Volume Three: Untethered Freedom, Chapter Ninety-Six

The sea still roared with towering waves, great crests rising and falling in fury. Bathed in golden light, Jin Li stood with her robes fluttering, gazing coldly at the sea demon moving within the heavens.

Behind her, the ships were shrouded in radiance, and the mortals aboard were pale with terror.

They, too, feared whether the disciples of the immortal sect could save them.

A sacred glow spread behind Jin Li, and the divine mark on her brow slowly appeared.

When her eyes hardened, she gave the order for the disciples of Beyond Sun Mountain to form their ranks.

They obeyed at once, swiftly arranging themselves into a sword formation.

These people had to be protected.

At that very moment, she heard someone call her from behind. "A Jin!"

She had no time to look back. Black clouds flashed with lightning, and then several bolts crashed violently into the surging tides. In an instant, the world was a blaze of sparks and light.

The girl's body was swallowed by the storm, and everyone was seized with fear.

Jin Li's expression changed in horror. So this was the sea demon?

Bloodstains covered his enormous tail, and gaping wounds riddled it from end to end. His upper body was bound with iron chains, and the links were even embedded into his flesh.

His present form bore no resemblance at all to what he had been within the Illusion River.

In the Illusion River there had still been a trace of divine aura; now he was a monster in the truest sense.

The demonic patterns upon him writhed like hideous veins, and his skin had turned a bluish purple.

He looked almost like a zombie.

His eyes were blood-red, his gaze splitting with fury, his features ghastly beyond measure.

"Xuan Yin!"

At her shout, the sword Xuan Yin answered her summons. With one hand gripping the long blade and the other forming a seal with two fingers, she watched lightning strike down in a flash.

Jin Li sidestepped and vanished, then rushed toward the sea demon at astonishing speed, leaving only fleeting shadows in the lightning.

Everyone was terrified.

The disciples of Beyond Sun Mountain had begun their sword formation, but countless sword shadows were swept away by the rising vortex of sea and wind.

For a time, they had no power to fight back at all.

No matter how they summoned their life-bound swords, it was useless.

Their swords were simply torn away.

Jin Li charged straight at the sea demon. With a single point of her two fingers, Xuan Yin transformed into countless forms and appeared within the surrounding golden formation. Ribbons inscribed with golden runes coiled around the sea demon, binding him so tightly that he could not move.

Then he opened his maw of blood and fury, his blue face and fangs bared as his roar shook the heavens.

The divine mark on Jin Li's brow faintly shone, and the sea of her consciousness boiled with raging waves.

The sea demon, in pain, began to struggle wildly, trying to use the force of the tides to drag Jin Li into the abyss.

At that moment, Jin Li felt a dull pain begin to spread through her chest, and a trace of blood filled her mouth.

Blood spilled from the corner of her lips. The Binding Demon Sash was no easy thing to master, and this sea demon had absorbed an unknown amount of immortal power from others. There was no way to refine him completely at this moment.

So she turned, summoning the True Fire of the Spirit Flame. Blue fire burned in her palm, gradually turning her eyes a deeper blue.

She cried out, "True Spirit Flame, sever demons and purge evil, burn!"

In an instant, blue flame spread across the entire sea. Under the torment of the Binding Demon Sash and the True Spirit Flame, the sea demon finally began to struggle violently.

She noticed cracks appearing in the Binding Demon Sash.

She raised her sword and, like a flash of shadow, pierced his eye!

At once, silver-blue demonic qi burst forth madly.

Just as Jin Li was about to be struck by that demonic force, the young man wrapped an arm around her waist and carried her away as a shadow.

Even though there were not many visible wounds, Jin Li's eyes had still been invaded by the demonic qi.

Her clear pupils were now red, and the searing pain made her feel as though she might faint.

The young man held her tightly, his eyes filled with urgency and distress.

With two fingers together, he transferred his spiritual energy into her, hoping to ease her suffering.

The girl fainted in his arms.

And after a long, piercing cry, the sea demon finally broke free of the Binding Demon Sash. One eye had been stabbed blind, and he plunged into the sea, vanishing without a trace.

Silence fell all around.

The sea grew still at once, without the slightest wave or wind.

The black clouds at the horizon slowly dispersed, revealing the pale brilliance of the moon.

The young man carried the girl with her long hair spilling loose about her shoulders. Geng Yuan used a white silk band to cover her eyes.

Only after the moonlight fell did he clearly see the wounds and bloodstains on her plain white robe.

Those bloodstains were shocking to the eye.

And yet she had not uttered a single word of complaint.

His eyes were full of anguish, and he kept channeling spiritual energy into her, wanting only to ease her pain.

"Hui Gui..."

Watching the young man pour out his spiritual energy without regard for his own life, Huaixiu frowned and spoke.

"Get lost!"

The young man's roar was hoarse with fury. His eyes were red, and tears shone within them.

The girl's furrowed brow slowly relaxed, and her breathing returned to normal.

By then, his face had gone utterly pale, his strength nearly exhausted.

After a moment of silence, he lifted Jin Li into his arms.

He merely glanced at the disciples of Beyond Sun Mountain once before flying away on his sword.

Huaixiu watched his departing figure and remembered their earlier conversation.

At that time, when he questioned him, the young man's expression had been perfectly normal. Even when he turned back, the emotion in his eyes was the same familiar feeling. That person had indeed been Hui Gui.

But just now, the young man's gaze had been dark, filled with murderous intent.

It was as though he had become a different man.

If that were the case, then was Hui Gui still Hui Gui?

A series of dreadful memories surged into his mind.

The young man begging desperately at the edge of the cliff... and the final words spoken after he fell.

"I will turn into a vengeful ghost and never let you go!"

...

"Senior Brother?"

Huaixiu hastily came back to himself upon hearing his junior disciple call him. His expression quickly returned to normal.

Perhaps this version of him was acceptable too.

Some things were better left unpursued.

But after falling from such a high cliff, how could anyone still have come back alive?

And after returning, he had become utterly unrecognizable.

Could he have been possessed by a ghost?

Huaixiu could not make sense of it no matter how he thought.

Mount Nine Ridges.

Geng Yuan's face was deathly pale as he looked at the dilapidated mountain gate and murmured, "A Jin... A Jin... we've reached Mount Nine Ridges... he will surely be able to save you."

After that, he lost consciousness.

When Jin Li woke, her eyes burned with pain, so much so that she could not even open them. She raised a hand and touched them, only to find something covering her eyes.

She recalled that sea demon, the dark-blue demonic qi bursting forth!

Her eyes...

She slowly felt along the side of the bed and the quilt. Where was this place?

"Is anyone there?" she asked hoarsely.

"A Jin."

She heard the voice of a young man.

"Hui Gui?"

The scent of herbs reached her. It was the smell of a medicine formula she knew well.

She could feel the young man sitting beside her, and then she asked, "This is... Mount Nine Ridges?"

"Mm."

She could not see his face, so naturally she could not know his expression, but his voice carried a certain gloom.

She went on, "What's wrong with you? Why do you sound so tired?"

The young man, stirring the medicine, paused. His eyes reddened, full of guilt and tenderness. He set the bowl down and gently took her hand.

Jin Li was startled at first and instinctively drew back.

The young man's hand was large and warm.

The calluses in his palm and at the base of his thumb did not scratch her at all.

She heard him inhale softly, then say with utmost seriousness, "A Jin... from now on, can you please stop taking such risks?"

He had been terrified.

His awareness had suddenly blurred and vanished, then abruptly returned, only to find the girl alone in the whirlpool, her solitary figure facing the vicious sea demon.

The sight had made his heart tremble violently.

He had rushed in with all his might, yet had been forced back again and again.

That power had belonged to the sea itself.

But he still could not command it now.

In the end, he had rescued the girl at the last moment, but she had still been wounded by demonic qi.

The injuries on her body, the blood on her skin, still seemed vivid before his eyes.

If she were gone, then what meaning would anything have for him?

Jin Li had not yet had time to answer when the young man continued, "Promise me."

A smile curved at Jin Li's lips. "Young man, let me tell you one thing... I have always been this way. I was born unwilling to be controlled. If you want me to do something, I will only refuse... so... I don't want to promise you."

As she spoke, she withdrew her hand.

Geng Yuan was both anxious and furious. "A Jin..."

"But still, thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for saving those children. So today, I'll make an exception and agree to it."

"Really?"

"Really."

The girl answered with a smile, and he seemed able to imagine the smile that must have spread across the young man's face.

"Drink your medicine."

Jin Li knew well that Qing Mo's medicine was always the bitterest, and she instinctively resisted.

The young man's voice was gentle, touched with indulgence and helplessness. "You're already this grown, and you're still afraid of taking medicine?"

"Why don't you taste it first? If it isn't bitter, I'll drink it."

He did not know whether to laugh or cry. "When has medicine ever not been bitter?"

Then, all at once, his lips were covered by something cool, soft, and smooth.

A touch of sweetness slipped into her mouth.

She extended her tongue and licked.

Sweetness sank straight to the heart.

It was honey.

"Honey?"

The young man sighed helplessly. "Yes. I knew you were afraid of medicine, so I prepared honey in advance."

The girl smiled, feeling that the hot, stinging pain in her eyes had lessened.

His movements as he fed her the medicine were gentle and considerate.

And very familiar.

At the thought that he might have treated other girls this way, she felt a sudden imbalance in her heart, even a faint, irritating tightness in her chest.

Since she felt stifled, she wanted to sneer a little.

"So you've become so practiced because you're used to serving girls their medicine."

She heard the young man chuckle softly, then felt his breath brush lightly against her ear.

"Are you jealous?"

He must be delighted beyond measure right now.

Jin Li tightened her hand, then slowly let go.

"No. I just think you're impressive. You're even able to learn by analogy, and your ability to pick things up is quite remarkable."

"Someone else once praised me for being able to learn by analogy as well."

"A woman?"

"...What? You want to know that much? Could it be that you care about me?"

Jin Li felt indignant. "Say whatever you like. What does it have to do with me?"

Who would have thought the young man would grasp her hand again. "I only have you."