Fucking hell, I have trust issues now! The floating palace old master did this? But why? He also sealed the old fart, from what I heard! This is so confusing! The floating palace's old master never did anything hostile for the past few years, but I still need to be alarmed in front of him if we meet. Should I tell this to everyone? Or maybe I should tell Master first?
"Gege, I know what you're thinking," Wu Qingge said beside him, also raising his hand to press against various crystals. He continued pressing his palm against the variety of crystals, and he spoke, "But don't act reckless and leave this all to me. Gege will just... stay by my side."
Liu Xiao felt awkward and didn't know what to say, so he kept his mouth shut and watched Wu Qingge press his hand against the crystals. Later, he joined him and asked, "Why are we doing this? Is there a secret passage somewhere?"
"En," Wu Qingge answered, and as soon as their hands touched and pressed on a rectangular twinkling silver crystal at the same time, the cylinder jade that his grandfather was sitting on when he was sealed twisted open, exposing a deep hole that looked like an abyss.
Wu Qingge leaned forward, peeking at the hole, and stepped his other foot down. "Gege, you stay here."
"No! We'll go together!" Liu Xiao insisted. He saw Wu Qingge pause while looking at him, and he only awkwardly laughed and continued to give reasons. "I don't want to be alone. Uhmm, I promise I won't hold you back—in fact, I might be of help! Don't just leave me here, hmm?"
Wu Qingge sighed, feeling a sense of defeat. He gestured with his hand and called out, "Gege, come here." Liu Xiao paused to think for a moment before approaching Wu Qingge.
Wu Qingge gently took hold of his waist and grasped the edge of the opening. As Wu Qingge leaned close to his ear, their bodies pressed together slightly, and he spoke in a deep voice, "Hold on tightly. We're going to descend for quite some time."
Liu Xiao nodded silently, steeling himself as Wu Qingge's other hand pressed against them, propelling them into the abyss. Darkness enveloped everything, and they seemed to be in an endless freefall. Yet Liu Xiao felt an unexplainable absence of fear. His hands clutched Wu Qingge's robe sleeves more tightly as they descended. Wu Qingge drew him in closer, his arms encircling Liu Xiao's waist. Despite this, Liu Xiao focused on how they would manage their impending landing.
We thought about falling, but I forgot about the landing! Are our heads first? Or maybe our butt? Is my spinal cord going to survive the fall?! AND WHAT IF THERE ARE LAVA DOWN THERE? I'M NERVOUS! AAAAAAAAA I'M SO NERVOUS!!!! ( TДT)
As Liu Xiao's nervousness spread throughout his body, he found himself unconsciously resting his head on Wu Qingge's shoulder, his eyes firmly closed. Wu Qingge initially stiffened at the contact, but as he relaxed, he allowed Liu Xiao to lean on him.
The ground soon came into view for Liu Xiao and Wu Qingge. Realizing he was embracing Wu Qingge, Liu Xiao pushed him away and quickly enveloped himself with spiritual qi to float. Meanwhile, Wu Qingge channeled his qi to his feet and descended to the ground with a loud thud that cracked the earth beneath him. Liu Xiao breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing no lava, yet the surroundings were peculiar to them.
It seemed as though a colony of enormous ants resided beneath this cave. Large holes bore the marks of sharp claws or fangs; no twinkling silver crystals were in sight, only numerous red, glowing, odd flowers that gave the cave a demonic appearance.
Wu Qingge began walking towards one of the holes, prompting Liu Xiao to follow, his hand on his sword's hilt, ready to draw it should they face an attack. Suddenly, a piercing shriek reverberated through the cave, accompanied by loud scratching noises. Wu Qingge halted, and Liu Xiao drew his sword with a smooth 'shing' sound.
Amidst the cacophony of stone grinding, scratching, and shrieking within the silent cave, Liu Xiao concentrated on a spot near a hole where faint traces of demonic and spiritual qi mingled. He hesitated, unsure whether they faced a beast or demon since both types of qi were present but fused within one being.
When the noises ceased, a large black ant with a glowing red outline emerged from one of the holes. Its glowing red eyes fixed on Liu Xiao and Wu Qingge, it let out a shriek and its grotesque mouth gaped open.
Wu Qingge, on the other hand, saw a flying black ant with the same red glowing outline on its edge. He stared at the ant, his eyes and his mark glowing red, and the flying ant was smashed into pieces in a flash.
Qingge, Liu Xiao, squatted on the dead body of the ant that he had sliced into two pieces. He lightly tapped his hand to feel its inner energy. It was surely both demonic qi and spiritual qi residing inside the body of the ant. He glanced at Wu Qingge, staring at him, and spoke, "These insects; could it be that someone was raising them?"
"Gege is really smart. You're right, their master put his/her spiritual qi to control them under his/her orders." Wu Qingge replied with a smile.
"Orders... to guard this place? Is something hidden here?" Liu Xiao asked, standing up and unsheathing his sword while approaching Wu Qingge.
"En. That's why we're here," Wu Qingge simply answered.
"Those insects are clearly demons. Where did they get those, or was it perhaps hatched when it was still an egg and it was brought here?" Liu Xiao said, examining the large number of holes all over. There might be more ants who will come and attack us. I was confused when the protagonist Halo was not working in this ant and they were not backing off in fear; it was actually because they had a master... But who is it?
"I think the floating palace elder owned an underworld gate and placed it somewhere. Every underworld gate can lead you to different parts of the underworld, not only in one place. So the underworld gate that they got must be connected to the insect demons., Wu Qingge answered, caressing the jewel on Liu Xiao's forehead again, but Liu Xiao seemed to be used to it, so he didn't mind and only nodded to Wu Qingge's answer.
They resumed their journey, with Wu Qingge in the lead. As they traversed through various tunnels carved by the insect demons, they arrived in a spacious area blanketed with red flowers. An exquisite teahouse stood amidst the radiant blooms, yet it was devoid of any occupants. The flowers emitted a bewitching yet ominous glow, illuminating the cave to such an extent that inscriptions became visible in one corner.
Clutching at Wu Qingge's garment, Liu Xiao signaled for him to follow, and together they approached the inscribed corner. At a cursory glance, the markings seemed to be ancient script; however, upon closer inspection, they revealed an intricate array of lines, each adorned with a crimson dot. These lines, endlessly marked with sanguine circles, culminated in a single line etched with a circle and several diminutive characters beneath.
The first step, the first war, the gates of the netherworld, demons.
To the uninitiated, these words would be nonsensical, but to a cultivator like Liu Xiao, their meaning was clear. Each line symbolized a year, marked by a crimson dot—no, not ink but blood—as each year elapsed. Liu Xiao tallied the lines: there were 500 in total. The original novel recounted that five centuries prior, the erstwhile Peak Master of Mount Hua had imprisoned the demon king. Thus, someone must have orchestrated the convergence of the netherworld gates half a millennium ago. The final line marked with a bloodied circle signified that the current year had concluded and that the prophesied event was imminent!
Liu Xiao rose abruptly, only to be met with the chilling sight of countless black ants' luminescent eyes in the darkness. They stared intently at them as they emerged from the shadows, encircling them completely.
— • —
YOU ARE READING
His Meihua Swan | 他的大天鵝 (BL)
Historical Fiction[ AN ORIGINAL BL NOVEL FROM RUNNOX ] Feng Xi, who was just an ordinary guy, loves to read cultivation novels, and there was his recent favorite novel entitled "The Black Book.". When he was about to reach the ending of the novel, he fell asleep and...
C H A P T E R 3 2
Start from the beginning
