Yuansing's eyes widened and he quickly lowered his head and raised his voice, "Nonsense! Your servant could never be referred to as Lord by the princess!"

Chapter Thirty Two -

Yuansing hadn't originally been sure. He had felt Yuni's aura from within Kiso and therefore had his suspicions. Now that he had chosen to fully emerge, he could clearly sense the noble spiritual pressure within her.

Yuni stared blankly at Yuansing while slowly lowering her jaw, intending to rebuke him. Yet, somehow she felt sincerity in his voice.

Regardless, being called a princess all of sudden didn't sit well with her. She had to clear the misunderstanding quickly.

"..Yuansing then, why do you call me princess? My parents were ordinary members of the Thunderblack Clan.." The suspicion in her voice was evident.

Yuansing's pair of round oily yellow eyes rose to meet her own and he answered respectfully, "It is true.. I do sense the same spiritual pressure within you as your friend Kiso here.. Yet, there is no mistaking it, I clearly sense the Prismatic Moon Moth aura within you."

Kiso and Yuni looked at each other, astonishment in their eyes.

Under the guidance of the Elder Sage and Koho, they had both learned of the ten legendary spiritual beasts.

Electric Sky Eels are ranked fourth and can be considered to have the second highest raw attack power among them. With second ranked speed as well, they are extremely powerful and well balanced. Yet, compared to the second ranked Prismatic Moon Moth, the difference is too great. Prismatic Moon Moth's are the mothers of the night. They are revered in legends for creating miracles of life and death.

Hundreds of Thousands of years ago, the last Prismatic Moon Moth was thought to have perished after doing battle with a Hell-Blazed Phoenix. In that battle, the ancient legendary moth supposedly used its remaining life force to seal the rogue phoenix in the far eastern reaches of the continent.

Yet, history failed to understand the entire truth.

Yuansing knew this and cleared his throat, "Kiso, Yuni, I'm somewhat familiar with what humans today understand about Prismatic Moon Moths. Allow me to explain a bit further...

Humans believe Prismatic Moon Moths to have been wiped out hundreds of thousands of years ago, right?

In actual fact, the "last" Prismatic Moon Moth had a single daughter, named Sielu. Her daughter had only just entered her cocoon stage a few years before her final battle. For a Prismatic Moon Moth, the cocoon stage may last tens of thousands of years. However, when they finally emerge, they already possess ninth stage spiritual pressure.

Indeed, Prismatic Moon Moths are the rarest among rare. Their overwhelmingly overpowered innate spiritual pressure completely sets them apart from almost every other spiritual beast.

Except one.

The Phoenix.

Phoenixes are the same in that they also have innate ninth stage spiritual pressure. Despite similar strength, they are by far the most powerful spiritual beast.

Why? Elemental dominance.

The Phoenix directly counters the frail physical bodies of their closest competition, the Prismatic Moon Moth. The divine fire within the Phoenix contains simply too much raw power.

Fortunately, the Phoenixes are regarded as honorable and solitary. Even more importantly, there are only two of them. Despite their nature, one of the two Phoenixes managed to nearly breakthrough into the tenth stage of spiritual pressure, forcing The Heavens to act.

The existence of a tenth stage spiritual beast would completely shatter the balance in the world. A tenth stage existence would be able to dominate all other life. Therefore, The Heavens naturally opposed the Phoenix, forcing it to Purgatory.

The Phoenix felt deeply wronged and vowed to rise again. Had another existence made this promise, it may have gone unfulfilled.

But what was a Phoenix?

After one short year, a black flamed Phoenix rose anew, bathed in the flames of Purgatory. Set on a path of destruction fueled by a deep hatred, the Hell-Blazed Phoenix set its eyes on the mortal world, causing massive casualties among all life.

In the face of this disaster, the remaining Phoenix swallowed its pride and requested the help of its closest rivals, the Prismatic Moon Moths.

Together, they gathered, seven in total. With the Phoenix's assistance, the Hell-Blazed Phoenix would have been no match. Unfortunately, when faced against its only relative, the Phoenix could not bare to attack, leaving the six Prismatic Moon Moths alone in the face of their greatest adversary.

The battle that followed shook the world for five long days. At the end, the last Prismatic Moon Moth used its remaining life force to seal the weakened Hell-Blazed Phoenix at the cost of her life."

Yuansing's long explanation left Kiso and Yuni completely stunned. Yet, there was a certain piece of the story still missing.

Yuansing smiled and added, "I can only guess regarding what you two are thinking...

So I'll state it clearly: That daughter of hers, Sielu, likely emerged a couple decades ago and met your father, Yuni."

Yuni blinked several times, completely forgetting the pain in her shoulder.

"My mother's name wasn't Sielu... It was..." Her eyes widened.

Kiso's brain clicked, "Seihu! Could your mom really have been such a..."

Yuansing cut Kiso off, "Kiso, Yuni, there's a problem with your manner of speech. This "Seihu" should be one and the same as the "Sielu" from my story. However, there is no "have been" or "wasn't"... I can clearly sense the majestic energy of a Prismatic Moon Moth present in our CURRENT world."

They couldn't even speak.

So much had just happened, their minds were completely numb.

Between the recent battle, Yuansing's emergence, and his explanation of Yuni's heritage, the two of them truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Yuansing smiled and waited patiently for several tens of minutes while Kiso and Yuni stared off into space.

"Alive..." Yuni's eyes reddened and hot tears flowed down her flushed cheeks. Although she wondered why her mother never came to find her, that didn't matter at this point. The only thing that mattered was that she was alive. The happiness in her heart caused her emotions to overflow. Her years of acting happy and detached had been a painful cover for the grief she felt when Ruddy had told her of her parent's death.

Ruddy did indeed personally witness her father's death, he naturally assumed her mother would have been killed as well. How could he have known Yuni's mother was a legendary Prismatic Moon Moth spiritual beast in human form?

In actual fact, Seihu hadn't told anyone of her true form, even her own human husband. Without another Prismatic Moon Moth present in the world, she adopted a human form and sought to continue her lineage through humans.

Kiso wrapped an arm around Yuni, careful not to press against her wound. As she felt his warm embrace, she buried her head into his chest, hot tears soaking his shirt.

Yuansing smiled at them for a several tens of seconds before his attention was grabbed by something else. His body flickered and disappeared as he returned to Kiso's core.

Kiso was still holding Yuni and didn't notice until Yuansing's voice rang in his mind, "Kiso, we have some visitors."

Kiso was startled and softly removed Yuni from his embrace, turning to face several approaching men in white robes.

The men noticed him notice them and slowed their pace. They lifted their hands in the air and shouted across the remaining thirty meters, "Little masters, we mean you no harm, will you allow us an audience?"

Yuni's face was still flushed and she was struggling to choke back her emotions. Kiso frowned, these men had come at a bad time. Still, he wanted to learn some things from them and possibly acquire their cooperation.

With that in mind, he replied with action and moved forward himself to meet them. Yuni rubbed her face and started to heal her shoulder as she followed a few meters behind.

After covering the remaining distance, Kiso could clearly see the faces of these four men. They were extremely similar in features and all had jolly middle-aged faces with bald heads. Their white robes appeared to be religious from far, yet up close they were clearly school robes.

One of the four stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Greetings little master, my name is Ting, I really have to thank you for saving our necks back there." He directly thanked Kiso, then raised his head to search for Yuni.

Seeing that the man wanted to thank Yuni as well, Kiso smiled and raised his hand, "Don't worry about thanking her as well, I'll convey the message.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

It was thanks to your assistance that we were able to tip the scales of the battle, defeating those Apostles of Death. So we can consider the favors equal."

Ting smiled, nodding his head. Still, he seemed somewhat hesitant as he clearly wanted to say something else, yet held back.

Kiso noticed and his eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Ting, speak your mind. If you have something to ask, perhaps we can exchange some information."

Kiso's words seemed to dispel his hesitation. He quickly bowed again and asked, "Kiso, earlier.. That giant creature in the sky, was that what I thought it was?"

Kiso's eyes narrowed, he wasn't sure how to respond.

Yuansing spoke up, "Just tell them it was your technique. That should be your cover for now. I don't wish to go spreading my name around just yet."

Kiso obliged and gave Ting a generic explanation with a few fluffy words.

Even with Kiso's casual words, Ting and the other three men were completely awestruck.

In fact, from their point of view, Kiso and Yuni could fly through the sky, use lightning to attack, and even command the ghost spirit of a legendary Electric Sky Eel. To them, the two youngsters in front of them were basically gods.

Rather, they had to be!

Ting's loose jaw regained its strength and he nodded then asked, "I wonder if young master has a name?"

Kiso considered adopting a cover name, but shrugged and answered honestly, "I'm Kiso Black and my friend is Yuni Black."

He quickly remember his original goal and continued, "...Ting right? I wonder if you could tell me your relationship with the Apostles of Death? If you have some information of value perhaps we could both benefit from sharing."

Ting glanced back at his companions, who nodded, then turned back with a smile on his face and replied, "Since Young Master Kiso did us such a large favor of saving our lives, we will not hide anything.

To be honest, we only recently learned of the Apostles of Death.

Our being here was simply in retaliation to an attack by this Hanzi Academy a few months ago. Although that was what originally fueled our campaign, along the way we captured a young boy who was extremely powerful. He used all sorts of death natured techniques and really gave us a hard time. However, in the end he was captured and traded some information in exchange for his release.

He told us of some men who would be waiting at Hanzi Academy.

That they were very powerful.

That they belonged to an ancient sect called the Apostles of Death.

His voice carried honesty and his information was deemed somewhat valuable, therefore we allowed him to go on his way in accordance to the laws of our Academy."

Kiso frowned. They had actually ran into Hanzi after he met with the men from his sect!

And let him go!

"Useless righteousness..." Kiso wasn't fond of overly benevolent people.

Still, at least he could learn of the direction Hanzi headed.

"I see.. Then I wonder if you could tell me what direction that boy headed after you let him go?" Kiso asked plainly, he intended to leave promptly after collecting Yan.

Ting gave a crafty smile, replying, "Indeed I can. Although our academy's rules prevented us from harming him, we still sent a few students to tail him for a time after releasing him.

I can tell you with certainty, that boy headed North! He seemed to be heading for the Plains of Amarabi, based on his general direction."

Kiso thought back to a map of the Northern Human Province, clearly recalling there being such plains in the south-east.

Kiso nodded and bowed slightly, thanking them, "Thank you. If in the future we get the chance to meet again, I'll let you know a few good things about what you did for me here today."

The men bowed again then departed.

Kiso turned, thinking aloud, "Now, to find Yan."

Hearing this, Yuni stopped healing her shoulder and spoke up, "Kiso.. Yan should be in the prison in the southern part of the academy..

But.. Um.."

Yuni bit her lip as she hesitated, but Kiso knew what she wanted to say and assured her, "Yuni, although we learned your mother is a live, we have no idea where she is. I know you want to find her as soon as possible. If you can wait until we rescue my mother.."

Yuni smiled, shaking her head, "You misunderstand me this time Kiso.. I'm not too worried about my mother, although I would like to see her. Rather, Yan.. She.. Might not want to come with us."

Kiso raised an eyebrow, asking for an explanation with his expression.

Yuni shrugged helplessly, "You'll have to go see to find out."

Kiso's curiosity forced its hand. He spread out his slightly recovered spiritual pressure, locating Yan, then flickered and disappeared.

Seeing this, Yuni gave a bitter smile, thinking, "Twice she subconsciously sided with her old sect, her guilt is pretty heavy this time. She even went and locked herself up..

Luckily things turned out well this time, or else I might not have forgiven her.

- - - - -

In a barren dark room, where only a few tiny strands of sunlight slipped through. Yan's small body was sitting, holder her knees to her chest, against the stone walls of a prison cell. Her face was pale and from the lack of volume in her cheeks it was evident she hadn't been eating much, if anything, lately.

Dried tears were still barely visible on her face.

She had repeatedly cursed herself to sleep since locking herself up. When Zeil and his men came to Hanzi Academy, she originally planned to escape right after Yuni, but Zeil ran into her on his way in.

Confronted with the monsters of her past, Yan panicked and pretended to be the victim of a terrible tragedy. Naturally, Zeil knew the truth of it all, yet he played along, allowing her to "give up" her new friend's information.

She actually carelessly spilled several bits of important information about Kiso's attack against Hanzi. The information lined up with what Hanzi had told him, so he laughed it off and decided to let her live.

But not before he told her he already knew all that.

He even casually blew her off and disregarded her existence.

Having been abandoned by her original family and betraying her new friends, she hit rock bottom. She hated herself. She locked herself in the academy prison and promised to never leave.

Even when Yuni came back for her, she refused to move an inch, only offering the reason why.

Her eyes barely had any light left in them. She really was going to let herself die from starvation. At most, another two days and her life would end itself.

She cast her lazy eyes across the cell and was about to close them when a human silhouette suddenly appeared.

The young man in front of her caused her nearly lifeless heart to beat ever so slightly faster. She slowly lifted her head to look at his face, a terribly sad expression painted on her own.

This was the person she least wanted to see, yet the person she most wanted to see.

"K...K...Kiso....." Her soft, coarse voice barely made a whisper as she stuttered.

Kiso looked at Yan's sorry state and frowned.

His mind drew several different causes for Yan's imprisonment prior to shadow-stepping, yet now faced with her actual self, he somewhat guessed the real reason.

"Yan. I'm here to pick you up." Kiso's voice was warm, filled with understanding. He truly didn't blame her this time. Maybe it was his weakness for pretty girls, or maybe it was the favors she had already done for him, but whatever she did he would forgive it.

Yan's eyes tried to summon tears and she forced her head to shake back and forth as much as she could.

"I..Don't deserve to live.. I, told him all about you... Without even hesitating..." Yan's voice carried a deep sorrow filled with regret.

Kiso smiled, a sincere warmth laced within it, "I already told you. You have to live on in order to repay the wrongs you've committed, your my informant, don't think I'll let you die so easily."

To Be Continued!

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Information-laced chapter, hope it was still interesting.

Somehow this one became the longest chapter yet.. Figures..

Anyway, I've got some good plans for the next few chapters, so look forward to that.

I think next chapter will be the official "end" to book 1. I say it like that but the show will go on. Book 2 will start right away and will naturally continue in the same format.

Let me know what you guys think about this chapter.