After activating the chanism up at the very top of the volcano with little to no trouble, Xuan and the High Elf senior descended back to where the others were waiting. The latter of which reactivated his appearance-changing artifact, and Xuan acted as if the conversation between the two of them did not happen.
Upon returning to the others, however… the two encountered an unexpected sight. Well, it was unexpected for the High Elf, but Xuan only furrowed his brows a bit. He seed to have anticipated this happening.
'So… in the end, it happened, huh?'
"… Well, isn't this a rather troubleso developnt."
Down below, Fu i and Zi Xiruo stood on one side, while the other Eight Great Family mbers stood on the other. Their weapons were drawn, and between them lay several bodies of the families' guards—dozens of them, in fact. Zi Xiruo was panting heavily since she was pushing herself to use her Qi in the fight while also keeping herself safe from the heat of the volcano, but Fu i seed to be more or less fine.
"What's the matter, imbeciles? Is that all you have?" She laughed tauntingly, spinning her scythe around in between her fingers. "For a group who were just threatening to kill , you're… awfully weak."
"Tch… this woman's real cultivation is higher than what she lets on," the well-dressed and refined man from before, presumably another heir, said quietly. "Brother Yang, it is not wise to continue fighting here."
"Brother Chen, I know that, but… with Peng Gong's death, if I don't kill this woman, the Peng family will definitely co to my doors complaining," Yang Tze replied through grit teeth. "I have to eliminate her here, no matter what it takes!"
"Yes, yes… I've had enough of you lot a long ti ago," Fu i said with a chuckle. "Co, beco new additions to my collection!"
With that, the two lunged at each other, finally making the fight personal. The High Elf, seeing this, lifted his arm and shot out a blast of energy from his fingertips, yellow like lightning. Xuan, seeing this, noted that he was a master of the Law of Thunder.
The lightning strike hit precisely where the senior wanted it to, straight in the middle between the two rivals. At the interference, the two hurriedly jumped back, and swerved their heads around to where the attack ca from. Naturally, they saw Xuan and the senior there, and both widened their eyes before quickly retreating. Yang Tze because he was afraid of the senior, Fu i because she was afraid of Xuan.
"Well, well, well. If we want to continue on from here together, we can't have things like this happening," the senior said, slowly descending on his flying sword and landing on the ground, Xuan following closely behind. "I understand that you have personal quarrels, but save them until we are out of this place, yes? I cannot have my plans foiled because of your ager conflicts."
He wore a smile, but it was a cold one. Yang Tze, seeing this, gulped and quickly nodded. No matter how much he wanted to kill Fu i, he could not risk offending this powerful master who could probably wipe out the entire Eight Great Families with a wave of his hand if he wanted to. The fracture in the ground below them was evident of that—just one tiny, half-assed Qi blast was enough to nearly split raw rock in half. Imagine what he was capable of if he was actually focusing and using a proper technique.
"If you understand, then say yes," he continued, to which Yang Tze flinched a bit.
"Y-Yes, senior."
"And you?"
He turned his head at Fu i, a stern gaze in his eyes. But Fu i being Fu i, how was she going to bow down to this man? She opened her mouth to speak, but Xuan shot her a look, and she imdiately closed it again.
"… Fine," she muttered, with no other choice. The High Elf shot a sideways glance at Xuan for a brief mont, then looked away and carried on.
"Perfect. Now that that's settled, let us continue, shall we?"
As if on cue, the lava level inside the volcano began to descend. The chanism's deactivation earlier must have been a bit delayed, but now it was finally working. With this, the path forward was cleared, and the group could continue descending. But after just a few steps, the entire volcano suddenly began shaking from the ground up, causing the group quickly stop and look around in panic.
"What's going on?!"
"There's… sothing rising out of the lava…!"
At the Huang family heir's words, everyone turned to see what was going on—and indeed, there, rising out of the lava seed to be a fairly sizable creature that was blindingly bright. Xuan narrowed his eyes.
"So… it's here after all?"
The creature had two beautiful molten wings of fire, with a body made out of pure, raw flas. Although its general shape was that of a bird, the details and intricacies of its divine, golden figure was anything but sothing that mundane. Its shape was flawless and perfect, like sothing that could not be described with words.
This—was a phoenix.
Rising far above the lava, the glorious mythical creature erged, appearing to be annoyed by the developnt that had occurred. It had apparently been resting inside the lava to heal or sothing of the sort, and now that the group had drained the lava away, it had been awoken. Surveying the group, the creature narrowed its fiery gaze, and opened its mouth to speak.
"Who dares to disturb my slumber?"
The voice was distinctly feminine, deep and imposing like a queen. Although its figure wasn't as big as that of a dragon or sothing similar, it sure posed similar pressure. But while everyone else trembled and gulped in fear, Xuan only smiled.
He knew this phoenix. She was his companion.
"… Long ti no see, Xiao Yan."
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