Chapter 161
As soon as Song Pianxian’s words fell, the Inkstone Pool stirred up waves, the half-black and half-white water twisted into ropes, swishing and whistling as it surged up, like a water cage growing out of the ground, enclosing the two in the middle.
The outside cultivators suddenly couldn’t see anything, their divine consciousness unable to penetrate, only vaguely seeing the two starkly different colors of red and black.
There were continuous exclamations.
“The Inkstone Pool has never had any movement in recent years, why is it acting so differently today?”
“Could it be that there’s something strange about the broken tablet?” Someone’s eyes were full of excitement, sparkling with brilliance.
“It’s a demonic cultivator.” Qian Du’s expression turned solemn. He exchanged a glance with another cultivator who had gone through the maze of the jade cave. They both recalled what Song Pianxian had said before, that she had encountered a female demonic cultivator who was nearly her equal in the maze.
Could it be her? Appearing in the Immortal Palace!
Despite Qian Du’s deep anxiety, he couldn’t break through the water obstruction of the Inkstone Pool to approach.
“Lord, what should we do?” His subordinate asked.
Qian Du stared closely at the movements of the two inside. He firmly believed in Song Pianxian and said, “Once Master Song takes action, she will bind the opponent and capture her. I believe she can capture this audacious demonic cultivator.”
“Let’s stay alert. If this water disperses, we must immediately go to assist Master Song!”
“Yes.” The cultivators responded loudly.
The water cage tightened to the extreme, slender and graceful water ropes rose from beneath their feet, heading straight for their heads. In a short time, they would converge in one place.
The noisy discussions from outside came through the hollow water cage, like listening through a layer of water over the ears, making everything unclear and vague.
The only clear thing was the person in front of her.
At such a close distance, Song Pianxian could clearly see the eyes exposed by the other party.
The eye shape was like a peach blossom, surrounded by light pink eye shadow. The pupils were immersed in a pool of water, the corners of the eyes slightly drooping, exuding a charming allure when gazing.
Song Pianxian was familiar with these eyes enough. Not just the eyes, upon closer inspection, even the figure and posture of the other party were extremely similar to her own, almost like… a replica of herself.
Song Pianxian tightened the spiritual force ribbon around her waist, and with a curved finger, she lifted the dark-colored mask on the other’s face—
Under the mask revealed a lotus-like face, with eyebrows, eyes, lips, and nose, all extremely similar to her own.
Only the expression differed.
Song Pianxian suppressed her smile, her gaze deep and misty like dense fog, roiling with her own thoughts.
And this demonic cultivator, this Yu Yi who had kept her in the dark for who knows how long, clad in black robes, with red lips, raven hair, and snow-white skin, a figure that was both enchanting and aloof, holding the broken tablet, turned her head away from Song Pianxian’s gaze, her lips moving slightly, as she lowered her head and softly called out:
“Big Sister…”
Song Pianxian did not completely remove the mask from her face. At this moment, she pushed the mask aside with one finger, then used another finger to gently touch her chin.
Song Pianxian exerted no force, but this playful little cat in her hand obediently retracted its claws and dared not move.
“Now you remember to call me Big Sister at this moment.”
The water ropes of the Inkstone Pool became more aggressive, as if they were about to cover the two people inside. Song Pianxian’s voice turned chilly, but she caught sight of the current situation in her peripheral vision. Not only was there the Inkstone Pool acting aggressively for no apparent reason, but there were also numerous cultivators below, glaring at Yu Yi. She didn’t show much emotion, instead she said softly:
“No matter what you want with the broken tablet, leave here now and wait for me outside. Follow me back.”
Amidst the rampant and heavy sound of flowing water, Yu Yi didn’t answer yes or no but pursed her lips and said:
“Chu Feng and Manzhi are still—”
“Boom—”
The rest of Yu Yi’s words were completely drowned out by the surging water, not just her voice, but also the countless water ropes suddenly exploded, forming a deep gray water curtain, rushing towards the two of them like a fierce beast attacking its prey.
“Master Song!”
“What does this pool want to do?”
In the blink of an eye, the water curtain suddenly shrank, from half the height of the Immortal Palace to only the size that could envelop the two inside, and its color deepened. The cultivators outside couldn’t see what was happening inside.
Fortunately, this water curtain didn’t last long, only about three or four breaths. It shattered with a slight popping sound, splashing back into the Inkstone Pool.
On the surface of the pool, the demonic cultivator and the broken tablet were nowhere to be seen, only Master Song remained.
The water curtain wrapped around Yu Yi, penetrated the Inkstone Pool, and fell downwards. Yu Yi floated within the circular light gray water curtain, looking outward.
It was dark here, with occasional flashes of red light. Those lights, large and small, flew upwards. Upon closer inspection, Yu Yi realized that those red lights were the lingering warmth of things that had burned until the end, unwilling to dissipate. The things they attached to had long since burned for who knows how long, fragile and charred, almost breaking into pieces.
They were still in space, like dying stars in the darkness, as if they would completely shatter and die if they moved again, dispersing into smoke.
Yu Yi understood, it wasn’t that they were going up, but she had been rushing downwards, as if threatening to plunge straight into the abyss of nothingness.
When those red lights disappeared completely from Yu Yi’s eyes, her feet touched the ground, and the water curtain vanished.
She had just put down the broken tablet when two people surrounded her.
Chu Feng’s python tail trailed behind her, her waist swaying, graceful and eerie fingertips tracing the broken tablet: “Still smooth?”
Manzhi circled the broken tablet, finally stopping in front: “Wow, this flower looks exactly like the one from back then.”
“It is the same one.”
“Huh, it’s the same one, so what? Whether it has what you said inside is uncertain.”
Today’s actions were their discovery of the appearance of the broken tablet in the Inkstone Pool and the method Manzhi set. Chu Feng and Manzhi entered here directly through the black half-door of the Immortal Palace, while Yu Yi went to snatch the broken tablet. After obtaining the broken tablet, Manzhi could use the Inkstone Pool to bring Yu Yi here.
If it weren’t for Song Pianxian recognizing herself, it would have been a good plan.
Yu Yi’s emotions settled down, and she looked around. It was a dark wilderness, with even the wild grass growing freely being ink black.
Yu Yi noticed that they were under the wall of a building, she took two steps back and looked up at the huge object in front of her—
“The palace in the Jade Cave?” Yu Yi raised an eyebrow.
The palace in front of her was rusty and dilapidated, no different from the palace she had come out of when she left the Snow Cold Jade Cave and went to absorb magic power.
“This is my demon palace.” Manzhi lifted her chin, “Cultivators only know about the Immortal Palace, but they don’t know about this demon palace hidden beneath it.”
The Immortal Palace’s demon palace… Yu Yi recalled the pure and elegant Immortal Palace she had seen before, then glanced at the dark and dilapidated demon palace in front of her. In that case, if the demon palace was still intact, it should be not much different from the format of the Immortal Palace.
She noticed the tightly closed door of the demon palace: “What’s locked inside… is your reserve?”
“That’s not wrong.” Manzhi readily admitted, hands behind her back as she turned around, “This place was originally a wasteland created by a spatial rift. The original intention of building the Immortal Palace was to seal this rift to prevent it from affecting the mainland.”
“This spatial rift is half real and half illusory. Since I built the demon palace here, I’ve always encountered some inexplicable things. Oh, the demon palace in the Jade Cave should be connected to the spatial rift of the Snow Cold Jade Cave, projecting the demon palace accurately, but not all the demon cultivators inside have been projected there.”
Yu Yi keenly realized: “If not, they can’t get out?”
“Who do you think can get out easily?” Manzhi laughed artificially twice, but there was a genuine indifference in her words, “If they could come and go freely, how could it be called reserve?”
Yu Yi clicked her tongue.
She paused for a moment, then continued, “I just met Pianxian earlier, and she recognized me.”
Manzhi exclaimed, “Song Pianxian is awesome.”
“?”
Manzhi scanned her up and down, “You’re like this and she still recognizes you. That’s really something. She must really like you.”
“…Shut up.” Yu Yi said expressionlessly, but surprisingly, because of Manzhi’s silly words, she felt a little sweetness in her heart. It was truly hopeless.
“Okay, okay, I know you’re anxious to see her.” Manzhi clapped her hands, looking as if she wouldn’t argue with Yu Yi, and ordered everyone to follow her plan, “Chu Feng and I will check the snake mouth lotus, and you go deal with the remaining demon cultivators. When both sides are ready, we’ll leave.”
With that, Manzhi remembered something and took out a small and delicate seal-shaped magical instrument, casually throwing it to Yu Yi: “There are a few combined inside, maybe even some crossing the calamity. You might not be able to handle them with just your techniques. Use this.”
Yu Yi took it in her hand without waiting for them to react, and headed towards the demon palace first, her brows and eyes cold, her black clothes sleek, throwing them only one sentence.
“Swift and decisive.”
She pushed open the door of the demon palace, and the yellowish light from the wilderness surged into the dark demon palace along with her. With a few changes in her figure, she quickly disappeared at the entrance of the demon palace.
“Look at how anxious the child is.” Manzhi muttered to herself, patting the rubble beside her and nodding at Chu Feng, “The snake-mouthed lotus has been found. What to do now?”
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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Ruu
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