Chapter 49: The Red-Robed Cultivator
Ye Chenyan took a deep breath, gripped Yu Qingtang’s wrist, and turned to the other two.
“...You two, let go.”
Chi Yantian’s eyes widened. “But weren’t you the one who said—”
“Ahem.” Yu Qingtang gestured for them to stand behind him. “This terrain is hard to navigate. Change formation. Single file.”
“Oh!” Chi Yantian answered, and the two of them felt their way behind Yu Qingtang to line up.
“My spiritual power won’t finish draining away anytime soon. I’ll take the rear!”
Silently, Ye Chenyan tightened his belt again and led Yu Qingtang forward.
They advanced in a line, feeling their way deeper into the passage. The farther in they went, the hotter it became. Flecks of strange black fire drifted through the air, throwing grotesque shadows across the ground and walls.
“Ah!” Tu Jiaojiao, walking right behind Yu Qingtang, had grown jumpy for some reason. Suddenly, she pointed ahead and cried out, “There’s someone there! A living—dead person!”
“There really is someone.” Yu Qingtang had known he would be here, but he still pretended to be startled. “He’s dressed all in red! He isn’t from your Heavenly Fire Cult, is he?”
“Impossible!” Tu Jiaojiao denied it on instinct. “This is the Golden Core Competition. Everyone who came is from the younger generation. What disciple of the Heavenly Fire Cult has a beard that scruffy?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Was that really the point, Miss Tu?
“There’s more than one.” Ye Chenyan stopped warily. “There are two.”
At the center of the underground cavern, a scruffy, middle-aged man in red sat facing an emaciated black-robed man. The latter wore a hood that hid his features.
Tu Jiaojiao’s nerves were getting the better of her. “They... they don’t look like they came in with us.”
Chi Yantian scratched his head. “Really? They do look unfamiliar. And I can’t tell what sect they belong to from their clothes.”
Tu Jiaojiao shuddered and took a step back. “C-could they be from the ancient era...?”
“Who from the ancient era could possibly still be alive now?” Chi Yantian dismissed it carelessly. “Unless they’re ghosts.”
“Ahhh—!”
That one word seemed to trigger Tu Jiaojiao’s deepest fear. She clutched her head and shrieked, “That’s it! Don’t say that word!”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of—”
Before he could say ghost, Yu Qingtang covered his mouth and reminded him, “Shh.”
“She’s scared. Don’t say it on purpose.”
Then he turned back. “Can we call them floaties instead?”
Tu Jiaojiao looked at him uncertainly. “Why would you call them floaties?”
“Because they don’t walk. They just float...”
Tu Jiaojiao involuntarily pictured the scene he described and screamed even louder, covering her eyes.
Unable to bear it any longer, Chi Yantian stuffed a piece of dried meat into her mouth to silence her. He rubbed at his ears and stepped forward.
“We’ve been making this much noise, and they haven’t reacted at all. They may already be dead.”
He raised his voice. “Hey! Anyone still breathing?”
There was no response from below.
Yu Qingtang began to feel uneasy too.
Had they arrived a few days later than in the original plot? Had the old senior failed to hold on and already passed on?
He cautiously suggested, “Should we get a little closer and take a look?”
“What is wrong with you?” Tu Jiaojiao looked close to tears. “I thought you were timid! Why are you acting just like them?”
“My courage isn’t low enough already?” Yu Qingtang looked shocked. “I just have a feeling there isn’t any danger...”
He turned around.
“Hey! Chi Yantian already went down there!”
“Let’s go too.” Ye Chenyan followed cautiously. He had an odd feeling.
The aura down here was unquestionably strange, but unlike the others, he did not feel unwell. Instead, he felt increasingly at ease.
Chi Yantian had already approached the two figures. This time, he was not reckless enough to get too close. He merely pointed at the red-robed cultivator.
“This one has no breath left. He looks like he died sometime in the last few years. He must have been a fairly powerful fire cultivator—that’s probably why the fire-attribute spiritual energy around here has been surging.”
“As for this one...” He pointed at the shriveled black-robed cultivator opposite him. “He’s been dead longer. No idea how long. The temperature down here is so high he’s practically been turned into jerky. You can’t even make out what he originally looked like.”
“Don’t talk like that!” Tu Jiaojiao cautiously poked her head out and glared at him. “What if he was some senior? That would be disrespectful!”
She might be afraid of ghosts, but not corpses. She seemed much steadier now.
“Why is this so troublesome?” Chi Yantian exchanged a look with Ye Chenyan. “Should we dig a hole and bury them?”
He muttered, “Though we’re already in a hole.”
“Bury them,” Ye Chenyan said, taking his eyes off the two bodies. “The way they’re sitting across from each other is strange. They look like enemies, but also friends...”
“Even if they had some earth-shattering story, it’s been buried in the sands for ages.” Chi Yantian shrugged. “Burying them counts as doing right by them. Then we can look for a way out.”
“Flamelet, come dig.”
He moved as soon as he spoke, reaching out to lay the black-robed cultivator flat. The instant his hand touched him, there was a crisp crack.
The black-robed cultivator’s head snapped off and dropped to the ground.
“Ahhh—!” Tu Jiaojiao trembled as she screamed. “Chi Yantian! Be careful he doesn’t turn into a vengeful ghost and come after you!”
Yu Qingtang shuddered. He hurriedly lunged forward to catch the head, then carefully pressed it back onto the corpse’s neck.
“Okay, okay, stop screaming!” he told her.
Ever since becoming a music cultivator, his hearing had become unusually sharp. Tu Jiaojiao’s piercing shrieks were unbearable—like forcing a small dog to sniff durian. They were even worse than the sight of the desiccated corpse.
Chi Yantian looked troubled. “He’s hard to bury like this. He’s so dry and brittle that if we want to lay him down, we’ll have to take him apart first...”
While they were talking, Yu Qingtang quietly edged back two steps and used Ye Chenyan’s robe to wipe the hand that had touched the corpse.
Ye Chenyan lowered his head and stared at him.
Yu Qingtang pretended not to notice, flashing him a foolish grin.
“Heh-heh.”
Ye Chenyan bent down, smiling brightly.
“Heh-heh.”
He raised an eyebrow, leaned close to Yu Qingtang’s ear, and lowered his voice.
“Hey. It moved.”
Yu Qingtang cautiously peeked out. “Which one?”
Ye Chenyan casually hooked an arm around his shoulders, then suddenly turned him toward the red-robed cultivator.
“This one moved!”
“Ahhh!”
Yu Qingtang was not frightened.
Tu Jiaojiao, however, shrieked and scrambled away so fast she practically rolled across the floor.
Ye Chenyan turned after her helplessly. “I wasn’t even trying to scare you...”
Tu Jiaojiao was furious enough to want to whip him. “Are you people bored out of your minds? At a time like this, you’re still trying to scare someone?”
Yu Qingtang lightly tugged at Ye Chenyan’s sleeve and sucked in a breath.
“H-he opened his eyes.”
Ye Chenyan froze. He glanced at Tu Jiaojiao, then laughed in disbelief.
“You’re even more convincing than I am. Too bad I don’t think she bought it.”
“Do you take me for an idiot?” Tu Jiaojiao snapped. “Yu Qingtang! How did you learn to scare me from them too?”
Furiously gripping her whip, she strode forward.
“I’d like to see what kind of monster it is. Let’s see whether it can take a whip from me—”
She pushed past the two of them and came face-to-face with the red-robed cultivator’s blazing crimson eyes.
Tu Jiaojiao: “...”
Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed flat on her back.
“Fall back!”
Ye Chenyan grabbed Yu Qingtang and pulled him away. Chi Yantian was no slower, scooping up Tu Jiaojiao and dragging Flamelet with him as he put distance between them.
His eyes were wide with disbelief.
“He’s alive? That’s impossible! I clearly sensed not a trace of spiritual power in him. Just like now...”
“Ha! Hahaha!”
The red-robed cultivator threw up his arms and roared with astonishing vigor.
“You old dog of the Demonic Sect! In the end, this old man still had the upper hand over you! Hahaha!”
He kicked over the black-robed cultivator’s corpse. The shriveled head rolled away with a clatter, disappearing somewhere in the dark.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Luckily, Tu Jiaojiao had already fainted. Otherwise, she would have been terrified out of her mind.
The red-robed cultivator suddenly took a deep breath and drew in every trace of black fire around him like a whale swallowing water. His spiritual power rapidly recovered, and the pressure of his cultivation rose with it.
“Oh no!” Chi Yantian clutched his dantian, pain flashing across his face. “He’s absorbing my spiritual power!”
Even Tu Jiaojiao, unconscious on the ground, showed a pained expression and curled into a ball.
Ye Chenyan seized Yu Qingtang’s hand. “How are you?”
“He only took a little.” Yu Qingtang frowned and tried sitting cross-legged.
The moment the golden lotus throne appeared beneath him, the drain on his spiritual power immediately eased.
He worriedly looked at Chi Yantian and Tu Jiaojiao. The red-robed cultivator could only draw on fire-attribute spiritual power. One of them had metal-fire spiritual roots, the other a heavenly fire spiritual root. They had to be suffering far worse than Yu and his five spiritual roots.
It was like the difference between being sipped through a thin coffee straw and being slurped down through a boba straw.
“Hm?” The golden lotus throne caught the red-robed cultivator’s attention.
His scarlet eyes looked dangerous and unholy as he chuckled and reached for Yu Qingtang.
“Why so stingy, little doll? You won’t even offer up a little spiritual power?”
“Senior.” Ye Chenyan’s face darkened as he raised his silver battle spear before Yu Qingtang. “Please stop.”
The red-robed cultivator chuckled. “And if I refuse?”
Ye Chenyan shot forward, taking the initiative. Killing intent rose in his eyes.
“Then you’ll stop anyway.”
“Heh—”
The red-robed cultivator moved as nimbly as a fluttering red sparrow, laughing wildly.
“Interesting. Boy, you’re even more arrogant than this Daoist! Let’s see how you plan to make me stop!”
Ethereal qin music drifted through the cavern.
The red-robed cultivator paused and instinctively looked toward the sound.
Ye Chenyan blocked his line of sight and drove a kick into his chest.
“Look here!”
“I truly haven’t left the mountains in far too long,” the red-robed cultivator muttered. “People have started looking down on me.”
Black fire boiled around him. The crimson light in his eyes flickered several times, and he suddenly shook his head.
“No. Why am I picking a fight with some little brat? I...”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow.
Yu Qingtang reminded him, “Something’s wrong with him. The Heart-Cleansing Melody is working. Keep him occupied!”
“Got it!”
Ye Chenyan did not hesitate. He charged again at once.
Yu Qingtang lowered his gaze and played the qin. The Heart-Cleansing Melody flowed long and clear, washing away the dust of the heart. Each note landed in the red-robed cultivator’s ears, gradually clearing his muddled thoughts.
His cultivation was profound, but he was in poor condition. He no longer paid attention to Ye Chenyan. Instead, he clutched his head and cried out in pain.
“No. No! What... what was I trying to do? Why was I looking for them? Who am I? Who am I?”
The scarlet in his eyes faded.
Yu Qingtang coughed softly. His hands trembled as he stopped playing.
The people in this cultivation world were really much too mentally unstable.
He had barely sent off one man with split personalities, and now he had another new patient.
Fortunately, he had been diligently cultivating the Scripture of Awaiting Good Fortune every day lately so he could keep eating meat. He had made at least a little progress. At minimum, he had managed to sustain the Heart-Cleansing Melody.
He slumped over the qin, then struggled to lift his head.
The red-robed cultivator’s eyes had cleared. Only confusion remained.
From a distance, the man looked up at Yu Qingtang as though he were seeing someone else through him.
“Ayin?”
Ye Chenyan immediately stepped in front of Yu Qingtang.
The red-robed cultivator came back to himself and clicked his tongue.
“Can’t you read the room? This Daoist was reminiscing about the recklessness of my youth!”
Ye Chenyan did not yield an inch. “He wasn’t even born when you were young and reckless. Why are you looking at him?”
“Heh—” The red-robed cultivator grew angry. “I’ll look if I want!”