Against The Heavens

The youth had silver hair that was tied into a neat bun and had deep golden eyes that were filled with a mixture of pride and joy, his lips were curled into a smirk as he looked at Li Yang and Fang Ying. There were plenty of faces and people Li Yang could forget, but the one in front of him was not one of them, there was only one person who could wear such a smirk and have it suit him in such a manner.

The youth opened his mouth to speak up again, but the sound of rumbling thunder echoed throughout the area and interrupted him, a golden bolt of lightning streaking past him. Li Yang jumped off the lightning just as it pa.s.sed the youth, spinning around and punching the back of the youth"s head as hard as he could, sending him crashing into the ground. The tornado started to move again the moment the youth crashed into the ground, but Li Yang didn"t even spare it a glance, landing on the ground a short distance away from the youth, rubbing his fist.

"Zhao Feng, you absolute c.u.n.t! Do you have any idea what sort of s.h.i.t I had to go through due to that s.h.i.tty "cursed realm" you guys set up? I can still feel my body tingling and my arms stinging just from having to pick up my own G.o.dd.a.m.n sword! You better have a good excuse ready, otherwise, I"ll pummel you so badly that not even Sister Shu will recognize you."

The only person Li Yang would ever refer to as Sister Shu was Dai Shu, Zhao Feng"s wife and one of his closest friends in his previous life. Zhao Feng was lying face down on the ground, his body slightly embedded into the earth due to the force of the punch. He placed both palms against the ground and pushed himself up, standing up and wiping the dirt from his face while grumbling to Li Yang.

"You know, I was kind of hoping for a more tearful greeting than this, kinda like the one you gave Sister Ying. I even went through all the trouble of waiting for the direst moment to make my entrance, did you really have to ruin it like that?"

A slap suddenly hit the back of Zhao Feng"s head just as he finished wiping away all the dirt, once again causing him to fall forward and end up face down in the dirt. Fang Ying stood behind Zhao Feng, pulling back her arm while her eyebrow twitched slightly. Li Yang cracked his fingers, the corners of his mouth twitching as he stepped closer to Zhao Feng, who was already standing up again.

"You were watching all along, just for a G.o.dd.a.m.n greeting? That"s it, I"m beating the s.h.i.t out of you no matter what excuse you have. And just how the h.e.l.l do you know what sort of reunion I had with Ying"er?"

Since he said he had been waiting for the direst moment before entering it was likely that he might have arrived here as they entered the volcano, maybe even sooner. Ignoring the fact that he had been waiting for something to happen before stepping in, just the fact that he had been able to hide himself from them was quite amazing. Zhao Feng continued to smirk, swiping his ring and pulling out a jade orb, filling it with some Qi as he talked, pointing at the three scars on Li Yang"s face.

"I saw the images of the two of you just before you escaped from Tian Zheng. Your eyes were so nice and red that it was clear that you had just cried. I wonder how the admirers you used to have would feel if they learned that the all-mighty Thunder Monarch was crying? And those scars, what sort of absolute freak managed to give you those?"

The orb lit up after being filled with Zhao Feng"s Qi, using the Qi to project an image of Li Yang and Fang Ying right after they had reunited and killed Zi Yanwu, mere seconds after Tian Zheng and the others arrived on the scene. The tornadoes all around them weakened as Li Yang and Fang Ying looked at the images, a pained roar echoing across the entire island, it seemed like the hydra had been hit by a rather powerful attack.

The three glanced in the direction of the roar for a short second but then quickly stopped bothering with it. Li Yang traced the three scars going diagonally down over his right eye, clicking his tongue slightly as he responded.

"As if I"d care what those people think about my actions. And these, given to me in single combat against a dragon, b.a.s.t.a.r.d refused to go down even after I stabbed its heart seven times."

His words were, of course, a big fat lie, he received the scars back when he shielded Liang Xinyi from a Vine Wolf, a very weak Demonic beast. But there was no need to let Zhao Feng know that, there was no telling how much fun he would have on Li Yang"s expense if he knew that fact. But while Li Yang was thinking that, Fang Ying spoke up, smiling faintly while letting out a light laughter.

"A dragon huh, last time you told me the story it was a Vine Wolf."

Zhao Feng immediately burst into laughter when he heard the truth from Fang Ying, repeatedly slapping Li Yang on the shoulder. The mighty Thunder Monarch, scarred by a weak little Vine Wolf, that was surely a joke to go down in the history books. Li Yang turned to Fang Ying, his mouth twisting slightly.

"Betrayed by my own wife? What sort of tragedy is this?"

Fang Ying simply sent Li Yang a charming smile, stretching out her arm and giving his nose a light tap before pulling back her arm again and winking at him.

"To be perfectly accurate, we"re not currently married. You"d best swoop me up before someone else comes along and s.n.a.t.c.hes me away."

They had married each other in a small ceremony in their previous life, but did something like that carry over into the next life? It didn"t really matter since neither of them would ever get together with anyone else, but Li Yang still let out a quick laugh, his own lips curling into a smirk.

"Ha, I"d like to see them try. But all right, I"ll give you the grandest wedding you could possibly imagine."

In their last life, they only had a small ceremony with Zhao Feng and the others, exchanging their vows beneath a weeping willow standing at the edge of a lake covered in lotus flowers. Since they would have a second chance in this life, why not make the wedding the grandest that the world had ever seen? He felt that Fang Ying deserved at least that much.

Before either of them got to say anything else, a light sigh sounded from right beside them, Zhao Feng shaking his head slightly while wrapping his arms around Li Yang"s right arm, looking at him with sickeningly sweet eyes.

"I feel like I was forgotten pretty quickly, you"re breaking my heart here Brother Yang."

Li Yang placed his palm on Zhao Feng"s face and pushed him away, eliciting a laugh from both Fang Ying and Zhao Feng. The tornadoes around them suddenly got fiercer again, azure bolts of lightning and crimson plumes of fire starting to mix with the wind. Zhao Feng looked at the tornadoes around them, shrugging his shoulders for a second before pointing at Li Yang and Fang Ying.

"Right, guess that"s enough quipping for now, can"t forget about the battle we"re currently in. But mark my words, I"ll have a properly emotional reunion once we"ve gotten through this chaos that the two of you have no doubt caused somehow."

Zhao Feng seemed to be adamantly convinced that Li Yang and Fang Ying caused chaos wherever they went, Li Yang quickly renouncing his statement.

"We didn"t start the chaos here, it was inevitable even if we didn"t get involved."

His words were actually true for once, Tian Zheng and the others would have attacked the hydra even if Li Yang and Fang Ying didn"t show up here. But Zhao Feng simply rolled his eyes for a short moment before looking at the two of them, raising his eyebrows.

"Right, you also said that back when we were a.s.saulted by the hordes of beasts inhabiting the Sun-Scorched Hills, but tell me, can you remember just why they came after us?"

Li Yang"s prepared retort was quickly caught in his throat when he heard Zhao Feng"s own response. He quickly let out a short cough before shaking his head, turning his head towards Fang Ying while acting innocent.

"Nope, got no clue. You remember, Ying"er?"

Fang Ying didn"t seem to plan on betraying Li Yang this time, tilting her head slightly and placing her finger on her chin while playing along.

"No, it all seems too faint. Are we sure something like that ever even happened?"

With both of them playing dumb, it didn"t matter even if Zhao Feng decided to dredge up everything that happened back then, he had no one here to back him up. As such, he instead chose to click his tongue, using his thumb to point over his shoulder.

"Tch, whatever, play dumb all you want. Our goal is to meet up with the other people present right? Even that Tian Zheng and Xiong Xieren? If I recall correctly, one was supposed to marry her and the other l.u.s.ted after her, just how"d you get them to ignore all of that and team up with you?"

As he was the one in charge of all the spies of the Demon Race, Zhao Feng knew about most matters taking place within the larger clans, even something like Xiong Xierens l.u.s.t was reported to him. Li Yang"s lips curled into an arrogant smirk as he raised his head high.

"It"s a long tale filled with battles and intrigue where I ended up matching them in a match of wits, I might tell you one day."

Zhao Feng simply raised an eyebrow, his eyes turning towards Fang Ying, who quickly sold out Li Yang with a poorly subdued giggle.

"He puffed out his chest and spouted a bunch of threats until they realized that it would be too bothersome to fight him, at least that"s the abridged version."

She left out a lot of details and most of the process, but she wasn"t entirely wrong, Zhao Feng quickly nodding his head with a smirk, patting Li Yang on the shoulder with a laugh.

"Now that sounds more like the Li Yang that I know."

Li Yang"s mouth opened and closed a few times as he looked at Fang Ying, who had once again betrayed him. Eventually, he just lowered his shoulders and let out a deep sigh, turning in the direction of the distant hydra, waving his hand at the fierce tornadoes all around them.

"Et Tu, Brute? Whatever, just open the d.a.m.n path."