Mm? This feels different from the last time I went through this passage…. Was Durandal onto something? If only Ilya were here, gah, that meanie. I don’t like her. Hmph. If she didn’t like how I did things, why didn’t she say it earlier before I did them? Geez. …Maybe she did, and I just wasn’t listening…. Ah! Wait a minute; I don’t have time to be thinking of Ilya!

“What is this place!?” It’s huge! It’s dark! It’s a huge, dark place! Um, a cage? It might be a cage. This reminds of the time I grabbed an acorn, err, saved a child in distress and was warped into a demon’s basement! I’ve fallen for a…, um, what’s the word again?

“It seems like we’ve fallen into a trap.”

A trap! That’s right. See, I don’t need Ilya to think for me; I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself. Mm? Did someone say something? I must’ve been hearing things. “Durandal, it seems like we’ve fallen into a trap!”

Durandal sighed. Why is he sighing? Is he still sad about that letter? I want to know what’s in it, but he won’t tell me. If only Ilya did a better job at teaching me how to read, then I wouldn’t be illiterate. This is all her fault. …It’s going to be hard to survive without Ilya, huh? I wish she were here. Hah…. Wait! We’re in a cage. “Why are we in a cage!?”

“Oh? It seems like we caught a rat.”

Who said that? There! Past the metal bars, there’s a person wearing a … it’s-too-dark-to-see-what-color-it-is robe. But it looks very colorful even though it’s dark. Lots of splotches. Mm. Were there any colorful robes amongst the people I’ve robbed? I don’t think so…. Even if there were, I wouldn’t know what sect they were from anyway, so I should stop worrying and ask directly! “Who are you?”

“A dead person has no need to learn my name.”

Mm. That settles it. It’s time to break out of the cage and interrogate him more thoroughly! The metal bars that make up the cage are a bit big, and there’s runes inscribed on them. Is it a formation? I think it’s a formation. If Ilya were here, she’d be able to figure out what it is. Ah…, I miss Ilya.

“Hah! You wish to break out of the Heaven-Sealing Cage? Good luck! Even a sky-realm expert won’t be able to use their qi in—what the fuck!?”

Well, since Ilya’s not here, I’ll have to resort to the universal answer to everything: violence! The formations made my tail tingle, but that was it. And the bars were squeezed apart when I applied a teensy bit of strength. Mm. Anyways, this cage can’t contain me! Ah! “Durandal!? What are you doing!? Wait!”

“Hmm?” Durandal turned around. How did he get in front of me without me noticing? Ah, it’s too late. The person’s dead. Durandal cut his head off!

“I was going to interrogate him!”

“He was about to teleport, so I killed him before he could,” Durandal said and sheathed his sword. “Don’t forget, we fell into a trap and were locked up in a cage that prevented our qi from being channeled.”

“It literally happened two seconds ago, how can I forget something like that!? That’s why I was going to interrogate the person!” If I stick his head back on, will he come back to life? Mm. It’s worth a shot.

Durandal sighed when I picked up the person’s head. “Lucia, we’re in enemy territory. You didn’t take action to prevent him from teleporting away, that’s why I had to kill him. What if he got out and alerted more people? You might think you’re strong, but don’t forget, immortals are supposed to be chasing after you. Who else could alter the path to the pocket realm if not a sky-realm expert or immortal? If Softie tried to send someone through to deliver a message to us, it’s possible the messengers were all intercepted.”

Durandal said a lot of words, but I wasn’t really listening because I have to focus if I’m trying to do an almost impossible task like bringing someone back from the dead! But what was that bit about Softie? “Ah, I put his head on backwards. You distracted me!” Mm? Something odd’s happening. There’s a bright red light coming from the line on his neck where Durandal cut his head off!

“Hah! Elder, save—” The person’s eyes widened. “Y-y-y-y-you! How did you know I had the Secret Phoenix Rebirth Technique!?” He shot to his feet. And then he fell over. “Y-y-y-y-you put my head on backwards! Demon! Who are you!? What do you want with our Rainbow Phoenix Sect!?”

Whew. It’s a good thing I stuck his head on quick enough. And Ilya kept telling me people can’t reattach their arms and legs that easily after I cut them off. Sheesh, I knew I was right. Look at this guy, even his head could be reattached. Anyways…. “Rainbow Phoenix Sect, hmm. How many phoenixes do you guys have? I’m feeling a bit hungry.”

“Lucia, that’s not what you’re….” Durandal paused mid-sentence. “Actually, that’s not a bad question to ask. Phoenixes can count as earth-realm experts.”

“Y-you must be Heart Devil Lucia!”

He knows me? But have I ever met the Rainbow Peacock Sect? There was the other erect peacock sect…. The red one? Mm. My memory’s fuzzy; they probably weren’t that important. Ah! That’s the sect where Durandal almost died and became an egg! “It’s you!?”

“M-me? You know me?”

Did I get the wrong person? Mm. Hah…, damnit, Ilya. Without her, I actually have to think, and it’s making my head hurt! Okay. Time to apply the answer to everything!

Pow!

Ah? “Um….”

“I think he directly fainted, Lucia.” Durandal nodded at me. “That’s one way to stop someone from teleporting, but you’re not going to interrogate them with a method like that.”

How much stronger did I get after cultivating? “But I hit him lightly….”

“His arm exploded, Lucia.”

“It really was only lightly!”