86. Battle Line
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'She's angry!' Luoyin observed, as he sat across from Weiyan at the garden pagoda, the early moonlight adding to the beauty of the flowers.
After hugging him for almost a full minute outside, Xu Weiyan had suddenly pushed him away, her eyes narrowing up at him.
Then she swivelled and stormed back into the house, leaving Luoyin frozen in place.
"Wah! I must resemble some of the grasses!" Yin Xing exclaimed. "She didn't even notice me, and meanwhile, there's suddenly a statue here!" He teased, waving a hand in front of Luoyin's face to snap him out of it.
Luoyin remembered to draw in a breath, and he lightly shoved Yin Xing away, scowling at him. "Don't say anything!"
The two had walked in, Luoyin introducing Yin Xing to Meng Qiu as 'an Immortal he just happened to run into', while looking for Lord Mo.
But then he met several pairs of anxious eyes waiting for him inside...
The disciples had followed Weiyan home!
"Zhang Yin! Finally you've returned!" Xu Min was by his side in an instant.
"Shixiong, we were so worried!" Xu Wen hurried over.
"Right! How could you simply vanish?!" Xu Lian scolded, now beside Weiyan who wasn't meeting his eyes.
"2nd Disciple Xu, do you know how things looked? We all thought that Lord Mo personally pulled you away with him!" Tao Yun rarely spoke, so his words weighed on Luoyin.
"Fortunately, Lord Huo and Sect Leader Xu said you used a talisman to disappear on your own, and they insisted we do nothing and simply wait here for you, but we could tell Sect Leader Xu was worried!"
Luoyin looked round at all their faces- faces that had become a large part of his short mortal life here in Yue City, and he cupped his hands and bowed.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong!"
Xu Min caught his hands, ending the salute. "Aiya, it's not that serious! We were merely worried! We're relieved you're safe!"
And in normal 'Xu Min' fashion, he swiftly diffused the awkward air. "This is...?" He had turned to Yin Xing.
"Ah! This is an immortal I ran into while looking for Lord Mo! He offered to stay and guard Yue City, so I invited him over!"
However, they all eyed him sceptically.
They were frankly used to Luoyin lying about his powers, and now here was an immortal approaching him, a junior disciple, rather than the Sect Leader, or even the numerous elders on the way here!
"Hmph." Weiyan recognized Yin Xing from the Eye-eater incident, but she merely turned on her heel and went further into the house.
Everyone left soon after, except for Xu Min who insisted on staying behind, and the four awkwardly sat at the pagoda, Luoyin across from Weiyan, and Xu Min across from Yin Xing.
Weiyan's face bore no emotion, but there was a decidedly chilling aura emanating from her, and occasionally, her eyes darted up at Luoyin, narrowed, and then glared away.
'She's indeed angry!' Luoyin sat there quietly, having been blessed with the wisdom to keep his mouth shut and let her silently vent!
Meanwhile, Xu Min was asking Yin Xing question after question...
"What do Immortals eat in Sky Realm?"
"Do you sleep?"
"Tea or wine. Which do immortals prefer?"
"Do you do anything for leisure?"
~"Elder Brother! Won't you save me?!"~ Yin Xing mentally whined to Luoyin, but Luoyin discreetly shook his head.
~"Heh! Weren't you the one who refused to go invisible?!"~ He folded his arms. ~"This is just one person... Wait for the rest! You'll break down the entire history of Sky Realm!"~
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Sky Palace, Sky realm...
Zhurong Tianlong sat on his throne, gravely glaring down at Fei Yun, who knelt before him, head bowed, and hands held up in a salute.
"In all my time as sky emperor, I've never encountered such nonsense! How can both the Fate and Night Immortals be absent from their posts?! Isn't this blinding the heavens?!
"At least Xiaoxing had a back up plan, and his vice raised the alarm, but you... Your recent obsession blinded you to your vice's true nature, and you left your post to chase after shadows!"
Jin Lan, Fei Yun's vice, had killed not just the Fate disciples, but anyone who got in his way, as he tried to flee Fate pavilion.
Luckily, Tai Yue's alert had reached the Sky Emperor in time, so help had arrived before Jin Lan could escape, and he was now imprisoned within a lightning cage on the cliff of destruction, a cliff which overlooked the Sea of Fate.
But the case of the dead Fate Disciples led to an uproar in Sky Realm, especially since most had been heirs to several prominent immortals who were now kneeling outside the Sky Palace, demanding justice for their sons and daughters.
"Tell me! How do I answer for the dead?!" Tianlong demanded at present.
Fei Yun kowtowed, touching his forehead to the floor. "When it comes to bloodshed, neither of our hands are clean... However, I will accept any punishment you give me, even death-."
"Easy to say! Aren't you sentencing me to an eternity bearing the weight of your death?! I've lost one friend! Must I lose the other?!!"
But Fei Yun merely repeated, "I will accept any punishment you give me, even death!" Then he added in a rush. "But permit me to first bring in the fugitive, Yin Xiaolong! He's hidden somewhere in Yue City!"
"You -!!" Tianlong was so enraged that his aura filled the throne room, rattling the elegant gold-lined windows, and causing the entire palace to rumble.
He drew in a calming breath and exhaled, drawing back his aura.
"I received an unexpected message an hour ago, from an even more unexpected individual..."
The message had come in the form of a brilliant white paper crane which somehow flew past the numerous palace guards, and right into the throne room to find him.
And the voice from the crane had been Immortal Bao!
Immortal Bao was one of the extremely rare High Grand Immortals, and the oldest dragon alive, but he had vanished from sight for more than thirty thousand years, so his sudden message had shocked Tianlong, who had nearly fallen off his throne.
But he was even more shocked by the message, and at present, he sighed gravely.
"I hear even after you realized something was wrong with Sky Realm, you still followed Xiaoxing to Yue City, instead of trying to do something about it...
"Is this true?"
Fei Yun merely raised his head. "Let's add that to my offenses. I will pay with my life, but I don't understand why you're not moving the armies to arrest Yin Xiaolong before he disappears again! Back then, you refused the death sentence until that woman released him!
Are you trying to protect him even now?!"
"You're unrepentant and obsessed beyond reason!" Tianlong thundered. "How did you become like this?! Did you even care about your disciples at all?! They were young innocent immortals with boundless potentials, cut short by your own carelessness, yet all you can think about is Yin Xiaolong!
"To the families and loved ones of those disciples, you and Jin Lan are no different from how you see Yin Xiaolong!!!"
Fei Yun's eyes widened in surprise as Tianlong's words hit home.
His own loss had blinded him to the loss of others, and he bowed, this time sincerely.
"I was wrong. I will humbly apologise and make amends to them in any way I can... I don't mind dying right now if it will bring them some closure."
Tianlong sighed. "At least it's not too late for you to see your wrongs... Unfortunately I have neither the heart nor the willpower to harm another friend, so I sentence you to lose ten-thousand years of your cultivation.
"After that, you're grounded within Fate Pavilion for a thousand years, and banned from altering the Fates in that time. But before your grounding, you must visit each bereaved family with a ten-thousand word long apology."
Most of it was hardly a punishment... Even after losing ten thousand years of cultivation, Fei Yun would still be within High Immortal level, and a thousand years would go by in a blink.
But before now, Fei Yun had never done anything to alter fate without Tianlong's permission, so using the term 'altering fate' could only mean one thing...
Tianlong was trying to keep him from doing anything to a mortal, and Fei Yun's eyes widened at a sudden realization.
He raised his head, and his eyes narrowed at Tianlong.
"You didn't seem the least bit surprised to learn that Yin Xiaolong was in Yue City..." He observed. "Please tell me you didn't already know this!"
Tianlong didn't meet his eye, which told him all he needed to know.
"Huh..." Fei Yun scoffed. "One friend kills my beloved, the other protects him, and of the three, I'm the only fool..."
"It's not like that!" Tianlong quickly explained. "I've been reinvestigating past events, and all might not be what it seemed.
"Even in the here and now... Hasn't it occurred to you that you were deliberately manipulated into leaving Fate Pavilion?"
"That person did me a favour. I found Yin Xiaolong!"
"No! Those people drew you away so they could kill him without our notice!"
"Then aren't they on my side?!"
"Oh? If you're on the same side, why didn't they work with you? It's common knowledge that you hate Bailong, so if they could manipulate you into breaking the rules, why not just get you on their side?"
"..."
"It's because they're up to something even you won't condone, and they have been acting in the shadows all this time!" He sighed. "You rightly said we both have blood on our hands...
"This means you yourself have begun to feel the weight and guilt of the lives we foolishly claimed back then! I'm more than certain that we were the guilty ones! We were manipulated into killing so many, and now-!"
"Enough!" Fei Yun rose to his feet, linked his thumbs and bowed perfunctorily. "You've locked me up and tied my hands for a thousand years, so there's really no need to convince me like this!" As a mortal Yin Xiaolong would naturally die before he was free.
"If there's nothing else, I'll go and fulfil my sentence now." He finished.
Tianlong stared at the top of his head for almost a full minute, before saying, "You may leave..."
And Fei Yun didn't hesitate to turn away and storm out.
Tianlong sighed in his absence.
There was simply too much Fei Yun didn't know...
According to Immortal Bao's message, the demon king's aura had appeared in Yue City, and it was tied to the floral deity and a strange woman in a cloak, both of whom attacked Yue City.
To compound the matter, the Floral deity had returned to Sky Realm and instantly sealed off floral the realm so no one could approach.
Then she had revealed tens of thousands of well-trained floral realm soldiers, ready to defend the realm, if anyone broke the seal and approached.
If Tianlong wasn't mistaken, the enemies felt cornered and intended to use the Floral Realm as a base.
Sealing it off was tantamount to drawing a battle line.
An inevitable war was approaching...
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