This chapter has been brought to you by me, and WanderingGummiOfDoom.

 

Chapter Six Hundred and Seventy Nine – A Gui!

Time seemed to suddenly slow. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, the streak of light that was the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus was extremely slow. Bam bam bam, the sound of his heartbeat echoed in his ears.

Zuo Mo had never been as nervous as this. He watched A Gui closely.

Suddenly, A Gui gave off purple light. The dark and strange shen power suddenly exploded.

Zuo Mo’s body shook and he reflexively grabbed A Gui’s hand. His shen power shook and deflected A Gui’s shen power. This movement was instinctive and did not come from his mind.

The bright purple light entered Zuo Mo’s eyes and the scene in front of him changed.

In an endless void.

A young girl was sitting silently in the void. Seven purple chains covered her body, each with the thickness of an arm,  and extended into the void.

The young girl was dressed in a white and ethereal robe. There was no pain in her expression as she sat silently.

Zuo Mo’s mind shook as he recognized her, A Gui!

While it was the first time he saw that beautiful and unblemished face, Zuo Mo still recognized A Gui at a glance.

The black waterfall of hair fell to her shoulders, and her trimmed bangs gave her a hint of handsomeness. A delicate and beautiful face, long eyelashes, her face was slightly pale but there was no sorrow or pain. She sat silently and only her pursed lips made people feel her concentration and determination.

Zuo Mo seemed to be struck by lightning!

That  fragmented scene in his mind resurfaced, a figure sprinting while carrying him on her back immediately became clear.

The panicked breathing of the young female and her rushed steps filled Zuo Mo’s mind.

A Gui!

This was A Gui!

“A Gui! A Gui!” Zuo Mo shouted with all his strength.

The young female under the purple chains did not respond at all.

“It is useless,” Wei said.

“Wei! What is this? What is this?” Zuo Mo in his panic had found a life-saver and hurriedly asked Wei for help.

A rare sorrowful expression came onto Wei’s face. “This is the Undying Shen Punishment.”

“Undying Shen Punishment?” Zuo Mo’s body shook. For some reason, his heart hurt fiercely.

“The cruelest shen punishment.” Wei’s tone was sorrowful. “The mind and soul of the punished becomes the source of shen power and creates undying shen power. The undying shen power will continue to corrode the body of the one being punished and cause their vitality to fade. In turn, the damaged body will create more shen power the more it is injured, making it even stronger. It is a cruel punishment as the undying shen power will tear the soul of the one punished from their body, and imprison it in the unconscious void. There, all six senses are sealed, there is no light, no sound, no smell, nothing. The soul  will be left to endure in the unconscious void, isolation is the greatest punishment.”

Zuo Mo’s mind rang out. He suddenly thought of the coldness and emptiness of the shen power inside A Gui’s body. His body uncontrollably trembled, his limbs cold. Enormous pain twisted his heart.

Undying Shen Punishment … …

His voice was trembling, the fury and hate in his voice was unable to be disguised. “Who … … who was the mother***er! Who dares to punish A Gui!”

At the end of the shouting, his voice was a shriek. His anger exploded. The blood in his body ignited, and the burning pain tore at every inch of his skin.

“It is herself.” Wei sighed lightly.

It was as though a basin of cold water was poured over Zuo Mo’s head. He froze where he was.

“There are no flames of hate on her body. If she was unwilling, the endless void would create flames of hate. The flames of hate will not damage her soul but would cause her to feel endless pain.” Wei looked at the young girl sitting silently in the middle of the chains and said with a sigh, “The seven purple chains are the undying shen power.”

It was herself … … it was herself … …

Zuo Mo couldn’t hear anything else. His mind was filled with these three words.

The shadows of the forest, those two bare feet running in the mud, the trembling young shoulders of the girl, the determined and harsh breathing, the panicked shouts … …

Tears took over Zuo Mo’s vision.

 

———

 

Bie Han silently returned to the cave.

Cold Mountain Jie was heavily guarded but because it was the rear, Bie Han had found an opening.

No one had thought that Bie Han would sneak into such a heavily guarded Cold Mountain Jie. Due to that, the messenger seals of Cold Mountain Jie were not the special ciphered seals used at the front lines, but the messenger seals that were commonly used inside Xuan Kong Temple.

Bie Han easily disguised himself as a Xuan Kong Temple disciple without any effort and sneaked in. Familiar with the setup of Xuan Kong Temple, Bie Han quickly found the intelligence he needed.

But the arrival of the elder corps disrupted all of his setup.

The members of the elder corps were all yuanying and above, and almost all of them were at the peak of yuanying. They might not understand how to work together like a battalion, but their combined strength was enough to destroy Sin Battalion several times over.

Fortunately, he learned that the elder corps had other matters to deal with and were just passing through.

But out of consideration for safety, Bie Han carefully retreated back to the cavern deep in the ground. He didn’t even dare to venture out to scout for information for fear of being discovered.

His disguises in front of those elders amounted to nothing.

His furious fighting spirit cooled. Bie Han and his Sin Battalion waited for the arrival of spring like hibernating snakes.

 

———

 

Cold Mountain Jie!

The elders had received news that Elder Ji Zheng had died stopped their journey at Cold Mountain Jie. Ji Zheng’s death was a fatal blow to their morale.

What to do now became the biggest problem for Xuan Kong Temple.

Worry filled the faces of the elders. The present situation of Xuan Kong Temple was not good.

Of the four great sects, the one worst off was undoubtedly Xi Xuan. Gu Liang Dao’s betrayal had a larger effect on Xi Xuan than their upper ranks had predicted. The situation had quickly become uncontrollable. Outsiders could only speculate about Gu Liang Dao, but among the Xi Xuan disciples, everyone knew what the situation was. This had also caused the great majority of disciples to feel demotivated. Even a disciple who had won such great merit for the sect was treated this way, how could their hearts not feel cold?

It was appropriate to describe Xi Xuan as being abandoned by all close to it now.

But the second worse off was undoubtedly Xuan Kong Temple. Bie Han was not as famous as Xi Xuan’s Gu Liang Dao, but his escape still caused people’s hearts to move. But because there was still the outstanding Jiang Zhe, people’s hearts were moved but nothing else did. But now Ji Zheng’s death was a heavy blow to Xuan Kong Temple. The worth of a fanxu expert could not be calculated in jingshi.

Xuan Kong Temple was on a dangerous cliff. If Jiang Zhe won this battle, they might be able to overcome this obstacle, but if Jiang Zhe lost … …

The elders did not dare to imagine what would happen.

The grim situation caused the elders of Xuan Kong Temple to form two camps. One side thought that the elders should help Jiang Zhe first achieve victory, as a loss would shake the very foundation of Xuan Kong Temple. The other camp wanted to kill Xiao Mo Ge.

The ones that were in support of killing Xiao Mo Ge had very good reasons to do so. They thought that, by killing Xiao Mo Ge, it would get revenge for Elder Ji Zheng and also reestablish  Xuan Kong Temple’s authority. The shen power inheritance that they would obtain would allow Xuan Kong Temple an opportunity to develop again.

Most importantly, they were ahead of the other three sects in this mission and the probability of success was very high. They could accept some losses.

If they passed on such a good opportunity, it would not appear again.

They were full of confidence in Jiang Zhe. Jiang Zhe was going to fight a defensive battle and he had the advantage of numbers. Would Jiang Zhe lose? That was worrying too much!

The arguing was intense. The elders in this corps made up almost half of the elders of Xuan Kong Temple, and was the most powerful battle force in Xuan Kong Temple. Their choices would directly determine Xuan Kong Temple’s direction.

Everyone knew that they must make a decision quickly, regardless of what it was.

The end result was a compromise. The elder corps would leave ten elders to help Jiang Zhe and guarantee the victory in this fight. The remaining elders would continue to pursue Xiao Mo Ge.

 

———

 

Dots of light suddenly appeared in the void. They were like snowflakes that were attracted towards A Gui, who was imprisoned in the purple chains. They flew towards A Gui and then into her body.

“The Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus!”

In his sorrow, Zuo Mo suddenly saw this and hope rose inside.

Pu Yao had praised the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus to the heavens. Zuo Mo had high hopes for it.

Thinking about what A Gui had suffered, Zuo Mo felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to smash the chains to pieces.

The silent A Gui seemed to detect the change. She suddenly raised her head and opened her eyes.

Zuo Mo could not describe his feeling when he saw those clear eyes. It was like the most precious treasure in the world being unveiled in front of him.

Under the purple chains, A Gui suddenly stood up.

She focused on the dots of light appearing out of the void in front of her. She raised her hand, palm up, and watched as the light merged into her palm. There were threads of pure vitality contained in the threads of coolness.

A flush of colour returned to her pale face. That pure vitality nurtured her soul.

She knew that her body had found Young Master. Before swearing the Undying Shen Punishment, she had left the tiniest bit of her consciousness. That tiny consciousness formed  the deepest instinct of her body.

Find the Young Master.

The Unconscious Void sealed everything but a few years ago, she suddenly had a feeling. At that time, she knew, her body had found Young Master!

From then on, her heart had settled. The Unconscious Void which sealed off everything did not seem to be such a hardship. In these years, the only thing she did was use her soul to nurture the undying shen power.

This was the only way she could help Young Master.

Her expended soul was quickly recovering.

“Young Master … …”

She suddenly stood. That pair of clearly eyes searched in the darkness.

Even though she could not see anything.

 

Translator Ramblings: A step in the right direction.