The only thing that could comfort Gui Yin at this moment was the fact that the water didn’t follow him into the cave.
Gui Yin walked slowly, his lungs still burning from having nearly drowned. He summoned Fenghua again and made his way slowly through. His one objective was to find a way out of the room. However, the longer he walked, the less he felt like this cave actually had an end.
For a moment, he thought about reaching for the Night Pearl again, but his instincts told him that if he illuminated the room, he would attract unwanted attention.
His brows furrowed as he walked slowly, one foot in front of the other.
As he approached the darkness, he could make out more and more shapes. There were bumps on the ground. Moss had grown over some things while others were coated by dirt. However, it was different from when the thing had been covered by another person. It looked more like the lump was made by something crawling into the ground.
Gui Yin took note of the lumps and carefully steered clear of them.
His eyes flickered towards the walls, but he still couldn’t find an exit. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Just as he was preparing to continue walking mindlessly for five hours, he felt something twitch at his feet.
His steps slowed to a suspicious stop and he slowly glanced down.
A gnarled, rotting hand protruded from the ground. It flicked against Gui Yin’s ankle and reached in his direction. Gui Yin immediately took a step back but heard a crunch.
When he looked down, he found that he had stepped onto another hand.
Gui Yin suppressed a groan as he hopped onto his other foot.
Crunch.
He moved to the side.
Crunch.
He took a step back.
Crunch.
Gui Yin pursed his lips and flew into the air. In his brief time, suspended, he got a pretty good look of what he had been standing on.
This was clearly a mass grave.
Gui Yin glanced up at the high roof and managed to find a ledge to land on. Although it was small, at least it had nothing to do with the millions of wriggling hands at the bottom. He pursed his lips and looked around from where he stood. He looked to where he assumed the other side of the cave was and was surprised to actually catch sight of something. Though, this sight didn’t fill him with reassurance at all.
There were passages. One was dimly lit while the other two were only exposed because of the lit one in the middle. While the passage on the left had various limbs, struggling to get out, the one on the right was surrounded by vines and roots. The middle one look relatively empty, but in a cave that shouldn’t have any natural lighting, the reddish light was not exactly inviting.
Gui Yin weighed the pros and cons.
The ceiling on the left looked low, so it was likely he would be grabbed. As for the one on the right, with all the vines and roots, who knew what horrors would await him once he crossed. They might even animate and drag Gui Yin down to become their fertilizer.
That left the room with the red light.
To be honest, although Gui Yin’s chances of surviving the other two rooms were slim, the middle room filled Gui Yin with the most dread.
So, the real question was whether he wanted an obvious death or an unforeseen one.
Seeing how the exposed limbs had emerged up to their knees or elbows, Gui Yin decided to choose the obvious one.
He knocked aside rotting heads as he flew towards the red passage.
The moment he entered, as if he were locking in his choice in a game, a wall immediately locked him in.
Gui Yin took a step back and looked at the hardened wall. He could hear the groans of the undead from beyond the wall, but nothing popped up on his side. He frowned slightly and turned around.
The glow had come from the red crystals lining the cave walls.
Gui Yin hesitated a moment before he took a step closer to the red crystals. He kept his hands firmly behind his back as he narrowed his eyes.
These weren’t anything he had ever seen or read about, but they gave off the disgusting smell of demonic energy.
Gui Yin took a step back and wrinkled his nose. He looked around the rest of the passageway, but there was nothing else odd about it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Gui Yin raised the crook of his elbow to his nose and mouth and let out a wheezing cough. He stumbled slightly and leaned against the least uncontaminated part of the wall as his lungs burned. He forced himself to stop coughing and made himself take several deep breaths.
However, it did little, since he was still surrounded by demonic energy.
Gui Yin rubbed his throat uncomfortably and unsteadily stood on his feet. He continued walking down the path, his mind concentrated mainly on controlling his breathing. But the longer he walked, the easier he found his breathing to get.
He looked back and frowned.
The crystals had vanished.
He lowered his head and began to quicken his pace.
During the war with Half Moon Cult, he had this feeling for most of the battles—there was always someone watching him.
It was different from the way Langxia had kept an eye on him. When Langxia was around, he could clearly feel the man’s presence, but it wasn’t intrusive in the slightest. But these new pairs of eyes were different.
They bore into Gui Yin’s soul and stripped every piece of him apart. It was suffocating and unnatural.
At this moment, Gui Yin could feel the same presence again.
His pace quickened as he ran from the invisible presence. His hair stood on their ends, but there was nothing he could do to even confront them. He just wished for the hallway to end or for a new, visible enemy to make an appearance.
But the passageways were long and winding.
Gui Yin didn’t know how many turns he had made in the past hour, but he eventually ended up in another round room.
His steps slowed to a stop and he took a step back.
The large stairs sloped downwards towards a set of double doors. Demonic energy seeped out from the cracks beneath the doors, indicating that something important laid behind them. But Gui Yin’s instinct told him to run.
It would have been one thing if he had been pursued this entire time and was running for his life, before he had accidentally stumbled upon the room that…most likely contained the furnace. But that wasn’t what had happened.
He had wandered for an hour—maybe two—in complete peace. There was nothing to bother him, except for the set of eyes that roamed all over his body. He felt thoroughly harassed, but there was no physical harm. There were no monsters. There were no ghosts. There should have been no way the labyrinth would have led him to this place on its own.
Gui Yin thought back to the voice from who knows how many hours ago.
He gulped.
He took another step back, but hit the back of his head against the wall.
He looked back and stared at the cave wall in front of him.
Incredulously, he reached up a hand and smacked it.
Solid.
Absolutely solid.
Gui Yin pursed his lips and glanced back at the doors.
“Er’lang…you’re coming, right?” Gui Yin mumbled under his breath as he took his first hesitant step down the stairs.
The wall followed him down.
With every step Gui Yin took, the wall closed in on him until he was right up against the double doors. He glanced at the wall that was right on his butt, then at the door.
Well, clearly, he had to push. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to get in.
So, with one definite breath, Gui Yin pushed the doors in.
The large double doors swung inward with a loud, deafening creak. The doors parted to reveal a room that was about the size of a ballroom. Black, marble columns extended from floor to ceiling. A long purplish carpet was rolled out from the door straight up to a wide set of stairs that led upwards to a throne. The throne was covered by a faint, gauzy curtain, and on top of the throne sat a massive statute.
Gui Yin took a step in as the doors slammed shut behind him.
To his left was a room permeating with demonic energy; and to his right was a shackled man.
Gui Yin’s heart jumped to his throat when he saw the midnight blue robes. Instincts caused him to act before he was able to think things through. He ran over to the other man, nearly sliding on his knees to get to him faster. He quickly cupped the man’s face and tilted him towards himself.
“Er—”
The name fell silent in his throat. He released the person with a jolt and immediately stood up. A low, delighted chuckle left the man’s lips. Gui Yin watched as the man rolled his neck back and looked up at Gui Yin.
“Long time no see, Lord Immortal Ninglan.”
“What are you…” Gui Yin took several steps back. He clenched his fists tightly at his side as he watched the man stand. He glared into the golden eyes and flicked his gaze over the familiar attire. “Stop imitating him.”
The familiar man chuckled. “Why? You don’t think this outfit looks good on me?”
“You’re disgusting. Why are you here, Yalun?”
“Oh,” the centipede demon smiled. “You remember me!”
Gui Yin frowned as the shackles fell away from the demon’s wrists. He let out a content groan as he rolled his shoulders back and held his arms behind his back. He glanced around.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Yalun said with a vague gesture around. “It’s probably one of the grandest altars in modern history.”
Gui Yin looked at the demon warily before his gaze flickered around.
Large, carved murals painted the walls, depicting a story that Gui Yin was not too familiar with. He could make out the beginning of the world, then the creation of the three realms, but soon, it dissolved into a story, with a golden scorpion as its centerpiece.
“Curious?”
Gui Yin dodged Yalun, who had suddenly appeared at his side. He glared at the demon and slowly looked back at the murals. “…What is this?”
“This is the depiction of the rise and fall of the Gilded Black Scorpion,” Yalun said.
“Gilded…Black Scorpion?” Gui Yin echoed. He rummaged through his mind for even a sliver of detail on the matter as he took a closer look at the murals. “That…she’s the scorpion that saved the Celestial Emperor’s son.”
“So, you’re aware of the story,” Yanlun said, a satisfied smile on his face.
Gui Yin glanced at him and looked away again. “Not particularly. But I must have come across it at some point.”
“Well, it is as you said,” Yalun said. He pointed to each corresponding mural as he spoke, “The Gilded Black Scorpion saved the emperor’s son. In gratitude, the emperor gifted the Gilded Black Scorpion a position in the celestial court. However, because the Gilded Black Scorpion had spoken out against the Celestial Emperor during the beginnings of the first Great Celestial and Ancient Demon War, she was banished.
“Following that, she called for a rebellion against the Celestials and they began to pursue after her. She eventually fell into the demonic path and her successors followed that same path.”
Gui Yin’s gaze followed Yalun as he strolled across the large hall. He remained unmoving as he listened to the man’s voice echo through the hall. His gaze flickered towards the room, spilling with demonic energy, but before he could think about moving closer, Yalun stood right in front of him again.
Gui Yin stumbled back.
“Unfortunately, the Gilded Black Scorpions are extinct now, save for one,” Yalun said.
“Why…what happened?” Gui Yin asked.
In the back of his mind, he felt that he should know the answer to such a question, but when he thought about it himself, his head began to throb.
Yalun smirked. He turned Gui Yin’s head to look at one of the last few murals. “Over there. Not too long ago, a righteous sect decided to eradicate the Gilded Black Scorpions. Not even the benevolent ones were spared.”
Gui Yin glared at Yalun and flung his hand off of his jaw. He rubbed his jaw and took a few steps back to distance them. He glanced at the mural and recognized Yunjing Pavilion’s insignia. He lowered his gaze and slowly looked back at Yalun.
“Qiao Ceng is the last of the Gilded Black Scorpions,” Gui Yin said. “…And my Shizun was the one who killed his clan.”
Yalun grinned. He took one step forward and flashed before Gui Yin again. “Smart. As always.”
Gui Yin took a step back. He averted his gaze. He suddenly felt like he needed to vomit.
“What’s wrong, A-Yin? What’s with that expression?”
“You’ve been acting like we know each other very well for a very long time,” Gui Yin said. He took a trembling breath. “Do you work for Qiao Ceng?”
“Work for him?” Yalun echoed in amusement.
Gui Yin thought about what Lin Cangyuan had said about his past relationship and glanced at Yalun. Vague memories thrummed in Gui Yin’s mind. He closed his eyes and slowly lifted a hand to press against his temple.
Yalun watched Gui Yin silently for a moment before he took a step closer. “A-Yin, you’re very cruel. I spent all these years thinking about you…but you really have forgotten me completely.”
Gui Yin clenched his jaw. “Cut the crap. You’ve already said this before. If you’re really so sad about it, then just tell me who you are.”
Yalun’s gaze cooled. His brow twitched as a slow smirk came over his face. “Then, open your eyes wide and see who I am exactly.”
Gui Yin watched as Yalun changed forms.
He was once again faced with the form Yalun had shown him when he had ambushed Gui Yin by the river. It had been dark then, and with how drunk Gui Yin had been, he hadn’t been able to get a very good look, but now that they were in this large hallway, with Ghost Fire brightly illuminating their surroundings, Gui Yin could see the man very clearly.
His eyes widened and he immediately wretched.
Something in his mind snapped.
The demon watched as Gui Yin collapsed to the ground. He took a step closer, his long robes dragging on the floor, as Gui Yin scooted back.
“What’s wrong? Does this form scare you?”
Yalun’s voice had transformed as well. His voice was now a little higher than before, with a touch of laziness mixed in with arrogance. His words were slow and dragged, like a heavy slab of concrete being pushed on a wheelbarrow.
He slowly arched a brow and smirked. As he knelt down in front of Gui Yin, his appearance changed again.
The sharpness at the corner of his eyes rounded out. His brows were not as strong, and leaned down to properly frame his face. The crimson eyes turned into a milky brown and the aggression turned into worry.
“Then, what about this appearance? This is the one you like more, right?” the sweet voice softly asked.
Gui Yin held a hand over his mouth as his stomach churned. He looked at the gentle young man in front of him and finally threw up.
The young man watched with cold eyes and sat back on the balls of his feet. “A-Yin, if this is your reaction to seeing me again after so many years, I’ll be upset.”
“You’re Qiao…Qiao Ceng.”
The young man’s cold mask split. He smiled warmly as he reached a hand towards Gui Yin. “You finally remember me, A-Yin.”
A loud slap echoed through the hall.
“Don’t touch me!”
Qiao Ceng’s finger slowly curved back into his palm. His brow slowly arched as his expression cooled once more.
“It’s that look again,” Qiao Ceng said. “Am I that repulsive?”
“Do you really not know?” Gui Yin asked, his voice shaking. He could feel a heat against the back of his eyes as he glared up at the demon. “You killed my Shizun.”
“I already said that I’m sorry—”
“You killed everyone in my peak,” Gui Yin said. “And you have the audacity to ask me if you’re repulsive?!”
A sudden rage broke out in him as the last of the seal shattered. His heart hammered against his chest as he grabbed Qiao Ceng by the front of his robes and slapped him across the face. Qiao Ceng attempted to pull back, but Gui Yin pulled him in closer again.
His red-rimmed eyes bore into Qiao Ceng as he clenched his jaw. “You used me to get revenge on my Shizun and then you killed him. You made me an accomplice.”
Qiao Ceng’s expression softened. He lowered his gaze for a moment and then raised his hands to hold Gui Yin’s wrist. “I’m sorry.”
“An apology will never be enough for this,” Gui Yin said. “Those twenty-one human lives were taken all because…because of me.”
Qiao Ceng pursed his lips. He cupped Gui Yin’s face and gently brushed away the freshly fallen tears. “Silly, how could it be because of you? I was the one who dragged them to the grave with me.”
Gui Yin’s grip on Qiao Ceng slackened. He sat back and pushed the demon’s hands away. His hand reached for his sword as he continued to glare at Qiao Ceng.
Qiao Ceng’s gaze flickered between Gui Yin and his weapon. He slowly dragged his eyes back up to meet Gui Yin’s. “Do you hate me?”
“I wish I had never met you,” Gui Yin said.
Qiao Ceng slowly smiled. “I love you too.”
!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!! im- im reeling, updating the theory (now just connections lolol) board, fuuuuuuuuuck!!!!
i love this story. i need to lie down
aaa thank you!
Okay that was just…wow 😳
thanks for reading!
Ugh, poor Gui Yin. Not gonna lie, also a few feels for Qiao Ceng’s backstory as well. Not to justify his actions! But…..
thanks for reading! LOL he does have a bit of a tragic backstory huh
THIS CHAPTER WAS SO GOOD
YASSSSSS I JUST KNEW YALUN AND QIAO CENG WERE CONNECTED… I JUST KNEW IT!!!!!!!!
I kind of suspected it tbh like – when yalun first said that gu yin already forgot him then there was a passage where it said that yalun might be qiao Cheng’s accomplice… I was like hmm if that’s it then why would yalun say that then again in the lake part yalun again said for gu yin to remember him and erlang said he was glad his dear forgot yalun so ya they are all one person/demon lol just impersonating other identity .. but now the question is how he was able to bream from the prison like whatttttttt
And also the chapter name I love you too .. didn’t match with what I was expecting ahhhh I wanted sweet moments between our babies them bamm cheng cheng confessed lol