CH 22

The Second Layer of the Abyss?

Xu Jingxian: “Where?”

Changming said frankly: “I don’t know.”

Xu Jingxian: …

Had they been outside, she would have used hundreds of methods to beat Changming up.

But right now she really couldn’t do this.

“Then why do you even bother talking?” She gnashed her teeth.

How could this guy still joke at such a crucial moment?

Changming said: “We should return to the seashore, where we were when we first came here.”

Xu Jingxian: “You want to return?”

Changming: “Just do as I say.”

Xu Jingxian had no time to ask any more questions. Zhang Mu had already washed his hands of this situation. The Seven Star Platform could collapse any minute. The maggots were breaking all resistance, devouring those cultivators who tried to attack them through ignorance, and others fled for their lives.

Some people took advantage of the confusion and were plundering and killing the weak for treasures amidst the chaos.

Seven Star Rivers descended into total chaos.

Chaos is the natural state of the Nine Layers of the Abyss, but this formation was destroyed for the first time. The maggots were ravaging Seven Star Rivers, adding panic to the chaos.

Everyone wanted to find a way out of here, either to leave the Nine Layers of the Abyss, or go to the Second Layer of the Abyss.

According to rumour, the Rainbow Bridge, the Second Layer of the Abyss, was a picturesque place with spring lasting all year round. Strange flowers and plants that couldn’t be found anywhere else grew there, and the place wasn’t as chaotic as Seven Star Rivers of the First Layer of the Abyss. The master of the Rainbow Bridge was known as aunt Xin Rong. It is said that she had been an inconspicuous rogue cultivator before, and only became famous after she had come to the Nine Layers of the Abyss.

Xu Jingxian had heard all of this from Chen Ting, whom they met at the banquet yesterday.

But at that moment, the Rainbow Bridge was of no interest to them.

Xu Jingxian rushed to the shore with Changming. Occasionally, swords and bursts of spiritual power would fly towards them, and she couldn’t tell whether these were accidents or deliberate sneak attacks.

Xu Jingxian remembered the last time she was so embarrassed; it happened when she had just entered the Jianxue Clan.

There was a man in the Jianxue Clan who coveted her beauty. His cultivation level was high. He bothered her again and again, and one time he even schemed to poison her, and almost succeeded. The situation was critical, and she was in grave danger.

Although Xu Jingxian always joked around and behaved herself wantonly, stopping at nothing, that was based on her free will, but she refused to be forced or compromise.

But, compared to the current situation, these memories were not even worth mentioning.

That cultivator from her past deserved death, the Jianxue Clan had the same jungle justice—but it was at least the Human Realm.

What was on the shore?

A dead whale, the dense mist, and maggots.

Those memories were not pleasant at all, but Xu Jingxian had no choice.

“Are you sure the shore will help us escape?”

She waited for a reply in vain. She gave Changming a look and saw that he had already nearly lost his consciousness. Blood was dripping from the corners of his mouth, and his face was pale like paper.

Xu Jingxian: …Forget about the Yangzhen Grass, will I ever be able to leave the Nine Layers of the Abyss?

She grabbed Changming firmly and flew towards the sea shore.

It was close at hand.

The sea breeze brought the smell of blood, and soon the sea appeared in front of their eyes.

Changming groaned after being pinched by her, and actually came to his senses.

“Enter the fog.”

“So you really want to return?” Xu Jingxian felt a bit discontented.

She had entered the Nine Layers of the Abyss, yet encountered no opportunities and was going to return empty-handed and with a new burden.

And this nuisance started “playing dead” again, saying nothing more.

Xu Jingxian hated him to the core, but she could only obey his command and walk into the fog.

Changming hadn’t passed out completely.

Rather, he was getting rest with his eyes shut, and pondering.

They first entered the Nine Layers of the Abyss through the fog, so it seemed to be the gate.

But, after all, that unworthy disciple also came out from the mist, yet Zhou Keyi and He Xiyun told Changming that Yun Weisi was at the Ninth Layer of the Abyss, the Void Shore.

If that was the case, did it mean that this sea of fog was not a one-way passage that only allowed people to enter the place from the outside world and leave it, but could also send them to other places in the Nine Layers of the Abyss?

But these were only Changming’s conjectures.

He didn’t have the strength to share his thoughts with Xu Jingxian, so he could only let her bring him to the fog using her thin silk.

“Daoyous, please wait a bit!”

Chen Ting’s voice sounded from behind.

Xu Jingxian had no intention to stop, so she pretended not to notice him.

Chen Ting was faster, so he caught up to her in no time and continued running alongside.

He said quickly: “Daoyou, do you want to leave this place? This fog is very strange. One disciple from my sect that came here with me got lost in this fog, and no one has seen a trace of him ever since. People say that the passage to the Second Layer of the Abyss lies under Bei Shu’s palace. The formation is broken now, isn’t it better to try going that way?”

Xu Jingxian: “Why haven’t you tried it yourself if that’s the case?”

Chen Ting: “When I saw you running without turning your head back or hesitating like the others, I thought that you were a very confident person.”

Xu Jingxian: …

How could it be considered to be confidence, when she was just fleeing for her life as fast as she could?

While they were talking, Chen Ting pulled out his sword, Qinglan.

Qinglan: 陈亭祭出自己的青岚剑: for some reason, his sword is only called like this once in the novel. Later, it’s always referred to as ‘Guyue’, ‘Lonely Moon’, not ‘Qinglan’ or ‘Early Summer Breeze’. 

“Go ahead, daoyous!”

He had already understood that although Xu Jingxian’s cultivation level was high, she had no flying skills and could only use her thin silk for that purpose.

Before Xu Jingxian could answer, Changming threw a paper crane from his sleeve. It caught him and Xu Jingxian, letting them ride its back, and entered the sea of fog.

Chen Ting hesitated for a moment, looked at the chaos in the direction of the Seven Star Platform, and decided to follow them.

Entering the fog was like becoming blind. All they could see was a vast expanse of whiteness stretching to infinity, and even the highest cultivation level wouldn’t be able to help them find a way out.

But she heard Changming’s words: “Lend me your Yulin Bell.”

Xu Jingxian heightened her vigilance: “What for?”

Changming: “If you continue dawdling, the spiritual powers of my crane will be spent completely, and we will fall right into the depths of the sea.”

Xu Jingxian: …

She was very annoyed.

Ever since she had met Changming, he was controlling her moves. Every time she was half a step behind him and had to comply with his decisions; even when she clearly saw it was a trap, she still jumped right into it willingly.

She was unhappy, but gave him the Yulin Bell nevertheless.

“Be careful…”

Before she managed to finish her words, Changming threw the Yulin Bell away!

Xu Jingxian gasped. She was very close to killing this man.

“My spiritual tool!”

“Hush.”

Changming moved his wrist, and the golden beads on the Golden Glass Beads Staff also flew off the staff and moved forward, as if following the golden bell.

Xu Jingxian had no idea what kind of medicine he was selling in his bottle gourd.

To have no idea what kind of medicine someone is selling in their bottle gourd: to have no idea what tricks another person hid in their sleeve. In ancient times, some physicians were selling pills in bottle gourds, so you couldn’t see what they were selling right away.

The paper crane was slowly flying forward, cloaked in whiteness. The fresh and sweet scent made everyone drowsy. Although Xu Jingxian was holding her breath, it was hard not to inhale the fog at all, so for a short time she was immersed in illusions, picturing herself at Lingbo Peak and almost jumping off the crane.

A sharp pain suddenly pierced the back of her hand, and she came to her senses.

It was not the Lingbo Peak full of maids delicate as jade, but the same old Nine Layers of the Abyss.

She looked at the back of her hand. Changming was pinching her very hard.

It had to be revenge for pinching him not long ago.

Xu Jingxian: “…pray that we will be able to leave this place.”

Changming: “Or else?”

Xu Jingxian: “Or else I might kill you!”

Changming coughed a couple of times. Her words went in one ear and out the other.

He had inhaled more of this strange fog than Xu Jingxian. If he hadn’t been holding his breath, he would have long since fallen down.

Jingle-jingle.

The bell was ringing, neither close nor far from them.

Xu Jingxian: “Sounds like my golden bell.”

Changming waved his fingers slightly, and the paper crane changed its direction, as if pulled by an invisible power, and dived deeper into the mist.

The bell was ringing faintly now, but the sound didn’t stop completely. Xu Jingxian saw a cluster of bright lights floating in front of them and flying closer.

Changming raised his arm, and the golden beads, glowing gently, returned to his hand like obedient children.

“There is a saying in Buddhism: ‘matin bells and vesper drums, calming and refreshing’. The second master of the Qingyun School, Dingkong, created this Buddhist technique of Sound Showing the Way in order to eliminate the barrier created by human emotions and return to the truth. The sea of fog deceives our eyes, so we should only believe our ears. That golden bell of yours and this staff came in handy.”

Mantin bells and vesper drums: encouragement to study or progress, exhortations to virtue and purity. 

Holding the golden bell and feeling its spiritual powers flowing to him, he finally found the strength to tell her a couple of sentences.

Xu Jingxian received an answer, but felt even more perplexed.

How could this person have such vast knowledge, but a cultivation level this low?

Not only did he know of Buddhist techniques, but even learned something of Daoism and demonic cultivation. It would have been fine if his knowledge was superficial, but he comprehended and used the treasure of the Qingyun School with such ease.

Who on earth is he?

She had a faint guess in her heart, but it escaped from her too quickly for her to grasp it.

The paper crane was flying faster and faster, and Xu Jinxian could no longer ignore the speed. She couldn’t help but lean closer to its back, so as not to fall down into the bottomless fog.

“Make it slow down!”

Changming didn’t answer, but she would not have been able to hear him anyway as the wind was whistling in her ears. This fierce wind messed up her hair, and the bright white ever-changing mist assaulted her senses; they were dazed, and couldn’t even discern whether it was day or night.

They could only let their destiny lead them towards their uncertain future.

Xu Jingxian could barely endure the extreme discomfort that made her head spin.

Under such circumstances, the depth of her cultivation seemed to matter close to nothing, as she had no scope to demonstrate her abilities. She couldn’t summon her thin silk to let it carry her out of the mist and had no way of stopping the paper crane. Those who are said to be ‘cultivators domineering over common people’ were actually just common people who knew some tricks. There were too many superior forces in this world that no one could rival, and they could struggle from the cradle to the grave yet achieve nothing worth mentioning.

That was the first time Xu Jingxian felt so insignificant.

She used to believe that man can conquer nature, and as long as she is strong enough, there is no enemy who cannot be defeated.

But this sea of fog and the maggots made her feel that no matter how hard she struggled, she would still suffer a defeat.

Just like their small boat would never be able to cross the boundless sea and reach the other shore.

While her imagination was going wild, she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulders.

And her heart felt heavy right away.

“Changming? Changming?! Wake up!”

The man sitting behind her had no reaction.

Xu Jingxian: …

For what kind of sins was she burdened with this person?

Even though she stopped at nothing to reach her position, sometimes resorting to deplorable techniques, and had accumulated a lot of dark secrets, the Heavens couldn’t have sent a person like this to punish her, right?

Indeed, the lack of self-cultivation of morals in her past life was responsible for her present sufferings, for meeting this man.

The paper crane was still swooping down, and the golden bell was still ringing intermittently, as if leading the way.

Xu Jingxian’s consciousness was fading away, and she finally fainted.

…

Changming opened his eyes.

He had visited many places in his life.

Sunsets on long rivers, moonlight on seas, dawns on snowy mountains, myriads of streams in dense forests, landscapes of the Human Realm, mirages of the Yellow Springs—he had seen a lot.

But the flamboyant, beautiful scenery in front of his eyes still made him pause in awe for a moment.

Rainbows were covering the sky, and rainbow-colored water was flowing on the earth.

Even the most skillful artists would not be able to capture these colors, and it was hard to imagine this beautiful place to be extremely dangerous.

Drops of water splashed, falling on the rainbows, and turned into jade beads, reflecting the magnificent beauty of nature.

And they were sitting right on a majestic rainbow arch.

There was no place like this in the Human Realm that could make you wonder where the water turns into the sky.

“Oh, the honorable gentleman woke up! Did you have a good sleep?”

Changming came to his senses, heard Xu Jingxian’s sarcastic remark, and unexpectedly felt some affinity with her.

Xu Jingxian saw that he was smiling, and her hands felt itchy. She leaned closer to his ears.

“My Yulin Bell is gone. Since you woke up, you are in a predicament now!”

Changming didn’t even raise an eyebrow: “Without the discarding of the old there would be no coming of the new. The lady should restrain her grief.”

He knew she was just trying to deceive him.

She wouldn’t be so peaceful if the golden bell had actually disappeared.

Moreover, he was the one who was leading their way with this technique, so there couldn’t have been any problems.

This woman used every possible way to take advantage of others and gain some profits. It is a pity that she had stumbled upon him.

Xu Jingxian’s attempt to blackmail him had failed. She raised her hand to slap him, but Changming got on his feet faster, coughing. He turned his head and vomited a mouthful of black blood. Fortunately, she was sharp-sighted and deft, so she dodged this.

“Don’t think that I won’t dare touch you if you use the same trick every time!”

Changming sighed: “Can’t you be more gentle with me now that we either live or die together? If you kill me, where will you find another trustworthy companion?”

After vomiting blood, he actually felt the lump in his chest disappear, and he sat down with his elbows on the ground.

They were not alone on the rainbow bridge.

At a distance, a man and a woman were sitting on the bridge. They were talking in low voices and had sad expressions on their faces.

A few more cultivators with furrowed brows came from afar. It seemed that they had encountered a failure.

“Daoyous, I’ve finally found you two!”

One person quickly came closer from under the bridge. He was out of breath and looked pleasantly surprised.

It was the disciple from the Wanjian Immortal Sect who they had met previously, Chen Ting.

After he had followed the two of them into the sea of fog, they were separated. Xu Jingxian didn’t expect him to manage to leave that place. She couldn’t help but look at him differently. She thought, after all, he is a disciple of a famous sect, who knows, maybe there will be an opportunity to make a cultivation furnace out of him.

Although she was not fond of the Jianxue Clan’s techniques, she had developed this habit over many years and it was hard to get rid of it.

Chen Ting came closer.

“Daoyou Changming’s expression is not so good, have you been injured?”

Changming wiped the blood away from his mouth.

“It’s fine. I didn’t expect to meet daoyou Chen so fast.”

Chen Ting was somewhat embarrassed: “That sea of fog is really strange. I couldn’t get out myself, but I heard a bell ringing. Only after following that sound did I manage to escape from the dangerous situation.”

Wasn’t this a chance to get some profit? Xu Jingxian winked at him and said with a charming smile: “Looks like you’ve heard my golden bell. That means daoyou Chen is indebted to me for saving your life!”

Chen Ting cupped his hands, showing his gratitude: “Thank you very much for your help, daoyou Xu.”

Xu Jingxian: “If you owe me for the favor, your karma is stained; if Chen daoxiong’s karma is stained with a debt to a demonic cultivator, won’t your sect master scold you upon your return?”

Chen Ting: “Even if I wanted to return there, I wouldn’t be able to do it now. Let’s wait till we’ve left the Nine Layers of the Abyss and then revisit this discussion.”

He skillfully exposed her demands for compensation.

All the men under Heaven are no good, Xu Jingxian silently smiled.

“We don’t know anything about this place. Did daoxiong Chen figure something out?”

Chen Ting: “If I’m not mistaken, this place is the Second Layer of the Abyss, the Rainbow Bridge.”

She thought to herself that there was no need to guess to know that they were on the Rainbow Bridge, but she felt that Chen Ting was still worth something, so she endured.

“Then where is the master of the Rainbow Bridge? Can it be that he was also murdered by Xu Fenglin?”

Chen Ting: “I’ve never seen the master of this place. But I’ve been wandering around for some time, and grasped the general idea of how the Rainbow Bridge works.”

He pointed under the bridge.

“The Mirror Lake is under the bridge, but it reflects things not like a normal lake would.”

Xu Jingxian had noticed that too. Just now, she saw drops of a mountain stream turning into pearls, which almost made her believe there actually was a brook under the bridge. But now the lake’s surface was calm, but it showed no reflections. All you could see was a bottomless abyss instead. It was very strange and shifted constantly, so even cultivators were astounded and felt a bit helpless, let alone a common person.

At that moment, the man and woman got into an argument. Their quarrel became louder, and the woman got angry, so she took off the jade pendant from her waist and threw it off the bridge.

Under the gaze of so many eyes, not only did the jade pendant not disrupt the water surface, but it even disappeared quickly in the bottomless abyss.

Making no noise at all.

“I suspect that this surface is an entrance, either to the Third Layer of the Abyss, or—”

Before he could finish saying these words, the man who was arguing with the woman jumped down the bridge into the middle of the lake.

Everyone saw him jump directly into the abyss and disappear from their sight without raising any splashes or ripples on the water.

“Wei Yichong!” the scared woman called him.

“Or it may not be an entrance, but a deadly trap. As you have already seen, this place is strange and indescribable. Since our objective is the same as we all are looking for an opportunity to leave this place, it is not good to split up.” Only then could Chen Ting finish the rest of his speech.

Xu Jingxian: “This name, Wei Yichong, sounds familiar. Isn’t he the favourite disciple of the Tianmu Sect’s master?”

Chen Ting: “Exactly. This woman is his shimei and daoist partner, Guan Xiachang. Regarding the other three cultivators, one is daoyou He Qingmo from the Celestial Abode Shenxiao, but I don’t recognise the other two. They have probably just entered the Rainbow Bridge the same way we did.”

Xu Jingxian: “I didn’t expect daoyou Chen who has a large circle of friends to not be able to name those people.”

Chen Ting laughed: “My cultivation level is not high, I have left my sect not long ago, so I don’t really know many people.”

He was able to cross the sea of fog and get to the Second Layer of the Abyss, so his cultivation level couldn’t be ‘not high’. Naturally, Xu Jingxian didn’t believe his self-depreciatory words.

The image on the lake surface under the bridge was changing at set intervals.

Xu Jingxian wanted to calculate this frequency, but realized it was totally irregular.

The sky above their heads got dark, but the lake surface was still bright, reflecting the Rainbow Bridge in daytime. At that moment, day and night coexisted, presenting a magnificent sight.

But no matter how beautiful the landscape was, if they were locked up in this place, unable to take a single step, they would still become nervous.

After He Qingmo had discussed the situation with the others, they decided to wander around blindly, trying to fathom this place. They invited Chen Ting to come along. The latter saw that Xu Jingxian was unwilling to move, and Changming was injured, so he got up and joined them.

Changming took a green pearl out of his sleeve.

“What is it?” Xu Jingxian came closer to take a look and suddenly exclaimed, “I’ve seen it before.”

Changming: “Think carefully.”

The pearl was green and vivid, with water droplets flowing inside of it. When he shook his palm, the starlight reflected on the water droplets.

Xu Jingxian didn’t need much time to recognize it. This thing was definitely not a common one, and she had seen it already, and, of course, it had left an impression on her.

“At the Qixian Sect.”

Changming: “Hum?”

“On the day when I went to the Qixian Sect, the Xiao family sent a dowry. Zhang Qin invited me to look at it. They displayed boxes one by one, as if they feared that others would not know how high the Xiao family values their daughters, and wanted to use the Xiao family to put pressure on me,” Xu Jingxian snorted, “And this pearl was there!”

Changming: “Do you know the origin of this pearl?”

“How can I not know? It is called—”

Xu Jingxian stopped abruptly and shot him an affectionate glance, “Are you trying to get me to talk?”

Changming: “It is called the Moonlight on the Blue Ocean, it is a rare pearl of natural green color. The reason why it’s called this way is because many years ago a skilled artisan split it in half and placed some medicine and incense inside; look at it now: doesn’t it fit the description of ‘a pearl of the Moonlight on the Blue Ocean, shedding tears’ just perfectly?”

Xu Jingxian: “You really know too much… wait, it’s not right! This pearl was a part of Xiao family’s dowry, why is it in your hands? Did you actually kill Liu Xiyu?”

Changming: “When I fought with Zhang Mu earlier, I threw a puppet. It found the pearl on Bei Shu’s body.”

Bei Shu was already dead at that time, and everyone’s attention was drawn to Zhang Mu and Changming. Later, Zhang Mu’s true nature of a demon was revealed. The whole crowd attacked him, the Seven Star Platform collapsed, and the maggots attacked them, so everyone was busy running for their lives. Almost no one paid attention to the real cause of Bei Shu’s death and the movement around him.

Changming was controlling the puppet, making it search through Bei Shu’s body. That was when he found the Moonlight on the Blue Ocean.

Xu Jingxian: “You mean that Liu Xiyu’s death is related to Zhang Mu?”

Changming described Bei Shu’s death in general terms.

“He died the same way as Liu Xiyu, and was killed by Zhang Mu. As I see it, Liu Xiyu was not necessarily killed by the same person, because the timing is wrong: Zhang Mu couldn’t hide by Bei Shu’s side and travel a thousand lis to murder a man on the back of a mountain in the Qixian Sect simultaneously. I can only say that Zhang Mu is somehow connected with Liu Xiyu’s murderer; presumably, the latter is also an evil spirit.”

He closed his eyes, trying to resist his dizziness from talking too fast.

“This was my guess originally, but now with this Moonlight on the Blue Ocean, the situation seems to be a little more complicated.”

Xu Jingxian, who was listening to him absent-mindedly in the beginning, gradually started listening to him with attention.

She heard Changming’s words: “The droplets inside of the Moonlight on the Blue Ocean are not common water, but a medicine called Wuqiu. It’s fragrance is unparalleled, and it was created in right proportions by a skilled pharmacist Shen Ying, who is an elder of Tianmu Sect. It’s great that there is someone of this sect here, I will ask them for some details when the time is right.”

Xu Jingxian: “Wuqiu? Is it useful?”

Changming: “Made especially for curing madness, it can quickly calm an agitated person. It is said that people who took this medicine would see the most beautiful things in the world or precious treasures that they seek but fail to get. They would sink in dreams and illusions. If a person takes it, they ask for nothing more; even cultivators are not an exception. Wuqiu was originally used to treat the maker’s wife’s illness, but it somehow survived, and started wandering around the world. Decades ago, there was an emperor in the Xinghong dynasty who became addicted to taking it and died at a young age with a smile on his face.”

Ask for nothing more: 别无所求, the medicine is called 无求, kind of like truncating the idiom to “not needed”.

Xu Jingxian pondered for a while: “At that time, I thought that Liu Xiyu had a little lover at the back of that mountain, and he went to have some fun before getting married!”

Changming: “It’s because the lady judges others by herself. Even if he had a secret affair, he would have chosen a familiar place, why would he go to the mountain in the outer circle, set his foot on a place he had never visited?”

Xu Jingxian put on a false smile: “What did you just say?”

Changming: “I said that he would have chosen a familiar place.”

Xu Jingxian: “Before that.”

Changming: “The lady is exceptionally intelligent and beautiful like a fairy.”

Xu Jingxian: …

She realized that she only understood him less as time passed.

One could say he was oily-tongued, but he never crossed the line, always withdrawing before he could touch her bottom line.

One could say he was smart, but he always caused unnecessary trouble.

For example, he almost got killed by Zhang Mu, and almost let her die under the latter’s hands.

Another example—

A man slowly walked out from under the bridge.

There were no flowers, but there was a cloud under the bridge.

There were no flowers: a changed line from a letter of a general to his wife (I think): “flowers bloom in the field, come home slowly”, the meaning is “husband waiting for his wife to return”.

Cloud: Yun as in ‘Yun Weisi’, ‘Yun Hai’, ‘Xiao Yun’.

His sleeves were waving in the breeze unhurriedly. Clearly, there were two people in front of him, but he only had eyes for one.

Yun Hai laughed: “Why are you both looking at me like this, aren’t you going to welcome me?”

He looked at Changming again.

“Daoyou Changming is unable to take his eyes off me, did you miss me that much?”

Another example, he provoked Yun Hai, this evil ghost of dubious background.

Xu Jingxian finished the monologue in her head.