159. The Flower Fields 2
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Gruesome Warning!
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A somewhat heartbroken and pissed off Zhurong Fen had buried her one-sided love for good.
But then a new problem arose...
Tianlong's protective enchantments were failing, but whenever he was in danger, Yin Xiaolong somehow always appeared to protect him!
And generally, all Yin Xiaolong's moves seemed to strengthen the very throne she and Yu Wang sought to weaken!
And then she discovered that Yin Xiaolong had gone to the Abyss of No Return for the Blood Hell Lily...
Zhurong Fen instantly realized he needed the Lily to cure Tianlong, but despite sending powerful immortals and demons to steal the Blood Hell Lily, Bailong effortlessly bypassed them all, bringing the Lily back to Tianlong.
And shortly after, he fully healed Tianlong, making him more difficult for Zhurong Fen to handle, and strenghtening the Sky throne even further!
Swallowing bitter defeat, Zhurong Fen withdrew a little bit, latching onto Fei Yun instead. Then she ordered Feng Yuexia to move into Sky Palace so they had their claws between the three friends.
But bringing Yuexia forward turned out to be a mistake...
Because Yan Liwei appeared beside Yin Xiaolong!
This of course led to Yin Xiaolong curing Yan Liwei, and then eventually led people to question who the real Golden Phoenix was.
Zhurong Fen orchestrated the Magic Peach plan, but Yin Xiaolong still found a way to upturn the entire lie, revealing that Yan Liwei was the real Golden Phoenix all along.
And this led to the fall of the Bird King and Queen, making Zhurong Fen lose control over the Bird Clan, especially since the magpies and peacocks were left displeased and disgruntled.
The new Bird King, Yan Liwei's father, was too loyal to submit.
Zhurong Fen's hold over Feng Yuexia was nearly broken, but Zhurong Fen kindly 'cheered her up', saying,
"Your parents have taken the fall for you, so my brother won't necessarily part ways over this. Let's hope he never finds out that you knew all this from your childhood!" She patted Yuexia's back, and with a worried expression, she added,
"And then there's the problem of your face... If we stop the annual Thousand Flower technique, won't you go back to being plain-faced? My brother might not be able to take it..."
This warm reminder snapped Feng Yuexia to reason, reminding her that there were more secrets at stake between them, and as expected, Yuexia instantly dropped to her knees and begged Zhurong Fen not to reveal anything more.
She even pleaded with her to keep up the Thousand Flower technique so she could maintain her beauty...
Zhurong Fen had made the best of the situation.
But after that, Yin Xiaolong only became an even sharper thorn in her side!
Tianlong was now too well protected, as Bailong had placed a danger seal on, reverse-summoning himself whenever Tianlong was in any mortal danger.
And then to worsen matters, Zhurong Fen began to notice that her carefully placed followers in Sky Realm were being targeted, which led to the realization that Bailong had noticed her followers since the Abyss of No Return!
Since then, he and the Sky Emperor had been playing a patient game, slowly identifying more and more followers, monitoring them for years, and then silently striking!
"Hmph!" Zhurong Fen really couldn't hold back her fury. "You really insisted on becoming my nemesis!"
And with that, Zhurong Fen struck back against the Sky Emperor's circle, beginning the Civil War...
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From the start, the Civil war was a simple distraction with two major purposes...
To raise enough bloodshed from the three races to power the demon seal.
And to lure Tianlong into a trap!
Victory should have been easy, especially since Zhurong Fen was right within the Sky Emperor's ranks.
But once again, Bailong's existence thwarted her plans, and by the time the war slowed down, Zhurong Fen had lost control over several arms, had lost several deities in her ranks, and had lost a ton of her followers.
The greatest defeat was the worst insult...
During the war, her plan to lure Tianlong away had worked.
It was the time when Tianlong and Yuexia had gone to the Mortal Realm to fight off demons.
There, Zhurong Fen had laid down a powerful formation which would trap Tianlong and cut off the seal Bailong had placed on him.
Tianlong and Yuexia indeed stepped into the formation and lost consciousness. And then Zhurong Fen appeared, taking them to the Demon Seal and laying them side by side, with Yuexia as an extra blood sacrifice.
Without wasting any time, Zhurong Fen sat in the lotus position and activated the Demon Seal, drawing in all the blood and essence of the multiple mortals, immortals, and demons lost at that war.
Yu Wang appeared right in the middle of the seal, sitting in the lotus position, and the demon seal glowed red as it absorbed these souls. Then it flared a brilliant golden, briefly blinding Zhurong Fen as it began trying to drain Tianlong's core and essence.
But there was a sudden explosion which left Yu Wang and Zhurong Fen seriously wounded, and everything went dark again...
The Demon Seal failed!
After everything...
After their meticulous planning...!
And the reason?
"I sensed a familiar aura...! But it's impossible!!! No way...!" Yu Wang lay on the dusty floor, black blood flowing out beneath his mask. "How... could it be...? Th- The aura of a pure dragon...!"
This was all he could say before vanishing, too weak to take on an appearance again.
And enraged, Zhurong Fen's mind had settled on the only pure dragon she knew.
'Yin Xiaolong!!' She nearly grinded her teeth to shreds.
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After the war, all Zhurong Fen was left with were the deaths of so many powerful followers within Sky Realm, a failed demon seal, and an even weaker Demon King!
This was when she and Qin Yuelian ambushed the Floral Deity, killing her off.
A move which at least gave Zhurong Fen completely control over the Floral Realm, and she became the new Floral Deity, inheriting even more powers and resources.
But her hatred for Bailong (Yin Xiaolong) had fully set in.
And perhaps...
Activating the Demon Seal might kill the now weakened Yu Wang if Yin Xiaolong's aura interfered again, so...
Wouldn't the Demon Seal only work if Yin Xiaolong died??!!!
So with this solemn belief, the Battle lines were drawn, and Zhurong Fen approached Yin Zhi, leading to the death of Bailong's Father and Brother.
This earned her control over the Eastern Sea.
Bailong went into seclusion after this loss, and with him temporarily out of the way, Zhurong Fen boldly attacked Sky Palace, killing the Sky Emperor...
Her goal at the time was to seize the throne and prevent future troubles for Yu Wang. Then she would imprison Tianlong for eventual use with the Demon Seal...
But yet again, Bailong awakened just in time to save Tianlong, and in their collective rage, they led a fierce retaliation which cost Zhurong Fen even more of her strongest followers, ending the 'Civil war' for good.
And then Tianlong took the throne, becoming the new Sky Emperor.
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Thanks to a certain Dragon, Zhurong Fen had suffered so many losses...
But she learned from it!
Above all, she now knew better than to challenge Yin Xiaolong head-on, so she slipped back into the shadows.
And this time she devised a slow and poisonous plan...
First, she subdued Immortal Jin, and then set him front and center as the biggest antagonist to stealing the throne.
"If you do well, I'll make you the Sky Emperor..." She promised him, and he readily agreed.
After all, the throne had been his own goal right from the start.
Immortal Jin rallied all his own followers and played his part well. Thanks to his followers, Bailong was locked into the constant role of shielding Tianlong from their schemes, almost immediately after Tianlong became Sky Emperor.
This inevitably led to the remarks on how powerful Bailong was, and how Tianlong's strongest pillar was Bailong.
And these innocent remarks were further fueled by Immortal Jin's followers, who deliberately heightened the praise of Bailong, constantly reminding Tianlong of his own inadequacies.
Then came Feng Yuexia...
Yuexia's goal was to exploit Tianlong's insecurities and feed his ego, while making it seem like he couldn't control Bailong.
Then came the rumours of the Demon King's return...
Then came the Black Plague...
And then the matter of the Black aura and the Snake Clan....
All these had been targeted instances, designed to break the circle of three friends, pitting Tianlong in particular against Bailong by using Feng Yuexia and Yan Liwei, the women they loved.
Feng Yuexia was to make herself Bailong's enemy by boldly leading Tianlong down the wrong path, while Immortal Jin and his followers would eventually drag Yan Liwei and the Snake Clan into the picture during the Black Plague.
Meanwhile Zhurong Fen herself worked on Fei Yun.
Thanks to Fei Yun, she received first-hand information on how severe the friends' rifts were, or whenever they reconciled, and in turn, she always knew what buttons to push through Feng Yuexia or Immortal Jin.
The plan took a while, but it all worked flawlessly well...
However, just when Tianlong and Bailong finally had their worst rift yet, Bailong had congratulated them on the pregnancy before storming away.
And upon learning she was pregnant, Yuexia pivoted almost at once...
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Back at the flower fields...
"Do you know what your disobedience cost me?" Zhurong Fen asked Feng Yuexia at present.
"Thanks to your defiance these past months, Yin Xiaolong had a lot of time on his hands..." Zhurong Fen continued.
Since Yuexia stopped instigating Tianlong against Bailong, Tianlong mostly ignored Bailong for the past months, and Bailong had used that time to investigate, eventually discovering Jinyu City.
This was a problem...
She and Yu Wang had found Jinyu City during the civil war, and it would be a problem if Sky Realm discovered it!
And so a few nights ago, the same night Yin Zhi mentioned his suspicions about Bailong finding Jinyu City, Zhurong Fen herself had gone to Bailong's Villa in central Sky Realm.
And there, she overhead his discussion with Liwei...
They had indeed discovered the City and Bailong intended to alert Tianlong the next day!
Of course Zhurong Fen could not let that happen!
She tried possessing Bailong at once, but his strength far surpassed hers and her spell was instantly repelled!
So she possessed Liwei instead, buying time and making sure Bailong would not get the chance to meet Tianlong alone...
"Thanks to you, things didn't go according to plan." Zhurong Fen said at present, calmly lifting a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Then she turned and glared down at Feng Yuexia. "I'll admit that killing you doesn't leave a pleasant taste in my mouth... I don't care for family or friendship ties, but we were some sort of friends."
She sighed. "I even toyed with turning you into a demon so you could remain by my side, rather than turn into the slaves and cattle the Mortals and Immortals would eventually become...
"However... Yin Xiaolong has now discovered Jinyu City, and I had to quickly modify the plan..." She vanished a short distance away.
"And what better way to do that than use you in more ways than one!"
She smiled sickeningly as a formation activated beneath a frightened Yuexia.
The formation glowed a brilliant blue and Yuexia stared in horror as a gigantic black wraiths rose up from within.
"So forgive me, dear 'friend'..." Zhurong Fen was saying. "But, I haven't forgotten..."
She turned suddenly and a powerful wave of aura pinned Yuexia down in place. "Yu Wang still needs the Royal family's dragon core and pearl!"
'Oh no!' It was as if Yuexia received a chilling flash of knowledge.
Zhurong Fen was after her child!
"No!" She instantly screamed. "Please, Nooo!"
But it was too late.
The formation beneath her glowed a bright red and the black wraiths came to circle over her, sending dark tendrils down into her protruding stomach.
Her stomach contorted.
"NO!!" Yuexia shrieked in agony as the child within her began moving around in the most painful and unsettling way.
A powerful stream of light-blue aura poured onto Yuexia's stomach as Zhurong Fen used her qi to age the unborn child, forcing it into an early transformation, all while drawing Yuexia's energy and life force into the child.
And once the child transformed, it tore its way out of Yuexia's stomach, finally killing her, an everlasting look of horror on her face...
The little red dragon flew over its mother's lifeless body in confused circles, but it wasn't long before Zhurong Fen killed it.
Then the black wraiths merged into a large mass which dived into the tiny red dragon, and it contorted and swelled, growing into a massive black dragon...
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