The Matriarch's Final Plea

The Greenflame Bird descended into the courtyard. The gray-robed man with fiery red hair, Ji Jiu Huo, walked down leisurely, taking just two steps to reach the door of the room.

"Yichuan." Ji Jiu Huo's smile could calm one's heart. Legend said that Ji Jiu Huo had been an incredibly explosive-tempered man in his youth, but because he had lived for nearly four hundred years, and the oldest person in the entire Western Prefecture of the Ji Clan was only a little over a hundred, stories of his youth were merely legends.

"Clan Leader." Ji Yichuan looked at the Clan Leader, his eyes filled with anxiety. "Snow, she…"

"I've already heard from Redflower." Ji Jiu Huo nodded. "Let me take a look first."

"Alright." Ji Yichuan led the way. At that moment, Yuchi Snow had already gotten off the bed and was bowing respectfully. "Yuchi Snow pays respects to the Clan Leader."

Ji Jiu Huo said, "You are weak right now. Lie down. There's no need for such formalities."

Only then did Yuchi Snow half-recline on the bed. Ji Jiu Huo sat down on a stool beside her, reaching out to rest a single finger on her wrist. He tapped it gently… and instantly, a faint red light spread rapidly, enveloping Yuchi Snow's entire body. For a moment, she seemed to be bathed in flames.

Ji Yichuan watched anxiously from the side, while Ji Jiu Huo closed his eyes.

After a full quarter-hour, the fiery red glow on Yuchi Snow's skin vanished, and Ji Jiu Huo opened his eyes once more. Facing Ji Yichuan's hopeful expression, Ji Jiu Huo could not help but let out a soft sigh and gently shake his head. "The root of the illness runs deep. There is no cure."

"Ah." Ji Yichuan's face turned white.

Ji Jiu Huo continued, "Your wife was once at the Xiantian perfected level. That calamity damaged her foundation, and matters were only made worse by the fact that she used a life-consuming secret art while already severely wounded. She dealt herself another blow on an already broken body. The root of the illness runs deep! Unless there is a pill suitable for extending the life of an ordinary mortal, there is no other way."

"A pill that extends the life of an ordinary mortal?" Ji Yichuan looked toward his wife, and Yuchi Snow looked back. Their eyes met. Yuchi Snow spoke softly, "Yichuan, I understand my own illness."

If it was merely a pill to extend one's lifespan, no matter how incredibly precious, Ji Yichuan might have been able to scrape one together by selling everything he owned, including the thousands of unranked treasures Ji Ning had given him, and borrowing from the Ji Clan. But with the additional condition of being 'suitable for an ordinary mortal,' the value instantly increased by several levels. The more potent the pill, the stronger its medicinal power. A pill capable of extending one's lifespan was already defying the heavens. One that a fragile mortal body could withstand… its preciousness was far beyond what a tribe like the Ji Clan could ever hope for.

"Yichuan." Ji Jiu Huo also spoke slowly. "I have already refined some pills. I will send someone with them immediately. Your wife should have about three more months of life."

"Three months!" Ji Yichuan's expression changed drastically.

Yuchi Snow, however, revealed a smile. She spoke, "Yichuan." Ji Yichuan quickly turned to look at his wife. Yuchi Snow smiled and said, "Three months is even better than I anticipated. I have no regrets. What I did back then was to ensure Ning'er could be born. If I hadn't given birth to Ning'er, perhaps I could have lived for another twenty years. But those twenty years would have been spent living in constant regret and remorse. Instead, I have been genuinely happy for the past ten years. That is enough. It is enough. Go and have Ning'er come back. I want to see him. With him by my side, everything will be fine."

"Yes." Ji Yichuan nodded vigorously. After thinking for a moment, he called out, "Brother Black. Greenflame Bird."

Immediately, a black-robed figure and a green-clad woman walked in from outside. They were the transformed forms of the massive black serpent and the Greenflame Bird.

"Brother Black." Ji Yichuan spoke urgently. "Ning'er can easily recognize your voice. I need you to take the Greenflame Bird and fly as fast as possible to the border between our Ji Clan's territory and the Ironwood Clan's." As he spoke, Ji Yichuan produced a map. He glanced outside to confirm his bearings, then carefully sensed the location of the jade sword Ji Ning carried with him.

Ji Yichuan studied the map and quickly pinpointed a location. He tapped a single finger on a mountain peak depicted on the map, leaving a small bloody mark. "Ji Ning's position hasn't moved for a while. Based on my sensing, even with some deviation over long distances, he is definitely within a hundred li of this mountain. Just take the Greenflame Bird to the sky above that mountain and then shout for Ji Ning. Tell him his mother is critically ill and he must return immediately. He will definitely hear you."

"Yes." The black-robed figure answered without hesitation. "Rest assured, Yichuan. With a single shout from me, and given Ji Ning's extraordinary hearing, he should be able to hear me from two or three hundred li away."

A voice carrying a hundred li was impossible for an ordinary man, but it was easy for a Xiantian lifeform. When Ji Ning had shouted by Winged Serpent Lake, his voice had carried across the entire lake.

"Greenflame Bird, I'll have to trouble you once more," Ji Yichuan said, looking at the green-clad woman.

"It's a small matter." The Greenflame Bird's voice was very gentle. "This is no time for delay. Blackie and I will set off immediately."

"Let's go." The black-robed figure nodded as well.

Soon, carrying the map, the black-robed figure stood atop the massive Greenflame Bird as it shot into the sky, speeding toward the border between the Ji Clan and the Ironwood Clan.

"Ning'er." Yuchi Snow gazed at the distant sky where the Greenflame Bird had soared past. Her heart ached even more for her son. The closer she got to death, the more she longed to see him, her most beloved child.

…

The Greenflame Bird was incredibly fast. In less than an hour, it had already reached the sky above that mountain.

"This is the mountain," the Black Serpent confirmed. Identifying landmarks from a high altitude was much easier.

"Brother Black, shout now," the Greenflame Bird urged.

"Yes." The Black Serpent looked down below, then infused his demonic energy into his voice and shouted loudly, "Young Master Ji Ning! The Matriarch is critically ill! Return at once!"

"Young Master Ji Ning! The Matriarch is critically ill! Return at once!" The shout spread through the air, quickly covering the forests for two hundred li in all directions. Directly below them, deep within this very mountain… neither of these two spirit beasts had any idea that there were actually millions of mortals trapped within.

…

Inside the mountain belly.

The Xiantian lifeforms bound to the iron pillars were suffering endless torture. The demons' goal was to inflict eternal agony while keeping them alive for as long as possible. The longer the torment lasted, the greater the resentment these Xiantian lifeforms generated. The stronger the resentment and hatred, the more powerful the vengeful spirits they would become.

"Young Master Ji Ning! The Matriarch is critically ill! Return at once!" The voice came from the distant sky.

Although the mountain was surrounded by a hidden grand formation, which trapped the wails, moans, and curses of a million mortals within, sounds from the outside world could still penetrate it. Just as the Zifu Disciple 'Bei Zishan' had heard things from his secret chamber deep in the mountain. Although no sound could escape that chamber, outside sounds could still get in.

This design also made it easier to clearly detect the external situation.

"Young Master Ji Ning! The Matriarch is critically ill! Return at once!" The voice echoed through the mountain's interior, incredibly loud.

"What a big mouth."

"Who's shouting up there?"

The six gorgeously dressed men and women all looked up toward the sky above the mountain belly. One of them, a goat-bearded man, said hurriedly, "Junior apprentice-siblings, did you hear that? They're calling for Ji Ning."

"Ji Ning? The Matriarch is critically ill?" The scorpion-tailed woman said in surprise. "Ji Ning's mother is critically ill?"

"Hahaha…" The largest and most muscular man with cyan-colored hair laughed out loud. "Ji Ning is a monstrous genius, no doubt. If left to grow, his future achievements would be unimaginable. But now, he can't live for more than three days! He's trapped inside the formation. Even though his mother is dying up above, no matter how loudly he shouts, no sound can escape!"

"That's right," the handsome youth sighed. "I can only imagine how furious and anguished he must be right now."

"Still, you have to admit, Ji Ning is an extraordinary figure. Killed our senior apprentice-brother at just eleven or twelve years of age. And yet, his end is so tragic. Dying in despair, rage, pain, and regret. Hahaha… this is the fate of a genius!"

These fellow disciples sighed and chatted among themselves. They could all imagine Ji Ning's state of mind at this very moment, and it made them feel a schadenfreude that was all the more satisfying.

"The Matriarch is critically ill?"

"Yuchi Snow is critically ill?"

The Western Prefecture elders, Meng Yu, Ji Wuyu, Wa Qiong, and the others, were all shocked, furious, and filled with hatred. They also felt a sliver of pity for Ji Ning. To be unable to return for his dying mother, with only three days left to live himself… what kind of piercing pain was that?

…

It was exactly as the disciples inside the mountain belly imagined, and exactly as Meng Yu and the others feared. At this moment, Ji Ning felt a heart-wrenching sorrow, so deep it touched his very soul.

"Mother!"

"Mother!" Ji Ning couldn't hold back his tears. His entire body trembled with pain, his heart feeling as though it were being twisted. The woman who had loved him since he was a child, the woman who treated him as her entire world… the woman who always, involuntarily, showed him a face full of loving, doting smiles… was critically ill? She was dying?

"AHHHH!!!" Ji Ning threw his head back and let out an agonized howl of unbearable pain. The cry echoed throughout the entire mountain, yet it could not travel beyond the formation's boundaries.

The six men and women inside the cave felt their hearts tremble at the sound of that howl. They could all sense the infinite suffering it contained.

"Young master."

"Young master Ji Ning." Meng Yu even shed tears. That boy, who at four years of age had been a peerless genius in archery, learning from him… how could this be his fate? This was more painful, more terrifying, than any physical torture.

…

"I have to get out. I have to get out. I have to get out." Ji Ning's voice trembled. "Break the formation! I have to break the formation!"

Ji Ning forcibly closed his eyes.

An overwhelmingly powerful emotion flooded his entire being, his entire soul. He had to break the formation!!! He had to get out! He had to see that woman who treated him as her entire life! He had to see her! Otherwise, even if he died and went to the Netherworld, he would be filled with eternal regret and unwillingness!

"Break the formation. I have to break the formation." Ji Ning closed his eyes, his body quaking. His soul, driven by this desperate, life-or-death emotion that transcended all else, was pushed to its absolute limit, frantically deducing the formation.

Blood began to trickle from Ji Ning's nostrils. Blood also dripped from his ears.

It was clear that this intense emotion was already injuring his body.

"There!" The ever-shifting image of the formation in Ji Ning's mind suddenly froze. An incredibly complex model of the grand formation appeared in his consciousness, containing every single factor.

Ji Ning opened his eyes.

"Mother!" Ji Ning threw his head back and let out a frenzied roar. "I will come back to see you! I will definitely come back to see you! Wait for your child!"

He immediately rose, turning into a blurry shadow as he weaved through the formation. His movement was like a ghost's. He quickly arrived at a spot still shrouded in black mist. There, planted in the ground, was a single black formation flag. The runes on the flag were glowing. Ji Ning reached out directly, grabbed the flag, and yanked it up.

Instantly, the black mist that had concealed the sky vanished, revealing the clear view of the mountain. Many servants in the distance were staring over in shock.

"What?!" The six men and women rushed out of the mountain belly, staring in disbelief. "The formation is broken!"

Ji Ning stood there, holding the formation flag, a mad gleam in his eyes.

"Kill him! Kill him! Spare no expense! Do not let him leave alive!" Suddenly, a sharp, enraged voice came from deep underground.

— The climax begins. If you are satisfied, please vote for Tomato. Click 'Vote for the Author' below to cast your ballot!