Chapter 116

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Chapter 116: Invasion

Shunde stood barefoot inside the empty hall of the imperial court. Dust covered everything.

"La la la la..." She sang to herself as she joyously walked across the floor. When she reached the dragon throne at the top, she suddenly turned around and extended her hand, "Zhu Ling, come here."

A green string connected her fingertip to the forehead of a person behind her.

Zhu Ling, who had been killed by the Grand Master, was back to life.

He wore the same black armor, but his face looked lifeless and his skin glowed with an eerie green. Everytime Princess Shunde moved her fingers with the string, he would take a few more steps forward.

He followed her string and sat in the dragon throne.

Shunde smiled happily. "See, this court is all mine now," she said. "I can have anyone sit on the throne."

She moved another finger and a second string pulled Ji Chengyu over.

Like Zhu Ling, his skin also glowed with a faint green light and his eyes were dull.

"I remember you two used to be great friends. He suffered a lot of bullying and ridicule when his brother betrayed the Grand Master's house and became a monk, you were always there to help him. Later on, when your face was destroyed saving me, others were all afraid of you, but he came to see you everyday. You were as close as brothers, so you should sit on the throne together."

Shunde moved her fingertips and Ji Chengyu sat down next to Zhu Ling.

"Isn't this great?" She gave a smile so bizarre that it was chilling. "How wonderful would it be if everyone in the world could be this obedient."

She turned around and walked out the hall, stepping onto the dusty floor with her bare feet.

The entire palace was a dead silence.

Bodies and rubble littered the ground, showing the horrific events that had taken place.

Shunde took a deep breath and a green thread pulled a black crow into her hand. "Come, good boy. Tell me what's new with the northern border. I finally finished making my puppets, it's time to take them out for a walk..."

...

After Lin Haoqing dropped the news that Princess Shunde was coming soon, the preparations in the Northlands became more tense than ever.

Having laid down the final piece for the fire boundary, Ji Yunhe saw a familiar face, Ji Ning. He had fled the capital and came back to the north.

The boy matured quite a bit. Back when he left the northern border and returned to the capital, he was still full of confusion and doubt. But now, such emotions were no longer on his face.

This young disciple of the Grand Master's house grew up after the sudden death of his master, Ji Chengyu.

"Aji," Ji Ning still called Ji Yunhe as such. "Princess Shunde has gone crazy... She created many puppets with her magic, then had them kill more people... Everyone in the capital... " He took a deep breath and continued, "They are all dead. They have all been turned into puppets on Shunde's string..."

Ji Yunhe was silent for a moment then asked, "How many?"

"Too many to count..."

"How many can she manipulate at once?"

"She can manipulate all of them… Those puppets, tens of thousands, all listen to her. I was barely able to escape."

Ji Ning's body began to shake involuntarily, and Ji Yunhe patted his shoulder to comfort him. "Don't think about it right now, go rest first..."

"I also brought a friend." He abruptly lifted his head and looked at her with some excitement. "Hopefully he can help you..." Ji Ning turned sideways, allowing Ji Yunhe to see the person behind him. She was stunned...

Ji Yunhe's black fox fire had created a boundary that burned straight up into the sunset sky, its flames lighting up the approaching darkness.

Standing behind the impenetrable wall of fire, Ji Yunhe looked at the two people still dressed in the Grand Master's uniform and said, "I will take you both into the city."

...

The flaming boundary at the border reached up into the clouds, only a thick black iron gate allowed passage.

After a meeting in the Demon Terrace, they finally closed the gates to incoming refugees. Woes and devastation echoed beyond the border for a long time.

And Changyi did not wake up. He remained in a deep sleep.

Kongming and the others tried their best to conceal the news of his slumber, so as not to disturb their army's morale.

They met with Ji Ning and learned a crucial piece of information from him -- the thunderfire lava that had previously erupted might be Shunde's nemesis.

After Ji Yunhe learned of this, she took Lin Haoqing and Kongming out the northern border.

During the volcanic eruption, Changyi formed an ice wall blocking the lava flow from entering the city. After the lava cooled, it formed a rocky mountainous wall that was later set up with weapons for defense.

Lin Haoqing inspected the rocks on the wall and his eyes lit up. "This rock formed out of thunderfire lava can be made into weapons that might be effective against Shunde's puppet army."

Kongming nodded. "I'll go back and have people get started on this right away."

"Is there still active thunderfire lava in the mountains?" Lin Haoqing asked.

"Mhm. After the eruption, I sent someone into the mountains to investigate. They found an extremely hot cave with bubbling lava inside."

Lin Haoqing held a piece of black rock and looked at Ji Yunhe. "You and this lava may be the key to saving the world."

They went to explore the cave. Kongming and Lin Haoqing could not handle the burning heat and were forced to stop more than ten feet away. Ji Yunhe called some fox fire to protect her body and said, "I will go check out the terrain and set up a plan."

She gradually disappeared behind the smoke as the two of them waited patiently outside.

She walked all the way to the lava, feeling rather uncomfortable under its searing heat as well.

But whenever she felt her body was about to be torn apart by the flames, a coolness in her chest would appear and shield her heart. This feeling was somewhat familiar to Ji Yunhe, like when Changyi took her to the Frozen Sea and used the sea lingzhi on her...

She touched her chest.

Back when Shunde captured Changyi, she ate a couple of sea lingzhi in her haste to go save him. Turned out they were still protecting her even now…

Ji Yunhe caressed the silver pearl on her neck and smiled. The sea had been very kind and generous to her.

She looked down at the thunderfire lava, manifesting the power of nature to its fullest.

Under such tremendous power, she was so small and insignificant...

She squatted down and drew a formation on the ground with her fingertips.

...

"What took you so long?" Kongming was a bit ill tempered after Ji Yunhe came back. "How do you take so much time just to check out some terrain?"

Ji Yunhe smiled. "Would you believe me if I said I took a bath in the lava?"

Kongming gave her a dirty look then turned away, not caring to talk nonsense with her. Lin Haoqing, on the other hand, looked surprised and asked, "Really?"

Ji Yunhe glanced at him. "Of course not. Thunderfire lava can burn anything. If I jump in, you won't even be able to fish out my bones."

"Wouldn't care to fish you out either." The monk turned to leave. "Did you get a clear look at the terrain?"

"Mhm," Ji Yunhe said. "It is circular. If Shunde breaches the southern border, I can lure her here."

"You?" Kongming raised his eyebrows. "Princess Shunde is following the Grand Master's wish to destroy the world. How do you know you'd be able to lure her?"

Ji Yunhe curled her lips rather smugly. "Shunde is narrow-minded and petty. She can't forget her hatred for me."

...

The three of them went back to the city and found the news of Changyi's unconsciousness had spread throughout the land in the short time they were gone, as if it had wings.

Their efforts to keep it a secret had been futile.

The jiaoren was in a mysterious coma.

Over the years, Changyi had become much more than the lord of the people here. Especially after the lava ordeal, he was now seen as a legendary guardian from the sea.

The Northlands was used to being under his protection, and now they no longer had it.

The people suddenly fell into somewhat of a chaos. Kongming was furious and wanted to find out who leaked the information. It meant there was a mole here that he did not detect, and that was unacceptable to him.

He became even busier than Changyi had ever been. Luo Jinsang worried about his health, but Kongming was terrible at controlling his emotions around her, even though he was able to restrain himself around others.

As optimistic as Luo Jinsang, she was still scolded by him to the point of self pity.

It was night time in the side hall.

As soon as they entered the room and saw Ji Yunhe gently wiping Changyi's face, Kongming exploded. "He is still not awake, you sure have a lot of patience!" Then he glared at Lin Haoqing. "Didn't you say he would wake up after using the shewei? Why is he still sleeping?"

Lin Haoqing glanced at Changyi on the bed. "His pulse is stable. I don't know why he's still asleep."

Kongming rubbed his brow. He had not rested for two days and it made him look very tired.

Luo Jinsang frowned next to him. "You are a monk, not an iron man. Go sleep, do not work anymore tonight." She tugged at his sleeve, but the monk brushed her away, clearly irritated.

"Don't bother me." He did not even look at Luo Jinsang.

Ji Yunhe raised an eyebrow and called, "Jinsang, come here. I need you."

Luo Jinsang gave Kongming a "hmph" then headed for Ji Yunhe. But when she walked past Lin Haoqing, the sword hanging on his side shook.

Lin Haoqing drew out the blade. "Siyu has come with a message."

This sword was the real body of Lin Haoqing's demon slave, Siyu, who had been lurking in the capital while they were here in the north. She was able to inform them of the latest news on Shunde as fast as possible.

Lin Haoqing drew a formation on the ground then sat down, resting the sword on his knees. He closed his eyes. "Siyu..." Suddenly his face turned grave, and the formation beneath him emitted a strange and treacherous glow.

This had never happened before. Ji Yunhe and Kongming grew wary.

Luo Jinsang also forgot about her anger and asked nervously, "What's happening?"

No one answered her.

A gust of strange wind blew in, pulling and tugging at everyone's hair and clothing.

The formation under Lin Haoqing's body also started to glow brightly.

"Found you!"

A shrill female voice pierced into their ears, giving everyone a headache.

Ji Yunhe quickly identified the voice, "Shunde..." Her eyebrows sank and she clenched her fists.

"Found you! Hahahahaha!" The laughter was accompanied by the howling wind, dancing wildly through the room and destroying everything. Luo Jinsang was not as powerful as the others and spat out some blood under the air pressure. Kongming immediately swept her into his arms and covered her ears.

Ji Yunhe made a black fox fire seal in her hand and drew a circular formation, shutting the windows and calming the wind.

Luo Jinsang weakly leaned against Kongming's arms. Seeing his worried face, she struggled to sit up and wipe away the blood on her lips. "I'm fine..."

On the other side, Ji Yunhe walked to the window. The voice continued to laugh like a maniac, saying, "I'll be coming for you soon!"

The light of the formation under Lin Haoqing faded away, and the long sword in front of him suddenly cracked.

Lin Haoqing opened his eyes. His face was pale and sweaty, and his body was trembling from pain.

He held up the sword and looked at the broken blade. Finally, he could not hold it back anymore and blood gushed out of his mouth.

The blood fell onto the sword.

"Shunde is almost here." Ling Haoqing wiped away the blood at his mouth. "She found Siyu and then found me through her."

"And Siyu?" Ji Yunhe asked.

Lin Haoqing lowered his head. The crack on the sword had nearly broken it in half. He silently put the sword back into its scabbard.

"Be prepared." He got up without answering her.

Just then, the boundary at the southern border suddenly let out a flash and everyone looked out the window.

The sky outside was illuminated by the wall of fire. A few moments later, they heard a loud boom, as if something was knocking against the boundary gate…

"Shunde..." Lin Haoqing covered his chest and looked at the fiery horizon. "She is here."

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