"Cough." Coughing out some blood, the devil woman started "In the forbidden land—Valhalla….."
Sheng Tian raised an eyebrow.
His profound energy loosened its grip.
For he knew one thing. People started disappearing left and right. Forbidden Lands started acting strange.
If this is the case, then it all makes sense.
"Tell the whole thing?" His voice quavered.
Sheng Tian never really cared about the lives of those people. But the possibility of facing a future devil army didn't seem alluring.
"Last Year, I travelled to Valhalla in the winter. After gaining some good harvest and breaking through to the Sky Realm, I crossed the Styx River and stumbled into Hell!" Her eyes turned darker and her voice hoarse.
Hell! The Hell of legends. The place where death was said to be a luxury.
With a sorrowful laugh, a rueful expression dawned on her bloodied face "I was captured by an Emperor Realm devil. There were only two choices—become one of them or die. I wanted to live. This world was never fair to me. Why should I be kind?" She roared and all of a sudden, tried to bite off her tongue.
"Plop." His profound energy froze her body.
"Sigh"
"And that thing in your heart, it acted as your dantian?" He loosened a bit of his grip on her and asked.
"Yes." Qi Yue closed her eyes; resigned to fate. Now that it came to this, any denial would result in horrendous pain. And the man in front of her; what kind of person is he? Doesn't he feel a bit of pity when he sees such a beauty writhing in pain?
"When one becomes a devil, they gain a "devil heart". It has a myriad of uses. Absorbing Human's blood, devouring vitality, acting as a secondary dantian and so on. At the core of the question; why devils are so strong? this is the answer. But...." She gazed into his sky blue eyes. Those same eyes that once held playfulness during their first meeting now showed nothing but coldness and indifference.
"But even the devils won't have a freak like you." She shivered at his terror, once again.
"One last question." He played with a stone on the ground, "How does one become a devil?"
"Blood—"
"BANG!!!"
A huge explosion akin to a thunderclap shook the area.
A white shielded came into view after the explosion cooled down.
Piles of blood and flesh rained down.
What was once a beautiful woman left only bones.
"How did she explode herself?" Leng Yue Yan turned to avoid the gore and muttered.
"She didn't. I had her body under control. But something else triggered in her body the moment she started speaking about the Conversion Process." He shook his head and gazed down at the remains of the person who wanted to torture him.
Forget it. Under the heaven, we all are but mere pawns of the bigger players.
We kill. We envy. We live. We die.
In her next life, this same villainess might be born to a family of virtuous people and change her ways.
Their karmic tie ends here or so he thought.
He waved his hands and buried her remains.
"You go ahead. I will catch up." He dashed off into the distance leaving behind a few words.
Leng Yue Yan stared at his back and her silhouette turned into a blur.
Far in the distance, Sheng Tian travelled to a secluded cave.
Closing the entrance, he sat down cross legged on a wide stone.
His spirit sense entered the Snow Glazed Lotus.
"Come out." He stretched out his arm and made a welcoming gesture.
A shining soft body floated in the air.
The person he didn't see for a long time. Someone he missed dearly.
Xiao Lian!
He gently caught her in his arms and laid her own of his thighs.
Her face was ashen.
Sheng Tian gritted his teeth. Every time he was reminded of her condition, he would fall into a state of madness.
He knew how much she was suffering. Yet, he couldn't do anything to help her.
Watching your loved ones suffer helplessly is the worst torture!
Perhaps that is why, no, that's exactly why, he is trying to do something else to distract himself.
But now that he had something that might help her, he would no longer leave the matter unattended.
"Please work." Looking at the Spring's Nectar, Sheng Tian hoped, no, prayed.
Lowering it to her pale lips, he fed her the last and remaining two drops of Spring's Nectar.
He watched in earnest, as the strong vitality slowly entered her soul-body and a faint green light wrapped her.
"Get well Xiao." He held his breath.
Unlike Leng Yue Yan, the green light continued to wriggle over her as if it was constantly trying to enter her, yet scared of something inside her.
"Go!!!" Sheng Tian roared.
A milky white pill appeared in his palm. Dense medicinal fragrance spread in the cave.
'I really owe that Old dude one!'
Just from the smell, he could tell this pill was way expensive and rarer than Old Li expressed it to be.
Its vitality rivalled Spring's Nectar. Such a pill could only be called a legend.
He gently put the pill in her mouth and had her swallow it.
"Suu" the green light covering her body, as if activated, dived inside her soul-body.
"Haaa" Xiao Lian's eyes snapped open.
The first thing she saw was a pair of blue eyes, looking at her with longing. The corner of those eyes were already moist.
"Sheng....." Her voice turned heavy, almost like a wail and before she knew it, they were in a deep embrace. The lost warmth was back.
Streams of tears flowed down her pretty cheeks. Xiao Lian cried, letting her fear, pain out.
"I thought I would never see you wuu." They were so close, yet so far apart.
"I am sorry." He sighed deeply, guilty of his own weakness.
"Me too.'" She lowered her head in shame, remembering herself telling him not to cry if she died and being so cold about it.
How did he feel then? I should've been nicer….but, that was the only way.
Sheng Tian saw the demoness being bashful and his lips curled up, wrapping his arms around her even more tightly, he pulled her closer.
"Wha—You will suffocate me to death." Xiao Lian raised her head and complained, but let him do as he wished.
"Haha. You are doomed the day you boarded the pirate ship." With an evil smile, he declared.
"Waa! Help!" Xiao acted panicky, like a real victim on the pirate ship.
"Tsk. Why do you need help? You are a demoness who will drag souls to hell." He looked at her flawless figure, and muttered.
"Aww." Rubbing his painful waist that she just pinched, he said with a honest face "Of course, I meant you are a goddess who plays with my heart."
"Pfft" Xiao Lian covered her mouth and chuckled.
He was still….the Sheng Tian she knew and loved.
"What happened with your cold beauty?" Her voice turned sour and she gave him a look of disdain.
"Ugh…" Sighing deeply, he sat her down and caressed her cheek, narrating everything.
Not a single thing was hidden.
"…..Fool." Xiao Lian shook her head in exasperation and turning her head to the side, she muttered under her breath "and that responsible side, is what I like the most."
"Cough." Sheng Tian had an uncharacteristic blush despite his city wall level thick skin.
"Heh, you're so embarrassed." Xiao looked at his face and laughed.
"I'm not." Sheng Tian stood up and hastily walked out, afraid that she would continue to tease him.
"Damn." Xiao appeared next to him and rested her arm on his shoulder. "How about you worship me and I will teach you how to seduce girls?"
'Tsk. This missy, turning cocky again.' Sheng Tian caught her by the waist and his wings spanned out, and they shot into the sky.
After waking up, Xiao didn't remove the seal on herself. Thus, she was a bit surprised when Sheng Tian took her straight into the clouds.
This was the first flight for them...flying together in the clouds.
"Want me to worship you?" Sheng Tian smiled kindly and tickled her, threatening her to loose control.
"Hahaha…stop! Sheng, haha, okay, hahaha, sorry.." Xiao tried to control herself but she couldn't help but laugh out under his continuous "service".
Finally, she had no choice but to plead mercy.
'Such a demonic guy' she cursed, 'but that's him.'
Sheng Tian smiled proudly, feeling even more glorious than defeating Qi Yue.
His cheerful expression slowly turned calm. Looking at her red eyes, he said "So, Xiao. How are you now?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck. Staring intently into his eyes, she sent a thousand silent words into his heart. "I'm glad. I can stay so for two years."
Her eyes grew misty. She looked up at him.
Sheng Tian lowered his head to meet her gaze.
'I'm lucky.' He thought.
He leaned in and kissed her deeply.
The Sun hid behind the clouds as the two lovers immersed in their own world.