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(Yi Feng POV)
The steps of the one I love still resounded in the room as he took one of the Jinzies, or rather Li Daji disguised as one, out of the basement. The other two seemed just as focused on them as I was until the silence of their departure seemed to finally hit us.
I took a peek at the woman standing nearest to me, a woman who I decided from the start of this life that I would kill. But as those thoughts started to surface she suddenly turned her head towards me and an indifferent look appeared on her face, completely unlike the one when "her Darling" happened to be in the room.
In fact this face made me feel just a little reminiscent of the past in how she would look at us back then. Her eyes felt cold and she seemed to be trying to inspect everything about me. Not one to shy away, I looked right back at her.
For a dozen or so breaths we simply stared at one another, but I could feel the pressure and tension building up around us.
"So what is your relationship with Li Daji? Who is she to you?"
She spoke as she made a side peek at Jinzi over there.
Jinzi had obviously noticed as she was paying attention to the only event that was occurring in the room.
"Hey! Don't look at me like that! It's me! I'm the real one!"
"I can't believe you yet, whether or not you prove to be the real one has yet to be determined."
Her sideways glance returned to me as Jinzi seemed to get a little frustrated at the demon's answer. In response she took a deep breath before starting to look around for something.
"So?"
'Should I just make one up? What should I go with? Hmm… oh yeah, wait I could just tell her how this original body lived. Much simpler and Li Daji could back me up there too.'
"I… was originally someone who was homeless. Li Daji had saved me from that life. She has taught me everything I know and accepted me as one of her own."
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, I could tell that she was wondering how much of a nuisance I would be. Whether or not it would be better to get rid of me.
"Is that so? Hmm…"
Her gaze turned away and she watched as Jinzi finally picked something up. It was something to cover herself up with.
I watched as the demon was facing away from me. Perhaps this would be the time I could finally get my revenge.
'This black flame isn't merely just dangerous. I could tell that even if I was at my peak I would have definitely been decimated by it if it entered me, if it was handled properly that is. I don't really think I have that ability, but that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of still wreaking havoc. The destructive force it produced wasn't something I could have handled if I wasn't prepared for it. Surely it could even wound her if I had the chance, right?
Those people I fought before in the underground couldn't do anything to it, but that doesn't mean that it'll be just as effective on her considering that she should understand how to mitigate damages. With the senses of a 10th realm Cultivator like her the moment my weapon appeared she would've noticed and by then any initiative I had would have been gone. I would need a distraction, anything to take her focus away for even a moment or to give me an advantage. I know for sure she currently won't have any caution towards me, after all who would be so fearful of someone you perceive as an ant?
If we were to have a fair fight at the moment she would only need a blink or two to finish me off.'
My fingers were itching to pull it out to test it, but there was still a side of me that didn't want to.
'But how would my lover, who doesn't know he's my lover, perceive me? If I were to attack his wife for what would seem like no reason then he would definitely have a reason to dislike me. But, does that actually even matter?
My first thought when I came back was to deal with her, this very woman in front of me. Sure it may be great if I could have him, and maybe it may be even better if I could simply have him instead. But what are the true chances of me being with him at this point, if this woman is gone then wouldn't Li Daji immediately step up and take her place?
It would probably be a great way to torture someone like this woman if I were to steal her man, but I'm not really smart enough to form some plan to do that.'
With that all out of the way I came to my conclusion.
'I could always wait until I'm stronger to fight her, but when would that be? Decades, centuries? Nevermind just reaching her, she would probably be cultivating all the while too, forcing me to close an ever expanding gap. Since I can't take my time to reach her or truly feasibly take her man, then this may be the only chance I'll ever really get. Even if I can't kill her I should be able to wound her with this flame, that alone may be quite an achievement that all the women in the past weren't even able to accomplish.'
My eyes hardened as I picked up a small piece of debris that was on the wall near me. A little stone was hidden in my hand as I watched her absentmindedly looking at Jinzi.
'My ambitions sure have been culled since the start of my rebirth, hasn't it? Now simply being able to injure her would count as a success to me, it's a bit pathetic isn't it? Whatever, considering how she almost never leaves this place it would be impossible to kill her. I would probably have to deal with the whole sect and that man especially. I couldn't do it, but this right here, it's possible.'
I flicked the hidden in my left hand toward the steps and the moment I saw that woman turn her head toward the noise, I made my move.
A scythe appeared in my hands and immediately I swung down as quickly as I could. I only needed to puncture her skin to inject the translucent black flame.
I was only swinging for half a breath before her head swiveled instantly to me. Her expression was a little confused, but she still raised her left hand to catch the blade part between her index and middle finger.
For a second I was a little afraid that she would actually catch it or worse yet, activate a barrier and force my attack to bounce off entirely. Luckily it seems she underestimated me and went to simply catch it.
Soon the blade part reached the fingers and fell in between her index and middle. My heart froze for a second as I noticed the speed slow, but it still continued down until I created a clean laceration.
At that moment I tried injecting as much of the flame as I could to invade her body, but she broke away from me too quickly. Her facial expression changed to one of surprise and a slight shock, but that didn't stop her from pulling out a sword and almost instantaneously piercing it through my chest.
I thought for a second whether or not to attack again, but knew that I no longer had any chances with her guard up. Instead I used the energy I had left to activate that flame within her, trying to expand it and force it into her Meridians. Clearly she had felt the pain when I tried to do so and I actually gained some ground, but that was quickly halted as her Qi prevented me from going farther. Soon she slumped down clutching her hand.
"AHHH!!"
'Heh… You fell first!'
I quickly slumped down too and my scythe disappeared as I did so. I could feel a heavy burning sensation around the area where she had stabbed me. My crimson red blood oozed out as it soaked into my clothes and soon that very wound around the sword was starting to slowly turn cold. I felt like every time my heart beat it would beat right next to that very sword. The cold and metallic feel of the weapon was slowly infecting the rest of my body.
I only managed to blink once on the ground before that man appeared. He of course went to his wife first, but he didn't look at me with hatred which was a little odd to me.
My vision was starting to become quite hazy and everything within the room blurred for seconds at a time.
Suddenly, I heard Li Daji's voice near me, but I couldn't quite make out what she wanted to say. The next moment I could feel some warmth returning to me and I took that as her trying to heal me.
When my eyes readjusted I finally realized that she wasn't transformed as Jinzi anymore. I was confused, but I couldn't express it as soon I could feel my consciousness start to slip away from me. I took one last look at the man I love before I closed my eyes.
I half hoped that I would never open them again and the other half still held onto hope that I might've the chance to be my lover's partner when I do. It was completely illogical, but that's how dreams are sometimes aren't they?
…
…
…
I was starting to come to, but suddenly I heard a female voice sound out in my mind.
[Hey, you've been treated, but don't open your eyes yet there's someone keeping watch on you. I wanna have a little chat with you first before you do anything drastic.]
I froze mentally at the voice, but decided to listen anyway and kept my eyes shut..
'H-huh? W-who am I hearing? Where are you coming from?'
[Don't you know who that scythe you have belongs to?]
'N-no? I found it in a storage room and the weapon was apparently found in some ruins somewhere.'
[What! You don't know me?! Tch! Fine, I'll tell you, my name is Xiao Yan! Does that ring any bells for you?]
'...no?'
[Tch! What happened to this world! To think I would actually be forgotten, I thought I did some major damage! Fine… Whatever, that's not important, what is important is the fact that you finally managed to awaken me!]
'I…awakened you?'
[Yeah, how else would I have started to communicate with you? You managed to give me a sizable chunk of Death energy, but from the looks of things that energy I got actually just came from you. You almost died, didn't you?]
'Well I thought I did die, I was half hoping that I would to be honest. Maybe I still will'
[WHAT!!! No, No, No! You can't just go and die, especially since it hasn't even been a day since I was awakened. You can't just give up now! Do you know how many people tried to weld my weapon before I rejected them!? There have been thousands, maybe even 10s of thousands! I stopped counting long ago, but you can't just give up on me like that! It's been so many years! Don't you know how special you are to be picked by me? You have quite the capability with deathly energy.]
'Not my problem, just wait some more or something for your next chosen person.'
[Wait! What do you want?! I'll help you any way I can to achieve your goal, I'm very knowledgeable!]
'You'll help me with my goals? Hmm… maybe I'll take you up on that then.'