Faithful Heart (Flesh of my Flesh...Blood of my Blood 2)

Chapter 82

Author's note: In this chapter, we wrapped up the Baishui Mountain Arc. The next chapter will be DongFeng in love.

Rated: 18+ for violence, blood and a touch of horror.

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Feng Jiu fell.

She fell through time and space down a dark tunnel.

Jia Li also fell, but she became lost in the wild, magical currents. Her growls of anger reaching Feng Jiu's ears faintly in the distance.

She fell down wormholes, stardust flying past her eyes. She saw stars collapsing, forming dark pits of emptiness that devour all in its path.

Light streaked past her, and after what felt an eternity, Feng Jiu finally found the strength to call upon her powers and materialized into a dimension. She hit the ground on her back, the pain slamming into her body as she cried out in pain and spat out some blood from having bitten her cheek. Gasping for breath, she sought to sit up, but her head was swimming, her eyes unable to focus.

The sound of a growling predator shocked her, and Feng Jiu looked around, seeing there was a wilderness, a barren landscape with rock and sand. Darkness had fallen on this land, but her eyes reflected back the poor light from two moons in the sky, and she saw an enormous monster with short dark fur and thick ropes of muscle bulging on its bodies looking at her back. Feng Jiu reared back suddenly, gasping and feeling fear settled inside her as she felt weak.

She watched, horror widening her eyes, as the monster flexed its muscle and pounced on her. Feng Jiu screamed, covering her face with her hands and waited for the pain to come. But golden light encased her, the Tiangan shield activating and repelling the monster to keep her safe. Feng Jiu lowered her hands to see the beast circling the vast perimeter of the protection, growling as it tested it once again and saw it could not cross it.

"Jia Li," whispered Feng Jiu and then said louder. "JIA LI!"

But there was no one to answer, only silence and the growls of the beast circling the shield reached her ears.

"Where am I?" Feng Jiu asked as she reclined back into the ground, knowing the Tiangan shield would keep her safe.

She drifted into sleep, her body conserving energy as she meditated. The beast that circled her grew bore as it realized it would never get past the Tiangan shield and slinked away. Feng Jiu breathed in and out slowly, magic gathering around her in a red mist, and she exhaled a magical wave. It felt like throwing a stone into a pond, the ripples moving outward in the fabric of space.

Feng Jiu knew that Jia Li would hear and smell her magic, her sharp nose leading her to Feng Jiu across dimensions. Finding her strength returning, Feng Jiu stood up slowly and looked around the dimension she had fallen into. A desolate landscape greeted her eyes, black earth and dried up trees dotted with sharp rocks. The magic in this place felt weak and muddled.

The golden light from the Tiangan shield retracted, and Feng Jiu walked forward, her ears listening closely for any disturbance. She tried to contact Donghua through their mental bond, but only static greeted her there, and Feng Jiu grew anxious. Had something happened to Donghua? Or perhaps she had fallen so far inside a wormhole that the distance between them was simply too far?

Feng Jiu shook her head. Of course, she was not far away—distances where her mind's way of understanding the mechanics of what happened when she travelled across dimensions. Keeping her sword ready in her hand, Feng Jiu walked forward, picking her way carefully across the terrain. The sound of shifting rocks had her on edge, and she stopped in her tracks to listen. The wind blew, and Feng Jiu heard only silence, not the cawing of a bird or the low growling of an animal.