Chapter 3: Ring (Prologue pt. 3)
Luo Ling opened up a part of his armor again. Because of the density of the Frost energy around him, it only took a split second to fill the eleven gems up again.
He got more accustomed to the coldness as 11 of his gems were filled with Frost energy. Repeating the cycle, Luo Ling started changing the strokes of the gems.
This time, without even needing a split second, half of the gems shattered inside of him! Blood spurted out from his nostrils, ears, mouth, and eyes.
"Aaaahhh—!!"
An excruciating pain came over Luo Ling, making him lose his focus for a moment. The thick armor around him slowly dissipated as his control over the Light energy was interrupted.
The pure Frost energy outside used this as an opportunity to infiltrate Luo Ling's vulnerable body!
Zing!
Some of the Frost energy made it through the Light armor before Luo Ling managed to block the rest.
The pain was overshadowed by a feeling so cold, Luo Ling almost fainted again.
By then, his skin started to turn pale blue. On his skin formed a thin layer of ice that proceeded to thicken.
'This is... my last chance!' Luo Ling's adrenaline was at an all-time high.
Now or never.
At this moment, Luo Ling took a risk. He did not put the armor up again.
This caused all of the pure Frost energy to enter his body. A new wave of coldness washed over Luo Ling's body. The pace at which his organs froze got faster.
"Aaagggh!" Luo Ling screamed, the breath he exhaled as cold as his insides.
He used most of the reserve Light energy to heal his shattered gems, not even bothering to block the frost on his organs.
After healing the gems, Luo Ling went straight to trying to change the gem's strokes again! Most shattered again, using up much of the Light energy.
He repeated the process until the gems' strokes turned golden. Unexpectedly, the strokes this time were clean without any patches of silver or bronze.
Using this opportunity, he absorbed the pure Frost energy into his gems!
However, the Frost energy decreased by a negligible amount. All 11 of the new gold-stroked gems were filled.
"...To Platinum!"
Luo Ling only had one gold-stroked gem full of Light energy left. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to change the strokes of his Ice Gems once more.
"Here we go--!"
Boom!
Luo Ling's gems violently exploded! His eyes widened in shock.
'Wh- what?!' His mind scrambled as it tried to think of solutions to the problem. The instinctive response was to use the remaining Light energy to heal his organs first.
Regardless, this action came too late.
All the pores on his body leaked the azure blood. A small blueish puddle under his body expanded and expanded. The liquid exuded a cold air as it flowed farther away from its source.
The little pathway became muddled with blood as a body laid at the center of all of it.
Luo Ling fell unconscious, and his last thoughts were resignation and regret.
'I didn't manage to save her...'
As he closed his eyes, one of his two rings started to glow.
.....
In the Swordlight Palace, Xiao Yueyue's chambers...
Elderly people stroked their long white beard as they examined her body.
The former bright skin replaced with a pale white shade, her red and plump lips reduced to a dry and withering state, and a huge gash on her abdomen due to the unprecedented attack.
It was a miracle that Xiao Yueyue had survived this long and would survive for a whole 3 months more.
"I don't think there is anything we can do now..." A purple robed elder let out a sigh.
Their emperor had kept on insisting on finding a solution even though they already said there were none.
"I can understand the emperor's mindset but this is just a waste of time." Another elder had mixed feelings about the whole situation.
"We can try and research!" A blue-robed youth interrupted the elders' conversation with bright eyes.
"Well, that is our only option." Another person entered the room. A black-robed man with a prickly beard scratched his hair as he yawned.
The elders' faces twitched at the sight of this man. Even though he was younger than them, he wore a black robe, which was one rank higher than the rest of them.
The black robed man clapped his hands twice as he spoke, "Now then, let's get to work!"
As he said that, the youth dropped the box he was carrying as he looked at Xiao Yueyue's body in shock.
"Th- the ring! The ring on her finger!"
All of them noticed the ring and tried to remove it at first, but it was a futile effort. Now that the said ring was glowing, they were all naturally interested.
The white glow shined brighter and brighter, lighting up the whole room. Xiao Yueyue's body slowly returned back to normal.
"H- huh? What's happening?"
From outside the palace, a certain window emitted a strong radiance. The glow gleamed even more until the dark night was as bright as daytime.
The citizens of the capital were stunned. Children playing on the streets stopped kicking the ball. Various citizens bickering and fighting halted their argument. The animals in the back alleys all turned their heads to look.
Inside the room, the blinding light pierced through the eyelids of everyone.
Even though they tried their best to cover up their vision, the light made its way.
"Aaaahhh! What's happening!"
The blue-robed youth ran out of the room as he felt a burning sensation in his eyeballs. He only had a cultivation of 10 silver-stroked Wood gems, he couldn't form a barrier thick enough to block the overwhelming amount of Light energy in the chamber.
Meanwhile, the three inside formed their barriers with nonchalance. They were able to observe the changes happening in their patient's body.
"Look! She's recovering!"
Eventually, the glowing stopped.
"...Is it over?" The purple robed elder asked in confusion. Of course, he didn't expect anyone to answer.
"Not yet. See that ring? The gem on it still hasn't shattered." The black robed man knew a lot about these artifacts.
"What will happen?"
"I'm not entirely sure... It depends on the wearer of the other ring." He squinted his eyes. 'A blinding light... Could it be?'
Sweat dripped down the side of his head as he screamed, "Everybody, run right now!"
The two elders followed him out of the room. Being of high cultivation, these people could easily escape the palace.
On their way out, they warned everyone to run out of the palace.
Some people followed, but many people didn't care as well. They continued on what they were doing.
The black robed man ran to a watchtower and used his Wind energy to transmit his words throughout the capital — Evacuate, now!
The citizens immediately panicked as they rushed out of their houses and ran to the gates in every direction.
However, the guards on each gate didn't let them out all at once. Instead, they insisted on letting them out one by one through the small door in the middle of the gate like usual routine.
"Who said to open the gates?" One guard lazily replied to a person without cultivation.
"Didn't you hear? The palace said to evacuate!"
"Please. It's just from the physician, right? We need orders officially!" The guard said as he shook his head.
A carriage arrived at the gate and inside was the head of a major family.
A servant walked haughtily towards the guard. "Let us out right now! Or do intend on offending the Jin family?!"
"I only take orders from the royal family! Not from people like you!" The head guard came out from a room inside the wall.
Just like that, tussles and disputes happened in every one of the four gates.
Meanwhile, in the half-empty palace...
Xiao Yueyue's ring dimmed down as her former vitality returned to her face. She showed no signs of waking up.
The ring's glow turned black as it sucked some Light energy in the surroundings.
The force got stronger as the previously bright room turned dark in a flash.
A black tornado started to form around the ring. It proceeded to absorb all Light energy from every possible source in its vicinity. From lamps to torches, all of them turned dark, causing the people using them to get confused.
An official in the palace ignored the physician's warning. He yawned as he continued doing his paperwork, contemplating about his mundane life.
All of a sudden, this official that cultivated Light energy sensed his gems being drained. His face turned pale, continuing with the rest of his body. "Ah, no— ah!"
The energy exited his body, leaving him dry and empty. He laid on the desk powerless.
This scene happened all throughout the palace. Many that witnessed this scene started evacuating, while the ones that got drained regretted their decision of not doing so in the first place.
The black tornado wasn't satisfied with the measly amount of Light energy it ingested.
The whole palace was engulfed with darkness. Slowly, it spread through the streets of the capital.
Even the most stubborn civilians were convinced — a disaster was happening in the Swordlight Capital!
What's worse was that when all of this was happening, their emperor was absent. Busy doing something else, he missed the last chance to see his empire...
Lan Yunhao made it to the Caliginous Forest. Since he had cultivated Dark energy, he could see easily through the darkness of this forest.
Even then, he dared not be careless. After all, the notoriety of the forest propagated to even the farthest reaches of the Core Gem Continent. It would be an idiotic choice to let his guard down.
The stench of corpses reached his nose. He waved the smell away as he formed a small barrier around his face with Dark energy.
At that moment, he heard a shuffling noise from behind him. Leaves flew from where the sound came from, leaving a trace for him to follow.
He quickly ran after. 'It's probably that brat, Luo Ling! If I don't get rid of him now, I won't be able to call myself Lan Yunhao!'
Shadows chased after each other in the dark. The one in front gradually slowed down while the one behind sped up. In the end, Lan Yunhao caught up.
Lan Yunhao's raging aura leaked from his skin as he reached for the shoulder of the unknown figure!
"You...—!"
The figure spun around, revealing an appearance that didn't quite resemble a young brat. Moreso, it didn't resemble a male at all.
"Jing Liye!" "Lan Yunhao!"
Both of them uttered one after another as their eyes widened in shock.
The vagabond emperor didn't expect that he would meet his daughter's mother like this. "...Why are you here?"
A brief silence ensued. Jing Liye stared at the man in front of her until her eyeballs distorted.
"—! That's not Jing Liye!" Lan Yunhao felt alarmed as his sense of danger triggered.
Before he could lift one foot, the unknown monster transformed, grabbing his neck with an inhumanely stretched arm.
The illusion inside Lan Yunhao's mind dissipated as he took out a short dagger from his left pocket.
Shing! The dagger sliced through the arm, making it ooze a dark sticky liquid. Lan Yunhao's breathing became normal again as the grip around his neck was released.
"Lan Yunhao, where ar... e you goin... g..." The monster didn't even remotely look like Jing Liye anymore, yet it still had the gall to put on an act.
'I really underestimated the Caliginous Forest...!' Lan Yunhao regretted his decision.
He put 80% of his strength in slicing that arm, yet it only made a small wound that closed up in a matter of seconds!
Right now, his biggest priority was to run out of the forest.
Of course, things didn't go according to his plan. A crack appeared on the ground, making Lan Yunhao fall into the abyss...
Gulp! The Ground Eater closed its mouth as soon as it devoured everything around a radius of 100 meters.
.....
Luo Ling lied on the ground. His eyes flickered as he sat up properly.
"Ugh, what happened?"
Suddenly, a wave of memories flashed through his mind. A pang made him groan, but that was negligible compared to his current confusion.
"Huh? How can I move? Aren't I supposed to be frozen? Wait... how am I still alive?" Luo Ling couldn't comprehend the situation.
He was completely sure that his previous breath was going to be his last. Who knew, he would be fine?
"W- what!? My gems... they're all platinum!" Luo Ling looked at his gems which exploded the last time he checked.
However, all 15 of his gems were now platinum stroked. Moreover, the pure Frost energy that posed a massive threat to him was now stored inside his Ice gems safely.
Even the 4 gems that he didn't shatter and were still Sun gems now had platinum strokes.
"This... maybe it's a miracle!" With no other explanation, Luo Ling had no choice but to accept this one.
He stood up, feeling his blood sticking behind him. His clothes were soaked, and so was his hair.
As he had no way of solving this for the time being, he just let the blood dry.
Looking at his side, he saw the Sapphire Flower. Its petals' former dark blue shade turned pale. The flower's stem that stood straight bent over like a hunchback.
"The flower's almost wilted." It seemed it had exerted its full ability to try and kill him. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Hehe, harvesting time!" Now that 11 of his gems were filled with Frost energy, his body was granted a certain immunity to coldness.
He dug the flower out of the ground along with its roots and placed it on his ceramic flower pot. However, the pot froze up and shattered the moment one of the roots touched it.
"Err, damn it." Luo Ling sighed. He conjured a makeshift flower pot with ice and placed the Sapphire Flower there. The ring on his right middle finger absorbed the pot along with the flower.
"This... it still feels weird." The youth wasn't yet accustomed to having two elements inside his body. After all, this was the very first case.
He continued walking on the pathway.
What he didn't realize was that the ring on his left middle finger was damaged.
A gift from Xiao Yueyue, the ring had a shiny black gem encrusted on it. Luo Ling had always kept it on his body so that it wouldn't be lost.
The shiny black gem lost its luster as pieces of it faded into dust, blown away by the breeze of the cave.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone