Chapter 40: Other Shore Demon Flower Part 2

Wang Ya glared fiercely at Wang Cheng’an, thinking, “Didn’t you see that was the demon flower sealed in the scroll?” She had nearly been sucked into dirt by that demon flower; if not for the sudden voice that saved her, she would be dead now. Thinking of that voice, Wang Ya looked around again for the “person” who made it. Nearby, besides their group of five, there wasn’t a single living soul—or even a dead spirit. Strangely, the Yellow Springs Other Shore Flowers that had lined both sides of the Yellow Springs Road earlier had all withered! Wang Ya turned to Old Tang and the others, asking, “What just happened?”

Old Tang kept a straight face and said, “We were about to ask you the same thing.”

Wang Ya shifted her gaze to Zhang Qingshui, feeling that this deadly foe of the Feng Family knew more about Feng Family matters than she did.

Zhang Qingshui gave Wang Ya a deep look, then turned to Huang Qi and asked, “Are you okay?”

Huang Qi shook her head lightly and said slowly, “There seems to be a Great Demon in Wang Ya’s body.”

Wang Ya shot Huang Qi an irritated glance and scoffed, “Zheng Yanxia, if there was a Great Demon in my body, would I have been chased into a dead end and fled to the Yellow Springs by those people?” She suddenly remembered a Feng Family heirloom that had shattered the day she was born. It was because of that heirloom that her Grandma rushed to her house that night, saved her life, adopted her, and passed on the Feng Family Inheritance. Wang Ya fell silent, a very bad feeling surging in her heart. She quietly walked to the roadside, picked up the rolled-up Yin Spirit Scroll that had fallen among the flowers.

Wang Ya didn’t understand what had happened with the sudden Other Shore Flower; it made her uneasy, stirring a strange emotion in her heart—repulsion mixed with a heartbreaking sense of life-and-death separation. She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her emotions, and slowly, cautiously unfurled the Yin Spirit Scroll.

As the Yin Spirit Scroll opened, massive Yin Qi surged out, the thick black Yin Qi mingled with vivid red light. Wang Ya felt a familiar aura emanating from the scroll, as if it would sweep over everything again—or pull her into it. Startled, she quickly rolled it back up. She put the Yin Spirit Scroll back into her crossbody canvas bag, her heart filled with extreme unease and fear.

Huang Qi walked to Wang Ya’s side and asked, “Wang Ya, are you afraid?”

Wang Ya snapped back irritably, “Can’t you see?”

Huang Qi said, “Your breathing is chaotic.”

Wang Ya replied, “The Yin Qi here is heavy; I’m short of oxygen, okay?” As she spoke, she looked at Zhang Qingshui again. “Zhang Qingshui, in a bit, I’ll take my dad straight along the Yellow Springs to the Underworld Courts to find my Grandma. I might never return to the mortal world. Tell me what you know about this scroll so I can die knowing.”

Zhang Qingshui stared at Wang Ya for a moment and said, “Wang Ya, don’t tell me you don’t know that holding this scroll lets you open the Bardo Realm and return to the mortal world from there?”

Wang Ya said, “Didn’t you see the huge demon flower inside? Didn’t you see what happened to those people earlier?”

Zhang Qingshui sighed softly. “Didn’t you notice that you completely fused with that demon flower just now?”

Wang Ya was silent for two seconds, then said, “The Yin Spirit Scroll suddenly released a powerful force, and that flower came out, desperately draining the power from my body. Just as I thought I was about to die, I suddenly heard a sigh: ‘The flower blooms for a thousand years, falls for a thousand years. Is that you returned? It is you, isn’t it?’ Then I fell to the ground.” She shrugged helplessly. She really wanted to know what was going on and where that inexplicable voice came from. Her Grandma had told her there were Other Shore Flowers in the mortal world too, a southern variety that bloomed by riverbanks and cliffs around late August. Could the ones on the Yellow Springs be different from those in the Yang Realm? Different species?

Zhang Qingshui thought for a moment. “Wang Ya, I have a hypothesis, based on what we just saw and some Feng Family legends. The Other Shore Flower is the welcoming flower on the Yellow Springs, but there’s a legend that it can connect the Three Realms. I don’t know if it truly connects the Three Realms, but through you and the Feng Family methods, one thing is certain: it can connect to the Yellow Springs. Could it be that the Feng Family Ancestor obtained an Other Shore Demon Flower that connects to the Yellow Springs and sealed it in the Yin-Yang Scroll… Yin Spirit Scroll? Then, using some method, harness its power to Open Yellow Springs? Even use its power to connect the Yin and Yang Realms? The legend that possessing the Yin-Yang Scroll allows passage between Yin and Yang Realms comes from this?” She paused, then added, “But it seems you can’t control the scroll yet?”

Wang Ya rolled her eyes at Zhang Qingshui. “The day after my Grandma’s accident, I dug it out from under the kitchen floor. Then the Ghost Family pressed me relentlessly; when did I have time to study how to use it?”

Zhang Qingshui asked, “Didn’t your Grandma tell you how?”