"What happened after we separated, huh. It all seemed like just yesterday when we separated, and here we are," Ji Shan muttered as he reminisced about the past.
"The day you left the ship, leaving me behind, everything went fine. No pirates attacked us for the rest of the journey. We reached this continent safely. After we landed, we went through the checking and got our permits. We were escorted to the nearest city. That's where everything began changing," he started explaining.
"The place that was known to be the continent of dreams by some and the continent of light by others had many things we didn't know about. In that city, we participated in a few trials that tested our abilities and potential. In the end, a few of us were chosen by various Kingdoms of this continent." Ji Shan was looking really serious when answering.
"I do remember hearing something about this when I was in that city. I didn't care about it, though, since I neither had the legal permit to be in this continent nor the free time to engage in such nonsense. Working for these Kingdoms was basically useless," Long Chen thought as he sighed.
"Anyway, what happened next?" he asked.
"Sigh, I thought that it might be a good idea to work for some kingdom while I stayed here. Creating a life here was my aim, and the kingdoms could provide me with various Cultivation resources for working for them. It was overall a good offer. The Kingdom that I selected is the one where we are standing at the moment."
"I started working as a Trainee in the Imperial Academy. It's a program that is provided to the selected candidates by the Kingdom. They pay all the costs associated with it. After graduation from the Imperial Academy, the candidates are assigned positions in the kingdom accordingly."
"Is that where you meet the girl you're accused of kidnapping?" Long Chen inquired.
"Yeah. The Imperial Academy is not only for the trainees. Various influential people are also a part of this academy that come here to get stronger. She was one of them— the girl that I fell in love with," Ji Shan answered.
"We started getting close to each other and soon fell in love. Her family found out about it. They fixed her engagement with the Second Prince of this Kingdom," he continued.
"The Second Prince? So the brother of the girl that just left?" Long Chen inquired.
"Yeah. Their engagement was decided, and no matter how much she tried to convince her family, they didn't listen. We had no choice but to run away. Unfortunately, we got caught. I was arrested, and you know the rest, I think," Ji Shan answered.
"Oh? So you actually found a girl for yourself. I should be happy for you. Is she in the Xie Clan? You should've told me before. I would've brought her with me as well. Don't worry; I can still do it," Long Chen said, smiling. "After I bring her here, you can run away with her."
"You can't bring her here," Ji Shan sighed, shaking his head.
"You again doubt my abilities. Don't worry about their security. I can definitely bring her here. Have faith in my abilities," Long Chen let out as he smiled wryly.
"That's not what I mean," Ji Shan let out as he stood up.
He walked towards the window and gazed outside.
"You can't bring her here because my Lingyan... doesn't exist anymore. She died, trying to help me escape after we were caught. She died at the hands of her own clan to help someone like me. I couldn't even cry while holding her dead body as I was dragged away by the Xie Clan," he continued.
"She is dead?!" Long Chen exclaimed with a shocked look on his face. He hadn't expected that since Ji Shan's tone had been so calm while telling his story.
"Yeah. She is dead. I won't cry though. She might be dead in this world, but she's still immortal in my memories," Ji Shan replied.
He gazed at the sky as he continued, "I will never cry for her. It would only make her sadder in heaven when she watches over me."
Long Chen walked closer to Ji Shan and patted on his shoulder, "The Xie Clan must have Life-Giving Pills too. Maybe they revived her after you were dragged away? You can't lose hope."
"It's impossible. There are limitations in the use of life-giving pills. It can only be used if the vital organs of the body are intact and no more than one minute passes after the death. Only then can it work. I watched her dead body for a much longer time than that. No one even bothered to give her the pill. Maybe they didn't have any with them, or maybe they didn't care. I lost someone precious that day," Ji Shan explained.
He turned back, showing a smile on his face, but the sadness in his eyes couldn't be any more clear.
"I can't even imagine what you must be going through. I don't ever want to imagine a world where my loved ones aren't with me. Want to destroy the Xie Clan ourselves? We will find the ones that made you go through this?" Long Chen asked.
He didn't know what he should do in this situation. He couldn't say that he hoped his friend would get over the girl since she was gone. He didn't even say that things will get better.
"It's fine. The Royal Family will take care of the clan themselves. We can watch how the Xie Clan is destroyed tomorrow. That might lighten some of the fire that's burning inside me," Ji Shan replied, shaking his head.
"Yeah. We can watch that tomorrow," Long Chen said as he nodded his head. "Anyway, you must be tired by now. You can go and rest."
He left the room with Ming Lan, leaving Ji Shan alone to give him time to rest in privacy.
"Your friend went through so much. I can't even imagine what he might be feeling," Ming Lan muttered as she opened the door of the next room. She stepped inside with Long Chen.
This was a room where Xu Liang was Cultivating.
"I can't either. He's a strong guy. He should be able to handle himself. I can only comfort him from time to time," Long Chen muttered as he sighed.
"He should feel better when he watches the clan get destroyed. If he hadn't said no, I would have done it myself. Maybe we might be able to get something even better if the Royal clan gets involved, though."