Chapter 8: Chapter 7 - The Calm Before the Storm

CHAPTER 7

The Calm Before the Storm

Reddish-white flames danced in Yuriel’s meridians, along with pitch-black shadows of darkness.

Meanwhile, the dantian quietly sat there, looking like beautiful crystal-clear deep garnet-red pearl. Occasionally, flashes of bright vermilion would flicker in its depths—like sparks of flames—and darkness would sometimes envelop it, momentarily hiding it from view.

Success! Yuriel grinned. Finally, she was officially a Grandmaster-ranked powerhouse of two ultimate attributes! Yes, both her fire and darkness attributes were ultimate attributes.

Yuriel’s eyelids fluttered open.

Boom!

The moment her eyes fully opened, the surrounding air froze. The next moment, red-white flames burned the air, and darkness spread out. Yuriel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The strange phenomena faded away.

She grinned again. The feeling of the Grandmaster rank was truly wonderful! But she still had one more thing to do—stabilizing her newly-ascended cultivation base.

Still smiling, she closed her eyes back.

***

A pair of tall, wide double-doors swung open silently.

Yuriel stepped into the corridor in front of her, a small smile on her face. With light steps, she reached the end of the corridor, where a Flash Lift stood.

A flash of white light, and she arrived at the white-cyan-themed living room of Lee Jihoon’s secret base.

Upon seeing her, Lee Jihoon rose from the sofa, pleasantly surprised.

“You’ve succeeded?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Yuriel grinned.

“Congratulations.” Tie Li nodded.

“Thanks.” Yuriel smiled. “By the way, is it time yet?”

Lee Jihoon shook his head, chuckling. “Miss Zhang, the date hasn’t even changed yet.”

“Eh?” Yuriel blinked. “What time is it?”

“Around eleven p.m..—Loche City’s time.” Tie Li said.

“I actually only used five hours to break through?” Yuriel muttered to herself in disbelieve as she sat on a nearby sofa.

“Yeah, that’s quite a feat.” Lee Jihoon said. “Anyway, there’s still time.”

“For what?”

“For celebrating your birthday.” Lee Jihoon grinned.

The room went dark.

Dots of golden and silver light sprinkled down slowly, fluttering about like fireflies.

Boom, boom! Bright vermilion and white fireworks blossomed, followed by Lee Jihoon and Tie Li’s loud claps.

“Happy birthday, Yuriel!” Lee Jihoon cheered. “We wish you lots of happiness and luck!”

Tie Li smiled a rigid smile. “Happy birthday.”

After overcoming the initial surprise, Yuriel’s eyes slowly became glassy. In a time like this, she had basically ignored the fact that it was her sixteenth birthday. She really didn’t expect two strangers to wish her a happy birthday. Well, maybe now they could be counted as her new friends...?

“Thank you,” she sniffed. “Really.”

Lee Jihoon waved. “Enough with those thanks. After all, we can now be considered friends, can’t we?”

“No.” Yuriel said.

“Eh...”

“Kidding.”

They broke into laughter—yeah, the usually quiet Tie Li also laughed.

“So where’s my cake? And my present?” Yuriel blinked.

Lee Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Very unceremonious, now, aren’t you?”

“Who asked you to be my friend?” Yuriel shrugged.

“Fine, fine, I asked.” Lee Jihoon laughed.

Dots of cyan light gathered in front of Yuriel, gradually materializing into the shape of a beautiful birthday cake. It was dark-red and crème-white, with golden stars and pearls decorating it. On top of the cake, two golden candles of the number sixteen stood. Mini silvery-gold butterflies flapped their wings, circling the cake happily.

At the same time, a dark-red box with a strip of white ribbon also materialized next to it.

“Make a wish.” Lee Jihoon smiled.

Yuriel stared at the flames licking the candle wicks dancing gently.

'I hope Mom and Dad can quickly wake up, and have long, healthy, and happy lives. I also hope that after I awaken my Star of Cosmos power, I can still be myself... Please.’

Puff...! The flames went out. Lee Jihoon and Tie Li clapped.

“Now open your present!” the latter grinned.

Yuriel raised her eyebrows, her interest piqued. She picked the present box from the air and undid the white ribbon around it—the ribbon immediately dissolved into motes of cyan light.

Opening the lid of the box, she was surprised to see a pair of white boots. The design was great—streamlined and light, with elegant dark-red patterns on its sides. And its thick, pillowy soles were perfect for both walking and running long distances.

“Connect them to your smartlenses, and then you can customize their color and design.” Lee Jihoon said.

“Incredible!” Yuriel grinned. “I like it.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Oh, and they also have hover-mode and several built-in features—you can explore them by yourself.” he added excitedly.

“I’ll make sure to study them later.” Yuriel smiled as she put the boots and the box into her spatial storage.

“They have unlimited short-distance teleportation ability, but if not connected to my network, it can only be activated ten times a day.” the guy added yet again.

“Teleportation? How did you do it?” Yuriel was taken aback.

Nowadays, although teleportation was very common in big cities, it can only be done through Flash Arrays. For a person to teleport at will, even for a short distance, was incredibly rare and hard to achieve—except one was at the Heavenly Emperor rank.

“Well, I have ultimate spatial attribute.” Lee Jihoon patted his chest somewhat proudly.

“That explains all.” Yuriel gave him a thumbs up.

Standing to the side, Tie Li glanced at Lee Jihoon strangely. He knew that this friend of his was always chatty, but today...

“Oh, right... When will we depart for the mission?” Yuriel suddenly remembered and asked.

“Before dawn.” Lee Jihoon answered, then explained, “The sparring session will start at eight, but you need to sneak in when it’s still dark—right before dawn, when people are still in their morning meditation routine.”

“That’s perfect.” Yuriel nodded. “Then will Edward come here first?”

“Yeah, he said he would come right before you go.”

Yuriel went silent. Previously, a thought had suddenly crossed her mind. Since this whole thing was set up by someone—someone who wanted to make her reveal her Star of Cosmos power—would her plan of killing Li Yang be within that person’s expectation? Would there be a trap set up for her?

“Yuriel?” Lee Jihoon waved a hand in front of her face.

“Can you give me Edward’s number?” she asked.

***

Edward sipped the comforting hot Earl Grey milk tea in his white-gold cup, savoring the citrus notes softened by the creaminess of the milk in it. He glanced out of the window, for the umpteenth time admiring the glittering surface of the River Thames outside.

Out of a sudden, a ringtone was transmitted to his auditory nerve. Putting down his tea cup, he leaned back and gazed out of the window.

"Hello, Edward—this is Yuriel. Am I interrupting your afternoon tea?" a clear voice was transmitted.

Edward smiled. “You are, of course, interrupting my afternoon tea. But I always have time for such an extraordinary young lady like you, Miss Yuriel. So go on. What’s the matter?”

A soft laugh. “I want to ask... When you use your ultimate faith power on me, will the murderous intent be kept away from my spiritual sea?”

Edward nodded. “In theory, yes. But it’s hard to say.”

"Well, can you come over right now? I want to try something."

“Of course.” Edward said. “Just tell Jihoon to teleport me there.”

"Alright."

***

A few minutes later, in the sparring room of Hermes’ secret base—just below the cultivation chamber.

“So, what is it that you want to try?” Edward asked, standing straight.

Across him, Yuriel smiled, casually saying, “I want to let a bit of the murderous intent into my spiritual sea.”

Edward’s eyebrows involuntarily jumped. Was this girl crazy?

“Okay... I guess?” he laughed wryly.

“Then I’m letting it into my mind now.” Yuriel informed.

Taking a deep breath, Edward closed his eyes, then pressed his palms together in front of his chest. Pale-gold light bloomed from the point where his palms touched each other. It started off dim, but very quickly became so bright that it enveloped Edward’s whole body, making him look like a celestial being descending upon the mortal world.

Faithful Prayer, Edward’s most powerful skill, activated.

Yuriel had also closed her eyes. Meanwhile, in her spiritual sea, blood-red murderous startede to invade in.

Blood. She wanted blood. She wanted to kill!

At this moment, her spiritual sea shone with a bright pale-golden light. Instantly, the murderous intent fled away from the sacred golden light.

Yuriel’s mind cleared. Then she noticed something—but she wasn’t sure. So, she urged more murderous intent to enter her spiritual sea.

This time, the Asura Demon Poison circulating with her blood was completely triggered. It flared with murderous intent, which was so powerful that it hurt her veins and meridians. An iron-like taste surged up her throat.

Blood-red fog-like energy danced around Yuriel, emitting a dense blood smell, along with powerful murderous aura. Dark-red line patterns crept up her neck, up to her eyes. At the same time, her energy became unstable.

In her spiritual sea, the sacred golden light lit up more brightly, trying to drive the murderous intent away with all its might.

But at this moment, the iridescent light orb floating calmly in her spiritual sea shook. Majestic, starlight-like iridescent energy spread out of it, pushing all murderous intent out. Strangely, the sacred golden light fused with it, making the iridescent energy brighter, intensifying its majestic aura.

Crack!

Yuriel’s face paled. She quickly brought the iridescent energy which had fused with the sacred golden light away from her spiritual sea. This new, combined energy coursed through her veins, calming the murderous intent.

“That’s enough.” she said, opening her eyes.

“What was that?” Edward’s voice was quiet.

Yuriel heaved a breath. She slowly sat down on the floor, body slightly trembling. That was close. Really, really close...

“My Star of Cosmos power,” she said softly. “It resonated with your ultimate faith power—or rather, it wanted to swallow that faith power.”

“Oh.” Edward nodded, drawing in a ragged breath.

Yuriel glanced at him. His already pale face was now even paler.

“I’m sorry.” she said. “And thank you.”

“No need,” he waved a hand. “Just tell me what you were trying to do.”

“I wanted to know if your faith power really drives the murderous intent out of my spiritual sea.” Yuriel shrugged.

“It did.” Edward nodded. “But it also triggered your cosmic power. Miss Yuriel, may I ask... Why do you not want to use that power?”

“I’m... afraid.” Yuriel smiled wryly. “I can sense that once I awaken that power, it will change everything—I won’t be able to look at the world the same way anymore. And there’d be no turning back.”

The two were silent for a moment.

“You know, Yuriel...” Edward broke the silence. “Maybe it’s not as daunting as you think. Indeed, your perception of everything will change—but isn’t it the same concept as getting old? Just think of it as if you’re mentally aging faster.”

Yuriel's eyes lit up, but then she grinned. “You’re saying that I’ll be a grandma in a young body.”

“Well...” Edward shrugged.

The two laughed.

“So... Is my help still needed?” Edward asked.

Yuriel pondered quietly for a moment before slowly nodding. “But there’s no need to act unless the situation requires it.”

“Alright. Then I’ll be discussing with Jihoon on how I will follow you into the Emperor Li Clan.” Edward smiled, then proceeded to walk toward the door.

“Wait.” Yuriel stopped him.

“Yes?” Edward turned at her.

“Later, if the situation forces...” Yuriel stared at him, wanting to say something, but deciding against it in the end. She sighed, shaking her head. “Forget it. Just act according to the situation.”

Edward just nodded with a smile, not asking anything.

“Let’s go.”

The two went to the living room and found Lee Jihoon sitting on the sofa, his fingers dancing in the wind, typing on an invisible keyboard with lightning speed. He seemed pretty busy.

“Jihoon.” Edward tried calling him.

The guy mumbled something incomprehensible without looking up.

“Nerdy Hermes!” Edward snapped his fingers in front of him.

“What?” Lee Jihoon jumped in his seat, then grumbled to himself.

Edward sat next to him, asking, “How will I follow Miss Yuriel?”

“Oh, that...” Lee Jihoon muttered. “Wait, I’ll call Tie Li.”

“Tie Li?” Yuriel raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah. I need to brief you all on the ambush plan.”