180. Opposite Sides
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Thousands of years sailed by after that, and the memories swirled nonstop in a swift timelapse showing the passage of endless seasons.
Each scene depicted Feng Lian and Yu Xuan in varying scenarios...
From strangers who spared barely a thought...
To strangers who at least registered the other's presence...
From strangers curious about each other...
To odd companions that might drink together or sit down to a game of chess...
From friends...
To confidantes...
And to much more...
The visions swirled in quick flashes, showing the unmistakable signs of closeness between the two.
But as their joys grew year after year, the shadows of worry grew with them.
Yu Xuan was running out of time...
His ten-thousandth year had come and gone, but thanks to Feng Lian's strongest flames- Sunfire flames- the Dark Flame had been choked and kept at bay.
In fact, Yu Xuan had acquired Immortal techniques, his black aura turning gold, and his black frost, though more frightening, was now purified into a sheer white, tinged with his gold aura.
However, after so long, Yu Xuan had begun to feel the Dark Flame's will surfacing in tiny ways.
Sometimes he would snap at a fairy maiden or servant who interrupted his reading in the slightest. Sometimes he felt furious for no reason. And sometimes he awakened from nightmares where he had gone on a bloody rampage in Sky Realm.
He was indeed only a half-demon, but he didn't fool himself...
Being a half-demon made him even more dangerous.
He could master both types of cultivation, and was also capable of stronger emotions.
If he ever turned evil, those same emotions would be the perfect fuel guiding and excusing all his evil deeds!
Yet the two couldn't bear to part with each other...
"A-Xuan, didn't we manage to keep it at bay for so long? Let's try purging a few more times, uh?" Feng Lian often cajoled.
But neither of them felt hopeful...
The effectiveness of Feng Lian's Sunfire was growing weaker each day, because Yu Xuan had grown too powerful, and the dark flame had drawn from that power, surrounding itself within layers upon layers of dense qi which Yu Xuan himself couldn't break through.
This prevented Feng Lian's Sunfire from reaching it, and as for her phoenix feather within Yu Xuan, it no longer held much weight...
Feng Lian clearly did not want him harmed, so even the will behind the feather was weak.
The turn of events forcefully reminded this unfortunate couple why they had met in the first place.
A Love Tribulation.
And Love Tribulations often ended in bitterness and sorrow...
Fearing the worst, Yu Xuan had poured himself into studies.
Anything from medicine, to seals, to formations... All were studied in a bid to eliminate the dark flame.
And finally, he found some success...
He mastered several sealing techniques, including one which sealed the dark flame to a certain extent, using Feng Lian's sunfire as an outer shield on the dark flame's own barrier.
And then he learned a needle technique which could suppress the flame even further.
It was immensely painful, but he only needed to do it a few times a year, and besides, he would willingly endure worse for an eternity, if it meant staying by Feng Lian's side.
Yu Xuan didn't tell Feng Lian any of this, so she wouldn't worry... But he did tell her about the Seal, leaving instructions for what to do if he ever lost his will.
"If I lose control, then I'll remain a danger to you and other immortals..." He had said, handing her black talisman. "You must burn this talisman if that ever happens!
"It would activate a dormant Seal which would split my essence, trapping body and mind in two separate places."
Feng Lian was already shaking her head, but he took her hands then.
"A-Lian, you must promise me! I won't let you live with the stain of causing a calamity...!!"
At the time it was merely a back-up plan, and each hoped it would never come to that...
So they went about their lives as usual.
Feng Lian strengthened her Sunfire, using it to fortify Yu Xuan's Seal, while Yu Xuan learned all he could about the Stars, scouring them to make sure he wasn't the source of any approaching catastrophe.
'The only Calamity written in the stars hovers around the Royal Palace and the War Hall!' Yu Xuan thought, feeling much better.
With all their checks and balances, surely he and Feng Lian could live several more years in peace!
But Yu Xuan overlooked something...
While one could read approaching calamities from the stars, it was often too vague for details.
And trouble came knocking when Feng Lian's father, the War Deity, accidentally sensed Yu Xuan's gold aura one day.
'This aura!' He instantly thought.
'The Royal Family?!'
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The War deity gave nothing away.
Instead, he secretly investigated Yu Xuan and found out about his daughter's Love Tribulation and how she had returned with him one day.
It didn't take long for him to see past Yu Xuan's disguise and learn his true identity.
But again, he gave nothing away and simply took these findings right to the Sky Emperor.
"Your Majesty!" He greeted Zhurong Sheng, the then Sky Emperor and Tianlong's Grandfather. "I have found traces of your sister...!"
The Sky Emperor had scowled darkly as he listened.
Thousands of years before then, Shadow Realm had been quite weak, so Sky Realm wasn't seriously guarded against it.
But then a dark dragon had arisen... one so powerful that he destroyed the other dark dragons and nearly unified all of shadow realm under his rule.
And one day, he struck the unguarded Sky Realm, killing the Emperor and Empress... Zhurong Sheng's parents.
Before he could kill Zhurong Sheng, the higher Immortals arrived and stopped him, but he captured Sky Realm's Princess as a trophy, and she was never heard from again...
It was after this incident that Sky Realm fortified its Border, ensuring it never happened again.
But now...
Zhurong Sheng slammed a heavy fist unto his throne's arm.
He had never forgotten that day!
And now, according to the War deity's findings, his dear sister had even been forced to bear a demon halfling, her royal gold aura manifesting in the boy's irises.
As if the insult was not bad enough, this demon bastard had snuck into Sky Realm, learned Immortal ways, awakened the royal family's powerful aura, and had latched onto the War Deity's own daughter and the Starry Pavillion for thousands of years...!
All these did not bode well for Sky Realm!
Zhurong Sheng had a deep-seated hatred for demons, so he naturally assumed the worst, condemning Yu Xuan before hearing anything.
He thought of simply sending the Sky Army after Yu Xuan, but he instantly dismissed the idea...
Feng Lian was Sky Realm's only able-bodied phoenix at the time, and she held sway over most of the Bird Clan.
There was no clear evidence or proof that Yu Xuan had done anything wrong, and if Feng Lian chose to protect this him, the birds amongst the Sky Soldiers, and maybe even the War Deity, might lean to her side!
So the Sky Emperor first convinced the War Deity...
"Your daughter is clearly determined to protect that demon!" He began. "But she is Sky Realm's last able-bodied phoenix, and the bird clan won't sit still if her offspring is called into question!
"Won't things be bad if we leave her be, and she eventually gives birth to another demon-halfling?! How will you face your ancestors if demon blood stains your bloodline?!
"It has already stained mine, but I'm willing to eliminate it! Will you do the same?!"
The weight of his words greatly rattled the War Deity, and the two hatched a quiet plan.
One day, the War Deity visited Yu Xuan in Feng Lian's absence, approaching as his 'father-in-law', and an unsuspecting Yu Xuan didn't hesitate to drink with him.
Except, the wine was poisoned...
Yu Xuan soon fell into a deep sleep and the War Deity took him away, binding him in a hidden valley.
Before then, the Emperor had given the War Deity a bit of his dragon aura, along with five powerful seal breakers.
So now the Seal breakers used the Sky Emperor's aura to break the dark flame's seal, while almost a thousand Sky Soldiers waited outside.
The aim was to let out the sealed darkness within Yu Xuan, so Feng Lian would find him in a mindless demonic state.
But they underestimated Yu Xuan's strength...
The black flame within him had been suppressed for far too long and filled with intense hatred.
So upon breaking the Seal, the War deity and seal breakers had gotten much more than they asked for, awakening a devil they couldn't possibly handle!
In the end, Feng Lian had indeed traced Yu Xuan to the valley, but all she found was an endless sea of dead bodies slowly fading away...
...and her father's dead body...
Feng Lian stood dazed at the sight.
'It can't be...!' She repeated to herself as she dropped to her knees and crawled over to him.
She tried taking him in her arms, but she had been too late and he faded away in brilliant orange particles.
Feng Lian had wailed in grief, wondering what had happened, and she instantly thought of Yu Xuan.
With the unnatural murders, and the strong presence of his familiar, but demonized aura, it was clear he was guilty.
But no matter how she searched for him, Feng Lian could not find him.
Even her phoenix feather within him could not be tracked, which meant he had left Sky Realm...
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Time passed.
Soon word of a 'Demon King' in Shadow Realm surfaced... one who had easily killed the Demon Lord, conquered the entire Shadow Realm, and risen with the name, *'Yu Wang'...
(*Wang = King)
Meanwhile, to hide his hand in the unprovoked bloodshed, the Sky Emperor covered up the heart of the initial matter, shamelessly painting Yu Xuan as a devil who had broken into Sky Realm, and was solely responsible for the death of the War Deity and almost a thousand Sky soldiers.
"Even his name 'Yu Xuan' was always a lie designed to deceive!' Zhurong Sheng declared.
The memories of those within the Starry Pavilion had been slightly altered, so no one remembered just how long Yu Wang had lived there, or even his original connection to Feng Lian.
Then the Emperor punished Feng Lian with the task of destroying Yu Wang, and she stepped into her father's shoes as War Deity, accompanying the Sky Emperor and the Sky Army to Shadow Realm.
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Several thousand years passed afterwards...
In that time, Feng Lian led a fierce attack on Shadow Realm, slaying endless demons which earned her the popularity following her name for generations to come.
But it was as if this new demon King was simply letting the Immortals run rampant in his territory.
There had been no sign of Yu Xuan, or rather 'Yu Wang', as he was known now.
... until the battle at the very borders near where he and Feng Lian had first met.
It was the first time Feng Lian had set eyes on Yu Xuan since he vanished.
But his irises were now blood-red.
...and they stood on opposite sides of a fierce battle...
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