Chapter 257 - The Sacrifice

"She's out of danger, but..."

"But? What is wrong with my princess?"

A woman wearing an elegant green evening gown with long silver hair asked the doctor. Her eyes were filled with worry about her little daughter who was sleeping behind the closed door of her bedroom.

"Even though we succeeded in saving her life..., her soul mark has gone cold. There's a possibility that it will stay in that state forever." 

As soon as the doctor's words registered in the mind of the lady, she staggered on her feet, bumping into her husband who immediately held her by her shoulders.

"Not only this but it feels like she has also forgotten about what happened to her in the Death Valley. All that she can remember for now is that she went to the arena yesterday night around eight o'clock."

The doctor further informed about the little girl's condition.

"I'm sure she can survive through this. It's definitely not an ending for her. Rather, I think this will lead to a new beginning for our daughter."

This time, it was the father who spoke. Both his eyes and voice held such confidence and composure, making the others believe in his words.

Two pairs of eyes were keenly observing the scene unfold. One belonged to the same man who saved the life of the little girl, while the second belonged to Li Ming.

Her eyes held confusion but in addition to that, she also looked depressed and worried.

After she watched the black and red robed man using Kara's suggested method to save the life of the little girl, many of her questions had been answered.

However, with some answers, there came many more questions. Just as troublesome as the first ones.

Not only that but her mind, soul, and heart, all were suffering terribly as she realized that one of her mates had paid a very high price for saving her life, something that she never got to know till now.

Her eyes met with the piercing gaze of the black and red robed man who was staring directly at her.

A small soft smile appeared on his lips as he gave her a slight nod and with that, his silhouette disappeared from the room.

Next, she found herself standing inside a cave-like place and her eyes landed on the silhouette of the Valkyrie.

The evil woman was sitting on a throne like thing as she kept staring at the red crystal ball that was sitting on the table beside her throne.

There was a very sinister smile plastered on her lips. One that could give goosebumps to anyone.

"Do you want to know what this is?" 

The Valkyrie suddenly asked out, making Li Ming turn around to look at the person the Valkyrie was talking to.

However, she found no one. There was only the Valkyrie present in that cave physically.

"Of course, there's no one here except me. But you are really lucky to have such a good fate in soul mates." 

The Valkyrie again spoke up with her eyes still trained on the red crystal ball and this time, there was no doubt left that she was actually talking to Li Ming.

"You can see me?" Li Ming could not help but ask. It was a miracle that she was still able to speak even though she was not present there in physical form.

"Are you insulting me, girl? Definitely not a good idea seeing that we are not on good terms with each other. Right?" 

The Valkyrie finally turned her eyes towards the area where Li Ming was present. The sinister smile on her lips only grew as her eyes stared at her with hatred.

"Do you really think that you can have all those hot sexy mates to yourself? What a childish assumption! Just see how I'm gonna snatch them away from you. They will be mine. SOON!" 

With that being said, the Valkyrie grabbed the crystal ball, and immediately her body started disappearing from that cave.

Her eyes held that same sinister evil expression in them till the very moment she vanished completely from the cave.

Li Ming felt her surroundings changing once again and this time she did not even bother to get a grip on the dark spell that was working on the array.

She just let the dark abyss pull and push her soul through different spaces and just like that she was back in her physical body at the Lotus Manor Courtyard.

Her eyes immediately flew open and her ears registered the sound of joy that erupted throughout the courtyard.

Both the Elders and disciples of the Array Sect were filled with happiness and pride as soon as they registered that it was Li Ming who won the challenge.

The respect that they had for their High Senior Disciple only increased. They were more than happy to have her as the sole heir of the Qi Formation Technique as long as she did not cause any shame to Master Lu, Array Sect, or the Guixian Academy as an entire.

As soon as one of the elders announced Li Ming as the winner of the challenge contest, Tiao Chen finally came out of the array that had kept him trapped for so long.

As the eyes of the young man flew open, they were filled with anger, fear, and a lot of frustration.

While on one hand, Tiao Chen kept complaining about how Li Ming played dirty by tricking him, the elders and others paid him no attention.

Their entire focus was on the young lady who had been sitting in her lotus position ever since she came out of the array. Her face was completely expressionless as she stared at nothing in particular.

Before any of the elders could make any sound to spout praises for their High Senior Disciple, everyone was left completely baffled as they watched Li Ming suddenly vomiting dark blood.

Her complexion turned pale as sweat started appearing on her forehead and started dripping down her cheeks and chin to her collarbone and down.

Her mind could no longer get a grip on the situation. Shivers were running all over her body.

Her mind was filled with the image of the black and red robed Immortal transferring the black mist to his own soul mark.

Her soul writhed in pain as it remembered the moments she had seen her mate going through immense pain because of his broken soul mark.

Her own soul mark was also suffering remembering the condition of the Second Demon Prince's soul mark.

All the pain that she was feeling mixed with the effects that the evil array left on her caused an imbalance in her spiritual ocean, making her meridians fight for balance.

Before she could pass out due to the immense torture that was driving her insane, she felt a warm pair of arms circling around.

Immediately warmth and comfort started covering her body and seeping into her soul, lifting a little bit of sadness from her heart.

If the elders and disciples were not shocked enough to see their High Senior Disciple vomiting blood all of a sudden after winning the challenge, then they were definitely shocked after witnessing what happened after that.

Master Lu was the first one to make a move as he instantly stood up from his seat. However, it was the Supreme Immortal who left everyone in real shock as he was the first one to reach the young lady.

Not only that but the next second they all watched their Academy Head pulling the girl in his arms as he looked at her with worried eyes.

The Elders passed each other quick surprised glances while the disciples did the same. 

No one knew exactly what was happening but no one dared to ask anything. 

On the other hand, Wen Guiying cared about nothing else except his Sweet Mate. His arms tightened around her as he swiped his fingers across her sweaty forehead.

His eyes quickly roamed all over her writhing body as he tried to find out exactly what was wrong with her.

He did not waste any more time there as he picked her up in his arms and disappeared from the courtyard.

He took her to his chambers and placed her on the huge bed, making her sit in a lotus position.

Immediately he pulled out his spiritual qi and started channeling it into Li Ming as he made her spiritual qi calm down and stop fighting.

It took hours before Li Ming's soul, heart, and spiritual qi, all calmed down and she succumbed to sweet dreamless sleep.

As she rested in the powerful but equally comfortable arms of her mate, a calm and serene expression took over her face.

The Supreme Immortal kept looking at his Sweet Mate with adoring eyes as he listened to her steady breathing. Her heartbeat matched his own and this made his previously chaotic soul to finally calm down.

He was completely oblivious about the fact that their relationship was going to change forever from the coming day.