IS Chapter 64
by VolareAfter both the Sword Sect and the Red Dust Sword Sect disappeared into the Ghost Gate, Ye Zhuo found two more items in his hand.
One was a crystal-clear jade tablet, as thin as a cicada’s wing.
Su Yizhen had said that the situation in the Ghost Realm was unknown. If there was any need for him, crushing the jade tablet would allow him to sense the location and arrive immediately.
The other was a section of verdant peach branch.
The Red Dust Sword Immortal had said that if there was anything they could help with, breaking the peach branch would allow him to sense the location and arrive immediately.
Without a second glance, Ye Zhuo directly tossed them into the depths of his storage ring.
After discarding them, he noticed that the surroundings were quiet, and no one had entered the Ghost Gate for quite some time.
Wei Sheng Xian approached, having calmly collected two armillary spheres for recording time and several talismans for contacting the Dao Sect’s leader from the Dao Sect.
“Do you guys want some?”
Ye Zhuo glanced at the items, took an armillary sphere, and Li Yuan also took one.
This left Wei Sheng Xian without one.
However, no one cared. Although time was undoubtedly chaotic at the intersection of the two realms, someone like Palace Master Wei Sheng Xian could probably discern time better than any man-made armillary sphere.
“Alright, let’s go.” Wei Sheng Xian said with a smile, “All the other Dao friends are watching us, we shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
Since they had already revealed their Tribulation Transcendence strength, all the second-rate sects were silent, waiting for the Micro-Snow Palace to go first.
He didn’t know what the Upper Purity Mountain was doing, actually including the Micro-Snow Palace in the ranks of second-rate sects, where did they put them? If these three didn’t leave, who would dare to move?
Thus, the three members of the Micro-Snow Palace, under the gaze of the other Dao friends and the unpredictable gaze of True Man Tai Huan, put down their tea and snacks and entered the rift.
Upon entering, they were immediately met with all-encompassing darkness, where one couldn’t see their own fingers.
After moving forward for a while, they gradually adapted to the environment. All they could see was a vast expanse of gray and black mist enveloping the illusory heaven and earth. The place they had come from had become a faint, wavering line of light.
Within the mist, there seemed to be indescribable things moving about.
A faint fragrance of candlelight wafted through the air, and something snow-white drifted down in front of Ye Zhuo. He reached out and caught it; it was a piece of paper money.
Looking up, paper money fell like snow, fluttering down. Within it, one could faintly hear the sounds of weeping from the mortal world.
“Unexpected wealth falling from the sky,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “An auspicious sign.”
As he spoke, he reached out and caught a few pieces, happily pocketing them.
After walking a few more steps, they encountered a pile of burning gold ingots.
Palace Master Wei Sheng Xian was also delighted, brazenly taking several ingots from the fire.
However, Ye Zhuo always felt that there was a pale, white shadow beside that pile of gold ingots, staring resentfully at Wei Sheng Xian as he took the ingots.
As they continued forward, the paper money and candlelight gradually decreased, and the surrounding scenery became clearer—in the midst of the Negativewind and dismal mist, the earth resembled a dim sea. Occasionally, they saw ruins of temples, Daoist temples, and ancestral halls, some collapsed on the ground, others floating in the air.
Ahead, a disciple from an unknown immortal sect murmured to himself, “The world of the living is so vibrant and beautiful, the world of the dead is so empty and Silent.”
Then he began to meditate and visualize.
In the buildings that seemed real and illusory, there were often blurry white figures staggering about.
Cries and sighs echoed faintly, as if right beside their ears.
“These are all newly deceased people. They should have dissipated into the heavens and earth, but they were summoned here by the Yin energy,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “When we first came in, we could still see the incense of the mortal world, but further in, we can only see ghosts. Deeper in, there will be more and more things from the Ghost Realm.”
As he spoke, he looked ahead: “Which way do we go? Together or separately?”
Ye Zhuo: “Separately.”
Each of them had their own matters to attend to, so it was better for them to go their own ways.
Besides, he still had to gather herbs for Feng Jiang. Three people going in three directions would be better than going together.
“Then let’s do that,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “I’ll go east.”
But as he finished speaking, he turned towards Ye Zhuo.
He raised his hand and drew a symbol, which disappeared into Ye Zhuo’s forehead.
Then, with a smile, he handed him a Talisman: “If you’re in danger, burn this, and this Daoist can sense your location and come immediately.”
Ye Zhuo was speechless.
It was a strange thing.
If they were to fight seriously, all of them together might not be able to withstand a thousand of his moves, yet they eagerly offered these things, as if they wanted to save him from dire straits.
He didn’t like such items, so he threw them into the depths of his storage ring as well, to keep company with Su Yizhen’s jade tablet and the Red Dust Sword Immortal’s peach branch forever.
With the items accepted, Wei Sheng Xian left leisurely.
Only Ye Zhuo and Li Yuan remained in place.
Li Yuan had no intention of leaving, looking Ye Zhuo up and down, as if examining some rare object.
Ye Zhuo’s tone was unpleasant: “Do you also want to sense my location and come immediately?”
“Of course not,” Li Yuan said, “I want to take a closer look at just what kind of deity you are, that makes them so infatuated.”
Ye Zhuo: “Then you can go look at them, not me.”
“I don’t want to,” Li Yuan said, “Besides, as for location, I can sense it at any time. I don’t need you to smash jade tablets, break peach branches, or light Talisman just yet.”
Having stayed in the Micro-Snow Palace for too long, Ye Zhuo had almost forgotten that Dragon Li Yuan had this trick.
A sudden curiosity arose in Ye Zhuo’s heart.
“Then if I die, what will you sense?”
Li Yuan frowned, sizing up the man, then looking at the Reverse Scale Sword in his hand.
“Naturally, the scale would return to its original owner, and the sword would convey its joy, which I would sense,” Li Yuan said, “Rest assured, you and I have a good relationship now, I will properly collect your remains for you. If you want me to avenge you, that’s not impossible either.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Ye Zhuo said, “But it seems the Ghost Realm isn’t enough to make your wish come true.”
Li Yuan scoffed: “A menace lives for a thousand years, who doesn’t know that? You’re coming to the Ghost Realm to spread Buddhist teachings, I truly worry for all the ghosts.”
The Ghost Realm was full of evil spirits, who feared solemn Buddhist cultivators the most, and then ruthless sword cultivators.
If he were the Ghost Emperor of this realm, he would immediately have eight men carry Ye Zhuo out on a sedan chair upon learning that a disciple of the Sumeru Upper Realm and a sword cultivator with accomplishments in the human realm was visiting the Ghost Realm.
However, there seemed to be more than just ghosts to beware of on this trip to the Ghost Realm.
Li Yuan: “Do you think the Upper Purity Mountain will come to kill you again?”
Looking into Dragon Li Yuan’s eyes, Ye Zhuo said sincerely, “If you weren’t always getting in the way at the Micro-Snow Palace, I would have gone to find them already. Unlike now, where I have to wait for them to come and kill me.”
“?”
Where had he been getting in the way?
Without him, where would Ye Zhuo’s bone structure have improved, where would his swordsmanship have advanced?
Hoping that a Jiaolong spirit would really be born from his cold pond one day?
That was impossible, ever since he had moved in, even the loaches in the cold pond had moved away.
Forget it, this man was unreasonable, but that wasn’t something new.
Li Yuan leaned in, ferociously sniffing the moist, woody scent on Ye Zhuo’s neck.
The incense in the Ghost Realm was turbid and displeasing to him. He really wanted to burn this man as incense.
After sniffing, he let Ye Zhuo go.
“Whatever,” Li Yuan said, “I’ll go north.”
That left him with the west.
Ye Zhuo walked west.
Teasing Dragon Li Yuan a bit improved his mood.