Chapter 62.2

Wings of the Fire Phoenix

“No, stupid Ling’er, did you know? After you gave me your vest yesterday, my heart broke. It was obviously given to you by Teacher! It even had your scent. How could I use a protective treasure that was meant for you? Stupid girl, you are wearing it right now! If not, we could’ve been skewered together.” Yes, yesterday Nian Bing blew the Phoenix Flute to ask Feng Nu to put the vest on her again without her knowing. With Feng Nu’s capabilities, it remained completely hidden. Actually, Nian Bing could have let Feng Nu block the Dragon Guiding Arrow for him and get away with just a slight shock. But as a man, how could he let a woman take an arrow for him? Nian Bing didn’t hesitate and embraced Long Ling, turning them to the side. His protective Ice Wall scroll was his last line of defense, but he still sustained a serious wound.

Long Ling’s heart trembled as she felt the concern from Nian Bing’s warm eyes and pale face. Emotion began to creep into her empty eyes, and she stepped forward to help Nian Bing sit down. She helped Nian Bing sit down, while she straightened up and walked outside. At the moment, Jin Ni was slowly pressing forward with his troops. They injured the most important mage, so they had no more worries. Actually, it only took half a joss stick to burn to reach where they were now, but there had been many changes in the battle. From Feng Nu’s initial rush, to convening in the cage, then the vigorous defense, berserker Zi Qing jian, Feng Nu’s counterattack, Nian Bing’s heavy wound. At almost every moment, there was a massive change on the battlefield.

Without Feng Nu, who could stop Jin Ni? The mercenaries regrouped, their fighting spirit gradually crumbling against the enemy’s onslaught. Anyone knew that this time, they had no chance of blocking the enemy’s charge. Now, Long Ling approached from behind them and chanted quietly, “Take my life as price, curse everything…” just as she chanted this, a large hand suddenly covered her mouth, forcefully cutting of the spell. If she had chanted over half of this spell, it couldn’t be stopped, otherwise it would cause a terrible backlash. You could only interrupt the spell at the start.

“Ling’er, this curse spell should be used by me, not you.” Nian Bing tugged Long Ling into his embrace, his tone firm.

Nain Bing’s warm embrace set Long Ling at ease, despite knowing about the calamity that came ahead. She had no fear. Hugging Long Ling’s beautiful form, Nian Bing smiled bitterly. Good thing he came when he did. Just as he was about to chant the same spell Long Ling almost had, a voice dispelled such thoughts.

“Quick, everyone deeper into the cave. It’s narrower and better for defense.” Feng Yun’s voice rang from behind. Nian Bing looked back only to see Feng Yun run out from the inner cave. At this moment, when no one was expecting it, Feng Nu exploded.

If Feng Nu was a bomb, Jin Ni wounding of Nian Bing was the lighting of the fuse. A mournful cry of a phoenix entered everyone’s ears like a sharp needle. The red qi around Feng Nu suddenly subsided, In a moment, her long, pink hair turned dark red. Her originally fair skin sparkled with a faint red light. The back of her clothes suddenly tore open and a pair of red-feathered wings unfurled. They curled slightly inward, tightly lined with phoenix plumage, reaching almost two meters in span. Feng Nu’s normally lanky body looked positively petite against her wings. With a single flap, Feng Nu was aloft; her dark blue eyes shone with a gold luster.

Jin Ni couldn’t help but lose his composure as he witnessed this. “Careful, it’s the Phoenix Clan’s Royal Feathers!”

His warning came too late. Red qi circled her as she flapped her wings and pulsed outwards. Every single enemy attacking Feng Nu could not withstand its might; eighteen wounds violently spurted out blood, before being thrown back over thirty meters.

Feng Nu hissed in the air, swinging Heavenly Flame horizontally, emitting red light as it went. A ravine formed in front of the cave as a wave of qi forced all of the Fire Dragon People backwards.

Seeing this situation, Nian Bing wasn’t happy but worried. Showing such great strength in danger meant that it might not be her own strength, which made it a more likely to have a severe backlash. He hurriedly shouted, “Feng Nu! Bring Zi Qing Jian back! The cave is narrower and better for defense inside!”

The sky was filled with her afterimages. Feng Nu brought Zi Qing Jian aloft in a jiffy by grabbing onto his collar. At the moment, Zi Qing Jian had no control of himself while berserk, unable to tell friend from foe. He suddenly raised his heavysword, slashing at Feng Nu.

“You idiot, it’s me.” Feng Nu waved her sword, easily stopping Zi Qing Jian’s attack. Strangely enough, when berserker Zi Qing Jian heard Feng Nu’s voice, he immediately became obedient.

Bzz– Silver holy qi once again appeared in the form of the Dragon Guiding Arrow. This time, its target was the airborne Feng Nu. Jin Ni knew very well that offending the Phoenix Clan’s royalty meant that there was an irreparable gouge between them and the Phoenix Clan. Only by killing Feng Nu and everyone else could he hope to cover everything.

The giant red wings suddenly disappeared. The left wing was waved out horizontally; the Dragon Guiding Arrow that Nian Bing couldn’t even stop while using all of his strength was destroyed by Feng Nu’s giant wink. In the next moment, Feng Nu had arrived at the cave mouth. With a wave of her sword, she sent all of the enemies flying.

Nian Bing grabbed Feng Nu. “Let’s go inside.” At the moment, the mercenaries had quickly ran deep into the cave after seeing Feng Nu stop the enemies. He suddenly cried out an alarm, involuntarily letting go of Feng Nu’s hands. Right now, Feng Nu’s body was as scorching as fire.

A cold light emanated from Feng Nu’s eyes as she glared at Jin Ni holding the longbow. She said coldly, “Today I did not kill anyone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t next time. If you have the ability than come in.” After this, she shielded everyone so they could escape.

Unexpectedly, they actually didn’t chase after them, which may have been because of Feng Nu’s sudden show of such power. They let Feng Nu, Nian Bing and the mercenaries run deeper into the cave.

The mercenaries had withdrawn a hundred meters to the cave, into a three meter wide tunnel until they couldn’t hold on. As if paralyzed, they fell to the ground. Even the three leaders of the Ice Moon Mercenary Group had less than a third of their strength left. Although no one had died, two-thirds of them were heavily wounded. They were lucky that Long Ling treated them earlier so they could come this far.

Feng Nu raised her hand and hit Zi Qing Jian into unconsciousness, then threw him to the side. She turned back to peer outside, then let out a breath.

“Why are you hitting my brother?” Zi Qing Meng demanded angrily.

Feng Nu’s gold eyes exuded a cold aura that made Zi Qing Meng shiver involuntarily. “He was in a berserker state, I just hit him so he could return to normal. However, although it didn’t consume all of his strength, he might have to sleep two days before recovering.”

Nian Bing looked at Feng Nu in concern. “Are you okay?”

Feng Nu shook her head. “I’m fine. You?” Her golden gaze fell on the frightening wound on Nian Bing’s shoulder.

At the moment, Nian Bing’s facial expression was extremely hard to look at. His heavy blood loss had turned his rosy face into an unnatural white. He said with a bitter smile, “I won’t die. But it seems that my right shoulder blade is broken. I used magic to stop the blood, but we might not have the chance to heal it. Feng Nu, why do you think they’re not coming after us? Is it because they are afraid of you?”

Feng Nu shook her head. “No, that shouldn’t be it. I just discovered that these Fire Dragon People seem to be afraid of this cave. From the start when I charged to the cave, they deliberately avoided going into the cave. Right now I think that if we had chosen to go in the cave earlier, we might be in much better shape. But at least they won’t bother us now.”

“Sorry, this is my fault.” Ka Luo’s solemn voice. “It was my wish to bring everyone into this death trap. If I had listened to Nian Bing’s suggestion earlier and abandoned this operation, I wouldn’t have involved you in this.”

Feng Nu looked at Ka Luo and said indifferently, “You don’t need to take responsibility. The ones trapped here are you. With my ability, I can leave here with Nian Bing at any time, but I can at most bring only one person.” After saying this, the whole came turned silent. No one doubted Feng Nu’s words; she had proved her strength.

“Feng Nu, bring Ling’er with you.” Nian Bing’s tone was calm, but with unnatural firmness.

Feng Nu, Zi Qing Meng, and Long Ling looked at him in the same time. In a strange voice, Feng Nu asked, “Don’t you want to live and leave here?”

Nian Bing looked at his right arm and said indifferently, “No one wants to die, but as a mage, and as a chef, I have already lost my right arm. Even if I could cure it, I cannot use my arm to make food or draw magic scrolls. In my life I had only two goals: two reach the peak of culinary arts and to cultivate my magic to the highest realm to avenge my parents. I have lost my right arm; its recovery uncertain. Why wouldn’t I give the chance to live to someone else? Feng Nu, I cannot hide anything from you at this point. My enemy actually is…” saying this, he suddenly lowered his voice and leaned close to Feng Nu’s ears.

Feng Nu trembled. “What? Your enemy was actually her?”

Nian Bing nodded and smiled painfully. “You rest first and recover your strength, then take Ling’er away with you. If in the future you are confident your abilities surpass that person, then please get my revenge for me, so we weren’t friends in vein. Of course, this is just my request, to only do it if it is possible.”

“No, I will not leave here.” Long Ling spoke while healing.

“Ling’er, don’t be stubborn.” Nian Bing and Li De replied in unison. Both their expressions wore impatient expressions.

Long Ling raised her head and smiled faintly. Her previous spirit had returned to her beautiful face. “I’m not being stubborn! Since we came here together, then we will leave together. If not, I will not leave. The injured need me. Nian Bing, thank you, at least now I know that the person I loved I did not love for naught.”

Nian Bing furrowed his brows resisting the sharp pain coming from his shoulder. “Ling’er don’t forget. Teacher Long Zhi has only one daughter. If something happens to you, what will Teacher do? What will the Association do?”

Long Ling said simply, “If Father was here, he definitely wouldn’t abandon his friends and escape alone.”

Feng Nu said coldly, “Are you talking about me?”

Long Ling shook her head. “Of course not. I don’t have the qualifications to talk about you, no one here does. If it weren’t for you, we would have long since been killed by the Fire Dragon People; it’s you who saved all of our lives. I can see that you’re no ordinary human. I think that you entered the human realm for a mission, so no one will mind if you leave. If you can, take Nian Bing. His injury is very serious, but if he can find light mage magic scholar to use a rank 8 spell, he can recover completely.”

Nian Bing smiled. “Ling’er, let’s not fight. Since you do not want to go, then you can stay here. Anyways, the enemy won’t come in, so we will starve to death here together. I think that we brought enough ingredients to eat for a month. If we can save a little, we can last even longer.”

The red light subsided and Feng Nu returned to her original state. Nian Bing discovered that she was trembling slightly, and rushed over to help her out. Concerned, he asked, “Feng Nu, are you okay?”

Feng Nu shook her head. “I’m fine. Nian Bing, I want to talk to you alone. Can we?”

Nian Bing went blank, then said, “Of course.” Immediately, he supported Feng Nu over to the corner and sat her down. At the same time, he used another spell on his shoulder.