Twenty-Two

The thudding of a boot hitting the wide floor, echoed all around the large hall, with tall dark walls. The high and huge windows in the room were burning and the corners of the hall were full of thick smoke. As the person continued to walk toward a burning fire that had a large stone-like throne with a silhouetted figure sitting on it, large wolves with red blazing eyes appeared on each side of the pathway, snapping their jaws and growling.

The person stopped and the figure on the throne opened its eyes, which were shining yellow and bright through the darkness surrounding them.

"Do you have what I want?" A deep and hoarse voice came from the throne. "Hundreds of years have gone by and yet, I have not gotten what I requested from you. There are rumors that you and your armies have found Zhao Ling but our deal is at the back of my head. I am giving you a hundred more years to bring Zhao Ling to me or face the consequences of my wrath. Do you understand me?"

The person huffed and bowed.

‡‡‡

Too stunned, Li Yuxi was unable to move from the shock of seeing Wang Lifen. Two things were going through her head; could she run and pretend to be lost or could she stand her ground and confront the woman?

"Li Yuxi?" Wang Lifen, in a softer tone, spoke.

"I…" Li Yuxi exchanged a shocked look with Zhao Ling before rising with him. "Wang Lifen… W-what are you doing here?"

As Wang Lifen opened her mouth to speak, hurried footsteps coming from the stairs were heard for some seconds before Lee Qiang rushed to the spot between the two women. Li Yuxi blinked and looked at Zhao Ling before looking back at Lee Qiang whose face was drained and pale.

"Wh-" He stopped talking and abruptly turned toward Li Yuxi with a frown on his face. "You!"

Li Yuxi flinched at the tone of his voice and pointed at her chest in confusion.

"Stop acting like a fool! I told you to leave my house, did I not?!" Lee Qiang barked, his body vibrating.

Li Yuxi could not even feel sad or shocked anymore as confusion took over her whole mind and body. The reaction Lee Qiang was acting out made her pensive about what he had in his mind to play out.

"Lee Qiang… why is… why is my assistant here?" Wang Lifen asked, looking from Li Yuxi to Lee Qiang.

Li Yuxi waited to hear what her husband was going to give as a response. Her heart was already pounding as she hoped he would not put her in the spotlight.

"I don't even know, Lifen. Ever since I saw her, she has been coming around my house, trying to get my number and attention."

Shocked was not what Li Yuxi was feeling. Li Yuxi wanted to laugh at what she had just heard. She wanted to fall to the floor and laugh till her heart ached and her lungs ached. The drama before her deserved an award. Lee Qiang didn't need any training in acting as he was born an actor.

"What?" Wang Lifen said and approached him. She stopped beside him and stared curiously.

"Yes. She came to my house just a few minutes ago and wanted to come up to find you so she could confront you. She wanted to destroy our relationship, Wang Lifen." Lee Qiang held her hands and kissed the back of her hands. "I wanted to tell you but her obsession with me was too much."

"Has your husband ever been diagnosed with any form of illness of the mind or head?" Zhao Ling whispered beside her and Li Yuxi laughed.

The moment the couple looked her way, she covered her mouth with her free hand and looked away, while trying to hold herself back from laughing. She cleared her throat when Wang Lifen marched up to her and before she could sense what was coming next, the woman slapped Li Yuxi across the cheek, hard.

Li Yuxi hissed at the impact and clenched her jaw. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zhao Ling grasping the hilt of a sword attached to his hip. She took in a deep breath to calm herself before facing the woman with a wry smile.

"Is this what you do, Li Yuxi? You have no respect for me and the place you work?" Wang Lifen questioned in a hard tone.

Li Yuxi looked past the woman and glared at Lee Qiang who was smirking with an expression on his face that made her clench her hands. The urge to hit his face, wiping the look off his face, filled her body.

"I am talking to you!" Wang Lifen grabbed her arm, getting her attention. "For this act, I will report you to the human resource department and you will answer to them why you are doing this."

Li Yuxi yanked her arm out of the woman's claw and eyed her body up and down.

"I used to see you as an icon. I saw you as a woman with great importance and especially intelligence but today, I have come to know that the talks about people calling you arrogant were true. Listen, Wang Lifen, you should go meet your man and have him tell you the truth because if I want to embarrass you, you wouldn't like what I'll do to you."

Li Yuxi eyed her one last time before glaring at Lee Qiang whose face held anger before walking away, dragging Zhao Ling with her. She stopped when she got to Lee Qiang's side.

"You have done the worst, Lee Qiang. I will ruin you, I promise," Li Yuxi said under her breath, to his hearing before walking past him and going down the steps.

As she walked, her eyes pricked and her heart stung from the sadness and anger accumulated in her heart. Her steps marched her mood until she got outside and stopped to catch her breath. Her limbs were shaking slightly from the emotions she was bottling up.

"Mortal?"

At Zhao Ling's voice, she broke and started to cry. She pressed her body against Zhao Ling's and cried harder, letting the hot tears roll down her cheeks. She cried more when he held the back of her head and patted it.

"I can't do this. I'm too weak. How can I face my husband when I can't even control my stupid tears? Why can't I be strong emotionally?" She said in his chest and gripped the lapel of his hanfu.

"Everything will be alright, little mortal. You can cry. I am sure that if I channel my anger and hate into sadness, my tears will form the longest river," Zhao Ling calmly said and gently forced her head away from his chest. He tilted her head back so she could face him.

"I want to ruin Lee Qiang so bad. There is something evil about that man. How can he be so conceited? How can one human being harbor such evil?"

Zhao Ling smirked. "I was the same when I found out my brother betrayed me for the throne. Humans are selfish and will do anything to sate themselves even if it means paying with evil."

Li Yuxi sniffed. "I want this marriage to come to an end. I want it severed. I can no longer continue with this marriage. I will have to let my parents and his family know. I do not care what happens as a result of breaching the contract… Lee Qiang and his family can never pull me down."

"That's my little mortal," Zhao Ling said and cupped her cheek. "Tap into the anger, the hate. Cultivate it into something powerful and you will stand strong against any form of distraction. Anger and hate are the core of every strength. Build it."

Li Yuxi took in deep breaths and exhaled, pushing away the sadness and replacing it with the anger and hatred she had for Lee Qiang.

"Good." Zhao Ling chuckled darkly.

"Thank you, Zhao Ling. Without you, I don't know what could have happened. Thank you for coming back for me." She looked into his beautiful brown eyes and glanced at his stretched lips. "You are sacrificing your vengeance to be here."

Li Yuxi smiled and was about to continue her speech when Zhao Ling's face fell. She furrowed her eyebrows and eyed his face to find what the problem was. She looked over her shoulder when he started looking around if he was sensing something.

"Zhao Ling?" She whispered his name and patted him on his chest to get his attention. "What is it? You're scaring me."

Li Yuxi gasped when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her protectively to his side while his chained hand formed the usual black and red smoke.

"Tell me… what are you sensing?" Li Yuxi asked and gulped.

"Lui Mei is back."