Chapter 256 Though Dead, He Lives On (The Bet) He was like a delicate porcelain doll...
Lin Feiran was unaware of what had happened in Yuluo City. He was simply sitting on the back of the giant Kun, traveling a thousand miles in an instant, hidden among the clouds.
Unable to communicate with Miaoshan, she didn't say much during the journey. The two focused on moving forward. Midway through, she felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't remember why. It wasn't until she saw the long sword on her leg that she suddenly realized.
Just now, when she drew her sword and placed the umbrella on Rainfall City, the sword blade did not have its usual sharpness when it was unsheathed.
She paused, then untied the ribbon binding the sword. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the blade was indeed somewhat dark. Puzzled, she called out to the sword spirit.
"senior?"
The sword remained silent for a long time.
Lin Feiran frowned slightly. Although the Golden Wave Sword Umbrella could be separated, the sword spirit would naturally always follow its master. She would take the sword with her, and the sword spirit would not remain in Rainfall City.
She called out a few more times, and the giant Kun that was soaring through the air turned to look at her. Lin Feiran said, "Miss Miaoshan, please go ahead. If the sword spirit is indeed not in the sword, I will have Ruxian check the Golden Wave Umbrella."
The giant Kun let out a soft cry, its gray wings flapping as it grew faster and faster. Before long, the outline of the ice pillar could be faintly seen.
Lin Feiran called out one last time, but there was still no response from the sword. Just as she was about to contact Ru Xian, a drowsy voice came from the sword.
"Why am I so sleepy today? I slept for ages. Why are you waking me? We're not even there yet."
The sword spirit can indeed go into slumber, which was her usual way of speaking, and it didn't sound strange at all.
Lin Feiran asked in confusion, "Why does the Golden Wave Sword look a bit grayish? What does that mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything, but I have something important to tell you."
The sword spirit's tone suddenly turned serious, as if he had something important to announce.
Lin Feiran immediately focused her attention, waiting for her to continue.
She said in a deep voice, "You should not know that no matter how good a spirit sword is, it needs careful maintenance. Although you wipe it and apply oil every day, you have never polished it. How can it not look dull and gray?"
Lin Feiran: "..."
The breath I had been holding in was stuck in my throat.
She hesitated, then said, "Senior, I know about washing swords, but a spirit sword that has been stored for a long time needs to be used for a year or two before it can be cleaned and polished."
The spirit of the Golden Wave Sword softened its tone again: "Just kidding. You looked so serious just now. Young man, there's no need to be so worried."
"It's good that you're alright." Lin Feiran breathed a sigh of relief. She raised her long sword to the sunlight and examined it closely again. It seemed to have regained some of its luster.
It's probably just an illusion.
Thinking this, she looked ahead and saw that she was getting closer and closer to the object of divine punishment. She stood up straight, slowly moved her hands and feet, and seized the opportunity. Just as Miao Shan brushed past her, she leaped to the end of the ice pillar.
The airflow near the clouds is powerful and slow, unlike the rapid and light airflow on the ground. Being here is like standing at the bottom of the deepest water, where even the wind is oppressive and heavy.
Lin Feiran drew his longsword and plunged it deep into the ice to steady himself.
She walked through the thick, damp fog, her robes fluttering in the air currents, and stepped deeper into the depths.
After walking for a long time, perhaps an hour or two, the corner of Wu Xuan's robe was soaked with moisture, its color becoming increasingly dark, and it even began to drip water. But just as Miao Shan had said, there were still clouds at the end of the clouds.
She did not see the so-called ends of the earth or the corners of the sea.
But she did not give up and continued to move forward. The next moment, a scarlet figure appeared beside her. The flowing shawl swept past her eyes and became the only color in front of her. The sword spirit took half a step more and stood to her left front. Its spiritual power slightly appeared and blocked most of the heavy wind.
“I was here when your mother came here, but she stumbled in by accident and didn’t know where she was going. Today, I can only lead you through this place by accident.”
"Okay," Lin Feiran replied.
Their voices were carried by the wind, sometimes loud and sometimes soft. The sword spirit simply turned around and walked alongside her, one hand around her shoulder, the other hand lightly blocking the wind in front of them.
Lin Feiran turned his head and saw that the sword spirit had its head down, completely disoriented, and was really wandering around blindly based on its intuition.
"Can we really find it?" she asked loudly.
The sword spirit raised his hand and pressed her head down as well: "Since it all depends on fate, there's no need for eyes anymore. Just follow your heart and see where you go."
The sword spirit had been to the ends of the earth before, and Lin Feiran was desperate, so he simply buried his head and moved forward. When he and the sword spirit were pushing against the wind and waves, the two were blown together.
She instinctively grabbed the sword spirit's sleeve with her left hand, and the sword spirit seemed to sense it, pulling her closer and gently patting her shoulder three times.
Lin Feiran paused, blinked a few times, and before he could say anything, the wind suddenly changed, from damp and heavy to light and warm, and the ground beneath his feet was no longer solid, white ice, but soft grass.
The sound of crashing waves reached her ears. She turned her head and saw that she was surrounded by cliffs and the vast sea. The sun shone brightly in the sky, and a white stone statue stood on the edge of the cliff.
The scene before my eyes was exactly the same as what I had seen in my dream.
She stared blankly, and before she could feel any joy, a fierce gust of wind swept in. She reacted quickly and drew her sword to defend herself, but she was no match for it and was knocked back several feet.
When they opened their eyes again, they were back in the clouds.
Sword Spirit was speechless with confusion, while Lin Feiran refused to believe it. The two of them immediately tried to move forward again, but no matter how many times they stepped into that grassy area, they were blocked. Moreover, the attacking gale became more and more urgent and fierce, and it was beyond her ability to withstand what followed.
"Are we still going?" the sword spirit asked, turning his head.
Lin Feiran stopped his retreating steps, then straightened up, pulled the Golden Wave Sword out of the solid ice, and shook off the water droplets on the sword.
"No need."
She looked at the thick fog, as if she had realized something.
"Such a fierce wind originates from the same source as the protective gate and locking formation of a major sect. Only when someone accidentally enters the gate will there be such a violent change."
Miao Shan's people were right. There was nothing at the end of this ice pillar; it was merely an entrance to some distant, remote place, but it wasn't actually there.
The sword spirit paused, then suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."
Lin Feiran asked, "Didn't you notice this before?"
“No… Your mother was never stopped. No matter when, she could find this place and go in.”
Lin Feiran turned her gaze and asked, "What exactly happened to her inside?"
The sword spirit sighed, "Would you believe me if I said I don't remember very well?"
Lin Feiran didn't give a definitive answer, but instead asked, "Do you really not remember? Or are you like Zhang Siwo and the others, unable to say it?"
The sword spirit shook his head: "The latter. It's not that I don't want to say it, but that I can't bring myself to say it. It's like the sky cracking; you can only say the sky cracked once, but no one can explain what the situation was like."
Lin Feiran sheathed his sword, already having a plan in mind, so there was no need to waste time here. Moreover, the long cry of the giant Kun came from afar, which meant that someone was rushing here.
As she was leaving, she paused, looking down at the vast expanse of ice stretching for dozens of miles beneath her feet.
Miao Shan once said that the object of divine punishment is strange and bizarre. No magic can be used here, and spiritual power cannot move here. Apart from the giant Kun, which can naturally spread its wings for thousands of miles and float here, almost no one can climb up here or destroy it.
Lin Feiran's gaze swept across the area, and the sword marks she had made to stabilize herself earlier had vanished without a trace. Every spot was now covered in frost again, as if her sword had scratched an itch, leaving no mark whatsoever.
She tried to form hand seals and channel her spiritual energy. Her spiritual veins were clearly normal, but she couldn't see any spiritual power surging. They were just like ordinary people here. No matter what spells they used, there was no change in their palms. They couldn't even control their swords.
How could there be such a bizarre place in the world?
With a long cry that grew louder as it approached, the giant Kun broke through the clouds and flew past the ice pillars like a giant ship, crushing many of the solid ice at the edge. However, a bloody gash was also torn from its fins, from which a bright red blood flowed.
Her cries became urgent. Lin Feiran knew that the pursuers were approaching, so she avoided the wound, used her ordinary waist to leap onto the back, and sped away with Miaoshan.
Entering Yuluo City was much easier than leaving. Miaoshan carried her for several miles, and when they encountered a drop of water falling in the rain and mist, the huge and solemn body immediately crashed into it. As the water droplet splashed, they had already entered the city.
Miao Shan was already used to such injuries. A heavy rain fell from the sky, washing away the blood from her body. Then she landed in Gu Yu's courtyard with Lin Feiran.
Something seemed to have happened here, as Xue was sitting under the tree, flipping through several pages of paper, engrossed in studying them.
Gu Yu lay on the veranda, his belt loose, a relieved smile on his lips, gazing straight at the sky, a living person barely alive.
Upon seeing the two return, he immediately stood up, clutching his aching back, and rushed towards Miaoshan, his loose belt swaying: "Look at you, didn't you already bump into something this morning? Why did you go again? Come quickly and apply the medicine!"
Miao Shan looked at him with a somewhat subtle gaze: "You don't seem to be in a very convenient position right now."
With tears in her eyes, Gu Yu said, "...My friend sacrificed his life for me, and now that it's my turn, I can't back down either."
Lin Feiran didn't quite understand, but she still took the plaster and said, "Senior, you go and rest. I'll apply the medicine today."
During the application of the medicine, she told Miaoshan about what she had seen earlier.
Miao Shan's clear and bright face paused for a moment: "Is there really such a magical place at the end?"
"Yes, but I didn't see anything. I was turned away as soon as I went in. I really don't know what happened inside your people, my mother."
"So..." Miao Shan's expression was solemn. After applying the medicine, she did not linger. She only said that she would tell her clansmen about this matter before leaving in a hurry.
At this point, Lin Feiran's search for the ends of the earth and the corners of the sea was once again cut off, and her mother's footsteps could no longer be found.
Ru Xian sat by the stone table, watching her walk to the tree with a worried expression, then flip over and hook her legs around the branches, assuming a hanging pose, and then keep swaying in front of him like a piece of paper moving in the wind.
He crossed his legs, propped his chin on his hand, and looked at her: "What are you doing?"
Lin Feiran replied thoughtfully, "Think carefully."
Perhaps there are things she has overlooked, and besides that, she has many other things to think about, such as when she will finally see the Sky Rift.
Ru Xian looked at her, leaned over, and touched her forehead with her hand: "Although I know you prefer to handle things yourself, if there is anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask."
Lin Feiran hung upside down and swayed back and forth, responding with a drawn-out tone. Her fingers kept bumping against his fingertips, but she felt no resistance. Instead, a cool sensation entered her, making her feel refreshed.
She sighed, "No need to waste your spiritual energy on calming my mind."
She wanted to help Ru Xian, but things were a tangled mess, and even if she wanted to speak up, she couldn't untangle the knot.
Seeing the two of them like this, Gu Yu suddenly stood up, his gaze darting back and forth. He was a cultivator, so he wouldn't actually be able to hold on. He had just made an act to make Miao Shan care about him.
But at this moment, he truly held on.
He stared at the two of them, gritted his teeth, and said with tears in his eyes, "I hate you."
Then he drove off.
Lin Feiran looked at him in confusion: "What's wrong, Senior Gu Yu?"
Ru Xian glanced at it and said in a cold voice, "You've eaten too much and started to hate again."
Lin Feiran: "..."
**
With the trail broken, the two naturally didn't need to rush to leave Rainfall City, but instead planned to rest for two days.
Perhaps it was because he had been thinking about it all day that he dreamt about it at night. That night, Lin Feiran fell asleep with a heavy heart and drifted into a dream.
In her dream, she saw the same "End of the Earth" where the waves crashed against the shore and the grass grew lushly. Her mother's statue was still there, and she had come to the same dream again.
At this moment, what is crashing against the cliff is no longer the deep sea, but the sea of mist we see today. The light mist laps against the cliff, making a rustling sound, stirring up foamy clouds that rise gently and then quickly sink.
The young man on the shore was dressed in a plain light blue Taoist robe, with his black hair flowing freely. His clothes were extremely formal, with the buttons fastened all the way down to his neck, making him even more tightly wrapped up than a monk.
He held a bent fishing rod in his hand, fishing there, with a sea of clouds below.
Lin Feiran looked over, his gaze slightly somber.
She had been pondering this matter until late at night, and now that she had suddenly returned here, she felt a strange sense of "the mountain has come to my rescue." Perhaps there was a trap, but she also knew that this was an opportunity.
She moved her somewhat stiff limbs, and with a wary air, she stepped forward quietly. Before she could speak, the man said first, "I have long heard of your great name, and today I am finally able to meet you."
It was a clear and deep voice, pleasant to hear, but not quite real.
Lin Feiran did not speak rashly, but stood to the side and carefully observed him. She was used to judging a person's origin from details, such as hands, decorations, expression, and habits of movement.
But after looking for a long time, she found nothing.
He wore no jade ornaments, his robes were plain, and his face was concealed by some kind of magic in a thin mist, making it impossible to see. The hand holding the fishing rod was also covered with a pair of tightly bound black gloves.
Aside from concluding that he was a member of Tantric Buddhism, there's practically nothing else to say.
Is he one of the new Nine Swords, or a subordinate of that Holy Maiden, or perhaps, the so-called "Dao Master"?
“No need to look anymore.” The man didn’t turn his head, still looking straight at the sea of clouds. “I know you very well, so what you want to observe will not appear.”
He moved his fishing rod: "I didn't expect you to stumble into this place by accident from the icicles. Sit down, the stone stool over there is for you."
Lin Feiran did not move. She noticed that her limbs were a little stiff and dared not move rashly. She only recovered silently in the silence.
The man turned his head, his face hazy, and said to her, "Aren't you going to sit? Well, it's fine to stay here and enjoy the breeze. It'll be a small treat to show you some courtesy, so that killing you later won't be so rash."
If your mother knew I would lay a hand on you, I wonder if she would be so angry she'd die.
Lin Feiran glanced at the stone statue, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to himself instead of continuing the conversation: "Why did you kill me?"
The man said, "I don't like to explain my reasons before I kill someone. Let's wait and see next time. If we meet again next time, I'll tell you."
Lin Feiran's eyes flashed, and he keenly noticed, "If you're determined to kill me, why would you want to meet me again?"
The man paused, turned around, and his blurry face met hers, his probing gaze sweeping over her entire body.
"It seems you know more than I thought, so I can't let you live. Don't worry, after I kill you, I'll build a statue of you here, so that mother and daughter can be reunited. That's my way of showing my love."
As soon as he finished speaking, the simple fishing rod suddenly bobbed up and down, and mist rose in the sea of clouds, as if a big fish had taken the bait.
His attention was drawn to her. Lin Feiran suppressed the surging emotions in her heart, her gaze cold, and took the opportunity to carefully examine her surroundings. This time, unlike the last time she dreamed of it, she saw more things that she hadn't seen before.
For example, there is a white palace on the right, with a peculiarly shaped main hall that looks like it houses something.
With a whoosh, a giant fish surged out of the sea of clouds, making a tremendous noise. Lin Feiran immediately turned his head to look, but all he saw were misty white bubbles.
She didn't think much of it at first and wanted to take a closer look at the palace, but the next moment, her gaze was fixed on the sea of clouds.
It wasn't a big fish that bit the bait, but a person.
The man leaped out and sank back in expressionlessly, his cheek pierced by the bait, but no blood flowed. His stiff body struggled like a dying fish, a truly shocking sight!
The man got up, retrieved his fishing rod, and took a few steps forward, his movements carrying an indescribable subtlety and eeriness.
Once the person was fully above the water, he suddenly raised the fishing rod. The person, with the fishing line in their mouth, struggled in mid-air, swung around once, and was then gently tossed into a nearby stone pit.
Lin Feiran almost lost control of herself. She took a few steps to the left and peered out, only to find many people biting the hook in the deep pit.
They lay at the bottom of the cave, struggling every now and then, just like the fish in the fishermen's baskets.
There were many such "fish shadows" in the sea of clouds. He sat back down, cast his line again, and then spoke to himself.
"Many people enjoy fishing, young and old, those with profound spiritual cultivation and those who are not yet enlightened. They can sit with a fishing rod for a whole day. They seem to think fishing is very interesting, but I don't think so."
Fish will always bite, but it doesn't matter if you don't catch them; it's boring.
Lin Feiran turned his gaze away from the pit. "I don't like this kind of game."
He said nonchalantly, "Your preferences don't matter. The most interesting thing about gambling is that the person with the most chips has the final say."
Lin Feiran moved her fingertips: "Just like I don't have the right to refuse you from dragging me here, right?"
“Dragged in?” He turned his head again, his voice flat. “A disciple of the Secret Sect needs to have extremely high merits to come here to see me, but you came so easily. You should feel honored.”
Having said all that, his identity is self-evident.
Lin Feiran was startled, and cold sweat broke out on her back. Although she had guessed it beforehand, she was still surprised that the so-called "Dao Master" would take the initiative to come looking for her.
The man continued, "By choosing to sit at the table and place your bets, you no longer need to follow in your mother's footsteps. After all, this is where she ended up back then."
The difference is, she barged in on her own, while I dragged you here.
He stood up and began to struggle with the constantly swaying fishing rod, but his voice remained completely steady.
"Actually, I've known you for a long time. I was watching you long before Fu Yin and the others even discovered you."
Watching you become an orphan, bullied by the disciples of Daohe Palace, practicing swordsmanship alone in the pine forest...
I've known you for longer than you think.
I'd thought before, if you could find this place like your mother, then I'd give you a chance to gamble.
Lin Feiran rubbed her fingertips, trying to glean any additional information from his words, and replied, "What's the bet?"
The man smiled and then said, "If you're going to gamble, you should bet the most priceless thing. The stake is your life. Five rounds will determine the winner."
He tapped the fishing rod in his hand, and the simple wooden stick immediately extended. He pondered for a moment.
"How about we use the spiritual veins within you as the stake for the first round?"
Lin Feiran understood immediately; it turned out that all this trouble was for the spiritual vein.
She didn't agree, but instead asked, "My bet is the spiritual vein, what's yours?"
He laughed heartily a few times, and the creaking fishing rod was suddenly pulled back. With a splash, another person was caught in the sea of clouds. The figure on the baited hook swept across the half-sun that had sunk into the sea of clouds, casting a long shadow on the shore.
Lin Feiran looked at the shadow, and suddenly his pupils shrank. He immediately looked up and saw that the figure struggling in mid-air was Ru Xian.
The fishing line taut with a rapid twang. Before he was flung into the pit, Lin Feiran leaped up, trying to stop him, but she failed. Her figure blurred, and her body, like a hailstone, fell into the pit.
“Once the game starts, it won’t stop, so in this first round, you should naturally bet on the thing you can’t afford to give up.”
"I don't actually have anything; what I have most of are human lives."
"If I win, the spiritual vein is mine; if you win, the person is yours."
"Ru Xian" lay in the pit like a delicate porcelain doll, expressionless, occasionally struggling and turning over like the others.
The frantic pounding of her heart reverberated in her ears, and Lin Feiran was filled with rage. Her eyes turned cold, and just before she could move, she clenched her fists, closed her eyes tightly, and forced the shock in her mind to subside, compelling her heartbeat to return to normal.
calm.
That wasn't like hail.
No matter what, you must remain calm.
She exhaled a long breath, stabilizing her erratic breathing. When she opened her eyes again, although there was still murderous intent in them, her gaze had become calm and composed.
After a short while, she spoke.
"I am just a cultivator at the Advanced Realm. You have countless ways to get rid of me, yet you still want to gamble with me. This shows that you are also nearing the end of your road, right?"
The man looked at her and said, "Didn't your mother teach you that too much intelligence is harmful, and that people who are too smart don't live long?"
Lin Feiran raised an eyebrow and immediately seized on the loophole in his words: "Weren't you watching me the whole time? How could you not know what my mother told me? You can't see me all the time, can you?"
This was the second question she asked after calming down.
She was like a silver spider curled up in the wind and rain, able to immediately entangle herself in any thread thrown out from the outside world, no matter how tiny, and wrap it tightly around her.
Having figured this out, the man turned to face the sea of clouds and readily agreed, but said no more: "If I could see you all the time, how could I not know that the spiritual vein is on you?"
This answer implies that her previous question was true, and for some reason, she is not in that "fishpond".
"What good is knowing all this? It's not about quantity, but quality. If you don't agree today, you'll eventually agree tomorrow." He suddenly smiled. "When you're willing to gamble, we'll meet again in our dreams."
"For your mother's sake, I can tell you more. Besides the bet, we will also take your most precious possession, such as the Golden Wave Sword."
"Goodbye."
The next moment, the world turned upside down, and an endless sea of clouds rushed in, giving people a cold and lifeless suffocating feeling.
Lin Feiran suddenly woke up from the stifling feeling and immediately turned over to look at the bedside. The golden umbrella was still standing in the same place, and there was nothing wrong with it. She breathed a slight sigh of relief, but when she put her hand to her side, she only touched something cold.
She turned her head and saw that Ru Xian was no longer on the bed.
Author's Note: Gu Yu, a man born eager to get married (X)
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