Ying Hua clawed at the air to create fire, which she aimed at the crow demon flying in front of her. Her body whirled around to dodge the attack from the demon.
"Black Thorn!" The crow demon screamed. From his hands appeared thousands of thick thorns that shot and surrounded Ying Hua's body from all directions. "Skull Land, activate!" The soil from below them spread upwards to become the glue of the blackthorns, engulfing Ying Hua in an instant.
The crow roared with laughter, shaking off his black and stringy clothes. "Hahaha, do you think you can win over the Skeleton Crow? Absolutely, no!" He flew around the prison he had created, seeing Ying Hua trying to escape from the inside. "I have locked all the pores so you don't get air. Without air, the fire inside your body will go off. You will surely die soon."
But Ying Hua was exerting the power of water from her body. "Thousand Water Curtains!" That came from under her feet. It managed to weaken the prison around her.
Seeing this the skull demon shouted, "Double defense! Death Iron!" The ground turned into iron which was so solid that Ying Hua couldn't break free from her water move.
She collapsed inside the iron prison, looking around in the darkness. "It's iron!" she said. "Extremely sturdy iron." Then she checked all the corners. "There are no gaps at all. I can't make a fire here. Meanwhile, water won't be able to penetrate it. What should I do? Come on, think!"
She closed her eyes tightly, letting the White Qin Stone on her body provide quite significant stimulation for her. It hurt her, but it didn't hurt as much as it used to.
Soon she opened her eyes, among a crow demon that was still singing.
"Little children bathe in the valley, crows peek to steal meat. Dogs plunge into wells, crows come in and are full." A song that makes you sick.
"That voice," Ying Hua whispered, pressed her ear to the iron, then listened carefully. "I can see where he is by piercing through this iron with laser power. But unfortunately, it will drain a lot of my strength." Her ears were still stuck everywhere to confirm the position of the black crow.
"If I use force to overthrow this prison, then I still won't be able to get out. I must be able to overthrow Skeleton Crow since he is the controller of this prison."
Technically Skeleton Crow was still flying around in circles in the air, with an uncertain movement, but at a distance that wasn't much different.
"I can attack him. I just need to see the power of the wind outside." Then she pulled a root from under the ground with her power. The root appeared from underground but unfortunately hit the iron prison.
She slammed her hand against the iron. "With this vibration, I can see where the border between land and prison is."
Skeleton Crow laughed from above. "Hahaha, do you think you can crush it with your fists? The Death Iron comes from the death energy I've accumulated for a hundred years. I accumulated a lot of energy. It's the same as the pillar of the main celestial palace. You won't be able to destroy it."
Ying Hua didn't care about the banter. She finally managed to find the end of the prison. After that, she pulled out a root and stuck it out from the ground. From the roots, she could feel the force of the wind from the friction.
"Good, I already know the strength of the wind. I just need to aim harder from the north and amplify the original wind. Skeleton Crow will be dragged by the wind to the north, and in three seconds, I will catch him."
Ying Hua sat cross-legged, then made some powerful-looking movements. Her clothes which were red like fire moved and gave off energy. Her hair which was white like white flames fluttered occasionally.
The wind came from the north, was very strong, and hit Skeleton Crow.
"Oh, are you going to fight me with this stupid wind move of yours?" he laughed. He immediately waved his hand to dispel the wind.
"Eternal Storm!" shouted Ying Hua, emitting even more powerful winds from the north.
Skeleton Crow was still trying to fight back, but his strength was not as great as Ying Hua's. Finally, his body bounced, dragged towards the north.
In a matter of three seconds, Ying Hua pulled the ground to protrude into the air causing Skeleton Crow to crash. As his body fell, she pulled the tree roots to protrude from the ground and wrapped them around him, causing him to fall to the ground like in a cocoon.
"The prison is weakening!" whispered Ying Hua as she watched the prison that held her melt and thin out. Seeing this Ying Hua ignited herself with her fire core so that she managed to escape it.
From a distance, there was a scruffy Skeleton Crow that was whining like a baby.
"Let go of me! Eighth Wolf! Quickly release me or I'll tell you to Old Mo!"
Ying Hua smirked, tightening the roots around Skeleton Crow's body.
"Argh! Ouch, I give up! You won this time! This is training! Why do you want to kill me?"
"Weren't you the one who wanted to kill me?" Ying Hua squeaked. "You trapped me without air with a suffocating aura of the dead. So have you admitted my abilities?"
"Yes!"
"Lie!"
"Argh, where there is a crow who wants to succumb to intelligence? We are famous for being the smartest animal among the others."
"But I'm not an animal."
"Whatever! Let me go! Aren't you going to patrol again to find the people you have to keep your promise to? Let's start looking again!"
There was the sound of horses galloping from somewhere, and then an old man with long hair slapped one side of his face. "You sneaky crow!" The old man kicked Skeleton Crow's chest, causing Crow to scream. But soon the roots that had trapped him twisted and went back underground.
The old man grabbed Skeleton Crow, and carried him back to their hut, with incredible speed.
Ying Hua caught up with them, finding Skeleton Crow already stuffed into an enormous cage.
"Hey, set me free! I didn't do anything wrong! I just obeyed Ying Hua the Ostentatious, the Genius!"
The old man hit Skeleton Crow's head with his wooden stick, a stick with a handle like a horse's leg. "I'm sorry for her behavior, Princess. He needs to be taught manners."
"What are you saying? I already have manners. I'm the crow king of the East. You'll regret it when you see my herd! Hey, Old Man Mo! A damn old horse! Argh!"
Old Man Mo pounded Skeleton Crow's head again, even louder than before. Maybe if the crow were just a human, then his skull would break and he would die.
"Watch your words! Have you forgotten that your comrades abandoned you to join the rest of the crows? They betrayed you and almost killed you! If there weren't Princess Ying and me, you would be a roast crow over there!"
Old Man Mo turned to Ying Hua, smiling as he smoothed his white hair that was hanging to the side. "Forgive us, Princess. And forgive me for not being able to educate him. I am indeed an old horse, but I am a hardworking horse. We have promised to serve you until the end of our lives. So we will never deny it. Next time you can call me when you want to practice. I'm always ready, Princess."
"Your brain is empty. You're just a horse. Do you know what your brother is? Donkey! Stupid donkey! Argh!" Skeleton Crow's chatter stopped again after Old Man Mo thumped his head.
"So do you have any intention of patrolling again, Princess? Have you found the sign yet?" Old Man Mo glanced at the lock-shaped necklace around Ying Hua's neck, which was now starting to look golden even though it wasn't visible yet.
"For now there's no sign of anything, Old Man Mo. My necklace is still not lit. And the good things I've done haven't given much energy to this necklace. I've also met people I promised something to in their past lives, but that doesn't help much."
"Do you know the reason, Princess?"
"I don't know for sure either," Ying Hua mused. "Emperor Liang only gave me general information. After that, I started to heal because of the energy from the universe. I started to wake up and go about my day. In the midst of it all, I couldn't find any sign of Emperor Liang, so I couldn't ask why there's not been a significant change going on."
"Does your body still ache if you use the power of the White Qin Stone?"
"Yes, but it's not as painful as before. I don't know why either. But it seems that it happened because of Emperor Liang's help. Maybe he did something, or my body is getting used to it."
"Doesn't that mean you don't have to go to Emperor Heng's palace to pick up your fourth soul just so you can be reincarnated?" chirped Skeleton Crow. "Because your body is getting used to the pain right? You don't have to bother yourself." He glared at Old Man Mo. "What? Why are you looking at me? I'm telling the truth. Are you going to hit me on the head again?"
"Your ass is burning," Old Man Mo said curtly. He ignored the hysterical Skeleton Crow when he saw his ass scorched from his battle with Ying Hua.
"Perhaps Skeleton Crow is right, Princess. You don't have to bother yourself anymore. Just focus on making yourself happy."
"But that means I will be immortal, Old Man Mo," Ying Hua said worriedly. "And I believe I will endure even more bad karma if I disobey Emperor Liang's orders. I have already stolen the White Qin Stone from Emperor Heng."
"He's your father. Why do you have to call him Emperor Heng? You don't seem to hold a grudge against him. Did you forget he almost killed you just because you were handicapped?" Skeleton Crow's nagging finally managed to cover his buttocks with dense energy.
"If it weren't for Emperor Liang's kindness, your cry to be kept alive would never be heard. You would die, unloved. Then when you are finally born and seek Emperor Heng's recognition, you were about to be killed by cunning tricks, until you had to steal the White Qin Stone to save yourself. Have you forgotten you once fought a nine-head fire dragon? At your young age? You were nearly killed twice!" shouted Skeleton Crow.
"And now your fourth soul is being held in his palace for you to return the stone. If only you did I'm sure you'd be killed. Yes, you will be killed! Finally, you will be killed a second time by your father! Do you want to live like that? Whereas you say you want to find out what is the meaning in this life and dismantle the veil of life? You also want to know why your parents killed you just because you were disabled. And have you forgotten that you suspect they have committed a grave sin?"
***