Ch. 109 – Dawn Arrives

The shattered ghost mask was no longer capable of concealing his face, and since the person opposite him already knew who he was, it didn’t matter anymore. Ling Yun slowly lowered the hand that had been hiding his face.

Only when Ling Yun’s hand dropped completely did Fang Yang and the others realize who he was.

Such was their shock that they froze on the spot. This person, this face….they had seen him before on that jade slip in the sect’s archives that chronicled the events of a century past. He was the former sect leader of Lingxiao Sword Sect: Ling Yun.

He was supposed to have perished in the heavenly fire, yet here he stood before them today, as a malevolent spirit of the Path of the Underworld.

The ghost mask had been hideous, but Ling Yun himself was actually quite handsome. His eyebrows were sharp and blade-like, and every glance and gesture carried an air of unrestrained arrogance. Yet rather than being off-putting, this loftiness gave him a sense of presence that was impossible to imitate.

As the strongest cultivator in the mortal realm, he had once ascended to its pinnacle and truly looked down upon the world

However, that was the Ling Yun of one hundred years ago.

Not this…..person?…..who was standing before them now.

Was he even human?

Half of his face did indeed look the same as it had one hundred years ago, yet his demeanor was no longer as flamboyant. The muscles of his face seemed to have become stiff and dead over the course of this century, and he was completely expressionless.

And as for the other half…..the left half of his face didn’t have a shred of intact skin. The burn scars stretched from his face all the way down his neck, and although the rest of him was concealed by clothing, one could guess that it was likely just as disfigured as his face.

And in addition to the burns, the left side of his face bore marks reminiscent of cuts from a sharp object, hideous and ghastly where they mingled with the burns.

This was a face capable of giving nightmares to the faint of heart.

Fang Yang didn’t consider himself to be a timid person, but seeing that face still caused his breath to briefly lodge in his throat. The fear that face made him feel was even worse than what he’d felt toward the man-eating skeletons.

Cao Zirui was also wide-eyed in disbelief. This person was really……

Hao Chen was no less astonished than the other two. Had it been absolutely anyone else, this Rakshasa wouldn’t have surprised him nearly to this extent.

But as far as surprise went, nobody present was nearly as impacted as Feng Ye.

A century ago, it was he who severed Jianmu with his own hands, and also he…..who killed all those people, including Ling Yun.

It wasn’t until a hundred years later, when he personally descended to the mortal realm to investigate the matter of Jianmu, that he finally learned this human’s name.

The source of the blade wounds on the left side of Ling Yun’s face was unknown, but there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that those burn scars came from Feng Ye.

Feng Ye pressed his lips tight, but continued to meet Ling Yun’s gaze unwaveringly. Staring into those eyes that held a hatred so deep that it was suffocating, he didn’t flinch.

Time seemed to stand still as Feng Ye and Ling Yun stared at each other, motionless. Fang Yang and the others hardly dared to breathe as they stood perfectly still in the midst of this thoroughly eerie atmosphere.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ling Yun broke the silence. His gaze shifted to rest on Feng Ye’s left shoulder, which bore an inch-long wound that had been inflicted by his sword.

Although the wound wasn’t deep, blood continued to seep from the broken flesh. A corner of Ling Yun’s mouth tugged up at the sight.

His face seemed to have grown accustomed to its death-like rigidity, and his sudden attempt at a smile seemed as stiff as gears grinding back into motion after a period of disuse.

But despite the difficulty, he still forced a smile so strange that it hardly qualified as such.

He said to Feng Ye in a hoarse voice: “So you bleed as well.”

Even a lofty god of heaven could be wounded by him, a mere mortal, flesh torn open and bleeding profusely under his sword.

Feng Ye’s expression remained unchanged, and he only pursed his lips a little tighter.

But Hao Chen immediately snapped out of his stupor when he heard this, recalling with sudden clarity that Feng Ye had been injured.

His dragon had been injured!

This prompted him to immediately walk over and reach out, intending to cradle Feng Ye’s arm and carefully examine the wound.

But just as his hand was about to make contact, Feng Ye lightly shifted away to evade his touch.

Hao Chen froze. Although Feng Ye didn’t speak a word, his movement conveyed a crystal clear sense of rejection.

He stared at Feng Ye’s profile, but the other man didn’t return his gaze.

Hao Chen suddenly recalled the words that black serpent had spoken to him earlier, that Feng Ye would never fall for anyone. Considering the absolute certainty in thing’s words, perhaps it wasn’t a baseless assertion.

“Hehe.” A man’s low chuckle rang out, deep and resonant in a way that set it apart from Ling Yun’s raspy voice.

Hao Chen raised his head and looked toward Ling Yun. Just as he had been thinking about that black snake, it dropped in uninvited.

The black snake had climbed its way up to Ling Yun’s neck at some point, and now coiled itself around his shoulders. Its tongue flickered out as it greeted Feng Ye: “I told you we would meet again.”

Feng Ye frowned deeply, his gaze shifting between the black snake and Ling Yun.

One fact was now perfectly clear: Ling Yun was in league with this creature from the Emberless Horizon.

But as for how they had come to work together and what their exact intentions were, Feng Ye was completely in the dark. In fact, even now, he had yet to recover from the shock of seeing Ling Yun.

Feng Ye’s gaze wavered briefly before ultimately resettling on Ling Yun. Despite the mystery this creature represented, Feng Ye was far interested in discovering the reason for Ling Yun’s appearance.

His lips parted slightly as he appeared to speak, but before a single word could leave his mouth, something unexpected happened.

The ground trembled, and rocky soil rained down from overhead. Feng Ye looked up, only to find that the Grand Array was collapsing.

Ling Yun and the black snake around his shoulders mirrored him, and the black snake sighed with regret: “It seems these ruins are simply too ancient.”

The combined Six Paths of Reincarnation Array and the Eight Ghosts Illusion Array had not been created by him or Ling Yun, but were left behind by the people of Western Qiang. He had simply requisitioned them for his own use.

One thousand years later, although Western Qiang’s Grand Array for refining ghosts was still usable, it was now collapsing under the ravages of time before another malevolent ghost could be successfully forged.

And once these ruins collapsed, the meters-thick layer of rock above their heads would come crashing down. They couldn’t afford to linger here.

The black snake could only cast Feng Ye one final, regretful glance before hissing in Ling Yun’s ear: “Let’s go.”

Ling Yun didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Without taking his eyes off Feng Ye, he took a few steps back and then turned around and stepped through the stone door nearest to him.

Seeing that the stone door was about to close again, Fang Yang went to chase after him despite not being clear on the situation.

This Grand Array gave them no clues as to where to find the exit, and he had absolutely no idea how to escape.

But the path Ling Yun had taken was certain to be a way out. If they allowed him to leave, he, his Useless Shixiong, and the others would be left trapped here.

Cao Zirui reacted at the same moment. No matter how shocking it was that Ling Yun was still alive, that information didn’t take precedence over making it out of here. The two of them sprinted forward together, intent on stopping Ling Yun from escaping. But when they were halfway across the chamber, they were stopped by Feng Ye.

He watched as Ling Yun departed and watched as the stone door closed, making no move to stop him.

“Shixiong, how do we get out, ah?” 

Fang Yang was anxious. He couldn’t figure out why Useless Shixiong was blocking their way.

Dirt and rocks fell continuously from above, and the tremors beneath their feet surged to the point that they could barely keep their footing. If they stayed here any longer, they might very well end up buried here forever.

Feng Ye offered no explanation, but said with absolute certainty, “I have a solution.”

Without bothering to explain to Fang Yang and the others what exactly that solution was, he simply walked straight to the very center of the platform, where the angles of the stone doors intersected.

This was the center of the Grand Array, and also the key to opening a way out.

In the end, the underlying principle behind this array meant to refine the most malevolent of ghosts was actually quite simple. It wasn’t quite clear at the beginning, but upon reaching the center of the array, Feng Ye was able to discern a way out.

The Six Paths of Reincarnation Array divided those who entered it onto different paths, depending on their respective identities and characteristics. These Six Paths constituted the cycle of reincarnation, from which all sentient beings, even the gods, were unable to escape.

However, this array was only a mimicry of the true Six Paths of Reincarnation, and only had one exit: The Ghostly Path.

Once those who entered the array were bewitched by the illusions within and transformed into malevolent spirits, the exit would open naturally.

However, the four of them had not truly transformed into malevolent spirits after emerging from the Six Paths of Reincarnation array. Hao Chen was a true god, and this array was unable to drag him onto the Ghostly Path, nor was it able to trap him.

Fang Yang and Cao Zirui had found their way out entirely on their own, whereas Feng Ye had slaughtered his way through.

The aura of bloodlust and malevolence drenching him was indistinguishable from that of an actual Ashura. The array lacked human intelligence, and determined whether or not someone had fallen to the Ghostly Path by measuring their aura of humanity. Once the aura of humanity clinging to Feng Ye was obscured by resentful energy, he would be classified as a malevolent spirit.

As for the two bandits and their vicious dog, they had already been indistinguishable from ghosts and monsters before entering the battle. The array had little chance to bewitch them, making their passage through the first stage very easy.

Then came the second stage: The Eight Ghosts Illusion Array.

Transformed by the Eight Ghosts Illusion Array, the ghosts would clash here in battle and devour one another. The fastest method of cultivation for ghosts and monsters was to devour their own kind, much like that three-headed dog just now which had grown in power after consuming the hungry ghost.

When only the final victor remained, the ultimate malevolent ghost would be born as a conglomeration of the power of the eight original ghosts.

At that time, the exit to the array would open as well.

But the fact that Feng Ye had been able to make it through the Six Paths of Reincarnation proved that this array could be deceived. As long as the power of a single ghost was sufficiently strong, so great that the array considered it to be the ultimate malevolent ghost, the exit would open anyway.

And for Feng Ye, disguising himself as such a malevolent ghost was not a difficult feat.

Gripping the hilt of his sword in both hands, he angled the blade downward with a twist of his wrists and thrust it forcefully into the ground.

The long blade cut through solid stone, and the aura of carnage emanating from Feng Ye’s body flowed down the blade into the core of the array.

As he made his move, the six previously dim candles beside the six stone doors leaped without warning to a height of well over a meter.

The tremors immediately intensified, but this was not a sign of imminent collapse. It was the sound of mechanical components grinding to life.

Fang Yang and Cao Zirui were elated. It seemed that Feng Ye really did have a way to open an exit.

But in the midst of their joy, they failed to notice the bulging veins in Feng Ye’s arms, and that the wound on his left arm had torn open again from the exertion and was gushing blood like a spring. But he had no time to tend to the bleeding. The exit must be opened at once.

Hao Chen had been standing silently near Feng Ye all this while, and although he frowned at what he saw, he didn’t attempt to approach him again.

He had already been rejected once, but Fang Yang had not.

Hao Chen feigned an air of nonchalance as he tapped Fang Yang with his fan. Fang Yang reflexively turned around, and his gaze landed on the profusely bleeding Feng Ye..

He immediately went to Feng Ye, intending to cover the wound and stop the bleeding. But even while propping himself up on his sword, stuck in place as he channeled resentful energy into the core of the array, Feng Ye sensed someone approaching his wound and instinctively shouted: “Don’t touch me!”

His tone was so uncharacteristically aggressive that Fang Yang instantly froze in place.

A moment later, Feng Ye lowered his gaze to conceal his momentary loss of composure.

Hao Chen tapped his palm with his fan. It seemed his hunch was correct.

Animals were always more difficult to approach when injured, fearing that even greater harm would come to them.

At this moment, Feng Ye was the same. The wounded dragon refused to let anyone approach him. And it wasn’t just Hao Chen. He couldn’t even bring himself to let his guard down around Fang Yang, who was about as harmless as a little white rabbit.

Such distrust, as well as the distance he put between himself and others, seemed etched into his very bones.

A person who refused to trust others naturally wouldn’t fall for anyone either.

Hao Chen watched cold sweat trickle down Feng Ye’s temple in response to the pain of his wound, thinking to himself, Feng Ye…..how did the legendary God of War end up like this?

But before he could arrive at an answer, a protruding stone slab overhead finally loosened under the violent tremors and came crashing down.

This slab weighed several tons, and would inevitably crush anyone it fell on into a bloody pulp. It was falling straight toward Feng Ye.

Disregarding Feng Ye’s previous aggression, Fang Yang called out urgently: “Shixiong!”

But the exit was not yet fully open, and if Feng Ye stepped aside now, all of his previous effort would go to waste.

Feng Ye glanced up at the slab hurtling down from above, then grit his teeth and remained in place.

Hao Chen tightened his grip on his folding fan, but just as he was about to move, something unexpected happened.

Feng Ye suddenly freed one of his hands and used it to grasp the sharp edge of his blade. Blood swelled from his palm, mingling with the blood from his shoulder wound and dripping down onto the array.

This fresh blood accelerated the opening of the exit, and just before the stone slab could smash into Feng Ye, the Grand Array sensed a sufficient concentration of sacrificial blood and finally began to activate.

Feng Ye threw himself into a side roll, narrowly evading the falling slab.

With a crash, it slammed into the ground and sent cracks spidering across it.

At the same time, a passage opened overhead. Everyone looked up, only then realizing that the stone slab overhead had been blocking a door.

But wait, there wasn’t just one. The over fifty-meter distance to the surface was lined with eighteen stone doors, resembling the eighteen layers of the underworld.

The eighteen stone doors opened in succession, revealing to everyone’s eyes a vertical shaft shooting straight down into the earth.

It was dusk when they entered the underground ruins, and now it was the pitch-black of midnight. Although the opening didn’t let in much light, it was enough to raise everyone’s spirits.

Yet before happiness showed on any of their faces, another set of stone doors swung open abruptly.

And through the six doors they had all traveled through to get here poured an unending stream of skeletons.

Their hollow eye sockets burned with hatred and resentment. All of them had been vanquished in the struggle between malevolent spirits, their skeletal remains trapped forever within this ghost-refining array. Yet now, these humans were able to leave.

They lunged forward as if they had gone mad, trying to make them stay, to ensure that they were buried alongside them deep beneath the earth where the light of day couldn’t reach.

Feng Ye spared the swarming skeletons a glance and let out a scoff. This was certainly not part of the original array’s design. More than likely, it was the work of Ling Yun and that creature accompanying him.

He shouted toward Fang Yang and the others, who were still staring dumbfounded at the skeletons shambling toward them: “Go!”

This shout snapped the others out of their daze, and they immediately headed toward where the ranks of the skeletons were thinnest, where they could break through the encirclement and climb up the rock face to escape the Grand Array.

The skeletons weren’t difficult to deal with. Despite their terrifying appearances, their combat strength was inferior to that of most ordinary monsters, and Fang Yang and Cao Zirui were able to handle them with ease despite their inability to use their spiritual power.

But that didn’t apply to the army of thousands streaming toward them.

The edge of a blade shattered one to pieces, only for the next to lunge forward in its place. The stream of enemies was inexhaustible.

But most of the skeletons seemed to be focused on Feng Ye, and there were far more crowding around him than the others.

Feng Ye realized that this was likely because of the blood drenching his entire body. It wasn’t just his own, but was mixed with the blood of those he had massacred inside the Path of Carnage.

A single drop of fresh blood would have been enough for these skeletons to pursue him relentlessly, and he was absolutely covered in it.

Feng Ye’s mind raced. With a slash of his sword, he swept away the skeletons blocking the path of Fang Yang and the others, shouting: “You go ahead, I’ll cover our retreat!”

“But…..” Fang Yang hesitated.

Neither Fang Yang nor Cao Zirui heeded Feng Ye’s order to leave.

It was Hao Chen who took the lead. Grabbing the two boys in each hand, he dragged them over to the rock wall and said: “You’ll only be a burden if you stay here. It’s better for you to leave immediately.”

He wasn’t wrong. Although Feng Ye’s cultivation was at the third level of Qi Refining, the lowest among the four of them, none of them were able to use spiritual power at the moment, and they couldn’t hope to match Feng Ye’s ability with a sword.

As the group hesitated, the skeletons pushed forward once more, and it looked as if the path Feng Ye had cleared for them was about to be obstructed.

Fang Yang finally made up his mind and called out to Cao Zirui beside him: “We’ll leave first!”

Having said this, he pulled Cao Zirui along to climb up the rock wall.

Hao Chen glanced back at Feng Ye. Seeing that Feng Ye was still fighting effortlessly despite being surrounded by the horde of skeletons, he began to climb up beside the two boys.

Feng Ye swung his sword in a horizontal slash at chest height, shattering the three skeletons in front him with a single strike. Without pause, he immediately turned his blade and slashed backward, sending three more heads tumbling to the ground.

He glanced up during a pause in the battle and saw that Fang Yang and the others had already climbed about halfway up. Done waiting, he seized an opening to break through the skeletons and rushed toward the rock wall.

He broke into a jog to build momentum, and just before he would crash into the wall of rock, he leaped into the air. With a tap-tap-tap of his toes against rock, he shot upward three or four meters to put distance between himself and the skeletons still in hot pursuit behind him.

He glanced back again to find that the skeletons were attempting to scale the rock wall, but their bare, flesh-less bones moved with awkward difficulty. They were fully capable of walking, but climbing required the use of countless muscles throughout the body.

One by one, the skeletons attempted to clamber up, and one by one, they failed. The highest any of them was able to climb was one meter.

But before Feng Ye could breathe a sigh of relief, he witnessed the astonishing sight of the skeletons stacking themselves on top of one another, forming a ladder of bones as they climbed upward by stepping on the bodies of their companions.

Seeing this, Feng Ye stopped stalling and swiftly made his way upward. But the skeletons knew that if they allowed these people to leave, it was likely that no living person would ever enter this underground hell again.

So they threw themselves upward impulsively, resentment and unwillingness uniting them like never before. The ladder climbed higher and higher, soon overtaking the speed of Feng Ye’s climbing pace.

Fang Yang and the others had already climbed out of the Grand Array, and the boy urged anxiously from the exit: “Shixiong, hurry up!”

Feng Ye was already moving as fast as he could. The wounds on his left arm and the palm of his hand had gone from pain to numbness, and his lips were bloodless, but he couldn’t afford to stop.

He estimated the distance between himself and the exit. There was still time.

However, luck didn’t seem to be in his favor today. The open stone door had begun to close, and judging by the speed, it would seal itself shut before he managed to climb out.

Upon seeing this, Fang Yang and Cao Zirui used their swords to brace against the stone door on both sides. But the force behind the door was unexpectedly strong, and even with both of them working together, they could just barely hold it back.

The two of them only managed to slow it down slightly, despite using their hands and feet and straining so hard that their faces went red.

Feng Ye didn’t dwell on whether or not he would make it in time, and simply gave his all to climbing upward.

By the time he was finally one meter from the exit, it was only wide enough for one person to climb through. And right on his heels, the horde of skeletons had caught up with him. Atop the countless bones of its companions, the highest skeleton grasped Feng Ye’s ankle and clung to it stubbornly, attempting to drag him back down.

Directly above Feng Ye, Hao Chen reached out and shouted down to him: “Grab my hand!”

Feng Ye hesitated, looking up into peach blossom eyes that were normally so frivolous, but which now were now filled with anxiety.

Time seemed to slow down as a flurry of thoughts raced through Feng Ye’s head. If he were to take a flying leap now, although he had no chance of reaching the exit, he would be able to reach Hao Chen’s hand.

Then he could use that leverage to haul himself upward at a faster speed than he could achieve by climbing on his own.

For the average person, this choice wouldn’t require a moment’s thought. But when it came to Feng Ye, his choices often ran contrary to those of everyone else.

He couldn’t trust that pair of hands reaching down from the cliff’s edge. They looked like salvation, but there was always the possibility that they would let go just as he thought he had been saved.

Entrusting his life to the hands of others…..Feng Ye had long since stopped making such a foolish mistake.

But at this moment, he looked into Hao Chen’s eyes and saw his own reflection mirrored in them, as well as the ladder of skeletons ascending from below.

There was something unknown behind the anxiety in those eyes that ensnared him, and although he couldn’t define it, he sensed that it must be something very tender and beautiful.

Struck by some strange impulse, he pushed off the rock wall and lunged upward to grasp Hao Chen’s hand mid-air.

Hao Chen gripped him tightly in response, as if he would refuse to let go even in death.

He hauled Feng Ye upward, along with the stubborn skeleton that refused to release its grip on his ankle.

The moment Feng Ye was fully out, Fang Yang and Cao Zirui ran out of strength. They pulled back the swords they had been bracing against and tumbled to the ground, and the lack of resistance caused the stone door to slam shut.

The skeleton gripping Feng Ye had managed to extend only a portion of its arm before the stone door severed it.

Feng Ye pried the skeletal hand from his ankle and tossed it aside.

Then he collapsed in place along with Hao Chen, tilting his head back to gaze at the round sun rising on the horizon to the east.

Dawn had arrived.

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Chapter 108 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 110