novelraw Chapter 287 : Almost Becoming a Member of the Memorial Hall
Chapter 287 : Almost Becoming a Member of the Memorial Hall
"What happened? Where are Senior Brothers and Sisters?"
Upon emerging from the Ghost Gate, Chu Sang was greeted by a desolate cold wind. She turned her head to look around; the group from the Buddha Sect had also disappeared. Huh? How did everyone leave? Just leaving her alone, these people were so heartless!
"I sent them away first," Ling Yu said in a low voice.
His expression was unusually devoid of mirth. Chu Sang also sensed that something was amiss and refrained from further banter. She raised her head to gaze at the young man's eyes, then heard him speak again, "Little Junior Sister, the situation is urgent. There's no time to explain much. Process this yourself."
He stepped forward, condensing a dark light at his fingertip, and tapped her forehead.
Subsequently, a flood of chaotic memories invaded Chu Sang's mind all at once.
When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was filled with cold stillness and a hint of anger. She couldn't help but curse under her breath,
"Damn it."
She was furious.
Those things really knew how to seize every opportunity, one after another, not even giving people a chance to catch their breath! She couldn't help but suspect if someone was stirring up trouble behind the scenes, each time stirring at just the right moment.
"......"
Ling Yu clenched his fist against his lips, lightly coughing, his face showing a long-absent smile. "Don't get too agitated. The situation is indeed beyond everyone's expectations, but it's not too dire."
He smoothed down a strand of her ruffled hair, his clear voice deepening slightly, "The three realms discovered the black mist's spread a bit late, but not too late. Now the ghost realm, cultivation world, and the demon and monster realms have all received the news and dispatched forces to stop the black mist's spread. Most areas haven't yet been occupied by the black mist. We still have a good chance to turn things around."
"Originally, I planned to send you away first, but a few days ago, news came from the sect that the situation in the cultivation world is also quite precarious... sigh, I'm wondering if sending you back now is the right choice."
Ling Yu frowned slightly, continuing, "It's strange. The space-time rifts and black mist appeared in the ghost realm several days before the cultivation world, yet among the three realms and four races, the cultivation world is falling first? It's truly... bewildering."
Now nearly half of the cultivation world's territory has been tainted by the black mist. This situation is truly not good. Rather than sending Chu Sang back now, it might be better for her to stay in the ghost realm first, and send her back after the situation in the cultivation world stabilizes.
"However, if you want to return to the cultivation world, I can personally escort you back."
Ling Yu decided to leave the choice to Chu Sang.
He understood this Little Junior Sister's nature; she was definitely not one to seek fortune and avoid calamity. On the contrary, wherever she was, she seemed to always turn danger into safety, bringing infinite hope to people...
Chu Sang was uncharacteristically silent. After lowering her head in thought for a while, she looked up at him and changed the subject,
"Second Senior Brother, can you take me to see the space-time rifts in the ghost realm?"
Ling Yu was taken aback, seemingly not expecting her to make this request. But he didn't think too much about it and agreed with a "Sure."
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The cultivation world was falling much faster than other realms.
The development of this situation was beyond everyone's expectations.
The black mist's first targets were not the sects where cultivators resided, but rather the towns where ordinary mortals lived. The common people in the mortal realm were utterly defenseless against this. In an instant, countless lives were devastated. Various major sects and families hurriedly dispatched personnel to protect and evacuate the powerless mortals. Even direct disciples who rarely ventured out were sent down the mountain to carry out missions.
Even so, there was still a severe shortage of manpower.
During this period, disciples from all sides fought hard to resist and cover the retreat, overwhelmed and stretched thin. Accidents would occur from time to time.
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect was the oldest established sect among the Eight Great Immortal Sects, sheltering no less than a thousand towns under its wing. Now, the pressure on the Ten Thousand Swords Sect was undoubtedly the greatest among all sects. Virtually every disciple in the sect with any capability had been sent down the mountain.
While disciples were escorting a group of common people to settle in a main city not yet invaded by the black mist, someone became infected by the black mist along the way.
That person lost all reason, frantically attacking those around them, unable to recognize even their own family members.
"Senior Sister, what should we do now? Should we... should we strike?"
The sect disciples had been trained from childhood to battle demon beasts and fight cultivators of the same level, but they had never experienced dealing with ordinary civilians.
In the disciples' minds, the meaning of wielding their swords was to protect the powerless mortals. How could they point their swords at ordinary people?
Cultivators couldn't harm mortals; otherwise, they would be no different from evil cultivators.
For a moment, not a single sect disciple dared to act rashly. This was a human life at stake.
"Don't just stand there, you lot. Knock him out and restrain him first, then force out the black mist!" Shang Ziling said coldly.
"Why bother with all that trouble!" A disciple from the Xuanyuan family rushed forward. Before anyone could react, he swung his sword and killed the civilian with one strike, severing the head from the body, blood spraying three feet high.
This sudden turn of events left everyone present dumbfounded.
Seeing such a bloody scene, the man's family members fell to their knees. A hunched old woman with white hair, seemingly the man's mother, lost control of her emotions and fainted.
"What are you doing!"
Lin Qi's face changed. He went up and grabbed the Xuanyuan family disciple's collar, pushing him to the ground in anger. "How could you kill him?"
The man could still have been saved, yet this fellow directly killed him. What a devastating blow to the family!
The Xuanyuan family disciple fell to the ground but still maintained an arrogant demeanor. He looked disdainfully at the angry Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples, a cold smile tugging at his lips. "This kind of infected thing, just kill it and be done with. Why bother with all your complicated methods!"
"These mortals are useless things, abundant and expendable. They're not cultivators, why waste so much effort? Just kill a few infected mortals and be done with it!"
He reluctantly got up from the ground, stepping back a few paces. The other Xuanyuan Sect disciples who had arrived stood with him, forming a confrontational stance against the sect disciples.
"Do you have any humanity left!"
The leading male disciple raised his head, spitting on the ground with a disdainful cold laugh. "Heh heh, sect disciples. I thought you sect disciples were so impressive. With your hesitant attitude, you're like a bunch of women. Humanity? By then, even more people will be infected! Can your mere Ten Thousand Swords Sect bear that responsibility!"
Hearing this, some disciples almost rushed out to teach them a lesson with their fists. Shang Ziling extended her hand to stop them. She calmly looked at the man at the back, seeming to want to hear what else they had to say.
"Hmph, most of the resources in the cultivation world have fallen into the hands of you sects, and in the end, this is all the capability you have? Over the past month, more and more places have fallen. Your sects can barely protect yourselves, let alone protect the cultivation world. It's truly a pipe dream, a complete joke!"
Seeing the Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples silently glaring at him, that male disciple thought his words had convinced them. He raised his chin even higher, smiling smugly. "I say, if the Nine Great Sects don't have the guts to be ruthless, why not hand over the power to our Xuanyuan family! Let the Xuanyuan family lead the Spiritual Abyss Continent back to glory!"
"No matter how incompetent the Nine Great Immortal Sects might be, at least they won't harm their own people and endanger the cultivation world like certain individuals."
Just as the atmosphere reached its tensest point, with swords about to be drawn, an ethereal light laugh descended from the sky, accompanied by applause that was extremely out of place with the atmosphere.
This applause carried an inexplicable sense of mockery.
The Xuanyuan family disciples' faces suddenly turned unsightly. They turned their heads, red-faced, to look at the newcomer descending from the sky. Who the hell was this?
"Ah! Sister Sang Sang, why are you here?"
Lin Qi's eyes lit up when he saw who it was, eagerly going forward to greet her.
Their Ten Thousand Swords Sect was currently short-handed. If Lingqing Sect could send people to help, that would be great!
Who didn't know that Chu Sang was the top disciple among Lingqing Sect's disciples, one worth ten, no, a hundred others!
"I heard you were in trouble some time ago. Seeing you return safely now is really wonderful."
Shang Ziling had also received some news earlier. When the disciples from the Buddha Sect and Lingqing Sect returned from the ghost realm together, only Chu Sang was missing.
Lingqing Sect hadn't released accurate information about this internally, but there were many speculations in the outside world, with various rumors suspecting that she had met with misfortune. Now seeing her return safe and sound, for the cultivation world currently short of manpower, this was truly the best possible news.
"I'm fine, just passing by. I didn't come specially to help you."
Chu Sang didn't want to take on too much responsibility. Speaking frankly, she glanced indifferently at the Xuanyuan family disciples whose expressions didn't look right, but deliberately curved her lips into a smile. "Just passing by, curious to take a look. I accidentally overheard those nonsensical words from our friend here. I just couldn't help but express my feelings, don't take offense."
"You... what do you mean?"
The leading disciple's face turned ugly, his sharp eagle eyes fixed intently on her unfriendly arrival.
Chu Sang raised an eyebrow and waved her hand. "I don't mean anything. What do you think I mean? Looking at your guilty expressions, I thought I had hit upon some earth-shattering matter."
"......"
"I simply can't stand some people who choose this moment to make sarcastic remarks and deliberately stir up disputes between various parties. This counts as malicious instigation, right? I wonder what these people intend to achieve? Tsk, could they be traitors sent by some faction? Taking the opportunity to stir up trouble in the muddy waters of the cultivation world?"
She smiled, her eyes curving innocently as she asked, "I hope I'm not overthinking this, right? What do you say, our friend from the Xuanyuan family? You wouldn't want to cause more trouble for the Xuanyuan family because of one person, would you?"
Her nonchalant attitude made it seem as if that first sentence was just a casual remark.
The disciple's face changed, his lips pressed tightly together, seemingly unwilling to continue this topic.
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples found this situation extremely curious. The usually arrogant and domineering Xuanyuan family rarely refrained from further entanglement with them. After throwing out a few spiritless words, they left, swinging their sleeves. This truly didn't match their usual behavior.
As Chu Sang watched the Xuanyuan family disciples gradually disappear from view, the curve of her lips gradually flattened. The cultivation world was in dire need of manpower at this moment. The situation was already chaotic and shouldn't be further disrupted by other matters... Now was not the right time to expose the Xuanyuan family's actions. Take it slow; one day, she would personally send these people on their way.
Since she was already here, Chu Sang didn't like to work for other sects for free, but there was no need to quibble over such small matters now.
She helped the Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples transfer the civilians who hadn't managed to escape from the city to a main city protected by heaven-grade formations.
At present, it seemed that heaven-grade formations could resist the spread of the black mist for a long time, but running these formations every second required the consumption of enormous amounts of spirit stones. Spirit stones were not infinite and would eventually be depleted.
Currently, the Eight Great Immortal Sects had no better solutions. They could only first set up heaven-grade formations in densely populated main cities and use the spirit stones accumulated by the sects over thousands of years to maintain the operation of the formations, protecting the cultivators and civilians in the cities.
Everyone knew in their hearts that this method was only a temporary measure for the short term. To truly help the cultivation world overcome this crisis, they must find a way to close the space-time rifts and eliminate the rapidly spreading black mist.
Chu Sang had come in a hurry and hadn't had time to inform others in the sect about her return. Shang Ziling was thoughtful enough to immediately inform Gu Chang'an and Wu Wo of the news via jade tablet.
Thousands of li away, Lingqing Sect, shrouded in gloom for days, came back to life. If they hadn't received news of Chu Sang being alive, Tantai Ming would have been crying and shouting about making a cenotaph for his poor Little Junior Sister.
Tantai Ming and Wen Renyue were about to go on a nearby mission and decided to take a detour to find her.
Chu Sang was somewhat surprised to see the two arrive so quickly.
"Little Junior Sister, why did you only come back now? This fool was all ready to make a cenotaph for you. If I hadn't stopped him, your name would already be hanging in the sect's memorial hall," Wen Renyue sighed and smiled, her eyes curving.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. The person who can harm me in this world hasn't been born yet."
Chu Sang briefly recounted her experience in the Ghost Gate to them. "...Later, Second Senior Brother used a ghost realm treasure to help me open the Ghost Gate, and I came out. I stayed in the ghost realm for two more days, investigating the black mist there."
"Wait, Little Junior Sister, the aura around you seems to have changed. Did you—break through again?!"
Tantai Ming circled around her, his eyes brightening, seemingly even happier than if he had broken through himself.
"Mm, peak late Divine Transformation stage. I had some unexpected gains in the Ghost Gate. This time can be considered a blessing in disguise." She suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, how long was I gone?"
"A full month and eight days!"
Tantai Ming remembered it crystal clear. During this time, he had been so worried he couldn't eat or sleep, losing several jin in weight!
Chu Sang felt somewhat surprised. She had been gone for so long? She thought it was only four or five days. She had originally complained that her Senior Brothers and Sisters had run away too quickly, but it turned out a month had passed...
Counting the few days she stayed in the ghost realm, she had been in the Demon-Locking Pagoda for over a month?
The Pagoda Spirit had said that time flowed much slower in the world inside the pagoda, with one day equaling a hundred days outside. So... she had actually stayed in the pagoda for nearly ten years???