Chapter 2
The body on his arms grew colder and colder, until it ceases to have its usual warmth. Yu Zhi Jue could not take his gaze off the man in his embrace, his mind turned blank.
Ling Xia’s eyes were shut tightly, and corner of his lips were slightly raised, as if he didn’t have any regrets.
No matter how much he pleads, this person won’t ever open his eyes to look back at him….
Once again, he was left all alone in this world…..
Yu Zhi Jue’s breathing increasingly rushes, his body involuntarily started to tremble.
He hugged Ling Xia tightly. All the strength in his body was drained, his weakened knees sunk into the ground.
Is it raining?
He gently wiped the water drops on Ling Xia’s face with his fingertips. But as he continued to wipe them, he realizes that it was from his crying.
An intense, and indescribable pain started to spread bit by bit from his numbing heart into his entire body, flowing along in his every arteries and veins, in each of his nerves, until it all converges into one point, making him feel an unbearable strong surge of pain.
The welling tears in his eyes feels like it will split his lungs open, the pain it brings makes him want to yell. But his throat was choked from tears that it was hard for his voice to come out. He could only held it inside, as the pain that feels like he was being stabbed with thousands of knives washes over and over in his body.
This must be in hell…..
Yu Zhi Jue senses an acidic taste rose in his throat, then blood spills at the corner of his mouth.
He vaguely heard people who appeared to have kneel on the ground, and shouted in panicking voices: “Condolence to the Grand Master!…..”
Tears were still streaming down from his eyes, when an uncontrollable laugh escapes from Yu Zhi Jue, and it became louder and louder.
What Grand Master, what Demon King, what dominating the world….
Is there any importance to them?
Would they make up for that person’s smile, his words, and his soft kisses?…..
All those pain and anger manifested itself as black flames. It surrounded him and slowly spreads out.
This kind of world, is there still any reason for it to exist?
Everything must be buried with Ling, including myself!
“Yu Zhi Jue, pull yourself together!” Song Xiao Hu staggeringly walked over to him. He coated himself with a fire barrier, and yelled out, “Calm yourself for a second! What big brother Ling said just now, did you already forgot about it?”
Is this eyesore of a hedgehog wants to snatch Ling away?
Yu Zhi Jue’s whole body trembled. He aimed one of his palm and struck Song Xiao Hu who was getting nearer with his power, while firmly holding Ling Xia close to his chest with the other.
What Ling said?
He said that he won’t die. So then, he’s only tired and is asleep?
If so, anyone who disturbs his rest, will all die!
Song Xiao Hu ‘coughed’ out blood and then collapses. But despite that, he still continued to crawl over without fear while clutching his injured chest. He bellowed out: “Ah Jue, get yourself together! I’ll bring big brother Ling and look for Lady Mu Rong, perhaps he can still be saved!”
Still…be saved?
The corner of Yu Zhi Jue’s mouth emerges into a bewildered smile.
He continued to shoot power from his hands.
If Ling Xia is only sleeping, is there a way for him to be saved?
That hedgehog eyesore was finally beaten by him and falls down to the raging fire on the ground. Song Xiao Hu could no longer muster any strength to crawl further, and he could only maintain the protective chi on his body with difficulty, to prevent himself from being quickly turned into ashes.
Ke Lan MinErBai was scared at the same time, angry. She gritted her teeth as she jumped on top of the blood spider. She yelled out: “Song Xiao Hu, hang in there! Surname Yu, have you gone mad, are you letting Ling Xia down like this?”
Song Xiao Hu…..
A dim spark of memory flashes on Yu Zhi Jue’s mind. It was that person’s weak voice that kept resonating clearly in his mind.
“I beg you, don’t kill Xiao Hu…..”
Will Ling Xia get angry at me if I kill him?
With a wave of his sleeve, he lifted Song Xiao Hu up, and tosses him towards Ke Lan MinErBai.
Ke Lan MinErBai was stunned as she catches. When she saw Yu Zhi Jue who was burning everything with all he has and the young man in his arms who no longer had any trace of life in him, her eyes suddenly heated up.
Song Xiao Hu had already fallen into unconciousness, so Ke Lan MinErBai bit her lips and carried him away. She knows that she had no chance in fighting back against Yu Zhi Jue, and Song Xiao Hu’s life could also be endangered.
The person who harmed Ling is not yet dead…….
Yu Zhi Jue intimately kisses Ling Xia’s forehead, and held him in his arms tightly as he turned around and slowly walked towards Ming Ze and Chu Yin.
Ming Ze moves forward in staggering steps, and bowed his head towards the ground: “Even if this subordinate dies, there are no regrets! As long as the Grand Master is no longer bewitched by that sorcerer! The left elder had nothing to do with this matter, all of this is acted all on this subordinate’s accord.”
Yu Zhi Jue’s chuckle was so gentle, no one could dare look at its incomparable magnificence. And yet, there’s no single trace of warmth in his eyes.
He carefully let Ling Xia lean on his shoulder, then he draws out that refined magic sword Ling Xia crafted for him in the past from his space pouch with his other hand. He impaled Ming Ze’s hand with that magic sword, and sweetly uttered to him like a lover would: “Did you make Ling Xia suffer a lot?”
Ming Ze’s back quivered, his forehead drips with cold sweat. He quickly calmed himself and replied with a hoarse voice: “This subordinate is willing to accept punishment! But this subordinate pleads the Grand Master to not sentence me to death!”
Yu Zhi Jue was nonchalantly twisting the sword, and looks at Ming Ze with a smile as he spoke: “I won’t kill you……Why would I let you off that lightly? All the pain Ling had suffered, I will make you pay back for it bit by bit! “
The expression in his eyes gradually clears up. Even if Ling Xia died, he shall recall his soul back, and confined him by his side.
Chu Yin stood up straight and look back at Yu Zhi Jue. He met his gaze and asked: “What is the Grand Master planning to do?”
“Left elder, I will undo the seal of the Two Headed Serpent, and become the Demon King.” Yu Zhi Jue smiled brilliantly, “After that, I will look for Ling.”
Yu Zhi Jue had once again, places Ling Xia in that ice palace from before and summoned the Mu Xiao.
Ling Xia’s heart had already completely eroded…….
Yu Zhi Jue kept stroking Ling Xia’s ice cold chest, an unceasing distressed filled his heart.
Why didn’t I realized it? If only I had realizes it sooner….
The Mu Xiao possesses a lot of forbidden abilities. And one of those is——soul recall.
He needs a Master Refiner, to come over and help him refine the Mu Xiao with that ability. What was the name of that Master Refiner Chu Yin had recommended before? The one that he allowed to train Ling Xia in refining…..
Yu Zhi Jue lowered his head and softly kisses him on his lips. He was reluctant to part with him for a long while, but he eventually left.
Yu Zhi Jue was sitting on his high seat and was looking down on a young man wearing a mask from above. The other person was quiet under his watchful gaze, his eyes were calm and wise. Yu Zhi Jue chuckled quietly, and bluntly said: “Can you refine a magic tool with soul recall ability?”
“This subordinate had once practice that craft at the age of sixteen.” Shui Yue slowly raises his head, “But to recall a departed soul, such a thing is not possible.”
Yu Zhi Jue then remembered that boy who practiced refining a device that could recall a soul, and was subjected to disciplinary punishment in the past. He didn’t come to expect that in after so many years, he will meet him again in the Qian Kun Sect at this moment. What’s even more unexpected, is that he is now commanding him to make that very device.
That statement made Yu Zhi Jue narrow his eyes. He slowly makes his way down, and stood near Shui Yue, closely looking at him in the eyes while saying: “What if its with the Darkened stallion and The Crest of the Dragon?”
The Darkened Stallion and The Crest of the Dragon are magic tools that had been sealed for many years. Those were also the very objects Shui Yue were searching for in his journey.
Shui Yue’s eyes gleamed with excitement, he could no longer contain his calm. He said in a slightly louder voice: “This subordinate would like to give it a try!”
Several days had passed, Yu Zhi Jue was under the observing eyes of sect members whose watching him slowly climb at the peak of the mountain, where Yu Tian Xing sealed the Two Headed Flying Serpent.
The Two Headed Flying Serpent is a magic beast that is extremely difficult to tame, since its already at the highest level ten. If a mishap happened during the unsealing, its capable of engulfing an entire city into destruction.
In the past, when Yu Tian Xing learned that he won’t live for long, he bounded the seal on the magic beast, for his own son to inherit from him.
Yu Zhi Jue narrowed his eyes as he looked far from what his eyes can reach in the vast blue sky. He suddenly had a marveling thought —— When Yu Tian Xing killed Yu Ling Long(YZJ’s mom) in the past, what was in his mind?
He was much fortunate than Yu Tian Xing, because Ling loved him.
He made a vow, that from this day forth, he will not allow anyone in hurting Ling Xia at the slightest.
The peak cracks open, and Yu Zhi Jue dives down to quickly removed the seal on the Two Headed Flying Serpent. All the sect members that were located at the base of the mountain had already set up the confining spells at all sides in an organize manner, so that the serpent will be trap within the mountain.
The Two Headed Flying Serpent slammed its tail in retaliation. Yu Zhi Jue uses his spiritual power to absorb the shock, and was not thrown back by the attack.
His eyes turned into a purple color. He appeared near it’s seal in an instance, and stabbed his ice sword on that seal, penetrating the Two Headed Flying Serpent’s flesh…..
By the time the Two Headed Flying Serpent was completely subjugated, Yu Zhi Jue’s shoulder were dripping with blood from being bitten by its venomous fangs.
When the sect members saw the Two Headed Flying Serpent flew upwards, everyone rejoices with their hands up in the air. Afterwards, they kneel on the ground in an orderly fashion and shouted loudly: “May the Demon King live for thousands of years!”
Yu Zhi Jue stood at the back of the Two Headed Flying Serpent, and looks down indifferently on the minuscule figures of those people below.
The things he once attached importance to, had no value on him now. At this moment, he only have his sights on one goal, and that is for Ling to come back!
After a month, he was waiting anxiously, but the magic device Shui Yue had set up did not recall Ling Xia’s soul back as they imagined.
“Demon King, ” Shui Yue bowed in courtesy, and slowly asked, “Do you believe in the existence of an another world?”
Yu Zhi Jue narrowed his eyes while playfully casting ice crystals in his hands. The coldness in his heart had already reached its peak. He smiled and replied: “Are you making excuses for me to pardon your failure?”
Shui Yue was neither servile nor overbearing as he stood up: “This subordinate wouldn’t dare. But this subordinate dares to surmise, with basis from the ancient scriptures this subordinate had once read that was transcribed on a mountain cavern.”
“Many thousands of years ago, the first Dark Arts Sect’s Demon King known as Chu Chen Zi, crafted and refined the forbidden magic device, Mu Xiao. While his Senior Martial Brother Zhai Xing Zi, crafted and refined the magic devices Darkened Stallion and The Crest of the Dragon to act as the balance to its power.”
As he explains, he looked at Yu Zhi Jue’s eyes and continued: “On the characters inscribed on The Crest of the Dragon, tells that Zhai Xing Zi uses these magic devices to pull a living person from the other world to this side. As soon as that person ceases to exist, Zhai Xing Zi passes the Mu Xiao as heirloom to succeeding Demon Kings, and sealed the Darkened Stallion and The Crest of the Dragon.”
“The White Loch Guardian told this subordinate his suspicions. But this subordinate did not believe at all that Ling Xiong is another person who would use possession to conspire in eliminating the Grand Master——I’m quite sure, that what I saw years ago and what I saw today is the same soul.”
“I won’t die…..”
Ling Xia’s words suddenly echoed in Yu Zhi Jue’s mind.
He had said that line more than once. The first time was years ago, when Ling Xia took the flogging punishment in his place. The second time, was when Ling Xia was lying in his arms.
He could not resist blurting out a question: “You suspect, that the reason why Ling Xia’s soul can’t be pulled back, was because he is trapped in that other world you are talking about?”
“More or less.” Shui Yue calmly raises his head and met Yu Zhi Jue’s gaze as he continued, “This subordinate starts to speculate that he is from the other world at the beginning, and with this subordinate’s crude knowledge in the art of astrology, I have never seen something like that before in my life.”
His heartbeat suddenly races. Ling Xia had never fooled him in any way before…..
His memories of the past suddenly started flashing back before his eyes like a revolving lantern. And among those memories, there are a lot of moments, where he suddenly realizes were peculiar.
A moment of clarity showed in his eyes for the first time. A ‘fool’ with countless loopholes and contradictions……..
Ling Xia had protected him in anyway possible, and did not act like the child he was supposed to be……
Is Ling Xia really a person who came from another world?
“So how can I get Ling back?” Yu Zhi Jue was not aware he spoke too impatiently.
Shui Yue looks at him and said: “Asking the Demon King to give this subordinate three years. But, the Demon King have to understand, that these magic devices that had existed for many millennia will grant your desire, but at the same time, will bring you adversity. It could even affect the great Demon King’s life. “
“It doesn’t matter.” The corner of Yu Zhi Jue’s eyes were slightly raised, “If this won’t help in bringing Ling back, then I’ll just destroy it——including you.”
Shui Yue lowered his head and said: “This subordinate is willing to place my core in line. If this subordinate failed your trust, then I’ll accept my tragic end!”
Yu Zhi Jue lightly chuckled: “What is your purpose, really?”
“I wanted to create and refine matchless and unrivaled magic devices in the whole world for the Demon King, so it may help the Demon King rule over this world. ” Shui Yue bowed down decisively and said, “And that, is this subordinate’s sole purpose.”
Yu Zhi Jue was slightly stunned inside, but his expression on the outside were unperturbed. He asked: “You don’t have the notion that feelings will hold me back?”
“This subordinate don’t believe so.” Shui Yue replied without the slightest hesitation, “A man with no heart nor emotions, is not capable of bringing out the greatest potential of this subordinate’s works. The great Demon King is the best candidate to use them, because the moment this subordinate laid their eyes on you, I knew it was so.”
Three years?
Is Ling Xia really a person from another world?
If that’s the case then what would he look like, how old would he be?
Does he look the same, or he looked entirely different?
And will his smile still be the same?
Yu Zhi Jue touches the dragon jade ornament on the elemental sword Ling Xia had crafted and gifted to him. He was lost in his thoughts of the memories of their past.
Because he was afraid that Ling Xia would laugh at his childish temper, he kept this thing hidden away. But most of the times, he would keep it in his body yet he wouldn’t allow Ling Xia to find out about it.
The level of this magic sword is too low for him to use now. If strength is applied into it, the blade would be damaged. And Ling Xia’s health was too poor at that time, so there wasn’t a chance for it to be upgraded….
Three years had finally passed. Shui Yue had nearly exhausted his life energy into fusing the three magical devices, and sets it up for the initiation of the soul recall.
Once it was activated, it brought forth limitless power before Yu Zhi Jue.
Yu Zhi Jue unhesitatingly opened the entrance of its portal and walks into it. He heard the voice of the magic device beckoned to him——” Yu Zhi Jue, what is it that you desire?”
“I want to bring back my most important person here.”
“And what would you sacrifice in exchange?”
“Everything——But if you can’t bring him back, I can also destroy you.”
“He he, Yu Zhi Jue, I’ll grant it in exchange to half of your power——and memories.”
“I won’t give up my memories. But if necesary, then take Ling’s memories away.”
If forgetting those cherished memories would lead him to me, then so be it…..
Once I find him again, I’ll make him fall in love with me.
Bonbon info bits corner:
Just a little bit of exposition on the two headed flying serpent, since this magic beast would be one of the major characters in this volume 😀
While YZJ was looking for the kidnapped LX, he summons the THFS beast to help him right? What I think on how it works is, by summoning the serpent with spiritual energy(like MP in rpgs) as well as the help of the seal, YZJ can forcibly control the serpent to fight for him or do his bidding but in a limited time only because while the serpent is summoned, it continuously drained YZJ energy. The energy it depletes also depends on the form of the serpent, the closer it is to its true form, the greater energy is depleted(As YZJ explained in vol 3 to LX). Once the summon is ended, the serpent is transported back to the peak it was sealed in.
And for him to formally succeed as the next Demon King, he must lift the seal his dad put on the magic beast. It is part of the crowning ceremony as well as test if he is worthy to be the Demon King. Because the Serpent is a level 10 magic beast, if confronted, the beast won’t be easily subjugated by anyone not powerful enough to be the king of the dark arts sect. The seal traps the serpent to that mountain, so if the one who removed it is not powerful enough to make it obey, it will wreak havoc on the dark arts sects. But because YZJ managed to do both unsealing the beast and making it obey, the beast becomes a powerful arsenal for YZJ as it now follows YZJ in its full form (like Ah Li to Song Xiao Hu) with the cons of his energy being depleted removed(since he no longer needed to summon it). The Two Headed Flying Serpent will have screen time on the next chapters~
Bonbon wanted to say:
First of all, I would like to thank Bob Ross in keeping me together in finishing this chapter… He beats the devil out of that brush ahaha!
I’m glad there was a satisfying reason for Ling Xia’s memory loss. But damn did Shui Yue broke the other dimension wall for us readers?
And now that Yu Zhi Jue has been nerfed, while Ling Xia has been buffed, I wonder how it will affect the story? Will there be fighting scenes in the last volume? Let’s all find out in the next chapters~
Thanks for reading! Even though this is such a sad chapter, I hope you still all had a nice wonderful day today 😀
—Donation Section—
Special thanks to K(MiB?) and fyxyseana for buying me Ko-Fi~ This bunny is happy with your extra servings of support ^.^