Seeing Chang An, Er Sheng instinctively crouched down covering her head. Just as she was about to plead spinelessness, she suddenly remembered Chang Yuan was beside her. She tremblingly ran to Chang Yuan’s side and forced herself to straighten her back while looking at Chang An: “I don’t know the Star Lord of Destiny, and I’m not him either, please don’t kill me…” She glanced back at Chang Yuan, adding, “…us!”
Some childhood influences are destined to linger for life. Although Er Sheng had now learned many immortal techniques, and Chang Yuan wasn’t grievously wounded, making it uncertain who would have the disadvantage in a fight with Chang An, Er Sheng had already decided in her mind that the fallen immortal Chang An was an unmatched existence. Before the fight even began, she had already conceded defeat to him.
Chang Yuan stroked Er Sheng’s hair from behind and was about to tell her not to be afraid when Er Sheng grabbed his hand and said: “Chang Yuan, it’s alright, I’ll protect you. I won’t let him hurt you again this time.” Even as she said this, she was trembling spinelessness.
Hearing Er Sheng’s words, Chang Yuan withdrew the divine power from his palms, stroked her smooth hair, and nodded in agreement.
Chang An narrowed his eyes as he observed their interaction, then coldly sneered: “Ancient dragon, entangling too deeply with the Star Lord’s reincarnation will surely end badly.” His words weren’t a curse but a statement of fact. Anyone who knew Er Sheng was the Star Lord’s reincarnation assumed she had descended to the mortal realm for trials, and which immortal undergoing trials ever met a good end?
Er Sheng was bewildered and tried to turn her head to see Chang Yuan’s expression, but halfway through the turn, Chang Yuan guided her head back forward, saying softly: “Don’t look back.” His voice was as calm as ever.
In Chang Yuan’s view, he couldn’t predict how Er Sheng’s life would end in this lifetime, he could only protect her with all his might.
Chang An had no interest in deeply examining their relationship. Gripping his frost sword, he coldly asked: “What did you two intend by breaking into the Desolate City?” From Chang An’s perspective, the dried-up lake at Wufang’s forbidden grounds and the exposed city tablet must have been deliberately orchestrated, and now seeing Chang Yuan and Er Sheng appear within the barrier, he couldn’t help but grow suspicious.
“We didn’t break in,” Er Sheng quickly explained, fearing Chang An’s temper would flare up again, “Nu Yuan caught the wrong people and then let us out.”
Hearing the name ‘Nu Yuan,’ Chang An’s expression shifted slightly. He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. The fallen immortal mark between his brows flashed like burning flames, murderous intent surging in his eyes as he raised his sword and slashed at Er Sheng, shouting ‘Star Lord,’ as if he wanted to drink her blood and eat her bones.
Er Sheng was startled and reached back to grab Chang Yuan, intending to drag him away with her, but Chang Yuan had already leaped forward, wielding the One-Scale Sword to engage Chang An in combat. The two fought so quickly that Er Sheng couldn’t make out their movements at all.
She anxiously stamped her foot and cursed: “This guy has the same temper as Nu Yuan, attacking without warning!” A light suddenly flashed in her mind—that’s right, Nu Yuan had mentioned she and Chang An were once husband and wife… and Nu Yuan had asked her to inquire about Chang An’s whereabouts…
Watching the two locked in combat, Er Sheng suddenly had a not-so-ethical idea. She cleared her throat and said: “Nu Yuan asked me to find out news about the fallen immortal Chang An.”
The two fighting figures noticeably slowed their movements.
Er Sheng raised her voice again: “She said she only wanted to know that you’re not doing well. Your misfortune would be her happiness.”
At that moment, Chang An’s figure froze, and the One-Scale Sword’s momentum couldn’t be stopped as it pierced straight into Chang An’s shoulder.
Er Sheng was still cheerfully clapping at Chang Yuan’s victory, not expecting Chang An to make no sound at all. With bloodshot eyes glaring at Er Sheng, ignoring the One-Scale Sword still embedded in his shoulder, he viciously threw his frost sword at her.
Abandoning one’s sword at this moment was undoubtedly abandoning one’s life—no one had expected his hatred for Er Sheng to run so deep.
Chang An’s throw was both full-powered and unexpected. Er Sheng had no time to dodge. She only felt a cold sensation in her chest as her body was thrown backward by the sword’s force. She hadn’t felt the pain yet when her limbs began to grow weak. She touched her chest where the sword had completely disappeared into her body.
Er Sheng’s face first turned white with fright. She tremblingly shouted twice: “I don’t want chicken breast…” before fainting from fear, having felt no pain at all.
When Chang Yuan heard the sound of the sharp sword piercing flesh and bone, his mind went blank, unable to hear anything else. His pupils contracted sharply, his heart had never beaten so erratically, and an inexplicable fear welled up. He pulled out the One-Scale Sword, forgetting his opponent was still there, forgetting Nu Yuan’s instructions, casting aside all concerns, only wanting to find Er Sheng.
The moment he turned around, he saw Er Sheng lying quietly among white lotus flowers, blood slowly spreading from her chest, staining the lotus roots, making the flowers beautiful in a heart-wrenching way.
An inexplicable dull pain in his heart made Chang Yuan furrow his brows.
“Er Sheng…”
He slowly moved a step forward as collapsing sounds suddenly echoed around them. Chang Yuan paid no attention, continuing to walk toward Er Sheng. He thought, even if Er Sheng died here, he couldn’t let her lie there alone. He knew better than anyone that Er Sheng feared loneliness most.
Chang An clutched his shoulder and coldly smiled at the lifeless Er Sheng lying there. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt his feet sink. The air around them became stagnant as if turning into a swamp, so heavy it was difficult to breathe. Even his limbs couldn’t move freely, and some mysterious force kept pulling him downward.
He didn’t bother struggling, allowing the increasingly dense air to drag him toward an unknown place.
In his last glimpse before his vision blurred, he saw the lotus flowers around Er Sheng completely shatter into powder, floating like ripples on water. The ancient dragon sat quietly there holding Er Sheng, having removed the sword and stopped her bleeding, using divine power to resist the Desolate City’s barrier, desperately maintaining a space for the person in his arms.
What use was it? Chang An thought, who could fight against heaven and earth?
Sure enough, at the moment Chang An’s figure was swallowed by the darkness of the Desolate City’s barrier, the space Chang Yuan had maintained with golden light was slowly compressed and engulfed.
Chang Yuan touched Er Sheng’s increasingly cold cheek, thinking faintly that if Er Sheng returned to the upper realm now and became the Star Lord of Destiny, he probably wouldn’t be able to bite her casually anymore. After all, that was something only intimate people could do.
For the Star-Lord, the person she should anticipate would be the Heavenly Emperor.
It made one feel somewhat… Chang Yuan pondered for a while before finally pulling out such a word:
Jealous hatred.
The golden light around Chang Yuan gradually disappeared, and the Desolate City’s barrier once again returned to dark silence.
At Wufang Immortal Mountain.
Not long after the fallen immortal Chang An entered the city tablet, water began seeping out of the dried lake again, slowly filling the lake and once more concealing the Wuji Desolate City tablet beneath the water. But none who had entered ever came out.
Concubine Kong raised an eyebrow and stopped forcing himself to duel with the Immortal Lord. He waved his hand, sending demonic power straight at the lake’s surface. Light flashed across the lake, deflecting all the demonic energy. He knew that this time he couldn’t break through the Desolate City’s barrier alone. He pouted: “Very well, knowing the Desolate City is here is enough. This king will come back another time.”
The Immortal Lord sensed his intention to flee and formed a demon-binding seal, creating a dazzling blue light in the sky that gradually converged and tried to ensnare Concubine Kong. Concubine Kong dodged on his cloud and gave a loud whistle. Suddenly, there was a disturbance among Wufang’s mountains as countless birds flew out from the forests, rushing to crash into the demon-binding seal, turning that part of the sky pitch black.
While the Immortal Lord was busy dealing with the sudden bird attack, Concubine Kong’s sharp gaze searched below for a while but couldn’t detect Er Sheng’s aura at all.
He couldn’t help but feel annoyed—that girl now carried the Evil Spirit Pearl’s aura and had consumed the bone demon’s core, making her an excellent vessel for refinement. She might even be able to create another Evil Spirit Pearl in this world…
But she just had to be such a disobedient girl!
Concubine Kong secretly gritted his teeth. Looking up, he saw the Wufang Immortal Lord was almost free from the bird assault—if he didn’t leave now, he might truly be unable to escape later. Concubine Kong smiled and waved at the Immortal Lord, blew him a flirtatious wink, then transformed into green smoke and disappeared.
The Immortal Lord’s brows furrowed deeply. By the time he finally freed himself from these mindless birds’ impacts, Concubine Kong’s aura had long dissipated in the air. He gazed silently in the direction Concubine Kong had disappeared, deep in thought.
Controlling animals was indeed a demon race ability, but controlling so many animals was only possible with demonic power.
A thousand years ago, when the demon race rebelled, the War God Mo Xi bloodily suppressed them with military might, leading heavenly soldiers straight down to the Nine Abysses Demon Capital, making blood flow like rivers in the demon realm. By now, the demon race should have recovered their strength. That peacock demon called himself ‘this king’—was he royalty from the demon race or the devil race?
If he was from the devil race, what did they intend by seeking the Evil Spirit Pearl and the Wuji Desolate City…