Chapter 54
Icy cold. Not the chill of the icy pond outside, but a deep chill that emanated from his internal organs, as if even his blood was freezing to ice. Gu Linzhi's consciousness struggled to maintain itself in this boundless icy cold, like a last, faint flame in a snowstorm, each flicker bringing a piercing pain that tore through his soul.
He could clearly feel that the terrifying cold power called "Ice Soul" coming from the depths of the cold pond was flowing along the wound under his ribs that was completely blasted open by the power of the Netherworld Palm. Like countless cold poisonous snakes, it was frantically drilling into his meridians, and violently clashing, entangled, and merging with the originally rampant "Poison Feather Red" and "Blue Spider Saliva" poisons, and finally turned into a new cold poison that was more domineering and more destructive, which was eating away at his vitality inch by inch.
His vision was a blurry, swaying darkness, with occasional fragments of light and shadow passing by, like a swaying lantern, or like... a pair of cold gray eyes without any emotion, reflecting his own dying appearance.
Su Wanwan...
Is it a hallucination? Or a revolving door before death?
My body was moved and jolted, as if being dragged across rough ground. A burning pain rubbed against my back, a strange contrast to the extreme coldness within me. In my ears was the whistling of the wind and... the steady breathing of an old man.
It was the old boatman. He had "saved" him once again. From the edge of the cold pond, from the mouth of the awakened cold dragon.
Why? Who was the person entrusted with the task? And what was the purpose? Was it simply to prevent this "key" or "sacrifice" from being prematurely destroyed?
Countless questions were frozen in his stagnant mind, unable to ponder deeply. Only the instinct for survival drove his remaining willpower to fight against the pervasive, freezing cold.
After an unknown amount of time, the shaking stopped. He was placed on a relatively flat surface. The rock beneath him was still cold, but it seemed slightly warmer than outside.
An extremely pungent, scorching liquid was forced into his nearly unconscious mouth. Like a red-hot iron, the liquid burned its way down his throat, instantly triggering a fierce "war" within his frozen body! The heat and the cold poison clashed madly, inflicting pain far exceeding any previous injury, as if countless ice blades and fire needles were strangling his blood vessels!
"Ahhh——!" A broken, inhuman howl came from Gu Linzhi's throat, and his body began to spasm violently and uncontrollably, twisting wildly like a fish out of water!
A cold, steady hand held him down firmly. It was the old boatman. He seemed unsurprised by Gu Linzhi's reaction, observing him with his cloudy eyes, as if he were watching a struggling insect in a lab dish.
The violent conflict lasted for an unknown amount of time, and Gu Linzhi nearly fainted again. The scorching medicinal power seemed to have gained the upper hand, temporarily pushing back the raging cold poison, giving him a brief, last-minute lucidity.
He opened his eyes with difficulty.
He found himself in a wider underground cavern that had clearly been repaired by humans. There were traces of excavation on the cave walls, and even a few eternally burning lamps embedded in them, emitting a dim, weak, but persistent glow that illuminated the scene within.
The scene before him made Gu Linzhi feel unprecedented shock even though he was on the verge of death!
In the center of the caverns, there was not the altar or secret chamber as expected, but a vast, bottomless pit! The edges of the pit were built with massive bluestones, exuding an air of antiquity. Within the pit, instead of being pitch black, an eerie, dark blue light, like the polar night sky, permeated the air! That light wasn't static, but slowly flowed and surged, like a living liquid, emitting an extreme chill even purer and more terrifying than that of the icy pond!
Ice Soul! This is Ice Soul?! Not a physical object, but a form of condensed, cold energy from the earth's veins?!
What made Gu Linzhi's scalp tingle even more was that at the bottom of the pit, shrouded in a faint blue light, one could vaguely see dense, honeycomb-like formations of frozen objects! They seemed to be... human corpses! Men, women, young and old, in all sorts of postures, all eternally frozen in the dark blue ice, preserving the terror and despair of their last moments! Some of the corpses were even dressed in styles that looked centuries old!
Is this the "Living Sacrifice Pond" depicted on the mural?! Hundreds and thousands of years of sacrifice, countless lives, frozen at the bottom of this pit, becoming part of the energy of this "Ice Soul"?!
A chill coming from the depths of the soul instantly overwhelmed the pain!
And around the pit, on the walls, were even denser and more complex patterns and inscriptions! Unlike the pristine rock walls of the cold pond outside, these inscriptions clearly dated from different eras, layered one on top of the other. There were ancient extermination scripts, seal scripts, and even modern regular script annotations! The content seemed to revolve around this "Ice Soul" pit, recording various attempts to observe, study, and even...control and utilize it!
Gu Linzhi's eyes were fixed on the most eye-catching rock face directly opposite the pit. There was a relatively new, clearly defined pattern carved there:
At the center of the pattern was a pit emitting a faint blue light. Above it, three objects hovered: a drop of crimson blood, a strange, flaming ore (labeled "Yangyan Stone"), and an ancient-style... camphorwood box!
Below the pattern, there are several lines of clear regular script annotations:
"...The power of the Ice Soul is extremely cold and yin. However, everything has its opposite, and when yin reaches its extreme, yang will arise... To control its power, it cannot be suppressed by force. It requires the blood of the ultimate yin as a guide, the stone of the ultimate yang as a foundation, and the support... a 'vessel' that carries the obsessions of countless dead souls... Only then can it be... balanced and harmonized... and used for one's own benefit..."
"...However, the Yangyan Stone is so difficult to find that it is ultimately unattainable... What a pity..."
"...Another path might be found, perhaps using a specific bloodline as fuel to ignite the Yin Fire, temporarily stimulating it... However, this is ultimately not the right path, like drinking poison to quench thirst. Be careful... be careful..."
Blood of the most yin? A vessel that carries the obsession of the dead? A specific bloodline as firewood?
Gu Linzhi's heart felt like it was being gripped by a giant, cold hand! All the clues suddenly connected at this moment!
What Bei Di and Cao Wushang were searching for wasn't a specific item, "Ice Soul," but rather a method to control the terrifying cold energy within the pit! They needed "Extreme Yin Blood" (perhaps the bloodline of the Jingbei Gu family?) as a trigger, and the camphorwood box numbered "Seven," which carried the unjustly deceased thoughts of countless Jingbei soldiers, as a "tool" to try to control and utilize this power!
The so-called "Ice Soul Awakening" is likely to use his life and the box as a sacrifice to forcibly "ignite" this power! Su Wanwan's dying words, "I want your life in exchange for the Ice Soul Awakening," actually meant this!
What about the Yunze Society? The annotations they left behind regarding the "Yangyan Stone" seem to suggest a gentler, more opportune method of control. Are they attempting to thwart Beidi's mad plan? Or... are they simply forced to stand aside and observe because they can't find the Yangyan Stone?
From the northern border to the south of the Yangtze River, from the imperial court to the martial arts world, all the pursuits, conspiracies, and betrayals along the way... were all for this terrifying energy pit hidden deep underground that swallowed countless lives?!
Just as Gu Linzhi was so shocked by the shocking truth that he lost his mind and the cold poison that was temporarily suppressed in his body was about to start again -
The old boatman, who had been standing silently by the pit like a petrified being, suddenly moved.
He slowly turned around, his cloudy eyes no longer looking at Lin Zhi, but looking towards the other entrance of the cave. In his hoarse voice, he said calmly: "You are here."
Gu Linzhi's heart suddenly trembled! He forced himself to raise his head and look in the direction of the sound.
I saw a figure slowly walking out of the dark entrance.
The man was also wearing a loose black robe, but his face was not covered with a mask. Under the dim light of the long-burning lamp, he revealed a face that Gu Linzhi had never expected, but to some extent, it was "expected"!
His face was pale and sinister, carrying the majesty of a long-time superior and a deep indifference. The corners of his mouth were habitually turned down, as if he held a subtle scorn for everything in the world. Most strikingly, there was a deep, old scar at the tip of his left eyebrow—the very scar that had been left beneath the half-shattered mask at the Dragon King Temple by Gu Linzhi!
It was actually him?! The eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander of the Eastern Depot—Cao Wushang!
He actually came to this top-secret place deep in Yunmengze in person!
Cao Wushang's gaze first swept over the dying Gu Linzhi on the ground with an extremely indifferent expression, as if he were looking at a nearly finished tool, without any emotion. Then, he looked at the old boatman, nodded slightly, and said in a gentle and calm voice, without any emotion or emotion: "Thank you for your hard work, sir. Is the 'key' safe?"
The old boatman (perhaps we should call him "sir" now) looked at Cao Wushang with cloudy eyes. He did not answer the question about the "key" but asked, "Did you bring what you wanted?"
Cao Wushang narrowed his narrow eyes slightly, and a cold arc appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Of course." He clapped his hands lightly.
In the darkness behind him, two black-clad warriors with hollow eyes and stiff movements slowly walked out, carrying a heavy, ancient-style camphorwood box. On the corner of the box, a clear number was imprinted in the dim blue light, glaring into Gu Linzhi's eyes -
"Seven"!
The seventh camphorwood chest! It contained the list of fallen soldiers from the Left Guard Vanguard Battalion of the Jingbei Army, Post B! A "vessel" carrying the obsessions of countless unjustly deceased heroes!
They actually found it! And before Gu Linzhi!
The assassin placed the box heavily on the edge of the pit, and the faint blue light seemed to be attracted by something and fluctuated slightly.
Cao Wushang looked at the box with satisfaction, then looked at the terrifying blue energy and countless frozen corpses in the pit, and his eyes finally revealed an undisguised, almost fanatical greed and desire.
"The blood of the Ultimate Yin... the vessel that bears my obsession... is all ready," he muttered, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Hundreds of years of waiting... countless generations of planning... finally... finally this moment has arrived! The power of 'Ice Soul'... will finally be mine!"
He turned his head abruptly, his gaze like a venomous snake locking onto Gu Linzhi once again. He smiled softly, "Nephew Gu, speaking of which, I owe you a lot of thanks. If it weren't for your father's stubbornness and refusal to cooperate, the bloodline of the Jingbei Army and this chest might have already realized their true value... Why would it have been delayed until now, adding so many unnecessary twists and turns?"
Gu Linzhi stared at Cao Wushang intently, his eyes burning with rage and hatred that could burn everything! He wanted to roar, to pounce on this eunuch who had brought disaster to the country and the people and to tear him into pieces, but his body was completely imprisoned by the cold poison and severe injuries. Even moving a finger was extremely difficult, and he could only make a hoarse, bloody, cracking sound from his throat.
"As for you, sir..." Cao Wushang looked at the old boatman again, his tone becoming slightly more polite, yet still retaining the aloofness of a superior. "Your Excellency belongs to the 'Yunze Society', which has guarded the secrets of this place for generations, recording and observing, yet they have never been able to find the elusive 'Yangyan Stone'. They can only watch helplessly as this power slumbers here... Isn't that a pity? Why not cooperate with us and share this astonishing power? Wouldn't that be better than ending your life deep in this swamp?"
The old boatman lowered his cloudy eyes and looked at the faint blue light flowing in the pit. There was still no expression on his face, as if he had not heard Cao Wushang's words, but also as if he had already seen through everything.
Gu Linzhi's heart surged again! This old boatman was indeed a member of the Yunze Society! They had been guarding this place for generations? Recording and observing? They... weren't accomplices of the Beidi, but... "guardians" in another sense?
Seeing the old boatman didn't respond, Cao Wushang didn't care. The sneer on his face deepened. "Sir, you tacitly allowed us to bring the 'key' here. I guess... you also wanted to use this opportunity to verify your ancestors' ideas about 'using blood to ignite fire and temporarily drive'? After all, the 'Yangyan Stone'... hehe, I'm afraid it has long since disappeared from the world."
The old boatman remained silent.
Gu Linzhi felt a chill run down his spine when he heard this! It turned out that he was not only Cao Wushang's target, but also the "experimental subject" that Yunze would use to verify the records in the ancient books! The old boatman had "saved" him several times, not to save him, but to ensure that he, the "key material", could be delivered to the experimental site alive!
All the "helping hands", all the "clues", from the very beginning, were baits to lead him to the final altar!
Just when Cao Wushang was feeling smug and ready to give the order to start the evil ritual—
Something strange happened suddenly!
"call out--!"
A nearly invisible black light, like lightning tearing through the night, suddenly shot down from a hidden crack in the cave's ceiling. Its target wasn't Cao Wushang, nor was it the old boatman. Instead, it was the camphorwood box "Number 7" that lay on the edge of the pit!
The timing, angle, and speed are all tricky and ruthless to the extreme!
Cao Wushang's expression suddenly changed! He shouted, "Stop it!"
But the black light was too fast! As soon as the two assassins guarding the box made a move, the black light had already accurately hit the lock of the box lid!
“Crack!”
There was a crisp sound of a mechanism breaking!
The heavy camphorwood box lid was suddenly cracked open by the sudden blow!
Then——
“Buzz——!!!”
An indescribable, vast, yet brimming with endless sorrow, anger, and unwillingness, a cold thought, like a volcano dormant for centuries, suddenly erupted from the crevice of the box, instantly engulfing the entire cave!
It wasn't a sound, but it shook the soul more than any other! It was the obsession of countless Jingbei Army soldiers who died in vain! It was the despair of those frozen to death in the icy valley! It was the unyielding spirit of a bloody battle to the bitter end! It was the overwhelming indignation of loyal souls wronged!
This huge torrent of obsession suddenly collided with the extremely cold and gloomy "Ice Soul" energy in the pit!
"boom--!!!"
The entire cavern shook violently! The dark blue light within the pit surged wildly, boiling like a boiling pot! Even the corpses, frozen for who knows how many years, seemed to be trembling slightly!
"Not good!" Cao Wushang showed a look of horror for the first time, "My obsession is out of control! It will disturb the balance of Bingpo!"
The old boatman's turbid eyes suddenly flashed with a gleam of light, and his usually calm face showed violent fluctuations for the first time. He stared at the boiling dark blue light and the vibrating box, his lips moving silently, as if he was rapidly calculating and deducing something.
Gu Linzhi, bearing the brunt of this overwhelming obsession, felt a resounding roar in his mind the moment it struck him! His father's figure, Mo Ya's severed arm, the blizzards of the northern border, the tragic scene of 70,000 soldiers starving to death from cold... Countless images, like a flood bursting through a dam, washed away the last vestiges of his consciousness!
At the same time, the wound under his ribs, the wound that gathered multiple poisons and icy cold power, under the extreme stimulation of the internal and external attacks, suddenly burst out with an indescribable, tearing pain and... a strange, cold suction!
It was as if his entire body was about to be forcibly pulled in by the boiling pit and the vibrating box!
“Ah——!!!” He let out a howl that was not like a human voice and was filled with extreme pain, and the scene before his eyes was completely engulfed by endless dark blue and blood-red colors!
In the last moment of his shattered consciousness, he seemed to see a vague masked figure flash by in the crack on the cave ceiling...
Then, there was eternal, cold darkness.
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