Longevity, starting from traveling and telling stories

Chapter 214 Immortal Binding Rope

As soon as the two stepped into the dark passage, a gust of hot wind hit them, making their hair fly backward.

Inside the scorching dark passage, a sudden surge of heat emitted a strong mineral smell.

The Immortal-Slaying Sword suddenly trembled violently, as if warning her of something. Qin Ruoxi quickly gripped the hilt of the sword.

"Stop making noise." She gently scolded, and Zhanxian stopped his strange movements.

Ye Beixuan stretched out a spiritual energy shield, but every few steps he took, the shield gradually shrank as if being squeezed by an invisible force.

An eerie, crimson light filled the surroundings. As they ventured deeper into the scorching dark passage, they could faintly hear the sound of water droplets falling to the ground more frequently. Upon closer inspection, they realized that it was the dripping sound of melting ore.

Finally, the two reached the end of the secret passage.

There was a bend in the road ahead. After turning the corner, the view suddenly opened up, and a large circular lake about a thousand feet long appeared before us.

The lake was not water, but boiling mineral lava that emitted a blood-red glow and bubbled, as hot as a boiling sun.

Various minerals float in the lava lake, and a small whirlpool in the center of the lake is constantly devouring these metallic minerals.

Qin Ruoxi took a small step forward, and in an instant, the hem of her skirt suddenly burst into flames. Ye Beixuan quickly pulled her back.

Looking up, the rock ceiling above is covered with sharp, cone-shaped spikes, resembling stalactites. These are actually formed by the solidification of metal mineral vapor over a long period of time.

"What did you sense?" Ye Beixuan noticed Qin Ruoxi's unusual behavior and asked softly.

Qin Ruoxi first shook her head, then nodded, and said with a puzzled look, "I feel like something is calling me, but that thing..."

"what happened?"

"That thing is at the bottom of this lava..." Qin Ruoxi hesitated for a moment before finally saying it.

"..." Ye Beixuan was speechless. Not to mention that he had no spiritual power at the moment, even if his spiritual power recovered, going down into such a lava lake would be extremely dangerous, if not fatal.

"Let's try that big platform?" Ye Beixuan suddenly thought that they had escaped twice thanks to the big platform, and this time would probably be no exception. Everything seemed to be related to this mysterious big platform.

Just then, the calm surface of the lava lake suddenly exploded, sending molten metal shooting into the sky, rising more than ten feet high. The viscous molten metal quickly and tightly coalesced, gradually forming a giant lava tiger.

Its body, covered in a flowing liquid, resembled a skinned tiger, its internal structure clearly visible.

"What is this thing?" Qin Ruoxi gripped the Immortal Slayer tightly, ready to unleash her power.

"We're doomed. This thing is probably the one that devours metal ores here, and it's likely already sentient." Ye Beixuan said solemnly, "If we can beat it, we'll fight; if we can't, we'll retreat."

The giant lava tiger let out a deafening roar, causing ripples to spread across the lava lake: "Snacks, snacks."

As it muttered to itself, it kicked its legs, propelling itself forward on the splashing lava beads, just like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey.

Qin Ruoxi did not flinch, leaping into the air and simultaneously drawing her Immortal-Slaying Sword, slashing at the tiger's head.

However, the sword's edge felt as if it had struck into mud, weak and powerless.

The exploded tiger head sprayed out large amounts of scalding lava beads, instantly igniting the hem of her clothes.

Ye Beixuan was taken aback. Was this a case of using softness to overcome hardness? The Immortal-Slaying Sword was incredibly sharp, but it couldn't be used against this guy covered in liquid. What could he do?
"This is the only way," Ye Beixuan said, turning to Qin Ruoxi. "Transfer spiritual energy to me."

Without the slightest doubt, Qin Ruoxi flashed forward and struck Ye Beixuan on the back with her palm. Ye Beixuan instantly felt the immense spiritual power, but before he could react, the spiritual power was rapidly compressed.

"Open..." Ye Beixuan disregarded everything else and forcibly opened his Yin-Yang Eyes, hoping to see through the tiger's weakness.

He could see the metal tiger clearly, and noticed a unique golden spot shining at its throat. Could that be its weakness?
Just as the two were transferring their skills, the lava tiger returned to its original form and once again used the Hungry Tiger Pounce.

Anxiety flashed in Qin Ruoxi's eyes, but she still didn't move an inch because she trusted him.

"Stab its throat." Ye Beixuan clutched the excruciating pain from activating his Yin-Yang Eyes and collapsed to the ground.

Qin Ruoxi reacted instantly, and the Immortal Slayer sword once again emitted a chilling light, piercing the tiger's throat with a single strike.

With a snap, the tiger froze, no longer moving. Qin Ruoxi felt as if she had struck something hard this time; the touch was unusually heavy.

Tick ​​tock!

A drop of lava fell from the tiger's body, followed by countless drops of lava.

Like melting ice, it rapidly shrank and collapsed until the viscous solution slid off the Immortal-Slaying Sword. Only then did Qin Ruoxi see clearly that a fist-sized piece of golden metal had pierced through the tip of the sword.

"This is it..." Ye Beixuan exclaimed excitedly. If he wasn't mistaken, this must be the Star Essence.

He had seen it in the Tianji Pavilion's documents. It was a new product created by the fusion of Star Stone and Purple Gold Essence. It was extremely rare and also had the effect of repairing meridians.

Holding it in his hand, the Starry Gold shimmered with the power of stars. If combined with the stalactite liquid from the Ten-Thousand-Year Stone and the marrow liquid from the Thousand-Year Wood, it should be able to cure Li Xianglian.

Although he obtained rare and precious materials, Ye Beixuan always felt that things were not so simple.

Sure enough, a deafening tiger's roar came from the bottom of the lava, causing the entire underground world to tremble. The solution, as if stirred by a giant churn, began to create huge whirlpools.

"White Tiger." Based on the precedents of Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise, Ye Beixuan could sense that this must be the White Tiger, otherwise it would not have such powerful killing force.

At this moment, a giant tiger with platinum and white stripes slowly emerged from the lava lake from the whirlpool. Its body was dripping with liquid metal, just like a cat that had just come ashore from fishing.

"This tiger is terrifying." The Immortal Slayer in Qin Ruoxi's hand made a buzzing sound.

"This is the White Tiger, the most powerful of the Four Divine Beasts in terms of killing force."

Before Ye Beixuan could finish speaking, the white tiger swung its paw at the lake surface, and thousands of lava beads shot out like a rain of arrows.

"Damn it! It attacked indiscriminately right from the start. This tiger has no sportsmanship!" Ye Beixuan cursed loudly, pulling Qin Ruoxi behind a stone pillar.

However, the stone pillar was instantly pierced by the scorching lava, which narrowly missed the two people's heads.

Ye Beixuan tilted his head and glanced at the big tiger, only to find its eyes, covered in lava, looking at them with a mocking expression.

"Two immortal bodies, how lucky!" The white tiger spoke in human language, its tone quite smug.

"Why do all these mythical beasts say that?" Qin Ruoxi asked in confusion.

Ye Beixuan had no time to answer the question and asked anxiously, "Why hasn't your big platform come out yet?" "Let me try to communicate with it." She closed her eyes, her expression relaxed, and a bright light suddenly appeared between her brows.

The large platform then flew out from between her eyebrows, heading straight for the white tiger, as if it were about to unleash a crushing force like Mount Tai.

Roar……

With a roar, the newly appeared platform was struck by the white tiger's claws, which were lava-laden, emitting a hissing blue smoke and causing the platform to sway slightly.

This provocation seemed to have angered the large platform, which began to emit a blazing light above the white tiger, and then started to spin rapidly.

As the large platform rotated, a golden thread-like rope, resembling a serpent, suddenly surged up from the bottom of the lava lake.

Star patterns appeared around the rope, and the clasps at both ends were exquisitely crafted, as if once they were engaged, no one could escape its binding.

"The Immortal Binding Rope?" Qin Ruoxi's pupils contracted, and she subconsciously called out its name. Fragments of memory erupted instantly, and she vaguely saw a figure using this rope to bind the people in the cages and take them to the Execution Platform to be killed.

At this moment, the Immortal Binding Rope automatically wrapped around the white tiger's neck, like a serpent, and then bound its limbs, rendering it unable to move. The white tiger struggled violently, shaking off countless beads of molten metal.

The large platform and the Immortal-Slaying Rig simultaneously emitted a buzzing resonance. The Immortal-Binding Rope seemed to sense this, and after binding the White Tiger, it dragged it onto the platform.

With the appearance of the Immortal Binding Rope, Ye Beixuan's spiritual power was restored. So there really was something suppressing his spiritual power: ropes for binding prisoners, cages for securing prisoners, and this platform… could it be an execution platform?
Just as Ye Beixuan was wondering, the Samsara Mirror suddenly flew out and shone on the white tiger, and the mirror surface suddenly burst out with light.

"What is this?" Qin Ruoxi's pupils contracted. She saw herself standing on a platform, holding the Immortal Slayer Sword, which was dripping crimson blood. When she looked at the person she had killed at her feet in the mirror, her pupils contracted again. The person who had been killed was herself.

What's going on? Why is this happening?

But soon, the white tiger on the platform vanished into nothingness, and the Immortal Binding Rope and the large platform automatically flew back to Qin Ruoxi's brow.

The thousand-foot-deep lava lake gradually turned black and darkened, and began to cool down.

After everything calmed down.

"Let's go!" Ye Beixuan said calmly. His spiritual power had been restored, and it was time to rush back to save people.

"Mmm..." Qin Ruoxi nodded obediently and followed him up into the cave.

On the way, Qin Ruoxi was sullen and kept thinking about why she saw another version of herself kill her. What was going on?

"What's wrong?" Ye Beixuan asked with concern when he saw that she seemed preoccupied.

Qin Ruoxi bit her lip lightly, looking hesitant, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't, finding the matter too unbelievable and unsure whether to speak or not.

"Don't worry." Ye Beixuan held her hand and comforted her, "I'll take care of everything. Tell me slowly."

Looking into his concerned eyes, Qin Ruoxi finally spoke slowly: "Do you think it's possible for you to see the corpse of another version of yourself?"

Ye Beixuan was taken aback. Why did this sound so strange? He saw another version of himself? It seemed impossible no matter how you looked at it.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he seemed to realize a possibility, so he said, "It's not impossible."

"Just like..."

"Tell me quickly," Qin Ruoxi urged impatiently.

"Let me tell you a story," Ye Beixuan said softly.

The two walked slowly forward on the freshly cooled metal ore, the surrounding rock walls twisting and deforming due to thermal expansion and contraction, making crackling sounds.

The originally crimson lava around them was now gradually solidifying into various smooth minerals, which shone with a metallic luster and reflected the two people walking side by side.

"The story begins with a monk named Xuanzang, who, along with three non-human disciples, set off from the Tang Dynasty in the East to travel to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures." Seeing that she was starting to listen attentively, Ye Beixuan continued, "When they were about to reach the West, they passed Lingyun Ferry and were blocked by a smooth log bridge. The monk dared not cross the bridge."

Qin Ruoxi suddenly stopped and nervously grabbed Ye Beixuan's hand.

Ye Beixuan was taken aback. Could it be such a coincidence? There was a naturally formed stone bridge in front of him.

"Don't be nervous," Ye Beixuan said with a smile, "Just then, the Buddha of Guidance arrived in a boat. Guess what kind of boat it was?"

"What kind?" Qin Ruoxi asked subconsciously.

"That boat didn't even have a bottom," Ye Beixuan explained with a smile.

Qin Ruoxi couldn't help but chuckle: "Liar! What ship doesn't have a bottom? It would sink!"

“Listen on.” Ye Beixuan grasped her slightly trembling hand and continued, “Xuanzang had no doubts and jumped onto the boat. To his surprise, he found that the boat had not sunk and he was safe and sound.”

Before Qin Ruoxi could refute, Ye Beixuan quickly continued, "Just as Xuanzang was overjoyed, he suddenly discovered a corpse floating in the water, and that corpse was none other than himself."

"Is this really true?" Qin Ruoxi was astonished. Could this really be what she was seeing? So she continued to ask, "What exactly happened?"

Ye Beixuan chuckled: "Then Xuanzang, just like you, asked in surprise why."

His eldest disciple, the Monkey King Sun Wukong, explained with a smile that the corpse was actually himself.

From the depths of the cave, the crackling sound of metal cooling could be heard from time to time, as if someone was deliberately hammering.

"You mean..." Qin Ruoxi suddenly thought of the metal ore that had just cooled and exploded, revealing the newly formed and pure ore inside, and tentatively said, "Just like a cicada shedding its shell, gaining new life from the inside out? The corpse in the river was just an empty shell."

"That's one way to understand it," Ye Beixuan said calmly.

They turned a corner and began to slowly climb up the steep cave.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ruoxi staggered half a step, and fragments of memory erupted once more, bringing to mind a scene of herself standing on a large platform, slaying another version of herself with a single sword strike.

With a "snap," Qin Ruoxi was engrossed in the story when a cone-shaped metal mineral spike suddenly fell from above, hitting the ground and kicking up dust.

"Ouch... Ouch! That was close..."

Ye Beixuan quickly pulled her into his arms, and at the same time stomped his foot slightly. The surface of the ore tips hanging from the top of the rock fell off one by one, revealing the pure ore inside.

“Just like these mineral tips, the body of Master Xuanzang was his mortal body, and if he wanted to be reborn, he had to overcome his tribulations.” He continued passionately, “Of course, besides becoming an immortal, there is another situation where one’s soul is severed from the physical body and falls into the cycle of reincarnation.”

A ripple of emotion stirred within Qin Ruoxi, and fragments of memory resurfaced. Blood-red clouds filled the sky, obscuring the sun, and countless immortals, their eyes bloodshot, willingly allowed themselves to be slaughtered by her one by one.

"I see." She chuckled softly, feeling much more at ease. Could it be that her future self would also sever her physical body to become an immortal? Was she really that ruthless?
(End of this chapter)