The Princess And The Lord

She laughs dryly when Zhao Li Xin immediately approached her. He tried to check her wound, but Lory pulled her wrist towards her chest, "No! I need this!" she stopped him, "I'm not hurt." she calmed him down.

"What are you doing?!" Zhao Li Xin shouts furiously, Lory never saw him this angry towards her before, so she was stunned for a few seconds. Zhao Li Xin grabbed her hand to look at the wound. The others were also worried, they didn't know why she suddenly cuts her hand.

Zhao Li Xin's eyebrows creased deepens, if there's anything he hated more than seeing her cry that's seeing her bleed and hurt and especially more when she's not treasuring herself because she meant the world for him.

"I-I'm sorry" Lory sadly said, "I have my reason," she retracted her hand from him and then hovered her hand above the bowl and her blood slowly made a drip-drip-drip sound, filling the bowl. She saw her wound healing faster than she thought it will, she then realized it was because of the necklace on her neck that Zhao Li Xin gave her.

"Li Xin, please help me take off my necklace."

"Why?" he didn't immediately help her, the use of that necklace is to protect her, so she has to give him a good reason for him to do what she's asking.

"My wound heals too fast," Lory complained.

"That's what it's supposed to do."

"I know, but not now."

"Why?"

Lory sighed, she wanted to explain but seeing how everyone is looking at her weirdly, she cannot be too hasty, what would they think if they know what she can do? She might be prosecuted and be tagged as a witch; they will definitely fear her and be threatened by her.

They hate people who couldn't cultivate, what more someone like her? Even Zhao Li Xin would be implicated because of her.

"It's an array that I read at... Hei Shen Library!" Lory made a quick excuse to avoid suspicion, the elders and other's expression eased after they heard her explanation, coincidently there really is some ancient method in every skill when it comes to using blood as a material, some alchemist use divine beast's blood to make pills, some armament master even use material from high-level beasts to create weapons, so it's not weird if there's an array that uses human blood.

"Well, it's a secret method, so I can't let other people see it." Lory's smile slightly stiffened, thankfully they didn't notice.

"Yes, we have secret methods that can only be known by Hei Shen members, so I hope the elders won't mind leaving first, we will tell you if something happened," Jin Hao steps in with an amicable smile.

She was glad Jin Hao helped her but she's not sure what his intention is, unlike Bei Li Yan, she's aware that Jin Hao and Zhao Li Xin are quite alike, both of them didn't like interfering with other people's problem.

The elders believed him; in Jiu Yun Sect, they also have many secret methods that they cannot share with outsiders, so they understand that Hei Shen Sect is also the same.

"Then we will wait in the main hall. But, what about Mo Zhen? He's still weak, so we can't move him." said Mu Jan Ge.

"No, he's fine. It's alright, we can just close the curtain," Lory awkwardly smiled.

"If you say so. Xi Ying, let's wait outside." Mu Jan Ge signed her to follow him.

Xi Ying bowing at Lory said with a hopeful expression, "I leave Brother Li in your care."

Lory smiled back assuring her, "Don't worry, I will try my best."

Yang Xi Ying can only put all her hopes on Lory and her people. If they failed, she doesn't know what else she could do, she might lose him for good, she looks at the once vigorous man she met, heart aching for him, Li Mo Zhen smiled weakly at her beautiful face that has now slightly thinned compared from the last time he remembers. She might not be eating well because of worry; all he wanted to do is to make her happy but who knew she would be suffering because of him.

The elders and Yang Xi Ying left the room, leaving only Lory, Jin Hao, Li Mo Zhen, and Zhao Li Xin, things suddenly became awkward especially because Lory was still holding her dagger. She is thinking of making another cut because the previous wound has already closed and the bleeding has stopped. Girsha watched her before sighing. 'Maybe it's not a bad idea for her to be scolded by Zhao Li Xin because she gets more and more reckless everyday.' he thought.

"Uhm…" Lory nervously look at Zhao Li Xin, who's currently looking at her sternly, "I need to make another…cut."

Zhao Li Xin eyes turned twice darker than ever, "Explain." he said, sounding more like a command.

"The blood is not enough to make... I want to create…" she explained weakly, sounding like a little kid that got reprimanded by her parents.

"Then use my blood."

Lory shakes her head, "I can't. It has to be my blood."

"Why?!" He didn't bother hiding his annoyance.

Jin Hao and Li Mo Zhen were looking at them, they were also waiting for her explanation. Jin Hao is very curious, he had a feeling that he might be able to get clues if he were to understand what she's about to do, he did not dare probe Lory any further because of Zhao Li Xin and his curiosity is already killing him from the start and now that he got an opportunity to discover some of her secrets how could he not be excited?

"My blood… It's different." Lory pursed her lips, "Please, just let me do it! It doesn't hurt that much…" she pleaded, it was supposed to comfort and persuade Zhao Li Xin but it just made him more annoyed, so she quickly closed her mouth shut.

Both of them fell into a staring contest, unlike before, Zhao Li Xin didn't show any signs of giving up, perhaps watching her hurt herself touched his bottom line. Jin Hao, who was watching them from the side couldn't take it anymore.

"Miss, I think you must explain to Milord what exactly you want to do," he sighs tiredly, no one told him how stubborn the future madam could be.

Lory took a long deep breath, Jin Hao is right, considering how much he pampers her, it's normal for him to be angry, if her dad or Lucas were here, they would probably be angry too. No one likes seeing their loved ones hurting themselves. Helpless, she puts down her dagger and let Zhao Li Xin cover her hand temporary with a handkerchief.

"Alright."

She looked at Li Mo Zhen and said in a serious tone, "Master Li, what I'm about to do is something no one can know. Can you keep it a secret?"

Li Mo Zhen frowned slightly before saying, "When I was in 'that' condition, I can feel that something's not right; something that does not belong to this world. It was suffocating and I was drowning in darkness. I tried and tried to keep breathing; I tried to keep my consciousness intact but I know I was reaching my limit," he looks defeated and exhausted then he lifts his head.

"Then I heard a voice… Your voice… And I saw the light, it's dimmed but it's there, you don't know how happy I was. I don't even have a word to describe the feeling." his hand clenched the blanket and a tear fell on his hand, "You saved me from that darkness; I will give my life to you if I have to!"

"In the darkness, what did you feel?" Lory sits on the edge of the bed.

Li Mo Zhen grimaced, "Anger. Lots and lots of anger. Hatred, resentment, grief. So much grief. It's like I'm engulfed by it, I have never been in so much grief, not even when my parents died, it drove me crazy."

Lory heaved a long sigh, then she rose from the bed, "One of the reasons for your condition is because of what's inside that box, but I don't know if it's the source or not, and I don't know how dangerous that thing is," she looked at Zhao Li Xin, "What I'm about to do is something that you had seen inside the ancestor crystal, the same blood circle around the crystal."

"You want to create something like that?"

"Yes, it's called a blood rune. An ancient method to draw power from the blood. I want to create a shield to contain the malice from whatever is inside that box before it hurts any of you." Lory's eyes remained wary of the long box on the table.

"You said it has to be your blood, may I know why?" Jin Hao took the opportunity to probe as he knows his Lord would be asking the same.

Lory chuckles, "Brother Jin, you must be curious as to who I am, aren't you?" she teased.

"Well…" he can't refuse her.

"You are Zhao Li Xin's subordinate. Sooner or later, you will find out about this, rather than let you die out of curiosity, I think it's better to just tell you," Lory smiled calmly, "I'm not from this world. My world is from far far away from here, and if you ask me how I came here or why… I don't know either," because she was supposed to be dead but somehow she survived. How? She doesn't know either.

Jin Hao kinda expected this, but nonetheless, he still looks shocked, very shocked. Until his brain forcefully shuts down for a few minutes, Lory lets him digests her words. Li Mo Zhen was also stunned but not as much as Jin Hao, he feels more excited than surprised.

"Okay…" Jin Hao's brain starts running again, he pinches his temple to make sure he's not dreaming.

After looking a bit calmer, Lory continued, "You asked about my blood, that's because my blood is… special," she smiled mischievously, she didn't explain further, it's too soon after all.

"Is there no other way?" Zhao Li Xin didn't care about where she came from, or why, but the idea of her cutting herself disturbed him tremendously.

"I'm afraid there isn't," she regrettably said.

Zhao Li Xin let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine… Jin Hao, you have the ointment to repress pain?"

"Yes, Milord." he waved his hand and a green bottle appeared on his hand; he gave it to Zhao Li Xin courteously.

Zhao Li Xin then took Lory's hand and removed the handkerchief, he smeared the ointment on her wound, the tingling sensation made her grimace slightly, her reflex made her want to retract her hand but Zhao Li Xin didn't let her do so, after smearing the ointment all over her wound, he bandaged it again and only after he was satisfied did he let her go.

Lory thought he was done but then he took the other hand and repeated what he did, Lory was confused as to why he also smeared the ointment to the unharmed hand then a cold follow with numbness rush over her hand, after being satisfied with what he did, he finally looked at her before taking off her necklace.

"Now, you won't feel any pain no matter how deep the cut is, so let's do this!"