Chapter 244 - Extraordinary Treasure
Ghost Li did not speak, the house descended into silence.
The next moment, Puhong Master in a slow voice spoke, “Junior brother, you are aware of the cause and consequences of this matter, I will not mention it further. Today patron Ghost Li is here to borrow a treasure from our Tian Yin Temple to save someone.”
Pude Master was still watching Ghost Li, his gaze from the initial shock, slowly turned gentle, evidently towards Ghost Li, Pude Master and Puhong Master felt differently about him, after hearing Puhong Master’s words, Pude Master’s expression unchanged, hoarsely said, “What treasure?” although Pude Master’s words were somehow still stammering but most of it flowed smoothly.
Puhong Master glanced at Ghost Li, sighed and said, “He wish to borrow the Qian Kun Reincarnation Plate.”
Pude Master was stunned, his withered face again changed, clearly he was very shocked by it.
Ghost Li walked up, sincerely said, “Masters, disciple’s friend for ten years her soul is trapped in the strange object, no difference from a living dead person, disciple has not passed a day without my heart in pain, even if it’s a one in ten thousandth chance disciple dare not give up, I implore both masters benevolence, if disciple’s long-cherished wish is fulfilled and disciple's friend is saved, disciple is willing to work like an ox and horse to repay both masters’ kindness.”
Puhong Master and Pude Master both placed their palms together and chanted, Puhong Master said, “Patron please don’t be like this, we don’t deserve it.” Pude Master after the initial shock, was back to being composed, his brows frowning, said, “Will like to ask patron, Qian Kun Reincarnation Plate in our humble temple, how did patron come to know about it?” Ghost Li’s face revealed a difficult expression and he looked at Puhong Master.
Puhong Master with a bitter laugh, said, “Junior brother, I have already asked patron Ghost Li about this but according to patron Ghost Li, the senior master who told him about this secret, refused to allow him to reveal his identity. Senior brother me is unable to decide, thought that since you have always been the one safeguarding Qian Kun Reincarnation Plate, therefore came here to disturb junior brother’s seclusion and seek your opinion.” Ghost Li then understood why Puhong Master and Faxiang brought him here to see Pude Master, seemed like this mysterious treasure was really exceptional, it was actually personally safeguarded by one of the four great holy monks for several decades, could it be that it really had special power and could save Biyao? With such thoughts, Ghost Li couldn’t help but feel his body burning up, both of his hands clenched tightly into fists. The house right now was in silence, everyone’s gaze was on the silent Puhong Master, he was looking down, seemed to be contemplating something, watching his expressionless face, Ghost li couldn’t help but had sweat in his palms.
Not knowing for how long, Puhong Master then slowly looked up, looked towards Ghost Li and gently placed his palms together and said, “Patron.”
Ghost Li quickly returned the gesture, said, “I plea for master to be merciful.”
Pude Master’s voice was still hoarse, his tone slow, said, “Several years ago, third junior brother Puzhi committed a grave mistake to you, our Tian Yin Temple really owe you much…”
Puhong Master and Faxiang placed their palms together, softly chanted “Amitabha Buddha”.
Pude Master continued on, “And this Qian Kun Reincarnation Plate is in fact Puzhi junior brother who travelled the northwest wildlands and brought it back, actually also, you are considered Puzhi junior brother’s disciple, it should naturally be handed to you. Just that…”
Ghost Li was about to feel hopeful from Pude Master’s words, unexpectedly Pude Master’s countenance suddenly changed, seemed to be hesitant, in his mind the image of Biyao in green lying quietly in Majestic Fox Mountain icy cold stone chamber, his body trembling, hot blood gushed up, he clenched his teeth and walked two steps forward, came before Pude Master.
Puhong Master and Faxiang were surprised, Pude Master too, looked up at Ghost Li, saw that Ghost Li, did not have any trace of disrespectfulness, knelt down before Pude Master.
[Bu dong!]
The low muffled sound, came from the stone floor, Ghost Li’s forehead knocked against the floor before Pude Master, looking at him from the side, both of his hands tightly clenched into fists, even the joints also appeared white, his body slightly trembling, his voice seemed choked, continuously repeating, “Master, my sins are deep, I’ve let many down, If I can’t save her, I, I, I...beg master to be benevolence, beg master to be benevolence…” until the end, he seemed unable to control himself, only repeatedly imploring.
Faxiang who was standing beside, his countenance changed, a trace of emotion flashed past his face.
Pude Master was also shocked, paused for a moment then turned and looked at Puhong Master, saw him with his palms together, did not say anything, after a long time nodded slightly.
Pude Master slowly turned his head back, saw the young man who was still crouching before him, after a long time, gently said, “Get up first”.
Ghost Li was still kneeling head down on the ground, unmoving.
Pude Master’s lips moved slightly, seemed to reveal a smile, not knowing what he had recalled, he was heard speaking slowly, “This temper of yours, is really completely different from Puzhi junior brother at that time, sigh…” the expression on his face, for only that instant, seemed to reveal a faint melancholy, and then he quietly said, “You can get up, I will promise you.”
Ghost Li’s body shook, the joy in his heart was hard to suppress, he abruptly looked up.
Ghost Li looked over, saw Pude Master taking out a round item about half chi wide wrapped in black cloth but unable to see clearly what it was, Pude Master actually kept this treasure with him, it was really something important.
The black cloth was not securely tied, Pude Master placed it on the ground before him, with a gentle tug the knot was released but when he wanted to lift up the black cloth, he seemed to hesitate for a moment, then with a soft sigh, shook his head and lifted up the cloth.
A gentle white light, spilled out when the black cloth was slowly lifted, turning brighter and brighter but it was not piercing to the eyes at all. In the gentle light, faint dust floated up, in this secluded and quiet small house, a low pleasing music came out from nowhere, indistinctly reverberated around.
The black cloth was completely lifted, Ghost Li finally clearly saw the item before him, this was the treasure which contained the tiny hope of saving Biyao. Just that the next moment, a surprised look revealed on his face, he seemed unable to believe, looked up in shock at Pude Master. Pude Master was expressionless, the next moment Ghost Li subconsciously turned to look at Puhong Master, Puhong Master only softly sighed, placed his palms together and chanted, “Amitabha Buddha”.
Majestic Fox Mountain, Ghost King sect headquarters.
Not knowing since when, many of the Ghost King sect disciples started to sense something strange with their surroundings. Strange, weird things and things that had never happened before, occurred repeatedly within these few days.
Like for example, this sturdy solid mountain cave for several hundred years, every stone chamber that was occupied by the Ghost King sect disciples was surrounded by solid rock walls, smooth and without a crack, even if the occupiers used a knife and try to poke a small hole for the whole day, they might not succeed. However for the past several days, cracks appeared on many of the stone walls, and the cracks continued to expand.
And also, the disciples who lived in the cave, were long used to a quiet life, however not knowing since when, whenever they lay down and were about to doze off, many heard faint terrible sounds coming from deep below the stone rooms. The strange sounds seemed to be the lava deep below them, rumbling as it flowed, as if it would erupt and drowned them anytime. The strange sounds, like a sharp needle piercing into their ears, shocked them awake but after waking up, they did not seem to hear anything.
These strange things never happened before but what the disciple feared the most, were the strange things that happened to the people. A few disciples who clearly looked normal as usual, would suddenly turned mad, like a frenzied beast who attacked anyone beside them, even if those people were their family or best friends, the disciples who turned frenzied, used the most cruel methods to kill whoever that they saw, and only stopped until they were killed by others who came running after hearing the commotion and banded together.
In the short period of time, these terrible things happened one after another, the people were on the guard, not even trusting their close friends or family. Nobody knew what caused these, the entire mountain seemed to descend into a strange and dangerous atmosphere. The sunset glowed like spilled blood, the disciples who were standing guard at the entrance stood uneasily, some stared at the sun setting, some in a daze, not knowing what they were thinking.
Suddenly, someone exclaimed with an [yi], said, “Someone is coming.”
The group was surprised and looked ahead, at the foot of the mountain, there was indeed a white figure floating over, heading towards the Ghost King sect, they did not know if the person was a friend or foe, for a moment were tensed. The white figure was approaching with a fast speed, soon it was already halfway up the mountain, as it neared the entrance, the disciples went forward and looked carefully, made a light [hu] sound and were relieved, it was actually Ghost King sect head and vice head Ghost Li’s honoured guest - Xiao Bai.
Xiao Bai stopped, felt strange somehow, the guards looked relieved and seemed different from usual, it could be that they themselves did not notice but Xiao Bai was a cultivated Nine-tailed Celestial Fox who had not seen nothing, almost like a reflex, she felt that these disciples seemed to be carrying a huge burden on their backs, like a taut bow and uncontrollable.
However, for her to comment that when she first met them, it was naturally not possible, furthermore the disciples smiled and parted way for her. Xiao Bai nodded slightly to them, thinking to herself, it might be due to Ghost King sect head being too stern on them!
Xiao bai walked two steps in, suddenly stopped and called out to one of the disciples, “Hey!”
It would be better if she did not shout out, suddenly with the loud shout behind them, almost at the same, all of the disciples like being struck by lightning, jumped away and one of them already drew out his weapon, as if facing a great foe and ready to fight.
Xiao Bai was stunned, asked, “What happened to you all?”
The disciples looked at each other, after a moment then gradually put down their weapons and relaxed, the disciple who was called out by Xiao Bai laughed bitterly, said, “What is it?”
Xiao Bai carefully assessed them, saw them with dark circles underneath their eyes, brows tightly frowning, looking rather tired, as if they had not rest well for a long time, the suspicion in her heart deepened, asked, “What exactly happened, why are you all so tense?”
The disciple made another bitter laugh, shook his head and said, “Miss, it’s better if you don’t ask more, why did you call for me just now?”
Xiao Bai hesitated for a moment, said, “Is your vice head Ghost Li in the mountain?”
The disciple shook his head, said, “Vice head has left for many days, he is not in the mountain.”
Xiao Bai frowned, said, “Where did he go, did he say when is he coming back?”
The Ghost King sect disciple replied, “Vice head has always been secretive about his whereabouts, how would we know where he is going, as for when he will be back, obviously we will not know too.” Xiao Bai was quiet for a moment, nodded and thought so too, these ordinary disciples naturally would not know Ghost Li’s whereabouts. She turned and walked further into the mountain.
But when her figure was about to vanish deep into the mountain, with her extraordinary hearing, she heard the disciples quietly chatted, “Old Lee, what happened to you, even pulling out your sword? Thankfully Miss Xiao Bai is not particular, if not I don’t know how you are going to clear up the mess.” The other party who was addressed as ‘old Lee’, made a bitter laugh, he was heard saying, “You asked why I was so tensed, if you were fine too you would not be jumping up high like a rabbit, damn these few days are really not liveable, only a slight disturbance and I will be terrified.”
The others upon hearing it also sighed, nobody actually refuted old Lee’s words, subsequently the mood seemed to turn heavy and nobody spoke anymore.
Xiao Bai concealed within the cave’s shadows, the suspicion on her face increased but after a few thoughts, she couldn’t tell where the problem was and could only walked on slowly. Her return trip this time was naturally to look for Ghost Li, several days earlier she went into southern border Miao tribe holy altar and according to the shaman’s signs, she finally found the shaman tribe secret and within it, was the thing which she had been helping Ghost Li to look for all along but at the same time, she also discovered other things, and until now, she had not decided if she wanted to tell Ghost Li about it.
However as Ghost Li was not in the mountain, Xiao Bai also did not know where to begin. And not long ago, she had missed Ghost Li at the abandoned morgue outside HeYang City, if not with her around, with her thousand-years of cultivation, things might take a turn for the better for Ghost Li, just that in the unseen mystical world, everything had their fixed destiny, this was what no one could say for sure.
Xiao Bai pondered, with the world so wide, to find Ghost Li was like finding a needle in the sea, but with Biyao here at Majestic Fox Mountain, Ghost Li sooner or later would return here, and since she was still undecided whether to tell Ghost Li, she could take the time to think about it carefully!
With such thoughts, Xiao Bai made up her mind and subconsciously strided towards Ghost Li’s residence. Her footsteps echoed in the corridors, after a short distance, Xiao Bai suddenly frowned and stopped.
In the long tunnels, the disciples would usually be traversing along and some would be chatting and laughing, right now it was actually deserted, only she alone was standing in the tunnel.
Everyone, for some reason was in hiding, not a trace!
Xiao Bai turned and looked back, the entrance of the tunnel, seemed to be enveloped in deep darkness, so dense that it could not be dispersed anymore.
She quietly looked for a moment and then turned and continued on, the footsteps reverberated in the empty tunnel, seemed to be much louder than usual.
In this weird silence, Xiao Bai slowly walked to Ghost Li’s residence, for some reason, although Ghost Li was not around but subconsciously she still came here and when she was about to push open the door, suddenly her body froze, as if discovering something, she slowly looked up.
On the solid rock wall outside the room, there were seven, eight deep cracks, revealing the rough rock wall and potholes, like some power forcefully pulling it apart, twisting in torment, like a huge wound on the stone wall, not knowing if blood would spill out from the cracks!
Xiao Bai’s body trembled, stared at those cracks, her pupils shrank slightly, with her years of cultivation, she could acutely indistinctly sensed, beside her and those glaring cracks, a strange air indistinctly permeated.
The air made her disgusted!
However before she made sense of these, something strange happened, far in the tunnel behind her, a piercing loud roar was heard, following closely were sharp cries, some shouted in anger, some in fear, the cries and shouts, blew over like a breeze.
Xiao Bai’s figure moved, swept towards the commotion, right now she clearly knew, something strange had happened in the mountain and most likely it was a terrible change!
Her figure swiftly flew ahead, in the deserted tunnel earlier, it was now full of people, some ran far away but most carried weapons and charged murderously towards a direction, in the distance, someone cried loudly, “Again, again, this time is old Lee mad…” Xiao Bai’s heart suddenly sank, her figure was already near, stopped at an empty spot where many crowded around.
Every one of them looked murderous but Xiao Bai clearly could tell, behind their anger, there were even more fear. In the crowd, a person covered with blood was holding a sharp sword, like a trapped beast, bellowing hatefully, kept waving his sword around, a few people lay motionless below him, deep wounds could be seen on their bodies, most likely they would not survive.
Xiao Bai watched in shock at the murderer who was completely mad, and a moment before, she could still hear him talking like a normal person and could see he was worried but the next moment, his companions were already lying beneath him, killed by him, and he himself, like a mad beast, shouting incessantly.
The surrounding people shouted in anger and charged in, old Lee waved his sword and wanted to kill but many more sharp swords had already struck him, after a while, the crowd started to disperse, Xiao Bai looked over, saw his body twitching on the ground, his head full of wounds slowly turning around, and for a second, her eyes met his.
[Rumble!]
Like a soundless thunder in her head, Xiao Bai couldn’t help but step back, her face turned pale, that man’s eyes were totally red, other than murder, there was not a trace of human, that ruthless despair, even with her years of cultivation she felt as if she could not breathe.
What kind of madness existed in this space!
The crowd talked among themselves, as their fear slowly dispersed, Xiao Bai strided forward, slowly went near that body.
The bright red blood flowed soundlessly, gradually seeped into the mud and rocks. Behind the crazed red eyes, probably because it had lost its life, it had turned dull and dark red. Xiao Bai stared deeply, suddenly, she whipped around, her face as cold as ice, looked at that tunnel which had turned deserted again.
In the darkness ahead, a thick stench of blood filled the air, like a greedy bloodthirsty huge beast, hatefully watching the outside world, thirsting for endless blood.
A figure, stood quietly in the darkness, looming!