Heart Protection

HEART PROTECTION: CHAPTER 84

 The flexible jian withdrew from her chest. Yan Hui just felt a chill and the blood in her flowing out. It made her feel really uncomfortable.

When Yan Hui raised her hand, Ling Fei thought she was trying to use magic to stem the blood flow. Ling Fei's eyes hardened. There was no way she was going to give Yan Hui a chance to recover. She once again brought the jian down. Yan Hui couldn't avoid it. She watched the jian tip come down to once again stab her, but this time an enormous wave of power came from behind before the jian reached her chest. It stopped the jian and froze Ling Fei's movement. There was no way for it to move at all.

Ling Fei screamed in frustration. She wanted to stab Yan Hui again. Her scar-covered face was malevolent. 

However no matter how much magic she put behind her blow, Ling Fei couldn't move the jian anymore forward.

Ling Fei became angry: "Who is stopping me?!" She looked up and saw the dragon heart on top of the obelisk. Its flames were growing bigger. It grew hotter and hotter until the entire room was bathed in a fiery light.

The ground shook and heavily rumbled. The ceiling started to crack. Broken rock chips fell. Ling Fei didn't know what was going on. The ground swayed so much she had to step back.

Yan Hui stayed on the ground. There was no more strength in her limbs, but her stabbed heart was still beating hot. She watched Ling Fei retreat with narrowed eyes. She took the opportunity to wipe some of heart's blood in her hand, and using the last of her strength, she slapped her blood-stained palm onto the burning dragon heart.

Her blood didn't cover the heart's golden light. The heart trembled, and another rumbling sound was heard. Yan Hui just felt a strange power rush through her heart. It felt like it was crashing through her limbs and bones. 

However, Ling Fei didn't care about the peculiarities around her. She only felt that she couldn't let Yan Hui come out alive. When she saw Yan Hui stand up, Ling Fei raised her jian up once again to kill Yan Hui.

Ling Fei shouted, jian going against the power of the dragon heart's flames. She chopped down at Yan Hui, but suddenly the dragon heart burst out a glaring light. It nearly blinded Ling Fei. She stopped because of the light. When the light receded, she suddenly felt a chill in her heart.

A sharp pain quickly followed.

Ling Fei looked down. Yan Hui was holding a small knife, which was stabbing into Ling Fei's chest. Blood flowed out, trailed down the knife blade, and dripped onto the floor.

"Yan Hui........" Ling Fei shouted and gnashed her teeth in fury. She completely was unwilling to accept this. "You dare........"

Yan Hui looked at her with cold eyes: "This is actually yours."

With a wet sound, the knife was pulled out of Ling Fei's chest. It was like Yan Hui had run out of strength. She staggered back a step and fell to the ground.

The dragon heart's light became even brighter. More and more rocks fell from the ceiling.

Ling Fei was covered in blood. She was supporting herself up, still refusing to fall. She walked up one step and stubbornly raised her jian. She waved it at Yan Hui: "I'm going to kill you........"

Ling Fei took another step forward when suddenly a large rock fell from the ceiling. It smashed onto her head, and her body crumpled. It tipped towards Yan Hui. Yan Hui had no more strength to avoid it and was pressed down under Ling Fei's body. Layers upon layers of rock rained down like they were going to be buried alive.

All the rocks that fell onto the heart were melted to ashes by the heart's flames.

Not a few moments later, the entire room collapsed with a roar!

Up on the surface, the barrier around the hall disappeared. Tian Yao, who was fighting hard against the cultivators in the sky, turned his head in distraction. He saw the hall behind him crumble into dust.

Tian Yao's chest felt scorching hot. Even thought he was far from the hall, he saw a glitter with the glow of the sun rising from the dust.

The cultivators in the sky were also astonished by the scene. They saw the golden spark fly out of the collapsed hall and streak toward Tian Yao. They didn't clearly understand what they saw, so they didn't try to stop the light. Some cultivators even thought the light was one of Guang Han Sect's secret treasures. When the light slammed onto Tian Yao's body, some even cheered. But almost immediately, they realized something was wrong and fell silent........

Because that dragon demon didn't disappear when the light struck him. It was the light that disappeared.......

His chest which had been icy cold for 20 years finally started to warm up. The sound of his heart beat was heard once again. Warm blood flowed through his limbs, warming up his body from the inside out. 

However, Tian Yao wasn't very excited about regaining his dragon heart. He really wasn't moved by it. He looked back again. There was no one nor nothing emerging out from the ruined hall.

"Yan Hui........" He murmured those two words. Tian Yao didn't care about those hostile hundred cultivators in the sky. With a turn of his head, he started walking towards the ruins.

After finding his dragon heart, he could feel all living things. However with with his sharpened senses, Tian Yao could only faintly sense Yan Hui's weak aura.

It was buried beneath those layers of rock..........

Tian Yao knew Yan Hui had a strong-minded temper, knew she had a care-free attitude. He could imagine with Ling Fei out for her life and her needing to break the seal and retrieve the dragon heart, Yan Hui perhaps would.........fight to the death.

And he once again hadn't helped her at all. Once again didn't save her.

Clearly, Yan Hui was betting her life, but he.........

He had just gotten back his heart, but the first emotions he felt were chaotic and extremely painful.

Tian Yao bent down, and for a period of time, he actually forgot he could again use most of the magic he once used. He started to use his hands to dig through the rubble. Then, Tian Yao finally realized that it would take years to did through this by hand. That's when Tian Yao used his magic to burst revolving  flames into being. The flames created air currents that blew into enormous gusts of wind. Dirt, stone, and brick, everything was swept into the sky.

The cultivators in the sky were in disbelief by the sight. The additional cultivators brought in as back-up asked Meng Yun: "What does the dragon demon what?"

Meng Yun wrinkled her forehead: "It doesn't matter what he wants. Stop him!"

When she said those words, the Killing Demon formation in the sky started to wildly fluctuate. The snow came down so hard it blurred the view. The winds created by the revolving flames gradually lessened, and the debris it picked up fell back down. There seemed to be a fire in Tian Yao's eyes that burned red-hot.

"Whoever stops me will die."

Tian Yao tilted his head with red pupils like flames. The aura around his body stirred, and the foot-high snow that covered the ground everywhere melted into water. Gurgling water flowed to low points in the ground. Guang Han Sect's cultivators in the sky still didn't stop the formation.

Tian Yao continued to press on with his magic. The dragon heart he regained violently throbbed in his chest. A fire burned deep in his black eyes.

Immediately the world froze. The falling snow stopped. The white clouds stopped. In this stillness, an invisible heatwave carried over broiling temperatures to the cultivators. It immediately collided with the formation formed by the hundreds of cultivators.

Every cultivator part of the formation felt burning pain all over their body. A few cultivators wanted to play tough, but very quickly their skin started to burst into blisters from that invisible heatwave. In the end, some cultivators couldn't handle the power of the heat. They fainted on the spot; all that was heard was a "thud".

Guang Han Sect's Demon Killing Formation broke in response. The hundreds of cultivators creating the formation fell from the sky like shreds of white paper.

The other cultivators didn't make a narrow escape. All of the cultivators, aside from the few select head cultivators, had blistered skin and shrieked in pain.

Meng Yun and the other top cultivators were all shocked by the sight.

"I'm afraid we are all no match for the dragon demon. Fighting here today isn't a good idea!" When one of the head cultivators said that, Meng Yun only nodded. "We'll retreat to San Chong Mountain for now. They have a lot of cultivator forces keeping guard."

Naturally, some of the cultivators there weren't in accord. Tian Yao, who was still down on the ground, heard their words. The aura around Tian Yao's body stirred once again. The heat immediately rocketed up. It made the cultivators, who were still staying in place, retreat back. The miles of snow on Guang Han Mountain disappeared. 

Meng Yun confusedly crawled to her feet. It was like she was confused where the heatwave knocked her to. She heard Tian Yao's dark voice which sounded like it was coming from a far distance: "Tell Su Ying." As he spoke, Meng Yun couldn't help breaking out into a cold sweat. "The debt she owes Tian Yao 20 years ago will be collected by him."

No other voice followed. Meng Yun cast Propelling Sword Technique, determined a rough direction, and immediately fled.

The base of Guang Han Sect finally quieted down. There were no more noisy screams of cultivators disturbing the area.

Tian Yao stood on the ruins. With a wave of his hand, the ruins of the hall turned to ash. Underneath the ash was collapsed rock and dirt. 

Tian Yao couldn't confirm how deep Yan Hui was buried. At least with the revolving flames' winds, he could clean up the sand and stones. Finally, Tian Yao caught a whiff of blood. It wasn't anyone's blood. It was Yan Hui's blood.

He was happy he found Yan Hui's whereabouts, but then his heart twisted. It felt like being stabbed by a sharp needle.

There was no time to think about anything else. He bent down and used his hand to move the rocks and dirt away, layer by layer. Finally, he saw clothes underneath. Tian Yao hurriedly scraped away all the rocks. What he saw was Ling Fei on top of Yan Hui, crushing her.

When Tian Yao saw this, his vision went dark. He had still harbored a hope that Ling Fei didn't find Yan Hui. Maybe Yan Hui broke the seal before Ling Fei found her. Maybe the hall's collapse was due to Yan Hui breaking the dragon heart's seal.

But now he saw this before his eyes. This meant Yan Hui suffered so much before breaking the dragon heart's seal.

Tian Yao didn't even want to touch Ling Fei's corpse. He used his revolving flames to flip Ling Fei out of the earth and tossed her aside. The flames dug into the dirt and covered up the body.

Finally, Tian Yao saw Yan Hui who had been buried underneath. When he saw how she looked, his throat choked. He felt sick at heart, hurt and sour pain. Panicked emotions overflowed.

The wound on Yan Hui's chest still hadn't clot. Blood still seeped out. It wasn't a minor wound. Her breathing almost couldn't be seen.........

Tian Yao placed his hand on Yan Hui's chest and sent magic in. He could clearly feel the temperature of her heart and the heart protection scale. With the heart protection scale, he could sense a hidden power in Yan Hui's heart.........

Tian Yao's eyes rested on Yan Hui's chest for just a moment before immediately moving them away.

Magic poured into Yan Hui's heart. The flowing blood quickly clot. However, the injuries to her flesh wasn't something Tian Yao's magic could heal.

His hand left her chest. Yan Hui coughed and opened her eyes. The look in her eyes were misty, but they cleared when she saw Tian Yao's face. Yan Hui coughed and choked out the dust in the throat. She suddenly laughed, voice somewhat hoarse: 

"I did it, Tian Yao."

Emotions bubbled up in Tian Yao's throat and blocked it up. He silently looked at Yan Hui for a long time: "Yes."

Yan Hui smiled, eyes crinkling. Even though the corner of her mouth was still stained with blood, it couldn't mar her bright and beautiful smile: "All thanks to me, eh?"

Tian Yao picked Yan Hui up from the pile of dirt and rock. He didn't let go. He cradled her head with one of his hands, resting it against his neck: "Yes." He said,

"All thanks to you."

Thanks to this world for having Yan Hui.

Regaining his heart finally made him understand what it meant to lose one's head with fear, what it meant to feel a rush, what it meant to lose something and find it again.