Er Sheng plunged straight into the lake within the forbidden area behind the mountain. The icy water instantly assaulted all her senses.
The searing pain in her abdomen seemed to lessen somewhat in the frigid water. Er Sheng had never learned to swim since childhood. Caught off guard by this sudden predicament, she flailed in panic with her muscles tensed tight. Yet the more she struggled, the more water she swallowed, sinking ever faster toward the lake bottom.
I’m going to die… Er Sheng thought. Either way, she would suffocate eventually, unable to expel the foreign object. At least drowning would make for a more dignified end.
Her only regret was never finding Chang Yuan in this lifetime… She wondered how he was doing now if he still remembered he had a little wife, if he knew this little wife had been searching for him all along…
Er Sheng’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy, yet her physical sensations became sharper. She could hear the movement of water around her, feeling its flow gradually change from initial stillness to an increasingly rapid spiral.
“Er Sheng.”
Who was calling her?
The voice was calm, yet carried a long-missed tenderness.
“Er Sheng.”
Who…
Er Sheng felt her back touch something solid, like iron or a wall. Suddenly, this hard surface began moving beneath her, following the water’s flow rapidly upward before bursting out of the icy lake.
At that moment, Beauty Kong was locked in fierce aerial combat with the Immortal Lord. Though Beauty Kong’s magical power exceeded the Immortal Lord’s by a margin or two, those earlier tyrannical attacks had injured his internal energy. Every time he circulated his qi, his chest ached, making it impossible to fight the Immortal Lord at full strength. To make matters worse, the Wufang Immortal Lord was infamous for his ruthlessness, never hesitating to unleash devastating spiritual attacks against demons. His every move was lethal, leaving Beauty Kong entirely on the defensive.
Just as he was grinding his teeth in frustration, he sensed a strange energy emanating from below, upon careful inspection, extremely similar to the force that had ambushed him earlier. Beauty Kong grew wary, hastily parrying one of the Immortal Lord’s attacks before looking downward.
The Immortal Lord had naturally sensed the same energy. He cast a bland glance toward the rear mountain of Wufang, his brows furrowing slightly. In an instant, a translucent blue sword materialized in his hand as he charged at Beauty Kong with obvious intent to end things quickly.
Caught off guard by this sudden sword strike, Beauty Kong barely managed to dodge. His anger finally erupted: “You jest with me, yet truly think this king so easily bullied?” As he spoke, he began muttering an incantation, conjuring an exceptionally ornate folding fan. “Let this king earnestly spar with you then.”
The sky above Wufang exploded with dazzling lights of various colors as their attacks collided. The disciples below watched in amazement, while the forbidden area behind the mountain remained deathly silent.
Er Sheng was dragged to the lake’s edge, deathly pale with wet hair plastered messily across her face, looking utterly disheveled. Yet she remained completely unaware of her surroundings.
A man in flowing black robes placed his hand over Er Sheng’s abdomen and pressed gently. Er Sheng immediately coughed up a mouthful of clear water, followed by continuous wheezing. She hazily opened her eyes to look at the man before her, but before she could make out his features, she fainted again from the pain in her stomach.
The man was also completely soaked. After confirming that Er Sheng’s pulse remained strong and steady, he let out a long breath and sat down beside her. He gently stroked her furrowed brow with his index finger, then asked with concern after a long silence: “Does it hurt very much?”
Er Sheng, unconscious, naturally couldn’t answer, so he pressed harder trying to smooth the wrinkles from her forehead.
The fierce battle continued overhead, with the brilliant light from clashing spells reflecting off the clear lake water and into the man’s black eyes. A flash of gold flickered through his clear pupils as his expression gradually grew cold: “How dare they… bully you so.”
Er Sheng coughed twice, murmuring in her daze: “Chang Yuan…”
His gaze softened as he stroked her forehead: “Let me go teach that demon a lesson for you, alright?” As Chang Yuan rose to leave, he found his sleeve caught in Er Sheng’s death grip.
Unwilling to pry her hand loose, he could only suppress the dark fury in his heart and sit back down good-naturedly, content to simply stare at Er Sheng unmoving, as if such staring might wake her faster.
The magical battle above grew increasingly intense, causing spiritual energy to surge through Wufang. The lake water churned without wind, and some leaves were even sliced off by the residual force of their spells.
Chang Yuan, however, had gotten lost in watching Er Sheng, just as he had often done these past few years – quietly observing from a corner while she meditated or stared absently into space. By the time he blinked back to awareness, the two combatants above had fought until dark clouds covered the sky, giving the immortal mountain of Wufang the appearance of a demon peak.
Chang Yuan frowned, thinking to himself that both fighters had mastered the arts of the Dao. Fighting like this would inevitably damage the world’s vital energy. With Wufang Mountain overflowing with spiritual energy, if some ancient evil creature lay sealed beneath…
Before he could finish the thought, the ground suddenly shook violently.
The lake water before them began to churn rapidly, spinning like some monster in the center was sucking everything inward. When the lake had completely dried up, a stone tablet that had stood for countless years was revealed on the flat bottom. The cinnabar characters upon it looked as if they had just been painted with fresh blood:
Boundless Desolate City.
Beyond the Three Realms, above lies the Ruins of Ten Thousand Heavens, and below lies the Boundless Desolate City. Both are places of deathly stillness, without sun or moon, without life. Enter at will, exit never.
Seeing this tablet, Chang Yuan’s expression grew solemn. The Boundless Desolate City, a savage realm eternally imprisoning those of great evil – its entrance was actually in Wufang? Chang Yuan thought, no wonder this place was designated forbidden ground. Such a place truly should not be known to others.
“Mmph…”
A groan escaped Er Sheng’s lips. Chang Yuan turned to look and saw that her complexion had grown even paler than before. Alarm rose in Chang Yuan’s heart as he reached out to find her face as cold as ice.
“It hurts so much…” Er Sheng mumbled unconsciously, “My stomach is going to explode.”
Chang Yuan’s face went white at these words.
Just then, the ground began shaking violently again. Unlike the previous tremor that stopped after one shake, this continued steadily as if some massive monster was about to burst from the earth.
Above, the Immortal Lord and Beauty Kong had stopped their death match. The Immortal Lord’s face was ashen, while Beauty Kong’s eyes gleamed with an unnamed light as he muttered: “Boundless Desolate City… the Boundless Desolate City is here.”
A bolt of lightning struck from the clear sky, hitting the stone tablet inscribed with “Boundless Desolate City.” Suddenly, an enormous city materialized in the air behind the lightning flash. The massive black city gates creaked open slowly toward where Er Sheng lay.
An eerie wind swept out from the gates, seeming to grab Er Sheng and drag her inward.
Chang Yuan instinctively held Er Sheng tight, struggling against that nameless force.
The gates opened wider and wider, the force pulling Er Sheng grew stronger and stronger, and the golden light flashing in Chang Yuan’s black eyes grew more and more intense. Cold sweat poured down Er Sheng’s forehead as she could only weakly mutter a single word over and over: “Pain… pain.”
With the gates fully open, the world within was shrouded in thick fog where nothing could be seen clearly. Only a red shadow flickered faintly in the mist.
Looking carefully, it was revealed to be a woman in a scarlet robe dancing gracefully in the fog: “Dawn to dusk I long for you, why do you not return?” She sang as she danced, her voice filled with bitter grief like a vengeful ghost bound in hell, causing all who heard it to shudder in fear.
As the dance ended, the woman sighed sorrowfully: “You do not return, for what reason, for what reason?”
“Er Sheng,” the woman called out eerily, “Come back now.”
As soon as the words fell, Chang Yuan felt his arms empty as Er Sheng was snatched away into the air. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pursued.
The massive gates closed, trapping them both inside. The city vanished from the air as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving only a dried-up lake and the stone tablet with its blood-red characters glowing ever brighter…
When Er Sheng next awoke, she was in a sea of red dust. The first thing she did upon opening her eyes was reach for the Scale Sword, only feeling at ease once she had a firm grip on it.
Being force-fed the bead, being thrown into the water… Er Sheng couldn’t remember anything after that. Her abdomen still ached dully, though not as severely as before. Er Sheng shook her somewhat sluggish head and stood up uncertainly, looking around to see nothing but endless red desolation. “Master,” she called out weakly, receiving no answer. She paced back and forth a few steps, looking around before calling again: “Master? Senior Sister?”
The red dust swirled everywhere. Er Sheng walked just a few steps and completely lost track of where she had been. One turn and she was completely disoriented.
The surroundings were deathly silent, so empty it terrified Er Sheng.
“Is anyone there?” Er Sheng shouted, “Master, Senior Sister, Immortal Lord, Beauty Kong! Anyone at all, is anyone there?”
Her only answer was the endless whisper of wind-blown sand, its desolate sound continuing without end.
She had never been in such a situation before. No matter how miserable things got, she had always had someone by her side. Even when alone, there were always signs of human presence nearby. Er Sheng feared loneliness most of all. Left alone in such a place, it wasn’t long before her eyes reddened. But knowing tears would solve nothing, she could only bite her lip and force back her emotions.
Unable to get her bearings, Er Sheng simply picked a random direction and started walking. She had planned to use her sword flight technique to fly up and at least see what kind of place this was, but upon attempting the incantation she discovered her inner void – all her spiritual power had vanished.
Er Sheng could only trudge laboriously through the flying red sand. The ground here was extremely soft – each step sank deep, up to her knees. Er Sheng had to use both hands and feet to make any forward progress.
After walking for who knows how long, Er Sheng was drenched in sweat. Looking up, there was still nothing ahead but red dust.
She suddenly felt utterly deflated, instantly losing all will to continue forward. Her head drooped as she stared at her legs buried deep in the yellow sand. Tears began falling steadily as she clutched her aching stomach and complained pitifully: “Master and Senior Sister aren’t here, that bad Kong isn’t here, Chang Yuan isn’t here either… Chang Yuan hasn’t been here for so long… where did everyone go wandering off to?”
“Naturally they found you troublesome and left on their own.”
An androgynous voice rang out from nowhere, piercing Er Sheng’s heart with even more sorrow. She quickly wiped away her tears and looked around carefully but saw no one. She asked warily: “Who are you?”
“Me? I’m merely an illusion,” the voice said. “Er Sheng, you are destined for a life of solitude. Normally, no one stays with you – this is your predetermined fate.”
“A life of solitude…” Er Sheng repeated blankly. “Why must it be me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Wrong or not, you must bear it. This is fate.”
“What nonsense!” Er Sheng cursed. “While I live, I’ll live as my heart dictates. What fate? Who decided my fate, and what right did they have to decide it? Has their brain been filled with shit or are they just too full of themselves?”
The androgynous voice fell silent for a moment. Er Sheng was still wondering about this when suddenly a gentle call came from ahead, in that voice, she had longed for day and night:
“Er Sheng.”
That single call left Er Sheng completely stunned, unable to react.
A figure began to emerge through the yellow sand. Er Sheng found strength from somewhere unknown, yanking her legs free to run as fast as she could through the deep sand, charging straight toward that person. Though her heart screamed his name, something caught in her throat prevented her from uttering a single word.
The figure ahead grew clearer and clearer. As Er Sheng ran, her eyes swelled red as if painted with cinnabar.
“Chang…”
She took a deep breath, not caring how much sand she inhaled, wanting only to call out his name before throwing herself into his arms, never to let go again.
But fate is unpredictable. After Er Sheng’s arduous “trek” of such distance, she grew too excited as she approached Chang Yuan. Her strength failed at the crucial moment and with a “splat,” she fell ungracefully right in front of him, covered head to toe in sand.
Er Sheng raised her head, tears mixed with sand drawing strange yellow meandering lines down her face. “Chang Yuan…” Er Sheng called out pitifully, her voice hoarse almost beyond recognition.
The black-robed man knelt down and patiently wiped the dirt from her face. Though his expression remained extremely calm, the tenderness in his eyes was something Er Sheng had never seen in anyone else’s gaze.
“Why are you still so reckless?”
Er Sheng straightened up, brazenly grabbed Chang Yuan’s sleeve to wipe her nose, then burrowed against his neck, hugging him and refusing to let go.
“Chang Yuan…” Er Sheng called his name with trembling lips as tears and mucus flowed down his neck into his clothes. “I searched for you for so long, for so long!”