Hua Zhaoting and the Hua Sect disciples were still blocked outside the pavilion by the blizzard barrier.
Xiao Fuxuan, who was about to remove the barrier, stopped after hearing what Yi Wusheng said. He asked, "Why not?"
Yi Wusheng replied solemnly, "He must not hear it."
"Is there a problem with your sect leader as well?"
He and I share a very similar situation. Its been a long ti, and the problem is deeply rooted, so dont startle him.
Wu Xingxue glanced at him, who barely had any soul left in him, and asked, "How much ti is a long ti?"
Yi Wusheng was silent for a second, then said softly, "Its been more than twenty years."
It was more than twenty years ago when he first realized that there was sothing wrong with him.
***
That day, Yi Wusheng and his fond disciple, A-Yao, were managing a batch of newly refined dicine in the ditating Hall.
There were countless types of pills that cultivators liked to use, but the types that everyone had were only a fewthose that increase cultivation, extend life, cure injuries, save lives, and, of course, those that take lives as well. The rest of the pills were rare and abnormal, and there were so many types of them that they couldnt all be nad at once. These were the kinds of things each sect privately refined and privately used, and all more or less exhibited so unique characteristics of the sects.
The Dreamless Pill, for example, belongs only to Yi Wusheng of Peach Blossom Island.
He had refined this type of dicine because, that year, incidents frequently occurred in the Valley of Great Sorrow1Previously referred to as the Dabei Valley, a major route outside Yuyang City. When ordinary people or cultivation disciples traveled through and first exited the valley, nothing abnormal about them could be spotted, but within three days, so strange things would happen
On the back of their necks, sothing similar to a puppet mark would appear out of the blue. In addition, they would often feel itchy, but they wouldnt be able to locate the itch, so they couldnt help but to scratch themselves everywhere. So people were agitated to the point of insanity, scratching themselves until their bodies were covered with blood.
Another problem was sleepwalking. They would fall asleep at night and dream that they were starving and looking everywhere for food. After searching for a long ti, they would finally see a stall and sit down to eat, chewing on a mouthful of fresh flavors.
When they suddenly woke up after so ti, they would find themselves actually holding stuff in their hands and eating overnight. So held vegetables and fruits, so held raw fish and at, and so others they held people.
Such acts were indistinguishable from demonic possession, making it impossible for huge sects to overlook the problem.
They all sent people to carefully investigate why, but being careful was useless. Most of the people sent from the sects to investigate all fell victim to the sa mysterious infection, and barely any were lucky enough to co out unhard.
At the ti, the sect that suffered the most losses was the Feng Sect.
The Feng Sect had always been on good terms with Peach Blossom Island, so the Feng Sect Sect Leader, Feng Juyan, and her elder brother, Feng Fei, both personally ca to ask for dicine for their sects infected disciples.
As everyone knew, Peach Blossom Islands Yi Wusheng was the most adept at the Dreaming Souls Technique, and the infected individuals from the Valley of Great Sorrow all feasted on human flesh in their dreams.
Thus, for a while, Peach Blossom Island was almost stomped down by people seeking help.
Yi Wusheng cultivated in seclusion for seven days, without eating, drinking, resting, or sleeping. Finally, he invented a new type of dicine, the Dreamless Pill.
For those who fell victim to the Valley of Great Sorrow, if they took the Dreamless Pill within a month, their soul would be sealed for forty-nine days. When they woke back up, they would have recovered. The only risk was losing one of their five senses due to their soul being sealed for too long.
But if it has been more than a month, then even eating a jar full of Dreamless Pill would bring no benefit. At that point, no one could save them anymore.
Yi Wusheng refined Dreamless Pills that entire year, often without sleep or rest, which in turn saved countless lives. The Sects Leader, Hua Zhaoting, was afraid he would be too exhausted, so he specifically instructed the sects disciples to not disturb Yi Wusheng unless absolutely necessary. He even selected a handful of disciples to help him organize and clean his Placid Hall. 2Previously referred to as the ditating Hall. The raws for this hall is , which is used to call for a peaceful and quiet place. Im not sure what I was thinking earlier, but I feel like Placid Hall would be a better na. So from now on, Ill refer to Yi Wushengs place as Placid Hall. If you guys can co up with a better na, please let know in the comnts or on the discord server. Thanks!
By the end of that year, with the winter months approaching, the Valley of Great Sorrow had been sealed for over a month, and there were no new infections.
Yi Wusheng was finally able to rest for a bit and have so leisure ti.
That day, the last batch of Dreamless Pills was buried in the flower jar.
These Dreamless Pills arent the sa as normal dicinal pills. They cant touch fire, so they cant enter the pill cauldron. They need to be carefully buried in sand three inches underground. The sand must be watered every day with fresh spring water, and
Just as Yi Wusheng was just instructing A-Yao, he suddenly felt a slight itch on the back of his neck. He frowned and scratched it a bit.
"And the spring water is best if its frozen. Please make sure you dont forget that" As he spoke, he felt another itch, so he just straight up handed the pills in his hand to A-Yao, and he himself stepped to the side.
After he scratched for a bit, he suddenly felt a burning pain in the back of his head, and so he quickly turned around to return to his hall.
But as soon as he turned around, he heard A-Yao let out a soft scream, "Ahh, master, your neck is bleeding. Let apply so ointnt to help stop the bleeding."
Did it bleed from just a few scratches?
Yi Wusheng was puzzled in his head as he waved his hand, "No need, keep on burying the Dreamless Pills, Ill go to my room.
At the ti, there was a small cleaning disciple inside the room. He was organizing the dicine cabinets and the bed.
Seeing Yi Wusheng coming in with blood on his hands, he quickly dug out so blood-stopping ointnt, "Mister, let help you."
Yi Wusheng looked at his sand and blood-covered fingers and didnt refuse this ti. He waited for the disciple to apply the dicine on him, but after waiting for a long ti, the disciple still didnt move.
"Whats wrong?"
"Mister, you" the disciples voice could barely be heard.
Yi Wusheng turned his head, only to find him holding the dicine with a pale face.
"Whats up with the pale face? Its not like youve never seen blood before. Why are you so frightened of just a few scratches? " Yi Wusheng laughed to himself. He grabbed a piece of cloth on the side to wipe his hands and was about to take the dicine to apply it himself when he suddenly saw that the disciples hands were trembling. The dicine bowl fell from his hand, smashing onto the ground and spilling the dicine everywhere.
For a mont, Yi Wusheng was stunned. He quickly lifted his robe and went to the inner room, where he took out two copper mirrors to take a look.
From the copper mirror, he saw his heavily scratched nape. The bloodiness didnt look like it was scratched by a human finger at all, more like it was torn by so beasts claws.
And below those few scratch marks, he could faintly see a black mark, exactly like the one on the necks of the infected people from the Valley of Great Sorrow.
Imdiately, Yi Wusheng felt a chill down his spine.
He put down the copper mirrors and rummaged through the boxes and shelves to find the rest of the last batch of Dreamless Pills.
Normally, one pill would be plenty.
After swallowing a pill, he didnt even bother to change his clothes as he quickly laid down on the bed. He opened his eyes wide until nightfall, yet there were still no signs of his soul being sealed.
He got up from the bed again, grabbed the entire bottle with trembling fingers, gave himself a palmful of Dreamless Pills, and swallowed them all
This ti, he did fall asleep, but the soul remained unsealed.
He refined the Dreamless Pills himself, so he knew the effects better than anyone else. For an infection lasting longer than a month, they would be useless no matter how many were consud.
So, after that, he couldnt rember anything.
But although he couldnt rember anything, he still knew what would happen the devil that lived in his body would be startled, quickly devouring his flesh and soul, taking over as the owner of his body. He would still do the things he usually did every day, not allowing anyone to discover any abnormality, and then he would wait until starvation ca.
Every now and then, devils would feel hungry and uneasy, and get the urge to devour the raw spirit and flesh of humans.
On extrely rare occasions, Yi Wusheng would recover a little bit of his consciousness. It was like a vestige of his soul didnt want to leave, still clinging tightly to its power.
The first ti he regained his consciousness, he saw that the small disciple who had helped him apply dicine earlier was sweeping beside the bookshelf. The disciple even bowed towards him, calling out, Mister. He tested him with a knock on the back of his head, unsurprisingly hearing the sound of hollowness.
The second ti he regained consciousness was on that cold night twenty-five years ago. A-Yao was manically crying and screaming in front of the hall. His brother, Yi Wuqi, was lying in a puddle of blood with a smile on his face. When his wife, daughter, and father, were knocked upon, they all emitted a hollow sound just like that small disciple.
Born into a cultivation sect, he was once elegant and talented as well. But that night, he suddenly felt a sense of vicissitude.
He rembered clearly that in the depth of that night, he used up all of his spirits, fighting to hold onto the shred of humanity remaining. He sprinted to the Sect Leaders Jianhua Hall. He wanted to tell Hua Zhaoting to strip him of his position as an Elder of the Four Halls and to entrust the tasks in his hands to others. Then, he would let Hua Zhaoting kill him.
Because the devil in his body would not allow him to commit suicide, he needed to find soone who could restrain him and kill him..
Stumbling into Jianhua Hall, he ignored etiquettes and respect and barged open the doors.
Hua Zhaoting was carrying a teapot with a long spout, bending down to water the flower pots next to the wall. When he heard the noise, he turned his head around, his face exhausted. He pointed at Yi Wusheng, saying: How dare you! If you were a disciple of this sect and charged into my Jianhua Hall like this without my permission after I set the ban order, you would be severely punished.
Yi Wusheng didnt reply. He could feel that his consciousness was about to disappear. He must explain everything before that happens.
He bumped the table and grabbed Hua Zhaotings elbow, "Sect Leader"
At that mont, because of the great strength he used, his grab also caused Hua Zhaoting to bump against the table, his body crouching a bit.
Yi Wusheng saw the back of his neck.
There were also partially healed scratch marks on the back of Hua Zhaotings neck, and there were also traces of a black mark below those scratches.
Yi Wushengs pupils shrank, and an icy chill poured from his head to his toes.
"Whats the matter with you?" asked Hua Zhaoting.
Yi Wushengs words stopped at his tongue, "I I need to go into seclusion for a while."
***
Yi Wushengs face was ghastly pale, his appearance grave. He turned his head and looked at A-Yao, who was still stunned in place. A-Yaos personality is normally steady and outgoing. Hes soone who can do great things in the future, and hes also a cultivation disciple. He wouldnt, just because of witnessing so murder, be scared into such a state. Hes been intentionally cast with a Silencing Technique by soone, not allowing him to speak clearly.
"After returning to my Placid Hall, I only had enough ti to do one thing," Yi Wusheng continued solemnly, "I added another Silencing Technique on A-Yao. Under two layers of Silencing Techniques, no one could remove them, at least no one on Peach Blossom Island. He would remain in this lunatic state for as long as the Silencing Techniques are in effect."
"Im afraid that after he wakes up, he will say things that shouldnt be said. On this island, no one can help him."
After all, A-Yao had grown up beside Yi Wusheng, and he had personally witnessed the entire course of events leading to Yi Wuqis death. After he awakened, he would definitely explain everything to Yi Wusheng. And if he also saw that mark on the back of Yi Wushengs neck, then his fate would most likely end up the sa as that of the small cleaning disciple.
Afterwards, I never regained consciousness, up until today. Yi Wusheng looked into the darkness of the night outside, towards all of the silhouettes outside the blizzard barrier. As long as devils dont beco startled, twenty-five years can pass just like this. The Sect Leader cultivates the path of the sword, and hes one of the people whove co closest to ascending to immortality in the past hundred years. If the devil living inside his body is startled, theres truly no one above him who can stop him. The thousands of disciples of my Peach Blossom Island might all.
Before he finished speaking, he saw that the outline of a sword beside him had already erged from its sheath.
Yi Wusheng: "?"
You must absolutely not! Yi Wusheng couldnt tear away the golden paper, but he was so panicked that he didnt bother with polite speech.
"Ah, welp, too late. You should rest for a bit. Wu Xingxue held him back, then looked at Xiao Fuxuan, who was surrounded by a body of freezing sword energy. He looked back at Yi Wusheng, "How high did you say his cultivation was?"
"Almost ascending to immortality! Yi Wusheng repeated heavily.
Xiao Fuxuan repeated lightly, "Oh, almost."
The mont his voice fell, the phantom sword had already pierced through the air, turning into tens of thousands of golden beams of light. With thundering sounds, the beams of light ford into one and a giant sword ca smashing down directly towards Hua Zhaoting!
1Previously referred to as the Dabei Valley2Previously referred to as the ditating Hall. The raws for this hall is , which is used to call for a peaceful and quiet place. Im not sure what I was thinking earlier, but I feel like Placid Hall would be a better na. So from now on, Ill refer to Yi Wushengs place as Placid Hall. If you guys can co up with a better na, please let know in the comnts or on the discord server. Thanks!
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