Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 486: Rescuing Li Yan

“Ridiculous!” Feng Yicheng shouted. “Those silver dragons are indeed as greedy as you claim, to push Brother Li and Miss Yun to such dire straits. I’ll certainly send reinforcements on my end. Brother Pi, what say you?”

“I won’t let Yun Ruoyan down either.”

Lie Yun nodded. “Miss Yun has helped us immensely, and we have to help her out in times of need. How do we get to the Jiyuan continent?”

Everyone looked at Yun Moxiao. He hadn’t expected that, after so much talking, what had made all the difference was Yun Ruoyan’s plight. Clearly, Feng Yicheng and Pi Yang were both loyal allies.

“In that case, I’ll thank all of you on my sister and brother-in-law’s behalf.” Yun Moxiao cupped his fists at the crowd. “Once you’re all ready, we can set off immediately. There’ll be a spatial rend that can transport us to the Jiyuan continent.”

On the Jiyuan continent, Yun Ruoyan and Qiuqiu rushed toward the silver dragon castle. In the distance, they could see two silver-armored warriors guarding Yin Xiao as they rode toward the castle.

“Stop them, Qiuqiu!” Yun Ruoyan shouted.

Qiuqiu roared, and the environment flashed by faster than ever before. Just before Yin Xiao reached the silver dragon castle, Qiuqiu’s massive form blocked their path forward.

“Who… who are you, and what do you want?!” Yin Xiao cried out. Yun Ruoyan had pretended to be the holy maiden, lured him out of the silver dragon castle, imprisoned him, and fed him a particularly strong paralytic poison.

Yin Xiao, as the son of the silver dragon elder himself, had never encountered such terrible treatment—but not only had the beautiful woman in front of him dared to do so, she was even willing to go against his father, the silver dragon elder. Furthermore, the beast that she was riding on was releasing such a potent aura that neither Yin Xiao nor his two guards were any match for it.

“I want you to pay for what your father’s done to my family.” Her father, Long Yin, had suffered a fate worse than death at the silver dragon elder’s hands, and Li Yan was about to share in the same fate. Yun Ruoyan had no intention to bear the fury that threatened to overwhelm her any longer.

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Qiuqiu pounced on the three men. Yin Xiao’s two guards immediately drew their weapons and tried to hack and slash at Qiuqiu. Yun Ruoyan killed one of them with one blow, whereas the other died to Qiuqiu’s huge maw.

Yin Xiao, still paralyzed, was shivering in a heap as Yun Ruoyan picked him up. “Don’t kill me! My father’s the silver dragon elder, and he has treasures beyond compare! He’ll give you whatever you want as long as I’m alive,” Yin Xiao begged.

Yun Ruoyan snorted. “Young Master Yin, you overestimate your own importance to the silver dragon elder. If my son is injured in any form, I’ll tear both you and your father to pieces.” She tossed him over Qiuqiu’s back, and they continued rushing toward the palace. “Yan’er, Mother’s coming to rescue you. Wait for me!”

Back in the holy maiden’s quarters, several of the other silver dragon elders were requesting that the holy maiden conduct another round of the sacrificial rites.

“Haven’t we just performed the rites?” the holy maiden asked. Yun Ruoyan had asked her to see if she would be able to make use of her position to enter the silver dragon temple and destroy the blood formation. Before she could do so, however, the other silver dragon elders, who ordinarily stayed in closed cultivation, had suddenly shown up.

“These are orders from the first elder himself,” the second silver dragon elder emphasized. “Holy Maiden, I hope you won’t ignore the first elder’s orders.” After a millennium of prosperity, the first elder’s words were sacrosanct within the silver dragon castle. The holy maiden had no choice but to follow the elders into the silver dragon temple.

“Let him follow me.” Before leaving her quarters, the holy maiden pointed at a warrior guarding the doors to her chambers. The elders noted that the swordsman seemed particularly thin and sickly. Given previous precedent, the holy maiden was allowed to have someone accompany her, so none of the elders said anything.

The swordsman bowed, then followed behind the holy maiden. He was none other than Zhuo Yifeng, who had recently broken free of the demonic spirit’s possession.

Because his body had been weakened by the forced separation, Yun Ruoyan had him remain within the demonic enclave to rest and recuperate. However, Zhuo Yifeng had overheard Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo talk about how Li Yan had been captured, and he had snuck into the silver dragon castle following the memories that the demonic spirit had left behind.

Zhuo Yifeng searched the palace for quite some time without finding any trace of Li Yan. Unsure of how to proceed, he recalled how Yun Ruoyan had brought up the holy maiden. He then dressed up as a silver dragon warrior, found the holy maiden’s quarters, and asked her to help search for Li Yan.

That had all happened last night. Before the holy maiden had a chance to act, the other silver dragon elders had found her and requested that she perform the sacrificial rites again. This was the opportunity that they had been searching for, and the holy maiden couldn’t leave Zhuo Yifeng behind.

When they arrived at the temple, the holy maiden and Zhuo Yifeng saw a palace servant carrying a baby, clearly waiting for them. Although the holy maiden had never seen Li Yan before, she could guess who the baby was. When she glanced at Zhuo Yifeng to see him intently staring at the baby, her suspicions were confirmed.

“Elders, why is there a baby here?” The holy maiden pointed at Li Yan. Although he was in unfamiliar territory and being held by unfamiliar arms, he was neither crying nor screaming. His bright eyes, like those of a little deer, gazed curiously around him. When the holy maiden pointed at him, he quietly looked back.

“The first elder has claimed that this child possesses both the demonic and silver dragon bloodlines, and is the highest-quality ingredient for refining holy water. He has instructed for you to place him in the blood formation,” the second elder spoke imperiously.

“What?” The holy maiden thought that she had misheard. “What did the first elder say?”

The second elder slowly repeated his words, causing the holy maiden to recoil. She knew full well how terrifying the blood formation was, and the first elder wanted her to put a baby in the eye of the formation?

“I can’t do it.” The holy maiden rejected the order near-instantly. “Don’t you know how terrifying the blood formation is? You would put a baby in the formation?!”

“These are the first elder’s orders,” the second elder repeated coolly, as if the holy maiden’s refusal was unimportant. “I’m sure you don’t need me to remind you what consequences await if you disobey the first elder.”

“I can’t do this,” the holy maiden repeated. “When the first elder returns, I’ll suffer whatever punishment he has in mind.” She turned to leave, but two swordsmen, holding Madam Li between them, stepped forward.

The second elder continued, “The first elder guessed that you would refuse to comply. If you still refuse, he has told us to kill Madam Li in front of your eyes.”

“You—” The holy maiden’s face was distorted with anger. “Aren’t any of you afraid of heavenly retribution?!”

The second elder sighed. “I’m simply following the first elder’s orders, Holy Maiden. I know how important your relationship with Madam Li is, so I hope you won’t force my hand.”

The holy maiden glanced at Madam Li, then at Li Yan. In the end, she couldn’t refuse the order. She walked up to a silver dragon statue, pressed its eyes in, and opened the secret passageway to the blood formation.

Zhuo Yifeng tightly clenched his fists, but the surrounding guards all had more advanced a cultivation than he did. Even if he were to try to fight them now, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything.

Before the holy maiden entered the passageway, she glanced at Zhuo Yifeng, motioning for him to follow her. Perhaps because of how weak Zhuo Yifeng seemed, the second elder didn’t object.

Just as the three of them stepped into the passageway, a sudden roar rang out behind them, followed by Yun Ruoyan’s shout. “Return my child to me!”

The second elder widened his eyes in shock, but the holy maiden and Zhuo Yifeng both wore identical expressions of relief. While the second elder was distracted, Zhuo Yifeng dashed toward him and tried to snatch Li Yan from his arms.

However, although the second elder looked somewhat lethargic, he responded surprisingly quickly. He turned his back to Zhuo Yifeng even as he surrounded himself with a membrane of spiritual energy. Zhuo Yifeng then tried to claw the second elder, but his cultivation was so far above Zhuo Yifeng’s, and Zhuo Yifeng’s body was still not fully recovered, that his attack was reflected, and he flew into the air.

As he spat out a mouthful of blood, his body was ejected from the passageway, which had closed behind him.

Just then, Qiuqiu barrelled through the front doors to the temple and snatched up Zhuo Yifeng.

“Zhuo Yifeng, are you alright?” When Yun Ruoyan saw Zhuo Yifeng’s pallid face, she immediately handed him a spiritual pill.

“The passageway!” Zhuo Yifeng hurriedly pointed at the statue through which the holy maiden and the second elder had disappeared. “They brought Li Yan into the passageway, allegedly to make him the eye of some blood formation!”