Estranged - Chapter 90

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It was as if his frenzied consciousness had been slapped with a tense string, which restored some clarity to his mind.

The Ghost King squinted, looking into the distance. Where was the longhaired woman tied to the iron pillar now? Obviously, it had just been a decaying skeleton. The water surged up violently, following the broken pillar, and washed the remains away in the blink of an eye. After having been submerged in this absurd dream for so long, he finally came to his senses, as if he had been struck by a hammer. That person had died many years ago. Although he was reluctant to recall the memories he had once lost, he knew he would never find a trace of her again, even if he traveled to every corner of the earth, searching for her throughout the whole world and the underworld.

He had actually already accepted this fact, but their enemy had used the last thread of his unachievable fantasies to fan the flames of disorder. The Ghost King touched his chest. It was freezing cold. The sea water slipped between his fingers. Contrary to his expectations, he did not feel his heart shattering from pain, but, instead, he felt a bit lost.

A hand stretched out to him, suddenly grabbing his wrist. The Ghost King raised his hand subconsciously.

“Hurry, let’s go, why are you still standing here? Don’t fall behind! There’s light up ahead!”

Hé Qingmo’s voice sounded, clearly stinging his mind. In a flash, he pushed away the figure from his memories.

The Ghost King relaxed without even noticing it.

“Haven’t you already gone?”

“I returned half way!”

Hé Qingmo was irritated. He rudely dragged the Ghost King, swimming towards the source of the light.

The water behind their backs was murky and chaotic. More and more crushed stones and weeds were swept into the enormous whirlpool, which had been moving towards them swiftly, about to swallow them. The Ghost King grabbed the man and swam towards the source of the light.

Hé Qingmo’s hands dropped down weakly. His cultivation was not as good as his talent for formations. If he had not learnt in the Nine Layers of the Abyss that the cause of shijie Meng Li’s death was suspect, he would not have come to the You Capital to discover the truth. He had almost depleted his strength, and he was running on fumes, using the rest of his spiritual powers to protect himself from the icy water. He really had no strength to continue.

In a daze, he thought that he could have escaped by himself, and should not have returned for the Ghost King.

They had met by chance, and had temporarily become friends because of a common enemy. As for their friendly affection—a profound relationship could not exist as they had only met two days ago. Humans and ghosts followed different paths. Hé Qingmo was a famous, aloof and conceited disciple of the Celestial Abode Shenxiao, and he rarely paid much attention to other people. Yet now, he turned around and stretched out his hand just because two days ago he had heard Linghu say that the Ghost King had been dead for many years, had no relatives or friends in this world, and no one would ever care for him like that girl.

At that time, Hé Qingmo was not impressed with the Ghost King’s story. The Great Dao to immortality is indeed this ruthless, and lonely people were not a rare occurrence on this path. Cultivation originally meant isolation. It was not just one’s relatives, even fellow disciples of one sect, and even the disciples of the same teacher—all would eventually part and go their separate ways. These words of the Ghost King were actually immature.

But, even though his words had been childish, somehow, they had been etched into Hé Qingmo’s memories. Just now, when Hé Qingmo’s life was hanging by a thread, and he was still angry at the Ghost King for strangling him, he nevertheless reached out to the Ghost King, almost falling behind himself.

Why be softhearted? After all, Linghu had already died once, and a ghost cultivator could not die. Moreover, he was the Ghost King. Moreover—

Moreover, the Ghost King did not consider them his friends.

Hé Qingmo’s chest hurt, and he could not help coughing.

He was coughing up more and more violently, curling up in a ball.

An ice-cold hand touched him on the back, pouring in spiritual power that was unexpectedly warm, even a little scalding.

Hé Qingmo knitted his eyebrows and opened his eyes.

A blood-red shade had filled the air, and the night had enveloped the world with darkness. The place was overflowing with pungent smoke mixed with the smell of blood and corpses, making one sick.

Had they left the ice sea?

Or had they fallen into another illusion?

The familiar outline of the upturned eaves on the tops of roofs led Hé Qingmo to vaguely recognise this place. This place should be one of the liveliest districts of the You Capital, only one street away from the place where they had resided. After sunset, the sound of music and singing often came from this place as it was always bustling with chatting people. Although it was not as luxurious and opulent as the Luo Capital, it was a world-famous city. Yet, now, wherever they looked, demons were causing trouble, ghosts were wailing and spirits were howling incessantly—not a trace of the capital’s past glory could be seen. It even made people wonder whether they had mistaken this place for the real You Capital.

Hé Qingmo had never expected that this place would turn this way. He had thought that the Wanlian Buddhist Temple was really enigmatic and unpredictable. Usually, they laid low, but it had turned out that they were even more horrible than eminent grand clans like the Celestial Abode Shenxiao.

The Celestial Abode Shenxiao also had layers of protective barriers, shielding them from intruders. However, the barriers were mostly defensive, and the ones to deal with the enemy were cultivators from the Celestial Abode Shenxiao. However, the Wanlian Buddhist Temple—

On normal days, they only deliberated on Dharma, preaching about the mercy that would point out the correct path for every creature, while in truth, they greeted their guests even more viciously than Demonic sects. If people knew the truth about the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, all the Buddhist sects would have their reputation destroyed.

No, the people probably would not learn it. If only everyone died here…

An incandescent golden light erupted in the distance, and abundant, straining spiritual power came rolling in with the dust, drawing Hé Qingmo’s attention.

Yun Weisi and Changming had already built a barrier in front of them, and for a short while, they would not be affected.

But they probably could not support the barrier for too long. Waves upon waves of evil spirits were rushing at them, ramming against the wall of spiritual powers before scattering away. However, only more spirits attacked them, again and again.

The Ghost King let Hé Qingmo go, got up on his feet and went forward.

He raised his sleeve, reached out his hand, and easily opened a barrier in front of himself. Evil spirits threw themselves at him, but in the next moment, all these atrocious demons fell into the barrier created by the Ghost King’s sleeve, having no time to react.

The barrier was soon torn into pieces, and a crushing black fire ignited around his body. The evil demons and aggrieved spirits paled in terror. They did not dare come closer, and even vied to be first to run away. But every spirit lost control when nearing the black flames, before getting sucked inside and absorbed into the fire, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Hé Qingmo had been staring at it dumbly for half a day. When he finally returned to his senses, Yun Weisi and Changming had already disappeared.

“Senior, they…?”

Sun Buku was battling against the Eight Sages of Wanlian in front of the Zhuque gates, and nothing could stop them now.

The eight people, holding the eight treasures, had completely encircled Sun Buku. Using a large force to defeat a single enemy, they were determined to eliminate him right now.

However, upon closer examination, one would notice that Sun Buku was not in a disadvantageous position, despite being surrounded by these eight people. He even seemed to be standing firmly in the center, ready to switch from defense to offense at any moment.

He was supporting a seal with both of his hands, and his cane was hovering above the ground in front of him. It was slowly rotating, emitting a blinding golden light that had enveloped Sun Buku’s body together with his spiritual power.

As the spiritual power was getting stronger, a faint golden 卐 character appeared on his forehead.

When the one holding the Treasured Vase saw this, his mind shook slightly. He vaguely recalled a certain rumor.

If the disciples of Buddhist sects, who were the most talented and perceptive towards comprehending Buddhist doctrines, managed to grasp the sacred meaning of what Fozun Xu Tiancang had left behind, the fozun would descend to their body. Their forehead would flourish with a dazzling light, and the seal of the 卐 character representing Fozun Xu Tiancang’s incarnation would merge with the Buddha. That person would then become an incarnation of the fozun.

But, after all, these rumors were just rumors. The fozun had ascended hundreds of years ago, and not a single person had ever gotten a chance like this. The guardian doubted his eyesight.

However, even after he had blinked several times, the golden seal still remained on his enemy’s forehead. It was even getting more brilliant, and more evident.

“Hold the formation, uproot the evil!”

One of the Eight Sages shouted in a deep voice, helping the distracted guardian’s pull his thoughts together.

But Sun Buku suddenly laughed.

“Uproot the evil? Uproot what evil? You are heretics, rebels of the Buddhist sects, not me!”

His Buddhist cane hit against the ground heavily. From this place, cracks swiftly stretched to every direction, followed by a surging golden light. In a flash, it had already reached the feet of the eight people!

“Each matter is accountable, everything follows the dharma!”

The force of the eight people chanting together was immense. The spiritual power lashed back at Sun Buku at once, and petals of red lotuses forced the golden light back at him, enveloping and pressuring him. Sun Buku felt pain smash into his chest, and a suspicious taste came up to his throat. He forced himself to endure vomiting up blood.

Sun Buku had not fought against Shengjue just now, but he had felt that the attack of these eight people was probably not much weaker than Shengjue’s, and their united strength was far more formidable than his.

It was the real power of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple!

In the past, people had always thought Shengjue to be the strongest one in the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, even calling their head Shengjue’s puppet with a nominal title.

However now, it seemed that this was far from the truth. Perhaps Changming had guessed it right: Shenjue was only pushed to the frontline, and the actually dreadful opponents had only started to appear now.

“Each matter is remunerated, nothing can be reversed!”

The eight words sounded from eight directions simultaneously, with red lotuses and the fire of retribution.

Sun Buku’s every defense and strategy was disrupted in a flash, blocked seamlessly.

“Each matter is eternal, World has no me!”

Restrictions were being cast on him, layer upon layer. Vibrant and lustrous lotuses had started to bloom between the eight people and Sun Buku.

This created a rare, beautiful sight, which was also extremely hideous, as every red lotus turned into a shackle binding Sun Buku.

The more he struggled, the more brilliant the lotuses became, while the shackles grew heavier.

The moment he no longer resisted and gave up struggling, the red lotuses would swallow him up, making him collapse like the earth or crumble like tiles, with his ashes scattering away.

The golden light had gotten obviously darker, yet the fire of retribution of the red lotuses was blazing.

The guardian sneered secretly, finding his delusions absurd.

How could this person be an incarnation of the fozun? Although he was a bit stronger than Shengjue, he was still nothing but…

As soon as he thought of it, he was stunned by what was happening.

The Treasured Vase in his hand cracked, and started falling apart.

“Every appearance—”

Sun Buku finally opened his mouth to recite a prayer.

Almost at the same time, the eight people started reciting as well.

“Every matter is eternal—”

Sun Buku’s voice seemed to have been blocked by some kind of incorporeal force, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not utter a sound.

He closed his eyes and made a hand seal. His expression was composed, as if everything was fine, yet the golden seal on his forehead had gotten dimmer.

A bystander would have thought that he was enduring it easily, but in reality, his four limbs could hardly move, pulled by the cane behind his back.

The cane was subdued by the red lotuses, and had already cracked.

“Only the Gold Glass Beads Staff is worthy of the head of the Qingyun School!”

A familiar clear voice had reached his ears.

Sun Buku opened his eyes abruptly!

He saw Jiufang Changming rush over from a distant place. He was as light as a feather, and the fire of retribution on the red lotuses of the eight guardians could not stop him.

A golden light flared up, and a cane fell down from the sky. Sun Buku laughed loudly and caught it.

“Many thanks for sending charcoal in snowy weather, Shizun!”

Who would have thought that he would be more than willing to say this title, “shizun”.

…

Tens of thousands of ghosts had filled the air, and the You Capital had been painted red. Only Sun Buku’s golden light was still shining on par with the red glow. However, looking at the large city, one would have felt that this golden light would not change the overall situation.

Not far away, in the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, a person was looking into the distance from a height, wordless and apathetic, aloof from the mundane world. Each person was nothing more than an ant to him, and he cared not about what had happened.

“You acted too hurriedly,” said the person standing next to him.

The author has something to say:

PS, someone said that the last few chapters are a mess. In fact, everything is already solved, but because there’s too many characters, the scenes seem incomplete. To summarize:

1. Changming went to the You Capital, and met Hé Qingmo, Hè Xiyun and the Ghost King there. They befriended the Ghost King, and entered the Wanlian Buddhist Temple together through a formation.

2. Yun Weisi and Xu Jingxian went to find the source of the mysterious light, and stumbled upon Sun Buku, Jun Zilan and Qi Jingu. Together, they went to the mysterious light, and eventually realized that that place was a bait cast by the Wanlian Buddhist Temple. In the end, they found the right place to enter the Wanlian Buddhist Temple as well.

3. The Wanlian Buddhist Temple has many separated worlds, and everyone has gone through a trial, meeting by chance and getting separated again.

Just like that Buddhist chanting Sun Buku keeps repeating: Every appearance is little more than a lie. This dense forest of mirages has to be broken by a mind. The boss of the Wanlian Buddhist Temple is coming out soon, and everyone has almost gathered in one place. Illusions will stop appearing. 

Tn:

It’s probably the first chapter without footnotes ;;

Happy New Year!