Chapter 153 - Purgatory
Majestic Fox Mountain, where the Evil Sect Ghost King sect headquarters was located, shrouded in a somber, the original mighty great branch, more than half of its men were dead in a sudden, no matter to whichever mighty sect under the sky, it would also be a heavy blow. So many valiant disciples, high in battle morale however returning, was only Ghost King alone bathed in blood.
The lingering shadows, on every person in Majestic Fox Mountain, their hearts and faces, nobody knew, the cruel and ferocious demon beasts’ next victim, who would it be?
After Ghost King returned, he went straight to closed-door seclusion, nobody dared to ask him but the people did not have to wait for a long time, soon, the news came one after another, things also gradually cleared up, in this southwest war, the Evil Sect three factions with their combined unprecedented force against the demon beasts, as to why would the three factions collaborate or was there another scheme, other than Ghost King, most probably nobody else knew.
The result of this battle, could said to be the most painful failure of the Evil Sect since a thousand years, not to mention Ghost King sect losing more than half of its men, Wan Du Clan first suffered greatly from its internal strife, followed by the attack of the demon beasts in Venomous Serpent Valley, the remaining elite disciples almost were dead or injured. As for the seclusive HeHuan Sect, for some reason this time, also led its entire sect force in this battle, and their fate too, before the endless army of beasts, a total defeat.
At this moment, the defeated Ghost King sect was in a state of panic but no matter what, their situation at the moment was still far better than Wan Du Clan and HeHuan Sect, most of the Ghost King sect’s elites were left at Majestic Fox Mountain therefore the main core strength was not affected, and Wan Du Clan and HeHuan Sect after this battle, whether did anyone make it out was also uncertain.
This day, after recovering for many days, while the sect disciples were speculating uneasily, Ghost King re-appeared before his disciples. As for that big defeat, Ghost King did not even mention it and instead immediately issued a number of commands, very soon, the entire Majestic Fox Mountain began to stir.
Everyone started to pack for travelling, packing up things, preparing dry provisions and water, because the last instruction in the list of commands by Ghost King, clearly stated one thing, due to the Central Plains demon beast turmoil and the holy sect severe defeat, for the future of the holy sect, he had decided, the entire Ghost King sect, would move together to northwest, to the Wildlands, to that legendary holy sect birthplace - "Wildlands Holy Temple".
In the hectic scene, Ghost King expressionlessly clasped his hands behind, walked towards that ice cold stone chamber deep inside the mountain. The upcoming road trip was thousands of miles, and the Wildlands was desolate, hot and dry, with BiYao’s current condition, she was not suitable for the long-distance to the Wildlands. Initially Ghost King intended to request Xiao Bai to look after BiYao, with the nine-tailed celestial fox’s thousand years of skills, including the defensive traps in the mountain, it would be absolutely safe but now that things had changed. Ever since he came back, for some reason, Xiao Bai had disappeared, he asked several people but nobody knew where she had gone.
Thinking of this, Ghost King’s brows slightly wrinkled, unknowingly he discovered he had arrived at the stone chamber where his daughter was lying, he sighed, opened the door and went inside.
Ghost Li was standing there, quietly accompanying BiYao. He heard movements behind him but he did not even glance back.
Ghost King slowly paced, walked to Ghost Li, standing beside him he looked towards his daughter who was quietly lying on the ice stone platform, that pale and beautiful face as delicate and beautiful as before, as if in the other world she knew too, in the world the two men who were most concerned about her, whom were also as important as to her, were by her side.
Her face was very quiet, very calm, very at ease!
Ghost King watched BiYao for a long while, a faint glint in his eyes, a rare tender, after a long time, he let out a long sigh, lightly said, "Why are you not packing up your things?"
Ghost Li did not lift his head up, and did not directly answer him, instead asked Ghost King, "I heard in the vicinity of the Wildlands, it is either the bleak Gobi desert or the vast expanse of the desert, exceptionally hot all year round, is it?"
Ghost King nodded his head and said, "Yes, when I once visited the Wildlands Holy Temple, the climate is indeed the case.”
Ghost Li frowned, said, "Then how can BiYao go, now that she in this...condition, how can she take the suffering?"
Ghost King glanced at Ghost Li, said, "I never intended to bring BiYao to Wildlands.”
Ghost Li’s expression changed, looked over at Ghost King, Ghost King said, "The Wildlands is desolate, dry and hot, it is indeed not suitable for Yao’er, I intended to let her stay in Majestic Fox Mountain, after we leave, activate the mountain’s defensive traps and gears, close up the entrance, as such it is very safe. But in any case, there has to be someone to come in at least once a month to check, so as to prevent any accidents."
Ghost Li stood up and said, "Leaving one person, who is it?"
Ghost King lightly said, "I wanted to entrust to Xiao Bai, her cultivation is high and is very willing to take a few years of good rest in this Majestic Fox Mountain but for some reason, I could not find her these few days."
Ghost Li’s expression slightly changed, Ghost King noticed it, said, "Why, you know where she is gone?”
Ghost Li slowly shook his head, was silent for a moment, said, "Let me stay here to take care of BiYao.”
Ghost King gazed intently at him, said, "I am certainly assured if you take care of BiYao and I also trust you but now that the holy sect is heavily wounded, I intend to revitalize our prestige, firstly we have to stabilize the people, unify the holy church, need someone with talents like you around."
Ghost Li 's eyes for the first time left BiYao, slowly shifted to Ghost King, suddenly said, "This time the war with the demon beast, those disciples that followed you are all dead?"
Ghost King’s expression changed, the glint in his eyes flared, this was the first time someone had dared to mention this matter to him but he was not angry, only looked deeply at Ghost Li and then slowly said, "All are dead.”
Ghost Li looked away, back to BiYao again, after a long while, said, "After this big battle, although the Evil Sect is seriously weakened but Wan Du Clan and HeHuan Sect are also completely defeated, to our Ghost King Sect whose strength still remains, it cannot be deny that it is a good opportunity to unify the Evil Sect. With the current situation as such, even without me, there is no longer any power that can compete with you." He quietly said, "But over at BiYao, still need someone to look after, just let me stay to take care of her.”
Ghost King looked at him for a moment, nodded and said, "Since you say so, I will not force you. I will entrust Yao’er to you, I believe you will be able to take good care of her but remember this, the demon beast strength is terrible and their senses sharp, just in case, it is best to seal the mountain entrance and you can probably come and check every one or two months, as such there won’t be any mishaps."
Ghost Li slowly nodded, considered he had agreed. Ghost King looked at his daughter again, a moment later, he uttered a sigh, turned and walked out.
When he was about to reach the door, suddenly Ghost Li’s voice was heard from behind him, "Sect head..."
Ghost King was stunned, felt somehow unexpected, Ghost Li rarely took the initiative to speak out, this time he suddenly spoke, puzzled what it was for, immediately said, “What?”
Ghost Li was silent for a moment, suddenly said, "Do you hate me?”
Ghost King back-facing him, did not move, did not speak, and could not see his expression.
Ghost Li slowly said, "BiYao is like this because of me, in your heart, is it that you hate me alot?”
His face was indifferent, as if he was talking about a topic that had nothing to do with him but Ghost King still did not speak. In the stone chamber, the two men with their backs facing each other, the tension in the air seemed to thicken.
The light mist, gently drifted up from the ice-cold stone platform underneath BiYao’s body, floated in the air, for an unknown length of time, suddenly the stone door was heard opening, Ghost King did not say anything, quietly went out.
[Rumble!]... the heavy deep sound, the stone door once again shut, leaving only Ghost Li beside BiYao. His expression was wooden, staring blankly at the woman in front of him.
X x x
In the ancient and dense primitive forests, along with the wind came a horrible and burnt smell, like an ugly scar, everywhere in the original exuberant forests it carried the signs of destructions from the demon beasts’ rampage, huge trees lying on the ground in disorder, numerous forest animals’ corpses littered everywhere, the entire forest’s tranquility had vanished.
On the second day after they discovered the crazy Evil Sect disciple, Xiao YiCai, FaXiang etc the entourage of seven Good Faction disciples, following along the gradually turning obvious demon beats trail, approaching the valley hidden deep in the mountains. The forests that they passed by on their way, replicated that scene, although human bones were not seen but they were still disturbed by the scene.
In many of their minds, even coincidentally at the same time, reflected, do those demon beasts really come to this world just to kill?
This day at noon, the group of them appeared on that decrepit ancient path outside Venomous Serpent Valley, the area here showed such clear signs of the monsters’ destructions that they almost did not have to spend any effort to investigate, that path was widened from the stampede made by the demon beasts, giant footprints and sharp claw marks were everywhere, the air still carried a foul smell, other than that, there seemed to be a faint unbearable stench but nobody could tell what it was.
Looking at the valley entrance, inside and outside were similarly in a mess, the forest and ground which was ravaged by that terrible flood was clearly visible, the ancient path meandered and twisted, who would know in that valley, what is exactly there?
For some reason, all of them looked a little nervous, caught in an awkward silence. In the end, Xiao YiCai coughed once but then discovered that his own throat was dry and painful. He composed himself, said, "Everyone, it seems that the Evil Sect disciples did not speak a lie, it should be here, a big battle happened between the demon beasts and the Evil Sect."
He looked around, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Shall we go in and see?"
No one spoke, even Li Xun's face looked pale, a moment later, FaXiang who stood beside Xiao YiCai quietly chanted, said, "Since we are here, we should no longer say to give up, let’s go in."
Actually everyone there knew that, just that for some reason, there seemed to be something strange in the valley, stealthy affecting everyone’s moods, striking fear in their hearts. FaShan who had always following his senior brother FaXiang, with a low, muffled voice acknowledged and walked over to his senior brother.
"Let’s go." The one who said this was not Xiao YiCai but Lin JingYu, his hand tightened over the Dragon Slayer Sword and then his face solemn, took the lead into the valley, following behind him was Lu XueQi, Li Xun too immediately kept up, Xiao YiCai and FaXiang looked at each other, saw the worry in each other’s eyes but a moment later, everyone still went in.
The vast valley, the boundless forest, the group walked along in the valley, surrounded by only a dead silence, not to mention animals, even the usual cries of birds were missing. The valley seemed to have become a lifeless evil spirit.
The foul smell of the beasts was as strong but as they went deeper, everyone started to frown tightly, right now, following the mountain breeze the other stench, made one feel nauseous, and turning thicker.
The mountain road twisted and turned, the crowd was on high alert against their surroundings, slowly moving forward. In a corner ahead of them, there was a col, when they arrived here, the stench in the air had reached an unbearable stage. Suddenly, YanHong who was in the middle suddenly dashed to the roadside, everyone was startled, Li Xun exclaimed, "Junior sister, what happen to you..." He stopped halfway, because he and everyone saw YanHong standing on the weeds beside the path, vomiting hard.
No one laughed, because nobody knew how long they could hold on, although the valley still had not revealed its true colors but it seemed to be more terrible than most places on earth. YanHong panted and stopped, looking pale, walked back to everyone and whispered, "Sorry, I, I really..."
FaXiang forced a smile, said, "Yan junior sister, it doesn’t matter.”
Xiao YiCai also said, "That’s right, nobody can stand the smell too, you don’t have to mind, if you don’t feel up to it, why don’t you first go out of the valley and wait for us."
YanHong hesitated a moment but shook her head and said, "Let 's go.”
Li Xun walked over, faced YanHong and nodded his head, a comforting look in his eyes, quietly said, "Take care of yourself, don’t force yourself."
YanHong nodded and promised, Xiao YiCai turned and said, "Alright, let’s continue on. We don’t know what monster or danger lies ahead, everyone must be careful.”
All of them nodded and once again went forward, Lin JingYu was still at the lead, approaching nearer to that col, he held the Dragon Slayer Sword in his hand, his palm started to sweat. By now the air was so thick with the stench smell that it was hard to breathe, Lin JingYu’s face turned slightly pale, clenched his teeth, strided across, passed around the corner of the col and saw the scene in the valley.
His whole body instantly turned stiff.
The group behind him immediately noticed his abnormal reaction and could not help but became nervous, Xiao YiCai quietly called Lin JingYu twice but he did not respond at all, only staring ahead. Lu XueQi was the second person to walk over, then Li Xun, YanHong, Xiao YiCai, FaXiang and FaShan, one by one they passed through the col, saw the scene in the Venomous Serpent Valley.
Then, everyone of them was stunned.
That would probably be the legendary Asura Hell, such a terrible scene, appeared under the clear and bright blue sky. Countless bodies inside and outside that residence inside the valley, there were humans, also various demon beasts and monsters, some were complete but many more were limbs and miserable bodies, torn apart until it was unrecognizable, densely packed everywhere, almost to a point where gaps could not be seen.
After composing himself with an effort and walking further into the valley, the scene became more tragic, without even imagining, they could tell the battle was extremely tragic, innumerable bodies and demon beasts’ bodies entangled together, the land under their feet had all turned completely deep black, that was the colour after being dyed with blood.
Walking into that residence, inside and outside every room, entrances to critical tunnels, they could see the remnants of the tragic battle, in some places corpses piled high up, apparently to fight over this small entrance, the two parties advanced waves after waves desperately fought, stepping over their comrades’ bodies and wrestling tirelessly.
In the courtyard, the group began to see a few demon beasts’ bodies which were huge in size, some even bigger than the residence but these once savage and ferocious beasts, could only now lie quietly in this mortal hell, waiting to rot.
The stink of the corpses in the air had reached a terrible degree but the Good Faction disciples instead seemed better than before, because the tragic scene before them made them more indifferent to this stench, just that, no one looked fine, no matter who it was, these people’s countenance looked almost the same as the dead.
They continued deeper into the residence, more bodies appeared before them, and now nobody knew, just how many Evil Sect disciples and demon beasts died in this valley, they walked almost subconsciously in, walked, walked…
Every one of their faces were wooden, every one firmly held their own magical weapons, refused to relax even a little, after passing innumerable bodies, they came to a mourning hall.
The reason they could tell it was a mourning hall because they saw a coffin in this room, and in this room, the battle seemed to be the most intense here, describing it as the bodies piling as high as a mountain did not seem exaggerating. It was also here, the group discovered many of the familiar Evil Sect bodies: Bai DuZhi, Blood-Sucking Vampire, Elder Duanmu…
These once all-powerful, invincible Evil Sect people, at the moment died with grievances hiding in this place, many of them still had fear on their faces.
Anyone could imagine but nobody wished to, what kind of scene they witnessed before they died!
As their investigation deepened, Xiao YiCai and the other slightly older ones in succession found even more famous Evil Sect figures, including God of Poison three disciples, many important figures from HeHuan Sect. However for Ghost King sect, although most of the dead disciples were wearing Ghost King sect uniforms but very little of the well-known figures were found.
Everyone slowly gathered to the front of the hall, saw each other’s countenances, Xiao YiCai hoarsely said, "A lot of people died here, the important figures of Evil Sect are all here, seems like all of Wan Du Clan are dead.”
YanHong who was beside was deathly pale, said quietly, "It is the same over there, many were dead from HeHuan Sect, even San-Miao Madame is too, too there..."
Lu XueQi's face was pale, her teeth clenched tightly together, her expression complicated, she looked like she could not bear, looked disgusted too, and for some reason, fearful. As the last person to join the group, she suddenly said, "Saw any of the Ghost King sect people?”
Everyone shook their heads together and then was startled slightly, Li Xun who was standing beside looked even more terrible. Xiao YiCai glanced at him, spoke to Lu XueQi, “Many of the dead are Ghost King ordinary disciples but seems like did not see...well-known figures’ bodies.”
Lu XueQi’s expression relaxed slightly but Li Xun’s eyes suddenly glimmered, coldly said, "Xiao senior brother, have you forgotten that these beasts devour humans, on the way in, we saw many white bones, who knows those Ghost King sect evildoers, would they have been..."
"Wa!" A cry interrupted Li Xun’s words but it was YanHong who could not bear it, ran to a corner and vomited again, Li Xun was startled for a moment then sighed and stopped talking.
FaXiang looked like he could not bear to, with FaShan together chanted quietly, all of them knew, although Li Xun’s words were harsh but the possibility was high. Xiao YiCai, Lin JingYu and the rest had complicated expressions, slowly looked down, only Lu XueQi’s face was bleak, her pale face without a trace of color, even her body trembled involuntarily.
But this delicate and cold woman did not look down, she slowly looked up to the sky, in that limitless clear sky, even the clouds above the valley looked blood-red.
Lu XueQi’s lips moved, looked as if she wanted to shout out something, but, eventually not a sound!