"Master...?"

Although he had gone to the back to rest, sleep never found him. Under such dire circumstances, where he couldn't even be assured of her safety, how could it ever? So, when Lu Se Ying's voice traveled through the door in question, Li Yu Rong was able to answer immediately.

"What is it?" He was currently sitting cross-legged on the single-person bed. Half of his deep black hair was pulled up into a knot and held in place with a jade pin while the rest hung loosely about his shoulders. In one hand he held on to a Blood Moon Jade, pulling from within it the mass amounts vital energy it contained, to help even out and balance the dual energies in his body.

Whenever he left the Mortal Realm for the Spirit Realm, Li Yu Rong always took the Blood Moon Jade along.

Soon, Lu Se Ying's voice drifted through the closed door to his ears. "We've already reached the transportation array to the Ice Forest, however, the Gate Guardian's of Zhi Feng and Jing Di countries have bared the way. They demand we turn around..." He paused for a moment and then said. "They seem to be under the impression that An Ying and I have come to the array without you, master."

Breaking the connection to the Blood Moon Jade, he placed the smooth, deep crimson piece into a pocket sewn on the underside of his outer robe. After hearing the last sentence spoken by Lu Se Ying, Li Yu Rong immediately understood the purpose of the attack from earlier.

Even if the other guardian's had gotten wind of her existence, it shouldn't have been made known that he was taking Asya along for this journey. The target was clearly meant to be him. To trust the Shaqi to nab the right person, to even think they would be able to overtake his strength to the point that he could be taken, was laughable.

Though he found it laughable, his mood soured as he thought about what happened earlier. Even if it were his first time dealing with these emotions, he should not have allowed himself to become so distracted. Were it not for that lapse in concentration, their faulty plot would not have had the opportunity to advance even half a step.

Rising from his crossed legged position on the bed, Li Yu Rong crossed the space to the door in half a second. "I see," his expression was black as he opened the door to exit, "then let's see what kind of show they'll put on for me."

Stretched out and engraved across a slab of carved stone was an elaborate array working out the equation for teleportation. Standing at its front are the two Gate Guardians and surrounding it on all sides are their subordinates.

As Li Yu Rong emerged into view and walked down the ramp onto land, the expression on their faces was a shoddily concealed shock. A grin hooked its way around his mouth, but it by no means gave him a friendly look. If anything, it brought a sense of dread to coil around their guts.

Drawing close, he said. "Oh, I see both Wei Ping and Ruang Ning are also here instead of traveling to the meeting point. I wonder if you, too, have had a comrade fall into the Water Sky?"

Wei Ping, sturdily built with the bearing of a great general, was the Gate Guardian to Zhi Feng Country and Ruang Ning, slight with the bearing of a delicate scholar, was the Gate Guardian to Jing Di Country. However, both took more than a moment to form a response. As they shared a glance, the two seemed to come to a bit of a tacit understanding.

Ruang Ning, his delicate features painting a harmless atmosphere, stepped forward as he replied. "That's right, on the way we were ambushed by Shaqi. A few of our men were made off with, that we had to make a detour to the teleportation array. Isn't that right, Wei Ping."

Wei Ping nodded his head, making a noncommittal "hmm," in reply for fear of saying something unneeded. He had a tendency to carry on in ways he shouldn't due to an anxiety he had with being in the presence of others. Although his appearance suggested a military hero, he was as timid as a mouse when not in a fight.

"You're preparing to enter the array to save your comrades," Li Yu Rong began slowly, "yet when my subordinates tried to enter for the same reason, you prevented them. I wonder what the meaning of this is?"

Both Wei Ping and Ruang Ning twitched at that velvety tone that hid a layer of knives. They schooled their expressions, unwilling to display even a hint of the dread they felt for Li Yu Rong. Although they should have been on equal footing, being Gate Guardians with neither stronger than the other, he was different.

He was a demon, or at least half of his blood was from a demon.

Li Yu Rong was born from the almost unheard of union between a human and a demon. The abilities he gained from such a union placed him far above the average human. In fact, his abilities would probably rank him above most demons as well.

Ruang Ning had been extremely interested in Li Yu Rong's background once he felt the spirit energy in him and understood that he was partially a demon. Even more so after witnessing his prowess and, being besieged by that interest, he sent a few of his men out to investigate the other man's origins.

Despite sending out his best, the only thing he could find out was the same knowledge everyone knew about. Li Yu Rong was the cast aside son of Jiang An's Emporer. His mother was an unknown woman that the emperor fancied and forced into his harem. After being poisoned due to a harem plot, she passed on. From her corpse, as it waited for preparation for her burial, Li Yu Rong had been born.

Every Citizen of Jiang An knew this story. It was rumored that Li Yu Rong's lone red eye was a result of being born from a corpse. It was said that he was a plague of misfortune. These were merely rumors. For humans that couldn't see the spirit energy or those of the Spirit Realm, their wild imaginations had to come up with a plausible -or plausible in their minds- reason for the things that didn't make sense around them.

Knowing that the mother was a demon Ruang Ning didn't find it all that strange for Li Yu Rong to survive in the womb to be born after his mother's passing.

However, even if he understood the truth behind Li Yu Rong's red eye, it didn't make it any easier to look at him directly. There was something about that red color that made one feel horribly uneasy. There were times when he felt that he could almost see his death reflected in it.

Even so, Ruang Ning mustered up the strength to say. "A misunderstanding, I assure you. Since we both have someone to save, why don't we team up and save them together." He proposed and then added. "We don't know how many of the Shaqi we could end up running into, so having extra help would be a good thing."

Li Yu Rong did not say anything right away. His face was contemplative as if he were giving the suggestion a thought, which left Ruang Ning hopeful. Yet, that hope soon shattered as the half-demon Guardian slammed his foot on the ground.

Both Ruang Ning and Wei Ping noticed that symbols had been dug out into the ground with his feet. Lines moved from the symbols to link up with more symbols that had been dug into the ground by his subordinates. As they had been so focused on Li Yu Rong they missed the other two moving about in the background.

The energy that had been condensed in his booted foot connected with the array and surged to life. Soon each and every person standing guard in front of the teleportation array had been ensnared; unable to move.

Tendrils of viny light had burst forth to wrap them all in a crushing hold.

"Now then," Li Yu Rong murmured as he crossed his arms over his chest, "why don't we slowly discuss the reason you both teamed up to act against me."