Chapter 81 Clearly, we've already gone in the wrong direction (24,000+ words)
Yu Sui initially thought that all destroyers would suffer the pain of being burned by strange fire, but for Xue Mushi, this pain only occurred occasionally.
Xue Mushi has not been burned by the strange fire in the past two years.
Yu Sui doesn't deny that she sometimes has thoughts of giving up everything.
It's really too difficult.
At times like these, she would watch the crowds coming and going on the streets of Qingyang Imperial Capital.
She would see strangers smiling and talking to her gently; she would see hardworking ordinary people living their lives earnestly; she would see children making promises to each other and laughing innocently; she would also see the shadow of her and Zhong Lique, who had once fled in a sorry state through the streets and alleys to shake off the guards, yet couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Yu Sui would then tell herself: Just bear with it a little longer.
There might be a way.
If one cannot sever ties with the strange fire, then one must endure it for a lifetime and hide it for a lifetime.
No one would want to destroy everything for no reason, burning all those vibrant and beautiful things to ashes.
Yu Sui pulled himself back to reality and continued discussing the Pagoda and the Heavenly Script: "As far as I know, the Pagoda was broken into seven pieces, scattered in different places, and Taiyi has three of them."
"Three pieces?" Xue Mushi was stunned. "That's more than I imagined. There are four pieces in total from Taiyuan, Nanjing, and Qingyang. That means the remaining fragments of the Floating Pagoda are all in Taiyi."
Yu Sui added, "Currently, it is known that one of them is located in the Legalist school's first-level forbidden area, the Upside-Down Moon Cave."
"This place sounds familiar, like I've heard of it somewhere before." Xue Mushi frowned as he recalled, "The forbidden area of the Legalists, didn't someone break into the forbidden area of the Legalists before to steal something, like the Milky Way Water used to make poison?"
Yu Sui rested her chin on her hand and said softly, "On the very day we entered the academy, Gu Gan was judged by the three sages at the Legalist interrogation platform. The official story was that he had entered the forbidden Upside-Down Moon Cave without permission. Coincidentally, that same night, the Milky Way in the Upside-Down Moon Cave also disappeared."
Xue Mushi suddenly realized, "There seems to be no news about Yinhe Shui yet."
“The theft of the Milky Way Water should have nothing to do with Gu Gan. There were two groups of people who went to the Upside-Down Moon Cave that night. One group was after the Milky Way Water, while Gu Gan was after the Floating Pagoda.” Yu Sui pondered, turning his eyes to look outside the stone cave. “My father sent me to Taiyi to help Gu Gan seize the Floating Pagoda.”
Upon hearing this, Xue Mushi, considering that Yu Sui was Nangong Ming's daughter, was not surprised but rather expected.
Nangong Ming was a man known to everyone in the six kingdoms.
Even in Taiyuan, the place furthest from Qingyang, Xue Mushi could hear stories about Nangong Ming.
Xue Mushi was certain that if Nangong Ming knew Yu Sui's identity as the destroyer of the world, he, as her father, would not be able to tolerate this daughter.
Because Nangong Ming would not allow the Xuan Gu Continent to be destroyed by Yu Sui. This was the world he wanted to contend for and occupy, and he would not allow anyone to destroy it before Nangong Ming obtained it.
"I came to Taiyi to find the Floating Pagoda." Xue Mushi believed that Yu Sui's determination not to die was even stronger than his own, and that he would not do something like the boy who died last night.
He and Yu Sui should be on the same side.
"When Miao Yi first took me to see the fragments of the Floating Pagoda, I felt that the power it emitted was very peaceful and gentle, capable of calming the mind and preventing one from being bewitched by the strange fire," Xue Mushi recalled, speaking in a low voice. "As for the Heavenly Script that Gao Tianhao mentioned..."
Xue Mushi reached out his hand, wanting to write the character "天" (tian, meaning heaven) that he had seen in the fragments of the Floating Pagoda for Yu Sui, but when he reached out his hand, he didn't know how to write it.
He frowned and said, “Masters can create characters and give meaning to the ‘name’ of all things in the world, both living and dead. The ‘Heavenly Character Script’ is said to be the first script to appear when the world was first created, coexisting with the Xuan Gu Continent. At first glance, it doesn’t seem to have any meaning; it’s just an ancient script that symbolizes the long history of the things it’s associated with.”
The character "天" (tian) is not "man-made," but "created by heaven."
Xue Mushi said, "But I don't know whether the Heavenly script that Gao Tianhao mentioned that can get rid of the strange fire is in a certain fragment of the Pagoda, or whether we need to collect all the fragments of the Pagoda to find out."
Yu Sui, however, changed his approach and said, "Since he said he almost succeeded, perhaps every pagoda contains the Heavenly Character."
Both of them became interested in the fragments of the pagoda inside the Upside-Down Moon Cave.
“If the boy who died last night revealed the matter of Taiyi and the Heavenly Script, then others will know that a destroyer has secretly infiltrated Taiyi, and Taiyi may take action in response.” Xue Mushi felt a bit troubled and rubbed his face. “Perhaps he said more than just that.”
Yu Sui said, "Back then, Gao Tianhao was besieged and killed in Taiyi. What did he do in Taiyi? The saints of Taiyi couldn't possibly not know anything about it. But Gu Gan is certain that the Floating Pagoda is in the Upside-Down Moon Cave, a forbidden area of the Legalist school. How did this news get out of Taiyi?"
Xue Mushi was slightly taken aback. He looked into Yu Sui's eyes and saw that her gaze was bright and cold, completely opposite to her usual gentleness.
Yu Sui said slowly, "Although the Floating Pagoda and the Heavenly Script are one, it seems that others do not know the relationship between the Heavenly Script and the Strange Fire. We should look at them separately. Those who want the Floating Pagoda are trying to break the oath of non-war between the six kingdoms, while those who want the Heavenly Script are world destroyers trying to get rid of the Strange Fire."
“At least before the boy revealed that the Heavenly Script could get rid of the Strange Fire, even if others knew that there was a Heavenly Script in the fragment of the Floating Pagoda, they would not associate it with the Strange Fire. They would only think that it represented time.” Yu Sui reached out and rubbed his neck, speaking very softly. “But now that they know that the Heavenly Script in the Floating Pagoda is related to the Strange Fire, their previous indifferent attitude will change.”
Perhaps the key point isn't that a world destroyer will infiltrate Taiyi.
This kind of thing has happened before.
The key point is that they learned that the Heavenly Script was related to the secret of the Strange Fire.
Xue Mushi's eyelids twitched. He pondered silently for a moment, then looked up at Yu Sui in disbelief: "The news about the pagoda in the Upside-Down Moon Cave, could it have been spread by the Taiyi people?"
Those who can do this are either instructors of the thirteen realms in Taiyi Academy or one of the twenty-four saints.
“My father is definitely not the only one in this world who wants to break the oath of no war.” Yu Sui was not too surprised. She chuckled softly, “There are all kinds of people in Taiyi. There are countless instructors at the thirteenth realm. Not all of the twenty-four saints are from the same country. And not all of them have lived in Taiyi since childhood and have never been outside.”
People are inherently selfish.
People often say that Taiyi is so vast that it seems to be the seventh kingdom of the Xuangu Continent.
However, Taiyi is not the true seventh kingdom.
The Xuan Gu Continent has only six kingdoms.
The sages who control Taiyi also come from different countries and have different ideas.
Yu Sui smiled and looked at Xue Mushi, saying, "Putting aside the strange fire, when the oath of no war is lifted and Qingyang attacks Taiyuan, you won't just stand by and watch, will you?"
Xue Mushi scratched his head, nodded silently, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "But Taiyuan also wants to lift the oath of no war. I think that the first country to be attacked will be Yan when the oath of no war is lifted."
“Indeed.” Yu Sui nodded.
To be honest, she didn't feel a sense of belonging to Qingyang either.
Yu Sui didn't care much about what the six states would do.
Xue Mushi said, "None of the twenty-four sages of Taiyi were from the State of Yan."
“All of Yan’s own sages are dead, otherwise they wouldn’t have fallen to this state.” Yu Sui said, thinking of the Breath of Earth, “There is still a farmer’s sage who was tricked by my parents into taking the Breath of Earth and is still half dead. If he can get the Breath of Earth back and recover from his serious injuries, Yan might still have a chance.”
Xue Mushi looked at Yu Sui and said admiringly, "Your father is very capable."
Yu Sui replied, "The more powerful he is, the more disadvantageous it is for me."
Xue Mushi had more or less guessed Yu Sui's situation. Since she had been able to hide for eighteen years, her relationship with her family might not be as good as outsiders thought.
"To decipher the secrets of the Heavenly Script and the Strange Fire, we need the help of renowned experts. They are the most skilled in studying 'scripts'," Xue Mushi said. "And we'd better take the fragments of the Floating Pagoda in the Upside-Down Moon Cave before the sages of Taiyi take action."
Yu Sui thought so too.
“I do know that Gu Gan is going to make his move on the 15th. The Dragon Corpse Wandering will pass through the Legalist School and drag the Inverted Moon Cave forbidden area into the Dragon Slaying Cave. At that time, there will be no patrols or guards from the academy, and the risk of entering the Inverted Moon Cave will be greatly reduced.” Yu Sui told Xue Mushi and Gu Gan about their plan. “They will dive down from the Xiaoyao Pool of the Famous School and enter the Inverted Moon Cave by water.”
Xue Mushi suggested, "Why don't we let them take it first, and then we'll rob them?"
This also avoids the risk of being discovered. Snatching it from the upside-down moon cave is completely different from snatching it from Gu Gan.
Yu Sui said, "I have some doubts about whether Gu Gan can successfully obtain it."
Xue Mushi silently raised his hand and asked, "What do you think of Gu Gan? He and you grew up together, he's a disciple of a famous family, and he's very talented. You were able to completely fool him."
“No.” Yu Sui glanced at Xue Mushi, knowing what he meant: he wanted Gu Gan to help decipher the Heavenly Character Script.
Yu Sui shook her head and said, "Gu Gan won't do. If he finds out, it's the same as my father finding out too."
It's one thing to pretend to be stupid and weak to trick him into doing small things, but Gu Gan wouldn't be so clueless about something like the Pagoda.
Xue Mushi then abandoned Gu Gan and thought of another way: "Should we make our move in the Dragon Slayer Cave, or wait until Gu Gan gets the fragment and takes it out before we make our move?"
“If we make our move in the Dragon Slayer Cave, we won’t be able to take the Floating Pagoda fragments to the Dragon Head Ye Pool to get the Heavenly Secret Technique,” Yu Sui said. “There are Saints at the Dragon Head. It’s too risky to take the treasures we took from the secret realm to the trial.”
"Gu Gan left people behind to provide support at the tail of the dragon, also because he didn't want to take such a risk."
Xue Mushi and Yu Sui stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Clearly, neither of them wanted to give up the opportunity to obtain the Heavenly Secret Technique from the Dragon Head.
Yu Sui, recalling her ability to regenerate the Five Elements Light Cores, tentatively asked Xue Mushi, "Does your strange fire bring you any different power?"
Xue Mushi shook his head: "We can use the strange fire to sense whether there are any living creatures approaching."
Yu Sui nodded: "Me too. This should be an ability that all destroyers of the world possess."
Xue Mushi thought for a moment and then said, "If you use a strange fire when using the Nine Streams Technique, it will strengthen the Nine Streams Technique, but it will be easy to be bewitched. I just accidentally released it, just a tiny flame, but I almost didn't come to my senses."
Xue Mushi was not confident that this could happen a second time.
It could also be said that the power of the strange fire was too great, even the destroyer of the world could not withstand it.
Yu Sui sighed, "I've had a similar experience. It seems like strange fire can burn anything, but from my observation, I think it prioritizes burning the 'five elements' even if the speed is so fast that it's negligible."
“I visited the Five Elements Water Field before. It was closed to the public because it was burned by a strange fire and was still under renovation. The burned area looked very large, but the Five Elements Water Field of Taiyi has a vast amount of Five Elements Qi that operates various Nine Streams Techniques, so it can resist the strange fire and slow down the speed at which the flames engulf it.”
“Your guess is probably correct. Any of the nine types of techniques that are materialized from the ‘Five Elements’ can be burned away by the strange fire and have no effect on it,” Xue Mushi said. “The Divine Mechanism Technique is also useless.”
Yu Sui asked, "Do you possess divine calculation techniques?"
Xue Mushi was stunned by the question: "You're quite direct."
Yu Sui simply blinked.
Xue Mushi shook his head: "I don't have the Divine Mechanism Technique. I only investigated it because of the guess that the Five Elements Qi was burned first, and that's how I learned about the Divine Mechanism Technique that can be activated without the Five Elements Qi."
"However, strange fire only prioritizes burning the five elements, not things other than the five elements. Therefore, even divine techniques are useless against strange fire."
Both of them could feel the extraordinary power of the strange fire. It was precisely because no power could defeat or restrain it that it was so terrifying.
Yu Sui hesitated for a moment, but still did not reveal the matter of the Five Elements Light Core.
“We’re in the Dragon Slayer Cave, and we won’t know anything about the boy who died last night. We can only find out after we get out,” Yu Sui said. “The only thing we can do now is to get the fragments of the Floating Pagoda in the Upside-Down Moon Cave.”
Xue Mushi nodded, and while the two discussed the Inverted Moon Cave, Yu Sui also told him the route to the next teleportation point.
"It's the fifth day now, but Gu Gan and the others are waiting until the fifteenth day to explore the Upside-Down Moon Cave. Is it because there are some special time restrictions?" Xue Mushi asked.
Yu Sui recalled the last time Gu Gan broke into the Upside-Down Moon Cave. It wasn't the fifteenth; it seemed to be the end of January, the thirtieth day.
“Perhaps Gu Gan will have two chances to enter the Upside-Down Moon Cave during this Dragon Slayer Cave challenge,” Yu Sui guessed. “I’ll ask him about it later.”
Xue Mushi stared blankly at her: "Why did you ask?"
Should I just ask?
Just in case, Gu Gan brought the Wind Listening Ruler with him for this Dragon Slaying Cave challenge, betting that Yu Sui's alt account would send him a message to contact him.
He made the right bet this time.
Yu Sui was thinking of sending a message through the Wind Chime, but she replied, "Just ask directly. Although he doesn't let me participate in the operation much, since my father asked me to help, I should also send my regards."
"We have ten more days. If we keep up our pace, we'll reach Dragon's Throat in three more days. There's no teleportation point there; we can only get there by clearing challenges."
Yu Sui said, "If we can't come back in time, we can either wait for a second chance or go out and make our move again."
It would be easier to snatch the Floating Pagoda from Gu Gan after leaving the Dragon-Slaying Cave.
Even though they were both thieves, Gu Gan didn't dare to make a big fuss about being robbed.
Having a Heavenly Secret Technique would greatly enhance the self-protection ability of Yu Sui and Xue Mushi, whose strength is still relatively weak.
They certainly didn't want to give up such an opportunity easily.
Xue Mushi chose to listen to Yu Sui and carefully noted down the location of the teleportation point.
It was already completely dark outside. Yu Sui took a moment to glance at Mei Liangyu's location. Her senior brother had been moving around looking for her, but after nightfall, the rocks shifted, and several times when Mei Liangyu had drifted away from her, he had brought her back.
Yu Sui was slightly taken aback.
Even though you've gone in the wrong direction, you always end up coming back by some twist of fate.
"I've got it." Xue Mushi looked up, holding the copper coin in his hand, and said earnestly.
Yu Sui withdrew her gaze from the cave entrance, turned back to Xue Mushi, and lightly raised her chin, saying, "Then you can leave."
Xue Mushi: "..."
Yu Sui said, "If my senior brother comes looking for us and sees us together, he might be a little suspicious."
Xue Mushi thought to himself, "Okay, you're right. If he's led to another place by you and sees the two of us together, he'll definitely feel something's wrong."
Yu Sui told Xue Mushi to go out and wander around, and to give him a signal when the time was right to come over.
Xue Mushi then walked alone into the night and disappeared.
Yu Sui was still looking at the moving red dot.
She didn't immediately change the terrain to lure Mei Liangyu towards her. For some reason, she just wanted to see how her senior brother fared on his own.
If they go too far astray, Yu Sui will definitely intervene.
A strong wind suddenly rose in the valley at night, thunder roared and lightning flashed in the sky, and in an instant, a torrential rain poured down.
Yu Sui listened to the howling wind and howling wolves in the night, raised her hand and rubbed her face. The burning Zhou Tian Fire clung to the mountain wall, and only her figure was visible on the ground.
Mei Liangyu is still looking for her.
With the stars in the sky obscured, Mei Liangyu could no longer rely on stargazing to find her way, but she did not give up.
Occasionally, I might take the wrong turn, but I always manage to get back on track eventually, steadily getting closer and closer to her.
Yu Sui sat at the cave entrance, staring blankly at her hands. Her left hand was bandaged by her senior brother, and the firelight cast a warm glow on the white surface.
My pinched palms and bitten lips both throbbed with pain.
While she was in a daze, in the howling wind and rainy night, she spotted the man on the other side of the river, who had crossed it and was looking into the cave where a fire was burning.
Yu Sui, who was sitting against the mountain wall, looked up and looked out of the cave. In the flickering firelight, he saw the reflection of the man walking towards him. He was soaked to the bone, his face covered in water, his wet black hair clinging to his skin, and his expression was cold. He walked towards Yu Sui from the dark night and the raging wind and rain.
Yu Sui felt a momentary dryness in her throat, and she softly called out, "Senior Brother."
Mei Liangyu knelt down in front of her. His hands, wrapped in bandages, were soaked with rainwater, making them appear darker. He raised his hand and tapped Yu Sui's forehead, saying in a deep voice, "You've made it hard for me to find you. Are you hurt anywhere?"
[Author's Note]
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com