Sixteen

Zhao Ling stared at the girl with a blank expression on his face. He was torn between thinking she was lying or fooling him just like she kept doing before he was sent where he currently was. When he saw that she looked serious, he stood up and towered over the girl, rage oozing off his form, causing black and red smoke tentacles to curl out of his form.

"What did you just say?" He demanded, clenching his hands.

The girl sighed heavily. "Please, keep your temper at bay."

"My temper?!" He yelled and the water flowing from the fountain splashed violently, making the people close by shift.

"Zhao Ling —"

"Go straight to the point! I need answers right now!"

"Please, forgive me." She pleaded, clasping her hands together while bowing. "It was a misunderstanding on my path."

Zhao Ling forced himself to relax as well as the fountain behind the girl. He grunted and crossed his arms, waiting for her response.

"Zhao Ling, at first I felt a strong energy coming from Li Yuxi when I found out that she was the one who found the vase. I meditated so much until I was certain that she was the one. Li Yuxi had the energy of the one who would set you free into this world, hence why you could be here now."

Zhao Ling gritted his teeth as he listened to her explanation.

"Go on."

"Just recently, I was meditating when I no longer felt her energy. I tried so many times to find out why it was so until it was revealed to me by one of the guardians of the cross worlds. He revealed to me that Li Yuxi was a mistake and that the one who shall set you free and lead you directly to your enemies hasn't been born."

Zhao Ling's anger began to rise within him once again. He could feel the heat of his strong emotions in his chi.

"I did not know how to deliver this message to you as you have already marked the girl and made her aware of what is pending. Zhao Ling, forgive me." She bowed again with her hands clasped together.

Zhao Ling glared at the crown of her head. All he could think of was wasting his time in this generation all because of her lack of focus.

"I spent hundreds of years meditating and cultivating every power I could get. I was brought back for no reason when the people I seek may not even be born in this generation. You are far older than me. You have greater powers than I would ever have yet a simple thing brought about a grave mistake," Zhao Ling said in a low and calm voice while he sported anger inside him.

The girl fell at his feet and bowed. He kept his glare on her back for some seconds before looking into the distance.

"Do you understand that that girl is now a target to demons from the underworld? Last night, I felt the presence of a demon and now you tell me this? What will now happen to her? What will be my mission?" He asked as his temper increased.

The nameless girl sat up straight and looked up at him.

"There is nothing we can do except have you taken back to the pit. I have pleaded with the goddess of vengeance and the army of anger to give us another chance. You can return and wait until your savior is born."

"Do you even hear yourself?" He wanted to explode from anger. The urge to relieve himself through violence was strong. "I was trapped by Lui Mei in a vase, which that imposter broke! How is my fated savior supposed to save me? What is the point of going back to the pit?"

"There will be a window opened on the day your savior is born. I have made sure of it. You do not need your savior to break you out or set you free. You shall reveal yourself to them and they will know what to do."

Zhao Ling turned away from the girl to glare around. Apart from the fact that the nameless girl had not done her job well, he had placed Li Yuxi in a position that would make Lee Qiang, her husband, harm her when he had promised to protect her. It made him feel disappointment and a dull feeling he could not decipher.

"Zhao Ling, you do not need to overthink it. This should be an opportunity for you to cultivate more powers. For you to get stronger," she said in a soft voice as she appeared beside him. "Zhao Ling… give me your hand."

He looked down at her with narrowed eyes, then at her hands that were cupped out in front of her. He didn't trust her for a second but he gave up and placed his right hand on top of her hands.

"This will be your fate if you do not become stronger. Failure is all I see and feel."

As soon as she finished speaking, a memory he did not recognize filled his head. All around him were dead bodies in a pool of blood. He looked around him, taking in the faceless people he saw were women. The sight terrified him the more he looked at every one of them. He looked ahead of him and saw a feminine figure in the distance, wearing a white gown stained with blood. She was backing him and something in his heart tingled, making him fall on his knee as it took him by surprise. This was the first time he felt something that wasn't like anger and malice.

"Save me… Zhao Ling… You must grow stronger… Death awaits you… awaits us." Hushed and echoing voices came from the woman.

Suddenly, Zhao Ling felt like he knew her name. He could feel it on the tip of his tongue while his head went blank. He struggled to call out to her but everything vanished, leaving behind black smoke. He rose to his feet and looked around him, panting with a newfound emotion filling him— Fear.

"Zhao Ling?!"

He spun in the direction of the voice and gasped at the sight of Zhao Feng, his brother. He looked pale, like a rotting corpse in a withering red hanfu.

"You shall fail!" He yelled in a croak-like tone. "I will make you fail! No matter how many years it takes. You will feel a greater loss, over and over again! I, Zhao Feng, will make it come to pass!"

Zhao Feng laughed maniacally until he turned to dust. Zhao Ling fell to his knees and was brought back to the real world. He stared at his hands before looking up at the nameless girl.

"I am sorry for what you saw. I don't even know what to make of it. All I know is that… something awaits you in the future. Whatever it is, feels stronger than you… Zhao Ling, you need to go back to the pit to meditate for another few years until your savior is born."

Zhao Ling shifted his gaze from her face to her hand when she revealed a dead tulip. He furrowed his eyebrows at it and looked back at her face for an explanation.

"The day this flower blossoms is the day your savior is born. So, Zhao Ling… are you ready to wait again? Even if it takes hundreds of years."

Zhao Ling bowed his head and stared at the ground he was kneeling on. He clenched his hands as he thought about Li Yuxi. Even though she did not matter to him, except for the mission he had thought she was going to head, the woman still came to his mind. A sudden wave of worry etched in him as he envisioned her husband hurting her.

"If you are thinking of Li Yuxi, you need to stop. I will send a guardian to watch over her and to keep her from getting harmed," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "All you have to do is come with me."

Zhao Ling weighed the options he had. He knew that staying back would not give him the right state of mind to cultivate more powers to prepare him for what he had seen in the vision.

"I made an oath to myself that I would kill my brother and any of his descendants. He ended my lineage and he does not have the right to have his continue from my blood that was shed and my throne that was stolen. I, Zhao Ling, will meditate for a few more years, even if it takes me thousands of years. I will put an end to his growing lineage."

Once he felt the tug of his determined words in his chi, he rose to his feet and took the dead tulip from the girl. He closed his hand and the flower vanished.

"Lead the way," he said and the girl beamed.

Zhao Ling watched the girl take a step forward. She waved her hands in front of her and a gust of wind blew before a smokey door appeared. It parted and Zhao Ling could see the dewy pit he had spent hundreds of years in.

"Shall we?" The girl asked and stepped in.

Zhao Ling nodded and started making his way to the door. Once he stood right at the entrance, he looked over his shoulder as he thought of Li Yuxi one last time.

"Goodbye, my little mortal," he whispered and stepped through the door. He turned around and watched as the door began to shrink. Just as a little hole was left of the shrinking door, his senses tingled, followed by a feeling of fear.

"Zhao Ling… help me." That was Li Yuxi.