Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years - Chap 21
The unfortunate soul who picked Wu Xingxue was the first “immortal envoy” that they found, Zhao Qinglai.
Zhao Qinglai’s fingernails, which were previously hidden in his sleeves, were long and as sharp as knives. He could easily make grooves into the stone wall if he slashed at them.
He picked Wu Xingxue because he looked like a weak, thin, and defenseless aristocrat, the type who only played around and enjoyed their carefree life. This young master wasn’t even wearing a scarf, only holding a hand warmer and leaving his neck open for an attack.
All he needed to do was give that neck a gentle slice, then blood would come surging out…
No effort, and job done!
Zhao Qinglai licked his teeth and slashed his hands towards Wu Xingxue’s neck.
Clang!
When the noise sounded, Zhao Qinglai didn’t even have time to react.
After all, as someone who died already, he had a slightly slower reaction time. When he realized that it was the sound of a sword being drawn—
The hand that he slashed towards Wu Xingxue’s neck was already gone.
The raging sword energy and the vast sharpness that exploded forth were like the inescapable freezing winds of deep winter, sweeping over Zhao Qinglai’s body.
His tightly-wrapped coat was ripped into pieces, and the pressure keeping his body together suddenly disappeared.
Zhao Qinglai opened his eyes wide.
At this time, Wu Xingxue had already vanished, the person blocking in front of him was someone else. That person was extremely tall, and as he gently touched the ground with the tip of his sword, he said coldly, “Come.”
……
I can’t…
Zhao Qinglai collapsed to the ground in an instant, and his roar changed to hoarse sharp. Like a whistle, his sound echoed in the entire catacomb with a strong sense of unwillingness.
It wasn’t only Zhao Qinglai.
The others who went for the three cultivation disciples also had their coats sliced into pieces by the flying sword energy.
Those cultivation disciples stabbed at their opponents with their swords but didn’t hit anything. Those enemies who were fierce just a second ago had suddenly collapsed into their piles of fabric.
When they had been “ordained” to come to the Valley of Great Sorrow, their limbs had already been completely cut apart. With deep resentments and grievances, they should have been terrifying sinister beings.
But when their stiff and pale body parts covered with mottled scars fell and started rolling on the ground, and when their red eyes were straining to stay open…
It was a bit unbearable to watch.
After all, they were also once living humans.
The little cultivation disciples were still young, and their reactions were the most obvious. With ghastly pale faces, they backed up a few steps, not even knowing what to do with their swords. In the end, they looked towards the Xiao Fuxuan at a loss.
As one of the four Elders of the Hua Sect, Yi Wusheng had seen many similar situations before, so he was not as affected. But a doctor, he couldn’t bear to just watch. He also subconsciously gazed toward Xiao Fuxuan.
In the mortal realm, there actually weren’t that many rumors regarding him. The only people he dealt with were the evil and the despicable. He didn’t have to do with others’ fortune, and he wasn’t in charge of prosperity and disaster. So, people didn’t pray to him and he would never offer protection over anything either.
There were few portraits of him, let alone divine statues. Most of them stood in places like the Jiaming Wilderness, where few people dared to go.
Others, like the Lingtai Immortals, all showed smiles in their portraits and divine statues, like a spring breeze brushing the world.
Only him, no matter which divine statue, no matter if the statue looked like him or not, he would always have a cold expression without a trace of smile.
No wonder the people didn’t like to worship him in their homes. Because it seems that normal families’ reunions and separations, births and deaths, sorrows and joys, could never make a single ripple in his eyes.
Just like right now, his eyes were downcast, and his gaze shot out from his long eyes, scanning over the limbs and heads scattered all over the ground, scanning over those eyes that couldn’t bear to close. Still, there was no emotion on his face.
After he finished looking at them, he only lifted his thin eyelids.
Zhao Qinglai’s screams became extremely shrill and mournful, echoing in the catacomb, ending with a sorrowful cry.
Xiao Fuxuan paid no attention to that sound. He put away his sword energy and returned his sword to its sheath.
In that second, everyone in the catacomb suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.
It was a discomfort of emotions, it was due to the sharpness of the sword energy that gave everyone a discomforting chill.
It was like a sharp blade that has killed countless things. Even if it was washed clean of blood, stored inside a precious jade sheath, and dappled with a ray of moonlight, it would still be a murderous weapon that no one would dare to touch.
Only Wu Xingxue felt differently.
Because his finger was pressed against Xiao Fuxuan’s back, when Zhao Qinglai and the others collapsed onto the ground, their limbs and heads rolling chaotically around, he clearly felt Xiao Fuxuan slightly tilt his body.
It was an extremely subtle movement, so slight that Wu Xingxue didn’t even immediately feel it.
It was only until he could no longer see those broken limbs and those unwilling eyes did he realize that Xiao Fuxuan was blocking in front of him. This way,he didn’t have to witness those things on the ground.
How absurd.
As a devil who wouldn’t hesitate to kill, there was someone who helped to block in front of his eyes.
And only after being blocked did Wu Xingxue slowly realize that he indeed didn’t want to see those things.
Perhaps it was the long dream about Que City that changed his nature. When he saw those fragmented limbs and heads, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart. It was the same feeling after he killed those yin beings, how he couldn’t bear the blood on his hands.
Wu Xingxue was silent for a moment, then the finger that was pressed on Xiao Fuxuan moved a little.
“Xiao Fuxuan.”
“Mm,” Xiao Fuxuan answered in his deep voice.
Wu Xingxue leaned forward and was about to speak, but he saw that before he was able to say anything, Xiao Fuxuan had already turned his head around.
At that moment, they were extremely close to each other, their breaths almost hitting each other’s noses.
Wu Xingxue pursed his lips and then straightened his body back up.
Xiao Fuxuan asked quietly, “What is it?”
“Nothing, I forgot.”
Xiao Fuxuan raised his eyes, the thin corners of his eyelids pressing into a sharp crease.
Wu Xingxue looked at him and then said softly, “Then um… thank you?”
“……”
Hearing this, Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu felt like they were almost going to die.
***
Those fragmented body parts that had collapsed on the ground didn’t stop moving as one would expect them to. Instead, they were constantly struggling, their sharp fingernails scratching against the floor, making creaking noises. It was almost as if they wanted to piece themselves together and stand up again.
The cultivation disciples’ hairs stood up on end as they listened to this. Rubbing their necks, they desperately searched all over their bodies
“Where’s our Qiankun bag? Martial Brother, did you bring one? Should we store these, these…”
Gao’e and Zhao Qinglai’s eyes were still rolling, glaring at them. Their mouths opened and closed, as if they were trying to say something. Being stared at like this, the disciples didn’t dare to call them “sinister beings” out loud.
“These people into the bags? We can’t just leave them here like this, or should we also stick a talisman on them?”
“But how? We didn’t bring that many talismans!”
Before, at least that lumberjack was still in one piece, so sticking a talisman onto him to prevent him from suddenly coming back to life and causing trouble still worked. But as for the scattered mess in front of them, with limbs everywhere, they didn’t even know which ones to stick to.
Finally, after searching everywhere, the little disciple had finally found his Qiankun bag. He squatted down beside a limb. But just as he was about to put it in, the hand on the ground suddenly grabbed him.
“Ahhh!!!”
He jumped up, pulling out his sword and ready to slice it apart. But then, a hoarse voice sounded, “I beg you, young man, I beg you…”
The little disciple was about to cry too, he even almost started to beg along with her, “What are you begging for, you, you let go of me first.”
Those sharp fingernails had pierced into his flesh, gripping him extremely tightly, “I’m begging you, young man, I can’t be here, not here, I really have two daughters, I really do…”
The hoarse voice began to whimper and sob.
Listening to that voice, the crowd recognized that it was Gao’e speaking.
“I can’t be here, I need to find a replacement, I need to go home…”
“I need to go home, I need to go home…”
Her head pitifully rolled around, and another hand on the ground crawled quickly, grabbing onto the nearest person’s ankle.
That person wasn’t a disciple this time, it was Ning Huaishan.
“Ayo—” Yi Wusheng called out to stop him.
Ning Huaishan’s face has already pulled down, and there is a flash of fierceness in his expression.
He was from Zhaoye City after all, one who has fought his way through mountains of corpses. He didn’t have the humanity of those cultivation disciples.
Resting his elbows on his knees, he squatted down, and licked his teeth, showing a much more frightening smile than even those of the sinister beings, “You’ve really begged the wrong person. Miss, don’t think that you can hold onto me just because I’m skinny, I have an extremely bad temper. If you dare to even scratch the tiniest bit of my skin on my ankle, —”
“I beg you, I beg you young man, the two little girls are still waiting, they’re still very young.”
“My man has already passed, if I’m not there, they won’t survive.”
“This world, they can’t survive, they’re really too young, I beg…”
Gao’e said as she held onto his ankle.
Yi Wusheng stepped over, wanting to pull them apart, but Gao’e’s long, sharp nails had already pierced Ning Huaishan’s ankle, causing fresh blood to flow down along his prominent bones.
His fingers were already curled up, and his green veins were clearly visible through his pale skin.
He was already gathering his internal energy, but he didn’t go ahead and smash that reckless hand into pieces yet.
For some reason, he stopped halfway and was listening to Gao E’s words.
“I only have these two children, they’re my life, I beg you.”
“What’s the use of begging me ma’am?” Ning Huaishan suddenly replied, still in his provocative tone, “You’re dead already, you can’t return. You’re two girls doomed to die as well. I’ve seen people like you, a lot—”
His voice became softer, “My mother also begged others like this back then, was it of any use? It was not.”
Yi Wusheng heard this last line and was stunned.
Ning Huaishan was still squatting in a way that others couldn’t see his expression. But he could notice that his claw-like fingers were trembling.
Yi Wusheng suddenly remembered when he saw this little devil decades ago. He was just thirteen or fourteen years old, as scrawny as firewood, looking like he could die from just a single hit. Only those two eyes revealed a defiant aggression
At the time, he thought: Who’s child is this, falling to evil ways and embarking on the wrong path.
Now, decades later, looking at this devil again, he wasn’t as thin as before, but still looked a little frail. When he squatted, his body seemed to be full of killing intent, but he held back his attack.
Perhaps Gao’e reminded him of his beginning of embarking on that wrong path.
“It’s of use, it’s of use, there is a way…” Gao’e continued to cry relentlessly.
“Ha, what way? If you had a way, how come you still ended up in pieces like this? Look at you, worshiping those deities all day long. Now with you crying like this, is there any immortal willing to come down to help you?” Ning Huaishan said, “Let me teach you a lesson. Either try your hardest to live, or let everything go and die. Stop begging and stop crying, just accept—”
Before he could say the word “destiny”, someone kicked him from behind.
It wasn’t a hard kick, and that was previously what made him mad!
Ning Huaishan turned his face around, full of killing intent, and met eyes with his City Lord.
Ning Huaishan: “……”
What did I do wrong this time!
“You talk too much, chatterbox. After all that you’re still standing here and not doing anything. Go to the side.” Wu Xingxue used his feet to nudge him.
Ning Huaishan: “……”
“I can’t, she’s still grabbing onto my feet,” Ning Huaishan had a sense
Wu Xingxue looked at that sharp, severed hand, “You said that it is a way, I’m guessing that’s not something you made it. Let’s hear it, what is the way you got?”
Gao’e immediately shouted, “Find a replacement! Find someone to replace me!”
“As long as someone replaces me, I can return,” she said in a loud voice that almost cracked from excitement.
“Oh? Are you that certain? Did someone tell you that?” Wu Xingxue asked.
Those few cultivation disciples were stunned for a moment, suddenly sparking insight. Not everyone knew about and could recognize a spirit-raising talisman. If a normal person was trapped inside this array and turned into a sinister being, causing trouble, they would mostly just abide by their fundamental nature— they’re hungry, so they’ll come out to find some food to eat.
Even if they subconsciously wanted to find someone to replace them, they should be wandering around in the valley, hoping an unlucky soul hits upon them.
But these few were special. They knew to disguise, they knew to leave the valley to find people, and they even knew that the smell of incense could cover up their smell of corpses, making others unable to notice that they have already turned sinister.
This indeed didn’t seem like the instinct of a sinister being, it seemed more as if someone told them to do this.
“Yes! Someone did, someone did…” Gao’e said.
Her reaction wasn’t as fast as a living person’s, so she kept repeating those two words.
Everyone else immediately asked, “Who?”
Gao’e said softly, “An immortal, an immortal told me.”
Immortal?
Wu Xingxue remembered that Xiao Fuxuan had once said that there were many immortals from the Immortal Capital who did not have a peaceful end, like Yun Hai. Eventually, those immortal’s divine statues would end up just standing there, like a huge immortal tomb.
Therefore, Gao’e’s reply was not too surprising for him.
But as for the others, they didn’t hear Xiao Fuxuan see that, so they were still puzzled, “How could an immortal tell you? How did you even know he was an immortal? Did you see him?”
“No, I didn’t,” replied Gao’e, “It’s a dream, an immortal sent me a dream.”
Hearing this, the broken body parts on the ground started to move riotously. Zhao Qinglai and the others confirmed her words, “Yes, it’s the same for us, we received a dream.”
With their mouths talking at the same times, everyone got a general sense of the situation—
These people were ordained to come to the Valley of Great Sorrow like they were sleepwalking. They ripped their limbs off and then folded themselves into the vacant little girl and boy statues.
When everything happened, they didn’t even have any clue about it, as they thought that it was just a bizarre dream.
In the dream, they were inside a celestial temple, sitting cross-legged on the altars at each side of the temple, holding incense burners in their hands. They looked like real immortal envoys.
As they recited scripture with other immortal envoys, they suddenly saw a tall shadow walk in from the door, telling them: You all are still tied to mortal affairs, and your burdens are yet to be cleared, so you become immortal envoys for now. I have to trouble you all to invite someone else to come.
When their replacements had come, they could go home.
When they were startled awake, they found out that they were sealed in the little girl and boy statues already.
They could never forget the terror they felt at that moment.
“What did the immortal look like?” Yi Wusheng asked.
This time, Gao’e and the others could even utter a word no matter how hard they tried. It was as if someone had deliberately sealed their mouths, casting a silencing technique on them.
Learning that they had been cast with a silencing technique only made the crowd even more curious.
However, after a round of asking, they still didn’t get anything out of their mouths, so they could only give up. They asked instead, “Then did he ever tell you all what type of replacement you should be looking for?”
Because logically, if these commoners wanted to find a replacement, they could easily find some orphans, widows, or elderly people at the outskirts of the town. That would also meet the immortal’s requirements, so why did these people have to go through all the trouble and risk to find disciples from a cultivation sect?
“He did, he said that the temple has everything it needs, but is only missing some celestial energy in the north, south, west and east sides.”
They surmised that celestial energy probably meant those in cultivation sects, after all, those people were cultivating to become immortals. Being the average commoner they were, they didn’t dare to go find any powerful cultivators, and after thinking about it, they decided that the easiest target would be those young disciples who had just entered the sect.
Speaking of which, they had pretty good luck. One, there were many families who requested for help from cultivation sects, so what they did could be almost seen as completely normal.
Two, the Northern Frontiers had just collapsed, and the most powerful cultivators from the big sects were either yet to return, or had just returned not too long ago, not having enough time to deal with such matters. And just like that, they caught these three little disciples.
One of the cultivation disciples asked, “But aren’t you still missing one?”
Gao’e said hesitantly, “We deceived as many as we could, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just… just find another opportunity later.”
“……”
Only now did the disciples realize what a terrifying event they had just avoided. The more they thought about it, the greener their face got.
Yi Wusheng’s expression was also a bit complicated. He glanced at Wu Xingxue, then looked at Zhao Qinglai and asked, “Then why did you choose him… Young Master Cheng?”
The disciples said they needed to find people with celestial energy. Here, other than the three cultivation disciples, there were at least two others they could pick. One was Xiao Fuxuan, and the other was Yi Wusheng himself.
Even if they could tell at a glance that Xiao Fuxuan did not seem like an easy opponent, he was still him wasn’t there? He was just some vestigial soul, and if he really fought, maybe he couldn’t even compare to the three little disciples.
Zhao Qinglai also had some pretty terrible insight, intentionally skipping over him and choosing the one most diabolic one.
Yi Wusheng originally just wanted to casually remark this, but then Zhao Qinglai grumbled and replied, “Out of the people with celestial energy, he looked the easiest to deal with.”
Yi Wusheng: “……”
Of the people with what???
At that moment, Yi Wusheng felt like either he was deaf, or Zhao Qinglai must be blind.
***
With the help of Gao’e and the others’ explanation, everyone gradually became clear of what was going on.
No wonder even after getting the required thirty-three “little boy” and “little girl” statues, the catacomb still appeared to be calm and peaceful, not seeming like some array had been activated. As it turned out, it was because the people weren’t right, and the north, south, east, and west sides still lacked celestial energy.
“So does that mean spirit-raising talismans really work? Can they actually revive a divine statue?” The cultivation disciple looked towards Yi Wusheng and asked, “Or else why would that immortal be trying so hard for his plan to work?”
“……” Even Yi Wusheng didn’t know how to reply.
“It’s no use.” Xiao Fuxuan’s voice suddenly sounded.
Wu Xingxue turned his head to look at him and saw him with the spirit-raising talisman that had been stuck on the little boy and girl statues between his fingers. He said, “This talisman is rarely seen in the mortal realm, but in the Immortal Capital, it’s everywhere.”
His words made it very clear, which idiot immortal from the Immortal Capital will use this thingy to revive himself?
“Then doesn’t that mean it must be a commoner from the mortal realm who doesn’t understand how these talismans work that is behind all this?” One of the little disciples guessed.
Xiao Fuxuan’s lips moved, but before he spoke, the little disciple shook his head immediately, rejecting his previous thought, “No, no, no, it can’t be, what type of ignorant person from the mortal realm would come a place as heinous as the Valley of Great Sorrow to assemble an array? Are they crazy?”
“Then what are these spirit-raising talismans for?”
“Yeah, these talismans fell off just by a gentle lift, and a lot of those little boy and girl statues were also shattered…”
The disciples mumbled among themselves.
Talking about shattered, Wu Xingxue saw Xiao Fuxuan frown, and then he used the tip of his sword to prod at the broken clay shards on the ground.
Wu Xingxue also looked over, seeing those bloody claw marks that were inside the little girl statue that had held Gao’e before.
He stared at the bloodstains for a while, then suddenly noticed that something was off.
After Gao’e and the others turned sinister, their nails were as sharp as knives, allowing them to even cut metal like nothing. When their claws scratched the stone walls, it made grooves everywhere, so how come they couldn’t break the little boy and girl statue from the inside, ending up with such a battered mess of claw marks?
In addition, these commoners’ incidents had happened fairly recently, but these little boy and girl statues looked very old, maybe even as old as the divine statue inside the catacomb.
So before these commoners placed the spirit-raising talismans, what was the purpose of these little statues in the catacomb?
Xiao Fuxuan suddenly flicked the tip of his sword, and one of the pottery fragments landed in his hand.
Wu Xingxue also took a look and saw that there were blood marks crisscrossed on the fragments. There also seemed to be another tiny mark, but because it was completely destroyed, one could not tell what it was at all.
“This is?” Wu Xingxue asked.
“Can’t tell,” Xiao Fuxuan paused, then said, “Most likely a worship mark.”
“Worship mark?” Wu Xingxue had naturally never heard of that before, “What is it for?”
“It’s to collect incense and worship.”
Wu Xingxue smiled, “Immortal, do I look like I understood?”
Xiao Fuxuan: “……”
He probably seldom explained this type of minutiae in detail to others. But as Wu Xingxue looked at him with a smile, he spoke again after a moment, “In the past, in order to collect the incense and offerings placed in each celestial temple of the mortal realm, the immortals of the Immortal Capital would leave a worship mark on their divine statues.”
Wu Xingxue remembered the Yun Hai that he had talked about before. In the end, it was because he was deprived of incense and offerings that he was stripped of his position as an immortal and struck back to the mortal realm.
“Then does that mean to all immortals, incense, and offerings are just like the food for humans? They can’t live without them?” Wu Xingxue asked.
Xiao Fuxuan corrected him, “Most immortals.”
Wu Xingxue: “There are exceptions?”
Xiao Fuxuan: “Mm.”
Wu Xingxue: “Like?”
Xiao Fuxuan: “…… Me.”
Wu Xingxue softly let out an “oh”. This was actually rather understandable. He was ordained to become an immortal, so he wasn’t under the jurisdiction of the Lingtai Twelve Immortals. He only managed punishment and forgiveness, so he wasn’t relevant to the common people of the mortal realm. It was very normal for him to be an exception.
He didn’t ask any further, only saying, “Then what are the worship marks on these little boy and girl statues for? This catacomb lies beneath the earth, so there’s no one who comes to pray. Whose incense is being collected?”
As Wu Xingxue spoke, he suddenly remembered the calmly shining ever-bright lanterns that covered the rock wall. He suddenly felt that the person who had first built this catacomb and put down these little boy and girl statues didn’t really intend to collect any incense. It was just like those lanterns, it was only a form of quiet, long companionship.
Gao’e and the others’ tattered clothing still had a few bundles of incense that were undamaged. Wu Xingxue bent down and pulled out three sticks. He used an oil lantern from the side walls to light them, then held those sticks of incense by the broken clay pieces and let them burn for a while.
The thin curling green smoke suddenly started to dissipate towards a certain direction.
“What’s wrong with this smoke?” The cultivation disciples looked over. One of them waved their hand and said, “There’s no wind in this catacomb.”
“Could it be pointing us a direction?”
Everyone looked at each other, then immediately started to follow the green smoke.
Along the way, they passed countless caves, finding nearly twenty little boy and girl statues. After opening each one of them, they would always find the corpse of the people who had tragically died. They all seemed to have clawed and struggled inside, causing bloody scratch marks to be everywhere.
Xiao Fuxuan had picked a broken shard from each one of those statues. Beneath the bloody marks on the shard, all of them had the worship mark that had been clawed to pieces.
***
After walking for a long long time, Yi Wusheng suddenly muttered, “I’m afraid we’ve already reached the Valley of Great Sorrow’s… end?”
Before he could finish his last word, they had followed the green smoke past a fork road and entered an enormous round room. Yi Wusheng suddenly didn’t know what to say anymore—
Because the round room was filled entirely with towering divine statues.
The cultivation disciples who were discussing among themselves just now immediately became quiet, and they all gasped at the sight.
They’ve been into ordinary celestial temples before. The divine statues there weren’t supposed to be this tall. There were also extremely tall ones placed at the entrances of some cities and ports, but not in such densities.
Most divine statues were sculpted out of wooden or rock columns; it was their first time seeing this kind of colossal statues lined up like trees in a forest.
The lingering sense of oppression made them afraid to speak, and even afraid to look at the statues for too long.
But they still couldn’t help but look.
“These divine statues are just like the one near the entrance of the catacomb… I don’t recognize a single one of them.” The cultivation disciple’s face revealed some astonishment, “I’ve never seen this many unfamiliar divine statues assembled together before.”
“Senior, what about you? Do you recognize them?”
Yi Wusheng shook his head. He looked up, moving his gaze across the face of each and every one of the statues. After a long time, he said, “I don’t know any of them.”
The moment Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu entered this place, they felt like they could throw up for three lifetimes.
Their faces were green like leaves, and their nauseous feeling grew more and more intense. But then, they heard their City Lord say softly, “You guys even want to throw up here?”
Ning Huaishan pressed his lips together, trying to swallow down the upcoming vomit. He said after a long moment, “Are we not supposed to?”
Fang Chu was already bent over with one of his hands on Ning Huaishan’s shoulder. After trying to hold it for a long time, to the extent that even his eyes were turning green, he turned to Wu Xingxue and asked, “City Lord, I wanted to ask before, but how come these divine statues have no effect on you at all?”
He wanted to vomit, but he was also afraid that it would be disrespectful to the City Lord. So he quickly buried his face in Ning Huaishan’s shoulder.
Ning Huaishan quickly warned him, “If you dare to throw up on me I’ll kill you! For real!”
Wu Xingxue, on the other hand, appeared completely calm and composed, “How would I know why they have no influence on me?”
Ning Huaishan, with a green face, looked at him, then gave an “oh”. He said in his head, “City Lord doesn’t remember a thing, he probably forgot why as well, blargh—”
Fuck.
The two of them were already at their limits. They quickly crawled back outside on all fours.
Leaving Wu Xingxue in a completely puzzled state.
He asked Xiao Fuxuan in confusion, “You said before that Yun Hai wasn’t the only immortal here who didn’t have a peaceful end. I believe these divine statues are all the same?”
Xiao Fuxuan was looking at those divine statues.
His face didn’t show any sign of surprise, but he still scanned over each and every one of the statues. It was almost like… he clearly knew who would be here, but he was still looking for something.
After he finished looking over all of them, he withdrew his gaze, and then replied calmly, “Mm, all of them are.”
Then that’s strange…
Wu Xingxue murmured in his head — if they had all been sent back to the mortal realm like what happened to Yun Hai, then these people must’ve long been no longer considered as immortals.
Since they could no longer be considered as immortals, they had also been forgotten by the mortal realm. Then these statues shouldn’t have had that intense of an effect on those two little devils Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu.
After all, when they saw Yun Hai’s divine statue before, they didn’t have much of a reaction.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard one of the disciples exclaim, “There are words on the altar!”
Wu Xingxue looked over. Sure enough, there were indeed words carved on the altars beneath those divine statues’ feet.
“Sang Feng, in charge of the Immovable Mountain.”
“Huo Ge, in charge of the Snowy Pond.”
“Meng Gu, in charge of the Jing Guan.”
……
Wu Xingxue passed through the forest of divine statues, reading over the words on each altar. It had the names of each immortal along with the places that they were once in charge of.
For a split second, amongst the mass of divine statues, his footsteps suddenly halted. He felt like these immortals who didn’t get a peaceful end weren’t really that unfamiliar.
As if… he had once seen the way these faces laughed and chatted, and then they were gone, never to be seen again.
“They have marks on their backs!” Someone shouted.
Wu Xingxue was startled and came back to his senses. Looking over, he saw that the two nearest divine statues all had a mark on their back. The positions of those marks were directly opposite to the position of their names and they were in charge of. Wu Xingxue bent down, using an oil lantern to illuminate the area, and found that those marks were identical to the ones inside the little boy and girl statues.
“They-they were really supposed to be for worshiping these divine statues,” Wu Xingxue said to himself. He then looked up again and counted. The number of divine statues was precisely thirty-three—no more, no less, and also completely consistent with the number of little boy and girl statues.
It was as if the person who had first built this immortal tomb had hoped that, even though they were no longer immortals, they would still have people to accompany them, so they wouldn’t sit alone in silence.
But if that was true, then it didn’t make sense for why the commoners were ordained here.
Why would they stuff themselves inside the little boy and girl statues, and why would they claw apart the worship marks inside? It was almost as if… those worship marks didn’t actually bring about any comfort, but instead made something annoyed and agitated.
There weren’t many oil lanterns inside the round room, and the deeper it was inside the room, the more dark and dim it became.
Wu Xingxue could vaguely see that at the end of the forest of divine statues, there seemed to be something there. Its outline was shrouded in shadow and extremely indistinct, allowing him to see what it looked like.
A pavilion?
A jade tower?
He subconsciously thought that it was probably something from the Immortal Capital, the place where those immortals once lived. After all, the tombs in the mortal realm were also like so, with replicas of things like houses constructed inside the tomb.
Wu Xingxue held the oil lantern and walked towards that direction, planning to see it for himself.
But the second he raised his foot, he was grabbed by the wrist and pulled back.
“Don’t go forward.”
Xiao Fuxuan pressed his shoulder, his low voice sounding in his ear.
“Why?”
“There’s an array.”
“Array?”
“Mm,” said Xiao Fuxuan, “I checked just now, these thirty-three divine statues weren’t placed by random, they form an array.”
Just as he finished speaking, a terrifying scream reverberated inside the round room, “AHHHHH—”
That hoarse cry carried a sense of sorrow, containing both male and female voices—it was the sound of Gao’e and the others.
Wu Xingxue quickly looked over and saw that those broken arms and legs seemed as if they had been attracted by something, scurrying over towards that swath of darkness at lightning speed. Then, they started to shriek while struggling, and in the next moment, the smell of blood permeated the air.
Wu Xingxue could almost see droplets of blood splatter over to where he stood.
With his wrist being grabbed, he could only squint his eyes and turn his head. But he felt the pressure on his shoulders suddenly lighten, and just centimeters away, Xiao Fuxuan’s slim hand hovered in front of his nose, blocking off the blood that was about to splatter onto him.
Xiao Fuxuan withdrew his hand, coldly shook off those droplets of blood, and threw a lantern in a swath of darkness.
Immediately, the darkness erupted into flames. The roaring fire was blinding white with a hint of blue and as tall as the ceiling.
Burned by the light of the fire, Gao’e and the others regained a sense of clarity amidst their screaming. They retreated back with a swish, no longer throwing themselves towards that swath of darkness.
Yi Wusheng didn’t bother with polite remarks. He screamed above their piercing shrieks, asking: “What are you scrambling over there for!”
“Voice!”
“We heard the voice of that immortal again!” said Gao’e.
The “immortal” who had sent them a dream, saying that the north, south, west, and east sides were all missing some celestial energy?
Wu Xingxue squinted his eyes, trying to look through that patch of bright blue flame. When the light of the fire had slowly dimmed down, he finally saw the thing inside that swath of darkness in clarity—
It was a pavilion carved out of cold stone.
It wasn’t in the shape of those celestial temples commonly used for worship, instead, it looked more like someone’s residence. It was complete with a bed and a folding screen with stone railings and walkways. It was just like one of the Yao Palace from the Immortal Capital, except that yao palace was directly connected to a tall platform, that platform completely covered in carved words of prophecy.
The prophecies couldn’t be read clearly. On top of the palace, there was also a door plaque. There should have been words there, but for some reason, it was chiseled away. Only a corner of it remained, the rest of it lying in shattered pieces on the floor. Only the word “breeze” could vaguely be distinguished.
…… Seated Spring Breeze?
“Seated Spring Breeze.”
When those words flashed in Wu Xingxue’s mind, Xiao Fuxuan also happened to say them at the exact same time.
“Where is that?” Wu Xingxue calmly looked at that tall platform.
Xiao Fuxuan replied after a long silence, “A platform for abolishing immortals.”
Wu Xingxue gave a light “oh”.
Those immortals who had been abolished ought to have also once stood on this tall platform covered in carvings of prophecy. How come an immortal-abolishing platform had been given the name “Seated Spring Breeze.” Really… letting down the spring breeze for no reason.
The significance of this immortal-abolishing platform was very obvious. It was to warn a specific person.
Wu Xingxue remembered that there were thirty-three divine statues in this round room, making the lonely Yun Hai seem completely out of place.
Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu’s reactions to these thirty-three divine statues were extremely strong, vomiting, and feeling ill, meaning that these divine statues ought to have a bit of remaining celestial power. This was most likely due to the long-standing worship of those little boy and girl statues.
However, the Yun Hai divine statue had no effect on them, meaning that Yun Hai was truly no longer an immortal.
Judging from this, the person who this immortal-abolishing platform was meant to warn went without saying.
Wu Xingxue remembered what Xiao Fuxuan had said. Back then, Yun Hai had been devoured by devils and died in the Valley of Great Sorrow. This led Hua Xin to come down and slaughter all of the devils in the Valley of Great Sorrow. Then, he built this catacomb to worship Yun Hai’s divine statue, and afterwards, some other divine statues were also added here to be worshiped.
At that point, he was already a bit confused. Since the master-disciple pair had such a strong relationship, and since he wanted to worship his beloved disciple who had passed, why would he bury his grave underground, not letting any mortal come near?
Thinking about this now… this most likely wasn’t just a simple form of worship.
That blaze of bright blue flame was still burning, acting like a barrier between the crowd and that immortal-abolishing platform.
Beneath the flame, that immortal-abolishing platform looked like a tumulus, sitting heavily atop the thing lying inside.
Judging from the smashed door plaque, this tumulus had moved before.
The bright light from the flickering flames reflected off those thirty-three colossal divine statues, illuminating their half-lidded eyes, and making them appear, at first glance, as if their eyes had moved.
“Martial brother… how come it feels like those divine statues are looking at us?”
“Am I overthinking? That divine statue seems to be a bit more tilted forward than before.”
“Maybe it’s because of the light coming from the fire.”
Beneath the feet of those thirty-three divine statues, between the cracks of the stone floorboards, there seemed to be vague beams of interconnecting light, as if the array that had been placed here was slowly flowing.
“Xiao Fuxuan,” Wu Xingxue turned his head and said, “You said these divine statues formed an array. What does the array do?”
Xiao Fuxuan looked at the crisscrossing beams of indistinct light on the ground, replying, “It is used to suppress a devil, or to suppress a vestigial soul.”
After a second of silence, he continued, “So that they can never see the light of day again.”
Translated by: Under The Moon
Edited by: Tempest
