Chapter 99

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Chapter 99: Follow You

Luo Jinsang and Qu Xiaoxing waited anxiously on the shore.

She almost jumped into the sea several times, but was stopped by Qu Xiaoxing. "We don't know what's going on down there, don't be so rash!"

"Then what do we do? It's been a whole day!"

As if in response to her question, the icy water down below suddenly splashed out, drenching them before they had time to turn around.

Changyi leapt onto the shore along with a few live fish flopping around on the ground.

They both stared at him for a while, then Luo Jinsang went hysterical. "Where is Yunhe?! Why did you bring fish up here? Where is she?"

Qu Xiaoxing looked at the bouncing fish in horror. "This can't be Yun... Yunhe, right?"

Luo Jinsang gasped, "What!?"

Changyi wringed the water out of his hair and said, "Roast it."

"Roasted?? What!?" The two exclaimed in unison.

Changyi finally gave them a glance. "Roast the fish, I'll take it down for her to eat."

They relaxed a bit. Qu Xiaoxing went ahead and grabbed the fish while Luo Jinsang kept asking, "Why didn't Yunhe come up with you?"

"Healing."

"For how long?"

"Three days."

"Three days?" Luo Jinsang shifted her eyes. "Then how does she breathe down there? Are you giving her mouth to mouth?"

Changyi froze then turned his head to ponder.

Luo Jinsang overturned her own idea. "You are a jiaoren, surely you don't need such a primitive method. But three days... just the two of you? A man and a woman alone in the dark... You better not take advantage of her while she has no recollection of the past!"

Changyi froze again and fell into contemplation.

Qu Xiaoxing could not take it anymore and came up next to her, muttering in a low voice, "My lady lord, can you stop giving him ideas…"

Changyi looked at the two of them and said, "You guys talk too much. Just cook the fish."

The weather here around the Frozen Sea was warmer than the bitter cold in the north. Changyi walked into the forest to pick some fresh fruits while Qu Xiaoxing handled the fish.

"Since when did this jiaoren like our Master Warden? Didn't he want to kill her? What did I miss?"

"You missed a lot."

...

Zhu Ling offered a pill to Princess Shunde.

She took the black pill and rolled it around between her fingertips. "So fast?"

"Lin Haoqing said all he needed was the production process of some components. Once he got it, making this pill was a breeze. Except this is not a finished product."

Princess Shunde smiled, "What else does he want?"

"He needs to infuse it with the power of a demon and a demon master."

"The capital is full of them."

Zhu Ling said, "It has to be a demon master and a demon whose powers are compatible with the art practiced by the princess."

"I train in the wood element, there are not many demon masters here compatible with me," she said. "Master also uses wood magic. Lin Haoqing wants me to take his power?"

After thinking about it, Zhu Ling said, "Princess, if you must, I know a demon master that you can sacrifice."

"Who?"

"Ji Chengyu."

"Him..." Princess Shunde weighed the pill inside her palm. "Not bad. As for the demon..." She thought a bit then said, "The jade phoenix is considered a demon of the wood element.."

"I am afraid her power is too brutal, and is not a good match for Ji Chengyu. It may be dangerous for the princess to use her."

"Well, refining into a demon, plus the forbidden art, I will be able to harness both the power of other demon masters and other demons. Eventually I will be able to fight the master again." She clutched the pill tightly inside her hand. "Tell Lin Haoqing to find a wood demon and do not let anyone find out about this. Tomorrow, I want to see results tomorrow at the latest."

"Yes."

...

It was evening when the young man in a dusty white robe ran into the courtyard. "Master! Master!"

Ji Chengyu came out of the house and looked at Ji Ning in shock. "Why were you gone for so long?"

Tears accumulated in Ji Ning's eyes. "Master... I... I was captured and taken all the way to the Northlands. They released me and I..."

"The Northlands!?"

"I... I also met Ji Yunhe, she didn't die..."

Ji Chengyu was shaken. "What?"

"Ji Yunhe, she transformed into a man and saved me, and later..." His words were incoherent as he tried to catch his breath. Ji Chengyu pulled him toward the house. "Come in first, then talk."

They did not know that outside the courtyard door, a black-armored general stood against the wall. His eyes behind the black iron mask were dark and gloomy.

"Ji Yunhe..."

...

The wind and rain outside did not disturb the calm in the deep sea.

Ji Yunhe was enjoying the food brought back by Changyi with a face of pure gratification. "Eating roasted fish at the bottom of the sea, this is one amazing experience. Mainly because this place is so beautiful, quiet and secluded, and I get food delivery."

"Then stay here."

"No way, that would be like imprisonment."

Ji Yunhe blurted out the word and they were both reminded of some past things.

Changyi fell silent, and she immediately explained, "Big-tailed fish, I'm not blaming you."

"I know." Changyi wiped away some fruit juice on the corner of her mouth with his sleeve. Ji Yunhe was a bit caught off guard by his action. She cleared her throat and took another bite of the fish.

But Changyi did not mind her awkward reaction. "After you get well, north, south, Demon Valley, or anywhere in the world, you can go wherever you want."

His words surprised her. Ji Yunhe looked at his serious face in the shimmering light of the sea lingzhi, and listened to his serious voice. "You have always wanted to be free, so much that you even took a walk between life and death," he paused briefly. "I won't keep you locked up anymore."

Ji Yunhe asked, "What about you?"

"I will go back to the north," Changyi said. "It is no longer a tool for my own selfish desires. I will guard the north."

"Like how you guarded it when the lava came?"

Changyi did not deny it.

Ji Yunhe looked at the side of his face and smiled. "Changyi, you've changed."

"Perhaps." He lowered his head and stared at his hand, as if he had already heard her say: okay, after I get well, we'll go our separate ways. "Take Qu Xiaoxing, he is very loyal to you, and Luo Jinsang..."

Ji Yunhe laughed and shook her head.

Changyi looked at her curiously.

She said, "You've changed, and so have I."

He listened quietly.

"I grew up trapped inside the Demon Valley, and then was locked up in various prisons, so I never had any free will. Because of that, I hated the idea of being tied to anything in this world, and always fought for that illusory freedom as my greatest desire. Even to the point of sacrificing my life for it."

Ji Yunhe turned her head and looked at him.

"But after taking a walk between life and death and having had a fresh new start, I now know freedom is not about being able to go anywhere you want," she said. "It's being able to decide for yourself."

Ji Yunhe gently caressed the back of his hand.

"And I have decided to be tied down," she smiled at him, "for you."

The light of the sea lingzhi seemed brighter all of a sudden, illuminating his eyes.

"You want to follow me back north?"

"North, south, Demon Valley," she imitated him. "Anywhere in the world, you can go wherever you want."

His hand turned over and ten fingers interlocked. Changyi did not speak again, but the corners of his lips curved up into a smile.

"To the furthest end of heaven and earth, to the deepest corners of the sea…" Ji Yunhe whispered into his ear, "I will always follow you."

"Okay."

"Wait a minute... Is this considered a corner of the sea? Then have we already been there?"

"There is still the far end of heaven and earth."

Tens of thousands of mountains, rivers, and seas. Once he took care of unfinished business in the north, he would take her to all the places she wanted to go.

As for the past, she did not care to mention, and he did not care to remember. Just let it all dissipate into the wind or the waves.

Having lost and found was already the greatest blessing.

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