Chapter 49: Whirlpool
The dark clouds advanced faster than anticipated. In just half an hour, the sky over Cloud Recesses was as dark as night. Wei Wuxian, hiding the jade pendant close to his body, stood at the mountain gate with Lan Wangji, Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi. Dozens of Lan Clan disciples followed behind them, all on high alert.
"That resentment comes strangely, it doesn't seem to be coming from Cloud Recesses." Lan Wangji looked at the center of the dark cloud, where the resentment condensed into a swirling black gas, moving towards the northwest. "It seems to be leading the way."
Wei Wuxian touched the burning jade pendant in his arms, and a thought struck him: "It's leading us to Junwu Mountain." He turned to look at Lan Wangji, his eyes firm, "We have to go and take a look."
Lan Wangji nodded and summoned Bichen: "Jingyi, you take the disciples to guard the mountain gate. I will go with Wei Ying and Si Zhui."
"I can go too!" Lan Jingyi said anxiously, "I know how to draw the Immortal Binding Talisman, so I can help!"
Wei Wuxian patted his shoulder and said, "We need you more here. When we come back, I'll bring you some specialties from Junwu Mountain." With that, he, Lan Wangji, and Sizhui boarded the Bichen and flew towards the center of the dark clouds.
Bichen was moving at breakneck speed, cutting through layers of dark clouds. A whistling sound grew increasingly clear, like the howling of countless wronged souls. The vortex of black energy continued to expand ahead, its edges emitting an eerie purple glow. The jade pendant felt so hot in his arms that it threatened to burn. Wei Wuxian could even feel the fragments vibrating faintly, as if trying to break free.
"Be careful, there are fluctuations of formation in the resentment." Lan Wangji held Wei Wuxian's hand tightly, and the sword light of Bichen formed a barrier around him, isolating the resentment outside.
Si Zhui clutched the corner of Wei Wuxian's clothes tightly. The wooden kite in his arms suddenly emitted a faint light, and the red line on its wings moved without wind, pointing to the center of the vortex: "Daddy, the wooden kite seems to be responding!"
Before he could finish his words, the vortex suddenly accelerated, a powerful suction coming from the center, causing Bichen's sword light to shake violently. Wei Wuxian hurriedly played the Chenqing flute, the sound of the flute becoming an invisible barrier, but it was easily torn apart by the suction.
“Hold on tight!” Lan Wangji growled, holding Wei Wuxian and Sizhui tightly in his arms.
The scene before him instantly distorted. The dark clouds, black air, and the sound of the wind vanished, leaving only a swirling white light, as if he were falling into a bottomless abyss. Wei Wuxian felt his consciousness rapidly slipping away, but an ancient voice rang clearly in his ears, as if it came from a jade pendant: "The Jun family bloodline, return to its place..."
After an unknown amount of time, the feeling of weightlessness suddenly vanished, and the three of them fell heavily to the cold ground. Wei Wuxian struggled to his feet, only to find that everything around him was pitch black. Only the jade pendant in his arms emitted a faint white light, illuminating the bluestone slabs beneath his feet. The pattern of the slabs here was exactly the same as the formation at the Junwu Mountain ruins.
"Lan Zhan? Si Zhui?" He fumbled around and grabbed a slightly cool hand. It was Lan Wangji.
"I'm here." Lan Wangji's voice was slightly breathless, and he was obviously shocked. "Si Zhui?"
"Father, I'm here." Si Zhui's voice came from the side, tearful but steady, "The wooden kite is still lit."
Wei Wuxian breathed a sigh of relief and looked around with the help of the jade pendant's light. He found that they were in a circular stone chamber. The walls were engraved with the same beautiful handwriting as in "Jun's Miscellaneous Notes", but the content was more obscure, mostly about "sacrifice", "return to the throne", and "divine punishment".
"Where is this?" Si Zhui asked quietly, the light of the wooden kite flickering in his hand. "It looks like an altar."
Wei Wuxian walked to the wall and stroked the words with his fingertips. The jade pendant suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, resonating with a line of words on the wall - "The jade is broken and reunited, and the journey home begins."
"Homeward journey?" Wei WuXian frowned. "Could this be the Jun clan's altar?"
Lan Wangji suddenly pointed to the center of the stone chamber, where a raised stone platform, identical in shape to the one on Junwu Mountain, remained completely empty. "Look at the marks on the ground; the remaining fragments of the jade pendant were once placed here."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire stone chamber suddenly shook violently. The writing on the wall glowed red, interweaving with the white light of the jade pendant to form a swirling rune. Wei Wuxian felt that familiar suction force coming again, but this time he felt unable to resist it, as if he was being sucked into the rune.
“Not good!” Lan Wangji pulled Wei Wuxian and Sizhui to his side, and Bichen’s sword light formed a protective shield. “This is a teleportation array, and someone is controlling it from outside!”
Wei Wuxian looked down at the jade pendant in his arms. The fragments had completely illuminated, merging with the rune's light. He suddenly realized that this vortex was not a guide at all, but a trap, one set specifically for the Jun family bloodline.
"Jun's Miscellany says 'When jade shatters, the mountain collapses.' Perhaps..." Wei Wuxian's voice was drowned out by the increasingly loud vibrations. "This jade pendant is not only a token of trust, but also a key..."
The red and white lights before their eyes suddenly exploded, and the three were drawn into a new vortex. This time, instead of feeling weightless, they saw countless shattered images clearly—an ancient figure in ornate clothing holding a jade pendant as a sacrifice, the palace of Wuyong Kingdom crumbling in flames, a woman in white clutching a baby running across Junwu Mountain, the white jade hairpin and jade pendant on her temples shattering simultaneously...
"Mother!" Wei Wuxian cried out in frustration. The women in white in those images were exactly the same as the mother in his memory.
The vortex spun faster and faster, and the scene finally froze on a burning sea of fire. His mother's voice pierced through the chaos, clear as if it were right next to his ear: "Ah Xian, don't look... don't look back..."
The second before his consciousness completely fell into darkness, Wei Wuxian felt Lan Wangji still holding his hand tightly, Si Zhui's crying was right next to his ears, and the hot jade pendant in his arms was like his mother's last body temperature.
Where would this mysterious vortex take them? Were those shattered images a reflection of the Jun family's past, or its uncertain future? Wei Wuxian didn't know, but he knew that as long as the three of them remained together, they would eventually escape the vortex.
In the darkness, the light of the jade pendant gradually dimmed, but it never went out, as if waiting for a truth that was destined to be revealed.
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