Chapter 22: She was misunderstood by the world

At this moment, Ji Linglong’s face was filled with agony, her once proud golden phoenix eyes now left only with chaos and madness.

The energy inside her raged to the extreme, like a volcano on the verge of eruption, threatening to raze the entire Phoenix Palace to the ground at any moment.

Lu Ning clenched her teeth and began circulating the gray-white true essence that had just formed within her dantian.

“Suppress for me!”

Lu Ning poured all of this precious true essence into Ji Linglong’s body.

It was a reckless act!

Her Foundation Establishment true essence, compared to Ji Linglong’s rampaging Divine Fire at the Great Ascension stage, was as insignificant as a speck of dust in a gale.

But Lu Ning had no other choice.

She was not gambling on the amount of her power, but on its very “quality”!

This gray-white true essence was the result of the fusion of the supreme techniques, and , and further combined with the bloodline of the Heavenly Demon and the Lunar Physique.

Its very nature far surpassed Ji Linglong’s .

It was like a key—a key that could harmonize yin and yang, pacify chaos.

“Buzz—”

The instant the gray-white true essence entered Ji Linglong, the violent Nine Heavens Divine Fire within her seemed to find a vent, furiously surging toward this “foreign” energy.

Lu Ning’s body trembled violently, a terrifying power rampaging through her meridians.

The meridians that had just begun to heal instantly split with several fine cracks.

At this critical moment, the “Lunar Origin” left by Gu Qinghuan in her body was finally fully awakened.

An extreme chill burst forth!

This frigid energy and Ji Linglong’s Nine Heavens Divine Fire were the two most extreme forces between heaven and earth.

By right, they should have been utterly incompatible, destroying one another.

But at this moment, under the guidance and mediation of Lu Ning’s peculiar gray-white true essence, the two extremes did not violently collide.

Instead, they seemed to find their other half, beginning to attract and entangle each other in a mysterious way.

Yin and yang, cold and heat, death and rebirth…

A perfect cycle slowly formed within Ji Linglong.

The rampaging Nine Heavens Divine Fire that once threatened to burn everything to ashes gradually became tame under this cycle.

The golden flames covering Ji Linglong’s body also receded at a pace visible to the naked eye, finally sinking completely back into her body.

Soon, Ji Linglong’s twisted and agonized expression relaxed, her furrowed brows smoothing out, her breathing becoming steady and long.

She was saved.

But the price was that Lu Ning’s true essence was utterly depleted, and her meridians suffered grievous damage—far worse than before.

She could no longer hold herself up, and with Ji Linglong in her arms, she slumped weakly onto the carpet, her consciousness plunging into boundless darkness.

At the last moment before losing consciousness, she had only one thought.

[I’ve suffered a huge loss…]

…

No one knew how much time had passed.

Ji Linglong slowly awakened.

She felt as though she’d had a long dream—in the dream, she was trapped in an endless sea of fire.

Just as she was about to be utterly consumed by the flames and reduced to ashes, a cool stream suddenly appeared, extinguishing the fire on her body and rescuing her from the endless torment.

That feeling was so comfortable, so intoxicating.

As she slowly opened her eyes, the familiar ornate dome of the Phoenix Palace bedchamber appeared before her.

Ji Linglong tried to prop herself up, but her entire body felt weak and sore, unable to muster the slightest strength.

Although her divine essence had calmed, she still felt utterly empty inside.

The damage from this Qi Deviation was simply too great.

She looked down at her body.

Her once splendid palace robe was now torn and ragged.

Suddenly, she felt as if something was pressing down on her legs.

She lowered her head, and her pupils contracted sharply.

Lu Ning was collapsed beside her, her clothes in tatters.

Her face was pale as paper, lips cracked, breath weak.

For a moment, Ji Linglong’s mind went blank.

Then, everything from the previous night flooded back into her memory.

She remembered.

It was Lu Ning, the prisoner she had humiliated countless times, who had rushed forward at her most perilous moment, disregarding everything, and held her tight with that frail body.

It was the other who had used that strange power to pacify the rampaging Nine Heavens Divine Fire inside her.

Ji Linglong stretched out a trembling hand, wanting to touch Lu Ning’s cheek, but stopped midway, not daring to land it.

Staring at Lu Ning’s pallid face, a torrent of emotions called “heartache” and “guilt” raged within her.

[Why? Why did A’Ning save me?]

[She could have taken the chance to escape…]

[She should hate me to the core…]

Ji Linglong gazed at Lu Ning’s face—even unconscious, still breathtakingly beautiful—and her softest spot was moved.

How much pain had Lu Ning endured during this time?

She had disguised herself as a man, carried an enormous secret, ascended to that lofty position, only to be cast down from the altar, hunted by the righteous path, and then captured and endlessly humiliated…

Yet even so, Lu Ning was willing to risk everything to save her—her “enemy.”

Was this really something a great demon lord would do?

Perhaps the so-called demon lord was just the world’s misunderstanding of her…

With these thoughts, an unprecedented urge to protect welled up from the depths of Ji Linglong’s heart.

She carefully gathered Lu Ning into her arms.

Lu Ning was so light, it made her heart ache.

She gently placed Lu Ning on her own broad, soft Warm Jade Bed and changed her clothes.

After all was done, she stood up, the majesty and pride of the Eldest Princess once more on her face.

“Attend me!”

She barked harshly.

The doors opened.

Two palace maids entered, trembling with fear.

“Convey my command!”

“Bring the best healing medicines in the palace to the Phoenix Palace at once!”

“Also, go to my treasury and fetch the ten-thousand-year snow lotus and the bottle of ‘Nine-Turn Jade Dew’!”

“Be quick!”

The palace maids, terrified by Ji Linglong’s frightening aura, shuddered and scurried out.

Very soon, the entire Imperial Palace of the Great Wilderness was shaken by the Eldest Princess’s command.

Countless healing treasures so precious that others would fight desperately over them were delivered to the Phoenix Palace like flowing water.

Ji Linglong dismissed everyone and personally fed Lu Ning the pills at the bedside.

She gazed at Lu Ning’s peaceful sleeping face and reached out to gently stroke her cheek.

“A’Ning…”

She murmured softly, her voice incomparably tender.

“Don’t worry.”

“From today on, you will forever be mine.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you…”

“No matter the price, I will heal your wounds.”