Immortalis

Hong Wan VIII

Although Zhou Huai and Yang Wujian had previously considered the possibility—initially unaware of the true nature of the Meat Well and thinking only inanimate objects lay beneath, they had set fire to it to destroy the Longevity Heart Sutra.

Could this have disturbed the Strange Worm Meteor Star, buried beneath for nearly a century?

At the time, the two were quite anxious, but no news ever came.

Zhou Huai had initially thought that perhaps the Meteor Stars, having slumbered underground for too long and grown attached to the layered rock minerals, had completely stiffened and died, undisturbed by the fire.

But now it seemed he and Yang Wujian had indeed made a grave mistake.

Because of that fire, Meteor Star had ultimately awakened.

To investigate, he and Shen Qingshi, fully armed, headed to the southeast corner of White Rainbow Tower, where a hidden door led to the Hero's Tomb. Previously, Zhou Jinglei had used this secret passage to discard the bodies of warriors who died in the tower into the tomb.

These days, White Rainbow Tower had been left abandoned here, and Zhou Huai never imagined that the door to this underground passage would already be slightly ajar.

Holding a luminescent stone, he shielded Shen Qingshi behind him and approached slowly.

They now knew that if this Strange Worm possessed someone, it would drain their vital energy and blood. And if these things all emerged to the surface...

Zhou Huai hardly dared to think further. The two reached the hidden door, and the buzzing of insect wings came from within. Shen Qingshi pricked up her ears, listening carefully, and whispered, "Very close, and... many."

But Zhou Huai found it strange. Both he and Shen Qingshi had seen Meteor Star before, yet clearly, that Strange Worm couldn't fly—they had never seen it fly.

How could it suddenly grow wings?

Full of questions, Zhou Huai was about to push the door open when Shen Qingshi suddenly grabbed him: "Close the door! They're coming this way!"

Zhou Huai had thought the Strange Worm reacted to firelight, but he never expected it would also attack them for holding a luminescent stone. Instantly, the buzzing of insect wings thundered toward them like a storm. Then, under the glow of the luminescent stone, Zhou Huai saw countless flying insects, their bodies shimmering with an eerie green light, swarming toward them in a dark mass!

This wasn't Meteor Star!

Zhou Huai broke out in a cold sweat and immediately pushed the door shut with Shen Qingshi. Fortunately, their reaction was quick enough—most of the flying insects were blocked outside, with only one or two slipping through. Strangely, they seemed to fear Shen Qingshi; even when right in front of her, they veered away and flew straight at Zhou Huai, only to be swiftly struck down by Shen Qingshi's sword.

"What are these things?"

Finally closing the stone door, Zhou Huai was drenched in sweat.

Thankfully, Zhou Jinglei had built this stone door thick and heavy—it had now saved their lives.

Shen Qingshi used her sword to poke at the insect corpses on the ground. No matter how she looked, these weren't Meteor Star, but a type of cicada with jade-green bodies. Though they could still flap their wings, their legs and backs seemed petrified into some form of emerald jade—even pressing with a sword couldn't pierce them.

A name flashed through Shen Qingshi's mind: "This is... Emerald Blood Cicada."

"Emerald Blood Cicada?"

Zhou Huai hadn't gone with them to Aconite Kiln, so naturally, he didn't know what that was. Shen Qingshi said, "Do you remember what ingredient Green Rain Sword used to make Colorless Powder back at Immeasurable Manor?"

"Wasn't it the Stone Cicada that appeared during the insect plague?""Exactly. Earlier at the Aconite Kiln, someone told us that during the final years of Crimson Gold, the Emerald Blood Cicada emerged in response to natural disasters. Though it appears stone on the outside and insect within, seeming like an inanimate object, it is actually alive and burrows into dark places underground... Zhou Huai, don't you think..."

Shen Qingshi didn't finish his sentence, but Zhou Huai had already understood.

Though the Emerald Blood Cicada wasn't the Meteor Star itself, it was a creature parasitized by the Meteor Star.

When the Meteor Star carrying meteorite iron crashed to earth long ago, numerous dormant Golden Cicadas existed underground. The Meteor Star penetrated their bodies, controlling these insects' forms—just like the beasts that entered the Meat Well—transforming them into half-stone, half-insect Emerald Blood Cicadas that would never truly die.

The Meteor Star devoured Tian Ting, then parasitized the Emerald Blood Cicada, causing the cicada's stone shell to induce hallucinations like Tian Ting, while the insect body inside contained the Meteor Star, capable of draining people's vital energy and blood, causing them to suffer from possession, high fever, and death.

He murmured, "So that so-called insect plague during Crimson Gold's final years..."

Shen Qingshi frowned, "Wasn't caused by the Meteor Star, but by the Emerald Blood Cicada. The Meteor Star covets underground ore veins and rarely surfaces, but the Emerald Blood Cicada retains cicada habits. During severe droughts, it emerges due to heat, flying toward villages with lush vegetation, and because it carries the Meteor Star, it drains people's vital energy upon contact, causing epidemics... In other words, the fire you set likely released not the Meteor Star, but this creature."

"So the widespread epidemics we've been hearing about since our return..."

Zhou Huai's mind buzzed, and he instinctively stepped back.

Could this have been calculated too?

Back then, he and Yang Wujian had been solely focused on destroying the Longevity Heart Sutra, but instead brought this century-rare disaster upon the world...

Releasing the Emerald Blood Cicada to cause nationwide chaos, then poisoning the current emperor—if both succeeded simultaneously, the Northern Desert army already gathering beyond the borders would surely break through the nation's defenses immediately.

Zhou Huai's face turned deathly pale, "If the Emerald Blood Cicada from Hero's Tomb has emerged, what about other locations..."

Perhaps noticing his deep self-blame, Shen Qingshi said softly, "This wasn't your fault."

Their opponent excelled at reading people, selecting each chess piece with perfect precision.

On Handkerchief Street, Young Master Guanhuo—or rather, Prince Li—their initially chosen piece should have been Zhu'er. They specifically purchased all the women in her family to make Zhu'er agree to their "grand scheme."

As a disgraced official's daughter forced into being an Official Courtesan since childhood, Zhu'er naturally hated Datong deeply. If invited to perform in a play deceiving the Datong emperor about truly existing elixirs of eternal youth, she would have been more than willing.

Unfortunately, though Zhu'er was purchased at high price, Hu Rui's harassment complicated matters. Forced to adapt, they settled for Zui Xiang instead, using continuous Blood Washing to maintain youthful beauty... Being like sisters with Zhu'er, she was naturally willing to avenge her.

Then, at the Aconite Kiln, they selected that fortune-teller... Forced to mine illegally after his land was seized, then betrayed and left to die in the mines—with such a past, he must have harbored deep hatred for Datong.

Precisely because they carried such hatred, these people willingly entered this chess game. Even when subjected to severe torture in Zhaoming Prison, they would only utter lies convincing enough to seem real.

Wasn't Yang Wujian exactly the same?For years, the followers of Longevity Palace had suffered greatly due to the Longevity Heart Sutra, and in the end, they were completely eradicated. Yang Wujian had long wanted to destroy the Longevity Heart Sutra. Thus, once he learned it was hidden beneath the Meat Well, he naturally resorted to the most direct method to eliminate it.

The mastermind behind this intricate scheme had long anticipated he would take this step.

Moreover, on that day, people from Thousand Cliffs Fortress had infiltrated the crowd. It seemed that even if Yang Wujian hadn’t set the well ablaze, they would have taken action themselves to release the Emerald Blood Cicada.

“They spent fifteen years laying out this chessboard—it’s only natural you fell into their trap. But now, not only has the Emperor not consumed the Cicada Molt, but Tian Ting is also in Yang Wujian’s hands. We are not without a way to break this deadlock.”

Shen Qingshi took a deep breath and gazed at the motionless cicada corpse on the ground. Suddenly, she understood why those Northern Desert survivors who entered the Meat Well were called the “Chosen Ones,” and why, according to palace records, all living beings were said to bow before them.

Those who could coexist with the Meteor Star could not only resist the demonic influence of Tian Ting but perhaps even force other symbiotic entities to yield and submit before the so-called Chosen Ones or the Cicada Molt.

With this realization, Shen Qingshi murmured softly, “This thing seems to reject me... perhaps because I also carry the Meteor Star within me. In other words, if we can uncover what makes the Cicada Molt’s constitution so unique, we might be able to protect everyone from the Emerald Blood Cicada’s invasion.”

“Yang Wujian... Yang Wujian?”

By the time Yang Wujian regained consciousness, he had already been dragged out of the treasure hall. Cao Zhao gripped his face, forcing him to wake fully.

His back was drenched in cold sweat, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, and two of his fingernails appeared broken from his frantic struggles... yet now, he felt nothing.

The drug Cao Zhao had mentioned—the one that would forcibly rouse him every three hours—was indeed brutally potent.

Yang Wujian had been trapped in nightmare-like hallucinations until, precisely at the three-hour mark, excruciating pain, as though his skin were being flayed and bones shattered, seized him instantly. Darkness clouded his vision, and finally, the persistent illusions faded. When he came to, he found himself lying alone in the center of the empty hall—from start to finish, there had been no one else beside him.

The agony lingered for a while longer until Yang Wujian, unable to endure it, passed out. He only awoke when Cao Zhao arrived to rouse him.

“The Emperor wishes to see you.”

Cao Zhao spoke only five words, but they instantly reminded Yang Wujian of their plan.

He needed to exploit the Emperor’s unwavering belief in the Path of Longevity to sow suspicion against Prince Li.

Fortunately, the Zhaoming Division’s drugs were designed for torment, not fatal harm. The pain came swiftly and faded just as fast. By the time Yang Wujian stood, the fog in his mind had completely cleared. He followed Cao Zhao into the main hall, where Emperor Yongzhao awaited him.

Compared to the earlier tortures, this was the true test.

With other divisions of the Zhaoming Division present, Cao Zhao couldn’t utter any unnecessary words. Yang Wujian understood perfectly—from this point onward, he could rely only on himself.

“Tell Us, what did you hear?”

Emperor Yongzhao’s gaze fixed on him. Yang Wujian took a deep breath and replied, “I introduced Your Majesty to the immortal, but the immortal did not grant me the Longevity Heart Sutra.”

“What?”

The Emperor’s expression shifted abruptly, and Cao Zhao also turned to look at him. Yet Yang Wujian remained perfectly calm, stating coolly, “The immortal declared that without resolving worldly affairs, one cannot attain longevity.”"Worldly matters? What worldly matters could I possibly have? Could it be that the matters of state and the nation are considered worldly matters to an immortal?"

"Not at all. Your Majesty's concern for the people is a virtuous deed—how could it be called a worldly matter? The immortal told me that the worldly matters troubling Your Majesty are family affairs."

"Family affairs?"

Emperor Yongzhao furrowed his brow, immediately grasping the implied meaning: "Are you referring to matters of the harem and the imperial heirs?"

"No."

Yang Wujian shook his head once more.

Though drenched in cold sweat, his expression remained perfectly calm as he enunciated each word clearly: "The immortal refers to the Gate of Death, located in the southwest Kun Palace. The immortal stated that if this calamity is not resolved, the arts may fail and the immortal gate may not open."

"The Gate of Death... southwest Kun Palace..."

Emperor Yongzhao murmured, soon seeming to recall something, and frowned: "Cao Zhao, was the place where you retrieved Shen Qingshi this time in Shuzhou?"

Cao Zhao had been waiting for this question: "At that time, I scattered wing-clipping powder before the notices to track Shen Qingshi's whereabouts, only to discover that both she and Yang Wujian were in Shuzhou."

His words were measured perfectly—not a single syllable extra—yet it was evident that Emperor Yongzhao knew exactly who was in Shuzhou.

Nearby, Fu Hong and Shen Xin both visibly changed expressions.

Emperor Yongzhao asked further: "Yang Wujian, why did you and Shen Qingshi go to Shuzhou?"

Yang Wujian had long prepared for this: "Earlier at the Aconite Kiln, that diviner Tian Ting calculated that Shen Qingshi had some fateful encounter in Shuzhou... At the time, to evade capture, we had no choice but to trust the diviner's words."

The fake "Tian Ting" who had been captured had already died in Zhaoming Prison, so pinning this matter on him left no witness to contradict it.

Not long before, Cao Zhao had orchestrated all this with practiced ease, finally admonishing Yang Wujian repeatedly that they must never utter Prince Li's name themselves—this matter had to be realized by Emperor Yongzhao on his own... Otherwise, they would bring disaster upon themselves.

And by this point, Cao Zhao's scheme had largely succeeded.

After all, if the key to the elixir of immortality lay not in the capital but in Shuzhou, did that not imply that there was also someone in Shuzhou highly likely to ascend to the immortal gate?

Recalling that the Longevity Heart Sutra and Underground Heaven originated from the Northern Desert, Emperor Yongzhao's expression shifted through countless changes. After a long pause, he finally turned to Cao Zhao.

"When you went to Shuzhou this time, did you see Prince Li?"