Chapter 29
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Yuchi Rui gasped urgently, subconsciously stepping back, and finally managed to call out that name with great difficulty: “… Gong Wei.”
The Rakshasa Tower rang out with a cold clang as it was unsheathed, but the hand gripping the hilt trembled slightly, the voice carrying a hint of sadness and pleading that even he himself hadn’t noticed:
“Don’t come, Gong Wei… Don’t come any closer.”
As the words fell, the corpse crawled out of the coffin. Due to its stiff movements, it fell to one knee with a thud, then slowly stood up.
That pale and expressionless face was staring directly at Yuchi Rui.
From a young age, Law Flower Immortal didn’t like wearing crowns. With his black hair casually tied up, he exuded a relaxed and composed air. Even when doing nothing at all, his whole being seemed to be in constant motion, like lively notes dancing in the air. When he was willing to get close to someone, he was like a sweet dream, wrapping the entire world of that person in joy.
But now he was completely still.
He closed his eyes tightly, his face deathly pale, every strand of hair exuding an invisible heaviness and stiffness.
Yuchi Rui tried not to make any sound, slowly stepping back, when suddenly there was a faint click!
A stone under his heel cracked in response.
As if an invisible string in the void had suddenly snapped, the corpse suddenly looked up, staring intently at Yuchi Rui, then disappeared in the next moment.
If it were an ordinary person, they might not react in time, but Yuchi Rui had fought him many times before. His pupils contracted instantly, drawing his sword and turning around, only to see Law Flower Immortal’s corpse descending from above like a ghostly shadow. With a clang, he swung his sword open, but a hand reached for his throat!
Yuchi Rui exclaimed angrily, “Gong Wei!”
He dodged the claw with his head tilted back, and the corpse’s fingers grazed past his chin, slicing through the solid bronze wall like tofu. Yuchi Rui seized the opportunity to counterattack, but despite the Rakshasa Tower’s divine sword, the bronze walls crumbled like powder, and the entire brickwork fell like a hailstorm. However, that pale face remained ever-present, unable to be shaken off, not even a little distance could be created!
With a loud bang, Yuchi Rui grabbed the corpse by the back of its neck and threw it towards the open coffin. In the blink of an eye, his hand was empty, but when he looked back, all he saw was a white burial garment falling straight down, the corpse’s feet standing on top of the tomb passage bricks, and in an instant, they came face to face.
Yuchi Rui’s heart sank, he retreated in a hurry, and blurted out, “Sword out, law follows—”
The sword spirit suddenly awakened, soaring into the sky with a sharp whistle.
A crimson-golden aura erupted, instantly covering him with layers of battle armor, blocking the sharp claws aimed at his heart in the nick of time!
The corpse froze for a moment, its forearm instantly charred black.
Actually, a startled corpse wouldn’t feel pain or fear, and no matter what damage it suffered, it would only attack the living like a madman. However, for some reason, after this pause, the corpse suddenly gave up the attack. It flew past Yuchi Rui and rushed towards the entrance of the tomb passage.
It must not be allowed to escape!
In desperation, Yuchi Rui slashed at the corpse’s neck with his sword. Just as it seemed the head was about to be severed from the body, Law Flower Immortal suddenly turned his head, and his profile was illuminated by the sword’s edge.
—That face was so familiar, as if they had parted only yesterday.
Yuchi Rui’s sword suddenly stopped, and an uncontrollable tremor rose from his fingertips to the top of his head.
In the next moment, lightning-like pain and a crisp “crack!” occurred simultaneously. His wrist bone was snapped off by Law Flower Immortal’s palm from behind, and the Rakshasa Tower fell to the ground!
Before the scream of pain could come out, it was interrupted. The blood-red palm of the corpse firmly grasped his throat.
“…”
Yuchi Rui couldn’t make a sound, his eyes bloodshot, staring closely at the face so close to him. Countless years of youth seemed to flash before his eyes like scattered specks of light, but soon they disappeared and turned black, unable to even see the endless rows of dim candles.
“… Gong… Wei…”
His throat made a creaking sound, his left hand still clutching the corpse’s wrist, but to no avail.
In that moment, suddenly—click!
The corpse’s head drooped weakly to one side, and its neck bone was actually broken from behind.
Yuchi Rui broke free instantly, fresh air rushing into his injured throat, choking him with violent coughs, and his vision darkened. Barely able to see clearly, he saw that the person who had broken the corpse’s neck was actually Ying Kai!
“Huff… Huff…” Ying Kai was covered in blood, his breaths filled with crackling sounds due to clenched teeth. He turned his head, tightly closed his eyes, and then, in a flash, click! click! Two crisp sounds, cleanly breaking the corpse’s arms.
Then he trembled and let go.
The corpse fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
The tomb passage was silent, with only the crackling of the candles burning on both sides. After a long time, Ying Kai finally spat out a breath tinged with trembling, saying, “Seal the coffin, we’re leaving.”
“…” Yuchi Rui couldn’t speak, but nodded.
The iron stone door had long been smashed open by Ying Kai, and in the distance, there were successive dragging footsteps, indicating that the wandering corpses in the depths of the tomb were gathering again. Ying Kai personally picked up the body of Law Flower Immortal, cradling his head which was unnaturally tilted due to the broken neck, and bowed his head for a moment. He murmured softly, “I’m sorry, Zhiyu… It’s senior brother’s fault. Sleep well, okay?”
The body was lifeless, unaware.
Ying Kai’s internal organs seemed to be scorched by a red-hot iron, causing him to tremble and convulse. He took a deep breath, lifted the body, and staggered towards the nearby golden coffin.
Yuchi Rui didn’t have the courage to follow, nor the strength to stand up. He picked up the Rakshasa Tower sword in a daze, when suddenly he heard a faint sound from behind—
Puchi.
His whole body trembled, hardly believing his ears. Stiffly, he turned his head back, only to see Ying Kai’s back fixed in front of the coffin, a bloody palm protruding from under his ribs, piercing through his abdomen.
That was Law Flower Immortal’s hand.
Immediately after, the body rolled out of his embrace and fell to the ground. Its neck and arms were still bent, but with a few crisp cracks, they miraculously restored to their original state, even turning its head as if adjusting it.
“…Ying Kai?” Yuchi Rui asked as if in a dream.
Ying Kai spurted out a mouthful of blood, unable to support himself any longer, and suddenly knelt down on the ground!
“Ying Kai!”
Yuchi Rui roared angrily, rushing forward, but this time Law Flower Immortal’s movements were faster. Perhaps tired of the entanglement, in the moment when the Rakshasa Tower sword was about to strike, he opened his eyes, and his right pupil suddenly turned blood-red, reflecting Yuchi Rui’s contracted pupils directly—
The sound of the wind, footsteps, voices, and light… Everything in the world suddenly froze.
The illusion descended like a giant web, covering his face gently yet cruelly.
In the boundless silence, Yuchi Rui could only hear his heart beating in his chest, but even that sound became slower and weaker, until it was drowned out by the noisy surroundings.
“I heard that the Lord of the Sword Sect died suddenly overnight, his Qi Sea empty, and his spiritual power completely exhausted…” “How could this happen?!” “It’s a curse, a curse brought by the Sword Path!”
…
“It’s all your fault!” He heard his mother’s hysterical cries in the memorial hall, so many people couldn’t hold her back: “Why do you have such high talent? It’s all because of you that your father died! It’s all because of you!!”
“It’s not me,” he told himself over and over again, “It’s not me.”
Young Yuchi Rui crouched in the corner of the memorial hall, hugging his head tightly, trembling all over, and a devilish voice always sounded timely from the depths of his heart—Is it really not you?
If you hadn’t been born, or if your talent wasn’t extraordinary, would the curse that caused your father’s tragic death still come true?
As time passed, and seasons changed, the fire set by the old Madam of the Sword Sect when she committed suicide had already faded from people’s memories. When the Yuchi family welcomed the cry of another baby, it was many years later, and the descendants of the Yejinmen once again wore mourning clothes, with white banners hanging up and down.
“Who would have thought that two generations in a row would defy their fathers, causing such calamity!” People outside the memorial hall whispered with sighs: “Back then, the old Lord of the Sword Sect at least held on for several years, but this one drained his father’s spiritual power as soon as he was born, truly a scourge!”
“The old Lord of the Sword Sect took the wrong path in seeking enlightenment, and since then, the descendants have been connected to their fathers’ spiritual veins. The higher the talent, the sooner they would drain their father’s spiritual power…”
“It’s true that the better the son, the earlier the father dies. How can you take shortcuts in cultivation!” “Yes, yes!…”
Yuchi Rui stood in front of the coffin, gazing at the pale and calm face of his elder brother inside.
—In fact, it was a bit unfamiliar, after all, after his parents passed away, he was sent to Dai Mountain Chengshu Palace, and he hadn’t returned home much in these years.
“Lord Sword Sect Master.” A follower cautiously brought a swaddled baby and whispered, “This is the eldest young master.”
The sound of crying caught his attention. Yuchi Rui slowly turned his head, only to see the newborn baby, just a few days old, crying hoarsely, his small face red and swollen. It was difficult to see the typical features of the Yuchi family men, such as deep eye sockets and high nose bridge.
“…He’s fine.” Yuchi Rui suddenly answered the unasked question.
“The spiritual veins have already grown, just like when I was born. It’s no wonder he’s just like me.”
The follower didn’t dare to think too much about the meaning behind the words “just like me”. He knelt down on one knee without saying a word.
Yuchi Rui didn’t show any more emotions. He bent down to pick up the baby, but his movements were clumsy and awkward. After several attempts, he could only lift the swaddled baby with one hand, like a sack, and stood in front of the coffin, murmuring softly, “It’s not your fault.”
“Waa—”
“It’s not your fault.”
The baby responded with an even louder wail.
“It’s not your choice to be born,” Yuchi Rui continued as if he hadn’t heard, murmuring, “They brought you into this world without your consent. How can you blame yourself for replacing them?”
With a rumble, thunder sounded, and heavy rain poured outside the memorial hall. Countless white banners swayed in the wind like long snakes.
“Is this really what you think?” That devilishly tempting, malicious voice suddenly appeared once again: “You caused the deaths of your loved ones as soon as you were born. Are you really guiltless?”
The baby’s crying in his arms gradually changed, becoming thinner and longer, with a malicious undertone, as if countless ghosts were whispering in his ears with schadenfreude:
“Your position in the Sword Sect was clearly obtained by killing your loved ones, right?”
“If you were born a little more mediocre, wouldn’t everything be fine? Actually, you secretly rejoiced, didn’t you?”
“How dare you still be alive?”
…
With a bang, Yuchi Rui knelt heavily on the tomb ground, covering his ears with force, squeezing out words through blood-soaked teeth: “Shut up, you’re just an illusion, shut up—”
The ghosts laughed together, “Only illusions can make you hear the truest voices from your heart!”
“Pierce your ears deaf!”
“If you die, you won’t hear anything. Why aren’t you dead yet?”
…
“Shut up! Shut the h*ll up!!——”
The sinister shadows swirled, as if countless ghostly claws were pulling his soul, plunging towards the most deadly quagmire in the illusion. Yuchi Rui seemed to struggle in an endless fire, extremely painful but unable to fully wake up. He vaguely saw a familiar face looking down at him from above, it was Law Flower Immortal.
Then the ghastly corpse closed its eyes, turned around, and disappeared into the depths of the tomb passage.
The chilling wind carrying sobbing sounds grew closer, as the group of corpses that had scattered earlier gathered again, appearing in pairs and threes around the tomb chamber, gradually forming a circular wall of corpses.
They were all former grandmasters of various major sects, wearing different styles of funeral clothes, with rotting eye sockets unable to close, staring straight at the only two living people from all directions.
“…Ying Kai,” Yuchi Rui gasped heavily, the tearing sensation of the illusion and reality intertwining making him unstable, trembling as he gripped the Rakshasa Tower sword tightly, “Are you still awake?”
Not far behind, Ying Kai laid in front of the coffin, silent and motionless.
Yuchi Rui closed his bloodshot eyes heavily, and after a moment, he suddenly opened them. Ordinary cultivators would have already lost their minds and fallen into demonic possession at this moment, but he could only barely maintain consciousness by biting his tongue hard. With a clang, the Rakshasa Tower was unsheathed, and he slowly uttered each word through clenched teeth:
“Come.”
As if stimulated by the scent of the living, the corpses emitted shrill screams one after another, dragging their stiff steps as they surged forward!
—-Just at this tense moment, a cheerful melody came from the end of the tomb passage.
It came too abruptly, like a sudden breeze blowing through the thick stench of corpses. At first, Yuchi Rui’s initial reaction was that he misheard, but then a figure truly appeared in the tomb passage, slender and not yet fully grown, hands behind his back, curiously looking around; like a young boy just out of school, humming a tune.
Was it an illusion?
Only in an illusion could such an unpleasant song be heard, right?
Actually, the melody itself was very familiar to Yuchi Rui, but the newcomer was so tone-deaf that not a single note matched the tune. What was terrifying was his earnest effort – the harder he tried, the more off-key he became. Yuchi Rui, already mentally strained, was pushed to the brink by this fox-like voice, and the breath he had just managed to hold back was suddenly stimulated into a surge of blood rushing to his head, causing him to collapse to the ground and cough up a mouthful of blood!
Then, the rapidly approaching zombies stopped in their tracks, one after another, standing still as if suddenly entering a trance-like state.
What just happened?
Yuchi Rui’s mind was no longer capable of comprehending, and he saw the densely packed zombies swiftly retreating into the distance, as if receding like a tide, leaving the area completely empty!
Gong Wei rushed forward in a few strides, finally stopping the terrifying singing voice, which was almost like a masterpiece of the netherworld. He supported Yuchi Rui, his eyes filled with excitement and tears, “Ah Rui! Who hurt you like this?! Where’s my senior brother? Senior brother! What happened to you!”
Gong Wei was about to rush to check on Ying Kai from the wreckage, but suddenly his arm was tightly grabbed by Yuchi Rui. With eyes red and moist, his gaze blurred, but driven by a strong instinct, he managed to squeeze out a few words:
“Too… too terrible…”
“…” Gong Wei said coldly, “Yuchi Rui, haven’t seen you in sixteen years, don’t force me to slap you as soon as we meet.”
Yuchi Rui couldn’t distinguish whether what he saw was another layer of illusion or not, and stumbled to the ground.
The illusion cast by the corpse just now was powerful enough to be fatal. Even if it were replaced by a Golden Core cultivator, they would have died long ago. Yuchi Rui’s nails deeply pierced into the muscles of his palm, fresh blood flowing along his fingers, just barely maintaining the last trace of consciousness:
“Quick, go… call someone…”
“Gong… Law Flower Immortal…”
Gong Wei was busy pulling Ying Kai out of the ruins, panting heavily, “Yes, it’s me. Let me express my joy of reunion with you later, okay?”
Yuchi Rui coughed up another mouthful of blood, and after a pause, he suddenly completed the second half of the sentence in a fragmented manner, “Law Flower Immortal… corpse… ran away…”
Gong Wei couldn’t believe his ears, and his movements suddenly stopped abruptly. After a long while, he turned back with an incredulous expression.
In the distance, among the golden array, four huge dark golden coffins were arranged in a circle, and the third one was conspicuously wide open, empty inside.
“…” Gong Wei couldn’t believe it, “Was the corpse earlier mine?”
Even if the soul had reincarnated, how could the corpse still move? And how could one corpse cast an illusion to make Yuchi Rui fall for it, and then escape from under Ying Kai’s nose? What kind of logic was this?
Gong Wei slowly cast his gaze on the gruesome sight of his senior brother and friend on the ground, and finally a belated sense of guilt rose in his heart.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He rubbed his hands nervously, awkwardly saying, “I’ll go get myself back and press myself into the coffin, don’t worry.”
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I’m sorry, that last line was just….ahahahahahaha! It was such a solemn scene right until then!
Hilarious! Thanks for sharing the translation.
I hope YK is okay! GW hasn’t even properly united with his friends yet and they’re already this hurt. (╯︵╰,)