Chapter 191 - Surprise Appearance
Over at Zhou YiXian side, they rested and treated Wild Dog, Wild Dog after knowing he was pulled back from Hell, felt really fortunate, privately felt confused over his brave acts at that time. But whatever it was, after that, Zhou YiXian and Xiao Huan’s relationship with Wild Dog Taoist became even closer, after all they had been through life and death together, Zhou YiXian was not as cold to Wild Dog as in the past, just that he was still the same when he ordered Wild Dog to do tasks, but Wild Dog Taoist was still recovering from his injuries and instead Zhou YiXian had to do more, as such again making the old man grumbled and complained.
Xiao Huan and Wild Dog instead were still the same as before but Wild Dog Taoist looked more afraid when he was before Xiao Huan, spoke lesser to her. Although it was puzzling but Xiao Huan did not sense it, those days her attention was mostly on that strange book with black wordless cover.
Wild Dog Taoist never seen Xiao Huan read that book before, felt rather bewildered but Xiao Huan never revealed the origin of this book, Zhou YiXian also did not elaborate, as time passed, he too slowly got used to it, just that occasionally felt that Xiao Huan’s expressions, gradually turned different, seemed somehow different from the past but he was unable to put a finger to it.
X x x
The demon beasts catastrophe, started from the middle of southern border ten thousands great mountains, the first to suffer would be southern border.
The torment that those various tribes suffered, compared to Central Plains, were far more serious. Nine out of ten rooms were empty, that was almost many of the villages and towns inevitable end, even for an entire village with no survivors, that also appeared often.
After the catastrophe, the remaining small groups of demon beasts in southern border, were much more than those in Central Plains, the people who survived, had to endure the demons harassments, that kind of life was really dark days, like in an abyss of suffering.
Ghost Li in that kind of situation, once again set foot onto southern border vast land.
Along the way, he did not discover any traces of the demons but saw numerous swarms of Good Faction members, among them also including Qing Yun, Fen Xiang etc those great sects. Those people were like mad, all were looking for demon beasts but very obviously, so many of them searching but none found him.
After defeated in Qing Yun battle, the Beast Deity escaped with serious injures and as if disappeared into thin air, no one could find him. But this southern border ten thousands great mountains was still his home, no matter what, he would eventually come back right?
With that thought, Ghost Li entered southern border. With him, there were also numerous Good Faction disciples, FenXiang Valley sect back to their home ground, but for the other Good Faction disciples, naturally would not only be to eliminate the remaining demon beasts.
But no matter what, because of those people, the remaining fearless demons temporarily exercised restraint, these Good Faction disciples after all would to their best abilities, also eliminate those demons. As such, the mood in different areas of the southern border also received a boost.
Just that nobody, saw even the shadow of the Beast Deity in the southern border realm, now the only possibility, was only within that barren mountains and unruly rivers, strange and mysterious ten thousands great mountains.
In the layers and layers of dark mountains ranges, nobody knew how much secrets it concealed!
Ghost Li before entering the mountains, first went to the southern border Miao Tribe Seven Miles Cave, for no other reason than because of what the great shaman did for BiYao, he also wanted to offer sacrifices.
TianShui Stockade, Seven Miles Cave, walking along the route, the original bustling scenes were gone, tragic scenes along the way, even his hardened heart also could not help but be moved.
What was it for, that resulted in such a great calamity?
His own cultivation achieved results, in the huge waves of wickedness he stayed out of it but what about the countless of commoners who suffered? What wrong did they do, why must they suffered such calamity?
Recalling his days at Tian Yin Temple, the countless of commoners day and night prayed to the Gods and Buddhas, looking at the world, there were many much more people who also did that, prostrated in worship to the Heavens deities. But when the catastrophe came, who helped them?
And so, was there still a use for that kind of worships?
Or it should be said, it was really a response to that mysterious words which consistently appeared throughout the :
Heaven and Earth heartless, treats all living things as straw dogs?
X x x
Stepping Into Seven Miles Cave, Ghost Li sucked in a breath of cold air, this place which was once a picturesque scenery in his memory, was already devastated and ruined beyond recognition. The undulating rows of houses, almost only left broken walls, the usual crowded streets were gone, not to mention kids running around.
The number of remaining people looked to be only one or two out of ten, most were before the houses ruins, despondently trying to salvage usable things from the ruins, however, more often than not, what they could find, was only the remains of the deceased.
In the entire Seven Miles Cave, a sad and decaying atmosphere permeated the air, occasionally there was a few children, staring blankly, their eyes dazed and full of fear, and the next moment, there would be an adult appearing behind, pulling them back in.
Ghost Li slowly walked along the street, soon that attracted some of the Miao tribe people’s attention, in their eyes, thick with wary. In the unusual atmosphere, even Xiao Hui, seemed to turn much obedient, although it was still peering around.
Ghost Li secretly sighed, did not wish to see anymore, quickened his pace, straight to that altar up the mountain, as he walked further in, the surrounding houses and roads even more clearly revealed, the extent of the destructions. Ghost Li was silent, vaguely saw the traces of that fateful day when the catastrophe arrived, the countless Miao tribe warriors battling the vicious demons in order to protect the holy ground, putting up a desperate fight!
Even the air, seemed to be permeated with a faint smell of blood.
At the foot of the mountain, two young Miao soldiers stopped him. Ghost Li quietly stopped, looked at them, those two people, armed with spears and armours but they were only fifteen, sixteen-year-old boys only, even their armours, looked larger than their bodies, not knowing if those were left behind by the once heroic warriors.
"Gu lu ji ji hu?" A man asked in Miao language.
Ghost Li did not understand but surmised what he was asking, and so did not speak, only lifted his head and gestured to the mid-mountains. He did not use his fingers, because he still remembered, Miao people regarded that behavior as disrespectful.
The two juveniles were startled a moment, looked at each other, then one of them who appeared older, shook his head, the both of them did not make way. Ghost Li felt slightly anxious but really did not wish to pick a fight with the great shaman tribe people, and watching the devastating scene in the Seven Miles, he couldn’t bear to make a move.
He was silent for a long time, when the hostility in the eyes of those two teenagers increased, he sighed, turned and was about to leave.
But he had only taken a few steps when suddenly, there was a stir from the mountains, he turned around and looked, someone quickly ran down from the mountain, first spoke in Miao language to the two teenagers, the two young men nodded a few times, stood to the side, then, the person who looked to be a priest aged around forty or so, used broken Central Plains language to speak to Ghost Li,
"Hello, great, great shaman invites you up."
Ghost Li was surprised, frowned, “Great shaman?"
The man nodded, Ghost Li took a deep breath, nodded his head and followed the man up the mountain.
The cave was still there but the entrance architecture and altar, were beyond recognition, broken stones fragments, rolled everywhere. Among the rocks, there was a young Miao person, looked to be only thirty or so, wearing the great shaman robes, smiled and watched Ghost Li walked over.
His eyes, glistened faintly, like a passion of flames burning within it, completely different from the people below.
Ghost Li went before him, that young man smiled, surprisingly used fluent Central Plains language, said, “Hello, Mr Ghost Li, I am southern border Miao tribe new generation of great shamans, I have long heard of your great name.”
Ghost Li was stunned for a moment, nodded in return, before he could speak, that young great shaman had already smiled and said, "Come on in, I'll take you to see the previous great shaman."
Then he took the lead and walked into the dim cave. Ghost Li followed behind him and too slowly merged into the darkness.
The cave was still as dim, the young shaman figure wavered slightly ahead, for some reason, Ghost Li felt he looked familiar, carefully recalling, he realized the great shaman had called out this young man when he was here the last time, didn’t expected that after such a short time, he already assumed the position of the great shaman.
And like the last time, the young shaman brought Ghost Li to the hut deep within the mountain which worshipped the Dog Deity, the huge fire was still burning, emitting crackling sounds, just that that withered old figure was no longer around.
The young man stepped forward, bowed respectfully towards the Dog Deity statue and then from the statue’s mouth, took out a wooden box, respectfully placed it on the ground and spoke to Ghost Li, “Our Miao people customs, after the death of the great shaman, under the Dog Deity status, to be worshipped for a year, this is the elder’s ashes."
Ghost Li was silent, looked at the small wooden box, the box was unadorned, not a single embellishment, even the wood used, was also from the most commonly seen trees in southern border, the great shaman like numerous Miao people, laid quietly here in peace.
Ghost Li bent his body, made a deep bow.
The monkey Xiao Hui with a [zhi] sound, jumped down, ran off by itself.
The young shaman, in accordance with their customs, also bowed to return the gesture and then carefully placed the simple wooden box into the statue mouth again.
The two people beside the fire, sat on the floor, the fire reflected in their eyes, dazzling in the darkness.
Without waiting for Ghost Li to ask, the young man had already spoken, "I was the elder’s disciple, and after the terrible calamity, all of the senior priests were dead and so, I succeeded the great shaman position.”
Ghost Li silently nodded, his eyes subconsciously looked over to the Dog Deity, slowly said, "The great shaman could be said he died because of me, each time I think of that, I don’t feel good."
That young shaman bowed slightly, said, "You are wrong, teacher had said to me long before, he had reached the end of lifespan, even if he did not go to the Central Plains, he would also die, in fact it is your honourable sect who sent teacher’s ashes back, this is already our entire Miao tribe’s fortune."
Ghost Li sighed, quietly said, “These things, were done by other sincere people, it has nothing to do with me.”
The young great shaman smiled, apparently did not mind Ghost Li’s words, said, “But your visit this time to our Seven Miles Cave, I do not know what is the reason for it?"
Ghost Li said, "Actually it is not for any reason, I just wanted to offer my respect to the senior great shaman. Other than that, the calamity this time is so devastating, as for that chief culprit, I intend to pursue him, I wonder if you have any clues?"
The young shaman’s countenance changed slightly, clearly to him, Beast Deity these two words were still horrible and taboo. Very quickly he became quiet, after a long while, Ghost Li indifferently said, "You don’t have to mind, countless number of people in the world are also looking for him, and might not even find him, it is not strange that you don’t know too. I am disturbing you here, so I will take my leave first."
When he finished, he was about to get up, the young shaman looked hesitant, suddenly said, "You want to track the Beast Deity, is that true?”
Ghost Li said, “Yes."
The young shaman stared at him and said, "You can kill him.”
Ghost Li was silent for a long time, said, "I am not sure.”
The young shaman pondered for a moment, said, "Since that is so, I will tell you what I know. I do not know how to find the Beast Deity but in my tribe’s ancient legend, the Beast Deity is a devil-like monster, he cannot be killed, and only can be subdued and sealed like what our shaman goddess did thousand of years ago. In order to suppress him, you will need to remove our southern border tribes’ divine weapons from his body. The five divine weapons are the life sources of the Beast Demon, if he lose them, the Beast Demon will definitely go into a deep sleep. In addition, there is a critical point, that time when the Beast Demon was wreaking havoc, his demon powers powerful and invincible, thanks to our shaman goddess who used the mysterious formation passed down in our shaman tribe, ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation‘ and trapped it within, if you can find the formation, perhaps"
Ghost Li slowly nodded.
The young shaman thought for a moment, and said, “How to find the beast demon, I really have no idea but according to our tribe legend, when shaman goddess trapped and sealed the beast, it was deep inside the ten thousands great mountains, an ancient mountain cave named Subdue Devil Cave. And the legend also said that our goddess also turned into a stone statue, facing the ancient cave, maybe when you find such a place, there will be the beast demon’s tracks."
Ghost Li remembered it all, nodded to the young shaman, said, “Thank you.”
The great shaman smiled, and did not say anything.
When the two of them walked out of the cave, Ghost Li could not help but ask him, why he did not have grief in his eyes.
That young shaman paused, lightly said, “If I lose myself in my grief again, what will happen to the people in the Seven Miles Cave? It is not that I am not grieving, it is that I cannot be sad!”
Ghost Li after listening, was silent for a long time before he took his leave.
X x x
After leaving the cave, Ghost Li did not hurry, slowly travelled, thought long on the young shaman words, that ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation’ made him thought of another person, Xiao Bai.
That day she left in anger, and from then on there was no news of her, although with her level of skills, there was nothing much to worry about but thinking about the reason on why she left, most likely was to find that ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation’, Ghost Li felt somehow guilty.
The Sinister Orb had troubled him for many years but some time ago at Tian Yin Temple Wordless Jade Wall, he achieved enlightenment on the fourth volume of the , combining the Sinister Orb’s evil powers with Buddhist, Taoist, Evil three great sects true ways, even including the mysterious Inferno Mirror’s pure Yang power, indistinctly peeped into the source of all sects power, the Sinister Orb’s evil power to him, with his cultivation advanced improvement, it was no longer a serious concern to his life.
Just that, for some reasons, following the enlightenment at the Wordless Jade Wall, gradually got over many things, things that he never thought of in the past, also found and saw it in his memories.
Xiao Bai treated him so, most likely it wasn’t entirely all because of her relationship with BiYao?
She by herself, on the day the demon beast catastrophe was in full swing, returned to southern border to find the formation, the vast heaven and earth, and now not a single news from her. Ghost Li felt an inexplicable pain when he thought of that, just that the vast heaven and earth, he really did not know where to start finding.
Ghost Li contemplated for a long time, and finally decided to go secretly to FenXiang Valley first, for no other reason, firstly because he heard Xiao Bao once said, the formation appeared in FenXiang Valley Inferno Altar before, in that case, Xiao Bai to find this formation, most likely would go there, and even if she was not, taking a look for himself would be also good.
His mind made up, Ghost Li headed to FenXiang Valley.
FenXiang Valley was one of the three great Good Faction sects, just that in this calamity, it was the first to bear the brunt, happened to be at the entrance of the demon beasts massacre, just that although FenXiang Valley was wrecked but the disciples, nobody was hurt seriously.
However as a reputable sect of the Good Faction, with such results, inevitably they lost face, and after the catastrophe, many rumours and gossips spread around, implying FenXiang Valley disciples were cowards, as one of the leading Good Faction sect, actually did not dare to face the demon calamity by itself, instead hid behind Qing Yun sect.
Now that Qing Yun sect Reverend DaoXuan in the world’s Good Faction, was really paramount, revered with great prestige, FenXiang Valley really pale in comparison. After which crowds of Good Faction disciples entered the southern border to search for the Beast Deity, FenXiang Valley naturally would not want to lose out, but when they met, FenXiang Valley disciples had less of their arrogant attitude.
But even it was so, FenXiang Valley was after all a famous sect, coupled with the fact that their abilities were still there, although the rumours and gossips were many but nobody dared to insult them in their face. As for their valley, it was really in a mess, at least when Ghost Li sneaked in, what he saw, was this.
The original tranquil and beautiful valley, was now filled with an unpleasant burnt smell and stench, countless disciples carrying and moving different rotting garbage and bodies, some were humans, many were also animals.
Ghost Li secretly observed, after pondering for a moment, he already understood, that day when he sneaked into the valley late in the night, he was still found out, it wasn’t because the disciples were all highly-skilled, it was the many strange creatures that they reared, taking one unaware.
But Yun YiLan was able to bring most of his disciples to Central Plains, he was unable to do that for the creatures, and when the catastrophe came, those extremely brutal demons flooded through here, those creatures unfortunately were unable to escape. After a long time, their corpses decayed, adding to the stench.
But right now without those creatures, it was beneficial to Ghost Li, at least he did not have to worry in the corners of those rooms, what creature would suddenly sound the alarm, exposing him.
FenXiang Valley disciples were many but most were dispatched to search for the Beast Deity, what most Good Faction sects wanted, how could FenXiang Valley not want to. The remaining disciples, most were disgruntled and doing cleaning, even if there were some elders in the valley but like Yun YiLan, Shangguan Ce these kind of figures, they would also not patrol the valley all the time. Ghost Li without encounter any difficulties, sneaked into the valley.
At the moment it was only evening, much brighter than that time when he was here, but after sneaking in, he did not know how easy it would be.
Ghost Li after entering the valley, did not much, headed straight to the Inferno Altar direction, that day when Xiao Bai was incarcerated, that formation was also there. But the place was after all a sacred area, in such a hectic situation, Inferno altar’s security, seemed to be even more tighter than before, not knowing if it was because of Xiao Bai’s escape and outsiders sneaking in.
Just that with Ghost Li’s current cultivation, although the security was tight but Ghost Li carefully infiltrated in, finally swept into the majestic Inferno altar.
And as he expected, although the security was tight outside but nobody was guarding inside, a quick glance, the place looked to be the same as previously, the floor still had the strange dark red formation, deeply engraved on the ground, Ghost Li comprehended, this was the legendary mysterious Eight Savage Inferno Formation.
But the day when Ghost Li and Xiao Bai escaped, the magma eruption that they triggered, the damage was still faintly visible. Burnt black areas on the walls, places where the stones collapsed, even the formation on the ground, some areas were slightly deformed by the intense fire.
But if this was a commonplace, in that kind of disaster it would long be destroyed, the surrounding areas were still generally intact, it seemed like the formation using its special powers, saved this place.
Looking up, the second, third level’s secret traps had lost their effectiveness, opening like that, revealing empty, dark black hole. The entire majestic altar, reflected in the faint fire, only Ghost Li’s figure, gently wavering.
Ghost Li was silent for a long time, shook his head, went to the formation and carefully looked, saw all of the ferocious deities were still the same in his memory, portrayed very clear and lifelike, and connecting the patterns connecting these figures, were as complicated and strange. Ghost Li took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged in this formation.
Just when he was about to meditate on this legendary shaman formation, suddenly, the silent and uncanny altar, in the darkness ahead of him, a clear and reverberating woman’s laughter was heard.
Ghost Li’s countenance changed, stood up abruptly, looked up and blurted out, “Is it you, Xiao Bai”
His voice came to a halt, a figure drifted down from the top, a familiar light yellow clothing, bright and soft eyes, one look and one would be drunk in her beauty -
It was a person he would never dreamed of meeting, that girl who was rumoured to be dead in the catastrophe - Jin PingEr!
X x x
After the initial shock, Ghost Li quickly calmed down, Jin PingEr was still standing there, as if nothing had changed, her clothes, face and expression, even her lips, still had that faint and coquettish smile.
She looked at Ghost Li, smiled and said, "Hello"
Ghost Li looked at her silently, after a long time said, “Why are you here?”
Jin PingEr using her hand gently brushed her hair, the little action, as if contained infinite amorous feelings, softly said, "I am here waiting for you ah.”
Ghost Li frowned and said, "Waiting for me? For what? How do you know I will come here?”
Jin PingEr smiled and said, "Don’t tell me you have forgotten, the last time you were here, was together with me, I heard that this time you are tracking the Beast Deity, according to the southern border’s legend, in order to subdue and seal the deity, naturally the formation is required. Other than not coming here, where can you go?"
She squinted her eyes slightly, maybe there was a slight arrogant, and an unspoken seduction, smiled said, “You see, am I smart?”
Ghost Li frowned, felt that after his skills improved, with Jin PingEr’s seduction, he still felt slightly moved, he could not help but was secretly shocked. After the catastrophe, girl who was rumoured to be dead, seemed to improve in her skills instead.
Since she was not dead, then the others, the Evil Sect experts who were crushed in the calamity? Don’t tell him they did not die too?
Ghost Li’s heart was bewildered but his face still coldly said, “You still have not answered me, why are you waiting for me?"
Jin PingEr smiled coquettishly, her indifferent tone instead uttered shocking words, “I know where is the Subdue Devil Cave where the Beast Deity was sealed in, after Ghost King sect leader knew about this, he allow me to come and assist you."
Ghost Li’s body received a great shock, suddenly looked up, looked over at Jin PingEr, but her eyes were like water, her smile like flower, not a slightest unusual expression.