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Chapter 235: Shadow Pavilion
Gu Tian! Hui stared, wide-eyed. Thats right, I remember! Those cultivators mentioned him vanishing into the realm. With Li Xiang vanishing, I forgot about Gu Tian. Did he end up in the same place as me?
Wait. What do Gu Tian and I have in common? Hui frowned, putting a hand to his chin. His brows furrowed. We were both in Black Asp Sect. Did something mark us there? Or was there something else? Gu Tians soul was swapped into his body, but mine wasnt.
Unless that time I transmigrated counts.
Then, Li Xiang did she end up here, too?
Hui paused, looking up at Gu Tian. Xie Hao?
Thats your name, right, Junior Brother? Gu Tian asked, smiling. His body wobbled, and for a second, the barren, empty realm appeared, replacing the sunny garden. His strong, tan body turned into a black shadow, blurry and indistinct. Gu Tian turned around, and the sunny garden reappeared, Gu Tians body stable once more.
His soul is deteriorating. The realm is eating him. I have to get Gu Tian out of here!
Gu Tian led him to an empty plot and squatted down, opening a small hole in the rich earth. Here. Take those seeds and copy me. Quickly! We only have a short window to plant the Soot Vine. If we plant it even an incense sticks worth of time after noon, itll be Ash Vine instead, a weaker medicinal plant with a lower concentration of yang energy.
Hui glanced around, caught up in Gu Tians momentum. A few black seeds sat on a stone nearby. He grabbed a small handful and crouched beside Gu Tian, copying the mans movements. Gently circling his fingers, he made a small hollow in the earth. He tipped a seed inside, then carefully pushed soil over it to cover the seeds.
The two of them moved along, planting the seeds one after another. Hui finally planted the last seed and sat back, wiping his brow. Whew. Got them all planted in time.
Abruptly, he jumped to his feet. Scowling, he slapped his face. Awake and alert, Hui! Dammit, I fell into the pace of this realm again. If I let down my guard for even a second, itll devour me!
What is it, Xie Hao? Gu Tian asked. He stood and shaded his eyes with one hand, peering to the horizon.
Nothing. Elder Brother Gu Tian, we should go. Weve been here too long already, Hui said, smiling.
What do you mean? Weve only begun, Gu Tian said, turning back to look at Hui.
Eh? Hui asked.
After Soot Vine, we still have the Three-Colors Lily, the White Flametongue, the Bleeding Heart Blossom, and the Summer Peony to plant. If we miss today, the auspicious date, season, and solar angle wont align for another dozen years, and thats assuming the weather is good!
Hui shook his head. Listen to me, Gu Tian. You might not believe me, but this is all an illusion. If we dont get out of here soon, youll
Gu Tian pivoted. He put his arm out in front of Hui, pushing him back. Xie Hao, watch out. Those crows are back again.
Crows? Hui peeked around Gu Tian.
In the distance, a mass of shadows swirled in the sky, blotting out the sun. Wings beat on the wind, stirring the dust into a tempest. A thousand crows swirled in the gray sky, silhouettes against an even-tone shadowbox.
Eh? Gray sky? Hui stared up. Overhead, the blue sky faded evenly toward the horizon, turning gray where it met the crows.
The crows dropped from the sky and settled onto trees around the edge of the garden. As they dropped, the leaves reddened and dropped from the trees, flurrying down like snow. The trees left behind stood skeletal, branches bare save the crows. Red flashed amidst the monotone sky and black crows. Hui flinched, taking a step back. All the crows turned to look at once. A thousand red eyes stared at him. The red light blurred, swirling together into a red robe. Laughing, a man stepped down from the sky, the red robe settling over his shoulders, a counterpoint to the black robes he wore. Long black hair flew behind him, wild and free, ends ragged as a crows wing. His eyes burned red, and black stained his fingertips. He jabbed a hand at Hui, wild eyes blazing.
Fen Long! Ive found you. You cant hide the scent of your life qi, even in your ghost form. Let me out, or else die!
Easy choice. Hui instantly killed his qi and flopped backward, plopping toward the garden.
Xie Hao! Gu Tian shouted. He snatched Hui out of the air, then glanced behind him and sighed. Phew. Nearly fell into the Soot Vine.
Er, Elder Brother, were you more concerned about the Soot Vine than about me dying? Hui wondered silently.
Overhead, the man paused, confused more than anything. He frowned, his brows furrowing faintly. Not Fen Long? He would never die from me shouting at him
Internally, Hui nodded vigorously. Thats right, thats right! Mysterious Senior, youve made a mistake. Go on, leave this small disciple alone. Theres no need to attack me.
Red robe floating from his shoulders, the man descended to the earth and approached, still frowning.
Gu Tian set Hui carefully aside and drew his sword. Not one more step.
The man froze, foot still in the air. He looked down. A short stem pushed out of the earth, barely four leaves on it, still little more than a sapling. He looked at Gu Tian and slowly lowered his foot. Gu Tian tensed, tightening his grip, and knelt, preparing to charge.
The man in red put his hands up. He stepped back, avoiding the plants. If you let me examine that boy there, Ill go. Im not interested in the death throes of some poor idiots who wandered into the trap Fen Long set for me.
Gu Tian lowered his sword. He gave the man a wary look, but nodded, once. Stepping aside, he allowed the man to approach Hui.
Hey! Elder Brother, hey! This small disciple is still alive here, okay? I okay, I know I look dead, butdont just let strange men examine me!
Whats your name, fellow Daoist? Gu Tian asked, as the man knelt beside Hui.
The man reached out toward Huis face. Ah? Call me Chen Wuya.
Hui tensed subtly, watching the hand descend with dead eyes. What do I do? What do I do? Wake up? Run? Replace no, I dont have any ghouls in my soul form. The snakeskin technique probably wont work, either. Jin Xian is gone. The lotus beast is gone. Dammit, what do I do?
The mans hand latched onto Huis head. He smirked, looking Hui directly in the eye. Souls dont leave a corpse when they die.
Oh, shit! Hui released his qi and grabbed the mans hand, fighting his grip. It felt as though he grabbed steel. The mans skin didnt give an inch, let alone moving his hand away from Huis head.
Xie Hao! Gu Tian shouted, slashing at the mans back. His sword bounced off the mans shoulders. The full force of Gu Tians blow didnt so much as force the man to twitch, let alone injure him.
Alright, then. Show me what this world has become! Chen Wuya shouted.
Qi poured into Huis mind. Hui marshalled all the death qi he had and poured it at Chen Wuyas qi. Chen Wuyas attack faltered, but Huis death qi drained at an alarming rate.
Oh? Interesting. A ghost cultivator? Chen Wuya asked, eyes glittering. He tightened his grip. More qi poured into Hui.
Hui fought back, but the more he fought, the more real the illusion became around him, and the colder his body became. He bit his lip, then retracted his death qi. If I use it all up here, the realm will directly eat me! I cant
Wait!
Hui quickly marshalled his mental energy and drew a talisman in his mind. A barrier formed and spread over his mind, closing it off from Chen Wuyas probes.
A cute trick. But a mantis cant stop a chariot, Chen Wuya chuckled. A bolt of qi shot into Huis mind and shattered the barrier.
Hui spat up a mouthful of blood as the backlash from the barrier shattering hit him. His soul shook, on the verge of breaking apart. He circulated his death qi, desperately stabilizing his soul. I cant use my plant technique or my crystallization technique without a body. Ah, how could I have overlooked my soul? Playing dead as a soul is an equally important skill! I need more, more skills to play dead!
Calm down. Im not trying to hurt you. Ive been trapped in here for a thousand years. I want to see the outside, thats all, Chen Wuya grumbled.
Say that before you attack me, Senior, Hui grumbled back.
Memories flashed before his eyes. Chen Wuyas eyes went blank. After a moment, he retracted his hand, leaving behind a scrap of his qi. Take it. My thanks.
Fuck your thanks! Hui shouted silently, but quickly surrounded the qi with death qi. Unlike normal qi, almost seventy percent of Chen Wuyas qi converted directly into death qi. A strange duck emerged, with blazing red eyes and jagged, crow-like feathers. It shook its head, preened itself and flapped down into Huis dantian with the rest of the ducks.
Hui took a deep breath and circulated his qi again. With the addition of the crow-duck, his soul quickly stabilized, and the illusions hold on him lessened. He stood, dusted down his robes, then bowed shortly to Chen Wuya. Senior, is this your realm?
Chen Wuya snorted derisively. My realm, my ass. I got trapped here, didnt you hear me? Its that bastard Fen Longs realm. He put all my treasure in here as bait, and steals a little bit of the visiting cultivators qi and vitality to sustain the seal on me, while giving away my fortune at the same time. He scowled with the last line, as if it hurt him to remember his losses.
Why? I mean why did he seal you here? Hui asked.
No reason, no reason at all. All I did was build a little a spell formation. In the middle of it, I got exhausted and fell asleep. While I slept, he attacked the spell formation and trapped me in here. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Chen Wuya said with a sigh, shaking his head.
A spell formation? What for? Hui asked.
Soul transferal. It wasnt finished. I tried to tell him, but he wouldnt listen. Better to ruin the formation and lock me away than let me make it safe! If no one has finished it since I left, and how could they have, when no one understands soul transferal as well as I, its more dangerous right now that it would have been, had I finished. If someone fixes it and forces it to activate now, itll steal soul energy from whatever is weakest. In a word, mortals. If hed let me finish it, I could have redirected the draw, but
Huis eyes flew wide. Mortals? Stealing mortal souls for a soul transferal. Doesnt that sound like what happened when I crossed into this world? The Midnight Massacre what if thats the result of mortal souls being paid as a price to summon my soul? And then my soul transferred into this world
Chen Wuya turned his head, looking at Hui from the corner of his eye. So? How many mortals did it cost, when you came over?
