Halfway up the mountain, Shi Wuduan stopped — this road led directly to the back mountain. Xuan Sect, in order to prevent peasants and hunters from accidentally barging into Cangyun Valley, had set a checkpoint there and stationed a few outer disciples to take turns standing guard. If guests came to visit, they would usually wait there while the disciples reported back to the sect.
But there was no one there.
Shi Wuduan finally realized that something was off.
The youth’s face was flushed red from rushing up the mountain. He stopped uncertainty as the glowing grin on his face faded away. Shi Wuduan gestured with his arm and the Cuibing bird landed on his shoulder. He said quietly, “How weird, how come these shixiong aren’t here today? Let’s go in and check it out.”
The guest receiving pavilion was empty, but there was a chessboard with several white and black pieces scattered on a table. From the looks of it, the players had only just begun before they’d been called away by some urgent task.
Shi Wuduan tested a teacup with the back of his hand; it was cold. Seems like they’d been gone for a while already.
Even during the ancestor-honoring ceremony at the end of the year, even if the emperor himself paid a visit to the mountain, the halfway checkpoint was still manned. Just what on earth happened for the people here to leave in a rush?
Shi Wuduan frowned as he entered the yard behind the pavilion. He didn’t see any traces of battle. Next to the front yard, there was a watering can. He picked it up and discovered it was half empty.
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.
Someone had been in the middle of watering flowers and didn’t even have time to put the can back before leaving?
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Shi Wuduan didn’t know what was going on. After a moment’s hesitation, he pushed open the door. The sight that greeted him struck him dumb.
The path to the back mountain was off the beaten track, but was very beautiful. Normally, lush vegetation flourished on both sides, almost blocking out the sky, making it cool and refreshing even in the midst of summer. The trees and bushes were fragrant and lovely. Wild flowers grew everywhere, and one could occasionally spot wild animals, that perhaps due to the protection of Cangyun Valley, had no fear of humans.
However at the moment, all the trees, flowers, and grasses lining the path had withered to death. As for animals, there wasn’t even a trace of bones. Shi Wuduan was stunned. He felt a scorching heat on his back. He retrieved his astrolabe, only to see that it was emitting a ghostly light, vaguely illuminating Shi Wuduan’s surroundings as if protecting him.
Shi Wuduan thought to himself, don’t tell me this thing really does have a spirit. He saw wisps of black mist materializing in the area beyond the green light, getting denser and denser. Shi Wuduan reached out a hand experimentally. The astrolabe quickly extended a few threads of star silk to wind around his wrist, as if to stop him. As soon a thread left the green light and touched the black mist outside it lost its luster and withered, just like the plants.
Had something happened in the back mountain?
Shi Wuduan’s heart skipped a beat, Bai Li!
He stopped hesitating and sprinted towards the back mountain.
Right as the entrance to Cangyun Valley came into view, suddenly, he heard a deafening explosion. Shi Wuduan didn’t have time to react before a tremendous force, stronger than the earthquake that broke the Six Circle Array, threw him into the air. It seemed to be a gale wind coming from the peak of the mountain, sweeping unstoppably up and down Jiulu Mountain. Shi Wuduan was like a small ant on an overturned tree, easily blown several meters away before heavily falling to the ground.
He was concussed by the impact, his vision blurred as he nearly lost consciousness.
Shi Wuduan and the Cuibing bird raised their heads simultaneously. When the Cuibing bird had seen him fall, it had been flapping about and making a ruckus, but upon looking up, it suddenly became eerily quiet.
They saw that on the peak, there were seven glowing mountain lanterns.
There were countless trees, bushes, rocks, and little paths between the mountaintop and their location. Even the sect’s towering ancestral shrine was hidden deep within the clouds and dense thickets and was completely obscured unless one walked near. But they saw the light of those seven lanterns with crystal clarity.
That peculiar light easily shone through the clouds, the boulders, the trees, the paths.
Shi Wuduan couldn’t help but grasp at his chest. Perhaps it was because he’d just fallen, but he felt faint heart palpitations, as if those were not mountain lanterns, but divine lanterns.
The light of the seven lanterns became ever brighter, and the sound of chanting filled the air. Shi Wuduan tried to find its origin, but saw nothing, as if it was a hallucination. The chant sounded vaguely sorrowful, but was at the same time cold and callous.
Like the deities of legend who resided in the ninth heaven and whose vision pierced through the mortal world, witnessing the rise and fall of eras, the turning of seas into mulberry fields, the ages of rampant chaos, that sound was cold and merciful and sighing.
As Shi Wuduan half laid on the ground, looking into the distance, there was an instant where he had the impulse to kneel, to lower himself into the dust in prostration.
The sky was lit for thousands of miles by the mountain lanterns. Heavy clouds gathered overhead. The sunlight that shone through the gaps clashed with the light of the lanterns and reflected higher and higher into the thick clouds, layer by layer, until it seemed that there was a shimmering golden-jade palace rising into the sky.
And Jiulu Mountain was the place from where the palace ascended.
A sudden flash of lightning cleaved towards the center of the ring of lamps, but their radiance was not scattered. They dimmed and brightened erratically, tainted with a sinister air.
The Cuibing bird let out a low whimper. Shi Wuduan unconsciously wiped his face, only to find that his face was wet with tears.
After some time, the light of the lanterns slowly dimmed. In the mountains, the cry of an ape broke through the silence. The cry, resounding through the empty Jiulu mountain, sounded very much like a sob. Shi Wuduan startled suddenly, clambered up from the ground, and, ignoring that he had dirt all over him, ran wildly towards the back mountain.
A torrential rain began to pour.
Thanks for the chapter<3
I’ve just discovered this story. Going great.
Keep up the good work.
Your words are so beautiful. Paints a vivid picture 🦋😍🧨
💙💙💙
Thanks for the Food!!!
Whattttt happeneeeeddd ahhhhhh