Yan Hui pushed the door to enter the room. The door creaked as it swung open. Tian Yao was inside drinking tea. He was slightly startled by the sound. He turned to look at Yan Hui and immediate frowned.
"You're covered in dirt. What did you do?"
"I dug a grave." Yan Hui walked into the room. She sat across from Tian Yao with a solemn expression. "When are you going to launch the surprise attack on the Sky-Splitting Seal?"
Tian Yao set down his teacup and evenly replied: "The moon will be full in ten days. My dragon tendons will fall under my influence and cause the lava under San Chong Mountain to roil. At that time, we can draw out the xian sects' guards. We'll enter the spell array at midnight and retrieve my tendons within two hours. After that, we'll destroy the spell and leave long before dawn breaks."
"You know where the dragon tendons are?"
"When I went to San Chong Mountain to bring back you and Pu Fang, I also discerned where they are. It was about 500 meters east of where you were but also hidden deep. It might be underground."
Yan Hui lightly frowned: "Under San Chong Mountain is all lava. Are you saying that your dragon tendons might've been sealed in lava?"
Tian Yao placidly took a sip of tea: "It's nothing out of the ordinary." Speaking of this, he seemed much more natural than earlier. "Lava is extremely hot and also fiery. Sealing my dragon tendons there would be so convenient."
"I'll help you get them." Yan Hui said it firmly with no trace of hesitation.
"Alright." Tian Yao had already planned for her to come along with him, so he wasn't surprised. What made him curious was, "Why did you suddenly make that decisions?"
He thought with Yan Hui's personality, she would've delayed until the day of. Then she would just silent follow behind him and accompany him into action.
Yan Hui paused for a moment. She then spoke with a slightly chilly voice: "Xi Feng cut his meridians in front of Pu Fang's grave."
Tian Yao was also silent. "Suicide?" It seemed like he also couldn't believe it. "That cultivator?"
Yan Hui nodded: "Yes, that xian cultivator."
Tian Yao fell silent again.
"I'm willing to enter the Sky-Splitting Seal with you. I'll even help you break it, give you my heart's blood, and also help you retrieve your dragon tendons. But....." Tian Yao saw a rare sight, murder flash across Yan Hui's eyes. "You have to help me capture Ling Fei."
Tian Yao raised an eyebrow: "Why all the sudden do you want to catch her?"
"She went too far. If she wasn't there, Pu Fang wouldn't have died. That cultivator also wouldn't have been bound by that so-called righteousness," said Yan Hui. "I want her to kneel and bow down in recognition of all her wrongdoings."
Tian Yao looked at Yan Hui: "What wrongdoings do you want her to admit to?"
"I want her to know, demons are worthy of being sincerely waited for. Anyone is worthy of being sincerely waited for. Except for evil people, like her." Yan Hui fixed her eyes on Tian Yao. She looked at herself reflected in his black eyes. In his eyes, she was always clearly seen. Yan Hui paused, then spoke again: "Including her sister."
Tian Yao's eyes slightly trembled.
"Those two sisters did such unforgivable things. One day, I also want Su Ying to apologize to you."
Tian Yao lowered his eyes in escape and looked at the tea in his cup. It was so Yan Hui couldn't see his eyes. The tea in the cup tremored, like how his heart was also shaken.
She actually wanted to protect and shield him....
It was clearly an impractical and naive way of thinking, yet in his reflection in the tea, he could see the corner of his mouth faintly curve upwards.
She wanted to protect him.
Like a heroine.
During the long silence, Tian Yao merely swirled his teacup, breaking up his reflection. He said: "The Heart Technique Training will need to speed up these five remaining days."
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Before midnight on the night of the full moon, Qing Qiu's demons were already hidden in the forest along the border.
Yan Hui looked at the bright full moon and then looked at Tian Yao. His forehead was covered in sweat and his lips were compressed to the point of turning purple. She had seen him before on full moon nights where he shook in pain, so she especially understood how hard it was for him to endure the pain right now.
"How about I cut some blood out for you right now?" asked Yan Hui. "It might help a little?"
Tian Yao glanced at Yan Hui. He saw her eyes shine in the moonlight, and her pink lips enticed him. In that body was blood that could remedy his pain and give him more power....
Tian Yao looked again and closed his eyes. He took a moment to collect himself: "There can't be a scent of blood before entering San Chong Mountain to avoid being discovered."
"Then I'll lead you."
Yan Hui extended her hand. Tian Yao was slightly stunned. He froze for quite awhile. Yan Hui grew impatient and grabbed his hand: "Before when I didn't let you touch me, you insisted on hugging and biting me. Now I'm letting you hold my hand, and you insist on delaying. I'm letting you hold it today because we're going to do important matters. Later on, you're going to have to rely on luck to get your dragon tendons." Yan Hui laced her fingers through his. Her voice was more serious than usual.
"If I can help you endure it, then just use me. From the beginning we've been dependent on each other."
That's right, from the beginning their fates were....deeply intertwined.
"Yan Hui." Tian Yao's voice dropped. "I said before, I wondered what the present would be like now if you were the one I met 20 years ago."
Yan Hui was startled. She turned her head to look at him, feeling apprehensive. How was he going to confess to her in this situation? She silently looked on.
Tian Yao also turned his gaze: "You've been smart. You won't not understand what I mean." He paused to endure the pain he was feeling. "If you understand, then it shouldn't be like this. After all, I won't be like how I was 20 years ago....."
Yan Hui stared blankly at those words. How he was 20 years ago?
How he was?
He won't be sincere to a person like how he was 20 years ago?
Yan Hui stared at Tian Yao and frowned. As it turns out, from the beginning he was forceful. In spite of what she wanted, he brazenly followed her. He was always fair when she did what she wanted. Now that she was treating him a little better, he himself couldn't control his heart and was now hers, was that not it?
Yan Hui thought she had been wronged by this strange logic. Thus, she became a bit angry due to the circumstances: "I understand what you mean." She still grasped Tian Yao's hand and didn't let go. "But me treating you well is my own matter. You loosing your heart is your own matter. We mind our own matters. You have to put up with your own emotions. Don't blame it on me."
Won't like a person like you did 20 years ago. Yan Hui coldly snorted in her head. Who wanted your good opinion and love.
He said it like she would like him.....
Yan Hui turned her head back and didn't say another word. Tian Yao also didn't bring it back up.
Midnight, the moon was at its peak.
Tian Yao's body-racking pain seemed to have also reached its peak. He gripped Yan Hui's hand with increasing strength.
At the same time, the lava in San Chong Mountain started to churn and roil.
Yan Hui could feel through their clasped hands that Tian Yao's inner breath violently circulate. She was faintly shocked. Under the bleak moonlight, Tian Yao's pupils glowed a harsh red light. Along with it came a bloodthirsty, murderous aura. One couldn't help shuddering in fear.
A short moment later, San Chong Mountain's lava became even more violent.
When the blood-red in Tian Yao's eyes grew even more intense, the lava suddenly spewed into the shape of a fiery dragon. The dragon leapt out of the abyss and in midair streaked into a formidable appearance.
Even though they were still a distance away, Yan Hui could still feel the heat radiating from that direction.
The xian cultivators guarding the mountains became disordered in the darkness. From the specks of torchlight, they were fleeing from the lava dragon.
"Enter the seal."
When Tian Yao's order fell, rustles were heard from all around. Even Yan Hui couldn't see clearly how the surrounding demons moved. She just felt black figures leap into the wind and past herself. They leapt across the border and entered San Chong Mountain.
Tian Yao got up but also felt his hand pulling along another person. He serenely looked at Yan Hui and spoke a rare caution: "Entering the spell is dangerous. Protect yourself."
Yan Hui still had a bit of the attitude from earlier. She rolled her eyes at him: "In the end, you're going to stick a blade into my heart. Why would I fear anything else?"
For a moment, Tian Yao felt that he couldn't say anything in response.
Of the Five Phases, both Tian Yao and Yan Hui had an affinity for fire. Since Tian Yao had recovered a majority of his body parts, the lava's heat wasn't enough to burn him. Yan Hui didn't even need mentioning. After training the Heart Technique under Tian Yao, her inner breath had stepped up a notch. Handling the lava's heart would be nothing.
In the plan, the demons would disrupt the Sky-Splitting Seal's spell nodes. Then, Tian Yao and Yan Hui would enter the seal itself.
After entering San Chong Mountain, they passed by where Pu Fang had been bound. This time, there wasn't a single xian cultivator in the forest. They had fled from the lava's heat. For now, there was no one to interfere with their plan.
Yan Hui stopped at this area for a moment. Then she continued on into the forest where they found a hole in the ground. It was faintly venting heat, and in its depths was a red glow.
"Is this it?" asked Yan Hui to Tian Yao.
"Yes." Tian Yao's eyes reflected the fiery light in the gave. It made his eyes, which was already shining red from using demon magic, look even more bloodthirsty.
They didn't hesitate longer and silently jumped in.
The hole went straight down. As they fell, it got hotter and hotter. Yan Hui could feel her magic gradually being used up.
It was caused by the power of the Sky-Splitting seal --- charging in to break the seal required power, which naturally must be used up.
Yan Hui felt uneasy. As they fell, a Soaring Technique was cast. It might help the two softly land when they reached the end. That way, they wouldn't smash into the ground and become a smear in the dirt.
When they reached the ground, Yan Hui couldn't help rejoicing. It was a good thing that Tian Yao intensified the Heart Technique Training. Otherwise, halfway through their fall, her inner breath would've given out, and she would have no more magic to use.
The end of the tunnel expanded into a large cavern. It was like what was behind the small village at Tong Luo Mountain when she and Tian Yao went to break that water seal.
It was just compared to that cave of ice, this place was filled with smoke. Every inch of dirt here was like a scalding hot metal plate.
Even though her Five Phases's affinity was fire, Yan Hui could barely keep her eyes open in this kind of heat.
"Where are your dragon tendons?"
Tian Yao looked at the boiling lava: "In there."
Yan Hui foolishly looked at the boiling lava lake. More steam and smoke escaped as the bubbles popped. "Inside?"
Tian Yao nodded with certainty: "Inside."
"....."
Can you even touch it?