Chapter 1280: Tears Falling Like Rain
The survivors silently watched the two disappear into the distance. They felt as if a huge pressure weighed down on them.
Zu An released a long sigh, remarking, “To have a true love, yet be unable to spend any more time together… Is this the will of heaven?”
Lord Sui had guarded Madam Yu for thousands of years. He had finally managed to wait until she revived, and yet the two were going to be separated by life and death again.
Perhaps because she was in love, or because her bloodline was close to that woman’s, Yu Yanluo felt the most touched. Tears inadvertently slid down her perfect cheeks. She subconsciously put herself in Madam Yu’s shoes, and felt as if her heart were being cut by blades. She walked over to Zu An’s side and pulled on his arm, saying quietly, “Ah Zu, if something happens to me, don’t be like Lord Sui. I don’t want you to waste your life in such pain. I want you to continue living happily in this world.”
Zu An said seriously, “Don’t worry. If something happens to you, I’ll just take a few more in so I can get over it…”
Yu Yanluo was flabbergasted. Wasn’t this difference from Lord Sui a bit too much?
“That’s why you’d better not let something happen to you. It would be best if you stay by my side to carefully watch over me,” Zu An continued with a long sigh. This woman is really silly. How can you randomly set a flag like that? Most people who said such things in movies had terrible endings.
Only then did Yu Yanluo’s tears give way to laughter, and she hit him lightly while saying, “You’re so annoying…”
After being around each other for so long, she obviously knew that he was only saying that to help her with her sorrow. She couldn"t help but feel warm inside. Ah Zu was Ah Zu; she didn’t have to compare him with someone else. He was unique and special.
But this guy’s luck with the ladies is too much! How could I possibly stop him even if I stay at his side?
Because of everything that had happened between her and Zu An as of late, Yan Xuehen’s emotional side had become even stronger. She felt awful as she watched Madam Yu and Lord Sui leave. Even after thousands of years, those two still couldn"t remain together.
Isn’t that the case between me and Zu An too… she thought. She surrept.i.tiously gave Zu An a look, but she instead saw Yu Yanluo flirting with him. She knew she shouldn’t, but she still felt more and more sour over time.
“Hm? Why are your eyes red? I didn’t expect the glorious stone cold woman to actually end up in this state because of a pair of lovers’ emotions,” Yun Jianyue remarked. In truth, she actually felt really awful as well. However, because she didn’t want to let others see her weak side, she deliberately shifted the attention toward someone else.
Yan Xuehen couldn"t really explain that it was for Zu An’s sake. She looked away and ignored Yun Jianyue.
Just then, a dissonant voice rang out. Princess Changning said, “That was just her one-sided story anyway. What if she just wanted to keep the Three Three Flower, or save that monster’s life, so she made up that emotional story to make you all show mercy?”
The others frowned. Yu Yanluo couldn"t hold herself back and said, “No, I believe that what she said was true.” However, she couldn"t speak about the matter of her bloodline.
Princess Changning harrumphed. “You obtained her precious pearl, so of course you’d speak up for her. But she might not have given you that thing out of good intentions, so you’d better be careful. Maybe she did something to that pearl.” She was clearly brooding over the fact that Yu Yanluo had gotten the pearl instead, and thus wished for something to be wrong with it.
Zu An’s expression turned cold. How could he not know what she was thinking? They’re sisters, so why is there such a huge difference between her and Kong Nanwu?
Before he had time to say anything, Yu Yanluo subtly drew a talisman from her sleeves. Then, when Princess Changning moved her mouth again, she discovered that she actually couldn"t speak. She panicked, wondering if she had been poisoned somehow. She quickly pointed at her own mouth in fear, indicating that there was something wrong with her mouth and that she wanted someone to save her.
The others pretended to be confused, treating it as a good lesson for her.
Princess Changning was panicking so much she could only shoot a teary-eyed look at Princess Suolun, hoping for the other woman to save her out of compa.s.sion as a fellow fiend. Princess Suolun cursed the girl for being an idiot inwardly, but on the surface, she responded courteously.
Yun Jianyue nudged Yan Xuehen and remarked, “This woman isn’t empty-headed. I like her.” With her eyesight, she had naturally seen what Yu Yanluo had done.
Yan Xuehen harrumphed. “She managed a great clan for so many years. How could she be so easily bullied? I am quite amazed at the libationer’s methods though; they are quite formidable.”
That skill was clearly not the Snake race’s, but rather resembled the academy libationer’s style.
Yun Jianyue’s expression became a bit serious. She said, “There are some who say that the libationer is number one under the emperor, while others say that in recent years, his strength has already grown to a level comparable to the emperor’s. I wonder who would win if the two of us fought against him.”
Yan Xuehen shook her head slightly. “We probably could not win.”
Even though grandmasters all had confidence that they were undefeatable, that didn’t mean they were blind.
…
Just then, Zu An kicked off the ground and leaped into the air on the Wind Fire Wheels. The beauty had already left the jade coffin, leaving only some divine ki stone fragments. He gathered the fragments and split them up among the others so they wouldn’t go back empty-handed.
Princess Suolun and Qiao Heng were surprised. They hadn’t expected that they would have a cut as well. They both voiced their thanks.
Meanwhile, Princess Changning was a bit unsatisfied. The ki stored within the divine ki stone fragments had long since been absorbed by that woman’s body. They were only a bit better than heaven-grade ki stones now and weren’t anything that special. She gave the jade coffin a look, thinking would be great if she could take that thing with her.
However, Zu An didn’t give her a chance. He took the jade coffin straight into the Brilliant Gla.s.s Bead. The path of cultivation required endless resources, and one normally didn’t share; besides, he had recently experienced how utterly painful cultivation was for himself. Even though this jade coffin didn’t look to be anything too special, it would still be worth a good sum if sold.
Then, the group left the tomb. Zu An’s group was rather calm, but the fiend race youngsters all felt as if they had been given a new lease on life.
Perhaps because the demonic energy had vanished, the traps and mechanisms along the way had all returned to normal. The forest’s fog disappeared, and the strange stone statues just sat quietly on either side of the path.
Even the giant beasts by the entrance of the swamp seemed to know that because they could leave safely, the survivors weren’t people they should pick a fight with. They all remained in hiding and didn’t show themselves.
Along the way, while checking Qiao Heng’s condition, Zu An took the chance to ask if he knew Qiao Xueying.
Qiao Heng’s eyes lit up and he replied, “Princess Snow has done so much for the Elf race; which of us doesn’t know about her? Furthermore, now that I think about it, she’s actually a distant relative of mine.” He finally realized why Zu An had saved him. He was probably one of Princess Snow’s good friends in the human world back then.
Zu An took the chance to ask a bit about how Snow was doing. Qiao Heng replied to the questions one after another, then said, “Princess Snow is fine, but there’s something else to be happy about. There’s a good chance that she’ll be chosen as the crown princess.”
“Crown princess?” Zu An’s brows rose. Does that birdman’s existence really clash with mine that much? He asked, “Weren’t people saying it might be the Peac.o.c.k Race’s princess?”
Qiao Heng nodded and said, “The Peac.o.c.k King race’s Princess Nanwu and Princess Snow have the highest chances. Of course, Princess Changning over there isn’t entirely without a chance either. She is quite a bit inferior to the two of them in various aspects, though.”
He had felt a bit worried. Judging from the human’s tone, his relationship with Princess Snow seemed to be special. However, how could he win against the Golden Crow Crown Prince in romance? Furthermore, he was even a human, so he was destined to have no chance with Princess Snow. It would be best for him to give Zu An a bit of a heads up so he wouldn’t feel too disappointed later. At the same time, he gave Yu Yanluo and the other two women a look. Zu An already had three ridiculously beautiful women at his side, so he wouldn’t feel too bad, right?
Zu An obviously didn’t feel hurt in the slightest. He had already beaten that guy once, so he’d just steal Snow from the birdman if he had to.
Instead, what surprised him the most was Kong Nanwu being the hottest candidate. She was already pretty much guaranteed to get the role and didn’t have to run around gathering favor like her clan sister Kong Nanjing, so why had she run all the way to the human world?
Just then, the horizon began to brighten. The group couldn"t help but look up, wondering how Lord Sui and Madam Yu were doing.
…
Atop a distant cliff, a beautiful woman carried an emaciated man in her arms as she stared into the sunrise’s multicolored brilliance. Her beautiful eyes were filled with tears. She knew that her husband’s final breath had been maintained by the demonic energy, and that sunlight was the biggest bane of demonic energy. Even at his strongest, he wouldn’t have dared to remain directly under its presence like this. When the sun rose, in his current state, it might be his…
The shriveled man was, of course, Lord Sui. The demonic energy had scattered, so he could no longer maintain his body. That was why his flesh was so shriveled. He released a long sigh and remarked, “I must look really ugly right now, no?”
“No,” the woman shook her head and said firmly. “You will always be that indomitable Lord Sui in my heart.”
Lord Sui reached out his hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. He said, “You should feel happy for me. It has been thousands of years, and I have finally been freed. Meanwhile, you have also been successfully revived. I have no remaining regrets.”
“But without you, what meaning is there left in my survival?!” The woman sobbed.
“You absolutely must not do anything stupid,” Lord Sui said, suddenly realizing something. “I have used up thousands of years of effort, and you have finally been revived…”
Halfway through his sentence, he felt he couldn"t convince her that way, so he tried a different method. He said, “Please help me by finding the source of that demonic energy That can serve as a kind of revenge for me.”
Sure enough, the beautiful woman’s eyes shone with a hint of brilliance, as if they contained a newfound hope and will to live.
Lord Sui thus finally relaxed a bit. He said, “It has been so long since I’ve heard you play the zither…”
“No, I only want to hold you close, even if it is just for a bit longer,” the woman replied.
…
The two of them leaned against each other, recounting their love that spanned thousands of years. Lord Sui’s voice gradually grew softer and softer, eventually leaving the beautiful woman speaking alone.
The first strand of sunlight scattered down. Lord Sui’s entire body turned into specks of light, scattering on the mountaintop breeze. His entire being completely disappeared into the wind. Tears fell from the beautiful woman’s eyes like rain.
?