Chapter 139 - Broken-hearted Man
Majestic Fox Mountain, Ghost King Sect Headquarters.
It had already been three days since the great shaman’s death, Qing Long tasked men to cremate the elder’s body and kept the ashes in an urn. The blue and white porcelain small urn right now was sitting quietly on the table beside his hand.
Qing Long stared long at this urn and then gently sighed, shifted his eyes away. For the past three days, all of the affairs in Ghost King Sect were handled by Qing Long and YouJi, after that unfortunate event three days ago, Ghost King and Ghost Li both hid in their own rooms and until today, had not emerged.
Qing Long could still remember clearly, three days ago, when that heavy stone door opened slowly with a yawn, two men walked out, the two men who feared nothing, looked like they had lost their souls, their expressions dazed and forlorn.
Ghost King fared better, quietly said, “For three days, I will not be disturbed!” after speaking, he walked straight to his room and never came out.
As for Ghost Li, he was beside himself, did not speak a word and only walked on, until he walked right into a stone wall, blood flowed from his forehead. And him, seemed to be totally oblivious to it, turned around, stumbled and fell on his way to his room.
The group was dumbfounded at the sight and more or less guessed the outcome but when they looked into the stone chamber, the chamber flooded with blood and the great shaman who had died while sitting upright in the pool of blood with his head hung down, that tragic scene shocked them.
Only BiYao, who was as before, her expression peaceful and lifelike, lay on that ice stone platform and the HeHuan Bell in her hands was glowing with faint golden light.
Footsteps sounded beside, broke Qing Long’s thoughts, he looked up, YouJi’s apparition-like figure, drifted in and stood beside him but she did not look at him and instead glanced at the room behind him and quietly said, “Sect Head has not emerge?”
Qing Long shook his head, quietly said, “It has been three days, not a single news.”
YouJi’s face black veil slightly swayed, she remained silent.
Although they did not witness what had happened but the both of them could imagine that forlorn scene.
In this world, if there was anything that could be even more anguish than despair, was when one saw hope and that hope was right in front of him, you again sank into despair!
When both of them faced each other and had no words to say, suddenly the door behind Qing Long emitted a light sound.
The door, slowly opened.
Qing Long and YouJi were shocked and quickly turned around.
The simple plain wooden door opened inwards, making a light and heavy sound of [zhi ya], adding a feeling of the past vicissitudes, maybe it was relating to its owner’s sorrow.
One foot, from that room, lightly stepped out. Ghost King’s figure, slowly appeared before them.
Qing Long and YouJi silently looked at, that man who seemed a lifetime ago.
Three days a head full of grey hair!
Ghost King’s hair, had all turned snow-white.
Qing Long’s voice for some reason, suddenly turned hoarse and uncertain, even when he heard it, he also had doubts that the voice was his,
“Sect...Head, are you alright...alright?”
Ghost King’s lips twitched but did not speak, he closed his eyes and slightly tilted his head up, inhaled deeply.
YouJi, beneath her veil, suddenly said, “Sect Head, you must take care of your...body.” At the end of her words, for some reason, she suddenly thought of BiYao, her voice choked.
Ghost King’s shoulder trembled slightly but very quickly it subsided, when he opened his eyes again, although sorrow and the past vicissitudes were still etched on his face but his eyes, already had a faint gleam.
The gaze that seemed to see through the world’s vicissitudes.
“I looked to have, aged quite a lot!” He spoke one sentence, his lips moving slightly, a faint smile, but in it, full of anguish.
Qing Long and YouJi at the same time looked down, could not bear to look at this man again.
Ghost King once again, inhaled deeply, let out the air in his chest, his eyes turned and then landed on the table beside Qing Long’s hand, that porcelain small urn.
“In this is…” he faintly asked.
Qing Long stepped forward, took the urn and passed to Ghost King, said, “After the great shaman passed away, subordinate boldly made the decision and crementated the elder’s body, in this small urn are his ashes.”
Ghost King quietly took the small urn, both of his hands gently caressed it for some time, sighed slightly and said, “This great master although did not save BiYao but in spite of his infirm body, exhausted all of his strength and gathered all of BiYao’s souls. Although in the end all was in vain but he was our benefactor.”
He passed the urn back to Qing Long, said, “Go and prepare, with our holy sect formal rites, respectfully send the great shaman back to southern border.”
Qing Long took over the porcelain urn, nodded and said, “Yes.”
Ghost King after a pause, said, “How about Ghost Li, how is he?”
Qing Long hesitated for a moment but YouJi had already spoke, “After coming out from the cold stone chamber, he looked totally devastated and beside himself, he stumbled back to his room and never came out again.” She paused for a while and quietly added, “Till now, it has already been three days.”
Ghost King’s face was somber, he slowly clasped his hands behind him, after a long time quietly said, “Ten years of grief, all surfaced overnight! Ai, let’s go, let’s go take a look at him.”
After speaking, he walked unhurriedly with his hands behind his back, Qing Long and YouJi glanced sideways at each other and then quietly followed behind.
Looking from the back, Ghost King’s head of grey hair, his figure seemed strangely desolate.
Ghost Li’s room was quite a distance from Ghost King’s residence but nearer to BiYao’s cold chamber. This was because Ghost King did not wish to grieve further and so stayed far from where his daughter was, and for Ghost Li, he would visit BiYao almost every day if he was in Majestic Fox Mountain.
When the three of them passed through the corridors and neared Ghost Li’s room, Qing Long and YouJi clearly noticed something different with Ghost King’s body, not knowing was it because he was again, coming near that sad place.
But both of them, nobody said a word.
Finally, they arrived at that lonely stone door, where Ghost Li resided, the area was deserted, he had always prefered reclusiveness. Just that at a far distance outside his door, a Ghost King Sect disciple stood there.
Ghost King walked forward, opened the stone door and walked in, and was stunned. Qing Long and YouJi noticed something was amiss and went in to take a look, the room was empty, not only Ghost Li was not in there, even Xiao Hui was missing. The room’s furniture looked untouched and nothing was out of place, only the bed looked messy.
Qing Long frowned, turned and called out, the Ghost King Sect disciple who was standing outside the door ran in hurriedly, kneeled and said, “Greetings to Sect Head!”
Ghost King turned and looked, Qing Long spoke softly beside him, “Subordinate these few days other than handling the sect affairs, was stationed outside Sect Head’s room door waiting, as for here, had instructed some disciples to carefully watch over.”
Ghost King nodded slightly, turned and spoke to the disciple, said, “Where did vice leader go?”
The Ghost King Sect disciple was clearly in awe of Ghost King, even his voice was trembling, said, “Replying to to Sect Head, vice leader shut himself in his room for three days and nights, not a stir. Just when subordinate was starting to worry, he suddenly walked out this morning with that grey monkey and left straight.”
Ghost King was surprised, Qing Long frowned and said, “Where did he go?”
That disciple bowed his head down and said, “Disciple followed vice leader and saw him walking out of the mountain and then flew off, disciple saw his facial expression, it was very frightening and so did not dare to go forward and ask, instead came back here and waited…”
A flash of anger went past Qing Long’s face, Ghost King suddenly with an exclamation, walked forward a few steps and picked up a sealed letter from the top of the bed, with a glance, passed to Qing Long and said, “It’s for you.”
Qing Long was surprised and took it, indeed it was Ghost Li who had wrote to him, bemused, he glanced at Ghost King, saw his expressionless face looking away, frowned and tore open the letter.
The letter was not that long and very quickly he finished reading it, a dark look appeared on his face, he quietly said, “Sect Head.”
Ghost King indifferently said, “What is it?”
Qing Long said, “In the letter, he requested me to take the trouble of sending the great shaman’s ashes back to southern border Miao Tribe Seven Mile Cave.”
Ghost King shook his head slowly, suddenly sighed and said, “Forget it, forget it!”
Qing Long looked perplexed, Ghost King instead turned and spoke to the disciple, “You may go.”
That person, as if receiving a pardon, kowtow heavily three times and hurriedly retreated.
Qing Long looked at Ghost King, said, “Sect Head, that Ghost Li…”
Ghost King glanced at the empty room, a melancholy look in his eyes, after a long time turned around, without any word to Qing Long and YouJi, quietly walked out, a deep low voice was faintly heard from his back figure,
“All are broken-hearted people…”
X x x
Southern border, FenXiang Valley.
The Good Faction big sect which had been having a series of unforeseen events, had another shocking news this day, in a blink of an eye, spread throughout the entire valley. From deep within FenXiang Valley, seven drumbeats were heard from the Celestial Drums inside ‘TianXiang Residence’ , resounding far and near, signifying the day where the FenXiang Valley valley master Yun YiLan would emerge from his seclusion.
All of the FenXiang Valley disciples moved to stand in position, nobody dared to drawl, in FenXiang Valley main hall, ‘Mountain River Hall’, with ShangGuan Ce, LuShun at the front, Li Xun and the rest of the disciples behind, filed before the hall, patiently waiting.
In the crowd, the most conspicuous was the lady standing beside Li Xun, it was YanHong. Not long before on the night when the nine-tailed celestial fox escaped from the Inferno Altar, ShangGuan Ce saw through the fake YanHong and also revealed that the person was Evil Sect HeHuan Sect Jin PingEr. However, the real YanHong was only found three days ago in one of the FenXiang Valley building cellar.
This was of course that day, Jin PingEr, using some strange magic to control YanHong and hide her in a location like that. For the past few days FenXiang Valley men went out in full strength and searched the nearby big and small mountains but left out the buildings in the valley. And they only discovered YanHong when one of the disciple, because the valley was short of a certain herb, went to the cellar where the herbs were kept and thus found YanHong, if not nobody knows how long more would the poor girl have to wait in the cellar.
After suffering for the past few days, YanHong looked wan and sallow but for now, nobody was paying attention to her, every one of them was watching the side door of the hall, according to tradition, Yun YiLan after seclusion would walk out from there to meet them.
Foremost in the crowd was ShangGuan Ce, still dressed in black, his expression composed, just that the people were unable to detect deep inside his eyes, indistinctly had some unusual gleams.
To him, in the past few years, every time this valley master Yun YiLan his senior brother meet him, a folding screen always separated them and his voice weak and breathless, becoming weaker and weaker recently, initially he could not believe it too but not long ago, he was gaining affirmation in his heart, this senior brother who had always suppressed him, seemed near his end.
Unexpectedly the Celestial Drum in TianXiang Residence rang out like thunder, rooted him on the spot, Yun YiLan actually ended his seclusion!
Could it be that he was really practising his skills in seclusion and not concealing something?
ShangGuan Ce’s heart was restless, perturbed.
And behind ShangGuan Ce, standing foremost from the younger disciple generation was Li Xun, his eyes could not hide his excitement. All along, he was Yun YiLan’s most favourite disciple and even more the God’s favoured guy in FenXiang Valley. Several years ago, Yun YiLan suddenly went into seclusion and did not give any hints prior to his decision, since then shut himself off from the world.
Although Li Xun thought Yun YiLan especially favoured him and was one of the only two with ShangGuan Ce who was allowed to see Yun YiLan but maybe of Li Xun’s young age and cultivation level, Yun YiLan handed FenXiang Valley affairs to ShangGuan Ce, as such Li Xun’s status seemed to be demoted.
However now that Yun YiLan once again was coming out, the power play naturally changed, he was still the valley master’s favourite disciple, the undisputable candidate for the next valley master, the weightage of his words therefore were not the same. And the most important was, just yesterday, which was the night before Yun YiLan ended his seclusion, a clandestine meeting took place with him and Yun YiLan and he knew beforehand that his mentor was going to end his seclusion.
And following his mentor’s emergence, his long-desired wish could finally come true. Once he thought of it, Li Xun’s dashing face could no longer contain his excitement.
ShangGuan Ce’s body moved and then slowly turned around, that young teacher nephew was standing slightly behind him and although he tried his best to maintain his composure but that happiness and excitement seething in him was not after all someone his age and experience could conceal, and not even more before ShangGuan Ce’s eagle-like gaze which could see through the world emotions.
“Hei…” He sneered in his heart, quietly muttered to himself, “Young man, the path that you have to travel, you still do not know how long it is!”
Just when everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts, suddenly the melodious sound of the drums, like coming from beyond the highest heavens, hovered in the main hall. ShangGuan Ce and the rest spirits were boosted, arranged their clothes and appearances, looked towards the side door.
A red figure flashed, one person’s figure slowly emerged, fiery red clothes which had traditionally been the FenXiang Valley valley master’s attire, representing the esteemed fire sect’s beliefs.
Without feeling the fire’s heat and without any dazzling light but for some reason, a flash of red through the crowd’s eyes and all without exception had an inexplicable feeling, a ball of red fire walking unhurriedly towards them.
And when the crowd recovered and looked clearly at the figure in that ball of red light, everyone including ShangGuan Ce who had always been composed and now exclaimed quietly in disbelief.
The person who was approaching, was a middle-aged man who looked to be at most forty plus, a head full of soft, brightly-coloured red hair untied, flowing carefreely at his shoulder, giving off a hint of dissolute feeling.
Everyone looked at each other, several years ago before Yun YiLan went into seclusion, everyone clearly remembered that he was already an infirm old man, his hair were all grey but right now this person was much younger than that Yun YiLan and his skin bright and smooth, not a single wrinkle could be seen.
However the shape of this person’s face was clearly Yun YiLan, especially ShangGuan Ce, more than anyone he was with Yun YiLan the longest and could affirm that this was what Yun YiLan looked like when he was young but looking at that appearance, it surpassed the graceful demeanour during his youth. With the astonishing appearance, none could speak.
Yun YiLan instead seemed nonchalant, swaggered into the hall, in front of the crowd, his eyes piercing. He looked at them then suddenly smiled, his voice completely different from the aged voice in the secret chamber, clear and pleasant, said, “Why, don’t you all recognize me this valley master?”
Everyone shook, Li Xun was the first to react, prostated and loudly said, “Disciple respectfully welcome teacher out of your seclusion, congratulates teacher on the successful cultivation of the true way!”
The people were immediately jolted awake, each quickly paid obeisance, the shock in ShangGuan Ce’s eyes gradually faded away and he also bowed his head.
Yun YiLan evidently looked well, his mood was even better, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, alright, all of us have not met for a long time, let’s get up and talk.”
The crowd acknowledged and all started to stand, Yun YiLan smiled and looked at them, lastly at ShangGuan Ce, said, “Junior brother, these few years you have to stand in and take care of the valley affairs, you must be tired of it right?”
ShangGuan Ce shook his head, smiled and said, “When senior brother is not around, it is what me as a junior brother should do, however the incident a few days ago in Inferno Altar, I…”
Yun YiLan suddenly laughed loudly, interrupted his words, said, “The past matter, why does junior brother has to brood on it, the days are still long, let’s take our time to discuss.”
Surprise flashed past ShangGuan Ce’s face but he did not comment further, only lowered his head and said, “Yes.”
Yun YiLan glanced at the crowd, saw the revered and shock look in their eyes, evidently his body which had turned back time was really a shock to them.
Just that he did not offer more explanation, turned and asked Li Xun, “Recently is there any problem in the valley?”
Li Xun stepped forward and respectfully said, “This morning, Reverend DaoXuan of Central Plains Qing Yun Sect brought us a letter, said it was a reply to teacher’s letter a few days back.”
While speaking, his face was composed but it was different on ShangGuan Ce’s face, during the period when Yun YiLan was in seclusion, all matters in FenXiang Valley was handled by him. The letters communicated with Qing Yun Sect Head was naturally an important matter but he was not aware of it. And the arrival of the reply this morning was somehow intercepted by Li Xun secretly, clearly Yun YiLan senior brother did not want him to meddle in this matter.
ShangGuan Ce felt his anger boiled but his face looked normal as usual, the unusual expression flashed past.
Yun YiLan nodded and took the letter from Li Xun, assessed it and saw the writings on the letter: To be personally read by FenXiang Valley Yun YiLan.
Sender: Qing Yun Sect DaoXuan paying his respect.
It was indeed Qing Yun Sect Reverend DaoXuan’s writing, Yun YiLan smiled and tore opened the letter, took out a thin paper and read it once, the smile constantly on his face.
At the end, he nodded slightly, paused for a moment and kept the letter well in his bosom, loudly spoke to the crowd, “We will end it here, all of you to go back and prepare, not long after I will lead the outstanding disciples of FenXiang Valley and enter Central Plains to pay a visit to Qing Yun Sect and Tian Yin Temple, to discuss the world’s important plan!”
Everyone was surprised, it had been a long time since FenXiang Valley entered the Central Plains in force, unexpectedly just when the valley master emerged from his seclusion, he gave this important instruction. Yun YiLan had always been revered and the valley men did not think twice, after paying their respects, they left and went to prepare. Only Li Xun was asked to remain.
The rest of them left, leaving only Yun YiLan and Li Xun in the hall. Li Xun smiled and said, “Teacher, what skills did you exactly practise during your seclusion that could have such amazing effect?”
Yun YiLan smiled and said, “This is the special skill handed down by our FenXiang Valley ancestors, in the future when your cultivation is enough, don’t you think I won’t pass it down to you?”
Li Xun was surprised but saw the smile and warmth in Yun YiLan’s eyes, as if it contained some deep meaning, he gave a thought and felt overjoyed, quickly prostrated and said, “Disciple thank teacher’s great kindness and will definitely not let teacher down!”
Yun YiLan smiled and supported Li Xun up, appraised him, sighed and said, “Your constitution is excellent and is an exceptional talent for cultivation but you are young and arrogant, your mind is still impulsive, you will still have to grab the opportunity for yourself, diligently practise more and you can become a man of great talent.”
Li Xun nodded in succession, said, “Thank you teacher for your guidance. Oh right, teacher, you asked me to stay, is something the matter?”
Yun YiLan said, “That’s right, I want you to make a trip to Central Plain first.”
Li Xun was stunned, said, “Central Plains? To where?”
Yun YiLan indifferently said, “Qing Yun Hill. I will write a reply later, you will set off immediately and give this letter personally to Qing Yun Hill Reverend DaoXuan’s hands.”
Li Xun nodded and said, “Yes.”
Yun YiLan paced to and fro and said, “After Reverend DaoXuan reads the letter, most likely he would ask you to stay for a few days at Qing Yun Hill, you don’t have to reject, stay a few days at Qing Yun and I will come along shortly with the others.”
Li Xun nodded but felt perplexed, said, “Teacher, this urgency to enter Central Plains, is it any important thing?”
Yun YiLan smiled and said, “Isn’t this because of that matter you have begged me for a long time!”
Li Xun was shocked and then joy broke out on his face, he immediately again kneeled down and loudly said, “Thank you teacher for granting.”
Yun YiLan shook his head and smiled, said, “Alright, alright, you can go back first to prepare and come back later to get my letter, and then head off straightaway.”
Li Xun excitedly acknowledged and strided out.
After the young disciple’s figure disappeared, the smile on Yun YiLan’s face slowly disappeared, he turned to the south, facing the ten thousands great mountains and gazed afar, after a long time, he suddenly spoke with a sneer,
“Since you want to come out, I will let the whole world come and stop you. Want me to take on this burden alone, hei hei, I am not that foolish!”