The next day, the General’s Quarters were thrown into another turmoil, since Feng Hai was found dead in his cell in the morning, killed with a single strike to the vitals. General Feng ordered investigations but he knew that it was a futile effort.
Someone helped his son raise his cultivation and instigated him to go against his family and country. And since when General Feng tried to learn who it was from him through interrogations, he became a liability which was quickly disposed of, while the person behind him cut his tail and hid in the dark.
Meanwhile, the Blood Dragon Gang’s lair was found thanks to the evidence in Feng Hai’s spatial ring. He really was not that smart, since there was a map in there. By the time the royal army reached it, they only found corpses of hundreds of inconsequential low-level members, as well as a few key ones, who General Feng recognized as Feng Hai’s usual gang of friends he used to hang out with when he was a family disgrace.
It seems he started this gang a long time ago, when he was still the spoiled young master, most likely with a simple rebellious attitude, but they were too small and weak to appear in the eyes of the kingdom, and did not really do much. The key forces of the gang which made it strong and famous were most likely supplied to Feng Hai by whoever was behind him and thus disposed of the rest and retreated once Feng Hai was taken into custody to erase all evidence and hide their trails.
There was also a luxurious restaurant downtown in the capital that was mysteriously annihilated in a single night. After some investigation, the General’s Quarters traced Feng Hai’s movements to this restaurant, as he visited it quite often. Even some of his adjutants went missing, as they were probably either people who were sent to monitor and control his actions or his men from the bandit group.
It was a clean withdrawal with no clues left wherever in Feng Hai’s belongings or in the bandit lair of the Blood Dragon Gang. All witnesses and potential informers were swept clean in one motion as if this was a pre-arranged fallback plan in case Feng Hai got caught.
Wu Long spent the next week mostly soothing Feng Yi from her grief, as however much of a failure he was, it was her little brother nonetheless, and she truly did not expect such a betrayal. His death was also not an easy thing to get over, despite his actions. He was also helping Luo Mingyu with her Dao, as her new ambition was not so easy to embark on. Following someone else’s road was doable, but paving her own road was a thousand times more demanding, and only exceptional people got them. There was nothing in particular happening, simply a peaceful time for the three of them.
— ｎｏｖ𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ
One snowy day, Wu Long felt Ye Ling’s presence not far away from the city. The bond of the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art told him that she was close. The capital of the Fantian Kingdom was in the northern part of the country, not that far from the border to the Tuamei Kingdom the sect was located in, so it made sense for her to arrive now.
Wu Long went out of the city and sped in her direction to welcome her into the city. Once he was a few kilometers away from the city he saw the carriages with the Yin Yang Union Palace insignia on them, as sect protectors surrounded them on horseback. The carriages already stopped and Ye Ling appeared from one of them, as she felt him approaching as well. There was something almost imperceptibly different about her when he looked at her but he could not say with certainty what it was.
Once he approached a certain distance, Ye Ling threw a sword in a sheathe that she took out beforehand to him, which he caught. He was first surprised and then smiled. It seemed she was eager to show him the results of her training. He thought that the almost imperceptible difference was her skill in sword, as it did have a bearing on one’s aura, and Ye Ling progressed very fast, so her aura was bound to change drastically in the period he have not seen her.
They took out swords out of sheathes simultaneously, as snow fell all around them on a white hill. They then both moved and their swords clashed, sending the white world into a furious but mesmerizingly beautiful frenzy of motion. The snow that was already on the ground as well as the new falling snowflakes were now both in the air, moving in mysterious patterns all around them, while the two figures danced, their swords intertwined with graceful motions. In a matter of moments, 108 strikes were exchanged between them as sparks flew in all directions, joining the snow in the waltz of nature and force. After they exchanged these moves, the figures froze, while the world around them continued to revolve with white snowflakes and sparks.
Wu Long looked with wide eyes at Ye Ling, who somewhat shyly looked first at him and then a little to the side while brushing off her hair with one hand, a light smile on her lips.
His hand slightly trembled and the sword fell into the snow-covered ground as his legs started moving towards her. First slowly but then as fast as he could. Her sword also fell and tears fell off the side of her cheek, she rushed toward him at the same time.
They met in the middle and hugged each other tightly, amidst the still dancing snow and sparks from the collision of their swords. She burrowed her face into his chest as he buried his face in her hair. Their hands wrapped around each other tightly, as if afraid to lose hold, and ehr tears were seeping into his clothes.
There was a heart beating wildly inside him now. This was the most vulnerable he felt in millennia. He was also more alive than he ever felt since he held her in his embrace as another piece of him died when she did. Now he was truly experiencing what it felt like to have her back. Now, for this moment, he truly was, mortal again.
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End of Volume I : Mortal Again