Chapter 29: Candle Yin
Inside the Divine Stone.
Although Little Roc had already ended the feather-divination and left, Li Jun was still pondering over matters concerning the One-Eyed Clan and the Candle Dragon.
Just as Little Roc had requested his help for the Ximu Clan, Li Jun saw a large number of images about the One-Eyed Clan and the Candle Dragon. At this mont, when he closed his eyes and his Double Pupils rged into one, those images still floated in his mind.
At this ti, the Double Pupils had not completely closed, when the Blue Bird beside him opened its beak and chanted a few syllables.
“Volcano.”
“Candle Soul.”
“Eyes open for day, eyes closed for night.”
In those images, he saw a mountain.
He saw a volcanic eruption, scarlet magma surging into the sky, molten strands and ash drifting in the air.
He saw countless wandering souls crawling out of the Underworld, staring at him in the darkness.
Lastly, he also saw the very sa scene he had seen before in the future—the awakening of the Candle Dragon’s power, and the mont of its first awakening when darkness shrouded the sky.
The sky darkened.
And in the darkness, the mountain ranges continued to rise, becoming taller and taller, as though a giant hand was reaching toward the heavens.
Li Jun did not know at what stage the Candle Dragon’s power stood now. If it was the sa as in later generations, where just the instant it awoke, opening and closing its eyes could enshroud the entire earth in darkness, then Li Jun had no idea how it could end.
But one thing he could confirm completely—behind the One-Eyed Clan, that demon was indeed the Candle Dragon he had seen in reality.
Among those images, he also saw a man who could transform into a human-headed, shadowy dragon-bodied form. He should be the shaman of the One-Eyed Clan, and this man seed to have unveiled many secrets about the Candle Dragon.
Li Jun thought: “I can dig out more secrets about the Candle Dragon from him, which will be useful later.”
However, those were all images related to the Candle Dragon.
More importantly, Li Jun also saw so other things—things about himself.
He saw that the Divine Stone had grown smaller again.
But just like before, he did not know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Does this an that the overflowing power of the Divine Stone has beco even harder to control?”
Or perhaps, there was another aning.
“I am about to erge from this stone.”
Li Jun remained motionless, deep in thought. But whether fortune or disaster, crisis or clue, all of it was tied to the Candle Dragon, and also depended on how far the Ximu Clan’s war against the One-Eyed Clan had progressed.
Sure enough, not long after, Li Jun sensed the Ximu Clan’s ritual sacrifice. That was a true ritual, precisely directed toward the Blue Bird, seeking to borrow power from it.
“Emperor’s Blue Bird!”
“Blue Bird.”
Li Jun heard the cries of the Ximu tribesn, their language ancient and primordial, their voices fervent to the point of madness.
Even separated by such distance, he could still feel the Ximu Clan’s hatred toward the One-Eyed Clan, as well as their yearning for war. He could sll the tension of battle that was about to erupt.
“Go!”
With a single thought from the Emperor, the Blue Bird began to circle. Its form seed sowhat illusory, as though about to transform into sothing beyond human perception.
Li Jun understood that its current appearance as a bird was only an outward shell; in essence, it was sothing humanity could not comprehend.
However, in the end, Little Roc did not completely invite the Blue Bird into her body. The ritual halted here.
But this ritual strengthened her bond with the Blue Bird, making her bodily transformations and divine powers grow even stronger.
Though Li Jun was unable to move within the Divine Stone, within Little Roc’s feelings and consciousness, the Emperor seed to descend alongside the Blue Bird.
He rode the Blue Bird as it fell from the Nine Heavens, descending to her side, pressing his hand upon her head.
Then, part of the images Li Jun had foreseen earlier entered Little Roc’s mind.
Li Jun asked her: “Did you see it?”
Little Roc slightly raised her head, her eyes gazing at the yet-unarrived future, joy flooding her face.
She said: “I saw it.”
Li Jun: “Go, end the war, and find the Candle Dragon!”
Wings sprouted from Little Roc’s back as she let out a bird’s cry.
“Chirp!”
As though in reply, as though saying yes.
Finally, Li Jun saw Little Roc transform into a great bird, leading the Ximu warriors toward the direction of the Fertile Fields.
The Fertile Fields.
The One-Eyed Clan ca from the north of the Fertile Fields. It was said they ca from a tall mountain at the end of the wilderness, living in the shadow of a mountain shrouded in perpetual darkness.
They crossed vast distances and finally arrived at this fertile land. Candle Yin was their leader, and also their first male leader and shaman.
At this very mont—
Candle Yin was inside a round felt tent supported by wooden beams, listening to a group of people speaking of the Emperor’s existence.
“The Emperor knows all, and sees all.”
“By the Emperor’s side there is a Blue Bird, which can bring fortune to people.”
“On Mount Kunlun there are peach trees, which can let people… can even let people… Mount Kunlun itself…”
“That’s right, even the Sacred Wood worshiped by the Hanhuang Clan is rely one of the powers the Emperor possesses.”
He learned more of the Ximu Clan’s legends—from the captives enslaved from the Ximu Clan, and also from those who had co from the Hanhuang Clan.
But upon hearing these words, the people of the One-Eyed Clan naturally grew furious, rebuking angrily.
“A Divine Stone fallen from the sun?”
“An Emperor?”
“Nonsense! Only the Candle Dragon—only the Candle Dragon was truly born from the sun.”
“The Candle Dragon is far stronger. When its eyes open, it is day; when its eyes close, it is night. How can any power compare to that?”
“The previous shaman said that the Candle Dragon fell from the heavens, it is the essence of the Great Sun.”
The One-Eyed Clan had not always been called so. They had once been a very small tribe.
Among them, there was a legend: long ago, a teor appeared in the sky, a streak of fire fell upon the land of their tribe, and from then they rose to power.
But while listening to the captives’ words, Candle Yin remained calm, completely unlike the other impassioned tribesn.
“So the Candle Dragon was not the only being to possess that power!”
“However, the powers of those other beings seed sowhat different from the Candle Dragon.”
“And there is an Emperor.”
“Not only does the Emperor command the Blue Bird, but also peach trees. Indeed, he should be the one who first descended from the Nine Heavens upon the human world.”
As Candle Yin thought this, his curiosity toward the Emperor grew strong, to the point he wished he could imdiately run to the foot of Mount Kunlun to see with his own eyes the missing upper half of the mountain peak the captives spoke of.
But soon, Candle Yin turned his gaze northward, and mories of the past surfaced in his mind.
“But even the Emperor cannot bring the dead back to life.”
“Yet the Candle Dragon can.”
For Candle Yin had actually died once. He was not even originally a mber of the One-Eyed Clan. He had been captured from afar, brought back as a slave, and sacrificed to the Candle Dragon alongside other offerings.
But the result was that Candle Yin did not die. Even after many days dead, he revived.
The One-Eyed Clan believed Candle Yin had gained the Candle Dragon’s recognition, and so made him the tribe’s shaman.
Yet although he had been resurrected, Candle Yin had lost all mory of his past—even his original na.
He only vaguely rembered one image.
He and a group of people were walking through the darkness, when in the distance a giant eye opened.
One by one, the others vanished into the darkness. Only he, staring into the Candle Dragon’s eye, received its power.
No, that was not right. He seed to have done sothing then, which allowed him to co back to life.
“That must have been the Candle Dragon’s eye. I saw the true Candle Dragon.”
“But what exactly did I do at that ti?”
“Why did the others all die, while I alone returned?”
“Why?”
Candle Yin sank into mories of the past. His head ached, but no matter how much he tried to recall, there was only a blank void.
He had already done this many tis. Each ti he thought of the Candle Dragon and of resurrection from death, he could not help himself. He was certain these matters hid secrets of resurrection, perhaps even the secret of immortality.
At last, he stood up abruptly, impatiently cutting off the others’ questioning of the captives.
“Enough. Ti to act.”
Candle Yin turned to one below him: “Have the people sent by the shaman of the Hanhuang Clan arrived yet?”
The one sitting cross-legged stood up: “They should have arrived. I just sent soone to receive them.”
Candle Yin said: “I will personally go to greet the people of the Hanhuang Clan. This ti we will join forces with them to utterly destroy the Ximu Clan.”
The crowd below cheered with excitent: “Destroy the Ximu Clan, and the Fertile Fields will wholly belong to our One-Eyed Clan.”
Although they had only just occupied the Fertile Fields, the One-Eyed Clan already fully considered it theirs. None of them were willing to part with this bountiful land.
They wanted to live here for generations, for their children and grandchildren to flourish here.
Candle Yin nodded, but his eyes betrayed so reservation.
Unlike most of the One-Eyed Clan, Candle Yin wanted to annihilate the Ximu Clan not rely for land, but to capture more slaves—in truth, to seize more “sacrificial offerings.”
He wanted to repeat what had once happened to him, to discover more secrets about the Candle Dragon.
“Capture all the Ximu people, and sacrifice them to the Candle Dragon!”
“With such a great number, perhaps the Candle Dragon will fully manifest, or perhaps another resurrected one will be born.”
“And I will once again see the Candle Dragon itself, and perhaps uncover the truth within.”
Candle Yin walked out, heading to receive the Hanhuang people.
In his heart, he was still thinking about the sacrificial ritual after the war—about its details.
He even thought that perhaps this grand ritual could grant him everything, restore his past, return his lost mories, and let him truly live again.
But as he galloped on horseback midway, Candle Yin suddenly saw sothing fly across the sky.
“No.”
“That is not a bird.”
Looking closely, Candle Yin recognized it as the shaman of the Ximu Clan.
Candle Yin imdiately dismounted, and with the others, found a place to hide, avoiding the gaze from above.
But once Little Roc, in bird form, had flown past, Candle Yin at once led his n rushing back. His reaction was swift.
“The Ximu Clan is attacking.”
But those around him said—
“Impossible!”
“Would the Ximu Clan still dare attack?”
“They were first worn down by constant raids from the Hanhuang Clan, and then fought a battle with us. How could they recover so quickly to attack again?”
“They must just be scouting.”
But Candle Yin insisted.
“The Ximu Clan is definitely attacking.”
And as Candle Yin returned to the tribe, he ordered the entire clan, along with all their vassal tribes, to prepare for war.
Everyone hastily made ready for battle. When they arrived at the battlefield they had chosen, ard and equipped, sure enough they saw the Ximu warriors rushing from afar with weapons in hand—gripping wooden spears and axes, advancing upon them, with so beating drums along the way.
The dong, dong, dong of drums accompanied by the thunder of footsteps carried a murderous aura pressing in from the distance.
“They really ca.”
“Their shaman—where is their shaman?”
“Be ready—they’re about to loose arrows.”
Candle Yin and the entire One-Eyed Clan were deeply shocked. It had been so little ti since their crushing defeat, yet not only had the Ximu not collapsed in morale, they had organized a counterattack even faster than expected.
At that mont, while everyone was focused forward, shielding against the incoming arrows, enemies charged from both flanks.
“Not good! There are people on the left and right!”
“We’re surrounded!”
“They foresaw we would choose this battlefield and had been waiting here all along.”
The One-Eyed Clan’s tribal coalition panicked. One by one, they did not know whether to defend the front or the sides. The vassal tribes especially fell into chaos.
Candle Yin instantly realized it—when he had spotted the Ximu shaman, Little Roc, it was because she had wanted him to see her.
The purpose was to lure their core forces into this trap. He just did not know how she had been so certain he would set the battlefield here.
But Candle Yin felt a chill. The enemy intended to completely crush them, even annihilate the One-Eyed Clan.
In a daze, the two sides were already clashing.
“Kill!”
“Loose arrows, loose arrows!”
“Hold them back!”
“Don’t let them break through!”
The attacking force ca well-prepared, while the defenders instead fell into encirclent. The situation was utterly unexpected—the Ximu Clan seed to hold the upper hand from the very start.
But the war between the Ximu and the One-Eyed was not to be decided by the battlefield alone. Ultimately, it still ca down to the shamans of both sides.
Just like before.
As soon as they appeared, they displayed power no mortal could withstand. Wherever they were, that place beca the very center of the battlefield.
Their inhuman forms, unlike anything of the mortal realm, radiated a force like an invisible field pushing others away. Those who dared approach had only the fate of being shattered to pieces.
In the end, the “center” of the battlefield held only the two of them locked in combat, while all others had fled far back.
But Candle Yin imdiately sensed sothing wrong.
When Little Roc, in her great bird form, landed, she instantly stirred a violent storm.
When her wings swept across, even the earth split open into a massive fissure.
And when Candle Yin struck her, her whole body was like refined iron, unmoving.
“Her power has grown stronger.”
“Her transford form is more perfected—she even looks taller.”
“Her speed is so fast, it’s as though she can predict my next move.”
Once again, Candle Yin used the sa trick, dragging the fight toward the ordinary tribesn of the Ximu Clan. He slaughtered many of them, forcing her into rage and grief, yet leaving her unable to do anything.
“Chirp!”
Little Roc was furious. Candle Yin seed to be threatening her—he could not defeat her, but the more she pressed him, the more of her people he would drag to death.
Thus, he led his n in a half-retreat, half-fight, buying ti until night.
He wanted, just as before, to use the cover of night to fight the shaman Little Roc.
“At night, let’s see what you can do to .”
This ti, Candle Yin would make the Ximu Clan lose utterly.
But he had not expected that the other side had also been waiting for night.
As soon as darkness fell—
The Ximu lit fires from multiple directions, all shining upon Candle Yin.
With light striking from many angles, Candle Yin’s shadow grew scattered and thin. He could not even control his form, and he fell out of his transford state.
In that instant, Candle Yin reverted from his dragon-bodied form back into human shape.
And at that mont, Little Roc seized the opening.
Her wings swept like blades, cutting Candle Yin in half. That strike carried deep hatred—fast and ruthless.
“Ah!”
Candle Yin let out a cry, but quickly stifled it, his scream turning into a cold grunt halfway.
He no longer cared about anything—he began fleeing imdiately.
Even with only half a body left, he did not die, transforming into a mass of shadow and slipping away into the distance.
At that, the One-Eyed Clan coalition completely collapsed. Even their warriors skilled in night battle fled one by one.
And Little Roc pursued right after Candle Yin, intent on exterminating him completely.
“How could this be?”
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