Chapter 118: Conclusion
The sky above the southern border was blood red and visible from the inner city. The smell of charred bodies and ash also drifted in with the wind.
Inside the Demon Terrace, Lin Haoqing looked at the red glow in the distance and shadows formed under his brows.
"Why aren't you waking up yet?" Ji Ning paced anxiously back and forth next to Changyi's bed.
"Shunde came too soon," Lin Haoqing said.
"It wasn't expected."
Ji Ning squatted down and looked sideways at the nape of Changyi's neck. There, a small white formation swirled under his silver hair. It was impossible to see unless one looked from this angle. Ji Ning let out a soft sigh.
"When will this formation start to glow..." Lin Haoqing was silent for a moment then said,
"Just keep waiting." Ji Ning turned his head, his eyes passed over Lin Haoqing and looked at the reddened sky.
"Do we still have the time to wait?" Lin Haoqing did not answer him again.
...
Ji Yunhe had promised Lin Haoqing to not gamble with her life. But she broke her promise.
Because Princess Shunde was more powerful than they predicted. The power of the Grand Master and Qing Ji had been underestimated all along. Ji Yunhe used everything she could just to lead her to the thunder fire cave without getting killed.
And by the time they reached the edge of the cave, Ji Yunhe had already been cut all over by wind blades along the way. She took advantage of the thick smoke outside the cave mouth to temporarily conceal herself.
She began using her magic to heal her wounds, but the sound of footsteps soon appeared. Ji Yunhe looked back and saw Shunde walking toward her through the smoke, her body wrapped under a layer of green aura.
"I thought you've come up with an amazing plan, but you want to use this lava against me?" She smiled contemptuously.
"So naive."
She raised her hand and a gust of wind blew away the smoke around them. The cave entrance ten feet away was now clearly in view.
They faced each other as time seemed to return to the darkness inside the Grand Master's prison. The light of the lava now casts a red tint onto both of their faces, just like the torch in that dungeon. Ji Yunhe heard that after she was rescued from the Grand Master's house by Changyi, Shunde became extremely afraid of fire. But now, she showed no signs of such fear. Shunde looked at her own palm and moved her fingers. Ji Yunhe knew another storm began to stir at the border.
"I no longer fear the power of nature," Shunde said.
Ji Yunhe wiped a handful of blood from the corner of her lips. She sat on the ground, silently regulating her internal energy in self recuperation, while pretending to be calm and relaxed.
"Don't overestimate yourself. If the power of nature can make you, it can also destroy you."
Shunde smiled. "Worry about yourself first."
Before she came, she had received news that the jiaoren was trapped in a deep sleep. The only person left able to put up a fight was Ji Yunhe. After killing Ji Yunhe, her puppet army would be able to conquer the entire land and convert everyone. She would then control the world with no one left to disobey her.
Thinking of this, Shunde's eyes glowed with a little madness and a longsword formed in her hand.
"Ji Yunhe, I overestimated you. I never thought you would be so weak and defenseless. The power of the nine tailed fox, since you can't make much use of it, might as well give it to me."
She suddenly attacked before her words even fell. Ji Yunhe tried to dodge to the side, but Shunde was too fast. The longsword in her hand pierced through Ji Yunhe's right shoulder.
A fox tail behind her turned into a sword and aimed for Shunde's chest, but Shunde flipped her hand and Ji Yunhe's arm flew out and landed on the ground. The blood dried up before it even had time to bleed, and the arm instantly withered under the searing heat.
Ji Yunhe endured the pain as sweat fell from her face. Her fox tail did not get to hurt Shunde, but she had managed to stay alive at the cost of an arm. She was trembling, but she did not show fear.