Chapter 70 - White Bones Mountain
Edited by Ea
This matter was indeed strange. Mortals were not related to the Immortal world. How can two woodcutters have the courage to murder immortals?
Lin Shu thought about it carefully. The Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss was notorious, so even mortals should have heard of its reputation. Even if they didn’t know it at first, when they came to the towns around this mountain range, no matter how much they wanted to collect spiritual herbs, they should have been dissuaded by those appalling legends.
However, since Ling Xiao has put a recording device on the cliff, when they come back, he can see something from the recording–if someone comes to find them and if this was a gang committing a crime, they can follow the clues in the recording.
If no one comes looking for them, then the case is finished. The rope used by Ling Xiao to tie them was a top-grade magic weapon. The barrier can never be broken. When they go back, they will be sent to the Imperial Guards for trial, and this will come to a conclusion.
Ling Xiao took Ling Shu again and jumped off the cliff with his lightness skill.
The cat seemed to be a little afraid of heights, and was not at ease about their lightness skills. It has gathered extra spiritual power to protect its surroundings.
The cold wind was blowing on their faces, and there were ghosts crying one after another below. After a long time, the three men finally fell on the ground.
The visibility here was very low. After Lin Shu stood firm, he plucked the strings and beat back the fog with the pure spiritual power of the Ice Stringed Zither. Only then could he see the scene ahead.
Cang Min was in front trying to create a path, Lin Shu was in the middle, the cat was standing on his shoulders, and Ling Xiao was at the back.
According to the map, they should look for a crevice, and under the crevice was the real Ten Thousand Ghosts Abyss.
But, obviously, in such an environment, there was no such thing as a crevice, and even the top of the mountain was difficult to find.
Lin Shu was thinking about whether it would be easier to find the legendary crevice if he had studied Geology in modern times and knew the topography of rift valleys.
Just as he was thinking about it, he tripped over something and almost fell down.
Ling Xiao has quick eyes and quick hands, and he supported him, saying: “Be careful.”
Lin Shu looked down: “...”
The culprit was a piece of white thigh bone.
He said, “Wait.”
The two stopped. Lin Shu looked around, found a relatively clean-looking stone, sat down cross-legged, straightened the zither, and began to play the tune seriously.
He played《Warding Off Evil Spirits》 which was used in the ghost village for the first time.
The fluctuation of spiritual power, which was interwoven with different tones, was naturally much more powerful than pressing a few chords at random. As the tone got higher and higher, with the Ice String Zither as the center, the evil atmosphere and ghostly fog gradually disappeared.
After reaching the climax of this song, the sound gradually fell, but the intensity of the spiritual power fluctuations did not decrease at all, and even became stronger and stronger due to the foundation previously laid down, causing the things obstructing their visions to disappear like a tide.
At the end of the song, the fog of hundreds of meters in the circle was all dispersed.
Lin Shu stood up, continued to hold the zither, and looked around: “...”
He grew up in a peaceful modern earth. Although he cultivated immortality, he only saw corpses and skeletons in the news since he was a child, and they were already specially processed, so they would not be too frightening.
The current scene, for him, really has a visual impact.
The saying “the white bones were piled as high as a mountain” was just like this.
The undulating bottom of the cliff was full of corpses scattered everywhere, and you could see that it was human bones at a glance.
In the legend, the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss eats people and spits out the bones. If one doesn’t have a tyrannical cultivation base, there is no way they can leave. Indeed, there was no exaggeration in that statement.
Cang Min: “Strange.”
The word “strange” is very common today.
Ling Xiao: “Too much.”
Lin Shu estimated the number of these skeletons. The sound of his zither only cleared out this area, which was already the case. If you include other places that couldn’t be seen, not even all the disciples of Shangling Academy will reach the number of skeletons here.
Although people die for money and birds die for food, in the end, people still understood the situation in their hearts. Why were there so many people rushing here to die, even knowing that this was a place that eats people and spits out bones?
Moreover, in the ancient books that recorded the situation of Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss, it was not mentioned that the entrance was full of white bones.
Cang Min: “Yes, this is too much.”
Ling Xiao: “If all of these people were from the Immortal Dao, then there would be no one left in the Immortal Dao right now.”
Cang Min: “I’m afraid most of them were mortals–but how come so many mortals came here?”
Lin Shu listened to the two of them talking, and the two brothers came to mind.
These mortals, were they not trapped by others?
He thought of Ling Xiao saying that the two pendants have the smell of offering incense — was this a scene of evil cult?
However, the official residences all have household registration records, and corrections are made every five years, and the government offices in various places are not empty decorations. If so many mortals were trapped in Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss and then killed, the Imperial Court could not be unaware.
Ling Xiao took out a compass. In Lin Shu’s eyes, it made him look like a good–religious follower.
As soon as the compass was taken out, the pointer on it turned wildly, without any tendency to stop.
Ling Xiao: “Resentment.”
“Strange.. very strange.” Cang Min said, “Let’s go and explore.”
Ling Xiao uttered an “En” and the three people continued to move forward.
Lin Shu slowly adapted to the illusion. Every time he walked forward, he played a piece of 《Warding Off Evil Spirits》 to help Ling Xiao and Cang Min to broaden their path.
They finally recognized the direction of the mountain range on the map, followed it all the way forward, and found a deep crack that seemed to extend into the dark void.
After entering the crack, they were completely isolated from the world.
However, the map was correct, that is to say, when the people who drew it drew the map, the underside of the cliff was not as invisible as it is now. It is likely that the fog, which blocks the sight of the people, only filled up later.
Lin Shu thought that he was clever for once. He made note of the doubtful point for a moment. He was half supported and half held by Cousin and went down the steep crack and went deep into the crevice.
Even if he did not have the keen senses of immortals right now and was wrapped in the warm fur, he still could not help shivering.
In the dark, there were the sounds of small animals’ footsteps, the rustle of things with unknown texture rubbing against stones, and the ubiquitous low howling and fighting sounds.
According to the legend, this was the battlefield where the ancient Shu Kingdom and the ancient Dian Kingdom fought. It was already a place full of blood and death to begin with, and according to the geomantic omen theory, it was also the place where Yin Qi and evil spirits gathered. Hundreds of years later, the vicissitudes of the sea changed. After an earthquake with countless deaths and injuries, the Yin Qi and evil spirits soared into the sky. Hundreds of ghosts formed and the evil things grew. It became the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss that people talked about.
Hearing these sounds, there were many unclean things moving around.
Ling Xiao whispered, “Go!”
Cang Min laughed and said, “I’ve been waiting for this moment!”
Lin Shu picked up the zither and was also ready.
When humans are among the ghosts, they will naturally be noticed!
Once noticed, they will immediately be attacked by them!
For this reason, each of them has prepared three elusive talismans, which could prevent their own auras from being detected by evil beings within a single stick of incense’s time.
With these three elusive talismans, they made the plan to enter the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss.
First, go and slaughter their way into the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss, go to the deep Netherworld River, and collect the White Bone Flowers. Then use the elusive talisman to get rid of the large-scale encirclement, and go down the river to the lair of the Yin snake, kill it, and obtain the blood of the Yin snake and the dark dragon bone. Finally, sneak into the Netherworld River and get the black Ice Poison Water. At this time, the evil things attracted along the way will have accumulated into a terrible scale and they will escape once again using the talismans. After a time of incense burning, they would slaughter their way out of the abyss and finally, they left one last talisman in case of emergency.
At this time, their existence had obviously been discovered by the evil things, and the rustle and footsteps suddenly rose up after a distinctive long howl and gathered around them.
Cang Min said: “Good, come!”
The broadsword swept across, the dull “dong dong” sounded out, Cang Min used his lightness skills and catapulted forward. The broadsword swept through thousands of evil troops.
Ling Xiao wandered around in the back, and Lin Shu was taken care of by the cat.
The cat’s chaotic spiritual power can almost condense into a tangible entity, holding him up, floating in mid-air in the most suitable position for playing the zither, and flying forward with the speed of Cang Min and Ling Xiao.
Lin Shu felt that this transportation vehicle was wonderful, and after adjusting to it a bit, he quickly started playing “Unparalleled Clouds.” A pure spiritual power surged outwards from the Ice Stringed Zither, which not only caused a lot of damage to the demons that came up under the black pressure, but also assisted Cang Min and Ling Xiao to help them calm down and concentrate.
As for the cat itself, it hugged his neck tightly and refused to look out.
Lin Shu thought that this might be because the cat knew that Cang Min had to rely on killing demons at the Ten Thousand Ghost Abyss to train, and he also needed such an extreme environment to get used to fighting with the Ice Stringed Zither, so the cat didn’t make a move and created opportunities for them to improve their realm– finally recovering some face.
At this time, his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he saw countless strange and ugly evil creatures rushing at the three of them like a tide, while Cang Min and Ling Xiao’s sword and blade strengths were like crazy bulldozers. Under the heavy siege, they forcibly opened up a path and moved forward rapidly.
It seems to be effortless, but they all know–this is just the beginning.
———-
TL’s Mini Theatre:
Zaki doing translation: 不过, 凌霄既然已经在悬崖上放下了摄像头,等他们回来的时候, 能从录像里看出些什么东西——假如有人来寻他们,这件事就是团伙作案, 可以根据录像里的线索去顺藤摸瓜。However, since Ling xiao has put down the video camera on the cliff, when they come back, they can see something from the video. If someone comes to look for them, and if this is gang crime. They can follow the clues in the video.
Zaki searches other translation: Webcam, CCTV, video camera. *what the heck?*
Ling Xiao: ehhh? What is ‘video camera’? When did I have a video camera?
Lin Shu: I didn’t bring any video camera in this world.
Ea: *comes in to edit*. Fixed it, “recording device”. Zaki, have you forgotten they are using enchantment devices?
Zaki: Why didn’t I think of that?
Rich Cat: Meow! *because you’re stoopid?*