Cang Lan Jue - Love Between Fairy & Devil

Chapter IV

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Pricking her finger with her teeth, Orchid used what little blood she could gather from the wound to trace out the spell from memory.

No sooner had she finished the last character, she felt the ground beneath her feet tremble and observed the skies clouding over.

I guess this Moon Supreme's blood must be a powerful tailsman... Orchid thought in wonder, even as a supernatural chaos raged all around her. The Empyrean Seal was crumbling before her very eyes as her blood-laden spell corroded right though it.

"Most sovereign majesty, I beg you!" cried Ji Xingzhe. "Are you really going to abandon your people for this fairy? Cangyan Sea has waited thousands of years for you! Thousands of years — ah! " He fell backwards from a violent aftershock.

Beyond the veil of the physical world, the doorway to the Netherworld materialized into view. Its black gates were wreathed in flames. The panels themselves had elaborate carvings of goblins and demons that looked so terrifyingly lifelike, it was as if they were made of actual flesh. Their pupiless eyes gleamed an ominous white, daring any to venture close.

Yet Orchid stood unafraid. Turning back to the steward, she gave what she thought was an arrogant smirk. Just as Qingcang would have done.

"This fairy means the world to me." She lied with supreme, unabashed confidence. "I'd do anything for her. Besides, I'm a selfish, nasty, and thoughtless jerk who has no regard for the Moon Clan. So you tell everyone I'm not coming back and not to expect anything from me. Just accept your fate and move on."

"But—but—but—" sputtered Ji Xingzhe.

"That's an order. Now go away."

"My lord!" The steward wailed.

Blithely ignoring him, Orchid held her body close to her and stepped right through the gateway.

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The Netherworld was every bit as dark and lifeless as Orchid had imagined.

As she descended into its shadowed depths, she gradually became accustomed to its blackened landscapes.

When she reached the Yellow Spring Road, the main pathway to the Courts of Hell, she was surprised to find clusters of scarlet lilies blooming on either side. How strange, she thought, to find that such little things could grow in a place like this. A great silence pervaded the realm and the only sound she seemed to hear was the gentle currents of Oblivion River.