Immortalis

Death Hex I

"Where have you been?"

When Shen Qingshi returned, Yang Wujian was staring at her unblinkingly by the campfire.

They had "borrowed" horses earlier and traveled for seven or eight days. Occasionally during the journey, Shen Qingshi would leave alone, and Yang Wujian would always suspect she was secretly contacting the Zhaoming Division.

Before Shen Qingshi could speak, Gu Yun, who was sitting beside him tending the fire, couldn't help but roll her eyes: "Wu Jian, Miss Shen is still a young lady after all. There are some matters she can't attend to in front of you, nor can I accompany her for everything... Are you treating her like a prisoner?"

"I..."

Yang Wujian knew he was in the wrong. After all, Gu Yun's martial arts were far superior to his. If even Gu Yun couldn't detect anyone following them, then they should be safe.

Hearing this, Shen Qingshi simply walked over without a word, skewered the fish she had just caught in the stream on a long branch, and quietly began roasting it by the campfire.

"Wu Jian, you should know better. Miss Shen's leg injury has just healed. These past few days, she's been hunting birds and rabbits every day to nourish you, even going into the river to catch fish for you. It's one thing for you to just eat without helping, but to keep suspecting her too - if Mingshan finds out about this, just see if he doesn't beat you up."

Gu Yun irritably took the fish from Shen Qingshi's hands to roast it herself. Yang Wujian, feeling guilty from her words, also wanted to roast it himself, but Shen Qingshi shook her head: "I'll do it. You're not good at this - last time you burned it."

Shen Qingshi always spoke in a straightforward manner, giving Yang Wujian no face at all, which made Gu Yun burst into laughter: "No wonder, since he used to pretend to be a delicate young girl, always having someone else roast fish for him. Even after traveling the martial world for so long, his cooking skills are still this poor."

"Gu Yun, could you... side with your own people? I'm the one you raised, after all."

Yang Wujian never expected that throughout this journey, Gu Yun would consistently take Shen Qingshi's side, as if upon meeting Shen Qingshi, she no longer acknowledged him, the younger brother she had raised since childhood.

When the fish was cooked, Shen Qingshi handed both pieces to Yang Wujian, adding: "Roasted fish gets fishy when cold. You eat them. I'll just have some flatbread."

"Speaking of which, Miss Shen, can you really not eat hot food at all?"

Over the past few days, Gu Yun had clearly observed that Shen Qingshi couldn't tolerate heat, which was why she used longer branches than usual when roasting fish.

Shen Qingshi nodded: "If I eat it, I become flustered. Previously, Song Lan... the White-faced Guest said this is because there's something inside my body - like a poison, yet like a living creature - that awakens when exposed to heat. That's why I've never eaten hot food since childhood and only bathe in cold water."

"He actually said that? Like a poison, yet like a living creature..."

Gu Yun murmured. She had previously examined Shen Qingshi's pulse and indeed detected a faint, elusive hidden pulse within her body, different from any poison she had encountered before.

Yang Wujian noticed the strange expression on Gu Yun's face and asked: "Do you know the root of her condition?"

Gu Yun shook her head: "No, it's just that all these years I've been wondering what exactly the Cicada Molt is, and why it's called that name. Just now I suddenly thought - ordinary golden cicadas emerge from the ground and molt during hot weather. Therefore, to find the Cicada Molt, one must wait until July or August..."

The Cicada Molt requires intense heat to appear in the world. Could it be that the Cicada Molt is precisely that restless thing inside Shen Qingshi that becomes agitated when exposed to heat?All Flesh Conduits ultimately end up cast into blazing furnace fires. Does this mean Flesh Conduits are merely vessels for nurturing Cicada Molts, while the true Cicada Molts must be reborn through fire?

Yang Wujian’s mind flashed back to the scene he witnessed years ago in the alchemy chamber—the piled-up corpses of young girls stacked layer upon layer. He shuddered involuntarily and continued, "It’s not just heat intolerance. Gu Yun, are you aware of the Meat Wells left behind by Emperor Beixiang?"

"How could I not know?"

Gu Yun smiled wryly. After all, no matter how many times Longevity Palace relocated, it always ended up underground. If not for Emperor Beixiang’s extensive mining excavations, Longevity Palace would have had nowhere to hide all these years.

Yang Wujian said, "We once descended into a Meat Well. When we reached the depths, she would become unbearably restless, just as if she had directly consumed hot food."

"You went down into a Meat Well?"

Gu Yun’s expression shifted abruptly. "Do you have any idea what lies down there? How could you risk your lives like that?"

So Gu Yun knew about it too.

Yang Wujian’s heart sank. "The Longevity Heart Sutra and the beliefs of the Northern Desert people truly share the same origin. Since childhood, you told me the story of Zhao Jian leaping into a fissure and receiving enlightenment from immortals to comprehend the Longevity Heart Sutra. That fissure... was actually the Underground Heaven, wasn’t it?"

Shen Qingshi looked up at this point, and Gu Yun didn’t conceal the truth. She recounted in detail the story from the final years of Crimson Gold: how Zhao Jian’s mother cut her own flesh to feed him, ultimately leading both mother and son to leap into the fissure and achieve enlightenment as immortals.

Finally, she added, "Just as the Longevity Heart Sutra emerged into the world, severe drought struck, locust plagues erupted everywhere, a great epidemic ravaged North China, famine gripped the southwest, and the Northern Desert Iron Cavalry trampled through the Central Plains—fighting relentlessly whether alive or dead. This marked the decline of Crimson Gold."

Yang Wujian faintly sensed connections in these events. "Too many calamities occurred during Crimson Gold’s final years. When we previously visited Medicine King Mountain, they also mentioned unusual celestial phenomena—countless falling stars—that drove Yonglezi, the founder of Medicine King Mountain, to madness..."

"Correct. In fact, the fissure Zhao Jian and his mother leaped into appeared precisely after the meteor shower... The Northern Desert people’s Underground Heaven also emerged because of the falling stars. They believe deities descended from the heavens via falling stars and hid underground to avoid worldly conflicts. Only the divinely chosen may seek these deities, and Zhao Jian was such a chosen one, hence his enlightenment within the Underground Heaven."

"What about Emperor Beixiang’s excavation of those Meat Wells..."

"Naturally, to seek deities. Legends say the Founding Emperor of Northern Xiang received revelations in the Underground Heaven foretelling Crimson Gold’s collapse, which enabled Northern Xiang’s founding. Having tasted such benefits, the Founding Emperor naturally desired more knowledge. He dug Meat Wells to probe the nation’s destiny, but never anticipated..."

Gu Yun, having Northern Desert heritage herself, had reportedly endured much humiliation in Datong during her youth while following Guanri and others. Thus, she couldn’t help but sigh when discussing Northern Xiang’s downfall.

"To divine the nation’s fate, he ended up impoverishing the people through rampant mining, leaving behind twelve lethal Meat Wells in Datong that meant certain death for anyone who descended."

Yang Wujian snorted coldly.

His curiosity about the Underground Heaven grew increasingly intense. If it truly housed deities, why were they so ominous? Why would ordinary people meet gruesome deaths merely by descending the wells?

Gu Yun knew little more about the Meat Wells than they did. After all, from the Northern Desert perspective, Meat Wells were passages to the Underground Heaven. Since they revered the Underground Heaven, they would never recklessly descend into the wells."However, there are indeed rumors in the Northern Desert that regard cicadas and the White Dog as divine messengers of the Underground Heaven—the White Dog guards the heavens while the Golden Cicada subdues the earth. Initially, I always thought the Cicada Molt should be some kind of insect, but I never expected Guanri would actually use people to refine medicine."

The tragic scenes from fifteen years ago remained vivid in his mind, and Gu Yun didn't wish to evoke Shen Qingshi's painful memories, so he just said softly: "From what we see now, the thing inside Miss Shen not only becomes agitated when encountering heat but also reacts when entering the Meat Well. Perhaps Guanri has truly found a method and successfully refined the Cicada Molt that can help him overcome Blood Deficiency Syndrome..."

Since cicadas were inherently connected to the Underground Heaven, then the Cicada Molt couldn't be something conjured from nothing.

Shen Qingshi remembered Yang Wujian telling her about the origins of the Longevity Heart Sutra—how Qingzhu Daoist Priest had taken the fourth chapter with him before his distant journey, and it had never resurfaced in all these years.

Shen Qingshi blurted out: "Could he have obtained some clue left behind by Qingzhu Daoist Priest?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Shen Qingshi knew she had overstepped, because Yang Wujian immediately looked up and glared coldly at her. Before she could react, sudden movement came from a nearby thicket. Just as Yang Wujian was about to draw his Golden Rings, Shen Qingshi frowned and said: "Wait, judging by the footsteps, it should be a child."

"Sister Yang!"

In that moment of hesitation, a round-faced child indeed emerged from the thicket, and both Shen Qingshi and Yang Wujian immediately recognized who it was.

It was Yu Qiao, whom Yang Wujian had entrusted to "distant relatives" after the incident at Boundless Sword Manor.

It was only then that Shen Qingshi realized the good place Yang Wujian had found for Yu Qiao was actually Longevity Palace.

"Sister Yang... Huh?"

Yu Qiao had never seen Yang Wujian transformed back into a man and stood frozen in place. Yang Wujian simply switched to a female voice and said: "You little rascal, now that you see it's your brother, you won't give me a hug?"

Only then did Yu Qiao finally confirm this was indeed Yang Wujian, circling around him with wide-eyed amazement before his gaze eventually settled on Shen Qingshi standing nearby: "Brother Shen came too?"

"This matter is rather complicated—actually she's the sister..."

Yang Wujian truly didn't know how to explain, then asked: "Why did they send you?"

"The entrance has been changed. The palace master sent me to fetch you."

Though not much time had passed since their separation, Yu Qiao hadn't grown much taller, but his spirit seemed far better than back in Westwind Town. Dressed in the plain cloth garments commonly worn by palace residents, he appeared to have fully adapted to life at Longevity Palace.

Gu Yun laughed: "So? We haven't starved the child you brought back, have we?"

Yang Wujian recalled that when he was brought to Longevity Palace, his situation had been quite similar, and he felt a surge of emotion. He added: "Fortunately, times are more peaceful now, and you can even disguise yourselves to go buy groceries at the market, with meat to eat... Back in my day, I only had wild vegetables to gnaw on, starving so badly I had to beg Baihe for food every day."

Afterwards, Yu Qiao expertly led them to a secluded foothill, entering through a rock crevice and gradually descending underground.

Yang Wujian smiled wryly: "This entrance wasn't in use when I left last time. It seems the martial world has been tense recently, and Mingshan must have caught wind of some news."

Gu Yun walked ahead with a torch, illuminating their surroundings. Shen Qingshi realized they had unknowingly entered a mine shaft, where traces of previous mining excavations were faintly visible on the ground.

"All these years, you've been staying in mine shafts?"Shen Qingshi vaguely recalled the passage she had crawled through years ago—a narrow crevice in the rock, just like this one. Reflecting now, it must have been a path only Yang Wujian knew.

After all, he had been about her age back then; only a child could have escaped through there.

Though he had already brought her to the doorstep, Yang Wujian’s unease only grew. Unsure how much to reveal to Shen Qingshi, he simply said, “I suppose only such lightless places in this world can shelter the likes of us, right?”

He tried his best to conceal his anxiety, but the Zhaoming Guard were far too skilled at reading expressions. Shen Qingshi seemed to notice something amiss and immediately offered, “If you’re uneasy, I can blindfold myself. You can lead me by the hand.”

As she spoke, she deftly tied a strip of cloth from her belongings over her eyes. Under Gu Yun’s reproachful gaze, Yang Wujian reluctantly took Shen Qingshi’s cold hand. “I never asked you to go this far… Hold on tight. This is a mine shaft, after all—one misstep and it’s over.”

Yu Qiao led the three of them deeper downward, past countless forks and narrow passages barely wide enough for one person. After nearly the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, they finally emerged into an open space. Two palace attendants dressed in plain white robes stood waiting at the entrance, bowing respectfully. “Elder Gu Yun, Elder Guanshui, you’ve returned at last.”

Throughout the entire journey, Shen Qingshi had remained motionless, unsure whether she was waiting for Yang Wujian or simply afraid to remove the blindfold.

What was home to Yang Wujian was a living hell to Shen Qingshi—a den of demons she had fought hard to escape.

Remembering this, Yang Wujian hesitated for a moment before gently untying the cloth from her eyes.

He had many things he wanted to say, but seeing the fleeting disorientation and fear in Shen Qingshi’s eyes, all he could manage was a single sentence.

“Don’t be afraid.”

He didn’t release her hand; instead, he held it tighter.

“I promise it won’t be like last time.”