Chapter 17

Chapter 17

First it had been the Chang Ghost, then the Water Yaoguai. In a short span of time, Qiao Ying had come face-to-face with no small number of demons, ghosts, and monsters, but she felt that no matter how many times it happened, whenever one of these inhuman beings appeared before her, a sense of unreality would rise in her chest.

Her attitude toward these monsters was probably about the same as Shen Qingyu’s attitude toward her.

Because they were rare existences in one’s own world, they felt novel.

Qiao Ying clutched the corner of Shen Qingyu’s robe and stayed close behind him the entire time. Perhaps he was in a good mood, or perhaps he simply did not care about the tiny survival tricks of the weak. As he walked through the dark, damp tunnel riddled with danger, his relaxed bearing made it seem as if he had brought a burden along to enjoy the scenery.

Suddenly, Qiao Ying tugged at his hand. “There’s something on the ground.”

Shen Qingyu stopped and asked with a smile, “What is it?”

Qiao Ying crouched down, picked the thing up, and patted off the dust. She studied it carefully for a long while. “It seems to be… a Talisman. Black paper, with cinnabar used on it. I can’t understand what’s drawn here.”

Shen Qingyu said, “A yellow Talisman marked with cinnabar is used to drive away demons and eliminate Yaoguai.”

“Then what about this black Talisman?”

“Naturally, it is used to kill people.”

Qiao Ying’s hand trembled, and the black Talisman fell to the ground. She hurriedly wiped her hands. “I touched it just now. Will I be all right?”

“If something were going to happen, it would have happened already.”

For a moment, Qiao Ying had no answer to that.

Who knew how many years this black Talisman had existed? No matter what power it had once possessed, the long passage of time had stripped it of its original strength. Now, it was little different from wastepaper.

Qiao Ying raised her head, her eyes widening slightly. “Shen Qingyu, here… there is so much black Talisman posted here.”

On the stone walls, the eye could see nothing but dense layers of Talisman, as though they formed a tight net meant to seal off the passage within completely.

Interest deepened in Shen Qingyu’s gentle voice. “It seems some important figure was imprisoned inside.”

He did not show the slightest sense of danger. Instead, his steps grew even lighter as he headed straight forward.

Qiao Ying looked back. The road they had come from was pitch-black, with gusts of cold wind blowing through it. She gritted her teeth and had no choice but to follow him, habitually grabbing a corner of his blue-green robe again.

Xue Heting and his group were walking not far ahead of them, and Qiao Ying could hear their voices.

Zhao Zhiyi looked around. “This black Talisman is a weapon developed by our predecessors by reversing the usual method, specifically to deal with evil cultivators. With this much black Talisman here, just what kind of utterly wicked villain was trapped in this tunnel?”

Xue Heting remained alert to every movement around them. He said, “Judging from all the signs, the Talisman here should date back several decades. Now that its power has faded, no matter how advanced the cultivation of the villain trapped inside once was, they are likely nothing more than bones by now.”

Zhao Zhiyi frowned slightly. “I grew up in Fangcun City, but I never heard of any conflict between the righteous and the wicked from decades ago. Besides, this underground cavern is enormous. Back then, the disturbance it caused could not have been small, yet there have never been any rumors about it in the city.”

The more Ming Caihua listened to them, the more he felt a chill creeping over the place. He rubbed his arms, wanting to say something, but not a single word would come out. Feeling stifled, he could only keep following behind Xue Heting.

Just then, the Qingshuang Sword in Xue Heting’s hand seemed to sense something again and began trembling nonstop. He looked ahead. “There’s something over there.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he strode forward quickly.

After passing through the narrow tunnel, the space before them suddenly opened up.

The stone chamber was as broad as a hall. The stone walls gave off a cold sheen, and water droplets slid down the stalactites, their clear drip-drop echoing through the chamber.

On the stone platform in the center, a set of white robes had rotted away. A white skeleton sat cross-legged, its skull tilted slightly forward, its deep eye sockets seeming to gaze toward the entrance of the stone chamber. Half a broken, decayed silver chain was still wrapped around one wrist bone, and the blue gemstone inlaid in it had inexplicably lost its luster, looking no different from an ordinary stone.

Judging from the clothing, this should have been the skeleton of a woman. Only, no one knew her name.

“Yunshu!”

Zhao Zhiyi cried out in surprise and joy, then rushed toward the woman curled up in the corner.
Mu Yunshu lifted her deathly pale face. Her eyes were rimmed red, and the moment she saw Zhao Zhiyi, her taut nerves finally slackened. She fainted on the spot.

Zhao Zhiyi hurriedly gathered Mu Yunshu into his arms. When he realized she had only passed out from sheer exhaustion, he let out a breath of relief.

Xue Heting walked up to the skeleton and noticed the hand bones resting on the stone platform. They glowed with a faint, eerie blue light, streams of radiance spreading outward like a brook, covering the stone walls before winding farther into the distance.

So that was where the blue ghostly glow they had seen on the stone walls had come from all along.

Zhao Zhiyi said, “It seems she was the person trapped here who died all those years ago. We just don’t know what evil deed she committed, or how powerful she must have been, for them to need so many black Talisman to imprison her.”

Xue Heting did not answer. Vaguely, he still felt that something was not right.

Qiao Ying arrived a step late with Shen Qingyu. She poked her head out from behind him and whispered an explanation. “Shen Qingyu, there’s a skeleton up ahead. It looks like it’s been dead for many years.”

Shen Qingyu tilted his head slightly. “A skeleton?”

“Yes. Judging from the clothes, it was a woman.”

Shen Qingyu smiled. “So it’s a dead person.”

Qiao Ying gathered her courage and looked around. “Shen Qingyu, there are a lot of marks on these stone walls. They’re like… like…”

“The sword marks you saw on the Boundary Stele in Phoenix Town that day.”

Qiao Ying froze. “You know?”

“Though there isn’t much of the aura left, I would never mistake the exact same Sword Intent.” Shen Qingyu sighed. “I thought I had finally found an opponent worth risking my life against. I didn’t expect them to already be dead. What a pity.”

Qiao Ying: “…”

So the reason he had wasted time in this cavern with such interest was because he wanted to find the owner of that Sword Intent and fight them to the death.

Ming Caihua stared at the blue gemstone set into the silver chain on the skeleton’s wrist, his eyes shining. He was absolutely certain he was not mistaken. Although the gem was now dull and lightless, this thing had to be a treasure.

Unable to restrain himself, he quietly edged closer. The moment his hand touched the blue gemstone, it turned to dust and scattered into the air, then quickly vanished without a trace.

Ming Caihua froze.

At the same time, the blue ghostly light disappeared from the skeleton’s hand as well. Like a stream running dry, the blue radiance spreading across the stone walls vanished in the span of a few short moments. What followed was a violent tremor, as if the earth itself were shaking.

Rocks crashed down. Cracks split across the stone walls. Icy water poured in at terrifying speed.

Xue Heting looked at Ming Caihua. Ming Caihua shuddered, cold sweat breaking out over him.

But now was not the time to assign blame. Xue Heting said, “This place is going to collapse. Run!”

Before his words had even faded, there came a thunderous rush. The stone wall was smashed apart, and water swept in, swallowing everything.

Qiao Ying was engulfed by the powerful current. Her mind went blank for a moment before she came back to herself. Her body’s instincts quickly restored her ability to move, and only then did she realize, to her surprise, that she could swim.

Zhao Zhiyi protected the unconscious Mu Yunshu.

Ming Caihua could not swim. In a panic, he clung tightly to Xue Heting. Xue Heting suppressed the urge to strike him. The Qingshuang Sword flew from its sheath, and a cold, biting arc of sword light split the boulder blocking their path in two. Higher up, moonlight could be seen.

Zhao Zhiyi and Xue Heting exchanged a glance. Zhao Zhiyi took the lead, carrying Mu Yunshu as he swam toward the light.

With great difficulty, Xue Heting pulled one arm free from Ming Caihua’s embrace and reached toward Qiao Ying on the other side.

Just as Qiao Ying was about to take Xue Heting’s offered hand, misfortune struck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Youth in Blue sinking ever deeper with the current.

The young man had lost consciousness. His snow-white hair fanned out in the rushing water, and the white silk blindfold over his eyes was soaked through, giving off a soft, translucent sheen. His sleeves drifted open, and he floated and sank in the dark water like a fragile porcelain doll held aloft by the current.

Some things, it seemed, only became a little more beautiful at the very moment they were about to disappear.

Qiao Ying really wanted to ignore him. She turned her head, intending to leave. In the end, though, she pressed her lips together, hating herself for being so hopeless. She withdrew the hand that had been about to grab Xue Heting’s, then turned and swam toward that steadily falling figure.

Holding her breath, she finally reached his side. She seized his cool wrist, stopping him from sinking any deeper.
Qiao Ying reached out with her other hand and lightly patted his cheek. Beneath her fingertips, his water-soaked skin was cold to the touch, and he gave no response at all.

For some reason, a slew of bizarre images surfaced in her mind-on glowing screens, different male and female leads always passed air mouth-to-mouth after falling into water.

Qiao Ying gritted her teeth and immediately lowered her head to give him air, only for the tip of her nose to slam into his slightly raised jaw first. Pain made her frown.

She grabbed his chin and was about to lean in again when, on that pale face covered by a white silk blindfold, the corners of his lightly colored lips actually curved upward ever so slightly.

That wicked, mischievous smile was just as infuriating as ever.

Qiao Ying wanted to curse. Unable to hold her breath, she let out a stream of bubbles. Her face turned ashen at once as she realized she was about to run out of air.

The smile on the young man’s lips only grew brighter and more carefree.

Zhao Zhiyi carried Mu Yunshu to shore, and Xue Heting finally managed to drag Ming Caihua-who had turned into a human leech-out of the water as well. The group was drenched, battered, and utterly exhausted.

Seeing that Xue Heting was about to jump back in to save the others, Zhao Zhiyi grabbed him. “It was her own choice. Whether she lives or dies, the responsibility doesn’t fall on you. The currents below are raging. If you go down now, you’ll be walking straight into death!”

Then they saw the ground still trembling, faint cracks once again threatening to appear. From within the city came sounds of panic and chaos.

Xue Heting’s expression turned grave. “This is bad. The danger from the cavern collapse will spread to all of Fangcun City.”

Zhao Zhiyi said, “Father, Mother… The people in the city haven’t had time to evacuate!”

Xue Heting raised the Qingshuang Sword once more. His wrist sank, and the Qingshuang Sword hummed as it plunged straight into the ground. More than half the blade sank in, sending shards of stone flying.

The next instant, he pressed his hand against the blade. Crimson blood wound down the spine of the sword and seeped into the patterns along its body.

The long sword suddenly erupted with red light. Sword energy swept outward, and the cracked ground slowly began to solidify. The collapse was forcibly halted, leaving only the soft rustle of loose stones rolling down.

But the water inside the cavern was still churning violently, a tremendous force bent on breaking through its restraints and surging out.

Xue Heting tightened his grip on the blade again, and blood flowed even more heavily.

At some point, Ming Caihua’s muted acupoint had been released. He tried to rush over, but an aura shut him out. He shouted, “Xue Heting, you’ll die if you keep this up!”

Xue Heting ignored Ming Caihua and looked at Zhao Zhiyi. “I’ll buy time. Hurry and evacuate the people in the city.”

Zhao Zhiyi hesitated. “But you…”

“There is no time to hesitate. Go!”

Zhao Zhiyi clenched his fists. Just as he turned, a powerful surge of cold caught everyone’s attention.

Frosty mist rose from the water’s surface. The rushing current instantly froze into a mirror, reflecting the moonlight in the night sky, the ice glimmering with a cold, clear radiance.

The ground stopped trembling. All the earth-shaking turmoil vanished into stillness in an instant.

The young man in blue robes, with white hair, carried the girl in his arms and slowly walked toward them across the ice.

His frost-and-snow-like hair fell over his shoulders. The water-soaked white silk blindfold clung to his brows and eyes, outlining the soft line of his jaw. The hem of his blue robe swept over the ice, as though it, too, had been touched by a trace of pure moonlight.

Ming Caihua stared blankly and murmured, “Just who is he?”

Xue Heting released his grip on the sword. Because he had lost too much blood, his figure swayed slightly, and Zhao Zhiyi quickly supported him.

When Xue Heting lifted his head again and looked ahead, the shock rising in his heart was no less than anyone else’s.

The figures of those two were reflected on the ice, wreathed in cold mist. They looked like an ink-wash painting steeped in chill, beautiful and untouched by dust.

Looking closer, the girl’s black hair was beaded with water, tangled together with the young man’s white strands until there was no telling where one ended and the other began.

She was clutching a Blind Staff, protected within the young man’s arm. The ridiculous part was that she was so cold her teeth were practically chattering, yet she didn’t dare say a word. All she could do was glare at him with a look that could kill.

The smile on Shen Qingyu’s lips, however, only deepened, as if even the cold around him had been tinged with a bit of teasing warmth.

She knew it. She had done something stupid again, and had successfully amused this lunatic.