Stranger Danger

“Don’t believe me?”

As if she knew exactly what Jiang Yunlai was thinking, the woman continued, “Do you know who the celestials on the altars are? Do you know who I am?”

“Allow me to make the introductions. The first celestial starting from the left is the Eastern Radiance Lord’s favorite disciple. The second celestial is the nephew of the Kunlun Celestial Sovereign. The third is the youngest son of the Moon Consort. The fourth is the Kunlun Celestial Sovereign’s one and only partner. The fifth is the Nine Songs Celestial Lord’s uncle, the dear uncle who had raised him since he was a child. The sixth is the Bronze Bird Taoist’s close friend, the benefactor who once saved his life. The seventh is the Eastern Radiance Lord’s master, the teacher who taught him everything. And finally, I am Xuanyuan Xin.”

The woman paused for a moment before saying, “It seems you aren’t familiar with my name. But what about my title? Ever heard of the Imperial Princess?”

“Imperial Princess? You’re the Imperial Princess of Kunlun?!”

Jiang Yunlai’s one eye widened in shock.

In the Kunlun Ruins, not anyone possessed the qualifications to be called the Imperial Princess. Legend had it that the Kunlun Ruins was the Dao domain of the Queen Mother of the West, and only her direct descendants possessed the qualification to be known as Imperial. A male descendant would be known as an Imperial Lord, whereas a female descendant would be titled an Imperial Princess. They were the rightful rulers of Kunlun and the commanders of all celestials.

The Queen Mother of the West was a woman, so women were regarded as superior to men. This meant that the Imperial Princess was naturally more powerful and influential than the Imperial Lord. Although the Kunlun Ruins were jointly ruled by the Imperial Lord and the Imperial Sovereign, the Imperial Princess was really the head, and the Imperial Lord her left and right hand.

Assuming the woman wasn’t lying, then she was the direct descendant of the Queen Mother of the West, the rightful ruler of the Kunlun Ruins, and the queen of all celestials! She was the Imperial Princess of Kunlun!

“Impossible. This is just impossible! The Imperial Princess is the rightful ruler of the Kunlun Ruins and the queen of all celestials! She of all people cannot be imprisoned in this place!”

Jiang Yunlai instinctively denied her declaration, “You’re lying!”

“Do you think I need to lie to you?” The woman’s voice turned cruel and indifferent as the blood Jiang Yunlai had consumed suddenly began to boil like oil. At the same time, a mysterious, ancient, vast, and noble aura and power spread throughout his body and made Jiang Yunlai tremble from the bottom of his heart, mind, and soul.

He felt like an ant before a lion or a tiger, a firefly before the moon, a mundane ant before a divine celestial!

It was bloodline suppression. It was base fear toward a being who was fundamentally and inherently superior to him.

A few breaths later, the blood finally subsided. “Do you still think I’m lying to you?”

A long, long time later, Jiang Yunlai finally recovered from the shock of the bloodline suppression and asked, “If you’re really the Imperial Princess of Kunlun, how on earth did you become imprisoned in this place?”

“How did I become imprisoned indeed! Hahaha, hahahahaha!”

The woman, Xuanyuan Xin, suddenly let out another crazed laugh. Half of Jiang Yunlai’s face was contorting uncontrollably, and his one eye was overflowing with hatred and venom. “It’s all thanks to my dear brother, of course.”

“Do you want to know why? Hahaha! I’ll tell you. In order to continue living like a worm, he desired to sacrifice eight celestials, set up the Supreme Eight Celestials Realm Locking God Restriction, and seal the rift leading to the Nine Nethers permanently. Assuming that everything went smoothly, he was also going to channel the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi already in the Kunlun Ruins to the human world.”

“I disagreed with his wish, so my dear brother colluded with Eastern Radiance Lord, the Kunlun Celestial sage, the Moon Consort and more to betray me. While I was weakened from resisting the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi, they dealt me a terrible blow and locked me here.”

“But of course, one celestial isn’t enough to set up the great array. So, they began capturing their own disciple, friend, family… hahaha…”

Xuanyuan Xin’s laughter slowly grew discombobulated and indistinct once more as if multiple people were speaking at the same time, “Animals. They are all selfish, ungrateful animals who will do anything and sacrifice anyone to live!”

Jiang Yunlai felt his spine crawl. Although he already had an inkling of the rough outline of what happened, the cruelty and madness of the celestials of the Kunlun Ruins still exceeded his imagination. He did not think they would go so far as to abandon and sacrifice their closest friends and family. He did not think that they would go so far as to betray even the Imperial Princess of Kunlun, rightful ruler of Kunlun.

As if that wasn’t enough, Xuanyuan Xin said that these celestials were going to vent the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi that had already seeped into the Kunlun Ruins to the human world after sealing away the Nine Nethers Rift. Had everything gone as planned, untold lives would have been lost in the affected areas. To say that they were batshit insane would be understating it.

“Let me reiterate. The celestials you’re counting on saving you are a bunch of ungrateful, heartless animals who could conspire against and sacrifice even their friends and family. Do you seriously think they would give a damn about you, a traitor’s descendant and an ant from the world of mortals?”

Xuanyuan Xin continued, “Do you seriously think they would let you go scot free?”

“Perhaps not. But why would you be an exception?” Jiang Yunlai asked after a moment of silence.

He had to admit that Xuanyuan Xin had completely upended what he thought he knew about the celestials. If he found the celestials and awakened them from their slumber, not only would they not feel one ounce of gratitude toward his actions, they would even kill him or make him and all of West Kunlun wish that they were dead, much less neutralize their curse.

That said, how much of Xuanyuan Xin’s words could he actually trust?

“I will. Not only will I neutralize your curse, I will teach you celestial spells and arts, Dao fruits and Magia as well. I will turn you into a celestial who is unrivaled under the heavens and the supreme king of the human world,” Xuanyuan Xin declared.

“Is that so? And what are your terms?”

If Jiang Yunlai were to be completely honest with himself, Xuanyuan Xin’s suggestion was quite enticing. Exceedingly enticing. Who doesn’t want to become a celestial and learn the celestial arts and Magia? Who doesn’t want to become the greatest under the heavens and the supreme king of the human world?

The problem was that there were no free lunches in this world. One must give before they could take, and he refused to believe that this woman—the Imperial Princess of Kunlun, if her words were to be believed—would want nothing in return!

“My terms are very simple. Find Xuanyuan Kun, Eastern Radiance Lord, the Kunlun Celestial Sovereign, and all the other betrayers and kill them.”

Xuanyuan Xin’s voice was as mad as it was hysterical. “They betrayed me and the Kunlun Ruins. They imprisoned me here and subjected me to ten thousand years of Nine Nethers corruption. I want revenge!”

I want to kill them. I want to scatter their ashes to the wind—no, no, I want them to live so they could wish they were dead. I will make them experience all the pain and suffering I’ve gone through… hahahaha…”

Her maddened laughter and overwhelming hatred were such that Jiang Yunlai nearly lost control of himself.

Barely maintaining his sanity, Jiang Yunlai argued, “You overestimate me, Imperial Princess. I am just a mortal. I am no match for any celestial.”

“I don’t need you to fight.”

A long time later, Xuanyuan Xin finally calmed down enough to answer, “All you need to do is to find them. The rest, I will do it myself.”

“I will kill them with my own hands, my own hands…”