Chapter 104

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Chapter 104: Just Like Before

Ji Yunhe rushed into the imperial dungeon expecting a heated battle, but all she saw were jagged ice formations everywhere. However, unlike normal ice, their tips were red as if tinted with blood even though they clearly had not injured anyone.

She felt sick with apprehension, and her feet sped up. Her body grew more tense the further she walked inside.

The air became colder and the ice bloodier as she approached the deepest part of the dungeon. Turning the corner, Ji Yunhe saw Princess Shunde standing outside the cage.

Shunde abruptly turned her head and stared at her with crazed eyes. "Ji Yunhe!" she hissed out her name word by word. Her dress was tattered, her hair unkempt, and she no longer had any trace of a princess, only madness.

Behind her were giant wings formed out of green gas that filled the entire dungeon.

Her hands held up a green magic shield, blocking a bloody ice sword currently wrestling against her.

Ji Yunhe did not see the person inside the cage, but she knew who had the power to cause such a disturbance. Without hesitation, she drew out her sword and thrusted it at Shunde from the side.

Shunde desperately tried to block it, but dealing with Changyi had used up all of her strength. Ji Yunhe's sword easily pierced through her defenses and into her shoulder, nailing her body to the dungeon wall.

Shunde let out a muffled grunt, then hung loosely on the wall without further struggles. She seemed to be depleted of power.

Just to be on the safe side, Ji Yunhe pulled out a dagger and ran it through her throat. Blood flowed and Shunde immediately stopped breathing.

Ji Yunhe then stepped toward the cage, but what she saw inside stunned her.

Behind the black iron bars, beyond the blood colored sword, was Changyi frozen in solid ice from head to toe. Only his blue eyes still showed a slight sign of life.

"Changyi..."

Just like the first time they met, he was the battered jiaoren imprisoned inside, and she was the demon master looking in.

Ji Yunhe suppressed her panic, conjured a sword and viciously struck at the lock.

The entire cage trembled and the lock fell to the floor. Ji Yunhe pulled open the door and immediately dashed in with nine tails appearing in a flash. She ran to Changyi and embraced him, wrapping his body in her fox fire.

"Changyi... Changyi..."

She whispered his name while the fox fire began melting the ice, slowly revealing him. Ji Yunhe reached out and held his face into her hands.

His skin was so cold that the contact made her shiver, but she did not let go. She gently rubbed her hands over Changyi's cheeks. "Come on, warm up! Touch it and it will get better, touch it and it will get better..."

But Changyi did not move.

Until the ice was completely melted and his body softened, he then closed his eyes and fell toward the ground. Ji Yunhe immediately took him into her arms and kept rubbing his cheeks and hands with fox fire.

"Changyi… we went through so much to finally be together... Remember, you said you are going to take me north, you can't go back on your words. You said jiaoren don't lie..."

Ji Yunhe saw the wound on his wrist.

She knew what it was. Changyi had thought that he did not have the power to fight with Shunde, so he used a blood sacrifice. He was gambling with his life.

This overconsumption of his magic again and again successively was enough to kill him.

Ji Yunhe trembled. "You are not allowed to lie to me..." She finally broke down. She buried her head against his face and choked on her tears, unable to speak another word.

Suddenly, a puff of cool air breathed out next to her ear.

Ji Yunhe raised her head. Changyi's pale lips were now slightly open and his breath formed tiny bits of white mist in the air. Although they were very faint, it was enough to make her ecstatic.

"Changyi!" She grew hopeful. "Hang on, I'll take you back to the north."

"You shouldn't..." the voice was weaker than a mosquito, but Ji Yunhe heard every word, "... have come..."

Ji Yunhe rubbed his hands until she felt some warmth returning to his body, then set him on her shoulder. "Let's go, we can talk after we get back home."

Before Ji Yunhe took a step, the body nailed to the wall suddenly let out a strange, gurgling laugh.

Shunde had been impaled by a dagger and a sword, both were lethal, but she was still alive.

"I've been waiting for you to come…" Shunde's voice was extremely hoarse. "I will sacrifice you both today."

Ji Yunhe looked at Changyi. They were inside the capital, and the Grand Master could show up any minute. She did not want to linger for another moment. Ji Yunhe cast a spell to ride the wind, but before her spell could complete, a green formation suddenly fell from above and trapped them underneath.

Their world turned pitch black.

As if the floor had given way, they fell down a bottomless abyss accompanied by Shunde's strange and eerie laughter...

Ji Yunhe had no idea what to do, so she just held on to Changyi as tightly as possible. She had made up her mind to never let him go again, no matter what.

After falling for some time, their weightlessness abruptly disappeared, and she sat in a dark void holding him.

"Changyi?"

"Mm… I'm here." Changyi's voice was weak, but he still answered her.

Knowing he was okay for the time being, Ji Yunhe calmed her mind a little and began to analyze the situation they were in.

She knew Shunde had captured Changyi in order to lure her here, and a formation was set up to trap them both.

But it was strange that her formation did not activate as soon as Ji Yunhe found Changyi inside the cage. Shunde said she wanted to sacrifice them, so why did she not devour their power right away?

It could be possible that the injuries she suffered from Changyi and Ji Yunhe were severe enough to change her original plan.

She used the formation to trap them because she needed to wait for her body to recover before proceeding.

And the time it would take for Shunde to heal was their chance to escape.

"This is a trap..." Changyi said to Ji Yunhe. "You shouldn't have come."

"I know what I should or shouldn't do. Remember what I said before? Having the right to choose is the freedom I want." Ji Yunhe asked him, "How are your injuries?"

"Severe," he gave an honest answer, "but won't kill me."

"Good." Ji Yunhe stood up. "I'll carry you and we'll go find the eye of the formation together." After Changyi was lifted onto her back, Ji Yunhe laughed. "Big-tailed fish, doesn't this feel like deja vu?"

Changyi also smiled, "Yes."

Inside the Ten Square Formation, when he still had a fish tail and could not walk, Ji Yunhe also carried him on her back.

And now with legs, he still needed to be carried by her.

"If we could break out of the Ten Square Formation, this one here should be nothing," Ji Yunhe said. "Once we leave this trap and return to the Northlands, after you recover from your injuries, I'm going to make you carry me for once."

"As many times as you wish." Changyi then fell silent for a while. "Ji Yunhe..." he paused, holding back the emotions in his voice, "why didn't you tell me?"

Ji Yunhe turned her head to look at him. She wanted to ask him: about what? But then she knew. Changyi was locked up by Shunde and had a fight with her. What other hidden secrets could he be asking about...

Ji Yunhe had decided it was time to tell Changyi everything, but she never thought he would end up hearing about it from Shunde.

"I was going to tell you after you come back with my food," Ji Yunhe smiled casually, "but it kind of got interrupted..."

Changyi was quiet for a long time in the darkness. "I should have guessed..."

"Changyi, you were right when you said the past didn't matter anymore."

"That decision wasn't mine to make."

"Yes it was. I was dying, telling you would have been pointless. And I was also afraid… afraid that after you found out, you would still hate me for taking away your right to choose."

Long silver hair fell on Ji Yunhe's shoulders. "I wouldn't."

"But I was still afraid. Even telling you now frightens me. But I am not dying anymore, and I'm not alone anymore either," Ji Yunhe said. "I want to hold your hand for all the years to come... or carry you on my back, that's fine too." She smiled and looked at the void before them, but her mind was full of spring flowers and sunshine. "I want no more secrets between us."

She said it calmly, but her words stirred up endless ripples inside his pupils.

He closed his eyes and said, "Shunde is crazy..."

"Mhm."

"The only thing she did right was sending me to the Demon Valley."

Ji Yunhe paused her footsteps and thought over what Changyi had gone through over the years. What he said just now gave her a dull ache inside her heart.

In the Demon Valley, he was tortured, whipped, and lost his tail. He experienced so much suffering and torment there, yet he said that was the only thing Princess Shunde did right...

Because he met her there...

Ji Yunhe suppressed her tears and forced a smiling tone of voice, "Big-tailed fish, you always like to say stuff that catches me by surprise."

It seemed as if he had changed over the years, but he still had the heart of an innocent child. So simple, beautiful, tender and kind, that it made her feel...

... unworthy.

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