THE LEGEND OF SHENLI

CHAPTER 25

The clamor of broken voices kept assaulting Shěn Lí’s mind. She tried plugging her ears then shutting her senses, but nothing worked. The voices still dug through like a knife stabbing away at her sanity.

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut. Up!” yelled Shěn Lí unable to take it any longer.

“Kill. . . ” It was just that one word ruthlessly repeated over and over again, its tone an alternation between sharp and muffled. Shěn Lí’s pupils turned a murky red, the color of dark blood. She rose forward, brandishing her weapon as though she was in a battlefield fighting an enemy in close combat.

Intense heat burned in her chest and rose to her eyes, and made them an even darker shade of red. Suddenly, a chill swept through her heart and invaded every limb and bone in her body, eventually extinguishing the heated flames. A palm gently stroked her hair, the warmth and heat were comforting like the rays of the sun on a cold day.

“Ai, how is it you’re so violent?”

Violent? Wasn’t she, when in the middle of that courtyard, already exercising a lot of restraint?

“Shěn Lí!” Xíng Zhǐ called out sharply trying to wake her up.

All she saw at first was darkness, but gradually Xíng Zhǐ’s snow white robe appeared in her vision. She looked at it confused for a moment before looking around and trying to regain her bearings. With knitted brow she asked, “This. . .  is this the Ruins?”

Xíng Zhǐ smiled and replied. “Your Highness is so sharp.”

“You. . .  Immortal High God, why are you still here? The seal?”

Xíng Zhǐ didn’t mince words. “It’s been restored, but mending all the seals recently took a lot of energy. I became careless and the monsters used the opportunity to break through my defenses. Somehow or other I ended up caught in one of their spells. I was unable to break away because the miasma has gotten so dense over the years of accumulation. Since I was unable to break away, I thought I’d take a stroll until I recovered enough to leave.”

Randomly stroll around a place as dangerous as this? A place filled with monster beasts? A place filled with miasma? Who randomly strolled around like that?!

Shěn Lí wanted to ask if he was wounded, but after his comment, she felt her worries were unfounded.

Xíng Zhǐ laughed lightly as he looked at Shěn Lí. “Is Your Highness also interested in a stroll?”

Shěn Lí smote her forehead at the ridiculousness of it. “No, I’m not. I – ,” she abruptly stopped. “I was patrolling the area with the troops. I was passing by here when a strange force dragged me in.”

“Oh?!” Xíng Zhǐ propped his chin on his hand thoughtfully. “How unexpected that they’d be able to pull Your Highness in. This group of monster beasts are more fascinating than expected!”

Fascinating?! This kind of thing was fascinating to him?!

Shěn Lí silently eyed Xíng Zhǐ before speaking. “Does Immortal High God have a way of getting out of here? Please share. I must return to the Imperial Palace tomorrow. If, by this morning I’m still missing, everyone will surely think. . . ” She sighed. “They will surely think I’m trying to escape from the marriage again. There will be some confusion.”

“I can’t leave right now.” Xíng Zhǐ turned his head in her direction as he spoke. He didn’t pause, but continued walking forward with complete confidence in the pitch darkness – a darkness where one couldn’t even discern up from down, never mind left from right.

Shěn Lí walked behind, anxiously following the sound of his footsteps. “Immortal High God, please stop joking. I’m serious. I don’t know how time flows here, or how many days have passed since I was pulled in, but we, both of us, need to leave. General Shàng Běi may have already withdrawn the troops. They may be marching back to the capital as we speak! And he will report that I fled the marriage – again! I will surely be punished!” Shěn Lí acknowledged that the circumstances looked bad, and that punishment was inevitable, but even the most accepting person would feel aggrieved!