Chapter 50 050 Spirit, you're wearing his things, and yet...
The Tower of Sorrow has nine floors. Originally, it would have taken Yun Tianjiao quite a bit of effort to reach the top.
But Shen Qiongzhi's presence was like a pass; Yun Tianjiao didn't even need to climb the stairs. He was directly led by Shen Qiongzhi's hand, and they flew straight up through the large hole she had stomped out earlier.
At each level, various demons and monsters gathered around to watch. Yun Tianjiao felt as if he had traversed a bizarre and fantastical world, with even more types of demons than he had encountered in the Ghost Realm.
Finally, with their feet firmly on the ground, Shen Qiongzhi led her to stop on the eighth floor of the Tongbei Tower.
“You can’t go any higher from here; you have to climb the stairs.” Shen Qiongzhi said with some dissatisfaction, looking up at the top of the tower and then at the stairs in the center of the tower hall. The butterfly hair ornament on her double-loop bun trembled and jumped with her movements.
Yun Tianjiao followed Shen Qiongzhi's gaze upwards and was surprised to find that the roof of the eighth floor of the tower was not a wooden partition like the other floors, but a flowing water layer with a light blue fluorescent glow.
Shen Qiongzhi turned back to look at the twin water ghost brothers who had followed them up.
The water ghost brother immediately said, "Miss Shen, although we are water ghosts, we still obediently walked down the stairs from the ninth floor. We dare not even touch this Four Seasons Water, let alone control it."
Yun Tianjiao asked curiously, "What is meant by 'Four Seasons Water'?"
The younger brother of the water ghost explained: "The Four Seasons Water is special water taken from four different times of the day: cinnabar water at midnight on the winter solstice, peach wood water at noon on the summer solstice, mugwort water at 5 pm on the autumn equinox, and meteorite water at 5 am on the spring equinox. These four types of water combined are an absolute nemesis to demons and monsters. Even if the Ghost King himself came, he probably wouldn't dare to touch it."
What will happen if you touch it?
"At best, it will greatly diminish one's power; at worst, it will reduce one to ashes."
Those imprisoned on the eighth floor of the tower are all powerful demons. They are not as noisy and talkative as the demons on the first and second floors, but mentioning the Four Seasons Water still causes a lot of whispers. They all seem to be very wary of the water above their heads that can take their lives at any moment.
Shen Qiongzhi said to Yun Tianjiao with some annoyance and helplessness, "There's no other way but to take the stairs. I walked down the stairs when I came down from upstairs."
He seemed to feel very guilty about it.
Yun Tianjiao found it somewhat amusing and said, "Taking the stairs is fine too."
Shen Qiongzhi sighed, "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Sister Tianjiao."
At this point, the twin water ghosts subtly indicated that they would no longer accompany them up to the ninth floor, and the younger water ghost even slipped away, ready to make a quick getaway.
But Shen Qiongzhi grabbed him with her sleeve and pulled him back, saying, "No, you two have to come along."
The younger brother, the water ghost, looked miserable: "Grandma, please spare us. There's no use in us going up there; we don't even know where the exit is."
Shen Qiongzhi said coldly, "You've been imprisoned on the ninth floor for many years, so you must know more than we do. Come up with us."
Then he looked at the other demons on the eighth floor.
The demons all held their breath.
"Forget it, none of you can get up there anyway, you're all useless."
The demons breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling incredibly fortunate to be called trash at this moment.
Being a waste is good; being a waste can save your life.
So Shen Qiongzhi took the lead, Yun Tianjiao followed behind, and the twin water ghost brothers brought up the rear. The four of them walked together into the spiral wooden staircase in the center of the tower hall.
This was Yun Tianjiao's second time stepping onto the wooden stairs of the Tongbei Pagoda. Just like the first time he stepped onto the wooden stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, the ancient wooden stairs echoed with the mournful cries of ten thousand ghosts throughout the entire pagoda as soon as he stepped on them.
Yun Tianjiao quickly understood why both Shen Qiongzhi and the Water Ghost Brothers resisted climbing the stairs so much. It was simply because... the stairs looked endless, completely different from the wooden stairs between the first and second floors.
In his eighteen years of life, Yun Tianjiao had never seen more steps than he had ever seen before. What was even more torturous was that he had to endure the ear-piercing wailing of ghosts while climbing the stairs. It was so agonizing that he wished he could draw his demon-slaying sword and chop the entire tower in half.
"Can't you think of a way to stop this crying!" Shen Qiongzhi clenched her fists, her hands hidden beneath her wide palace sleeves, and said to the twin water ghosts with barely suppressed anger, "It's driving me crazy with all this noise!!"
The twin water ghosts were also overwhelmed and tried to release water to envelop the four of them, but they could only make the cries from one after another a little quieter and could not completely isolate them. However, it was better than nothing.
After climbing for an unknown amount of time, Yun Tianjiao was finally exhausted and had to be pulled by Shen Qiongzhi. When they finally saw the exit, the four of them were almost overjoyed and cried tears of joy.
"Oh, it's been a long time, you two! You've finally remembered to visit your old neighbor?"
A woman's languid and alluring voice rang out.
Emerging from the stairwell, Yun Tianjiao finally saw the full view of the legendary top floor of the Tower of Sorrow—
The tower hall was pitch black and the ground was not visible. Except for the wooden staircase in the middle that connected the other tower levels, the entire tower was completely submerged by the Four Seasons Water, which shimmered with a ghostly blue light, making it barely possible to see anything.
The tower hall is almost invisible from the top, with only four iron cages hanging down from the four sides by iron chains as thick as an adult's waist, two of which are empty.
The person speaking was locked in one of the iron cages, and the silhouette of a curvaceous woman could be vaguely seen in mid-air.
"Huh? Looks like the little sister is more capable; she actually brought a living person up here..."
The chains rattled, and the woman lying on her side in the cage seemed to be attracted by Yun Tianjiao, and sat up in the cage.
Meanwhile, in the other iron cage that imprisoned the demon, all was quiet. From a distance, only a crouching black shadow could be seen, not human-shaped, but more like a wild beast.
Shen Qiongzhi shielded Yun Tianjiao behind her and looked warily at the woman in the cage.
"Youji, you'd better not cause any trouble. This is Princess Yunchi of the Kingdom of Yunchi," the water ghost brother warned.
Yu Ji chuckled and moved closer to the edge of the cage. Reflected in the water, her stunningly beautiful face was revealed. Her eyes narrowed, her gaze lingering on Yun Tianjiao, and she licked her crimson lips with lustful intent.
"What's wrong with being the eldest princess? I'm still the eldest princess of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. What's so great about me? And what kind of country is Yun Chi Kingdom? It's only been established by mortals for a few hundred years. Does it even have the right to threaten me? Hehe, it's been a long time since I've tasted the flavor of a living person. How about..."
The water ghost brother interrupted coldly: "I advise you to open your eyes wide and take a good look at what she is carrying."
The elder of the twin water ghosts clearly carried more weight than his younger brother's words. Only then did the nine-tailed fox Youji reluctantly retract her sharp claws that had been reaching out of the cage. She carefully examined Yun Tianjiao and suddenly let out a soft "Ah".
"How come you have his things on you?"
Since entering the tower, Yun Tianjiao has been protected by the Vajra given to her by Zhiwei. She had previously thought it was some kind of talisman that could ward off evil spirits and demons, which is why the demons and monsters in the tower dared not approach.
But Shen Qiongzhi had just tried touching it, and it was clear that the Vajra Pestle didn't have that much power. So why did all the demons treat it with such respect, and why did they all look at it with such disdain?
"who is he?"
The Vajra is Zhiwei's magic weapon. Could it be that the demons in these towers also know Zhiwei?
Yuki laughed, her nine large, fluffy tails dangling from the edge of the cage, swaying back and forth as if she found it very amusing.
"You're wearing his things, yet you don't know who he is?"
Shen Qiongzhi was displeased. "Hey, can't you have a proper conversation? If you keep acting mysterious like this, I might shoot you down!"
Yu Ji seemed quite wary of Shen Qiongzhi. She snorted coldly, turned her head away, hugged her nine fluffy tails, and went to sleep, refusing to speak again.
The Water Ghost Brother said to Yun Tianjiao, "Your Highness, please don't be offended. The owner of this Vajra Pestle was imprisoned with us on the ninth floor of the Pagoda of Sorrow. However, he was exceptionally capable and escaped from the cage. We made a bet with him, and my brother and I won. With his help, we were also able to leave the cage and move freely in this pagoda. Unfortunately, Youji lost the bet, so she has always harbored resentment..."
At this point, the nine-tailed fox demon in the cage above snorted again and said irritably, "Be quiet, don't disturb my sleep."
Yun Tianjiao gently stroked the vajra pendant and asked, "Then where is the owner of this vajra you mentioned now?"
The water ghost brother laughed and said, "Hey, Your Highness, don't you understand yet? The owner of this Vajra Pestle is none other than His Majesty the Ghost King, the only one in history to break free of the Pagoda of Sorrow!"
Ghost King?
But this is clearly Zhiwei's magic weapon...
Yun Tianjiao was filled with doubt and unease. Recalling his brief encounter with the masked ghost king in the Ghost Realm, his old suspicions were inevitably rekindled.
Could it be that the Ghost King is truly Zhiwei?
In that moment of distraction, an unexpected change occurred. Suddenly, a burst of spiritual light shot out from the cage that had been completely silent, imprisoning another demon, and rushed towards Yun Tianjiao without warning.
Yun Tianjiao was violently struck by the force and fell from the narrow wooden ladder platform, plummeting straight into the pool below!
"Sister Tianjiao!" Shen Qiongzhi reached out to pull Yun Tianjiao, but failed to hold her back.
Her first reaction was to jump in with Yun Tianjiao, but the water ghost brother reminded her, "Miss Shen! This is water that flows in all seasons!"
Shen Qiongzhi stopped in time, still shaken, watching Yun Tianjiao fall into the water, but powerless to help.
The water ghost brother said, "To mortals, this seasonal water is no different from ordinary water. As long as Your Highness has some knowledge of water, your life should be safe."
"Sister Tianjiao... Sister Tianjiao is a good swimmer, she should be... she should be alright, right..."
But after gazing at the water for a long time, Yun Tianjiao did not surface. The dark, murky waters seemed like a monster lurking in the shadows, ready to swallow Yun Tianjiao whole.
"What was that just now?" Shen Qiongzhi asked the Water Ghost Brothers, recalling the burst of light that had knocked Yun Tianjiao into the water.
The water ghost brother's gaze, however, turned to the iron cage that had previously imprisoned another demon.
The iron cage was now empty.
Yun Tianjiao fell into the water. Out of his survival instinct, he tried to swim upwards, but was swept up by the ball of spiritual light and dragged to the bottom.
In a daze, she seemed to see the ball of light condense into the shape of a leopard-like beast, carrying her straight into a hidden underwater door.
Suddenly emerging from the water, Yun Tianjiao choked on several mouthfuls of water and gasped for breath, only to find himself in a stone chamber.
This place is underwater all year round, yet it has not been flooded. The entire stone chamber is very dry and refreshing, and it seems to be connected to the outside of the tower by some means, allowing fresh air to enter.
The stone chamber was even lit by torches on the walls, and inside there was only a long stone table, nothing else.
Yun Tianjiao looked around and found many portraits carved on the walls. The details of the faces were no longer clear, but he could make out that it was a woman. The woman was in various poses, some sitting and some standing, with soft and beautiful features, clearly filled with the emotions of the painter.
The ball of light followed Yun Tianjiao into the stone chamber. It had been hovering beside Yun Tianjiao, seemingly looking at the murals with her, until it noticed Yun Tianjiao's gaze shift towards it. Then, it darted into something on the stone table and disappeared.
"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"
Yun Tianjiao hurriedly chased after it to the stone table and found that the ball of spiritual light had actually burrowed into a black leopard-shaped paperweight, quietly and seemingly innocent and harmless.
The paperweight was originally meant to hold the paper in place, but over the years, the paper has long since turned to dust.
Yun Tianjiao hesitated for a moment, then ignored it and searched the stone chamber. Finding no exit, he had no choice but to return to the stone table and try to reach out and pick up the black leopard paperweight.
As the paperweight left the stone tabletop, the scraps of paper beneath it turned to ash and vanished, erasing their last trace in this world.
At the same time, the black panther paperweight in Yun Tianjiao's hand suddenly shone brightly, engulfing her figure.
The world changed, and the walls of the stone chamber disappeared before our eyes, replaced by the four walls of a pitch-black ancient well.
Yun Tianjiao was surprised to find that he had entered the memories of a boy, no, it should be said that he was a boy ghost...
[Volume 3: The Death of My Daughter - Completed]
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Author's Note: Happy Women's Day! Thank you so much to the little angel with the free tickets and nutrient solution! Mwah!
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