Yu Mo stood with his hands clasped behind his back, silent for a long moment before speaking slowly: "Since we have come here, we simply go all the way to the end, how can we give up halfway?Yan Dan looked at him in surprise, the words escaping unconsciously: "Yu Mo?"
Yu Mo raised his hand and gently pushed her shoulder, his touch brief but steady: "Let's go."
Yan Dan's heart cleared with understanding, and she smiled slightly at him, a shallow dimple faintly appearing on her right cheek like a secret revealed.
Tao Ziqi rowed the boat to the center of the lake, then suddenly pushed the oars aside and jumped into the water with a resounding plop, ripples spreading across the calm surface in ever-widening circles. Yu Mo propped himself against the side of the boat and said lightly: "I'll go down first." After saying that, he too stepped into the water with barely a splash.
At this moment, it was almost dusk, and the pale red sunset dyed the clouds on the horizon crimson, and even the turquoise lake surface rippled with waves of light red like liquid fire. Yan Dan leaned over the side of the boat and looked into the water, then looked up at the sky, and couldn't help but say: "If it's a night with stars and moons, isn't it the mirror lake water moon?"
Tang Zhou looked at her white porcelain-like delicate cheeks, noticing how the corners of her eyes curved slightly when she smiled—clear and innocent, untouched by the world's cynicism—and couldn't help but sigh softly: "Why do you need to follow?"
Yan Dan shook her fingers dismissively and said with a smile: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not for you." She counted on her fingers. "The first is to send you to see the girl in your dreams as soon as possible, and the second is that life is really boring, and it's okay to find something to do by chance." She turned her head to look at the sunset painting the sky, then at the water reflecting its beauty, and murmured, "Strange, why did Yu Mo go for so long?"
She slowly reached into the water, disturbing it twice with her fingers, and suddenly water droplets splashed before her eyes. Yu Mo broke through the surface, stretched out his arms on the side of the boat, and let out a long breath: "Come down, I'll lead the way."
Yan Dan jumped off the boat without hesitation and waved to Tang Zhou: "Come on." She reached out and grabbed his wrist, her grip firm, and whispered, "You just need to hold your breath and follow me." She watched Yu Mo dive into the water first, his form disappearing into the blue depths, and slowly sank her body beneath the surface.
Looking up from underwater, the lake water was crystal light blue, ethereal and otherworldly. The bottom was white sand and gravel, aquatic grass waving like silk ribbons, and slender fish passed by with their tails undulating gracefully.
Yu Mo cut through the water ahead of them, and a full three incense sticks' worth of time passed before he suddenly broke through the surface. Yan Dan followed, only to see a gorgeous palace not far away in front of them, with marble steps extending like a pathway between worlds all the way to the water's edge. After walking a few steps up, wisps of clouds slowly floated in, lingering around their bodies.
All this seemed both real and illusory, as if walking on ethereal clouds suspended between heaven and earth.
Outside the palace stood a stone monument with four ancient seal scripts carved deep into its surface: Mirror Lake Water Moon.
Yan Dan turned her head to look at the lake behind them, and saw that the crescent moon on the edge of the sky was bright and luminous, reflected in the lake like a silver ghost, and the moon shadow swayed slowly with the water's movement.
Tang Zhou whispered with recognition: "This is the Shenxiao Palace......"
"The first two times I entered Shenxiao Palace, someone led the way for me, but this time I didn't." Yu Mo turned his head, his brow furrowing with concern, "Since the Lord of Shenxiao Palace wants to use your power to unlock the seal of the artifact, he must also lay traps within......"
Before he finished speaking, a figure in linen clothes and clogs suddenly appeared at the palace door. A wisp of mist floated in, and through the vast sea of clouds, they vaguely saw the man holding his clothes, moving with light and elegant steps.
Yan Dan couldn't help but exclaim: "That's...... Wu Shun?! Didn't he fall into an underground cave, how could he be here?" She chased forward two steps, only to find that the distance between them was growing larger instead of shrinking, as if invisible forces pulled them apart. The herbalist Wu Shun walked fast as if being led by some unseen string.
Tang Zhou looked at her and asked: "Will you admit your mistake?"
Yan Dan was also a little uncertain now, and could only say: "Maybe I read it wrong."
"Yan Dan has always been meticulous, and when hasn't she seen correctly? That person is likely to be Wu Shun." Yu Mo said with quiet certainty.
Yan Dan was simply flattered: "Actually, I'm not as careful as you said, it's really too much praise."
The Shenxiao Palace loomed close before them, yet everything ahead was pitch black, swallowed in oppressive silence.
The three of them walked slowly forward in this darkness, able only to hear the soft sound of their footfalls echoing strangely. After walking for a while, Yan Dan finally couldn't help but complain: "Why is it still dark here, not even a candle is lit." She just spoke casually, but as soon as she finished, she heard a sharp hiss, and a candle immediately flared to life nearby.
Yu Mo's expression grew complicated, and he said categorically: "Let's go quickly, so as not to have a long night......" Before he finished speaking, they heard many sharp hisses on both sides, and a large ball of flames surged up with terrifying hunger, instantly heating the ground until it glowed faintly red. Tang Zhou couldn't help but observe: "The ground here is actually made of iron!"
Yan Dan was already very sure that she must have committed some offense against an evil star in the past few days. At first, she didn't feel anything after running a few steps, but after only a short while, she felt like her feet were literally on fire. Raging flames roared on both sides of the corridor, and tongues of fire kept sweeping toward them with predatory intent. Yan Dan smelled a burning odor, and she didn't care where it came from—she could only keep running forward. The only thing she was glad about was that she was a demon, and she felt more or less comfortable in this hellish environment than mortals would.
In the blink of an eye, the corridor ended, but before them stood a vast field of plum blossom stakes. The stakes rose more than two people high, and the ground below was densely covered with iron thorns—shiny and clearly very sharp. If a person accidentally fell from the plum blossom stake, even if they had considerable ability and could land steadily, the thorns would certainly pierce their feet.
Yan Dan hesitated for a moment, not knowing if she should find another way out. Yu Mo had already jumped onto the plum blossom stakes without hesitation, and seeing her still in a daze, couldn't help but say sharply: "What are you still stunned for? Come up quickly!"
Yan Dan had to use her demonic aura to ride the wind, stepping lightly onto the stakes, and looking down felt a little frightened despite herself. That the Shenxiao Palace Master could devise this method of torment showed that there must be something deeply wrong with him.
Tang Zhou crossed the plum blossom stakes without even changing his expression, passing over them as if he were walking on level ground. Yan Dan said with admiration: "Tang Zhou, you seem to be very good at this......"
Tang Zhou glanced back at her and replied indifferently: "People who practice martial arts have trained on plum blossom stakes to some extent, and my teacher also preferred this method."
Yan Dan nodded in sudden understanding, then heard a tremendous bang behind them, and a huge heat wave struck from the rear, carrying the strong smell of sulfur. She was startled and hurriedly moved forward, the heat wave following closely at her heels. She didn't need to look back to know what was happening: this Shenxiao Palace Master had actually laid gunpowder at the entrance, and as soon as they came in, he'd lit the fuse.
The sound of the explosion was deafening, and small flames kept rushing past her, and she could even smell the acrid scent of her own hair burning. Yet the plum blossom stakes ahead seemed endless, stretching into infinity.
Yan Dan listened to the wind behind her, decisively avoided several flames, and immediately stepped on one stake, jumping forward to another without waiting to be completely still. With such sensitive, agile movements, she had never possessed such skill for most of her previous life, and every action she made now was absolutely clean and precise.
She was getting better at this, beginning to understand why mortals always liked to do such strange, challenging things, when she suddenly saw a figure flash before her. Before even a blink of an eye passed, a tall, elegant figure in flowing robes stood on the very plum blossom stake she'd been aiming for—it was the Lord of Shenxiao Palace!
Yan Dan was suspended in mid-air, and she saw his face clearly: she had seen many good-looking people and demons, but this was the first time she had seen someone who looked like this. If the lord of Shenxiao Palace were ugly, his facial features would still be extremely handsome, but if he were considered good-looking, then there would be no ugly person in this world—a paradox made flesh.
She watched his face get closer and closer, and even the tip of her nose almost touched his, and finally managed to spit out words: "Ah, go away, ahhh—"
When she spoke, the demonic aura on her body suddenly leaked in her panic, and her body sank, and she immediately plummeted downward. Finally, she reacted with demon-swift reflexes, reached out and grabbed desperately, just managing to catch the edge of the stake. She swayed twice in mid-air, occasionally lowering her head and immediately seeing the iron thorns below, and she couldn't help but tremble.
Tang Zhou's voice was still far away at first, but before he finished speaking, he was already close at hand, shouting to the Palace Master: "If you dare to step on it, I will make you unable to unlock the seal of the artifact in this life!"
Yan Dan was very moved—although Tang Zhou treated her poorly on ordinary days, he was still reliable at this critical juncture. She stretched out her other hand with difficulty to grip the stake better, only to see the dark green soft satin boots before her lifting slightly, as if preparing to step down at any moment. Yan Dan struggled with the dilemma: if he really stepped on this kick, would she refuse to let go, or would she let go immediately? After all, if the Lord of Shenxiao Palace stepped down, and she couldn't hold on and let go in the end, it would be better to jump down herself from the beginning rather than lose face.
After a tense while, there was still no movement. Yan Dan only felt that her arms were starting to ache with strain, and she looked up carefully, only to see that the Shenxiao Palace Master was still standing in that same position, and Yu Mo and Tang Zhou seemed to have entered into a tense standoff with him. Yan Dan sighed inwardly—if they kept standing like this, she didn't know if she would be able to hold on until someone pulled her up.
People really had to rely on themselves; most of the time, they couldn't depend on others, even for demons. Yan Dan said in her most polite voice: "Lord Shenxiao Palace, can I ask you something? Are you going to step on this kick or take it back? Let me know first—you don't have to just stand here, do you?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Yu Mo glancing at her, his eyes fierce with warning.
She heard the Shenxiao Palace Master say slowly: "I haven't thought about it yet."
Yan Dan hesitated for a long time, but still didn't have the courage to provoke him, so she had to hang there resignedly. The reason she dared to provoke Zilin or Yu Mo was because she knew they would give her a little hardship at most and would never kill her. As for the Lord of Shenxiao Palace, she did not have this confidence. What's more, angering the other party could probably only prove that you were different from others, but the end result would be many times more miserable than others.
She gripped the stake, gritted her teeth and insisted on not letting go. She had an arrogance in her bones and couldn't allow others to look down on her.
There was only a slight sound, like the whisper of clothing, and her arm was suddenly pulled. Yan Dan raised her head, only to see Tang Zhou holding her arm firmly, and couldn't help but ask: "The Lord of Shenxiao Palace is gone?"
Tang Zhou nodded and smiled slightly: "You are quite lucky, he just left."
Yan Dan breathed a sigh of relief and muttered: "It's good he's gone......"
Whether it was Yu Mo or Tang Zhou, she at least knew roughly how much stronger they were than herself, but when facing the Lord of Shenxiao Palace, she had no sense of his power at all, which made her deeply afraid.
At the end of the plum blossom stakes stood a palace paved with cold marble—quiet, silent and utterly devoid of human warmth. The faint lights swayed on their stands, reflected on the marble slabs like ghostly fire.
Before them was a carved bronze gate, and the knocker was a lion with its mouth open and fangs exposed, so vividly rendered it seemed like a living creature frozen in metal. And what awaited them after this door?
Tang Zhou looked at his companions and resolutely stepped forward to push open the bronze door. Only a heavy creak was heard, the door opened, and the room before them was extremely elegant and simple, almost exactly the same as the one they had seen in the tomb passage of the lady in Qingshi Town. The only difference was that there was a stone tablet in the center, engraved with crooked text patterns that seemed to writhe.
Before the stone monument stood a man in linen clothes, with a little muddy water on the hem of his garments, looking thin and somehow wrong. He heard someone approaching behind him, yet he just stared blankly at the stone tablet, motionless as a statue.
Yan Dan recognized the herbalist Wu Shun, so she took two steps forward and wondered: "Why are you here?"
Wu Shun turned a deaf ear and still stood motionless, not even acknowledging their presence.
Tang Zhou also felt strange—he wanted to step forward to check, but he only walked a few steps closer when he suddenly felt the world spinning. There was chaos before him, like the vast formlessness before the opening of heaven and earth—no light, no grass and trees, only endless darkness and powerlessness. He didn't know where he was, could only let that mysterious force pull him inexorably forward.
This force was completely irresistible.
He vaguely heard Yan Dan's voice, which seemed not far from him. He didn't panic, as if he vaguely knew this would happen—as if he'd been waiting for it.
Looking back for the last time, he clearly saw an indescribably strange smile on the face of the herbalist Wu Shun, but his figure suddenly rose several inches, and a mask slowly fell at his feet, revealing that paradoxically ugly yet elegant face.
The Lord of Shenxiao Palace watched the water patterns on the stone tablet gradually calm like a settling pond, and whispered to himself: "It's best if they can reach the end of the demon phase smoothly......" He stretched out his hand and slowly untied the coarse cloth linen, revealing beneath it a pale white robe, without any modification, even the belt was white. In ancient times, only human sacrifices would dress like this.
He gently touched the strange inscription pattern on the stone tablet, and said slowly word by word: "Paper ink, the devil rises from the heart......" He suddenly stiffened, immediately feeling the cold blade of a sword pressed against his back. He didn't even look back, and said lightly: "It's you?"
"Lord, you didn't think that one day you would end up in a situation where someone would point a sword at you, did you?" Tao Ziqi's tone was like ice, full of hatred accumulated over countless years, "I've been waiting for this day for a long time."
"I only remember treating you well." The Lord of Shenxiao Palace tilted his head slightly, but unexpectedly saw the anger on her face—this kind of anger and hatred, as if they were incompatible enemies.
"I was originally the purple Qi in the Nine Luminaries Star, just because you......" Her face flushed with emotion, and a smile slowly bloomed in her eyes—terrible and knowing, "You don't remember everything that happened in the battle between the immortals and demons back then, do you?"
The Shenxiao Palace Master's breathing, which had been calm, suddenly froze.
"I know you can't remember it now, and you won't remember it in the future." Tao Ziqi thrust the long sword in her hand forward, "You also go down with them! In this world, no one can tell you what happened back then—you'll only be entangled in the past for the rest of your life!"
The Lord of Shenxiao Palace had to take two steps forward under the sword's pressure, only to feel that the heavens and earth were suddenly reversed, and he grew dizzy. He suddenly turned around, stretched out his fingers to clamp Tao Ziqi's long sword, twisted it hard—and only a sound of the sword blade breaking rang out. The broken sword body pierced Tao Ziqi's throat with terrible precision.
"What about the Nine Luminaries Star Purple Qi? The fate of betrayal is the same......"
The water patterns on the stone tablet suddenly calmed completely, leaving only a broken long sword falling to the ground, making a final, hollow noise.
Tao Ziqi lay on the ground, tears kept slipping down the corners of her eyes. She was injured in her throat and dying, and she could no longer speak clearly, so she could only spit out a name vaguely and laboriously, with her last breath: "Jidu......"
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