Estranged Chapter 79

Published at 18th of November 2021 09:54:03 PM

The sun and the moon were circling in the sky; the Big Dipper had turned and the stars had moved.

The Big Dipper turned and the stars moved: time had passed

Zhou Keyi had already lost track of time.

He did not know what time of the day it was, or how much time he had spent here.

He could not move his limbs, because his arms had been firmly shackled with iron chains that pierced through his shoulder bones, with the ends of those chains connected to pillars. His blood had been dripping down from where his skin touched the chains, but the blood had long since dried up.

Due to the previous incident of his spiritual powers surging out, the people who were guarding him had almost lost control over the situation. As a result, his enemies could only enhance their monitoring of him, as well as adding several layers of seals to the place of his detention. Half of his body was in the Stone Forest of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, and the upper half was shackled by iron chains, rendering him unable to move.

Those lotuses that looked as if they had been engraved from stone had clustered around him, slowly moving their petals in the moonlight. They seemed to feel satisfied and comfortable.

The blue light coming off the petals was shimmering in the air, showing the leisurely mood of the lotuses. In one moment, they flocked together; in another moment, they scattered away. They hovered around Zhou Keyi, depriving him of his last chance at survival. They were unbridled and frantic, yet dazzlingly colourful.

But this ineffable beauty came at the price of absorbing the essence of a person’s spiritual powers.

Zhou Keyi had not died.

He was still breathing his last breaths, and his mind was clear.

Physical tortures could not make him lose consciousness—on the contrary, he became more and more sober.

It was the first time he felt that being conscious could make him suffer more than passing out. Even the slightest pain would be amplified, but he could not run from it, and had no place to hide.

As he was conscious, he could clearly hear sounds coming from the outside, down to the slightest movements.

A narrow winding trail led through the Stone Forest. At a set time every day, someone would enter this place, waving a banner with souls attached to it. The souls fell to the stone lotuses, becoming their nutriments.

Immortal souls and mortal forms nourished the stone lotuses, and the stone lotuses released fleeting souls into the pond after absorbing the quintessence.

Zhou Keyi would often hear anguished wailing coming from the pond one after another, piteous and sorrowful. But these cries were not distinct—rather, it was all just anguished wailing, coming from the depths of the souls being forced into a hopeless situation. Countless voices were pouring out their grievances in life and resentments day in and day out. Some were fleeting souls that did not even understand that they were dead, and were still shouting defiantly. Their cries rose up to the skies, so loud that Zhou Keyi could never rest.

Every few days, someone would pick up these fleeting souls, and then leave hastily.

One day, several people came instead of just one person, and they were talking to each other. It was rare for Zhou Keyi to hear something different from the shrieks of fleeting souls, struggling through their last moments, so he focused and heard a couple of lines.

“It’s the puja of the fifteenth of the seventh month today, why are there so few souls in your banner? The sect master is going to release the souls of the deceased tonight, if there’s not enough of them, you might be blamed.”

“Alas! That family had six members, and looked neat and tidy. However, contrary to one’s expectations, the head of the household was abusing his wife to the point she was mentioning she wanted to kill everyone there in every breath. So, I gave her a poison to satisfy her needs. How could I have known she would get softhearted near the end and regret her decision, taking the poison alone? In the end, that man said that she was a vicious woman, and sent her remains to the desolate outskirts. I could only gather one soul. Don’t mention this again, I’m so unlucky! I’m afraid that if a Soul Gathering Pearl is not refined in several days, I’ll get punished!”

“We only have to get by tonight. Are you afraid there won’t be enough souls of living humans to gather during the puja? People are crowding out there to get a chance to see our sect master.”

“By the way… What did this person do to be shackled here, neither alive nor dead?”

“Shixiong told me he used to be a formidable cultivator, and he’s been left here as bait. If others come to his rescue, we’ll catch them all with one net.”

“He doesn’t seem to be all that formidable. Otherwise, how would he be captured?”

“Hha, you don’t know this story? The iron chain is blocking his cultivation, and his spiritual power has been sucked away by the stone lotuses. They say that Shixiong was almost defeated when he went after him, so Shizun had to attend to the matter personally, massacring his sect and capturing him. He doesn’t actually have it that bad—that is, at least he retained his life, but the rest of his sect weren’t as lucky. Their souls replenished the pool here, becoming fertilizer.”

“Then will the one who wants to help him actually walk right into the trap?”

“They say that that person’s origins are quite remarkable, but Shixiong never went into details. No matter how formidable he is, I’m sure he’s just a toy in the eyes of our sect master or Fozun. What are you afraid of?”

“I’m just wrapping the roof with silk before it actually rains! Nevertheless, who can go against us nowadays, except for the joint forces of Wanjian Immortal Clan and Celestial Abode Shenxiao? The Qingyun School rumbles, but doesn’t rain. They’re pretending to be virtuous and dignified, abstaining from the food of common mortals, but will they ever gather as much power in the Luo dynasty as we have here?”

Wrapping the roof with silk the roof before it actually rains: take preventive measures

Rumbles, but doesn’t rain: all talks

“Hha, I love how that sounds…”

The voices gradually grew quieter, until they finally subsided.

Zhou Keyi moved slightly, and the iron chains rang, inflicting excruciating pain on him.

Those two seemed to be telling the truth, and he knew that the person they mentioned should have been Jiufang Changming.

That supposedly dead shifu of mine, hah.

Zhou Keyi smiled coldly.

Why would he come?

He was eagerly looking forward to Jiufang Changming’s death, and there was no doubt that Jiufang Changming also—

Zhou Keyi closed his eyes.

Even if he came all by himself, two fists could not win against four palms.

This place was too dangerous.

It was not that Zhou Keyi had never fought against this sect, but he had no idea that the Wanlian Buddhist Temple looked bright and neat, but inside…

Zhou Keyi sneered again, but no one heard his voice.

Inside, this Buddhist temple was just as rotten as his Demonic sect.

But no matter how he sneered, he still did not understand how one could get inside this place, and what kind of treacherous scheme these people were trying to pull off.

The Stone Forest of Wanlian, this pond with lotuses, countless aggrieved souls of people who had died in tragic circumstances, refinement of souls, and lies.

The Stone Forest of Wanlian: the stone forest of 10,000 lotuses

“Zhou Keyi.”

He opened his eyes abruptly and quivered, oblivious to the sharp pain from the chains that penetrated his bones.

Thousands of ghosts were still wailing around him, their resentment mounting to the heavens.

He thought he was hallucinating.

But in a moment—

“Zhou Keyi, if you’re still awake, make a sound.”

The voice was coming from his consciousness, so he did not have to make a sound to reply.

“Jiufang Changming?”

“It’s me.”

“Where are you?”

“In your heart.”

He was even cracking a joke. Zhou Keyi felt the urge to swear at his intonation.

And he actually started cursing, giving vent to a torrent of abuse, exhausting all the harsh words he knew. He was expressing all the grievances he had gathered over these years.

He used up all his strength quickly because he did not have much rest. He was breathing heavily, angered, but still struggled through all of it to say these last words to the sea of his consciousness.

“Go to hell, Jiufang Changming, I don’t want to see you ever again!”

The other party was silent, as if he had actually left.

Zhou Keyi heaved a sigh of relief, but still felt some unexplainable lingering feeling.

He closed his eyes, ready to counter the next wave of attack from the stone lotuses.

“It’s been so many years, why is it that you haven’t rectified this shortcoming of yours, where you’re still saying no when you mean yes?”

Suddenly, the familiar voice sounded again, bursting inside the sea of his consciousness!

Zhou Keyi opened his eyes blankly, freezing up. For a second, he betrayed his panic and disbelief.

Perhaps, deep in his heart, he was pleasantly surprised, although he refused to admit it.

He thought he had been abandoned a long time ago. He did not believe what he was told, and decided to start his own sect, proving himself right at the same time.

Now, he had circled back and returned to the starting point.

“Why are you…”

“We don’t have time, where on earth are you?”

Zhou Keyi fell silent for a moment.

“I don’t know either. There’s an awful lot of passages. I’m confined in a pond with lotuses. These lotuses are carved from stone, but they can move. Once in a while, these people would pour souls they gathered from god knows where into the pond to nourish the lotuses. As more lotuses appeared, my spiritual force was sealed away. There’s also that chain, so I can’t move at all. Even if you come, you won’t be able to achieve anything, you…” He paused. He wanted to sneer at Jiufang Changming, but as these words reached his mouth, they turned into—

“They didn’t kill me to lure you here. Just because of me, you shouldn’t…”

“I’m aware.”

Zhou Keyi was interrupted before he could finish talking. The sound inside his sea of consciousness got cut off, and the next words were left unspoken.

Jiu. Fang. Chang. Ming!

Zhou Keyi gnashed his teeth.

…

Xu Jingxian had expected evil spirits or demons to start popping out of nowhere inside the cave, but there was nothing.

Everything was going strangely smoothly. They went straight up to the source of the light.

It was not just one crystal.

Xu Jingxian found it hard to describe what she was seeing.

Every nook of the cave was full of lustrous and translucent crystals. There was no source of light, and light purple radiance was coming from the crystals themselves, gentle yet incandescent, so strong that it reached outside.

The whole area was dazzlingly splendid.

Even a pile of jewels could not produce this kind of radiance.

Xu Jingxian used to say she had seen everything in this world, but she could not help being stupefied at this scene.

At this short moment, she let down her guard.

When she returned to her senses, she saw some Yangzhen Grass growing in the corner of the cave near some crystals. If one was not paying close attention, they would not have noticed it.

Xu Jingxian took a step forward.

Yun Weisi saw an entirely different picture.

He did not see any crystals.

Instead, he saw a valley near the main peak of the Sacred Mountain Wan.

He could not be more familiar with this place.

Mists were curling up amidst the jagged rocks of grotesque shapes in this ice-cold place, and demonic qi was flowing around. Six people were standing in a circle, bending their fingers while reciting incantations, and lights were suspended in front of them, their expressions solemn.

Yun Weisi knew the one who was standing with his back turned towards him very well.

Shizun?!

His heart started throbbing, and he moved a few steps closer against his will.

It was the Sacred Mountain Wan of fifty years ago.

That year, Jiang Li, the master of the Wanjian Immortal Clan, proposed setting up a Liuhe Zhutian Formation on the Sacred Mountain Wan in order to restrain demons for all eternity.

Several grandmasters responded to this proposal, and six of them agreed to guard the formation here. Moreover, many other people volunteered to help, and guarded the formation from outside.

Yun Weisi always wanted to know the truth of this matter. What had actually happened back then, that could even make Jiufang Changming lose control and get seriously injured?

Although Changming was slowly regaining his memories, this one matter remained a mystery. He could never recall it clearly.

Yun Weisi never expected to get a chance to go to the past again, and see the truth with his own eyes.

The formation was half finished, and the lanterns had burnt out by half.

They only needed to support the lanterns, preventing them from dying out. In one shichen, the spiritual powers from their seals would enter the talisman writing under their feet, and reach the core of the formation. The writing from the six talismans would activate the formation, and the passage would be completely sealed. Demons would then have no means to get into the Human World.

But, at this moment, something went wrong.

Yun Weisi saw Changming abruptly invert his seal to the opposite one. The lantern before him quickly fell to the ground, hitting against the talisman writings under his feet and interrupting the flow of spiritual powers into it. The other five persons were wounded to various degrees. But it did not end here. Shizun even unsheathed his Sifei Sword, and threw himself at Ren Haishan, who was standing the closest to him.

The formation was ruined due to the lack of a final effort. The trapped demonic qi revolted immediately, and poured out, rushing at the six of them.

Yun Weisi did not expect to see such a truth. Without thinking much, he dashed towards Changming.

As if the latter had eyes on his back, he quickly turned around with an eerie, enchanting smile on his face. He raised his hand, making a seal.

The figure reached Yun Weisi in a split second. Yun Weisi did not dodge, and Jiufang Changming’s hand reached his chest!

Chapter end