Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 256

"The sound of the wind, and the sound of heavy snow falling. I could also feel a chilling, surging murderous aura, fiercely and relentlessly emanating from every corner of the ancient architectural complex."

"Of course, there was also killing intent, an immense killing intent that seemed capable of tearing the entire world to shreds—"

I have a keen enough sixth sense to "know that autumn is coming from a single falling leaf." That murderous aura came from the infinite distance to the due east, as if a monster hidden deep underground was suddenly bursting forth, ready to smash through all obstacles on the ground and pounce out in a rage.

"What is that? Such deep resentment?" I asked in a low voice.

He smiled, head held high, and remained silent.

Ever since I stepped into that golden egg, I've had far too many questions, but this strange square-eyed warrior has always been evasive and hasn't given me any real, clear answers.

Tang Xin and Tang Qing are nearly twenty years apart in age and are the elite members of the Tang Clan in Sichuan, standing out among two generations. Therefore, this battle between people from the same clan can almost be seen as the most perfect display of Tang Clan martial arts.

Tang Qing was entirely black, and his methods of attack were characterized by "insidious, cunning, vicious, and treacherous," using every means possible. Tang Xin, on the other hand, was white, against a backdrop of vast snowfields, as light as a seagull skimming across the sea, or like a flying apsara from a Dunhuang mural, dancing gracefully amidst the chanting of Buddhist monks.

"She's no match for her," he sneered.

I understand who the two "she"s refer to. The one who is at a disadvantage is the older Tang Qing, because within eight rounds, Tang Xin has had three good opportunities to shoot her at close range.

"Her intelligence surpasses that of girls of her time by more than ten times. Her brain structure and way of thinking are also more advanced. There were even times when I doubted that she was not a complete human being." When he praised Tang Xin, his attitude was also condescending.

"So, you completely understand why Tang Xin doesn't shoot the enemy even when she has the chance, right?" I probed.

He waved his hand decisively: "Of course I understand, but it's definitely not what you imagine. Cao Zhi wrote the line, 'We are all born of the same root, why must we fight each other so fiercely?' That doesn't apply here!"

I did think of those two lines of poetry, but he saw through my thoughts the moment I thought of them.

In the tenth round, as the two brushed past each other, Tang Xin could have easily used the "Rhinoceros Gazing at the Moon, Turning Over and Exposing Elbow" technique to shoot Tang Qing in the back, but she did not make a move.

"Go!" he muttered to himself, his arms suddenly parting to the side, and a gust of wind rushed out of the cave entrance, causing the fluttering snowflakes to tumble and swirl.

The two fighters, caught in the heat of battle, suddenly changed their movements and retreated to the top of the building complex, continuing their fight in mid-air.

The red light on Tang Qing's fingers was gradually being controlled by Tang Xin. The sword light grew shorter and shorter, seemingly about to disappear. Her footwork on the rooftop was also extremely erratic with each leap. Many examples in the martial arts world proved that martial arts skills could become outdated. As Tang Xin's elder, she had been out of touch with the outside world for fifteen years, and naturally, she had missed many opportunities for improvement.

In this battle, Tang Xin clearly had the upper hand.

"Tang Xin has run out of crossbow bolts." My heart sank suddenly, because amidst the clicking of the springs, there was a "click" sound, the sound of more than a dozen springs in the crossbow magazine automatically resetting at the same time.

This was the thirty-fifth round of their mid-air duel. Tang Xin had fired a total of 290 short arrows from her crossbow, but none of them hit their target; all missed. Neither of them had a chance to use the poisons that the Tang Clan was most adept at using; otherwise, the battle would have ended cleanly and decisively, resulting in one death, one injury, or even mutual destruction.

The battle abruptly ceased. Tang Xin remained on the gate tower, while Tang Qing settled on the stone steps.

"As I've said before, this isn't a battle between two people. The ultimate goal for both sides isn't to kill, but to deeply assimilate the other. Subduing the enemy without fighting is the highest level of warfare." Often, he was just talking to himself, not caring whether I, the audience member, could understand him.

"Water on Earth evaporates into vapor, vapor condenses into frost when it gets cold, frost melts into snow, and when the force that lifts snowflakes is less than the Earth's gravity, they will naturally fall. Spring comes and goes, and autumn comes and goes... For thousands of years, I have been standing on Earth, yet I have no feeling of going home. Can you tell me why?" he murmured.

I cannot answer this question. In fact, throughout my long academic journey, I have asked myself the same question in the quiet of the night. The scalpel has taken meticulous care of me, but my heart has always been lonely and desolate.

"Are you also homeless?" His words rang in my ears, like a pebble dropped into an icy lake, creating endless ripples.

"I need to go to 'Asian Gear,' and I hope you can help me." I focused my mind, clearing away the random thoughts that suddenly flooded my head, and concentrated on watching the two people locked in a fierce battle.

"I can't help you. No one is a god who can understand the universe. I am just an Earthling living in 2007, just like you." He said with a bitter laugh.

He repeatedly mentioned that before his spacecraft malfunctioned, he was living on Earth in 2007. From a macrocosmic perspective, anything could happen during a time distortion—almost hundreds or thousands of possibilities. Most importantly, it is currently 2007 AD in the Earth calendar. We live in the present and cannot escape it. Regardless of his original identity, he can only passively define himself as "2007, Earthling."

"In that era, were all people's eyes square? Without exception?"

Although we were talking, our minds were elsewhere. Deep within the complex, fog began to rise again; perhaps I should jump down and see what was inside.

"Without exception, humans, all living things, and any species before or after evolution, all have square eyes. I've always wondered if I might have entered another era before the Ice Age?" His answer was exactly what I had imagined, but unfortunately, it couldn't be confirmed.

When Tang Qing turned her back to me, four extra arms appeared in my sight in a shocking way.

"Can you feel it? A powerful force is constantly binding her, like a silkworm in spring, spinning its cocoon to wrap itself up. If we can break through this cocoon, perhaps we'll find a way to unravel the mystery behind it all."

I did have a certain feeling that Tang Qing was not alone. The flaws that were exposed in her body when she was moving at high speed were protected by an invisible force, so even the powerful crossbow bolts that were at close range did not hurt her.

"What kind of power is that?" Alpha muttered to himself.

I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Witch Longge, tell me, where is Suren?"

What he can't do, others might be able to do. I've personally witnessed her ghostly movements, so wouldn't the mastermind behind her be even more unpredictable?

"She won't tell you; she's completely devoid of thought right now," Alpha said, shaking his head and sighing softly.

I don't acknowledge that; at least she had treated me like her older brother, Yang Tian, mentioning his name several times. Before their second confrontation could begin, I leaped down, lightly slapping the stone wall with my palm, and stopped beside Tang Qing. The stone steps were less than a meter wide, far too narrow for two people to stand facing each other.

She slowly turned around, staring at me blankly. This was the first time I had seen her up close. From the front, there was nothing unusual about her; she had a standard human face and a standard human body.

"Do you know where Suren is?" I repeated myself, word by word.

The force surrounding her suddenly surged, enveloping me as well.

"Su Lun and Yang Tian? Where are those two now? Do you know?" I saw her eyes slowly move, and in less than a second, a smile suddenly appeared on her lips.

"Them? Behind a door. Do you want to go?" For some reason, her smile looked eerie and evil, sending chills down my spine.

"Where is the door?" I had no choice but to keep asking.

"Right here--" She raised her chin and nodded towards the Epang Palace.

In my past hallucinations, I saw that strange door embedded in the wall, but should I believe Tang Qing?

Her face was very pale, with a faint bluish glow between her brows and cheeks, like fine jade. Her smile, however, was like a pattern carved into the jade, cold and fake.

Volume Five: The Millennium Labyrinth

Part 1: Deep Underground

— Chapter 8 — Formation and Sealing —

"Will you come?" She leaned towards me, her bloodless lips slightly parted to reveal gleaming white teeth. "They're right behind the door, quietly waiting for you to open it."

I did not dodge, but instead gathered my inner strength and used pure Yang Qi to protect my vital points, ready to counter her sudden attack at any time.

"Who are you?" I asked casually, the same question I had asked Alpha, but I only received a simple code name: Alpha.

"I am...I am..." She squinted at me.

"If you want me to go, at least tell me who you are." I stared intently at her shoulders, the short knife hidden in my sleeve poised to strike.

"Who am I?" she murmured to herself, raising her hand to touch her forehead. Her defenses were wide open, making it the perfect time for me to launch an attack.

"Killing her is pointless; it will only needlessly prolong the time spent sweeping through their lair. Back then, Yang Tian's 'Overreaching Blade' didn't kill her, and you probably shouldn't do it either," Alpha warned from above.

I also understand that killing will not help solve the mystery. The blade hummed a few times, and then slowly returned to calm.

"Is there really someone behind a door?" I didn't turn to look at him; I just wanted to confirm everything I was seeing in my hallucination.

"That's a door that can't be opened. I've tried many times. There can't be anyone inside unless it's a dead person or a skeleton." He sneered.

"I am—the Dragon, Grim, Witch." A light suddenly shone in her empty eyes. "Goddess of the Mountains and Forests, the Dragon, Grim, Witch. Those who disrespect me will lie dead in the wilderness."

In my opinion, when she called out her own name, she suddenly "came alive" and was no longer the six-armed monster that had been like a walking corpse.

The square-eyed warrior cried out urgently, "Hey, keep talking to her, don't stop!"

With a "whoosh," he swept over my head like a drifting cloud, flying towards Tang Xin.

"In these mountains, the Witch Longge is all-powerful. Please tell me, what happened to Yang Tian and Suren? Where are they now?"

I longed to know the answer. All the mountain people knew that the Longge Witch was the ruler of the mountains, and only by relying on her and believing in her could one survive peacefully. At this moment, it felt as if I had returned to the scene when I first entered the mountains and met the Longge Witch in the stone house by the stream. Before experiencing so many strange events, I would have believed what those ignorant mountain people said, but now it was completely different.

"I told you, they are behind the door, they possess earth-shattering power, they come from a world of soaring flames..." She gradually became incoherent, but I quickly grasped the core of these ramblings.

Behind the door? Who is it? A six-armed god? An illusion demon? My thoughts, like the sunlight on the river at dusk, swayed and leaped, connecting all the key points of a series of mysterious events.

"Illusion Demon" is what the Egyptians called that six-armed monster, which even the Saturnians from the depths of the universe were chased so relentlessly that they were forced to hide underground.

"There, right there... they found the gear. They always knew that all people lived on a cogwheel that stretched from the heavens to the earth... The gear spun faster and faster, and no one understood why. The forces of nature could not resist the divine power from beyond, because they all came from the heavens. Anyone who could approach the gear was not a mortal, but a god... a god..."

Her eyes shone with a dazzling rainbow as she kept babbling on and on, repeatedly mentioning the words "gear" and "god".

"You are not the Dragon Witch, you are Tang Qing." I caught the change in her eyes.

"Tang Qing..." Her lips trembled, and she suddenly closed her eyes, her two dark blue eyebrows also trembling slightly.

"Do you remember Yang Tian? 'King of Tomb Raiders' Yang Tian, the Blade of Exceeding Distance--" I guessed something must have happened between her and her older brother, hoping to awaken her memory. Her state was like that of a patient with a deep mental disorder, several thoughts and different identities intertwined, unable to distinguish who she was at all.

"Yang...where is he? And where am I?" She frantically reached out and touched her face.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze had returned to the bright and clear look that only a normal person would have.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alpha rapidly heading deeper into the complex, but his route was extremely zigzagging, constantly leaping and landing on rooftops. Tang Xin followed closely behind him, her lightness skill already at its peak.

"You're down in the mountainside, do you remember?" That was all I could answer. No one had a definitive answer about my elder brother Yang Tian's whereabouts.

She reached her right hand toward her left shoulder, trying to touch the four extra arms, but I grabbed her wrist in time: "Don't move, your brain seems to be damaged—" Her wrist was burning hot, at least seventy degrees Celsius, [Qisuu.Com] forcing me to quickly let go of her.

That temperature was high enough to fry an egg; I can't believe she was unharmed.

"I've been trapped here for too long, five years? Or ten? Sometimes I think this is an endless dream, and when I wake up, everything will go back to the way it was before." She looked up, the sky above her still shrouded in darkness.

If we consider her mindset as having a dual personality, she is currently in the most lucid and human state. If we go back more than a decade, she was still a renowned Tang Clan master.

"Who are you? Which sect do you belong to? How dare you venture deep into the Mirror Illusion Abyss?" She turned her head and gazed towards the cave entrance.

"I am the wind, without any sect or school. I came here only to find my friend." Actually, I hope she understands that it is now the year 2007, more than a decade since she disappeared from the martial arts world, and words like "martial arts world" and "jianghu" are slowly disappearing from people's common dictionaries.

"This is not a place for ordinary people. Have you studied the 'Blue Heaven and Yellow Springs Scripture'? Can you understand those obscure and profound words?" Her thoughts were slowly coming together, passing me and heading towards the cave entrance.

At that moment, I didn't realize how dangerous her actions were. At least I thought she was awake and was now the expert Tang Qing, not the Dragon Witch or some monster possessed by a demonic spirit.

We were standing about seven meters from the cave entrance. She staggered upwards, her four arms hanging down from her back, close to her sides.

"Where are you going?" I asked, staring at her retreating figure.

"The 'Mirror Illusion Abyss' can neutralize the deadly poison of the 'Hundred Deaths Divine Skill.' My purpose in coming here is to cleanse myself of the poison and return to the martial world. Feng, you are still young and don't understand the turbulent nature of the martial world. Only by constantly becoming stronger can you survive happily in this dog-eat-dog world."

Her words further fueled my illusion that only someone deeply involved in the martial arts world would utter such poignant words. I hope she remains lucid and recovers her memories related to her elder brother, Yang Tian.

I turned to search for Alpha and Tang Xin in the distance; they had already become two blurry shadows in the fog.

The complex was built along the continuous extension of the stone walls, which rise abruptly from the ground and stretch into the clouds, their height impossible to estimate. I suspect that the end of the complex will also be a similar stone wall, so the location of this second Epang Palace can be roughly regarded as a deep well surrounded by natural stone walls.

Does its existence have any practical significance?

At least when Qin Shi Huang built the Epang Palace at Mount Li, it was intended for his empress and concubines to live in, so they could spend every day and night together, enjoying the pleasures of the imperial harem. The most direct purpose of building a house is for people to live in; building it here has already lost its function.

"I'm here... 'Mirror Illusion Abyss,' I'm here... You are mine..." Tang Qing's tone suddenly changed, and an ominous premonition immediately popped into my mind.

That was her second personality speaking, instantly transforming from a wandering knight into a secluded witch dwelling in the mountains. I turned to look at her, and four outstretched, clawing arms immediately came into view.

"Stop! Don't go up!" I shouted, though I still didn't know what she was going to do, I could guess most of it from that evil laughter. The cave and the crystal pit belonged to the square-eyed warrior Alpha, and he and the mutated Tang Qing were clearly enemies.

"Are you talking to me?" She turned around, looking down at me from a height of only five steps from the cave entrance.