Book 3 Chapter 2 – The Awakening

　　“I have no choice, just as when I planned the ma.s.sacre of the 317 villagers back at Ning Village,” Xiao Hei’s words made Li Yiming shudder. ‘This is no joke, he’s ma.s.sacred an entire village! Not to mention the tens of thousands of people in Jing Prefecture who died because of the Dragondogs…’

　　“Tell your Big Bro to show himself. He’s all powerful, if he can cure Qianqian, then I’ll do anything. It doesn't matter that I die.”

　　“I'm telling you, I don't know where he is," Li Yiming could not find an answer to Xiao Hei's insistence.

　　Pew!

　　A small puff of white smoke suddenly shot up from the ground in front of Li Yiming. Dust and dirt flew onto Li Yiming's shoes. 'Is he actually going to shoot? It's not as if we're inside a domain.'

　　"Give it up and call your Big Bro. There's no way you can handle me unarmed. With all of our life marks gone, you wouldn't even be able to use your talent," Xiao Hei said in with a cold-blooded countenance. He had everything thought out before deciding to come and confront Li Yiming.

　　A flash of white light and Bai Ze appeared in front of Li Yiming with a sword in her right hand. She looked at Xiao Hei with severity.

　　"Bai Ze?" Xiao Hei eyes lit up with hope.'If she's there, then that mysterious man has to be somewhere around.' "Tell your master to come out and see me."

　　"I've told you already, Li Yiming is my master," Bai Ze answered with a cold voice. She lowered her weapon slightly as she made ready to strike. At that distance, she would be able to chop Xiao Hei's hand off before he had the chance to fire a single shot.

　　"Come out, all of you." Xiao Hei frowned and suddenly his expression changed to one of folly. The doors of two vans in the parking lot were opened, and a few dozen people emerged from within the vehicles. They were all dressed like typical thugs, with hair of all sorts of colors and their body decorated with chains and piercings. Bai Ze was very alarmed by their sudden appearance and took a step back to be right in front of Li Yiming. Li Yiming himself was very shocked when he saw that each one of them had a gun.

　　"Your typical criminal. With a lot of money and guns, they'll do just about anything." Xiao Hei cast a glacial stare at the two; he planned this out perfectly. "I've seen how terrifying mythical beasts can be in a domain, but don't forget where we are right now, how much of her power can she actually use? She won't be able to protect you."

　　The thugs slowly closed in and circled around Li Yiming and Bai Ze after Xiao Hei glanced a few times at them.

　　"I'll show you how much power I can use." Bai Ze dashed forward with the intent to kill in her eyes, but instantly jumped back an instant later, pulling Li Yiming to the ground and rolling sideways.

　　Pew! Pew! Pew!

　　As the two rolled on the ground, soil and dust from where they stood a moment ago once again flew into the air.

　　"Stop." Xiao Hei gestured and the gunshots stopped.

　　Li Yiming raised his head to look at Xiao Hei, stunned by his decision; if it were not for Bai Ze, he would have been turned into a human sieve.

　　"I told you that it's no use. Bai Ze can't protect you." Xiao Hei took another step forward, his face contorted into a resentful and cruel grimace.

　　"Li Yiming," Bai Ze said in an impa.s.sive voice, as she slowly stood up. "Run as far as you can, and don't look back."

　　"And do you think he'll be able to?" Another step taken by Xiao Hei.

　　"What do you think?" Bai Ze's features suddenly changed. She took on the air of a different person, something different.

　　"What are you doing?" Xiao Hei asked, as consterned as he was angry.

　　"If I'm going to die here, then I might as well bring a few down with me." Several gusts of wind suddenly blew upward, twisting and mingling as they ascended, like a small tornado. The string around Bai Ze hair fell down, broken into two pieces. Her long hair had gained a silvery glow as they billowed in the current of air.

　　"Shoot!" Xiao Hei cried, and his order was followed by a string of uninterrupted gunshots. Li Yiming closed his eyes instinctively, but, after a small while with nothing happening, opened them again. He saw a curtain of bullets floating still in front of him as if they were frozen in a chunk of ice. More and more projectiles approached, which made the layer denser and denser.

　　"Are you crazy? Aren't you afraid of Heaven's Punishment?" Xiao Hei's expression had turned into one of frenzied rage.

　　"You're not the one to tell me whether I should be scared or not." Bai Ze's hair had turned silver, and something else appeared within her eyes, something that does not belong to a human. A crimson, b.l.o.o.d.y snake climbed onto the corners of her mouth, and she appeared more powerful than ever. A weak halo of light appeared at her feet, and within it mysterious glyphs made of light swirled. The sky suddenly darkened, and the sun hid itself behind a thick sheet dark cloud that was pierced repeatedly by purple lightning.

　　"Is it really worth it? For this kid? You're a mythical beast!" Xiao Hei seemed to have completely lost his sanity. The gunshots had stopped as the thugs threw away their guns and attempted to escape, but found it impossible to even take a single step.

　　"You don't understand me." Bai Ze's voice was no longer childish. Instead, it came down from between the clouds. "Take a good look before you leave, Li Yiming. The mythical beast, Bai—Ze—!"

　　Swis.h.!.+

　　The small tornado, the glyphs, all of it suddenly sank into Bai Ze's body. The halo beneath her feet expanded and her figure slowly vanished. What appeared then was a lion-like beast with snow-white fur, a pair of wings, a single horn on its head and a recurved tip tail. ¹

　　Boom!

　　Lightning suddenly flashed through the blackened sky. The giant lion disappeared, only to appear on top of Xiao Hei's head. Her paw came down on him the next second, and, before Xiao Hei could even emit a cry of terror, he was crushed into a small fountain of blood.The bullets that were floating in the air dropped down with a few clink-clunks.