23 Dragon and Phoenix 12

With a wave of her sword, she brought it down on Long Aotian. Just before her sword was about to hit him, he pushed Yao Ling away, activating an escape technique and she disappeared. "Saving that girl even as you're about to die? How sweet." Yin Mei said, but her sword didn't pause and she cut through him, causing him to collapse onto the floor. He coughed up blood, glaring at Yin Mei.

"Don't think you'll get away with this," He growled.

Yin Mei shrugged, looking indifferent. "Now that you're gone, there's no need to." That's right, even if she was imprisoned, at this point, it didn't matter. Once the demon king obtained the legacy from the tower, with the support of the phoenix clan behind him, him changing his title from demon king to dragon king was inevitable. The biggest obstacle was already gone. Everything after this would be smooth sailing. As for Yao Ling, it was just her luck that the entrance to Talkan's Realm had already closed. She would have to wait until it opened again in twenty years before she could do anything.

Long Aotian, seeing Yin Mei's uncaring attitude, was literally angered to death, coughing up one more mouthful of blood before passing. Yin Mei looked down coldly at his cooling body. She didn't seem to feel anything when looking at him, and wondered if she had lost something fundamental for a human. She felt a slight fear, though quickly got over it after a couple of moments. But, thankfully the protagonists died much easier than she always thought they would. She was grateful that the life force of a cockroach characteristic seemed to be weak in Long Aotian and the ninth prince, or who knows how much extra effort she would have to expend to complete her mission. She wasn't sure why this was the case, but she didn't care too much as it was only beneficial to her.

"Your Majesty, let's go through the teleportation array now." Yin Mei said, turning to look toward the demon king, who had already completely recovered from whatever it is that Long Aotian had done to him.

The demon king looked at her and nodded. This scene reminded him of the one from a long time ago... Although Yin Mei had already changed, the images overlapped and he couldn't help but pat her head again. Yin Mei was startled, but the stress in her body that she didn't even notice she had completely melted away.

The two walked through the teleportation array after Yin Mei looted and burned Long Aotian's corpse.

In no time, twenty years passed.

The members of the group all left the tower at different times, until only Yin Mei and the demon king remained inside.

Soon, Yin Mei also left. She met up with the rest of the group, who had set up talismans around the tower to notify them when someone would appear after exiting. "It's almost time for the entrance to open again," she said as they all nodded. None of them discussed what they had gained inside the tower, as that would be rude.

Yin Mei looked to the tower. She never had any doubts that the demon king would obtain the legacy of the tower. She believed that he was even more suitable than Long Aotian. It took another week until the demon king also left. Walking out, he had actually advanced by two large realms and could now be barely on par with the weaker members of the noble families. It was clear that he made great gains while in the tower.

The members of their group returned to meet up with their respective clan members, spending the rest of the time inside Talkan's Realm as they pleased until it was time to leave.

Exiting and returning home, the first thing that Yin Mei's parents did was to dote on them and spoil them, having been going through withdrawal symptoms from not seeing their daughter for so long. As for their two sons, these grown men, who had the time to care for them?

Feng Tian and Feng Liu: ... Well, we also are too busy doting on our sister to care.

But that didn't last long. A few days later, Yin Mei was called by the emperor. On the way to the palace, Yin Mei looked up at the sky. She guessed that she would probably be imprisoned, for a maximum of a thousand years maybe? "Big brother... promise me you'll help She Ming ascend the dragon throne," she said, to her older brother who was accompanying her.

Feng Tian was surprised, wondering what brought this on. He recalled that Long Aotian had never come back from Talkan's Realm and thought of something. He looked directly at Yin Mei, who calmly gazed back. "... I promise," in the end, he could only say this.

When they reached the emperor's audience chamber, Yin Mei saw that Yao Ling was already kneeling there and nodded, as expected it was for this matter. Yin Mei and Feng Tian both kneeled down. Yin Mei recalled that this was her second time meeting the Jade Emperor, though in Feng Hua's memories, she had already met him several times before.

"There is a witness who says that you killed the heir to the dragon clan, Long Aotian. Is this true?" The Jade Emperor didn't put on airs, getting directly to the point. His voice was calm and gentle, but had a dignity that belonged only to an emperor, commanding great respect from the listener.

"Yes," Yin Mei also didn't beat around the bush, honestly admitting to her crime. In the first place, the Jade Emperor had the ability to see through lies, so what was the point?

"I see, describe what happened." The Jade Emperor said. He liked this girl, and although he would have to punish her for this crime, depending on the circumstances he could make that punishment lighter without being accused of favoring others.

"I and my companion were at an underwater palace in Talkan's Realm, when Long Aotian and Yao Ling appeared. They asked if we knew where the exit was, to which we replied that it wasn't here and that they should look elsewhere. For some reason, Long Aotian launched an attack technique at my companion and in my rage, I attacked Long Aotian. Who knew that he had been weakened for some reason and didn't dodge? In the end, he died. Your Majesty, as you can see, this could all be considered self-defense." Yin Mei said. The way she had worded it made none of it appear like a lie. She just never told the entire truth. The Jade Emperor may be able to see through lies, but in the end, his ability had constraints. Well, the Jade Emperor should know that best. But, if she said it this way, he would have an excuse for giving her a lighter punishment.

"Your Majesty, that's not what happened! She clearly killed Big Brother Tian because she had a grudge against him for breaking their engagement-" Yao Ling immediately leapt up to complain, but was immediately silenced by a voice from the Jade Emperor.

"Insolence! Who gave you the right to speak?" He said, bringing the staff in his hand down loudly. "The youngest daughter of the phoenix clan told no lies. Initially the punishment of killing a noble clan's heir would be death with no chance of reincarnation, but in light of the circumstances, I will only sentence the daughter of the phoenix clan to sealed imprisonment of five hundred years."

Yin Mei had a pleasant surprise. It seemed the Jade Emperor favored her more than she thought he did, directly cutting her predicted imprisonment time in half. But, well, five hundred years was still a lot... she wondered if she would go crazy with boredom?

Feng Tian was feeling extremely frustrated, glaring at Yao Ling with a vengeance. Yin Mei had already been prepared for all this, and there was nothing he could do. He could only resolve to take revenge on Yao Ling later.

Yin Mei was thus chained up and sealed inside the capital's prison tower, on the lowest level, strung up on the wall like some sort of voodoo doll. Although it was a little uncomfortable, something like this was no big deal. Well, even five hundred years was a bit long for a younger cultivator like her, but even that could be considered nothing much. Just about enough time for a long nap.

And, to top it off, Yin Mei had the handy dandy system available to her, that would allow her to monitor the situation of the female lead. Oh wait! Yin Mei realized that she could have also used this to monitor the demon king instead of the water basin. Oh well, either one would have worked.

And so, Yin Mei spent her time in imprisonment watching TV.

She delightedly watched as the phoenix clan slowly tortured Yao Ling, and as step by step, the demon king ascended the throne four hundred years later. She even watched as that girl Yao Ling started to develop a crush on Yang, and as Mao Mao got together with Feng Tian. She was amazed, completely unable to predict these developments. Hell, even Gui Neng's feelings for that suitor of hers from the Qilin family were slowly changing from hate to like!

It was practically like watching a never ending soap drama.

"Main mission has been completed, but due to unexpected changes in the villain's mindset, the system will recalculate a new mission." These words from the system immediately changed her delight toward the demon king becoming the dragon king into rage.

"What the f*ck! This is a rip off! System, come back here, I promise I won't kill you!" But no matter how much she yelled at the system, it never replied. After a few years, she calmed down as she pondered the meaning of the system's words. She wondered what was going on through the demon king's - wait, now dragon king's - mind. She was then angry at She Ming. Why wasn't the dragon throne enough for you? What else do you want!?

But she would never get an answer to that question.

A few years before she was to be released, Yao Ling paid her a visit. She showed the true cockroach survivability of a protagonist, unlike the other three before her, still not dead despite what she had gone through under the hands of the phoenix clan and the reborn dragon clan. But, she still retained her pretty looks and had actually bribed and slept with one of the small time guards here to get inside and meet Yin Mei.

Yin Mei looked down at Yao Ling, her face clearly showing an expression of amusement. "So why are you here, looking for this humble prisoner." She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You, we both know you intentionally killed big brother Tian because he dumped you for me! Why is it that not even the Jade Emperor will listen to me, even though I'm telling the truth? He even weakened your punishment by so much. In a few years time, you'll leave the tower and be welcomed with open arms, while big brother Tian will never come back!" Yao Ling glared fiercely at Yin Mei, who looked at her as if she was crazy.

"I killed him because he was an obstacle. With him in the way, She Ming wouldn't have been able to become the dragon king so easily. Don't flatter yourself, brat." Yin Mei really looked down on Yao Ling's mindset that the world had to revolve around her. She sneered at the girl, clearly enjoying Yao Ling's misfortune.

Yao Ling was so angered that her eyes turned red with tears. She didn't know why, but she just felt like things shouldn't have ended up like this. The cause of all her misfortune was definitely the person in front of her. No matter what happened, this person still looked so beautiful and arrogant. Actually, after five hundred years, her hatred toward Yin Mei had transformed into a deep jealousy. She was no longer doing this because Yin Mei had killed Long Aotian, but because she herself was jealous of Yin Mei. Before she even realize it, a sword had appeared in her hands, going through Yin Mei's stomach.

Yin Mei was shocked, looking down at the blade that was piercing straight through her. "Holy f*ck it hurts!" She couldn't help but think, as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. She also thought that the Jade Emperor should have definitely strengthened the security here. She would definitely hold a grudge against him for skimping out on her security in the afterlife.

No, the most important thing was that she still had a mission to complete! That f*cking system never finished recalculating her main mission even after a hundred years! F*ck no, she had not spent five hundred years in a prison cell just for her mission to fail!

But alas, for some reason, cultivators nowadays were so oddly weak as to die with a single slash of the blade or two. And so Yin Mei could only continue cursing as her consciousness faded, the last thing she heard was that accursed system saying, "The host has failed the mission. Please wait as the system transfers the host back into the rest space."

F*cking hell! She wanted a refund!