"Did I hear it right? Does she want his core too?" Ying Lei was the first to recover from the shock, as Zhuo Yi Chen struggled to contain the beast inside him. His eyes began to glow with an intense blue-green luster, the power within him churning at the threat to Zhu Yan's life. No way was he going to hand over his inner core to that woman. It had already cost him much pain and sacrifice to make the great demon give up his death wish, and now, cruelly enough, the opportunity presented itself to him again.
However, he didn't care how hard fate or Chaos tried to make them kill each other. He wouldn't allow it, no matter how much the opportunity was thrown in their faces. Zhuo Yi Chen, the mortal, was bound by the oath he swore to the heavens, but Zhuo Yi Chen, the demon, had thrown that oath free, and hell would freeze over before he was forced to deal a killing blow that would destroy them both. Thus, his anger was flared.
Why have so many people recently demanded Zhu Yan's death? He had already suffered enough sins that he could not control, and so others believed they had the right to own his core as if it belonged to them? Oh! What insolence and boldness! No one has that right, absolutely no one could demand from him to give his life for their own ends! First she dares to hurt Wen Xiao, when killing her father by mistake, as a collateral damage, and now she wants to take away his man? Yi Chen almost laughed hysterically.
Well, let see if she could do it right in front of him. He may have been a recently converted demon, but the demonic energy he possessed wasn't insignificant at all. It belonged to the two most powerful dragons of their era, and deep inside, Yi Chen could feel their presence growing along with his anger. As the commander of the demon hunters, he's supposed to be impartial and fair, but as a lover, there was no way he would allow such a thing. It was wrong!
So Zhuo Yi Chen concentrated his inner energy in his right hand, ready to use his new ability to cast a one-word spell the moment that princess dared to even touch Zhu Yan's hair. As his fingers charged with blue demonic energy, Pei Si Jing felt the pressure of her commander's anger becoming the deadly weapon he was about to unleash, and in an attempt to prevent it, she stood in front of him to stop him.
"Zhuo Yi Chen!" She yelled at him, but he simply continued to concentrate his energy.
"Don't worry, Pei Si Jing, I'm not possessed, but if she touches him or if she tries to hurt him in any way, then my actions will not be an act of recklessness, but of protecting those I love and it is justified. What happens from this moment on doesn't depend on what I do, but on what she tries. I'm sure you would do the same if the princess tried to directly hurt Wen Xiao, or am I wrong?" Zhuo Yi Chen then turned his face to look at her and Pei Si Jing understood with relief that Yi Chen despite his anger, was in total control of his body and what he said really made sense.
It was one thing to ask Zhu Yan to give her his core voluntarily in exchange for her scale, but it was quite another that she tried to take it by force. If that ever happened, then her commander was right and she would assist him if the need arose. So Pei Si Jing pulled out her bow and pointed it at the princess and both waited for her next step, along with Ying Lei who could only see with dread the whole thing.
Far down, Zhu Yan instantly understood the disaster everything could become if there was any intention to act instead of ask. He felt Yi Chen's demonic energy ignite as he watched them from his hiding place, and even the dragon princess shuddered at the pressure that threatened to unleash. His lover was furious, very furious, and if he didn't do anything to calm him down, they might end up fighting. Wen Xiao, at his side, knew this too, so she glanced briefly at the hidden team, shook his head, and turned her attention back to the princess.
"This demand is unexpected, so give me time to make a decision." Wen Xiao tried to buy them more time to find a way out of that mess.
"Fair enough. I'll give you an hour. Call me when you're done making decisions, but only with the inner core of the great demon Zhu Yan can we exchange lives. I'm sure the demon hunter hiding nearby is quite powerful, but so am I. I'm asking only for an exchange, so that he can keep his demonic energy to himself. Once a dragon gives its word, it will not be broken." The princess said before turning to leave, not without glancing into the distance, still feeling the pressure of a beast that could, in fact, crush her instantly.
She had only heard of dragons fearing one particular demonic power in the past, and that was Bing Yi's, the ancient dragon who could even slay gods with his sword. His power was like rivers of ice crushing mountains, breaking through with nothing to stop it, a force that could save or destroy, for many demons had fallen to his sword. His power was frightening, but though she had trembled beneath it, she could tell that the demonic energy contained had not reached even a tenth of its full potential. Bing Yi's vessel was still new to power, but with more time, he could become terrifying.
"Xiao Zhuo, it's fine now, let it go and come down." Zhu Yan whisper and he looked at his direction and sighed when he sense the pressure release. It was a good thing that Bing Yi had chosen as his vessel such a level headed descendant, because if it was someone else, that meeting could have end up in a blood shed.
Soon the others came down, with Zhuo Yi Chen in front without taking his eyes off his great demon. Seeing that, Zhu Yan smiled and winked at him, to see if he could replace that serious expression of his with something more tender, but his demon hunter was obviously in no mood for jokes. So he walked ahead of the others with the air of an avenger or rather a god of death, ready to smash anything that threatened the lives of his loved ones.
"Xiao Zhuo, you are too serious..." Zhu Yan said to him and Zhuo Yi Chen looked at him in disbelief, as if he could not understand how he could make jokes when his situation right now was so serious.
"Isn't this problem serious enough for you? She's demanding your inner core! Are you going to tell me that you'll gladly hand it over to her?" He asked angrily and Zhu Yan shuddered, because even though his Xiao Zhu was quite hot when he was angry, he was also chilling to the bone, Bing Yi's energy leaking out no doubts.
"Calm down Xiao Zhuo, we can think about it, we still have an hour." Zhu Yan tried his best to appeal to him, but Zhuo Yi Chen wasn't having it.
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you try to sacrifice yourself again. I'm done with that, got it?"
"Ah, you love me so passionately that you actually can't live without me, huh? Wen Xiao hit the nail on the head when she described our kind of love." Zhu Yan kept trying and Zhuo Yi Chen then turned quite exasperatedly towards Wen Xiao, moving away from his great demon.
"Wen Xiao, it's impossible to deal with him right now. Tell him something, tell him we won't accept that deal, that is not an option." He practically implored the woman who had just finished writing down what she needed to let the others know about what she had planned and held the notes over her stomach as she stood up from the edge of the pound she had sat on earlier, and faced her companions. Yi Chen just slightly behind her, which was perfect for what she had in mind.
"Alright Xiao Zhuo, I'll take care of this..." She said as she showed the others what she had written while Yi Chen was still unaware of the brewing storm that would hit him harder than the princess's outrageous demand.
"Thank the gods, please reason with him before he completely overwhelms me. I'm having trouble staying in control when he goes back to his death wish." Zhuo Yi Chen admitted, and because he was distracted, he didn't see them looking at each other and then at Wen Xiao, as if they were really going to anger a powerful new demon, very protective of his lover.
Seeing their expressions of fear and hesitation, Zhu Yan almost laughed. If they needed to act, and he had already thought of a way out of that mess, he would be the one to face Xiao Zhuo's wrath alone.
"Xiao Zhao, you heard him. You both have gone through enough suffering, we should look for another way out of this." Wen Xiao started to act, hoping that Xiao Zhuo would hold back as he had done before when things start to heat up.
"What other choice do we have? Yes, Xiao Zhuo was saved from being killed by Bing Yi's demonic energy, but what about others? What about Bai Jiu, who is still waiting to be rescued, and the Cloud Light Sword is his best chance at freedom?" Zhu Yan pointed out, causing Yi Chen to frown.
"I want to save him as much as anyone else here, Zhu Yan, but this isn't the way..."
"Why isn't this the way, Xiao Zhuo? It's my inner core!"
"It's my sword! And your life! I assure you, I won't trade you for any sword in this world. It have take me so much pain to get to this point, and as much as I care about Bai Jiu and believe me, he's like a little brother to me, I won't sacrifice anyone I care about anymore!"
"Zhuo Yi Chen! His life is worth more than mine!" At that, Yi Chen broke down and grabbed Zhu Yan by the robes, and pulled him towards him.
"What did you say?" He hissed.
"I've already committed so many sins and lived longer than I should have."
"Don't give me that again."
"Please, Xiao Zhuo... let's not do this..."
"Then keep your promise! You said you wouldn't seek death anymore."
"It wasn't my idea to exchange my inner core for the scale!"
"Exactly, so why should you comply?"
"Then how will you save Bai Jiu? Tell me..."
"There should be another way."
"The sword is still bound to you, Xiao Zhuo! Even if you were lucky enough to receive a demonic core, blood, and bones, the sword is still as much a part of you as your demonic energy. The longer you delay restoring it, the more you risk losing control. The sword purifies your demonic energy, keeps you under control, and the more you test your demonic power, the more you can lose yourself in it." Zhu Yan pushed him away, and Zhuo Yi Chen was speechless for a moment, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I won't lose control."
"Are you sure about that? Aren't you already struggling with it?"
"I can handle it."
"No, you can't. Xiao Zhuo... please, let me do this for you."
"No! I refuse!"
"Zhao Yuan Zhou! Don't go too far..." Wen Xiao warned him, while the others were at a loss as to how they could interfere in such a love affair. Pei Si Jing, in particular, was glad that her intervention was not necessary, as she was not good at acting, and it was painful to see Zhuo Yi Chen heartbroken over the person he loved the most.
"Xiao Zhuo is right, Zhao Yuan Zhou. Is not right to sacrifice one for another. At the end, someone we love will still die and worthiness had nothing to do with that. We all know that Bai Jiu betray us once and that almost cost you your life..."
"Wen Xiao, you..." Zhu Yan was surprised that she resorted to that, although what had been said so far was more or less truthful, including what he just told Xiao Zhuo about losing control.
"That was uncalled for Goddess." Pei Si Jing resigned herself to that task.
"True, Bai Jiu is still young and easy to manipulate and that's the reason we need to save him." Ying Lei added.
"Not this way..." Yi Chen insisted.
"Don't you feel pity for him? We all know how easily scare he is and now he is trapped inside his own body, trapped in a kind of darkness that he can't escape from. Yes, he make mistakes, but so all of us along the way and at least he was brave enough to recognize his error and try to rectify it. He even cut his own skin to prove it, so how much reckless he could become if there was the need, if any of you were in his position, because it could have been any of us who got possessed. It could have been you, Mr Zhuo... what would Bai Jiu will have done to save you? I bet that a core would have been gladly given for the one he admires the most..." Ying Lei told him and Yi Chen gave a step back in pain as more tear fall from his eyes and unable to see him break that much, Zhu Yan had enough of that painful acting.
"You are right, Ying Lei... for Xiao Zhuo, I will indeed gladly give not only my inner core but my heart too. Fight no more, this is my curse, let's end it once and for all." He said that while gathering internal energy from his core and shaping it into a spherical shape to resemble it and right in front of his horrified lover, he smashed it with his own hand, spitting out some blood before falling to the ground.
Although the energy he gather was not his real core, it was still inner energy that in his weak state did cause some damage, even if it wasn't permanent. However, the worst part was not the physical pain he cause to himself, but feeling Yi Chen arms holding him with a desperate yell. He will apologize for that a million times over after he awakes, but until then, he let the void take him and hoped that all those hard truths that were voiced were enough to get them the scale.
AN: Was it too dramatic? I was hearing very emotive music when writing this, so it turn out this way. I hope it doesn't disappoint, but those struggling moments where the best of the show. Thanks for reading, until next time, please take care.