53. Junxing Mountain·3·Sun and Moon Temple
Hu Xiaoyun honestly explained the purpose of leaving the note.
Having just been contracted with a monster friend, Treasure-Seeking Butterfly, Hu Xiaoyun encounters Butterfly on campus. Butterfly tells Hu Xiaoyun that the price of monster certificates has recently skyrocketed, and her master spent over seven thousand immortal coins to buy just one certificate. Many monsters are now unable to leave their blessed lands, and Butterfly is very worried about her fellow monsters.
Hu Xiaoyun sensed something was wrong: when Immortal Tang bought it from the blessed land, a monster document only cost three thousand immortal coins. How come the price has doubled in the blink of an eye?
Further investigation revealed that the "Demon Management Bureau" officers in the blessed land were not only forcibly implementing the Nadan mission, but also recently carrying out large-scale monster hunting and killing in the blessed land, causing many areas to suffer.
The tiger clan of Yongyu Leijun was wiped out, the treasure-hunting butterflies of the Hollow Valley were driven from their homeland, and the centipedes of Tutuo Village scattered and fled. Bingci Dam, Yihai Road, Fenfang Tomb Soil, Mingling Slope, Hufo Fire Cave, Longyuan Divine Platform... Every time the treasure-hunting butterflies reported a location, Hu Xiaoyun's heart trembled.
Its intuition told it that something bad was about to happen in this blessed land!
Hu Xiaoyun told her master what had happened.
With a wave of his hand, the scholar, erudite and knowledgeable, declared it absolutely impossible and continued to bury himself in the vast sea of books.
Hu Xiaoyun felt a little uncomfortable.
The owner he's been living with day and night doesn't believe him!
However, just worrying in the dormitory isn't a solution.
Taking advantage of her master's inattention, Hu Xiaoyun stole a few Concealment Pills and used invisibility magic to sneak out with her master, trying to find an opportunity to tell the other contracted monsters about the explosion so that they could have a chance to follow their master back to the blessed land to "do a mission" and see what was going on.
But as Hu Xiaoyun followed along, she discovered that the immortal her master had gone out to find looked very familiar to her. It was none other than Tang Xi and the immortal who had kindly helped her buy her a certificate and leave the blessed land!
Furthermore, during the communication with his master, this Immortal Tang used his spiritual power to conjure up the appearance of a hawksbill rabbit out of thin air!
Hu Xiaoyun's eyes darted around, and she followed the immortal master, quietly slipping into the rented room, which was covered in protective barriers. Over the next few days, Hu Xiaoyun would steal pills and leave the dormitory whenever she had the chance, using invisibility magic to follow Immortal Master Tang. Finally, she painstakingly left what she thought was a particularly secret yet obvious code, and affixed her treasured stickers.
So that's how it is.
Tang Xi couldn't help but admire, "It's my fault, I didn't expect it to be a note left by a demon. But I can't understand the fox demon's writing either... So you've been following me all this time? Your invisibility is amazing! I didn't detect your presence at all."
Hu Xiaoyun shyly smoothed the fur on her face: "It's because Master's Concealing Qi Pill is so powerful..."
"but!"
Tang Xihe's tone changed abruptly, and she said sternly, "You're not allowed to spit indiscriminately anymore!"
Hu Xiaoyun shuddered, and her ears drooped down.
"I was wrong, Immortal Tang..."
It was right. They learned the news too late; it was indeed too late. Tangxi and Yixi vaguely remembered that a few days after discovering the strange advertisement, the evil spirit master launched a massive attack on the magic university.
As the journey continued, Hu Xiaoyun's ears drooped. It was unfamiliar with the other immortals, and the only one it recognized, Immortal Tang, was not talkative. Gradually, it fell to the back of the group.
Seeing this, Tang Xichun and Zhang Benyi attacked from both sides, subtly trying to get information out of Hu Xiaoyun and quickly winning her over.
Tang Xichun probed indirectly: "Are you and your master very close?"
Hu Xiaoyun raised her ears slightly, lifted her master, her eyes narrowed into two slits, and said with pleasure, "I guess so? I don't know, I've never seen how other contracted beasts interact with their masters."
Zhang Benyi then asked, "Does Guangboshi rarely take you out?"
Hu Xiaoyun said seriously, "No, my master doesn't restrict me, but if I do something wrong, he will punish me severely."
Tangxi half-threatened and half-teaseed it, "Does your owner know that you secretly sneaked into my house to put up advertisements?"
Hu Xiaoyun was so frightened that her tail practically bristled. "No, no, I dare not tell him! Please, kind and beautiful immortal, don't tell..."
Tang Xichun was overjoyed and laughed heartily twice, "Keep praising me! If I'm in a good mood, I'll keep it a secret!"
Zhang Benyi was speechless: "Your personality and your brother's are completely different..."
At first, Zhang Benyi thought this girl was a tough person who didn't talk much, but after getting to know her, he found that she was just slow to warm up. Once she got into a good mood, she would play wilder than anyone else.
Are you friends?
Hu Xiaoyun was a little envious. "If only my master could spend more time with me! He's always buried in a pile of books, and when he's busy he forgets everything. Several times he promised to take me out to play, but he always forgets..."
Zhang Benyi: "Aren't you afraid of sneaking out of the house?"
"At first I was scared, but my owner said that I should bravely face what I'm afraid of, and I'll become braver and braver in the future!"
Tang Xichun: "He's just fooling you."
Hu Xiaoyun immediately objected: "No way! Master is a very serious and good immortal!"
"..."
There was a lot of chattering and noise behind me, but the slight noise around me prevented me from feeling uneasy in the quiet.
Bei Chen and Tang Xi walked side by side ahead. "I've noticed that if anyone wants to ask you for help, you just spring into action without hesitation."
Tang Xi was taken aback upon hearing this.
"Really? Thank you, that's a very high compliment."
Who praised you?
Bei Chen remained silent. "There really are, but I don't think it's a good thing. You could refuse appropriately."
"For example, before entering the secret realm, I only asked one question, and you and Gui Fang agreed without saying a word to let me set off with the two of you."
“It makes no difference whether there is one more person or one less person,” Tang Xihe said.
Bei Chen then started discussing things with him: "There's also the matter of Jin Chan Lao only mentioning Junxing Mountain once, and you're already investigating Junxing Mountain."
Tang Xi looked at him strangely, not understanding why Bei Chen suddenly had such an opinion of her and was even getting into a fight with her: "Didn't you come to Junxing Mountain too?"
"That's because Junxingzi and I are good friends! I'm worried about her!"
Bei Chen glanced back furtively to make sure they hadn't heard him before continuing, "And then there's Pipi... uh, although I don't know the specific details, you escorted Pipi all the way to Fragrance Cemetery!"
Tangxi scratched her chin.
How can I put it? Pipi's situation was truly a coincidence.
At the time, Tangxi was blinded by greed and thought that Pipi was a dangerous being, so she insisted on finding out which region Pipi came from.
Who knew that after stepping into the blessed land, he would find the secret realm in complete chaos, as if an invisible whip was lashing him from behind, forcing him to rush to the next stop.
Beichen gave another example, "And there's that little fox in the back."
"Before it was contracted, it was just casually complaining to you, a passing immortal, that it was about to be unable to survive in the blessed land. It didn't mean it would actually ask you for help."
"And then! You immediately agreed to take Hu Xiaoyun away from the blessed land! You even bought her a certificate! Are you that rich?! Three thousand immortal coins!"
"..."
This is undeniable.
Tang Xi rubbed her nose and said dryly, "Maybe I'm just bewitched."
Bei Chen: "That's why I suddenly thought of your nickname."
"Um?"
"Mission Master, who gave you that nickname?"
The more Bei Chen analyzed, the more he felt he was unconsciously getting closer to the truth: "Was it because your classmate came to your door asking you to do a task, and you were too embarrassed to refuse? After a few times, you became so addicted to this kind of flattery that you lost your way..."
"Hey, stop, stop, stop!"
Tang Xi couldn't help but interrupt Bei Chen's exaggerated imagination, "I just..."
"But what?" Bei Chen pressed.
"only……"
Tang Xi couldn't find the right words for a moment, so she thought for a moment and said, "I'm the kind of person who's either not at home or doesn't go out."
"..."
Bei Chen, who was with him, exclaimed "Ah!" in confusion.
Tangxi and Banzheng said, "So when I had fewer classes in my third year, I had more free time and didn't want to do anything."
Bei Chen stared intently at Tang Xihe with his bright eyes. "So, do you want to lie still now, or do you want to actively investigate?"
Tang Xi grinned, revealing a set of neat teeth, and said, "Let's focus on getting on our way."
Amidst their banter, the group finally spotted the eaves of the Sun and Moon Temple and quickened their pace.
The mountain path goes up another set of steps.
Normally, this staircase would be shrouded in a thick white mist, but now it quietly points directly to the temple. Looking up from below the staircase, a faint layer of dark mist hangs over the eaves of the Sun and Moon Temple.
"What is that? Is there an evil spirit master on it?"
Tang Xichun frowned slightly, stopped playing with the fox tail, stuffed the little fox into Zhang Benyi's arms, and with a flick of her wrist, a flat, long knife as tall as her appeared in her hand.
Tang Xi turned around and said, "Zhang Benyi, take a look at the compass."
Zhang Benyi took out a compass from his pocket.
Several people crowded around to take a look and found that the pointer was spinning faster than before. He almost thought he was seeing things. "Did I remember wrong? It wasn't spinning that fast when I looked at it just now."
Recalling what Beichen had shared on the way up the mountain, Tang Xichun and Zhang Benyi both realized that something was wrong, and the atmosphere quickly became tense.
Something seemed to be waiting for them on the steps.
The group cautiously ascended the steps, and the first thing that came into view was the desolate, deathly array in the courtyard.
The courtyard, which should have been bathed in starlight, was eerily quiet. There was an emblem of a sun and moon revolving array on the ground, but it was devoid of any spiritual energy. After stepping onto the courtyard's level, everyone felt an unusual silence.
The silence here is even greater than down the mountain, so quiet that it feels like... a completely different space.
Hu Xiaoyun clung nervously to Zhang Benyi's neck, trembling and not daring to utter a sound. This was the first time it had come to such a deep place in Junxing Mountain, and the first time it had learned that this was the residence of the Lord of Junxing Mountain, the one named Junxingzi.
But this Sun and Moon Temple looks like a ruin that has been abandoned for thousands of years.
The group cautiously formed a triangle, surrounding Zhang Benyi and Hu Xiaoyun in the middle, and carefully approached the main hall.
The hall was dimly lit, as if a black veil had been draped over everything. The hall was empty, and the spiritual energy that used to flow inside and outside the hall had completely disappeared. The glazed tiles had lost their luster, and the beams and pillars that should have been surrounded by spiritual energy were covered with a thick layer of dust.
As they took a few more steps closer to the main hall, everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the figure in the center.
A woman sat cross-legged on a broken lotus cushion in the center of the main hall.
“Jun…”
Bei Chen's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, making it difficult for him to make a sound.
The woman's appearance was none other than his old friend Junxingzi. But she looked so old that Beichen felt a sense of estrangement, an indescribable estrangement that made him uneasy and afraid.
Junxingzi's once somewhat childlike face was now covered with deep wrinkles. Dark liquid seeped from her white hair, sliding down her loose cheeks and drying out. Her skin was loose and ashen, like dead tree bark, and her once black hair had turned snow-white and dry. The hair ornament on her head, which was originally formed of dark green vines, had now become dark thorns, the sharp thorns piercing Junxingzi's scalp. Several dried and blackened bloodstains meandered down from the wounds, tracing across her aged forehead and cheeks.
When Tang Xichun first saw Junxingzi, she whispered, "Is she the Lord of Junxing Mountain? Why does she seem..."
Is it different from the rumors?
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