IVYSCP - Chapter 84
Chapter 84
"Xue Zizai! Get over here!"
Ling Qingyue shouted toward the door.
A couple of days ago, if she had called like this, the person would have come running before she could blink twice. But today, after she finished shouting, she blinked five or six times before she saw Xue Zizai coming over stiff-faced and reluctant.
Ling Qingyue ignored her expression entirely and asked directly, "Didn't you mention Yuelou before?"
Xue Zizai took a moment to react. "Yuelou Country?"
"Yes! That's the one!" Ling Qingyue yanked the person over to her. "Quick, tell me everything you know about Yuelou Country."
Xue Zizai stumbled from the pull and forcefully withdrew her arm. Though her expression was hardly pleasant, she still told what she knew. "There aren't many records about Yuelou Country. It was only a small country in the Central South region. The imperial clan was the Yuelou family, who possessed secret techniques for beguiling people's hearts. Because the country's terrain was remote and easy to defend but hard to attack, the larger neighboring countries never had designs on it. Yuelou Country remained at peace for several hundred years. Later it was supposedly destroyed by natural disasters. You asked about this before as well."
Secret techniques... beguiling people's hearts...
Wasn't this precisely Liu Qingtang's current condition.
It seemed that back then Yuelou Country was not destroyed by natural disasters, and those several hundred cultivators whom Liu Qingtang had suppressed, the person behind them made them kneel to atone for their sins, most likely atoning for the sins of the people of Yuelou Country.
Shi Du was a person from Yuelou Country... Shi Du...
As if she had thought of something, Ling Qingyue's lashes suddenly trembled, and her lips pressed tightly together.
Pei Yin glanced at her and said flatly, "Let's investigate Shi Du."
Pei Xi rolled her eyes. "How, how do we investigate? There isn't even a human shadow in this place, and more than half the palace chambers are burned down."
Pei Yin stretched out her hand and pointed in one direction. "Over there is the Liuyun Immortal Sect's scripture repository. When disciples from every immortal sect entered, they would have had records made. Go search and see what you can find inside about Shi Du."
The word "you" was used well. Even Pei Xi understood it meant splitting up, that it was her and Xue Zizai who would go.
"Alright! We'll go!" Pei Xi agreed with great enthusiasm.
She had no objections. She liked running around everywhere. As long as no one made her eat some strange, bitter, weird dreams, she was happy for anything. Besides, she couldn't read, so she couldn't understand any of those books anyway, and this job wasn't for her to do anyway.
After Pei Xi left with Xue Zizai, Pei Yin took Ling Qingyue's hand and walked out. Ling Qingyue was lost in thought somewhere, letting herself be led. Her usually warm hand was now icy cold.
It wasn't until she was held around the waist and flown into midair that Ling Qingyue remembered to ask, "Where are we going?"
"The Ten-Thousand Names Stele." Pei Yin explained, "The Liuyun Immortal Sect held a yearly grand competition for its disciples. The names of those who took first place were preserved on the Ten-Thousand Names Stele."
Ling Qingyue's mind returned, and she understood why they were going to the Ten-Thousand Names Stele.
The entire territory of the Liuyun Immortal Sect was ravaged by demonic qi. The lingering demonic qi drifted like strands of black thread in every corner. Only two places remained untainted. One was the dilapidated house where they had just investigated Shi Du. The other was likely the very Ten-Thousand Names Stele they were heading toward.
The Ten-Thousand Names Stele was carved from a single block of pitch-black stone. It had six sides, with a pointed top, raised upon thirty-three tiers of jade steps. Though it could not be counted as the tallest structure within Liuyun Immortal Sect territory, it sat at the very center, and had even been the main array eye of the Liuyun Immortal Sect's Grand Sect Formation back then.
"Something's wrong."
Pei Yin's expression grew faintly solemn. She gazed at the jade steps beneath the Ten-Thousand Names Stele and spoke softly.
Ling Qingyue asked, "What's wrong?"
"The records say that the Liuyun Immortal Sect was annihilated after the Demon Race forcibly broke through the Sect Grand Formation. Yet this Ten-Thousand Names Stele is the main array eye, but it shows not the slightest damage."
As Pei Yin spoke, she swept out a hand. Spiritual energy swept up the wind. The yellow sand covering the Ten-Thousand Names Stele was brushed aside to reveal its original appearance. The tiers were made of large blocks of green jade, carved with the Liuyun Immortal Sect's sect crest, exquisite and beautiful. Pale golden spiritual energy flowed through, as if they had never been touched by dust.
Ling Qingyue was startled. "That's true."
What kind of situation would allow the Demon Race to pass through an unbroken formation and slaughter the cultivators within without mercy? Either the formation had been destroyed from the inside to let the Demon Race in, or someone had hidden the Demon Race within the Liuyun Immortal Sect's territory...
Whichever the case, they all proved that the annihilation of the Liuyun Immortal Sect back then was not simply the work of the Demon Race. It was highly likely that someone had done it deliberately.
The two stepped onto the jade steps, ascending level by level. Ling Qingyue sharpened her senses and noticed drops of blood between the separated jade tiers. The dark red blood had seeped deep into the green jade, like a pair of cold, emotionless eyes.
Ling Qingyue imagined a person carrying a sword, covered in blood and slaughter, stepping onto the jade steps. The blood on the sword was thick and crimson, drop by drop falling along the blade to her toes, then splattering onto the green jade steps, bursting into blossoms of blood flowers.
Arriving before the Ten-Thousand Names Stele, Pei Yin infused spiritual energy into it. One after another, names emerged, one by one, all people who had once taken first place in the Liuyun Immortal Sect's grand disciple competition.
Until the final name surfaced, Ling Qingyue's expression showed shock.
The preceding names were for the most part smaller than the palm of a hand. But the final name nearly covered the entire Ten-Thousand Names Stele, overlapping all the names of everyone else, not even giving them room to breathe. The strokes were fiercely sharp, carrying an unstoppable sword momentum. The killing intent within had not dispersed even after a hundred years. Instead it had grown fiercer over time.
Shi Du...
Shi Du had carved her own name across all six faces of the Ten-Thousand Names Stele.
Ling Qingyue took half a step back. A smile twisted at the corner of her lips, but her expression was grieved and forbearing.
Her palm was clasped tightly by a soft, warm hand. Ling Qingyue tilted her head slightly. Pei Yin was looking at her with gentle, soft brows and eyes.
Somehow Ling Qingyue's nose suddenly ached. She hurriedly turned her head and blinked, but the rim of her eyes still grew wet.
"You've thought of it too, haven't you?"
Thought of exactly who Shi Du was.
Ling Qingyue did not wait for Pei Yin to speak. She lowered her voice further. "Before, I thought everyone had changed. Senior sister changed too. I found countless excuses for senior sister in my heart. She had no choice. It was for Master. Her original nature is good. I know her. She isn't that kind of person. But when I actually saw her, I discovered how strange she is. It's like I don't know her anymore. But I still believed in her. Even if... even if she took someone like Cui Heng as her disciple and shielded and indulged her in every way, I still made excuses for her. I even really wanted to believe that absurd rumor, that she thought Cui Heng was like me..."
"But from the moment she wanted to bring out Jiuge as the prize for the Ranking Tournament, I could no longer persuade myself. That senior sister who was diligent, hardworking, thorough in everything, loving and gentle toward her fellow disciples, seemed like the moon in a mirror, like a dream from the past. Now every sign points toward her. She's like a demon wearing human skin. Even her name is false." Ling Qingyue said, smiling as tears streamed down. She looked at Pei Yin, aggrieved and sorrowful. "My senior sister was a fake. Was she faking it from beginning to end?"
The memory of the past cracked like a mirror's surface growing fissures, until at last it shattered completely.
Ling Qingyue could not lie to herself and say that this was only speculation, that it was not real. She had felt vaguely uneasy back in that dilapidated house. They had already suspected the one behind the Linshui Town incident. As it happened, they had traced it to Shi Du, traced it to Yuelou Country.
Shi Du... Lou Wudu...
The Ten-Thousand Names Stele before her eyes delivered the final, crushing blow. That name carved with exhaustive force, the sword qi was so familiar that she dared not acknowledge it...
Pei Yin held her with aching heart, patting her back gently. "You can know a person's face but not their heart. It is always better to see the truth sooner."
Ling Qingyue said through sobs, "Is this for revenge? Was Yuelou Country's destruction related to the Liuyun Immortal Sect? What about those several hundred cultivators at the back mountain of Linshui Town? Some of them were disciples from other immortal sects! And the people of Linshui Town. They were innocent. They did nothing wrong. How could she, how could she be so cold-blooded and merciless!"
"A person blinded by hatred does not know what they are truly doing." Pei Yin's gaze paused as she held the person. "Come out!"
Spiritual energy transformed into thousands of fine needles, shooting straight into the void. Several streaks of sword qi then pursued the flickering black shadow in succession.
The black shadow blocked the sword qi, came before the two in several steps, and raised a hand in a very courteous salute. "You two, we meet again."
Ling Qingyue frowned. "Aunt Lan?"
The black shadow gave a light laugh. "You actually remember me, Ah Xi."
Seeing her admit it, Ling Qingyue did not beat around the bush. "You've been following us all along! Who sent you!"
Aunt Lan's gaze first went to Pei Yin, and she warned, "Immortal Venerable should not think of keeping me here. I am merely a wisp of divine sense. If it came to a fight, I would be no match for the two of you. But if it disperses completely, there will be nothing left at all."
Pei Yin looked at her coldly, the hand behind her back loosening somewhat.
Aunt Lan looked at Ling Qingyue with something like approval. "The master indeed did not misjudge you. You uncovered that person's identity even faster than she predicted."
Her master was the one who had brought Ling Qingyue back to life.
Ling Qingyue said in a deep voice, "Where is your master? If she wants me to do things, why don't we speak face to face."
Aunt Lan shook her head. "Since you have already traced it to that person, there is no need for the master to appear. Ah Xi, you were originally a dead person. The master paid a price to bring you back to life. You should now offer something in return."
Aunt Lan narrowed her eyes and said, word by word, "Kill her."
Ling Qingyue's breath caught.
It was not that she was unwilling. The moment she learned that Lou Wudu was Shi Du, was the source of everything, Ling Qingyue had known this day would come. But in the end that person was her senior sister who had watched over her as she grew up. For a time she could not fully accept such a situation.
A long while later, Ling Qingyue suddenly smiled. "Aren't you overestimating me too much? Even though I've been brought back to life, how can this body possibly match the Sword Venerable? Whether I can even survive the next Lightning Tribulation is a question."
To bring her back to life with a half-human half-demon body, Aunt Lan's master had a meticulous mind and had laid every step like a chess game. How could she not have considered that the Lightning Tribulation would be hard to survive? Yet she still used her as a chess piece. That meant she must hold a method for surviving the tribulation in her hands.
No surprise showed in Aunt Lan's eyes. She produced a scroll and threw it directly over.
Ling Qingyue took the scroll but did not look at it. Instead she asked, "If you had a way to survive the tribulation, why didn't you bring it out earlier?"
Aunt Lan's gaze fell on Pei Yin beside her, and she smiled. "If I had brought it out too early, how would the Immortal Venerable's true feelings for you have been proven?"
She had admitted it. Pei Yin was someone they had deliberately drawn into this game.
Ling Qingyue's hand clenched tight. She heard the sound of her own grinding teeth. "Go back and tell your master to hide well. If I ever find out who she is, I will make sure she too has a taste of being struck by lightning."
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