Xinxin's scream ended abruptly. Pian'er was immediately on her feet. She sent a dozen lotus flames flying, which lit up the cave. Shadows were cast by the icy walls, which were so deep black that they would hardly have seen the hole in the floor if Pian'er hadn't almost fallen into it. "A'Xin?" she called out worriedly, shining her light into the pitch-black tunnel. Liu Yan shot his qi thread into the darkness.
"I'll jump in after her," Pian'er decided and got ready. But Liu Yan held her back and shook his head. The pulsating red thread slid back into the vein in his wrist.
"The cave system is extensive, it's unlikely that you'll come out in the same place as her, and then I'll have to search for two people," he said. Pian'er nodded and took a step back as Liu Yan sent his black shadows ahead. There was a tremendous rumble and the two staggered dangerously.
Ice shards trickled from the ceiling. Liu Yan intensified his magic and exerted more pressure against the resistance that was preventing him from exploring the cave system. There was an even louder rumble and Pian'er was thrown to the side. "Your Highness!" she cried warningly and quickly jumped back to her feet.
Liu Yan gasped with exertion, but he couldn't move another inch. He wouldn't be able to reach Xinxin like this. Was there no other choice but to search the entire tunnel system? Xinxin was no longer a weak mortal; she wouldn't survive the icy temperatures of the night. His heart skipped a beat for a moment and he threw his shadows against the barrier with all his might. But it was too strong, too dense, too complicated. He felt the golden light penetrate his shadows, dissolving them from within and pushing them back. As he sank to his knees and spat blood, Pian'er rushed to his side.
"Your Highness, this is divine magic, you cannot counter it," she said quietly. Liu Yan shook her off, but before he could reprimand her, a red thread slid out of the hole. It snaked through the air as if searching for something, then shot straight into Liu Yan's chest and anchored itself firmly in his heart. Pian'er tried to pull the thread, but Liu Yan grabbed her hand and pushed her away. He felt the warm, familiar sensation.
"That's Xinxin," he said softly, watching the thread curl around his fingertip before lowering his hand again.
"She wants to tell us that she's fine."
"I thought she couldn't use magic?" Pian'er asked, confused. Liu Yan nodded, that was right. It definitely felt like Xinxin, it was one of her talismans, but she hadn't used one in a long time. "Your Highness?" Liu Yan followed Pian'er's gaze. Part of the ice began to melt, revealing a staircase carved into the rock.
He gave her a sign and she sent her lotus flames ahead to light the way before they followed. It went steadily downhill. The red thread floated in the air and penetrated the stone that surrounded them. The path was long and led steadily downhill until they reached a huge hall. Liu Yan felt his power waning significantly. He tentatively raised a hand and let the black shadows flicker over his fingertips. He was weaker and more hesitant than usual.
"A'Xin!" Pian'er suddenly exclaimed. They found her huddled against a coffin. She was ice cold, and her black hair covered her pale face. She looked as if she were asleep, but Pian'er couldn't wake her. Liu Yan took Xinxin in his arms and threw his coat over her.
"So it's you," murmured a voice. Liu Yan looked up. A golden boy was floating a few feet above him.
"What have you done to Xinxin?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing, it's just too cold for her. I've already loosened the spell a little and let you in, but now you have to go," Xueling said firmly. Liu Yan stood up, but Xinxin held him back weakly with her icy fingers. Her eyelids fluttered open.
"Don't," she whispered tonelessly.
"Divine beast." Then she fell back into unconsciousness. Liu Yan's anger swelled, rearing up inside him like a roaring beast with fangs and claws. Pian'er shook her head.
"The pure magic of a divine beast would burn you from within, Your Highness," she said warningly. Liu Yan looked at Xueling coldly.
"You should take the girl away from here," Xueling said, looking at Xinxin. "She even offered to come with me." Pian'er snorted. Xueling tilted her head.
"But I don't think we're a good match, are we? I am a guardian beast and have been alone for many thousands of years, so I will stay here for a while longer.
But for Xinxin's sake, I'll do you a favor. Should the day come when your greed for power and recognition is her undoing, bring her here and I will watch over her until she returns to the river of rebirth," Xueling offered. For thousands of years, he had missed the warm words of a human being. Xinxin reminded him very much of his master, a good, sincere man, scarred by the greed of humans. Liu Yan's gaze darkened.
"I will take care of her. No one will ever hurt her again," he replied coldly.
"The curse shackle is destined to absorb the impure, to experience all the suffering in the world and to purify you. Sooner or later, you will drag Xinxin into ruin with you. You chose this path yourself, and she chose to walk it with you." Xueling floated higher, and soon the light he radiated disappeared and the cold struck relentlessly. Pian'er held the conjured lotus flame aloft with trembling fingers.
"Your Highness, we should go, A'Xin..." Liu Yan was pulled out of his relentless rage. He had watched the beast, but with Xinxin in his arms, he had been unable to throw anything at it. He nodded and pressed Xinxin's icy body close to him before they left the old temple and the icy mountain.
"So that power was a divine beast," Pian'er mused aloud, pushing the logs back and forth in the fire. Xinxin lay next to her, asleep, but her face had regained some color.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, Xinxin was right. You absorb corrupted qi, whereas the boy is made of pure qi. He would have burned you from the inside," she confirmed. Liu Yan wasn't listening. He sat in front of the fire, which was reflected in his dark eyes, and had placed one of his slender fingers between his lips. He seemed to be thinking about something. "Are you thinking about what the boy said? About A'Xin?" Pian'er asked bluntly.
Liu Yan looked up and gave her a warning glance. The cheeky demoness immediately shut her mouth. The only one who could talk to him freely was Xinxin. Pian'er brushed a strand of hair from her face. "For some reason, her meridians were destroyed. So she can't absorb either pure or impure qi," she said quietly.
"And I also promised to take care of her," Pian'er said eagerly. Liu Yan sighed softly. That seemed to have weighed on him constantly. Pian'er was silent for a while; the night was long and neither of them was very talkative. She glanced at Xinxin, who was sleeping blissfully, then at Liu Yan.
"Your Highness," she began cautiously. "What is it you actually want?" she asked gently. Liu Yan looked at her for a moment, then lowered his gaze without answering. Pian'er gathered her courage.
"You want to become strong, more powerful, but for what?" she pressed. She couldn't imagine that they did nothing but wander around and let themselves be driven from one place to the next. Liu Yan looked at Xinxin.
"Revenge," he said soberly. He rested his head on his fingertips.
His pale face with full, dark lips and dangerously burning eyes fixed on her.
"I want to see the people who made my life hell suffer, and I want to destroy those who did these cruel things to Xinxin." Pian'er looked at Xinxin. Well, she probably wouldn't stop him, but she wouldn't be happy about it either.
"But for Xinxin's sake, I want to find a place where we can live without being judged," Liu Yan added more gently.
"That's not possible in the Kingdom of Tian or the Empire of Wu," Pian'er sighed, poking at the embers. Li Yan looked at her. After a few minutes, a smile spread across his face.
"You mean we should establish our own kingdom?" he asked smugly. Pian froze. Liu Yan began to laugh, softly at first, then louder, as if the idea amused him immensely. Then he looked back into the flames.
"Why not? I was born a prince, a curse-bound and lord of the unclean. There is enough land between the enemy empires that no one claims," he mused aloud. "I will make it mine. In one of our training sessions, you said that absorbing the energy of demons is only temporary. Training is important to consolidate one's power. But also that the more demons there are around me, the more powerful I will become," he added. Pian'er nodded hesitantly. "If your power is like this fire, Your Highness," Pian'er explained, pouring some alcohol into it so that the flames flared up with a hiss. "Every single demon near you would be like a drop of oil being poured out. But instead of killing them and getting only that one drop, you might as well get a whole river of oil, or more precisely, demonic energy, over a longer period of time," she concluded. Liu Yan looked at Pian'er through the blazing flames.
"Demons, like me, have a natural reverence for the curse shackle. You are the source of our power. Without you, the corrupt meridians from which we draw our strength could not exist. You filter the evil qi and direct it into these veins, from which we in turn draw our strength." The idea that Liu Yan could rise to become the lord of all demons sounded crazy at first, but when she thought about it, she had to admit that it was entirely plausible.
"If that's the case, then we should first find out where the borders are in a larger city. There are surely some crossings that are well guarded and others that are less so. If we fight our way out by force, your plan will remain just a plan. Until you can really build up an army of demons that can take on the combined forces of both countries, you should keep a low profile," Pan'er interjected. Liu Yan had been listening, and he nodded thoughtfully. The prospect of claiming his birthright and becoming ruler lifted his spirits considerably. He pointed at her with the branch he had been stirring the embers with.
"You will be my first general. If you remain loyal to me, I will give you back your petal and with it, an army of demons under your command." Pian'er laughed. It was all just wishful thinking, wasn't it? A general? Nevertheless, she nodded. Tian Liu Yan was the curse shackle. Ruler of the corrupt sources of power. Hadn't humans been afraid of it their whole lives? Wasn't that why the curse shackle had fallen out of favor and become so hated?
Because of its power, because of its ability to plunge everything into chaos and ruin? If it were up to Pian'er, she was only too willing to teach a lesson to the humans who hunted her and her kind to the death, regardless of whether they were a danger or not. To finally assign them their place, to show them that demons also had a right to live in this world.