Twelfth: The Lonely and Desolate - Part Three
"Do you remember who called you here?" Ji Zhen asked, seeing that Liu Zhaonian had already eaten a few bites and was probably not so hungry anymore.
“It’s a man surnamed Gao,” Liu Zhaonian took another big bite of his steamed bun, but thankfully his voice was still clear enough. “This man always wore a black suit, occasionally changing to brown. He only told me his surname was Gao and that I should just call him ‘Mr. Gao,’ without giving me any other titles, like the King of the East or the Marquis of the West. This man, how should I put it, didn’t attract much attention. His behavior seemed like that of those high-ranking officials, but he was always accompanied by only two people. One seemed to be his attendant, named Wu Rang. I don’t know many characters, I only remember that’s how it’s pronounced, but I don’t know which character it is. When the man surnamed Gao said something, the man surnamed Wu would respond with ‘Yes, Lord Gao.’ The other one seemed to be his subordinate, always following behind the man surnamed Gao. The man surnamed Gao called him ‘An Sheng,’ and the man surnamed Wu called him ‘Mr. Gong Sha.’ They were dressed similarly, and sometimes I couldn’t tell them apart just by looking at them; I could only distinguish them by their voices.”
"Did they mention to you why they wanted to build a city so far away?" Mingjin saw that he was probably really hungry, as he finished the steamed bun in a few bites. Unfortunately, she had no more food on her, so she got up from the rock she was sitting on, took two cakes from Jizhen's hand, and gave them both to Liu Zhaonian.
Liu Zhaonian was so hungry that he ate two bites but didn't feel full. Instead, he felt even hungrier than before and was overjoyed to see that there was still food to eat.
“I asked, since knowing what it’s for will help me avoid making mistakes. The guy surnamed Gao said something like, this is his family’s land, and he plans to build a tower here to honor his ancestors. The houses below are for his nephews and nieces to live in. When we’re working outside, we don’t like to ask too many questions except about the work itself, because it’s never good if we find out something. So when he said that, I just listened and let it go.”
He ate and spoke quickly, and before he knew it, he choked, coughing several times. Chai Wang took out a wine bowl and poured some tea from his gourd. However, Chai Wang preferred strong tea when he was traveling, and Liu Zhaonian frowned at the smell. After taking a sip, he found it too bitter and grinned at Chai Wang, saying, "Young brother, this tea is so strong even I can't stand it. It's amazing you could finish a whole gourd."
"I had forgotten that my tastes are different from others," Chai Wang replied with a smile, not seeming to mind.
"I have some clean water here." Seeing this, Mu Ning tossed her gourd into Ming Jin's hand. After apologizing, Liu Zhaonian poured Chai Wang's tea aside, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the water sparkling in the sunlight, and gulped down a bowl of wine in one go.
“It’s not good to drink such strong tea all the time,” Ji Zhen said to Chai Wang.
"I'll remember this." Chai Wang put the water gourd away.
"Were the workers you brought with you?" Ji Zhen asked, standing behind Ming Jin. Liu Zhaonian looked much better after finishing his second bowl of wine.
“No, no,” Liu Zhaonian shook his head. “Before I came, I mentioned to the man surnamed Gao that I wanted to bring all my brothers with me, to tell him that we were all good people, and that as long as he gave us some money to support our families, that would be fine. But the man surnamed Gao said he had people under him, and only needed one person to lead the way, so I came alone. There were really a lot of people working for him, more than the entire population of our village. We worked during the day, and at night when I fell asleep, I would occasionally wake up and find that the man surnamed Wu was still watching the workers. But I didn’t know all the workers; there must have been several groups working together, otherwise one person would be exhausted.”
Just as they finished speaking, everyone's attention was drawn to another person who had rushed over.
After sending Duan Shuxuan back, Zhang Xu hurried back. Upon returning, he saw the people who had been copying books gathered outside. Looking closer, he noticed that the central tower had collapsed more than halfway. After settling the four people, Zhang Xu rushed over himself, his mind racing with thoughts of what terrible thing had happened. He arrived in a panic, only to find five people huddled together talking.
"Uncle-Master, you're back," Chai Wang greeted.
"You scared me to death! I thought you guys had gotten me into trouble." Seeing that everyone was alright, Zhang Xu didn't stand on ceremony with them. He moved a rock and sat down to listen to what they were talking about.
Seeing that it was another "uncle-master," Liu Zhaonian felt relieved.
"Do you know how long you've been imprisoned?" Mingjin asked.
“I wasn’t locked up for long,” Liu Zhaonian scratched his disheveled hair, recalling with difficulty. “It was the day it was finished. I walked around on top of it and told that guy surnamed Gao that it was done. He said I did a good job. I thought he would give me more wages, but I didn’t expect that guy surnamed Wu to bring me down directly. I was locked up in the morning and didn’t get a single meal. I was hungry until night and fell asleep. I just woke up. Did I sleep for a long time? A whole day and night?”
The group asked a few more casual questions, and Liu Zhaonian recounted everything he remembered, but the five of them couldn't obtain any more useful information. The cultivators decided to search the area a little longer, so they had Ming Jin and Chai Wang escort Liu Zhaonian to the city gate and leave him two persimmon cakes, along with a bag of Juxia peanuts that Chai Wang was carrying. While the five continued their investigation within the city, Liu Zhaonian sat on the ground, watching them fly around, enjoying this hard-won meal.
The afternoon's investigation yielded no results. Ming Jin received Ji Zhen's message and went to wait for them to gather near the city gate. Then Ji Zhen found Mu Ning and Zhang Xu and felt that the search was probably fruitless. He thought they should find fellow disciples familiar with formations to see if there was anything else strange about the place.
"I'm so sorry, you saved me, but I couldn't help you much."
Chai Wang was also a little tired, so he went to the door and joined Liu Zhaonian and Ming Jin in eating peanuts, waiting for the three elders to return.
“Brother Liu, you don’t need to worry about it. What we’re looking for is very good at hiding anyway,” Chai Wang quickly reassured him.
“You two are so young, yet you have to deal with such dangerous things,” Liu Zhaonian said, looking at them and thinking of his own situation. “I really want to go back as soon as possible. When I left, my parents were not in good health, and my wife had to take care of the three children at home by herself. Two sons and a little daughter, and their marriages are not yet settled. I wonder how they are doing while I’ve been trapped here. I remember how far I walked to get to this wretched place. I really want to go back as soon as possible.”
Just then, the three elders returned. The six of them chatted for a few moments and decided to call it a day.
“Yes. And what you just said was very helpful. Let’s go out first. Do you remember where you live? We’ll take you home first,” Mingjin added.
"My home," Liu Zhaonian exclaimed happily upon hearing that he could finally leave this awful place, leading the way and being the first to exit the gates of Youran City. "My home is..."
The second half of his sentence was left hanging in mid-air.
The moment Liu Zhaonian's body completely left the gate of Youran City, his body vanished.
Mingjin and Chaiwang were waiting for Liu Zhaonian to answer, but before they could hear him finish speaking, he suddenly disappeared. Then, the towering gate of Youran City, the living person, and the stone steps leading down from it all vanished in the blink of an eye, as Liu Zhaonian's figure disappeared first.
The stone path beneath their feet had vanished, replaced by calf-high weeds. Turning around, they saw that the houses and towers of the former city had also disappeared, leaving only a desolate hillside in the wilderness. A night breeze blew, causing the weeds to sway in one direction. The ghostly aura in the air had disappeared, leaving only the scent of wild grass surrounding them.
The quiet wind made Mingjin hear a faint chirping sound.
"What happened?" She didn't know who to ask this question to, or who to turn to for answers.
“He’s been used as the key to the formation.” Ji Zhen walked to the two young men.
"What, what array eye?" Chai Wang didn't understand either, and looked at Ji Zhen, Mu Ning and Zhang Xu in a panic, hoping they could give him an explanation.
“All large-scale formations need to be deployed around the formation’s core. In most cases, the caster controls the formation from the center. But there are other cases. The barriers of major sects are set up with their respective ancestral halls as the core and the sect leader as the assistant. We all thought that You Ran City only had an outer barrier. The core of You Ran City is actually the tall tower standing in the center, and the core of the tower is Da Nian, who poured his heart and soul into building it.” Zhang Xu patiently explained, “But the connection between Da Nian and You Ran City is so deep that when the two are separated, both disappear and dissipate completely.”
"What kind of formation? I didn't sense anything." Ming Jin was even more confused.
"A protective array was built around the tower to safeguard You Ran City. In protecting You Ran City, it connected the tower, the entire city, and Da Nian. When Elder Ban shattered the barrier from the outside, a crack appeared in the connection between them, awakening Da Nian from its long slumber. However, since the barrier was on the outermost layer, the remaining elements could still maintain their connection even without it. But with the core of the core severed, all of them could only perish together," Mu Ning explained.
"So, it was because of us that Brother Liu died?" Chai Wang said, somewhat trembling.
"Do you two know about the attack on Huicheng more than 20 years ago?" Zhang Xu asked, looking at Ming Jin and Chai Wang.
“I know,” Mingjin nodded. “At that time, a group of evil spirits somehow broke through the city’s protective barrier from the outside, seriously injured many of the city’s elders, and escaped.”
"Among the injured cultivators of the city was Elder Hong Junyu, the former leader of the city who was responsible for maintaining the barrier," Ji Zhen sighed. "The city's barrier had existed for over a hundred years, which led to its damage, and the elder who maintained it was also seriously injured. It's the same as what happened during the year. Although I sensed that there might be an array at the time, I didn't expect it to be so deeply connected."
“Da Nian himself is not a cultivator and cannot provide magical support. I think it is the effort he put into building the tower that has replaced the role of magical power,” Mu Ning said after thinking for a moment.
“You two should relax a little,” Zhang Xu said, seeing the worry on their faces. “Da Nian certainly doesn’t want to stay here anymore. He was framed and used as a tool by some evil spirits to ruin his life.”
After the city of Youran disappeared, the lake outside was no longer as calm as before. As I left, a spring breeze stirred the still water, creating a series of small hills on its surface.
When Ban Rui and the others were halfway through copying the book, the sharp-eyed Heng Buwei noticed that "the tower had collapsed." Fortunately, Zhang Xu returned in time, and the group sped up their copying. After finally finishing copying the book, they stayed where they were, waiting for the others to return. But to their surprise, the pages of the book vanished into thin air. Upon closer inspection, there was no longer any You Ran City; only a desolate mountain that looked no different from any other place.
Upon returning, the group first gathered to understand what had happened, and Banrui understood why the booklet had disappeared. However, since the copy of the booklet was already complete, they decided to give it to Banrui first. After all, Chen Duan, the only person in Kongyun Mountain capable of deciphering the book, was currently in seclusion, and her disciple, Du Gewen, was also busy with other matters. Banrui stated that he would recopy the contents upon returning and have it delivered to Pei Xuanzhen another day.
After a moment of realization, Chen Du rummaged through his pouch and pulled out the bundle containing the clothes he had found, only to find it empty as well. He couldn't help but sigh, "Oh well, I thought it might come in handy."
"Senior brother, don't take it to heart." Ming Jin patted Chen Du's arm.
"Yes, don't take it to heart." Mei Chong shook his head helplessly.
Rubbing was merely Chai Wang's personal hobby, but unexpectedly it played a significant role at this moment. Ban Rui and Zhang Xu both said that they would definitely praise him to their master, Master Wan, when they returned. Mu Ning and Ji Zhen also felt that this unexpected rubbing had helped everyone so much.
After setting up a warning spell in the vicinity, as night was about to fall, Ji Zhen and Mu Ning, along with their three disciples, bid farewell to Ban Rui and Zhang Xu. Before leaving, Ming Jin caught a whiff of flowing water. Drawn to her scent, she turned to look at a patch of unremarkable overgrown weeds and sparse woods, as if the mountain city tower she had seen that morning had never existed. Aside from the testimonies of the few people who had visited that day, for most people, this place was an eternally desolate wasteland.
Called by Mei Chong and Shen Du, they returned together to Kongyuan Mountain.
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