Shrouded Sky

Chapter 129 - Marraige Alliance

Ji Ziyue blinked her large eyes and said, “There’s no need for a headache at all, just let me go, and all your troubles are gone.”

“You really are a handful…” Ye Fan massaged his temples. Killing her was not an option, but letting her go would also be dangerous.

Unhappy, Ji Ziyue muttered, “Hey, who are you calling a handful? Someone as clever and beautiful as me, a future immortal, how could I possibly be trouble?”

“What do you think I should do with you?”

“We’ve been through life and death together, fought side by side in the Bronze Immortal Hall. That makes us comrades. You can’t treat a friend like this.” She wrinkled her nose. “Let me go, I promise I won’t harm you.”

Ye Fan sat under an ancient tree, glancing sideways at her. “I wouldn’t dare take your promises seriously.”

Unfazed, Ji Ziyue kept speaking sweetly, like pearls dropping on a jade plate, trying to persuade him.

“I know how to cultivate the ‘Moon Rises Over The Sea’ technique…”

“There are hidden secrets among the ancient supreme cultivators…”

“There’s a tremendous secret in the Void Scripture…”

“One of the Seven Forbidden Burial Grounds in the Eastern Wilderness contains…”

She went on and on, coaxing and tempting. In the end, her throat went dry. Ye Fan listened with interest but gave no reply.

“Did you even hear me?” she asked, annoyed.

“Of course I did. But you never finish what you start. Every time, it’s just the beginning, you swallow the key points. I was just getting to the good part.”

“So are you letting me go or not?”

“Nope,” Ye Fan replied bluntly.

“You… I’ve been talking for so long, and that’s your answer?! Why didn’t you say so earlier? My throat’s dry!”

“Go on, I’m happy to listen.”

Ji Ziyue was furious. “If you don’t let me go soon, my clan will find this place. You’ll be in serious trouble!”

“Yeah, that would be trouble,” Ye Fan said, leaning back against the tree and stroking his chin. Teasingly, he added, “How about this, I’ll reluctantly marry you, and we’ll hide out here for a while. A few years later, we’ll bring a bunch of kids back to meet your family.”

“You brat! Say one more word, and I’ll never forgive you!”

“Don’t you trust me?” Ye Fan grinned as he stood up.

Ji Ziyue shrieked in mock terror.

In the end, Ye Fan extracted another portion of the Void Scripture and began studying it intently by the lake.

Two days later, a jade-green bird as delicate as a carved emerald appeared at the lake’s edge. Its eyes were blood-red, like two embedded rubies.

“Quick, catch it!” Ji Ziyue suddenly shouted.

“Why?” Ye Fan turned, startled.

“It’s dangerous! If it escapes, we’ll both die!”

Ye Fan shot into the air and lunged for the bird.

But it was highly intelligent and incredibly fast, turning into a green flash and disappearing into the distance.

Ye Fan quickly summoned his purple copper Eight Trigrams Mirror. It emitted a beam of light and, with a hiss, reduced the bird to a wisp of smoke.

“What was that? Some kind of mystical creature?”

“It was one of my cousin’s many pets,” Ji Ziyue said anxiously. “Let me go now, or we’re both doomed!”

Ye Fan was alarmed. Had the Ji Clan found them already? He noticed something off and asked, “Your cousin is here? You seem scared. Why?”

“You don’t understand…” Ji Ziyue said quickly. “Undo the seal now, or she’ll kill both of us.”

“Your own cousin wants to kill you?” Ye Fan was shocked.

“No time to explain, do it now!” Ji Ziyue urged, her face filled with fear.

“If I release you, I might die immediately.” Ye Fan grabbed her and prepared to flee.

But just then, a crisp, mocking laugh rang out. “Lady Ziyue, what a surprise to find you here.”

A seductive woman in green appeared at the lake’s edge, blocking their way.

“Ji Xia? Is my cousin Biyue here too?” Ji Ziyue asked.

“Lady Biyue didn’t come. I was just passing through and didn’t expect to find you here,” Ji Xia replied smugly. Though a servant of the Ji Clan, she was being extremely disrespectful.

“Oh my, Lady Ziyue planning to elope with a man?” she sneered.

“How dare you!” Ji Ziyue pinched Ye Fan, signaling him to unseal her powers.

Ji Xia gave Ye Fan a mocking glance. “Just a boy of fourteen or so? Lady Ziyue, your taste is terrible.”

She clearly saw Ye Fan as weak and insignificant.

Ye Fan tensed. Things had escalated faster than expected, and this woman clearly had malicious intentions.

Ji Xia looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, pretty but far from Ji Ziyue’s natural charm. She smiled coldly. “You look pale and weak, Lady Ziyue. Should I help you?”

“Enough, Ji Xia. Did Biyue send you here to kill me?”

Ji Xia laughed. “Lady Biyue is far too kind for that. But I have no such qualms. Yes, I’ve come to send you off.”

“Then go ahead and try.” Ji Ziyue stepped forward boldly.

Ji Xia hesitated, retreating two steps and eyeing Ye Fan. “So you really subdued Lady Ziyue? I wonder how you managed that…”

“Still afraid to act?” Ji Ziyue taunted. “You’ve been with Biyue too long, paranoid like her.”

This only made Ji Xia more suspicious. She flew into the air. “Come fight me, Lady Ziyue.”

Ji Ziyue cursed inwardly, wanting nothing more than to bite Ye Fan.

“Hehehe…” Ji Xia laughed as she struck with a bolt of blue lightning.

Ye Fan dashed forward and pulled Ji Ziyue aside just in time. Ancient trees disintegrated into ash under the bolt.

“So you really were captured. But how could such a weak boy pull that off?” She threw out a handful of glowing sand that formed a starry nebula to trap them.

“Run. You can’t beat her,” Ji Ziyue whispered to Ye Fan.

He grabbed her and plunged into the lake, avoiding detection by flying outward.

“Undo my seal!” Ji Ziyue shouted as they sank into the depths.

They were wrapped in a shimmering light shield, sinking rapidly.

Ji Xia, now enveloped in green light, pursued them swiftly. Though wary of harming Ji Ziyue due to the mark in her body, she wanted to kill Ye Fan.

Ye Fan dived deeper, aiming for the heavy Black-Gold essence at the bottom.

“Kid, you’re only at the Celestial Bridge stage. Someone else must have helped you capture her,” Ji Xia taunted telepathically.

Ji Ziyue realized Ye Fan’s plan. “Try to trigger a Black-Gold eruption.”

“You were at the siege of Yan Ruyu. Some old monsters protected you then. I bet you’re hiding some secrets. Lucky me.”

When they hit the bottom, Ye Fan punched the ground. Then he dragged Ji Ziyue forward at top speed.

BOOM!

It was like opening the gates of hell. Immense pressure surged upward, threatening to rip the world apart.

Ji Xia arrived just in time to witness the eruption. Her face turned white. “Black-Gold Dualforce!”

A single strand of Black-Gold could crush a mountain. This surge was unimaginably powerful. Screaming, Ji Xia fled upward in panic.

Her shrieks were cut off. She never emerged again.

Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue surfaced safely far away, shaken.

The lake boiled with enormous waves. The Black-Gold raged like a giant millstone grinding all in its path.

Eventually, the lake calmed, but Ji Xia was gone.

“Do you think Biyue will follow?” Ye Fan asked.

Ji Ziyue didn’t answer, deep in thought. “I can’t go back. Things are too complicated…”

Suddenly, a chilling voice rang out behind them. Ji Xia had returned, hair disheveled, glowing green like a ghost.

“You survived that?!” Ye Fan gasped.

“Biyue gave you a God-Light Escape Talisman?” Ji Ziyue asked, shocked.

“Yes. To find you, I carried a divine talisman, but it was damaged by the Black-Gold surge.”

Ji Xia approached, face twisted with hatred. “Now, time to die.”

Ye Fan stepped forward. “A servant who betrays her master deserves death.”

Ji Xia, still injured, hated Ye Fan fiercely. She lashed out with five beams of god light.

Ye Fan had been waiting for this. With his powerful body, he feared no close combat.

His golden fists smashed down, collapsing space itself!

“You…” Ji Xia tried to retreat.

But it was too late. His first punch shattered her divine beams and broke her fingers.

Her sacred treasure didn’t even leave her body, Ye Fan’s second punch smashed it back inside her.

Her Bitter Sea exploded on the spot.

Ye Fan’s physical strength surpassed divine weapons. At such close range, nothing could stop him.

Ji Xia tried to self-destruct in a final attack.

But Ye Fan’s third punch crushed her chest.

BOOM!

She was torn to pieces. Three punches, and she was dead.

“A cultivator at the Other Shore stage… and you killed her with your fists?” Ji Ziyue was speechless. “You’re a humanoid beast.”

Ye Fan’s fourth punch hovered in midair, a strand of Black-Gold fading from his fist. He was uneasy but also excited, maybe he could control this power.

Ji Ziyue looked at him warily. “Even Dao Palace cultivators would suffer if they didn’t know your true strength.”

“Will your cousin come here too?” Ye Fan asked.

“Hard to say.” Ji Ziyue frowned. “I’m probably in more danger than you right now.”

“Your Ji Clan is a mess,” Ye Fan muttered.

“You don’t understand,” she sighed. “Ji Xia… why?”

She found some leaves and covered the broken body.

Ye Fan wasn’t paying attention when Ji Ziyue suddenly erupted with god light. A powerful aura surrounded her.

“You…” Ye Fan turned to flee.

But space around them twisted like rippling water. Ji Ziyue stood in the center, glowing, holy, untouchable.

She held a cracked God-Light Talisman, the one that had broken earlier. It had removed her seal.

“It saved me instead of killing me,” she said, glowing with confidence and beauty.

She looked at Ye Fan with a mischievous smile and a dimple. “You took care of me these past days. How should I thank you?”

“Offering yourself would be enough,” Ye Fan joked.

Ji Ziyue walked gracefully over, pinched his cheek, and said, “You dared treat me like that…”

“Don’t take revenge, I did save your life,” Ye Fan pleaded.

“Lucky you didn’t run away. Otherwise, you’d be dead.” Her sweet smile made him nervous.

“What do you want?” he asked warily.

“I want to bite you!” She flashed her shiny tiger teeth, and bit down.

She’d wanted to do this ever since she’d been captured.

Sealed and unable to move, Ye Fan cried out, “Do you have to be so affectionate?”

Ji Ziyue didn’t stop.

“Hey, stop! Men and women shouldn’t be so close…”

“Shout all you want, it won’t help!” she giggled, chewing on him.

“I’m being assaulted by a delinquent girl…”

“I’m not done with you yet!”

“I surrender, j-just stop biting…”

“Too late!” Ji Ziyue blushed but was finally satisfied. “Now we’re even. Let me go.”

“You wish. This is just the beginning,” she said, dimple showing again.

“...What do you want from me?” Ye Fan groaned.

“Don’t be gloomy. Come on, give big sister a smile.” She lifted his chin, her eyes twinkling.

Ye Fan muttered, “We need to reset our relationship…”

She smiled brightly. “I’ll take good care of you!”

Another round of “fire and water” began.

Half a day later, Ye Fan was covered in neat rows of bite marks.

“Give me half the Black-Gold essence!”

“I can’t control it, it won’t come out.”

“Liar!”

Though rough, Ji Ziyue wasn’t cruel.

“You’re hiding too many secrets. I’ll uncover them all, green copper, motherly energy, your special body…” she said. “If we meet my cousin, I’ll get you close. With your body, she won’t expect a thing.”

“You’re using me as a pawn!”

“If my godpower wasn’t sealed, you’d never have subdued me.” She rolled her eyes. “My cousin won’t guard against you. You’re a sword in the dark, I’ll give her a surprise.”

“I’ll root out everyone trying to harm me,” Ji Ziyue swore. “But first, we need to hide. The Supreme Mystery Sect is recruiting disciples soon. Let’s go there.”

The mountains nearby were the territory of Supreme Mystery Sect, 108 peaks of grandeur.

Even the Ji Clan avoided provoking them lightly. It was the safest place to hide.

Two days later, Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue entered the Supreme Mystery Sect’s territory.

The mountains were magnificent and beautiful. Of the 108 main peaks, only a dozen were visible, mystical, with cranes flying and palaces floating among clouds.

They blended into the crowd of would-be disciples, entering smoothly.

“We’ll pick a remote, quiet peak,” Ye Fan suggested.

“Agreed.”

As they entered, Ye Fan spotted a familiar figure, slender, graceful, ethereal.

“She’s here…” he muttered, recognizing Li Xiaoman. He’d suspected she survived the Forbidden Ground, but didn’t expect her to join Supreme Mystery.

“See someone you know?” Ji Ziyue grinned. “You’re looking strange. If she’s your enemy, big sister will help you get revenge.”