Ban Xiaxi stood in front of the water gate, her expression cold and gloomy.
“I warned you.”
After saying that, Ban Xiaxi took a few steps back, her eyes fixed on the four people, and then leaped into the water gate.
Liu Dazhuang asked in bewilderment, "What's this kid's zodiac sign? Why does he keep changing his attitude?"
Sikong said, "We'll discuss this further inside. We don't know the situation there, so it's best to be cautious."
"Yes!" Xie Shuci nodded.
"Enter!"
Liu Dazhuang plunged into the water gate and disappeared instantly, with Sikong Xin following closely behind.
Xie Shuci was worried about the little blind boy going in alone, so he took his hand and carried the king side by side into the water gate.
As they approached, the water automatically avoided them.
Upon entering the water gate, a misty sky comes into view.
A cold wind blew slowly, its chill seeping into the bones. The air was filled with a putrid, damp smell, causing Xie Shuci to shiver involuntarily.
They stared at the scene before them and fell silent.
The four people passed through the water gate and found themselves in mid-air, with a water ladder stretching down to the ground and forming in the void beneath their feet.
The space they were in was like a snowball submerged in water, encased in glass and isolated from the outside seawater, appearing no different from land.
Surprisingly, the space was filled with misty clouds, and below, the surging sea crashed against the rocks. Not far away, a mountain shrouded in clouds stood in the sea.
The miasma turned into gray gas that permeated the mountaintops, filling the air with an aura of death and evil. The land and trees were stained black, standing lifelessly on the sea, like a silent hell.
The waves crashed against the rocks with angry roars, while the land remained silent, not even a ripple stirred by the wind.
If you look closely, you'll notice that the seawater is also as black as ink.
Xie Shuci felt as if they had fallen from the human world into hell.
If there really is a hell after death, it's nothing more than this.
"This is... Chunsheng Mountain, where it's spring all year round?"
Looking at the towering mountain not far away, Xie Shuci gasped.
This mountain, shrouded in miasma and resembling a statue of death, is the homeland of the Banxia people.
Even Sikong Xin couldn't help but sigh upon seeing the scene before him.
"No wonder this guy doesn't dare to see his brother. If I were his brother, I would definitely give him a good beating," Liu Dazhuang sighed.
Xie Shuci stared blankly at Chunsheng Mountain, completely unable to imagine what this mountain, which was like all year round, looked like ten thousand years ago, before the Banxia clan was wiped out.
Looking at the dark seawater surrounding Chunsheng Mountain, Sikong Xin said in a deep voice, "Over the past tens of millions of years, Ban Xiaxi has accumulated a very deep resentment in her heart."
Xie Shuci nodded, "Sink the entire mountain into the sea..."
Xie Shuci could hardly imagine how much resentment he must have felt to do such a thing, and he could not imagine that for thousands of years, he had been guarding Chunsheng Mountain alone. Perhaps if Ban Xiayin had not escaped from his sea of consciousness, he would not have left this place so easily.
"Go down first," Sikong said.
The four of them walked down the water ladder. The closer they got to Chunsheng Mountain, the stronger the miasma became, and they could also clearly smell the numb, rotten, and pungent odor emanating from Chunsheng Mountain.
The king perched on Xie Shuci's shoulder, looking somewhat listless. Its sense of smell was far more sensitive than that of humans, and it detected a scent that it found extremely unpleasant.
Are you alright?
"Aww..."
The king responded weakly.
However, Sikong Xin noticed that the miasma floating in the air seemed to be wary of something, lingering around them but never daring to approach.
If you look closer, you can see that something seems to be emitting a faint light from the small pouch on Xie Shuci's body.
Before long, the group walked up the water ladder to the shore, which was only a few feet away from Chunsheng Mountain.
Xie Shuci read
Looking at the surrounding environment and the miasma visible in the air, he couldn't help but worry. Even cultivators like them could use their spiritual power to resist the miasma, but the little blind man was just an ordinary person. What if the miasma affected his body?
"Xie An, there's miasma here that will harm your health. You should go back to the Shenzhou," Xie Shuci said worriedly.
Xie An shook his head. "No need."
"But……"
Sikong Xin noticed Xie Shuci's worry and said to him, "Brother Shuci, you don't need to worry about that. You should have a magical artifact to ward off miasma in your pouch."
Xie Shuci was taken aback. "Really?"
Sikong said, "You might as well observe that the miasma in the air dares not approach us."
After hearing this, Xie Shuci looked up at the sky and found that the surroundings were shrouded in a gray fog, with only the air around them being relatively clean.
"But I don't seem to have any magical artifacts..."
Xie Shuci lowered his head and rummaged through his small pouch, which contained seven or eight bottles of pills, magical artifacts he had swindled from the disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect, as well as his bronze medicine cauldron and the Fulong magical artifact...
"The Dragon-Subduing Magic Artifact!" Xie Shuci flipped over to the Dragon-Subduing Magic Artifact, which was glowing faintly, and took it out of his pouch.
Upon seeing the Dragon-Subduing Artifact, the Great King immediately perked up and licked it twice.
"My goodness! Brother Xie, Brother Shuci, just who the hell are you? It's one thing to carry a bronze medicine cauldron with you, but how come you also have the Dragon-Subduing Magic Artifact?"
"The Dragon-Subduing Magic Artifact is one of the few auspicious formations among the three thousand eight hundred formations, capable of resisting all evil things in the world."
Xie Shuci, feeling somewhat flattered by their words, chuckled and said, "I obtained it by chance, but I don't know how to use it. I will only turn it into the sky for defense."
Sikong Xin replied, "It's enough here. As long as it's here, we won't be bothered by the miasma."
Upon hearing this, Xie Shuci nodded and handed the Dragon-Subduing Magic Artifact directly to Xie An, saying, "You're an ordinary person, you take it."
Xie An took the Dragon-Subduing Artifact, lifted the Great King off Xie Shuci's shoulder, and placed the artifact near its mouth, "Hold it in your mouth."
"Aww!"
The king happily put the Dragon-Subduing Magic Weapon in his mouth.
Sikong Xin: "..."
Even Liu Dazhuang felt a pang of heartache upon seeing this.
The Dragon-Subduing Artifact, the Auspicious Array—how could they possibly stuff it into the mouth of a mere bastard? I feel so sorry for the Dragon-Subduing Artifact!
Sikong Xin was certain that Xie Shuci was incredibly dim-witted, and not just a little bit dim-witted! Perhaps it was a case of fools having good fortune; not only did he have a huge collection of pills and magical artifacts, but he also had Xiao Xun by his side, a man who could kill gods and Buddhas alike. Not only in the cultivation world, but even in the Floating Pagoda Realm, he could walk sideways!
The sheer quality of the top-grade pills alone makes people hesitant to offend them.
Xie Shuci, at least having some conscience, patted the king's head and said, "Be careful, don't bite it."
"Awooo!" the king cried out.
Liu Dazhuang: "..."
Good heavens, can't you guys have any respect for the Fulong magical artifact?
Sikong Xin calmed down and said, "It seems there's a reason why Ban Xiaxi came to find you."
Xie Shuci fell silent after hearing this.
Liu Dazhuang was very puzzled, "Why?"
Sikong said, "The Banxia clan is inherently kind, but the tragic deaths of their clansmen at the hands of others have fueled the resentment in Banxia Xi's heart. From a young age, he was influenced by what he saw and heard, and he felt that he should not harbor resentment towards humans. In the long struggle, his soul formed two sides, positive and negative. The positive side is the Banxia Xi we see, and the negative side is the Banxia Xi who sank Chunsheng Mountain into the sea."
After hearing this, Xie Shuci said, "Because I have the Dragon-Subduing Artifact, which can temporarily keep his soul in a positive state, that's why he's been following us."
Sikong Xin nodded. "That's right."
"Awooo!" The king suddenly let out two more cries.
The baby was licking the pillow because of this magic item!
Xie Anjing stood beside Xie Shuci, her expression deep and secluded.
His pupils reflected the lifeless Chunsheng Mountain not far away, and his expression turned somewhat gloomy, as if he had remembered something.
"The Banxia clan is skilled in water manipulation and is no different from ordinary cultivators, but humans have given them unwarranted responsibilities. He was simply caught up in these so-called responsibilities," Xie An said calmly.
Xie Shuci sighed after hearing this, "By the way, where is Ban Xiaxi?"
Liu Dazhuang said, "I don't know, I didn't see him when I came in."
Sikong said, "Go into the mountains first to check the situation, and be careful."
"Okay, let's go."
The four people and one dog approached Chunsheng Mountain. Liu Dazhuang, carrying the pearl, walked at the front, while Xie Shuci and the other two followed behind.
The light from the pearl illuminated the surrounding area, passing by in complete silence. The grass was a deep, dark color, and if it weren't for the little blind man dressed in a white robe, Xie Shuci would have felt as if he himself had gone blind.
After settling at the bottom of the sea for so many years, the soil exudes a rotten smell, and the flowers, grass and trees will no longer grow. But for some reason, they have not withered or faded, just like an ink-black statue.
It was so quiet here that even the occasional footsteps sounded incredibly jarring in this space.
In a place like this, let alone staying for a few years, even if Xie Shuci were to stay here alone for a day, he would go crazy.
The four walked across a damp meadow and arrived at the foot of Chunsheng Mountain.
The mountains were shrouded in miasma, making it impossible to see any trace of residual spiritual energy. Moreover, the atmosphere was too eerie, and the four of them were very cautious, not knowing if there was anything dangerous hidden in the mountains. They could not make any loud noises that might attract attention.
The Great King had once smelled the scent of Ban Xia Yin. Xie Shu Ci originally intended to use it to search for Ban Xia Yin in the mountains, but the smell here was too heavy and pungent, with a mixture of various disgusting odors. It could only feel better by holding the Fulong magic weapon in its mouth and smelling the scent emitted by the magic weapon. Xie Shu Ci naturally did not want to force it.
"Damn it, there's not a sound at all, it's so creepy!" Liu Dazhuang was the first to lose his composure.
Xie Shuci understood his feelings very well. People who stay in an extremely quiet and enclosed space for a long time can really be driven crazy.
"I can't take it anymore, Ban Xiaxi! If you've got the guts, come out and fight me! If not, take me to your brother!"
Liu Dazhuang roared angrily into the air.
"Grass!"
"Shut up!"
Xie Shuci and Sikong Xin pounced on him almost simultaneously and covered his mouth.
"You idiot, this is his territory. Killing us would be a piece of cake for him. Don't cause trouble here!" Xie Shu retorted.
Sikong Xin glared at him, "I still want to return to the Floating Pagoda Realm alive."
"Ugh!" Liu Dazhuang struggled a couple of times, and Xie Shuci let go, wiping his drool on his clothes in disgust.
Liu Dazhuang said with a bitter face, "We can't just slowly search all the way here, can we? This mountain is so big, who knows what's inside? We might not find Ban Xiayin even after searching for ages. I can't stand this lousy place for another second!"
Xie Shuci was speechless. "How can someone as big as you be so fragile?"
"Bullshit! If he comes and fights me fair and square, I won't even flinch if he beats me to death!"
"Alright, let's go up the mountain first," Sikong said.
"He couldn't possibly take revenge on an empty mountain; there might still be descendants of the villagers living there."
Liu Dazhuang tossed the pearl into Sikong Xin's hand, saying, "You go first."
After saying that, he went around to stand behind Xie Shuci. "There's nothing in front of me. I need to see you guys, otherwise I'll get anxious."
Xie Shuci, who was walking at the back, was also on tenterhooks, afraid that something else was following behind him. But when Liu Dazhuang walked up behind him, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Sikong Xin accepted the pearl reluctantly. He looked back at Xie Shuci and Xie An, probably wondering if he could let them go up. Xie Shuci immediately pretended not to see anything and buried his head behind Xie An.
Sikong Xin had no choice but to suppress his discomfort and continue walking forward.
Xie Shuci secretly glanced at Xie An's face from behind.
They glanced at each other, and all three of them felt somewhat uncomfortable in this environment, but Xie An seemed completely unaffected.
However, Xie An was blind and deaf before, so perhaps he had long been accustomed to this environment.
Sikong Xin walked ahead, cautiously looking around.
They were on a mountain path shaded by trees on both sides, with trees a meter tall standing like silent warriors at the foot of Chunsheng Mountain.
As they went uphill, apart from the sound of their footsteps, there was not a sound in the mountains. Xie Shuci even felt as if they were walking on water.
"What kind of cursed place is this? It's bad luck!" Liu Dazhuang muttered to himself behind him.
With Xie An and Sikong Xin in front of him and Liu Dazhuang behind him, Xie Shuci felt very safe, so he relaxed a little and looked around.
How to put it? The whole mountain was like a dead thing; apart from them, there was no other life in it.
"Someone's there!" Sikong Xin suddenly shouted, and everyone stopped in their tracks, staring wide-eyed ahead.
Not far away, illuminated by the light from the pearl, there was a very clear humanoid figure, and it was obvious that the figure was holding a sharp weapon.
Judging from his physique, this person is not Ban Xiaxi.
Could it be... that he is Ban Xia Yin?!
Before the four could react, the figure suddenly moved, turned around, and quickly ran into the depths of the forest.
"Chase them!" Sikong Xin said.
Regardless of whether he was Ban Xiayin or not, catching him was still a good thing.
Liu Dazhuang was really bored here. As soon as he saw that there was a living person in front of him, he jumped up from behind Xie Shuci, his body soaring into the air. Using the big tree as a cushion, he flew towards the person like a leopard.
A short while later, a muffled groan came from ahead, and the three of them immediately went up.
Then, Liu Dazhuang lifted the person lying on the ground up like a chick.
The man gripped the bone knife tightly and slashed at Liu Dazhuang with all his might, but his actions were no different from throwing an egg against a rock in front of the strong Liu Dazhuang.
Liu Dazhuang grabbed his wrist directly, and with a "crack" sound, it almost dislocated.
"How could the Water God be so weak?" Liu Dazhuang muttered.
Sikong Xin walked up to the person and shone the pearl on him. He found that the person was a boy dressed in clothes made of animal skin. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. He had a strange mark painted on his face, which ran from his forehead along his nose to his chin. He was glaring fiercely at Xie Shuci and the others.
“He is not the Water God,” Xie Shuci said, shaking his head.
Sikong Xin also said, "He has no spiritual power in his body; he's just an ordinary person. Dazhuang, let him go."
Upon hearing this, Liu Dazhuang curled his lip and threw the boy to the ground. After landing, the boy quickly moved away from the four of them, gripped the smooth bone knife in his hand, and looked at them with apprehension.
Xie Shuci was somewhat shocked. He hadn't expected there to be a living person in this place, and that the person looked like a very ordinary human being.
Xie Shuci could probably guess what the totem on his face meant. In ancient times, many tribes used totems to distinguish their people. If nothing unexpected happened, this human was from that village.
"Don't be nervous, we mean no harm," Xie Shuci said, stepping forward.
The boy stared wide-eyed, remaining vigilant for a moment.
Liu Dazhuang had clearly lost his temper and had no patience left. He said directly, "Don't waste words with him. Tie him up, torture him, and you'll get anything out of him."
"Don't be impulsive," Sikong Xin said.
Then, Sikong Xin said to him, "We are cultivators from elsewhere, here looking for someone. Are there any other people here besides you?"
The boy, seemingly unsure whether he understood, stared at them suspiciously for a long time before finally extending a hand to Sikong Xin, looking at the luminous pearl emanating from his hand.
Without much hesitation, Sikong Xin threw the pearl into his hand.
In some tribes, when you first meet someone, they will ask you for something and then judge whether you have ill intentions based on your reaction.
Sure enough, after receiving Mingzhu, Shao
Nian held the bone knife in his hand for a moment, then put it away, looked up at the four people, and said, "Come with me."
The boy seemed to have not spoken for a long time; his voice was like an old bellows, sounding particularly harsh.
Xie Shuci was somewhat surprised; so he could talk.
He had imagined this person would be like the ancient people on TV, speaking a different language. However, this was the world the author had created, so a unified language was quite normal.
The four looked at each other, but ultimately decided to follow.
But none of them noticed that a child was sitting on a tree branch not far behind them.
He stared blankly at Xie Shuci's retreating figure, muttering a sentence to himself, but making no sound.
Do you want to be friends with him, Xie Shuci?
The four of them kept a certain distance from the boy throughout, and followed him through several rugged mountain paths until they finally reached a main road.
At the end of the road, the group saw more than a dozen dilapidated houses, with rotten wooden doors hanging precariously in mid-air. The area was full of ruins, resembling an abandoned village.
The abandoned houses there had windows that were just dark holes, like gaping holes, which sent chills down one's spine.
"This is..."
"This should be the village."
Looking at the dilapidated scene before him, Xie Shuci couldn't help but sigh.
The boy led them through abandoned houses until they finally stopped in front of a dilapidated thatched hut.
Unlike the dilapidated houses around it, this simple thatched hut, though small, stubbornly stands amidst the decay.
The wooden door of the thatched hut was ajar. On the stone table outside, there was a sieve with a few shriveled, spherical things inside. Xie Shuci looked closely and found that they were a few withered potatoes. Next to them was a bone knife and a half-cut fruit of unknown origin. The flesh inside was completely dry, like a wrung-out rag, all wrinkled and crumpled.
Xie Shuci asked, "Are you the only one here?"
The boy sat on a piece of wood, much of the bark of which had been peeled off. He glanced at Xie Shuci and said, "Hmm."
“Others…”
"Dead." The boy said casually.
He ignored the four people and bent down to scrape off a piece of bark with his bone knife, carefully placing it aside before scraping off the next one.
Do you know Banxia Creek?
The boy replied with practiced ease, "I know."
Looking at the thatched hut in front of him, Liu Dazhuang felt a chill. "They're all dead, and you're living here all alone?"
"Um."
Xie Shuci said, "Didn't I say before that they can't leave this place?"
The boy paused for a moment after hearing this, then said, "I can leave."
"Huh?" Xie Shuci was stunned. "Then why don't you leave? Why stay here alone?"
The boy said, "I want to avenge my parents."
Sikong Xin asked, "Who is the target of your revenge?"
"water."
Although the boy didn't initiate conversations with them, he answered almost every question they asked and didn't seem curious about their identities.
"Since everyone else is dead, why aren't you dead?"
"I'm not from here."
How old are you?
"I don't know."
Time seems to stand still here, as if everything is frozen in time.
Have you ever met someone? His name is Ban Xiayin.
The boy shook his head, placed the scraped bark on the stone table, and said to the group, "There is food here. You can eat something if you are hungry."
The shriveled potatoes, rag-like fruits, and fresh tree bark on the table looked so appetizing that they were hard to swallow.
"Is this what you're eating?" Liu Dazhuang asked incredulously.
The boy paused for a moment, then lowered his head and pursed his lips. "Everything in the mountains stopped growing the moment it went underwater, including me. There was no other food."
Xie Shuci looked at the boy, who wasn't much younger than himself, and his gaze couldn't help but become somewhat complicated.
miscellaneous.
"Has anyone else been here?" Sikong Xin continued to ask.
The boy shook his head. "Yes, they're all dead."
Xie Shuci's feelings were very complicated. This young man in front of him had actually lived here alone for thousands of years, just like Ban Xiaxi.
Banxiaxi, having cultivated into a water god, could go without food or water, but this young man was just an ordinary person. Only by eating could he continue to live, even if he was all alone in this dilapidated village.
Xie Shuci sighed, "If you want revenge, Ban Xiaxi also wants revenge."
The boy paused for a moment, then said, "He is right to seek revenge, and I am right to repay my parents and avenge them."
Xie Shuci felt truly helpless. Faced with this question of right and wrong, he felt extremely powerless. What was wrong with Ban Xiaxi wanting revenge? What was wrong with this young man wanting revenge?
Ban Xiaxi killed many innocent people in her quest for revenge, but she spared the boy in front of her, because the boy was not from this village and was not a descendant of the murderer who killed them.
Xie Shuci was overwhelmed by deep sorrow and a sense of powerlessness.
He felt sorry for Xia Xi's plight and admired the boy's courage.
The boy took out a stone and a piece of human bone, and sat on the ground to polish them.
Xie Shuci couldn't help but say, "You are no match for Ban Xiaxi."
“I know,” the boy said casually. “He never shows up in front of me.”
"Why?" Sikong Xin asked.
Xie An was probably tired of standing, so he carried the king to the stone table and sat down, showing no interest in their conversation.
The king put down the Dragon-Subduing Magic Weapon from his mouth, sniffed at the pile of food, and immediately withdrew his dog head in disgust.
The boy said, "He's afraid of me, perhaps because I'm the same person he used to be."
In the past, Banxiaxi watched helplessly as her clansmen died tragically before her eyes; later, the young man watched helplessly as the villagers died tragically before his eyes.
The boy paused, then said, "However, when every drop of water here turns black, he won't be afraid of me anymore."
"Why?" Xie Shuci asked, puzzled.
"Because the Ban Xiaxi I know will disappear forever."
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