Remembering You For Eternity

2.44 Respite

If the Imperial City was chaos, the Palace was hell. It was not only full of human Daemons and Daemon-carriers, but also distorted animals and plants.

YuLan initially had been wondering why they had only been battling human-Daemons and had hardly encountered deformed animals in the Imperial City. Pushing it into the back of her mind, just thinking that it was only proper - after all, the Imperial City was largely residential. Why would there be animals roaming around?

Turned out, she jinxed herself.

The beautiful Imperial Gardens became battlefields of deceptively pretty landscapes, with flowers and plants threatening to kill if anyone should get close. That would still be alright, after all, everyone should just steer clear off the shrubs and trees. However, where else would anyone be able to see horses with split tongues and spiked hooves, or birds that could cut people with a swing of their feathers? 

YuLan wished this was just a CGI-ed horror movie, but the rotting stench of yellowish blood that had just splattered her initially spotless robe, as well as everyone's battle cries around her, told her that this reality was anything but. She sighed and managed to cut through a flying deformed bird. She imagined that the horses must have been fine studs belonging to the royalty or military, and the birds must have been singing nightingales - before they were all turned into Daemons.

The Daemon-carriers were ironically members of the Imperial harems – enchanting looking women with a coquettish glaze in their eyes. They looked and acted very much like normal humans, if not accounting their ability to turn any living being into a Daemon. Their humanity seemed to have disappeared as well, as the harmless looking women acted like Generals towards their prized soldiers – a group of human Daemons, most of them used to be eunuchs. Some of the Daemons wore official robes as well.

YuLan could not get her normal moral and ethical values working when everyone she held dear was in danger. The beast-masters could only purify so much of the Daemon-carriers, but they could not help but to kill some as well. Her sect sisters thought the same - Cao Lu struck her sword swiftly through an Imperial Concubine's chest, killing the latter in an instant. Unlike the overpowered Daemons, the Daemon-carriers were not much threat in fights.

As Xiao Zi fell another consort with her sword, and the White Tiger mauled another one, an amused voice resounded. It was Qing Lian's but she was nowhere to be seen. Her voice was imbued with her qi, delivering it for everyone to hear,

"How cruel... . Murdering weak women... . They are your Father's wives nonetheless. Then, what about killing another one?"

Dread fell as everyone noticed a familiar figure, being held by a pair of Imperial Concubines. It was Lady Mei Gui. She was half-conscious, as if being drugged.

"Mother!!" Xiao Zi called helplessly. No one had been back to Lingdi every since they fought in the Imperial City for a number of years. However, no one could have imagined that Qing Lian and Zuo JinLong managed to take Lady Mei Gui away, despite the protection the town had been enforced with. It seemed that she had been drugged for a while, which meant that Lady  Mei Gui had been kept in the Palace for some time, and not just after YuLan and Zuo ZhouLei's arrival at the Imperial City.

"Eh? Why are you being hesitant?" The venomous voice taunted, "She could turn to be my sister anytime soon, you know... . Just like, my other sisters here... "

The two consorts that were holding Lady Mei Gui giggled in response. Everyone knew, any second now, they could just infect Xiao Zi's mother to be just another mindless Daemon.

Before YuLan could react, a flash of yellow fire flew past. Her line of sight barely perceived a Fire Phoenix's tail, then another Fire Phoenix flew by, then another. The fire birds steadily congregated into a cluster, before slowly spreading their wings and headed to the sky.