Chapter 1062
In order to maintain the seal
"Almost there," Su Wanwan said. "Just over that slope ahead."
When she said "soon," she actually meant there was still about half an hour left. By the time they finally stood in front of the two standing stones at the entrance to Qiyue Ridge, the sun had already risen high in the sky, making the white patterns on the stone surface shine.
The fog is still there.
But today's fog is different from before. It didn't block the entrance, but instead shrank to the sides, leaving only a narrow passage in the middle, as if someone had specially cleared a path for those who came.
Su Wanwan walked at the front, passing through the standing stones and stepping onto the fine white sand. The mist swirled gently as she passed, as if observing her or confirming something. When Chu Yang followed her in, the mist drifted towards him, touched his sleeve, and then retreated.
Sun Wukong was the third to enter, but Wu didn't even touch him and simply stepped aside.
Tang Sanzang was the last to enter. The mist circled around him, as if it were smelling something, and then slowly receded.
Bai tide stood on the stone platform, leaning against the bluish-gray stone wall, holding the broken-toothed wooden comb in her hand, slowly combing her hair. She had changed her clothes today; it was still a blue robe, but instead of silver vines embroidered on the collar, it was a white flower, small and densely clustered together, like snow falling on a branch.
She saw a group of people walking over, their gaze sweeping over Su Wanwan, then over Chu Yang, Sun Wukong, and Tang Seng, before finally returning to Su Wanwan.
“They’re all here,” she said.
"Yes." Su Wanwan nodded. "Senior, they—"
“I know who they are.” Bai tide tucked the comb into her sleeve. “You told me yesterday.”
She straightened up and walked over from the stone wall, her steps neither fast nor slow. The hem of her blue robe swept lightly across the ground, stirring up a small patch of fine sand. She stopped in front of Chu Yang, looked up at him—she was half a head shorter than Chu Yang, but her gaze did not convey any sense of looking up; rather, it seemed as if she were looking down at him from a superior position.
"Are you the leader?" she asked.
Chu Yang met her gaze: "You could say that."
"You've got guts." Bai tide's expression remained unchanged as she said this, making it unclear whether it was a compliment or something else. She turned to Sun Wukong, "You inside the stone, your aura is too strong. Tone it down a bit after you enter the inner tomb. The seal inside can't withstand too much external force."
Sun Wukong originally wanted to reply with "Who has a heavier aura?", but when he saw Bai Xi's light-colored eyes, he swallowed his words and only hummed in agreement.
Bai tide looked at Tang Seng one last time and remained silent for a few moments.
“A monk,” she said.
Tang Sanzang put his palms together and said, "Benefactor."
"After you go in, do not chant any scriptures."
Tang Sanzang was taken aback: "Why?"
“Because the moon energy in the inner tomb is incompatible with the Buddhist scriptures—no, they are in conflict.” Bai Xi changed her words, “When you chant the scriptures, the things inside will become chaotic. I have maintained this balance for so many years, and I don’t want it to be destroyed by your chanting.”
Tang Sanzang opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he only nodded and said, "This humble monk has remembered it."
After giving her instructions, Bai tide turned and walked deeper into the valley. Su Wanwan followed behind her, then turned back and winked at Chu Yang—"Come on, follow me."
They crossed the valley, passed the old tree and the stone platform, and arrived at the innermost stone wall. The moon-reflecting branches on the stone wall were exceptionally bright today, the silver light on the back of the leaves shining like tiny lamps, spreading outward from the center of the veins, making the entire stone wall look like a screen inlaid with broken silver.
Bai tide walked to the recessed area in the center of the stone wall and placed her hand on it.
The stone surface silently caved in, revealing the narrow passage. Silvery light surged out from the passage, washing over the stone platform like a tide, washing over everyone's feet, cool and carrying an indescribable scent—not a fragrance, not a fishy smell, but a very clean scent, like the air you smell when you wake up in the middle of the night in a deep mountain forest.
The white donkey was the first to react.
It suddenly raised its head, its nostrils flared, and took a few deep breaths. Then its eyes widened, its legs went weak, and it almost knelt down. Chu Yang grabbed the reins and held its head up: "What's wrong?"
“It’s absorbing the moon’s energy,” Su Wanwan said. “The moon’s energy is too strong; it’s never been exposed to it before, and it can’t handle it all at once.”
The white donkey shuddered, struggling to regain its balance, but it looked as if it were drunk, its eyes glazed over, its four legs wobbling. Chu Yang sighed, wrapped the reins around his hand twice, and slowly pulled it into the passage.
The passageway was brighter than when Su Wanwan came yesterday.
The silver light emanating from the stone walls cast a soft, white glow on everyone's faces. The path beneath their feet was flat, paved with fine white pebbles, making almost no sound as they stepped on it. The concentration of lunar energy in the air increased exponentially with each step deeper, and Su Wanwan could feel the energy ball in her dantian spinning rapidly, like a starving person opening their mouth, waiting for food to fall in.
Sun Wukong walked second, his brow furrowed as if sensing something. After taking a dozen steps, he suddenly said, "This place is indeed interesting. The energy here is alive."
"Alive?" Tang Sanzang asked from behind.
"Hmm." Sun Wukong reached out and grabbed a handful of air, then opened his palm. There was nothing in his palm, but he stared at it for a moment. "It looks like water, flowing. Not from one side to the other, but from all sides towards the center."
Bai tide was walking at the front. When she heard Sun Wukong's words, she paused slightly without turning around, but there was a hint of surprise in her voice: "You are quite perceptive."
"What haven't I seen?" Sun Wukong muttered, but there was no smugness in his tone; instead, there was a hint of seriousness.
The stone path has come to an end.
The stone chamber remained unchanged from yesterday, small, about three zhang square, with silvery-white walls. The fist-sized bead floated in the very center, its silvery-white liquid flowing slowly, like a galaxy solidified in transparent amber. Directly below the bead, the silvery-white skeleton lay quietly. The runes on the bones flowed even faster today, like ripples spreading from the depths of the bones into the air before dissipating, as if a breeze were blowing across water.
Bai tide was the first to walk in, standing next to the skeletons, and turned to face the crowd.
“This place is called the Inner Tomb,” she said, her voice echoing in the stone chamber, more solemn than it had been in the valley. “It is the burial place of Yuehua, the last chieftain of the Qiyue Ridge Fox Clan. Before she died, she sealed all her cultivation back into her bones, which is why there is such a strong moon energy here.”
Chu Yang stood at the entrance of the stone chamber, his gaze shifting from the withered bones to the bead, and then back to the withered bones. He didn't speak, but his brows furrowed slightly.
Sun Wukong was quite direct. He squatted down and stared at the skeleton for a long time before looking up at Bai Xi: "Are the runes on these bones alive?"
“Yes,” Bai tide said. “Before Yuehua died, she carved this set of runes on her bones to maintain the seal.”
"Seal?" Su Wanwan was taken aback. Bai tide hadn't mentioned this word when she came yesterday. "What seal?"
Bai tide glanced at her, and a complex emotion, never before seen in her light-colored eyes, finally appeared. It wasn't hesitation, nor sadness, but rather a deep, long-suppressed weariness. "This is why I wanted all of you to come," she said slowly, her gaze shifting from Su Wanwan to Chu Yang, Sun Wukong, and Tang Seng, before finally settling back on the withered bones.
"The fox clan of Qiyue Ridge didn't move away on their own, nor were they devoured by a great demon. They're still here. Right behind this stone wall."
Su Wanwan's pupils suddenly contracted.
The stone chamber was quiet for a moment, with only the faint buzzing sound of the moonlight flowing through it, like many bees flying in the distance.
“The Inner Tomb is not just a place for burial.” Bai Xi lowered her voice, so low that it seemed as if she were talking to herself, but every word was clear. “It is a sealed door. Yuehua used her life’s cultivation and these remains to seal a door.”
"What's behind the door?" Chu Yang asked.
Bai tide looked up at him.
"Wolf."
Just one word.
But when that word landed in the stone chamber, it was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, splashing water and rippling outwards in circles, leaving everyone silent for a few breaths.
Sun Wukong spoke first: "A wolf demon?"
“Not just,” Bai tide said. “It’s an entire wolf clan. There aren’t many, only a few dozen, but each one is a formidable fighter. Even when the fox clan of Qiyue Ridge was at its peak, they couldn’t defeat them even with the full strength of their clan.”
"Why can't we beat them?" Chu Yang asked.
“Because wolves are naturally the natural enemy of foxes.” Bai tide said this in a calm tone, without any resentment, as if stating a fact she had long accepted. “Foxes are good at illusion, concealment, and leveraging power, but these things are useless against wolves. They don’t see what you conjure up; they smell your scent. If you hide behind a rock, they can hear your heartbeat. If you use the momentum of mountains or water, they will rush over and bite your throat. They don’t reason with you, they don’t fight with magic; that’s the most primitive way of fighting.”
She paused, looking down at Yuehua's withered bones.
"It took Yuehua and her people seven whole years to lure this wolf clan into the pre-arranged formation. On the day the formation was completed, Yuehua gave her life. She used her last breath to activate the seal, sealing the entire wolf clan into the void behind the inner tomb."
“Seven years…” Su Wanwan murmured.
“Seven years,” Bai tide repeated. “Two-thirds of our clansmen died, and the rest were either injured or scattered. The day after the seal was completed, the surviving fox demons left, leaving none behind. When they left, they sealed this stone wall, using the runes left by Yuehua to create a restriction, so that no one except those of the fox clan bloodline can enter.”
She looked at Su Wanwan: "That's why I need you."
Su Wanwan stared at her blankly.
“You are a stray fox, your bloodline is not pure, but the blood of the fox clan flows in your veins,” Bai tide said. “Only you can open this door.”
"Open?" Chu Yang keenly grasped the word. "You want us to go in?"
Bai tide nodded.
The air in the stone chamber suddenly felt even heavier.
"The seal won't last much longer." Bai tide's voice wasn't loud, but every word pierced the ears of everyone present like nails. "Yuehua's cultivation is dissipating day by day, and you've all seen the runes on her bones—they're circulating faster and faster. Faster means more unstable. I've been guarding this place for many years, and I've watched the speed at which the runes circulate more than double. At this rate, the seal will completely collapse in three years at most."
"Three years?" Su Wanwan's voice was a little tense.
“Three years,” Bai tide said. “By then, the wolf clan behind the seal will break free. Their resentment has been building up for so many years, and the first thing they will do upon emerging is to slaughter all living beings within a hundred miles. How many of the people in Ping'an Village do you think will survive?”
Tang Sanzang's face darkened. He clasped his hands together and whispered a Buddhist chant, his voice unusually heavy.
Chu Yang's expression didn't change much, but his eyes were a little deeper than usual. He looked at Bai tide and asked, "What do you want us to do inside?"
“I’m not asking you to go fight wolves,” Bai tide said. “You can’t beat them. I can’t beat them either. Yuehua and her entire clan can’t beat them either, and you few—it’s not that I look down on you, but going head-to-head is just suicide.”
"Then what are we going in for?" Chu Yang asked again.
Bai tide remained silent for a few moments.
“Go repair the seal,” she finally said. “The seal of Yuehua is not dead, it is alive. It needs the moon’s energy to maintain it. The moon’s energy in the inner tomb seeps out from the seal—it’s Yuehua’s cultivation slowly leaking out. With each bit of leakage, the seal weakens.”
She pointed to the floating bead above her head.
“That bead is called ‘Moon Heart,’ and it’s the core of the seal. If you pour lunar energy back into the Moon Heart, the seal will be stabilized. If you pour enough in, it can even be restored to its original state.”
"How do we fill it?" Su Wanwan asked.
Bai tide looked at her, something flashing in her eyes.
“We need a fox spirit to cultivate next to the Moon Heart,” she said. “The faster you cultivate, the more lunar energy you absorb, and the lunar energy overflowing from your body will be absorbed by the Moon Heart and replenished into the seal. For every day you cultivate, the seal can last for another month.”
Su Wanwan was stunned.
She couldn't stand it for more than an hour in the inner tomb yesterday. But Bai tide's meaning was clear—she was cultivating here not only for herself, but also to maintain the seal.
“You didn’t tell me this yesterday.” Su Wanwan’s voice was a little hoarse.
“If I had told you yesterday, you probably wouldn’t have dared to come,” Bai tide said frankly. “Or you might have been distracted if you had come. I need you to prove that you can cultivate to the point of enlightenment before I can tell you the truth.”
Su Wanwan didn't know whether to be angry or touched. The two emotions clashed in her chest, and finally she said, "...You're quite honest."
Bai tide ignored her complaints and continued, "But there's a problem. When you cultivate next to Yue Xin, you'll be enveloped by the moon's energy, and your aura will merge with Yue Xin's. For you, that's cultivation; but for the wolf clan behind the seal—they won't feel the moon's energy, they'll feel you."
"What do you mean?" Sun Wukong frowned.
"It means that when Su Wanwan was cultivating, in the wolf clan's perception, she was Yue Xin, she was the seal." Bai Xi's tone became very slow, as if she was carefully choosing each word. "The wolf clan has been sealed for so many years, and they hate Yue Xin to the core. They will try every means to get close to her, attack her, and destroy her. Although they can't get out, the seal isn't solid—it has gaps. The wolf clan can use these gaps to seep out their power." (End of this chapter)