Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 364 The Eyewitness's Mystery
Now she saw it with her own eyes and saw it clearly. These disciples of the Divine Blade Sect were almost identical to those drawn by that person, only their appearances were more peculiar.

They wore black helmets that completely covered their faces. Two large iron meshes, also painted black, were woven from wire around the eyes. Their body armor wasn't scales, but rather woven from large iron plates. Their legs weren't armored with iron plates, but rather chainmail painted black, extending all the way to their feet.

Their arms were also covered with chainmail, and they indeed had six arms, each holding a black knife.

Is that really true? Is that really true?!
Xue Baoping leaned against the broken wall and glanced around. In the darkness, she saw almost entirely disciples of the Divine Blade Sect—about a dozen were close to her, and dozens more were rushing towards her. They moved quickly, their armor clattering, yet none of them made a sound, which seemed extremely eerie.

By this point, she was too preoccupied to think about what had happened. The two wounds on her arm and calf were real!

She felt an itch in her wound, touched it with her free left hand, and scratched it, realizing that the wound wasn't as deep as she had thought, and it didn't hurt much; it seemed to be almost healed. This must be thanks to Li Guichen.

She spoke first: "I didn't mean to offend you, I didn't see you before."

These people ignored her and instead brandished their twin swords, walking towards her in unison.

It seems there's no need for further words. She was injured and unable to move easily, but Zeng Jianqiu had taught her the "ground-pushing blade" technique, a fighting style used when one's legs are injured and immobile. These Divine Blade Sect disciples were all wearing iron armor; their only weakness was probably their legs. Although those legs were covered in chainmail, which her own blade couldn't cut through, the Sword Sect flying sword wrapped around her right wrist was very sharp and might be able to pierce them.

But even if she pierced through, it probably wouldn't be of much use... Just as she thought of this, the disciples of the Divine Blade Sect in front of her attacked. Each of them had six blades. Although only four or five of them rushed up, for a moment, the surrounding area was filled with the shadows of blades, completely surrounding her.

Xue Baoping raised her knife with her left hand to parry, immediately hearing a crisp clang of metal clashing against metal, and felt the force on her hand. Using this force, she rolled forward, and the flying sword on her right wrist was already flung out.

She aimed at the leg of a person directly in front of her, guessing that she currently had no true energy in her body, and this sword might only be able to slightly pierce a piece of armor ring, leaving a small cut on his leg.

To her surprise, the sword pierced straight through his calf, disappearing completely before emerging from the other end. But what astonished her even more was the chainmail on his leg. Chainmail was made of iron rings; her sword should have only shattered one or two rings. However, in that instant, she saw a large section of the armor on his leg was torn, as if it weren't chainmail at all, but rather a single piece of iron plate resembling chainmail.

There was also blood. The flying sword was illuminated by the firelight not far away when it flew out, but Xue Baoping did not see any blood on the sword. Instead, it was covered with a transparent liquid that looked like water!
Her newborn body had incredibly sharp eyesight. In that brief instant, so many details flooded her mind. But her mind was still human; she couldn't process them all, only instinctively generating one thought—aren't ant blood transparent? Was this a person or an ant?!
The instant that thought crossed her mind, the body of the Divine Blade Sect disciple whose calf she had pierced collapsed. The firelight he had shielded her from the light immediately shone upon her—there was no corpse before her! It was merely an ant that had been cleaved in two by her flying sword!

By the time Xue Baoping saw what it was, she had already rolled away. The remaining disciples of the Divine Blade Sect reacted quickly, almost without hesitation, and slashed at her with their blades again.

Then another thought popped into her mind—if these things were really ants, really illusions, then what about the two real wounds on her body?

Then she heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air again. Two thoughts swirled in her mind—it really was an ant that had been cut in two by her little sword, but the sound of the blade cutting through the air was undeniably real!

In that instant, twenty or thirty knives slashed at her, and she rolled over to dodge again. This time, she couldn't avoid them all. According to her estimation, including her leather armor, her arms and legs would take at least six or seven cuts. But she only felt a jolt, and her leather armor seemed to have only been hit by four or five cuts, while her left thigh felt a chill, as only a blade had grazed it diagonally, leaving a small cut.

Just then, the dozens of people in the distance also ran over. She had just broken out of the encirclement, but was surrounded again. Her mind raced as she tried to recall how she had just killed that Divine Blade Sect disciple, but there was no time or opportunity for her to think about it in detail.

Just then, a white horse suddenly charged from a distance, knocking several people flying. Two disciples of the Divine Blade Sect turned to stop it, but the horse stretched its neck, almost turning it into a snake's neck, and opened its mouth, almost turning it into a snake's mouth, stretching its upper and lower jaws flat, and swallowed the two people whole in one gulp.

Li Guichen, mounted on his horse, didn't stop even as he approached Xue Baoping. Instead, he reached down with one hand, which Xue Baoping braced herself against the ground, grabbed with her hand, and flipped onto the horse. Li Guichen shouted, "Giddy up!"

The white horse galloped wildly, charging straight towards the city gate.

Now, with Xue Baoping looking down from her vantage point, she could clearly see the scene as Li Guichen and the others perceived it—it was truly bizarre.

The city was bustling with disciples of the Divine Blade Sect, clad in black armor. Their numbers were immense, as if the city had returned to its state before its destruction. They walked tirelessly through the deserted streets and ruins littered with rubble, and indeed, as Li Guichen had described, they would stop face-to-face, clink their black blades together, and then pass each other again, continuing their journey…

This is a group of ants, whispering and exchanging information! Absolutely!
The moment this thought crossed my mind, the city suddenly emptied out, leaving only the moonlight covering the ground and the clatter of horses' hooves.

Li Guichen remained silent, spurring his horse out of the city in one go. He galloped for another two miles into the wilderness before gradually slowing down. Xue Baoping, behind him, couldn't see his face, but she could see him looking around, seemingly observing. She knew that Li Guichen believed there were still many "Divine Blade Sect disciples" nearby, so she kept quiet.

After riding for a while longer, Li Guichen stopped looking around and turned his horse to slowly walk onto a side path. Then he asked, "How did you get involved with them?"

Xue Baoping is now certain that he hasn't gone mad, but is just as engrossed as everyone else. That makes things much easier.

"Mr. Li, can you still see any members of the Divine Blade Sect on the road?"

Li Guichen nodded: "They're not chasing us anymore. They probably don't know what's going on in the city." "I can't see them," Xue Baoping said. "You shouldn't be able to see them either. They're not people, they're just ants."

Li Guichen was taken aback and turned to look at her. Xue Baoping immediately said, "You might think I'm infatuated by what I'm saying, but it's you, Mr. Li, who's infatuated."

She recounted her encounter with those people... ants, finding it all laughable and absurd as she spoke. After she finished, Li Guichen seemed about to speak, but Xue Baoping immediately added, "I know what you want to ask—how did I get these injuries?"

“I also find it strange and can’t figure it out. But I know that I shouldn’t have been hit by only a few blows. I’m thinking, is it because you believe they are members of the Divine Blade Sect, and if you don’t believe them, they aren’t? I was half-believing and half-doubting at the time, so some of them are and some are not? Mr. Li, you said that when you saw the members of the Divine Blade Sect, I was still unconscious. Could it be that I avoided some kind of supernatural power at that time?”

Li Guichen turned to look at her and frowned.

“What I’m thinking about is my past. I just felt that Li Wuxiang was a great demon from the Eastern Continent, and I felt that I should stay away from him. Your current situation is probably similar to mine. You think what I’m saying makes sense, right? But you can still see him! This is Xu Zhen’s supernatural power, which makes the thoughts in your mind split into two parts, one part is your own, and the other part is his!”

Li Guichen rode on in silence, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, he nodded: "What you said makes sense. Since the disciples of the Divine Blade Sect are human, they shouldn't have six arms. So many people... so much armor... The Divine Blade Sect has never had so many people before. Putting aside everything else, just this much armor alone couldn't have been produced in ten days. And where did all these people with cultivation come from?"

"You've figured it out!"

Li Guichen sighed: "But I can definitely see them."

"Then stop." Xue Baoping turned to look at the ground. It was still night, and even with the best eyesight, it was impossible to see ants on a path overgrown with weeds. "Stop and let me down. Tell me which one is a disciple of the Divine Blade Sect, and I'll crush him to death for you."

Li Guichen shook his head: "It's best not to. Miss Xue, listening to what you just said, I've figured something out—you couldn't see it originally, but you went to ask that person and saw the drawing he gave you, and that's how you were able to see it. If you ask me, this is how you slowly make yourself believe it... Once you have a slight connection in your mind, it becomes true. If you go down now and try to prove to me that it's not someone from the Divine Blade Sect, you'll still be thinking about this matter."

"Oh, if it's really as you say, that's such a pity. You really shouldn't have asked others. Now that you've asked... you know the story of the goat, right?"

Xue Baoping was stunned and remained silent.

Li Guichen continued, "An immortal once passed through a village and saw that the villagers were living in great misery. So he used his magic to turn some stones into gold. But the villagers were not satisfied and asked the immortal for the magic to turn stones into gold. The immortal taught it to them. However, after teaching them, he pointed to a sheep on the hillside and said, 'When you use this magic, you must never think of this sheep. If you do, the magic will not work.'"

"You should know the result. No one can use that spell anymore. Once a thought takes root in your mind, it can never be removed. If you go down again now, you might actually see it again, just as dangerous as before. So, don't think about it anymore. Let's leave it at that. I'll figure out the rest myself."

But what stunned Xue Baoping wasn't the meaning of the story, but the story itself—she had heard it before! Li Wuxiang had told it to her when they were in Jinshui!

At that time, he told her a lot about his feelings and emotions, just to cheer her up and make her happier. When Li Wuxiang told this story, he added a few more sentences, one of which was "There is a story from our place"—he must have let it slip unintentionally, and didn't give her a chance to ask any more questions afterward.

Li Guichen knew this story; he looked so much like Li Wuxiang—

He is Li Wuxiang! Xue Baoping was startled by her own thought, but she became increasingly convinced it was true. There were many things Li Wuxiang only told her, yet he knew them all. He is Li Wuxiang… perhaps he appeared during the Great Calamity Mountain incident, because no one could truly say what Li Wuxiang and Donghuang Taiyi did at the Great Calamity Mountain; he himself had told her not to ask any more questions when he mentioned it…

"Actually, you also know about what happened on Mount Dajie, right?" Li Guichen seemed to be able to guess what she was thinking and suddenly spoke up, "There was such a time on Mount Dajie. Everyone on the mountain believed that there was a Great Emperor in the world. I can't remember what that Great Emperor's title was, but I do remember the events."

"Now that you mention it, and I've been thinking about it, is it possible, Miss Xue, that you're right? When Xu Zhen's supernatural powers reached Yehuang Island, you were indeed asleep. Actually, it wasn't really asleep, but rather that you weren't even born yet. So you managed to avoid it."

"However, what you're avoiding might not be an illusion, but the truth. This truth is a changed truth. Just like the world now and the world before—in the past, birds, beasts, and people lived well. But now the world is a different story. Perhaps it's similar now to then... The ants you mentioned were indeed ants before, but now, because of Xu Zhen's supernatural powers, they are indeed disciples of the Divine Blade Sect."

"And you, you still live in the past, an ant is just an ant. It's only when you have a thought that you can come to us."

“…Mr. Li, what you’re saying is terrifying.”

"Is it scary? You and I are walking in this wilderness now, and we feel like the world has changed drastically, don't we? Tell me, is it possible that besides those disciples of the Divine Blade Sect, there are other people around us now, and some birds and beasts, but we just can't see them?"

Xue Baoping was silent for a moment: "Or, it's like this, you are Li Guichen in your own eyes, but in reality you are Li Wuxiang, only you can't see yourself?"

(End of this chapter)