“Is… Is she alive?” Delia asked softly. She could tell Yuki was not doing very well right now.

    “Yes, but barely. They basically sucked her dry of her blood. Luckily, that was the only thing they did to her.” Yuki let out a small sigh of relief as she reached up and broke the chains binding her best friend. 

Chi fell limply into Yuki’s arms as if startled by the sudden movement; the girl moved her eyes slightly and looked at Yuki. In a deep horse voice, she mumbled: “I knew you would come….”

    “Delia, is there anything we can do to help her? I am afraid to give her anything too strong. Her cultivation is still at the body fortification realm.” Yuki gently carried Chi in her arms.

“I can stabilize her condition. But she will need to rest for a long time before she can cultivate again. I will put her to sleep and put her in my shadow. This way, time will stop for her. Once we are in a safe place, I will take her out.” Delia replied. Her heart ached just looking at the girl. She looked as if she had gone through hell. She was only given enough sustenance to keep her from reaching death, but even still, she was surprised the girl was still holding on to life.

The words Chi spoke were still ringing in Yuki’s ears. Chi had been waiting for her this entire time. She held on until she arrived. Yuki gently hugged Chi close to her body as she whispered: “You are safe. But for now, I need you to sleep. When you wake, you will be in a new place where you can recover.”

With these words, Yuki gave Chi a kiss on the forehead before looking at Delia, who readily put Chi into a deep slumber. “Can you inject some spiritual qi into her? Just a tiny strand is enough. It will stabilize her a bit more.”

“Okay…” Yuki nodded as she did as she was told.  A sliver of her spiritual qi entered Chi, which began to circulate throughout Chi’s body, spreading to the most needed parts. With Chi now asleep and something to help sustain her life, Yuki passed Chi to Delia, who gently placed her in her shadow in a separate area from the others. This part of her shadow stopped time for all things except for her shadow fiends. She even had two shadow fiends keep an eye on Chi.

“Now to find Master….” Yuki took a deep breath. She still had a lot to do. Once she found her master and killed the last of the disciples in hiding, she would flatten this entire sect. 

“You do not need to look far. There is a hidden room to the side. I sense the little phoenix inside.” Delia replied as she pointed at a solid stone wall. The two walked over and placed their hand on the cold stone. Delia snorted as she pressed harder, causing the stone to crumble and the barrier array that was there to shatter along with it. 

What stood before them was a pedestal. On it was an egg. It was covered in a flame pattern and gave off immense heat. “She was smart.”

“What do you mean?” Yuki did not understand.

“Your Master went into a rebirth cycle in order to keep these people from touching her. These cycles can last for a few thousand years or more. Sometimes shorter depending on what is going on outside the egg.” Delia replied.

“I see…” Yuki walked over and reached out for the egg. The egg began to radiate immense heat but slowly died down as if it had sensed the person was familiar and not an enemy. Yuki gently picked the egg up and stroked its outer shell. “Master, I found one of my clansmen. My best friend, Chi. She was still alive. I do not know what happened to my parents and the others, but at least Chi was still alive. I will now finish off the rest of the disciples of this sect and destroy it so it can never harm another mystic clan again. Then, I will head to the mainland, where I will destroy the Celestial Heaven Sect. I will make sure their evil deeds are exposed for all to see. Even if those of the Holyland try to stop me, I will bring destruction to those who stand in my way. I will make the mortal realm a free place for all races. So people no longer need to live in fear.”

The egg in Yuki’s arms shook slightly at Yuki’s words. Yuki gently stroked the egg a few more times before handing it to Delia for safekeeping. It was just… “Ouch! You damned chicken!”

“Haha!” Yuki let out a laugh. It was something she truly needed. Yuki watched as Delia took the egg and tossed it in her shadow. Yuki knew that the egg would be fine. But the pitiful look on Delia’s face made Yuki smile. “Let’s go. If we find any remains of any mystic races while we finish up. Let’s give them a proper burial as well. Nana will probably be pouting once she finds out I destroyed the sect that attacked our clans. Once we are done here, we should also take a look at the other pills sects on this continent just in case.”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea. They might be small, but if they are also practicing the same kind of refinement, then it would be good to stamp them out. I will send a few shadows out. They will be able to gather information for us before we are done.” Delia also wished to finish this once and for all. She would once ignore everything, but now that she had her Yuki and seeing the condition Chi was in, she would no longer stand by as a bystander.