Chapter 18: Sorrowful Skies and Hateful Earth, Two Vast and Endless Descents

  Zhang Yin-yin was heading towards Luoyang, leaving the dust behind, when Ji Ruocheng and Qingyi had just left Lixian City. They hastily departed, unaware of the several major battles that took place on Luan Mountain last night, but someone did notice.

  In the afternoon, a stout middle-aged official, surrounded by several servants, climbed to the top of Luan Mountain, looking like a rich official who came to visit the mountain.

  At this time, the spring chill was still heavy, but Mr. Yuan, due to his obesity, wore a silk shirt, and his pale face was constantly sweating. A thin servant beside him handed over a snow-white handkerchief, took the already soaked handkerchief from Mr. Yuan's hand, and put it away.

  "Is this Luan Mountain?" The official looked around in all directions.

  Next to him, a scholar-like man with a folding fan pointed and said: "This is Luan Mountain. According to the records of Lizhou City, this mountain is one hundred zhang high, clear but not steep, with three streams, where a blue phoenix once flew over and perched, hence the name Luan Mountain. Look, that's Lizhou City over there. Luan Mountain has a strong spiritual energy, it's a crucial passage between east and west, and where we are standing is a node of the earth."

  The staff nodded and praised: "The scenery here is pretty good."

  Actually, the top of Luan Mountain is cracked with earth and stones, the grass is scorched and the trees are withered, it's a scene that looks like it's been through a disaster. Where can you find any beautiful scenery? That official looked around again, pointed to a place and said: "That side has some meaning too, let's go take a look."

  Several servants and slaves hurriedly picked up the food boxes and luggage, surrounding the official as he walked in the direction he had pointed. The group of people walked for about an hour before arriving at the place the official had indicated. It was originally a natural stone platform, but it was now cracked all over and had long since been broken into pieces.

  In the center of the stone platform, there is a complete stone surface with a large patch of scorch marks on it. It looks like a giant monster with its arms stretched out to both sides. Behind the scorch marks stands a smaller, dark gray sand sculpture, about the size of a human figure, with a long tail trailing behind her. The statue has an expression of shock and horror, as if she had seen something extremely terrifying, and then froze in place.

  That official originally was just taking a glance, but in front of this sand sculpture he stopped for half a cup of tea's time, then suddenly pointed to the side and said: "That iron rod has some weight, come on, take it out for me and carry it back to make a few iron pots!"

  Several servants responded loudly and rushed to the place pointed by Yuan Wai, each of them rolled up their sleeves, clenched their fists, and rubbed their palms together. Several large hands reached out to grab a dark, thick iron rod that was exposed three feet above the ground, as thick as a bowl mouth.

  The iron rod was inserted deep into the ground, but the strength of those few family members was not small either. After a burst of energy and shouting, they managed to pull out the iron rod from the stone socket. The iron rod had a huge blade with a length of over four feet attached to one end, which turned out to be an extremely ferocious death sickle. This death sickle looked very heavy, and it took the combined strength of the four family members to lift it in front of the official.

  That outsider's face had a joyful expression, he stroked the dead scythe and laughed: "Such a big piece of iron can really be used to make several large pots! You little ones, help me carry it back!"

  The servants responded loudly and followed the official down the mountain with a high and low pace. The sour Confucian scholar followed behind the official, looking back at the sand sculpture several times, with a somewhat reluctant to part with it intention.

  With a thud, he suddenly knelt down on both knees and said: "Master Wu Shang! Are we going to let them endure the wind and rain here?"

  The moment Wen Shi's words came out, the originally joyful team immediately fell silent. The family guards' eyes shifted to one side, neither looking at Sha Ding nor wanting to see the dead scythe in their hands.

  That outsider also stopped in his tracks, looked at the literary officer with a glance, and said lightly: "My clan was born between heaven and earth, facing the wind and rain, it has been so since ancient times, what is the sorrow? The moral integrity of the Taoist sect does not cover up any traces, that is to establish prestige. Even if it is so, we might as well let Ji Hou and Chao Tai stand like this, and let them know the style of my clan! Ren Huan, you are still too impulsive."

  Ren Huang was still kneeling and couldn't get up, shouting: "But..."

  The servants outside no longer paid attention to him, wiped away a sweat and shouted loudly: "Servants, return to the mansion!"

  The family members all became cheerful and sang loudly as they escorted the official down the mountain.

  Today, there are three places of extreme darkness and danger. One is Tianxingshan, one is Mingshan, and one is the Endless Sea.

  The Tian Xing Mountain is where the heavenly punishment is carried out, connecting to the Yellow Spring below. The collision of heaven and earth occurs once every thousand years, making it a place of calamity. The Ming Shan is located in the extreme north, a place of utmost yin and coldness. This land has not even a single thread of yang energy, and when the wind passes by, all things turn to ash. It's not just ordinary people who find it hard to stay here, even those demons with slightly inferior cultivation cannot linger for long.

  Ming Mountain is not vast, but it's a thousand feet high, straight up to the sky, and perilous to the extreme. All year round, leaden clouds cover the sky, as if in the dark of night, completely invisible from daybreak to daylight. On the contrary, only at the foot of the mountain can one see a little bit of sky light.

  At the top of the dark mountain, a magnificent palace was built with black boulders. The outer wall of the palace is 10 zhang high, with nine layers stacked on top of each other, its momentum soaring into the sky, just like this extremely cold and treacherous peak.

  On the edge of the precipice of the dark mountain, there is a stone platform that extends outwards. At the other end of the stone platform is a staircase of ten thousand levels, straight up, directly connected to the highest level of the Dark Temple.

  The topmost level of the Mingdian is a grand hall, with one stone and one pillar in the hall, all made of black stone. The entire hall is solemn and majestic, with boundless dignity.

  At the far end of the great hall, there was a high platform. On the platform stood a stone chair, behind which was a seven-sided black jade screen. The screen was either carved with divine beasts or decorated with fierce creatures, including the Qilin, the Feng Huang, the Xie and the Taotie, each one different from the others. The back of the stone chair was eight feet high and one zhang wide, its entire body a deep, dark black. In the chair sat a man with a refined face, looking to be over thirty years old, propping his chin on his hand, his phoenix eyes slightly closed, as if he were dozing off.

  In the great hall, right in the center, knelt that plump and white official. The silk robe he wore was really out of place with the gloomy atmosphere of the hall. In front of him, about one zhang away, lay that dead scythe.

  The hall was deathly silent, with not even a breath audible, as if the dozens of demons standing on either side of the hall, each with their own unique attire and appearance, were mere lifeless sculptures.

  After an unknown period of time, the man in the stone chair let out a sigh and said, "No harm done, get up." His voice had a strange metallic tone that was pleasing to the ear and seemed to have a captivating power.

  But he still knelt on the ground, without any intention of getting up, and said in a low voice: "If Your Majesty does not allow me to go into battle, I will not get up!"

  The man took a deep breath, and suddenly a strange whistling sound echoed through the dark hall, as if several giant dragons were inhaling at the same time. He inhaled for an extremely long time, for a whole moment, without stopping, as if his chest could hold majestic mountains and great rivers.

  He spat out a small cluster of white mist, and his eyes finally opened.

  These eyes, profound and deep, reflect the world's myriad things, illuminating the hearts of countless people. The moment they opened, the entire dark hall lit up, as if a flash of lightning had passed through.

  His eyes slowly swept over the faces of the group of demons in the temple, and finally landed on the dead sickle. This time he stared for a long time before withdrawing his gaze, standing up straight, and walking slowly to the entrance of the grand hall, looking at the black clouds in the sky that seemed within reach, silent and speechless.

  A leaden cloud of unparalleled gloominess is slowly swirling around the dark peak. Looking at this scene for a while, one will feel dizzy and disoriented, unable to tell whether it's the sky that's spinning, the earth that's spinning, or oneself that's spinning.

  He turned around with the same rhythm as the clouds in the sky, looking at the group of demons in the hall, and said slowly: "Although I am in the imperial position, but in this underworld palace, there has never been a precedent for kneeling down first. All things are also decided by negotiation. We are called monarchs and ministers, but actually we are close friends. However, you don't want to get up from your long kneeling, is it necessary to force me to send troops?"

  Wu Shang still bowed down and said: "I, Wu Shang, do not dare, but since the Empress has returned, if I were to yield again this time, I fear it would dishearten the 100,000 armored warriors of my clan!" His words trailed off, as if there was something more he had yet to say.

  The Demon Emperor said faintly, "This one word 'endure', we have used for a hundred years. A hundred years ago, our clan's warriors were only ten thousand, the eighteen extreme lands of the world, and only occupied one place as a place to settle down. At that time, I endured because Wen Yu fell into the hands of Dao De Zong, and was also afraid of Dong Xuan True Person's Taoist magic reaching the sky. Now I still want to endure, do you think I am afraid of Zi Wei True Person?"

  Wu Shang was taken aback, and said in a low voice: "In those years, Your Majesty and Empress Wan led the eighteen generals, including myself, to fight for seven months, and finally beheaded the dark demons and conquered Ming Mountain. Later, we retreated from the enemies of the eight directions and established the foundation of our clan's prosperity for a hundred years! If it weren't for Empress Wan sacrificing herself to save us by using the Northern Emperor's sacred technique, she wouldn't have been captured by the old thief Dongxuan. My bravery is not worth mentioning compared to Your Majesty and Empress Wan. Even if Ziwei flies up to the sky, what is there for Your Majesty to fear?"

  The Demon Emperor sighed, "Matters of the past shall not be mentioned again. No harm done, I'll ask you instead: was this act of crossing borders done by our clan? Is it clearly recorded in the Three Realms' Treaty that those who cross borders can be executed?"

  The demon king asked one sentence, and Wu Sangui answered one sentence in affirmation.

  The Demon Emperor was silent for a moment before speaking: "If that's the case, then the Dao De Sect has already taken up one word of reason. What justification do we have to send troops?"

  Wu Shang was silent for a moment, then said: "But that Daoist sect is the most shameless, clearly wanting to use this to establish its dominance! There have been many cases of overstepping boundaries, why did they choose to cut off my general's momentum at this time? Your Majesty, for the sake of the loyalty of the 100,000 soldiers, please allow Wu Shang to go up Mount Moganshan alone and destroy one of the True People, so that the Daoist sect will not dare to act recklessly from now on!"

  The Demon Emperor shook his head and said, "Wu Shang, you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. How can the name of one True Person from the Dao De Sect compare to that? I absolutely do not agree with this proposal."

  In the dark hall, a sudden loud rumble was heard, and a giant demon with a height of over three zhang (about 10 meters) took a step forward, causing the entire dark hall to tremble slightly. The demon said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty! The Dao De Zong has always been narrow-minded and greedy. In my opinion, they thought that Qing Yi and Chao Xi were going to snatch the Xuan Xin treasure, but at the time of their move, they didn't know that Qing Yi was actually from Tian Xing Mountain. However, as time passed, the Dao De Zong would eventually find out. This time, when Qing Yi escaped from Tian Xing Mountain, we were indeed caught off guard and our defenses were not thorough, which led to Qing Yi falling into their hands. If Miss Qing Yi is sent back by the Dao De Zong, even if she has developed feelings for that disciple who accompanied her...

  The Demon Emperor asked faintly, "What does the Right Prime Minister think should be done?"

  "Launch a full-scale raid to capture the person. If we can't get him back, it doesn't matter... just shift the blame onto Daomuzong afterwards." The Right Chancellor stopped talking at this point.

  The demon emperor turned to look at the leaden clouds outside the palace, and after a moment, he slowly said: "In that case, what's the difference between us and the Taoist sect? If our clan also kills each other like humans, when can we create a paradise for demons in this world? This matter will not be mentioned again!"

  "But Your Majesty!" The Right Prime Minister took another step forward

  The Demon Emperor raised his left hand, stopping the Right Minister, and said calmly: "Right Minister, there's no need to worry. Think about how vast the world is, and how numerous living beings are. To say nothing of Ziwei being only a flying ascended immortal, even if he directly cultivated into a Golden Immortal, it would still not encompass all the causalities in the world. No harm done!"

  "Your Majesty!"

  "Send this dead scythe to the Endless Sea and inform them that Qing Yi has fallen into the hands of the Dao De Sect."

  The right minister was shocked and exclaimed: "Miss is actually... actually related to that person from the Endless Sea?"

  The Demon Emperor said calmly: "So, we only need to see how Zi Wei will tie himself up this time. Disperse!"

  After a while, only the Nether Emperor was left in the dark temple. He stood for a long time before returning to the back hall, climbing up the stairs and ascending to the top of the sky platform.

  The top of the temple is a hundred feet in diameter, octagonal in shape, with each corner carved with eight trigrams, filled with purple gold. The entire platform is based on black jade, engraved with mountains and rivers, and the stars and constellations are also one-to-one corresponding, with precious stones embedded on the platform to match them.

  In the very center of the rooftop, there stood a coral-carved nine-colored lotus flower. Instead of a flower bud at its core, it was a bloody heart that slowly pulsed!

  From here, looking up at the sky, the sky is within reach.

  Those endless, boundless dark clouds all took this nine-colored lotus flower as their center, rotating ceaselessly. At the center of the cloud was a strange cloud cave, from which shone an emerald green light like water, but it was impossible to see what was behind that light.

  The wind blows by.

  This gust of wind swept across the rooftop, and suddenly this once static world came to life. Mountains flew with snow, great rivers churned up waves, and in the distance, one could see the earth cracking open in the western wilderness, while whales soared through the eastern seas!

  He took a step forward and stepped onto the rooftop. For a moment, where his foot landed, mountains collapsed and the earth cracked open, destroying countless lives. Even in the wind, one could faintly hear the wails of billions of souls!

  He didn't flinch in the slightest, and walked straight up to the nine-colored lotus, gazing intently at that restless heart.

  The nine-colored lotus suddenly rose with a wisp of light mist, and in the mist, a woman's figure appeared. She wanted to hold his face with her hands, but those insubstantial hands passed through his body.

  She let out a soft sigh and said, "Yi Xuan, I know that Chao Xi is gone. This... was all destined to happen, so you don't have to be sad anymore."

  Yi Xuan raised his head to the sky, and took a deep breath. This one breath was so powerful that it caused the winds to howl and the clouds to move. Even the dark clouds in the sky were pulled down by several feet!

  "Yes, it's all predetermined... " Yixuan slowly closed his eyes and murmured: "But Yuanyu, in this life and the next, among the fixed numbers of these three lives, we only have this one child..."

  A drop of clear tears flowed out from his tightly closed eyes, crawled over his elegant face, and slowly fell onto the black jade floor, splashing into a small water flower...

  This drop of tear will also shatter the jade stage within a radius of ten zhang.

  Wen Yu let out a soft sigh, hugged Ying Xuan tightly, and said softly: "When I recover my physical body and you find the person to inherit your position, we will return to Xi Xuan Mountain and abandon these three lives' fate in the Tai Shang Dao De Palace... Let's see if that Purple Micro Old Dao can transcend us..."