Phoenix's Requiem

Just then, a sudden breeze blew the veil off Yun Ruoyan’s face, revealing her beautiful appearance. As Yin Xiao’s eyes glued themselves to her face, Yun Ruoyan pretended to be flustered as she re-affixed her veil. “Master Yin, I’m not supposed to reveal my face to anyone. If the silver dragon elder knows, he’ll surely punish me,” Yun Ruoyan murmured pitifully.

“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t tell my father about this,” Yin Xiao quickly replied. “Where did you want to go? Let’s head there immediately.”

Yun Ruoyan brought Yin Xiao to a pre-arranged location, where the demonic spirit and the others were waiting in ambush—a lake just outside the silver dragon city. The two of them arrived at the lakeside after about ten minutes’ flying. The lake was encased in ice and surrounded by trees with white flowers, ones that Yun Ruoyan had never seen before, indeed a place of natural beauty.

“To think that there was such a beautiful location outside the silver dragon city! I hadn’t known about this place before.” Yin Xiao smiled as he glanced toward Yun Ruoyan. “Holy Maiden, how did you know that such a place existed?”

“Someone told me,” Yun Ruoyan replied. She was glancing at the frozen lake, her silvery-white robes perfectly accentuating her figure.

Behind her, Yin Xiao couldn’t help wanting to pounce on the woman he’d been dreaming about for so long. “I’m very curious as to whom,” Yin Xiao murmured, stepping forward.

“A friend.”

“What friend?” Yin Xiao leapt toward Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan whirled around and dodged to one side. “They’re right here. Turn back and have a look.”

“Don’t joke with me, Holy Maiden. There’s no one here but the two of us.” Yin Xiao said—then felt several strong auras appear right by his side. He frowned and turned around. The first person he saw was a small shorty, with another five or six people surrounding him. They looked at him as though they were looking at a sheep to be led to slaughter.

“Holy Maiden, who are these people?” Yin Xiao glanced at the holy maiden with some distrust and caution.

“Yin Xiao, I’m not the holy maiden.” Yun Ruoyan again removed her veil. Her face was as cold as ice, because she was currently thinking about the terrible ritual that the holy maiden had been forced to conduct, as well as her father, Long Yin.

“Who are you?”

“That’s not important. All you have to know is that we’re here to kidnap you,” Yun Ruoyan replied.

A scarlet sword appeared in Yin Xiao’s hands, and he thrust it at Yun Ruoyan. His cultivation was clearly more advanced than hers, and Yun Ruoyan didn’t think she would be able to block his attack.

Luckily, she didn’t need to. Qiuqiu howled, opened its maws wide, and crunched the scarlet sword in Yin Xiao’s hands to pieces.

How could this be?! Yin Xiao widened his eyes. He had intended on taking Yun Ruoyan as hostage, but the moment he acted, a strong spiritual beast had jumped out of nowhere and blocked his attack. He immediately soared up into the sky, hoping to escape.

“Brothers, take him down!” Huang Chuan commanded. The demonic bandits all rose into the air and pounced on Yin Xiao. After a rather intense battle, Yin Xiao was finally subjugated with severe injuries.

“Where’s the demonic spirit?” Yun Ruoyan asked Huang Chuan.

“We’re more than sufficient for a trivial matter like this,” Huang Chuan replied.

“Remind him to act according to plan. We can’t make a mistake at this critical juncture.” Yun Ruoyan glanced coolly at Yin Xiao, who had been trussed up so tightly he couldn’t move any part of his body, then left on her sword.

Several guards suddenly entered the holy maiden’s chambers.

“What do you want?” the holy maiden thundered.

“Holy Maiden, the silver dragon elder has sent us here to search for any suspicious intruders. Please cooperate,” the guard captain replied.

“How could there be anyone suspicious in my chambers? This is ridiculous!” The holy maiden was second only to the silver dragon elder in terms of status, but these guards had entered her rooms without any reservation!

“You two, detain the holy maiden. The rest of you, search these chambers with me,” the guard captain instructed.

A dozen guards scoured the chambers to no avail.

“The silver dragon elder will certainly hear about this act of disrespect,” the holy maiden warned.

“Holy Maiden, where’s your personal servant?” the guard captain suddenly asked.

“I sent her out with Madam Li to buy me some essentials. She should be back shortly. What’s the matter?”

“Everyone who left this place today is suspicious,” the guard captain replied. He turned to his subordinates. “Head to the castle gates and wait for that servant. Capture and interrogate her once you see her.”

Just then, Yun Ruoyan walked into the holy maiden’s chambers, her hands filled with all sorts of little trinkets from the silver dragon city.

“Holy Maiden!” Yun Ruoyan was again disguised as an ugly servant. She glanced at the guards arrayed all around the room. “Has something happened?”

“That’s my servant.” The holy maiden pointed at Yun Ruoyan. “She left in the morning and has clearly just returned. What’s the problem?”

The guard captain had only suspected the holy maiden because her personal servant was missing, but now that she had returned, the holy maiden was naturally cleared of any suspicion.

After asking some perfunctory questions, the guards left.

“How did it go?” the holy maiden asked Yun Ruoyan.

“Yin Xiao’s been caught, and we just have to wait for the silver dragon elder to take the bait now,” Yun Ruoyan replied with a smile.

Over the last few days, Li Mo had been carefully observing the situation within the palace. He was initially supposed to accompany Yun Ruoyan in dealing with Yin Xiao, but the silver dragon elder hadn’t left the temple after he entered it. After a short discussion with Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo decided to remain in the castle to continue observing the elder.

That night, Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo met up to share information with each other. Although Yin Xiao had successfully been captured, it was concerning that the silver dragon elder had remained in the temple for so long. They were afraid that he was planning to hurt Long Yin and the other demonic dragon descendants, but they were unable to sneak into the temple given the vastly increased security.

“Don’t worry too much, Yan’er. Once news of Yin Xiao’s capture spreads, the silver dragon elder will leave the temple of his own accord,” Li Mo consoled her.

“If nothing goes wrong, the silver dragon elder will find out about the news tomorrow,” Yun Ruoyan replied. “I’ll disguise myself as a temple guard tomorrow with you.”

The next day, Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo patrolled the temple together. Within the temple, the silver dragon elder was currently setting up a complicated teleportation array. After days of waiting, Dong Tiehe had finally reported back with good news: using the draconic pearl that the silver dragon elder had given him, he had successfully subdued Whitey and then captured Li Yan.𝐟𝘳𝑒𝗲𝘸e𝒃𝘯𝒐𝐯e𝚕.c𝒐𝒎

The teleportation array the silver dragon elder was setting up was designed to bring Whitey and Li Yan over from the Chenyuan continent.

“Follow my instructions to the letter,” the silver dragon elder spoke to a talisman hovering in the air, with Dong Tiehe’s image portrayed on it. Dong Tiehe was currently holding onto Li Yan, and in his palm was a draconic pearl containing a white serpent—Whitey.

“Of course, Elder,” Dong Tiehe replied. He had always wanted to enter the Jiyuan continent, and this was his opportunity.

When the silver dragon elder had finished setting up the array, he taught Dong Tiehe a certain incantation. Dong Tiehe recited the incantation, activating the array and disappearing within. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself within the silver dragon temple.

“I greet the silver dragon elder.” Dong Tiehe bowed deeply.

“Is that Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo’s child?” The silver dragon elder, who was very skilled at hiding his emotions, was nevertheless quite agitated upon seeing the child.

“Yes, Elder.” Dong Tiehe handed Li Yan to the elder, who reached out for him. Then, he extended a hand to Dong Tiehe, piercing him through the chest with a spike of ice.

“W-Why?!” Dong Tiehe glanced downwards in shock and horror.

“Because I have no further need for you,” the silver dragon elder replied coldly. Dong Tiehe spat out a mouthful of blood and slumped to the ground, no longer breathing.

The silver dragon elder smiled grotesquely at the child in his arms. Li Yan, who had been sleeping all this time, suddenly opened his eyes wide and let out a piercing cry.

Outside the temple, Yun Ruoyan’s heart suddenly throbbed in pain. Li Mo noticed something amiss and immediately turned to her.

“I don’t know why, but my heart…” Yun Ruoyan murmured. “I felt as though I just heard Li Yan cry. Did you sense anything?”

Li Mo shook his head, frowning. Although he hadn’t sensed anything as acutely as Yun Ruoyan, his mind was in turmoil—from some sort of sympathetic resonance through his bloodline.

Just then, a messenger came running into the palace. He spoke with the guard captain, whose face turned pale as he took the proffered message and entered the temple.

“It looks like the demonic spirit’s message has arrived,” Yun Ruoyan murmured, still clutching her chest.

Li Mo nodded, temporarily quashing his worries as he focused on the situation within the temple.

The silver dragon elder had opened the passageway toward the cavern, intending on replacing Long Yin with Li Yan as the eye of the formation. Just then, the guard captain shouted from the outside, “Elder, I have urgent news to report!”