Endgame

The young girl, whom Wei Yuan had assumed to be a decoration or a funerary figurine, suddenly moved. A crimson sword qi instantly gathered in Wei Yuan's palm, nearly lashing out before he caught himself. But when he looked closely, her eyes were tightly shut; she had not moved at all. Just then, Sun Yu called out, "Everyone, protect your bodies with Dao power! The resentment here is far too heavy—it can slowly turn a living person into a yin spirit." Wei Yuan hurriedly examined himself from head to toe, discovering that, sure enough, several minuscule parts of his flesh had lost sensation without him realizing it. He immediately ordered all the outside cultivators to retreat beyond the subterranean expanse. Only the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning had the strength to spare for their own protection, and so they continued their search. Sun Yu examined the boys and girls in the hall and found that their flesh was still fresh and supple. Unlike the little girl, they could technically be called living people. It was just that they held neither vitality nor souls within them, lingering like hollow husks. The group searched several nearby halls and found the exact same sight in each, save for a few wooden niches that sat empty and unfilled. After inspecting more than a dozen halls in succession, Wei Yuan led the way down another tier. The halls on this level were largely identical to the ones above, with no real differences except that the boys and girls in the wooden niches appeared somewhat younger, around twelve or thirteen years old. Sun Yu examined several of the youngsters one after another, drawing blood on the spot to test it before saying, "Same origin, same bloodline." "Are they all siblings?" Wei Yuan asked. "Not necessarily, but they definitely share the same lineage. They are exceptionally close relatives," Sun Yu answered. Wei Yuan descended another tier. This was the final layer of halls before the square; any further forward would take them directly into the open expanse. The halls on this tier were styled differently, built entirely of stone, brooding and eerie. Pushing open the hall doors, Wei Yuan stepped through first. The moment he crossed the threshold, the scene before his eyes shifted, revealing a dim room illuminated everywhere by burning red candles. By now, Wei Yuan was accustomed to such sights and watched quietly. A bride sat upon the bed, her wedding attire as vivid red as if dyed in fresh blood. A young groom, dressed in matching celebratory robes, walked inside, latched the door behind him, and approached the bride, preparing to lift her veil. A strange, inexplicable tension seized Wei Yuan's heart; he felt a nagging dread that lifting the veil would reveal something that ought not to be seen. The young groom took the edges of the veil with both hands. Suddenly, he breathed a faint plume of white qi from his mouth, striking the bride squarely between the brows. The bride remained seated upright, frozen stiff in place. The young man's movements instantly became swift and nimble. He shoved the bride deep into the bed, drew the bed curtains, and waved his sleeve to extinguish the red candles. Stripping off his wedding attire, he slipped out through the window and fled. Yet after he had gone, a corner of the bed curtain was gently pulled aside. The bride, still concealed beneath her red veil, leaned out. She cast a single glance in the direction the groom had fled, then silently let the curtain fall back into place. The scenery shifted before Wei Yuan's eyes into open wilderness. The young man and woman fled together, running and taking flight in turn, pushing constantly onward as the city behind them receded further into the distance. The scene shifted once more, returning to the tranquil little courtyard from the very beginning, though at this point it remained sparsely furnished. The young man now wore a short beard, while the woman's features carried a mature grace. Together they planted flowers and tended herbs in the yard, tidying up the garden. Just then, the sudden wail of an infant rang out from inside the house. The woman hurried to her feet, paying no mind to the soil coating her hands as she rushed back into the room. The young man patted down the soil around the final plant before straightening up, intending to go inside and check on them. Yet the moment he lifted his foot, he froze mid-step, then turned around slowly. The courtyard gate swung open on its own without a breath of wind. Standing outside was a woman with a shaved head and green eyes. Bearing an ambiguous smile, she murmured softly, "The Patriarch's blood flows in your veins. Vast though the world may be, you have nowhere left to run." The vision dissolved, and Wei Yuan returned to reality. Before him in the hall sat four square pools, entirely dried up, though they must have once been filled with water. In the center of the four pools stood a grotesque Buddha statue with a wrathful expression and four arms, each holding a precious vase tilted downward toward a pool. Life-size, vivid figures of naked, voluptuous women, venomous snakes, scorpions, and centipedes coiled around the statue's body. Several skeletons lay at the bottom of the pools. Another skeleton sprawled over the pool's edge, as though it had tried to crawl out, but its lower half was completely gone. The group searched the hall for a time but found no clues, unable to tell what purpose this place had served. Zhang Sheng studied the Buddha statue for a moment, frowning. "This statue resembles the heritage of an esoteric sect, yet it differs in several ways." "Let's check the other places," Wei Yuan said. Every hall on this tier was laid out identically with four square pools, and many contained broken, mangled skeletons. Further down was the vast square. Several halls stood along its outer perimeter, and at its center rose a high terrace reached by a flight of one hundred and eight steps. In the very middle of the terrace stood that hundred-zhang lotus pillar. Seen from up close, the monster coiled around the pillar looked even more lifelike, as if it might tear free from its chains at any moment. The halls bordering the square were a shambles, with most of their contents cleared away. Judging by the interior layout, they appeared to have been used for concocting pills, though what pills had been made was impossible to tell. With nothing left to see here, the group pressed onward. The moment he set foot in the square, Wei Yuan felt an unsettling sensation, as if countless eyes were watching him. He stopped at once and surveyed his surroundings, simultaneously reaching out to the Red Lotus Bodhi to see if he could borrow its aura to empower his Wisdom Eye divine ability. The Red Lotus Bodhi swayed, threatening to drop another leaf, which frightened Wei Yuan into stopping immediately. Using a single bodhi leaf to treat a fatal injury had pained him to death; for a mere look around, there was no need to cause such a commotion. Zhang Sheng spoke up as well: "Something is wrong here." Ji Liuli summoned the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. This time, the bronze lamps along the pagoda's tiers flared to life simultaneously, shedding a faint, eerie pure light. The moment the light appeared, Ji Liuli visibly strained, her aura plunging rapidly. Yet beneath the illumination of the pure light, figure after figure began to materialize across the square—they were none other than the boys and girls standing in the wooden niches! Expressionless, they all turned their heads, fixing pupilless eyes upon the group. Even Zhang Sheng was shaken by the sight. "These are all souls! No wonder those boys and girls outside were hollow husks yet still retained vitality in their flesh." Ji Liuli said, "Their souls have all been imprisoned in this square. The resentment of tens of thousands, coupled with the karma of being barred from reincarnation, is what turned this place into a land of absolute yin. None of these youngsters could have been ordinary; they must possess something extraordinary in their blood." A sudden intuition struck Wei Yuan. He looked up toward the high terrace, where a ring of altars surrounded the central lotus pillar. Beneath the pillar stood the cloth-robed swordsman with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the bound monster. Wei Yuan pointed to the terrace. "The answer is likely up there. But be careful." Ji Liuli withdrew the pure light of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and replaced it with a dim yellow radiance that settled over everyone as a protective blessing. She warned, "I can only offer a mild blessing. If the power is too great, it will inflict fatal harm on the spirit bodies here. Without physical bodies to shelter them, they are exceptionally fragile; only in this land of absolute yin could they have endured for so long." The cultivators all had their own means of self-defense, so none objected. Wei Yuan walked toward the terrace first, having the others keep their distance behind him. The cloth-robed swordsman's origins and intentions were unknown, but the general outline of his inheritance was powerful enough to manifest as a sword strike capable of slaying a dharma idol. In other words, if he was unwilling to impart the heritage, he was more than capable of unleashing a lethal attack. Step by step, Wei Yuan climbed the terrace. The cloth-robed swordsman continued to gaze at the bound monster, murmuring softly, "This is my wedded wife, Shu Ya." A roaring boom sounded in Wei Yuan's consciousness, and the scene shifted once again. It was the same grand hall, and the same exalted figure seated on high. Yet this time, the hall was exceptionally gloomy and sinister, with light coming from nowhere in particular to illuminate only a single corner. The coldness permeating the hall was indescribable, causing Wei Yuan to shiver involuntarily. Before the raised dais of the throne, the woman was held fast by two hulking warriors. She screamed and thrashed with all her might, but could not break free. Beside them, an elder cradled a little girl not yet two years old. Even as he coaxed her with gentle words, he seized her tiny hand and suddenly snapped it. A sharp crack echoed, followed by a piercing, agonizing wail that filled the hall. With a heavy thud, the young man dropped to his knees. "Father, I will do whatever you ask! I only beg you to spare them! Xinyi is your own flesh and blood too!" The woman with the shaved head and green eyes stepped forward, walking toward the young man as her garments slipped from her body piece by piece. She murmured, "As long as we bear the child the Patriarch requires, they will regain their freedom." The young man's body trembled faintly. Pushed down onto the floor, he did not resist. The vision shifted to a dark alley cloaked in night. The woman ran desperately, carrying a five- or six-year-old girl in her arms and looking back over her shoulder from time to time. But she suddenly stumbled and fell; at some point, an arrow had pierced clean through her leg. Enduring the agony, the woman shoved the little girl away, shouting, "Run! Run!" Terrified and at a loss, the little girl tried to burrow back into the woman's embrace. Panicking, the woman abruptly slapped her across the face and cried, "Nobody wants you! Get lost, run! Run in that direction!" Frightened, the girl shrank back a few steps before finally turning and running into the distance. The woman breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the tiny silhouette vanish. If the child could just cross the intersection ahead, she would be clear of the grand formation, where someone would be waiting to receive her and take her away from this living hell. Yet the little girl came running back, clutching the woman's arm and throwing all her tiny strength into trying to drag her along. And at that moment, the green-eyed, bald woman stepped slowly out from the shadows. The vision shifted once more. The little girl lay cradled in the hands of the statue atop the lotus pillar, her breath faint and dying. Across the square, throngs of servants bustled back and forth, carrying infants into the halls to bathe them. Medicinal pills were continually brought out from the pill-refining chambers and dissolved into broths to feed the babies. Suddenly, a slender sword light erupted from between one infant's brows, shooting ten zhang straight into the air! The tall, imposing man appeared and scooped up the baby, bursting into booming laughter. "A natural Thousand-Autumn Sword Body! The secret art truly works, hahahaha! That little bastard child is useless now. Hmph, had she not diluted the bloodline, why would I have waited until now?" As he carried the infant away, the green-eyed, bald woman slowly raised her hand and pointed toward the lotus pillar. The numerous cultivators seated in meditation around the pillar struck at once, unleashing true fire that ignited the lotus pillar. Flames surged upward, roaring toward the pillar's peak. The bound woman suddenly went mad, flinging away the several True Persons of the Dharma Idol realm who held her, and lunged toward the lotus pillar, transforming midair to reveal her true demon form. The tall, imposing man gave a cold snort and hurled a chain from afar, binding the demon tight. Yet the demon she had become still leaped with all its might and coiled around the lotus pillar, using its own flesh to block the raging true fire and keep it from spreading to the girl at the top. The little girl's consciousness was already fading, but she continued to murmur over and over, "...Don't chase me away... don't chase me away..." Gradually, the demon was scorched to charred cinders by the true fire. Through it all, she never moved, nor did she cry out. A surge of resentment rose straight into the heavens, casting the entire square into deeper gloom. A shrill, high-pitched voice faintly murmured, "With this resentment added, the pill will extend life by so much more..." All light vanished from the young swordsman's eyes. His head slowly drooped, and the last spark of life slipped away. Within Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, two more sword techniques emerged: the first strike, Beginning of a Thousand Autumns, and the final strike, End of Ten Thousand Generations.