Author's notes

A-Ji stays...

On Mount Leihuo...

Yo!

The character Yin Song who appears as the adopted son of the Valley Master originates from the drama New Life Begins.

I forgot to mention the other notes.

Have a good read. ^ ^

Chapter 22 – Dongfang Qingcang's Decision

"First, you have to promise that you will accept my condition. You will even have to take a spiritual oath."

They are surprised that A-Ji had made her decision and after looking at each other, they agree because they trusted her.

Then, all the humans make seals with their hands and when they finish, a golden symbol appears on the palm facing up at the same time that the second princess makes seals that are a little different from them, with her right hand shining in a silver tone and that After placing the palm towards the hands, the light turns golden and disappears.

That technique could only be used freely and spontaneously, without any internal or external influence.

As she had no spiritual powers as she was a metal demon, Si Yu concentrated her demonic power and caused a formation to appear beneath her, which then moved to her glowing hand, with A-Ji holding her hand when it extended, causing the glow to cease.

"This is how we demons make promises. It's a similar version of what you did."

"I noticed that it reminds me a little of how the master-slave contract is done, according to what I read in books."

"Yes. There are similarities."

The second princess takes a deep breath and then says, "You will follow my instructions and you will never tell, write or draw to anyone what we are going to do because the memories will be sealed when I wish to seal them and if something goes wrong, the your memories will be sealed immediately. Only I can free these memories."

Everyone is shocked, with A-Ji speaking in an apologetic tone as she is overcome with shame, "I apologize. But, I cannot allow you to be punished because of me. I am filled with regret and pain for what happened to Chang Yi. I don't want to have it in relation to you either. So, if something goes wrong, I will be the only one to bear the consequences because you will lie without even knowing that you are lying and any technique or potion to force you to tell the truth, will make them say they didn't know anything because that will be the truth for you."

As they digested her words, realizing that their best friend lived up to her strategic ability because she prevented them from ending up being punished if something went wrong or they were discovered, Si-Yu spots something and discreetly draws the group's attention to a distant point where they were.

The only one who didn't notice the demon's movement and tried to be discreet so as not to attract the princess's attention was A-Ji as she found herself crestfallen due to the shame of what she did to her friends because despite having done it for their safety, she didn't change the fact that he cursed them.

After all, it could be seen that way and this depressed her even more, making the young woman regret that she had not died in her suicide attempts in the past and when death presented itself to her, as it recently did in the ship's cabin.

Why didn't she allow herself to drown? Why did she fight so hard for her life? Why didn't she embrace death when she presented it to her? After all, hasn't she looked for it so many times in her life? Why didn't she take advantage of this opportunity? These questions relentlessly permeated her mind as she lashed her heart at the figure of her cruel personal executioner as she sank into self-loathing. The memory of what the jiaoren was suffering only distressed her even more and amplified her grief, as did the regret and indescribable pain that permeated her.

In the distance, they watched Yin Song with his usual cruel countenance as they were surprised to see that he was in a bad mood. His clothes were dyed with blood at the hems while he showed cuts and bruises, in addition to his black clothes, once impeccable, having several cuts. There was also a particularly nasty wound on his face.

The brothers and their disciples imagined how enraged the bastard was that jiaoren didn't show pain and despair. For a sadist it was something revolting. He wanted to see the pain, suffering and humiliation of his victims, something he couldn't do with the merman, with the brothers suspecting that this was the first frustration in his life when he dealt with demons.

In the meantime, hundreds of kilometers away, on Leihuo Island, more precisely on the giant mountain that reached the sky while filling the entire island and that regularly expelled lava redder than blood capable of burning anything it touched in this world, a black tiger with bluish stripes that reflected the color of its flames and blue eyes looked intently at the horizon in the distance. On the dark and scorching rocks, their paws were covered with flaming blue flames that then ceased. On his forehead lay the design of a crescent moon which, along with his black fur, was a distinct symbol of his family that had led the Moon Tribe for countless generations, which is made up of some clans of fire tiger demons that live close to the Leihuo fire.

All fire tigers, as this species of demon was called, had blood red flames with the exception of some sporadic members who were born with the ability to use bluish flames and which were called infernal flames while elsewhere it was called spiritual flames. It was a characteristic of the lineage that reigned on that island and that only the most powerful members could dominate.

Therefore, those who dominated the infernal flames became leaders, with these flames being able to remain latent in the clan until the one capable of dominating them was born from that lineage.

Currently, there were two blood descendants of this lineage of kings and queens, Dongfang Qingcang and Dongfang Xunfeng,

Only the oldest of the brothers, Qingcang, was born with infernal flames while the youngest used the same blood red magma flame that the other members of his species used and as expected, the oldest was powerful.

After all, only the most powerful could tame and handle such powerful flames.

They were one of the few species among the tiger demons that lived in a group and in their case, it was a literally flaming kingdom, with the palace located on the largest island adjacent to Leihuo and which formed an archipelago far from any coastline.

The place where the imposing construction of the palace was located and the other buildings that surrounded it were far from the magma because the island that contained the mountain was occupied in its entirety by it.

However, the palace complex was close enough to see the imposing mountain in all its glory and the place where the volcano was located was used for training, as well as for escaping if they were attacked. In this case, children and pregnant women would fight.

Of course, few dared to face them due to the fame of their flames. Leihuo magma burned anything and so was the power of the fire magic they used.

"Brother?"

Dongfang Qingcang looks back and sees his younger brother, Dongfang Xunfeng, in his true form as well, with the difference that his stripes were white while he kept his black fur and the crescent moon symbol on his forehead, climbing the flaming rocks. The youngest's body size comprised half the size of the oldest's body while at the same time he was larger than the other members of his tribe because of his lineage.

Then, he stops next to him and asks respectfully with his head slightly lowered, thus showing his submission to the elder's leadership, "Are you really going to leave?"

"Yes. I need to find our adoptive brother."

"We can send special squad members. There's no need for you to leave, brother."

"I feel like I should go. I can't explain it, but it's an unsettling feeling."

"That's strange... You did the emotion sealing ritual."

"Yes. It was necessary to gain control of Mount Leihuo. Although we can handle the flames because our ancestors were born from this magma, newborns do not possess the same resistance. Sacrificing my emotions is a small price to pay for safety of the clan. Moving pregnant females and cubs to an unknown location considering the active role of demon masters is to risk being killed or worse, captured to be brutally tortured in order to be tamed. They have no mercy even for the cubs. Well, It's easier to break a hatchling than an adult. Surely, that's why demon masters don't show any mercy to younger ones."

"Probably. But the problem is that the only way to regain your emotions without losing what you've managed dominating is..."

"Indeed, of all the methods, only one of them would allow me to maintain mastery of Mount Leihuo while also regaining my feelings. However, it can be considered very difficult and even impossible considering the fact that none of our ancestors Those born with these flames were able to recover their emotions through this method."

The prince sighs sadly, and then looks at his sovereign upon hearing his name.

"Xunfeng."

The youngest looks at the oldest who speaks, "Do you remember what happened the last time we suffered an attack from demon masters from the extinct Demon Island?"

"Yes. I read what happened because I couldn't remember everything that happened."

"In your case, it's normal not to remember. You were quite small at the time while I was a little bigger, although I was still a cub. Almost all the cubs, including the two of us, were captured by demon masters when they decided to evacuate the pregnant females and cubs to the nearest continent because our father was unable to complete the ritual to gain control of Mount Leihuo, ending up preventing the most vulnerable from seeking the safety of the magma. If it weren't for the providential help of that strange woman with powers unknown, they would have been captured. She effectively neutralized the demon masters and their demon slaves. To the slaves she gave a quick death and to the demon masters she provided the slowest possible and equally painful death. She was also responsible for eradicating the Island demonic. She helped us a lot, in addition to erasing any and all records about our location. Unfortunately, we ended up losing our adopted brother in this attack, in addition to our parents. At least he wasn't captured."

"But our parents ended up sacrificing themselves to stop the cubs' first capture before that human female arrived. Because of those bastards, we both became orphans." Xunfeng loosens his grip a little on the rock below him as he is overcome with rage as he deals with the pain and sadness of losing his beloved parents and as he was so young at the time, he cannot properly remember them.

As for Qingcang, because of the sealing of his emotions by himself through a ritual, the king began to feel nothing about the death of his parents, unlike what he did in the past when he cried over their loss while being comforted by his nanny.

Due to the kingdom's need for a leader for the throne to be empty, with him being the most suitable for the position, he was not allowed to mourn for a long time because as he was the oldest and capable of using the infernal flames, he had to rise to the throne and went on to rule the moon tribe while his younger brother had more time to mourn the loss of their parents, with the brothers sharing a hatred for the demon masters.

Later, the older brother performed the ritual and sealed his emotions, thus achieving full control of Mount Leihuo and if something similar to the past occurred, the most vulnerable could seek shelter and safety on that island.

"Yes. Our clan owes her a debt and in the end, we were unable to repay her even though she said she didn't need to thank her. But, if he wasn't captured, why didn't he return to his family?" The prince asks his older brother.

"He was brutally attacked. The bastards became anxious when they saw him and focused on trying to capture him. During the battle, I remember seeing him suffer violent attacks as he fought them off and then a final explosion. I feel like he he didn't die. However, something must have happened."

"It's definitely something too serious not to have returned. In the past, our family, more precisely one of our ancestors, lost a brother as well. As for that power, I would like to know what that power was. It wasn't spiritual power, although had some similarities."

"I don't know. But, I'm curious to find out as long as it doesn't threaten our kingdom. Well, I'll leave now. I leave our kingdom in your hands. We need to know what happened to our adopted brother."

"I hope you find him and please be careful."

"I entrust our Moon Tribe to you. Be the supreme Moon of my place until I return."

"I will honor your trust. Please be careful!" He exclaims as his brother became a flaming ball of blue fire.

Then, Qingcang flies towards the sky, scratching it like a comment, but, not before saying, "I have mastered hellfire and I am the best at spells in our tribe. I will definitely come back."

The youngest consents and after seeing the oldest disappear into the horizon, he sighs and returns to the palace still in his true form.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, on the continent, a tribe of demonic birds had been fleeing for several days in their human forms because if they assumed their true form they would be easily spotted.