Chapter 27#
To them, this great fire was nothing more than a grand performance.#
Three ice crystals flew diagonally toward where Yu Lin had just been standing, missing their mark and sinking into the snow.
Yu Lin’s expression grew serious. Looking up at the sky, he saw three snow-white ice crystal birds flying toward them.
Chu Fengmian dared not delay, stumbling as he pulled Yu Lin up.
The snow in the Extreme River Land was too thick and soft; Chu Fengmian had to push off twice before finding a solid point to support his weight. Using his left hand to push himself off the ground, he looped his right arm around Yu Lin’s to hoist him up.
“Take my hand! Let’s get out of here before the rest of the ice crystal birds arrive!”
Yu Lin stumbled a couple of times, unable to stand up immediately, so he flipped his hand and threw the Fushui Sword out.
With two patter sounds, two snow-white ice crystal birds fell to the ground.
Seizing this window of opportunity, he quickly stood up, grabbed Chu Fengmian’s right wrist, and ran.
More and more ice crystal birds gathered behind them, a dark mass pressing closely in their wake, forming a massive shadow. The constant flapping of wings whipped up a gust of wind behind them.
“We can hide inside the palace, maybe that will conceal our tracks! Our bodies can pass through the walls, and the ice crystal birds don’t seem to be able to enter this palace!” Chu Fengmian looked back at the birds as he ran.
“Alright!” Yu Lin replied, pulling Chu Fengmian as they passed straight through the walls into the palace as if they were nothing.
The moment they entered the palace, a massive pressure enveloped them, frantically squeezing the air around Yu Lin. Caught off guard by the crushing force, he nearly fell to his knees.
Chu Fengmian, however, seemed completely unaffected. After turning around to confirm that the ice crystal birds couldn’t get in, he was about to say something to Yu Lin when he saw him struggling against the invisible pressure.
“Brother, what’s wrong?!”
He stepped forward to support Yu Lin.
Yu Lin gritted his teeth and said, “I feel an extremely powerful pressure. What about you?”
Chu Fengmian was taken aback, felt for a moment, and shook his head. “No.”
Yu Lin frowned. “I’m going out.”
Chu Fengmian said in disapproval, “There are swarms of ice crystal birds outside!”
Yu Lin’s back was already being slowly bent by the pressure. He gritted his teeth to resist, but holding out like this was only a matter of time.
“I can’t stay here forever. I won’t be able to hold on if this continues.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Yu Lin’s breathing was heavy. It took him a long moment to catch his breath before saying, “This place… is your safe house. Don’t come out. If I really get frozen, I’ll need you to save me.”
Chu Fengmian hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
The flock of ice crystal birds was likely still in the front hall. Yu Lin glanced at the layout of the palace and ran toward the hall doors at the far end.
Furnishings made of crystal were arranged throughout the palace like exquisite works of art, but they possessed not a shred of human warmth. The crystal-clear, icy ground reflected light, yet it did not reflect Yu Lin’s shadow.
The pressure grew heavier and heavier. The air Yu Lin could breathe became increasingly thin. Even his exhalations grew faint, and his strength waned.
Only when he exited the palace and the fresh air, laden with the moisture of snow, rushed over him did he feel a wave of relief.
Yu Lin leaned weakly against the palace wall, watching the sky while taking in the sight before him.
Being close to the palace made it easy for him to search for any trace of the ice crystal birds and take cover at any moment.
The surroundings were still a vast expanse of white, but before him, several caves—similar to the ones from before—vaguely appeared.
He wanted to take shelter in one of the caves, but since he didn’t know if the ice crystal birds could enter them, he dared not act rashly.
Suddenly, a few bird-like chirps echoed in the air. He seemed to have been spotted by the ice crystal birds. The flock flapped their wings and swept over the palace, occupying the space above like an invading army.
Immediately afterward, blocks of ice crystals rained down together, hitting the palace roof with loud thuds. The ice crystal blocks falling into the snow also caused the soft, loose snow to cave in.
With nowhere to stand, Yu Lin dodged back toward the palace, but his right leg was caught off guard and struck by an ice crystal block.
The struck area instantly lost all sensation.
With a crackling sound, the frost continually spread upward, and the frozen part of his right leg slowly became immobile.
Chu Fengmian seeing the flock of ice crystal birds flying toward Yu Lin, quickly rushed over.
He crouched down to support Yu Lin, his fingertips lightly touching Yu Lin’s right leg. He said in surprise, “Why is the frost from where you were hit spreading so fast?!”
Yu Lin froze. “Is the rate of my frost spreading… faster?”
Realizing the cause, he extended his leg outside the palace boundaries. Indeed, the freezing trend of his right leg stopped, and only after a long moment did it begin to creep upward as slowly as a crawling turtle.
Yu Lin gritted his teeth, turned to him, and said, “Stay here for now! I’m going to take shelter in that distant cave!”
Seeing him emerge, the ice crystal birds launched a new round of attacks. Hundreds and thousands of ice crystal blocks rained down in succession. Yu Lin concentrated intensely, using the shadows of the falling blocks to find safe footing.
As he dodged, he drew closer and closer to the cave.
His right leg had frozen numb. In his vigilance, he hadn’t noticed, but now that he relaxed slightly, he realized he couldn’t even lift it.
The soft, accumulated snow tripped him, causing him to stumble. Instinctively, he took two steps forward with his left leg to stabilize himself, but stepped into empty air—
“Yu Lin!”
Before falling into the bottomless abyss, he only heard a muffled shout from Chu Fengmian.
…
Tumble-rolling down along with some loose snow, his fall was cushioned by the sloping wall beside him, so landing was not as painful as he had imagined.
The light from above filtered into the deep, vast cavern, illuminating a portion of the path for him.
He pushed himself up with both hands, his palms touching the cold crystal floor, which reflected his image.
Where was this?
He stood up and examined his surroundings.
On all sides were crystal pillars. Dim, yellow candlelight flickered from the lamps hanging on the walls, and the crystal pillars, warmed by the light, had melted slightly, giving off a light mist.
Every piece of furnishing was a replica of the palace above, except for—
the round table in front of him.
In the middle of the empty corridor sat a pitch-black round table, upon which an exquisite stand was placed. A pale yellow orb rotated endlessly on top of it.
It appeared both mysterious and captivating.
Yu Lin’s heart thumped wildly. A voice kept whispering in his mind: Come closer to it.
The mesmerizing voice slowly took control of Yu Lin’s consciousness, turning his gaze hollow. With dilated pupils, like a controlled puppet, he moved toward the round table for no reason at all.
“Tap. Tap.”
His shoes made a sound as they stepped on the crystal, echoing into every corner of the palace.
Yu Lin looked down at the pale yellow orb, his cheeks warmed by the light it radiated.
His eyes were unfocused as his hand unconsciously brushed against the orb.
The instant his fingers made contact, the pale yellow orb burst with a brilliant, blinding light.
Snapped back to his senses by the intense glare, he withdrew his hand and took two steps back.
But the pale yellow orb had already begun to spin rapidly, and several large words slowly appeared on the crystal floor:
Welcome to—The Trial of the Extreme River.
For no apparent reason, a wave of terror washed over Yu Lin. He immediately turned around and ran backward!
Yet, without him realizing when, a transparent, mirror-like watery mist slowly spread out in the direction he was running.
He didn’t notice it and crashed straight into the mist. The mirror-like water mist rippled gently, then returned to a calm state.
The spinning pale yellow orb also ceased its rotation the moment he entered, its color deepening gradually from top to bottom, eventually turning into a deep purple.
…
What met his eyes was a brilliant, blazing orange spiritual fire. Everything in the distance belonging to the Spiritual Medicine Valley was enveloped within it, completely devoured by the tongues of fire.
Yu Lin stared at the scene before him in disbelief, unable to take a step.
“This time, the Spiritual Medicine Valley is truly gone…”
A sigh sounded by his ear, followed closely by rustling whispers.
Yu Lin’s pupils dilated in shock. Subconsciously fueled by anger, he refuted in disbelief, “What nonsense are you talking about?! How could such a massive sect just vanish like that?!”
Only when he turned his head did he realize that dozens of people had gathered here, wearing robes from various major sects. Some felt regret, but most were gloating over the disaster.
To them, this great fire was nothing more than a grand performance.
A cultivator glanced at him and sneered, “What does a little brat like you know? The most precious things in the Spiritual Medicine Valley are the ancient texts and herbs, and now they’ve all been burned to ashes by this fire.”
“Tell me, what is left of the Spiritual Medicine Valley?”
A little brat?
Yu Lin was stunned for a moment and looked down at his hands.
He was dressed in coarse cloth garments, his hands rough yet carrying a hint of youth, his stature resembling that of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old.
Had he possessed someone else’s body?
Someone nearby sighed, “It’s a pity those rare medical texts on rare diseases went down with those old geezers…”
Yu Lin’s heart leaped, a wave of sorrow surging within him, the reflection of the blazing fire mirroring in his eyes.
…What about Wen Jin, then?
Where did Wen Jin go?
He wanted to go look for him, crying out repeatedly in his heart, yet his feet refused to obey his commands, keeping him rooted to the spot.
This body felt neither joy nor sorrow, as if waiting for an answer.
“When the fox dies, the rabbit mourns. Isn’t this move by the demonic cultivators a warning to us? Who knows who will be next.”
“…What demonic cultivators?” he asked instinctively.
“Whose kid are you?! You don’t know anything, why are you asking so many questions!”
An impatient, irritable shout echoed in his ear, followed by a few hushed whispers, all of them annoyed by his pestering.
At this moment, a mild-mannered cultivator walked over to Yu Lin and explained, “Three days ago, demonic cultivators broke into the Spiritual Medicine Valley and set a demonic fire as a show of force. That demonic fire only exists in the Demonic Realm, and it cannot be extinguished for three days and three nights.”
This man was as gentle as jade, a smile playing on his lips, yet it didn’t reach his eyes. Confronted with such a scene, he slowly unfurled the folding fan in his hand, fanning himself composedly while his other hand toyed with a jade ring.
Yu Lin knit his brows, cupped his hands in thanks, and rushed toward the Spiritual Medicine Valley.
“Hey! What is that kid doing running over there!”
“Ignore him, he’s just weird…”
There were voices of discontent behind him, and some were astonished that he was running toward the fire, but he didn’t care.
The blazing light of the fire drew closer and closer, a terrifying pressure blasting toward him. He searched around with hollow eyes.
Everyone in the Spiritual Medicine Valley had perished in this fire. Yu Lin could even see the ashes of the incinerated corpses within the flames.
Suddenly, he froze in his tracks.
On the ground before him lay a jade pendant.
The jade pendant he had given to Wen Jin.
[Author’s Note]
Please add to collection~ Please comment~ Please gift nutrient solution~
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