Chapter 23: No Door For Redemption (Part 4 of 4)

"Indeed!" With one hand, Phoenix grabbed me tight, his white lips at my ears, I felt the thinness of his lips lightly swept pa.s.s my ear lobes, "So it turns out, your goal for today... ah, the Water G.o.ddess is held hostage by the Great One, the Heavenly Emperor breaks out in fury, to save the Water G.o.ddess, he has no choice but to attack the Demon Realms, to be the hero of justice and right all wrongs!"  

"Look at how perfect an excuse it is! Everyone"s heart will follow this wave of justice. I can only say that I cannot reach such a level, I am far beneath......" He held my earlobe in his mouth, the tip of his tongue continuously grazing it, finally, he bit it and a drop of warm blood slid down my neck. 

  "Pity, I have to disappoint you. I have long prepared for this, there are one hundred thousand demon generals ready for battle, only waiting for this moment!" He lifted his head, a smile stained with blood broke open on his perfect face. His fresh red lips cleanly spurted out, "Fight!"

  The River of Forgetfulness has no boundaries, the water no traces, the souls no end. The black clouds were so heavy that they could destroy cities, the armours overwhelmingly shining from the sun rays.

  At one side of the River of Forgetfulness, the Heavenly Emperor stood tall in his robe of white, his arms behind his back, behind him were the thirty six heavenly generals from the Heavenly Realms and innumerable heavenly soldiers. The sharp blades of their weapons reflecting the heavy rays of the afternoon sun such that one could not look directly at them. 

  At this end of the River of Forgetfulness, Phoenix stood on the ferry, his fiery red robes flying wildly, the dark clouds falling behind him, even the afternoon sun appeared dull next to him. The ten kings of h.e.l.l personally came forward, commanding their own battalion of ghouls and demons. 

  Besides the pa.s.sing clouds and the wailing wind, there was not a single trace of sound, not a single movement. In the silence, there was a heavy ferocious energy slowly spreading, slowly brewing. 

  I was placed on a wide ebony chair. The surrounding decorations were elaborate and grand, a very long threaded ta.s.sel slid down the back of the chair, very much like a lady"s elegant long mane, rising and falling gently with the wind. I reached out my hand to grab it, staring blankly as the threads fell through my fingers, the touch was smooth, but the tightly gathered threads pierced through my almost numbed heart. 

  I was only two steps away from Phoenix, but it felt like the distance between us was further than even the entire River of Forgetfulness. I watched Phoenix, Phoenix watched Ren Yu (Night), Ren Yu watched me. How hilarious, what a strange round of glances. 

  "Ren Yu came today not for battle but only to bring back the Water G.o.ddess," the Heavenly Emperor finally spoke first. His pair of clean untainted eyes were fixed on me. What was actually hidden in those eyes? There seemed to be a trace of anxiousness and loss, but how was this possible? Forever, he is impossible to read. 

  Phoenix gave out a light air of disdain, his long narrow eyes lifted slightly, his voice like a qiang di (musical instrument) that resounded between the flags, "What if I don"t release?"

  The mythical beast Zi Tie next to the Heavenly Emperor stamped his hoof, angrily lifting up his head and releasing out an infuriated spurt of air. He tightened his grip on the rein and said lightly, "If so, then I can only offend you with my soldiers!"

  Phoenix laughed, his head arching towards the sky, "Why waste so much words? It would be as you wish!"

  The heavenly drums started to beat - in a wink of an eye, the ma.s.sacre begun in the silence like a vat of wine that was kicked over, the smell of blood and killings immediately spread wide. 

  The River of Forgetfulness was no longer peaceful, in one moment, there was only slaughter, flesh and blood. 

  There were heavenly soldiers who fell into the River of Forgetfulness and never to rise again. There were also demons who lost their essence in mid-flight and their souls dispersed. In the battle between the two armies, only the two leaders remained unmoving, emotionlessly looking down into the field, as if the outcome of everything was already predicted. 

  Only me, I could not be a soldier fighting in the field, could not be a general strategising, at the most I could only be a raft that was crossing the river, the origin of this battle, helplessly watching from afar. In future, I would also most likely have to bear centuries of cursing and scolding as the misfortune that created the war between the two realms. 

  I suddenly remembered how the Buddha compared me to a fierce tiger in a mountain, at that time I thought the comparison was ridiculous, but today I realised that there was absolutely no mistake. 

  I looked at the side profile of Phoenix, as if he felt my glance,he turned around - his eyes so dark that I could not see the ends, he lightly smiled, like the beautiful jade from Kunlun falling into a corner of the Southwest of China, but one can no longer see that dimple which would reverse the flow of night and day, there was only hate and no more love. Slowly, the heavenly soldiers fell into a weaker position and the demon army was gaining advantage. The gleam of revenge shone in Phoenix"s face, my blood on his lips had long dried, but under the light it made his face looked especially white and translucent...... a thin layer of smoke seeped from his fingertips, slowly entwining his body, only seeing his brows lightly raised and his lips pressed together. 

  Is he being eaten internally?

  My heart rose a thread of fear, fear of the missing medicine in the Jin Zhuan pill.

  I anxiously looked at the Heavenly Emperor and only saw him lightly raising his head. His gaze afar towards the pa.s.sing clouds. In this chaotic field of killing, he was so silent that he fell into his own daze, a lonely seeping into a place that I could not see. When I looked at him again, he turned his head towards me, in that moment, his gaze were full of stars, blazing and spinning.

  He opened his mouth, there was no voice but there were words. I could understand the shape of his mouth, "Mi Er, come home."

  I steadily looked at him and also lightly moved my mouth, "Medicine!"

  In a flash, his body stiffened and he turned away his face. I became anxious, and a burst of fire burned my heart, so fierce that I became dizzy and actually fell off the chair.

  The chair was on a light floating cloud. Under it was a thistle of thorns stained with blood, full of the wailing of malicious ghosts. Just as I was about to fall into the middle of the thistles, someone pulled me back to the chair. A corner of red robes flashed before my eyes, it was Phoenix. When I regained consciousness, he was already standing at his original position. His gaze even darker, the end of his lips upturned, a face full of disdain.

  On top of his head, there was a phoenix feather like a sword in the sky, in contrast to his red battle robes, it gleamed golden......

  Gold? Gold! I suddenly felt a burst of clarity and agitatedly held onto the arms of the chair, in the midst of the blade flashes, I cried out, "Xu Feng......" my voice broke, "I know, it"s Chou Ji, Chou Ji Gra.s.s!"

  Opposite, the Heavenly Emperor"s face darkened.

  An ominous feeling burst into my heart, I ignored the bursting pain in my throat and hurriedly cried, "There was an additional layer of Chou Ji added in the pill, just eat Peng Yu to counteract the effects of Chou Ji!"

   Ren Yu never removed any herb from the golden pill, he only added a layer of Chou Ji. When I was following Sui He, in my anxiousness to follow her into the tree stump, I forgot that the golden pill in my hand cannot touch wood. But, the golden pill did not dissolve when it touched wood, meaning that it was never afraid of wood! I only just remembered this and suddenly understood - there must have been a herb added to counter the gold (metal) elements of the pill. And, a herb that could counter gold and was cooling could only be the Chou Ji that grew in the bottom of the heavenly Yao lake. However, there was one herb that could counteract it - that was the wild gra.s.s growing by the River of Forgetfulness called Peng Yu.

   Phoenix turned his head in shock.

  Before I could see the expression on his face, a strange glow pa.s.sed my eyes - it came from the opposite sh.o.r.e of the River of Forgetfulness, like a fierce lightning arrow.

  Before I could even think, and I did not know with strength that came from where, my body plunged towards Phoenix"s chest. I did not realise that Phoenix had long discovered that hidden glow and raised his hand to give a counteracting force. In that moment, his palm was covered with the red lotus flame......

  In that very short, very short moment.

  That hidden glow did not enter the Great One"s chest, and that red lotus flame did not burn the Heavenly Emperor at the opposing sh.o.r.e.

  I gave out a suppressed burst of air, and slowly fell, the mark from Buddha on my palm began to glow......

  "Jin Mi!"

  I thought I heard someone calling me. Who was it? Was it you, Phoenix? If it"s you, that will be wonderful.

  It turned out I could also be so light, as light as a feather that lost its way and did not know where to go.

  Will there be a next life?

  If so, I wished I could be a b.u.t.terfly, a parchment full of ink, a speck of sand that flew with the wind......