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A woman suddenly appeared on the city walls. Her hair draped over her shoulders, flowing smooth as water, and her build was extremely tall. She wore a black palace skirt and was like a flower in a deep valley. The woman carried a long sword on her back, her bearing graceful.
The woman’s pupils were vacant and pale, without any luster, like a white sheet of paper. Although she seemed blind, no one who saw these white eyes ever doubted the woman’s foresight and wisdom. Theirs was a depth filled with more wisdom than any other eye. These white eyes seemed capable of describing all mysteries from past to present; they were god-like, yet also demonic.
“Lord Guiguzi.” The soldier saw the woman and acted reverently, with trepidation. The surrounding people simply did not dare to look into this woman’s white eyes. These godly and demonic pupils struck fear at the first glance.
The woman was an honored guest of the prince of Jize, Wu Ding. This seven day seclusion was due to her.
“What is the matter with that Yin Ridge?” Guiguzi softly asked.
“Answering to milord, that Yin Ridge was covered in Yin Qi thirty years ago, a deep mist. Anyone who ventures there will find it very difficult to leave. Back then, Lord Wu Ding once brought soldiers there. When she later returned, she forbade everyone from entering the mountain.”
“That mountain ridge is desolate and dim. Everyone says that excessively concentrated Yin qi leads to the land of the dead, so it’s called Yin Ridge.”
“Some say that Yin Ridge has a Divine Name cultivating there. No one is allowed to disturb her, otherwise, they will face punishment from Heaven, death without an intact corpse.”
“Hm…” That woman stared at that mountain range for a while, then muttered to herself: “Could this be the will of Heaven?”
“My lord?”
“Guard the city gates. No one is allowed to enter or leave over the next seven days. I must offer sacrifices for Wu Ding.” The woman said.
“As you command.”
Jize, an altar.
Smoke emanated from a copper cauldron, and incense burned away.
A woman in a large gown sat atop the altar.
A black-skirted woman emerged from space and stepped onto the altar.
“Wang Xu,1 what matter would unexpectedly draw you away?” That woman had thick brows and large eyes, her countenance calm, somewhat imposing.
“I heard a moment ago that a barbarian disciple escorting the Pixiu Banner had arrived at the city gates.”
“Di Xin has recently summoned it. However, we have sealed the spiritual power for this sacrifice. We cannot allow people to set one foot inside the city.” Wu Ding said.
“Be at ease, Your Highness.”
At this time, a small field sparrow flew down from the sky, perched upon the cauldron’s handles, and chirped. Wu Ding’s gaze showed slight worry. “You make me confront Di Xin, but she is the ruler of the Yin Shang Kingdom, after all. I am her vassal, so to do this is a bit of a betrayal. Is this sparrow also admonishing me?”
Wang Xu flatly said: “God looks over the masses below, taking the morality of the masses to be the norm. Heaven confers unto the masses below life, some long, others short. Those who are not angels die when their time comes. Rather, their own bodies forfeited themselves. Some people go contrary to virtue and do not admit wrongdoing. Heaven passes a decree to correct his behavior. Only then does he say: ‘What shall I do?’ Ai! A ruler only needs to give the masses busywork. There is nothing that is not passed down by Heaven’s will. Sacrifices follow order, do not believe we should abandon the way.
“And ever since Di Xin destroyed the Great Zhou Kingdom, her influence has increased even more. Pity that she is so dogmatic, looking down on the masses as if they were ants. If we allow her to continue, she will surely become a scourge upon the Western Primordial and cause turmoil. I will convince the other princes and rulers. Lord Wu Ding can rest easy.
“Di Xin was invested as ‘Zhou.’ She has her own tribulation. Back then, the Great Zhou Kingdom did not destroy her. Because Di Xin’s methods go through Heaven, she can receive the protection of the Shang progenitor god, ‘Shun.’ But her gathering of the Ten Thousand Beasts Unbounded means that her time has come.”
Hearing Wang Xu say as much, Wu Ding slightly calmed.
“I will help Lord Wu Ding link Divine Energy for this sacrifice. We will surely be able to handle Di Xin.”
“Then thank you for your troubles, Master Guiguzi.”
…
“Qi Lin, it seems from their words just now that this Yin Ridge is very dangerous. Maybe we should change our route?”
Shang Yangjun looked at the distant summit. The mist was extremely thick, making the peak appear indistinct, like claws and fangs. It surprisingly looked even more cruel than Kui Mountain. They had just escaped with their lives from the Taowu, so Shang Yangjun’s heart was unavoidably somewhat apprehensive of these mountain ranges with very concentrated Yin qi.
“No need.”
Qi Lin shook his head.
This peak appeared to have very heavy Yin qi, but the mountain ridge towered tall, its peak like a serpent, graceful and long, a gentle figure, surrounded by hills and rivers. This was of the academic peak of geomancy’s Nine Star Peaks. This was a very auspicious fengshui known as “sparrow soars the sky.” The heavy Yin qi was a metaphor for the sky, and the wind in the mountain was its feathers. Wind turned to feathers, allowing the sparrow to ascend to the sky upon qi. Add on the power of the academic peak, if some literati and or musicians were at a bottleneck in their composition, resting at this kind of place was very helpful to their creativity, extremely beneficial to bottleneck breakthrough, to find inspiration.
Sparrow soars the sky fengshui could not possibly be ruined by murderous qi, otherwise, it would lose its fortune and become a different scene entirely.
Shang Yangjun did not understand geomancy, but seeing that Qi Lin was very calm, she did not object any longer.
No matter how glib his tongue, what was able to put a girl forever at ease was Qi Lin’s confident and relaxed bearing.
The two of them rode the Bronze Warhorses into the peak. The beautiful landscape was luxuriant to the extreme. A stream flowed through the mountain, and they occasionally saw some rabbits and deer bounding about, appearing auspicious and peaceful.
Shang Yangjun gradually relaxed her guard. However, the two anxiously increased their pace. They were in no mood to appreciate the view.
After traveling a long while, the mist grew thicker and thicker, and slowly, they were unable to see clearly ahead of them. The Bronze Warhorses did not have the option to stop either, so they continued forward cautiously. The Divine Intent of Qi Refinement cultivators could only sense killing intent within a few meters of themselves and was completely useless in scanning the surroundings. Only at Golden Core Realm could they probe with their thoughts.
There was a large pine tree in front of them with an enormous green boulder shaped like a resting ox. Qi Lin suggested that they rest here for a moment.
“En.” Shang Yangjun was a bit weary. For some reason, the serenity and quiet of this ridge made her befuddled, unable to rouse her spirits.
Shang Yangjun continued to use the Pixiu Banner to attack her Heavenly Spirit meridians, believing she could break through in three days, yet the girl had underestimated the difficulty of Eighth Deva True Qi.
Qi Lin was not in the mood to cultivate. He sat on the green rock and surveyed the surroundings.
After a few hours, Shang Yangjun stowed the Pixiu Banner without any results. The girl’s expression was very dejected. It seemed she had failed to break through to her Heavenly Spirit meridians. “The first seven Devas of Primordial True Qi are known as Earthly Fiend True Qi while the latter two are Heavenly Spirit True Qi. Heaven and Earth are as different as clouds and mud. It is only very normal for breakthroughs to be extremely difficult. As long as you calmly persevere, you’ll make it eventually.” Qi Lin consoled her.
“I know, but I had hoped to be able to enter the Heavenly Spirit meridians before we reached Zhaoge.” Shang Yangjun was also aware that given time, she could enter the Heavenly Spirit meridians in about a year, but she currently felt that a year was too long.
“Let’s go.”
“En.”
Several hours later, the ridge showed no signs of ending. The fog grew even thicker, and the two of them had no choice but to walk together in order to see in front of them.
“Something’s not right.” Qi Lin’s brow wrinkled.
“I feel the same. I have never seen such a thick fog.” Shang Yangjun said.
“I’m not talking about this.” Qi Lin shook his head. With his sense of direction and imagination, the mist was no threat no matter how thick it was.
The girl was puzzled.
“We seem to have come back to where we started.” With each step, Qi Lin had been creating a mental map, but he discovered their route, the surrounding trees and grass were all the same, like they had gone in a circle.
“It couldn’t be?” Shang Yangjun blinked, “We’ve been walking forwards all this time, we can’t have come back to the beginning.” With a cultivator’s perception, they could certainly notice if they were walking in a circle.
Qi Lin did not say anything. He stared forward, his expression stern.
A pine tree appeared in front of them, and below it was a green ox laying down.
No, it should not be described as a green ox. Rather, it was a green ox statue.
Shang Yangjun was stunned and dismounted in front of the green stone. “Yangjun, what are the chances of finding an identical rock.”
“Impossible, we’ve clearly been walking forwards.” Shang Yangjun circulated her True Qi and struck the green rock with a palm strike, leaving a deep palm imprint in it. “Let’s go.” The girl mounted her horse and spurred it into a gallop.
Several hours later, the two of them once again saw a towering pine and a green ox statue that was no different from the one before.
Qi Lin and Shang Yangjun glanced at each other, their expressions both a bit serious. They advanced. The green ox had a palmprint that came into view. The girl placed her hand against it; it was surprisingly a perfect fit.
“Ah!!” Shang Yangjun was overwhelmed. Having circled around for hours, they were unexpectedly back where they started.
“We don’t go forwards this time.” Qi Lin changed direction.
But no matter how they walked, changed directions, or reversed, in the end, they always arrived back at this green ox statue. Shang Yangjun even shattered the stone, but the next time they saw it, the stone was perfectly intact, save for a single palmprint.
“What do we do?” Shang Yangjun was at wit’s end.
Qi Lin dismounted his warhorse and cupped his fist towards the white mist. He bowed and respectfully said: “The two of us must reach Zhaoge urgently to complete a mission. Being late will result in the execution of our entire families. We had no choice but to go through the mountain and have thus disturbed Senior’s quiet cultivation. We ask for Senior’s forgiveness.”
Shang Yangjun also dismounted and bowed, lowering her head.
Hearing no reply, Qi Lin then said: “This is sparrow soars the sky. Senior presumably cultivates here in search of inspiration. We very unfortunately disturbed you, but we had no choice. If Senior lets us go, Your Servant will be endlessly grateful and will surely pray for Senior’s good fortune.”
“Oh, so you also know of geomancy that ‘looks up at heavenly phenomenon, looks down over geography?'”
An elegant voice came from within the mist. It was a serene voice that was beyond the thirty-three heavens, sonorous and resounding.
“Your Servant understood a bit in a previous life.”
“Previous life…” The graceful female voice was mellow and graceful, more pleasant to listen to than a bird.
“Your Servant shall give you a chance. If you understand what inspiration Your Servant is searching for, I can consider letting you go. Should you guess wrong, you will pay the price for disturbing Your Servant’s quiet cultivation. You will be buried here like all the other discourteous people.”
“Huh? Elder Sister’s Realm is unfathomable. We are merely Qi Refinement Realm, how could we dare fathom Elder Sister’s depths.” Shang Yangjun’s expression slightly changed, and she spoke tactfully.
The wind gradually blew, the white mist billowed, and the mysterious woman said disdainfully.
“Please, answer!”
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- 王詡 ↩
…The lady’s description screamed Hyuga…
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