Twenty-four: Flowing Water Like Emerald Green - Part Two
Mingjin quickly pulled out a porcelain bottle from the bottom of her pouch. This was given to her by Huang Jing; it could protect the growth of herbs. She poured out the medicinal liquid inside, which floated in the air, surrounding the lotus seeds.
Holding the lotus seed, the environment in the cave suddenly became calm. The mountain magic was no longer under immense pressure, and Mingjin's cheeks were no longer slightly stinging from the intense heat outside the mountain magic, so he could concentrate on observing the lotus seed and taking in his surroundings.
But Zhui Lian still didn't give her a single response.
However, she had no time to worry about Zhui Lian, because an expanding flame was looming in front of her.
Looking up, the original flame no longer remained a single point, but rather, like a scroll unfurled by the wind, black and red streaks rolled and tumbled within the cave, stretching out and then retracting, transforming into a humanoid fiery figure in its original spot. It appeared as if the fire had taken shape, yet on its face, there were two bright spots, seemingly a pair of eyes staring intently at Ming Jin.
Ming Jin put the lotus seeds left by Zhui Lian into his pouch.
"Where did this troublemaker come from?" the firelight suddenly spoke, a male voice that shifted between deep and clear tones. "Why have you barged into my house?"
Ming Jin frowned slightly.
She wasn't sure if they were talking to her.
“You have a familiar aura,” Huoguang’s voice steadied, becoming deep and somber. He didn’t care that Mingjin hadn’t responded to him earlier, and continued, “Two of my acquaintances have had dealings with you.”
"Who?" Mingjin uttered a single, sharp sound. "And who are you?"
"Who am I? That's the most irrelevant question. And my friends, one has passed away, another wishes me a terrible death, and another old friend is courting death." Mingjin heard a hint of melancholy in the firelight's words, whether it was his own illusion or not. "Now, I'm just looking for a place to stay to lament my broken past. Why bother me?"
"Then why did you set up this formation?"
"An array?" Firelight looked to both sides. "This is just my fence. Enough, enough. You rude people are unforgivable from the moment you stepped in. Let's uphold the old rules and reduce all those who act recklessly to ashes."
"Whose fence could set the mountain on fire like that?!"
The flames returned to their original point and floated in mid-air. Like outstretched arms, the flames rushed towards Ming Jin from those arms.
The fire was free. It danced beneath the dome, its mottled red light stinging Mingjin's eyes.
"I haven't asked you to give me back my friend yet!"
Ming Jin's water magic was insufficient to extinguish the flames, and unable to withstand them, he could only leap and flee in all directions. Because of the fire's movements, the formation also activated, and both the ground and the walls began to spray intense heat from the flames into the cave, leaving Ming Jin nowhere to land. After trying to find a foothold on the ground, he could only use wind magic to float in mid-air and use wind blades to cleave through the flames that were spewing in from all directions, gaining a brief respite.
The raging flames coming from all directions had stolen her focus. Enveloped in flames, unable to advance or retreat, she could only watch as that tiny spark writhes and claws at her. She couldn't possibly deal with this "fire" by herself.
“If that’s the case,” the firelight could still speak, though it couldn’t take human form, “then we each owe an old friend a life. Now, if you resent me, take my life, or I’ll take yours. Let’s see who can make whom pay with their life.”
Even as he spoke, the flames didn't falter in their offensive. Their flames were like a dancer, swaying gracefully with flowing sleeves, but both the dancer's own strength and the long sleeves reaching Mingjin carried a force capable of cleaving a mountain. Even before reaching Mingjin, the force of the swung sleeves already instilled a sense of oppression in him.
The flames silently proclaimed their power. However, Ming Jin's wind magic could only split the flames, giving her a temporary respite. If this continued, she would be unable to find a way to break the current situation, and the best outcome would be death from exhaustion.
"A demon that even I can deal with, do you think you have any friends?"
She hadn't expected to fight the enemy so far away; now, her most urgent need was to escape.
“If friendship is judged by this standard, I could count the number of people in the world who are truly my friends on one hand,” the firelight suddenly stopped attacking and began to mutter to itself in response to Mingjin’s words, “Then are they still my friends? Do they think the same way you do?”
Mingjin was panting.
There was a tunnel behind them, which was probably the route that she and Zhuilian had not chosen.
“And what about you?” Mingjin merely glanced at the surroundings, when suddenly the firelight materialized into a human form, pounced on Mingjin, and stopped. “Why did you become friends with that little monster? You’re much stronger than her, which is why you’ve been able to stay under my control until now.”
"Don't speak if you don't understand anything."
The wind carried Mingjin to the side, and the firelight did not follow, but slowly turned around to look in Mingjin's direction.
"It will only make people dislike you."
She had planned to set up a magic array deep in the mountains, and the surrounding environment was particularly unique—even the cave ceiling was clean and smooth. This magic array must have relied on the external environment to be established. If she could disrupt the cave's environment, she could at least escape from this fire.
"I don't understand?" The firelight trembled slightly, as if the evil spirit behind it was also trembling. "What makes you think I don't understand?"
"If you knew, would you need to ask me?"
The firelight, in human form, waved its right arm, and a pillar of fire flew towards Mingjin. However, this was clearly a careless attack, as Mingjin easily dodged it by turning slightly, and the pillar of fire traveled in a straight line, disappearing silently upon hitting the stone wall.
“I didn’t ask you,” the humanoid said.
“Then why are you telling me all this?” Mingjin felt that the attack of the pillar of fire was very familiar, and he couldn’t help but trace it back in his memory. “Why didn’t you just burn us to death in the tunnel when we broke in?”
“This goes against my principles,” the figure said, momentarily shrank, then shrunk considerably until its human form was indistinguishable. “I never act violently.”
Evil spirits that do not distinguish between good and bad.
Mingjin couldn't help but curse inwardly.
With such high cultivation, he must have harmed many people. Now he talks about his principles in such trivial matters. No wonder he can't figure out his relationship with the other evil spirits.
However, after the fight, Mingjin realized that the firelight wasn't the evil spirit itself. Either the evil spirit was controlling the firelight from behind, or the firelight, originating from the evil spirit, had inherited some of its consciousness and was talking to itself. But ultimately, her only enemy was this magic array.
The mastermind behind the formation possessed extraordinary cultivation, but the formation itself wasn't very flexible; it could only execute a few fixed moves. Although Ming Jin couldn't directly counter these moves, she had come up with a wicked plan that might save her this time.
“I must destroy you,” Mingjin was still pondering what to do when the evil spirit suddenly came to its senses and transformed into a spark of fire again, facing Mingjin. Its voice rose from low to high, “I have wasted too much time and have failed my master’s orders. You are just an insolent trespasser, and I should destroy you immediately.”
After he finished speaking, the flames began to erupt in all directions again, enveloping Mingjin. However, even the most powerful spell, if used in the same unchanging and repetitive way, will eventually become familiar to the opponent.
"The Southern Mountain stands tall and majestic, the wind blows fiercely. The Southern Mountain stands firm and serene, the wind blows gently and softly."
The wind couldn't disperse the flames, or even attack them, but wind magic could guide their direction, especially inside a closed cave like this. In an instant, wind and fire swirled together, scorching the air everywhere.
“You’d better not try to figure this out in this cave. You won’t come up with anything,” Mingjin said, stepping back to a stone wall closer to the firelight. “Why don’t you just go and ask?”
"My friend, my foremost disciple, has been killed by you! How can I ever get my answer?!"
The flames intensified.
"I hope that after I escape from the clutches of this fire, I can also escape from the clutches of the mountain," Mingjin said, no longer paying attention to Huoguang's self-talk. He was thinking about his next move and covered his pouch with his hand. "It's a pity I broke my promise. I couldn't save the person and even lost a life."
Mingjin prepared to put all his remaining magic power into mountain magic, and silently recited the most basic lightning spell several times in his mind.
The fire attack came in stages.
"Father, did you use lightning to blast open these tunnels?"
Memories suddenly flooded my mind.
How old was she at that time?
It seemed like he was sitting on a small stool, or perhaps on the ground, holding a small trinket carved from some kind of wood.
“How could that be?” Ming Shiyu was preparing to close the mine door, her back to Ming Jin, and said with a smile, “That would cause a lot of dust to fall down, and your mother would scold you when you get home. I wouldn’t dare. Get up quickly and brush the dust off yourself, or you’ll get a beating when you get home.”
This is really not a good time to think about my parents.
“I never hesitate to mourn the dead,” Mingjin said, staring at the fire that had taken on a human shape. “Pray incense for Pinghe for me.”
Before the next fierce attack came, Mingjin reached out and recited the incantation he had memorized since his school days.
"How could you..."
"Yin Qilei".
A wisp of wind magic, carrying a tiny spark of lightning, weaved through the flames.
The firelight flickered, flashing a streak of white.
While casting the spell, Mingjin involuntarily closed her eyes, thus avoiding direct confrontation with the violent flash of lightning and fire. However, the deafening roar of the shattering rocks nearly shattered her ears, causing her to instinctively cover them and curl up against the rock wall, her back pressed against the blast of air.
After a series of violent roars, everything around quieted down, and the stone walls behind them were no longer scorching hot. However, the stone walls inside the cave, no longer protected by the evil spirit magic, shattered and cracked in the impact, with large and small stones falling to the ground.
Mingjin trembled as he tried to open his eyes, only to find a gray blur before him, proving that the danger of the flames had passed.
She sat down, panting, leaning against the stone wall, shaking off the loose stones that had fallen on her.
The firelight disappeared, and there was no more chattering around.
There was a white crack on the top of her head. Upon closer inspection, it had a slight blue tinge.
It is the true sky.
"Dawn? Dawn?"
Pang Ming's voice came from the crack.
"I'm here. Everything's alright now."
"Where is the evil spirit?"
"Disappeared."
"Stay away. This crack is too small; I'll break it open so you can get out."
"good."
There was a knocking sound coming from above. Mingjin looked up at the flashing blue light and suddenly thought of something.
"I don't think I'll die."
He held the pouch in his palm, only realizing its value belatedly.
With a single burst of strength, Pang Ming caused a large rock to fall from the center of the crack, raising dust and filling the enclosed space with even more light.
With sufficient light, Mingjin could more easily examine the cave.
After the central flames disappeared, the place was empty, appearing as just an ordinary hollow. There were no signs of burning on the walls or the ground, suggesting that the magic was different from ordinary flames, attacking without leaving any trace.
She stretched out her right hand, her fingertips tracing the stone wall beside her shoulder. She was no longer an empty shell of the formation, but had returned to her original, heavy, and cold form.
Ming Jin couldn't help but recall Huo Guang's words, and couldn't help but scoff at its "principles".
Brushing the dust off his clothes, Ming Jin got up to search the vicinity for any remaining clues, but when he looked down, he noticed something wrapped around his right ankle.
It might be a remnant of an array formation.
She picked it up, suppressed a cough, and brushed off the layer of dust covering it, preparing to analyze it carefully.
It was thin and long, dark in color, and had tendrils. It felt like the thing that had landed on her forehead when she first came in. Mingjin had thought it was a spider web or something and hadn't paid any attention to it, so she just pulled it off and threw it on the ground. She never expected it to be hanging on her like that.
She remembered her original purpose for coming here, and her heart skipped a beat.
"What are you looking at?" Pang Ming leaped down from the crevice and squatted down in front of Ming Jin. He found it very strange that Ming Jin was staring at an unknown object in his hand.
"What do you think this is?" Ming Jin handed the object to Pang Ming, moving only his hand while keeping his body in the same position.
“Let me see,” Pang Ming walked into the light and examined it carefully. “It’s grass roots, isn’t it? This is a cave, so maybe some grass seeds that flew here have taken root. Never mind that, let’s get out of here first, I’ll handle the rest.”
Seeing that Ming Jin looked unwell, Pang Ming couldn't help but feel worried.
Pang Ming rushed over as soon as he received Ming Jin's message, but the roads here were incredibly difficult to navigate, and strangely so. Even with magic, he couldn't find his way. By the time he received the second signal, he had already circled the area. It was only thanks to a spirit wandering in the forest that he was able to find his way out. But as soon as he arrived, he witnessed the entire mountain trembling as the flames raged.
Even just looking at him from the outside, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked. Mingjin had been dealing with that evil spirit face to face for so long, and he must be exhausted. So he stepped forward and asked, "Can you walk? Or should I carry you out?"
"Sigh," Ming Jin sighed, his head spinning as he gripped Pang Ming's shoulders. He looked down at his ankles where he had just picked up the grass roots and sighed helplessly to himself, "I'm really useless."
"Don't dwell on temporary setbacks; we'll deal with them another day."
Pang Ming assumed that Ming Jin was blaming himself for failing to exorcise the evil spirits, and didn't think much of it. Looking at the dark and secluded surroundings, he decided it was best to leave first.
Unexpectedly, a sound came from above first.
Is anyone inside?
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