Chapter 65 Cliff Life Runs Through the Mountain
"Ha! That man is ungrateful! I kindly saved him, but he took advantage of my kindness, trapping me here and torturing me day after day. He even sent my lover to do those heinous things for him!" The eight-clawed demon's eyes were bloodshot, wishing she could skin the man in her mouth, tear him apart, and devour him. But even that couldn't quell her hatred. "Every time he comes, he takes pieces of my flesh. I think it's to threaten my lover. I've ruined him, ruined him..."
The octopus demon began to sob. Bai Yuheng's face showed a moment of emotion. She touched the barrier surrounding her and said, "Then do you believe me? I will rescue you."
The eight-clawed demon paused in its sobbing, staring blankly at her. After a long hesitation, it finally said, "This is where a great immortal cultivated a thousand years ago. Later, he suffered a qi deviation and his body exploded, resulting in his death. The demonic energy lingers here, causing the magnetic field to be strange. Anything with spiritual power will become weak and powerless here, its spiritual power stagnating. You are just a mortal, and a delicate woman with no weapons at that. Don't waste your energy, just run away quickly."
“The magnetic field here only affects you demons,” Bai Yuheng said.
The octopus demon closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and endured the long-standing pain in his body. He said to her, "No need. You should run. Go out from here and you'll see a sea. They have many burrows, and that's one of the places they're planning to stop when they escape. There are boats there, and presumably there will be food. Enough for you to drift at sea for a few days."
She opened her eyes and looked into the deep, winding cave: "Then row eastward, where there are many boats coming and going, and someone will rescue you."
Seeing that she was still worried about her safety, Bai Yuheng smiled and said, "Don't worry about me, I will rescue you."
The octopus demon's anger subsided, and it laughed upon hearing this: "You think you can fight someone who's not even half the size of one of my tentacles? You're too weak to even kill a chicken. You'd better run away while you can. I've been here for quite a while, and I'm still useful to him, so they won't kill me for now..."
Bai Yuheng recalled Xu Huaji's ruthless decisiveness that day and said, "Don't you want to see your lover? Don't you want to know how he is now?"
The octopus demon was moved for a moment, and then a bead of blood slid down from the corner of its eye.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she said softly, almost in a murmur.
Bai Yuheng asked in surprise, "You knew?"
She moved her restrained limbs, her voice instantly becoming tired and weak: "I can sense it."
Bai Yuheng sighed, paused, and said to her, "I will rescue you."
Seeing her so certain, the octopus demon's doubts lessened somewhat, and he asked with some skepticism, "Can you really rescue me?"
"Um."
After Bai Yuheng finished speaking, she took a few steps back, quickly formed hand seals, and opened and closed her lips. A golden light enveloped her body, and a golden snake phantom rushed out from behind her, crashing into a layer of black and purple barrier. Golden threads spread, merging and intertwining with the black and purple, before shattering into pieces.
After casting the spell, Bai Yuheng felt unusually tired. She shook her head and channeled spiritual energy into her mind to clear her head. She thought that the medicinal bath she had been soaking in during the Shen Shi hour was still exerting its powerful effect.
Fortunately, she was able to break through the barrier.
The octopus demon moved, and the chains binding her became lighter, easily breaking free.
She was shocked: "Who are you?! How did you break through this barrier?!"
Bai Yuheng paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "A disciple of the Tianyan Sect."
The octopus demon was quite knowledgeable and naturally knew the great name of the Tianyan Sect.
"So you're a disciple of the Tianyan Sect. Kui Wu is blind and doesn't recognize your true nature." Now that she was free, she thanked her in a relaxed tone.
"I will repay you," she said sincerely.
"No need to be polite. You just need to escape from here and promise me you will never kill anyone." Bai Yuheng felt a pang of guilt when she thought of her deceased lover, but then she thought of the innocent people they had killed, whether they were coerced or murdered maliciously. At that moment, her guilt turned into a breath of turbid air, which she exhaled gently.
The octopus demon just smiled and didn't respond to her.
Bai Yuheng sighed.
He didn't say anything more, but just watched her follow the direction of the seawater and merge into the sea.
Everything in the world has its own destiny.
She shouldn't care so much, and she can't care anyway.
*
Jiangzhou.
The three worked tirelessly day and night to safely deliver the people on the boat. After that, Li Tiankuo went to the government office, and Cen Ying, based on Bai Yuheng and Cui Mingcan's descriptions, decomposed the ingredients of those medicinal pools and then brewed the antidote.
Pei Yuan then summoned Duobao, and together they flew back to Yueqing Town.
Hearing her response, Pei Yuan felt a little calmer, but he was still somewhat worried. He was concerned about her safety, the current level of her magical power, whether she would get hurt, or suffer any injustice...
Thinking about it this way, I wish I could fly to her side in a flash.
He could only urge Duobao to speed up his pace.
Following her directions, they arrived at the sea god temple, searched it inside and out, and even used their spiritual power to probe it, but found nothing unusual.
However, in the dark chamber beneath the Temple of Poseidon, a special prison was discovered, filled with various instruments of torture, the filthy blood from years past deeply penetrating the instruments.
Beneath the innermost wall, a tripod stood out abruptly, covered with inscriptions that were not from the current dynasty. Pei Yuan bent down to examine it closely and felt a sense of familiarity.
My mind raced through the rare books I had read, and suddenly I saw a character that looked like a merman's.
Pei Yuan lit a candle and carefully deciphered the characters, which had become blurred and indistinct due to the passage of time.
"This incantation was created by the Merfolk Emperor, who ruled the world. With it, he could command countless members of my sea race. It is a secret and must never be revealed to others..."
Pei Yuan frowned, read the first line of text in a low voice, and then looked at the next few sentences. He wondered if someone had overheard the inscription on it, or if it sounded like someone's dying words.
He recited the incantation, and a red light flashed suddenly.
His expression was stern, and he looked at the person warily.
A scroll unfolds on a wall stained with blood. The first scene depicts several merfolk wielding weapons, killing the merfolk seated in the main position. The merfolk's body is impaled on a trident and held high above their heads.
Pei Yuan stared intently at the scene, which was the history of the rise and fall of the merfolk.
The last image shows three enormous eight-armed beasts carrying an infant mermaid as they drift away from their homeland.
The scene ends here.
Pei Yuan fell into deep thought, lowered his eyes to look at the inscription on the cauldron again, and thought of the eight-clawed giant beast that tried to capture them that day. He immediately tried to contact Bai Yuheng with the cicada.
"Is Yu Heng here?"
Bai Yuheng was discussing escape with Cui Mingcan in the cage when she suddenly heard Pei Yuan's voice. She snapped out of her daze and replied, "Yes, what is it, Master?"
“I discovered traces of the merfolk in the secret chamber of the Sea God Temple.”
Pei Yuan kept it brief: "The final scene shows three octopuses leading the last bloodline of the merfolk away from their homeland. The inscription on the cauldron was probably overheard and memorized. The talismans on it can command all the creatures in the sea."
"Three?" Bai Yuheng exclaimed in surprise. "I only saw two. We killed one, and Xu Huaji hid the other in a cave. I released her, and there's still one left..."
Pei Yuan hummed in agreement, knowing what she was thinking, and said, "The one in the painting looks quite old. Perhaps it entrusted its orphan to the other two, and someone overheard it and remembered it."
Bai Yuheng asked in confusion, "But Xu Huaji doesn't seem to know mermaid script, nor does he seem to be a demon."
"Moreover, we don't know where the last bloodline of the Merfolk is."
Pei Yuan: "Indeed, there are many discrepancies."
“By the way, you don’t need to come again. Just wait for us in Jiangzhou,” Bai Yuheng said. “Xiao Can and I have found out that they will take us away tomorrow to Jiangzhou. At that time, you and Xiao Kuo can lead the government officials to capture them at the ferry. Time is of the essence, and I’m afraid that if you go back and forth, you will miss the opportunity.”
"Um……"
Pei Yuan pursed his lips, somewhat annoyed that she addressed others so intimately, yet she kept calling him "Master."
She used to call him Yuan'er...
That's enough.
Pei Yuan sighed softly, suddenly remembering that she was no longer the Empress Hengluan and did not want to acknowledge him.
"What's wrong?" Bai Yuheng suddenly heard him sigh and asked curiously what was wrong.
“It’s nothing…” Pei Yuan didn’t realize that his tone was a little sour. “I’m in Yueqing Town right now, not far from your Penglai Island. I can infiltrate your area.”
Bai Yuheng knew he had a solution, so she didn't stop him.
"Okay, then please be careful."
"..."
Another soft sigh reached my ears.
"? Master, you..."
"Since we're not in the Tianyan Sect now, you don't need to be so respectful to me." The formality and constant use of "you" made Pei Yuan feel incredibly distant, and a bitter taste welled up inside him.
Things are different now. He used to dislike her calling him "Yuan'er" all the time, always feeling that she didn't see him as a man, but as a child, an innocent toddler who needed protection.
—Even though she did live longer than him.
But compared to that, he now disliked her respectful address even more, and suddenly felt that the old way of addressing him was better. At least he could use that address and her perception of him as still young to get closer to her and gain her affection.
"this……"
Bai Yuheng hesitated.
Pei Yuan gave a silent, bitter smile: "Just treat me as a friend, like you call them."
He added, "If you mind, you don't have to treat me as your master, at least not when we're out together."
"Okay, sure." Bai Yuheng thought for a moment. It wasn't a big deal, and after only a brief hesitation, she accepted. She smiled and asked, "Then how should I address you?"
How would you like me to address you?
Pei Yuan chuckled and said, "I already said Yu'er, there's no need to use honorifics."
Bai Yuheng nodded, then chuckled, remembering that he was blind: "I forgot..."
"So, how would you like me to address you?"
Pei Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and his hand, which was touching Duobao's feathers, trembled slightly. He carefully uttered the name that he had been thinking of for a long time and wanted her to call out, but they had missed each other.
He spoke hesitantly, his breath catching in his throat: "Can you call me—"
"Yasheng".
Jade in the mountains makes the grass and trees lush, and pearls in the abyss keep the cliffs from drying up.
His deep voice reached her ears, and Bai Yuheng was stunned for a moment, suddenly remembering her childhood nickname that she had long forgotten for hundreds of years—
Runshan.
-----------------------
The author says: "Jade in the mountain makes the grass and trees flourish; pearls in the abyss keep the cliffs from drying up." — Xunzi, "Encouraging Learning"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
