65. That’s Called Being Protective
“What are they doing?”
Following a black shadow, the three arrived at the back mountain of the South Courtyard and saw three men, their arms flailing, roaring at the empty air.
As time passed, they even began to wail and beg for mercy.
Then, they collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth, their eyes vacant, completely unresponsive.
“This Myriad Ghosts Searching for Souls talisman is both a tracking and a Heaven-grade illusionary art,”
Gong Yiling said calmly, crossing her arms and looking at the three men engulfed by the myriad ghosts. “Without my command, with their cultivation level, they will be trapped in this illusion for the rest of their lives, never to escape.”
“Such a talisman exists…?” Gong Muzhi’s eyes widened. She looked at her precious daughter, a strange urge to touch her welling up.
But recalling her daughter’s earlier weakness, she felt a pang of protectiveness.
She could just use her own methods. No need to ask her daughter for such a physically draining technique.
But…
“This talisman isn’t difficult to draw, but my current strength is insufficient to support a Heaven-grade one. If Chun Lian were to draw it, it would be much better.” Gong Yiling, seeing the curiosity in her mother’s eyes, said, “I’ll have her draw a few for you to play with later.”
“Mmm!”
Despite saying this, Gong Muzhi stroked her chin—Strange, that Chun Lian girl… she just started learning talismans not long ago, and her teacher is Ling’er. How can she draw Heaven-grade talismans?
Were Heaven-grade talismans so cheap?
“Alright, let’s not bother with them.” Gong Yiling looked around, quickly found a hidden cave entrance, and called out to Qiu Shui and Gong Muzhi. “This should be the place where they conduct their Gu experiments. Let’s go and rescue Qiu Shui’s mother.”
The two immediately followed.
The cave was filled with a heavy yin energy, dark and silent like a stagnant pool.
Miss Gong hesitated at the entrance, then suddenly remembered something. She rushed back to the three living corpses and, after a thorough search, found a common item on all of them.
—Not their identity tokens, but a string of prayer beads, emitting a faint scent.
“Since this is the lair of Gu users, there must be poisonous insects inside. These beads might be able to ward them off. Put them on.”
After they all put on the prayer beads, they entered the deep cave.
Everything was as Gong Yiling had predicted.
Shortly after entering, they were hit by the stench of death. The corpses of many cultivators, who had died at different times, were scattered around.
Poisonous insects crawled over them, clearly the remains of unfortunate disciples who had stumbled upon this place.
Here, the prayer beads emitted a faint green light, not only illuminating the passage but also repelling the poisonous insects.
With that, they could proceed without worry. All that was left was…
The rescue.
After walking for a while, a faint light appeared ahead.
It was a dim, ghostly blue light. As they approached, they found themselves in… a massive underground palace.
Or rather, the main hall of one.
Dozens of pillars stood in the hall, and within the area they enclosed, besides a pile of coffins, was a giant statue of a poisonous insect.
“What is this place…” Gong Muzhi had never expected such a strange place to exist within Qian Yue Academy.
But this wasn’t recently built. This was… a ruin!
“Ruins,” Gong Yiling frowned. “This should be the ruins of the Mingjue Sect.”
She remembered. In the book, it was Shenqi Daoist Mountain that proposed building Qian Yue Academy here.
She didn’t know if they discovered the ruins first, then built the academy, or the other way around.
If it were the former…
Then the Yin family’s scheme had been in motion for decades, if not centuries.
And what was their ultimate goal… was it as simple as reviving the Mingjue Sect?
As Gong Yiling was pondering this, she suddenly heard Qiu Shui’s cry, “Mother!”
She rushed to her side.
There, Qiu Shui’s mother lay in a coffin. But after a quick examination, Gong Yiling confirmed she was just unconscious, otherwise unharmed.
“Don’t worry. They just brought her here. They haven’t had time to do anything.” Gong Yiling gently lifted the unconscious woman and rubbed Qiu Shui’s head. “It’s alright now.”
Tears welled up in Qiu Shui’s eyes, but she forced herself not to cry.
Now was not the time to cause trouble for her master.
After they left this place, she could do whatever she wanted.
“Good girl.” Gong Yiling took Qiu Shui’s hand and turned to Gong Muzhi. “Mother, this place is strange. Let’s go.”
“Mmm… we can go.”
Gong Muzhi muttered, tilting her head and staring at the statue, frowning. “But Ling’er, I’ve noticed something very strange.”
“Strange?”
“This statue, when we came in, its insect face was facing the entrance.” Gong Muzhi pointed at the statue’s face, now facing her. “But now, it’s looking at me. Does it have multiple faces?”
Gong Yiling’s heart skipped a beat.
No… that wasn’t right!
Perhaps this wasn’t a statue at all, but…
“Run!!!”
Realizing what it was, Gong Yiling quickly pulled Gong Muzhi along and ran towards the entrance without looking back.
“That’s no statue! That’s a ferocious ancient devourer insect!”
Just as she finished speaking, the giant insect statue came to life. Although it didn’t roar, the sound of its rapid movement was deafening.
In the blink of an eye, the massive creature was before them, its gaping maw like a black hole.
But the next second, it was kicked into the distance by someone.
Followed by a shout, “Get lost! Don’t you know my Ling’er is afraid of bugs!?”
