Chapter 1219: Prison (13)

The ancestor waited for Lith to answer.

Lith did not require a lot of time to come to a conclusion.

"If I don’t take the inheritance I won’t be able to proceed, isn’t it?"

"Correct."

"I’ll take the inheritance."

"Think twice, child. The inheritance opens door to a world that—"

"Less talk." Lith stared at the ancestor dead in the eye and interrupted.

The last will of the ancestor let out a baffled expression.

"The arrogance... forget it." The will sighed. "I am but a will. Here, take the inheritance."

A fist-sized dark orb appeared out of the man’s glabella and rushed towards Lith’s.

The moment it touched him, a soul-piercing shrill cry resounded.

The orb stopped in its place.

A blazing phoenix erupted from Lith’s body.

The dark and grey Astral World was illuminated in such brightness as if the sun itself had descended on it.

The ancestor’s mouth was agape and he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

"T-the Phoenix Providence!?"

The ancestor took an involuntary step back.

"Impossible."

"That thing should not exist in the Lower Realm."

The Phoenix’s projection let out a shrill cry at the dark orb and sharply pecked at it, sending multiple cracks to run through.

The orb let out a black mist and tried to engulf the Phoenix projection but was vastly overpowered and blazed in burning colors, eventually entering Lith’s glabella.

Lith felt a burning sensation throughout his soul.

Closing his eyes, he could see a blazing dark orb in his Mind Sea, quietly floating in a corner.

A few understanding of some concepts came to light with the presence of this orb.

’Warden...’

’Seal...’

’Below...’

Lith roughly made out the words but felt a splitting headache andhad to open his eyes.

A buzzing pain lingered while he saw the will of the ancestor staring in his direction, completely stupefied.

"Are we done?" Lith asked while rubbing his ears.

The ancestor’s will blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.

"Who are you... child?" The ancestor’s tone softened. "How did you obtain that?"

Lith kept rubbing his ears, trying to ease the pain. He waved his other hand and said, "Looks like we’re done. I’m leaving."

His figure blurred and disappeared instantly, giving the ancestor’s last will the shock of its lifetime.

"He can really exit at will from the Astral World..."

These were its final words as it slowly scattered into particles of light, forever vanishing from existence.

...

Blood oozed out from Meng Yuexin’s lips as she bit it hard.

She could not tell whether Lith was alive or dead.

She couldn’t feel his breath or his soul’s existence.

Only a minute had passed after his body went limp.

She continued to stare at it.

A few seconds later.

Lith’s body twitched.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Meng Yuexin raised her eyebrows and shook his shoulders.

"Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Lith’s eyes fluttered and he felt his legs then slowly distanced himself from Meng Yuexin.

"So noisy..." Lith said as he still felt the buzz in his head.

"You’re not dead..." Meng Yuexin let out a relieved sigh and slumped on the ground.

Lith opened his eyes and looked at her, a frown surfacing his face.

"Were you wishing I was dead?"

"No-no!" She shook her hand. "I was just—"

Lith tossed something at her, his expression returning to its usual calmness as the buzzing died down.

Meng Yuexin caught it and had a look. It was a rusted key.

She tilted her head and Lith could imagine a big question mark on her face.

"What is it?" She asked.

"The prison’s key."

"I see..." Meng Yuexin nodded. "You found the— wait! What!?"

Meng Yuexin looked up. "What did you just say!?!"

Lith stared at her with a poker face and repeated, "I said it’s the prison—"

"No, I heard that. I meant, how did you obtain it so quick??" Meng Yuexin had a lot of questions popping up in her head and she asked the most important one she felt.

Once the buzzing was gone, Lith felt an intense sound of a whistle.

He ignored it for now and said, "Those are all talks for later. I feel the prison shouldn’t be explored further from this point. But, I did not get what I was looking for."

Meng Yuexin stood up and dusted her hand. "Then it means we explore more."

Lith nodded but then shook his head. "I do need to explore but you can leave. This is a golden opportunity."

"No." Meng Yuexin walked past Lith and answered flatly. "You, me, and my brother. We three are leaving together or not leaving at all."

"Huh?" Lith heard something so dumb, he had to ask again.

"What huh? Let’s go and explore this to the end!" Meng Yuexin showed her bicep and flexed the flat peak.

"What do you mean explore?" Lith knitted his brows. "And what do you mean leaving together? I think you’re seriously misunderstanding something."

"What?"

Lith walked close to her and stopped when his face was a few inches from her.

He looked down and continued, "If I were you, I would’ve escaped at the first opportunity I could find. Have you not had enough of this prison already? You were in absolute control of the prison’s mechanics and the Laughing Pyre just a while ago, then nearly would’ve died either from the statues or the doors or the monsters from the previous layer or this mountainous terrain."

If one did not possess the Evure bloodline, they were doomed from the very get go and Lith was reminding her just that.

"You also contributed nothing other than obvious commentary. What is it that makes you want to explore further?" Lith said it bluntly.

Meng Yuexin pursued her lips and almost had a crying face.

She sniffed and said, "I... I still want to explore."

Lith frowned and raised his hand, making her flinch and shrink in place.

Poof!

He did a light headchop.

Meng Yuexin shivered.

"I respect you for surviving so many years in this accursed prison. But, don’t you think it’s about time you get a break? You can exit the prison now and be free. I’ll make sure your brother gets out. I give you my word. So—"

"No..." Meng Yuexin said in a low voice while clutching her head and squatting down. "I don’t want to go..."

"What?"

"I don’t want to go..." she repeated while clutching her head tighter. "I can’t..."

Listening to her sobs felt strange.

The sudden shift in her reaction did not feel right to Lith.

He squatted down. His tone softened as he asked, "What is stopping you?"

"Sniff... I... I can’t be free..."

Tears flowed down her face.

"Hey, look at me." Lith gently pinched her chin and made her face him.

This Legendary Rank lady had the face of a pitiful child as she cried.

"Sniff... sniff..." Meng Yuexin kept sobbing.

"What makes you think you can’t be free?" Lith questioned in a soft tone.

After a few sobs, Meng Yuexin said, "I... I can’t..."

"Can’t what?"

"Don’t know how."

"Hm?"

Meng Yuexin closed her eyes and bit her lips, trying to stop herself from sobbing for just a moment.

Tears did not stop flowing even still.

"I don’t know what freedom feels like anymore."

Lith stared at her.

He did not say a single word for a solid minute, then sighed.

"That’s all?"

Meng Yuexin looked up.

"What?"

Lith shook his head and held her wrist, standing up.

"Freedom isn’t something you remember."

He glanced into her tear-filled eyes.

"It’s something you get used to."

He tugged her hand and made her stand up as well.

"I won’t ask you to leave but I’ll warn you beforehand, I have the means to escape at will... you don’t. Moving forward, situations would arise where you’d crave death but might not get it."

Lith did not like sugarcoating things and absolutely did not spout comforting words despite finding the depressed state Meng Yuexin was in.

He extended his hand out. "Last chance to escape the prison. If you don’t want to, hand me the key."

Meng Yuexin looked at the rusted key in her hand. She clutched it firmly as a few thoughts crossed her mind, then extended her hand out and placed it in Lith’s palm.

"Very well." Lith said and held the key.

Ba-dum!

Lith felt a stir in his soul as his heart missed a beat.

His hair stood on their ends and the air suddenly felt extremely chilly.

"Lith..."

A voice called out.

Lith felt a chill down his spine but noticed Meng Yuexin wiping her tears and trying to calm herself down.

He grabbed her wrist and said, "Since you’ve made up your mind, let’s see what the deeper layers have in store for us."

"Lith Evure..." words rang in Lith’s head again.

He pretended as if he hadn’t heard them and extended his wings out, flying into the water overhead.

Splash!

The two shot into the waterbody.

"Lith Lilith Evure..."

A voice whispered his full name.

This time...

It sounded much closer.

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