Chapter 201 - Mystery
Qing Yun Hill Founders Ancestral Hall, was still shrouded among the evergreen pines and cypresses, the huge figure indistinct, just that in this stillness, soon it was broken by a flurry of footsteps, a large of Qing Yun people, rushing with quick steps to this sacred ground which had worshipped generations of Qing Yun ancestors.
Looking from the outside, everything seemed still as usual but when they reached before the Founders Ancestral Hall, whether it was the bewildered TongTian Peak disciples or the anxious SuRu, all stopped shock in their tracks.
The hall surrounded by evergreen pines and cypresses, on the solemn majestic ancestral sacred ground, broken wood debris scattered everywhere, a total mess.
Outside the huge ancestral hall entrance, the original red lacquer door was totally bashed, it was even hard to tell it was the door, before the group, there was a bigger and glaring savage hole.
On the outer wall of the ancestral hall, almost all of the windows had fell off, numerous large or small holes were seen on the wall, the solemn ancestral hall was already riddled with holes, a miserable sight, only the dimness deep inside the hall, was still ignoring the faint light coming from the ruined windows and numerous holes, gently permeated the hall.
"BuYi!"
SuRu was the first to react, couldn’t be concerned on the reason why the hall was like that, rushed in, hoping to see the person she wanted to see. Master ShuiYue and Yang elder, Fan elder and the rest also rushed in.
In the ancestral hall, it looked the same as outside, too received a huge impact, the once forbidding atmosphere was all destroyed, the levelled stone slabs were all cracked, the huge glass bottles were broken. Even when the crowd went to the most sacred area, the altar table that was split into two, the place where countless of Qing Yun sect generations of ancestors’ memorial tablets were hosted, scattered all over the floor, at a glance, couldn’t tell how many tablets were broken into two or more by the mysterious great force.
But, other than this, not a single person was seen.
SuRu looked pale, her the body wavering, Master ShuiYue’s brows wrinkled, stepped up, wrapped her in her arms, whispered a few comforting words, then turned and spoke to Xiao YiCai who was behind the crowd, said, "What is going on here, and, where is DaoXuan senior brother?”
Xiao YiCai with a distressed look, until now his shock had not wear off, said, "Reporting to teacher uncle, disciple just came here and what I saw was all of these. As for teacher, for this month, he retreats almost to this hall daily, disciple really could not imagine, other than here, where could he go?"
The worry in Master ShuiYue’s eyes turned deeper and deeper, wanted to speak but stopped, and at this moment, a light sound was heard beside, everyone there was all highly-skilled and almost immediately heard the sound.
"There is someone." Yang elder quickly assessed that the sound was coming from behind that huge altar table.
SuRu who was feeling week, suddenly surprised, her eyes flashed with a hint of joy, stood straight and cried, "BuYi, is it you?”
Some of the disciples had already ran over, pushed the table over together, the altar table was passed down from some ancestor, huge and thick, extremely heavy, although those disciples had some cultivation but still needed a few of them to put their strengths together and struggled to flip the table.
After flipping it, and sure enough in the rubble under the debris, showed a figure who uttered a low moan at the same time.
Everyone overjoyed, crowded around but was surprised after a moment, the person was neither Tian BuYi or Qing Yun sect sect head Reverend DaoXuan, instead it was that Long Shou Valley disciple Lin JingYu who had been keeping vigil in the hall.
Half of his body clothes were bloodstained red, clearly also injured, and the injuries quite heavy, his face was also very pale, seemed to be still unconscious, didn’t show any reaction to the people who was kneeling beside him and calling him.
SuRu’s joy slowly faded, replaced by a bigger worry and anxiety, Master ShuiYue stood beside her, gently comforting. Yang elder’s face was ashen, looking around, Qing Yun sect Founders Ancestral Hall was the few most important sacred places, almost comparable to Illusory Moon Cave. Right now reduced to such a sight, it was really unheard of in a thousand years, and more importantly, the two most important people in Qing Yun sect, seemed to vanish with it.
"Xiao teacher nephew," Yang elder turned to look at Xiao YiCai, said, "Are you sure sect head senior brother was here?”
Xiao YiCai looked at the unconscious Lin JingYu, his expression slowly composed, pondered for a moment, said, "Yes, for this period of time, teacher really was only in this ancestral shrine, usually whenever disciple has to seek teacher for guidance or report to him, are all done here."
Yang elder obviously was feeling terribly upset, for a moment at lost.
Xiao YiCai coughed twice, slowly approached Yang elder, softly said, "Yang teacher uncle, it is not good to drag this matter, with so many junior brothers gathering here and witnessing the holy hall damaged, it does more harm than good. And from what SuRu Su teacher uncle said, teacher and Big Bamboo Valley Tian BuYi seemed to have some private matters, I'm afraid it has something to do with here, why not first let them leave, and we will decide one at a time, what do you think?"
Yang elder came to realize it, nodded again and again, then said, "I am not good at these things, sect head has always trusted you, and usually you are the one handling the affairs, now you shall make the decisions as the situation demands!" After speaking, he shook his head and sighed, walked to the side, and stood beside the white bearded Fan elder and discuss in whispers.
Xiao YiCai nodded to Yang elder, considered to have received the order, then turned and said loudly, "Various teacher uncles, various junior brothers, recently Founders Ancestral Hall here suddenly met with catastrophe, I am afraid there might be invasion from outsiders. As what is said, to mend the pen after the sheeps are lost, all of us cannot sit here and wait for death." Having said that, he raised his brows, spoke to TongTian Peak disciples, “Tai junior brother, bring ten men and immediately surround Founders Ancestral Hall, do not let anyone in, in case there is still enemy concealed here, quickly come to alert me."
A tall disciple walked out, cupped his hands together and solemnly said, “Yes.” After that, he turned and called out once, pointed to several people and immediately walked out.
At the moment the ancestral hall was all quiet, only Xiao YiCai was standing in the middle, although a few higher ranked elders were standing beside, right now it seemed that he was then the main backbone of Qing Yun sect.
Xiao YiCai called out again, “Chang junior brother!"
"Here." A person walked out, with unswerving determination on his face, it was ChangJian who brought Zhang XiaoFan and the rest up the mountain to the martial competition, once battled with Big Bamboo Valley eldest disciple Song Daren.
Xiao YiCai nodded his head and said, "Chang junior brother, now the important thing is to find teacher, with him around to preside over the overall situation, then we have nothing to fear. Although something serious seemed to have happened here, but teacher his skills surpass divinity, he is invincible, the common evildoers will definitely not be able to hurt him. You bring eighty men...no, the more the better, bring hundred and fifty men, at TongTian Peak from top to bottom search, front and rear mountain too, must not miss the slightest clue.”
ChangJian looked deeply worried, obviously he knew although Xiao YiCai made the first half of the words sounded nice, but the most important part was the last sentence, without hesitation, he replied with a deep voice, quickly gathered the crowd, and went out. Seemed like the number of people was clearly not enough, most likely he would still need to go to the front of the mountain to deploy troops.
With this large group of people leaving, the ancestral temple immediately appeared empty, roughly only a few elders and Xiao YiCai, as well as WenMin behind Master ShuiYue and finally Lin JingYu who was still unconscious.
Xiao YiCai sighed, turned to the elders and bowed, quietly said, "Various teacher uncles, today a major event happened in Qing Yun sect again, disciple made the decisions on the go, if there is any inappropriate area, various teacher uncles please reprimand."
SuRu and Master ShuiYue did not speak, Yang elder nodded and said, "Xiao teacher nephew, you do not have to be modest, you have done well just now, now what we these elders still need to do, you just go ahead and instruct, don’t have to stand on ceremony."
Xiao YiCai pondered a moment, said, "Now the situation is unknown, we still need to be careful, various teacher uncles please return to your summits, if there is any incident, each branch will at least be prepared. Just that unfortunately Lin junior brother is still unconscious, otherwise we could ask him, and we will know everything, after all, he is the only person present."
Everyone frowned, all were preoccupied, SuRu at the moment with Master ShuiYue’s comfort, also slowly calmed down, after all Tian BuYi was not around, although worried but she was still hopeful, and so was not that nervous. Listening to Xiao YiCai managing the situation, her mind was in a mess, she only hoped Tian BuYi was safe.
At this time, she looked over at Lin JingYu who was lying on the ground, suddenly frowned, softly exclaimed, "Yi!"
Master ShuiYue standing beside her, slightly taken aback said, “What is it?"
SuRu pointed a finger to Lin JingYu, said, "He seems to have something in his hand?”
Everyone was surprised, Xiao YiCai walked quickly to Lin JingYu, his body gently turned over, and indeed in his right hand under his body, he was tightly clutching a piece of rectangular black wood. Xiao YiCai stretched out to get but after pulling, the wood did not even moved, even though Lin JingYu was still unconscious, but for some reason, he was holding on tightly, did not loosened the slightest.
Everyone saw, all felt bewildered.
Fan elder walked over, turned around, suddenly said, "This board seems like a memorial tablet!”
Master ShuiYue looked carefully, nodded and said, "That’s right, it is a memorial tablet."
Xiao YiCai after spending a long time, was then able to slowly pull apart Lin JingYu’s grasping tight fingers, took out the tablet which seemed very important to him. Everyone came around, as the witness of this event, Lin JingYu valued this tablet so much, evidently it had much relation. Unexpectedly after taking a look, everyone was nonplussed, all looked at each other.
Although this piece of tablet was the same size as the rest, too painted black, but on the tablet surface which was considered finished, it was empty with no words.
This was actually a wordless tablet!
Placing it in this solemn ancestral shrine, worshipping this tablet, who was it?
And who was it that placed it together with all of the ancestors, and since put it up, why wasn’t there a name?
Lin JingYu clutching this piece of wood so tightly, even when he was seriously injured and in a coma he refused to let go, what did it all mean?
All kinds of doubts, thousand of thoughts, seemed to be lingering in everyone’s head.
Southern Border, ten thousand great mountains, Subdue Devil Ancient Cave.
Legend is a very strange thing, first of all, legend itself implied it might not be true, just that some things seemed to have a reason for passing it down, people thus passed it by word of mouth, or it could be a scholar writing it down, passing it down. Then, as the longer the legend was passed down, often the legend Itself, would gradually change, the people and things at that time, gradually became faceless, modified by countless of people and going through the mill of time, who would still remember the truth that time?
And who else still cared?
So the legend had finally became a legend, like the beautiful and gentle lady who was beautiful enough to cause the fall of a city, slowly her appearance changed in time.
Thousands and ten thousands years later, could you still recognize?
In the darkness, the Yin wind seemed to be still, savage and unbridled, it seemed to only belong to the world outside the ancient cave, and in this dark world, everything was quiet.
This was the deepest part of the cave, when Black Wood took the southern border five tribes holy vessels, the place where he resurrected the Beast Deity’s body, was here. Just that now, the once surging evil energy had disappeared without a trace, leaving only quietness, and that occasionally low breathing.
That breathing, seemed to come from the deepest darkness, a little evil dark red, and brightened up in this dark and somehow empty space.
A low roar, suddenly in the depths of darkness, in the place where the breathing was coming from, rang out, like a wild beast in his ferocity carried a deep unease, and even maybe could hear its fear, growling, angrily facing that spot of red light.
The low panting paused, it seemed something had appeased the beast in the darkness, the roars gradually getting softer, finally disappeared, silence again resumed in the cave, only that strange dark red fire, still twinkling, blinking unceasingly.
Suddenly, a woman's voice, sweet yet without any emotions, lightly echoed in the cave, “You TaoTie, seemed perpetually not to have any good feelings towards me!"
The space in this darkness, seemed really big, the woman's voice sounded like very far, drifting around, the empty spaces, only could tell that the source, was coming from behind that dark red fire.
In response to the voice, was a tranquil laughter, "You don’t have to mind, it has never believed in humans.”
The woman grunted, said, "Why, so it has finally viewed me as human?"
[Hou], a low roar, passed by instantly through, ahead where the red light was, a ball of fire suddenly lit, it was actually a primitive brazier, three legs supporting it, rusty spots, a thing that nobody knew how long ago it was, just that that fire burning in this brazier, the fire was still so bright, like the clothes on fire.
Bright, silk clothes.
Beast Deity!
He sat on the ground between the shadows of the flames and darkness, reclining on the walls of a stone platform shadows, the fire flames flickering, reflecting his face between darkness and light, he looked as usual with an inexplicable seduction feeling, but what was different this time, his face was extremely pale, it would not be enough to say he looked like dead.
Under the firelight, with him tightly together, snuggling beside him, was that strange-looking hideous evil beast TaoTie. At the moment its giant eyes wide opened, slightly grinning, showing its terrible fangs, continuously panting from the mouth, ferociously through the firelight, stared at where that red light was, which was no longer that glaring.
The Beast Deity even though he looked terrible, but he was very calm, even his mouth was still carrying a faint smile, said, "You have cultivated for a thousand year, isn’t it to become human, when I say that, you should be happy."
The woman turned silent, did not speak, but that dark red light, suddenly brightened.
TaoTie immediately alerted, growling, staring at the dark red light.
The light slowly moved, going towards where the Beast Deity was, TaoTie turned even more ferocious, and slowly stood up. Suddenly, a hand stretched over, gently patted TaoTie’s head, it then quietened down.
The Beast Deity removed his hand, looked back, that point of light had slowly flew before him, like an eye, not far ahead of him stopped, and stared at him.
Beast Deity looked at the dark red fire for a long while, suddenly laughed, "Our friendship is no less than a thousand years, although we cannot be considered sworn friends but we are at least old friends right! Besides I am seriously injured right now, why are you still so wary against me?"
That dark red fire pulsed a few times, suddenly issued a sharp whistle, retreated back extremely fast, when it passed by that brazier, even the flames was momentarily suppressed, darkness enveloped for a moment before they returned to normal, and at this moment, the dark red light had already disappeared in the darkness.
The cold voice of the woman rang at the same time and said, "I do not believe you, just like your TaoTie do not believe me.”
The Beast Deity looked ahead at that darkness, suddenly laughed out loud, "Good, good, good, well said. But I just do not understand, since we have no mutual trust, why did you want to help me?"
The woman 's voice lightly said, "Because the thing that I want, now only you can give me.”
The Beast Deity smiled and said, "Just because of this, these ugly drawings carved on the stone walls and floor?”
He waved his hand, although his smile remained but the tiredness on his face seemed to deepened.
The fire in the brazier, suddenly surged, issued a crackling sound, out of thin air it was bigger than the original several times, for a moment the light flared brightly, and the surrounding temperature, swiftly turned unbearably hot. But whether it was the Beast Deity or TaoTie, or that mysterious person concealed in the darkness, did not show the slightest reaction to these.
The fire burning, slowly expanded in the darkness, like gradually having a life, even the shape of the flames, began to slowly change, from a ball to an indistinct dragon shape.
In the dark, staring at the shape of the dragon gradually formed, the woman slowly said, "What I remembered was these ugly drawings, only these could incarcerate you for countless of years?"
The Beast Deity smiled, in the fire, no longer could tell if he was bitterly smiling, mocking, or maybe sneering…
Because the moment he was smiling, the dragon in the brazier was completted, brandishing its claws in the flame, suddenly looked up into the darkness, issued a silent roar.
Blazing heat waves almost at the same time like floodtide gushed, instantly poured from all directions, destroying everything blocking in front of it. After the sea of flames, in the blazing fire, the ground around the brazier, one by one the four drawings lit up, rugged lines, blood red color, the drawings were four different ferocious savage deities. After a moment, the left and right stone walls above the brazier, four drawings also lit up, with almost similar content.
These eight stone carvings, were identical to what Ghost Li had seen in FenXiang Valley Inferno Altar.
The Eight Savage Inferno Formation!