After obtaining the profound wood spirit stone, the Eight Winds cliff trial was now complete. Everyone was feeling much more relaxed. For the next two days they rode the wind during the day and spent the night in the wilderness.
Today they had flown to the base of a large mountain peak.
Ancient trees towered high in the air and the evening sun formed halos around their surroundings. Descending between the leaves, a refreshing breeze lifted their spirits. Before them lay an endless cavernous tunnel which lead directly to the other side of the mountain. It gave off a vague gloomy feeling.
Jun YanZhi said: “This appears to be the final segment. Once we pass through we should arrive at the Eight Winds Cliff ancient array.”
Wen Jing was feeling anxious: “Go ahead and rest. I want to pick a few more spirit grass before we go.”
The other three all turned together to look at him.
Wen Jing ignored them and quickly hurried away.
Picking spirit grass was just an excuse. Eight Winds Cliff was the home of numerous demon beasts and one could find growing there the extremely precious demon beast fruit. Waiting at home were the foolishly cute large tortoise and the noble and elegant small minded serpent. Wen Jing was itching to pick a large quantity for their benefit.
After walking through the forest for some time, the sky had darkened and Wen Jing’s storage bags were bulging with fruit.
Just then from behind him came Jun YanZhi’s faint voice: “Junior brother, it’s time to go.”
“Ok!” Wen Jing picked one last fruit and hurried back.
He Ling and Ji KeQing had grown impatient some time ago and had already headed out ahead of them.
Wen Jing flushed and said: “Senior Brother Jun, we should hurry.”
On saying this, he pulled Jun YanZhi’s hand and entered the passageway.
The two of them, one following the other, gradually fell silent within the darkness.
Grasping that cool and slender hand in a light grip, Wen Jing then heard the soft voice of the person behind him: “Junior brother, your…… what is your impression of me?”
Wen Jing opened his mouth and then hesitated, not knowing how to respond, then said: “Senior brother has a noble character and is an admirable person.”
The person behind him was quiet for a while then asked: “Anything else?”
Wen Jing thought for a moment then said: “Senior brother has a gentle nature, speaks elegantly, and is a very comfortable person to have at one’s side.”
“What else?”
Wen Jing blanked out: “Um, you……senior brother’s appearance, you’re very good-looking.” As he said this, he turned a little red.
The man behind him was silent for a moment then said softly: “Junior brother, you’re young now but when you grow up a little we could, could……” His voice held an unexpected trace of urgency.
“Could what?”
The voice behind him became calm again: “……I could teach you a few more things.”
Wen Jing promptly nodded: “Senior Brother Jun, what kind of things will you teach me? I’ve been hoping for something like that.”
Jun YanZhi was quiet again then said: “It could be considered to be a type of skill.”
“Ah……thank you very much senior brother.”
Jun YanZhi unconsciously squeezed his hand.
The mouth of the tunnel wasn’t too far away and red of the setting sun could be faintly seen from a distance.
His gloomy life, like that of seeing the sun at the end of a tunnel, was finally coming to an end. As long as he never let him know who he was, didn’t let him know of his past……
“Se…senior brother. Some, something is going on outside.”
Wen Jing stood at the exit to the tunnel. His teeth were chattering.
Although the novel had already spoken of what had happened at the tunnel exit, Wen Jing still turned pale at the sight of the bloody scene.
“……What happened?” Jun YanZhi exited the tunnel.
Dozens of bodies lay before them. Long dead, their faces wore malevolent expressions. Bodies were twisted and distorted as if they had sunk into madness. Between the bodies, a red flag fluttered in the wind.
Jun YanZhi stared at the flag in a daze only to feel a sudden sharp pain and a growing humming in his head.
Screaming, shouting, and weeping sounds echoed in his mind. A middle aged woman with a gentle face appeared in front of his eyes. Covered with blood, she struggled on the ground as she cried out: “Run, run!”
In the flames, a blue and white flag fluttered in the night wind. It had been dyed completely red with blood.
As she cried out to him, a man stepped on her back and sliced through her neck with a longsword. Blood gushed like a stream of water.
Jun YanZhi was stunned and uncomprehending.
Who was the murderer? Who was he?
No, there wasn’t just one, or two, three, four, five, six, …… they were all killing each other. It was a relentless cold-blooded massacre.
“Senior Brother Jun, what’s wrong? Wen Jing asked softly.
Why was his face so pale? He was silent and seemed to be preoccupied.
Jun YanZhi didn’t respond and only tightened his lips.
He Ling and Ji KeQing were standing not far away and also looked at him with strange expressions. He Ling frowned: “Junior Brother Jun, what’s the matter?”
Jun YanZhi came back to himself and dropped his gaze for a moment then looked back up, his expression already serene again: “These bodies all appear to belong to the Water Moon Palace. They must be the remaining disciples.”
He Ling said: “Correct.”
Ji KeQing felt sick and turned to walk to the side of the cliff to stand in the cool breeze.
“Senior brother, why don’t you sit down and take a break?” Wen Jing said quietly.
“……ok.”
Jun YanZhi bowed his head as he walked past and calmly glanced at the distorted bodies.
It was all coming back.
……even the arrangement of the bodies with so much care. It was the same as that night. Was it a coincidence or was it intentional?
Who would do such a thing?
Wen Jing could only feel his whole body crawling with discomfort. It was like being at the scene of a horror movie. Suddenly a message from the system appeared in his mind.
[Host: The self defense system has detected a major crisis. Upgrades have begun and will be complete in one month. The upgrade has a possible failure rate. The host is asked to make mental preparations.]
Wen Jing went into a daze.
I laughed when I got to the meaning of the chapter title. d(￣◇￣)b
Everyone was asking about the fish, but I don’t think there would be any good way of taking a fish out of that place you know.