Chapter 49
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The sound of hurried footsteps came from behind, and disciples of the Music Saint Sect rushed over, led by none other than Meng Yunfei, who had flown on his sword from halfway up the mountain. He exclaimed, “Master!”
In folklore, Liu Xuzhi was a rare delicate and beautiful scholar who loved elegance and abhorred violence. His favorite pastime was reciting poetry, planting flowers, and shedding tears to the moon. He once cried almost fainting when the pear blossoms on the back mountain withered overnight. Later, unable to bear to see the flowers fade, he burned his spiritual power all year round, forcing the entire mountain to bloom like spring all year round, naming it the Yanchuntai—where the Spring Banquet gathers literary stars. The main hall was named “Penglai,” and “literary star” naturally referred to himself, who excelled in qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, and flowers. But now it seems that “literary stars” may also include the various storytellers and theater troupes invited to the Yanchuntai.
At this moment, this fairyland of Penglai was already half collapsed, and Xu Shuangce’s other foot also stepped into the main hall. In his calm voice, there was a hint of terrifying spiritual power: “Come out.”
As soon as the words fell, the pearl curtain in the inner hall was lifted by the sleeve of a blue robe.
A tall, nine-cun-tall man with a face like a clock and a black face slowly walked out of the inner hall. His blue robe fluttered, and his smile was as gentle as the spring breeze. If it weren’t for the fact that his feet hadn’t had time to put on shoes, it would be hard to tell that he was the same person who had just fled barefoot:
“It’s unexpected that an old friend has come from afar. Please forgive me for the oversight! Yunfei, why haven’t you ordered someone to serve tea for Sect Master Xu?”
“…”
Both inside and outside the main hall fell into an awkward silence. After a long time, Meng Yunfei covered his face with one hand and gestured behind him with the other. Finally, the disciples breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly withdrew.
Only the four of them remained inside and outside the main hall. Xu Shuangce did not even glance at Meng Yunfei. He only said to Liu Xuzhi indifferently, “Ying Kai has already told you. Pack up and leave.”
Liu Xuzhi looked genuinely confused. “What do you mean, Brother Xu? What did Alliance Leader Ying say?” Without waiting for Xu Shuangce’s answer, he looked around in surprise as if he had just noticed that half of the hall had collapsed. “What’s going on? This place has been neglected for a long time. How can it accommodate distinguished guests!”
Then he flicked his sleeve.
A breeze swept in all directions, and the broken doors flew back to their original positions. The nearly broken beams thundered back into place, and the scattered bricks and stones flew back to the cracked walls and collapsed pillars, clearing away all the dust.
The entire Penglai Hall was renewed, and the overturned incense burner reignited with wisps of blue smoke.
The “delicate scholar” Liu Xuzhi’s black face was full of smiles as he recited happily, “The mountain is not high, but there is an immortal spirit. This humble abode is only valuable because of my virtue!”
Gong Wei thought to himself that banning the Dongting Ballad that described Music Saint as “having a face like dawn and colors like spring flowers” was probably Liu Xuzhi’s last bit of self-awareness.
“Is this the new disciple that Sect Master Xu has taken in…?” Liu Xuzhi stumbled, but it didn’t affect his joy at all. He reached into his sleeve and was about to put a string of white jade beads on Gong Wei’s wrist, even bending down to touch his head. “Brother Xu’s teachings are without distinction, and his disciples are also outstanding. Look at these lovely ears…”
Ears?
Before Gong Wei could react, Xu Shuangce beside him suddenly reached out and intercepted Liu Xuzhi’s palm, which could cover the entire top of a person’s head. Then he retracted the string of white jade beads that could be worn all the way to Gong Wei’s shoulder, and said coldly, “Liu Xuzhi.”
This was the second time since coming up the mountain that he had called Music Saint by his name. Liu Xuzhi immediately sobered up.
“A strict master and an excellent disciple, very good, very good!” Liu Xuzhi immediately withdrew his hand and stood up, his loving expression unchanged. “Yunfei, didn’t you specially prepare banquet dimsum to entertain friends? Hurry and take the little young master to play.”
Banquet dimsum.
The moment Gong Wei heard these words, his vision darkened again. Without waiting for Meng Yunfei to step forward quickly, he immediately leaned in close to Xu Shuangce’s side and solemnly said:
“It is my duty to serve Master, how could I slip away and be lazy? Senior Meng’s kindness is fully appreciated!”
Meng Yunfei’s hand, reaching out to pull him, froze in mid-air. “Uh…?”
“As long as I stay by Master’s side at all times, I am content. Senior Meng, please forgive me!”
Gong Wei leaned tightly against Xu Shuangce’s side, feeling like he was standing next to a volcano about to erupt at any moment.
Although he was extremely nervous, he knew he must not lift his head to observe Xu Shuangce’s expression at this moment. After a while, he felt Xu Shuangce move and finally release the wrist he had been tightly holding all the way, then gently pat his head twice. His tone was unusually gentle:
“You’re tired too. Don’t always stay by my side, go play by yourself.”
Xu Shuangce was unexpectedly so reasonable?
Was he being appeased?
Gong Wei felt like he had entered a new world and couldn’t be sure for a moment, hesitating, “But how can disciple leave Master…”
The low mood that Xu Shuangce had just displayed disappeared completely. He glanced at Meng Yunfei, with a kind of subtle pride in his eyes, then turned back to Gong Wei with a softened tone, “I have something to discuss with Music Saint alone. I’ll come get you later. Go.”
Gong Wei took a half step back, feeling incredulous, and took three steps out of the hall before the door closed. Just before it closed completely, he saw Xu Shuangce clasping his hands in his sleeves, looking at him with a calm and focused gaze.
Suddenly, Gong Wei felt a strange sensation rising in his heart, feeling that Xu Shuangce’s pupils must be reflecting his figure at this moment.
But then Meng Yunfei closed the door.
“Young Master Xiang….”
Gong Wei forcibly dispelled the faint unease in his heart, realizing that he had more important things to do.
He grabbed Meng Yunfei’s sleeve, rushed down the forty-nine steps of the green jade platform, and didn’t stop until he was sure that Xu Shuangce in the Penglai Hall couldn’t hear him anymore. Then he stopped and said solemnly, “Senior Meng.”
Meng Yunfei was a serious person who never pulled or pushed others around, and now he blushed slightly with embarrassment: “I have prepared the banquet, remembering that you like drunken chicken the most—”
“What am I in your eyes?” Gong Wei mercilessly interrupted him.
Meng Yunfei suddenly fell into a suspicious silence.
“Senior Meng?”
“…”
Only to see Meng Yunfei avert his gaze, his face reddening even more. He reached out and, using a spell of retrieving objects from a distance, produced a mercury mirror, then cast a spell to dispel illusions, silently handing it over, indicating that Gong Wei should take a look for himself.
In the next moment, Gong Wei finally understood why the chef at the inn felt sorry for him for being caught by the Taoist, and why Gong Wei praised his ears as cute—because they were indeed adorable.
In the mirror, he had two furry pointed ears, with a fluffy, fiery-red tail behind him, charming and cute. Xu Shuangce had turned him into a young fox demon who had just learned how to transform.
***
“Old friends come from afar, my heart is filled with joy, and my humble abode shines brightly! Come, Brother Xu, taste the hundred-year-old Golden Brew Apricot Blossom Wine that I specially prepared for you, and also try this Silver Needle Pear Blossom Tea…”
Xu Shuangce sat down, and with one sentence, he froze Liu Xuzhi, who was busy serving tea back and forth throughout the hall: “Ying Kai said that the Fuxi Qin can detect invisible obstacles underground, so he wants you to accompany me to Tianmen Pass.”
“…”, Liu Xuzhi froze for a moment, and finally couldn’t laugh anymore: “Brother Xu, the thing I hate most in my life is going out.”
Xu Shuangce stared at him without saying a word.
“I haven’t left the house for more than ten years.”
Xu Shuangce didn’t even change his posture.
With a clang, the wine jar in Liu Xuzhi’s hand fell on the table, and he slumped weakly into the chair, and the pear wood made a loud creaking sound under the strain.
“Brother Xu, I really don’t want to go out!” Liu Xuzhi, on the verge of tears, reached out, wanting to pull Xu Shuangce’s sleeve in a pleading manner: “The Tianmen Pass is near the extreme north glacier, with snow and wind all year round, and it’s constantly moving. I really don’t want to leave Penglai Hall! Brother Xu, please, please…”
Before his hand could touch the cuff of the Cangyang Sect’s leader, Xu Shuangce’s index and middle fingers pressed together in mid-air, and invisible energy pinned Liu Xuzhi in place, unable to move his fingertips forward. Xu Shuangce frowned slightly, leaned closer from above, and asked, “Tianmen Pass is constantly moving?”
Liu Xuzhi pitifully replied, “Yes.”
Constant movement meant that there was something in the depths of the earth. However, this alone did not explain much. Places with surging demonic energy or hidden demon springs would also experience frequent tremors.
The light in Xu Shuangce’s eyes was murky and uncertain, and after a while, he asked, “Alliance Leader Ying told you about Du Kaixun, right?”
Liu Xuzhi finally broke free, quickly sat up, and retracted the large fan-like hand that had been carefully maintained, not daring to touch even a corner of the Cangyang Sect leader’s clothes again. “Yes, Alliance Leader Ying said that there may be a world-destroying soldier puppet buried deep underground.”
Xu Shuangce asked, “Are there any similar legends in the Tianmen Pass area?”
Most folk legends were baseless rumors, often concealing hidden secrets that had been unknown for many years. Only during the process of dissemination did they become more exaggerated and bizarre, thus obscuring the clues to the truth.
Figures like Xu Shuangce and Ying Kai, grandmasters of the Daoist sect, with their magical powers to move stars and change fate, secluded themselves from the world, oblivious to the passage of time. However, Liu Xuzhi was an exception—Music Saint enjoyed collecting various ancient folk books and even sent disciples down the mountain to inquire about strange and unusual stories from all over, then returned to Penglai Hall to compile them into books. Therefore, he could be called the master of all kinds of legendary stories.
“If it’s a world-destroying soldier puppet, it’s truly unheard of. I’m sure I’ve never heard of anything like it under the sky.” After a moment of thought, Liu Xuzhi said, “But perhaps because Tianmeng Pass is too remote, there is indeed a legendary story in the area, different from the widely spread ones in the Central Plains.”
Xu Shuangce stared at him intently. “What?”
“The Ghost Crown Prince Welcomes His Bride.”
Once again, it was The Ghost Crown Prince Welcomes His Bride.
The air around them seemed to gradually thicken, and Xu Shuangce leaned back, saying calmly, “What’s the story?”
Liu Xuzhi explained, “The story of the Ghost Crown Prince is known to every child. It’s about him stirring up chaos in the human world, only to be suppressed by a god from the Eastern Heavens. He had to make peace and marry a female immortal who had just ascended from the military. But in the version of the story passed down around Tianmeng Pass, it wasn’t just the Ghost Crown Prince who caused the chaos, there was another figure – the God of the Northern Wall.”
“God of the Northern Wall,” Xu Shuangce repeated to himself in a low voice.
Liu Xuzhi continued, “The original duty of this God was to maintain order in the mortal world and prevent slaughter and chaos. However, he himself was extremely cold and ruthless, thinking that mortals were all dirty and insignificant like pigs, dogs, and ants. To punish the various sins committed by mortals, he decided to slaughter all his followers. This god’s ideas matched those of the Ghost Crown Prince, so the two joined forces to bring great disaster to the human world, causing countless deaths and destruction across thousands of miles of land, with numerous cities engulfed in smoke and flames.”
The fragmented land, the burning capital, and the countless people crushed into minced meat, all appeared before them again.
Xu Shuangce’s fingers tightened slightly on the armrest of his chair, and after a long silence, he asked in a hoarse voice, “Is this great disaster the Mechanical Giant?”
Liu Xuzhi: “I’m not sure about that. But according to legend, in order to stop the God of the Northern Wall, the gods of the Eastern Heavens made a bet with him: if there was a mortal in the world who could withstand being hacked to pieces without dying, and had also experienced the highest peak and the darkest depths of the underworld, then the disaster could be averted. At the same time, a heavenly calamity must be unleashed, and this person would ascend to replace the God of the Northern Wall.”
***
—–What kind of person can withstand being hacked to pieces without dying, and experiencing the highest peak and the darkest depths of the underworld?
It was the great master who fought to the death, turning himself into a fighting puppet before dying, with every limb and bone cut off, but still able to stand up with a thread of life.
Only that great master met the conditions of the bet between the two gods, so the Mechanical Giant was forever buried underground, and the extreme heavenly calamity descended, with the black-clad heavenly god stabbing angrily at the great master’s soul – because this mortal had survived the heavenly calamity, and that meant he was here to replace him!
There was silence in the hall for a moment before Xu Shuangce asked in a hoarse voice, “….Where did the replaced god go later?”
“In legend, the Ghost Crown Prince returned to the depths of the underworld, while the evil spirit of the God of the Northern Wall was sealed underground by the god of the Eastern Heavens.” Pouring himself a cup of tea, Liu Xuzhi said, “That’s why Tianmeng Pass experiences constant seismic activity. It’s all due to the resentment and malice of that god’s spirit, which has persisted for thousands of years, causing trouble every now and then.”
“What about the other parts of him apart from the evil spirit?”
“What?”
Liu Xuzhi looked up, only to see Xu Shuangce staring at him intently. “This god can’t be all evil thoughts. Surely there’s a trace of goodness, a place where people are grateful to him?”
This was completely different from Xu Shuangce’s usual indifferent tone, and it even sounded a bit urgent, almost like self-justification. Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but wonder, “Why is Brother Xu so interested in the God of the Northern Wall?”
Xu Shuangce averted his gaze and said lightly, “Just curious.”
Liu Xuzhi shook his head and smiled, “Since this God of the Northern Wall could do such ruthless and cruel things, even if there is still a good side to his soul, I’m afraid it’s negligible. Perhaps that part of the soul has been condemned and reincarnated, becoming a mortal – Brother Xu, what’s wrong with you?”
If you looked closely, Xu Shuangce’s face seemed even paler than usual, his two eyeballs appearing darker, staring fixedly and motionlessly at a floating speck of dust in the air, as if frozen.
Liu Xuzhi felt something was wrong, “Brother Xu…”
“It’s nothing,” Xu Shuangce suddenly said.
He closed his eyes and breathed a long sigh, whispering, “So that… the God of the Northern Wall was so ruthless and bloodthirsty, even if he was reincarnated as a mortal, he probably still have deep killing intent.”
Liu Xuzhi completely didn’t understand where this statement came from, so he chuckled, “Yes, it’s been several lifetimes since then. But even if this killing intent isn’t worn away for several generations, it probably won’t be eliminated!”
Xu Shuangce seemed indifferent, lost in thought. After a while, he suddenly asked, “One more thing. Did the legend mention a figure in the mirror?”
“A figure in the mirror?”
“When the Ghost Crown Prince’s wife ascended, already hacked to pieces, did the legend mention how he passed the heavenly trial?”
Liu Xuzhi felt somewhat surprised and thought for a moment, saying, “Brother Xu’s words seem to remind me of something. It does appear that there was mention of a divine treasure bestowed upon the celestial maiden when she ascended, bestowed by the Heavenly God of the Eastern Sky. However, common folk have always held fanciful notions about immortal treasures. Whether it’s the Demon Suppression Tower Gourd, the Golden Dragon Whip Iron Armor, there’s a plethora of them, so much so that I even recall hearing about the Dazzling Golden Wolf Fang Rod… At the moment, I cannot recall whether there was any mention of a Treasure Mirror.”
He glanced cautiously at Xu Shuangce’s expression and smiled, “Brother Xu, most mythological legends are far-fetched speculations and become more distorted as they are passed down orally. There’s really no need to take them seriously. They’re just fantasies.”
— Fantasies.
In Xu Shuangce’s pupils, the dimming daylight outside the window was reflected, his expression stiff and cold.
Everyone knows the story of The Ghost Crown Prince Welcomes His Bride, in which three deities appeared: the god from the Eastern Heavens quelled the chaos and returned to the heavenly realm, the ascending fairy married into Guiyuan, and the Ghost Crown Prince eventually retired to the depths of the underworld.
However, what no one knows is that behind the mythological legend, there were two hidden protagonists, unknown to anyone. One was an evil god who committed heinous crimes, and the other was a spirit immortal living in the mirror. Their names have been deliberately forgotten through generations.
Who had such omniscience and omnipotence to bury this bloody truth?
And now, who wants to unearth that sealed history again?
Xu Shuangce’s fingers tightly gripped the armrest of his chair, the knuckles bulging with blue veins.
If that black-clad evil god was reincarnated, would the mirror immortal, who once fought him to protect the mortal, also come along? Would he follow closely in every reincarnation, vigilant against the resurgence of killing intent?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind like demons, suspicions, hesitations, fears, resentments… struggling and tearing at each other, enough to drag his soul into the abyss of chaos. In this world constructed between falsehood and reality, he suddenly longed to grasp something tangible, something that could calm his soul.
Xu Shuangce exhaled a trembling breath and suddenly stood up, saying, “I need to find my disciple.”
Gong Wei hastily stood up too, “Hey, there’s no rush, Brother Xu. My disciple regards yours as a close friend and misses him dearly. Now is a good time for them to reunite…”
Xu Shuangce ignored him completely.
“Hey, Brother Xu, listen to me!” Liu Xuzhi followed after him, “Two young people talking by candlelight, how compatible they are. Why bother to disturb them, right…. Hey, Brother Xu!”
As if a sharp needle had suddenly pierced his soul, finding an outlet for the pent-up killing intent in his heart, Xu Shuangce suddenly halted and looked towards Liu Xuzhi.
But at that moment, his peripheral vision passed over the incessantly chattering Liu Xuzhi, and he suddenly saw a standing mercury mirror deep in the hall.
In the mirror, there was a vague figure.
Clad in gray robes from head to toe, even the body seemed like condensed gray smoke, hurriedly turning as if about to leave the mirror. In that instant, Xu Shuangce realized what it was–-
The ghost cultivator from Linjiang City!
“The day is already late. Why not stay for the night… Xu Shuangce?!” Xu Shuangce moved like lightning, drawing the Qingli Sword from Music Saint’s waist, his face as calm as water, and the sword light pierced through the air, shattering the huge mercury mirror into millions of pieces!
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