179. Memory Lost To Time
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"It's time for this world to slip into darkness!" Yu Wang declared, as his black aura climbed higher and higher, blotting out the sky.
Luoyin slowly forced himself upright, blood dripping from his chin.
"What... is that..." He wondered, wiping the blood from his lips as he stared at the growing darkness.
His Yuan Jing technique centered on the rising darkness, sending chills down his spine as every instinct warned him.
Move! Stop him! Anything!
Because once that technique was completed...
All three realms might really slip into darkness!
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Meanwhile, all along, Weiyan sat meditating within Yinying's golden bell.
She explored her sea of consciousness, searching for any sign of that troubling vision, and somewhere in the depths, she finally found a ghostly orb of golden mist.
The orb suddenly expanded, surrounding her with golden mist, and pulling her into the memory lost to time...
Her eyes widened in anticipation as the mist began to form shapes around her.
But when the scene cleared, she didn't find herself at the cliff as expected...
Instead, she was in a dark place with a reddened moon, and standing before her was a pale young man with two black horns atop his head.
He looked exactly like Luoyin, but with a pale complexion, stark black hair, and all dark clothes.
His irises were a brilliant gold, like Luoyin's, but Weiyan's brows prettily furrowed when she sensed the aura surrounding him...
'He's a demon!' She realized in awe.
As she watched, the Luoyin look-alike gave a familiar mischievous smile as he directed a stream of dark aura into a grand gold and red seal with the Shadow Immortal's mark.
It was one of Sky Realm's border, and the Luoyin look-alike now scribled a stark black air talisman which phased into the immensely powerful Border Seal, and it simply melted!
Then Sky Realm's carefully sealed border vanished to show another familiar place.
'*Yu Abyss...'
(*The Abyss of No Return where Bailong found the Blood Lily)
Bailong had once brought her here during her training in the past, though he had never let her get close...
In this memory, however, there was no Abyss in sight, so this must be a time before the Abyss was formed!
The ancient Luoyin look-alike broke into a joyful grin.
"Heh! It worked just like the book!" He said. "I've read everything worth mentioning back here... Since the high-and-mighty immortals prioritize knowledge, I can find many more books in their precious realm, right?"
He transformed into a tiny black snake and slithered through the now-broken barrier, right into Sky Realm.
Even the dark and imposing bridge leading to the 'Abyss of no Return' was still just a regular scenic bridge in the memories, and the tiny black snake slithered across it and beyond, till he reached a river.
There, he transformed back into his human form, and then skipped over to the river for a drink.
Some distance along the river bank, a beautiful lady appeared.
It was the War Deity from the vision.
The two noticed each other's presence and simply stared at each other for countless seconds...
The 'war deity' spoke first.
"I'm Feng Lian, Vice of the Night deity." She introduced with a polite bow, but her brows drew together. "Are you a young dragon? Or snake? Hide away those two things on your head." She said with a nod to his dragon horns.
"You must be careful in regions close to the borders... Don't you know partly transformed immortals shouldn't stray too far from home? You might be mistaken for a demon!" She scolded.
"Ei?! I'm Yu Xuan! Did I really hide my demon aura that well?!" This genuinely self-impressed demon asked without thinking!
And then he swiftly realized his slip-up. "Ah! No! W- wait!"
"Y- You're indeed a demon!" Feng Lian's eyebrows nearly entered her hairline. "H- How can this be? It's not possible!"
"Ehehe, indeed! You misheard! Whatever could a demon be doing here, right within Sky Realm?!" Yu Xuan was nodding, his eyes reduced to crescent-moon slits.
But Feng Lian's eyes narrowed at his horns.
'Dragon horns, and black... A Dark Dragon!'
"I'm..." Her sword appeared in her hand at once. "I'm going to kill you!!"
"Ei?!!! W- Wait! I don't mean troub-!" But Yu Xuan was forced to defend because Feng Lian did not even hesitate.
"What hatred do I have with you?! What are they teaching you here in Sky Realm?!!" He demanded as he ran off, but Feng Lian gave chase...
... a chase and duel which lasted almost ten days...!
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Feng Lian had chased Yu Xuan for almost ten days!
Yu Xuan teleported quite a few times, but somehow she always found him!
Feng Lian had brilliant white flames, but Yu Xuan's stark black frost was more than a match!
Sometimes they clashed with their swords, one, an immaculate white, the other, blacker than night.
The two were now nearing their limits, especially Yu Xuan who was still adapting to breathing the pure energy of Sky Realm.
Feng Lian herself was at the point of barely keeping upright...
"Wait!" Yu Xuan suddenly stopped at a distance. "I can promise you, neither of us will win, because I can simply reverse-summon myself home! But then..."
Feng Lian halted hesitantly. But she swung out her sword. "Leave now! Before I change my mind!"
"Er... But then!" He suddenly fell to his knees. "What about all the books I want to read?! I spent almost fifty years researching how to break-in here, you know!"
There was silence... which matched Feng Lian's blank expression.
"Ehehe, is there no way I can stay?" Yu Xuan asked, his dimples deepening. "I'm not yet a fully awakened demon! How about I take an unbreakable oath, uh?! Don't you Immortals like that kind of thing...?" He asked uncertainly.
Feng Lian's eyes narrowed at him, but he grinned and began to recite...
"All Demon Energy comes from the Dark Flame, a sheer mass of energy buried deep within our Shadow Realm. Every demon is born with a piece of the dark flame, and it is this dark flame which guides our nature.
"Higher demon races however, tend to be more human-like because we can easily control the dark flame until our five-thousandth year."
He finished with a scowl. "There! That was word-for-word from our oldest classics and earliest classes!
"I'm a Dark Dragon, highest of the races... I won't lose my will till almost my ten-thousandth year which is thousands and thousands of years away!
"Besides, I'm only half-demon! My mother was an immortal slave captured to Shadow Realm. Who knows? The dark flame may never awaken! And I'm willing to swear!" He held up three fingers.
"I'm only interested in studying! I'll spend my time here under your supervision as long as I have access to all the books I need! Er... A- and a small garden! Ehehe, my father destroyed mine back home..."
Feng Lian's brows were still furrowed as she stared at him.
Immortals were trained to slay demons on sight, or alert the War Hall if they were too powerful.
But from whatever angle Feng Lian viewed Yu Xuan, he seemed genuinely harmless...
Should any being be killed simply because of their origin...?
But after a breath, she held up a hand, and a mild wave hit him before he could dodge, making him spit blood.
"That was my phoenix feather... You seem like a sorry excuse for a demon, but I still won't trust you! That feather essentially makes you my slave! If you disobey me or attempt to harm me or any Immortal, that feather will seal all your powers and destroy you from the inside out!"
But it was as if the wind blew away all her words as he heard nothing, except...
"You're a divine phoenix?!!" He roughly wiped the blood off his lips and appeared right in front of her! "No wonder you could find me so many times!
"Hao! How many flame colours do you possess?! Does each one really have different qualities?!! Tell me! Can anyone other than a phoenix have these flames??!!!!"
The past ten days of pursuit and duels had nearly drained Feng Lian...
But a single day of this demon's questions nearly killed her!
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After that, Feng Lian changed Yu Xuan's impossibly dark clothes to the lighter clothes of immortals.
"Put those away!" She snapped, eyeing his horns. "And your eyes draw too much attention!"
"Hao hao hao!" Yu Xuan rolled his eyes, but with a wave of his hand, his horns vanished and his eyes became a more acceptable dark brown. "Better?"
Feng Lian stared at his face a good deal, her eyes slightly widening every second.
"Y- Your face is also too distracting! Put it away!" She said, swiveling to walk off.
He smirked. "Hao!" He snapped his fingers and a sheer face veil appeared over his lower-face, instantly bringing the original 'Zhang Luoyin' to Weiyan's mind!
"I prepared a mask to sneak around Sky Realm anyway!" He finished with a shrug, then hurried after her...
Feng Yuan led him back to the Starry Pavillion, introducing him simply as a, "... Junior I saved on the way."
"Greetings on our first meeting! My name is Yu Xuan!" He introduced himself with a bow, nearly botching the crossed-thumbed salute!
But after a fierce glare from Feng Lian, he caught himself just in time.
"Pardon my face-veil! I've had an ugly scar from childhood!" He finished.
"Ahem! But senior!" One of the fairy maidens turned to Feng Lian. "Didn't you go to the BeiDong River because you found your 'Love Tribulation' in the stars?!"
"Shut up!!" Feng Lian ordered, and the maiden bit her lower lip, trying not to laugh.
This was indeed true...
It was common knowledge in Starry Pavillion that Feng Lian had gone to overcome a love tribulation found in the stars.
Tribulations were obstacles Immortals must face to surpass a present level...
Sometimes, it was to withstand a Heavenly Tribulation of brutal Lightning! Sometimes it was to experience hardships in the Mortal Realm.
Love Tribulations often meant one's heart was unsettled and needed tempering, which often landed the Immortal in question, in the Mortal Realm, where they would experience a tragic love to temper their hearts.
But unlike most immortals, the stars had pointed Feng Lian to the BeiDong River, right there in Sky Realm, so she had been curious and went searching!
The BeiDong River was rather deserted because it was so close to the border, and Yu Xuan had been the only one Feng Lian had seen for miles and miles.
At first sight, she had admired Yu Xuan's appearance, thinking perhaps the only disadvantage was that he was a 'much younger, not-fully-transformed immortal'...
Only to discover he was a demon!
What strange Tribulation was this?!
'I absolutely won't love a demon!' She firmly decided.
Still, it was safest to keep him under her thumb, and she glared at his knowing look before turning to storm off.
"Show him to the Library!" She barked before vanishing round a bend.
She could practically 'hear' Yu Xuan's smile as he happily followed one of the maids.
"A demon that's a book nerd... Have I harmed the Fates in some way?!"
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