Ch.112: Doors Open to Greet the Ghost; Drawn Earth a Prison
“…”
“Where is he?” Xie Lian said.
The three entered the small pavilion and within the building there was no one. All sorts of spiritual devices and treasures were still in the same place as set up before, only, once the doors were opened, they all became useless. Xie Lian shouted in the communication array, “LORD WIND MASTER? WHERE ARE YOU?”
While on the way over, because they were focused on rushing, plus Shi Qingxuan was overly agitated, Xie Lian was the one who proposed that he meditate to calm down, to stop thinking and saying nonsense, scaring himself. Shi Qingxuan thought it made a lot of sense and gradually stopped talking, so the lack of response wasn’t out of the blue.
Thus, Xie Lian hadn’t noticed anything amiss, but now no matter how he yelled there was no answer, and a feeling of dread started to spread in his heart. In a situation like this, there could only be two possibilities: either Shi Qingxuan was not responding on purpose, or he already lost consciousness.
There were over ten something spiritual devices and treasures on the Wind Master’s person, each of them rare and exquisite, and they had all be used by Xie Lian to set the formation of the array, there should be nothing from the outside that could easily break through. Even if it could be done, just as Shi Qingxuan had said, it would take at least three days and three nights, and it’d be impossible not to leave evidence of a break in.
Yet, from the looks of it, the doors and windows of this small pavilion were all intact, and there were also no dug tunnels or ladders. Xie Lian went back to the entrance and picked up the golden locket on the ground, looking over it closely, “He really did open the doors himself.”
Even though reinforcements were clearly arriving momentarily, for what reason would he seek a dead end for himself at the last minute?
“Maybe he thought the one at the door was us?” Ming Yi said gravely.
Hearing this, an abominable image suddenly appeared in Xie Lian’s mind: From outside the small pavilion came three individuals, each in the appearance of himself, Hua Cheng, and Ming Yi, and they knocked on the doors. Within the pavilion, an overjoyed Shi Qingxuan immediately opened the doors, and the three ‘people’ outside surrounded him, grinning at him eerily. The golden locket in Shi Qingxuan’s hand fell to the ground next to his feet, never to be picked up.
Xie Lian immediately shook his head, “That’s impossible. I’ve never heard that the Reverend of Empty Words have the ability to fake appearances.”
“Maybe it called for helpers.” Ming Yi said.
Xie Lian gave it a thought but also dismissed it, “Everything that we ran into today had all been sudden and unforeseen. Before this we hadn’t thought there’d be an array set up to shield the Wind Master, so it too shouldn’t have been able to find any ghosts to help so fast. Besides, didn’t we tell Lord Wind Master that we’d inform him in the communication array when we arrive? Whether if the ones outside the doors were real or fake, it would’ve been easy to figure out by just asking, so how could he be so easily deceived?”
Coming to this point, Xie Lian suddenly stopped, then he started mumbling, “Unless, it was someone he knew who told him to open the doors.”
“Someone he knew?” Ming Yi questioned, “How so?”
Just then, Hua Cheng spoke up, “His ears were plugged. He can’t hear.”
Xie Lian immediately seized his arm and exclaimed, “Well said, San Lang! It was exactly for that reason I said it must be someone he knew. Because Lord Wind Master had his ears plugged, he wouldn’t have been able to hear anything from the outside!
Unless he removed the ear plugs, but would he do that? He was so terrified he’d die before he would. So, to deceive him and have him open the door, there was only one way it could be done.”
The private communication array!
Xie Lian started to talk faster, “Which meant, in between the time we were coming, there was someone who secretly connected with Lord Wind Master and told him something that made him open the doors on his own. If it wasn’t someone he was close to, they wouldn’t have known Lord Wind Master’s verbal password. The verbal passwords of heavenly officials are all closely-guarded secrets, not to be known by outsiders, and especially not to demons and monsters the likes of that Reverend of Empty Words.
Also, it should’ve been someone he trusted deeply, otherwise he wouldn’t have opened the doors without thinking.”
“Or,” Hua Cheng said, “He didn’t know this person but this person knew him, and gave him a reason he couldn’t refuse but to open the doors.”
Xie Lian considered that possibility seriously and said, “Technically, we can send messages to Lord Wind Master as long as we have the verbal password, but to have a strange voice suddenly speak, wouldn’t Lord Wind Master think it weird? He should’ve told us in the communication array the moment he heard. Unless, this mysterious individual who sent the private communication paralyzed him with the first message. But what message could it be?”
“A threat?” Ming Yi wondered.
“How to threaten? ‘If you don’t come out, I’ll tell your brother I’ve returned to harrass you’?” Xie Lian immediately dismissed the thought, “Not likely.”
That Reverend of Empty Words shouldn’t be aware of Shi Qingxuan’s concerns.
Besides, it wasn’t a heavenly official, so how could it let the Water Master know immediately of its existence? Reinforcements would arrive within the hour, but Shi Qingxuan couldn’t even wait that long. At the end of the day, whether if that creature could win against the Water Master was another problem. Don’t forget, it had never harassed Shi Wudu; it only had eyes for Shi Qingxuan, picking especially at the lower hanging fruit. No doubt the Reverend itself was scared of the Water Master so it wouldn’t have provoked him directly.
“Search for another hour.” Ming Yi said.
Xie Lian understood what he wanted to say and nodded, “Alright. If we still can’t find him after an hour, no matter how much Lord Wind Master protests, Lord Water Master must be informed. Let’s break up! We’ll search this way, and Lord Earth Master, please search over there.”
Ming Yi turned around and left without a word. Xie Lian jogged as he searched, and never gave up calling for Shi Qingxuan in the communication array, but remained dead silent.
“How goes it?” Hua Cheng asked.
Xie Lian shook his head, “No response whatsoever.”
The dread in his mind was growing heavier. He searched chamber after chamber of every building in the entire pavilion and was almost through with every pavilions nearby, yet there were no traces at all.
Soon after, the two came to the tallest pavilion in the area. This pavilion was obviously the star of its surroundings, the centrepiece. It was renovated multiple times, glamourous and impressive, with a number of poetry verses written on the walls. Xie Lian raised his head to look at the establishment plague “The Terrace of Cascading Wine” and wondered out loud, “Is it the ‘Wine-Pouring Young Lord’?”
“That’s right.” Hua Cheng answered, “This is the original address to the ‘Wine-Pouring Young Lord’.”
“So it really is related?” Xie Lian looked at him.
“Yea.” Hua Cheng replied, then briefly gave an account. Turns out, in the legends they said when Shi Qingxuan was still mortal, after training he would often come to this place to drink, spread out drunkenly upon the terrace, happy and carefree. One day, below the deck came a malicious crook who often bullied the good villagers, and when Shi Qingxuan saw him, he nonchalantly spilled the delicate wine from his cup and casted a tiny spell. That wine was spilt right over that crook’s head and knocked him out. After Shi Qingxuan was appointed a deputy general by Shi Wudu, he still loved the mortal realm, and continued to drink endlessly at this place like before. The day he ascended was also when he was here drinking.
To ascend whilst drinking sounded absurd, but it actually wasn’t anything. Sometimes opportunities came knocking without any rhyme or reason. Xie Lian himself was still sleeping when he ascended. Perhaps in the future there would be heavenly officials who ascend while they’re in the bathroom, which might very well become a renown sight too.
In any case, stories of scholars teasing guests had always been popular throughout history, and places that had stories would always incite the urge for intellectuals to raise their brush and create, expressing their yearning for a heavenly lifestyle. Xie Lian now understood that this place was one of such landmarks. There were no tourists in the middle of the night, but the next day, there would for sure be many tourists who would astonishingly discover the houses and trees that had been blown away, and cry the Wind Master had shown up.
However, the renown sight of ‘The Wine-Pouring Young Lord’ was slightly different than Xie Lian had imagined. Just then, he heard Hua Cheng say darkly, “Gege, I need to go take care of something small. Please do be careful. I won’t be long.”
‘Take care of what?’ Xie Lian wondered mentally.
When he recalled Hua Cheng’s angry voice in the private communication array, and now his unfriendly demeanor, he asked, “Are you going to go find that Reverend of Empty Words?”
Hua Cheng paused for a moment then replied, “No.”
If it wasn’t then it wasn’t his place to ask any more. Xie Lian nodded, “You were only here for fun anyway. Since something’s come up, just go. You take care of yourself too.”
“En.” Hua Cheng said. After a pause, he added, “When I come back, I’ll tell you something.”
Xie Lian was taken aback and blurted, “What?” But Hua Cheng’s figure had already disappeared.
After an hour, there was still nothing, and Xie Lian called out in the communication array, “Lord Earth Master! How are things on your side? I haven’t found him here, so I’m coming back.”
“Nothing!” Ming Yi answered.
“This won’t do. I can’t hold back any longer.” Xie Lian said, “Let’s meet up at the centre of the Terrace of Cascading Wine. I’m going to report to Lord Water Master right now.”
After that, he immediately mouthed Ling Wen’s verbal password to her private communication array, “Ling Wen, are you there? Can you find Lord Water Master?
Please tell him to come meet at the Terrace of Cascading Wine at his earliest notice.”
The clear voice of a man rang next to his ears. It seemed that at this moment Ling We was in his male form. “Your highness? Lord Water Master is here with me right now.
He’s not someone who likes going out so he probably won’t descend. What business do you have with him? I can pass on the message.”
Just then, Xie Lian had almost reached the main building of that Terrace of Cascading Wine, and saw from afar that terrace seemed to be hung with something. It looked like a white cloth, swinging in the night breeze. Xie Lian was taken aback, thinking, ‘Was there something there before?”
When he walked closer, he finally saw what it was – wasn’t that Shi Qingxuan’s outer robe?
Just then, Ming Yi roared in the communication array, “Your highness, come immediately to the tallest pavilion at the Terrace of Cascading Wine! HURRY!!!”
Xie Lian jolted, and on the other end, Ling Wen was asking, “Your highness? Are you still there?”
Xie Lian exclaimed, “Please have him descend as soon as possible! Something’s happened to Lord Wind Master!”
After having shouted that last message, he charged up the pavilion. There were no more sounds from the other end; Ling Wen was probably shocked by his message and went reporting to Shi Wudu. When Xie Lian made it to the tallest floor, at the centre of the floor laid a person, and it was Shi Qingxuan.
Shi Qingxuan had both eyes tightly closed; there were no external injuries on his person and no traces of blood. Another person was helping him up and it was Ming Yi. Shi Qingxuan sat up without consciousness, and something fell from his chest. Xie Lian fixed his eyes and felt his heart tighten – that thing was the Wind Master fan that was split in half. That rare spiritual device could only be possessed by chance and not by force, and it might not even be forged after hundreds of years. It was the Wind Master’s number one spiritual device yet it was destroyed just like that!
“When we came by just now there was no one else!” Xie Lian claimed.
But just as the words left his mouth, he realized something else that was amiss. Earlier when he and Hua Cheng came by, there were plenty of poetry verses on the wall left by literary guests; some charming, some arrogant, others elegant, but now they were all gone, as if someone had wiped them clean, leaving behind a phrase that didn’t exist before in crimson proper font, a row of large words, dripping with blood: “WRETCHED BEGINNING WRETCHED END”
It was the curse the Reverend of Empty Words bestowed on Shi Qingxuan on the day of his birth!
Just then, Ming Yi asked frigidly, “Your highness, where’s the one that was with you?”
Xie Lian was taken aback and thought, ‘Oh no! San Lang’s left at such an inopportune moment!’
The moment he left his side something happened to Shi Qingxuan. This really couldn’t be explained clearly. However, Xie Lian showed nothing on his face and explained solemnly, “I asked him to go search for that Reverend of Empty Words.”
“When did he leave?” Ming Yi asked.
Without changing his expression, Xie Lian replied, “Just now. He shouldn’t have left for over half an incense time.”
Truthfully, it was way longer than that. However, Xie Lian himself never doubted Hua Cheng, so naturally he wouldn’t let anyone have the chance to doubt either, lest more issues arise.
Just then, from beyond the skies came waves of rolling thunder, and a golden carriage of eight wheels broke through the clouds, driving towards them with an imposing aura.
Unable to reach the Terrace of Cascading Wine using the Distance Shortening array, it seemed Shi Wudu went straight for a Golden Carriage instead. It must be known that when a golden carriage of burnished horses were driven, it was a huge fanfare. If it should be seen by mortals who for some reason were stargazing in the middle of the night, it would for sure be an uproar in the mortal realm. This Water Tyrant really wasn’t afraid of anything.
Watching that dramatic golden carriage approach, Xie Lian immediately said, “Lord Earth Master, if any heavenly officials should ask later, please don’t say a word about Lord Hua. There are many heavenly officials in the Heavenly Court who like to exaggerate and make up stories. This affair has nothing to do with him, so there’s no need to make it complicated.”
Ming Yi gave him a look and said, “Very well.” He agreed easily and looked down to keep checking Shi Qingxuan’s condition. Xie Lian let out a breath of relief but then, seeing the unmoving Wind Master, his heart sank once more.
That golden carriage came roaring, and soon after, it landed with trails of propitious clouds. Outside the carriage were a small number of junior heavenly officials standing at the ready to serve, and three grand heavenly officials exited the vehicle. It was Shi Wudu, Pei Ming, and Ling Wen. Three of the top ten at the Mid Autumn banquet had come all at once. Of course, Xie Lian had long forgotten he himself sat at the head of the top ten. Shi Wudu had deeply knitted brows, sweeping his sleeves as he got off the carriage with a frown, entering the pavilion with his Water Master fan in hand and Pei Ming and Ling Wen following right behind. The moment he saw his younger brother lying on the ground like a corpse, his face instantly changed and he rushed over, “Qing Xuan? Qing Xuan! What’s happened?”
Xie Lian responded succinctly, “Lord Wind Master had run into the Reverend of Empty Words.”
“…”
“What did you say?” Shi Wudu exclaimed in disbelief, “The Reverend of Empty Words?”
Hearing that name, not only Shi Wudu, but Pei Ming and Ling Wen’s faces dropped too.
It seemed, they already knew of Shi Wudu’s scourge. Watching their expressions, Xie Lian couldn’t tell who was faking and who was secretly delighted; they were all acting naturally. Especially Shi Wudu. There was definitely no way he was acting. Ling Wen retrieved a bunch of bottles from his sleeve and said, “Try feeding him all of them.”
Pei Ming on the other hand, remarked on the side, “It’s you again, Your Highness.”
“It can’t be helped,” Xie Lian replied, “There’s only so many of us going back and forth the heavens.”
“It seems every time we see you, that other one is always around too. I wonder if it’s the same case this time?”
Xie Lian replied flatly, “No, no. Of course not.”
He was lying through his teeth, but Ming Yi actually kept his promise and didn’t utter a word. Pei Ming stopped talking, waved his hand, and led the officials under his command to search the premises. Given the situation, it was actually better that Hua Cheng had left beforehand. At least he wasn’t at the scene of the crime. Shi Wudu couldn’t wake Shi Qingxuan but his eyes inadvertently swept over to the giant bloody words on that snow white wall, and his face twisted immediately.
His face became whiter than that wall, shaking with fury, he shouted, “WHO WROTE THIS? WHO WROTE IT?!”
Even though he was shouting, his voice was trembling. Just then, Ling Wen exclaimed, “Lord Wind Master is awake!”
Xie Lian immediately squatted down, “Lord Wind Master?”
Sure enough, Shi Qingxuan’s eyes were blinking open slowly. Shi Wudu shoved everyone aside and cried, “Qing Xuan? Are you alright? Do you feel bad anywhere? Who hurt you?!”
Shi Qingxuan was dazed for a good while before he slowly came to. When he became conscious, the first thing he saw was Shi Wudu’s face. The next moment, something no one had expected happened.
He shoved Shi Wudu away, grabbed his own head and screamed, “AAAAHHHHHHHHH—!!!”
——
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