1144 Threat

"You must be wrong," Alex said. "Those are the good elders. They are the ones that have been helping me all this time."

"No, I'm certain. They are the ones that killed me," Scarlet said. "I didn't remember the other one's face, but these 10, I remember very well. I am certain I fought them before I died."

Alex couldn't make sense of that still. "Why do you keep saying you died?" he asked. "You are clearly alive."

"Us phoenixes when we die, we go through rebirth. I was born again, and that is why I say that I died," she said.

Alex looked at her with wide eyes. "Why would they kill you though?" he asked. "What use can—"

Alex paused. The council elders told everyone that the phoenixes were secluded and used that opportunity to rule over the continent. Was that it?

"Are there other phoenixes in the Sunborn Sanctuary?" Alex asked.

"No," Scarlet said. "I was the only one that came here. I was the only one to rule the Southern Continent."

Alex's eyes went wide. "You were the Immortal phoenix of this land?" he asked.

"Yes," Scarlet said. "And those bastards killed me."

Alex was confused. Something about this all didn't make sense to him at all. "How did they kill you? Weren't you supposed to be an Immortal?"

"I don't know," Scarlet said. "I have very vague memories from the time right before I died. All I remember is a flash of pain and an image of those 10 standing in front of me with their attacks ready. I remember trying to run away from the fight and then… nothing. The next thing I knew, I was born again."

"Ever since then, I instinctively knew that I had to get strong and get my revenge. I did my best to get out of the wasteland so I could cultivate, but… it seems all of it was for naught."

Alex looked back towards the boat that was approaching, but the 10 figures on it were already leaving the boat before it had even arrived.

Alex put the puppet ahead of him, ready to fight if it came to that. He waited until the 10 were up close and looked at them all.

Not a single one of them was looking at him at all. They were all staring at Scarlet. They were all surprised to see her alive.

"I can't believe it," Liang Zhufen spoke as she looked at Scarlet.

"So those texts were right," Qiu Jianhong said.

"A phoenix really can come back to life after dying," Yao Ning spoke with a shocked look on her face. "Then that means…"

Scarlet's face was angered when she saw her murderers.

Lei Zhong looked at her with a frown on her face. "Wait, wait, wait. Let's not get too hasty. We don't know if that is her or not. Look at her, she so… weak."

"Must be the rebirth," Tan Yang said. "Did the texts say anything about losing cultivation base?"

"Don't think so," Ren Guanting said. "But then again, those were written by humans, so who can really tell."

One of them turned to look at Alex finally. "What are you doing with her?" they asked. "What's with the puppet?"

Alex didn't answer. "Why are you here?" he asked in return.

"Huh?" they were confused. "We came here to save you. Why else would we come?"

"Don't lie," Scarlet shouted. "We know very well why you are here. You are here to kill me, just like you did so many years ago."

The 10 elder's faces suddenly changed.

"Wait… is it really you?" Yao Ning asked, her face pale from shock.

"Yes, it's me, the one that died, the one you killed," Scarlet said. "I have come back to kill you all."

The moment the 10 heard that they immediately moved.

Alex couldn't even react to their speed as even his Demon eyes had difficulty tracking their movement. His eyes trailed behind them, reaching them only after they had landed on the ground.

Scarlet got ready to fight with what she had left as well and got ready to attack. However, before she could attack, she stopped.

She looked in front of her with confusion and anger inside her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Alex was confused as well.

The 10 elders had landed on the ground, but they weren't approaching at all. Instead, they were all kneeling on one knee with their head bowed toward Scarlet.

"Please kill us insolent servants for what we did, lady Phoenix," they all spoke in unison.

"Wh-what?" Scarlet didn't know how to respond at all. "What are you doing?"

"We are asking to be punished for our transgression, lady Phoenix," Liang Shufen said.

Scarlet watched them with a confused look on her face, and Alex was confused as well.

"What… what are you saying?" Scarlet asked. "Are you saying that you regret it now? You didn't seem that regretful when you killed me."

"We didn't know you would die, lady Phoenix. What we did, we have regretted all this time," Huo Xinya said.

"Hah!" Scarlet shouted. "Do you expect me to believe such an obvious lie?"

"It is no lie, lady Phoenix," Yao Ning spoke. "We dare not lie before the rightful ruler of the Southern Continent."

"Not lie?" Scarlet asked. "Do you honestly think I will believe that you didn't expect me to die when you murdered me?"

The elders finally reacted with an expression that was stoic. They were confused.

"Murder you?" one of them asked.

"Lady Phoenix, we would never murder you," another one said. "We could not live with ourselves if we killed our own ruler."

"You seem plenty alive for someone who says that," Scarlet said.

"That is because we didn't kill you," Yao Ning said. "Our actions still led to your death, so we have been waiting for your return, lady Phoenix. We have been waiting for you to deliver the punishment on us yourself."

Scarlet didn't understand what was happening. She wondered if they were waiting to see if she was hiding her strength before they were certain they could kill her.

"You say you didn't kill me?" Scarlet asked.

"Yes," Yao Ning said.

"But you were there when I died, weren't you?" she asked.

"We were," Yao Ning replied.

"What were you doing there then?" Scarlet asked.

Yao Ning hesitated a bit before looking at Scarlet. "Do… do you not remember?" she asked.

Scarlet's heart started beating faster. "Remember what?" she asked.

Yao Ning's eyes widened slightly before narrowing as she bowed again. "Yes, it was us who killed you. Please kill us, lady Phoenix."

The rest of them realized as well and quickly repeated the same line.

Alex noticed something wrong, and obviously, so did Scarlet.

"Do I not remember what?" Scarlet asked. "Answer me!"

Yao Ning flinched a bit. "It is best if we don't answer that, lady Phoenix," she said. "If you don't remember, then it is best we keep it that way."

"You bastards!" Scarlet shouted. "Just kill me if you are here to kill me. Stop playing these games with me."

"There is no game here, lady Phoenix," Yao Ning replied.

"You keep calling me your lady," Scarlet said. "If you truly think of me that way, then answer my question. The night of my death, what were you doing there?"

Yao Ning hesitated a bit.

"This is my order," Scarlet said.

Yao Ning gritted her teeth and finally answered. "We were there to save the Southern Continent and everyone that lived here."

Scarlet was confused. "What?" she asked.

Yao Ning and the rest did not dare breathe at the time.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Why would be saving the Southern Continent and its people? What threat was there?"

Alex looked at the elders and realized what was happening. He slowly turned towards Scarlet as she demanded they answer her at once.

"It was you, lady Phoenix," Huang Chen answered instead of the old Yao Ning. "We were there to protect the Southern Continent from you."

Scarlet's eyes went wide in shock. "No, that's not true," she said. "Why would I ever be a threat to my own domain and people?"

She questioned them on the outside, but on the inside, she remembered the feeling, the distinct emotion she felt before her death.

She had hurt a lot of people and that was why she was chased away from her home. She had told Alex that it was done by her family, but in reality, she knew it was done by these people.

But she never understood why she would ever feel that when she loved the people of these lands so much. What reason would there ever be to hurt them?

She wondered if this was an emotion that she felt for letting down the people of the Southern continent because she had died when she should have remained to protect them.

However, deep down, she knew that wasn't true. She could distinguish what emotion she was feeling very well. She might not have kept a memory of the event with her, but she had kept the emotion.

Her body visibly shook as she realized that they weren't lying to her at all. They were telling the truth.

"I don't remember any of this," she said. "Tell me what happened back then."

"Lady phoenix, if you do not remember then it is better we kee—"

"TELL! ME! WHAT! HAPPENED! FROM! THE! BEGINNING!" she shouted at them.

The 10 collectively flinched and Yao Ning took it upon herself to follow her command.

"If we were to really tell you everything from the beginning, Lady Phoenix, you must tell us what is the last thing you remember?" Yao Ning asked. "What was your last proper memory from before your death over 5,000 years ago?"