Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 484: Chicanery

“We agree,” Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo said together. Neither of them had had any intention of eradicating the demonic practitioners, and nothing was more important than Li Mo.

Given the successful negotiations, the demonic spirit immediately began writing a letter to the silver dragon elder. Then, he entered closed cultivation in order to reforge a mortal body for himself.

Three days later, they would face off against the silver dragon elder.

“I need your help,” the demonic spirit told Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo.

“How can we help?” Li Mo asked.

The demonic spirit sat cultivating in a sealed chamber. On the ground was a formation he had drawn in blood—more accurately, Zhuo Yifeng’s blood, not the demonic spirit’s blood. Their souls were in an entangled state, and the demonic spirit was making use of this formation to separate them again. Then, he would use the holy water to reforge his body.

All this would require immense amounts of spiritual energy, and Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo’s roles were to continuously infuse spiritual energy into the array to keep it running.

Zhuo Yifeng’s body hovered on top of the array, his expression at times pained and at times sinister. Suddenly, a glowing orb of red and white emerged from Zhuo Yifeng’s head. It was amorphous, and was slowly being pulled apart. Eventually, it resolved into two separate glowing orbs of light: one white, representing Zhuo Yifeng’s soul, and the other red, representing the demonic spirit’s soul.

Yun Ruoyan upended the bottle of holy water into the array. As it made contact with Zhuo Yifeng’s blood, it quickly sprouted, budded, and grew into a human’s body at a rate visible to the naked eye.

“Haha, my mortal body’s finally been restored!” The demonic spirit smiled as he glanced at the growing body. “Li Mo, help me enter my body.”

Meanwhile, Zhuo Yifeng’s soul, which had long been repressed by the demonic spirit, seemed to be spinning in circles. Yun Ruoyan prodded at it, then enclosed Zhuo Yifeng’s soul in a sphere of spiritual energy. “Zhuo Yifeng, can you hear me?” Yun Ruoyan asked mentally.

“I… I can.” Zhuo Yifeng’s voice still seemed a little confused.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, you’re Yun Ruoyan.” It finally regained some amount of clarity.

“Let me guide you to your body,” Yun Ruoyan said, then manipulated the sphere of spiritual energy in which Zhuo Yifeng was encased.

By her side, Li Mo was helping the demonic spirit into his own body. After a day and night of acclimating to their own bodies again, Zhuo Yifeng and the demonic spirit finally opened their eyes.

Within the silver dragon castle, the silver dragon elder had received the next message from the demonic spirit, stating that he would exchange Yin Xiao for Li Yan at a location outside the silver dragon city in three days’ time.

The silver dragon elder crumpled the message and ignited it.

By his side, none of his servants dared speak. Everyone knew that Yin Xiao was the only remaining descendant of the silver dragon elder. The higher one’s cultivation, the longer one’s lifespan—and the more unlikely it was that one would leave children behind. If something were to go wrong with Yin Xiao, the silver dragon elder would be without an heir. No one was so daring as to interrupt the silver dragon elder’s thoughts.

“It looks like Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo, and the demonic spirit are all in cahoots,” the silver dragon elder finally murmured. “If I can defeat them all in one fell swoop, I won’t have anything to worry about. I could very well give them a taste of their own medicine…”

The silver dragon elder turned to the guard captain, who immediately stepped forward. The elder whispered in his ears.

“Yes, Elder! I’ll arrange things right away.”

He then asked the guard captain, “Has the holy maiden done anything of note lately?”

“No, Elder. She’s remained in her quarters.”

The silver dragon elder nodded, then dismissed the rest of the servants. He walked toward a little crib by the corner of the room, where Li Yan’s limpid eyes were looking straight at him. “What a cute child—but it’s a pity, isn’t it? Since your parents so desperately want to deprive me of my heir, perhaps I should do the same to them.”

Three days later, the silver dragon elder, as instructed, brought Li Yan to the designated location—a secluded lakeside clearing, quiet save for the sounds of nature, with silvery-white flowers blooming overhead.

“I’ve come with the child. Hand Yin Xiao over!” The silver dragon raised Li Yan high up into the air, and his voice reverberated about him.

“Silver dragon, how good to see you again, haha!” a malicious voice sounded, and a black shadow darted out from behind the trees. The demonic spirit, draped in a shadowy cloak, hovered in mid-air as he glanced at the silver dragon elder. Beneath his feet was a blood-red, cloud-like substance, making his appearance seem particularly sinister.

“You sneaking thief! It looks like you’ve gotten your hands on some holy water, in the end,” the silver dragon muttered angrily.

“Haha!” The demonic spirit laughed with glee. “The formations in your little temple are as easy to rip apart as paper. The only reason I was caught the first time is because I wasn’t prepared for an ambush, but I was easily able to acquire the holy water this time.”

The silver dragon elder snapped his fingers. “Stop speaking nonsense. Where’s Yin Xiao? I’ve brought the baby here.” He raised Li Yan high into the air again. “Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo, I know you’re both here. Don’t you want your child back?”

“Silver dragon!” Li Mo called out. “Hand over our baby, or be prepared to attend Yin Xiao’s funeral!”

“His funeral? Perhaps you’ll be attending your son’s funeral instead.” The silver dragon elder placed his fingers around Li Yan’s neck. “With the tiniest squeeze, this life will dissipate forever. It’s hard for me to lay my hands on such a cute little boy, but…”

“Hold it!” a woman’s voice thundered. Following the shout, Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo appeared, trailed by the rest of the demonic bandits. Yin Xiao was trussed up behind them.

“Silver dragon, as far as we know, Yin Xiao’s your only living descendant,” Yun Ruoyan warned. “You wouldn’t bet his life, would you?”

The silver dragon elder, who had lived for millennia and whose sole living descendant was Yin Xiao, certainly wouldn’t dare risk the end of his bloodline. “If you’re so confident, then why ask? Now that both hostages are here, can we get on with exchanging them?”

Li Mo stepped in front of Yun Ruoyan. “I’ll be responsible for the exchange. If you try anything, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

“Likewise.”

Given Li Mo and the silver dragon elder’s cultivation, it would be a trivial affair to kill someone from a distance.

Li Mo brought Yin Xiao, still trussed up, toward the silver dragon elder, who did the same with Li Yan. Everyone held their breaths as they stared at the two men, prepared for something to go wrong.

Just as they were about to meet, the silver dragon suddenly tossed Li Yan into the air behind him, flying into the distance.

“Li Yan!” Yun Ruoyan cried out, soaring toward him on her sword. Li Mo did the same, pushing Yin Xiao aside as he did so.

“Save me, Father!” Yin Xiao stumbled toward the silver dragon elder.

“Don’t let this duo get away!” the demonic spirit commanded, and the demonic bandits immediately surrounded the silver dragon elder and Yin Xiao.

“Do you think you’re enough to stop me? What a joke!” The silver dragon elder’s voice was infused with spiritual energy, forcing the bandits to stumble back. At the same time, a spiritual energy membrane covered both him and Yin Xiao.

When Li Mo caught Li Yan, his face turned pale.

“Li Mo, what’s wrong with Li Yan? Show him to me!” Yun Ruoyan reached out for him, but Li Mo looked at Yun Ruoyan oddly.

“What’s the matter, Li Mo? Is something wrong with Yan’er?” Yun Ruoyan’s hands trembled, and tears were poised to fall from her eyes.

“No, it’s—” Li Mo hesitated. “See for yourself.” Li Mo handed the baby to Yun Ruoyan, who stared at it in rage. That baby wasn’t Li Yan!

“Silver dragon, don’t you care at all for your kin?!” Because of how angry she was, Yun Ruoyan’s voice and body were quavering. Qiuqiu, sensing her anger, darted out of the silver bracelet’s pocket dimension. Its red fur stood on end as it bared its canines at the silver dragon, howling deeply.