Ronghua lifted her hand and violently threw that puppet monster straight into a room nearby. Upon realizing it was freed, and unable to experience any pains, the monster went right back onto its feet and started to attack Ronghua. Noticing that though Ronghua was resorting only to dodging the monster's attack, she never stopped smiling, Bai Zi then thought that this monster must be doomed. This scenario really reminded Bai Zi of that old saying: the puppet monster was “digging its own grave.”

Bai Zi watched silently, while Ronghua pierced through the monster's heart with her hand. Her hand, drenched with blood, was holding the monster's core. “How could that be?” thought Bai Zi. “A core of that size could only be produced by monsters in the Realm of Demons! How could the emperor there ever allow its subjects to be the puppet of a puny human?!”

“That monster could transform and was not weak in its strength. It seemed to be the better ones in cultivation among its kinds and at least has been cultivating for over a thousand years,” thought Bai Zi.

Holding the monster's core, Ronghua seemed to have vented off her anger. When she pulled her hand back from the puppet monster, the monster's body fell onto the ground with its blood sprawling on the floor from the hole in its heart.

Bai Zi frown and covered his face with hands. “It was really smelly! And the monster's blood reeked of corrosiveness,” thought Bai Zi.

In a placid but uncanny voice, Bai Zi asked, “Miss, what will you do with the monster's core?” Ronghua just looked at the cored and said, “What? I will burn it, of course.”

Bai Zi squinted his eyes and said, “With fire?” Then he thought, “Aren't she worried that the blood might sprawl to other places? Monster's blood is not an ordinary substance, and it could set a city on fire with a spark.” But when he looked at that unreliable girl, he saw no signs of worries on her face.

“Is she serious about burning the core?” thought Bai Zi.

“Miss…” Bai Zi tried to explain it to Ronghua.

But Ronghua threw him a look of contempt and said, “Just light it up, and burn it to the ashes. Is that difficult?”

Bai Zi thought that was amusing and explained, “If you set fire to the monster's blood, it would burn half of this city to the ground. You don't want this city to be dead, do you? Thus, let's try to solve this problem another way.”

Ronghua sneered at Bai Zi with a strange look and replied, “How come you've got so many concerns?”

Before Bai Zi could manage any reply, Ronghua neatly threw a fireball onto the monster's body, setting it on fire. Bai Zi frowned, apparently in discontent with Ronghua's self-a.s.sertiveness. However, contrary to what Bai Zi had expected, the fire quickly burned through the monster's body, turning it into a piece of charcoal, instead of sprawling around. He was astonished and thought, “This fire is way too hot! And the color is abnormal! Isn't it the fire of nothingness?! She wants to burn everything into naught?!”

“Miss, have you ever considered the consequences of your actions?” asked Bai Zi.

With Bai Zi's sudden seriousness in his remarks, Ronghua stopped and seemed to be touched by Bai Zi's words.

“It is good that you have burned it, but haven't you considered its consequences? Should you fail to put it under control, you are putting the entire city at risk.” Bai Zi continued to say, “And common folks will not be able to deal with the fires on a monster's blood.”

Ronghua, “…”

“Yes, you are powerful, but you rely solely on your strength,” Bai Zi said.

Ronghua, “….”

Bai Zi continued to say, “If you don't think everything through, how could you make plans?”

Ronghua, “….”

“People like you cannot be tamed, and that I understand. But do you really wish to do what you've done?” said Bai Zi.

“… Bai Zi, do you know me?” asked Ronghua.

“…” Bai Zi did not know how to reply.

“You know me only for a while, so on what grounds are you judging me? You don't have a say in whatever I am doing,” Ronghua said. “On this vast continent, people of all sorts are not doing what they can but what they like. I'm just doing the thing they wanna do but simply do not dare. People who had seen my power all said that they would rather offend the King of Death than mess with a demon like me that would haunt them forever long.”

Bai Zi saw off Ronghua, with uncanny depth in his eyes. “What are you doing, Ronghua?” He thought, “You could summon the fire of nothingness so naturally. Is controlling the fire of nothingness your natal power?”

Ronghua faded out of Bai Zi's sight, and his eyes turned from red to white and then to black. Bai Zi suddenly came back to his senses, breathing heavily. He looked around and wondered, “Where is that girl?”

Seemingly touched by Bai Zi's words, step by step, Ronghua walked away from there with the core still in her hand. The core was still drenched with the monster's fresh blood, dripping onto the ground while she walked. She then waded into the stream ahead of her and sat down, while the water carried the monster's blood away. She looked at her reflection in the water and noticed that her skin was so pale. Her long dress was flowing with the stream's current, making it seemed to be even longer. A pa.s.serby might mistake her for a drowned sprite. But with a closer look, they would notice that she had a shadow.

She lay supine into the stream, letting its current to submerge her. She did not care if she would be hurt by the water. It had been so long since the last time she had felt such warmth from the water. She had always been so lonely and surrounded by the cold, maybe except for her childhood.

She remembered the old days in the Realm of Demons; the elderly had talked to her about the realm's military counselor, Lady Lingran. She was happy in their stories. Every day, she could come up with many new things and share them with others. She taught others how to enjoy their lives with knowledge and how to solve problems with principles, not force.

Lives were so happy back then, with a single setback. That was, the day in the Realm of Demons was too short because of the realm's geology. In a day, there were only a few hours that's blessed with the sun's warmth, while the night was insufferably cold. Ronghua could never close her eyes during the night, not just because of the cold, but also because of her aching loneliness and fear.

No one would believe that she was afraid of loneliness, even if she was saying it out loud.

Even many years had pa.s.sed, she was still afraid of the night in the Realm of Demons. Every night, when she was in bed, she would keep her eyes open and wait for the sun to rise before she left the bed. Sometimes she would sneak out from her cage and climb to the highest place in the realm, where there was a tree of heaven. She would sleep there, and watch the sunrise and sunset.

She could not remember the last time she had slept with her eyes closed.

No one could understand how much pressure she was under. For a hundred thousand years, she had been sleeping with her eyes open at night. She could still remember how her body s.h.i.+vered at night. It was so cold. She was so afraid that she might never wake up again, whenever she fell asleep in those nights.

Indulged in memories, Ronghua fell asleep in the stream unconsciously. The current ran through her long hair. She never liked to tie her hair up, and her hair was flowing with the current as if it was waltzing with joyous steps. The water submerged her long hair and dress, and her entire body. An unrecognizable person walked toward Ronghua and pulled her up from the stream. Noticing the monster's core in her hand, he made no reaction but to hold Ronghua's waist with one hand, and her feet with another. That person did not mind that his clothes were getting wet when he lifted all-wetted Ronghua from the stream into his arms. “A beauty, coming out fresh from the water, is lovely indeed, but only so when she is asleep.” That person thought.

Carrying Ronghua away from the stream, he could hardly imagine how the pale doll in his arms could become like this.

“Ronghua…” He said with maddening difficulty.

Unawakened, Ronghua was still in her dreams.

“Ronghua, wake up. Wake up!” said that person.

He continued with a s.h.i.+vering voice, “My dear….”

But seeing no signs of waking up on her face, he bowed down to her face, sensing the evanescent flagrance of peach blossom from her body.

He instead saw a drop of tear, streaking down her cheek. “What is she dreaming about?” He thought.

Ronghua was standing in front of a palace that she knew well. It was the Palace of Death, the temple of the King of Death.

“Why am I here?” She looked around and thought. “This place does not seem to be the Palace of Death that I am familiar with. Where am I?”

Ronghua wandered in the palace, where no one was to be seen. Through the door down the hallway, Ronghua noticed a familiar figure. A woman in a white gown, with her hair fluttering in the air.

Ronghua walked toward her and asked, “Who are you? Are you the demon here?”

That woman did not turn back, facing Ronghua with her back. Ronghua sensed an air of peculiarity and walked right toward her, wanting to know who she exactly was. But she noticed that she could not go anywhere near her. “How come?” thought Ronghua.

There was an invisible wall in between the woman and Ronghua, insulating the woman from her. Ronghua touched the wall with her hand and noticed that the wall seemed to be made of some form of energy. She then got a rough idea of where she was, and if she was right, she was now in that woman's memory again. She did not know how she got in here again. But since she was in it, it was worthwhile for her to check if there was anything she wanted to know.

For a while, the woman was standing in the blowing winds, without any signs of wanting to move. Ronghua was becoming impatient as she had no idea how much longer would that woman remain there.

When it comes to Lingran, more often than not, Ronghua would think of her courage. Lingran had done much for the Realm of Demons and Weilian. Yet she eventually chose to end her life. Whether it was because of malicious rumors or Weilian's distrust was a question that Ronghua still had not figured out.

“She was brave, nevertheless, with such a strong character and a sense of principle. Lingran could get pregnant with Lingxi under that treacherous circ.u.mstances and left Lingxi after her birth resolutely. It was also clever of Lingran to find me as Lingxi's babysitter,” thought Ronghua.

“My sister, it's time to go home, and it's so windy here,” a voice said, “As for the King of Death…he might not wish to have your company today.”

Ronghua lifted her head and realized another person was standing aside from that woman. Ronghua knew her. She was Shu Ruomi, a strange woman.

After a while, the woman finally turned her head around and gazed at the Palace of Death.

Upon seeing her turning around, Ronghua immediately stepped up to get a clear view of her face. But for an unknown reason, that woman's face was always so blurred, which remained mysterious to Ronghua. “It was such a pity that she covered half of her face with a veil,” thought Ronghua.

“I have never seen her face in these memories, so the rumors are real. This woman made a wish when she left, which was to erase everything related to her,” thought Ronghua, “But this wish seemed half-completed. Because only the memories of her appearance were wiped, including those in the memories of the King of Death.”

“What are you doing?” thought Ronghua.

Lingran said indifferently, “Sure, I will come tomorrow.”

Shu Ruomi came to Lingran, holding her arm to arm, and said, “Let's go home!”

Ronghua saw off Lingran and Shu Ruomi. In Lingran's telling eyes, Ronghua seemed to have recognized something. That is desperation, a feeling that she used to have.

“How could she be desperate?” Ronghua thought carefully. But she could not understand why, and it was not to Ronghua's surprise because she knew too little about Lingran and had no clues about anything at all. She then was reminded that Shu Ruomi had told her what happened afterward. The King of Death was regretted of letting Lingran leave, for that was the last time they could ever meet again. Lingran had become a totally different person since that day.

Lingran neither talked nor did anything again since then, but staring at the stars with glazed eyes. She slept whenever she was tried and again woke up to see the stars till that day, in which Shu Ruomi did not see Lingran in the yard, and could not find her trace anywhere, but a parting letter on the desk. After reading that letter, Shu Ruomi finally came to the realization that Lingran was, in fact, doing astrology to predict when she would leave.