Chapter 488: Returning to the Battlefield
Zhuo Yifeng had spent all his reserves on this single arrow. Drained, he barely remained standing by propping himself up with his bow. Yun Ruoyan turned back and glanced at Zhuo Yifeng, then hurriedly snatched Li Yan from the second elder’s cold hands.
“Yan’er!” Yun Ruoyan clutched him tightly, only belatedly remembering to check his body for wounds. Thankfully, there were none. “Yan’er, it’s my fault that I wasn’t able to protect you well.”
Because Li Yan was back in his mother’s hands, although his face was still lined with tear tracks, he had opened his mouth wide with a smile. When Yun Ruoyan saw her son smile, she couldn’t help doing the same.
The joyous reunion was interrupted by a deep but excited voice. “Yan’er, are you my daughter, Long Yan’er?”
Yun Ruoyan turned to the source of the voice: the blood-red pillar, in which a man seemed to be encased. “I’m Long Yan’er, and my mother was Lin Yuemei,” Yun Ruoyan replied. “Father, I’ve finally found you!”
“You’re Yan’er, my Yan’er!” Long Yin began laughing, quietly at first, but then so loudly it seemed to reverberate around the cavern, as though the pain that years of torture had inscribed on his body were being wiped away.
“Brother Long, are we saved?” one of the prisoners asked Long Yin. “If your daughter’s here to save you, does that mean we’re all saved?”
“She’s not weak, is she? Could she rescue all of us? Do we still have a chance to live?”
The other demonic dragon descendants seemed as excited as Long Yin.
“Yan’er, can you save us all?” Long Yin stopped laughing, his voice somewhat worried. It was true that Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation was quite advanced, but the blood formation couldn’t be broken so easily.
“Absolutely, Father,” Yun Ruoyan replied. No matter what price she had to pay, Yun Ruoyan had to rescue Long Yin from this hellish prison—and the other prisoners as well.
Yun Ruoyan handed Li Yan to Zhuo Yifeng, who retreated to one side.
“Qiuqiu, we’ll charge the formation together,” Yun Ruoyan called out, then marshalled her spiritual energy to form countless sparks of fire. Qiuqiu opened its maw, summoning its own reserves.
“Go!” Yun Ruoyan flung the sparks toward the stone pillar, which Qiuqiu also attacked at the same time. However, even after a few minutes, the stone pillar was smoking but otherwise undamaged.
“This isn’t working, Mistress,” Qiuqiu replied.
Yun Ruoyan frowned.
“You can’t destroy the blood formation in this manner, Yun’er!” The holy maiden, who had fainted during the fight, had just woken up.
Yun Ruoyan turned around and glanced at the holy maiden. This was the first time that she had seen Yun Ruoyan’s true appearance, and she couldn’t help being stunned. After all, she had become inured to Yun’er’s ugly appearance after all this time, only to find that she was a stunning beauty.
“You’re… Yun’er?” the holy maiden asked.
Yun Ruoyan nodded, then smiled gently. She extended a hand to the holy maiden. “Holy Maiden, I’m Yun’er. My true identity is Long Yan’er, the daughter of the man trapped within the blood formation, Long Yin. One of the reasons I entered the Jiyuan continent and infiltrated the silver dragon castle was to save my father. Do you know how to break the formation?”
The holy maiden stood up with Yun Ruoyan’s support. “This blood formation has been passed down generation after generation of silver dragons from millennia prior. Not just anyone can activate or destroy the formation.”
“Holy Maiden, can you destroy it? You can activate it, so you must be able to!”
The holy maiden shook her head. “I have the ability to activate it, but not to destroy it. Even the first elder himself might be unable to do so.”
“In that case, is it possible to free those trapped within?” Being able to destroy the formation would be ideal, but freeing the prisoners would be an alternative solution.
“Only the second elder can do so,” the holy maiden replied. “He was the one who sent them into the formation, and only he knows the incantation to release them.”
Yun Ruoyan sighed, then turned to Long Yin. “Father, that silver dragon’s fighting with our troops outside the silver dragon city. I’ll join them, catch him, and save you.”
“Go! I’ll wait for you to return!” Long Yin called back.
When Yun Ruoyan and the others walked out of the temple, they found it surrounded by dozens of silver dragon warriors, all of whom were pointing their weapons at them. Yun Ruoyan and Qiuqiu were just about to attack them when the holy maiden called out, “No, Yun’er! They’re just a few ordinary warriors following orders from the first elder. Let me command them.”
Without any of the elders around, the holy maiden was the figure with the most authority within the palace. She commanded the warriors not to attack Yun Ruoyan and the others; from the guard captain, she even found out that all the remaining silver dragon warriors had been sent outside the silver dragon city to fight against the intruders.
“There’s a troop of silver dragon warriors garrisoned within the castle, only to be sent out for emergencies. Even they have been summoned on the elder’s orders,” she told Yun Ruoyan. After this incident, it was clear that she and the first elder were opposed, and whether Yun Ruoyan’s side won would decide her fate.
“By this time, our reinforcements should have arrived,” Yun Ruoyan replied.
“You have reinforcements?” the holy maiden seemed quite surprised.
Yun Ruoyan didn’t answer her question. “Don’t worry. Regardless of the outcome of the battle, we won’t leave our allies behind.” She had Zhuo Yifeng bring the holy maiden and Li Yan to the demonic enclave, whereas she and Qiuqiu headed outside the silver dragon city to rejoin the battle.
The demonic spirit and the silver dragon elder were still entrenched in battle, as were the demonic bandits, Li Mo, and a seemingly interminable stream of silver dragon warriors. The demonic spirit’s cultivation had originally surpassed that of the silver dragon elder, but over the millennium in which his spirit had been sealed, his cultivation had stagnated. Although the silver dragon elder’s cultivation hadn’t improved greatly, it had surpassed the demonic spirit’s. Thus, even though they could fight on even footing for short durations, the silver dragon elder would slowly take the lead in a prolonged fight.
Meanwhile, the demonic bandits and Li Mo were still facing off against the silver dragon warriors, more of whom would appear each time any of their number were slaughtered. Several of the demonic bandits had already been killed or injured, and more would have fallen if not for Li Mo’s timely assistance.
When Yun Ruoyan arrived with Qiuqiu, everyone was relieved. Yun Ruoyan, her aura streaming around her, gave off a particularly powerful presence. She instantly found and rushed over to Li Mo, who was back to back with Huang Chuan, dealing with spiritual techniques streaming at them every which way—countless blades of ice, frosted vines, and fireballs slamming in their direction.
The silver dragon warriors were all sword saints, and their combined attacks were challenging to deal with even for someone like Li Mo.
“Li Mo!” Yun Ruoyan called out from a distance.
“Yan’er!”
Their eyes met, and Li Mo instantly knew her plan.
“Brother Huang, protect yourself with your spiritual membrane,” Li Mo advised, then did the same. As they hunkered down, a torrent of flame washed over them.
Qiuqiu, like a fire-breathing dragon, shot out flames of such high temperature that they could melt the warriors’ armor and weapons. Yun Ruoyan supplemented the attack with her own flame sparks, causing even greater explosions.
Large swathes of warriors screamed under the combined assault, and those that were weaker or struck directly by the attacks instantly burnt to death.
The silver dragon elder frowned at the sight. Yun Ruoyan was particularly skilled at wide-ranging attacks, and no matter how many warriors he sent in their direction, she could take care of them all.
“Surrender, you silver dragon bastard, or all your warriors are going to die!” the demonic spirit cackled.
“It’s too early for that!” the silver dragon snorted, then released a crystalline ball containing a white serpent inside. “Not only does this orb have the power to tame a silver dragon, it can even accelerate its growth. For the future of the silver dragon clan!”
He tossed the crystalline orb into the air...