Love & Redemption
Chapter 246: The Final Volume: I am Liuli - Five: Enlightenment (Part Four)

Chapter 246: The Final Volume: I am Liuli - Five: Enlightenment (Part Four)

Continuing, today’s the first update. The second update will be sent at 7 p.m.

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Though there was only one Kaiming Beast, it was actually a harmonious large family with nine brothers. The eldest brother was the biggest head, volatile and impatient, with quite a bad temper. The youngest brother was the only head that stayed awake and didn’t go to sleep. Even though everyone in Heaven called them fools, the eldest brother would always boast that Kaiming Beasts were the handsomest and smartest Divine Beasts in the world, and anyone who said otherwise was just jealous.

Any lie told a thousand times becomes the truth, and the Kaiming Beast had always believed that it was the best Divine Beast in Heaven, never admitting to any dereliction of duty.

When Xuanji and her companions reached the top of the cliff, the first thing the Kaiming Beast did was to sniff around Xuanji, trying to find the fine wines and roast chicken. Zi Hu saw water glistening in the eyes of the smallest head, and it looked not like crying but more like the blush of drunkenness. Zi Hu couldn’t help saying softly, "You... you should stop drinking, right? How can you guard the gate if you’re drunk?"

They must be the world’s strangest invaders and guards, they must be...

The Kaiming Beast replied proudly, "I am a Divine Beast that can drink a thousand cups without falling! A mere few jars of wine, what can they do to me?"

Xuanji took out the last jar of wine and presented it before the beast. Without seeing how it did it, the jar flipped and turned, landing empty on the ground. She couldn’t help clapping and praising, "You’re amazing! You drink so fast!"

The Kaiming Beast raised its head—of course, only the smallest head—and said proudly, "That’s nothing! The eldest brother is really amazing. It can drink without moving its mouth, just by sucking the alcohol vapor right over." After speaking, it let out a big belch, the smell of alcohol filling the air.

Yu Sifeng saw that it was quite drunk and kindly said, "This isn’t too good, right? Since you’re supposed to guard the gate, how can you be drunk?"

The Kaiming Beast shook its head and wobbled, with an endearing look, "No problem! Look, I wouldn’t let anyone pass! I... I’ll tell you a secret! The key to the Kaiming Gate... is our tail. Come... I’ll show you how to open the gate... well, well, let me show you something that will really open your eyes... knowing that the riffraff will never enter the palace..."

Everyone exchanged glances, and Wuzhiqi hurriedly put on an amazed face, urging, "Then... show us! When I go back, I can brag to the villagers about the grandeur of the Heaven’s Kaiming Beasts!"

The Kaiming Beast laughed heartily and twisted its body, saying, "Come, come with me!"

Behind it hung a tail of strange shape, like the final stroke of a calligraphy brush smear, with a small ball at the end, swinging back and forth. Xuanji found herself irresistibly drawn to this oddity, always wanting to grab it with her hand, but Yu Sifeng slapped her hand away several times.

Not far away, they suddenly saw a huge stone gate standing in front of them, seemingly spanning between heaven and earth. Strangely, they hadn’t noticed it before, almost as if it had appeared out of thin air. The gate was made of two halves fused together, pure white and flawless, fused as one. Zi Hu secretly touched it with her hand and instantly felt a sharp pain; she nearly screamed, and upon looking down, she saw that her palm was scorched.

Wuzhiqi took her hand and swiftly tore a strip from his robe to bandage it, whispering, "Don’t touch anything here casually, it’s an immortal treasure, and your cultivation as a Little Demon can’t withstand it."

Zi Hu’s eyes welled up with tears. Taking advantage of his rare gentleness, she wanted to act spoiled, but with so many people around, she couldn’t let go of her pride and merely pouted, poking the ground with her foot repeatedly.

"Well, since you’ve given me roast chicken and wine, I’ll let you have a glimpse of something amazing in return!" the Kaiming Beast burped again, its eyes hazy as it looked at Wuzhiqi, and added, "You’d better remember to convey the Kaiming Beast’s grandeur to those mortals when you return!"

Wuzhiqi forced a smile and nodded repeatedly, "Definitely, definitely!"

The Kaiming Beast took a deep breath, bent at the waist, and its bizarre tail shot up with a "swish," stiffening like a flagpole. While everyone was wondering how it would open the gate, they saw it swipe its tail across it; with a "bang," the grand snow-white doors emitted an unpleasant creaking sound and cracked open slightly.

Xuanji watched, dumbfounded, and turned to ask Liu Yihuan in a low voice, "Brother Liu, did it open the gate like this last time you came?"

Liu Yihuan nodded, "Yes, but last time I deceived them into thinking I was a newly ascended Independent Immortal, and they even performed a special dance to welcome me. It was... a very unique dance."

The Kaiming Gate opened slowly, revealing an otherworldly scenery inside that was so splendid it couldn’t be described. Gazing through the gate, they felt an unreal sensation, as though what lay beyond was merely a beautiful dream. The Kaiming Beast swaggered, flaunting its tail, as the small head looked from side to side, repeatedly asking, "How about that? Aren’t I impressive?"

Wuzhiqi took out a piece of roasted flatbread from his bosom and offered it to the beast, saying, "The grandeur of Lord Kaiming Beast is truly mesmerizing! Here, this is a humble gift from me to you, please don’t be polite!"

The Kaiming Beast sniffed, the baked bun it smelt was stuffed with meat. Although it looked terrible, the scent was truly enticing. The food in Heaven might be pretty, but it was utterly tasteless, everything was cold and uninviting. How could the Kaiming Beast resist the temptation of this mortal food? It immediately opened its mouth wide and swallowed the bun in one bite while sighing with appreciation, "You really are a good person! It’s so great to be good!"

Before it could finish speaking, with a thud, it collapsed to the ground, half a meat bun still in its mouth, and fell asleep just like that.

Xuanji hurriedly touched its heads, but all nine heads showed no reaction. Wuzhiqi chuckled, "Just slipped it some sedative, how else could we get in if it didn’t sleep?"

The Kaiming Gate gradually opened wider, the scene inside was like something out of a dream, truly indescribable with words. Liu Yihuan exclaimed, "This is my second visit, and I still feel that this beauty is unseen in the mortal world. Who says the Heavenly Emperor doesn’t know how to enjoy life?"

Xuanji’s hand was suddenly grasped, and looking up, it was Yu Sifeng. He whispered, "What will you say when you see the Heavenly Emperor?" Xuanji was startled, actually, although she had come with full intent to meet the Heavenly Emperor, she hadn’t really considered what exactly to say upon meeting him. She hesitated before replying, "Probably... probably tell him that I haven’t rebelled... um, then request that he releases Ting Nu, take back the Heavenly Eye, and please don’t trouble Brother Liu... Lastly... lastly, tell him that none of this has anything to do with you, we share life and death together, and we haven’t done anything bad."

"What kind of..." He laughed, ruffling her hair, and said with a smile, "Still so childish. Do you really believe that by making so many demands, the Heavenly Emperor will agree?"

"How can he not agree!" Xuanji became anxious, "None of us have done anything wrong! Why bother us for no reason! Can the Heavenly Emperor just arbitrarily accuse people?"

She had just finished speaking when she heard a dry voice above their heads, "How the Heavenly Emperor conducts his affairs is not for the likes of you to ponder!"

Everyone was surprised, as they hadn’t seen a single soul on their way here, except for the encounter with Wu Lv at the Dragon Gate and the Kaiming Beast at the entrance to the Kaiming Gate. How could this person have suddenly appeared, even managing to conceal their presence from Wuzhiqi and Xuanji!

Xuanji and Wuzhiqi reacted almost simultaneously, not bothering to look up carefully, one drew out Bengyu and the other the Sea Control Hook, attacking upwards together. Suddenly, a blinding white light appeared before their eyes, extremely dazzling. Xuanji instinctively dodged slightly, then heard Zi Hu cry out in alarm. Right after, the white light vanished in an instant, and only four of them were left standing there dumbfounded, with nothing out of the ordinary around them. The Kaiming Gate was still open, the Kaiming Beast was still sleeping in front of the gate, but Zi Hu was gone.

Xuanji looked up again, there wasn’t a single silhouette in the sky. The person from before had come and gone without a trace, forcibly snatching Zi Hu right from under Wuzhiqi’s and her grasp! Yu Sifeng’s face turned a bit pale as he whispered, "Was it Wu Lv?" Hearing the aged tone of the voice, his first thought was of the old man who raised dragons.

Wuzhiqi ground his teeth, "It wasn’t Wu Lv! It must be another Divine Witch!" He turned to jump off the stone wall, Liu Yihuan quickly grabbed him, "What are you doing? The gate is already open!" Wuzhiqi broke free with a frown, "Who cares about the gate! Little Fox has been abducted by those Divine Witches, I fear the worst!"

He leapt down the stone wall, without the slightest hesitation, his voice drifting up from below, "You go through the gate first! I’ll teach those Divine Witches a lesson, and come back for you later!"

Liu Yihuan tried to hold him back, but to no avail - the three helplessly watched his figure shrink into a tiny dot in an instant.

Yu Sifeng took a look around, indeed finding no signs of anomalies, and finally said, "Let’s go, he’s right, let’s enter first. We mustn’t delay the important matters."

Who would have known that after just two steps, they heard Xuanji’s sharp voice, "Right here!" Bengyu drew a beautiful arc in the air, and with a "putt", it indeed struck something, blood flowed from thin air, and a vague figure appeared in mid-air, crashing to the ground.

The three hurried forward and surrounded him, only to see the man in a green robe with white beard, another old man, apparently one of the Divine Witches. Xuanji had injured his chest and abdomen, he clutched at the wound, his expression a mix of shock and fear. Seeing that Xuanji was about to kill him with her sword, Yu Sifeng shook his head, "Don’t just kill indiscriminately, you’ve already wounded him. Let’s go inside and discuss this further."

Xuanji retracted Bengyu resentfully, and turned to leave, when suddenly the old man behind them shrieked, "By the Heavenly Emperor’s decree, those who trespass the Holy Land will be killed without mercy! You desperados, showing contempt for Heaven and Earth, after death you shall descend to Abyss Hell, never to be reincarnated!"

Liu Yihuan couldn’t help but retort, "Your words make no sense, old man! You’re allowed to frame and sabotage, and we’re not allowed to defend ourselves? Which eye of yours sees us as desperados?! If we really were desperados, we would’ve taken off your head to make a wind chime by now!"

The old man’s eyes grew sharp as he sized them up, saying coldly, "A War God from a past life, two Golden Winged Bird Demons. This old man is not mistaken!" He suddenly pursed his lips and began whistling. The whistle was sharp and piercing, and as the sound gradually lowered, his entire body also became transparent and vanished from sight, leaving only a puddle of blood on the ground.

The three were uncertain of his intentions, all somewhat bewildered. Yu Sifeng’s expression suddenly changed subtly as he turned to look toward the western sky, where a great expanse of fiery red clouds had appeared out of nowhere, brilliant and constant, incomparably resplendent and changing, the sight indescribably beautiful.

And in the midst of those clouds flew an enormous bird, its wings flapping slowly, the colors of its plumage shifting unpredictably, like flowing rainbow light. Living a thousand years in the mortal world, one might never witness such a magnificent and magical bird. Yu Sifeng and Liu Yihuan were stricken as if thunderstruck, their knees involuntarily weakened, nearly driving them to kneel.

A phoenix.

The old man had summoned the phoenix. (To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available for your enjoyment, support the author, support genuine reading!)