Jinshen sighed deeply, slowly turning to face both Jinhai and Ruoxue—his expression calm and composed, his gaze unblinking, almost unnatural.
"Well, me and both of you have a rather large bone to pick from Wanmei right? Why not ally yourselves with—"
He was abruptly interrupted with a flaming spear blitzing past his cheek. He barely moved in time, the spear grazing his cheek and drawing blood that flowed down his cheek.
"Shut up! Because of you father is trapped with that freak! Because of you hundreds of disciples died!! You're a murderer—had you been the old Jinshen I might have considered it!!"
Jinhai shouted at the top of his lungs, eyes filled with immense rage and hatred
Jinshen looked at Jinhai with a blank—indifferent expression as he got near Jinhai's face, eyes glowing blue.
"This is the Jianghu. I suppose what I did was wrong, but since I now cultivate righteous Qi, will I ever be reprimanded? No right? As long as a demon wears the clothing of an angel, it'll be called one forever."
Jinhai clicked his tongue in annoyance and frustration—his mouth opening before it closed right back up. Silence was the only response Jinshen got from him.
"Jinhai, Jinshen. Both of you. Calm down."
Ruoxue stared calmly at them both with a reprimanding gaze—directed especially towards Jinhai.
"He's right Jinhai—its useless. We have a common enemy right now, so why not just beat him before Wanmei turns stronger."
Jinhai clenched his jaw—glaring at Jinshen with harsh unforgiving eyes but he swallowed his pride. Taking a deep long breath before speaking through gritted teeth.
"Sure... But we have to find Yanwei first..."
Jinshen raised an eyebrow, confusion flickering across his face as his eyes momentarily turned back to their original color—showing that the effects of his pseudo-enlightenment were wearing off.
"He's.. Not with you? I thought he was in the sect?"
Ruoxue's eyebrows shot up to the top of his forehead in surprise—he immediately walked over to Jinshen, his eyes filled with concern and worry
"No! I mean he was in the sect for a while after your death but he left after that! He had his own group but they disbanded a while ago... I thought..."
He trailed off, groaning as he held his forehead in frustration and concern—already feeling a headache coming in from the amount of emotions his mind has to handle.
"Maybe..."
Jinhai paused—narrowing his eyes in anger before he sheathed his daggers—sighing deeply running a hand through his hair.
"Maybe he's under.. Wanmei..?"
Ruoxue and Jinshen's head snapped towards Jinhai—both of their eyes wide and filled with dread.
"Damn it.. Then we need to go and check Heiyan Gou right?"
Ruoxue muttered under his breath to no one in particular—his eyes on the ground, his body filled with fatigue.
"No need. You guys rest for an hour or two—maybe even a day. But I'll go alone,"
Jinshen spoke out loud, his eyes having now reverted to their normal, black color instead of the blue color they had adopted temporarily.
There was a small moment of silence, Ruoxue and Jinhai wanted to follow him—but they knew that in their current state they would be a hindrance to Jinshen.
Just when they were both about to agree, Ruoxue narrowed his eyes—looking at his body and Qi—both of which were much weaker.
"But, you're.. Weaker Jinshen."
Jinhai looked at Jinshen with skeptical and suspicion dancing in his eyes—gaze locking with Jinshen's own.
"You're pretty weak right now—I don't know how you've regressed but I think that you'll lose."
He stated in a blunt manner, not sugar coating anything.
Jinshen tilted his head, a small frown spreading across his face before he ultimately nodded—still feeling Ruoxue's disapproving gaze tear its way into the back of his head.
"Sure... But I've got a few secret weapons up my sleeves so don't worry about me.."
Jinhai sighed deeply, walking over to both Ruoxue and Jinshen, standing in front of them both with a small frown on his face.
"Lets go... I want to release father from that prison.. I don't even want to imagine what he might be going through..."
They both nodded—their expression determined—but Jinshen's was slightly different. It seemed he was hiding something.
The three of them started floating—their bodies coated in Qi as they flew towards the distant city of Heiyan Gou.
Jinshen's eyes narrowed slightly, he tried to focus on the current goal but there was just one thing on his mind.
"Xian is offline I think... I'm all alone for now.."
Inside of Heiyan Gou, Wanmei sat on his throne.
Now located on the terrace of the large tower in the middle of the city—the structure towering over all of the city—its peak reaching the clouds.
"I wonder.. How long will it take for them to arrive.."
He said as his eyes narrowed towards a specific spot in the sky—his eyes glowing purple as his pupils narrowed like a hawk—his vision extending to the three of them flying towards the city.
"Well well well.. They killed the Harbingers huh? Good... I was getting bored of their same moves anyway. Tiangguang was pretty weak as well."
He said to himself he stood up—eyes crinkled at the edges as the glow in them grew brighter and more radiant.
"Oh Yanwei!~"
He called out into the darkness of the tower—there wasn't a response, instead hurried footsteps started running towards him as Yanwei arrived. Bowing down to Wanmei.
"Yes my lord?"
Wanmei slowly nodded in satisfaction as he took a step back, leaning against the back of the throne—crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well.. I thought I told you to gather some people from the Jianghu alliance for me to control?"
Yanwei nodded immediately with fervor, pulling a small—reflective almost glass like bag and putting it forward.
"I'm afraid I only captured one useful one. The others were far too weak or too important for me to kidnap."
Wanmei took the bag and opened it up—none other then an unconscious Lin Zhu coming out his body injured and beaten.
"Oh? He looks strong. Did he give you trouble my dear Yanwei?"
Yanwei paused, his blank eyes widening for a moment in embarrassment before he slowly nodded.
"I'm afraid if he wasn't caught off guard.. He would have been quite troublesome, but he was still weaker then me."
Wanmei narrowed his eyes in amusement kicking the unconscious face of Lin Zhu which clanged like Wanmei had struck steel itself.
"I see.. Very well. No problem he'll be serving with you after all—but I'll make it so that you can order him around, how about that?"
Yanwei immediately grinned in happiness—his position almost pathetic like a dog.
"Of course my lord! I'll be pleased with anything you do!"
Wanmei chuckled in sadistic amusement—he kicked Yanwei in the face but the latter took it without any complaints.
"Alright alright, now run away."
Yanwei immediately nodded, his cheek bruised from the kick—but he still ran away just like Wanmei ordered.
"Well.. Lets take over you now shall we Lin Zhu?"
Wanmei muttered under his breath while picking up Lin but the top of his head—spreading his fingers across his whole head.
"One.. Two.. Three.."
Wanmei counted down mockingly—his eyes glowing a deep dark violet mixed with blood red before crack
His Qi started flooding Lin's body taking over his memories as they slowly but surely changed—every good memory now included Wanmei as the focal point.
Without Wanmei, there would have been no Lin Zhu
Lin fell to the ground, his body convulsing and contorting in strange ways—but Wanmei just walked back towards his throne, taking a seat on it as he leaned back.
"I'll call you.. Little Siren from now on. Lin Zhu."
Wanmei muttered under his breath in sadistic amusement—running a hand through his hair.
The tower slowly started to shift and turn, mirrors forming as Wanmei slowly took off his mask—revealing his face.
His skin was pale—to the point it seemed to belong to a corpse, he had long black eyelashes over his purple eyes which were small and lazily opened, almost like he was sleepy.
There was just one thing off. A diamond shaped purple crystal was on his forehead.
He sighed deeply, a small lazy smirk spreading across his face before he crossed his arms over his chest
"Well.. Let the show begin..."