Chapter 373: Pointing Toward the Border

Outside the teahouse, the night rain fell continuously; beneath the streetlamps, the wet ground reflected the light. High above the distant skyscrapers floated the illusory vision of Xianshan's auspicious clouds. Ethereal cranes, impossible to distinguish as real or false, danced gracefully between the neon lights and rain clouds. Ornately decorated flower boats drifted slowly through the gaps between the buildings. Silken and bamboo music drifted through the rain. This cityscape from a distant alien world, viewed through a hazy veil of light at the edge of the awning, appeared vivid yet remote.

The black-robed cultivator held a cup of hot tea, unaware that it had sat on the table for a long time without cooling even slightly. In a daze, he recalled and pondered, answering question after question posed by Yuanling Zhenren.

"... We do not know who that 'enemy' is. Our Benefactor says it has left, yet sometimes he suddenly flies into a rage, claiming that thing has been lingering all around, hiding in the shadows of the stars, dwelling between the orbits of the planets. He says the world is foolish, always failing to see the danger right before their eyes..."

"... The Legacy of the Emperor... is hidden in a very deep place. One must pass through layers of illusion; one cannot go there directly from the real world. Yet there are many cracks in the real world leading to that depth. Taiyou? Yes, Taiyou exists. It is also present on the Grand Void Spirit Pivot. There are cracks on the stars Han Guang and Han Ding as well, but the passages there are not very stable."

"Yes, distributed throughout the Feiyu Star Domain..."

The sound of rain grew denser. The night rain on the street outside the awning gradually turned into a downpour, then nearly a storm. Violent, torrential rain poured down from above the city as if the sky and sea had inverted. The roar of rain crashing onto the teahouse awning thundered like Lei Ting. The curtain of rain washing down blurred the distant scenery. In the rain, one could no longer make out the flower boats, covered boats, or the mechanical birds flying through the city. Even the towering, neon-lit skyscrapers had become increasingly abstract, blurred outlines within the rain curtain.

The entire world seemed reduced to this scene of an alien downpour. In the boundless darkness, only the heavy rain fell endlessly. The small teahouse and the rain awning outside it became the only "ground" in the entire world. In this increasingly unsettling environment, the black-robed cultivator's answers grew even more dazed.

After an unknown duration, he suddenly stopped his rambling narration, raised his head, and stared blankly beyond the awning.

"The rain has gotten heavier," he muttered to himself. "This rain seems to have been falling for a long time... You come from outside the rain. Do you know what the places in this world where it does not rain look like?"

Yuanling Zhenren seemed not to hear the other's words, instead taking the opportunity to guide further: "Does the place where the old senior Yun Qingzi lives now also rain like this? Does he also live in 'Shuji'?"

The black-robed cultivator's brows gradually furrowed. It seemed the act of recalling this memory itself brought immense burden to his mind. Accompanying this difficult recollection, a distant, low rumble of Lei Ting echoed in the torrential rain outside the teahouse.

"Our Benefactor... is not in Shuji, but nearby. It does indeed rain there constantly. He... he occasionally comes to Shuji, but never..."

A particularly loud clap of Lei Ting suddenly exploded. Intense flashes and deafening roars tore through the torrential rain and long night outside the teahouse. The alien cityscape briefly reflected in the lightning flickered as if about to collapse.

The black-robed cultivator suddenly stopped. His face, illuminated by the lightning, turned deathly pale, and then his eyes shook violently.

In the next second, Yu Sheng seemed to hear a roar erupting from that abrupt thunder, and to see a pair of eyes glaring with fury in the lightning beneath the night sky. A terrifying pressure descended from the torrential rain, rushing straight toward the teahouse.

But Yuanling Zhenren had anticipated all this. Before the interrogation began, he knew a taboo had been set deep in the black-robed cultivator's heart by a great power. As the "heart interrogation" delved deeper, even with the exquisite setup of the Wenxin Pavilion, triggering this taboo was only a matter of time. Thus, seeing a strand of thought left by Yun Qingzi surface from the depths of the black-robed cultivator's mind, he immediately thrust his palm outward!

This palm strike was aimed at empty air, yet it seemed to shake the entire space. In an instant, a violent tremor rocked both inside and outside the teahouse. Immediately, the boundless night rain vanished with a boom. The alien cityscape briefly appeared, then the towering neon-lit skyscrapers silently retreated and collapsed, transforming back into the misty rain forest and muddy path from the beginning. Then the forest retreated further, turning into boundless, endless swampland.

The teahouse once again became a simple roadside tea stall. Yuanhe and Yuanhao, sitting in the corner, rose simultaneously and pointed a finger toward the outside of the awning, chanting a spell—

In the misty rain outside the tea stall, a blurred figure emerged, as if "shaken" out by the three brothers of Yuanling. A strand of thought from Yun Qingzi thus appeared abruptly.

This blurred figure glanced into the tea stall. Although it was merely a strand of thought detached from the original body, that single glance still made everyone feel a pressure that was almost substantial.

And whether it was an illusion or not, Yu Sheng always felt that the figure's gaze ultimately landed on himself.

... Could such a "taboo" left in the black-robed cultivator's heart still recognize him?

Yu Sheng was surprised for a moment, but before he could respond, he saw the figure floating in the misty rain slowly dissipate.

The black-robed cultivator sitting across the table swayed slightly. His dazed eyes gradually regained clarity: Although the three of Yuanling had blocked the lethal attack of the heart taboo for him, the impact of that brief moment had inevitably "awakened" him.

"The rain has finally stopped..."

The black-robed cultivator muttered to himself. Thus, the decades-long illusion of a trapped mind created by the Wenxin Pavilion for him silently receded.

The misty rain scenery and the small roadside tea stall vanished. The surroundings once again became that empty prison cell containing only a bed. The black-robed cultivator sat on the bed, while Yu Sheng, Ailin, and the three of Yuanling stood opposite him.

"That 'Benefactor' of yours doesn't seem to trust you very much," Yuanling Zhenren said casually. "The taboo he left in your hearts is quite formidable."

The black-robed cultivator remained silent for a few seconds. In the instant he awoke, he already knew what had happened and realized he had already spoken a pile of things he should and should not have said. His face visibly darkened, but after a brief silence, he merely shook his head: "... We are all willing."

"Your mouth is quite hard too," Ailin muttered while sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder. Immediately, she hugged her arms and shivered. "I reacted too slowly just now. If my hands had been a bit faster, I would have bound that shadow that appeared last. We could have interrogated it directly."

"Your mouth is quite hard too," Yu Sheng glanced sideways at the small doll. "When that shadow appeared just now, you were trembling like a sieve."

Ailin instantly became angry with shame: "I, I was filled with battle will! Battle will, do you understand?!"

The black-robed cultivator sitting on the bed paid no attention to the commotion beside him. Now, an atmosphere of self-abandonment surrounded him. Then, he suddenly sighed: "I have already told you everything I know. After this, deal with me as you please. Kill or flay, it's up to you."

"That won't do. Qianfeng Ling Mountain is a righteous sect. Even if we judge you, we must first clarify other crimes. Punishment must be determined by the crime," Yuanling Zhenren said calmly. Then he shifted his tone. "And have you really 'told everything'? Not necessarily."

The black-robed cultivator raised his head and glared angrily at Yuanling Zhenren: "What else do you want to ask?!"

"For example, from which 'entrance' you entered that alien realm, for example how many entrances that alien realm actually has and where they are all distributed, for example whether you have a way to control yourself to stably enter specific 'scenes' of that alien realm, for example how many of you there are in total, and what your next plan is," Yuanling Zhenren said with a majestic countenance and serious tone. "These following matters are the key points."

Hearing this string of questions, the black-robed cultivator's body visibly tensed, yet he still gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Yuanling Zhenren was not surprised by this; he merely nodded expressionlessly: "Hmm. If I ask and you answer, it saves a lot of trouble, but your face would not look good. We must go through some procedures."

As soon as the word "procedures" left his lips, the black-robed cultivator's face clearly twitched. Then Yuanling Zhenren turned toward the room door and said: "Linlang, send someone to prepare the next round of pills. Feed the young master his medicine on time this afternoon."

A young woman's response came from outside the door: "Yes, Sect Master."

Moments later, Yu Sheng and Yuanling Zhenren's group left that "prison cell" and returned to the courtyard outside the Wenxin Pavilion.

Even after coming out, Ailin kept looking back.

Yu Sheng felt strange: "What are you looking at?"

"That person's expression at the end was a bit desperate," Ailin muttered while clinging to Yu Sheng's shoulder. "I feel that at the beginning he actually intended to hold out against the beauty trap—only to find out this place is a pharmaceutical factory..."

"What are you talking about?!" Yu Sheng almost spat out, raising his hand to pull Ailin back. "Alright, stop looking. There definitely won't be any more results today."

Ailin finally withdrew her gaze reluctantly. Meanwhile, Yuanling Zhenren, who had been lost in thought since earlier, suddenly broke the silence: "This interrogation has actually confirmed many of our previous guesses."

"Yes, for example regarding that 'Yun Qingzi'," Yu Sheng sighed. "It really is this 'old senior' orchestrating the matter from behind the scenes. Should we now try to find him? Otherwise, given his mental state... I feel something big is about to happen next."

Yuanling Zhenren did not speak but silently looked toward his eldest senior brother (Xuanche's eldest senior uncle).

The latter was stunned for a moment: "Why are you looking at me?"

"You are more familiar with the Shuji area," Yuanling Zhenren said. "Just now, that evil cultivator mentioned that although Yun Qingzi is not in Shuji, he is nearby. Combined with the few illusions guided out in the Wenxin Pavilion during the final stage, do you have any ideas regarding this?"

Yuanhao thought for a moment, then spoke after a while with a thoughtful expression: "I have been to Shuji a few times. It is a planet near the equator that rains year-round, while the polar regions are quite dry and cold. But if you ask about other places suitable for seclusion near that planet that also rain year-round... I truly do not know."

(End of Chapter)