A Guide to Self-Rescue in the Cultivation World - Chapter 16

The night in the Imperial City was a different kind of impenetrable ink. Unlike the quiet of the mountains, here the darkness was broken and fragmented by the towering palace walls.

The patrolling soldiers in the palace carried red lanterns. Whether it was psychological or not, to Zhou Suyao, the faint red light they gave off looked inexplicably sinister.

She also caught the scent of stone and another indescribably old, stale smell permeating the air. She wrinkled her nose, rubbing the tip uncomfortably.

In front of her, Qi Jie was like a shadow hugging the ground. He lightly touched his toes to the earth and landed perfectly in the deep shade cast by the massive palace wall. Zhou Suyao was silent for a moment, then bent low and followed his steps.

“This way,” Qi Jie whispered, keeping his voice extremely low.

Following his lead, Zhou Suyao quickly moved through collapsed rockeries and patches of waist-high weeds, her feet constantly crunching on wet, broken stones. The noise, though subtle, sounded like a drum in her ears right now. She concentrated on her breathing, gently suppressing her spiritual power to soften her movements.

Soon, they reached a gap in the palace wall hidden by a large rock garden. Qi Jie stopped here and made a highly concealed hand gesture toward the opening.

Immediately, a sound of suppressed pain came from inside the gap. Zhou Suyao’s heart instantly leaped into her throat.

Qi Jie flashed inside first, and she followed right behind him.

Inside the opening was a small space enclosed by broken walls and rubble. A few slivers of moonlight leaked through the gap, barely outlining a single figure.

Qi Shuo Bei.

The normally spirited RaoTian Dao Young Master, who even made a show of his sword-flying, was slumped against a broken wall, looking utterly disheveled. His formerly luxurious Qilin-patterned robe was torn in several places and stained with bl00d—whose, she didn’t know.

He looked up and quickly exchanged a meaningful glance with Qi Jie before speaking directly: “After the Xincong Sect fell into disarray, most of its disciples came to RaoTian Dao for shelter. Ming Luo was no exception. I originally intended to take Ming Luo to see Xuan Yangming, hoping that out of their former teacher-student relationship, Xuan Yangming would confess his crimes… I never expected that the moment they were in the same space, a strange red light would burst from Ming Luo. Then… she passed out, and my vision went dark for a second. When I could see again, Xuan Yangming had already taken Ming Luo and fled toward the Imperial City.”

Hearing this, Zhou Suyao immediately understood: the Same Life Seal.

However, she was still unsure if the two Qi brothers were truly allies or foes, so she decided to keep such critical information to herself for now.

Qi Shuo Bei continued, “The RaoTian Dao Patriarch refuses to get involved in this. I could only order my own personal guards to go. They risked their lives to bring back the last piece of information, saying Ming Luo was taken to a hidden underground chamber deep in the inner court, and then all contact was lost. I tried several times, but that underground chamber is impossible to approach. Moreover, the patrolling eunuchs and palace maids all have blank stares and stiff movements… I suspect this is Xuan Yangming’s doing.”

“But… such a massive operation,” Qi Jie questioned. “Is Xuan Yangming’s influence in the Imperial City truly so immense? Large enough to turn the entire palace into his puppets?”

Qi Shuo Bei nodded. “Logically speaking, it is indeed highly suspicious. However…” He paused, then continued, “If the news that Ming Luo was taken by Xuan Yangming’s forces while staying at RaoTian Dao spreads back to the Spiritual Dao, all the sects will surely criticize RaoTian Dao for lax oversight, which would undermine us… More importantly, after the events in the Underworld, she and I are partners, bound by shared life and death. The longer she stays in the Imperial City, the more precarious her life becomes.”

He gritted his teeth before uttering the final words: “I… I can’t bear to watch our partner fall into the tiger’s den like this!”

As he finished, he looked up and saw that both their expressions were quite… rich.

“Wow.” Zhou Suyao turned away to stifle a laugh, then clapped her hands together.

Qi Jie also lowered his head, scratching his head awkwardly.

Qi Shuo Bei.

“Alright, alright,” Zhou Suyao said, recalling the urgent matter, and immediately suppressed her smile. “So what’s the plan now? We can’t just run around like headless chickens without a strategy.”

“Naturally,” Qi Shuo Bei said. “You should know that for every guest staying at RaoTian Dao, we cast a Sound Transmission Spell on them. Once the spell is cast, RaoTian Dao can contact them anytime through a magical artifact, the ‘Listening Conch’ (Tingting Luo), bypassing any magical barriers.”

“So we have to go back to RaoTian Dao to get this thing…?” Zhou Suyao frowned.

Seeing her impatience, the two Qi brothers actually chuckled. Then, Qi Jie produced a shimmering golden artifact from behind his back, as if by magic, and handed it to Zhou Suyao.

The object was about the size of a baby’s fist, entirely a dazzling gold, yet its texture and feel were like finely carved white jade.

“You should try it,” Zhou Suyao pushed the artifact back into Qi Jie’s hand. “I’m not from the RaoTian Dao, and I don’t know how to use this thing. If something went wrong right now, the loss would be too great.”

Qi Jie didn’t hesitate. He swiftly sliced his fingertip along the sharp edge of the Qilin on his shoulder. A drop of hot bl00d immediately seeped out, dripping precisely onto the central pattern of the Listening Conch.

Ohm—!

The lines on the conch instantly lit up, emitting a soft glow. Qi Jie closed his eyes and concentrated. His divine sense, like an invisible thread, penetrated the layers of palace walls and the strange barrier, probing toward the underground chamber.

Beside him, Zhou Suyao and Qi Shuo Bei held their breath. The air seemed to solidify, leaving only the low humming of the Listening Conch echoing in the small space.

Suddenly, the conch’s light flickered violently. Qi Jie let out a muffled groan and his body staggered. But he ignored the bl00d rising in his throat and was about to use his mind to send a query when Qi Shuo Bei, who was hovering behind him, snatched the chance, desperately asking: “Ming Luo! Answer me! Where are you! How are you now!“

A brief, yet heart-stopping, dead silence.

Then, an extremely weak, fragmented thought suddenly rushed into the Listening Conch, echoing in the small ruins and in the ears of the three people.

“Shuo… Shuo Bei…”

The voice was as frail as a silk thread.

“It’s me! And Ah Jie and Suyao! Hold on, we’re right outside, we’re coming to save you immediately.”

“No!” Ming Luo’s voice rose sharply. “Run…! Now! Leave the Imperial City immediately…! Quickly…!”

“Why…!” Qi Shuo Bei urgently pressed. “Where are you? We can—”

“You can’t!!” Ming Luo spoke rapidly, her tone filled with utter terror. “This matter is not as simple as you imagine… Go back…! Flee—Ah!“

A short, abrupt scream cut off her thought. Afterward, the surroundings fell silent again.

The light on the Listening Conch abruptly went out, turning it back into a cold, dull stone that clattered to the ground from Qi Shuo Bei’s powerless hand.

“Ming Luo!”

His eyes were bloodshot, and his already injured body now seemed on the verge of collapsing.

“Not as simple as we imagined…?” Zhou Suyao subconsciously muttered. “My goodness, what the hell does this old ghost Xuan Yangming want?”

Qi Jie sighed, but still placed a hand on Qi Shuo Bei’s shoulder, quietly saying, “The most important thing right now is to return to the Spiritual Dao. Since Ming Luo is reacting this way, it means this is indeed not something the four of us can handle. We need to go back and find help.”

“Easy for you to say,” Qi Shuo Bei said, his eyes bl00d red. “But the Sect Leader is unwilling to get involved. Who else can we turn to?”

Just then.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

An extremely faint, yet unusually clear set of footsteps, slowly approaching from a distance, shattered the silence of their corner.

The footsteps were unhurried, carrying an immense composure that sounded piercing and eerie in the empty palace grounds.

All three were startled. As if doused with a bucket of ice water, they instantly broke free from their grief, immediately suppressed their qi, and shrank deeper into the shadows of the vines and debris.

The footsteps drew closer.

They saw a shadow slowly creeping forward.

A hunched figure in a green Chief Eunuch’s attire slowly shuffled out, leaning on a seemingly ordinary dark wooden cane. His head was bowed, his hat brim pulled low, revealing only a swollen, pallid chin. His steps were slow and dragging.

He stopped about ten steps from their hiding spot, seeming to trip on a loose stone. His body swayed slightly, and he emitted a series of suppressed coughs.

Qi Jie’s hand silently pressed against the hilt of his sword. Qi Shuo Bei, enduring the sharp pain, extended his right hand, ready to summon his divine weapon at any moment.

Behind them, Zhou Suyao frowned slightly, her back pressed tightly against the cold, broken wall.

Inside her body, the demon’s spiritual power was surging wildly, as if sensing a natural enemy, furiously colliding with her spiritual consciousness.

Just as the trio’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point, the old eunuch finally slowly raised his head.

Beneath the hat brim was a face so swollen it looked like it had been soaked in water for days. The skin was loose and drooping, covered in deep brown age spots, and his eyes were cloudy and unsettling.

He parted his shriveled lips, revealing an extremely stiff smile. His uneven yellow teeth looked even more sinister in the dim light.

Then, with a stiff posture that completely defied normal human anatomy, he slowly raised his right hand, which had been tucked inside his sleeve.

His limbs creaked with a teeth-grinding sound, like a machine long overdue for oiling.

However, as that bony, withered hand slowly lifted, an indescribable blast of cold energy erupted. The ground instantly began to freeze with a thin layer of white frost visible to the naked eye.

A more horrifying scene followed.

The skin on that raised hand began to melt rapidly, exposing the flesh and bone beneath, which was a foul, decaying, bl00d-black. But instead of dripping, the flesh twisted and condensed like a living thing, transforming into a far more terrifying object.

A staff carved from white bone.

“The night dew is heavy. Have the three distinguished guests cough, cough lost their way in this desolate place?”