Chapter 32#
He is not of the Priest clan at all, what kind of Priest is he? Nothing but a dog of the royal family.#
The westernmost mountains were lush and green, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding desolation. The entire mountain range exuded a sense of being aloof from the world.
The path into the mountain was bumpy and extremely difficult to walk. The trees grew luxuriantly, their branches stretching straight across the middle of the road with no one to prune them.
Though it was clearly a peaceful place, it was excessively quiet here.
Aside from the wind gently rustling the leaves and the occasional scurrying of animals, there were no other sounds.
There was no breath of living human life here.
Immortal Lord Chongwu frowned, placing his hand on the nearby mountain wall to feel it, and then became slightly surprised.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Lin sensed something was amiss, asking in confusion.
Immortal Lord Chongwu took a step back, facing the mountain wall. Forming a hand seal with one hand, he closed his eyes and murmured something softly.
After a long while, he opened his eyes and replied, “This place is an ancient formation.”
A rumbling sound echoed, followed by the shaking of the mountain wall as gravel fell rustling down. Yu Lin was startled. Just as he was about to dodge to the side, his wrist was grabbed by Immortal Lord Chongwu.
“No need to dodge.”
Before his voice could fade, the mountain wall in front of them opened to both sides in an extremely mystical manner, revealing a much wider space inside.
“How did you know this was an ancient formation?”
Immortal Lord Chongwu pulled him along as he walked and said, “When I touched the mountain wall just now, I only wanted to search for signs of human presence through the spiritual qi of heaven and earth within the wall. I didn’t expect the aura coming from inside to be extremely familiar. It is an ancient formation I have seen before.”
“Unless there is a special key, this ancient formation cannot be opened from the inside. It is generally used for… imprisonment.”
Yu Lin stared blankly ahead, muttering, “Then who on earth is imprisoned here?”
What met their eyes was an open field of withered grass. The lush scenery was gone, and the interior was extremely dilapidated. The large trees on both sides of the path had already withered, with several iron chains wrapped around them, hanging limply.
The wind, blowing from some unknown empty valley, howled, making the scene look even more desolate. At the end of the road were a few dilapidated stone huts, with scattered broken bricks around them.
Immortal Lord Chongwu had only taken a few steps forward when he heard a faint sound of breaking air. He immediately pulled Yu Lin back quickly, “Watch out!”
Before his words could land, the iron chains that had been hanging on the tree trunks suddenly straightened, attracting each other like magnets, wrapping together to form a solid protective shield!
Right after, sharp silver thorns grew from the iron chains, still stained with dried blood. A highly aggressive silver barrier unfolded before their eyes.
The sudden transformation made Yu Lin instinctively take two steps back. His face was slightly pale, showing lingering fear. His breath trembled slightly, and cold sweat poured down.
Immortal Lord Chongwu noticed his poor state and gently patted the back of his hand twice, “It’s fine, I’m here.”
With a wave of Immortal Lord Chongwu’s hand, the desolate wind transformed into semi-transparent, tangible wind blades, sweeping inward.
Following the trajectory of the wind blades, several swooshing sounds rang out in response. One after another, silver barriers suddenly stood upright, still buzzing and trembling in mid-air, a magnificent sight.
Immortal Lord Chongwu shielded Yu Lin behind him, turning his head slightly to say to him, “There will inevitably be other traps in a moment. Hide behind me.”
Immortal Lord Chongwu separated a wisp of his divine sense to cover the path ahead, while also cautiously observing all directions.
Inside the Demonic Sect’s secret realm, his power was reduced by sixty percent. If he truly had to go head-to-head with the people of the secret realm, he might not necessarily gain the upper hand.
At some point, a group of people had gathered at the door of the dilapidated stone hut ahead, looking at them warily. Presumedly, the guards had realized the traps had been triggered and revealed themselves.
Immortal Lord Chongwu’s free hand was already placed behind his back, gathering a ball of spiritual energy.
In just a few breaths, the guards charged straight at them, their movements swift and decisive. Without asking about their origins or leaving any leeway, they seemed intent on slaughtering all intruders on the spot.
With a twist of his body, Immortal Lord Chongwu parried the attacks of those who had already drawn close in a few moves, took two steps back to gain distance from the others, and pushed the spiritual energy ball forward!
He did not show any mercy either. The spiritual energy ball grew larger on its way, becoming long and thin like a barrier, pushing the approaching guards backward.
The spiritual energy ball exploded!
The elements of the explosion diffused into the air as smoke, blurring their vision.
Yet unexpectedly, right after, a barely audible ‘swoosh’ sound pierced through the cloud of smoke. Immortal Lord Chongwu’s pupils dilated, and he instinctively pulled Yu Lin out of the way.
“Buzz——”
The silver thorns on the iron chains, like arrows, nailed straight into the spot where they had been standing just moments ago.
Pincer attack from front and back.
Immortal Lord Chongwu turned his head and barked a low shout at Yu Lin, “Hide to the side!” then charged forward to deal with the guards closing in on them.
Their goal was the people inside the hut. There was no need to get entangled with the traps at the entrance; they should end this quickly.
With no more worries, Immortal Lord Chongwu became much more agile. He weaved back and forth among the guards, and in just a moment, all of them lay heavily wounded on the ground.
Immortal Lord Chongwu looked down upon one of them, stepping on his chest, and asked in a dangerously low voice, “Who sent you?”
Being stepped on, the man could not catch his breath. After coughing violently twice, he actually spat out two mouthfuls of blood, splashing onto Immortal Lord Chongwu’s shoes.
Immortal Lord Chongwu frowned in disgust, then stomped down hard again. “Speak.”
The man bared his teeth and glared fiercely at him. “Who on earth are you? You dare meddle in the affairs of the royal family?!”
The royal family.
They had always thought the Priest was the ruler of Qinan State. On the day of the banquet, only the Priest and Prince Peisha had attended, and they had actually forgotten that there was still a King.
Prince Peisha’s gaze toward Jun Ti was passionate and full of adoration, so it probably wasn’t him. Looking at it this way, this matter might be the work of that King who had never shown his face.
Why did he imprison Jun Ti’s relatives here?
Immortal Lord Chongwu’s eyes grew deep. With a press of his foot, he kicked the man flying away, then brushed the dust off his hands and gestured for Yu Lin to come over. “Let’s go.”
The inside of the stone hut was pitch black, with only a faint glimmer of sunlight filtering through the cracks of the door.
“Someone is coming.” The middle-aged woman with light blue eyes opened her eyes, her voice hoarse.
Her hands were bound behind her back with a specially made rope that could only be severed by infusing spiritual energy. On a stone table in front of her sat a solitary bowl, the clear water inside wobbling slightly.
“Mother, who is it?” A little boy crawled over with difficulty, picked up the bowl, and carefully fed the woman a sip.
“Perhaps it is someone coming to rescue us,” the woman said half-heartedly.
Just as she finished speaking, the stone door was opened, stretching the shadows of Immortal Lord Chongwu and Yu Lin long.
Dozens of people were crammed inside the stone hut. The hot weather made the room suffocatingly stuffy, and it wasn’t until the stone door opened that some fresh air finally drifted in.
Yu Lin took a few steps forward and asked straight to the point, “Are you Jun Ti’s relatives?”
The woman nodded.
The able-bodied men and women in the room were all bound, leaving only the children to feed them.
Yu Lin walked over and cut the ropes binding her, then untied the others. Seeing her beautiful blue eyes, which were just like the Priest’s and Jun Ti’s, he couldn’t help but mutter:
“Isn’t the Priest’s power immense? Since you are of his clan, how could he tolerate you being imprisoned here?”
“Priest?”
The woman laughed mockingly, as if she had heard some giant joke, “He is not of the Priest clan at all, what kind of Priest is he? Nothing but a dog of the royal family.”
Yu Lin said in astonishment, “He is not of the Priest clan? But those blue eyes of his, aren’t they unique to the Priest clan?”
At the mention of his name, the woman let out a cold laugh, “Him? Nothing but a laughable, shoddy imitation.” ”
She glanced at Yu Lin and continued, “Since you know of the Priest clan, you must have seen that ancient tome, haven’t you?”
The woman met Yu Lin’s slightly surprised gaze with eyes full of understanding. She seemed to have no intention of hiding it anymore, smiling slightly as she slowly unfolded the story.
Her gaze drifted away, as if slipping into memory, her tone drawn out, “Only the Priest clan can listen to the divine oracle, and Jun Ti is the most talented among us.”
“She is a straightforward child and went to the royal city to make her way from a young age. She is smart, beautiful, and excels at singing and dancing. She is extremely decent—so good that the King wanted her to marry his only son, Prince Peisha.”
“Jun Ti’s blue eyes were very prominent, and her status as a member of the Priest clan was no secret. The previous Priest was put to death due to a disagreement with the King, so the position of Priest became vacant.”
“The King wanted her to fill this vacancy, but at this time, an evil-doer found a loophole to exploit.”
She paused and smiled bitterly, “It is the ‘Priest’ you see today. Under the pretext that ’the previous Priest was unruly, and he feared Jun Ti would be the same,’ he had the King control Jun Ti, and thereby took over the Priest’s position.”
Immortal Lord Chongwu said, “So the King and the current ‘Priest’ formed an alliance and imprisoned you here?”
The woman smiled gently, the smile not reaching her eyes, “Indeed.”
She wanted to straighten up to lean against the wall behind her, but her hands, made weak and limp from being bound, trembled slightly. She frowned slightly, shifting herself slowly with difficulty.
She paused for a moment and continued, “The Priest incited the King to contest with heaven for longevity, and thus the gods brought down punishment. And now that Jun Ti, as the chosen ‘Priest’, has come into the world, we are of no more use to the royal family. So, in order to deal with the divine punishment, they imprisoned us here to use us as tools to threaten Jun Ti.”
The woman closed eyes, murmuring in a low voice, “In Qinan State, purple eyes represent misfortune and are a symbol of evil. The current ‘Priest’ originally had purple eyes… He is a born bad seed.”
Immortal Lord Chongwu stared at her fixedly, waiting until she finished before saying, “Let’s go. The guards outside have all been knocked unconscious, you can leave now.”
“Let’s go, Matriarch!”
“Yes, Matriarch, let’s leave, let’s go somewhere else!”
“Let’s go find Jun Ti!”
Hearing this, the clansmen were overjoyed, chattering noisily, each saying several things without stopping.
The woman looked around, but there was no joy in her eyes. Seeing this scene, her nose turned sour, and she smiled bitterly, “We can’t get out.”
“…Why?”
【Author’s Note】
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