Minglong

Chapter 263 So that’s it
After a few booming sounds, the mountains fell silent once more.

stomping on...

A strange man with disheveled hair, dragging a giant sword, and resembling an injured gorilla, ran across the rugged snow-covered mountains, occasionally glancing back.

But the coal balls flew too high, and Xie Jinhuan hid behind the ridge, never appearing in sight from beginning to end.

After running for half an hour, the strange man arrived at the waist of a majestic snow-capped mountain. He looked around at the edge of the cliff, then leaped into a crevice below the snow cliff and disappeared without a trace.

The coal briquette hovered high in the air, while Xie Jinhuan, carrying two girls, descended silently from the sky, hovering beside the crack and listening intently:

Wow…

The sound of dragging the iron sword echoed through the crack, fading into the distance.

Upon seeing this, Xie Jinhuan peered into the crack and was surprised to find that it was not naturally formed. There were traces of artificial chiseling on the rock wall, leading diagonally into the interior of the mountain, but the direction was unknown.

Seeing this, Xie Jinhuan raised his hand to signal Meiqiu to wait outside, while he and his two teammates quietly landed inside the crevice and walked deeper into it.

Seeing this, the coal balls fell from the sky and began to stand guard at the entrance.

Unexpectedly, not long after the three of them went inside, there was some commotion in the mountains.

Coal Ball immediately became alert and looked up, only to see two figures emerge from the opposite ridge. After observing them briefly, they flew over and hovered outside the cliff, raising their hands to make a "shh" gesture.

"Guji?"

When Coal Ball discovered the two feeding girls, its eyes lit up, and it opened its beak to demand hush money.

Nangong Ye landed at the entrance, glanced into the seemingly bottomless tunnel, and then surveyed the surrounding mountains:

"What is this place?"

Bu Yuehua kneaded the coal ball and shrugged slightly:

"how could I know?"

Nangong Ye frowned, ignoring the enchantress, and looked into the bottomless tunnel. He then pricked up his ears to listen, looking like a single mother eavesdropping on her daughter's date with her boyfriend...
-
Wow…

The sound of armor rubbing against each other echoed continuously ahead of the deep tunnel.

Xie Jinhuan followed silently behind. Because it was a man-made tunnel, the interior of the mountain was not as complex as that of Phoenix Mausoleum, but its depth was not much less.

The three of them followed the passage down for about seven or eight miles. When they felt they had reached the foot of the mountain, the tunnel finally came to an end. Inside was a giant karst cave, pitch black, like a black abyss buried beneath the mountains.

The aura of killing intent inherent in the element of metal also permeated the abyss, making one feel as if they had entered a fortified city where thousands of troops were lying in wait, giving them a sense of having sharp edges behind them.

Zhao Ling sensed the increasingly intense atmosphere of impending doom and asked in a low voice:
"Is this Mount Bing Sheng?"

Xie Jinhuan was well-versed in historical materials from a young age and had read many records about Bing Sheng Mountain.

According to the book, Mount Bing Sheng is the abode of the God of War, who bestows opportunities upon living beings every sixty years, and only those with deep blessings can encounter it.

Because the God of Military Supervision guards the west, he is theoretically omnipresent. The God of Military Supervision may also appear in any mountain or wilderness of the Western Rong. Therefore, the Mountain of Military Saint does not refer to a single mountain peak, but rather to the 100,000 mountains of the Western Rong. The place where the opportunity appears is the place where the deity was present at that time.

Judging from the occurrence of various opportunities, the God of Military Supervision is indeed omnipresent, but this place does indeed match the description of the Military Saint Mountain in ancient books.

Xie Jinhuan couldn't figure out the details of this place either, so he followed the marks on the rocks and continued to go deeper into the cave. After walking for several more miles, he found a road paved with stone bricks, murals carved into the rock walls, and some stone fire pillars.

Linghu Qingmo carefully examined the mural. She could see a group of savages wielding spears and forks fighting strange, monstrous beasts. Then, a woman with a human face and an animal body, horns on her head and leopard spots all over her body, led the savages to slay the beasts and was ultimately revered as their leader. She thought for a moment and said:

"This seems to be the Golden Mother, one of the Ten Ancestral Witches, revered as an ancestor by most of the Western Rong tribes, but the era is too ancient, and the books only mention her name..."

Among the Ten Ancestral Witches, the most well-known is Zhu Man, a figure from the same era as the Human Emperor and the ancestor of the Gu Poison School; while Yin Lun is the ancestor of the Zhu Sacrifice School; the other Ancestral Witches are too ancient.

According to Xie Jinhuan's understanding of history, the Human Emperor was a figure from about three thousand years ago. At that time, he fought against the barbarians, unified the six kingdoms, and laid the foundation for the current world order.

Going further back was the barbaric era, when cultivators could easily ascend to higher realms, often resulting in cataclysmic disasters that destroyed the world. In addition, a unified civilization had not yet been formed, so later generations were completely unable to understand the historical landscape before the Human Emperor.

The Golden Mother was an elder among the Ten Ancestral Witches, and her era of existence is impossible to verify. Xie Jinhuan, after observing these murals, could only deduce that there was indeed such an ancestor in history who once led the wild people of the Western Rong to fight against demons.

Discovering that the monster was still running deeper, Xie Jinhuan didn't waste time on archaeology and led the two forward quickly. After chasing for a long time, a building appeared at the end of the underground cave.

The building is a large stone platform built close to the rock face, with a doorway above it.

The gate is nine zhang high and more than six zhang wide, making it extremely large. Outside the gate is a small stone and wood building, which looks out of place compared to the stone gate because it is only a little over a hundred years old.

The stone gate was not opened, but there was a crack at the bottom of the gate that had been carved out, allowing only one person to pass through at a time.

The armored swordsman, resembling a monkey god, was now on the steps outside the stone gate. Seeing the three reappear, he braced himself with his left hand, raised his sword, and let out a roar:
"Roar--!"

The sound was like thunder, filled with boundless anger and fear, but he was clearly terrified and dared not step forward.

Before Xie Jinhuan could figure out what was going on, he flashed forward and knocked the monster unconscious, then went to the wooden house to take a closer look.

The cabin was very spacious. In one corner, there was a small pit, which looked like it had been worn down by someone sitting there for many years. There was also a wooden bed on the side of the cabin. The ground was very dry and the wood had not rotted. A skeleton lay on top of it. The small table next to it was even very neat, with writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone on it, but it was covered with a thick layer of dust.

Xie Jinhuan entered the wooden house, picked up the paper from the table and examined it. He found that it was written in the standard official script, clearly from modern times, and the content was an epitaph.

According to the writing on the paper, the skeleton on the bed was named Li Lan. At the end of the Former Qi Dynasty, he served as a military officer in Liangzhou. However, he was captured when he went to the Western Regions to quell a rebellion. He suffered all kinds of humiliation and was covered in wounds. As a result, he escaped alone and was rescued by a merchant caravan of the Western Rong tribe and taken to the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Li Lan originally planned to return to his hometown after recovering from his injuries, but during this time he met a girl from the mountain village. In addition, Emperor Qi was licentious and the mountain village respected him, so he eventually stayed in the mountain village.

But misfortune seemed to befall the unfortunate. After the wife became pregnant, she gave birth to a monster that was neither human nor ghost. She died in childbirth, and the child was regarded as a jinx by the village, who wanted him to be drowned.

Li Lan couldn't bear to harm her own flesh and blood, so she fled the mountain village, carrying the child to seek out a famous doctor. Hearing that a powerful shaman had come to the Zheluo tribe, she went to find him.

Unfortunately, the shaman also encountered a child suffering the same fate. He tried to save the ill-fated person, but was ostracized by the ignorant tribesmen of the Zheluo tribe. As a result, he took the child and left Xirong. The child's mother was also regarded as an ill-fated person by her tribesmen and eventually died of grief and indignation.

Fearing that her son would be discovered and killed by the Western Rong people, Li Lan could only hide with her son and flee into the Ten Thousand Mountains.

By chance, Li Lan found this place and deduced that it was the tomb of the Golden Mother. Li Lan felt that the Golden Mother could protect him and his father, so he hid here and lived in seclusion, relying on each other for decades.

Just as Li Lan was about to die, her son suddenly went mad and attacked the cultivators who came looking for opportunities. Li Lan couldn't stop him.

Fortunately, during that trip, she encountered a kind-hearted person who rescued Li Lan's son from a powerful enemy.

When Li Lan found her son, who was covered in wounds, she learned that the kind person who had helped him was the freak who had been taken away by the witch doctor years ago. Although he was the same kind as her son, he was now no different from a normal person.

Li Lan hoped that person could help her son. She didn't ask for a wealthy life; she just wanted him to be able to live like a normal person and see the world outside the mountains.

But that person said that the witch doctor who changed him back then was dead, and he didn't know how to restore his son. As a righteous person, he should have killed the demon, but as one of their kind, he couldn't bear to do it. He told the father and son not to leave the snow mountain in this life, otherwise outsiders would not be merciful.

Although disappointed, Li Lan still followed the instructions and never met any outsiders again.

He left these things before he died, hoping that if anyone saw them, they wouldn't treat his son like a monster. His son was just born with a hard life, and if his son was still alive by then...

Linghu Qingmo stood in front of him and examined everything. After reading it all, a hint of regret appeared in his eyes.
"If this is true, then this father and son are indeed unfortunate people."

Zhao Ling frowned slightly:

"According to what's written here, the freak that the witch doctor took away from the Zheluo tribe was eventually cured. Then, when the opportunity arose last time, he came back looking for another opportunity and found this freak fighting with the cultivators of Yanbo City. He intervened to save him... Who is this person?"

Linghu Qingmo pondered for a moment:

"Anyone who dares to snatch the divine gift from the overseer must be quite powerful; having the leisure to save demons but not fighting to the death with the cultivators of Yanbo City for opportunities, they are most likely already possessing a divine gift. Back then, there were only three divine gifts..."

Xie Jinhuan put down the paper, thought for a moment, and said:

"Since he is not a cultivator from Yanbo City, he can only be a martial arts hero from the North, or Wei Wuyi."

"Rumor has it that Old Master Wei started his business in Xirong... It's more likely that he made his fortune there."

Zhao Ling's expression changed slightly: "Does that mean Wei Wuyi was born a freak, half-human and half-demon? That's impossible, isn't it? Wei Wuyi was classmates with Headmaster Lu and the others in his childhood, and was even taught by Ye Sheng..."

"Heroes are not judged by their origins. It is not the fault of him to be born with a deformed physique. It is only natural for Ye Sheng to teach without discrimination. Even if this is true, Wei Wuyi has now become the leader of the righteous path, so there is nothing he is ashamed of."

Xie Jinhuan paused here, then asked with a hint of doubt:

"But I'm curious, who is this witch doctor? Someone with such great abilities, yet there's no record of him in any books, and Wei Wuyi has never mentioned this benefactor..."

Linghu Qingmo thought for a moment and said, "The Zheluo tribe said that they made a mistake later. Wei Wuyi probably didn't dare to mention the debt of gratitude for saving him, so as to avoid suspicion."

Don't dare...

Xie Jinhuan blinked, realizing that this mistake might be much bigger than he had imagined.

Since it was just hearsay, he didn't want to speculate, so he turned around and went to examine the gap in the stone gate.

As a result, inside the stone gate, there were many pieces of armor and greatswords scattered around. They were originally meant to be guardians, but after thousands of years, they have long since weathered away, leaving not even bones behind.

At the center is a lotus platform, empty except for an opening. Tiny gold particles drift up from below, gather at the top, and then fall back down, forming a golden beach around the platform.

Xie Jinhuan glanced around and noticed that the ground was covered with Mingjin Sand, which made his eyes light up.

With this quantity, you can refine at least several dozen 'righteous evil-repelling pills,' and you won't have to worry about being possessed by evil spirits when offering sacrifices to fellow cultivators in the future.

But how did Mingjinsha end up in a place like this?

Xie Jinhuan looked around but didn't find the supervising soldier Shenci. He then went up to the lotus platform and looked down into the cave. He saw that the bottom was unfathomable and he didn't know where it led.

The ghost wife, who was always by his side, also appeared at this moment, looked down, and frowned slightly:

"A tiger crouches on the sacred mountain, and soldiers subdue the demon ancestor..."

Xie Jinhuan didn't see the words and asked in confusion upon hearing the voice:
"Are there words below?"

"Yes, it's carved on a large pillar, but the power of heaven and earth is too strong, you can't go down there yet."

"is it?"

Xie Jinhuan squatted down to examine it carefully, but unfortunately the hole was too deep, and apart from the light gathered by the golden dots, he could not see anything else.

After observing for a moment, Ye Hongshang looked around again:
"I understand why the Western Rong frequently give birth to freaks. Below is the origin of this world, which should have been sealed off, but before the Golden Mother died, she opened up the bottom layer, probably trying to use the power of heaven and earth to forcibly break through the bottleneck."

"But in the end it didn't succeed, which caused his body to merge with this world. His situation was similar to that of Guo Meiren, but more thorough. He became immortal and unconscious, and became a part of the world."

"Judging from the murals, the Queen Mother was born a half-demon. She nourished all things along with heaven and earth. Some lucky ones were born with this 'divine gift'."

"However, the White Tiger is the god of war, and these people are usually warlike and bloodthirsty. Without proper guidance, they will surely become a great menace. In addition, because of their strange appearance, they are regarded as ominous by later generations, and they are drowned at birth..."

Hearing this explanation, Xie Jinhuan, though unable to grasp the underlying details, figured the ghost wouldn't make a mistake, and immediately thought:

"With such a divinely bestowed talent, it's almost impossible for someone to live a normal life without modification. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Is there any way to eliminate this?"

Ye Hongshang shook his head: "The Golden Mother has already merged into this world. Unless everyone moves away from Xirong, it can never be stopped. The only way to solve this is to communicate with Xirong in the name of the imperial court, take away all the mutated fetuses, and then obtain the modification secret method from the Underworld God Sect to restore these people. It's a good thing, but it won't do you any good."

Xie Jinhuan shook his head and smiled: "These fetuses grow up to be much more powerful than ordinary people. As long as we can get the method to improve them, many sects will offer money and effort to compete for them. However, we can only discuss this matter later. What is the reason that strange person outside can sense the divine gift of the supervisor?"

Ye Hongshang gestured to the scattered golden specks:

"He probably didn't sense a divine gift. Rather, his father was trying to remove the evil spirits from his body with the Golden Sand. He ate too much of it, but he wasn't inherently evil, so it accumulated in his body."

“Mingjinsha was attracted by the divine gift of the guards, and he naturally sensed it. He was also taught by his elders to guard the tomb here. He felt that outsiders were taking things from the Golden Mother, so he went crazy and ran to stop them.”

“Those who can come here are no ordinary people. When the next opportunity comes, he will have to run out to his death again. You can set a seal on him to seal the remaining Mingjin Sand in his body. That way, he will not go around looking for people anymore, and outside cultivators should not be able to find him. He can be considered to have a peaceful end.”

Xie Jinhuan felt that the ghost was genuinely kind, so he didn't say anything more. He asked Momo and the landlady to help collect the "sounding sand," while he went to the fallen armored monster and, following the ghost's instructions, began to deal with the aftermath...
-
I've written 12,000 words since 6 a.m., but I've only managed to cut 4,000 words down. I'll take a day off tomorrow; I really can't write anything if I force myself to.

(End of this chapter)