, but I can’t get out of the castle myself. The silver dragon elder’s been keeping a close eye on me lately,” the holy maiden replied.

“In that case, we can create a few commotions within the castle beforehand to distract him.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I need to have a look within the temple,” Yun Ruoyan replied.

The silver dragon temple was heavily guarded in the nighttime, and it was very difficult for either Li Mo or Yun Ruoyan to sneak in without exposing their identities. On the other hand, during the daytime, they had quite a few opportunities. The holy maiden told Yun Ruoyan that, after the sacrificial rites, there would always be a big cleaning at the temple, and one was currently scheduled for tomorrow.

Li Mo had managed to get a spot as one of the guards by the temple, while Yun Ruoyan, with the holy maiden’s help, had been volunteered as one of the servants responsible for cleaning it out. The next day, Yun Ruoyan followed a group of seven servants into the temple, making eye contact with Li Mo at the door as she did so.

“There are many restrictions within the temple, and you’re expressly forbidden from straying outside your designated areas. Do you understand?” an elderly servant instructed everyone. “You and you, go to that side. The three of you, go to the other side. And you!” She pointed at Yun Ruoyan. “Go over there.”

The elderly servant reported to Madam Li, and Madam Li reported to the holy maiden herself. They had planned for Yun Ruoyan to be sent to a rather secluded part of the temple by herself. Without any supervision, and with a map provided to her from the holy maiden herself, Yun Ruoyan was able to find the chamber containing the holy water that the demonic spirit had pointed out.

“Qiuqiu, are you ready?” Yun Ruoyan glanced all around her to ensure that she was alone.

“I’m ready. Leave it all to me!” Qiuqiu chirped.

A red glow emanated from Yun Ruoyan’s hands as Qiuqiu emerged in combat-ready form. Yun Ruoyan stepped forward and pushed open the doors to the secret chamber. Immediately, a white formation appeared and pushed Yun Ruoyan back.

Qiuqiu immediately stepped behind Yun Ruoyan to steady her.

“What a powerful formation,” she murmured. “Qiuqiu, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Step back, Mistress.” Qiuqiu warned, then rushed toward the array. Its sharp claws struck the center of the formation, and its sturdy body smashed into it with brute strength. The formation began to tremble, as did the entirety of the temple.

“There’s someone trying to break the formations within!”

“Quick, report the incident to the silver dragon elder!” the captain of the guards shouted, then headed into the temple himself.

Meanwhile, Yun Ruoyan and Qiuqiu continued heading deeper and deeper into the temple, breaking any defensive formations they encountered using the approach. By the time the guards reached the first broken formation, the entire temple began to shake again.

“Not good—someone’s deliberately breaking these formations!” The guard captain immediately split his men into three groups, which began heading in three separate directions. Li Mo was in a group with two other guards.

“They’re over there!” When his group spotted Yun Ruoyan and Qiuqiu, Li Mo immediately knocked one of the guards out, whereas Qiuqiu swatted away the other.

“Yan’er, are you alright?” Li Mo asked.

“I’m fine. There are two more formations left to break,” Yun Ruoyan replied, then beckoned for Qiuqiu to keep going.

“No, that’s enough.” Li Mo held Yun Ruoyan back. Someone’s already been sent to fetch the silver dragon elder, and he’ll arrive soon. We need to leave immediately.”

Li Mo took out a set of guard’s attire for Yun Ruoyan to put on while Qiuqiu returned to the silver bracelet’s pocket dimension. Then, Li Mo brought Yun Ruoyan back to the front hall of the silver dragon temple, where all the guards were gathered.

“Captain, we didn’t discover anyone suspicious.”

“Neither did we, Captain.”𝐟𝗿𝚎𝐞𝓌e𝒃𝑛𝒐ѵ𝒆𝑙.c𝚘𝓶

“We didn’t see a trace of anyone.”

Because all the guards were wearing silver masks, no one noticed that Yun Ruoyan had joined their ranks.