Chapter 623
The Return of the Dead Brings Up Turmoil
"What was the reaction of that old charlatan at the observatory? With such a commotion, there's no way he didn't 'see' it."
The old man in the black robe lowered his head even further and lowered his voice.
"The High Priest... seems to have anticipated this. Before I arrived here, I received a cryptic message from the attendants at the Observatory. It is said that when the initial results of the operation were relayed back to the Forbidden City, the High Priest was gazing at the starry sky from the top floor of the Observatory and uttered only four words."
"Oh? Which four words?"
The Queen of the Night seemed to have taken a liking to it.
"Trouble... is about to break out."
The old man repeated it word by word.
"Is trouble brewing?"
The Queen of the Night pondered these four words, a half-smile curving her red lips beneath the mask.
"That does fit his mystical and cryptic style. But... what he said this time isn't wrong. How could the return of a 'ghost' who should have died not cause a stir?"
She waved her slender hand, her nails a dark purple.
"Very well, continue to keep an eye on the movements of all parties, especially those who may be connected to that child. I want to see just how much of a storm this Forbidden City, which has been silent for more than ten years, can stir up because of the arrival of this child. As for the Chi family... let them be."
Even if Chi Lingxiao wants to remain calm and collected, he'll have to see if this sudden wind will capsize his boat first.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The old man in black robes bowed in response, his figure disappearing silently into the darkness of the hall as if blending into the shadows.
The Queen of the Night sat alone on the empty throne, the tapping of her fingers ceasing.
Through the eye holes of her mask, she seemed to pierce through the heavy palace dome, gazing at the endless night sky, whispering to herself, as if speaking to someone who did not exist.
"You're back...good. It's time to stir this pool of water again."
Almost at the same moment the Queen of the Night received the message, at the highest point of the Forbidden City, at the very top of the solitary building that seemed to be able to touch the stars—the Star Observatory.
There are no magnificent palaces here, only a flat and open open-air platform. The ground is paved with a warm, white jade, engraved with complex and vast star patterns. The platform is surrounded by simple white jade railings, beyond which lies the boundless void and the dazzling Milky Way.
An old man was standing alone by the railing.
He wore an extremely simple, even somewhat worn, gray cloth robe. His sparse white hair was casually tied back with a wooden hairpin. He was thin and frail, as if a gust of wind could blow him away. His face was lined with deep wrinkles, etched with the vicissitudes of time.
However, when he raised his head and looked up at the starry sky, his old eyes, which should have been cloudy, suddenly shone with an indescribable clear light.
The light was pure, curious, and full of a thirst for endless mysteries, as untouched by the dust of the world as a child, forming a stark contrast to his aged face.
The night wind blew his wide robe sleeves, making a rustling sound, but he was completely unaware.
His gaze was not focused on any particular star, but seemed to encompass the entire sea of stars, and also seemed to penetrate the sea of stars, seeing certain trajectories and ripples that ordinary people could not understand or touch.
After a long while, a long sigh, as if it had traveled through time, escaped from his withered lips.
Time flies, and we are left behind...
The old man's voice was hoarse and slow, yet it carried a strange rhythm that subtly blended with the sound of the wind and the seemingly distant flow of starlight.
"The cherries have turned red, the plantains have turned green... In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed."
He lowered his head slightly, his gaze seemingly directed towards a certain direction in the endless wilderness outside the Forbidden City.
In the depths of those childlike, pure eyes, a complex glimmer flashed—a mixture of concern, emotion, a sense of relief, and a deeper worry.
"They stole his life-giving spiritual veins and threw him into that kind of perilous place..."
He spoke to himself in a low voice, each word spoken slowly and clearly, as if stating an ancient and weighty fact.
"Everyone thought...that child was beyond saving. Even those few from his bloodline...didn't they almost lose heart and give up hope back then?"
He shook his head, his gray hair fluttering in the night wind.
"But who can truly predict everything in this world? Fate hangs by a thread, yet it is as resilient as a reed. In dire straits... one may still find a way out. What is lost may return in another form... or even bring unexpected changes."
"The Forbidden City..."
The old man slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the vast city at his feet, a city ablaze with lights in the night, resembling a crouching behemoth. A myriad of lights, towering palaces, intertwined power, and rampant desire.
This place holds endless glory and dreams, but also buries countless conspiracies and bones.
"It's been too peaceful for too long."
He spoke softly, his childlike eyes reflecting the city lights, yet appearing exceptionally deep.
"So long that many people have forgotten the pain, forgotten the fear, and also forgotten... Some debts must eventually be repaid. Some sparks, even if buried deep under ice and dust, can reignite and even... spread like wildfire, given the slightest opportunity."
He recalled the abrupt and sharp "variable" he had seen in the celestial trajectory not long ago, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, the ripples of which were quietly spreading and would eventually affect the entire lake.
"Trouble is brewing..."
The old man repeated what he had said during the day, but this time, his tone was no longer a simple statement; it carried a faint, indescribable sense of melancholy and expectation.
"Very well, very well. It's time to... cleanse and stir this pool of water. But I wonder, is this returning child the clearing water that purifies the filth, or... a raging fire that burns everything away?"
He fell silent, turned back to the vast Forbidden City beneath his feet, and once again looked up, immersing his entire being in the boundless, eternally revolving starry sky. The night wind grew stronger, blowing his thin gray robe. His figure stood at the edge of the observatory, as if he might vanish with the wind at any moment, or as if he had already merged with the countless stars and the ancient firmament.
Starlight fell silently, enveloping the high platform, and also the young man who was approaching this ancient city in the distance, and the hearts of the people in the city who were beginning to stir with ripples because of his return.
The riverbed was dark and sparsely lit, with only a few luminous mosses or swimming fish providing a faint glow.
Jiang Xuan concealed his aura and moved swiftly along the riverbed like a fish. The water flowed over his protective spiritual energy, producing a soft hissing sound.
He cautiously sensed the movement of the surrounding water while simultaneously calculating his next move.
This daring hijacking and counterattack, though extremely dangerous, yielded substantial rewards.
On that "Qingfu" warship, apart from the parts he had consumed and damaged, the remaining standard weapons, spare magic artifacts, pills of various grades, and odds and ends looted from the cultivators were quite considerable.
Most of these things were useless to him, or there were better alternatives, but if they were exchanged for spirit stones or gold and silver, they would be a huge sum of money. "According to what Old Man Xue Jin said, the Forbidden City is a den of iniquity. Without some wealth, you can't even get your foot in the door."
Jiang Xuan was making plans in his mind.
"Accommodation, gathering information, purchasing cultivation resources... none of these are free. Moreover, I need to improve my strength as soon as possible."
This time, we've offended the Chi family, and they might not let it go easily. Even if they're temporarily not sending high-level cultivators due to certain rules, the trouble will certainly not be small. We need to get rid of these things as soon as possible and convert them into usable resources.
As he was pondering whether to find a channel once he reached the Forbidden City or to sell his wares through a larger black market along the way, a sudden, unusually turbulent wave emanated from the water not far ahead.
Jiang Xuan immediately stopped and focused his gaze forward.
About a hundred feet away on the riverbed, the light was distorted, and a huge, turbid whirlpool was slowly forming and expanding at an alarming speed!
It was no ordinary whirlpool; its center was dark and deep, as if connected to an unknown abyss. The surrounding water was being pulled and stirred wildly, emitting a low, teeth-grinding roar.
The tearing force of the whirlpool was terrifying. Fish and shrimp in the nearby waters had no time to escape. As soon as they were swept by the edge of the water flow, they were instantly crushed into a cloud of blood mist by the invisible force, leaving not even bone fragments.
Jiang Xuan could see it clearly; a piece of riverbed rock, the size of a millstone and quite heavy, was swept away. As soon as it approached the edge of the whirlpool, it was as if it were being grabbed and twisted by countless invisible giant hands.
With a "crack," it shattered into countless small pieces and then disappeared into the dark vortex.
A chill rose from Jiang Xuan's tailbone.
This whirlpool is strange! Ordinary river currents don't have this kind of destructive power.
He dared not delay and immediately tried to move to the side, attempting to bypass the dangerous area. However, the suction force of the vortex seemed to far exceed his expectations, and it was still increasing.
He felt as if he were stuck in an invisible quagmire, making it extremely difficult to move forward.
"We can't force our way through. We need to go up, and walk over the water!"
Jiang Xuan made a quick decision, straightened his body, and activated his spiritual power to float upwards.
To everyone's surprise, his expression changed after he had only risen a dozen or so feet.
The suction force from the vortex below did not weaken with the increased distance; instead, it suddenly intensified several times over! It was as if a pair of invisible giant hands suddenly reached out from the depths of the vortex, firmly grabbed his ankle, and pulled him downwards!
"not good!"
Alarm bells rang in Jiang Xuan's mind as he desperately tried to break free by channeling his spiritual energy. However, the suction force was too strong, completely exceeding his current limits.
He was like a leaf falling into a torrent, helplessly dragged into that terrifying vortex of death.
"boom--!"
The world is spinning!
The instant he was drawn into the center of the vortex, Jiang Xuan felt all sounds around him vanish—no, they were replaced by a more violent and chaotic roar. His vision was a blur, with darkness and shattered light and shadow spinning wildly.
An unimaginable force squeezed and tore at his body from all directions. His protective spiritual energy could only last for less than a breath before it let out a mournful cry of despair and shattered inch by inch.
A sharp pain shot through me, as if every bone and every muscle was about to be torn apart and crushed by this violent force. Consciousness was instantly overwhelmed, plunging me into boundless darkness and nothingness.
finished...
With his last thought flashing through his mind, Jiang Xuan completely lost consciousness.
...
I don't know how much time passed; it might have been a moment, or it might have been a long time.
A slight coolness, mixed with an indescribable freshness, seeped into the senses.
Jiang Xuan's eyelids twitched a few times before he opened them with difficulty. The first thing that came into view was a body of water that was crystal clear and had a faint bluish tint.
No, it's not as simple as water.
The water here is unbelievably pure, as if it were formed from the melted sapphire, yet it is so clear that one can easily see very far. The sensation in my body is no longer the tearing and excruciating pain of being in a violent vortex, but rather being gently lifted by a mild, vibrant power.
"I'm not dead?"
Jiang Xuan was startled and immediately regained his senses.
He immediately examined himself, circulated his spiritual energy once, and carefully sensed his limbs, bones, and internal organs.
Strange, aside from the significant depletion of spiritual energy and some mental fatigue, he was completely unharmed? Even the minor scratches and bruises from the previous battle had vanished. His skin was smooth, and he was in even better condition than before he was caught in the vortex.
"Is it... the Heavenly Water Sacred Pearl?"
Jiang Xuan immediately thought of the mysterious golden bead inside his body. Before he lost consciousness, he seemed to feel a warm, cool sensation coming from his dantian. Had it protected him at the last moment?
Suppressing his surprise and doubt for the time being, Jiang Xuan began to look around at his surroundings.
This is clearly no longer the murky riverbed it once was.
He was in a strange body of water. Looking up, he could not see the surface of the water, only an endless, deep blue stretching upwards, with occasional soft halos flowing around it, like sunlight refracting through the very deep sea, yet not very clear.
All around, there was a dreamlike landscape.
The corals, in a variety of colors and shapes, grow in abundance. Some resemble raging flames, others are like delicate antlers, and still others are layered like pagodas. Under the faint light that seems to come from nowhere, they exude a dreamlike array of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple... all intertwined and reflected each other, turning the entire body of water into a dazzling spectacle.
The soft water plants, like ribbons woven from the finest silk, sway gently with the barely perceptible current, creating an exquisite scene.
Even smaller, fluorescent dots, like fragments of starlight, floated and sank slowly in the water.
It was beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful, unreal. Compared to the raging, dark, and deadly whirlpool at the bottom of the river, this place was practically a legendary paradise.
"Where...is this place?"
Jiang Xuan steadied himself and, after confirming that there was no immediate danger, began to swim slowly, exploring this unfamiliar body of water.
After swimming for a while, the surrounding scenery became largely similar, all of them incredibly beautiful coral reefs. Aquatic creatures also began to come into view.
The fish were all strangely shaped, unlike any fish Jiang Xuan knew. Some were entirely red, with four thin, cicada-wing-like wings on their backs, which made them look like a burning flame when they swam; others were spindle-shaped, but had two pairs of small claws covered with fine scales on their bellies, which allowed them to crawl nimbly among the coral branches.
Some have a single, spiraling horn on their heads, flashing with faint electric light; others have long, colorful, ribbon-like tail fins, swimming like fairies in motion… (End of Chapter)