Chapter 51 Part 2

With a glance, Zhao Sujie saw the Dao rhythm and spirituality flowing on the sword; it was a rare treasured sword. If it had a flaw, it was the lack of the patina of age. A sword was like a jar of wine, requiring time as the whetstone. Her previous perception of Jiang Yiguang had all come from others’ words. Now seeing it with her own eyes, Zhao Sujie felt slightly relieved. Turning her head, she asked Jiang Yiguang, “Heading into the city?”

Jiang Yiguang shook her head. “No.”

Zhao Sujie asked, surprised, “Going to repair the seal? To reconnect the nodes of the grand array?” Before Jiang Yiguang could answer, she frowned again. “But that’s the responsibility of the Xuanzhen Dao Court. We’d need to register first. For non-Dao Court factions, entering the city to kill stiff corpses and liberate ghosts offers more freedom.”

Jiang Yiguang flicked her wrist, shaking her sword, a resonant clang echoing endlessly. If she entered the city, under fate’s interference, would the Ghost Cave manifest in the city center? Or would something else happen, forcing her towards the direction of the old seal? If the former… that would be a great sin. As for the latter, since the outcome would be the same, there seemed no need for detours. Moreover, the Xuanzhen Dao Court’s task assignments wouldn’t necessarily pair her with Fu Juan. Even if they had such a consideration, she could use Zhao Sujie as an excuse; that wouldn’t be impossible. Mulling it over while sizing up Zhao Sujie, Jiang Yiguang finally flashed her a brilliant smile: “Yeah, what do you say? Got the guts to come along?”

Zhao Sujie inexplicably sensed a chill. Subconsciously hugging her arms, she nodded. “What’s there to be afraid of? As long as the Xuanzhen Dao Court doesn’t mind, I’ve got nothing to fear!”

Jiang Yiguang’s smile grew even more radiant, like a bright, sparkling flame. Zheng City had transformed into a ghost domain, yet it wasn’t a true Ghost Domain. There were no ghost soldiers or ghost generals, nor a military formation. With Zhao Sujie’s cooperation, Jiang Yiguang quickly located the direction of the original seal. There, dark clouds pressed down to the earth as if the sky had collapsed, weighing on withered trees that thrust towards heaven like blades and halberds. In the wind’s howl, the faint sound of thunder and fire could be heard. Qi Flow surged like tides, spiritual energy and Yin Qi violently fluctuating.

When Jiang Yiguang and Zhao Sujie rushed forward, they saw Dao Court cultivators scattered and disoriented, and a man standing in mid-air, bound in chains, his head drooping. Chains intertwined around his limbs, piercing his pipa bones, crisscrossing his chest, and locking tightly at his waist. His wounds had no blood, and his pale face showed no pain. His ink-dark eyes, deeper than the night, held an emptiness that chilled the soul.

But more terrifying than his gaze to Jiang Yiguang was his face. Though she had already learned the news from Wang Xuanming’s words, it could not compare to the impact of seeing it with her own eyes. Zhao Sujie beside her looked utterly shocked, her gaping mouth capable of swallowing an egg. Jiang Yiguang pressed her lips tight, forcing out the two words, “Uncle Fu,” before drawing her sword!

How could someone who fell into the Ghost Domain eight years ago, sacrificed as an offering to the Ghost King, possibly still be alive?

Only… had Fu Juan seen his figure?

Jiang Yiguang’s sword flashed. Zhao Sujie reacted too, circulating her Five Energies to launch several thunder talismans. But very quickly, they understood the gap in power. Even bound head to foot in chains, the body had once belonged to Fu Changheng, a human cultivator who stood near the peak of his era. His eyes showed no emotional fluctuation. Relying purely on instinct, he unleashed Heavenly Constellation divine powers one after another: ‘Shaking Mountains and Earth’; Pointing Earth to Become Steel; Whipping Mountain Moving Rocks… Even at only twenty or thirty percent of their full might, it left Jiang Yiguang and Zhao Sujie struggling desperately, unable to cope.

Zhao Sujie squeezed out a stiff smile: “How can this be?” She had ordinary relations with Xuanzhen Dao Court cultivators and wasn’t as well-informed as Jiang Yiguang; she never expected to see “Fu Changheng” here. The sin the noble clans committed back then was now displayed before her with brutal clarity. She realized with piercing clarity that behind those lightly stated words were blood and tears, sacrifice.

Jiang Yiguang gripped her sword, teeth clenched. She spun sideways, sword light clear as autumn water tracing a faint breeze, slowly transforming into a biting gale, a freezing wind, a storm, crashing against that mighty wave of energy capable of moving mountains and seas. A series of explosions echoed without end. The chains clanked and rattled. Amidst the jangling, lines of white talisman paper manifested, revealing eerie patterns drawn in cinnabar. The baleful ghostly aura on “Fu Changheng” suddenly swelled. He reached out his right hand and slammed it downwards, instantly dispersing the sword wind that had swept before him.

Jiang Yiguang fought while retreating. Her cultivation time was too short; even against a being possessing only thirty or forty percent of Fu Changheng’s strength, she couldn’t match him. She shook her sleeve, tossing talisman beans that transformed into Yellow-Scarf Divine Soldiers upon landing. Relying on them to buy time, she planned to flee!

But fate loved to toy with people. From a spontaneously appearing rift, dense, bone-chilling ghostly Qi surged as if a giant beast had opened its mouth. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed the fleeing person along with the nearby Yellow-Scarf Divine Soldiers.

Jiang Yiguang felt a sense of weightlessness. She judged she was falling. Had she entered the Ghost Cave so soon? But there had been no warning! The thought barely formed when Jiang Yiguang hit the ground. The Yellow-Scarf Divine Soldiers that had acted as cushions lost their spirituality, leaving only two talisman beans full of cracks on the ground.

“Where is this?” Zhao Sujie’s voice rang out.

Jiang Yiguang stood up, dusting off the dirt. Uncertainly, she answered, “The Ghost King Mausoleum?”

Zhao Sujie shuddered at that. “Then are we the sacrifices?”

Jiang Yiguang: “…Can’t rule out that possibility.” She didn’t know how she’d fallen into this rift. The silent system seemed to have crashed, unable to give any indication. One after another, mermaid-oil lamps cast vague halos, illuminating the dark, deep, and gloomy corridor. Jiang Yiguang and Zhao Sujie walked along it. Scattered on the ground were arrows, and on the walls were traces of thunder and fire, as if someone had recently broken in and destroyed the tomb passage’s mechanical traps. Wondering about this, they reached the end of the corridor, and the view suddenly opened up. As bright light flooded their eyes, orderly footsteps rang out, like an army advancing. The ground trembled, and even the lamp flames flickered, as if about to be extinguished.

“A terracotta army in a burial mound?” Zhao Sujie felt a chill in her heart. Before her eyes were nearly a thousand terracotta soldiers holding sabers and halberds. It wasn’t unusual for an imperial tomb built atop a dragon vein to have burial puppets nurtured by spiritual energy, their sharpness apparent. But the most bizarre thing was: the nearly thousand terracotta soldiers were all headless. Without exception.

Who could do such a thing? Was it friend or foe?

Jiang Yiguang suddenly asked, “Headless terracotta soldiers… aren’t they like headless flies?”

Zhao Sujie was stunned and hadn’t yet answered when she saw Jiang Yiguang raise her sword and charge into the army formation like a long gust of wind, demonstrating the meaning of the word “fearless” to the extreme. But with no path forward or backward, this military formation was their only option. She cried out and leaped in as well, stepping on the Dipper steps into the formation.

If the spirituality had been complete and flawless, this terracotta army formation would have been magnificent, its soldier miasma soaring to the heavens. Pity that after the soldiers had their heads chopped off, though they could still move, their spirituality was incomplete, their forms broken—hardly capable of forming a charging “long dragon” anymore. After the terracotta soldiers were shattered by thunder and sword Qi, their purpose was finally ended, scattered into the dust of history.

The ghostly Qi roiling within the mausoleum was gradually dispelled by the long sword Qi. Jiang Yiguang sheathed her sword and looked ahead. She didn’t see new arrangements within the mausoleum; instead, she saw a group of people who had relied on their own means to righteously stride into the tomb.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and her smile abruptly froze. “Huh? Jiang Yiguang, why are you stopping?” Zhao Sujie hurried forward and patted her shoulder. Following Jiang Yiguang’s slightly stiff gaze forward, she squeezed out a smile a moment later and said dryly, “What a coincidence.” She hadn’t registered with the Xuanzhen Dao Court before entering here; they wouldn’t think she was deliberately causing trouble, would they? But the situation was beyond her control. She hadn’t wanted to fall into the Ghost King Mausoleum either.

Jiang Yiguang subtly brushed off Zhao Sujie’s hand, putting distance between them. It seemed she truly couldn’t shake off fate and avoid Fu Juan. The Xuanzhen Dao Court people didn’t move. After hesitating, Jiang Yiguang proactively walked forward. As the distance closed, the subtle changes flowing in Fu Juan’s brows and eyes became clear in her sight, and Jiang Yiguang inexplicably understood that deep, dark gaze.

—Weren’t you in Shen City?

Jiang Yiguang recalled the evening Fu Juan returned. After handing her phone back, she had remained silent for a long time. Before the Xuanzhen Dao Court people had asked if she wanted to go to Zheng City. Having already made her choice for the sake of Daoist Skill Points, her answer then had been firm and unequivocal refusal. The two words, “Not going,” how resounding they were then, and how awkward they felt now.

“It’s Jiang Yiguang and Zhao Sujie. Why are they here?”

“What are the noble clans still plotting?”

“Is the strangeness in the Ghost King Mausoleum related to them?”

…

Muttering arose from behind; the accompanying Dao Court disciples were whispering amongst themselves. Fu Juan withdrew her gaze, lowering her eyes to look at her own legs. It wasn’t that Jiang Yiguang didn’t want to come, but that she didn’t want to come with her. Jiang Yiguang was avoiding her. Actually, signs of this had long been evident.

“We fell in here unintentionally. Yiguang, right?” Zhao Sujie felt the strong need to explain. After all, in the eyes of ordinary Dao Court disciples, the noble clans’ image couldn’t be worse. She stepped forward and tugged on Jiang Yiguang’s arm, wanting her to also offer an explanation.

Jiang Yiguang shuddered and quickly brushed off Zhao Sujie’s hand. Under the other’s stunned gaze, she hurriedly explained politely, “Sorry, I was distracted just now. We were indeed—” Before she could finish, Fu Juan nodded to her, then turned and left with the Dao Court group. The word “unintentionally” drifted lightly away in the wind.

Jiang Yiguang silently watched Fu Juan’s back and let out a sigh.