Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 45: Taixuzi
“Please, go right ahead, everyone.” Princess Qianyou slightly smiled.
Gu Lin, standing next to her, grew anxious. What was she doing? Why was she letting these people have a go at the spoils?
Zhong Shan’s eyes, however, brightened up, what a smart woman!
“Zhong Shan, let’s go down to look for the formation soul.” Tianling-er called out.
“En.” Zhong Shan nodded at Tianling-er. He then looked at Yinglan, who returned a look of agreement from under the black hood.
Zhong Shan also discovered that Beiqingsi was gazing down as if she was calculating something in her mind. There was a mixture of joy and worry in her eyes.
Two days ago, Zhong Shan had come to realize something after his talks with Beiqingsi. She hadn’t found the thing that she came here for. She didn’t look for the evidence she needed to clear her father’s name, but came into the formation with them. It was obvious the evidence was inside this formation. This formation was controlled by one person, therefore, the thing she wanted must be where Taixuzi was at.
In addition, from the look on Beiqingsi’s face, Zhong Shan soon believed that she had figured out which gate Taixuzi was located.
“Why aren’t you guys going yet?” Princess Qianyou suddenly turned to look at Zhong Shan’s group.
Zhong Shan immediately replied, “En. Qingsi, please fly us down there.”
Beiqingsi looked at Zhong Shan, with a slight look of gratitude on her calm face.
“En.” Beiqingsi nodded.
She threw out her flying sword in a white flash. Zhong Shan held Yinglan as they stepped onto the sword. Tingling-er stepped on her red silk and flew down with Zhong Shan.
The valley below was vast. The hundreds of people earlier had already rushed into their own chosen gates.
Zhong Shan, on top of the flying sword, noticed an unusual phenomenon. One person entered one gate, then after a little while, came out from another gate. Those 80,000 gates seemed strangely connected. It wasn’t just one person, but all of them were walking in one gate then exiting from another.
Zhong Shan felt strange seeing what was happening down below.
However, Zhong Shan wasn’t anxious at all. He simply let Beiqingsi take him towards one direction. Zhong Shan believed that wherever Beiqingsi was taking him was where Taixuzi was located.
As they flew through the air, there were three pairs of eyes fixed on Zhong Shan.
On the one side, it was Princess Qianyou who had begun to appreciate Zhong Shan’s talent. Though he was still in the early stages of his training, he had lots of potential. She wanted to recruit Zhong Shan to work for her.
On the other side, it was a pair of white robed men, one looked like a teenager while the other was middle-aged.
“Chujiu, do you think we should look for the formation soul?” The teenager laughed.
“It’s your call, young master.” The middle-aged man replied.
“You’ve seen it too, the way this person handled those grass soldiers just now. This person is superbly savvy and his strength happens to be at my level. So, it’ll be him. Later, let’s find a gate and you’ll guard the area. I’ll have a fight with him.” The teenager spoke earnestly as if a fight was the most enjoyable thing in the world.
“Yes.” The middle-aged man immediately answered.
On top of the mountain, Gu Lin was extremely distressed seeing all the others had started their search.
“Qianyou, aren’t we going? What if they found the formation soul? Won’t we be paving the way for others with what we did before?” Gu Lin anxiously asked.
Princess Qianyou glanced at Gu Lin and sighed, “It’ll take a while for a person to fuse with the formation soul. Besides, Ah Er has a photographic memory, he remembers everything he sees. Those people enter one gate then exit another one, which will eliminate two gates for us at once. If a person goes in one gate and stays there, then that person has found Taixuzi.”
“Then we’ll rush in that gate?” Gu Lin cried out like he had finally got it.
Princess Qianyou lightly replied with an “En.”
“Zhong Shan, which gate are we going in?” Tianling-er flew besides Beiqingsi and asked.
Zhong Shan looked at Beiqingsi and replied, “We’ll follow shi shu. We’ll find Taixuzi.”
“Oh?” Tianling-er didn’t quite believe it.
Beiqingsi, however, looked at Zhong Shan with surprise. She seemed to look at him in a different light
Very soon, the four of them landed at the valley, right before a gate.
“Let’s go.” Beiqingsi softly said.
“En.” Zhong Shan nodded and led Yinglan and Tianling-er after Beiqingsi. Zhong Shan’s shadow double returned just before they entered.
The four of them stepped through the gate.
All of a sudden, the surrounding changed into a strange environment.
An abyss of 10,000 meters deep, but it seemed to have a transparent top such that no one would fall into it. Outside the abyss, there were various strange pictures, showing all the surrounding outside of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. It was so peculiar as if one could see everything outside the formation.
On top of that, there were pictures showing all the people rushing into different gates.One of them showed everything happening inside the formation, Tiansha and Mr. Shuijing were all inside that one picture.
This was the hub of the formation, where the dragon eye was.
At the center of the transparent floor, sat a haggard old man.
The old man was wearing yellow clothes, but it seemed to have gathered a layer of dust. His hair was scorching yellow and the armpits of said clothes were soaked in sweat.
The old man kept watching the group with a smile. Beiqingsi slowly walked up to him, Zhong Shan and the two girls had no choice but follow her.
“So stinky.” Tianling-er immediately covered her nose and said with a frown.
“Hahaha.” The old man abruptly laughed out loud.
“Ling-er.” Zhong Shan stopped her.
Tianling-er stuck out her tongue.
“The young girl is telling the truth. So stinky, I’m so stinky.” The old man shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Qianbei, Ling-er is childish and says things without thinking. I hope you can forgive her.” Zhong Shan apologized for Tianling-er right away. From the information he had gathered in the past two days, Zhong Shan knew that Taixuzi was dying. Some people were very nice before they died, yet some became quite extreme. Zhong Shan didn’t know Taixuzi enough to know his personality, so it was better to play it safe.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s a surprise to see you here. Don’t worry, I just want to find a person to pass down the formation soul and help me accomplish one task. The formation soul, there was only one left down to my generation, which one of you four wants the formation soul?” The old man locked his eyes on the four and smiled.
Zhong Shan kept quiet.
“Qianbei, I’m not here for the formation soul. I’m here looking for one item from you.” Beiqingsi suddenly said.
“Oh?” The old man turned to look at Beiqingsi baffled.
“I’m Beiqingsi, my father was Beiqingfeng. He was framed by some evil people. He had placed an item here with you. Please, for my father’s sake, return this item to me so I can clear my father’s name.” Beiqingsi said.
“You’re Beiqingfeng’s daughter? Right, right, white hair and white brows. I didn’t expect that the bloodline of the Bei family to have come alive at your generation again. What a pity for your father, alas, he died even before me.” The old man was somewhat excited while feeling sad at the same time.
With the turn of his hand, the old man produced a purple book in his hand.
“I’m just going to find a person to bring the book to you. Now you’re here yourself. Here, you can have it. I still remember those days when Qingfeng and I were serving the court, it was so memorable. However, I don’t have the fortune like him to have an offspring.” Taixuzi stroked the book and sighed.
Looking at the purple book, tears rolled down from Beiqingsi’s eyes.
“Deeply appreciated, Qianbei.” Beiqingsi took the book and spoke with great emotion in her voice.
“Your father and I are brothers. You can call me uncle.” Taixuzi looked at Beiqingsi and said.
“Uncle.” Beiqingsi called him.
“Good, good, good. Before I die, it’s enough for me to have a niece. Heaven has still been fair to me.” Taixuzi spoke just as emotionally.
“Ah?” Tianling-er suddenly called out in surprise.
Zhong Shan turned his head to look at her and found her pointing down below in amazement. One of the pictures down there was showing the scenery outside the formation.
“What is it?” Zhong Shan whispered.
“I recognize that place.” Tianling-er whispered back.
On the other side,
“Originally, I wanted to find someone to pass down the formation soul. Now, since my niece’s here, the formation soul is yours.” Taixuzi spoke.
“No, uncle, I don’t have any use for formation soul. Give it to Zhong Shan.” Beiqingsi put the book away and immediately shook her head.
“Zhong Shan?” Taixuzi turned around to look at Zhong Shan.
It was obviously a man’s name, so it wasn’t hard for him to figure it out.
Taixuzi sized up Zhong Shan with surprise. After awhile, he said, “Your innate talent is very bad. The fourth level of Xiantian? How strange, how strange.”
Zhong Shan knew his innate talent was bad, but he didn’t have to say it out loud to his face.
“Niece, are you sure you want to give it to him?” Taixuzi turned to look at Beiqingsi with a strange look.
Beiqingsi suddenly blushed for the very first time.
“Hahaha.” Taixuzi understood and gave out a hearty laugh. He then looked at Zhong Shan again.
“Alright, young man, I’ll pass the formation soul to you. You better not betray my niece.” Taixuzi said.
“Ugh?” Zhong Shan touched his nose.
“Uncle, what are you talking about. You’ve misunderstood. Zhong Shan is the one who brought me the news about here. I’m grateful to him. Besides, I’m not interested in going into any battlefield, I don’t have much use for it.” Beiqingsi immediately explained.
“Ugh? Alright.” Taixuzi shook his head.
“Qianbei.” Zhong Shan immediately addressed Taixuzi.
After the misunderstanding was cleared, Taixuzi started to reevaluate Zhong Shan.
“Could it be possible to pass it to her?” Zhong Shan pointed at Yinglan.