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Chapter 30
Editor: Sahloknir
At the heart of Xuanmen, lies the Correctional Palace of the Dai Mountain Immortal Alliance. Yet at this moment, this place has now been transformed into hell. The first batch of cultivators who rushed up the mountain was mostly from the Correctional Palace. They were so desperate to lend a helping hand that they were thrown off guard by the deadly toxic miasma before they even reached the Ding Xian Mausoleum.
Fortunately, Changsun Chengfeng of the Artefact Sect arrived in time, instructing his disciples to carry the poisoned victims down the mountain for emergency treatment. With a wave of his hand, a wind rose and swept and cleared up the thick, jet-black corpse miasma in an instant.
With that, everyone’s field of vision became clearer. However, it was just a minor improvement from complete darkness to the ability to see outlines if it were more than ten paces away.
Behind them, the disciples made way and saluted, “Bai, Shixiong!”
Changsun Chengfeng turned around, only to see Bai Xian quickly stepped forward, bending down and saluting, “Your Lordship…”
Changsun Chengfeng reached out and helped him up, “What’s the matter?”
Bai Xian kept his bow, saying cautiously and respectfully, “Reporting to the Artefact Sect Master, the Ding Xian Mausoleum is up ahead, please allow me to head in first to investigate.”
Bai Xian did not set up any protective barriers, yet was able to move around freely in the corpse miasma. Changsun Chengfeng pondered for a moment, but before he could think of a reason to object, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the bushes just a few paces away, and quickly stepped forward to take a look.
It was a small scrap of clothing, hooked on a sharp dead branch.
“This is…”
“Xiang Xiaoyuan.”
Changsun Chengfeng said in shock, “Beloved nephew Xiang is not with you?”
Yuchi Xiao frowned as he looked into the dark, dense miasma in the distance and said in a gruff voice, “He’s gone ahead of us into the Ding Xian Mausoleum.”
Changsun Chengfeng thought he had heard wrong, “Why did he go there for?
That’s right, he was just a junior disciple of the outer sect. Why did he head into the most dangerous place—Ding Xian Mausoleum?
A strange feeling emerged in Yuchi Xiao’s heart, as if the fog was hiding a secret that was beyond his reach.
He suddenly remembered the first time he met Xiang Xiaoyuan, that dull little mei demon was standing in the front hall of the Cang Yang Sect. He was just dumbly listening to his fierce request to withdraw from the engagement, and then suddenly falling over backward and fainting.
Shortly after this incident, the two of them, who were destined to never meet again in this lifetime, traveled to Linjiang City together and fought side by side against the ghost cultivator.
He had experienced so much that it was impossible to relate the Xiang Xiaoyuan with whom he could easily share waves of laughter and curses and the one who had fainted.
There was a sense of disconnection somewhere. He felt that when they were in Lingjiang City, a piece of his memory was lost, and along with that, was a missing link to explain all these things rationally.
But what, exactly, was he missing?
“Who’s there?” “There’s someone over there!”
Suddenly the surrounding disciples shouted, and when Changsun Chengfeng looked up, he saw several shadowy figures appearing not far away. All of them were wearing spacious and tattered white robes, their footsteps hobbling and dragging until they came to a halt about ten paces away.
Immediately afterward, an even stronger stench of corpses wafted in the wind.
“Is it the Mausoleum Keeper?” “The Mausoleum Keeper is still alive?”
As the disciples were whispering among themselves in speculation, an anxious one went towards the figures asking, “Brother, is the Correctional Palace alright? How are Lord Ying and Sword Sect Master doing? You guys…ah!!!”
Changsun Chengfeng and Yuchi Xiao’s expression changed abruptly and in unison, “Come back!”
With a wave of his sleeves, Changsun Chengfeng extended his arm, which was fully encased in a mechanical weapon. An appendage-like fixture shot out to retrieve the screaming disciple and at the same time, the blade, which spun like turbines, forced back the dense corpse fog, revealing the appearances of the shadowy figures—
It was clear now that they had rotting faces, cloudy eyes and were all dressed in burial robes. They were the wandering awakened corpses!
“Get back! Stay together!” Changsun Chengfeng cursed, “The corpses within the Mausoleum have been awakened. Do not barge in!”
At that moment, a wind swept by his side, catching his attention, “Young Master Yuchi?!”
With a slash of his sword, Yuchi Xiao swept away the awakened corpses and the red-golden ring of sword glare dispersed more than ten feet of black fog. The renewed visibility revealed the sheer number of corpses hidden in the distance, and shocked the crowd who saw their hideous faces all focused on them.
Changsun Chengfeng roared, “Come back! It’s too dangerous ahead, you can’t go alone—”
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Yuchi Xiao, “I’ll leave this place to you!”
The last word from his sentence trailing off into the distance. Yuchi Xiao’s expression turned grim and he headed straight for the Ding Xian Mausoleum on his sword!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Meanwhile, in the underground palace…
Gong Wei dragged the unconscious Ying Kai and Yuchi Rui, like two large gunny sacks, around the corner and panted heavily.
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The figures slowly retreated, but probably because there was insufficient magical power to force them back, they still hovered around maliciously.
“Go.” Gong Wei’s face changed and he said sternly in a weird and obscure tone that no one could understand, “Capture the Lotus Immortal for me and I will reward you with his golden core, go now!”
Fortunately, the many spiritually powerful masters who lay in Ding Xian Mausoleum had almost been put to rest by Ying Kai and Yuchi Rui in the earlier fierce battles, and the remaining were ordinary awakened corpses which were less tricky to deal with.
The corpses shrugged before they slowly retreated and disappeared into the depths of the dense fog.
“….Ying Kai…”, Yuchi Rui said dazedly as he was dragged along the ground by the back of his collar, “I seem still to be trapped under an illusion…”
Ying Kai was unconscious and could not give him an answer.
This was not because of the severity of his injuries, but because of the profound technique he was using—when seriously injured, he entered a state of ‘maintaining the elements and guarding them as one’, temporarily withdrawing his five senses from the outside world and using the primordial spirit to quickly repair his injured spiritual veins.
There were only a few great masters in the world who could reach this state, and among them, Ying Kai has the most profound and exquisite training in this area, making it difficult to kill him with even the most severe injuries.
Therefore, even Xu Shuangtze said that from the very beginning, when Ying Kai started to build his foundation, he had already laid his foundation as a destined grandmaster. When it came to the endless and uninterrupted operation of spiritual energy, no one in the world could compare to it.
“Serves you right, I told you not to look people in the eye.” Gong Wei chided as he dragged them both forward with great effort, not even looking back, “What did you see in the illusion?”
Yuchi Rui was sprawled out like a starfish as he was dragged up the bronze stairs. In a breathless and fearful voice, he said, “I-I think I heard Gong Zhiyu singing…”
Gong Wei was silent for a moment and said gently, “Changsheng, I’m giving you one last chance to live, cherish it.”
Yuchi Rui immediately fell into silence. There were only the ruffling sounds of clothes dragging against the steps before he murmured, “…I saw my father.”
In an illusion, one tends to see one’s most fearful memories and Gong Wei said in dismay, “What? How is it not the incident whereby Xu Shuangtze hung and beat you up severely back then because you didn’t finish your homework?”
They passed the yin candles with flames which swayed gently, casting shadows of strange shapes that seemed to come alive on the huge stone wall. Yuchi Rui did not say a word, his primordial spirit was still trapped in a painful illusion, and he hoarsely said, “Did I really kill my father, Ying Kai?”
Gong Wei said with a big grin, “Why, what are you thinking? I told you there is no shortcut to ascension, you should just eat, drink and live your life to the fullest.”
The man’s eyes were tightly closed and he looked pained, and it was not certain whether he had listened or not. After a while he seemed to remember something and struggled slightly, as if trying his best to break out of the deep illusion.
“…Lotus Immortal…”
Gong Wei can only placate him, “Yes, yes, the Lotus Immortal awakened and ran away. We are going to capture him now.”
But Yuchi Rui turned a deaf ear and asked under his breath, “Ying Kai, why do you think Gong Wei…wanted to kill Xu Shuangtze?”
Gong Wei dragged the both of them up the last bronze step and finally straightened up, wiping off his beads of sweat.
“Because it had to be done,” he whispered with a sigh.
By this time they had reached the end of the stairs, a long passage awaited them around the corner. Gong Wei took a deep and long breath and was about to drag them both forward when his steps suddenly stopped.
A tall figure appeared in the middle of the tomb passage, wearing an eagle-back brown robe and red and gold armour. The man had a stern and blood-thirsty aura. Underneath his wide sleeve were two shrivelled black hands and he was slowly turning towards them.
The green candle flames illuminated a decaying face under the helmet.
Gong Wei took a step back in silence before he said in a trembling voice,”…You really are a jinx, Changsheng.”
—It was Yuchi Rui’s father, the previous Sword Sect Master!
Crack! The corpse turned around and the sound of his amour clashed against the walls.
Gong Wei’s cold sweat dripped down and he turned around and dragged Yuchi Rui up, pulling back his hair to reveal his face, “Esteemed Sword Sect Master, please wait, we have no intentions to disturb your slumber. Look, this is your son…”
Crack! The heavy armour of the corpse dragged against the ground this time and he took another step forward.
“We’ll leave right now, if you let us pass, we promise to disappear before an incense stick burns out. You see this is the legendary Lord Ying, a mighty man who is both righteous and-and trustworthy…..”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The corpse took big strides with his sword raised, and Gong Wei swiftly shoved Ying Kai and Yuchi Rui behind him. At the same time, with the last of his spiritual power, he shrilly chanted an incantation.
At that moment, a hand reached out from behind him, and cupped his mouth to muffle his broken tune.
The corpse then slashed down with his sword. Clang! The other man had already drawn his sword and solidly deflected it.
It was Yuchi Xiao!
Gong Wei has encountered his saviour. After all, it is most appropriate for the descendants of Golden Gate to take care of their own ancestors.
Yuchi Xiao leaped forward like a meteor, and with a strike, the sword held by the corpse flung out, and crashed into the wall of the tomb passage before hitting the ground. When the corpse was about to turn around to retrieve it, Yuchi Xiao struck a blow on the back of its neck with both speed and force.
—Ka cha!
The red-gold armour could not withstand the force of this blow and shattered together with the corpse’s neck!
The corpse’s head lolled to one side in an unnatural position, then fell to the ground with a loud rumble and finally stopped moving.
“…”
After a few moments of complete silence in the tomb passage, Gong Wei clapped his hands and sincerely exclaimed, “Young Swordsman, you are awesome! Well done!”
Yuchi Xiao said callously, “When my grandfather passed away, his acupoints were already damaged and did not have much spiritual energy left. Anyone who is willing would be able to subdue him.” He put Gou Chen away and came forward to check both his uncle and Lord Ying, and was relieved to see that neither of them had fatal wounds. What happened down there?”
Gong Wei could sense that the other party’s attitude was a little odd.
But with his current experience and understanding of world affairs and human psychology, he could not pinpoint what was off, and after thinking about it, he blurted out, “I don’t know what kind of place this is, well, I got lost wandering around and was very scared, and as soon as I came in, I saw Lord Ying and Sword Sect Master collapsed at the door… “
Yuchi Xiao suddenly raised his hand to interrupt him, carried Ying Kai and supported Yuchi Rui, “This is a dangerous place, talk as you go.” With that, he walked forward with great strides.
He was tall and had long legs, and his every stride covered more ground than Gong Wei. Gong Wei hurriedly followed him at a trot, cleverly keeping mum about the four golden coffins he had just seen and the fact that the ‘Lotus Immortal’ had awakened and escaped. He asked submissively, “How did you find us? Where is the Artefact Sect Master? Where the hell is this place?”
Yuchi Xiao said, “This is the Ding Xian Mausoleum.”
“Those people outside…why are there corpses running about?”
Yuchi Xiao kept his pace and said, “It’s called a ‘startled corpse’, referring to the fact that when a cultivation master dies and is startled awake by the breath of the living. This is a rare occurrence and it is also my first time encountering it.”
Gong Wei let out an “Oh…” in enlightenment.
“There are thousands of cultivators buried in the Ding Xian Mausoleum alone. When I entered the Mausoleum just now, I saw that many of the awakened masters had already been subdued in the tomb passage. I also saw the marks left behind by the immortal sword Ding Shan Hai.” Yuchi Xiao continued, “I figured that Lord Ying must have awakened masses of corpses when he entered the Mausoleum and could only use his sword to retaliate. The Sword Sect Master quickly came to his rescue and they ended up being trapped together.”
Gong Wei patted his chest and said sincerely, “So that’s how it is! That’s really scary!”
Yuchi Xiao didn’t answer, dragging the two men towards the end of the tomb passage.
Gong Wei ran after him, feeling more and more puzzled, as if he had never seen this side of the great Young Master Yuchi before. But his understanding of the human psyche was limited, and he had little ability to perceive the various subtle emotional changes of people, and could only understand them by instinct, so after some thought, he asked, “Are Lord Ying and Sword Sect Master all right?”
Yuchi Xiao said briefly, “They’ll be fine.”
He continued walking and kept his eyes forward, not distracted for a moment. Gong Wei attempted to keep up with his performance, “What did the two seniors encounter to have been injured so badly. Perhaps there are even more awakened corpses lurking…”
“Lotus Immortal, I guess,” interrupted Yuchi Xiao suddenly.
“Ah?”
Gong Wei was slightly stunned, only to hear Yuchi Xiao calmly say, “With the skills of Lord Ying and the Sword Sect Master, there is no one in the entire history of Xuanmen who could possibly take the both of them down in a single battle. The only other possibility is that the awakened corpse is a friend who they could not bear to retaliate against. The only person who meets the criteria is the Lotus Immortal.”
Gong Wei was stunned for a moment and wondered, “Couldn’t bear to retaliate?”
Yuchi Xiao replied, “What else?”
“But he has already become a corpse.”
Yuchi Xiao finally glanced at him briefly and strangely, “It is precisely because it is the remains of someone close to them that they cannot bear to fight and subdue him.”
“…”
Gong Wei thought, You guys are really ridiculous. When a person dies, there is nothing left of him and his remains are merely a stack of flesh. How could there be people who treat a corpse as if it were a living being, and corpses who hold on to their emotions until they awaken?
But when he thought about it, he recalled the first time Xu Shuangtze reprimanded him in public. He was still very young then. It seemed that he was brought along to a funeral and was so bored that he went to play with the corpse lying in the coffin.
At that time, even Ying Kai was furious and dragged him all the way out of the funeral hall, and Xu Shuangtze even questioned him what the hell he was—perhaps mortals were all the same and had unnaturally strong feelings of love and hatred towards the deceased. Even Xu Shuangtze was no different.
As he pondered, he heard Yuchi Xiao say flatly, “You’ve come all this way without bumping into the Lotus Immortal. You must be lucky.”
Gong Wei shrugged, “I don’t know, I just wandered around…”
He stopped speaking, finally realising what was strange about Yuchi Xiao’s attitude—
Since they’ve met, he hadn’t even asked how Gong Wei found his way to the Mausoleum!
Had he sensed something amiss?
When Gong Wei looked up, he saw that Yuchi Xiao was still walking in front of him, and he could not see anything different from where he was.
Gong Wei’s eyes blinked and his right pupil glowed red, then blinked again and turned back to its normal black color. He tested his hypothesis, “Young Swordsman?”
Yuchi Xiao replied, “What?”
“Why don’t you turn around?”
Yuchi Xiao remained oblivious, but his voice was still steady, “What for?”
Gong Wei’s eyes blinked again, and this time his right pupil turned a crystal clear crimson shade, and he smiled wryly, “If you don’t look at me, I’ll have to go over and take a look at you.”
Yuchi Xiao suddenly stopped.
But before Gong Wei had time to make his move, there was a sudden, chaotic rumble of footsteps ahead of them, followed by a group of cultivators led by Changsun Chengfeng of the Artefact Sect rushing towards them.
Gong Wei’s right pupil instantly reverted to black, only to see Changsun Chengfeng had come striding in, his face, which had always been very easy-going, was unprecedentedly serious, and he took the unconscious Ying Kai from Yuchi Xiao. “What’s going on? What happened down there?” He also gestured for his disciples to pick up Yuchi Rui and said with a frown, “Is the Sword Sect Master still under an illusion?”
Yuchi Xiao replied, “Your Lordship, I’m afraid that Lotus Immortal has awakened.”
Changsun Chengfeng paused abruptly.
But after that brief respite, he immediately regained his composure and ordered his disciples in a low voice, “Escort the Alliance Master and the Sword Sect Master out of the Mausoleum. The Medical Sect Master has sent his disciples to provide support, and they have already arrived outside the Ding Xian Mausoleum.”
The two disciples quickly received the order and left, while Changsun Chengfeng turned to Yuchi Xiao and said softly, “Beloved nephew, to be frank, the ‘startled corpses’ is a scandal of Xuanmen that few people know about. Once the corpses in the Underground Palace escape, they will probably harm countless lives, so it is not too late…”
He had meant to ask the Yuchi Xiao to assist him in subduing the remaining awakened corpses, but the sharp Yuchi Xiao interrupted him without hesitation, “I understand what the Artefact Sect Master means. It is just that the previous Sword Sect Master was also awakened, so please wait until I have collected and buried my grandfather before returning to assist you.”
Changsun Chengfeng did not even have time to persuade him as he saw Yuchi Xiao turn around and beckon to Gong Wei, “Come here, what are you doing?”
Gong Wei was silently cowering in the corner to reduce his presence, and when he heard those words, he froze.
In full view of everyone, Yuchi Xiao raised his eyebrows, his face was a little stern, “You are my future cultivation partner, must I invite you to collect and bury our grandfather’s bones with me?
“…”
Gong Wei was speechless and waved his hand in the midst of the many weird looks given to him, and said with a smile, “Yes, yes.”
Changsun Chengfeng was even more speechless than Gong Wei at this moment. The deceased should be respected and it was not appropriate for him to object to their next course of action. He could only advise, “The two of you, be safe and return quickly.”
Gong Wei covered his face with one hand, pretending not to see the different expressions of the other disciples, and followed Yuchi Xiao back down the tomb passage.
They took a substantial amount of time walking before they met up with the Artefact Sect Master. However, the journey back in was much easier and faster. Within fifteen minutes, they were back on the bronze steps going down the next level of the Underground Palace. Just another turn of the corner would bring them to the spot where they left the corpse of the previous Sword Sect Master.
Yuchi Xiao suddenly stopped in his tracks, gestured and whispered, “Listen.”
What was going on?
Gong Wei subconsciously turned his ear in the direction he was pointing, but did not hear anything different, and turned back blankly, “I don’t…”
His movements suddenly froze.
Gou Chen was now at his throat, the slightest movement would spill his blood. Yuchi Xiao’s voice sounded coldly behind him, “Who the hell are you?”
Gong Wei’s eyes widened slightly.
“When we encountered the Sword Sect Master’s awakened corpse just now, you sang an incantation and suddenly stopped when you saw me arrive—I’ve heard those words before, it’s one of the supreme forbidden arts specifically used to communicate with the dead, the Secret Yin Yang Chaos Technique incantation.”
“You’re not the timid, lowly disciple.” Yuchi Xiao’s tight voice came from overhead and asked, “Who the hell are you?”