Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 41: Remember Me
“W-What is that thing?” The thunderous old man in the sky stuttered as he spoke, “A little brat who’s not even a champion actually materialized his origin power and condensed the shape of his innate gift?”
Uncle Wang’s reaction wasn’t that great. “The young miss is calling us.” With that, he descended toward the mountain peak.
The thunderous old man also began to move while mumbling, “Which family’s secret art was it that appears in the form of a birdman? Damn his grandma, the Bai family! Their Feathercloud Art…” The Feathercloud Art was one of Bai clan’s secret arts—as one of this generation’s successful practitioners, Bai Longjia reached champion rank before the age of 30.
However, the latter half of the old man’s words were seemingly caught in his throat. His eyes were like copper bells as he stared blankly at the scene below.
Uncle Wang’s movements also turned sluggish and his pupils suddenly dilated. He witnessed the vampire champion in the wilderness suddenly enter a water surface, perhaps it could even be called a mirror’s surface!
Viscount Zalen was just running across the wilderness when he suddenly realized something was wrong with the environment. It seemed as if he had unknowingly entered a bizarre space.
He was still running swiftly despite having lost all sense of distance. Following which, he felt that his hearing had also become problematic. He could neither hear the wind nor the nocturnal beasts and birds, only the sound of waves crashing against the shore. The noise entering his ears seemed to be growing closer and closer.
A speck of faint light appeared in the air before him, which rapidly grew in color and luster. Blood red silken strands began to unfurl one after another in every direction.
Only then did the vampire viscount realize that his body had long since been immobilized and even his thoughts were almost frozen. Thousands of illusions suddenly appeared before him. Within each of them was a reflection of himself and a beautiful Red Spider Lily bursting into bloom, seemingly locked within the mirror world.
It was at this time that a gentle “pop” was heard as if that flower of the underworld river had reached the peak of its bloom. Then suddenly, cracks began to form on the mirror world which, soon afterwards, shattered with a loud rumble.
In this manner, that viscount of the ancient Byrne clan fell from the air and collapsed on the ground. There wasn’t a single wound on his body—his countenance plastered in fear and his eyes devoid of all life—he had become a corpse.
Meanwhile, in the sky opposite Zalen, the wings of golden radiance rose up and gently folded themselves around Qianye as if holding him in their embrace. The wings gradually descended and, after placing him on firm ground, dispersed silently into countless specks of light.
At this moment, the whole world was overcome by silence.
A giant bubble surrounded the little girl as she glided down from the sky. Immediately after landing, she lifted her skirt and ran frantically toward Qianye.
Xixi threw herself onto the youth whose eyes were tightly shut and pressed her cold face against his chest. She let out a sigh of relief only after hearing his heart beating under the burning skin. She clenched her fingers so tightly that Qianye’s shirt had become a wrinkled mass upon his chest.
She raised her head but couldn’t bear to move away the small hand on his body. As his exuberant aura of vitality seeped in through her palm, it almost seemed as if her world of black and white would come back to life at any moment.
Xixi’s expression suddenly changed as she turned to look at the handgun still tightly clasped in Qianye’s right hand. The previously golden barrel was still semi-translucent, but the Red Spider Lily on its handle was still gushing with an intense aura of vitality. It was still continuously drawing energy from the wielder as if it hadn’t been satiated.
She immediately grabbed Qianye’s hand and pulled back on the ruyi-shaped hammer. [1] The little girl’s delicate figure was seemingly pushed back by a powerful force. The intense impact almost made her fall off of Qianye’s body.
The ornate old handgun returned to the girl’s hands and reverted to its original form. Meanwhile, Qianye’s lashes trembled as if he would wake up soon.
The two old men were standing nearby and staring at Qianye with faces full of astonishment.
Even the thunderous old man’s fiery temper vanished. “He actually fired. He actually fired it!”
Just how powerful was their vision? They had already taken in every minute detail that had just transpired. They naturally saw that Qianye couldn’t completely control the Red Spider Lily. He might have been drained clean if Xixi hadn’t gone over to remove the gun.
But that absolutely couldn’t conceal the shocking fact that he actually activated the Red Spider Lily!
The Ten Grand Magnums were named so because, contrary to activating a darkness weapon with daybreak origin power, it wasn’t as simple as having reduced firepower or being unable to display auxiliary effects. It should’ve been completely unusable.
Uncle Wang’s expression was somewhat different from the thunderous old man. He was sizing up Qianye in detail as if recalling something.
At this time, Xixi suddenly turned back and looked deeply into his eyes. At this moment, the girl’s expression suffused with an unfamiliar prestige. Uncle Wang was slightly surprised and immediately lowered his gaze.
The little girl brought Qianye into her arms, produced a thumb-sized crystal bottle, and poured the misty blue contents into his mouth. She then gestured toward the two old man beside her.
Uncle Wang and the thunderous old man glanced at each other and rose into the air.
The thunderous old man could no longer hold back his words after reaching a certain distance. “Aren’t we bringing that boy back? Someone else is capable of using the Red Spider Lily, this is big news! Although it seems he can’t control it that well, we can still do some research.”
Uncle Wang’s gaze was focused on the ground. “Let’s see what the young miss says.”
The thunderous old man retorted, “Such a major incident must inevitably be reported to the clan head…”
Qianye opened his eyes and sat up before the little girl’s worried eyes. He was momentarily at a loss, but then he recalled the things from before he blacked out. It seemed… he opened fire, but what happened afterwards?
He suddenly noticed the completely lifeless vampire viscount lying over 50 meters away. Qianye subconsciously glanced at his right hand but found that the gun had already returned to the girl’s waist.
A somewhat cold sensation rushed into his arms. The surprised Qianye caught the little girl’s body and found her delicate arms hugging him with all her might.
“Forget about it!”
“This… This is…” Qianye was baffled.
“Forget about it and forget about everything that happened. Don’t ever mention what happened just now to anyone!” Xixi stared into Qianye’s eyes and said word by word.
The little girl’s serene eyes seemed bottomless. At this moment, Qianye could no longer see the frailness in her eyes, but instead he saw shock and apprehension. He also noticed the strand of determination which had appeared for unknown reasons.
Qianye nodded involuntarily.
Xixi forced out a smile and suddenly pressed her cool face against Qianye’s cheek. “No, wait. You have to remember me.”
With that, Xixi let go of Qianye, stood up, and repeated in all due seriousness, “Forget everything that happened just now, but remember me.” She then turned around and ran away without turning back. Soon, only a black dot remained of her petite figure.
Qianye watched her disappear into the distance before letting out a sigh. Although he still wasn’t clear as to what had happened just now, one thing was extremely obvious—neither the gun nor the little girl was normal.
Qianye sat in place for a while and stood up to stretch his limbs only after the feeling of exhaustion was alleviated. A small crystalline bottle fell from his body as he got up.
A trace of light blue liquid could be seen on the wall of the empty bottle. Qianye bent down to pick it up and found it to be quite familiar. He sniffed at it and sensed a mixture of origin power and herbs.
It was a medicine for injuries.
The familiar scent dragged out a certain memory—the medicine Zhao Junhong had given him during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt had the same smell and was contained in a similar bottle. Following which, he recalled the crystal box in which the medicine bottles were contained.
A light flashed through his mind as countless memory fragments came together. Crystal box, Red Spider Lily, Zhao clan, Zhao Junhong, Zhao Ruoxi, Xixi...
Qianye stared blankly at the ground as thousands of thoughts spun within his heart. Even he himself didn’t know what he was thinking anymore. He didn’t want to believe Xixi and Zhao Ruoxi were one and the same.
Xixi was pristine and delicate. Although her naivety was likely just a facade, it stirred very natural feelings of intimacy in Qianye. Meanwhile, Zhao Ruoxi was the proud daughter and successor of a great clan who was even more talented than the second young master. She was a character high above the clouds.
At this time, Qianye’s grasped a certain fact from amidst his confused thoughts. The Radiant Edge was still in her hands?! Whether it was intentional or otherwise, she hadn’t returned the dagger to him.
Qianye had pushed the blade into her hands so that she could end her own life should things comes to worst and all of his plans fell through. The blood absorption effects of the Radiant Edge could prevent her from being embraced into a puppet before her vitality faded away completely.
Why didn’t Xixi give it back to him?
Qianye subconsciously walked toward Zalen and flipped the corpse over. The vampire count’s face was frozen in a terrified expression just like during the last moments of his life. However, there were no new wounds on his body. His body and organs were still full of vitality, so much that it could be said his body was still alive.
However, Qianye discovered that Zalen’s consciousness had been completely obliterated. Even if his body could be revived with certain secret arts, it would only become a walking corpse without any self-awareness.
But just what kind of force could completely wipe out a vampire viscount’s consciousness without wounding him?
While Qianye was occupied by a multitude of questions akin to tangled yarn, Xixi was facing Elder Wang and the thunderous old man.
Her expression was extremely solemn. “Uncle Wang, Uncle Kai, you must not breathe a word about today’s incident. You must not leak a word about this, even to my father!”
Although Xixi’s tone was gentle and amiable, this was clearly an order. With her current position in the Zhao clan, Uncle Wang and Zhao Kai could actually be considered her subordinates despite being her guardians and advisors in name.
Uncle Wang appeared pensive.
The thunderous old man named Zhao Kai came from the main branch of the Zhao clan and possessed a rather frank nature. “Young miss, this is important news! There’s another person who can use the Red Spider Lily! How can we not inform the clan head of such an important matter!”
Xixi bit on her pale lips until it was a faint red color and said, “That isn’t using the gun at all.”
Zhao Kai knew what Xixi meant. They had all witnessed the process and knew that the Red Spider Lily had probably absorbed his strength passively. But the old man believed that it was not an inherent hindrance compared to those without even the slightest bit of response.
As such, he retorted, “Even if that kid can’t control it on his own, we might be able to find a solution after some research. There must be something special about his bloodline or secret art. If we can rope him into our clan, won’t the Zhao clan prosper even more?”
Xixi said slowly, “Uncle Kai, this matter is impossible. Please forget it!”
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_(scepter)