Chapter 280: The Sky Palace (1)
That night, Yan Wuhen and Rong Yue left Earth City behind.
They reunited with Jun Haoxuan and Lan Meishan at the misty border where Earth City met Wind City, taking over an entire grand inn for the night.
No outsiders were permitted anywhere near the perimeter; any who approached were instantly repelled by an invisible, oppressive wall of raw aura from the divine beasts.
Inside the largest chamber, Ningyan lay unconscious upon the heavy bed. His breathing was shallow but steady, his pale face framed by silver-white hair.
The four divine beast kings surrounded him.
Each radiated a distinct, terrifying presence.
Rong Yue stood near the carved doorway like an unyielding mountain. Tall and imposing, his golden-striped tail swayed in slow, lethal arcs behind him, his icy blue gaze fixed unblinkingly upon the bed.
Yan Wuhen sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber. His nine crimson-gold tails spread elegantly around him like a royal mantle, their soft tips occasionally brushing against the floorboards.
A slender, carved smoke pipe rested lazily between his lips, his expression deceptively relaxed, though his ears twitched at every micro-shift in the room’s energy.
On the bed, Lan Meishan sat on one side of Ningyan while Jun Haoxuan occupied the other.
Meishan’s palm rested lightly against Ningyan’s forehead. A gentle green radiance seeped from beneath his slender fingers, flowing seamlessly into Ningyan’s meridians.
Haoxuan’s hand rested flat over Ningyan’s chest. His golden eyes were closed, his divine sense already penetrating deep within the phoenix, probing the demon crystal buried near his heart.
For a long while, no one spoke.
Finally, Meishan slowly withdrew his hand, his brows drawn into a tight, rare line of displeasure.
"You two should have brought him to me sooner," he said quietly, his tone laced with cold reprimand. "Instead, you kept him lingering in the White Tiger Clan."
Removing his spectacles, he wiped the lenses with a silk cloth before placing them back upon the bridge of his nose, his serpent eyes unreadable.
Rong Yue’s tail stilled. "What did you find?"
Meishan glanced toward him. "His beast core is stable."
Rong Yue’s rigid posture eased a bit.
"However," Meishan continued solemnly, "everything surrounding it has been utterly corrupted. His meridians, his spiritual sea, his divine bloodline..."
His gaze settled back on Ningyan’s pale face. "Even the foundational vessel of his soul has been deeply contaminated by demonic qi."
Wuhen’s amber eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "And?"
Meishan turned his head slightly toward the dragon beast king. "Only Haoxuan can help him now."
Wuhen slowly exhaled a thick plume of fragrant smoke. "Except he hates Haoxuan."
His gaze flicked toward the unconscious phoenix. "If he were awake right now, he would be tearing this inn apart trying to kill him."
Rong Yue’s expression grew heavy. "And you cannot stabilize the crystal simply because he is unconscious?"
Meishan shook his head. "The crystal is bound directly to his sealed memories. If Haoxuan forces his divine dragon qi into it while Ningyan’s subconscious mind is actively resisting, the backlash will shatter his core and soul."
Wuhen’s fingers tapped a rhythmic, impatient cadence against his knee. "So we are at a complete stalemate."
"No." Haoxuan finally opened his eyes. His striking golden gaze remained impossibly calm as he looked down at Ningyan. "We simply need him to stop fighting us."
Wuhen gave him a flat, unimpressed look. "He hates you."
"I am aware."
"And he will try to kill you the moment he wakes."
"I am aware of that as well."
Wuhen stared at him, looking for even a single crack in the dragon beast king’s unyielding armor. Haoxuan remained utterly, infuriatingly composed.
A faint, sharp smirk slowly curled Wuhen’s lips. "You are annoyingly calm."
"I have been called far worse by far lesser beings," Haoxuan replied smoothly.
A low, dark laugh escaped Wuhen. He took one last, slow draw from his smoke pipe before flicking it casually across the room straight toward Haoxuan’s chest. A streak of crimson-gold fox fire trailed behind it.
Haoxuan didn’t even blink. He lifted a hand and caught the pipe effortlessly between two fingers.
The moment the weapon touched his skin, the aggressive red-gold radiance vanished, suppressed instantly by a ripple of blue that quickly dissolved into the air.
Without breaking eye contact with the nine tailed fox, Haoxuan lifted the pipe to his own lips and inhaled deeply.
The fragrant smoke curled slowly around his sculpted face and a rare, almost imperceptible smile touched the corner of his mouth.
Wuhen’s ears twitched as he glanced at Rong Yue. "See?"
Rong Yue raised an eyebrow. "See what?"
"I knew he would like my blend."
Haoxuan exhaled a thin, elegant stream of white smoke into the air between them. "It is decent."
Wuhen’s smile dropped, his tails flaring behind him as he looked genuinely offended. "Decent?"
"We need to focus on the matter before us."
Lan Meishan’s voice cut through the air, quiet yet heavy with frustration. His gaze remained painfully fixed on Ningyan’s face. "It is painful seeing him like this."
Rong Yue’s expression softened. "That is precisely why we are going to stay together for the time being."
Meishan looked toward him, listening intently.
"Our clans cannot afford to fall into disorder simply because their rulers are temporarily absent," Rong Yue continued. "If we remain together, we can divide our attention between our clans and Ningyan. And if something happens..."
His gaze swept across the three divine beasts. "...we will be far stronger together than apart."
Meishan considered the logic, the quiet tension in his shoulders easing as he slowly nodded. "Very well."
Wuhen’s nine tails flickered behind him in smooth, graceful arcs. "I have no objections," he purred, his eyes drifting back toward the bed. "Especially if it means keeping him where we can watch his every breath."
Jun Haoxuan remained silent for a long moment, the smoke from Wuhen’s pipe drifting lazily around his imposing silhouette. Then, he spoke. "Let us go to the Sky Palace."
The other three turned their attention toward him.
Haoxuan’s golden, reptilian eyes remained unreadable. "The Sky Palace is secluded, and the spiritual energy there is considerably denser. More importantly, its divine energy is pure enough to suppress the demonic fluctuations within Ningyan’s body."
Wuhen rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his fox ears perking up with sudden interest. "Hmm... That makes sense."
Rong Yue gave a firm nod. "Then it is decided."
Lan Meishan turned back to the bed. He reached out, his slender fingers tenderly smoothing the silver-white hair from Ningyan’s forehead as he leaned down, whispering softly against his skin, "Let’s go home, A-Yan."