.
A little later, LanFen had decided to use one of her demons to escape, since she couldn't think it another way.
The spirit-binding ropes wouldn't let her summon them, but it was a simple matter of shutting her eyes and entering her own spirit realm to personally pull the demon out.
Yet, she hesitated...
'I did promise Master not to use them in front of humans, or in any way that would make humans hate them...'
But this wasn't the only reason she hesitated.
In her present life, LanFen had one major enemy.
A certain elder, who acted from the shadows.
Every single one of her misfortunes in this life, directly or indirectly stemmed from him, and she had vowed to kill him, before she left this earth!
She didn't know who this 'elder' was, but the biggest suspect, was the eldest member of the Shuǐ Clan, simply called Elder Shuǐ, as most didn't even know his name.
LanFen suspected him, because the Elder was certainly someone extremely powerful, and Elder Shuǐ was the most powerful person she knew, except for Xin Dao's leader.
She shut her eyes and mentally ran over Xin Dao's hierarchy again.
At the peak of Xin Dao, was the Grand Cultivator, titled the 'High Grandmaster'. He was the ultimate ruler of Xin Dao, and his presence cast a constant shadow of awe over the entire Wulin. His mere presence kept the peace between the major regions, and enforced the laws of the Wulin.
The current one was rumoured to be an Immortal in the Heaven realm, who was nearing two hundred and never came down from an Ancient peak at the edge of Xin Dao.
Although the position of High Grandmaster was like royalty, his successors were not necessarily his sons, nor did the world wait for him to die before he was succeeded.
The rules were simple.
Anyone could challenge the High Grandmaster at any time, and if that person defeated him, he or she immediately became the new High Grandmaster.
However, because of the level of cultivation one needed to even step into the Light Realm, let alone the heaven realm, it was nearly impossible to attain, so through thousands and thousands of years, there had been only been a few High Grandmasters, recorded in Xin Dao's Long history!
LanFen had removed the High Grandmaster from her suspects long ago, because he was too powerful to bother acting from the shadows. He could Literally just take everything he wanted, and none of the current powers of Xin Dao would be able to challenge him!
Under the High Grandmaster, were the four dragon families.
And under the four dragon families were twelve Prominent Minor Clans, three in each region, and under those, were a near uncountable number of minor clans.
Xin Dao was a large kingdom, divided into four major regions. The four dragon families ruled the East, West, North and South regions of Xin Dao, assisted by the prominent clans in their regions.
They also had a duty to keep each other in check and maintain balance throughout Xin Dao.
But they never did, and instead, they had cast the Wulin into a power lock.
The popular saying, 'Distant water cannot douse a fire', had been changed to 'Distant water 'should' not douse a fire', and was now being used as a warning which meant,
'If the Ruling family in the East did something wrong, the Ruling family in the West had no place to intrude.'
The only option would be to bring it to the High Grandmaster's attention, but without clear evidence or notable witnesses, the accuser might end up being the one in trouble.
So the South would rather stay out of the North's business, the North could not intrude on the East's business, and on it went.
The four regions were now like small independent kingdoms, running outside any structure, and only allying for selfish reasons.
Like the two ruling clans she had attacked...
LanFen leaned against the pole behind her and almost at once, the face of a beautiful woman appeared behind her shut eyes, and then it transformed into the face of a beautiful little boy.
LanFen squeezed her bound hands into a fist, as the vision changed to a beautiful red jewel, floating down into her open hand.
'Mother. Jun.' She sighed quietly.
Thinking about them, she couldn't help feeling depressed, and she was thankful for the black veil, as a lone tear ran down her cheek.
'A thousand delights beneath the heavens, but what can calm my anger? What surpasses my hatred? How can I part from this world, if I don't ensure that my enemy leaves first?'
Much as she needed to find a way to escape, she viewed her capture as an opportunity to meet the powerful and elusive Shuǐ Clan Elder...
The Shuǐ Clan prisons were said to have an unbroken record, and even the highly powerful, hadn't managed to break out of them so far.
Still, she would have to try.
She would find a way to break out of them, and then go looking for Elder Shuǐ...
.
An irritating bright light pierced the somewhat peaceful darkness that was sleep...
LanFen opened her eyes slowly to find it was night, and someone was holding a bright red lantern right in front of her face!
There was a laughing clown face painted on the lantern, and that part was directly facing her, as if to annoy her further.
She noticed at once that she wasn't on the boat anymore, but inside her Spirit Realm, and she was standing on a still mass of black water, surrounded by fog.
"Old Man Xu..." She said exasperatedly. Only one person could pull her in here against her will.
The hand holding the lantern, moved it away to reveal the face of a wrinkly old man.
He wore a long red robe, his hair and eyebrows were white and bushy, and his head was covered by a wide bamboo hat.
"You-! I've told you that being so gloomy affects us! How much darker do you want it to get in here?!" It was the same whispery voice that had spoken into her ear at the 'Tea Haven'.
LanFen sighed.
"Old Man Xu, I've told you to stop pulling me in here, when it's not an emergency." She lightly massaged her eyebrows, which were bent in her displeasure.
"Emergency? Hah! Your entire life right now can be considered an emergency!" He berated. "You've been moping miserably since that incident, making this place damper and damper every day!
"As if that isn't enough, I warned you a few days ago, but you insisted on confronting this group retrieving your ribbon! Tell me how that went?! Now you've allowed yourself get caught by the enemy!" He stuck up his nose indignantly.
LanFen placed to fingers to her forehead. "Why are you feeling pained when I'm the one in danger?"
Elder Xu scoffed. "Tch! Wouldn't we be in trouble if you get killed?!"
"Ei?! What trouble?! The contract talismans will disappear, and you all will be free!" LanFen snapped, but Elder Xu wrinkled his face even more.
"Show me who amongst us said they wanted to be free?! who was it?!" He demanded. "We made the contract talismans because being adopted would be better than being out there!"
LanFen opened her mouth to argue, but sighed and closed it back upon recalling how she had met Elder Xu...
Most people in Xin Dao saw demons as evil, so demon cultivation was frowned upon.
This was because, in the past, an extremely powerful cultivator had ended up being controlled by her own demon, and then the demon had used her to wreak havoc on humans, killing thousands and aiming to destroy the world.
This had led to the Demon War, thousands and thousands of years ago... A deadly war between humans and demons, that had spanned years and years.
Back then, the enlightened demons had controlled the *lesser demons in the war against humans, and for a long time, the demons had held the upper hand in the war.
*Lesser demons- demons that are still animals.
But humans far outnumbered the demons, and they began to master new techniques, which turned the tides in their favour.
Eventually, the leader of the demons reached an understanding with the leaders of the humans.
The enlightened demons promised to remain in their regions, stop attacking humans, and lay low, as long as humans would also stop attacking them, or even seeking them out.
However, despite the long awaited peace, the damage had already been done... Humans had realized what the enlightened demons were capable of, and they began to fear them...