Chapter 17#
Chapter 17#
“The Demon Gate secret realm is about to open.”
The illusion shattered abruptly, leaving him staring blankly into space, propping himself up on the grass.
Everything in the illusion was like a shroud of mist; he could only vaguely recall someone speaking, but he couldn’t see the person before him clearly, nor could he make out the words.
Yu Lin’s heart pounded relentlessly, as the matter he had always feared facing was finally laid bare.
He lowered his eyes, lost in thought, but his headache grew increasingly severe. He had no choice but to let out a heavy sigh, sit up straight, prop up his head, and look at his surroundings.
The Shanhai Sect was completely deserted; the young priest and the white-haired elder were both gone. Immortal Lord Chongwu and the others were also nowhere to be found.
“…Yu Lin.”
Hearing the voice, Yu Lin turned around, only to see Immortal Lord Chongwu standing not far away with slightly reddened eyes. His hands were clenched tightly into fists, completely unaware that his nails had dug into his flesh, drawing blood.
Yu Lin looked at him in bewilderment, muttering in his heart: What is wrong with him?
Looking at Yu Lin’s slightly knitted brows and utterly bewildered expression, Immortal Lord Chongwu closed his eyes gently, his mind still filled with the scenes that had just flashed repeatedly before him.
“Master… don’t leave me here alone…” In the illusion, Yu Lin had approached him helplessly to grab his hand, but he had stepped back, letting him grasp at nothing.
Or perhaps…
After a dose of medicine that felt like raging fire burning his body, Yu Lin’s spiritual power was almost entirely incinerated. While he lay in a pitch-black secret chamber, his breath thin as a thread as he let his spiritual power drain away, outside was filled with laughter and joy.
If Yu Lin’s core had truly shattered like in the illusion…
Immortal Lord Chongwu took a few rapid breaths, simply not daring to think about it.
Each scene in the illusion was all too realistic. The person before him going from crying and screaming incessantly to being dead silent and calm, appearing frame by frame before his eyes.
It couldn’t help but remind him of Yu Lin’s words from a few days ago.
“I had a dream where I was covered in wounds and didn’t dare get close to you ever again.”
Immortal Lord Chongwu slowly squatted down, raising his hand to stroke Yu Lin’s cheek, but Yu Lin frowned and dodged it.
Yu Lin glared at him in annoyance. “Are you crazy?”
Immortal Lord Chongwu paused for a moment, then casually placed his hand on Yu Lin’s spiritual pulse, asking as if nothing had happened, “What fortuitous encounter did you get from following her?”
After speaking, he couldn’t help but look up at Yu Lin. Since the person before him was still as lively as ever in every frown and smile… then there was no need for him to test anything further.
Yu Lin shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
There were hundreds of words spoken in the illusion, yet he couldn’t even grasp a single thread of them. They seemed close at hand, yet also like a mirage.
He doesn’t remember anything?
Seeing his puzzled expression, Immortal Lord Chongwu proceeded to examine his spiritual pulse. Within Yu Lin’s spiritual pulse, there were flecks of powder glowing with a faint blue light, meticulously protecting his spiritual power.
Immortal Lord Chongwu withdrew his hand and said, “It should be some kind of blessing spell, which can increase the efficiency of your cultivation.”
“Really?” Yu Lin’s eyes lit up.
The heaviest burden on his mind right now was improving his cultivation. Only by continuously improving could he save his senior sister and senior brother in the Demon Gate secret realm three years from now.
“Chongwu, my young friend.”
Hearing the voice, they turned around to see the people from the Feijian Sect walking out. Sword Venerable Yuanzhi was carrying the unconscious Ling Guangyi on his back, saying apologetically, “We might have to head back first.”
Ling Guangyi’s eyes were closed and his brow was slightly furrowed, yet his features were softer than before, and the overall aura around him had changed significantly.
“What happened to him?”
Sword Venerable Yuanzhi shook his head. “I don’t know what kind of inheritance he received in there, but he was unconscious the moment he came out. However, looking at him, he seems about to break through. We must hurry back and set up a protective array for him.”
Immortal Lord Chongwu nodded.
Sword Venerable Yuanzhi took two steps forward, suddenly sensing something, and said in surprise, “Is the Demon Gate secret realm about to open?”
Yu Lin nodded with a complex expression. “…Yes.”
He couldn’t even remember how the Demon Gate key had been crushed; after waking up, only the news of the impending opening of the Demon Gate secret realm remained in his mind.
Seeing that his face did not look good, Sword Venerable Yuanzhi didn’t ask further. He fell silent for a long moment, let out a sigh, his back bending slightly. “Three years from now… I fear it will be another bloodbath.”
……
Once again, they were in the bustling Fuyang City.
The spiritual vessel had uncontrollably arrived at the harbor of a certain city, so they went with the flow and boarded an ordinary boat, heading to Fuyang City before returning to the Fusheng Sect.
“Hurry up, if we’re late, we won’t make it to the congee distribution.”
“What’s congee distribution anyway? So spineless! The spiritual medicine given by the noble patron is what’s truly precious…”
Yu Lin showed a look of confusion. What was Fuyang City up to now?
People from the streets and alleys were all surging toward one place. In the distance, voices bubbled, and one shed after another was set up.
“What’s wrong with the collateral branch disciples? If the collateral branch hadn’t taken power, we wouldn’t have received these benefits.”
“Exactly, that Lingyao Valley…”
“Hum—”
Hearing the words “collateral branch,” Yu Lin instinctively became alert. Subsequently, the words “Lingyao Valley” reached his ears.
Listening to these words, it vaguely seemed that Wen Jin had been openly sidelined and stripped of power by his uncle from the collateral branch.
The collateral branch taking power was a highly taboo matter, but now that Lingyao Valley was providing resources to various sects in exchange for protection, surprisingly, no one came to interfere in this affair.
With Immortal Lord Chongwu still beside him, Yu Lin did not know the inner details of the situation and did not trust him either. Naturally, he didn’t want to cause extra trouble, so he pretended not to hear, returning to the Fusheng Sect with him as if nothing had happened.
Afterward, he pretended to be tired, made an excuse to return to his room to rest, but in truth, he took a detour and returned to Fuyang City.
The servants of the Liu family were handing out congee in the sheds with smiles on their faces. The place was packed with people and bustling with noise.
“Excuse me, do you know why the direct line of Lingyao Valley was sidelined?”
The person being questioned looked at him with disdain. “You don’t even know this? Naturally, it’s because he colluded with the Fusheng Sect and was caught by his own family.”
“If you ask me, a person shouldn’t turn their back on their own family like that…”
He spoke so casually and matter-of-factly, as if this matter was common knowledge. But hearing this, Yu Lin felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
The matter of Wen Jin contacting the Fusheng Sect… had been discovered?
That disgusting bunch of collateral relatives already treated him poorly and controlled his movements, so now… what would they do to him?
Before him was a scene of laughter and joy, and the familiar, faint fragrance of spiritual herbs wafted around his nose, yet his heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.
……
Yu Lin’s movements as he returned to his room to pack his storage ring were clumsy; his hands couldn’t stop trembling slightly as his thoughts raced.
Who betrayed Wen Jin? Yu Ming? Yu Ling? Or… Immortal Lord Chongwu?
In an instant, a sense of helplessness hit him again, as if he were alone once more.
Inside Lingyao Valley, the sky remained a deep, dark blue all day long, making it impossible to distinguish day or night or keep track of the passage of time.
Yu Lin silently arrived outside Lingyao Valley. Using the aura-concealing magic tool he had remembered to bring along, he hid behind a spiritual tree, watching the cultivators guarding the entrance.
Since he and Wen Jin had been together just a few days ago, he still carried Wen Jin’s scent on him, so the spiritual trees at the entrance would not harm him.
Yu Lin hid behind the tree, observing the guards.
Before setting off, he had searched his room for his magic tools and put all the useful ones into his storage ring just in case.
The guards walked back and forth. He secretly observed the patterns of their patrols, and taking advantage of the moment their gaze shifted, he slipped into their blind spot and used qinggong to leap onto the eaves.
Inside Lingyao Valley, only the guards sent by the major sects remained. The rest had gone to deliver spiritual herbs to the various sects and were mostly not in the valley, which was precisely why he had this opportunity.
He walked along the familiar path. The light blue spiritual herbs that once filled the valley had mostly been harvested, nearly depleted.
Those collateral branch disciples seemed not to understand the principle of conserving resources. Like thieves who had acquired ill-gotten wealth and only wanted to squander it, they left the spiritual fields bare and desolate.
It made the valley seem even colder and devoid of life.
He walked stealthily, terrified of alerting the patrollers. The other buildings in the valley were completely empty, except for a side courtyard guarded at the entrance. Looking at the guards’ attire, they seemed to be from Lingyao Valley.
The interior of the side courtyard was pitch black, with no lamps lit. Only the faint, ghostly light from the sky slowly filtered down, illuminating the inside and outlining a faint figure within.
Yu Lin gently nudged aside a blue roof tile on the eaves, allowing a beam of moonlight to leak into the room. With a light leap, he entered the room, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he slipped into a corner.
He finally saw the bound person inside the room clearly.
Wen Jin’s head hung low, and his eyes were closed, his dark hair draped over his shoulders. His simple hemp clothes had been whipped to shreds, revealing his torn and bloody flesh underneath.
There was not a single patch of uninjured skin on his body. His wounds were dripping with blood, and the scabbed wounds were layered with new injuries, looking hideous. He was locked in chains, his hands hanging from them, unable to move.
Despite his wretched state, his brow was relaxed and his expression gentle, as if he did not think he was suffering much.
Looking at him, Yu Lin’s brow furrowed slightly. His hands hovered in the air for a long while, not knowing where to touch. After hesitating for a long time, he finally found a spot where he could reach.
He gently nudged Wen Jin’s shoulder, causing the chains to rattle softly in response.
Wen Jin was not sleeping deeply. He opened his eyes at the gentle nudge, his gaze slightly unfocused and unable to discern his surroundings.
“Hmm?”
He instinctively let out a weak, questioning sound, his breath thin as a thread, and then squinted. After a long moment of focusing his vision, he finally saw the person in front of him clearly.
The moment Wen Jin recognized him, his expression changed drastically. Raspy-voiced, he whispered urgently, “What are you doing here?!”
“I’m here to save you.”
After saying this, Yu Lin drew his Fushui Sword and slashed at the chains. Right now, if he wanted to remove the chains, he would be discovered either way, so he might as well resolve it quickly.
“Clang— Clang! Clang!”
He slashed again and again, but no matter how much strength he put into it, he could only leave a faint scrape on the chains. The sharp blade of the Fushui Sword struck the chains, only producing a helpless, long hum—.
“You can’t cut them. You need the key,” Wen Jin shook his head gently and coughed violently. He coughed until his throat was raspy, even coughing up blood clots along with it.
“Where is the key?” Yu Lin asked anxiously.
Wen Jin slowly raised his head, gesturing slightly with his chin toward the wooden door, and said hoarsely, “On the guards.”
He paused, then cautioned further, “There is more than one person outside. Don’t be reckless.”
Before Wen Jin’s voice could even fade, the door opened from the outside with a creak—.