The fat Daoist had prepared a restorative potion for Li Si. After taking it, Li Si’s spirits noticeably improved. When no one was paying attention, he pulled Mita aside and whispered a few words to him. Mita said in surprise, “You want to go to that place?”
Li Si nodded. “It’s not something I can explain in a sentence or two. Just take me there first.”
Mita agreed without hesitation. As a result, the fat Daoist and You Huai waited in the Hall of Ten Directions for over half a shichen before Li Si and Mita hurried back. With no time for many questions, You Huai gave Mita a thousand reminders about matters requiring attention when going to the holy land, then handed over a small stone bell and prayer wheel treasured by the Hall of Ten Directions to Mita.
You Huai personally escorted Mita, Li Si, and the fat Daoist out of Xingtian City. As for Gongyang Yan, who was unwilling to go to the holy land, You Huai also expressed that he would properly escort her down the mountain at daybreak. Li Si bid farewell to Gongyang Yan. She hesitated to speak several times, but in the end only waved goodbye. Perhaps a wordless farewell was the best way to avoid revealing emotions.
After leaving Xingtian City, Li Si carried the twenty-jin stone bell while Mita held the prayer wheel, and the fat Daoist raised a torch as they chased after Wu Ying. In less than half a shichen they reached the banishment ground where heretical outcasts were exiled. Mita had already begun turning the prayer wheel according to You Huai’s instructions, chanting the ancient tribe’s immortal script. However, compared to when Wu Ying had passed through the banishment ground before, the jagged stone forest was now much quieter. Only occasionally could one see half-hidden, half-revealed ferocious heretical outcasts. Looking at the furtively hiding ancient tribe’s outcasts, Li Si couldn’t help but recall the fat Daoist’s account of their tragic fate, and felt a pang in his heart. The fat Daoist sighed repeatedly. Mita’s eyes reddened as she refused to look around.
The three of them safely rushed through the banishment ground and entered a barren wasteland shaped like sand dunes.
“Beyond those desolate hills ahead is the Dark Forest, and the immortal miasma—that is, the Peach Blossom Miasma—is entrenched at the far end of the Dark Forest,” Mita told Li Si and the fat Daoist the location of the Peach Blossom Miasma. Li Si gazed into the distance by firelight and indeed saw before them a wasteland of hills where not a blade of grass grew.
Mita sighed. “Man Kua said that long ago this place was neither desolate nor barren, but after a great collapse five or six hundred years ago, it became the lifeless wasteland it is now. That collapse also caused many peaks in the inner mountains to crumble—some sank into great fissures in the earth, some slowly fell into the great swamp to the east. In short, the Ten Directions Mountain was turned completely upside down.”
Li Si found it difficult to imagine the scene of mountains collapsing, earth splitting, and peaks tumbling at Ten Directions Mountain back then. Just thinking about it slightly made his mind reel. The fat Daoist seemed preoccupied as he tugged at his tattered Daoist robe. Li Si laughed mockingly, “You’ve already admitted you’re not a Daoist, so why are you still wearing this tattered robe?”
The fat Daoist smoothed out the hem. “I’ve grown so used to wearing it that I can’t bear to throw it away.”
“We left in such a hurry that I haven’t had time to ask you—where did you run off to for that entire day and night?” Li Si asked curiously. The fat Daoist rubbed his swollen head and recounted the process of being ambushed and beaten, finally saying, “When I woke up, I found myself lying in an unguarded wooden building. I snuck out for a look and discovered I was actually in the Third City. It was utterly baffling—like I’d seen a ghost.”
“Someone first covered your head with a bag, then beat you with fists and feet, then threw you into the unguarded Outer Third City. You wouldn’t happen to have a grudge against someone from Xingtian City, would you? This clearly seems like someone wanted to teach you a lesson,” Li Si helped analyze. The fat Daoist smiled bitterly. “No, every time I come to Xingtian City, apart from Wu Yan, I don’t see anyone else, much less provoke any enemies.”
“Then there’s only one explanation,” Li Si said with a half-smile.
“What?”
Li Si turned to face the fat Daoist and said very seriously, “Your face just looks too punchable. Someone couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“Pfft!” Mita covered her mouth and laughed aloud. The fat Daoist also laughed heartily without taking offense. Li Si laughed as well. He understood too well—after so many things happening consecutively today, all three of their nerves were stretched too tight, and what they were about to face next could not allow any mistakes. Everyone needed to relax a bit, so he deliberately made jokes.
“We’ve reached the Dark Forest,” Mita spoke.
Before the desolate hills appeared a pitch-black, impenetrably dense forest—precisely the Dark Forest Mita had mentioned. The Dark Forest was wildly overgrown with more than a dozen species of low, thickly-branched trees like nest trees and green joy wood. Their intertwining branches were like countless coiled black snakes swaying gently above Li Si and his companions’ heads, resembling ghostly shadows. The further forward they walked, the lower the Dark Forest became. Li Si had no choice but to walk with his body bent in quick, small steps, giving him the illusion of moving through an animal’s esophagus. Fortunately, everything has an end. The tunnel began to show points of starlight, and knowing they were nearing the exit, Mita suddenly stopped Li Si and said, “Once we leave the Dark Forest, open the small hole at the top of the stone bell. Remember this carefully.”
Li Si nodded in agreement.
The three of them had barely taken two breaths after emerging from the tunnel when Li Si discovered the vast expanse of white miasma stagnating ten zhang ahead—precisely the Peach Blossom Miasma! Not only ahead, but to the left and right were also large patches of Peach Blossom Miasma. The miasma seemed to possess spiritual intelligence as it drifted toward Li Si and his two companions. Mita hastily shouted at Li Si, “Open the hole!”
Li Si opened the small hole at the top of the stone bell. A billowing seven-colored cloud slowly rose from the bell’s opening and condensed above Li Si’s head without rising further. The fat Daoist’s mouth trembled as he stammered, “Seven-colored cloud, this is, this is…”
“Stop your nonsense. Hurry and go now while we can!” Mita pushed Li Si and the fat Daoist forward toward the Peach Blossom Miasma. The Peach Blossom Miasma rose and fell, transforming into various fierce forms of demons, devils, and monsters. Deep within the miasma, it seemed as if tens of thousands of mountain spirits and monsters were roaring. Li Si’s hand gripping the stone bell trembled slightly. He closed his eyes and charged into the Peach Blossom Miasma.
Strangely enough, the ever-changing, seemingly omnipotent Peach Blossom Miasma showed weakness and drifted away upon encountering the seven-colored cloud. The seven-colored cloud rolled forward in pursuit of the Peach Blossom Miasma. The seven colors and white—two kinds of clouds—collided in midair like solid objects, producing loud crashing sounds. After more than ten consecutive collisions, the white gradually melted away and disappeared, though the seven-colored cloud also thinned somewhat. Li Si wiped away cold sweat, finally understanding the purpose of the stone bell and seven-colored cloud. No wonder it had to be demonstrated at an important sacred ceremony. Li Si quickened his pace, and the three of them left the remaining Peach Blossom Miasma far behind before it could gather.
“We’re finally safe,” Mita said, looking back at the distant Peach Blossom Miasma.
Li Si patted the stone bell. “All thanks to this!”
The fat Daoist repeated what he’d said before: “Seven-colored cloud, this is, this is… Ice Flame Stone!”
Li Si started. “Ice Flame Stone?”
The fat Daoist’s smooth, bald head kept nodding. “Wu Yan once let me witness the process of Ice Flame Stone producing seven-colored cloud, but I never imagined the seven-colored cloud would be used here. But thinking carefully, there are traces to follow. The seven-colored cloud produced by striking Ice Flame Stone is even more toxic—you must know that the more beautiful something is, the more powerful it is. And the Peach Blossom Miasma is inherently poisonous miasma and fog. When it encounters the seven-colored cloud, it’s undoubtedly fighting poison with poison. Whichever is more toxic can eliminate the other. That’s right, this is also why the Peach Blossom Miasma dissolved.”
Listening to the fat Daoist’s words, a scene flashed through Li Si’s mind of Yun Yan taking out two strange stones—blue wrapped in red, blue like ice, red like fire. So that was the Ice Flame Stone! Li Si clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Good that you know it’s Ice Flame Stone. Everyone stop being dazed.” Mita pointed to the side. Li Si suddenly realized he was standing at the edge of a bottomless cliff. A rugged mountain path followed the cliff into unknown darkness. Fierce mountain wind sprayed up from below the cliff, blowing their hair on end. Mita gazed into the darkness and murmured, “The holy land is just ahead.”
Li Si and the fat Daoist nodded. The three said no more and stepped onto the mountain path.
At the same time, Wu Ying’s group appeared on a broken cliff shaped like an eagle’s beak, a cliff called Eagle Beak Cliff. Eagle Beak Cliff was twenty zhang in length and width, surrounded by hard black rock. Upon careful observation, one could see in the rock a faint light like twinkling stars. A Mu recalled a name he’d once heard—Ink Star Rock.
Among over a hundred pieces of Ink Star Rock emanating faint light stood two bluestone slabs weighing over a thousand jin each.
Wu Ying stood outside the bluestones with a cold expression, observing the stars overhead. “Priest, are your calculations accurate?”
Yun Yan said proudly, “This old man has performed astral divination twelve times in his life, and not once has there been an error. The Great Elder can rest assured—the fire vent will extinguish at the first quarter of the midnight hour.”
Wu Ying grunted, “The midnight hour approaches.”
A quarter hour passed in the blink of an eye. After calculating, Yun Yan said, “Great Elder, we can open the stone.”
A flash of excitement crossed Wu Ying’s eyes as he barked, “Open the stone!”
So-called opening the stone meant moving the bluestone slabs. The thousand-jin stones took considerable effort to move. The moment the bluestone was moved, a column of fire as thick as a human waist instantly sprayed from the opening beneath, shooting toward the night sky like a rocket. Then a second fire serpent, a third fire serpent burst forth one after another. The surroundings suddenly became unbearably hot. Yet the cold light in Wu Ying’s eyes did not diminish in the slightest as he stared intently at the fire serpents.
After fifty breaths and ten fire serpents had been ejected, no more surged forth. The firelight on the cave opening’s rock walls gradually dimmed. Yun Yan trembled excitedly and said, “The fire vent has extinguished.”
Wu Ying said solemnly, “Enter the vent. Enter the holy land!”
Wu Ying, the sacred maiden A Mu, Yun Yan, the attendant, and Ban Xi wore solemn expressions as they drilled into the fire vent. The others remained at Eagle Beak Cliff. Scattered sparks remained on the fire vent’s rock walls. The fire serpent eruptions seemed to be the spontaneous combustion and extinction of some substance in the rock walls. Wu Ying did not know the specific reason. The five people carefully stepped on indentations in the rock walls, climbing downward. This was Wu Ying’s first time entering the holy land, while Yun Yan had already entered twice following Great Elder Wu Yan. Wu Ying asked Yun Yan, “How much deeper must we go?”
Yun Yan glanced down at his feet. “One hundred zhang down.”
Indeed, as Yun Yan said, the bottom of the fire vent was reached after one hundred zhang down. A half-zhang high black rock tunnel appeared on the left side. A cold wind blew from the tunnel, causing even Wu Ying to involuntarily shiver and tremble. This cold wind was not like damp, gloomy wind, but rather that kind of more real, bitterly cold ice breath. Wu Ying looked at Yun Yan. Yun Yan nodded. “Take the tunnel.”
There were no lamps in the tunnel, yet it was not completely dark, because faint light flickered in the black rock, as if there were countless fireflies. Needless to say, this black rock was also Ink Star Rock. Wu Ying led, A Mu and Yun Yan in the middle, the attendant and Ban Xi following—five people slowly traversed the tunnel. Wu Ying asked with some unease, “Priest, will the fire vent suddenly erupt again?”
Yun Yan shook his head. “The fire vent remains extinguished for at least one day.”
Winding through the tunnel, after walking about three quarter hours, a larger light appeared ahead. Wu Ying’s heart pounded wildly as he walked toward the light. The light was the tunnel’s end. Below, in a mountain belly abyss of nearly a thousand mu, thick red, scorching lava churned. The lava was like fierce demons wreathed in flames violently striking the rock walls. Though they stood a thousand zhang away, Wu Ying still felt waves of heat spray upon his cheeks.
And parallel to the tunnel, ten thousand zhang away, stood prominently an ice palace wrapped in lustrous white giant ice. The pavilions, towers, water pavilions, and tall halls within the palace were hazily visible through the ice shadows. In the gloom above the giant ice, there seemed to be a person. Between the tunnel and the ice palace were countless crisscrossing iron chain cables, like a massive spider web extending in all directions.
Though this was not Yun Yan’s first time here, each time left him feeling indescribably thrilled and shaken. He swallowed and said, “The Saintess is in the ice palace across the way. Let us go over.”
The attendant came forward and tied a tiger tendon rope around Yun Yan’s waist, the other end tied to himself, supporting Yun Yan as they walked onto the iron chains. Then Ban Xi also walked onto the chains. Wu Ying looked at A Mu with concern. “Can you walk?”
A Mu’s eyes gazed at the ice palace suspended over the abyss, her voice ethereal. “I can walk.”
Though A Mu said she could walk, Wu Ying remained uneasy and also tied A Mu securely with a tiger tendon rope. The iron chains as thick as fists trembled underfoot, creating ripples. Below was devouring lava, across was the oppressive ice palace. Wu Ying forced himself to remain calm as he stepped forward.
Who knew how long it would take to traverse the ten thousand zhang of iron chains. Suddenly, a burst of scorching hot wind blew, causing the chains to sway unsteadily. Wu Ying channeled hidden force into his legs to maintain his posture without moving while pressing down on A Mu’s thin shoulders. The attendant used the same method to secure himself and Yun Yan. Ban Xi fared much worse—he was blown flat onto the chain, not daring to move.
After about the time it takes to brew tea, the scorching hot wind finally disappeared. The five people caught their breath, slowly readjusted themselves, and continued walking. Thus whenever the abyss’s hot wind arose they stopped, and when there was no wind they walked. Walking and stopping in this manner, it took Wu Ying and the others an hour and a half to gradually approach the ice palace.
The scorching hot wind had just dispersed when bone-piercing cold air from the giant ice came rushing at them. Before even drawing near, the several people were already shivering with cold. The person in the gloom of the giant ice slowly revealed their form—a young maiden wearing flowing, pure white robes, graceful as a painting. The maiden’s face seemed to wear a deep blue mask, though the distance was still too far to see clearly.
Wu Ying sighed inwardly. She must be the legendary Saintess!
Yun Yan stepped onto the surface of the giant ice. The smooth, transparent ice surface nearly caused Yun Yan to slip. The attendant hurriedly steadied him. Yun Yan pushed the attendant away and prostrated himself on all fours on the ice surface. Unable to endure the cold air, his voice trembled. “Gu Yao Sect Priest Yun Yan… pays respects to the Saintess Immortal.”
The attendant also mimicked his posture, bowing with his rear raised on the ice.
Wu Ying, pulling A Mu, finally also stepped onto the giant ice. A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes, then he dropped to his knees. “The seventh Great Elder of Gu Yao Sect, Wu Ying, pays respects to the Saintess Immortal. May the Saintess share longevity with heaven and earth, and shine together with the sun and moon.”
Ban Xi likewise prostrated himself, though he and the attendant had no qualification to speak. A Mu gazed blandly at the Saintess, her expression mysteriously inscrutable. One hundred zhang beyond the giant ice, beneath the rock wall, an ice pavilion had been built. Within the pavilion were set an ice table, ice couch, ice platform, and even an ice zither. A Mu withdrew her gaze from the ice pavilion and stared at the ground beneath her feet. The ice palace with its carved dragons and painted pillars was like a jade palace or shell palace.
A Mu suddenly felt a surge of cold air. She raised her head and met the Saintess’s gaze. The deep blue mask on the Saintess’s face actually flowed like deep seawater, flashing with bewitchingly magnificent and strange light.
“Kneel quickly!” Wu Ying grabbed A Mu. A Mu abruptly lost her balance and knelt on the ice surface. The Saintess trembled imperceptibly when no one was watching. Wu Ying pressed his head against the ice surface and said, “Reporting to the Saintess Immortal, A Mu is the seventeenth sacred maiden chosen.”
The Saintess’s voice seemed to come from a ten-thousand-year ice cavern, without a trace of warmth. “Follow me.”