4.2

She looked up again and met with his blue eyes. Her hand did not stop as the stream of water continuously floated out from her palm, warm like the temperature of her body.

It covered the jiaoren's tail. The scales slowly smoothed themselves down piece by piece. Soon the entire tail was shining again with the dazzling luster it used to have. He looked at her with cold eyes still void of emotion.　　

Ji Yunhe did not expect anything more. She closed her palm and the spring of water disappeared.

"You want to leave, correct?" He did not respond, as if he did not hear her question at all.

"I want to leave too," she said in such a low voice that it was not much more than a whisper.

"Be good and listen, it will be easier that way." She looked at him, smiled, then turned around and left.

Away from the dungeon, Ji Yunhe tilted her head to look at the bright moon in the sky. She took a deep breath and smelled the flowers that bloomed all year round. Even though she hated this Demon Valley, Ji Yunhe had to admit that she was fond of the south, the mild temperature and the always free and warm wind.

For so many years, she had been trying to figure out a plan to leave this place peacefully, however... now she had no more time to slowly toss and turn.

Lin Canglan had set up this competition for her to take part in. She could not avoid it, so might as well accept it. Except her opponent was not Lin Haoqing, but the one sitting in the main hall with his old beady eyes, the Valley Master, Lin Canglan.

Lin Canglan had told her a long time ago that the poison in her body had a real antidote. One that would cure her once and for all and she would no longer need to take pills again. He told her if she did a good job, he would eventually give her the last antidote.

Ji Yunhe once had hopes and faith in Lin Canglan, but not anymore. Now she even doubted the existence of such an antidote. But it did not matter, as long as she learned the recipe for making the monthly pills, she would be able to leave. Or if she could get her hands on enough pills to last while she had someone research and replicate them... Or even if she were to acquire just a handful of the pills, she still wanted to go.

She was sick of this. This life without freedom, she was sick of it. She desired for a moon that she wanted to see, flowers that she wanted to enjoy, and a world that she wanted to walk in, by her own will, without any control and manipulation.

This would be her battle with Lin Canglan. It was time to fight back. And it would start with this jiaoren.

"Jinsang," Ji Yunhe bent down and pressed her lips gently to the heart of a flower by the road, "it's time to come back."

The air stirred around her, lightly rustling the petals as a soft breeze carried her words off into the distance.