Chapter 107.2
Moments later, inside the Qingyun Hall, the afternoon banquet began.
As the actor of Cold Immortal, the Sect Leader, he was seated in the main seat, which was the front-most and centre seat of the main hall.
In front of the soft cus.h.i.+on was a small square table that displayed a full array of fine foods, delicacies, and bejewelled nectar.
As Gu Liang walked up to kneel on the cus.h.i.+on in a seiza position, he hoped that this banquet would not take too long internally. After all, having to sit in this position was terrible for his kneecaps, and as a modern person, it could not be denied that he was not used to it.
Evil Disciple was honourably promoted to the Sect Leader’s main disciple, and he could sit beside Gu Liang.
However, the dishes on the table in front of him was a tad inferior to the Sect Leader’s.
The host of the hall was at the top, the right was for the respected elders; left of Gu Liang – which was also west of the hall – was where the three female elders sat.
Quite evidently, the three elders had different tastes, because the dishes on the small tables in front of them were slightly different.
On Gu Liang’s right, which was also east of the main hall, sat the Peak Leaders of the four veins.
And the four Peak Leaders were all unfamiliar players.
As for the three female celestials, two of them were Waitress Jing and Girlfriend Jia from the previous script, while the remaining female players was a stranger as well.
Hence, Gu Liang did not know which scenario Recluse w.a.n.g and Li Xiao Yu went to.
At that moment, no one uttered a word.
Gu Liang exchanged looks with Yang Ye before he peeled a lychee fruit to eat.
In a xianxia world setting, the mountains and rivers were filled with spiritual energy which probably made the soils more fertile, and this lychee fruit was quite delicious, all sparkling, translucent, and limpid in appearance.
As a natural consequence, Gu Liang ate a few more.
Yang Ye was amused by his display, so he helped him peel a few more before he advised him in a small voice: “This fruit is quite heaty, don’t eat too much.”
“En.” Gu Liang responded with a nod very quickly, and then he pushed another lychee fruit into his own mouth with natural ease.
The system broadcast rang out at that moment: “The following will be a reading of the general plot. The afternoon banquet has began, all of the immortal cultivators enjoyed the bejewelled nectar, and they were extremely joyous.
“Friendly reminder, the players do not have to be polite, start feasting with audacity! Only by eating your fill will you have the energy to enact the later plot!”
Upon hearing that, Gu Liang had an ominous premonition; he could not shake off the feeling that he would not be having any food to eat.
Picking up his chopsticks, Gu Liang clipped up something that looked like crystal dumplings and placed it on Yang Ye’s silver plate which was next to him.
With mirth in his eyes, Yang Ye asked in a soft voice: “Why didn’t you feed me?”
“Eat your food.” Gu Liang turned his head back, clipping up a crystal dumpling for himself and he started to chew on it with small bites.
After Gu Liang ate a few lychees, two small dumplings, and had a few sips of his tea, an accident occurred.
— The place that Gu Liang was sitting on actually had a mechanism. Once the mechanism was triggered, the surface below Gu Liang’s seat proceeded to collapse inwards.
Gu Liang’s entire body dropped immediately. In a time of imminent peril, Yang Ye grabbed hold of his hand.
At the same moment, however, it was unknown where a horsetail whisk came from, but it whipped their interlocked hands, forcing them to release it.
Thus, Gu Liang’s body dropped straight down uncontrollably, falling into the unknown depths of a hole.
It was as though the event from a hundred years ago had been re-enacted.
An array had been planted on the Sect Leader’s main seat in advance. Cold Immortal could not use a single spell, the flying spell included, and he could only fall into the trap that the people with nefarious intents had arranged.
Gu Liang did not fall for too long before he dropped to the ground.
However, it had to be said that the ground was overlaid with something like rice straw, which was rather soft. Apart from the slight pains caused by the fall, he did not receive any severe injuries.
In the instant that took him to impact the ground, the spell array continued to move. The metal chains on the floor seemed to come alive as it automatically shacked his ankles and wrists. Furthermore, the metal chains trapped Gu Liang in a square area, taking away any possibility of struggles.
Gu Liang tested it, wanting to remove the chain, but once he moved, the shackles around his wrists and ankles became even tighter.
He did not dare to test it again lightly.
Roughly five paces ahead of his current position was a square table with water and some foodstuff on top.
And ten steps behind him was a simple rural toilet with a gra.s.s canopy on top.
Gu Liang lifted his head again to look over.
He had fallen down because there was a trap door beneath his seat, and just as the door had abruptly opened, it was quick to close, thus sealing off all the natural light, and separated him from Yang Ye.
But the secret room that he was trapped in was not completely unaerated. While there were no windows here, a few holes in the four surrounding walls could be discerned, which allowed air to flow in.
There was a light, burning with illumination, hanging on the wall as well, which proved that there was more than enough oxygen in the room.
A description had even been specifically left behind by the system, because it had the words: “Altar Lamp Burning Day and Night, I will always illuminate you!”
Gu Liang thought in his mind, you might as well extinguish yourself, everything here makes me feel suffocated.
This Qingyun Hall was constructed one hundred years ago.
One hundred years ago, the entire hall had been ruined when Qing s.h.i.+zun was killed, and this current rendition was re-built on the same spot.
Quite evidently, this secret room must have been secretly constructed during that time.
Because during the construction of Qingyun Hall, Cold Immortal had been learning in the back mountain.
During that time, the Peak Leaders of the four veins were teaching him in turns. Of course, he had learn the water-based spells on his own by referring to the books that Qing s.h.i.+zun left behind, but with regards to some of the foundational spells and cultivation methods that Qing Qiong Sect employed, and how the Sect’s affairs should be managed, they were all taught by the Peak Leaders.
Thus, by the time Cold Immortal was capable of taking the Sect Leader role, Qingyun Hall was already built.
Afterwards, Cold Immortal would frequently deal with the Sect affairs at Qingyun Hall, and he basically spent some time inside Qingyun Hall every single day.
Therefore, it was unlikely that the secret room was built after he became Sect Leader, or else he would have heard the noise.
The construction of the secret room inside Qingyun Hall could only have taken place while he was training in the back mountain and oblivious to the circ.u.mstance.
Could it be that… the Peak Leaders of the four veins, had already conceived of this scheme a hundred years ago?
Did they make the decision to lock up this Cold Immortal a hundred years ago?
And what was their objective exactly?
Speaking of which, if this secret room was built a hundred years ago, it meant the plan to lock him up had already been in the works for a hundred years. Since they had been setting up this scheme for such a long time, this secret room would definitely be solid, impossible to break, and hard to force entry into.
His disciples had been distributed elsewhere by the Peak Leaders, with only Evil Disciple remaining, and it was reckoned that he did not stay by his side with pure intentions…
From a comprehensive viewpoint, Gu Liang believed that as Cold Immortal, the chances of him being saved by someone was close to negligible.
Gu Liang thought in his heart— Then, if I’m being closed here from beginning to end, that would make me the detective again, no?
The real murderer was unfettered and beyond the law, while he, the detective, was being chained and shackled behind a steel door.
He wondered what was going on outside.
Gu Liang was not really keen on using the simplistic and rural toilet here, so he refrained from drinking water as much as possible.
Only when he was really thirsty, did he drag along his chains to take a sip.
The steel chains were quite heavy, and they would issue loud sounds as they were being dragged.
Since he was the only person inside the large secret room, it was overly quiet, which also made the echoes of any noise particularly loud, and it made his loneliness more p.r.o.nounced.
After taking a small sip, Gu Liang leaned against the wall to rest.
Having to stare at one wall of the secret room was both ridiculously senseless and useless.
He would rather sleep.
Gu Liang did not know how long he slept for, but he felt like it had to be night time.
Shortly after waking up, Gu Liang blinked twice before he fell asleep again.
Since he did not really have anything to fear, his rest was quite peaceful.
His only regret was that he did not take two more bites out of the dumplings just now.
In the middle of his groggy sleep, Gu Liang heard some movement.
Upon raising his head, he noticed that the secret door above him was unexpectedly open.
Subsequently, Yang Ye jumped down.
The distance from the secret door to the ground was not considered high, and owing to the fact that Yang Ye had been trained before, his instantaneous movement was extremely confident and easy, like he had learned some spells to lighten his footwork.
Gu Liang stood up and walked towards him, only to see him blink his eyes.
Gu Liang came to an understanding. He was here to act out the plot.
At this moment, the card on Gu Liang’s person vibrated as well.
Gu Liang took out his card to have a look. Once he was aware of the proceedings, he started to cooperate with Yang Ye.
Though he was still spewing insults in his mind.
— Sure enough, a familiar dog-blooded formula, a familiar taste.
Didn’t Ming Yue mention that he would write scripts for the system during his spare time?
Were these scripts written by him?
Therefore, apart from doing research, his hobby was writing dog-blooded scripts?
Yang Ye transformed into the Evil Disciple, grabbing Cold Immortal by the throat and slamming him against the wall.
“My good s.h.i.+zun, turns out that among the people who sent me to my death… you played a part too. I remember all of it now. How does it feel? You didn’t expect that there would be a day where you would be reduced into a prisoner either, right?”
Cold Immortal looked at him quietly, gaze devoid of fluctuations. “The incident that year… you’ve remembered all of it?”
“Of course.” Evil Disciple tightened his grip around his neck, his smirk exceedingly evil. “Like I was saying, why were you treating me so well without any rhyme or reason for the past few years? As it turns out, it was because of guilt. Should I call you my good s.h.i.+fu… Or my good disciple? My good disciple, is there anything you would like to explain to me?”
Cold Immortal lowered his visage. “There’s nothing for me to explain. Whether it is death or dismemberment, one will listen to zun in all cases.”
“What a good ‘one will listen to zun in all cases’!”
Unable to restrain his anger, Evil Disciple shoved Cold Immortal back and pulled out his partner sword, pressing it against Cold Immortal’s face. “Indeed, you have grown into a good skin bag, if this countenance that is sculpted out of jade and ice bleeds, it would look incredibly attractive, no?
“Raise your head, and look at me!
“Speak, why won’t you speak!
“When you were my disciple, didn’t you have a lot to say? Every day it would be s.h.i.+fu this, s.h.i.+fu that…. It was absurdly loveable and adorable.
“When did you stop talking?
“Oh right, I remember it now, it started from the day you decided to let me die, that was when you stopped talking as much.
“You clearly knew that I was walking into my death, and yet you didn’t say a single word to me…
“I really raised you for nothing all those years.
“You were the white-eyed wolf once back then. Now it’s my turn.
“Betraying teachers, is a heavy crime in Qing Qiong.
“This crime, us teacher and disciple, have each committed it once.
“How ironic, but this might be a tradition in our school, right?”
Cold Immortal’s complexion went white. His shoulders trembled a little, but his expression did not change in the slightest.
He only stared at Evil Disciple as he said: “I disappointed you that year. Regardless of what you want to do to me, I’ll accept it. It’s just… Why did you suddenly remember your previous incarnation? That afternoon, the four peak leaders, or perhaps among the three celestials, did someone say something to you? I suspect that everything is just a widely linked conspiracy—
“What were their original words?”
Cold Immortal subconsciously realised that Evil Disciple’s condition was awry, like he had been put under some kind of spell, and he showed the first signs of qi deviation.
Cold Immortal could not dodge it in time, and once that blade edge flicked and swiped downwards, it was already pointed at his abdomen.
The ice-cold air from the sword point travelled over, so piercing he felt his entire body go cold.
Translator’s Note:
(on the pain of Xianxia and their d.a.m.n names and lack of p.r.o.nouns in dialogue)
First and foremost, for the name of characters, I’m going for broke in the sense that I’m just putting the trait/elements/weather-inspired names as its English equivalent:
Therefore, the nine main characters are: Cold Immortal (why), Evil Disciple, Gold Peak Leader, Earth Peak Leader, Fire Peak Leader, Wood Peak Leader, Snow Celestial, Wind Celestial, and Cloud Celestial. The only exception is Qing s.h.i.+zun, because I can’t imagine myself typing Blue/Clear s.h.i.+zun… Just no.
Additionally, ‘仙君’ (xian jun) and ‘仙姑’ (xian gu) means immortal gentleman and immortal woman/aunt/nun respectively, but for the sake of making it easier on the eyes (and my fingers), Gu Liang’s character is just Cold Immortal, and the other three woman elders are called Celestials, to denote the difference in their gendered name forms.