TSMITB Chapter63

Time passed quietly. The sun slowly withdrew its final golden rays, as twilight gradually swallowed the remaining daylight and night drew near.

Sheng Qixiao never appeared. Shen Que’s patience was gradually worn down by the waiting, and the uneasy premonition in his heart grew stronger.

Finally, a series of crisp sounds came from the winding path. A figure gradually became clear with silver ornaments hanging from the cuffs and hems of her clothing clanging together randomly with her footsteps.

Shen Que squinted his eyes to look. His eyebrow twitched, and he proactively took two steps forward.

The person who arrived was Ke Di’s wife, whom Shen Que had met once before.

Seeing her calm expression and steady pace, the anxiety in Shen Que’s heart finally subsided a little. Regardless of the purpose of her appearance, it at least indicated one thing—Sheng Qixiao was still alive.

A scourge lives for a thousand years. With Sheng Qixiao causing him this much harm, he should naturally be able to expect a long life.

The woman didn’t look at the bodyguards who had surrounded the stockade tightly. She walked directly up to Shen Que, took a photograph from her bag, and handed it to him.

Shen Que focused his gaze. It was a joint photo he and Sheng Qixiao had taken earlier at a photo studio.

In the photo, Sheng Qixiao was looking down at him with a faint smile on his lips. Stepping beyond the suppressed emotions he had felt at the time, Shen Que could clearly see the gentle affection in that person’s eyes.

His eyebrow lifted slightly. Shen Que did not spare it another glance and, keeping his expression impassive, put the photo away. “What does he mean?”

“He wants you to leave immediately now.” The woman’s voice was calm, lacking the gentleness of that day.

“Where is he? Tell him to come out and tell me himself.”

The woman shook her head, the silver ornaments in her hair lightly jangling with the movement. “I don’t know.”

“Did something happen to him?”

“I don’t know.” The woman continued to shake her head, being direct. “I only know that he asked me to tell you to leave quickly. If there’s anything, he will contact you later.”

“Later? When is later?” Shen Que scoffed coldly.

“In any case, he will look for you,” the woman frowned, her tone carrying a hint of urgency, “You should go back quickly.”

“Oh.” Shen Que responded lazily, turning his head to look at her. “Seeing as we’ve met before, I’ve decided to give you a choice.”

He raised his chin, pointing toward the Outer Stockade people who were surrounded, his tone extremely gentle, “Do you choose to join them, or tell me everything you know word for word?”

“……” The woman pursed her lips and was speechless for a moment. “I am not joking with you, you must leave immediately! Otherwise, even I won’t be able to protect you!”

“Indeed.” Shen Que sighed, nodding as if in agreement or resignation, his gaze passing over her to look again at the silent tribespeople behind her. “Because you can’t even protect yourself.”

His patience exhausted, Shen Que couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on this messenger. He lifted his eyelids, and two bodyguards, who were on standby nearby, immediately hurried over.

“Here’s one more,” Shen Que’s voice was low, his tone even gentle, “tie her up too.”

The woman’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t expected Shen Que to act so unconventionally. “You must leave! This…”

Before she could finish speaking, a dull and drawn-out tolling sound came from all directions within the stockade, piercing the night and echoing throughout the entire village.

“Dong… Dong… Dong…”

The woman’s voice abruptly stopped, and the intensity of her struggle weakened, “…It’s too late.”

“What’s too late?”

“It’s too late. Now, even if you want to leave, you can’t anymore.”

Shen Que frowned, waved his hand irritably, “Gag her.” He then added, “Be gentle.”

All his attention was currently drawn to the sudden sound of the bell, but he didn’t have time to notice that the expressions of the Outer Stockade people huddled together in the clearing had become even more inscrutable after the bell began to toll.

Darkness finally descended completely as mist spread silently.

The bodyguards lit all the torches around the temple, and the flickering, dim yellow flames illuminated the semi-enclosed cluster of houses.

The tolling bell continued, striking repeatedly against Shen Que’s taut nerves.

The bodyguards also seemed to realize something. Their expressions were grave, and they scanned the surroundings as if facing a formidable enemy, silently tightening their grip on the weapons hidden under their clothes.

The night wind grew stronger, and before he knew it, his nostrils were filled with a scent that felt both familiar and unfamiliar. The smell seemed to be emanating from the torches they had lit.

And the continuous tolling of the bell seemed to become even more penetrating as if enhanced by the scent.

“Hold your breath!” Shen Que was about to warn them, but it was too late.

His temple thumped violently. Shen Que’s eyes instantly felt dry, his eyelids were pulled heavily downward by some invisible force, his vision began to blur, and the firelight before him danced and spun. He tried to steady himself, but even the strength to lift his hand was drained away. The next moment, he fell straight downwards.

Before his consciousness completely dissipated, the last scene Shen Que saw was the bodyguards stiffly falling down one after another.

Consciousness was veiled by mist into a void. Shen Que didn’t know how long he had been bound by the darkness until he was awakened by a violent shake and sharp pain, yet still had the illusion of being constrained.

He opened his eyes with difficulty. The first thing that came into view were countless flickering spots of light beneath his feet.

The firelight dispelled the darkness and also illuminated a scene that instantly made his blood run cold.

The well-trained bodyguards were all tied up with their hands and feet bound, and were now lying scattered around the square.

Shen Que took a sharp breath. Just as he was about to move, he realized he himself was also tightly bound by rough hemp ropes and suspended high in the air like an offering awaiting sacrifice.

The sight confronting him beneath his feet was no longer solid ground, but a gigantic, bottomless karst cave. The dark entrance seemed to be exhaling a chilling aura capable of swallowing and dissolving everything.

Shen Que shivered uncontrollably and quickly shifted his gaze outwards. He was still in the square of the miniature temple, but at this moment, the roles of hunter and prey had been completely reversed.

The square was bustling with people. Every villager held a fiercely burning torch, illuminating the entire stockade as brightly as day.

The yellowish-orange glow cast flickering shadows on the tribespeople’s faces. Greed, arrogant cruelty, and all manner of primal malice were undisguisedly exposed in their distorted features.

No one noticed Shen Que’s awakening. Everyone’s attention was focused on the main hall of the temple.

“Indeed, only he could force you out!” A hoarse and unpleasant voice rang out from the crowd.

Shen Que looked in the direction of the voice. His heart steadied for a moment before plunging into an even deeper pool of cold.

The heavy temple doors had been completely opened at some point. Sheng Qixiao, who hadn’t appeared before, was now cornered on the steps by a group of armed tribespeople.

He was wearing the same clothes as when he first met Shen Que with complex and elaborate patterns embroidered on the dark blue robe. His long hair was tied into a ponytail, then separated and braided into many small pigtails, with silver threads interwoven in his hair and tiny bells dangling from the ends, ringing intermittently.

Sheng Qixiao was undoubtedly beautiful at this moment, but the more beautiful the attire, the more it highlighted his snow-like pallor.

The paleness and frailty diminished his inherent sharpness, making him look like an innocent spirit fallen into the mountains, fragmented by worldly filth, which stung Shen Que’s eyes.

A dense, overwhelming sourness surged into Shen Que’s chest. His most unsettling and unwelcome conjecture had come true at this moment.

Sheng Qixiao might have been injured or subjected to something else; Shen Que had no way of knowing. He desperately tried to discern some clue from him but only saw the hand hanging by his side trembling slightly.

“Sheng Qixiao…” Shen Que whispered Sheng Qixiao’s name, which was easily drowned out by the noise.

Sheng Qixiao’s hem fluttered twice in the wind. Shen Que knew he heard it, but he didn’t look up. His gaze stayed calm as he stared straight ahead at those who were closing in and threatening him.

“Open the mountain gate!”

“Abolish the restrictions between the Inner and Outer Stockades! Give us back the right to raise Gu!”

“Exactly! Why can’t the Outer Stockade raise Gu?! Without Gu, what difference is there between us and these outsiders!”

“Traitor, you traitor!”

“Use your blood! Use your life! To atone for your betrayal!”

All sorts of greedy, hoarse shouts echoed throughout the mountains. The agitated tribespeople raised their torches high, waving their arms and yelling.

The firelight added a touch of color to Sheng Qixiao’s pale cheeks, outlining his taut jaw and tightly pressed lips. He stood in place like a statue for a long time, allowing the tribespeople to attack him with the most malicious words and covet his flesh and blood with the most greedy eyes.

His face showed no anger, no compromise, and not even pain, only a desolation that came from having been scorched countless times.

“The one you love most is in our hands! Do you want to save him? Exchange him with your blood!”

Someone in the crowd yelled out.

Countless wolf-like eyes, glowing green in the darkness, turned toward him. Those eyes, brimming with hatred and wicked excitement, pierced straight through Shen Que.

“He’s awake! He’s awake!”

His long, thick eyelashes fluttered rapidly a few times. Sheng Qixiao finally cast a subtle and tender glance toward Shen Que.

In the instant their eyes met, Shen Que felt that everything around them had stopped, and the only thing moving was the hidden pain in the depths of Sheng Qixiao’s eyes.

Shen Que was not seeing that look for the first time. When he had once cleverly deceived, exploited, and even hurt Sheng Qixiao, this same dim hue had appeared in his clear eyes.

Sheng Qixiao wasn’t incapable of feeling pain.

It was just that his former self had never truly cared about Sheng Qixiao’s feelings.

“Why are you acting mute?! Do you want him dead or alive? Give us a straight answer!”

The crowd grew even more restless, pushing and shoving each other. Yet, no one dared to truly step forward and compel Sheng Qixiao, only fruitlessly shouting threats using Shen Que’s life.

Shen Que looked down at this utterly ironic scene.

He had previously only thought that the corruption lay with those greedy, old men who refused to die. Now, he realized that all the filth had already permeated every tribesperson, sinking deep into their flesh and blood.

“The Spirit Master is indeed cold and ruthless. It seems you are going to watch your beloved perish?”

Several exceptionally burly middle-aged men carrying sceptres stumbled slightly as they emerged from the crowd.

Though their faces were unfamiliar, Shen Que saw a sense of deja vu in them.

Their lips curled into exaggerated smiles, but their expressions were unmistakably sinister. Their cloudy eyes slowly slid over Shen Que like repulsive maggots.

Shen Que’s eyes nearly popped out. An absurd conjecture filled his mind, and his blood instantly rushed backward. “You!”

These few people were clearly those old, death-defying elders!

The leading elder let out a hoarse and jarring laugh. Perhaps unaccustomed to this young, robust body, his upper body was still involuntarily slightly hunched. He habitually reached out to stroke his beard but grasped only air.

“You’re so clever? You recognized us immediately.” The elder looked at Shen Que with approval, then tilted his head. With a sickening crunch, his head rotated a full one hundred and eighty degrees, facing Sheng Qixiao while his feet still pointed at Shen Que.

“Such a clever partner. What a pity if he were to die,” he sighed dramatically. “My little Spirit Master, your plan has failed. You can never escape E’yun Mountain! Stop this now, and I agree to bestow him upon you as a companion.”

“However,” another elder stepped forward, shielding the twisted body of the first elder with his tall frame. He roughly adjusted the over-rotated head back to its proper position and then continued, “We must first melt his brain, leaving you with a complete shell of a body.”

“Why don’t you hurry up and make a decision! If you continue to resist stubbornly, you know better than us what awaits him!” He looked toward the bottomless black hole in the center of the square, his face contorted in a ferocious expression.

“Do you old bastards really think you can arrange my fate?!” Shen Que had never intended to sacrifice himself for anyone, but at this moment, he could not stand these disgusting creatures using him to threaten Sheng Qixiao. He yelled with all his might toward Sheng Qixiao, “Go back where you came from! I don’t need you to interfere! I can get out myself!”

Shen Que’s hands were tied behind his back with his body curled like a shrimp. His entire weight was supported by the haphazardly tied hemp rope around his upper body. Unable to break free, he could only attempt to distance himself from Sheng Qixiao in this manner by hoping to nullify the bargaining chip held by these people, these monsters.

He could not let Sheng Qixiao compromise because of him.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a long, thick whip sliced through the air with a fierce whistling sound and brutally struck Shen Que. The fabric instantly tore, and the area covered by the lash mark immediately broke skin and bled.

The sudden pain made Shen Que’s vision blackened. He bit his lower lip hard, barely preventing a cry of pain from escaping his throat. He even managed to spare a glance at Sheng Qixiao’s suddenly shattered mask of calm.

He turned his gaze away, ignoring the warning in Sheng Qixiao’s eyes telling him to stop drawing attention to himself. Enduring the pain, he spat out spitefully, “This isn’t your secluded mountain wilderness! If I’m not out of here by daybreak, you freaks better be prepared to be wiped out!”

As Shen Que spoke, his gaze drifted back to Sheng Qixiao’s face. He frowned, gesturing for him to return to the temple and hide in the dark tunnel inside the hall.

Ever since he spotted the temple, Shen Que had already formed some vague suspicions, and they were only confirmed when Sheng Qixiao appeared behind the temple doors.

He had always wondered how the Outer Stockade people managed to spread across every corner of the Inner Stockade overnight during the Moon Glazing Festival, and now, he had finally the answer.

He had accidentally fallen into the underground karst cave of the Inner Stockade, and the exit was in the main temple hall.

The Inner and Outer Stockades might very well be connected through the caves beneath their respective temples.

The passage was right there, yet the Outer Stockade people only dared to surround the area below the steps while threatening Sheng Qixiao to lift the restrictions. There must be something inside that deterred them.

As long as Sheng Qixiao returned to the temple, no one could harm him.

As for himself, Shen Que looked at the bodyguards around him who were gradually showing signs of waking up.

Just as he said, this was the outside world. At the foot of the mountain lay a brightly lit city that never slept. No matter how arrogant these people were, they wouldn’t dare to truly harm them.

Moreover, having been caught once, how could he have only made one set of preparations?

“Let’s see how long you can keep talking tough!” The face of the elder wielding the whip was distorted filled with blatant hatred. “If it weren’t for you, how could my son have been utterly destroyed!”

“That’s what you guys deserve! You brought it upon yourselves!” Shen Que had no idea who he was talking about, but he was unwilling to lose any ground in terms of attitude.

The elder’s face turned ashen. He raised his arm, and an even more vicious whip, whistling through the air, swung toward Shen Que.

“Shen Que!” Sheng Qixiao raised his hand. Countless fluorescent butterflies suddenly flew out from the hall behind him like several living threads, crossing over the flames and rushing straight toward Shen Que.

However, that faint light was extinguished midway by the scepter the elder raised above his head.

“Don’t overestimate yourself.” The leading elder withdrew his hand, his tone laced with mockery. “Given your current weakness, you can barely protect yourself! Why waste this last bit of vitality.”

Sheng Qixiao’s face visibly paled further. His throat bobbed; he seemed to have forcefully swallowed a mouthful of metallic sweetness, yet he stubbornly insisted on descending the steps.

“Stop!” A sharp shout rang out, and countless gleaming blade tips instantly pressed against Sheng Qixiao’s front.

Seeing that he was unmoved, the rope holding Shen Que suddenly dropped sharply downwards.

“Stop!” Sheng Qixiao instantly halted.

A burly tribesman yanked on the rope, dragging Shen Que to the edge of the karst cave. A flash of silver glinted in his hand before the sharp tip of a knife pierced Shen Que’s flesh. “Step back! Otherwise, the next stab won’t be here.”

Shen Que clenched his teeth and remained silent. Blood streamed down his arm, dripping into the bottomless darkness of the cave below.

The veins on the side of Sheng Qixiao’s neck bulged and pulsed fiercely a few times. His gaze was locked onto Shen Que’s wound, and he frowned futilely.

He did not dare move any closer, only watching Shen Que from a distance, his voice suppressed to the lowest possible level, “Release him. Tribal affairs, must not involve outsiders.”

“It’s fine. As long as you take the self-sacrifice Gu and offer your flesh and blood to us, we can discuss anything.”