2 Nightmare Forest (Part 1)
◎“You’re in such a hurry, and you’ve even tied my hands…”◎
Even someone as refined and aloof as Lou Tinglan blushed slightly, a hint of anger rising in her eyes. Her swordplay, initially a skillful parry, gradually became more ferocious, almost a series of deadly moves, closing in ever closer.
The two were now completely reversed. Ran Qinghe thought to herself: So easily provoked, she's just a pretty face. I thought she was so powerful.
She picked up the whip again and casually repeated the same method as before.
With a flick of the whip, he exclaimed, "Oh dear, Immortal Lord, how come your sleeve is ripped too?"
With a flick of the whip, he exclaimed, "Oh dear, Immortal Lord, I didn't mean to! How did your collar come undone by itself?"
Lou Tinglan, her face contorted with anger, pressed forward relentlessly, but Ran Qinghe retreated with a leap, not engaging in a direct confrontation. She merely flicked her whip occasionally. After several rounds, Lou Tinglan's white disciple robe with gold patterns was tattered and torn, the hem askew, revealing a large expanse of her collarbone, leaving her with almost no fabric covering her chest.
Ran Qinghe had teased him enough, yawned, and knew it was time to face the challenge head-on.
But why did her hands suddenly become immobile? She tried to struggle, but her hands felt like they were shackled. What was this...?
The Discipline Hall's binding array! We've been hit!
She looked down and saw that the array beneath her feet had been completed at some point. No wonder Lou Tinglan was pressing her so closely; he had been trying to lure her into this binding array.
As a law enforcement agency that stands above the five major sects, the Discipline Hall is unparalleled in its binding techniques, aside from other aspects.
If one wants to escape from this binding formation, one would have to tear off a piece of flesh from one's body.
Good heavens, she's always the one playing tricks on others, but this time she's the one who's fallen into his trap.
Lou Tinglan landed from mid-air, his expression returning to normal. He took out the shackles again, leaned over, and snapped them on, fastening them around Ran Qinghe's wrists.
Ran Qinghe naturally wouldn't obediently listen. With a flicker of her eyes, she had already come up with an idea: "I am truly convinced of the Immortal Lord's power. However, could I perhaps take off these handcuffs?"
She said with a hint of grievance, "My immortal lord, look, my wrists are all rubbed red."
She brought her wrists close to Lou Tinglan's eyes, and before she could even take a breath, she suddenly wrapped them around Lou Tinglan's neck and twisted her arms forcefully, trying to use the chains connecting her wrist shackles to tightly strangle him.
Unexpectedly, Lou Tinglan didn't even flinch, nor did she even spare a glance. The shackles seemed to have a mind of their own, and were controlled to forcibly separate her arms.
Ran Qinghe: ...I miscalculated. I didn't expect these shackles to be anything but ordinary.
Ran Qinghe was unaware that the shackles of the Discipline Hall were all made by the Xuan Shui Sect, which was skilled in forging. During their production, they were already imbued with binding spells, so even these small shackles could only be controlled by the disciples of the Discipline Hall.
A swallow fluttered away from the treetop nearby.
Ran Qinghe's hands were shackled, and she was being pulled forward by an invisible force, almost stumbling with every step.
Finally, after walking for most of the day, she couldn't take it anymore and said bluntly, "I can't walk anymore. Can't you loosen the shackles? How am I supposed to walk like this?"
Lou Tinglan took a long time to answer her, saying, "If you had listened and hadn't stopped every step of the way, you wouldn't have had such a difficult time walking."
However, it would have been better if Lou Tinglan hadn't replied. Once she did, Ran Qinghe started chattering and making a fuss: "It's already quite an achievement for a weak woman like me to walk this far. What, am I not allowed to rest? Besides, what is the eleventh rule of the Discipline Hall? Let me ask you."
Lou Tinglan countered, "You know?"
His scrutinizing gaze fell upon her again. Ran Qinghe thought to herself, of course, she had copied the rules of the Discipline Hall nearly a hundred times, how could she not know them?
So she replied smugly, "Article eleven: One must not mistreat a monk who has broken the law because of personal grudges."
Lou Tinglan paused, and actually slowed down her pace.
The two were walking along a main road at the foot of Qingxiao Mountain, with cultivators passing by from time to time. Ran Qinghe estimated that, based on their walking pace, they should arrive in another half an hour.
Although Qingxiao Sect is located at the summit, one can also take a flying boat to get up the mountain, which can be done in as little as the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Furthermore, although the Discipline Hall is independent of the Five Sects, it is located almost next to the Azure Cloud Sect. If the two of them reach the bottom of the mountain, she will have virtually no way to escape.
Ran Qinghe started making excuses, saying, "Look at my shoes, they're so dirty from traveling." Lou Tinglan used a cleaning spell, and the dust on the shoes was swept away.
Ran Qinghe: "...Look at this sun, it's making my face all red." Lou Tinglan looked up at the sun, which was half-hidden by clouds.
Ran Qinghe: "...I haven't had any water for so long, I'm dying of thirst." Lou Tinglan pointed out: "A Golden Core cultivator has already abstained from grains."
Seeing that all her excuses had failed to convince the man, Ran Qinghe gritted her teeth in frustration.
She then shouted loudly without any hesitation, "Immortal Lord, are you so cold to me because I just tore your clothes?"
Lou Tinglan frowned, a bad feeling creeping over her. Sure enough, along the main road, passing cultivators all turned their heads and strained their ears.
Ran Qinghe lowered her head, as if she had suffered a great injustice: "I didn't do it on purpose. Just now, in the woods, you were so eager and even tied my hands... Now that you've succeeded, you treat me with such cold words."
The gazes of passersby were like tangible knives, directed at him. What a heartless and unfaithful man!
The unfaithful man's clothes were irrefutable evidence, and perhaps because the tearing was too intense, they were simply tied together with a few strips of cloth, which only served to cover up the truth.
Two female cultivators who were passing by even began to whisper and condemn:
"Look at this male cultivator, he seems to be wearing the robes of a disciple from the Discipline Hall. I never expected that disciples from the Discipline Hall would be so dissolute?"
"Hey, keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear you. Maybe these disciple robes are just a little something between the young couple, hehe."
"Ah! I get it, isn't it that thing from those storybooks... uniforms..."
"Keep your voice down, people are looking, hurry up and leave."
Lou Tinglan's forehead twitched violently, but he had no way to refute it, because everything Ran Qinghe said was true.
"So what do you plan to do?"
Seeing that Lou Tinglan was about to continue on her way, Ran Qinghe replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I want you to change your clothes. It's fine if others see your clothes in such a torn state, but I... I haven't even formed a contract yet."
"If the Immortal Lord doesn't care about his own reputation, shouldn't he at least care about mine?"
Lou Tinglan remained silent, feeling helpless. As a disciple of the Discipline Hall, it would probably be inappropriate to return like this. Oh well, it would only take the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
*
However, in the short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ran Qinghe had already disappeared from the spot.
Lou Tinglan's face darkened, and following the spiritual energy traces of the shackles from the Discipline Hall, she chased after Ran Qinghe again. Unexpectedly, even though Lou Tinglan had shackled Ran Qinghe's ankles again before leaving, she still escaped very quickly, and before long, dusk was approaching.
The trail ended at a Nightmare Forest. As the name suggests, the Nightmare Forest is the domain of nightmare monsters; it's a completely upside-down dense forest. The trees here are twisted and contorted, their branches growing downwards like giant black claws, gnarled and intertwined. A thick layer of decaying leaves lies on the ground, but instead of being soft underfoot, it has a damp, cold, and sticky feel. It's more like a swamp forest than a Nightmare Forest.
Lou Tinglan is already a hundred years old this year, which is considered the age of twenty in the mortal world. However, since birth, he has always stayed in the Discipline Hall, spending almost all his time repeating the cycle of cultivation, seclusion, and more cultivation. Therefore, he does not have a very good understanding of the specific terrain of the cultivation world, let alone what kind of spirits and monsters inhabit this place.
He closed his eyes and examined the shackles; the spiritual energy emanating from them was indeed in the center of the dense forest. Without hesitation, he picked up a fire talisman and, using its faint light, walked straight inside.
At this moment, the Nightmare Monster has already quietly begun its actions. It can be said that the entire forest is the Nightmare Monster's extended body, with leaves as its eyes and long branches as its arms. Whenever a cultivator accidentally enters, the Nightmare Monster can immediately detect them and set up an illusion.
Ran Qinghe watched the show from above the trees with her arms crossed.
She knew all along that this place was infested with nightmare monsters, and when she fled, she deliberately lured Lou Tinglan here. She figured that the shackles of the Discipline Hall were for positioning purposes, and that just lingering at the entrance of the Nightmare Forest wouldn't fool Lou Tinglan.
Therefore, she entered the forest from mid-air. Although she suffered some backlash from breaking through the shackles that restricted her from flying, it wasn't a major problem. The Nightmare Monster's branches grew downwards, having no effect on Ran Qinghe who entered the forest from mid-air. Once Lou Tinglan was trapped in the illusion set up by the Nightmare Monster and unable to extricate himself, she could reap the benefits, take the key from him, and escape.
However, a full half hour had passed since Lou Tinglan entered the dense forest, so why was the Nightmare Monster still not moving? Could it be that it was a bully who preyed on the weak?
Ran Qinghe moved a little closer to the dense forest and took a closer look. In the center of the forest, a large number of branches had fallen from the trees, and the nightmare monster was obviously exhausted.
The Nightmare Monster uses illusions to drain the spiritual energy of cultivators. The longer a cultivator is bewildered by the illusion, the more severely their spiritual energy is depleted. Once their spiritual energy has been completely devoured, the Nightmare Monster will mercilessly throw them out.
The nightmare monster had no consciousness; it only knew that all the illusions it had just created had been broken by the cultivator before it. It couldn't believe that there could be such a cultivator who was so detached from worldly desires.
Fine wine in the cup, beauty in the arms? It's broken.
Spiritual stones and treasures, piled up like mountains? Broken.
His cultivation level skyrocketed, leading to the attainment of the Great Dao? Or did it break through?
Each illusion requires a large amount of spiritual energy. Now, it is helpless against this cultivator and can only retreat with its few remaining branches and leaves in humiliation.
It needs to eat and needs spiritual energy.
Since there was no way to deal with the cultivator in front of them, they decided to pull the cultivator down from the air! Almost instantly, the gnarled branches on the ground were torn off, as if the skin and flesh were being separated, and stretched straight into the air.
Under normal circumstances, the Nightmare Monster's attacks would be nothing to her; she could easily deal with them with a sweep of her spirit whip.
But now, with her hands and feet shackled, her movements were already severely restricted. After several attempts to dodge, she was dragged straight down by the nightmare monster. Oh no, this was truly a case of trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead.
The illusion begins.
The red candlelight cast its glow, and the air was damp with moisture.
On the walls hung all sorts of shackles and whips, revealing the room's owner's perverse tastes.
In the deepest part of the room, there was a carved wooden bed. The bed curtains were lifted, and Ran Qinghe remained unconscious. She was just a mortal, a mortal powerless to even kill a chicken. Yesterday, she was still dreaming of becoming an embroiderer in a government-run embroidery workshop; today, she had been abducted to this utterly disgusting place.
The newcomer held a leather whip and lashed it hard, finally rousing her slowly. She clutched the corner of the blanket and shrank further into the bed.
Illusion, inherited.
"How can this valley be so barren?" Ran Qinghe frowned. With such thin spiritual energy, how could she cultivate? Beside her stood an old man with a white beard. Despite his advanced age, he was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he had the audacity to claim he wanted to be her master. How laughable!
She wouldn't stay in this valley forever, wasting her life in vain.
Illusion, turn.
Ran Qinghe gripped the long whip in her hand, gazing at the mist-shrouded mountain peak. She was indeed exceptionally talented; in just two years, she had risen from the spiritually barren valley to the summit, to the top of the mountain, to the number one sect in the cultivation world—the Qingxiao Sect.
"Why should I go to that poisonous land in place of my senior brother?"
"You are young and highly talented, but you still need more experience."
Liar! This is clearly a trial, a one-way trip from which there is no return.
Illusion, unite.
"Ran Qinghe! You destroyed the Azure Sky Spirit Vein, and you still won't confess!"
"Oh, it's just a spiritual vein, why are you making such a big fuss about it?"
She leaped into the air, ready to fight the newcomer, but in the distance, flames soared into the sky.
Strange, where did this fire come from in this secluded place of cultivation? No, that's not right. She just escaped from the Tower of Babel prison, how could she have returned to the place before she was imprisoned? She pulled a short dagger from her sleeve and slashed her arm hard. Blood gushed out, and her mind finally cleared a little.
With a flick of her whip, she tore a hole in the sky of the illusion.
When she opened her eyes again, Lou Tinglan was standing quietly to the side, holding a fire talisman in one hand and channeling spiritual energy into the nightmare monster with the other.
Could it be that Lou Tinglan saved her?
[Author's Note]
Three updates on the first day, the second update
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