Dance Of The Phoenix
83. The remaining hope

Being pushed into the teleportation array left Gu Yuena filled with chaos. There was no smile that was usually etched on his face. There is only gloom, no emotion.

When teleportation was active, they were all directed down the mountain, precisely in the forest of Mount Huo.

Due to the limited time when the teleportation preparation, they could not go any further and had to get as far away from the palace territory as possible. They had finally entered the forest and were heading towards the Yi Empire.

During the trip, Gu Yuena just kept quiet without saying anything. Together with Yun Qiao, Ru Meng, Mu Xinhuan, and Shen Jialin accompanying him, Gu Yuena remained empty at all times. His gaze was full of regret.

Inside the explosion, he should have been able to survive inside there without bouncing. But his mind was suddenly blank when he saw that person finish them off so easily.

Inside the exploding magic fog, that person killed them with a pitch-black mist. He remembered that look. A look full of killing intent.

The man killed right before his eyes.

Yun Qiao was similarly devastated. He just stayed in place, looking guilty all day. Gu Yuena did not dare to say what she saw to Yun Qiao. Enough he himself knows.

"Once again like this." Gu Yuena who was sitting on a rock lowered her head between her knees and hugged both of her bent knees.

He feels more guilty. He does not keep promises and cannot protect the person he wants to protect. Instead, it is protected by them. That's not his wish.

It has immortality magic, magic circles, soul power, and phoenix blood. Why didn't he use all of that to fight?

Wh why?

Why would he let the person who accepted it there end up like that? Not his family, not his teachers and the people closest to him. Why did it end like this?

"Xiao Yuena, you haven't eaten since." Shen Jialin approached with a feeling of sadness. He knew Gu Yuena was devastated, but still should not neglect her health.

Gu Yuena did not reply at all. This made Shen Jialin nervous.

Mu Xinhuan who was looking directly approached with Ru Meng by his side. The two of them had already managed to persuade Yun Qiao who was too shocked, but it seemed like it would be difficult to persuade this stubborn girl.

"Xiao Yuena, we have to continue on our way." Mu Xinhuan said doubtfully.

Gu Yuena straightened her head, then saw them all take turns. Right, they should continue the journey.

Do not let the person know his tracks and repeat the same incident. They must hurry.

Gu Yuena stood up. "We're leaving immediately."

"But .. It's night. It's dangerous to travel at night in the woods." Ru Meng told her reality while pointing at the sky.

"Yes, you should rest too. You used a lot of strength before, better recover it first." Mu Xinhuan gave advice.

"You haven't eaten either. I've made you a roast chicken. To add strength and energy, you must eat to protect us." Shen Jialin showed a grilled chicken that was pierced by slender wood in her hand.

Gu Yuena just looked, without any appetite. Even so, Gu Yuena still accepted it. He's pretty hungry.

But still, this was for the sake of recovering wasted strength. Next time, he won't make the same decision. He will fight directly and protect them all.

The rest tonight went well. Everyone managed to recover—though only half the strength—as well as heal wounds. With bandages wrapped and dirty clothes full of the smell of blood, they fell asleep unwinding on the ground with leaves.

Only Gu Yuena did not sleep. There was a feeling of fear deep down, thinking that the person would come tonight and give her nightmares. He felt he had to stay awake.

In fact, it had been these two days since they reached the foot of the mountain, Gu Yuena had not fallen asleep out of fear.

Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai came out in their original forms, giving Gu Yuena warmth using their thick fur. Gu Yuena leaned back comfortably.

"Is this over?" He asked himself.

In the past, when he was in a state of decline like this, his brother always accompanied. As when he experienced the trauma of the cause of his father and mother's death, Gu Yuan was always there to console him.

He missed Gu Yuan.

Without feeling it, Gu Yuena was sleepy and slept after a long time looking at the brightly shining moon. He also slept after a long time awake.

...ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ...

This morning all the remaining members of Yuansu Palace continued on their way. The palace elders led the way, with Gu Yuena, Yun Qiao, and the others accompanying behind the three elders. It was only about 10 kilometers away to head for the empire.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Shen Jialin complained. The problem was, they all walked non-stop, only having a break at night.

"If you want to rest, rest. I'll accompany." Mu Xinhuan volunteered, making Shen Jialin sneer at her who wanted to look for a chance.

"I can't leave you all." Shen Jialin would rather not want to be left behind. I don't know what kind of monster this forest is. They did not meet monsters due to the aura of the elders.

Many of them complained, but did not dare to separate from the group. Just like Shen Jialin, including Ru Meng who often stopped to drink water taken from the river.

This journey is very long.

In the middle of that journey, suddenly the look of Gu Yuena who had just put on an expressionless face became drastically changed. His eyes were rounded, while his steps came to a halt, making him the center of attention.

"They ...." Gu Yuena was filled with uneasiness.

"Your perception is pretty sharp."

The sound made their gaze towards the large rocks on the mountain wall. There was a figure of a black masked man, similar to the masked man who attacked Yuansu Palace.

They were all putting on a cautious stance, whereas Gu Yuena was just staring at the man flatly. He was angry considering how the man killed his teacher.

"I am stunned to see your persistence in survival, even without a leader."

When he said so, several black-robed figures emerged from various sides surrounding all of them. The entire Yuansu Palace disciples continued to put on a cautious stance when they saw the beleaguered death beast.

"Dignified people like you will end badly! The sky will punish you!" One of the elders cursed. But it was rewarded by the masked man's laughter.

What a terrible laugh.

"If the heavens always grant your wishes, would you be in this position? The sky is supporting me."

"You ...."

The elders were already very angry, but could not do anything. It just looks like a joke in the eyes of a masked man.

The masked man's gaze directed at Gu Yuena at a glance, then looked at Yun Qiao. "Our new king seems to be very angry. Have you received your teacher's last message?"

Yun Qiao had already lost the calm he had been maintaining. He took out his sword, but Ru Meng and Mu Xinhuan immediately stopped.

"It was suicide!" Ru Meng warned.

"Then will you give up dying at his hands?" Yun Qiao replied with a stern tone. "I ... am guilty of Teacher if he accepts his insults."

"He provoked you. Don't affect!" Mu Xinhuan tried to remind. The masked man's words were extremely dangerous to someone who was being extremely shocked like Yun Qiao.

Shen Jialin tugged at the end of Gu Yuena's pensive clothes. He was worried, Gu Yuena would be as tough as Yun Qiao.

"Jiao Yukina ...."

Gu Yuena's gaze was directed at the masked man. A pair of blood-red irises that looked dim emotionlessly, looking at a person with a blank look.

"You ... came to take me, didn't you?" guess it..

Everyone is surprised. They did not know, the reason Yan Shuiyin and King Yun held Gu Yuena back so much as to remain in Yuansu Palace was so as not to fall into the hands of Linghun Palace. They have thousands of ways to brainwash someone.

"Why do you think that?" The masked man asked.

Gu Yuena stepped her feet past the three panicked elders. But Gu Yuena ignored them. His gaze remained fixed on the masked man.

"Because I'm a part of you." Gu Yuena's remark left the people behind her confused half-dead. Then he continued, "You ... are not as strong as I thought."

The man remained silent, looking at Gu Yuena with a strange feeling.

Gu Yuena suddenly pulled one corner of her lips, then raised her hand. The black magic in his hand appeared, connecting on the death creature making almost all the death creatures turn towards the masked man while brandishing the weapon.

"If I have to die, then I won't die alone." The red magic around him increased drastically accompanied by the phoenix symbol between his eyebrows. Signs of fire poison appeared, propagating like roots around the hands and neck up to his jaws.

No matter whether he had revealed his identity or not, the most important thing was to avenge his teacher. Yan Shuiyin must not die in vain!

The people behind him were the ones that Yan Shuiyin and King Yun wanted to protect. It won't disappoint them. Using his life to keep his promise, it was worth it.

"You have to kill me first before you finish the task," continued Gu Yuena.

"Xiao Yumina!" His friends in the back called, but were not heeded.

Gu Yuena remained facing the masked man while preparing to attack at any time if the man did not give up. He will not make the same mistake again.

"I admire your courage." The man still looks calm. Although in the end, all of this will be troublesome.

It's because of those two old fuckers.

"You go away."

"Your Majesty and my teacher have sacrificed their lives so that teleportation is not ruined, do not make it useless. I'll hold it." Gu Yuena said without any emotional fluctuations. And if he dies, those people won't be able to get him.

The words were right about their weakest mentality. They all fell silent, then looked at all these creatures with fear.

Gu Yuena was right, but that didn't mean they would let Gu Yuena sacrifice after the king, elders, and everyone who had died.

"You piss me off." Gu Yuena raised her hand, opening the teleportation magic that made magic circles form under their feet all. The next second, those who were engulfed in confusion disappeared.

"You're very loyal." The masked man was amazed.

"Stop your pleasantries." Gu Yuena was fed up.

"You know my purpose, but instead of giving yourself up for them, you challenge the fight. Control the death squad, anyway. You really fit to be called the Princess of Linghun Palace."

Gu Yuena was already lazy to hear it and unsheathed the sword towards the man. The tip of his sword almost hit the neck of the masked man.

He's really serious.

"Don't regret it." The masked man twisted Gu Yuena's sword, making Gu Yuena's grip loosen and release the sword.

However, it did not mean that Gu Yuena would lose. When the man took out his scythe that floated in the air like a boomerang, Gu Yuena quickly put up a protective shield around the body so as not to be hit by the terrifying weapon.

It flew into the air with its wide wings while dodging every gliding attack. The explosive effect of the masked man's attack caused Gu Yuena's speed to be interrupted. It has activated immunity to slow effects, but it does not function completely. Fortunately Gu Yuena's reaction was excellent and dodged in time before being hit by the attack.

While dodging and halting in midair, Gu Yuena took out her red magic and attacked the masked man. His magic managed to make the attack of the masked man stop, thus creating an explosion between the two of them.

Gu Yuena's normal strength was equivalent to a tier 8, but if all the strength in her body were combined, she would be equivalent to a tier 9 and be able to keep up with the man. He will look for loopholes and take a chance to kill.

The masked man was still standing at the same spot, looking at Gu Yuena without any emotional fluctuations. He looked towards the dark army that was about to attack him, but the soul force in his body instantly took control and made the entire death army stop abruptly.

As a result, Gu Yuena's head felt a huge blow due to the soul force connection being forcibly severed. He fell from the air, holding his aching head while whimpering.

He had not been expert enough to control the soul force so it was hit by a backlash when the influence was forcibly decided.

"You will be stronger if you are in Linghun Palace." The man said without a special tone. His gaze towards Gu Yuena, was not like when looking at the people of Yuansu Palace.

"What's that?" Gu Yuena suppressed the pain in her head, standing upright looking at the masked man. "Maybe .. I'll go if you don't kill them. But isn't it too late?"

"You'll regret it."

Gu Yuena chuckled. I don't know how many times he heard that sentence from different people for his actions. But he never regretted it at all.

The thing he regretted the most was not being able to save his teacher. But he is clearly very capable. But he was filled with fear.

Gu Yuena did not want to make the same mistake.

The man returned to control the death army to attack Gu Yuena. At the same time, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai appeared to deal with the death squad.

Previously they were forbidden to fight by Gu Yuena because they had to store strength. Now is the time to help their lady.

"Miss, leave it to us!" Xiao Hei roared like a tiger, then ran with Xiao Bai to finish off the hundreds of attacking death squads.

Lately Xiao Hei's strength has increased drastically. He was already at the peak of his strength, especially after Xiao Bai had healed his wound— reluctantly. The big cat was fighting like he was having fun.

Gu Yuena darted quickly towards the masked man. The red magic of his hand was well controlled to conduct consecutive attacks towards that person.

While the two crescent blades continued to fend off Gu Yuena's attacks. It flew into the air, fusing its two sickle blades and splitting the air facing the ground right in Gu Yuena's direction.

The ground under Gu Yuena's feet cracked instantly, splitting gave a gap in the ravine that made her have to jump to one side so as not to fall. The ground continued to sway like an earthquake. Even some of the creatures of death had been whipped and fallen down there.

The gap is very deep.

Gu Yuena faced the man again, then flapped her wings into the air so as not to be disturbed by the earthquake. The two figures gave each other an attack and held out for some time in the air.

But it was only draining Gu Yuena, as she could not reach that person even if it was just a strand of her robe.

Gu Yuena had a deadlock for a moment realizing that she could not grab the masked man in the slightest. His magic was always perfectly held back or destroyed. When the man counterattacked, Gu Yuena could only dodge.

Gu Yuena summoned a phoenix after all this time to attack the man. A phoenix flapped its fiery wings, formed a fire solid and attacked like a meteor.

The coming of the phoenix caused the man to inevitably have to dodge. The successive attacks from the phoenix were quite troublesome. But he didn't lose his mind.

His hand let out a terrifying black fog. It was sticking out into the sky, making something out of the sky and charging towards the phoenix ferociously.

Gu Yuena automatically suffered her attacks as well. It held back the black magic that invaded from the sky with all its might.

He realized that the man was using his soul force to suppress him. It was the power of the spirits that rose up and suppressed Gu Yuena., who was.,

"You're losing." The masked man did not release Gu Yuena at all and forced her to admit defeat.

It was not Gu Yuena his name if he admitted defeat. Gu Yuena just stared at the man with a sharp red iris. Withstanding the pressure, he closed his eyes.

Both of his hands gave off a jet-red radiance like a stream of blood that resisted the spirit attacks from the sky. The aura around Gu Yuena was filled with blood red magic that was so dense.

Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai down there were shocked. They become panicked. Not knowing what the cause was, they just suddenly returned to the spiritual space despite not wanting to.

What the hell's going on?

The masked man frowned.

What magic did Gu Yuena use?

Gu Yuena opened her eyes. His blood-red iris glowed intensely and sharply. The phoenix symbol between his eyebrows did not disappear. While the fire poison mark was widening and propagating like a root to his face.

He looks like a monster.

Gu Yuena suddenly pulled the corner of her lips. "You think you've won? I told you, I'm not gonna die alone."

In the next instant, some magic shot out like long strands of cloth and attacked the masked man at high speed. The masked man repelled all magic using the two crescent blades in his hands.

He could feel Gu Yuena's strength rising so rapidly. I don't know what the girl used, it shouldn't be something profitable.

As he was about to continue the attack, Gu Yuena disappeared somewhere. His instincts felt that something was wrong among the long magic blocking the view.

In the next second, Gu Yuena's absence was found right next to her. When Gu Yuena was about to launch a close attack, the man restrained his arm and twisted it.

Gu Yuena crashed, but she did not fall or stop the steps. His two hands that were full of blood red magic swung controlling the red magic around him.

The red magic that looked like a long cloth was moving wildly towards the masked man. The man instantly released one of his scythes into the magic sidelines right towards Gu Yuena, while the other scythe split all of his magic.

Gu Yuena was surprised at the sickle blade that was hovering towards her. He used his bare hands to defend, but the pressure of the object was so strong that it managed to injure Gu Yuena's hand.

It floated in the air as if it had consciousness. It attacked Gu Yuena from various sides, injuring little by little her soul force that was integrated with the magic of immortality.

True, he used the magic of immortality to end the battle quickly. Although he had to die from the deviation of the fire poison and the magic of immortality, at least the masked man had to die.

Gu Yuena called the phoenix back and asked him to attack the masked man directly.

As a result, Gu Yuena vomited out a mouthful of blood as she held back the attacking scythe blade once more.

The fire poison went back to devouring him.

Gu Yuena took the sickle blade directly, ignoring how her hand was slashed to the point of diverting fresh blood. He threw it at random, then exerted all his magic to make a bigger attack.

The magic in his body spread out like a huge net that was breaking out. All of that magic entered the phoenix which was on its way to make an attack, making its phoenix become bigger and stronger.

He had condensed the phoenix like the original form of the phoenix itself. With its large size, it flapped its feathery wings that kindled the red flames. The phoenix flew in the sky, spouting flames towards the masked man who was busy handling red magic.

In an instant, the masked man was driven by the flames. The red magic charged at him like attacking snakes, wrapped around him and smashed him with the attacking phoenix.

Gu Yuena did not know how her strength could be that strong. The explosion of his strength had a huge impact on their combat region thus creating a fiery fog.

Gu Yuena was pushed down by a very loud bang. He lost control of the body due to the energy drained to release all the magic.

The ground where he fell was no longer the ground, but the result of an explosion in the form of an endless abyss.

Gu Yuena's body just fell loose into the darkness.

Is this the end?

Has he taken revenge?

He did not see the figure of the masked man again after the explosion was created and the phoenix returned to his body.

"Teacher, I didn't let you down." Gu Yuena was calm. His eyes were open before closing.

Without him noticing, something shone from behind his clothing pocket, taking him away into the darkness.