22 Dragon and Phoenix 11

They one by one entered the water, the world underneath illuminated by the shining sun. Walking on the ground, they went deeper and deeper until they had to light a few spells to see. Because there were quite a few strong monsters lurking underwater and none of them here were particularly specialized at underwater combat, Yin Mei put up several talismans for a protective barrier to hide them from sight, not wanting to catch the attention of any nasty monsters.

Mao Mao used a search technique and pinpointed a vague location that she guessed could be where the palace was. The palace had a more complex formation that resembled the one Yin Mei was using on her talismans, in that it hid the existence of the palace from monsters. But, that didn't make it impossible to find, though the male and female leads had only chanced upon it by coincidence. The place that Mao Mao had targeted was an area that no monsters approached even after a long amount of time had passed by. This was the most likely place that would be the underwater palace.

The group of them had to walk for an unknown number of days before they reached this area. At first glance, it didn't look like there was anything, but Feng Tian walked forward and with the noticeable ripple of a barrier, disappeared from sight. The rest of them followed, and before their eyes a large unlit palace appeared before them. They had reached their first goal.

The second was to find the teleportation array. Yin Mei had no worries about finding this. Although Long Aotian and Yao Ling had relied on luck and had wandered through the palace for a long time before finding it, their group knew exactly what they were looking for. Mao Mao launched another search technique. Of their group, Mao Mao had the best senses. As expected of their party's rogue class, she quickly found several places that had teleportation arrays.

The only problem was that they wouldn't know where they would lead unless they tried them out. It wasn't a really big deal, just that it would be a giant pain.

They walked into every single room with a teleportation array, setting up one time use return talismans each time before using them. The teleportation array to the tower happened to end up as the very last room they visited. Knowing that it was the last one, they could only pray that this was the correct array. Feng Tian, the oldest of the bunch, once more stepped forward with a brave heart and activated it, disappearing.

Several minutes passed by. Usually by now, he would have used the talisman to return. "This one should probably be the array?" Yao Lan said, when Feng Tian still didn't come back.

"No matter if it is or isn't, either way we should go through. If not just to make sure Feng Tian hasn't died yet," Hu Rong said in return.

"Hey, what if you jinx it?" Mao Mao said, though they all agreed that they should first go through and check on Feng Tian.

"You guys go first. I'll be there later," Yin Mei suddenly said. She already knew that this was the array to the tower the moment Feng Tian didn't come back, and so wasn't worried. "I have some business that I need to take care of." After all, if she left, she could stay here and make sure that the male and female lead were unable to enter the tower right?

Of course, several people had objections to that. "I have some personal business." The way that Yin Mei said it left no rooms for objection. She had on a stubborn expression, one that wouldn't take no for an answer. Feng Liu knew that his sister could no longer be persuaded and so could only leave. The others followed. Yang clearly wanted to stay, but a glare from Yin Mei caused him to retreat slightly. Yao Lan tugged on his sleeve, and in the end, while shooting glances back at the girl, he still left.

The only ones who remained were Yin Mei and the demon king.

"Your Majesty, you should also leave." Yin Mei said, but the demon king didn't say anything, as if silently protesting against Yin Mei's words. Yin Mei could only give up with an exasperated expression.

She turned around, about to walk away when the demon king grabbed her wrist. "Where are you going?" He asked with a furrowed brow, looking like a stubborn child.

"..." Yin Mei didn't answer, staring at the demon king's hand that was wrapped around her wrist.

The demon king's furrowed brow grew deeper when Yin Mei didn't answer, so he tugged her close to him, enveloping her in his embrace as he sat down, still hugging her.

At this point, Yin Mei's brain had completely short circuited and she had turned bright red, unable to form any sort of coherent thought.

The demon king wasn't sure why he felt like this, but he had the feeling that if he let the little rabbit out of his sight, history would certainly repeat itself. It was because he wasn't by her side last time that she had died. If he hadn't been in secluded cultivation, then she never would have gone out to have fun in the human world without him, and thus would have never died.

Although at first the demon king had followed Yin Mei around because he had been annoyed by that fly known as Yang, he also had this reason in mind when doing so. He very much believed that his negligence was the reason that the little rabbit had died.

For some reason, when Yin Mei had turned around just now, he had flashbacks toward when he had realized that she died. He didn't know why, but he felt that if he didn't grab onto her now, she would suddenly disappear.

If Yin Mei knew what the demon king was thinking, she would definitely shout at him to stop killing her off. She was still perfectly healthy and had no intentions of suicide, okay?

But Yin Mei couldn't read minds, and she was currently suffering the greatest problem she had ever faced in her life - being hugged by a beauty. More so than killing the former male lead in the lower realm or living on the run for seven years as a treasure hunter, this problem was much greater. It was a direct one-hit KO.

After a while like this, Yin Mei was slowly able to grow slightly used to it and gather her thoughts. She was still extremely embarrassed, but was actually able to think now. She was trying to come up with all sorts of reasons as to why this was happening, but only confused herself in doing so. In the end, she could only stay as still as possible, the awkward silence between them slowly making her feel like she was going crazy, and that this was, in fact, all a hallucination.

"I'm a corpse, I'm a corpse, I'm a corpse," she continuously thought to herself, even starting to chant the heart sutra in order to calm down.

She thought this would never end, and it in fact lasted for another several weeks before the male and female lead finally arrived much to her relief. Curse those cultivators that could stay like this for years without eating or going to the bathroom! She never thought she would be thankful for the presence of the male and female lead, but this situation was really too bad for her heart.

Long Aotian who walked in on this sight was practically blinded by these two flirting lovebirds. He completely misunderstood, but in this situation, there was no way someone wouldn't. For some reason, he felt slightly irritated. Although he and Yin Mei had already broken their engagement several years ago, Long Aotian still felt oddly possessive toward her at this moment.

For the arrogant Long Aotian, of course it would be unacceptable for someone who was once his woman to get over him and get together with someone else.

If Yin Mei heard this, she would definitely drown Long Aotian in spit. You abandoned Feng Hua for another woman, but can't stand it if she abandons you for another man? What a hypocrite!

"Hmph, what are you two lovers doing here?" Yin Mei said with a scornful expression, though because she was sitting and being embraced by a beauty, the scene took on an entirely different feel.

Not being able to stand being looked down upon, Yin Mei got up, though She Ming still stubbornly held onto her.

"We're looking for the exit. Does big sister Feng know where it is?" Yao Ling said, putting on an expression that seemed to demand pity.

Yin Mei sneered. This woman steals Feng Hua's man and still has the guts to actually refer to her as big sister? "I don't! Go look somewhere else!" She said in a domineering manner.

Yao Ling immediately made a look as if she was being bullied, her eyes darting to the teleportation array behind them. "But... that teleportation array..." She cautiously started.

"I said go look someone else. Who are you to have the courage to talk back to me?" Yin Mei looked at Yao Ling with a chilling gaze, her voice dropping by a few degrees.

"Feng Hua! That's enough. Don't bully Yao Ling, what did she ever do to you?" Long Aotian couldn't continue watching his woman get bullied and so stepped in, putting himself between Yao Ling and Yin Mei.

Yin Mei looked at him scornfully. "Just a little member of a branch family and she dares talk back to me? It seems that her parents didn't teach her properly. As expected of the daughter of an illegitimate son, she only amounts to this much." Yin Mei didn't like saying this, because she believed that people couldn't choose their birth, but seeing Yao Ling's ugly expression she was filled with an intense satisfaction.

"Feng Hua!" Long Aotian's tone grew harsher.

Yin Mei snorted, but also didn't continue. But, the demon king didn't like the tone that Long Aotian was using with his little rabbit, and glared at the man with despise. Because Yin Mei was being hugged from the back by the demon king, she couldn't see his expression, just seeing that Long Aotian was clearly upset. He didn't like the way that the demon king was looking at him. Just a serpent that relied on luck to come through the dragon gate, who did he think he was?

Long Aotian snorted, raising his hand and launching a technique, causing the demon king to let go of Yin Mei and kneel to the ground, clutching his chest in pain, his face going pale. "Long Aotian, you dare!" Yin Mei was immediately outraged when she saw this, throwing a blade of phoenix fire at him. For some reason, Long Aotian was unable to dodge it, taking the blade and grunting in pain. It was a fatal wound. Actually, Long Aotian and Yao Ling had been gravely injured when they had arrived her from being chased by the demonic beasts and he had just been able to barely heal himself, but was still in a weakened state. Because of this, he was unable to dodge Yin Mei's attack. But Yin Mei had no time to think about this, hurriedly handing the demon king a pill. He already seemed much better, as Yin Mei's attack caused Long Aotian to release the technique he had been using on She Ming.

"Big brother Tian!" Yao Ling cried out pitifully, her tears like dew on a peach blossom, looking very beautiful. She then glared at Yin Mei. "How could you hurt big brother Tian? If it's because of me, then you should take your anger out on me, not big brother Tian!" She said.

Excuse me? Yin Mei felt like this female lead was an idiot. What did this have to do with you at all? Wasn't she clearly taking revenge for her demon king? Who cared about you? "Who cares about someone like you? You're just a little child of an illegitimate child. Don't overestimate yourself."

Yao Ling's face grew pale as she wanted to spit blood at Yin Mei's words. Illegitimate child this, illegitimate child that, it's not like she chose to be born of the illegitimate branch okay?

Of course Yin Mei knew this, but such a good way to anger the female lead, how could she give it up? Yin Mei looked down at the injured and kneeling Long Aotian, who was glaring at her. Wait, wasn't this the perfect opportunity to get rid of the male lead? Once such a thought entered her head, it wouldn't go away no matter what. Her lips curled up into a smile, making Long Aotian and Yao Ling feel uneasy.

"This is just perfect. I've always been waiting for this moment." Yin Mei's voice was sweet, but to Long Aotian and Yao Ling it felt like the claws of the devil reaching up from hell to drag them down, colder than ice.

"This is self-defense okay? I had no choice." Yin Mei said, justifying herself as she took her sword out from her storage ring. "Just blame your own bad luck."