Chapter 389 - Infiltrating the Ghost-wailing Hill

After a long time, Xiao Chen finally felt himself landing on the ground. His vision also cleared up. What appeared in front of him was the opening to a quiet valley, filled with towering trees and green grass cushioning the forest floor. There were gigantic flowers of every color imaginable everywhere. The flowers were particularly thick and solid, some of them even as tall as a human. They fluttered as wind swept them. These must be the rumored Exotic Man-eating Flowers.

“You’re finally here? I thought you wandered off elsewhere.”

Su Lianyue stood next to a bluestone stele, gazing into the distance. The breeze swept her, billowing her sleeves. She was the very picture of a fairy in the human world. Xiao Chen walked up to her. “You jest, Fairy.” He stared into the distance, where all he saw was range upon range of towering mountains that seemed endless.

“The Rancorous Qi here is intense. We must be within the vicinity of Ghost-wailing Hill.”

“Let’s go. The emergence of the extraordinary treasure yesterday must have ignited the battle between the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. I’m sure the Corpse Refinery Sect is going to show up today to pick up the corpses.”

The two of them immediately entered the valley, all while trying their best to evade the Exotic Man-eating Flowers. Some five kilometers later, they came across an ear-piercing sound of murder. They hid behind a tree as wide as three humans and poked their heads out, where they saw nearly a hundred people engaged in an intense battle. Twenty to thirty corpses were lying on the ground.

Judging from the dazzling scene of clashing saber radiance and Sword Qi, magic treasures and multi-colored rays of sword light, there was no doubt that the sects from the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice were fighting it out. For thousands of years, both sides had declared each other their nemesis. Each time they met, a bloody battle would surely follow without the need to ask questions first.

The eruption of unnatural phenomenon yesterday must have attracted countless members of the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. This place was likely not the only place covered in blood and corpses.

Xiao Chen’s brows were tightly pinched. He couldn’t help recalling how the Wuwang Wind Cloud City had spread the news of the Ancient Immortal Clan, drawing countless people to the oasis of death in the desert. Similar chaos happened as cultivators fought over an ancient treasure that didn’t really exist. Little did they know that Mu Luo had released the news because he needed the cultivators to fight so that he could get their blood and souls to trigger the Blood Soul Formation.

The news about the extraordinary treasure emerging in the Miasma Mountain Range must be someone’s deliberate scheme. The end goal must be similar to Mu Luo’s.

“Young Master Xiao, aren’t you going to help your Orthodox friends? They’re about to lose,” Su Lianyue said with a faint smile, her gaze resting on the fighting crowd.

Xiao Chen spared them a glance and found that several Orthodox sects were indeed at a disadvantage. He said coldly, “What does their life or death have to do with me?”

Su Lianyue took one look at his face and put on an alluring smile, looking as if she had completely forgotten about the fox demon incident. Now that she thought about it, she had been overreacting earlier and nearly ruined their plan.

Xiao Chen said, “Let’s go. We’ll take the other way around.” They chose a path that evaded the battle and continued walking for another four hours. Even so, they still found themselves in the valley, where they came across several battles along the way.

The range of the Ghost-wailing Hill had exceeded his expectations. Finding the spot where the extraordinary treasure emerged yesterday in such a vast area felt like finding a needle in a haystack. Unless there was another display of unnatural phenomenon, it wouldn’t be an easy task to find the treasure.

“Swish!”

His Unsullied Sword turned into a white light and flew out, slicing an Exotic Man-eating Flower charging at them in half. This particular flower was a lot thicker than the ones they saw at the entrance of the valley and was nearly ten feet tall. Blood-like red juice was dripping from its mouth. In the flower’s abdomen was remnants of skeletons yet to be digested.

Su Lianyue’s brows knitted. She grabbed a few tree leaves and wiped her cuffs clean. They ran into many of such flowers earlier and she accidentally dirtied her clothes with such juice while slaying them. This annoyed her immensely.

Xiao Chen wasn’t that concerned. He said softly, “Walk behind me.” He continued taking the lead, walking into a canyon ahead.

The deeper into the valley they were, the colder it became. The Rancorous Qi that seemed to have emerged from deep under the ground became even denser.

The interior of the Ghost-wailing Hill was much more perilous than its exterior. Besides the miasma and the plethora of gigantic Man-eating Flowers, there were also many hundred-year-old Walking Corpses popping up from the ground out of nowhere as well as ponds hiding under some grass-covered flatlands. Even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would have a hard time escaping those ponds once sunk in.

Thus, few people came here in the past thousand years. It wasn’t until the news of the extraordinary treasure spread that the typically quiet and still mountain range came to life.

“Kaboom!”

Following the sound of thunder, large drops of rainwater began pelting the ground. So dense were the raindrops that Xiao Chen was soon soaked through. It wasn’t unwelcome though, as his clothes were stained with the Man-eating Flowers’ juice. Su Lianyue walked up to him with an umbrella. “Let’s find shelter first.”

“Hmm.” Xiao Chen nodded, carelessly wiping the rainwater on his face. He continued to walk at a slower pace. His Unsullied Sword swirled around them, immediately cutting down any Man-eating Flower that dared to come close within ten feet of them.

At twilight, the rain finally ceased. The two of them reached a forest by the cliff. When they looked down, all they could see was a boundless expanse of towering rocky mountains covered in lush greenery. Only God knew how many creatures were hiding in the forest below. There must be two or three thousands of cultivators who have come to the Ghost-wailing Hill now.

The curtain of the night gradually descended upon them. It was impossible for them to continue their journey tonight. Ever since the extraordinary treasure showed up, it hadn’t shown another unnatural phenomenon. The others must still be looking.

Nighttime was bitterly cold at the Ghost-wailing Hill. It was an indescribable kind of sinister coldness. When the wind swept through the forest, it would howl like a ghost. That was where it got its name from.

Flames gradually lit up some parts of the forest under the cliff, most of them belonging to the stronger sects. The smaller sects or independent cultivators wouldn’t dare to start a bonfire lest they attract enemies or monsters.

Xiao Chen’s brows furrowed as he thought of how Brother Yifeng’s camp must be here by now, along with Xiaoyue’s group, and Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu who were hiding… Even with Su Lianyue’s help, it wouldn’t be easy to steal the extraordinary treasure in front of these people.

Of course, the treasure wasn’t his biggest concern.

Xiao Chen returned to the forest and saw Su Lianyue sitting under a large tree, hugging her trembling self. He asked, “Are you that cold?”

Su Lianyue looked up at him before lowering her head again. She didn’t even want to speak. Xiao Chen had clearly asked a pointless question.

Xiao Chen frowned. This place indeed had an indescribable sinister coldness that other places didn’t have, he thought. But it wasn’t as bad as she made it out to be, was it? He flicked his sleeves and gathered the nearby dried branches into a pile. He forced every last hint of water out of them and made a small bonfire. The flame immediately lit up their surroundings.

Su Lianyue’s brows furrowed. “What are you doing?”

“It’s alright.” Xiao Chen sat down next to the bonfire. He knew she wasn’t afraid of Orthodox sects, but Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu.

Su Lianyue felt a lot less cold thanks to the bonfire’s warmth. The two of them said nothing and truth to be told, there wasn’t anything to be said. After a while, Xiao Chen suddenly stood up. Su Lianyue pressed the jade reed strapped to her waist out of conditioned reflex before slowly releasing it. “Where are you going?”

“Nothing. I’m just going to look around.” Xiao Chen tapped the tip of his foot and disappeared into the forest.

Su Lianyue frowned deeply at Xiao Chen’s disappearing figure. Her pupils reflected the flickering flames. She knew that their interests were merely not conflicting at the moment. The moment it happened, he would be no different from Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu.

Suddenly, a faint gust of wind carried a rustling noise from somewhere close by. Su Lianyue turned her head with a frown and said coldly, “Come out!”

…

Xiao Chen returned two hours later with two hares that had been slaughtered and cleaned. Su Lianyue sat by the fire with her hands propping her face. She chuckled and asked, “Did you discover anything, Young Master?”

Xiao Chen shook his head. “It’s mostly smaller sects camping nearby. They’re no reason for worry. Xiaoyue’s group is in a canyon in the northwest. The whereabouts of Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu are still unknown.” Xiao Chen walked over to her as he spoke. He strung the hare meat and then cast her a glance. “I didn’t find any traces of the Corpse Refinery Sect either.”

Su Lianyue looked as if she was listening to something that didn’t concern her. Her hands remained lying against her cheeks, her gaze lingering on his skewered hare meat. She smiled. “Did you go out for so long just to find me these two hares?”

“And someone still tried to kill me today,” Xiao Chen replied nonchalantly and placed the hare meat over the fire. Su Lianyue couldn’t help blushing and traces of anger seeped into her voice. “I forbid you from bringing this up again.”

The night was getting quieter. The only sound audible was the crackling of firewood in the bonfire. Xiao Chen slowly turned the wooden stick in his hand and before long, the fragrance of the fat in the meat drifted in the air. After interacting with Su Lianyue for two days, perhaps not even he himself noticed that he had gradually changed his opinion of her.

So what if she belonged to the Devil’s Practice? Until now at least, she hadn’t harmed him. Those from the Orthodox Path, the Orthodox Path that he yearned for, had all wanted to kill him back then. The Orthodox Path…

“Young Master?” Su Lianyue quietly called Xiao Chen. He snapped out of it and turned around to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

She said nothing, choosing to look at the hare meat in his hands. He turned around and noticed that half of the meat was nearly scorched. He immediately turned it around twice.

Su Lianyue chuckled and quietly stared at the hare meat being turned over and over in the fire. Who could counter the autumn wind that rose from her ice-jade reed? She was the Ice Jade Fairy, who wouldn’t even blink when murdering someone. But it seemed that this man, who didn’t know how to roast meat, was roasting game for her for the second time?

“Fairy?”

Su Lianyue snapped out of it. She saw that the roasting was done and the scorched bits of the hare meat were even torn off. She reached out to grab the meat and nodded with a smile. “Thank you, Young Master.”

Xiao Chen was beginning to feel hungry as well and swiftly finished an entire hare by himself. Su Lianyue had just finished half of hers before turning to look at him. “Young Master, do you like music that much?”

“What?”

She chuckled and shook her head. He raised his sleeve and wiped the grease staining the corner of his mouth. He said, “I went down earlier and found intense Negative Qi gathering in the northwest direction. Heavy grudge must be forming there. Perhaps that’s where the extraordinary treasure has shown itself…”

“Is the extraordinary treasure all that you think about?” Su Lianyue suddenly interrupted him.

Xiao Chen shook his head. “The number of people who have come for the treasure has exceeded my expectations. I’ll get it if I can, but my main objective is finding out what the Corpse Refinery Sect is up to. The emergence of the extraordinary treasure has brought upon heavy grudge as well. That doesn’t seem plausible.”

A gust of cold wind swept them and the flames pulsed in response. Su Lianyue took a deep breath and said, “If those missing thirty-one people…” She stopped, and both of them said in unison, “Who is it?!”

“Swish! Swish!” The Unsullied Sword and the Purple Jade Flute transformed into lights of white and purple and charged at a certain dark spot in the forest.