Chapter 116 Heartless Love (Part 11)
Heguan City is tens of thousands of miles away from Daohai City, but it is not yet fully within the Wangyue Continent.
The following day, at the Heguancheng Restaurant.
The restaurant was bustling with activity. Most of the cultivators wore cloaks or disguise artifacts, not easily revealing their appearances. However, the place was also extremely chaotic. In less than a quarter of an hour, three or four clashes broke out. The cultivators and the manager of the restaurant were used to it. Only the accountant and the waiters were diligently counting the spirit stones for the tables and chairs. Before they finished, the waiters would skillfully bring in new ones to replace them.
"As the saying goes, one cannot gaze at the moon without entering the Boundary Village. From the cities outside the Boundary Village, one cannot see the moon." The waiter, happily accepting the spirit stones, explained even more earnestly, "Fellow Daoists who have traveled a long way may not know, but this Boundary Village is not a city, but an arc-shaped river that runs across the eastern part of the Moon Gazing Continent. Along it is a Moon Gazing Array set up by ten towers and eight pavilions; without a Misty Rain Token, one cannot enter—"
He was speaking eloquently when a cultivator beside him couldn't help but interject, "What Moon Gazing Array and Misty Rain Token? It's nothing but a means for those hypocritical bastards to monopolize resources! Cultivating under the moon is especially important for the demon and monster races, so they even cover up the sky. If you don't submit to them and be at their beck and call, you can't even do the most basic cultivation. The Heavenly Dao will punish them sooner or later!"
The waiter chuckled awkwardly, wiped the sweat from his brow, and couldn't say a word.
A cultivator wearing a black hood sneered, "You gentlemen are probably newcomers from other continents, aren't you? Take my advice: if you're not from the Misty Rain Pavilion, it's best not to approach the Boundary Village. Even if you do get in, you'll be cleared out by the Shunni Tower sooner or later."
Of the group, Zhou Tingran was the most impatient. Her gentle voice carried a hint of doubt, "Why?"
The cultivator probably didn't expect her to be a young girl. When he heard her voice, his tone softened considerably. "Those who can enter the Boundary Village to cultivate, whether they are cultivators from the Ten Towers and Eight Pavilions or independent cultivators, must have a cultivation level of at least Nascent Soul and a aptitude of dual spiritual roots or above. If anyone is found to be unqualified by the Reverse Tower, they will be expelled from the Boundary Village at best, and exiled to the Life and Death Tower at worst."
"The Tower of Life and Death?" Zhou Tingran asked, "Is it the same as the Tower of Heaven and Earth?"
"Heh, Qiankun Tower is nothing but a bunch of cowardly looters. Let me put it this way: Shunni Tower is responsible for training lackeys and catching traitors and stowaways, while Shengsi Tower is a living hell for traitors and those who are eliminated. Once inside, you can neither live nor die. If you can even end your own life, it's considered a blessing from heaven." The man's voice was filled with deep disgust and a hint of barely perceptible fear. "But even if you are indeed cultivators selected by Yanyu Terrace, very few can pass the Yin-Yang Tower trial and enter the Eight Pavilions. Once you get in, you'll naturally rise to great heights. If you don't, heh, you'll probably be thrown into Shengsi Tower. The best you can do is become a paper doll in the auction house."
The cultivators nearby burst into laughter.
"Young lady, hurry up and pack your things and go home. Once you cross the border, you never know what you'll become, whether you're a human or a ghost," the gentle monk earnestly advised.
"I was just... asking casually." Zhou Tingran pretended to be naive and smiled sheepishly.
Seeing this, the waiter looked at Lin Feibai again, "Young master, you just said that you and your companions came from elsewhere. May I ask if you are from Pingze or Chenyao?"
Upon hearing this, the previously noisy and chaotic atmosphere in the restaurant suddenly fell silent.
Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun exchanged a glance.
Lin Feibai pointed to the ground without changing his expression.
"Huh?" The waiter looked puzzled.
Lu Ziming said, "From below."
"The seabed," Lin Feibai replied.
"..." The waiter's expression changed from confusion to annoyance. "Young master, please don't joke."
"Sorry, my two older brothers aren't quite right in the head." Zhou Tingran pointed to his temples, grabbed them, and hurriedly left the restaurant.
The waiter squinted his eyes as he held the spirit stone.
Not long after Zhou Tingran and the others left, Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun followed the crowd out of the restaurant.
"No?" Jiang Gu asked in a low voice.
Jiang Xiangyun shook his head, "None of them match up, something must have gone wrong along the way."
According to the agreement, they should have met with the people from Qiankun Tower in this restaurant. However, even though Zhou Tingran and the other two had made their actions so obvious, the other party still did not respond to the signal. On the contrary, several cultivators and the waiter seemed to sense that something was wrong.
Especially the monk who advised Zhou Tingran to go home.
They hadn't gone far when Jiang Xiangyun suddenly stopped. Jiang Gu also sensed something was wrong and turned his back to Jiang Xiangyun to look behind him.
The once bustling street had vanished without a trace, and Zhou Tingran, Lu Ziming, and Lin Feibai had fallen from somewhere, landing heavily in front of Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun.
"Run..." Lin Feibai clutched his bleeding abdomen, his face pale. "We are no match for them..."
Zhou Tingran was already unconscious, and Lu Ziming was also unable to stand up. He looked around warily and said in a deep voice, "This is an independent illusion space."
“Those people—” Jiang Xiangyun paused.
"They were just saying that on purpose for us to hear." Lu Ziming's voice sounded unusually calm, probably because he had been replaced by Lu Zhenyi. He said, "I guess we fell into their trap the moment we entered the restaurant."
And none of them, including Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Gu, noticed the slightest flaw.
A mocking voice drifted into their ears from all directions:
"It's those few who have the Misty Rain Token?"
"Ugh, what was Yanyutai thinking? These few—ugh, weaklings." Another voice sounded a little impatient. "I knew I shouldn't have come. It's no fun."
"Let's get our hands on the Misty Rain Token first."
Before the words were finished, a slender figure slowly emerged from mid-air. The man wore a drab gray robe, his eyes were slightly upturned, and his cheekbones were so prominent that he looked like skin and bones. He grinned and introduced himself: "Greetings, fellow Daoists. My name is Feng Wujiuyi, a former disciple of the Wind Pavilion, but now I am a traitor. Hand over the Misty Rain Token, and I will leave you with a whole corpse, how about that?"
He acted as if he were coaxing a child, even revealing his identity without reservation, and then jokingly proclaiming his mercy towards them.
Jiang Xiangyun stood in front of Lin Feibai and Lu Ziming, "Senior, could you please tell me what the Misty Rain Token is?"
"Huh? You didn't know?" Feng Wujiu grabbed Zhou Tingran and produced a dark green token in his hand. "Didn't Xiao Qingyan tell you when he gave it to you?"
Jiang Xiangyun's gaze sharpened.
Jiang Gu, who was behind, paid no attention to what was happening in front of him, but kept staring at what was behind him. He heard another chuckle in his ear, "Tsk, there's another lookout here."
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and Jiang Gu gripped the Crimson Snow Sword in his hand tighter.
Feng Wujiu's attack speed was extremely fast, but Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Gu were even faster. As the opponent charged over, the two of them simultaneously launched their attacks. Jiang Xiangyun shouted, "Yao Li!"
The teleportation array, which had already taken shape, used Jiang Xiangyun's body as its core. Jiang Gu grabbed Lin Feibai and Zhou Tingran from the ground and kicked Lu Ziming into the array. In the blink of an eye, the group escaped from this strange space.
"Huh?" Feng Wujiu grabbed at empty air and asked in surprise.
Another person said, "I told you long ago that the Jiang family is extremely cautious and cunning and should not be underestimated, but you just wouldn't believe me."
Feng Wujiu chuckled strangely, "Could it be that you secretly let them go?"
The other person gave a light snort: "Heh."
——
Yao Li nearly exhausted the spiritual power in his sea of consciousness before he could use the teleportation array to pull Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Gu out of the spatial artifact in one go.
The once deserted streets have now turned into a desert stretching as far as the eye can see.
Jiang Xiangyun clutched his heart and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Yao Li, who was standing next to him, helped him up. He looked around at his surroundings with a pale face. "Luckily, I was prepared. Otherwise, we would have been wiped out in one fell swoop this time."
A scorching, dry wind swept by, and the spiritual realm that had been clinging to Jiang Gu's wrist suddenly became restless. Damp mist began to spread from somewhere, and an invisible hand gripped his hand tightly, urging him to leave.
Jiang dispelled the mist without leaving a trace, and then heard Yao Li say, "We shouldn't stay here any longer; the enemy could catch up at any time."
Jiang Xiangyun was treating Lin Feibai and Lu Ziming's injuries when he heard this and said, "This can't go on. We are no match for them."
Lin Feibai said, "Special Envoy Xiao once said that crushing the token would save our lives, but if, as Feng Wujiuyi said, this token is the Misty Rain Token that allows us to pass through the Boundary Village, then even if we save our lives, can we still enter without the token?"
“If we can contact Qiankun Tower, that would be helpful,” Jiang Gu said. “They should also have the Misty Rain Token, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to bring other Pingze cultivators into the Boundary Village.”
“That’s right, that should be it.” Jiang Xiangyun said, “We should split up now and not crush the Misty Rain Token unless it is absolutely necessary. Once the token is crushed, the only way to enter the Boundary Village is through the disciples of Qiankun Tower, but it is uncertain whether we can contact them under the current circumstances, so we must proceed with caution.”
If the Eight Pavilions traitors can track down the Misty Rain Order, then their gathering together is even more dangerous.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Jiang Gu was the first to leave.
Then came Lu Ziming. Lin Feibai looked at the unconscious Zhou Tingran, glanced at Yao Li and Jiang Xiangyun, and realized that these two were not meddlesome people. Moreover, Zhou Tingran had lost the Misty Rain Token, leaving her alone with no way out but death.
After a moment's thought, Lin Feibai picked up Zhou Tingran from the ground and left in another direction.
"Lu Ziming chased after Jiang Gu," Yao Li suddenly said.
Jiang Xiangyun smiled and said, "That's between them. Let's go, Uncle. Escaping is the most important thing."
Yao Li nodded and disappeared with him from the spot.
——
Jiang Gu hadn't flown for long when the damp mist began to swirl around him like a shadow, its faint breaths disturbing the peace and quiet around him.
"Go back," Jiang Gu said coldly.
The traitors from the Eight Pavilions could appear at any time, and Wei Feng was in great danger of being exposed.
The mist seemed oblivious. Just as Jiang Gu was about to forcefully gather the scattered mist together, an invisible hand suddenly reached out from the mist, grabbed Jiang Gu's shoulder, and pulled him sharply towards the ground.
The place where Jiang Gu had just been was as if space had been shredded by something, and the shadows of the surrounding flowers, plants and trees were distorted for a moment, leaving only dust.
Jiang Gu sensed the fluctuation of spiritual energy, but without turning his head, he quickly withdrew his scattered divine sense, summoned a Heaven-rank magic treasure to conceal his figure, and then used dozens of teleportation arrays. In less than half a breath, he appeared a thousand miles away.
However, his opponent was several points faster than him.
"You ran fast, didn't you?" Feng Wujiu lazily blocked his way, arms crossed. "Even though all your friends ran away, catching you doesn't really count as... Hmm? This fog looks a bit—"
Before he finished speaking, the mist that had been enveloping Jiang Gu suddenly transformed into a colossal creature over three zhang tall, which charged straight at him with ghostly markings.
"Wei Feng!" Jiang Gu's eyes sharpened, and his spiritual realm suddenly expanded, engulfing the half-mist, half-ghostly monster. He rushed down, bent over, and tucked the spiritual realm into his front. Then, he gripped his sword and took a blow from Feng Wujiu's palm.
The Crimson Snow Sword made a crisp snapping sound.
Jiang Gu loosened his grip, and the Crimson Snow Sword fell into his other hand. In an instant, Feng Wujiu pierced his heart, and the sound of flesh exploding was clearly audible.
Feng Wujiu was startled and hurriedly withdrew his hand. Unexpectedly, Jiang Gu, whose heart had been ripped out, suddenly turned into a Taoist paper figure. The real Jiang Gu had already appeared behind him and leaped into the teleportation array.
"You bastard Jiang Gu!" Feng Wujiu's expression turned fierce. He no longer held back and his palm dharma form instantly destroyed the multiple teleportation arrays set up by Jiang Gu. It looked like he was about to crush Jiang Gu's primordial spirit.
The goddess statue and the Black Void Tablet appeared almost simultaneously. The statue caused the Dharma image's palm to pause for a moment, and the remaining half of its body cracked and fell off. In that short moment, Jiang Gu was pulled into the Black Void Tablet by a blurry figure.
The Dharma Image's palm crashed down, leaving a huge palm print on the ground. Then, the surrounding mountains trembled, and cracks stretched out, startling the birds flying in the forest. The aftershocks of spiritual energy penetrated all spatial artifacts, indiscriminately annihilating all living things.
Jiang Gu was protected from the back of the broken stone statue behind him, but he still felt a sudden darkness before his eyes.
The binding strips of cloth fell off, and the figure in the mist tried to pass him. Jiang Gu stretched out a hand to him, and the aftershocks of spiritual energy peeled away the flesh from his arm. Even so, he still used that bony arm to pull the person into his arms. Then, the black jade bracelet came out from his chest, enveloping the two of them, and instantly disappeared into the shattered stone statue.
In the distorted space and ethereal mist, Jiang Gu held the person in his arms tightly. Before losing consciousness, he vaguely glimpsed something binding the other person's ankles.
Those seemed to be a pair of pitch-black, dull... shackles.
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