Chapter 40 | Ink East

Edited by renderedreversed

Chapter 40

Looking at the red flamed beast, I poked Chu Kong’s arm and whispered, “You mean, you want to go fight this big fire ball?”

“If not, are you going to?”

Chu Kong glanced at me once.

“Now you know how much risk xiaoye needs to take. So later, remember to use all the wisdom you accumulated in this lifetime to quickly steal the stones…”

“I know, I know! Can that mouth of yours not always be so dissatisfied with me?“ I interrupted him. “I’m also not stupid. If you die, I’ll become a widow.”

Chu Kong blushed. He still wanted to say something, but the flamed beast below us was awakened by our movements. He looked up and his throat made a few threatening sounds. This flamed beast really made the demon that we saw a few days ago seem like a kitten.

Chu Kong turned serious. He walked and stood in front of me. A fierce murderous energy made the flamed beast immediately quieted down.

The moon and stars were at the back. I followed the moon and the stars to hide in the shadows. I rushed to find a convenient place to go down the mountain and hide myself really well.

The flamed beast was a sensitive animal. When he looked up, flames grew out of his deep throat. His roar teared the sky. I covered my ears and acutely felt the thumping of my heart.

In a split second, the flamed beast flew into the sky. I saw a mass of flames rushing straight towards Chu Kong.

In my heart, I silently wished him to take care. While the flamed beast attacked Chu Kong, I sneaked into the cave. The stones in the cave were disordered; I looked left and right, but didn’t see the pure white clean stone.

I heard the sounds of the battle going on above me. The flames looked like fireworks during a feast, and I couldn’t see Chu Kong’s figure clearly. I gritted my teeth and walked deeper into the cave, knowing I needed to hurry. The flamed beast was an immortal beast. If Chu Kong was killed by it, maybe he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to go to the Netherworld. I really couldn’t let myself become a widow.

I was still deep in my thoughts, when I suddenly looked up. Not far away, there was something glowing in a white light. I hurriedly went to it, elated. With one glance, I knew it wasn’t the white stone that I’d been searching for, but two long hairs. It was two little flamed beasts that hadn’t formed their fire yet.

Two little guys looked at me with watery eyes, innocently blinking. Something in my heart flickered. I hesitated for a moment, and hadn’t had the time to put my hands on them when suddenly the mouths that hadn’t even formed teeth cried out. It sounded as if I was dismembering them.

The sound of the battle suddenly stopped.

Cold sweat slid down my forehead. I stiffly turned around. The big fireball in the sky was glaring at me. His feet moved and in a blink of eye, he rushed towards me. Chu Kong fiercely flung his whip and bound the flamed beast’s foot.

I hardened my heart and took out the fan that Zihui gifted me. I read the spell and violently waved with the fan. A big wind came. Those two cubs rolled away like two little balls. Sharp screams could be heard.

I walked to the back of the cave and saw a pile full of white stones. I didn’t need to touch them to feel the clean energy; these were certainly the fluorites! I pulled out the bag that I prepared and began to neatly pick them up.

Today, we could return triumphantly! No sooner had I just finished that thought when I felt something hot around the corner. I turned and looked.

“Dad, that person is here.”

I hadn’t even been able to think about this situation. There were children, there was a mother, so of course there’d be a father! Chu Kong led the mother away, so how would the father endure this loneliness…

So, from the north of the cave, another faster, bigger, huge flamed beast rushed towards me.

I closed the bag, read a spell and ran. But the heat of its flames was getting closer and closer.

Chu Kong’s shout seemed like it came from the other end of the horizon. “Throw the stones! Withdraw!”

My brain didn’t have time to understand what he was trying to tell me when an intense heat swallowed me. I subconsciously pulled out the immortal cover to cover myself. But the father seemed very dissatisfied, probably because I just hit his children. A roar sounded in the sky. The three hundred-year-old immortal cover broke like ceramics. From behind me came a hot tearing pain. The moment before I fainted, I thought…

Chu Kong, you’re about to become a widower.

The world turned black, just as it was when I was a simple cloud. No soul, no feelings. Time, getting old, the circle of life and death; in my eyes, they had no significance. Later, Yue Lao converted me. He must’ve done it when he was drunk. Regardless, I became a fairy with few qualified achievements. I had no spiritual power and no system of learning. If I seriously thought about the three hundred years that I watched the door for Yue Lao in Heaven, everyday felt the same.

When did it began to change…

It seemed that when the young man dressed in red barged in, I no longer lived a day the same as yesterday. He taught me that life could be wonderful.

The whirring of the flames never stopped. I opened my eyes with much effort and looked at the scene before me. I foolishly froze.

It didn’t matter if it was a person or an immortal; in the space where time flew, there would always be some things that even if you glanced at them once, they would leave a heavy imprint engraved in your mind.

No matter how many years had passed, whenever that page was turned, the images would come back as new as ever.

At that time, Chu Kong’s back carved a timeless, heavy imprint in the back of my mind.

In the burning cave, the grunts of the flamed beast could be heard. Chu Kong stood in front of me like a barrier, cutting out a safe region for me. His appearance didn’t look an ounce cool or chic. His hair was scattered. His whole body was soaked in blood. His left hand was hanging weakly, like it had been broken.

I didn’t know for how long I fainted. I couldn’t imagine the scene of Chu Kong fighting with those two flamed beasts. I only knew that he had always been in front of me, guarding me like a real hero.

I moved my body. I wanted to get up, but the pain in my back made me lay back while groaning in pain.

Hearing my groan, the flamed beasts became more restless. Their situation wasn’t that optimistic either. One was lying on the floor like it was dying. The other one had many wounds on its body.

“Can you still read a spell?”

Chu Kong didn’t look back. With his back to me, voice tired and hoarse but somehow still calm, he asked, “How far can you run?”

I silently measured my ability. I shook my head. “I can try to run, but the flamed beast will certainly be faster than me.”

Chu Kong was silent. Right on time, the flamed beast shouted. It seemed like he had finished preparing himself for his final fight. He stood up and rushed toward us.

Chu Kong put the crimson whip on his chest. He sang a spell. The whip changed into a sword. The sword glew red, as if it had been soaked in blood.

This was the first time that I saw his whip being used like this.

Chu Kong held the sword. His whole body emitted an immortal energy. He didn’t look back and said, “When you spot an opportunity, run. These two animals won’t be able to catch up with you. Hold the stones. Remember to go fill the hole.”

What about you…

I didn’t need to ask. I could already guess what he wanted to do. He made up his mind to fight to the death. But with this death, nobody knew if he could reincarnate again.

“I…don’t want to be a widow.”

Chu Kong heard my speech. With some surprise, he turned around.

Slowly, my body began to form a layer of smoke, filling the entire cave with white mist. Even the flames on the flamed beast had been extinguished for a moment.

Chu was furious. “Stupid thing. You’re not allowed to transform into your real form! Do you want to be grilled that much?!”

But it was too late; before he even finished speaking, I had already transformed into my real form. I turned into a mass of clouds and wrapped around Chu Kong. I flew into the sky, but my speed wasn’t fast. Besides, I was dragging along a long string of old clouds.

The flamed beasts below couldn’t see their opponent because of the smoke. They were furious. A fireball flew towards me. Because I was without a shell, it didn’t hurt, but he dried a lot of the mist on my body.

Dawn’s light passed through Kun Wu Mountain before it sprinkled on the earth. Sharp cries could be heard from the cave of the little flamed beasts. They were presumably hungry.

The flamed beast roared a few times, but he didn’t come after me.

I flew with the wind and floated in the sky. It’d been a long time since I felt such freedom.

“Hey! Are you alright?”

Chu Kong’s head drilled out of the clouds as he shouted at me.

I couldn’t speak. My body began to descend.

In fact…I really wasn’t alright…

The smoke cleared and I turned back into a human. Without the power of an immortal, I could only fall straight down. My back was tearing in pain, and there was a similar unbearable feeling in my heart. It felt like I was being baked.

Chu Kong pulled me into his arms. The wind blew through my hair. Chu Kong patted my face while giving me a righteous scolding. “Now you know how unbearable it is! I told you to not change to your real form, but you just didn’t listen! Did it feel comfortable being roasted as a Cloud Fairy?!”

His voice was broken up by the wind. I also hoarsely shouted back, “If I didn’t see that you were about to die, I wouldn’t have done it! Ungrateful thing!”

“Who’s the ungrateful thing here?! Do you think I saved you to let you sacrifice yourself?!”

I paused and then said, “I got it already! Do you really want to fight?! Let’s just go fill the hole. After filling the hole, we’ll go back and get married!”

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