Chapter 8
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With a rustling sound, two disciples of the Medical Sect in light purple gauze robes lit Yin candles, casting a dim glow in the dimly lit mortuary.
“Sect Master Xu, please.”
The major sects of the cultivation world emphasized guarding their own territories, but the Medical Sect of the “Three Sects,” led by Mu Duozhu, claimed to adhere to the heart of saving lives while also aiming to make money, hence setting up medical clinics and mortuaries everywhere. Although it was midday outside, it was pitch black inside the room, with only four rows of green candles casting swaying halos, illuminating twenty-eight neatly arranged coffins of various sizes and shapes.
Gong Wei, like an agile fox, slipped into a corner unnoticed amidst the crowd, feeling some relief from the spasms in his chest, but inadvertently bumped into the person behind him. His shoulder was tapped, and a voice said, “What are you doing?”
Gong Wei turned his head and saw Yuchi Xiao, immediately changing his expression and covering his bandages, his face contorted in pain. “Young hero, it wasn’t intentional, spare me!”
Yuchi Xiao: “…”
Yuchi Xiao’s hand froze in mid-air, his mouth twitching slightly. After a while, he finally managed to suppress the anger that had been stuck in his throat, and asked in a low voice, “Didn’t I give you the Medical Sect’s holy medicine?! Why are you still in pain?!”
Gong Wei pitifully said, “It’s no use. I’m still hurting.”
Yuchi Xiao almost couldn’t help rolling his eyes, then raised his hand to press on Gong Wei’s left shoulder. Then, a strong surge of spiritual energy flowed in, quickly smoothing out the broken meridians affected by the Divine Sword No Way Out. The convulsions caused by the Divine Sword finally subsided completely.
Gong Wei expressed sincere gratitude, as if about to reach out to shake his hand, “Young hero, you’re such a good person, I…”
Yuchi Xiao’s hackles suddenly rose, “Watch your language and keep your hands to yourself!”
At that moment, Xu Shuangce asked, “How are the bodies preserved?”
A disciple of the Medical Sect bowed and said, “They were infused with mercury when they were brought here, and Master Yuchi used a large amount of spiritual power to prevent the bodies from decaying. Although the souls who died from dark magic theoretically cannot be summoned, we still tried several times with no success using formations. Sect Master Xu is willing to help and has unparalleled immortal power, so it will be different from us.”
Gong Wei whispered, “Look how polite they are.”
Yuchi Xiao whispered back in the same tone, “I’ll let you continue to suffer.”
Gong Wei immediately said, “Young hero, I was wrong, please don’t stop.”
Xu Shuangce slowly walked past several coffins, his lowered eyelashes concealing his expression. After a while, he placed his hand on the lid of one coffin, and a ripple-like green light quickly enveloped the entire coffin from his palm. He whispered, “Awaken!”
In an instant, all twenty-eight coffins flipped open simultaneously, causing a continuous tremor. The corpses seemed to be suspended by invisible ropes, one by one standing up from the coffins, illuminated by the eerie green light. Then, twenty-eight pairs of eyes opened simultaneously, their murky gazes all focused on Xu Shuangce!
Everyone’s scalp tingled simultaneously. Some cultivators in the front row even couldn’t help but step back. Xu Shuangce said, “Report your names.”
A woman with a strangulation mark on her neck stiffly moved, the one who had hanged herself in the Linjiang Prince’s residence, her bones emitted a rusty creaking sound as she trembled, terrifying enough to make one’s scalp tingle. Then, she bowed down regardless of her body full of mercury, “This servant is Yao Yuqing.”
Beside her, a girl in phoenix coronet and rosy clothes had a bloody hole in her throat, the wound already rotten to a blackish-green color, and when she bent down, droplets of fluid dripped down, “This servant is Yu Xiaomeng.”
The third was a white-robed young male cultivator who bent down, clasped his sword, his voice trembling with a hint of sadness, “This junior is Cheng Yuanle.”
…
Xu Shuangce’s gaze swept over each of the twenty-eight deceased until all had reported their names, then he looked back at the first flower girl. “You retired from the feast at the Royal Mansion to change clothes. Your makeup was ruined, so you combed it again in front of the mirror, isn’t that right?”
The flower girl trembled and said, “Yes!”
Xu Shuangce turned to the bride. “You waited for the groom in the bridal chamber for a long time, but he didn’t come, so you uncovered your head covering and admired yourself in the mirror, isn’t that right?”
“Yes!”
“You are a disciple of the immortal sect. Every morning, you meditate before dawn, and before meditating, you bathe and burn incense. Did you look at the mirror in the room while grooming?”
“Yes!”
…
Xu Shuangce didn’t need to ask each one individually; everyone had already realized.
The same kind of illusion technique must have the same specific conditions for activation, and all the victims had indeed done the same thing before their deaths—seen themselves in the mirror.
Some cultivators remembered the bronze mirror in their rooms and were suddenly terrified, “Could it be, could it be that as long as there is a mirror, it can, it can—”
Gong Wei whispered softly, “No, it must be a mercury mirror.”
The reason why Mirror techniques are so obscure is because they require the use of mercury mirrors. Bronze mirrors cannot accurately capture souls, and water surfaces cannot connect yin and yang, so they cannot serve as a medium for illusion techniques. Moreover, mercury mirrors, which can clearly reflect human figures, are rare and expensive, not easily obtainable by ordinary households. Therefore, among the twenty-eight deceased in the Linjiang City, all were individuals with recognizable faces and certain social status. Even if there were beautiful women with heavy yin fates in ordinary households, they would not become targets for ghost cultivation.
Yuchi Xiao whispered, “You seem to know quite a lot.”
Gong Wei glanced at him, thinking to himself that it was natural. Once Yuchi Rui quickly pulled me away from this surnamed Xu, I’ll show you how much I really know. It won’t stop until you’re kneeling on the ground calling me Uncle.
Yuchi Xiao rubbed his nose uncomfortably. “Why are you always looking at me?”
Gong Wei: “…?”
Xu Shuangce took a breath and closed his eyes. Everyone watched him nervously, and after a moment, he deeply exhaled, as if finally mentally preparing himself.
He opened his eyes and looked around at the twenty-eight beautiful corpses, asking the most crucial question: “Who is responsible for your harm?”
The spirits of the dead became restless simultaneously, as if they had a thousand words to say at once. The courtesan spoke first with a sharp voice, “It’s the Immort—”
“The Immortal Alliance—”
“The Immortal Alliance’s—”
In an instant, all the blood-curdling screams were abruptly cut off, as if someone had choked their throats. The flower girl trembled violently, clutching her neck, while the bride futilely opened her mouth to let out hoarse “ah, ah” sounds. Unable to withstand it, the servant couldn’t hold back any longer and emitted a horrifying ghostly wail, as the bodies, preserved by spiritual power, rapidly decayed and shriveled, flopping back into the coffins with a thud!
This sudden change came too fast. In the blink of an eye, the once peaceful deceased souls seemed to be controlled by invisible demonic claws, one after another transforming into rotten corpses and collapsing despondently to the ground. Xu Shuangce, with quick eyes and agile hands, pressed down on the white-robed young cultivator from before, forcefully infusing spiritual power. The creeping decay covering the bodies instantly slowed down, and the young man’s dark lips trembled as he struggled to utter a few words:
“He said he’s… the… Immortal… Alliance’s…Law Flower”
The surrounding cultivators all paled. Immortal Venerable Law Flower?
Was it really Grand Elder Gong, who had been dead for sixteen years?
The young cultivator’s soul suddenly shattered, the Yin candles around him shook wildly without wind, emitting a dazzling green light that was unbearable to look at. Then, under Xu Shuangce’s control, the body split into pieces and disintegrated into ashes, with a loud bang—
The ashes fluttered down into the coffin, with a faint crimson light shimmering among them.
Xu Shuangce bent down and picked up the object from the ashes, which turned out to be a delicate and dewy peach blossom.
“There… there’s one here too…” Someone incredulously pointed at another coffin, and others exclaimed, “There’s one here too!” “They… they all have peach blossoms!”
All the souls exhausted their spiritual power simultaneously, as if forcibly stripped from their bodies by an invisible force, reclaiming their passage to the underworld—yet they all left behind the same peach blossom!
“How could this…?” Someone shivered, “How did this suddenly happen…?”
Yeah, how? Gong Wei wanted to know more than anyone.
He introspected, realizing that besides Xu Shuangce, he hadn’t offended anyone in his past life. Even if some elders from prestigious sects didn’t like him, they only cursed him behind his back. Even if the northern aristocratic families were always against him, it was only a struggle of interests between the Immortal Alliance and various clans, with nothing to do with him personally. With his death, all grievances should have been settled.
Who would cause trouble in his name sixteen years later?
Some stole glances at Xu Shuangce’s expression, but just one look made their hearts tremble, and they dared not look again. They only heard him coldly utter two words: “Get out.”
The cultivators looked at each other, yet before they could react, Xu Shuangce’s voice became more severe: “Get out!”
Everyone was suddenly horrified, not daring to make a sound, hurriedly bowing and backing out of the mortuary. Several people almost stumbled and fell because of their hastened steps. Yuchi Xiao took a few steps with the crowd, then seeing Gong Wei standing still, he quickly pulled him and whispered in a lowered voice, reminding him, “Why aren’t you leaving yet?”
Xiang Xiaoyuan, as if awakening from a dream, paled and uttered a soft “Ah,” then lowered his head and retreated outside.
Yuchi Xiao had never seen Gong Wei in this state before and felt somewhat uncomfortable, involuntarily asking, “Is the wound still hurting? Should I ask the disciples of the Medical Sect to take another look at it for you?”
With a sudden grab, Gong Wei caught his hand, his face flushed, “Young hero, I knew you were a good person, I…”
Yuchi Xiao’s hairs stood on end, “I said no more touching—” Then, he yanked his hand back, forgetting everything else, and rushed out of the room, not daring to look back.
Gong Wei deliberately waited until he was far away before slowing down and stopping at the end. As everyone hurriedly crossed the high threshold of the mortuary, no one noticed his figure flash, hiding in the shadow behind the door like a clinging ghost.
For someone like Xu Shuangce, a contemporary powerhouse, perception of the surroundings mainly relied on Yin-Yang spiritual power, with eyesight being secondary. Gong Wei, with his extremely Yin fate, perfectly merged into the dense corpse aura of the mortuary. Even a Great Golden Immortal descending to earth might not be able to detect him. From the dim corner where he reached out into the darkness, Gong Wei looked out and saw Xu Shuangce standing amidst the encirclement of twenty-eight coffins. His profile was tall, sharp, and fierce, with his facial contours sharp, and his eyes faintly flickering with a cold light in the darkness, but his expression was unreadable.
With a crisp sound, the door was carefully closed by someone.
Xu Shuangce’s shoulders stiffened, but it might have been just an illusion caused by the flickering candlelight. His voice seemed forced out from between his teeth: “…Gong Wei…”
Gong Wei narrowed his eyes without any emotion.
“Gong… Wei…”
The trailing tone was hoarse, as if roaring angrily. Xu Shuangce drew his sword fiercely, his aura shaking the earth, and slashed down mightily!
—Boom!!
A deafening sound shook the heavens and the earth. The sword shattered the void, splitting open the boundary between life and death!
A silent roar of wind swept the world, dragging along h*llish flames like waterfalls pouring down from the sky. A blood-painted gate, towering nine zhang high, emerged from the void and stood before them with a thunderous crash. Rows of cyan-green door nails made of skull heads lined it, with a dragon’s head as the handle and countless headless skeletons clinging tightly to the doorframe, emitting a mournful wail in unison.
Xu Shuangce’s face was ice-cold, without hesitation, he swung his sword again.
This time, the nine-zhang giant gate cracked into pieces, and massive boulders flew out like rain, shattering the door frame into powder!
–A chill finally silently rose in Gong Wei’s heart. His guess was correct; Xu Shuangce indeed stayed behind alone to open this door that separated life and death—
The Gate of Guiyuan!
At some unknown time, the surroundings had changed. The mortuary was gone, replaced by the entrance to the underworld. H*llish winds rushed out from the broken Gate of Guiyuan, resembling a volcanic eruption. Xu Shuangce’s hair and sleeves fluttered, and with a clang, he firmly planted the No Way Out Sword beneath his feet.
Countless soldiers of the Gate of Guiyuan, holding eerie green torches, axes, halberds, and tridents, surged out like a tide from the gate:
“Bold intruder!”
“Who goes there?”
“The living are not allowed to enter the Yellow Springs. Who dares to trespass into our underworld!”
The weapons of the Gate of Guiyuan were as dense as a forest, reflecting a gloomy green light, surrounding Xu Shuangce in the middle. But Xu Shuangce paid no attention, his eyebrows raised slightly, seeming to have a faint sneer:
“—Get out.”
As soon as his voice fell, the ghost soldiers split apart like a sea, retreating to both sides, leaving a path in the middle. At the end of the path, eighty-eight skeletons were carrying a carriage, rushing over urgently. Sitting on the carriage was a ghost judge in a crimson python robe and a mysterious iron crown, with a figure as massive as a small mountain. However, beneath the robe was not a body, but a group of soul fumes that wailed like ghosts but couldn’t escape.
“—So it’s Immortal Lord Xu. It’s been many years, are you well?”
The ghost judge’s face was as amiable as Maitreya Buddha’s, and when he spoke, his chest was full of air, causing people’s eardrums to ring. The eighty-eight skeleton bearers all knelt down with a crackling sound, and he glanced at the messy gate surroundings, revealing a clear expression of emotion on his cyan face:
“Immortal Lord, your temper is quite good now. It’s much gentler than sixteen years ago when you swept through the Yellow Springs, slaughtered ten thousand ghosts, and even broke through the twelve mansions of the Gate of Guiyuan. Fortunately! Fortunately!”
Gong Wei’s thin silhouette hid behind the rubble, and his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitch slightly. Did Xu Shuangce really sweep through all twelve mansions of the Gate of Guiyuan back then?
Why?
Xu Shuangce stood with his sword, his expression unchanged: “Bring me the Book of Life and Death, I’m looking for someone.”
The ghost judge’s movements suddenly stopped, and his smiling face magically turned into a frowning one, sighing deeply.
“Immortal Lord, we’ve already explained it to you sixteen years ago. The soul you’re looking for is not in the underworld—presumably, the power of the No Way Out Sword is unmatched, and that person is impossible to reincarnate. They’ve long since dissipated!”
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