In the mystical realm, Lory had changed her robe to Harland's uniform, she tied her hair into a ponytail then fixed her long coat, she saw her own reflection in the mirror, and her emotions became complicated as if she had returned to the past.

"Are you ready?" Huo Long's voice woke her up.

​​

Lory looked back and smiled, "How do I look?"

Huo Long smiled back at her "Like yourself"

Lory sighed deeply, she touched her family badge and her expression became heavy. It always felt different when he fought as a lory than when he fought as Lorient. She rubbed her hands together to ease her anxiety, "They might not like me ..."

Huo Long crossed his arms in front of his chest while leaning against the door frame, he looked at Lory's back he did not deny it "Maybe not all of them will like you but they all definitely need you"

Lory twisted the spatial ring on her finger then muttered softly, "I do owe them for bringing this mess."

Huo Long shook his head "Lazarus might following you but it was Lao Min Na who invited him"

"Even if it's not Lao Min Na, it could be someone else, it's still my responsibility for releasing Lazarus in the first place, and Lao Min Na .... he's just in the wrong place and wrong time." Lory had mixed feelings for Lao Min Na, she never stopped wondering why a woman who spent her entire life within the borders dared to make a pact with the devil, what kind of grievances did she have that made him dare to take such a big risk?

"Aren't you being too hard on yourself…" Huo Long expressed his disapproval with her.

Lory appreciated her kindness, but that didn't change the fact that it was her fault, she looked at Huo through the mirror and chuckled lightly, "Am I?"

Huo Long let out a long sigh, he knows she has a bad habit of forgiving people easily but tends to be hard on herself, maybe because of her upbringing and people's high expectations, she can't allow herself to make mistakes. She might not have noticed, or she probably used to live up to everyone's expectations no matter how hard it was.

Suddenly Lory gasped, her sudden movement startled Huo Long, after he saw Lory's expression, his attitude became serious, "What's wrong?" He asked

Lory's purple eyes widened in fear. "He's coming" she unconsciously held his breath.

_____________________________

The sound from the Chang Yi bamboo forest not only shook the entire forest but also echoed throughout the city, the residents of Yun Dao City had stopped their activities, all their eyes darted towards the Chang Yi bamboo forest, dust and smoke flew in the air followed by a deafening sound from something heavy collided.

Not long after they were startled by another explosive sound coming from the Tien Shan manor then they saw a fire coming from another direction, unexpectedly it was coming from the Sanguan Manor. How could the Sanguan Family manor caught in the fire and why Long Ming manor suddenly explodes, this is not normal!

They were suddenly overcome by the unpleasant feeling that something bad had happened.

"Royal elder brother!" Princess Youya who used to be graceful now running in hasted.

However, Yun Fang Zi did not pay attention to her manners. His eyes were fixed on the bamboo forest. He knew that right now the Hei Shen sect, the celestial immortal sect, and the Sanguan family were at war, but he did not expect that the impact would be this severe this is like watching a battle between giants.

Yuan Fang Zi's face turned pale as he imagined what would happen if the imperial family joined their fight and war broke out in the capital, how many innocent people would die, and how many good soldiers would be lost. Thankfully Zhao Li Xin's wife persuaded them not to get involved in order to minimize unnecessary casualties.

"Xue Liang…" he called in a low voice, this was the first time he had called Princess Youya by her real name since they were given a peerage by the Emperor so it surprised her a little.

"First elder Brother…." She undoubtedly feel a sense of melancholy.

"I'm glad we made the right choice." She smiled with satisfaction because the next ruler Yun Fang Zi couldn't imagine how many soldiers and citizens of Yunmo would die due to the internal strife between Long Ming and Sanguan Jin Sheng.

"I'm also happy brother, I can't imagine if it happened inside the capital, the damage would be… .." Princess Youya swallowed her words.

He completely agreed with Youya. "We owed a lot to Luo Ri Yi who gave us a reason to withdraw from the sanguan family affair." Yun Fang Zi is sincerely grateful for Lory's help.

"I know, according to the eunuch Wang the Queen Dowager is already restless because of the Sanguan family affair, she begged the emperor to help the Sanguan family but father insisted not to interfere and this made her dissatisfied then all of the sudden the queen dowager attacked father emperor, she even almost choked him like a madwoman, Eunuch Wang also said that not only was the Queen Dowager mental condition strange but she had suddenly become very strong, it took two guards to hug her." Youya showed deep concern.

Yun Fang Zi gasped "What, Grandmother hurt father? That can't be true even Queen dowager can be haughty sometimes but she never crossed the line, what…." His word suddenly cut off.

"Brother what's wrong….?" Princess Youya tilted her head confusedly.

Yun Fang Zi rubbed his chin with a puzzled look "Master Jin of the White Dragon King Palace has told me that there is something wrong with Lao Min Na's medicine, he said we shouldn't let anyone taking Lao Min Na pills anymore. And Father Emperor has agreed, he has confiscated all of Lao Min Na's medicine so how…. "

Princess Youya suddenly remembered something "I heard from one of the concubine servants that she saw the Queen Dowager personal maid leave the palace secretly but she didn't dare to probe further because she didn't dare to investigate the Queen Dowager business, you think the Queen Dowager went to buy Lao Min Medicine Na. ? "

"Are you sure?" Yun Fang Zi holds her shoulder tightly.

"Yes, I just got the news today" she nodded firmly.

His expression hardened, Jin Hao never gave a specific answer of what was in Lao Min Na's medicine but from the way he told him it was something terrible, something worst than just poison.

"Brother, what is that?" she pulls Yun Fang Zi's sleeves.

Yun Fang Zi followed his gaze and he saw black clouds rumbling into the sky, he thought it might be a storm but why was there no sound of thunder or the cold wind howling, slowly dark clouds covered the sun and the day changed from day to a dark night. Princess Youya felt that something was wrong with the weather, something really bad.

Princess Youya was a strong and brave woman, she was not the type to be easily scared but right now her whole body was trembling profusely, she unconsciously grabbed Yun Fang Zi's arm. "Elder... brother, something is wrong" he grabbed his brother's arm tightly.

Yun Fang Zi could feel her fear, he also feel the same "Yes….something is not right" he squeezes his sister's hand tightly.

___________________________________

Meanwhile, the war is still continuing in Chang Yi forest, the intense battle has destroyed half of the forest. Human bodies and animal carcasses were scattered everywhere the stench of blood couldn't be more clear. Even though they were immersed in their battle, however, the extreme weather changed forcing everyone, to stop their fight. Subconsciously they all looked up as black clouds slowly covered the sky.

"My lord, something is wrong." Jin Hao walked over to Zhao Li Xin in a hurry.

Is this a storm? Bei Li Yan guessed.

Wu San Bo shook his head "No, this feels different…"

Zhao Li Xin remained silent, he looked up at the sky with the feeling that something bad was coming. He could feel a sinister aura moving directly towards him, he had never trembled in his life before but right now his hands felt cold and damp.

"ASSEMBLE!" Zhao Li Xin shouted.

Hearing his order, all of Hei Shen and the Jiu Yun sect immediately gathered behind Zhao Li Xin. Without wasting any more time Zhao Li Xin summoned a hundred red jade from his spatial ring, he raised his hand in the air and the whole jade floated in the air, he drew the word 'Shield' in the air using his fire, then the word was suddenly absorbed by the floating reading jade and the whole rock burned in flames and then shattered to pieces.

Before anyone could understand a vertical and horizontal red line appeared on top of each other just like a spiderweb, everyone was dumbfounded especially Mu Jan Ge and Tian Meng Ji.

"Arachnid shield formation!" Mu Jan Ge shocked then he clenched Tiang Meng Ji's shoulder "What stage his array skill?"

"I ... I don't know?" Tian Meng Ji felt ashamed that she wasn't an array master, she didn't know anything about arrays she was happy enough knowing her disciple was an array master but she didn't know how talented Zhao Li Xin was, actually Zhao Li Xin didn't have an array master teach her about arrays. all of this time he was self-taught studying arrays of boo and old manuscripts, sometimes he also stole knowledge from other array masters during their battles.

Mu Jan Ge annoyed by Tian Meng Ji's irresponsible answer he squeezes his old friend's shoulder impatiently "You old fool!" he chides.

"Ouch!"