Outside of the Lotus Spire was a scene of excitement and anticipation. This was a stark contrast to the inside which was one of simmering anger and hatred. And all of this came from one woman.
Bang!
A smooth, well-manicured hand slammed against a table. If the table had not been made out of the highest quality elder wood, it would have shattered into dust.
Abbotess Liang’s lips quivered as she took in the scene below from the safety of her private room next to the dream array. As a Spirit King, she didn’t need to look, merely extend her spiritual senses to get a grasp of everything.
The arrival of so many people was shocking, even to a Spirit King. Even ants were annoying in great numbers. When she found out about the exact nature of the gathering, she was enraged.
“How dare he! This insignificant slag of a man!” She hissed. “He dares to try and sell Long Yifei like that? Such a talented woman truly should not belong to him! What is he even thinking?”
She whirled and glared at her companion as if this was all her fault.
Immortal Gentle Lotus Gong Liyun merely shrugged and popped a grape into her mouth casually.
“Aren’t we doing the same? You're stealing her and I guess I'm helping...”
“Not the same! You should understand, of all people!” Abbotess Liang retorted, “The Sororal Order is the best place for her! She will learn what it truly means to be a woman and use her gifts to their full potential! Under such a worthless man, she would never achieve endless happiness!”“Fine, whatever.” Gong Liyun said, uninterested.
She was growing tired of Abbotess Liang. Although she agreed to this deal in exchange for cultivation resources, she was still a Spirit King and had every bit of arrogance and dignity that came with it. Being treated like a servant girl wasn’t something she liked to do for long.
Abbotess Liang prodded her, “You’re not going to do anything about that boy?”
“Nope.”
The two stared at each other. Gong Liyun didn't back down.
Abbotess Liang sighed and leaned back, “Fine. You're right. you’re right. It doesn’t matter anyway. Whatever game that little boy is playing, it won’t matter one bit in the end. All you need to do is give me five minutes and I’ll be long gone with Long Yifei before anybody realizes what had happened.”
Gong Liyun munched on some more fruits, “Mmm… that’s right. They won’t know that she has left the dream array until she physically awakens but that’s not actually the case. In order to have a safe exit from the dream array, it's designed so that she will leave the final dream and then fall into normal sleep which can last anywhere from an hour to several. She will be safe to move once that happens. You have plenty of time.”
“And you have made arrangements for the aftermath?” The abbotess asked.
It was the same question she had asked countless times in the past few weeks.
“Yes, yes. Stop worrying! We don't have much longer to wait now. The energy of her array is close to being drained. We should only be a little while longer.”
“Good!”
---
Long Yifei was running. She was floating. Her small, immature body was being carried by a pair of strong, arms as a battle raged all around her. There were sounds of swords, metal clashing against metal. There were cries of anguish from men and women as their lives were extinguished.
An arched stone ceiling whizzed by. It was the only thing she could see clearly apart from the fearful, sweat-stained face of the man carrying her.
“General Uncle! Where is mama? Where is papa!” She cried out, her voice small and childish.
She didn’t know what was going on, at least not at that moment.
“Don’t worry, princess. Don’t worry!” He tried to comfort her but the situation did not allow him much time.
There was a crash and he turned behind him, “What’s was that!”
“General Su, they’ve broken through the last shield array!” A frantic voice shouted, “They’re coming!”
The general’s face aged several decades in an instant. He knew what it meant and he knew what he had to do. It was his only duty.
“Form the squad behind me! We’re going to the crypts. The princess must escape! She has to make it out.”
“But King Long! We need to get him too!”
“This is his direct order! We’ve lost. The princess has to escape. Understand? Will you all perform this final duty for a fallen kingdom?” The general said gravely, “Or I can do it myself!”
“General!” Many voices shouted in response, “We will fight to the death!”
“Good, come!”
The party went into a narrow passageway and ran steadily downward. Long Yifei eye’s strained to see where they were going but it was too dark. Her vision was blurry but she didn’t know if she was crying or not.
The steady padding of footsteps stopped as they arrived in a small chamber. It was a dead-end and there was nowhere else to run.
Long Yifei was let down and deposited in the middle of a circular pedestal. A ring of runic inscriptions, far too complicated for her to understand surrounded her and the dimly lit room.
She looked up and extending her hand, missing the warmth and comfort that went away suddenly. The old general moved away and gave her a look filled with regret and profound sadness.
“Princess, you must live on. When you have grown up, you must come back and avenge us. You are our last hope!”
“General Uncle… General Uncle…” Long Yifei babbled, not understanding his words completely.
Faint cries and yells echoed down the entranceway. Soldiers shouted as they struggled to the death against unseen enemies.
“They are coming!”
“We can’t hold them!”
The general threw one last glance back at her and rushed out of the room. The stone doorway closed behind him and instantly, there was a thrum of spiritual energy.
The torches extinguished, casting the room in darkness. This was followed by a silvery glow that intensified with every passing moment. The room shook and rumbled, obscuring the sound of battle outside. Her body was lifted into the air by sheer power as a ball of light gathered around her.
Ping!
In an instant, the light disappeared, taking a reluctant Long Yifei along.
---
The cloudy visage dissipated slowly as Long Yifei was drawn out of her long dream. She felt herself for the first time in a long while. She had visited many memories of her past, some good, some bad, and some enlightening beyond her expectations.
The memories she thought lost had finally returned. She remembered who she was, her birthright. She was Princess Long Yifei, the last survivor of the Kingdom of Silver Cascades. It was a small mortal kingdom in the Great Falls Province. It was not a part of the Eastern Sanmu Subcontinent but the main continent that bordered it.
The teleportation array had deposited her in a random location, far away from her home in hopes that she would survive. She landed in the middle of a snowy mountain range but she didn’t freeze to death. Luckily, the perturbances in spiritual energy caused by the teleportation alerted an immortal who lived nearby. She was picked up by Immortal Forst Diamond Murong Aiyin and taken back to Glacier Palace.
By the time she woke up again, the shock of the prior event and the forceful teleportation had dislodged her memories. She could no longer remember her childhood no matter how hard she tried. She only carried with her a sense of urgency and a supreme dedication to cultivation and obtaining power. As she grew up in the sect, she always questioned her motivations but could never find an answer.
Now she finally had them. The dream array was a catalyst for recovering her lost memories. It was one of the mysterious benefits of a cultivation art that dealt with the mind.
She was glad. For the first time in a long time, she felt a sense of clarity. Her rapid thoughts calmed down and her mind relaxed into a comfortable cloud of nothingness. Great tiredness overtook her and she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
---
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