1809 The Right Choice

Long Fangyu's sudden appearance didn't surprise the Dragon Emperor nearly as much as the sight of the Ebony sword that he held in his hands.

The last time he had seen that sword had been in his wife's hands, who had died to protect him. After that, the sword had been as good as gone for him.

He had tried sending people out to search for the white cat and the sword, but finding his own son soon took precedence and he soon forgot about the sword entirely.

However, looking at it now, he could only wonder how his son came across the sword.

A thought came to him and he realized that the sword must have been brought by the White Tiger that came to declare war against him.

"I see," the Dragon Emperor said slowly. "So you must have been working with them for a long time. I wonder how I missed all the signs."

Long Fangyu breathed with difficulty. The shockwave of the explosion with Immortal Qi had been rather difficult for him to handle with regular Qi.

Given how weak his cultivation base was, there was little Immortal Qi in him. What he had, he had already used to protect his brother. Now, there was nothing in him to fight against his father.

The only choice was to run away. Even as he moved to leave, the Dragon Emperor's spear crackled with thick bolts of lightning.

"Long Tiankong!!" someone screamed from the side.

The Emperor didn't need to look away to know that it was the chef who screamed. The Golden Dragon Shield appeared in his hands and he poured his Immortal Qi into the shield as well while he shot out with his spear at the same time.

Long Fangyu grabbed onto his brother even as the bolt of lightning came toward them.

The Dragon Emperor's lightning bolts sprayed into many different bolts as they streaked across the sky toward anyone it could find, regardless of whether they were fighting for him or not.

Long Huan felt the force of the lightning bolt land nearby, but at the same time, he was teleported away, no longer in danger.

Where he had been, the dozens of bolts of lightning sprayed forward, hitting many people in the way beyond where they had stood.

One of the bolts of lightning came for Zhou Linfan as well, but he struck aside the attack and came barreling at the Dragon Emperor where he knew deep in his heart that he would not leave until the Emperor was dead.

* * * * *

As soon as they were teleported away, Long Huan quickly checked the surroundings to see that they were at a safe distance.

He had only noticed that they were way back within the Southern Continent's safe zones when he noticed his brother slowly falling.

He turned around and reached out for his brother instinctively, grabbing onto him to keep him aloft.

"Brother, are you alright? Did you overuse your—"

Long Huan's face took on a look of horror as he saw what was before him.

Long Fangyu staggered a little, his mind growing heavy, his thoughts escaping him even as he tried to grab onto them. He looked down slowly, looking at a giant wound on his chest where the lightning had struck him, blasting through the armor he wore.

He felt nothing at the sight, nothing at the fact that he was in incredible pain.

He saw his brother open his mouth to say something, but Long Fangyu heard nothing. In fact, the only thing he could hear was a long ringing that didn't seem to want to stop.

His vision was fuzzy as well.

He felt something around his face and saw his brother's hands forcing something into his mouth. He tasted nothing but he did feel something slide down his throat.

A wave of feelings returned to him, and his mind sharpened momentarily, letting him properly think as to exactly what was going on.

That was all that was needed for Long Fangyu to know what was happening.

'I'm going to die,' he thought. He could feel his senses slowly shutting down and his mental faculties leaving him. He tried to assess the situation and quickly realized just what was wrong with him.

His Dantian had been struck by the attack, and while he wasn't sure if he was crippled or not, he could tell that his soul was terribly wounded to a point where if he didn't recover soon, he would die.

'Do I have a pill to heal souls?' he wondered.

Even as he did, his mind slowly started shutting down. A body was only the reflection of its spirit in the end. As the spirit was wounded, his body couldn't do much either.

Thoughts went through his mind, memories flashing by. He couldn't stop them.

'I have to… I have to..' He had to do something, but he couldn't remember what. His mind wasn't working as capably.

He looked up, his fuzzy vision seeing a newly arrived figure.

A woman with black hair caught onto his head as he was moved away. He looked at her face, unable to recognize who she was exactly.

He was taken into the ship, not that he recognized it immediately. He saw the passing metallic features and arrived in a glowing room full of people

Something warm touched his skin and Long Fangyu looked to the side. A mass of red, yellow, and purple moved around fuzzily in front of his eyes as he felt the warmth coming from it.

'Fire?' He thought. somehow, the answer to what that was came to him simply.

Phoenix Fire.

The woman from before grabbed onto him and he felt something drop down from her onto his face.

Tears.

"Luo… yang?" Long Fangyu slowly spoke.

"I'm here," Zhan Luoyang spoke through her tears. "Just wait, someone has gone to get the King. He will get you a pill to heal your souls right away."

After more than an hour of ongoing war, the stock of healing pills that she had had become small long ago. She had a few healing pills for the body, but since Phoenix Fire didn't heal the spirit, those ones had long since been fully consumed. So, there wasn't anything Zhan Luoyang could give her fiance to eat at the moment that could save him.

Fangyu could hear none of what she said, but he could see her trying to reassure him. He reached out for her with his bloody arms and touched her cheeks.

He found it reassuring to have her be with him right now. His eyes moved toward his brother to the right who was more agitated than anyone at seeing him like this.

He could see how genuinely the two cared for him.

He could feel his mind slipping faster and faster. If he didn't do it now, he wouldn't have the chance later on.

While holding onto Luoyang, he reached for his brother and grabbed his hands tightly.

"Huan… Luoyang… I'm sorry," he spoke with a struggle. "I… I'm glad… at least at the end… I… made the right… choice."

"Brother?" Long Huan called out. "BROTHER!"

"Fangyu, no," Luoyang shouted as well.

However, no matter how much they spoke his name or called out to him, Fangyu could no longer respond to them. His wound to his soul had gone beyond the point where he could stay alive.

And just like that, the once Crown Prince of the Eastern Continent died.