Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Wu! Wu! My gift… it’s gone…” The civet cat cried sorrowfully as he hugged his box to his chest.
Lonemoon walked over and glanced at the half-open box. The spirit herbs in the box were all dried up. Sighing, he said, “These herbs have been sucked dry of their Spirit Qi. Take it easy…” He had thought that the fox demon was keeping these herbs to refine pills and would not have finished them so quickly. Little had he known that the demon had been intending to use them all to save his son. Lonemoon was a step too late.
On hearing this, the civet cat wailed and cried harder.
Shen Ying turned slightly and glanced into the box in the cat’s hands. That was when she realised that within it lay a dry, wrinkly…
“Carrot?”
“How does this look like a carrot? This is a Splendor Lingzhi,” Lonemoon corrected.
Curious, she picked the herb up and held it between her forefinger and thumb. Apart from the fact that the herb was purple, it looked exactly like a carrot.
“Wu! Wu! Wu! Without a gift for the Myriad Demon King… meow… I can’t go back… meow…” The civet cat continued to wail.
“Well…” Shen Ying hesitated. “Does this Myriad Demon King that you speak of happen to be a rabbit?”
“How did you know?” The civet cat suddenly stopped crying. Looking at Shen Ying with teary eyes, he said, “The Myriad Demon King’s… true form is indeed… of the rabbit race.”
It was really true!
“You should have said so earlier! That makes things much easier.” Shen Ying slapped the civet cat’s head. “I’m really close to the rabbit. Don’t cry, I’ll write a letter to the rabbit for you.” She searched her surroundings, and then swiftly tore away a piece of clothing from the person beside her.
“Holy shit! Why did you take away my clothes?” Lonemoon exclaimed, standing there with only his undershirt remaining. Can’t you use your own clothes in place of paper? You’re really making yourself comfortable with me, aren’t you ?
“It’s your own fault for wearing white. It’ll be much easier to see the ink!”
“…” He glanced at everyone standing around him. The cat was in black, Yi Qing was in blue and Shen Ying was in green. He couldn’t think of a comeback.
Shen Ying began to write on the piece of clothing. She resorted to using the only ‘ink’ she could find and smeared blood stains everywhere as a result. Quickly, she finished writing two lines of a message. She placed the piece of clothing in the box and carried it to the cat. “All done. You can hand this to the rabbit. It won’t blame you!”
“Are… you sure?” The civet cat gingerly held the box, his face a mask of worry.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a gentle, vegetarian rabbit!”
There’s no other option left but to try my luck. The civet cat took in a deep breath and put away the gift box. He was just about to thank Shen Ying, when the floor began to shake violently. Cracks began to appear through which a blinding white light shone straight into the sky. It seemed as if something was going to emerge straight out of the ground.
“There’s something underground!” Lonemoon shouted to everybody around him. “This place is falling apart. We have to fly out of here!” He made to ride his sword just as the words left his mouth.
“Master!” Yi Qing quickly pulled Shen Ying back onto his sword. Together with the civet cat—who had by then transformed into a cloud of black Qi—he flew out of the cave.
As they emerged from the cave, they realised that the cracks went on for a three to four kilometre radius. All the cracks had the same blinding white light shining through them. A great piece of the land suddenly shot upwards as the ground continued to shake violently. A huge object seemed to be rising from underground, growing taller and taller. Soon, it fully emerged from underground and stood halfway to the sky.
It was at that moment that they saw it. It was a huge mountain peak, even higher than the Main Peak of Blackheaven Sect. Surrounding the peak were different types of strange Dharmic talismans. It was as if there were layers of array formations surrounding the peak.
The mountain peak continued to stand tall as lightning and thunder began to rage down from above. A purple flash of lightning shot through the sky as the surrounding air began to stir. Suddenly, a translucent entrance started to form on the peak. Peering in, one would just be able to make out that there was a plain on the other side. The beautiful Spirit Qi was almost oppressive. It was shockingly dense, and also had a hint of a rainbow misty light to it.
Wait. That wasn’t Spirit Qi—it was Immortal Qi!
“This is an entrance to an ancient mystic realm!” Lonemoon’s eyes widened in disbelief. It was no wonder they had come across the ancient Spiritual Annihilation Array in the cave; there had been a whole ancient mystic realm below it. In Azure World, there were plenty of stories regarding ancient times. Although there were plenty of old records on the ancient mystic realm, nobody seemed to know anything about it. Who would have thought that they would discover an entire mystic realm themselves?
“What’s a mystic realm?” Shen Ying studied the mountain peak that seemed to have sprung out of nowhere.
Lonemoon turned around to glance at her, barely able to contain his excitement. “A mystic realm is a small world that exists outside of the Azure World. Although mystic realms are smaller in size compared to the Azure World, they form entire worlds on their own. Legend has it that the sorcery which can unlock mystic realms only existed in ancient times. In the Azure World of today, we hardly come across mystic realms. Much less… much less a mystic realm of ancient times.
“Oh, that means… this is only a copy!”
“Uh… I guess you could say that.” Lonemoon felt as he was thrown from cloud nine back to reality.
Clearing his throat, he regained his composure. He lowered his voice and said, “Ancient mystic realms have resurged. We don’t know how long this entrance will remain here. Since we’re still uncertain when it comes to mystic realms, we should inform the sect of these things as soon as possible. We should also formulate a plan before we venture into the mystic realm.” Lonemoon turned back around to look at the crystallic-looking entrance on the peak. He didn’t know what to make of the fact that an mystic realm made its appearance near the Blackheaven Sect. “We shouldn’t delay any further. Let’s head back to the sect now!”
Shen Ying and Yi Qing both nodded without saying a word. Bidding goodbye to the civet cat, they turned and flew toward the Blackheaven Sect.
Things had reached a new level of tension. Lonemoon flew at top speed, almost reaching the maximum speed of sword-riding. They arrived back at the sect in half-time. However, in his heart, there was a faint nagging feeling that he had forgotten something. Ah, forget it. That’s not important!
Cheng An and the other disciples remained at the inn. “When will Uncle-Master come back to remove this array formation?”
——————
Meanwhile, at the Myriad Demon Temple.
The Rabbit Monarch finally received the gift from the civet cat. On seeing the limp piece of white clothing in the gift box, he picked it up, ready to toss it from his throne.
But that was when it noticed the words written on the cloth:
“Rabbit, I took the carrot that the cat meant to give you. Don’t blame him! -Shen Ying”
Σ(°△°|||)
“Ex… ex… exalted Immortal Shen!”
Was its eyes playing tricks on it? Was this really the long-lost Exalted Immortal Shen writing to it? It had to be so—she was the only one who would refer to a Splendor Lingzhi as a carrot.
But she could’ve just taken the gift. Why… why did she have to leave a note written with blood?
Is this a threat? This is clearly a threat!
But… but what has Rabbit done wrong? Why didn’t Exalted Immortal make it clear?
The Rabbit Monarch’s tiny heart was thumping. Once again, it felt the all-consuming fear it had felt on that night at the Myriad Demon Congregation. I’m doomed, I’m doomed, I’m doomed… What should Rabbit do?
It paused to think for a moment. Suddenly, it turned around to command, “Someone! Hurry… hurry and take stock of what we have in our treasury… Send everything to Exalted Immortal Shen’s old address! And don’t leave a single thing behind!”
“Also, clean Exalted Immortal Shen’s house while you’re at it! That’s right! Make sure that there’s not one speck of dust left behind!”
“Oh, forget it. I’ll go there myself…”