Volume Four: Wind Sweeps Away the Clouds The Four Lands Sink Beneath the Waves Chapter Twenty-One: In Each Other’s Arms

What Lanling called the Glass Cup was Zhuohua’s proudest creation. By appearance alone, the crystal-clear goblet of glass was already rather lovely; yet once it was given the name “Nameless,” it became a deadly treasure feared by the Dark Fury Clan.

Such a divine-grade artifact, if wielded by ordinary constellations of the eighth or ninth tier, required three people to activate. To bring out its full power, at least seven were needed—an entire palace’s strength.

Ordinarily, the Glass Cup was enshrined in the Treasure Pavilion beneath the Cloudsky Tablet. The Cloudsky Tablet was the place within the Cloudpeak Heavenly Palace richest in golden solar essence. There the divine artifacts lay in quiet slumber, bathed all day and night in that radiant essence.

But this Nameless Glass Cup had never once been taken out since arriving in this void. In the ancient war, in the neighboring war, every other divine artifact had been sent forth in turn; only it had been denied its chance.

Today, in Zhuohua’s hands, it blazed with brilliant gold as it came before them all.

The aura gathering around Zhuohua grew denser and denser, drawing in even the seawater from farther away. As it approached that vast vortex, the outer heat drove it to a boil. Scalding water surged upward, meeting the icy layers above and giving rise to several fierce currents.

These currents whirled above everyone’s heads, sweeping up anything that could move across the open plaza. Some of the lesser Cloud Palace Heavenly Soldiers and many Dark Fury warriors could not withstand the power of the heavens and were dragged into the currents and vortex that ravaged the Kunpeng Abyss.

Even Lanling herself, upon seeing this scene, could not help raising a hand to shield her eyes from the intensifying glare. She shouted at Zhuohua, “What are you doing? Do you truly mean to perish with me? If you release that vortex, not only will everyone here be utterly reduced to ash, but this dragon palace will be leveled to the ground. The tsunami raised by the entire Kunpeng Sea will turn every plain into a marshland. Zhuohua, you... calm down.”

The already enormously swollen vortex was radiating ever brighter light, and the seawater around them began to boil in earnest. They were forced to exert every ounce of strength, pushing their energy to the limit just to resist the temperature hot enough to cook a living body.

Then, from the center of the storm, a calm voice came.

“Are you still not leaving?”

“I...” Lanling bit so hard that blood welled on her lips. “I’m leaving. Now. Immediately. Right this instant.”

The vortex slowly quieted, and the dazzling light swiftly drew back in. Great masses of cold seawater rushed in from every direction, quickly cooling the plaza from infernal heat to bearable earth.

The staggered crowd breathed out in unison and began climbing back to their feet from the chaos of the plaza.

Zhuohua hovered in midair, white robes drifting through the water. His face seemed devoid of expression, yet the corner of his mouth appeared to bear a trace of an almost imperceptible smile.

“You know I’m not afraid of your Nameless Glass Cup, don’t you?” Lanling wiped the blood from her lips.

“Of course you needn’t fear it! Such childish tricks are nothing more than a scratch through a boot to you.” Zhuohua adjusted his sash and ran his fingers through his disordered hair.

“Then why?” Lanling stared at him, eyes wide with indignation.

“You just made that same terrified face you had before, after stealing off with the Heavenly Tree. Ha!” Zhuohua actually laughed twice.

Lanling blinked her clear eyes, the ripples in them soft as autumn water, her brows trembling lightly. She lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Silence stretched on and on, so long that Zhuohua opened his mouth several times, meaning to rouse her.

“Are you angry?” he asked cautiously.

Lanling shook her head and gave a soft, ironic laugh. “You’re still the same, childish as ever. No matter. Someone has to do this, and clearly you are not suited to it.”

Zhuohua widened his eyes, looking utterly bewildered.

“I’m leaving. Leaving this place, and never coming back.”

“Oh! Good. Once I’ve finished dealing with things here, I’ll come find you.”

“Can you hold me once more?” Lanling lifted her head, autumn-water ripples bright in her eyes, seeping straight into Zhuohua’s heart.

Zhuohua nodded almost reflexively and murmured assent.

Lanling lightly touched the water with her lotus-white feet, drawing a graceful arc through it before coming to rest before Zhuohua.

His heartbeat quickened. His breathing grew ragged. His limbs stiffened, his mind went blank, and his hands fumbled helplessly at the clothing beside him.

“Hold me,” Lanling said, tilting her head and looking at him with wide, questioning eyes.

“Oh!” Zhuohua, roused from a dream, slowly lifted his hands and, stiffly at first, drew this soul that seemed separated from him by an immeasurable distance into his arms.

In full view of everyone, as though no one else existed.

“You... haven’t changed, have you?”

“Heh. How could I not have changed?” Lanling’s laugh was like the chiming of pleasant wind bells.

“I don’t know. I just feel like you haven’t.”

“Zhuohua, can you kiss me once?” Lanling raised her gaze, filled with longing and expectation.

“Huh?” Zhuohua’s mouth fell open. “I... I suppose I can.”

Before he could finish, Lanling had already pressed her soft lips to his, giving him no chance to hesitate.

His mind flashed white and empty. Gradually, a wondrous feeling rose from the bottom of his heart, filling him with warmth and ease beyond words. He thought back to the countless moments they had shared in the Primordial Yellow Void, in the Golden Martial Void, and outside the Heavenly Tree. Suddenly Zhuohua felt his whole body had ceased to obey him; even memory and thought began to slow.

No good! Three-Breath Incense!

The thought had only just flashed through his mind when Zhuohua realized it was already too late. His weakened body could no longer stop Lanling from drawing out from within him the divine-grade Essence-Calming Pearl, Linghua, the symbol of supreme power.

Stripped of the Essence-Calming Pearl, Zhuohua seemed as though his soul had been hollowed out. He felt all the energy within him frantically fleeing away. He could no longer hear the outside world, nor see what was happening around him.

When Zhuohua suddenly collapsed into Lanling’s arms, the people of the Cloud Palace erupted in hysterical cries. Lin Bai shouted, “The lord has been seized, all arms, fight to the death!” and led the constellation officers and Cloud Palace Heavenly Soldiers charging at Lanling.

Qin Ying, still facing off against the Dark Fury Clan, heard that Zhuohua had been taken and was gripped with panic. She tried to turn and check on him, but the Dark Fury warriors swarming around her would not let her break free.

Another slaughter began, though this time it was no longer a sham.

Halfway through the Cloud Palace’s charge, Lanling, one arm around Zhuohua and the other gripping the Essence-Calming Pearl, leaped forward, trying to escape over everyone’s heads.

Lin Bai sprang after her, quick of eye and hand, and seized her ankle, straining with all his strength to drag her down. But was Lanling an ordinary woman? Her right foot kicked off her left, pinning down the hand that held her, while the tip of her toe sent out a fierce blade of energy. Lin Bai saw the water spray and knew trouble was coming. He hastily rolled aside, and a thunderous boom followed—where he had stood a moment before there now yawned a pit deeper than a man’s height.

Seeing that Lanling was about to leap into the Dark Fury formation, Blue Rise, in desperation and despite the cloudy seawater filling his eyes, shut them and hurled himself upward, trying to seize anything that might slow her escape and give Lin Bai a chance to counterattack.

Regrettably, he did not succeed. By the time he landed, Lanling had also touched down within the Dark Fury ranks.

Blue Rise stamped his foot in frustration, only to suddenly feel something soft in his hand. Looking down, he found a void pouch embroidered with strange patterns and writing.

Lanling no longer wished to tangle with them. She ordered the Dark Fury subordinates, “Withdraw!” and turned to depart at speed.

Mountain Sorrow and the others exchanged glances, feigned a fierce assault, then, once they had opened some distance from the Cloud Palace forces, seized an opportunity to break away from the fight as well, leaving the dragon palace amid a chain of surging waves.

Qin Ying said nothing, sending out two consecutive blade-like strikes of energy to cut down the two Dark Fury soldiers fleeing at the rear. Then she mounted her energy and gave chase, followed close behind by the constellations of the Vermilion Bird Palace and the four central guards.

Lin Bai recovered Lin Xiaoyun’s head from a corner and reattached it to the mutilated body. After bowing three heavy times to the corpse, he too led Blue Rise, the Star Lords of the Azure Dragon Palace, and the four guards of the front army in pursuit.

They chased and killed for half an hour. At last, after the final wounded Dark Fury soldier lagging behind was knocked into the water by Qin Ying, there was no longer a single figure to be seen, whether in the sky or on the sea.

By rights, these fierce Dark Fury bandits neither had flying beasts nor knew how to swim, so why had they vanished as soon as they surfaced?

“Go and find them all!” Qin Ying roared.

No one around dared delay. They mounted their flying beasts and scattered in all directions, beginning a search across the entire sea.

Qin Ying, her whole body weak and without strength, brought her flying beast down on a small island. She pasted on a Sun-Calming Talisman, put away the beast, then tossed herself onto the beach before collapsing backward with a thud into the soft sand.

When Lin Bai and Blue Rise reached the island, they heard from afar Qin Ying’s heart-rending sobs. The sound was like a sharp blade shaving flesh from the very tip of one’s heart, each cut searing through the soul and sinking into the bones.

Lin Bai sighed and said to Blue Rise, “The lord has been seized; this is no small matter. We should leave a detachment here to search, while the rest return swiftly to the Cloud Palace to meet the coming crisis.”

Blue Rise said, “Your mother and the An family still need you to rescue them. Go at once.”

Lin Bai was again overcome with grief, tears streaming down his face. “Just now, while I was looking for Lin Xiaoyun’s head, I saw An Chenyu crushed to death by falling stones on the seabed of the dragon palace. It seems he could not escape death in the end.”

Blue Rise patted him, knowing the day had brought too many changes, and comforted him: “Now that the lord has been seized, the Cloud Palace is leaderless. Hurry and settle your family affairs, then return to the Cloud Palace to hold the center.”

Lin Bai nodded. Just as he turned to leave, he glanced back at Qin Ying lying helplessly on the ground, then hesitated as if to speak.

Blue Rise looked back at Qin Ying, then at him, and said, “Palace Master Lin, rest assured. Leave her to me; I will take good care of Sister Qin.”

Lin Bai gave a low answer and turned into a black flood dragon before plunging once more into the water.

Blue Rise watched the rippling waves and shook his head helplessly, sighing inwardly, what a crushing disgrace. An unaccountable fury rose at once. Thinking of how he had first been suppressed by Lanling’s vortex and then by Zhuohua’s, he realized that throughout the entire affair there had been not the slightest place for him to display his talents. Recalling the scene of Zhuohua’s abduction, he lifted his only remaining right hand and gave himself a resounding slap.