Translated by Team DHH.
Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 40: Charging into the Formation
With Zhong Shan's current condition, it was next to impossible for him to locate the Heavenly Nine Dragon Jade Dragon. But, it would be quite different now that he could follow all the others and, if luck was on his side, find it
It wasn't dark enough yet for him to send the shadow double to tail Mr. Shi's group just yet. He had to wait.
Soon the day arrived. They were all waited for the full moon to charge the gates.
Different groups of people stood in front of each of the eight gates. Mr. Shuijing had already left with Tiansha and their people.
Zhong Shan was left with Tianling-er, Yinglan, Beiqingsi, Princess Qianyou, Gu Lin, and about a dozen of Princess Qianyou's subordinates on the mountain top.
There were other groups around the Shang Gate as well, but their presence didn't seem to concern Princess Qianyou.
Princess Qianyou fixed her eyes on the Shang Gate, then turned to look at Zhong Shan, "It's quite dangerous to charge the formation, you three can stay here."
Princess Qianyou was warning them out of instinct. She had developed a favorable impression of Zhong Shan when he almost lost his life saving Tianling-er during their attack on Hao San last time. In addition, she had discovered during the past few days that the black robed girl who knew about the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation was actually Zhong Shan's grandniece. She was quite surprised by that discovery.
Zhong Shan knew his current position was worlds away from the Princess and believed that she was mentioning it offhandedly.
"Thank you Princess for your concern. Nonetheless, we shall follow Princess into the formation." Zhong Shan replied lightly.
On one hand, Zhong Shan wanted to see the formation for himself, on the other hand, he didn't think it would be any safer to stay out here. If they went in with the group, at least he could be sure that Beiqingsi would protect them if they were in any danger.
"Geez, you want to get the Formation Soul even with your ability?" Gu Lin at the side despitefully asked.
Zhong Shan, was unfazed by the comment, in fact, it gave him an excellent alibi to go in with them.
"Yes, the Princess has said it before that it depends on each one's luck to find the Formation Soul." Zhong Shan replied.
Gu Lin only sneered.
Princess Qianyou was intelligent enough to understand the meaning behind Zhong Shan's reply. She nodded.
"Ah Da, take the three of them with you." Princess Qianyou told the man behind her.
"Yes." The man who was following the Princess closely immediately answered.
"It's very appreciated." Zhong Shan said in a low voice.
"En." Princess simply nodded, but remained silent, satisfied with the conversation. She continued to gaze at the Shang Gate ahead of them.
Some distance away, in front of the Si Gate, Mr. Shi looked at the formation with furrowed brow.
"Mr. Shi, why do we have to charge the Si[1] Gate?" Someone next to him asked.
"Birth follows death, death follows birth. If Your Majesty wants to get the Formation Soul, naturally we shouldn't go through the Si Gate. However, if we want the Heavenly Nine Dragon Jade Square, then we must go through the Si Gate. Only inside the Si Gate is there even a sliver of hope that we can discover the exact location of the Jade Square." Mr. Shi lightly stroked his beard under his chin.
"Then, we aren't going to take the Formation Soul?" The person asked again.
"Listen to Mr. Shi." A more regal person said.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The first person obediently answered.
Mr. Shi looked at the person confidently. Though his ability wasn't as good as theirs, his knowledge was something they had never touched upon.
Darkness grew, the sun had set and a full moon gradually rose from the east.
Mr. Shuijing kept calculating the timing with his fingers in front of the Shang Gate. His followers and Tiansha's group all stood behind him, waiting.
Mid way through his calculation, Mr. Shuijing squinted and his fingers froze. He fixed his eyes at the formation in front of them, lightly waved his feather fan, and was about to gave his order.
"Yin~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
High above the sky, a pleasant sound pierced through the cloud.
The sound was quite pleasant to the ear. Everyone paused.
Almost all the groups looked up into the sky.
Zhong Shan looked up and saw a huge bird in the sky. The bird flew so high that it was higher than the sand storm formation. It circled around high above.
Qingluan, it was Qingluan?
Though Zhong Shan had never seen a Qingluan before, it was impossible to see it as anything else. He had seen the picture of it in the mortal world. A mythical bird? A kind of phoenix?
Zhong Shan seemed to see there was a person riding on the big bird. It was too far away, he couldn't be sure.
The Qingluan circled around the formation for a while then abruptly turned around away towards the northwest. It looked as if it had just passed by and stayed a while out of curiosity. In the blink of an eye, the bird disappeared into the clouds.
The Qingluan flew away, towards the northwest.
"Zhong Shan, the direction that Qingluan's heading is to the Kaiyang School. Can it be that it's flying over to the Kaiyang School?" Tianling-er curiously asked.
"Urr, you know which direction the Kaiyang School is?" Zhong Shan was surprised.
"Of course. I never get confused with directions." Tianling-er confidently said.
Princess Qianyou looked at the sky again with a doubtful expression, but soon turned to face the formation and spoke, "It's about the time. Let's get ready to go."
"Yes." Everyone answered.
"Let's go~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
On the other side, Mr. Shuijing pointed his feather fan at the formation and everyone followed him, charging head first. They either rode on the wind or some magical items towards the formation. Below them, there were some Xiantian level people who ran towards the formation.
Mr. Shuijing's move created a chain reaction, all the people gathered in front of the different gates began charging towards the various gates.
Zhong Shan stood behind Princess Qianyou, waiting patiently. Many who had gathered around the Shang Gate had already moved in. But for some reason, Princess Qianyou seemed to be waiting for something.
It was then that Zhong Shan took a few steps back. Soon a shadow suddenly appeared at the foothill of the mountain where Zhong Shan was at, hidden by the darkness
Zhong Shan's shadow double moved towards the the Si Gate, where Mr. Shi was.
The shadow double moved so fast, like a shooting arrow, that it quickly disappeared. It could even pass through the mountain, as long as there was cracks in the dirt, it could slide through.
Mr. Shi wasn't in a hurry to go in either. He was waiting as well.
The shadow double reached near Mr. Shi's group in no time. He waited some distance away, waiting to secretly join Mr. Shi's group to search for the Heavenly Nine Dragon Jade Square.
With so many people inside the formation, the sand storm began to rage ever more violently. Some of the storm even burst out from the middle as if to enlarge the formation.
In no time at all, most of the people had entered formation. Only a few groups left outside waited patiently
Zhong Shan also stood behind Princess Qianyou patiently waiting.
"Let's go. Into the formation." Princess Qianyou suddenly spoke.
"Yes."
Princess Qianyou stomped her foot and flew up with the wind. Ah Da also brought out a piece of cloud to carry Zhong Shan, Yinglan, and Tianling-er.
There was another person who also flew with the wind. This person had been guarding Princess Qianyou the entire time. He also used a cloud to carry Gu Lin. The rest of the group all flew on flying swords. They flew towards the formation and slowly descended to the ground.
Princess Qianyou chose not to fly into the formation, instead she walked into it, leading the group.
As they were grew closer, they could feel the sand and dust blowing at them. They all put their genuine energy outside to form a shield. Zhong Shan followed suit and used his zhenqi to form a body shield to block the sand.
Though Yinglan didn't have zhenqi to use, her black robe was sufficient block the sand and dust.
Zhong Shan lightly held both Yinglan and Tianling-er with his hands, following closely behind Princess Qianyou.
Since the visibility inside the sand storm was quite low, Zhong Shan didn't want the three of them get separated, hence the hand holding.
Tianling-er blushed when Zhong Shan grabbed her hand but didn't resist. Yinglan was wrapped inside the black robe, her face hidden.
Beiqingsi slightly furrowed her brow, but she walked next to Zhong Shan, as if to protect him.
This group of people followed Princess Qianyou as she walked towards the inside of the formation.
Footnotes
^ 死 (pinyin: "si") means death in Chinese hence the following conversation.