Chapter 19#
Chapter 19#
Yu Lin slowly woke up and instinctively sat up, leaning against the stone wall.
Water was still dripping from the cave ceiling, forming small puddles on the ground. He turned his head and looked around, but the people beside him were gone.
His mind was a mess.
He couldn’t save his senior brothers and sisters in his past life, and now he couldn’t save Wen Jin.
He raised his hand in confusion. The wound where his arm had been pierced had scabbed over, and the dried blood stuck to it. He just watched, inexplicably having the urge to make blood gush out again.
Yu Lin let go of all his strength, curled into a ball, and covered his face with his hands.
“…What for.”
Why was he reborn? What was the point?
To watch his loved ones die again, and even drag the living down with him?
What could a mere Celestial Stage One accomplish?
He thought in silence for a moment, then suddenly saw a faint glow seeping through his fingers, growing brighter and brighter.
Yu Lin’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He unconsciously lowered his hands and looked towards the source of the light.
Glow-spirit grass grew in the cave, swaying gently and emitting a faint blue luminescence. Unbeknownst to him, a pile of golden light orbs had gathered where water was dripping from the ceiling, flashing on and off.
As his gaze met them, a golden light orb floated down from above, stopping at his fingertips. It moved, as if signaling him to follow.
…What is this?
His fingertips moved slightly, touching the golden light orb. He then struggled to his feet, dusted off his hands, and followed its trail deeper into the cave.
To his surprise, the cavern, illuminated by the faint light, revealed a hidden world.
Large and small rock pillars hung down in the distance, and the ground sloped inwards, forming a pool. In the center of the pool lay a massive sarcophagus.
Moss grew on the edges of the black coffin, leaving traces of time. The edges were slightly worn, but the coffin itself was intact.
The golden light orb swayed back and forth beside the sarcophagus. Yu Lin frowned and asked softly, “…What do you mean? Do you want me to open it?”
The golden light orb swayed faster, as if answering him. A strange sense of guidance also arose within him, urging him to open the coffin lid.
But… was it right to just open a coffin and disturb someone’s rest?
He hesitated and took two steps back, but the premonition in his heart grew stronger, as if this was his only chance to open it.
Who was buried here?
He had a faint suspicion, but he didn’t dare to confirm it.
“Come on… child…”
An old, kind voice echoed through the space, mixed with faint reverberations.
This confirmed it for Yu Lin. He murmured, “…Elder Shui Yue.”
He walked forward, spiritual energy surrounding him. Water elementals lifted him, preventing the water from wetting his clothes.
He walked across the water’s surface, which rippled like a mirror behind him.
Yu Lin’s hand rested on the edge of the coffin lid. With a gentle push, the lid slid to the side, revealing the interior.
An old woman with white hair lay with her hands crossed on her chest, dressed in the black robes of a Floating Life Sect elder, looking dignified and elegant.
Whatever medicine or spell the person who buried her used had preserved her body in a lifelike state. Clear blood vessels and fine facial hairs were still visible.
Her complexion was ruddy, as if she were merely asleep.
The golden cloud patterns were worn and mottled by time, but her expression remained gentle. Her brows were unfurrowed, her eyes closed, and her lips held a faint smile—as if she had always been smiling like this.
Yu Lin stared at her face, even imagining what she would look like with her eyes open. So inclusive and gentle, so determined and brave.
The water on the ground rippled, carrying a gust of air that brought a telepathic message to his ears: “May the Luoshu Pavilion protect you, child.”
Then, a gentle breeze swept through, and a string of intricate patterns swirled around the sarcophagus, disappearing one by one into the inner side of Yu Lin’s wrist.
Though the unfamiliar patterns entered his body, he felt no fear, only a sense of peace. For some reason, his subconscious told him that Elder Shui Yue would not harm him.
Yu Lin closed his eyes, pondering her words.
Luoshu Pavilion… In this current situation, did you regret it?
He didn’t ask further, and no one would answer him. The person in the sarcophagus was merely her lingering consciousness.
When he and Wen Jin were here together, the pursuers had not caught up, and he hadn’t seen these scattered light orbs or the glow-spirit grass, let alone this hidden world within.
It was likely that some kind of formation was set up within the cave.
Yu Lin looked around. No wonder the collateral disciples hadn’t discovered this place after managing the Spirit Medicine Valley for so many years. But… after Wen Jin left, why did this inner world of the cave open up to him?
Before he could figure it out, the golden light orb circled his sleeve, coaxing him to move forward.
He didn’t rush to leave. Instead, he bowed deeply to Elder Shui Yue, then slowly closed the coffin lid before continuing forward across the water.
Beyond the pool, there was a section of smooth road paved with bluestone slabs, unlike the rough, uneven ground outside the cave, unaffected by the flow of water.
A few wild grasses and mosses stubbornly grew in the cracks between the slabs. Yu Lin carefully stepped over them, and when he looked up again, he found that the road ended in a line of sight.
At the end of the road was a rough, dark wall. Yu Lin frowned and walked to the end, only to find it was an illusion. With a turn of his foot to the right, it opened up to a new, vast world.
From the front, this place was not visible at all.
This “new world” was full of vitality, unlike the dim light that pervaded the Spirit Medicine Valley. The scorching sun shone down, casting tree shadows on Yu Lin’s face.
Willow trees swayed, their branches dancing playfully. Beneath the trees, many kinds of small, charming mushrooms were planted.
…I had never heard that the Spirit Medicine Valley had such a place.
He looked ahead and couldn’t help but stop.
At the end of the road stood a wooden house.
As Yu Lin took a step forward, the air in front of him rippled like water—he had entered an illusion similar to one he had experienced before.
There were several children in the illusion.
One of them raised an eyebrow and called out with a smile, “Senior Brother!” He looked around and asked, “Has Shui Yue Mama left yet?”
The child called “Senior Brother” had a glint of a smile in his eyes but pretended to be stern and said, “No—still daydreaming here. Be careful, I’ll tell Shui Yue Mama, and she’ll spank your hand!”
The wooden house was built by them when they first moved to the Spirit Medicine Valley.
Besides medicine, Shui Yue was most skilled at carving, so she wanted her disciples to learn a trade for a living.
But when Senior Brother asked them to practice carving, the young disciples could never concentrate. They would hold their knives haphazardly, and not a single cut would be made after a cup of tea.
They liked to lightly carve childish smiley faces on the walls when Senior Brother wasn’t paying attention.
Sometimes, when they met the eyes of similarly minded fellow disciples, they would look at each other’s “works” and cover their mouths, smiling at each other.
There was also the scolding from Shui Yue Mama when she found spirit herbs that had been stepped on and wilted; the nights when several of them would catch fireflies, then lie on the grass to watch the stars and moon…
Yu Lin took two steps forward and, in an instant, returned to reality—he had silently slipped into someone else’s memories.
Several grave mounds were buried in the grass nearby. Many years had passed, yet they were not overgrown with weeds.
The grass was lush and green, with various small flowers blooming, bathing the grave mounds in sunlight, creating a harmonious and gentle scene.
Yu Lin walked over and squatted in front of the foremost grave.
He gently brushed aside a clump of pale pink flowers in front of the grave, and as expected, the tombstone read “Yuan Jing.”
Yu Lin’s eyelashes trembled lightly. He gently stroked the dust on the grave mound, and the faint scent of medicinal herbs and warm hands from Yuan Jing flashed in his mind.
He closed his eyes, and it seemed as if the laughter and joy from the memory he had accidentally stumbled into echoed in his ears.
He sighed. The old man, with his white hair, was also the youngest disciple of the Luoshu Pavilion.
They had reunited after their immortal ascension.
Yu Lin squatted for a while before getting up and walking towards the wooden house next to it. Weeds that hadn’t been cleared yet still grew on the narrow stone path, making rustling sounds as he stepped on them.
The wooden house was about the height of a pavilion, somewhat dilapidated, gradually merging with the wooden house from his memories.
The wooden door in front was unlocked. He pushed it open gently.
The space inside was larger than what was shown in his memories. The layers of the ceiling had been removed, creating a large, flat area over ten meters high.
The mottled walls of the wooden house were covered with small carved patterns—the house in front was indeed the same one from the memory.
He looked up from below, and row upon row of huge bookshelves came into view.
The original wood-colored bookshelves were coated with a bright varnish, exquisite and similar to the styles popular in the city in recent years. The books placed on them, however, were all old and worn—ancient texts on medicine.
Yu Lin frowned. According to Wen Jin, hadn’t these secret medicine ancient texts all been plundered by the collateral branches? What were these placed here?
Looking from afar, hundreds of thousands of ancient books were neatly categorized, truly awe-inspiring. He looked up, unable to see the end.
Beside the bookshelves stood a towering ladder, complementing the bookshelves.
He walked to the middle of the bookshelves, some of which had covers as thin as cicada wings. Yu Lin dared not touch them, only looking from afar.
The owner had taken great care to protect each layer of books. If it weren’t for the yellowed pages and the worn-out condition of some pages, Yu Lin would have thought they were newly made replicas.
These ancient texts, at a glance, seemed to span the river of time.
“Snap.”
A faint sound came.
Yu Lin had been on guard against being discovered since he saw these ancient texts. Hearing a sound now, he suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of the sound.
He saw that the dry grass under the ancient tree at the entrance had been stepped on, leaving a footprint.
Seeing that he had been discovered, the person quickly fled, disappearing into the bushes with a rustling sound.
Wen Jin had hidden them so deeply for a reason; they could not be discovered because of him.
Yu Lin quickly retreated from the house, closed the door, and hurried out.
The area in front of the wooden house was overgrown with grass. Yu Lin hadn’t realized how spectacular it was when he first arrived. Towering ancient trees reached into the clouds, and countless bushes merged into them, making it easy for a person to disappear if they hid within.
Yu Lin narrowed his eyes, summoned his Floating Water Sword, leaped onto it, and followed the trail of the fleeing person.
The wind rushed backward along his path of advance. He flew faster and faster, his eyes constantly scanning to find traces of the person.
The rustling sound came again.
His gaze quickly locked onto the source of the sound. He saw a corner of goose-yellow clothing flash under the bushes next to a large tree.
Yu Lin’s eyes narrowed, and he swooped down towards the corner of the clothing.
“Drip, drip.”
But at this moment, he heard the sound of dripping water by his ear.