Chapter 360 - The Devil on the Ninth Floor (Part 2) (2/2)
Alarmed, Xiao Chen whispered, “Senior Su, are you awake?” The restriction the tower posed was tremendous, and Su Xiaomei tended to be dormant year-round. Why would she wake right now?
The trembling of the Frigid Jade Pendant intensified until Su Xiaomei’s voice emerged from it. “Brother Ning! It’s Brother Ning! I can feel his aura! Brother Ning…is here! He’s here. There’s no doubt about it!”
Xiao Ning!
Xiao Chen was shocked. Could the cyan-robed prisoner be the forefather of the Xiao family in the Human World, Xiao Ning? This piece of news rattled him to the core.
Su Xiaomei’s voice became increasingly agitated, even carrying a hint of a sob. “It’s Brother Ning! He must be here!” she cried and then turned into a wisp of cyan smoke emerging out of the pendant. The smoke slowly formed a human shape.
“Brother Ning!” Su Xiaomei’s tears fell like the rain when she saw how Xiao Ning was imprisoned. She immediately dashed toward him.
“Senior Su, watch out!” Xiao Chen cried. It was also then that Su Xiaomei let out a heart-rendering scream as an incorporeal force in the passage sent her bouncing back and crashing on the steps.
Xiao Chen swiftly helped her up. Seeing her deathly pale face and nearly translucent body, he knew her soul must have suffered considerable damage.
“Don’t be hasty, Senior Su.” Xiao Chen turned to look at the passage, where he could faintly see a layer of mystic arts. Those mystic arts were surely not an ordinary Barrier. He helped Su Xiaomei sit on the steps before inching closer to the mouth of the passage.
On the steps, Su Xiaomei buried her head in her knees and wept. “How can they imprison Brother Ning here? Brother Ning isn’t a devil. He cherishes the world and has never had contact with the Devil Clan…”
“Koo-chee! Koo-chee! Wuu…” The Koo-chee beast walked over to her and gently licked her scalded arm, burned by the mystic arts earlier.
When Xiao Chen was near the Barrier of mystic arts, he reached out a forefinger and carefully probed it. However, the slightest of touch gave him an electric shock-like sensation throughout his body. A mysterious but powerful force abruptly sent him flying.
“Argh!” Xiao Chen held firmly on his arm. The searing pain nearly contorted his expression out of shape, but it didn’t originate from his left hand. Instead, it was a pain coming from his very soul, a pain that resembled a burning sensation.
Right now, the forefinger on his left hand was scorched black. As if it had broken off, he couldn’t feel anything with it at all. It didn’t recover until quite some time later.
An idea came to him, and he started casting several spells. A blood-red charm suddenly hovered in the air. It was the charm containing Ling Fei’s sealed soul.
Ling Fei’s wailing came from the charm. “Xiao Chen! I curse you to a tragic death! I curse you being betrayed and deserted by your friends! People around you will all die because of you! I curse you…”
Xiao Chen ignored him and cast yet another few spells. He pointed two fingers at the Barrier of mystic arts and swiftly cried, “Go!” With a rustling sound, the charm flew toward the Barrier.
“Ahhh—” A blood-curdling scream echoed in the passage as the charm combusted into ashes in an instant. Ling Fei’s soul dispersed into smoke along with it.
Xiao Chen composed himself. His guess was correct. Object with a soul had no way of crossing the Barrier. It was also now that he understood why those from the Wuyin Monastery would look strange, lower their heads, and start reciting Buddhist scriptures whenever he mentioned Xiao Ning. So they had imprisoned Xiao Ning in this place for more than a thousand years!
“You said you’d come back for me and we’d live in the prairie in seclusion. We’d breed horses and tend to sheep, paying no mind to the world outside. You promised me…” Su Xiaomei continued to weep so bitterly that whoever heard her ached for her. Their separation had lasted a thousand years, and she had waited for him for just as long. Yet when they meet again, it was under such circumstances.
Xiao Chen’s heart ached too. He couldn’t help looking at Xiao Ning and saw the terrifying sword injury on his chest. An incredibly powerful flying sword must have perforated him. In this world, what other swords beside the ancient sword, Autumn Water, could do that to a Level 6 and above martial artist?
Xiao Chen pinched his fingers. Back then, under his Master’s orders, Xiao Ning brought a branch of their family to the Human World to pass down the Samsara Jade. When he returned to Violet Manor, the Xiao family there regarded him as a traitor. He fell into a trap and was accused by the Five Major Sects of collusion with the Devil’s Practice.
Xiao Chen could imagine what it looked like back then. Xiao Ning had wanted to return to the Heartless Frigid Palace to find the severely injured Su Xiaomei but was captured by the Five Major Sects. Xiao Chen could imagine it to be similar to how he was hunted by countless sects that day.
The savage scene of spilled blood and unending storm’s wailing saw Xiao Chen going against the Five Major Sects alone. He killed countless men, piling their bodies as high as mountains, spilling so much blood that they formed rivers. Yet heavily injured as he had been, he fought until the very last moment, until all his blood ran dry, without ever forgetting his promise to Su Xiaomei.
However, he was ambushed by a flying sword and was captured by the Five Major Sects. He was ultimately imprisoned under the Devil Repressing Tower, where day and night were indistinguishable. For the past thousand years, he was unable to keep his promise to Su Xiaomei, letting her wait a long and bitter time in the Frigid Palace. Even though her body had died, she refused to let her soul enter the wheel of reincarnation. She continued to wait…
“BOOM!”
An explosion sent the entire passage quaking as Xiao Chen punched the stone wall. Hatred filled his expression. “These so-called Orthodox sects and families can never tell black from white. They can never be reasoned with! Senior Xiao Ning, I owe you a debt of gratitude. Even if my body is torn and my bones are crushed, I swear I’ll get you out of here!”