Heavenly Soul

A young man with light brown hair squinted at the barely visible cave opening before them and nodded. "Yes. We didn"t know that there was another entrance to the ruins this far out. After all, the main structure of the Liuxingyu Ruins is at least eight hundred kilometers away."

It was said that the Liuxingyu Ruins were found in the light of a meteor shower. Thus its name came to be "Liuxingyu", which literally meant "Meteor Shower."

The Liuxingyu Ruins were thought to once have been a very prosperous underground city in ancient times. Its most prominent features were its chambers with strange traps and the warren of tunnels that spread out from the main structure. Even till now, no one had managed to find all the tunnels and entrances connecting to the ruins.

And due to sheer luck, Jing Rui had managed to escape into one such undiscovered tunnel entrance.

"What about the former emperor? Weren"t they both fleeing together?" Wei Xiang queried.

The light-haired Sentinel dutifully reported. "We found signs indicating that the former emperor Jing Zuo fell off a cliff five hundred meters southwest of here. Whether it was suicide, an accident, or a deliberate homicide has not yet been confirmed."

Wei Xiang frowned, then turned to the other two Sentinels at the side and stated, "If Jing Rui really killed his father, then his sentence will have to be increased. Investigate thoroughly and send me the report before his trial."

"Yes, Senior Officer Wei!" the two Sentinels replied crisply, then bowed and left to do as commanded.

Without being prompted, the light-haired Sentinel spoke, "The perimeter has been sealed off completely and we already have people inspecting where we think this tunnel leads. But just to be safe, one of us should nevertheless enter it from this side to prevent the former prince from escaping through yet another hidden entrance."

Wei Xiang nodded to show that he agreed. "Then I"ll be going in," he informed and promptly began walking towards the tunnel"s entrance.

His eyes squeezing into thin lines, the light-haired Sentinel asked with surprise, "You"re going in personally? Is that wise?"

Raising a hand without looking back, Wei Xiang waved casually as if to dismiss his fears, then continued onward to enter the tunnel.

The light-haired Sentinel shrugged. In a way, since Wei Xiang was one of the strongest people in the current world, he was more than qualified for this task. But unable to shake off his unease, the light-haired Sentinel first hesitated, then sighed and decided to join his senior officer as he navigated this unknown territory.

The air inside the tunnel was dry and dusty, the atmosphere strangely still, with a sense of heavy, oppressive gloom permeating throughout.

The Sentinels" boots stepped soundlessly on the tunnel"s floor as they pressed forward, silently tracking the direction in which Jing Rui had fled while hiding their presence.

The two Sentinels each had a lit up, short-ranged paper talisman in their hand that illuminated their surroundings. The cheery white light seemed as if it was swallowed at the edges by the encroaching darkness, but for the Sentinels who regularly used shadows for transportation, this hardly felt threatening.

As for why the Sentinels didn"t directly use shadows this time, it was because without knowing the specifics of their destination, they couldn"t use the shadow realm to get there. And since they didn"t know the exact location where Jing Rui was currently at, this option was rendered useless for now.

As he continued walking, Wei Xiang suddenly heard a faint sound coming from up ahead and immediately extinguished his talisman. Without being needed to be told, the light-haired Sentinel quickly followed suit.

A faint light seemed to be coming from beyond the bend in the path ahead. Slowly and cautiously, the two Sentinels made their way forward, ready to defend themselves against sudden attacks.

Past the bend, the tunnel opened up into a ma.s.sive cavern, a wide, shallow bowl-shaped depression set into the middle of the floor. At the center of this depression, huge embers at least a meter in height glowed a soft orange, crackling in a subdued manner. It was difficult to determine just how many years these embers had remained lit like this for.

On the stone walls and the rectangular pillars of the cavern were reliefs of elaborately carved faces, all of them of different sizes and with different expressions. The ceiling was high and had a dome at its center, seeming to mirror the position, size, and curvature of the bowl-shaped depression in the middle of the cavern"s floor. And drawn with meticulous care, a large formation was painted into the dome.

A bad premonition suddenly rose up in Wei Xiang"s heart.

Deciding not to prolong this, Wei Xiang extended his hand. Golden strings immediately shot out, unhesitatingly extending towards a particular pillar. But before they could reach all the way, an unkempt figure dashed out from behind the pillar, stumbling as he fled further away from the pursuing strings.

This figure was indeed Jing Rui.

Seeing the direction their target was heading in, the light-haired Sentinel silently disappeared into the shadows, transporting himself to the other side of the bowl-shaped depression to block the exit situated there. And since Wei Xiang was positioned before the entrance to the cavern, Jing Rui was truly caught in between the two Sentinels with no way to escape.

The golden strings glinted in the faint light of the embers as it sliced through the air and went for the disheveled figure of Jing Rui again. Tripping over every little b.u.mp on the floor, Jing Rui cried out miserably as he kept trying to evade the strings to no avail.

But just as the strings were on the verge of surrounding and capturing the stumbling former prince, Jing Rui tripped on a particular rock that gave a low click as it sunk into the ground.

A rumbling sound immediately erupted from the ceiling as a giant slab of stone dropped down, landing accurately on the extended strings and rendering them immobile. Temporarily freed from the threat, Jing Rui crawled away frantically.

Wei Xiang frowned and was about to send out more strings when the fleeing Jing Rui managed to trip over the edge of the bowl-shaped depression. And just like back when he"d fallen into the pool, Jing Rui tumbled into the depression with his arms and legs flailing undignifiedly.

Suddenly, the glowing embers at the center of the depression brightened.

The bad feeling in his heart growing stronger, Wei Xiang frowned as he retrieved his strings and swiftly leapt forward so that he could end this chase once and for all. But he had barely taken a step when he was forced to halt in caution as the walls began trembling intensely.

The carved faces in the walls and pillars suddenly opened their mouths and deafening sounds issued forth from their stone lips. Some laughed uproariously while some cried, some shrieked shrilly in anger while some wailed in sorrow. The cacophony was unbearable, the gratingly loud noise violently vibrating the air as it spread through it.

Lying in an ungraceful sprawl in the bowl-shaped depression, Jing Rui covered his ears and screamed because of the noise painfully stabbing his eardrums. The light-haired Sentinel also frowned in discomfort as two lines of red trickled down from his ears.

But for the Wei Xiang whose beast heritage gave him exceptionally sensitive hearing, this was more than just painful. It felt like a hundred spikes were being driven into his head through his ears.

Grimacing, Wei Xiang tried to retrieve a sound barrier talisman from his spatial storage, but found that his spirit sense was in disarray due to his disrupted concentration.

The glowing embers in the bowl-shaped depression suddenly burst into bright orange fire. The blazing tongues of flame reached higher and higher until they brushed the ceiling and the formation drawn on it. From that point of contact, a dark red glow spread through the lines of the formation.

The edges of the bowl and dome began glowing the same ominous red, and bright, blinding light flashed in between the bowl and dome, connecting the pair of curved surfaces.

The two Sentinels closed their eyes instinctively to block the blazing light, and by the time they could open them again, almost everything in the cavern was restored to the way it had been. The carved faces had turned silent once more and the formation in the dome no longer glowed. However, the embers in the center of the depression seemed to have become extinguished, its power already exhausted.

And more importantly, Jing Rui was nowhere to be found.

"It seems that the formation on the ceiling is a transportation array that was somehow triggered when the prince tripped into the depression on the floor. The former prince Jing Rui must have been transported to the other end of this formation then," the light-haired Sentinel observed calmly. His ear had stopped bleeding and had already healed.

As for Wei Xiang, though there was still a faint ringing in his head, he had also more or less recovered.

Tucking away his frustration at his prey having escaped at the last moment, Wei Xiang spoke, "It does seem so. And though it makes things more complicated, we still have a few options to try. To figure out Jing Rui"s current location, we must first find out if this transportation array is a part of a network, and if it is, then what are the locations of the other arrays it is connected to."

Understanding what he meant, the light-haired Sentinel nodded, then vigilantly made his way towards the bowl and the formation situated above it. Closing his eyes, the light-haired Sentinel sent out his spirit sense and let it brush across the now inert formation.

Unlike most, this light-haired Sentinel had the rare ability to "taste" spiritual energy. In case of transportation arrays like this one, he could use his ability to even trace all the other arrays this transportation array was connected to and gain a vague understanding of the other arrays" locations.

But as he tried to trace along the connections that should have extended from this array, the Sentinel seemed to hit an immovable block.

Frowning, the light-haired Sentinel shook his head. "Senior Officer Wei, this array seems to have already been disconnected from its network, or maybe the other transportation arrays have long since stopped functioning. But as things stand, without a fixed destination point at the other side of the array, I"m afraid the former prince could have been transported anywhere. His location is currently undeterminable using this method."

Wei Xiang sunk into deep thought, then said, "For now, we will return to headquarters and activate the locating formation. If that doesn"t work, then there are other methods to try."

The light-haired Sentinel nodded.

Then using his telepathic connection to the other Sentinels, Wei Xiang sent out orders for them to spread out and ascertain whether anyone had suddenly popped up out of thin air anywhere recently. Though this method was somewhat crude, it was better than nothing.

With nothing more to be done here, Wei Xiang and his companion quickly used the shadows and transported themselves to the Sentinel headquarters to try and locate Jing Rui.

...

In a place far, far away from that tunnel, cradled in between steep and towering cliffs, was a flat and barren expanse of land that led into a strange valley. This valley was completely surrounded by an opaque, milky white barrier that hid its contents from outside view.

Near the entrance to this valley stood a disheveled figure who was looking at the opaque surface of the barrier with a contemplative expression.

Jing Rui knew that the Sentinels might have lost his trail for now, but they would catch up to him sooner or later.

As if guided by the hands of Heaven, he was able to somehow escape this far by sheer luck. But Jing Rui knew that he couldn"t delude himself and think that this streak of luck would last forever.

He had to hide quickly or he"d surely be caught.

As to where he should hide… Jing Rui knew that it mustn"t be any place the Sentinels could find him easily, so cities and towns were out. Even if he hid in a forest or a cave, he wasn"t sure he could escape capture.

Jing Rui thought for a while and still couldn"t decide.

Raising his head, he once again looked at the smooth and milky surface of the opaque barrier stretched before him. If only he could somehow enter it, then maybe he could hide behind this mysterious thing.

On an impulse, he walked up to the milky white barrier and reached out, expecting to touch something solid. But surprisingly, his hand easily went through.

His eyes widening with disbelief, Jing Rui stared at the barrier, then closed his eyes and stepped through quickly. There was absolutely no resistance from the barrier as it easily let him pa.s.s. Jing Rui could hardly contain his joy.

But when he opened his eyes to the scene at the other side of the barrier, abject horror immediately claimed his features.

Jing Rui turned around and tried to go back the way he came, but the barrier refused to let him pa.s.s. Beating his hands against the suddenly solid surface of the barrier, Jing Rui called out desperately, but of course no one came to help him.

After all, this was the Valley of the Terrified Dead.

As far as anyone could remember, the valley had been hidden by that large, opaque barrier that shone under the sun like a l.u.s.terless opal. The locals had all been quite curious to see just what lied at the other side, and so a few had ventured in. But none had been able to get out.

It soon came to be known that the valley"s barrier only let people enter but not exit.

No one knew what had happened to the people who"d gone in, but satisfying one"s curiosity was hardly worth giving up their lives for, so people eventually stopped entering the valley out of self-preservation.

But on a certain day around thirty years ago, the barrier had suddenly begun fluctuating, its milky surface rippling as if it was being battered by waves of some strong force. And under this inexplicable a.s.sault, the barrier actually thinned, turning from opaque to transparent for a handful of days.

The curious locals had all rushed to sate their curiosity and to finally discover what lied on the other side of the barrier. But what they saw filled them with terror.

There laid at the bottom of the valley a dense layer of eroded bones and skeletons with barely any flesh or cloth clinging to them. The jaws of the bare skulls were opened as wide as they could go, as if they had been screaming in desperate, unbearable agony and terror until their final moments, their mouths fixed like that even after death.

Thus, the valley"s name came to be.

And now, after entering the Valley of the Terrified Dead, Jing Rui was faced with this same scene of the entire floor of the valley carpeted in a thick layer of the bones that belonged to those hapless people who had entered this place before him.

Hovering in the air was a dense, shimmering mist that swirled hypnotically. But whichever place this mist touched sent out a sizzling sound as it visibly eroded and dissolved. And even though Jing Rui had stayed in this mist for barely a few minutes, he could already feel pinp.r.i.c.ks of pain from where the fine droplets of the mist had touched him.

Ceasing his hysterical screaming and hitting, Jing Rui finally recognized the futility of his actions. After these strange events, he was already nearing the end of his limit. What he needed now was a place where he could take refuge from this corrosive mist and think about his next step.

Covering his face with his hands, Jing Rui couldn"t help but sob. This wasn"t how his life should"ve been! Why did everything turn out this way?

But no matter how many tears he shed, the stinging mist showed him no mercy, so Jing Rui was forced to suck it up and move further into the valley in search of a place to take shelter in.

As Jing Rui waded through the broken and corroded bones, the sharp edges stabbed and cut into him, dragging over his skin and leaving countless shallow lacerations. But he had no choice but to keep moving forward, his heart weeping at his miserable situation.

And as more time pa.s.sed, the mist began to gradually seep into his body through his pores, eating away slowly at his insides. It felt like the extremely unpleasant and disturbing sensation of small insects unceasingly gnawing at his flesh from within, taking countless miniscule and p.r.i.c.kling bites at once.

But thankfully, as he kept dragging himself forward, Jing Rui spotted the mouth of a cave at a distance.

Feeling invigorated at the thought of finally being free from this painful sensation of something chewing at him from the inside, Jing Rui rushed forward, uncaring of his mounting injuries. Unable to contain his joy, he laughed madly, his heart finally seeing a ray of hope.

Who knew, maybe he would find yet another tunnel entrance that would lead him out of here! Jing Rui thought optimistically.

As he stepped foot into the dark maw of the cave, Jing Rui felt a moment of disorientation, but shook it off. The inside of the cave was thankfully free of that mist, so he heaved a breath of relief and slumped against a rocky wall. The painful feeling under his skin also slowly began dissipating.

His life back at the palace, where he could torture his dolls every day, obtain new playthings whenever he wanted to, where his every need and want was carefully taken care of by people waiting on him hand and foot… all of it seemed so far away.

How had his blissful life changed so drastically? It all still felt so unreal to him.

Lost in self-pitying thoughts, Jing Rui did not notice that the darkness around him seemed to be shifting. Faint hissing sounds whispered gleefully as unknown things slowly slithered towards the clueless intruder. It had been too long since they"d had their last meal and they eagerly antic.i.p.ated shredding this human and devouring him.

As if sensing the meaning behind this sinister hissing, in the deepest, darkest part of the cave, an unknown being slid open his eyes unhurriedly.

By the time Jing Rui realized that he wasn"t alone in the cave, it was already too late.

Black vines extended forward like lunging snakes and immediately wrapped themselves around him. The vines were thick and rough, with tough, needle-like bristles covering their entire surface. They sc.r.a.ped over his skin and pulled open his injuries further, causing more blood to pour out of them.

Before Jing Rui could even comprehend what was happening, the dark vines pushed into his widened wounds, crawling into his body and under his skin, sliding between his muscles and pulling apart the tendons and veins. He could feel the needle-like bristles on the black vines piercing into his bones and pulling cruelly as it moved within his body, sc.r.a.ping his insides with excruciating and agonizing slowness.

Due to the swiftness with which the vines attacked him, it was a moment before the sudden flash of bright agony registered in his mind. The pain was debilitating to the point where Jing Rui couldn"t even scream past his gritted teeth, his tightly clenched jaw creaking and groaning in anguish. And no matter how much he tried to thrash or flail, the stiff vines crawling in his body held him in place, rigid and immovable.

This was truly Heaven"s retribution for all the torments he"d done unto the people he had captured and detained in his residence all these years.

Abruptly, the squirming and writhing of the vines halted as though by someone"s command.

And as if it were a conjuration of his tormented mind, a voice suddenly whispered by Jing Rui"s ear, "Since you delivered yourself to me so considerately, I will consider fulfilling one request of yours. For example, if you have anyone you have a grudge against, feel free to speak up their name."

Jing Rui was in too much misery to fully comprehend what was being said.

He kept thinking—how could this happen to him? He was a prince! He was supposed to be invincible, his authority inviolable! All he"d wanted was to use that man as a plaything and break him under his hands! Yet he had resisted him to such a degree, driving him into this corner, ruining his fate until he was this helpless and in so much pain…

Yes, it was all that man"s fault!

And so, finding strength in a burst of fury, his enraged voice saturated with despair, Jing Rui spat out the three characters that made up that person"s name, his enunciation exact and distinct, "Feng. Qing. He!"

Hearing this name, the newly awakened being showed a somewhat surprised expression.

On the other hand, using the opening when Jing Rui had unclenched his jaws to speak, the vines entered his mouth and pushed into his throat, shredding and tearing apart the soft tissue as they forced themselves inside his body that was made unable to even scream anymore.

Soon, his fragile body was torn asunder, every inch split open and dug through by the vines ruthlessly, until he was nothing but a mess of skin and flesh being played with by the dark vines.

And thus, Jing Rui was devoured.

"Feng Qinghe?" the awakened being pondered aloud in a disbelieving voice. "To hear the surname Feng here… Could it really be that Feng? Is it possible for this Feng Qinghe to be related to that person? No, it"s better not to jump to conclusions yet."

Then licking his lips, he spoke wistfully, "After being awakened by that disturbance about three decades ago, I"ve finally gained that last bit of energy I need to stay awake and break the seal. Now we can use this world to get back our divinity and enter the heavenly realm once more. Aren"t you glad?"

As if answering him, a hoa.r.s.e and whispery growl sounded from the side, seeming almost affectionate in its gentleness.

A gigantic black dragon slowly detached itself from the darkness, unwinding its ma.s.sive coils as its large, triangular head moved towards the awakened being. The dragon"s scales looked faded and dull, littered with countless scratches and scars that made its hide look b.u.mpy and rough.

The awakened being shook himself lightly, and the broken links of black chains rained down from where they had been wound around his body. The layered manacles and restraints on his wrists, arms, neck, and ankles all clanked and groaned as they were pulled open by an unseen force, before falling to the ground with clinks and clatters.

Now free, the awakened being reached out and placed his hand on the snout of the dragon hovering near him. The dragon"s head itself was twice his height, yet he showed no fear as he patted its blunt nose.

"Were you guarding me all this time?" he asked the dragon softly.

The black dragon let out a low rumble in a.s.sent.

Chuffing lightly, the awakened being spoke, "Then you must have been shut in here for a very long time indeed. Let us leave this place." Then pausing as if remembering something, he continued, "No, I suppose we mustn"t be so hasty. Let the people of this world still remain unaware of our existence a while longer. For now, I suppose I should gather us some helpers."

Shortly after he spoke this, a pulse of barely discernible energy shot outward from the cave, pa.s.sing beneath the earth without alerting those aboveground.

In the graveyards of the towns near the valley, the soil over the graves trembled before caving in slightly, leaving countless concave divots as the occupants of the coffins within broke apart their wooden confines and began digging underground.

But this wouldn"t be discovered until a while later.

...

Soon after, Wei Xiang and a few other Sentinels arrived at the entrance to the Valley of the Terrified Dead after following the tracking spell that had successfully been cast.

The spell had taken the form of a large arrow made out of bright golden light and had unerringly led them straight here, unmistakably pointing into the valley.

Looking up at the giant milky barrier in front of him, the light-haired cultivator spoke, "Senior Officer Wei, how do we proceed."

Wei Xiang clenched his fists, then slowly loosened them. "This is forbidden land that we cannot enter. Since Jing Rui has gone in, he is as good as dead. There is no need to pursue him any longer."

Then turning on his heel, Wei Xiang strode back the way he had come.

The other Sentinels silently followed his lead, leaving behind the forbidden valley.