In Nanwu Mountain, the winds took on a sharp, thin tone, billowing in all directions. Much more unsettling than the whistling winds that had preceded, as though the entire mountain was wailing.
Zhang Fugui heard the sounds emanating from the far off river and instinctively took a few steps back. The sounds seemed to be accompanied by tragic and dismal cries, and though Zhang Fugui was a ghost, he was still frightened enough to retreat.
Zhang Fugui’s voice quivered as he spoke, “Daoist Master, did you hear those cries?…and miserable screams.”
Su Yu frowned, “I’m not deaf.”
Zhang Fugui thought, This isn’t a question of being deaf or not!
He fumbled for words, “That’s right, we can’t stay here. The Misty River. All of Nanwu Mountain’s strongest ghosts are here.”
A mist-filled river runs through the base of the mountain’s cliffs, existing within Nanwu Mountain through generations of wandering ghosts.
The Misty River was the origin of all yin qi in Nanwu Mountain, one could say every single ghost in Nanwu Mountain relies on it to cultivate and survive. The closer one is to the Misty River, the more fierce evil spirits they face. What’s more, it was where the bigwig ghosts Zhang Fugui avoided like the plague gathered to fight; the most dangerous place in the whole of Nanwu Mountain.
“Once, two predecessors, both violent ghosts, tried to enter and probe the situation in the river’s east, yet in the end, they were torn apart as soon as they entered its vicinity, and their souls scattered.” The more Zhang Fugui thought about it, the more he was frightened. That violent ghost duo even had cultivations equal to humans at the peak of Foundation Establishment, but once they entered the Misty River, they had no way to fight back.1厲鬼 – A ‘violent ghost’ is specifically a ghost that died a violent death, and is generally much more resentful and powerful compared to an evil spirit like Zhang Fugui. “Daoist Master, we have to leave now.”
Su Yu replied, “How do we leave?”
Zhang Fugui felt like crying but no tears fell. Right, how do we leave? The moment we leave this tombstone, we’re finished.
Su Yu listened to the unpleasant and ear-piercing sounds of the wind while carefully observing the surroundings.
The yin qi here was more chaotic than before. While they could still discern the flow of the yin qi earlier, it had now all blended into one mass, most of it converging into the Misty River, and the remainder hard to distinguish. It was clear that this place was likely the true eye of the yin winds within Nanwu Mountain. All the yin qi he had seen since waking emanated from this smoky river.
Just as Su Yu found a convenient posture to observe it, he heard rustling in his right ear.
His movements paused, “There’s another sound.”
Zhang Fugui spoke up in a hushed voice, “Daoist Master, there’s nothing else around.”
Su Yu moved his ears, “It’s a strange sound.”
Following Su Yu’s gaze, Zhang Fugui found he was looking at the Misty River: “What kind of sound?”
Su Yu carefully identified it, “Like something’s crawling.”
Zhang Fugui turned his head to look at the living dead surrounding them, thinking about how there were things crawling all around them which he could hear as well.
He quickly averted his gaze. Then a thought struck him, and he took another look around at the living dead. Was it just his imagination, or did it seem like this bunch of living dead had quieted down?
Suddenly, they felt the winds around them begin to surge again. A chill rose from his feet, and the rancid stench in the air aggravated. It vaguely seemed as though another scent had mixed in with the living dead, and as the mist gradually neared the human and ghost pair, it brought an irrational confusion.
At that moment, the mist over the Misty River’s lower reaches slowly began to clear, and Zhang Fugui felt the yin qi around him intensify almost instantly. Its oppressive weight sent a sudden shiver through his body, and his feet felt as if they were frozen in place.
Su Yu detected another scent in the rancid air, but he hadn’t yet identified it when he heard Zhang Fugui abruptly shout.
Zhang Fugui: “Daoist Master!!! Across the river!!”
When Zhang Fugui called out, Su Yu’s gaze sharpened, and he turned to look in the direction he pointed in.
In the blur, the Misty River, in which initially only flowed white yin qi, had several strange instances of inky qi flicker above it. The condensed white mist existed alongside the interspersed and bolded dark spots resembling ink. This was the strangest form of qi Su Yu had encountered since being able to see yin qi.
He had first seen Zhang Fugui’s qi. then the vibrant clusters of light at Nanwu Mountain Pass, third the inky spots on the living dead, and now a fourth type—mottled black and white qi.
The objects in his vision grew even more complicated, and Su Yu felt a particular discomfort in his eyes. He blinked a little, and at that moment, it looked like there was an extra light spot above the Misty River.
Light…No!
His body had already taken action first. He quickly rolled in the direction opposite to the Misty River.
“Wait! Daoist Master!” Before Zhang Fugui could finish, he went flying.
The ground beneath them rumbled and then started shaking, instantly giving way to multiple large pits. Zhang Fugui, fleeing like a rabbit, was caught off guard by Su Yu’s chains, and the two tumbled downhill through the withered trees, rolling twice straight down a hillside.
Just then, a sudden gust of chill wind blew over the Misty River, sweeping in all directions!
The hill’s downward slope spared them from being hit head-on. They were swept outwards by the rushing chill winds, whereas the surrounding withered trees on the mountain path were bulldozed by the impact.
Su Yu felt the shock from the incoming yin qi at that moment, and it felt like all his organs were jostled. As he strained to raise his gaze and look around, he saw that the wandering ghosts, which had appeared in human forms earlier above the Misty River, had practically vanished into smoke in the wake of the impact, leaving only those with mottled kinds of qi in the distance.
Zhang Fugui felt like he’d survived a calamity. He had just sobered up from the joy of the Daoist Master saving him, but right as he turned around, he saw a few droplets of blood dripping from the youth’s nose. He was shocked by the blood flowing from all seven orifices, “Daoist Master! Blood! You’re bleeding!”
Su Yu recovered from the chill wind’s impact. He raised his hand to wipe at his face hearing Zhang Fugui speak, “I won’t die.”
At the same time, nearby.
The sounds emanating from the pitch-black Misty River seemed to swell, and a dull and stagnant burst of mist suddenly scattered from the surface of the sea of mist. A figure crawled atop the Misty River, its rickety form trembling slightly. Right after, its entire body seemed to stretch once more, and it slowly raised itself up from the river.
Then, its head snapped to the side with a click, as if it had finally found something. Its pair of scarlet eyes stared at the shore.
The balance around the Misty River looked to be in utter chaos when the mist dispelled. The chill winds whipped again, and even the wails of the wandering ghosts gradually grew more ear-splitting. Su Yu leaned against the mountain path and walked downhill, using the leeward side to resist the chill winds from afar. He couldn’t help but look up above.
Zhang Fugui raised his head after the fright, “Wait…Daoist Master, those living dead are gone.”
After the strange chill winds, the living dead that had been crawling nearby seemed to have vanished in an instant.
Moments ago, not only did the Tomb of the Living disappear, the surrounding terrain seemed to have undergone great changes during the jarring bumps. Su Yu could feel the ruggedness of the terrain beneath his palm. They were clearly in the somewhat flat withered forest not long ago, but now they were in another place.
This feeling was very odd, as though the mountain wanted them to be where they were now.
Beside him, Zhang Fugui gazed into the distance. The Misty River, which used to still be a distance away from them, now clearly showed up close by, and the lingering mist in the distance floated over as if to surround them. The mist atop the Misty River became heavier, and the more he watched, the more he felt like the river was approaching them bit by bit.
He got a bit closer. Zhang Fugui seemed to see someone standing on the Misty River in a trance. Under some uncanny influence, his initial fear of the Misty River faded away like a cloud, and he stood up and approached the river.
The chain between the human and ghost suddenly tightened.
“What are you doing?” Su Yu asked coldly.
“I…” Zhang Fugui abruptly woke up, as if his head had been doused in cold water.
What? He actually wanted to get closer to the river just now. Had he lost his mind?
The Misty River was very dangerous. Usually, it served as the territory of the evil spirits and fierce evil spirits possessing high cultivations in Nanwu Mountain. The weaker ghosts within Nanwu Mountain weren’t blessed to enjoy the yin qi here. They would normally hide as far away as possible. Too close to the Misty River, and they would probably be torn to shreds by the bigwig ghosts before even reaching it.
The Tomb of the Living disappeared, and the Misty River was advancing.
Since they were first swept away by the winds at the Nanwu Mountain Pass, nothing good had happened to them.
“Daoist Master? Are you okay?” Zhang Fugui could tell Su Yu was acting off.
“It’s nothing.”
Just a little tired.
Su Yu leaned against the hillside a little tiredly. The yin qi in his body he had mobilized to deal with the living dead seemed to have roused the totem within his dantian. The surrounding yin qi was guided by it and poured into Su Yu’s body, causing his meridians to swell and ache.
Suddenly, something stirred around him, and Su Yu’s thoughts were interrupted. He paused for a moment. His ears once again caught the rustling of something crawling. This sound made him vigilant, “It sounds off.”
“There were so many living dead just now. Have you seen the tomb owner?” Su Yu abruptly asked.
Zhang Fugui’s mind was filled with thoughts about the clash between the bigwig ghosts along the Misty River. He was stunned when he heard mention of the tomb owner, “That evil cultivator? Hasn’t he been dead for ages? I haven’t seen him.”
The crawling sounds he heard earlier might not have just been the living dead within the Tomb of the Living.
When he realized this issue, Su Yu immediately lifted his head. A mottled ball of light showed up above the hillside he was leaning on. When it got close, he could clearly see the black light spots moving amid the white yin qi, and at this moment, the qi ball suddenly stretched towards him.
Su Yu was startled and shrank into his body, letting that thing miss.
The lull halfway up the hillside was shattered, and Su Yu rolled down to avoid the attack from high above.
Zhang Fugui was still trying to persuade the Daoist Master to leave this place. Before he could react, he was dragged away by Su Yu. He didn’t even get to scream when he saw a strange figure appear on the hillside.
They rolled to the hillside’s end, and Su Yu fell into a withered tree’s dead leaves, “What is that?”
Zhang Fugui: “A ghost, it’s a ghost!”
Su Yu frowned: “Aren’t you a ghost?”
Zhang Fugui flapped his tongue: “…the tomb owner! The Tomb of the Living!”
That was a person, but as a person, it only had a human face.
Currently, it was lying on the hillside. Half of its body was covered with red marks that seemed to be from whipping…and the other half of its body was bloody and mutilated. White and black things resembling live insects crawled beneath his mangled tissue, and flying insects buzzed with their wings spread feasting on the bloody flesh. His body was covered in the same deathly qi as the living dead were, but it was more bizarre than the living dead.
That too, this ‘person’ didn’t notice this at all. He lay down, watching them, and his miry face twitched, sniffing something like a beast.
Su Yu looked up alertly. Something shrouded by a dangerous air drew closer to him.
Zhang Fugui realized something with horror. This thing looks…
The ‘person’ on the higher ground seemed to lock onto some scent, and suddenly jumped from the hillside.
“Daoist Master!!!”
***
Outside Nanwu Mountain, slowly in the mountain forest.
The yin qi in the mountain seemed to be carried by the wind, falling into an ordinary forest and causing everything to wither.
Two figures stood within the forest, and one of them plucked a brittle leaf from the ground.
“This is all withered and dead, it seems like Nanwu Mountain’s yin qi isn’t merely leaking.” The speaker was a man clothed in red. His long hair draped over his shoulders, and a strange medicine basket at his waist hung with a handful of wolf-hair calligraphy brushes. He exuded a distinctive aura, “I hear Nanwu Mountain has been quite lively these days. When I return to Xize this time, I’ll try to avoid those people, to avoid unnecessary complications.”
Not far away, a very young swordsman stood under a huge banyan tree.
The swordsman was born with a good face, framed by slightly long strands of hair, while he himself wore an overly simple outfit. The only incongruous aspect to his looks was the sword he held in his arms. Its mysterious black scabbard was wrapped in a coarse yellowed cloth strip, all the way along it, till even its hilt was fastened. The amount of bindings showed that the sword had remained undrawn for a long time.
His slender fingers touched the sword and tapped it casually. He looked long accustomed to his friend’s chatter.
“Did you hear that? Gu Qi!”2The ‘Qi’ in Gu Qi’s name means 7.
At that moment, the swordsman opened his eyes, and his fingers on the scabbard paused.
He gazed past his friend speaking in front of him and looked up at the horizon with an icy expression.
The tranquil night sky seemed to contain an unheard of yin qi, which was becoming heavier and heavier, alongside an ominous air.
…Nanwu Mountain?
Author’s Postscript:
The Tomb Owner: I want to eat.
Yu-ge: Go away.
Young Comrade Zhang: (shaking)
Swordsman: Interesting.
