Chapter 13 - The Heroine!

Layla was completely panic-stricken as she noticed the giant flaming spear appear from nowhere and charge towards her. Her heart almost stopped due to complete disbelief and her pupils contracted to become small dots, rippling with fear. Without time to think, she positioned herself to block the spear with her iron shield. Of course, it wasn't actually made from iron, but rather it was a precious magical item hailing from the Adamantine Clan! Any terror was wiped from her mind and all that was left in her was determination and a fierce glint in her eye! Soul energy could be seen discharging from her fingertips into the shield, causing it to grow a whole 4 meter in diameter! Golden circles materialised across its surface, compelling the energies of heaven and earth to gather round and fortify its position!

The spectre widened its eyes in shock at the sight of the huge iron shield that had appeared out of nowhere! However, it was only surprised for a moment as it quickly narrowed its eyes afterwards.

"Tch! What could some magical item do stop MY attack, this ant is far too full of itself!"

The spear slammed into the shield at an astonishing speed causing sparks to disperse everywhere in an extravagant fashion, like a swarm of a thousand fiery orange butterflies drifting about in the early spring!

CLANGGGGGGGGG!!!

A metallic boom resonated throughout the area, drowning out all other sounds! With the huge spear drilling into the shield, it slammed back against Layla, sending her flying an entire kilometre up the cave tunnel! A trickle of blood seeped out of her two ears, both damaged from just the sound of the impact, dripping onto her tattered body covered in harsh wounds. Layla could feel that most of her ribs were broken and that her internal organs were severely damaged. She gritted her teeth and rotated her soul power across her body, giving her just enough strength to stand up. Layla grabbed Yu Yin and turned around, making one last attempt to flee!

Meanwhile, the spectre was stood there, shocked silly by what it had just seen!

"That shield is no ordinary thing, being able to withstand my full powered attack! That woman's background is not simple!"

But of course, it would not fear a mere woman, no matter how strong her supporters were! Nothing would stop it from shredding those trivial insects into at least ten thousand pieces! It tried to use its remaining soul power to dispel Yu Yin's bloodline magic but found it was of no avail. Frustrated, it let out a loud shriek and accelerated towards Layla at the fastest speed it could muster, getting closer and closer by each passing second.

By this point, Layla was completely exhausted. Unfortunately for her she no longer had much soul power to spare, so she couldn't afford to use [Flight] to escape at a quicker pace. Layla was instead forced to walk the rest of the path. Every step she took felt as if ten thousand needles were stabbing into her legs, making her want to topple over every time she moved. She wasn't that far from the garden of flowers by the exit, yet it felt like it was another world away. As she moved, her eyes couldn't help but wander over to Yu Yin's sleeping face. His clothes were in tatters and patches of dirt could be seen scattered over his body, yet not one wound could be seen upon it! Layla narrowed her eyes at him.

"I should just leave him behind and escape on my own.... that would be so much easier..."

She was about to drop him and leave by herself when she suddenly remembered a specific scene from earlier inside the dark prison. A self-mocking laugh escaped her lips as she remembered when Yu Yin tossed over that pill to her. Although he didn't know it in the slightest, such a thing left a huge impact on her! She fully well knew what type of person he was, and even if he did have ulterior motives, she still knew that what he did was out of character. She looked at him one last time and sighed.

"It seems I can't think clearly anymore...How laughable..."

Layla didn't drop Yu Yin but instead decided to bear the pain of carrying an extra weight, despite the horrible condition she was in! She hurried towards the garden of flowers, shivering at the screams of her pursuer behind! Once she reached the garden, she found the petals of the chrysanthemum flowers had transformed into vicious knives that sliced her delicate feet as she went by! She ignored the harrowing cleaves of the blades that dug into her flesh for each stride she took, not once letting any tears fall from her eyes!

When Layla looked up, she saw a huge rock 3 meters tall and 2 meters wide. It looked identical to the one at the entrance. She advanced forward and waved her free hand, mustering all her remaining soul energy into her palm to conjure one final blade. It shot towards the rock and embedded itself into it, causing to collapse inwardly to reveal a portal leading the outside country of Evergreen! In a burst of strength, Layla desperately dived through it, landing in a heap on top Yu Yin outside of the swirling vortex of the portal. She tried to raise her self up, but her trembling arms would no longer allow her to even sit. She looked down at Yu Yin who was below her.

"I didn't want to have to take you with me you know? Forcing you out of your home country with your riches and high status... I wanted us to just leave this place and walk our own ways, never to meet again... But it looks like that's no longer possible!"

She let out a bitter laugh and crushed her other jade slip, causing runic circles to surround them once more. At this point, the harsh screams of the spectre could be heard behind her as it had finally caught up. It looked towards the thieving monkeys which dared sully its pride and leaped towards them at an impossible to describe speed. Yu Yin's blood skill had now completely worn off on it, and the spectre had made itself thoroughly visible to human sight. Layla's eyes widened as she saw her adversary for the very first time, but no fear could be seen on her perfect face. Instead there laid an unbridled ferocity in the depths of her vision, like an unchained tiger confronting its captors.

"Damned wraith! I, Layla Adamantine, vow on this day that I shall one day execute my vengeance! Else let my soul burn for eternity at the heart of the ninth hell!!!"

Enraged by her extreme words, the spectre charged towards her! Its ghastly claws grasping towards her scalp, intent on cleaving her into severed pieces! Yet her relentless gaze didn't cower back, but burned more intently, showing the extreme rage burning in the deepest crevices of her soul! Just as the spectre was about to slice her into two, its hand only inches away from Layla’s head, the teleportation runic circles activated! They disappeared into thin air, causing the spectre to grasp at nothing! It let our one last terrible scream, causing all the birds in a 10 kilometre radius to scatter about in terror!

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When Layla reappeared, she collapsed on the ground in a bloody mess. Her once beautiful purple dress was now dyed a crimson red in her own blood which was pooling out in all directions. Her white skin which used to have a healthy glow to it now looked sickly and naturally pale. Her clear diamond blue eyes were no longer as clear as they once were before, misty clouds stretching across her pupils as if they wanted to confine her very soul from seeing the light! She looked towards Yu Yin using the little strength she had.

"Darling.... those lockets had better be worth all of this..."

With that, Layla took out the second pill that Yu Yin had given her and utilised every last bit of willpower and stamina just to put herself in the lotus position and swallow it. She coughed up four mouthfuls of blood as the pill rolled painfully down her throat. She began to recall her past memories, good and bad, but mostly bad. She remembered her prestigious Adamantine clan, one of the three superpowers of the Iron Turtle dynasty. Her clan was renowned across all words as the most fearful, known for their extreme ferocity when handling blades. And she, Layla Adamantine, was the clan's most prized treasure, its most beautiful pearl.

She remembered how she used to rule over the vast lands, labelled as the Blade Princess, that is before those greedy bastards from the five star sects laid their eyes on her. For them, the most beautiful woman across all world planes could be compared to the most powerful immortal treasure, so the sect heads would stop at nothing to take her in as their wife. The ill intentions of those disgusting monsters made her want to gag. That was the one thing she detested the most: lust. Her family fully well knew that, yet they still spiked her food with the legendary "Soul Slumbering Flower", hoping to deliver her as an offering to those very sect heads to increase their status. The poisonous flower put her soul into a deep slumber, causing her to fall from the exalted [Tempered Soul] stage to the meagre [Rousing Soul] stage. The last thing she thought of, was again Yu Yin. When he had looked at her, although admiration of her beauty could be seen in his eyes, not once did she perceive in his eyes a trace of the lust which she so despised. She smiled at the thought of him.

"I've never once been the heroine before, not in my entire life... I've never had that type of compassion needed to be one... Who would have thought I would act in such a way now...."

She let out one last bitter laugh before closing her eyes as if she were entering an eternal rest...