"Silver, stay and guard the children!"
"RAUL!"
After ordering his demon beast companion, Chen Zhenlong flew down at blinding speed.
Sword in hand, he slashed downward, missing Guān Ning by inches as she instinctively dodged the attack.
Guān Ning's attentions kept shifting between her opponent and Xue Hui on the altar.
Guān Ning was in disbelief that the little thief had managed to survive her assault.
"SHRIEK!"
Sensing the Glaze blood being formed, Rage filled Guān Ning's soul as she let out an ear-piercing shriek, thrusting her golden-hued nails toward Chen Zhenlong detection.
"LORD PATRIARCH, DON'T BLOCK HER CLAWS! IT WILL PIERCE THROUGH ANYTHING, JUST DODGE IT!"
Hearing Xue Hui's warning, Chen Zhenlong, who was about to block Guān Ning's attack, dodged, as he blurred to the side, missing getting pierced by the nails by a hair.
With a swift move, he leaned forward, dragging his sword upward.
WOOSH!
The blade cut through Guān Ning's left arm, separating it from the rest of her body.
Staggering, Guān Ning was unable to cope with the sudden increase of her opponent's speed.
But as a true and bona fide Legend Rank expert back when she was still alive, Guān Ning's experience in battle allowed her to predict some of Chen Zhenlong's movements.
Like how the sword, after cutting off her arm, continued its path upward toward her neck.
WOOSSH!
BOOM.
Behind Guān Ning, the sword attack left a huge scar on the wall as she shifted her body, evading Chen Zhenlong's blade.
Missing his target, Chen Zhenlong clicked his tongue in irritation before sending a devastating kick to Guān Ning's stomach, launching her at great speed straight toward the wall.
BOOM!
Crack.
"Father is so strong," not far from the fight, Chen Linlin watched in awestruck, her jaw dropped, eyes widened, as she witnessed her father's domineering strength.
Not long ago, she had been in distress seeing her father and Silver struggle against Guān Ning.
Despite their combined strength, Guān Ning was proven to be a formidable opponent, as she continued to overwhelm them with her attacks.
Then fear enveloped Chen Linlin's heart when she witnessed, right before her eyes, Guān Ning's elongated nails pierced through Xue Hui's body, injuring him.
Chen Linlin thought it was over for them.
Out of fear, she was about to ask everyone to just give up and leave without the Glaze Blood.
But before Chen Linlin could uttered those words,
her father suddenly exploded in power.
Her tears stopped. Chen Linlin's crystal-like eyes locked onto Chen Zhenlong, lightning danced around his body, while he hovered in the air like a war god.
After that sudden burst of power, her father attacked Guān Ning relentlessly, as he kept pushing her into a corner, unable to fight back.
"I'm almost done!"
Chen Linlin was jolted from her thoughts as she heard Xue Hui's excited voice.
Glancing at him, Chen Linlin's teal eyes widened in surprise as she saw Xue Hui wearing the biggest smile she had ever seen, his excitement amplified by the golden light radiating from the Glaze blood.
In front of him was the Glaze Blood, suspended in the air and rotating rapidly. Its form was beginning to transform from a ball of blood into a grape-sized glass-like sphere.
"Glaze Blood…" she whispered, her heart pounding as her eyes sparkled with wonders.
Sensing the formation of the Glaze Blood, the Guān Ning bursted into a berserk rage. Firmly planting her feet against the wall, she used it as leverage to push herself forward, sending herself with great momentum, leaving a massive crack to the wall.
BOOM!
"R~ARRAAAUL!"
Watching Guān Ning fly toward their direction, Silver planted his hooves firmly on the ground, with a determined look he opened his muzzle. As he condensed a swirl of spiritual energy inside his mouth, the gathered spiritual energy rippled with power, as he zeroed in to Guān Ning.
Upon reaching its most powerful output, Silver fired the condensed spiritual energy, its sheer strength pushed him a couple inches backwards.
WOOSH!
SNAP!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Sensing the ball of pure spiritual energy coming toward her, Guān Ning without backing down, thrust her remaining arm forward.
With the power of the Law of Piercing upon her, Guān Ning pierced through the center of the ball of spiritual energy, splitting it in half and sending each halves in two different directions.
Two massive explosions erupted inside the treasure chamber, shaking the entire place.
"RAUL!"
Surprised that his powerful attack had been completely countered by Guān Ning and didn't stop her at all.
Silver stood firmly on the ground, steeling himself; he fully intended to use his body to shield the two children from Guān Ning.
WOOSH!
But before Guān Ning could pierced her nails into Silver's body,
A blur flew atop Guān Ning. Brandishing his sword, Chen Zhenlong swung downward, slicing through Guān Ning's waist, splitting her body into two.
THUD!
WOOSH!
Stomping on her upper body, Chen Zhenlong pinned down Guān Ning's upper half on the floor, cracking the floor with the force of their momentum.
Without a pause, Chen Zhenlong swung his sword at Guān Ning's remaining arm, cutting it off completely.
"I GOT IT!"
At that very moment, Xue Hui's cheerful shout reverberated throughout the treasure chamber, making everyone pause in silence.
Stepping forward, Xue Hui glanced in the direction of Guān Ning, both halves of her body sprawled on the floor.
Xue Hui lifted his hand, which made Guān Ning's body tremble.
On his hand is a grape sized golden sphere, it glimmered like a marble as everyone's eyes were captivated by it.
"Senior Guān Ning, you failed your task. You can now take your long-deserved rest."
Seeing the glazed blood in Xue Hui's hand, Guān Ning's body begins to convulse, before it drops to the floor, completely motionless, any sign of her soul within her corpse were gone.
The glow in Guān Ning's eyes flickered out entirely.
This was followed by a faint sound of something shattering from within her body.
Then a soft, gentle female voice rang in everyone's ears, surprising them.
"Use that Glaze Blood to be as free as you can, little ones. That was all Suo Leiyue ever wanted in her life."
After conveying her final words, Guān Ning's voice faded completely as her soul passed to the afterlife.
With the fight ended, Chen Linlin closed her eyes as she whispered her farewell to both Guān Ning and Suo Leiyue.
Chen Linlin jumped in surprise when a hand grasped on her own, giving it a light squeeze to comfort her.
Opening her eyes, she saw Xue Hui smiling at her.
Standing behind him was her father, bruised and battered, yet still giving her a gentle smile. On her other side was Silver, lightly brushing his mane against her shoulder.
Lifting her hand, Xue Hui looked at her seriously, "Linlin, are you ready? As I said before, you will experience a lot of pain once you take this Glaze blood."
Although she felt a little afraid in her heart, she quickly steeled her heart and nodded.
"But once it's over" Xue Hui smiled, which relieved her worries "you'll be free from all your fears, you will be able to achieve all your dreams in life" Xue Hui continued as he placed the glazed blood into her small hand. "and this time, no more illness will stop you"
Xue Hui had long revealed to them the method of undergoing the Glazed Blood Rebirth.
He never hid how excruciatingly painful the entire process would be.
Despite that, Chen Linlin never cowered even a little.
Compared to the hopeless situation she had faced before, All the suffering she will go through now will be worth it.
Slowly bringing the Glaze blood in front of her lips, Chen Linlin looked at everyone as she gave them a wobbly smile before steeling herself as she swallowed the Glaze blood.
Before Chen Linlin could ask how long it would take for the glaze blood to take effect, her body trembled as she let out a painful shriek.
The feeling of her flesh being ripped apart and set ablaze spread throughout her body,
Chen Linlin's body convulsed as she tried to roll over, her limbs contorting at awkward angles.
Seeing this, Chen Zhenlong and Xue Hui moved quickly, they held her still, making sure that she wouldn't twist her body in a wrong way.
Unable to lessen his daughter's suffering, he placed his hand to Chen Linlin's head, brushing it, as he hummed a tune, something that his wife, Chen Yinying, would always sing to their daughter whenever Chen Linlin's illness was acting up, which put her in a lot of pain than usual.
And when that happened, the only things that would lessened Chen Linlin's pain is being in Chen Yinying embrace and her singing.
Chen Zhenlong never sang in his life, but for his daughter, he poured all his love and care into singing, hoping it would ease even the tiniest bit of Chen Linlin's pain.
While Chen Zhenlong busied himself, Xue Hui carefully observed the physique transfer, making sure that nothing would go wrong during the merging process.
circling around them was Silver. Anxiously, He remained quiet the entire time, not wanting to caused any disturbance that could jeopardize Chen Linlin's situation.
The trio observed in silence, the once-quiet treasure chamber was now flooded with Chen Linlin cries as the girl continued to struggle through the pain.
Time passed.
Gradually, the cries stopped, omce again the chamber was enveloped in deep, serene silence.
Xue Hui remained by Chen Linlin's side as she slept peacefully. Even after the glaze blood had successfully merged with her body, he did not leave her side even once, not even to look at the mountain of treasure not far from them.
The same went for Chen Zhenlong, who stayed beside his daughter. His hand never stopped caressing Chen Linlin's hair. His worried for her was enough to make him forget that he had just broken through to the Legend Rank.
Sensing a shuffling at his other side, Chen Zhenlong moved his hand and placed it to silver's back, giving him a firm pat.
Silver had done many amazing things, from protecting the children to helping him fight Guān Ning.
And to think he had once thought that his demon beast companion would end up being nothing but a dead weight for them.
Chen Zhenlong shook his head as he thought how wrong he was about Silver.
With another firm tap, Chen Zhenlong mentally apologized to his demon beast companion.
"Ra," Silver muttered in his sleep, seemingly sensing his master's sentiment, making Chen Zhenlong's lips curl slightly upward.
As they waited for Chen Linlin to wake up, the two remained in silent, until Chen Zhenlong thoughts of something and asked Xue Hui, "Xiao Hui, how are your injuries? I failed to protect you back then."
Hearing his name, Xue Hui lifted his face and glance to Chen Zhenlong. Xue Hui looked confused at first, before he realizesd what Chen Zhenlong talking about, which made him let out a soft chuckled as he shook his head.
"Lord Patriarch, I'm already healed. Thanks to the Nine Transformation Pill, There's nothing to apologize for, all's well that ends well."
Hearing Xue Hui's usual perky voice, signed that he's not suffering in any kind of wounds, only then Chen Zhenlong let out a sighed of relief, glad to know that Xue Hui did not sustained serious wound.
"stop with that 'Lord Patriarch.' address to me" Chen Zhenlong gave the boy a knowing look. "We've been through a lot of danger together. I think that at least counts as being familiar with each other, yes?"
Chen Zhenlong paused for a moment, as he thoight of something, before nodding.
"Alright then. Just call me Uncle from now on."
loss for words, Xue Hui eyes lingered at Chen Zhenlong. His mind was flooded with all the event that been through, along with it is the memories of their first ever meeting back at the orphanage, and how that encounter had led him to found a place that he could called home.
Thinking about it, a smile tug on Xue Hui's lips, he nodded, seeing nothing wrong with it.
"Uncle it is." Xue Hui said, which made Chen Zhenlong returned the nod.
the two continued conversing, mostly the topic about the journey back going home, how the travel is going to be much faster now that Chen Zhenlong had broken through to legend rank.
After half a day of waiting, Chen Linlin finally showed signs of waking up.
Her small body began to stir, her fingers twitched, while the bridge of her nose scrunched up.
Seeing this, Chen Zhenlong immediately moved, adjusting his position so he could look at his daughter better.
Her eyelids moved before gradually opened, allowing the little girl to see the world around her..
Before she could ask anything, Chen Linlin's body stiffened.
A strange sensation flooded through her body, something foreign, yet familiar.
Something she had long forgotten because of her illness.
Slowly, Chen Linlin pushed herself upright, sitting shakily.
She looked around her surroundings, then down at her hands.
Chen Linlin's body trembled as she realized she wasn't just imagining things, she could actually sense the spiritual energy around her. It flowed through her, filling every part of her meridian.
"I–I can!?… This is…" But before she could find the proper words, she heard Xue Hui's voice beside her. At the same time, she felt a large hand wrap around her shoulder, supporting her body.
"Congratulations, Linlin. Just like I promised you, you got rid of your Withered Soul Realm and now possess a new one."
She turned her head toward Xue Hui, staring at him with eyes filled with emotion.
"With that, you can now continue your dream of becoming a Legend Rank Demon Spiritualist," Xue Hui continued.
Tears rolled down her delicate cheeks, but unlike before, this time they were caused by the unexplainable joy and relief she was feeling.
"Hui-Hui!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Chen Linlin threw her small body into the boy's embrace. Her little hands clung tightly to his clothes as she pulled herself closer, burying her face into Xue Hui's chest, muffling her sobs.
Xue Hui simply let it happen. His small hand moved to her trembling back and gently patted it.
Xue Hui looked upward, many thoughts rushed through his mind, but one thing was certain.
He had already fulfilled one of his goals after returning from the Creation Origin Ancestral Manual.
Now that Chen Linlin was fully healed, he could focus on his next goal of becoming stronger to save Glory City from destruction.
End of Chapter 28.