Histoires de fantômes

Chapitre 304

I groaned in pain, "Xiao Yan, what's going on? Where...where are we?" This is a strange time loop. The era in which I was an infant and my older brother was young could only be more than twenty years ago. How could we possibly meet people from two thousand years ago?

On the screen, there were deep-sea ice floes and inexplicable bubbles everywhere, and the light was getting dimmer and dimmer.

"You killed that prehistoric octopus, rescued Xu Fu from its tentacles, and then you got the map and the 'Overreaching Blade,' it's that simple. Feng, there's no need to consider the reversal of time; just focus on the present. We can understand it this way: Xu Fu fell into a time loop, vanished for two thousand years, and then reappeared before you. Do you understand? Some things are best left unsaid; just understand that you're alive, and possessing this 'Overreaching Blade' is the most important thing—"

This memory is buried deep in my mind, only to be triggered and revealed at the right time. I vaguely feel that I, as an infant, went to another place, to the deeper seabed, surrounded by huge, roaring whirlpools, and at the confluence of the whirlpools, there was an inverted yellow cone-shaped building.

"Feng, do you remember everything?" Xiao Yan shouted excitedly.

The scene suddenly shifted, and everything I had in mind became a real image. What was surrounded by the vortex was actually an inverted pyramid, its scale at least comparable to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

"That was in the infamous Bermuda Triangle, at a depth of approximately four thousand meters below sea level. The appearance of Hero Yang Tian wasn't for some random 'tomb raiding'; he was hunting down the Martian who had escaped from the underwater tomb. He discovered from numerous clues that this Martian, designated 'Two,' possessed a powerful self-replication ability. Given enough time, Number Two would continuously replicate himself—this is what the Egyptians called the 'Phantom Shadow,' and its destructive power is immense. Yang Tian's origins are very strange, and he himself possesses immense power, capable of 'going to heaven and earth—'"

Part 6: Invincible

— Chapter 8 — Nineteen Relics Forming an Array —

As Xiaoyan narrated, I realized I was still an infant, with a powerful whirlpool around me pulling my older brother and me into the pyramid. When the seawater passed through a triangular opening in the pyramid, it made a deafening roar, then coalesced into an even more terrifying super whirlpool.

A six-armed man lay on a huge mural inside the tower, like a giant and eerie spider. At the time, I didn't know that it was the Illusion Demon.

I don't know what my older brother said, because there was nothing to hear except the sound of water. His blade flashed, and then flashed again, the illusion demon repeatedly passing before my eyes, reaching out to snatch the swaddling clothes several times, but being forced back by the blade's light. The last time, he fled out of the tower, and with the twisting force of the whirlpool, he plunged into the deep sea.

My older brother didn't chase after him. I saw a crimson liquid emanate from his body, which was instantly diluted by the rushing water.

“No one can hurt you, little brother. As long as I’m here, no one can take you away. However, the place I’m going to is too dangerous, so I have to leave you in a safe place. Don’t be afraid, little brother, I’m here for you.” He lifted me up to his eyes and gazed at me with a gentle yet slightly sorrowful look.

Behind him, a large group of white-bellied yamachus swam past in a panic, and that image was instantly etched into my mind.

I really wanted to call out to him, but an infant in swaddling clothes cannot speak.

"You're laughing again, little brother. You laugh so much; you're sure to grow up to be a handsome young man that girls adore. The future belongs to you; never follow the path I've been on. Look, the road to hunting down enemies is getting harder and harder, and I can't be invincible. We're growing, and so are our enemies. One day you'll discover that some enemies in this world are invincible. So, Feng, I want you to grow up happily and healthily, not to embark on that perilous path of the martial world again—"

He lowered his face and pressed his forehead against mine, his expression carrying an intense and lingering sadness.

"Yang Tian, the great hero, spent his entire life hunting down 'Number Two' Martians. With his wisdom, he built the Seeking Fortune Garden on the site of Xu Fu's machinations, infiltrated the 'Underwater Divine Tomb' barehanded, and made even more covert improvements to the bronze statue, replacing the complex Qimen Dunjia techniques with a touchscreen keyboard. Through the 'light teleportation system' within the divine tomb, he instantly arrived in the world of the 'Second Epang Palace' in the southwestern borderlands—that period of history is not recorded in the archives, but I know that in the final battle, he used the 'Sun Boat' in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza as bait, finally gaining the opportunity to fight 'Number Two' to the death. The outcome of that battle was extremely…extremely tragic; both sides exhausted their energy and resorted to extreme methods, locked tightly together, remaining locked in a stalemate until now—"

I took a deep breath: "Xiao Yan, do you have any information about that place? Show it to me."

Xiao Yan sighed, "Yes, I can even take you to see that place right now, but if I may be frank, even if you can see him and measure his absolute location with instruments, you still won't be able to rescue him."

I grabbed his shoulders and shouted as loud as I could: "Take me there, take me there! Don't worry about anything else, just take me there!"

If I can find my brother's exact location, I will do everything in my power, even if it means resorting to the most foolish method of "the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains," to complete the mission of rescuing him.

“Alright, Feng, let’s go right away. But, in my opinion, rather than watching him get trapped, it’s better to just ignore him and pretend that Hero Yang Tian has vanished into thin air—” He kept rambling on, but I immediately stopped him loudly: “Stop talking nonsense, he will never disappear, take me there now.”

A surge of heat rushed to my Baihui acupoint. I tried to circulate my internal energy to calm myself down, but at this moment, my emotions were at their peak, and my whole body was trembling slightly. I couldn't care less about anything else; I just wanted to see my older brother a second earlier.

The magnificent images of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx appeared on the screen, and I felt my body slowly falling into the dark space beneath the Sphinx's feet. The excavated "Sun Boat" has been carefully transported to the Egyptian Museum, leaving only an empty rectangular burial chamber.

Xiao Yan appeared in front of a stone wall and reached out to brush away the cobwebs and dust hanging from the ceiling: "Feng, their battle started here, and they've been heading towards the location of the Tu Liehan Pyramid. The journey doesn't seem long, but from the start of the battle to their locking up and finally coming to a standstill, it took them fifteen years, and they're still moving forward at an extremely slow pace."

As we traversed the yellow sands and truly ventured into a silent, dark world, Xiao Yan suddenly sighed three times: "Feng, give up. You won't have a chance to save him. Even if you exhaust all your manpower, resources, and money to dig them out, whether Yang Tian will be resurrected is still unknown. The hatching of the Martians will be another catastrophe for Earthlings. Because no one but him can control the Martians. So, instead of wasting all that effort, it's better to let them bury themselves deep beneath the desert and perish with the Earth."

A faint light appeared ahead, revealing a huge, bright, and clear crystal, about ten meters long, and five meters high and wide. I finally saw the two people entangled together: one was the six-armed illusion demon, and the other was my beloved elder brother, Yang Tian.

The crystal is trapped in the boundless sea of sand, and I know that the layer of sand covering it is no less than 500 meters thick.

"It's right here, take a good look," Xiao Yan sighed again.

The elder brother faced me, his hands gripping the illusion demon's waist. The illusion demon had six arms; two were locked in combat with the elder brother, while the other four were locked around his neck and lower back. The backs of all eight hands were covered in prominent veins and bulging muscles, showing that they had been fighting with all their might without letting up.

"Big Brother—" I called out silently in my heart. Perhaps in this situation, I should have cried, roared, or rushed forward to smash the crystal that imprisoned everything, but I did nothing. I simply stood two meters away, silently watching his hands. When I was still an infant, those two hands held me tightly as we traveled across mountains and seas, traversing north and south. Now, I have grown up, but he has grown old.

"I will rescue you. We brothers will definitely be reunited after this ordeal, and we will face all storms together from now on." I gazed into his eyes, and in those eyes that were raging to the extreme, I seemed to read a kind of tenderness that belonged only to me.

"Wind, I regret to inform you that the crystal is located 3,200 meters below the surface of the sand. With current desert drilling technology, no amount of money can help. Actually, I really want to help you—"

The lights around us came on, and we were still sitting in our bucket seats when the image on the screen suddenly disappeared.

"Thank you, this information is enough. I don't want to worry about anything else right now, I just want to get back to the surface as soon as possible." I smiled wearily.

Xiao Yan was a little disappointed: "What? Don't you want to take a tour of my spaceship? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You know, the American editors at Discover magazine dream of having an alien spaceship for them to dissect—"

I stood up quickly, rubbing my eyes vigorously. "No, I'm not interested in that. I just want to get the digging work in the desert started as soon as possible. Now, please send me out."

After getting off the automatic gangway, Xiaoyan and I walked out side by side, and Xinzi followed us out, obediently trailing behind.

I successfully lowered their guard by feigning exhaustion, and the tranquilizer darts from the palm grenade will come in handy at the crucial moment, allowing me to quickly subdue them.

Once inside the submarine, I started yawning incessantly and consciously acted dejected, prompting Xiao Yan to apologize repeatedly: "Feng, don't be too sad. If drilling technology advances in a few years, it's not entirely impossible to conduct deep excavations. Believe me, as long as we work hard, we will definitely achieve perfect results."

At that moment, the pure side of his life was fully revealed. I really wished that the scene of the Fang Demon killing people was just a nightmare, and that we would still be good friends and still be able to fight side by side, but that was impossible. He killed people, and a considerable number of them were experts. Only someone possessed by the Fang Demon could have such unpredictable and swift methods.

My gaze occasionally swept across his neck and the back of his ears. If the tranquilizer dart hit those spots precisely, he would fall unconscious within a tenth of a second. Xiao Keleng had said that Xinzi's martial arts skills were extremely weak and posed absolutely no threat to me. Therefore, once the submarine surfaced above the Well of Spirits and opened the door, I could launch a sudden attack and resolve the current crisis.

The moment finally arrived. The submarine door opened, and I stepped out, breathing in the fresh air of Earth. The sun was already high in the sky, warmly illuminating the breezy courtyard and bringing an irrepressible sense of early spring.

"Goodbye, Xiao Yan." I turned around and waved goodbye. With a flick of my sleeve, the palm grenade slid down, making a very faint gunshot, as quiet as a silenced pistol. The bullet struck Xiao Yan squarely behind his right ear. He swayed and collapsed limply to the ground.

Nobuko's expression was calm as she looked at me from five steps away, a faint sneer suddenly appearing on her lips.

I bent down to grab Xiaoyan's shoulder, intending to throw him into the yard first. Suddenly, a surging force came towards me, pushing me straight out and making me somersault twice in the air before I could dissipate that terrifying force.

"Mr. Feng, it really is time to say goodbye. Actually, we should thank Xiao Yan for her painstaking efforts in repairing this spaceship and adjusting the navigation system to zero error. Now, we will fly into space together. Perhaps a long time from now, you will see us waving to you next to the 'Martian Face'—"

Nobuko waved her arms at me, and at the same time, four identical arms rose from behind her, waving at me in the same manner. Then, the submarine door closed silently and slid back to the bottom of the water.

For a split second, my mind almost stopped: "Nobuko? Nobuko is the most deeply hidden Martian?"

The chilling air from the Well of Spirits kept rising, the water remained clear, but the constantly churning white bubbles seemed to carry some extremely evil power, making me dizzy. It turned out that we had been targeting the wrong person all along; everyone had overlooked Nobuko's existence.

Without the submarine, no one can re-enter the "Underwater Tomb," and therefore cannot find a way to stop Xiaoyan and Xinzi's actions.

I gazed at the Tower of the Dead. Bathed in sunlight, the white tower shimmered with a dazzling, iridescent halo, appearing magnificent. Sadly, in a few hours, it would vanish as the Martian spaceship took off. Lost in thought, I passed through the moon gate and walked towards the Tower of the Dead, wanting only to once again reminisce about the time I spent with Guan Baoling.

During my exploration of the "Underwater Tomb," I ultimately experienced failure, which filled me with unspeakable self-reproach.

"Brother Wind, Brother Wind—" Suren's voice woke me up. She was standing next to the Tower of the Dead, waving vigorously at me.

Xiao Keleng was also there, with an old monk with a hunched back and a short, thin child beside them.

The vast square was deserted by only four people, making it seem even more desolate and lonely. If it weren't for the bright sunshine of day, the Tower of the Dead would truly be a tombstone-like structure. I roused myself and strode over, a faint, bitter smile masking my dejected mood.

“Mr. Feng, we have two guests. Can you tell who they are?” Xiao Keleng was in a good mood and pointed to the old monk.

The old monk turned around, revealing himself to be one of the two great masters of Fengge Temple, Kame Kankawa, whose face was covered in wrinkles. The other, needless to say, was Master Xianyun, who had been brought to Fengge Temple by Zhang Baisen. After being separated for more than a month, both of them had aged considerably, with even Master Xianyun's youthful face now bearing a dense array of crow's feet and forehead wrinkles.

"Wind." Master Xianyun uttered a single word, then turned back to gaze at the pagoda.

Kamekawa slowly clasped his hands together and bowed, performing a Buddhist greeting to me, his attitude so humble it was almost dejected. His face was already wrinkled, but now dozens more deep and narrow wrinkles had appeared on his neck, making him look very strange; the phrase "in his twilight years" would not be an exaggeration.

After leaving Fengge Temple, the two eminent monks said they were going to travel to the snowy region, but they returned so soon.

"Feng, to make a long story short, at the very summit of the snowy region, Master Xianyun and I, with our purest souls and unwavering spirit, refined nineteen relics and transferred them to nineteen other monks, forming the 'Supreme Demon-Subduing Pestle,' to trap the demon imprisoned beneath the Tower of the Dead. The demon vanishes with the tower's existence, and is released when the tower dies; therefore, this battle is the final clash between Buddha and demon. Now, there are no other living beings within ten kilometers; we can fight with all our might. If we all perish, please inform the royal family that all the monks of Fengge Temple have sacrificed themselves for the mission of suppressing the demon; none have chosen to live on in disgrace."

Gui Jianchuan was indeed very old. Life in the snowy border region of Tibet had made him as haggard as a withered twig. The only thing that kept him going was his spirit of never giving up until he achieved his goal.

Monks in gray robes flashed by on each level of the pagoda, and nineteen Buddhist ritual implements, including precious banners, spirit flags, silver bowls, kasayas, prayer beads, and the six-syllable mantra vajra, were hung on the eaves of the pagoda.

"The Martians' soul power surpasses their physical strength. In my view, as long as we trap their souls and twist their will, we will utterly destroy their magic. We should try, just as Yang Tian single-handedly pursued the Illusion Demon in the Egyptian desert and then trapped it. The '1999 Terror King' calamity that Earth was supposed to experience was resolved by Yang Tian alone. This time, the 'Great Seven' calamity may depend on each and every one of us—"

Although Master Xianyun only possesses the body of a child, every word he utters contains extremely profound philosophical insights.

"Thank you for your guidance, Master." I clasped my hands in a gesture of respect.

“Feng, you are a person with Buddhist affinity and wisdom. One day you will be able to decipher those enlightening prophecies in Prophet Muhammad’s Chronicles. Work hard, and the future will surely belong to you.” Master Xianyun stopped speaking, retreated to thirty steps west of the Tower of the Dead, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to meditate.

Kamekazuki walked to a spot thirty steps south of the pagoda and sat down to meditate and rest.

Nineteen gray-robed monks slowly emerged from the pagoda gate, each with a strange bone chain made of human skulls hanging around their necks. They walked ten steps away from the pagoda, formed a circle, and sat down facing the pagoda.

Xiao Keleng had already left. Su Lun pulled me back into the shadows of the corridor, without saying a word.

I knew I should probably explain something, but I had experienced too much in the underwater tomb to go into detail right now. I just reached out my hand to her and said, "Give me your phone number."

Suren silently took out the phone and placed it in my palm.

I immediately dialed Tina's number, and as soon as she picked up the phone, I said, "General Tina, the target I need to excavate is located 300 meters south of the Great Pyramid, at a depth of 3,200 meters. Please arrange for manpower to start work immediately, no matter what."

This is the biggest takeaway I got from Xiao Yan, so of course I had to act immediately, since I had seen my brother with my own eyes, and he was indeed under the desert.

Suren gasped, "What? Three thousand two hundred meters?"

Almost simultaneously, an exclamation came from Tina's side: "Huh? Three thousand two hundred meters? Feng, you really... you really have a wild idea. That depth is impossible to complete. You're just kidding!"

I'm not joking. It's precisely because of the difficulty of the mission that I had to ask Tina for help. To be honest, if someone else had told me this number, I would have found it hard to believe, but it's exactly true. The crystal where my brother and the illusion demon are locked in a stalemate is buried right there.

Tina realized her refusal had been too direct, and quickly changed her tune: "Feng, if the location is correct, I will do everything in my power to order the engineers to start work. However, I can't guarantee the outcome. The ground in the desert is very loose, and we can't dig indefinitely. We'll just have to take it one step at a time. When are you coming back? You can't just leave such a big task to me all by myself, can you?"

I stared at Suren's profile and smiled bitterly: "We'll be back soon, very soon."

The journey home is always uncertain. Seeing the determination of Kamekazuki and Master Izan to perish together with the Illusion Demon, I can foresee the ferocity of this battle.

After hanging up, Su Lun suddenly sighed, "Brother Feng, you shouldn't have gone with them alone last night. You should have at least waited for Xiao Xiao and me to arrive. How could you forget the vow we just made?"

I was speechless, because I was willing to risk my life. I would do anything to ensure Suren's safety.

She pointed towards the library: "Xiao Xiao is over there, carrying a heavy sniper rifle and specially made instant tranquilizer darts. Hopefully, they'll come in handy. We've all heard what you went through. The latest American listening device Yan Xun brought is attached to your belt buckle. There are still four hours until dusk. Would you like to rest for a bit?"

I shook my head, utterly exhausted: "No need. Let's finish this first and then get some rest."

If a massive explosion were to occur in the Fengge Temple area, no one would get any rest; everyone would perish in the battle. Subconsciously, I even hoped that Xiao Yan and his spaceship would take off safely, temporarily avoiding a major conflict.

Dusk arrived quickly, and the entire Muwanzhoushan and Fenggesi Temple were immersed in the deep twilight.

Suren kept glancing at her watch, but the promised ascension to heaven by exploding the Tower of the Dead, as Xiaoyan had mentioned, hadn't happened. I suddenly remembered something and pulled Suren toward the Moon Gate: "The Well of Spirits leads directly to the Undersea Tomb. Let's go check if anything has changed over there."

Perhaps it's just a feeling, but I always thought that if something major happened at the underwater tomb, there would definitely be some anomalies displayed at the Well of Spirits.

The courtyard remained desolate and lonely. When Su Lun and I stood by the well, there was nothing unusual about the water except for the constant bubbling.

“Brother Feng, I’ve been to Fengge Temple many times before, and I never imagined that there would be such an exquisite submarine hidden inside. This shows that the world is vast and full of wonders, and no one should claim to have seen or experienced everything. The human world is always full of unknown knowledge.”

Suren dispelled the oppressive atmosphere with a smile. Outside the wall, crows returning home at night cawed and squawked, adding to the sense of desolation.

“Xiao Yan controls everything, and Xin Zi controls Xiao Yan. The Sharpshooter Society, the big shots, the Plague, the North Korean Special Police, and the South Korean master thief who once coveted ‘Wrath of the Sun’ are all history now. Suren, don’t be too sentimental. We will have a chance, although the odds aren’t very high—” I smiled back.

Suren couldn't help but sigh deeply: "Xiao Yan is an exceptionally intelligent child, but unfortunately, he didn't receive meticulous care, which is why he became more and more deeply involved in the hacker world and couldn't extricate himself. This time, if we can bring him back, Xiao Xiao and I will take turns looking after him and help him get back on the right path so that he can become a useful member of society."

Part 6: Invincible

— Chapter 9 — The Blade of Transcendence, The Battle to Slay the Demon —

I agree with Suren's statement that governments around the world are currently in a frenzy of recruiting cyber hackers, and that cultivating talent in this area would be of great benefit to electronic warfare during the Cold War.

“Surren, in a few hours, he will—” I didn’t want to provoke Surren with the truth, but the reality was cruel; the Martian spaceship’s launch was inevitable.