Outside the Imperial Mausoleum situated at the ley lines of sovereignty, the water level of River Luo began to drop gradually when the small pavilion at the center of Lake Mingjing was destroyed and when the 37 musical instruments were thrown into the air and everyone had entered the underground cave.
It did not decrease only at one spot. Instead, the water level of the entire Luo River, which pa.s.sed through half of the Tang Dynasty, had decreased. Even though it was minimal, one had to consider the entire volume of the river.
With the Imperial Mausoleum, all of the corpses within and beyond the gold palace began to meld with the earth, as if it was going to absorb them.
"Whoosh!"
Just as Ye Que and Red Bean had found their footing at the bottom of the cave, an incredibly huge vacuum began to pull them toward the deep end of the cave.
It came without warning, and everyone was caught unaware.
Ye Que wanted to grab hold of Red Bean instinctively, but before he could even reach his arm out, she was already hugging him from the waist. The oil paper umbrella that she always carried with her was open.
"Ah!"
Some of them came well-prepared, and some of them carried extra magical artifacts with them. Naturally, a few would be the unlucky ones and they shrieked as the vacuum dragged all of them, along with the others, deeper into the cave.
"What the h.e.l.l is this? I can"t control my body at all!"
"The flow of True Energy in my body has also been affected."
"Even my breathing..."
The person stopped talking suddenly and seemed to have smashed into the walls of the cave.
The suction power seemed to have combined with the force of nature, and even a genius of Mount Shu and the top-ranked pract.i.tioner of the Starburst Realm like Jiang Liuyun who possessed the Cyan Luan was unable to defend himself and could do nothing to resist the vacuum.
All of them were like lonesome boats in a raging sea that had no control over the direction they were heading. They could only allow the suction force to draw them deeper inside the chasm.
The suction got stronger as they advanced deeper inside the cave. Even Red Bean was beginning to struggle now, and green veins could be seen popping out on her hand which was gripping onto her oil paper umbrella. Ye Que, on the other hand, was feeling extremely comfortable as he was doing nothing. That said, there were some strange movements of the Divine Energy that was formed into a gold python by learning the cultivation technique from the Divine Book, which resided in the Spiritual Sea of his Snow Mountain.
It seemed excited, puzzled and even a little lost. It was tumbling about rapidly within his Spiritual Sea on its own will, and Ye Que, who had just recovered, instantly reverted back to the condition before he was released upon suffering from the effects of the gold python"s turbulent movements.
"There"s something down here that can stimulate the cultivation technique from the Divine Book?"
"It"s the River Soldiers Divine Tool. It shouldn"t be specifically targeting me, right?"
"This suction force which comes from the deep part of the cave seems to be endless. At which point will it stop sucking us in? At this rate, we"ll soon be drawn into h.e.l.l!"
Ye Que observed the pract.i.tioners around him by glancing to his sides as he spoke. Some unlucky folk had smashed directly into the hard rock walls of the pit, blood and gore splattering all over the place and rapidly being repelled out of the vortex.
All of them, disciples of the Cultivation World and warriors of the Demon Race alike, were in complete disarray.
Li Jianqi, who had been protected by the Judicature all this while, could be seen looking at Ye Que absent-mindedly. She quickly turned away, and she seemed to have shouted something.
The most alarming sight was that of Nan Fengxiu, the 15th Disciple of the Demon King, slowly spinning in the direction of Jiang Liuyun from Mount Shu. No one knew when she had started to head in his direction. She was hand-picked by the Demon King after all and was likely to have many magic treasures on her. She was covered by a snowy white robe that shone brightly, and everyone who laid eyes on it knew that she was no ordinary artifact.
Jiang Liuyun held onto Cyan Luan, the Monarch"s Sword, in one hand, and he seemed to be the person who had the most stable footing among all of them, even though he could only readjust his position to align himself with the direction of the vortex"s swirl and keep himself from looking too sorry.
The top-ranked third generation disciple of Mount Shu had to maintain his poise at all times.
Seeing that everyone else was busy fending for themselves and no one had the time to observe what the others were doing, Nan Fengxiu suddenly spun a few more steps toward Jiang Liuyun.
"Let"s get to know each other. I"m Nan Fengxiu, the 15th Disciple of the Demon King," she said softly, her smiling face emerging from her white robe.
Jiang Liuyun glanced at her and remained expressionless. He did not speak but continued to survey his surroundings carefully.
"My master went to Mount Shu once when he was young, and he could have been considered to have met your Headmaster once. This means that we"re family friends, so why should you keep me at arm"s length? It wouldn"t kill you to speak to me," Nan Fengxiu said as she squinted, a faint smile appearing on her lips.
"Our Headmaster"s inability to slay your master was the regret of his life," Jiang Liuyun said after a long silence, "If this makes us long lost friends, then I would have "friends" like you everywhere in the world, demoness."
"Our elders are our elders, you and me are not one of them," Nan Fengxiu said as she pointed at Jiang Liuyun and then herself after spinning for another round.
"We don"t have much to talk about except for the sword in my hand," Jiang Liuyun said seriously.
"The sword in your hand? Do you want me to train with you?" Nan Xiufeng acted as though she was thinking about it. "Not now though, I"ll look for you after I"ve sent the River Soldiers Divine Tool back to my master."
"The River Soldiers will be sent back to Mount Shu as long as I"m around. Don"t even think about it." Jiang Liuyun glanced haughtily at Nan Fengxiu. "I advise you not to have any weird thoughts. I won"t be seduced by your beauty."
"Seduce you? Who..."
Nan Fengxiu had just uttered the three words when the suction vortex suddenly made them take three sharp turns. Everyone in it wobbled, and some even began to somersault within the vortex.
"Take your hands away from me."
No one knew what happened just now, but Nan Fengxiu, who was in their blind spot, had wrapped her hands in a tight embrace around Jiang Liuyun"s back, and she was holding on to dear life.
"You demoness!"
"Have you gone insane?"
Jiang Liuyun looked furious, and he tried to struggle free of Nan Fengxiu"s embrace. The suction of the vortex grew stronger, however, and he could not divert any of his True Energy to attack her. It was also obvious that the personal disciple of the Demon King was no slouch either. The position and angle at which she was hugging him were chosen with care, and Jiang Liuyun could only suffer in silence for the time being.
It was impossible for him to attack anyone within the suction vortex. There was no way to emit his True Energy.
Morever, it was the first time he had encountered something like this.
Nan Fengxiu was the first woman that he had come into close contact with, her ident.i.ty as a demoness notwithstanding.
"Take your hands away from me and don"t touch my waist. As the Demon King"s own disciple, don"t you have a little bit of dignity in you? What do you think your master would think of you hugging me? How would all the other demon warriors look at your master after this?" Jiang Liuyun said. He suppressed the volume of his voice and tried hard to readjust his position in the hopes of breaking free of her embrace, as well as trying to prevent the others from noticing her holding onto him.
The leader of the third generation of Mount Shu disciples was being hugged by the Demon King"s own disciple.
What a big joke it was!
If news of this incident spread around, Jiang Liuyun would have committed a sin so serious that he could be sentenced to imprisonment for a century within the Demon Holding Tower.
There was a strange scene within the swirling vortex of Red Bean grabbing Ye Que"s waist and Nan Fengxiu hugging onto Jiang Liuyun"s back. The two ladies looked normal, but the two young men looked especially awkward. Ye Que felt a little embarra.s.sed, but Jiang Liuyun was feeling extremely disgraceful.