Romance Of Flame And Ice - Chapter 376

“It is really you,” he remarked, staring at her with tear pooled eyes. The woman in front of him is very beautiful just like he imagined she would be, now it is no wonder to him that the emperor is still in love with her even after her death.

“Come, let me hold you,” she beckoned.

He slowly walked towards her then stopped in front of her, his towering height above her makes her more emotional at the sight of him. She placed her hand on his cheeks and smiled broadly.

“You have indeed grown into a fine man…the saint of the ice clan,”

He placed his hand above hers.

“I am sorry for disappointing your expectations, that woman is my life,”

The ring she left for him contained a message asking him to build the ice clan again and find something else but he couldn’t understand the last part of the message which she must have left at the brink of death.

“You have not disappointed me. Although it is the duty of my successor to rebuild the ice and find the soul of the flame emperor, it is more honourable for you to sacrifice everything for the woman you love,”

He became confused.

“Flame Emperor, is mother referring to the flame demon?” he couldn’t find any information on the flame clan in the books left behind in the spatial ring but from his findings, he was called the flame demon.

She chuckled.

“He was an emperor, not a demon. Rather the demon should be the crown prince of Tang during those times,”

“I don’t understand,”

She brought her hand down from his face then tucked both hands in her large sleeves, she walked forward then stopped.

“The crown prince of Tang, the flame emperor and his empress were best friends. The flame empress was also my best friend,” she turned to face him.

“Back then, all the kingdoms were at peace because of the Ice clan and the flame clan acting as sovereign leaders but the emperor of Tang didn’t want to share his power with both clans so he incited the crown prince of Tang using his love for the flame empress to betray the flame emperor. The crown prince of Tang poisoned the flame emperor which lead to his insanity and caused him to kill many innocent people, from that moment onwards he became a demon in the heart of the people,”

“How then did the ice clan get exterminated?”

“The royal family and the common people began to seek help from the ice clan to destroy the flame emperor but because of my best friend, I hesitated until she came to me herself, asking me to kill the flame emperor for his sake. She found out that the crown prince of Tang poisoned her husband and the poison is causing him unbearable pain so I took it upon myself to kill him as she wants. But that evil crown prince of Tang planned to use our swords to kill each other. Before I could exact my plan, the flame emperor already matched to the ice clan with the intent of exterminating the ice clan, both clans were exterminated leaving only I, the flame emperor, the flame empress and the brother of the flame emperor,”

“He had a brother?”

“Yes, his brother never stayed with the clan, he travelled the world and he was the first man I loved. The crown prince of Tang surrounded us with his army after our powers have been depleted, the flame emperor’s brother helped me escape so he can return to help his brother but I couldn’t go on after we escaped because I didn’t want to leave my best friend back there…”

Tears strolled down her cheek, the hurt she felt on that day attacked her heart again.

“I forced him to return with me but we witnessed the flame empress stab herself using the sword in the flame emperor’s hand to kill herself to free him from the mind-destroying pill. After he regained his senses, he killed every one of the imperial army presents and killed himself. His brother struggled to go to his side but I stopped him, the evil crown prince tried to dig out the source of the flame emperor’s power which is his heart but he doesn’t know the flame emperor’s heart disintegrates when he dies. Neither, did I know the brother’s lifelines are connected, they both died so I could only collect their souls,”

“Where are their souls now?” he asked

“Back then, the war between both clans caused a war among the spirit beasts but they didn’t know the members of the royal family were the cause of the war. The strongest of the spirit beasts gave their cores to distant princes in the royal family on the condition that they will cease to be royals, those princes established the four main sects. In order to allow the rebirth of both brothers, I entrusted the souls of both brothers to Huoyun Shuo and the Golden eagle…the spirit beast of the flame clan and-”

She groaned.

“What is it, mother?” he asked as he supported her.

She clutched his arm tightly as a result of the pain.

“There is no time, I need to warn you. Saving that girl means taking another life, time will not allow me to explain this clearly but there is another world and that girl exists in the other world. If you save her, you will have to take the life of the other,”

“Another world?” this is news to him.

“The world will reset itself and both souls will exist in one body but one must disappear. The moment one remembers how she died then that one will disappear, leaving the other behind,”

He has so many questions to ask but now that the space is crumbling, he needs to ask the most important question.

“Can’t they coexist in the same body,”

“No, if one doesn’t disappear then they will both disappear and you have to gain the love of the one that remains. You will become sickly but her love will be your strength, everytime you hurt her or she hates you, you will feel a hundred folds of the pain in your heart and you will eventually die,”

Suddenly, the ground split, separating them until she faded away and he returned to his consciousness. At that moment, the flower disappeared into her chest but he collapsed to the ground.

I hope you love me in your next life.