Warring Kingdoms: The Tale of the Jade Phoenix and the Dragon Blade

Chapter 42: Dark Waters

The cold breeze awakened XuanZheng as she scrambled up from lying on her bed. She looked outside her window and noticed a faint glow faraway.

'Wait. That's-'

Her words mean nothing when a large hellfire casted against the dire necropolis. It was sudden but the impact sent her hurling across the room. She looked at the direction where the hellfire came and saw a shadowy figure behind the flames.

"You! Why are you here? Isn't it enough for you getting me banished? Do you want to kill me too?!"

She yelled at a truculent manner awaiting for the culprit to reveal himself. The man stepped forward against the flames and XuanZheng's face contorted in sober.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Zheng 'er. It's so pitiful to see you like this."

"Zhuge Liang. Why- How?"

"Oh, so you've heard. I've been imprisoned at the ninth heaven's dungeon and now, I'm standing in front of you..."

"An illusion eh? No one had escaped the ninth heaven's dungeons before."

"No... No... Dear... I'm right here in one piece. Do you want me to torch you to ashes to prove that I am here?"

"Preposterous! You shouldn't have been put in a dungeon. You should've been hanged! My sister was right. I shouldn't have listened to you!"

"Yes. And to think the security there is much too light, I took the chance to escape... And here we are now..."

"What do you want from me?"

"Want? Oh XuanZheng... You're not the one that I want."

Zhuge Liang prepared to torch her alive in hellfire when she casted a large barrier preventing her from being burned however, the hellfire's power is too great sending her away from the necropolis sinking into the sea.

XuanZheng pushed upward from the ocean and flew away from the burning necropolis. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang went to the dark tower where XuanZheng tried to absorb the power of the ancient evil tree.

'So this is Hou JinTai. Now, I'm going to show the world who's the most powerful God of all!'

Zhuge Liang casted a spell on the ancient evil tree pulverizing it and mixing it on his own body. The black dust swirled and entered his body. His red eyes soon turned deep purple and his pale skin turned gray. Dark evil writings appeared all over his body and horns like deer antlers started growing from his head. He shrilled in agony as purple lightning glinted across the skies sending rumbles everytime.

After his complete transformation, he took his fan and corrupted it with his black magic conjuring dead bodies back to life from the jade coffins lying around the ancient evil tree.

'Now, the mortals will bow to me.'
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Dark clouds rolled up from the skies and ominous thunders rumbled along with it. Strange-colored flashes of lightning flashed across the sky sending chills on the spines on the good people of Old Jianghu.

Zhao Min noticed the sinister presence. Her battle with the Tian Lang was just the precursor of other future battles. Her eyes widened as she let a tight grip on her wounds. The wounds bled but she could not feel pain due to shock and anxiety.

"Sis Zhao! Please don't grip your wounds or it will never heal!"

"Nothing will ever heal as long as he's alive."

"Who's alive?"

"Elaa... I- I betrayed all of your trust."

"We're all imperfect sis. Although we are bound to Emei's teachings and principles, we're still human. And as a human, we all make mistakes."