Chapter 7.3 (1/2)
Chapter 7: Relic of Youtuer (Part 3)
[West of Aslan Empire – Abyss Corridor]
“If everything you’re saying is the truth, including the catastrophe that happened four years ago……then, you should return to the Heart in the imperial capital alongside me, if everything is proven to be true, I will stand on your side.”
“I can no longer return.” The pallid youth’s voice sounds even more frail than it had been before, “Unlike all of you who can recover anywhere as long as there is the Golden Soul Mist, us three Silver Priests can only stay in the large crystal located in the Heart, we only have soul powers that way, once we leave the crystal, our soul powers will deplete every time we use it, not only our soul powers, but our life will disappear as well. Before meeting you, in order to exit the Abyss Corridor with Guishan Fenghun, and because I had to go against Nether, I have spent much of my soul powers, and to save Guishan Fenghun just now, I barely have any left……Lucifer Yin Chen, to be able to find you before my death, I am already very happy.”
“How can I believe that everything you’re saying is true?” Yin Chen gazes at the pale youth that is almost becoming one with the air, his words become more gentle.
“You are not required to believe me now, all you have to do is return to the imperial capital and take note of the changes around you, it will appear. At that time, you will understand everything……”
“If it’s just like what you’re saying, that the current Top Lord has been gifted a horrifying soul’s return circuit that has never been seen in the history of Aslan before, then even if it’s me, I do not have the power to change everything. You must know that, to us, the current Top Lord Xiuchuan Dizang, his existence is that of a G.o.d. Xiuchuan Dizang aside, the disciples of Heaven, Earth and Sea beside him are much more mighty than all of us Lords……”
“Yin Chen, nothing can’t be changed, and you and I both know that, the previous Top Lord, your lord, Gilgamesh, he’s still alive. You are more clear on this than I am, hence, everything in the future is unknown……”
“Alright, I promise you that I will clarify everything when I return to the imperial capital. I also promise you that I will protect you to the best of my ability.”
“I have one last question for you, I do not have much time left,” A trickle of blood escapes the corner of the pale youth’s mouth, “You already have your own disciple, this I know. My question is, when you were bestowing him a soul’s return circuit, what you gifted him, is it the return circuit on the first layer, that of the Seventh Lord, or did you gift him the return circuit of the previous Top Lord that is hidden deep within your body?”
Yin Chen stares at the ghastly-looking youth before him, his expression hardens gradually, he does not reply. He stands in dust particles floating in the ray of light silently.
The chilly thick fog dampens the towering old trees surrounding them.
[West of Aslan Empire – Relic of Youtuer]
The mammoth ancient city resembles a large tomb.
No one knows when this relic was pa.s.sed down, no one has ever heard of the existence of such a large ancient city in the history of Aslan.
Beneath their feet is a path paved with marble, the pa.s.sing of tens of thousands of years leaving behind countless marks on its surface. Looking ahead, in the neverending darkness, countless tall building blocks stand, although all in ruins, it’s easy to imagine the bustling of this place in its prime.
No sound can be heard in the large ancient city, the deafening silence presses down on one’s eardrums, hurting the temples.
Faintly, it constantly feels like there are things moving around in the darkness surrounding them, or something is standing beside them, breathing unhurriedly.
Qi Ling finds it bone chilling.
“Where exactly is this place?” Tianshu Youhua looks at Qi Ling and Lianquan before staring at the tomb-like ancient city, her voice sounding like falling leaves whipped in the air by the bitter cold wind.
“This is the ‘death’ you pushed me into.” Lianquan replies coldly.
“But I touched the other chess piece……” Youhua stops and dares not go on.
Lianquan ignores her, instead turning to survey the surroundings, “Maybe the ‘death’ that Yin Chen and Fenghun were talking about isn’t that once you touch the chess piece, you’ll die, but that this chess piece leads to a plce of evil, which equates to leading towards death. Chess pieces can only bring people to another s.p.a.ce and not take a person’s life directly.”
“Maybe not, what if the exit of the chess piece is in a furnace, then if you touched it doesn’t it mean it’s direct death?” Qi Ling c.o.c.ks his head and looks as if he’s thinking intently.
Lianquan stays flabbergasted for a long moment before squeezing three words from between her teeth: “Thanks a lot.”
Qi Ling doesn’t hear the underlying meaning in her words at all, instead he waves his hands liberally, “Hey, you’re welcome.”
Lianquan takes in a very deep breath in order to resist the urge to whip him with a whip.
“Let’s move forward, we can’t do anything if we stay here.” Lianquan tells Qi Ling before turning to look at Tianshu Youhua’s pale face, “If you don’t want to die then I suggest you follow us.”
The path extends forward, Tianshu Youhua released a dozen or so large snow eagles to lead the way, the white glow from the eagles illuminating the path beneath their feet.
The soft, white glow added some n.o.bility to the colossal relic and the horrifying atmosphere diminishes. Countless large pillars lie by the sides of the path; in what seem like foundations on the b.u.mpy ground, skeletons can be seen faintly. Broken staircases and archways that are built from luxurious white rocks can be seen all around them, these all point to the high and almighty state the city was once in.
“Pfft.”
“Pffffffffft.”
Along with what sounds like someone blowing out a candle, the dozen snow eagles that have been leading the way disappear, as if a white lantern has been pierced through by the wind.
The darkness seems to fall from the sky, enveloping the three of them. In the pitch-black darkness, only their nervous breaths can be heard. All they can see is the unsettling darkness, as if unknown creatures will rise from the depths.
“Youhua stop running around.” Qi Ling turns to tell Youhua.
“I didn’t move, I’ve always been on your right.” Youhua replies softly.
“Then just now……” Qi Ling pauses, his throat suddenly tightens in fear and he cannot go on. If Youhua has always been on his right, then what just ran past him on his left?
“Sigh.”
A faint sigh is heard in the darkness.
The three hold their breath, not daring to speak.
“Really, what a pity.” In the darkness, a young girl’s voice pierces through the air and reaches them, her voice is unfeeling, as if reading stoicly from a piece of paper.
A white ball of light suddenly appears in Qi Ling’s vision, when the light becomes clearer, Qi Ling makes out a large coc.o.o.n suspended in the air, the voice is coming from the inside of the coc.o.o.n.
“What’s a pity?” Lianquan moves two steps ahead gently, s.h.i.+elding Qi Ling and Youhua behind her, “Who are you?”
Tianshu Youhua looks at the figure standing before her and Qi Ling and a pinch of regret hits her.
Like cloth being torn, a hole appears on the smooth coc.o.o.n before a bloodless hand reaches out, and then the tearing sound continues before the figure struggles out completely, her waterfall-like black hair covers her entire face. The young girl struggles slowly out from the coc.o.o.n in an extremely grotesque mannr, the cracking of her bones echoing in the empty darkness, making one’s hair rise. She folds her legs slowly and sits on the coc.o.o.n, a few moments later, she lifts her hazy eyes and tells the three of them faintly: “A pity, that all of you are going to die soon.”
Qi Ling’s pupils tighten, “Li……Lijier?!”
“Aiya, you recognise me!” The young girl lifts her murky purple eyes, instead of looking at Qi Ling, she is staring at an unknown point in the air, with a ghastly thin voice, she says, “Then of course you’d recognise it?”
In the wreckage of the building behind her, a ma.s.sive ball of light suddenly appears, a large b.u.t.terfly struggles to curl between the stone walls, on its large meaty wings are tentacles dripping with blood, green slime splas.h.i.+ng onto the stone pavement, the same sound as blood drops. .h.i.tting the ground, a murky stench spreading from its undulating wings. Its size is many times bigger then when it had appeared in the town of Fauser.
“Gu Die Lijier……why are you here? Aren’t you……” Qi Ling is so astonished that his words die in his throat.
“I’m here, of course because there’s a ‘secret’ here……” Lijier’s smile is unsettleing, she says, “But you people walked into the radius of the secret, so, you have to die.” After saying that, she stares into an unknown direction and lifts her hand to cover her laugh.
“We don’t want to fight you, you weren’t able to defeat Cang Xue Zhi Ya before, now it is my soul beast. I do not wish to harm you either, tell us how to get out of this place and we will not touch your secret.”
“I couldn’t defeat it before, but now I can.” Lijier changes her position on the coc.o.o.n and lifts her hand to stroke a sticky tentacle from Gu Die that hangs above her head.
“Before? Before what?” Qi Ling is confused.
“’Before’, of course I mean before I died.” Lijier frowns slightly before replying in annoyance. After saying that, she gestures lightly and Gu Die rises from the wreckage, teetering as it flies up, the flow of soul powers around it as vast as a grand ocean.
“This……this is not the soul powers of an average soul master……this is…..almost rivaling that of a lord’s……” Lianquan mutters in shock. She cannot believe the power that the young girl facing her has.
Her hands tremble as she directs her sharp chains towards the colossal Gu Die, yet it is as if they are attacking nothing, the chains pierce straight through the beast’s body, just like going through light and fog, not doing any damage at all……