Little Girl

All things in the world possessed spirits. Gold and stone could be enlightened; grass and trees could become sprites.

Among all living beings, "true dragons" and "true phoenixes" possessed the greatest strength and noblest bloodlines. Thus, every emperor of the Great Chu Dynasty had been called one destined by the true dragon.

In truth, true dragons and true phoenixes existed only in legend. No one knew how many years had passed since either had last appeared in the world.

Yet the bloodlines they had left behind continued to be passed down.

White Wraith, one of the Three Sages of Yin Mountain, had once found a dying "earth dragon." Calling it that was flattering, really—it had merely been an earthworm before its spirit awakening. After cultivating for many years, lurking beneath the shallow earth and devouring who knew how much essence of sun and moon, it had ultimately awakened thirty percent of a true dragon's bloodline... Those thirty percent were enough to let it roam unchecked, nearly invincible among land-dwelling demon spirits of the same realm.

And so, an earthworm had transformed in a single shake, shedding its filthy, foul shell to become an earth dragon.

At this moment, Xie Xuanyi was utterly certain that the scattered, wandering flames before him were the legendary "phoenix fire," capable of burning all things!

That pitch-black throne was the finest proof.

Phoenix fire contained the ultimate power of "destruction."

A phoenix underwent nirvana, dying and being reborn!

Only through utter destruction could revival be welcomed.

Legend had it that pure-blooded phoenixes were undying and indestructible. They could spread their wings and strike the nine heavens, spitting black flames that incinerated everything... Xie Xuanyi stepped before the throne and extended the slender, straight umbrella rib. This sword met not the slightest resistance as it easily pierced into the black fire.

Yet for every inch it entered, an inch was burned away.

When he pulled it back out, only the bare umbrella handle remained.

"It really is... phoenix fire."

Xie Xuanyi let out a long sigh, then felt a wave of headache wash over him... Did he truly know this little girl?

The next instant.

A stab of pain came from nowhere within his sea of consciousness. Xie Xuanyi gave a muffled grunt and collapsed to the ground.

A fragment of shattered memory, like lotus petals, after drifting apart for many years... slowly pieced itself back together.

After a long while, Xie Xuanyi recovered.

He raised his head, his expression complicated as he looked toward the young girl sleeping soundly atop the throne. Phoenix fire drifted and floated through the air like a gauzy robe draped over her body.

Xie Xuanyi's gaze settled on the girl's slender, fair calf.

There was a straight black scar there, glaringly conspicuous.

This little girl.

He really did know her.

Many years ago, when Xie Xuanyi had first emerged into the world, he had traveled across the four realms, challenging swords everywhere.

The land was so beautiful that countless heroes bowed low before it.

In his youth, Xie Xuanyi's temperament had been as direct as a sword. The Great Grain Sword Palace was declining by the day, and he had devoted himself to restoring the glory of sword cultivators. The moment he left the mountain, he set his sights on the foremost position among the younger generation, challenging gifted peers from every major sect.

They could determine victory and defeat—and life and death!

Back then, the only title in Xie Xuanyi's heart was "first."

If he did not strike, so be it.

But once he struck, blood had to be drawn!

He traveled through the four realms without a single defeat—something that had never happened in the past sixty years.

As he wished, Xie Xuanyi ascended to the top of his generation, taking first place on the Prodigy Board. For a time, none could rival his brilliance.

Such a temperament naturally drew the attention of the world. He would have countless enemies, as well as many "close friends."

Of course, a considerable number of those so-called "close friends"... were flies and vermin drawn by his great fame.

They wore amiable smiles and cloaked themselves in elaborate disguises, drinking and making merry with him, speaking the sweetest words and putting on the most sincere expressions.

Such people were more terrifying than enemies.

It was simply that Xie Xuanyi had not understood this truth back then.

Some things could only be remembered with bone-deep clarity after one had lived through them.

"Hah... So it was you?"

Xie Xuanyi looked somewhat pale. Bracing himself against his knee, he slowly rose to his feet.

He had an excellent memory and never forgot anything he saw.

So long as he had met someone once, even if many years had passed... Xie Xuanyi could recognize them at a glance.

Yet this little girl felt unfamiliar to him.

Because when they had met all those years ago, she had yet to cultivate to the realm of "transformation."

The Great Chu Northern Hunt was a grand national ceremony held once every few years!

At the time, Xie Xuanyi was at the height of his fame when he was invited to join the Northern Hunt. Geniuses from every major sect gathered in one place, and the party set out from the imperial capital, sweeping north in a mighty procession to hunt down demons... In this Northern Hunt, naturally, the contest was to see who killed more demons, and who killed stronger ones!

Back then... countless geniuses and all manner of extraordinary figures displayed their divine abilities.

Yet all of them were overshadowed by Xie Xuanyi.

Because Xie Xuanyi had hunted down a "phoenix."

Though true dragons and true phoenixes had vanished, remnants of their bloodlines remained in later generations. Perhaps fortune had favored him. During that Northern Hunt, Xie Xuanyi happened to discover the demonic aura of a Phoenix Blood Descendant in a remote mountain range. After a fierce battle, he severely wounded this Phoenix Blood Great Demon, who had only just attained the Dao through cultivation, and successfully brought her back to Great Chu.

That battle had been exceptionally brutal, and Xie Xuanyi had suffered grave injuries.

As for that phoenix, there was even less need to say.

Xie Xuanyi had severed the phoenix's shinbone and locked her inside a cage...

As prey from the Northern Hunt, he presented this phoenix to the imperial family.

On the day of the Northern Hunt, he captured a Phoenix Blood Descendant!

The matter once again shook the world, and the Great Grain Sword Palace received lavish rewards.

Xie Xuanyi, who had long swept through his peers across the Four Realms without finding a match, formally ascended to the top of the Prodigy Board after this Northern Hunt!

It could be said that this was the most high-spirited, glorious day of Xie Xuanyi's life!

Xie Xuanyi had always believed he possessed an excellent memory. Even now, he remembered every face that had congratulated him that day, every gaze filled with envy and jealousy.

Yet looking back now...

He had completely forgotten that phoenix descendant he had gravely wounded...

On the road to godhood lay heaps upon heaps of white bones.

The Xie Xuanyi of those days cared only for reaching the summit. He never looked back, nor did he ever look down.

"I never thought I'd run into you here..."

There was thirty percent reflection and seventy percent wistful sorrow in Xie Xuanyi's voice.

The little girl's legs atop the throne had been wounded by Sword Qi. Upon skin as pale and tender as lotus root lay a horrifying black scar!

Xie Xuanyi had recognized her... because that Sword Qi had been left by him.

The art of spirit-commanding and soul-control was not an exclusive inheritance of Yin Mountain. The Great Chu Dynasty's imperial family possessed similar techniques as well, allowing them to keep demons, tame them, and enslave them. After this phoenix had been delivered to the imperial family, she should have had no possibility whatsoever of escaping. By all reason, she ought to have been imprisoned in a cage until her soul completely submitted to Great Chu's imperial clan, only then gaining a chance to see daylight.

But ten years ago, the emperor had passed away, and the imperial capital had descended into chaos.

During that time, anything could have happened.

The reason she was now able to hide beneath Emberpeak Mountain... perhaps she had escaped amid that chaos?

Xie Xuanyi had never believed in fate.

But today's meeting was simply too coincidental, too dramatic.

He could not help but wonder what Heaven had arranged this encounter for.

"If the me from ten years ago had stood here and caught an escaped demon, then even if all my cultivation had been scattered, I would still have drawn my sword with all my strength."

Xie Xuanyi spoke softly. "But the me of today is no longer the same as before..."

Over these ten years, he had come to understand one truth: demons could be good or evil, and so could people.

He certainly hated demons.

But those cultivators who had joined in besieging him back then, those friends who called him brother to his face while striking deadly blows from behind his back.

Those people deserved death more than demons did!

Xie Xuanyi stood amid the phoenix-fire ashes drifting through the sky, quietly gazing at the little girl on the throne.

When he had fought this Phoenix Blood Great Demon all those years ago, he had noticed that although she possessed an apex Phoenix Blood bloodline, she had cultivated for only a very short time and would need several more years before she could take human form.

At the beginning of that battle, both sides had been brimming with fighting spirit, neither willing to yield!

But later...

The young Phoenix Blood Great Demon began to lose ground. She started begging for mercy, transmitting her thoughts through her divine soul, hoping that Xie Xuanyi would "show mercy and spare her."

Naturally, Xie Xuanyi paid her no heed.

The human race and the Demon Race had long borne an irreconcilable blood feud.

Either enslave them, or kill them!

In the cultivation world, strength reigned supreme. It was also common for great cultivators of the Demon Race to enter Great Chu territory and massacre human lives.

The Xie Xuanyi of that time believed that once he drew his sword, victory and defeat had to be decided—one side had to fall.

And so... in the end, this Phoenix Blood Great Demon fell.

In truth, it was fair.

Xie Xuanyi won, and the great demon was taken back to Great Chu.

Had he lost, he would have been buried beyond the pass, his corpse destroyed and his bones interred.

"Let today's matter end here..."

Xie Xuanyi withdrew his gaze and made his decision.

"After I leave, not a word of what happened on Emberpeak Mountain today is to be spoken of. If you can heal your wounds and leave Great Chu, that will be your good fortune."

With phoenix fire protecting this place, a cultivator like Reverend Heavy Mist could study it for another three or five years and still never break through the dharma manifestation.

But Xie Xuanyi was not Heavy Mist—

Even though he possessed nothing now, he still had absolute confidence that he could shatter the phoenix's dharma manifestation.

If he wanted to get rid of this Phoenix Blood Descendant... he had more than one way. The simplest, quickest, and most "shameless" method would be to leak the information about this "Phoenix Blood Great Demon." Before long, a great host of righteous men would come rushing over.

Every part of a phoenix-blood demon descendant was a treasure.

Having said that, Xie Xuanyi prepared to leave.

For a "great villain" like him, one who had never left survivors behind, making this decision was no easy thing.

If word of the phoenix got out...

The people drawn here by the news would probably be the same sort who had surrounded and killed him back then.

Xie Xuanyi truly loathed those people.

No matter what, he did not want to use such filthy hands to do his work for him.

He had decided to spare this phoenix—and spare the former self who had fought over everything...

Yet just as he turned around, the entirety of Emberpeak Mountain began to tremble.

Reverend Heavy Mist had secluded himself on Emberpeak Mountain for half a year. In his efforts to subdue the phoenix, he had wrought countless acts of "destruction." This ancient volcano, silent for many years, had endured in silence beneath the bombardment of formation patterns and magical artifacts...

When luck was bad...

A single grain of dust could trigger an entire avalanche.

Without question, Reverend Heavy Mist was that grain of dust that had caused the avalanche!

Emberpeak Mountain, dead silent for who knew how many years, began to erupt!

A thunderous boom rang out!

Xie Xuanyi's expression changed drastically. The instant he turned and took a step, the ground beside him split apart, and a pillar of fire shot skyward... His reaction was incredibly swift. He immediately sprang backward several yards, narrowly avoiding the fiery column.

His face darkened as he watched a corner of his robe slowly burn in midair until it turned to ash.

He glanced at the bare umbrella handle in his hand.

His earlier test of the phoenix fire's power...

Had left him without even the only "sword" he could wield.

But that was nothing.

Drawing in a deep breath.

Xie Xuanyi tossed aside the umbrella handle and began to run. After evading two dangerous spots where fire pillars erupted, he borrowed the momentum to leap toward a stone wall. His five fingers curled like hooks and sank directly into the rock, leaving him hanging there like an ape...

Perhaps this was the only good news: after being reborn, Xie Xuanyi's Primordial Force had completely scattered, but his physical body had remained in fine condition.

He raised his head and gauged the distance.

If he repeated this a few dozen times, he could escape Emberpeak Mountain.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At that moment, the surging waves of heat at the bottom of Emberpeak Mountain finally erupted in full force! They began to spew forth!

The scene before him was like a hell on earth.

Xie Xuanyi looked down. Vast stretches of ground had cracked open, towering pillars of fire gushing from the fissures as a scorching ocean of molten lava ran wild.

Instinctively, he turned his gaze toward the little girl seated upon the throne, hesitation showing on his face.

That phoenix-blood descendant... was gravely injured.

After half a year of having her divine soul struck hundreds of times without waking, she must have suffered an exceptionally severe wound to her divine soul while escaping the imperial capital.

Xie Xuanyi knew full well that the so-called majestic and imposing "phoenix dharma manifestation" was merely a paper tiger, ready to collapse at the first poke.

Under normal circumstances, a phoenix naturally would not fear earthfire.

But things were different now.

The little one had chosen to sleep so that her soul could heal.

Now, with the earthfire crashing forth and the mountain collapsing, once the dharma manifestation broke, her physical body would inevitably suffer a fatal blow.

Whether she lived or died afterward would be hard to say.

"Fine."

Xie Xuanyi let out a helpless sigh. "Consider it a debt I owe you."

Thanks to alliance leader Changsheng Ruggu~ Generous boss, mighty boss, may the boss live forever~