Dragon and Phoenix (8)

The next few days were chaotic as the Jade Emperor sent people to retrieve the treasure from the empty city and proceeded to reward the people involved in its discovery handsomely. Of course, he did split of equal portions of the discovered treasure for the clans, though the majority of the treasure was taken for the national treasury. No one mentioned the treasures that the group had already taken for themselves, which they kept without a word. Even if the Jade Emperor suspected anything, he would just take it as their reward for the discovery.

As for the man inside the ice, he had also woken up. When he did so, he almost tore down the entire phoenix clan's palace, but good thing that he realized something was wrong before doing so. He really was from the golden age, and had been the youngest son of the mayor of the city they found him in. Because he had a special illness, he had been sealed in the ice to prevent the illness from spreading throughout his body until they found the ingredients for the cure. Yin Mei guessed that the devil had invaded before then, so his family had placed him in the treasury, which was in a isolated dimension, to protect him.

"Are you still sulking around?" Yin Mei said, as she entered the room of the man. His name was Yang. He didn't mention a surname, or perhaps the name he gave was his surname. Yin Mei didn't concern herself with it, just thinking it was a little strange way of naming.

The man didn't say anything, huddled in the corner of the bed. A giant man like that sulking like a baby really was a weird sight. He was really tall, but his back was constantly hunched over. He had a pair of beautiful green eyes, but his messy black hair was constantly blocking them from sight. Yin Mei thought that he reminded her of the Gui siblings, with his gloomy aura, but compared to the passionate Gui siblings who seemed like mad scientists, this guy was just plain depressing.

"... t... a..." Yang mumbled something, but Yin Mei didn't hear what he said.

"What?" She said, as she was about to pour a cup of tea (for herself, of course).

"You don't understand," Yang repeated, louder. He had on an expression of anger and despair, as if the whole world had ended. "Waking up and everyone you knew before is gone... you wouldn't understand! What's the point of me even living anymore?" For such a big guy, who was definitely older than any one in the upper realm by thousands of years, he sure sounded even more immature than Gui Heng (granted he was asleep for who knows how long).

But, that was the wrong thing to say to Yin Mei. "I don't understand? I. don't. understand?" This hit a string in her, and she immediately felt a burning rage. "Don't you dare say that to me." She was in front of him in a second, her hand lashing out and gripping his neck, slamming him onto the wall as she leaned in. "You complain about your circumstances one more time, and I will..." She paused, thinking for a moment as she let him go and he landed on the bed with a small thud.

Her expression returned to normal as she leaned back, standing straight up again. "I'm not sure what I'll do, but I will make sure that you'll feel enough pain to think that the despair you are feeling right now is a cake walk compared to it." She then smiled sweetly. "You aren't the only one who has lost things, so don't you dare act like you are. Now get your a** off the bed and have some tea with me."

Yang looked at Yin Mei with a stunned expression, seemingly unable to keep up with her quick changes in mood and her sudden use of coarse language that didn't match her beautiful appearance at all. He obediently walked over and sat down at the table with her, as if he had been scared into obedience.

Actually, as long as he could heal his illness and regain his former strength, he would definitely have a strength on par with, if not more than, that of the Jade Emperor. It was just that he was too weak now to fight back, and he had been scared silly to the point that he forgot he would be stronger than Yin Mei if he had a few years.

The reason why Yin Mei was so upset about Yang's words was simply because it could be said that she was in a similar situation. One day, everything had been going fine and dandy. Then she was involved in a mass shooting, and died, like out of the blue, at the young age of 23. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she was shoved into this world where the strong was the law, and killing was as common as picking up vegetables at your local grocery store. All her friends and family were left behind, and she had to brave this world on her own... No, she then remembered. That was right, because she had the trusty, beautiful, stunning, super rich and powerful big thigh known as the demon king, she could still get handle it.

Mm, having a thigh to hang onto during hard times was important.

After that day, for some reason, Yang would continue to follow Yin Mei around. He even followed her into the bath once, so she had to kick him out. Yin Mei was completely confused what he was doing. Was he a masochist? Or looking for a chance for revenge?? Not even Yang knew the answer to this question. He just thought that he would figure out something if he stuck by Yin Mei. What he would figure out, he was unsure. But anyways, he just decided to first follow her and then ask questions later.

Of course, Yin Mei was exceedingly frustrated by this, but when she saw this giant boy with his hunched back looking at her with puppy dog eyes, she could only swallow all the grievances she had in her throat and reluctantly allow him to continue (as long as he didn't follow her into the bath again).

Because of their contributions to the emperor with their donations of the treasures that they had found, the impressions of Yin Mei and her family naturally rose in the head of the emperor. Because of that, he grew more dissatisfied with Long Aotian and they way that he had handled the engagement between the two and their clan. As a result, the amount of duties that he entrusted to Long Aotian increased. For Long Aotian, this was like thunder in a clear sky. He had been working hard to regain favor in these last two days, and everything had seemed to be going well. But now, all that effort was rendered useless with Yin Mei's one move.

Long Aotian even began to wonder, was everyone right and he was truly wrong in his decision? Although he still thought that he love Yao Ling, he couldn't help but think that perhaps he should have thought things through when he decided to bring her back with him and break the engagement between him and Yin Mei. That's right, Long Aotian was regretting. But, it was too bad, but there was no medicine for regret.

In the blink of an eye, several years passed. As Yang cured his illness and healed himself, growing more and more powerful and contributing more and more in his efforts for the nation, the emperor proceeded to favor the Feng clan even more, along with the other clans of those involved in finding Yang, this elder from the golden age.

Yin Mei carefully kept this situation balanced though. The emperor would not like it if they grew too much in power, and other clans grew too weak. He was always constantly trying to balance the power between the clans, but Yin Mei did not want him to do anything that was out of her plans, so she took it into his own hands so that their clan wouldn't face anything bad later on. She kept the dragon clan weak, but not weak to the point where the emperor would begin to interfere.

Long Aotian would constantly suffer from ups and downs in his career. Whenever he seemed to be doing well, something would happen, bringing up those old matters again and bringing his reputation and favor back down. He knew that it was definitely Yin Mei acting in the background, but he knew that he couldn't make a move against her, or his reputation would just suffer even more.

It was only a half year before the opening of Talkan's Realm that the demon king finally ascended.

"It's happening! It's finally happening!" Yin Mei was so happy that she almost fell over when she suddenly stood up from her seat at the table.

"Xiao Hua? What is it?" Yang said worriedly, as he quickly came over to help her keep her balance. Even after a little more than four years, Yang still hadn't ditched his habit of following Yin Mei, though he did restrain himself when necessary.

He looked down at the basin, but he couldn't see whatever it is that Yin Mei saw. He only knew that Yin Mei liked looking at this in her free time, and that the expression she had on during that time would always make him uneasy for some reason.

Yin Mei, who had gotten used to Yang's actions, didn't seem to mind, saying a quick thank you before pushing him away to get a closer look at the basin. "I'm finally going to see him again." She continued to say, before breaking out into a happy laughter. "I didn't wait in vain! My efforts are finally going to come to fruition."

She then turned around, calling for Mei Lan, who quickly came in. "Fetch my coat, we're going to wait at the dragon gate!"

Yang, who had been abandoned, was a little stunned at first. He felt that he hadn't seen such an excited Yin Mei before. He wanted to ponder the meaning of her words, but seeing that she was already done preparing and about to leave, he could only stuff his thoughts into the back of his mind and hurried after her.

Yin Mei exclaimed, almost forgetting the basin of water and she quickly went back to grab it before they rushed out. She told Mei Lan to tell her brothers and parents that she was going out, not even waiting before taking out her sword and hoping onto it, flying away. Mei Lan could only extort Yang to properly protect their young miss before going to notify the family.

Yang followed along, wondering what it is that got Yin Mei so excited and impatient.

They soon arrived at their destination, a gate on a stone stage that stood several miles outside the capital city. There was only green grass surrounding them for miles, and it seemed like a lonely little place, slightly depilated, but its appearance still retaining its former glory.

It was a red gate with faded golden dragons coiled around it. This was the dragon gate, which another must pass through in order to ascend and become a true dragon.

Yang certainly recognized this place, which had been around since the old age. He couldn't help but wonder why they were here. Yin Mei was clearly eagerly awaiting something. It couldn't be that someone was about to pass through the dragon gate? But, Yang recalled that from the history he had read after waking up, that no one had passed through the dragon gate since the end of the war.

So, he was shocked when thunder clouds began gathering and thunder resounded loudly, lightning bolts striking around them. My god! Someone is actually passing through the dragon gate!

After what seemed like an eternity, the sound of dragons roaring continuously echoing around them, the person that Yin Mei had waited, waited, and waited for finally arrived. He was wearing the fresh blood red color that he looked so beautiful in, two rings hanging from his neck, his expression prideful and dignified.

Seeing this man, who was so beautiful that it was almost sinful, Yang felt an extreme sense of danger as he had a sudden realization. Ah, this was the person that Yin Mei was waiting for. This was the person that would steal her away from him.

(A/N cuz there isn't enough room in the actual authors note: sorry 2nd male lead never stood a chance. I was gonna give him a bit more of a chance, but my heart was always set on the demon king and initially he wasn't even supposed to exist :P that being said, I will keep him and he might appear in the next arcs too. I'll try to give him more of a fighting chance in the next chapters. After all, he actually has been with YM more than the demon king, since demon king was in closed cultivation for most of the time that YM knew him and then she died. so yeah. btw please read the actual author's note below, it'll be helpful for me to see people's opinions.)