Chapter 585 – The Five Steles, Temptation, and the Lotus Throne - Part 3

Kabrol, the Silent Sea.

Beneath the thick ice, shadowy black patterns twisted and turned, drifting like smoke...or perhaps flowing like a spring.

This was the

aqua

.

As they drew closer, a cold so sharp it pierced the bones rushed up to meet them.

Ying Zhuoyao stayed behind, unwilling to enter. But Han Feng and Meng Xingxian accompanied Li Yuan into the depths.

The little black crow perched quietly on his shoulder.

It was a special being, after all, one that could dwell even inside the Deathless Tomb without fear. Naturally, the Yin energy surrounding the aqua posed no threat to it.

Li Yuan placed the Heaven Soul and Earth Soul steles beside him, each one heavy as a tombstone. Then he waved his hand.

Thanks to the little black crow, he could keep track of the Eastern Sea’s situation. Things hadn’t changed drastically yet. The decline of spiritual energy wasn’t a sudden drop, but a slow erosion, like a gentle leak that could, at any moment, turn into a flood.

The collapse was looming.

He decided to begin here, to push both his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul cultivation to the third stage.

Sharpening the axe before chopping wood never hurts.

He had plenty of brutal battles ahead. Any increase in strength would be worth it.

Before long, Han Feng and Meng Xingxian left, taking Ying Zhuoyao with them.

Now, Li Yuan stood alone in the chill of the Silent Sea, surrounded by ancient stone and dark mist, ready to begin.

Because of Li Yuan, Meng Xingxian had begun returning all authority over the Nine Flames Tribe to the new Khagan.

This new Khagan was named

Har’gal Altankhar

, a direct descendant of the ancient Nine Flames bloodline, specifically from the Flamekeeper Tribe.

And as it turned out, Har’gal Altankhar was Meng Xingxian’s grandson.

Meng Xingxian and Naran had given birth to Tengsur, who later fathered many children. Not all of those children bore the surname Jen’gal; some had adopted other surnames for political reasons, so the blood of the Trueflame Tribe could rule over other tribes.

Har’gal Altankhar was one of those children.

Strictly speaking, he was Li Yuan’s great-grandson.

Once the area had quieted, with the direwolves no longer approaching and the two secret art steles standing askew near the aqua’s edge, only Li Yuan and the little black crow remained.

Only then did Li Yuan speak. “Sheng’er, is it hard...being my daughter?”

The little black crow didn’t answer. She just tapped his head gently with her wing.

There was no need for words.

Who wasn’t suffering, just trying to stay alive?

The longer a person lived, the more they saw. And the more they saw, the heavier life became.

Unless one reached a realm of true transcendence or decided to completely give up and rot away, there was no escaping it. But in this era, even rotting wasn’t an option.

Sheng’er was Li Yuan’s daughter. That was why she could live so long. That was why she could witness things no other girl could imagine. It was bitter, yes. But also...not.

Still, what was the point of complaining?

Li Yuan smiled faintly. “Once everything calms down, I’ll take you traveling. We’ll climb mountains, cross rivers, eat the best food, drink the finest wine. Just the two of us, doing nothing but eating and playing, for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years. And if you see a handsome young man along the way, just snatch him.”

Smack!

The little black crow slapped him across the mouth with her wing, cutting him off.

“Papa,” she said dryly, “get back to cultivating. That kind of talk is seriously embarrassing.”

“...” Li Yuan fell silent.

Tilting her head, the little black crow added, “Malt candy tastes really good. It lasts forever. You can hold it in your mouth for half a day, and it only melts a little. One piece can last the whole day.”

Li Yuan’s lips curled into a smile. “If you like it, I’ll have people send you more. As much as you want.”

She shook her head. “There’s no one left to send it. The Nine Flames Tribe have to dig their food out of the ice now.”

Li Yuan replied, “The ice outside is melting. Cloudpeak Province will eventually reveal fertile farmland again. When that happens they’ll send it.”

She pointed out, “But the Sword Mountain Pass is still sealed. Anyone trying to leave is branded a spy.”

“I’ll find a way,” Li Yuan promised.

After their quiet, simple conversation, Li Yuan turned to the two steles beside him.

He first set his gaze upon the Earth Soul stele.

To cultivate the Earth Soul, he needed to absorb Yin energy and let it wrap around the outside of his blazing Yang energy, a relatively simple process.

But cultivating the Heaven Soul was different. It also required Yin energy, but this time it had to be drawn

inside

the Yang, far more complicated.

Still, he resolved to try both.

And if possible, he wanted to see whether he could integrate the

aqua

here into his cultivation.

Locking eyes on the Earth Soul stele, Li Yuan began circulating the withered flame within him.

He was deeply curious about what kind of

ghost

would his own nature produce?

The withered flame within him had dimmed to a faint red glow, but even weakened, it radiated a vast sea of Yang energy.

With every pulse of that Yang, strands of pitch-black Yin were drawn from the surrounding air, spinning and layering around it like silk forming a cocoon. Slowly, it wrapped itself around him, coiling, thickening, spiraling outward.

The Yin energy grew heavier and heavier.

With a flap of her wings, the little black crow let out a sharp

caw

and flew off, perching silently atop a tall ice hill in the distance to watch.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

“This is our tomb,” a voice whispered. “But it’s your tomb too.”

“We sleep in coffins. You sit outside them. But really...what’s the difference?”

“You can never leave this place. Neither can we.”

“Little girl...you are one of us.”

...

Inside the Deathless Tomb, the murmuring began again.

But this time, the voices weren’t just from Xia Wuqi, Princess Yuge, or Xin Tianjun.

There were many, many more.

As the outside world shifted, some of these beings hadn’t sunk into true slumber. A sliver of consciousness still remained, barely aware but aware enough.

And now, they sensed something was wrong. They realized that rebirth...might never come. That what awaited them might not be a new beginning, but an unknown apocalypse. They wanted to come ashore.

Voices burst forth in a frenzy. One by one, they spoke, every last monster forged in the past 25,000 years of cultivation, now desperately trying to sway Sheng’er.

No, not sway. Not anymore. This was assimilation. They weren’t trying to tempt her. They were trying to bring her into the fold. Completely. Only by making her one of them could they cling to even a sliver of hope.

And for that slim chance of survival, none of them wanted to lie anymore. None of them dared.

All their lives now hung on the quiet girl who sat at the heart of the Deathless Tomb.

“You’re a freak. So are we.”

“We’re fated to die here. And so are you.”

“Little girl, the Deathless Tomb kept drifting west.”

“Have you ever wondered, if it hadn’t stopped, where would it have gone?”

“Would we have ever made it back?”

“Your father doesn’t trust us. That’s why he left

you

behind.”

“But you should trust us. We’re together.”

“Together.”

“Together.”

“Together...”

The whispering voices coiled around her, overlapping, echoing in her ears.

“You know...I once met a kind girl. Just like you. She promised to wait by the riverbank until her older brother came back with an umbrella. But then it started pouring. The rainwater poured into the river...and the river flooded. A dragon stirred, dove into the sea, and the water drowned the fields.

“The girl had been standing on high ground, so the flood didn’t reach her at first. But the water was heading elsewhere. All it needed was to fill a few nearby sinkholes. And once it did, it would surge forward and swallow the village below

“That kind girl...she kept her promise. She stayed put. She waited and waited......and the village was washed away. No one had gone ahead to warn the villagers that everyone in the village was already dead. The kind-hearted girl...she had drowned in the flood.

“When her older brother finally made it back, all he found was her lifeless body. And guess what? He took his own life too. Little miss, the flood is coming. And right now, only you can save the village. Only you can save your father.

“Do you know? The Crowmother is only divine when she’s placed upon the altar. But in the Central Plains, they’ll call you a fiend. If you don’t want to become a fiend, then you must make the Central Plains

worship

you as a god. Only by becoming a god can your kindness, your compassion, your will to do good, truly reach the world.

“And we...we can be your followers. We’re in this together. Even if we break into the second rank, we’ll still return. Because the second rank, too, is bound by lifespan. Eventually, we’ll come back to this place, to sleep once more.

“But

you

, Crowmother, you command the Deathless Tomb. You can guide us. Command us. Your will...can become our destiny. Let us out. Let us serve you. Let us be the voice of your goodness. If the end really does come, you’ll die too.

“And in that final moment, it won’t be your father by your side. It won’t be anyone else. It’ll be us.

We

will be there. We didn’t live together, but we can die together. And right now...right now, the end hasn’t come yet. We still have time. Believe in us. Believe in us!”

Countless voices echoed out from the coffins, drilling into Sheng’er’s ears.

The quiet girl closed her eyes.

Her gaze, unfocused, drifted toward the horizon outside the Deathless Tomb. She reached for her malt candy with her right hand, but it had already gone sticky, hard to pick up now.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Two years later.

Outside the Deathless Tomb, a massive crow totem had been erected.

Perhaps it was done to please Li Yuan, but the entire faith of the Nine Flames Tribe had shifted. No longer did they worship the crow and wolf. Now, there was only the crow.

The offerings were unusual, not pigs, sheep, or cattle, but a kind of mountain fruit, intensely sweet.

The warriors had ventured beyond their lands to pick them.

The offerings were placed at the entrance of the Deathless Tomb.

Har’gal Altankhar, leading the Nine Flames Tribe, offered their prayers to the Crowmother.

And the crows carried the offerings into the Deathless Tomb.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Kabrol, the Silent Sea.

After two full years of cultivation, Li Yuan finally opened his eyes. He had entered the second stage of the Earth Soul Realm.

This realm allowed him to temporarily transform into a single-entity ghost.

But the transformation came at a cost. It would shorten his lifespan.

This time, however, the ghost he became wasn’t from any previous ghost domain.

It was one born of his own essence.

He didn’t know what kind of ghost it was, only that the moment he willed it, dark, layered petals bloomed beneath him.

Like a lotus throne rising from the void.

Petal after petal, densely packed, and upon counting, there were 138,000 of them.

Each petal was a manifestation of one of his ancestral seal seeds.

Every single seed had become a petal.

And at the tip of each petal, there were tightly shut eyes. Below that, faint, distorted ghostly faces.

Li Yuan glanced down at the strange lotus beneath him.

And suddenly, he felt it.

Perhaps taboo-level beings weren't so terrifying after all.