Chapter 64 The Beginning of the Puzzle
Lyu Liang stared and waited to hear the revelation, but he saw the sloppy man yawning and scratching his head in embarra.s.sment, “But I am not allowed to say it or even show it, because it is linked to a heaven law that can’t be violated.” Lyu Liang was at a loss for words. This was the same as not telling them anything.
The most urgent task now is how to avoid encountering the perverted undead puppets. According to the sloppy man, whenever this dilapidated wall appeared, the puppets would be there until they found another similar hiding place.
Lyu Liang had no idea where the location of the next place would be at. Since entering the core area, the scope of the exploration by his Divine Sense had become very limited; it was almost within the range of his immediate vision only.
The current situation was very interesting. On the sloppy man’s side, the three of them obviously knew something. But as mentioned before, under the constraints of that Heavenly Law, no hints could be given.
On Lyu Liang’s side, they knew nothing at all. Thus, they couldn’t think of any good solution except to stay where they were for the time being.
At this point, Xu Mubai who had remained silent since entering the core area, suddenly sighed, “Follow me, I know where to go. However, if you trust me, don’t ask me why. When we arrive at the right place, I will tell you the truth!” After that, he even bowed deeply to the group.
Both Lyu Liang and Li Wuyi went to help Xu Mubai up. They exchanged a look, then Lyu Liang took the lead and said, “Elder brother, don’t talk like that! Anyone is allowed to have secrets! So, please lead the way!”
“That is right! Curiosity is one thing! Being brothers is another thing! Go!” Li Wuyi did give the matter too much thought at all.
Since all three brothers had apparently reached an agreement, it was undoubtedly not a problem for the others.
Therefore, under the guidance of Xu Mubai, everyone flew for a while and stopped at a dilapidated wall with the flashing blue lights. They took a short break and continued to fly to the next safe place.
Whenever anyone ventured out of the safe area, at least two huge puppets at the Early-stage of Void Return would emerge, and as time went by, basically two puppets would appear every thirty minutes!
Lyu Liang and others had experienced travelling the longest distance, which lasted for two and a half hours! At that time, the two puppets at the Late-stage of Void Return only appeared for about one hour and was then forcefully retracted by the sloppy man. The reason was simple, after one hour, two puppets appeared again, and this time, they were at the Late-stage of Void Return!
If they went over the limit and continued to resist the puppets, the puppets owned by the team would never come back. The end result was that the group of people fleeing was chased by ten puppets. Just when the puppets were gaining on everyone, the sloppy man suddenly shouted to Lyu Liang, “Throw a Life-saving Puppet over!”
Lyu Liang was shocked for a moment, but there was no time to question him in detail. He threw a Life-saving Puppet over without turning his head. Then, what happened next surprised everyone. The ten murderous huge puppets at the back stopped moving when they saw the Life-saving Puppet that was about the height of a man, just as if a spell had been cast on them.
Although everyone was surprised, they did not stop to wonder. After all, this was a rare chance to escape!
The performance of the Life-saving Puppet was beyond Lyu Liang’s expectation. It was supposed to turn into the likeness of Lyu Liang and blow itself up. However, it did not do that. Instead, after thirty minutes, the Life-saving Puppet disappeared.
Making use of this opportunity, everyone had by now arrived safely at the next dilapidated wall. Lyu Liang looked at the sloppy man who was still in a jocular mood and a grim thought flashed through his mind. He felt even more convinced that the two blue-robed men who initially attacked Li Wuyi were likely to be from the same sect as the sloppy man. This was the only way the sloppy man knew about the Life-saving Puppet!
The sloppy man seemed to sense Lyu Liang’s suspicion. He shrugged helplessly and said, “Do not worry, I will tell you the truth when I have the chance. You just need to know that we are not doing anything malicious now!”
Lyu Liang believed what he said. After all, he had helped them out more than once since they entered the Land of Origin. His eyes were clear and he showed no interest in Li Wuyi.
Lyu Liang gave him an approving nod and this matter was put aside.
Time pa.s.sed quickly. Lyu Liang and others pa.s.sed hundreds of dilapidated walls. There were many incredibly long distances in between each wall. In the end, Lyu Liang had to use three Life-saving Puppets out of the four that he was left with and finally, everyone stopped in front of a row of caves.
“Everyone, there are ten caves here. Only two people can enter each cave and it will then disappear. What we need to do now is to form groups of two and choose a cave to enter! Each cave consists of an illusionary world, where fortune and risk coexist. I hope we will all meet on the other side!” When Xu Mubai finished, he took the lead and entered a cave before anyone could react. Zhu Yan moved and followed. Then, the cave disappeared.
The rest of the group simply divided themselves into the following groups: Lyu Liang and Shangguan Ying, the sloppy man and Li Wuyi, the blue-eyed youth and Chishui Fairy, a total of three groups. As for the two puppets, the sloppy man had already kept them.
After determining their grouping, everyone chose a cave to enter.
…
At this time, Xu Mubai frowned and looked at Zhu Yan, who was smiling. He did not utter a word but sped up.
Zhu Yan’s pace was not slow either. He looked at the darkness around him with great interest, “Is this the Rosefinch illusion world that my ancestor had set up in the past? That is really bad of you. Why didn’t you remind them? I did not think that it was you, but I should have thought of it after hearing your name! Ai, am I old too?” After that, he shook his head with a bitter smile.
Xu Mubai’s face had no expression as he responded, “I did not tell them so that so not to interfere with their judgment! However, your entry saved me a lot of trouble, even the influence of the Rosefinch illusion world is exempted!”
Zhu Yan shrugged helplessly at these words, then he looked serious and said, “I don’t know what you plan to do! But I tell you, even if everyone else is dead, Lyu Liang must stay alive! Otherwise, the four of us will not let you off so easily!”
When Zhu Yan mentioned Lyu Liang, Xu Mubai smiled and whispered, “I am me, he is him, I want to use my method to get the Crazy Devil Blade. I am Lyu Liang’s elder brother and we are Life and Death brothers! It is not only Lyu Liang, but I also will not let anyone hurt the two other people in the team!”
…
In another cave, Lyu Liang and Shangguan Ying were advancing slowly in the darkness. After a while, Lyu Liang boldly grabbed the little hand of the gorgeous lady behind him.
Shangguan Ying blushed a little and paused for a moment. She did not struggle and followed him obediently.
After a while, Shangguan Ying suddenly held on to Lyu Liang’s hand tightly, as if Lyu Liang would disappear at any moment and her hand was shaking badly.
Lyu Liang stopped in the dark pa.s.sage, where the Divine Sense was isolated entirely. He couldn’t make out where Shangguan Ying was. Still, he turned his face and asked softly, “Ying’er, what happened?” At the same time, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
After a while, Shangguan Ying stopped shaking and suddenly raised her head and sobbed, “My special const.i.tution was the Heaven’s Tao Body, and I can predict happenings that are related to me. Did you know? When you partic.i.p.ated in the disciple selecting ceremony at the Sword Character Immortal Palace, I foresaw that my destined love was meant to be there so I went with the Master. When I saw you, I knew that you would be my lover.”
This was the first time that Lyu Liang heard about it, but he showed no surprise. The only feeling he had was happiness and he immediately replied in a joyful tone, “Ying’er, so that is the reason! I had wondered why the ceremony was so grand then! Do you know? Although I am not the Heaven’s Tao Body, when I saw you for the first time, I knew that I would be attracted to you for my whole life!”
After listening to Lyu Liang’s words, Shangguan Ying suddenly cried, “But, do you still remember that I told you there were signs of our separation this time! And as far as I have been deducing for these past few days, it should be very near. I tried to see when we can reunite, but, but… there were no results! Could it be that we are…” her face was full of tears when she uttered the last sentence.
Lyu Liang grasped Shangguan Ying’s small hand tightly and said slowly, “Ying’er, remember the vow that I made? As long as I am alive, be it at the end of the earth, or any s.p.a.ce in the six realms, I will look for you!”
After walking a bit further, they came to the end of the dark pa.s.sage, where a white mist drifted in front of them.
“It seems that pa.s.sing through the mist will be the place where the illusion world is. Unfortunately, since I entered the core area, I can’t feel the existence of Black. If not, I can ask him to help me see what the mystery is about here. I don’t believe that it will simply be over,” Lyu Liang said.
At this point, Shangguan Ying suddenly took out the Heaven Mixing Cloth and gently wound it around Lyu Liang’s waist, then wound it around her waist and finally tied a knot in the middle. She whispered, “Let’s go, no matter what is in the illusion world, we will come out together!”
Lyu Liang nodded and the two smiled and walked into the white mist.
…
At the moment, in a sky filled with lightning and thunder above the barren land, a barefooted old man wearing a gray coat emerged and was playing with a Life-saving Puppet in his hand. He looked at the location of the Rosefinch illusion world and there was a look of both kindness and hopelessness in his eyes. Finally, he sighed helplessly, “Ai, the founder, the four holy beasts, even Hao’er is here. Was our decision too impulsive back then? Old dragon and old bird, it seems that the children missed their hometown very much. Now, they are actually working together with the founder! Oh, forget it, forget it, I am just a Divided Soul and should not worry about it…” When the barefooted man had finished talking, he shook his head and disappeared.