Nie Asreal smirked as Mo Sun grabbed at his chest in pain. He keeled forward across the table yet neither Nie Asreal nor Yi Lian moved a muscle. Winters Gaze started to rattle yet Nie Asreal pet it to release the stress.
Mo Sun gasped, "Who taught you? Who is your master?"
The room was confused yet Nie Asreal complied, "Me. I can't believe I actually rivalled a demon prince, especially one known for his mind manipulation."
Yi Lian sat back. When Ragnou had looked into Nie Asreal's eyes he sort to see if he could corrupt his meridians and actually cause him a deviation and kill him however, Nie Asreal called upon his deviated qi, the unpredictable and harmful qi that flooded through his meridians day and day out and sent it into Ragnou.
Ragnou tried to fight it but the more he did the more it flooded and overtook him. Usually a demon would be fine with this type of qi however there was something about it that wasn't right...
Mo Sun's voice came out raspy and gurgly like a drowning snake, "It's because you have a death vail. You're dying soon and this isn't how it's meant to happen."
Bystanders realised the situation was going down hill so most started to file out of the room.
Nie Asreal's lips faltered for a moment. A demon this powerful… could he predict such things?
Yi Lian had enough. He reached forward and grabbed Ragnou's hand. Ragnou riled back like he had touched lava but it was already too late. Mo Sun's skin bubbled and shifted. A new smell of death and decay filled the air. Yi Lian pulled the princess and let her fall away while the table was being flipped by the demon.
"You…"
Yi Lian watched as the demon grew taller and his aura darker. His skin bubbled and cracked across his body as it turned a dark navy while his eyes started to fill like ink in water with the moon shining over it, black with white reflections of the two cultivators blaring out.
"You are the brother of the creep…" A low voice spoke.
He was staring straight into Yi Lian's eyes. "I assumed this was somehow connected…"
Ragnou smiled. "Then you are already smarter than your brother."
Nie Asreal, "You knew Yi Jian?"
Ragnou smiled. He still held a handsomeness to him despite the demonic exterior. "Of course. He was sent to me and we made a deal. The deal of which is very much being disturbed as of right now."
Yi Lian grabbed Winters-Gaze. "What deal?"
Ragnou chuckled. "This. He proclaims me as a person of high status and I get to marry the daughter of the King without anyone batting an eyelid. In turn I taught him the ways of demonic cultivation, something your friend seems to be fluent in."
Jia Yin gasped. "Why me? Why marry me?"
Ragnou looked to her and frowned. There seemed to be genuine sadness in his eyes as he looked at her confused face. "Because- I love you. I saw your future… when i was young. I saw what kind of person you would become, what mistakes you'd make, what things you would accomplish. It was an accident, just a random persons fate I looked upon in training and it was you Jia Yin… a person who hadn't been born yet, a person I would never meet if I became King."
Nie Asreal, "So you challenged the King and got yourself exiled…"
Ragnou sat down at one of the empty tables. "Yes. It worked and here I am and you have ruined everything."
Jia Yin rushed away from Yi Lian's block and tried to jump into his arms but he stopped her with a simple grab of the wrist. "My love, you mustn't come to me. I will die tonight, you better flee… or you will be confined to this place forever."
Jia Yin started to cry silently. "I don't care. As long as I get to see you for a moment longer."
Ragnou smiled a soft smile then turned to Yi Lian. "Kill me. Take the child from the middle city and leave."
Yi Lian kept Winters-Gaze sheathed. "What?"
Ragnou pushed Jia Yin away. "Kill me or I'll make you."
Yi Lian stood his ground and stared directly into his eyes.
Ragnou, "Suit yourself then."
He got up and brought his hands together. Yi Lian brought the sheathed Winters-Gaze ahead of him to block but he soon realised the target wasn't for him. Black fog strook through the air like a blade and targeted directly towards Nie Asreal.
It was too fast. Hardly enough time to even process what happened. Nie Asreal threw out a talisman but it was sliced in two, barreling towards Nie Asreal's heart. There was a moment of calm. Everything was silent as the smile left Nie Asreal's face. Yi Lian watched as his body tumbled back slowly.
Yi Lian's heart jolted. He unsheathed Winters-Gaze and ran towards the demon. With a cry he pounced into the air. A smoking blade strook out towards him but with one tap off the ground his whole body spun beautifully around it before striking sword first towards the demon.
Ragnou tried to grab the sword but his hand was sliced through along with his arm and soon shoulder. He tried to take a step away but Yi Lian had landed and already in the blink of an eye sliced directly through his other arm. Blood spewed everywhere as the demon shrieked in pain.
Ragnou, "He may not die at my hand but he will at another's… and soon."
Yi Lian frowned and stabbed forward. It went straight through Ragnou's chest. "I don't believe you."
Ragnou's eyes fluttered but he managed one more meaningful look in the eyes. "Then you're just like your brother."
Yi Lian pulled out the sword and let Ragnou topple to the ground and start to emit mass amounts of black smoke. He didn't care though. His only move was towards Nie Asreal. "Are you alright? Nie Asreal."
He lay motionless on the floor yet his heart still beat. Ragnou had sent him a life ending blow, one that demons did not usually use because of the amount of energy it took so Nie Asreal's talisman, even though powerful, faltered.
He raised his hand against his neck. Only a faint pulse was felt. Yi Lian heard the cries of Jia Yin but he didn't care. Nothing else mattered.