A few minutes prior.
Li Meirong had gradually regained consciousness.
Though it certainly wasn"t an immediate process. At first, a strange and terrible heat had overwhelmed her senses. She felt scorched yet soothed. Chilled yet warm.
While Li Meirong became aware of her surroundings, she noticed that her consciousness had slipped inside the metaphysical plane of her own body. A familiar looking pond br.i.m.m.i.n.g with translucent liquid appeared in front of her.
The last time she had seen that pond, her consciousness had drifted into her own dantian, the spiritual energy centre of her physical form.
Back then, she had nearly died in an attempt to absorb the blue flames and merge with them. Not only did she require Feng Huang"s guidance, she had also struggled to meditate in order to reach the transcendent state which separated her spirit from the body, providing her with the opportunity to explore her own spiritual veins.
In comparison, her current experience provided no struggle whatsoever. She didn"t receive any a.s.sistance from the Turtle Demoness at present, and she certainly didn"t meditate, considering how she had little to no time to do so while being under attack. Yet here she was, back again, staring at the energy pool welling within her.
Li Meirong went to the pond"s edge, grazing the surface of the clear liquid with her see-through fingertips.
The clear, water-like liquid changed consistency as she made contact with it.
It turned a little thicker, changing from flowing water to a more pancake-like paste.
Suddenly, from the pasty substance emerged a small golden, tinkling bell, floating at the centre of the overflowing pond.
The bell didn"t appear to be anything special. It was a typical plastic-looking bra.s.s bell. The smooth, s.h.i.+ny type she recalled receiving as a child and breaking after tossing the plastic chunk around a few times.
Li Meirong wasn"t sure what came over her, but she knew that she wanted, no, needed to reach that cheap looking plastic bell. She needed to hold on to it.
She dipped her legs inside the pond, one foot at a time. The gooey substance felt warm, and surprisingly, it didn"t soak her.
When she stepped in, she struggled to wade in the liquid. It felt like paddling through a swamp, trying to flee the sludge.
At last, when she came to the centre of the pond, she seized the bell with a certain sense of urgency, pressing it to her chest.
The bell"s tinkles sounded a lot like giggles of amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Took you a while… took you a while."
It was the bell that communicated with her. Its speech resounded in the empty, metaphysical s.p.a.ce as though it were a hollow cave.
Li Meirong lowered her gaze and observed the bell nestled in her arms. She felt like a missing part of her was completed now that she had found it. She felt whole even though she never knew she needed this bell before.
"Hurry… or you will die."
"Hurry, hehe." The bell tinkled, it"s cheerful tone at odds with a distinct, ominous warning.
From one moment to the next, the bell changed shape. It transformed from a cheap metallic imitation to a living, breathing, beating organ.
It was a golden heart. Her heart.
Her reasoning faltered as she realized that she was holding her own organ in her palms. Slowly, it fused into her nearly transparent chest. The golden heart kept tinkling softly in its original bell-like notes as it delved deeper into her ribcage until she could see it no more.
As soon as the tinkling heart sank into her spiritual embodiment, the sense of trance she had been possessed with was dispelled. The pond she dove into gradually disappeared into nothingness.
Whichever magical trial Li Meirong was supposed to undergo seemed to have ended. The gush of heat which consumed her disappeared, only to be exchanged by an abrupt, unexpected onslaught of pain.
Agony washed over her from every corner of the plane, until she could barely breathe. She convulsed, collapsing into the ever-growing darkness with the pain riding her.
"Why are you still alive?" A banshee"s shriek could be heard in the distance.
Li Meirong could barely make sense of the speech, but she recognized the owner of that voice. It was the woman who had struck her, No Eyebrows.
She fought to listen to the madwoman"s hateful voice, knowing that the sound would lead her out of the meditative state.
"Li Meirong, what the h.e.l.l are you?!" Liang Rou Yan barked another question which made no sense.
The odd inquiry sounded so silly to Li Meirong, that for some reason, it a.s.sisted her disoriented senses to refocus. She rose out of the comforting nothingness and headed directly towards the direction of Liang Rou Yan"s voice, towards the pain.
"You want to keep pretending to be dead? Fine. If lightning won"t kill you, then my hands surely will!" Liang Rou Yan"s vicious roar thudded into her soul.
Just then, Li Meirong snapped her eyes open and was greeted with the sight of Liang Rou Yan"s snarling expression up close, mere inches away from her own.
The madwoman"s hands were occupied with clutching her throat, blocking Li Meirong"s air pa.s.sage in a death grip.
Behind Liang Rou Yan, Chou hovered over in his monster-sized plant form. His mouth area gaping open, preparing to swallow the unsuspecting prey.