It is said that in legend, this world was once darkness. After forty-eight thousand years, there came the giant god Pangu, who split heaven and earth and transformed into mountains and rivers; another forty-eight thousand years passed before Nüwa created mankind.
It is said that in legend, the first beam of light between heaven and earth was born in the darkest place.
Zhang Xiaofan only felt that his entire body was so cold, a chill sinking into his very marrow. Such cold seemed not merely to affect his body—even his heart had gone cold, as if he were about to die.
Yet he did not feel afraid. There was not the slightest trace of fear in him. He only felt a weariness he had never known before, as though he no longer even had the strength to open his eyes. Strangely, while his body was in such extreme exhaustion and weakness, his mind was gradually becoming clearer.
It seemed that something was surrounding him—very gentle, very careful, yet cold as ice—slowly sucking away the warmth from his body. At the same time, it carried an oddly comfortable sensation, making one unable to resist wanting to fall asleep just like this, in ease and comfort.
If not for the familiar, icy aura rising in his right hand, as though to guard its master; if not for the fact that he suddenly sensed that in his left hand, he was still holding a cold, soft hand.
In his drowsiness, he struggled, inch by inch, to open his eyes!
It was a beam of light within eternal darkness!
Amid endless, boundless darkness, only before Zhang Xiaofan’s eyes did a faint glow quietly arise. It was a dim, pale light, drifting uncertainly in the dark, twining around Zhang Xiaofan like the gentlest of women, linking arms with her beloved and lingering with him so tenderly.
It was also like a wisp of smoke, ethereal and insubstantial. In midair, beside Zhang Xiaofan, it gradually formed a beautiful yet sorrowful face, leaning toward the young man’s lips to kiss him!
Between those lips there was a faint fragrance, a thread of intoxicating confusion, and all that remained besides was coldness!
A coldness that pierced into the heart!
The fire poker suddenly rose, its dark cyan light blocking Zhang Xiaofan’s body. The beauty’s face formed from that smoky white glow seemed somewhat afraid of it and had no choice but to retreat. Zhang Xiaofan’s body shuddered; he flipped over and sprang up, then immediately realized what it was and cried out involuntarily, “Yin spirit!”
Ancient legend said that though life grows old and dies, only the soul remains undying. When one life ends, the soul leaves the body and goes to be reborn, lifetime after lifetime, in an endless cycle of reincarnation. Yet in this world there are resentful spirits, bound by the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion, and by dread, hatred, fear, and terror. Lingering in attachment to the mortal world, looking back upon their former lives, unwilling to be reborn—these are called “Yin spirits.”
Naturally, Yin spirits were things of yin souls, and so they liked to dwell in damp, shadowed places. This Death Spirit Abyss was dark and wet; it was not surprising that such ghostly things existed here. But in all his life, Zhang Xiaofan had never seen such a thing. When he was young in Caomiao Village, he had heard the adults say that ghosts existed in this world; later on Dazhu Peak, he heard his senior brothers say they were called Yin spirits, and there had already been some fear in his heart. Now, seeing one so suddenly, he truly felt chilled from head to toe.
His cry drifted far away into the darkness. Amid the pitch-black surroundings, his voice seemed light and floating. Only after a long while did a faint echo vaguely return. And following that cry, as though something had been disturbed, the darkness around him silently lit up once more.
Zhang Xiaofan felt his heart leap, and then it was as if the heart within his chest had stopped altogether. Holding his breath, he watched as a dim white light almost exactly like the Yin spirit just now lit up in the darkness ahead.
Then the left lit up, the right lit up, the front lit up, the back lit up. Even when he raised his head, the space above him lit up as well, flashing with that ghostly white glow.
There were actually countless Yin spirits, as though awakened from a long slumber, sensing for the first time in hundreds of years the warmth of a human body and gathering toward this place.
Those wisps of smoky white light drifted uncertainly, transforming into countless faces—men and women, old and young, beautiful and ugly. Yet at this moment, in Zhang Xiaofan’s eyes, there was only one feeling: cold.
The thought of countless Yin spirits swarming forward to surround him made his scalp prickle. Fortunately, after the initial terror passed, he quickly discovered that these Yin spirits seemed rather afraid of the fire poker blocking before him, not daring to approach the dark cyan light it emitted. But before Zhang Xiaofan could breathe a sigh of relief, the Yin spirits drifting through the air seemed to discover something else and began flying one after another toward Zhang Xiaofan’s left side.
Zhang Xiaofan froze for a moment, then his face changed. The soft hand still clasped in his left hand had now gradually grown cold. He hurriedly pulled with force. With a splash of water, Lu Xueqi was dragged to his side. By relying on the faint lights all around, Zhang Xiaofan saw only that Lu Xueqi’s face was pale and her eyes were tightly closed, but when he checked her breathing, it was still fairly normal. After a rough look, she did not seem to have suffered any external injuries, and only then did he feel relieved. He looked around, carefully observing their surroundings.
He and the still-unconscious Lu Xueqi were somehow at the edge of a body of water. In the darkness he could not see how large the water was, nor did he know whether it was a small pond, a great lake, or the legendary vast underground sea. Zhang Xiaofan did not know why such a thought suddenly occurred to him, but in the water he felt that its surface was not still. Waves raised by tides came one after another, brushing over his body like gentle hands.
But this water was truly icy to the bone!
Zhang Xiaofan struggled to stand. If they remained there, even if they were not harmed by these Yin spirits, the two of them would likely freeze to death in the water first. As soon as he straightened up, he felt a wave of dizziness, and his body could not help swaying.
Back on the platform, his back had been struck simultaneously by Nian Laoda, Wild Dog Daoist, and Liu Hao. His injuries were indeed not light. At the same time, as if sensing this, the dark cyan light of the fire poker dimmed for an instant. Almost in that same moment, the ghostly lights of the countless Yin spirits around them all brightened at once, and on those faces transformed into human likenesses appeared an infinite yearning.
Zhang Xiaofan was startled and hurriedly steadied his mind. The fire poker’s light brightened again, holding those Yin spirits in check. With difficulty, Zhang Xiaofan dragged Lu Xueqi toward the shore. This short distance made him feel as if it were endlessly long.
At last, they reached solid ground. Zhang Xiaofan sat down heavily on the ground, gasping for breath.
All around them, countless Yin spirits drifted and wandered outside the dark cyan halo of the fire poker.
Zhang Xiaofan stared blankly at those drifting ghostly lights, recalling the last memories in his mind before he had lost consciousness. He remembered Lu Xueqi flying over and grabbing his hand. He remembered the boundless dark abyss beneath them as they fell. He even vaguely remembered that before he lost consciousness, a familiar Buddhist invocation had sounded on that platform.
That should have been Senior Brother Faxiang and the other three arriving.
Zhang Xiaofan murmured this in his heart. With the four of them as powerful support, plus Qi Hao’s and Zeng Shushu’s own cultivation and Daoist arts, there should be no problem. If Senior Brother Qi was all right, then Senior Sister Ling’er surely would not be sad, would she?
But, but—almost at the same time, Zhang Xiaofan asked himself this: If I died, would Senior Sister Ling’er be sad? Perhaps she would feel some sorrow too. After all, over these years, he had spent day and night with her. He knew well that this senior sister, so beautiful and so proud on the outside, actually had a gentle and vulnerable side deep within.
If she heard that Junior Brother Zhang Xiaofan, who had played with her since childhood, had unfortunately died, she would surely shed some tears, wouldn’t she? She would surely be heartbroken, wouldn’t she? She would surely, if his body could not be found, set up a grave for him atop Dazhu Peak, wouldn’t she?
He wondered, in the years to come, how many times she would visit that grave.
If that were so, would he become like the Yin spirits all around him, lingering in attachment to her, unwilling to be reborn, only drifting among the grave mounds, quietly yearning for that figure in his memories?
In the silent darkness, the young man sighed softly, unknown to anyone.
“Mm…”
She gave a soft murmur and slowly woke, opening her eyes.
For thousands of years, there had been an ancient question passed down: when you awaken after a long sleep, who is the first person you wish to see?
No one knew whether Lu Xueqi had ever heard this seemingly idle question. And at this moment, reflected in her eyes, amid the dim white light, was Zhang Xiaofan’s concerned gaze.
It was the only warmth in the darkness!
Joy appeared on Zhang Xiaofan’s face, and he said happily, “You’re awake, Senior Sister Lu!”
Lu Xueqi did not answer immediately. She seemed to be stunned for a moment, but very quickly she returned to normal, and her face, which had at first carried some confusion, returned to its somewhat cold, frosty expression. Yet as she looked around, she could not help being moved once again.
“Yin spirits!” Lu Xueqi cried out, just as Zhang Xiaofan had done earlier.
Zhang Xiaofan nodded and comforted her, “Yes, but don’t be afraid. They seem a little afraid of my fi-fire poker, so we should be all right for now.”
Lu Xueqi also realized at this moment that the countless drifting Yin spirits around them indeed had not pounced forward, only wandering at the perimeter. They seemed extremely afraid of the black short staff belonging to Zhang Xiaofan. After calming down, she could not help asking, “What is this magical treasure of yours called? How is it so powerful?”
Zhang Xiaofan’s face reddened, and he said, “It’s called, called… I call it the fire poker. As for why it’s so powerful, I don’t know either.”
Lu Xueqi said in surprise, “Fire poker?”
Zhang Xiaofan looked at the woman before him. In the faint white light, her skin was like snow; though somewhat pale, it made her even more beautiful. He involuntarily lowered his head and said, “Yes. I’m usually in charge of cooking on Dazhu Peak, so I use it as a fire poker.”
For a time, Lu Xueqi could not speak. She stared blankly at the ugly black short staff in midair. Only after a long while did she say quietly, “A fire poker! I received the teachings of my honored master, cultivated with hardship, and have the Tianya Divine Sword, yet I was defeated by a fire poker?”
Zhang Xiaofan’s heart suddenly jumped. He felt that in that brief moment, Lu Xueqi’s face had grown even paler, almost without the slightest trace of blood. He could not help saying, “Senior Sister, you were the one who won back then. Besides, I heard that if you hadn’t expended too much vital energy in your match with me, you might not necessarily have lost to Senior Brother Qi Hao in the final…”
The more he spoke, the softer his voice became, until in the end it gradually faded into silence. That was because Lu Xueqi had silently lifted her head and was looking at him coldly, making him unable to continue. The dim white light shone upon the figures of the two of them.
Lu Xueqi lowered her head again, took a deep breath, and said, “How did we manage to survive by luck?”
Zhang Xiaofan was stunned for a moment. He was also quite puzzled and said, “I don’t know.” Then he remembered something and pointed with his hand toward the water’s edge. “But when I woke up, the two of us were both lying by that water. Could it be that we were lucky enough to fall into the water and not die, then were washed to shore by the tide?”
Lu Xueqi looked in the direction he pointed. Against the ghostly white light emitted by the Yin spirits, she did indeed see water in the distance, and could vaguely hear the soft rustling sound of the tide washing against the shore. Looking back at herself, though her clothes had mostly dried, they were still somewhat damp, clinging to her body and feeling extremely cold. It was easy to imagine that if Zhang Xiaofan had not pulled her ashore, she might have frozen to death before regaining consciousness.
“Thank you,” Lu Xueqi suddenly said softly.
Zhang Xiaofan froze, then quickly waved his hand and smiled. “It’s all right, it’s all—”
Suddenly, both of them froze.
Between the two of them, between their two hands, even at this moment, they were still tightly clasped together.
As if flesh and blood were joined, as if it had been like this for many years, they had not felt it at all. It seemed as if this was how it ought to be, as if both of them had forgotten.
Lu Xueqi slowly withdrew her hand. Zhang Xiaofan smiled awkwardly, his hand swaying left and right beside him, yet he did not know where to put it.
After a while, it was still Lu Xueqi who spoke first. “Before you fell, you were heavily struck by those evildoers of the Demon Sect. How do you feel now?”
Zhang Xiaofan felt as though granted amnesty. Hearing that this frosty woman did not seem to mean to blame him, he hurriedly said, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
Lu Xueqi said, “Can you still ride your sword?”
Zhang Xiaofan circulated his qi slightly and immediately felt pain within his body like needles stabbing him. He smiled bitterly and shook his head.
Lu Xueqi glanced at him and said, “I can’t either. Let’s get up and investigate the surroundings, see if there’s any way out. Otherwise, if we just keep waiting like this, surrounded by these Yin spirits, sooner or later they’ll suck us into dried corpses.”
Zhang Xiaofan drew in a breath of cold air and nodded. “Yes.”
Lu Xueqi stood up and checked herself all over. There were no serious external injuries, but her inner meridians, qi, and blood were somewhat disordered, and her entire body was weak. It seemed to be caused by the backlash from that clash with the Mountain and River Fan being too powerful. As for the Tianya Divine Sword she was most concerned about, it had now returned intact to the sheath on her back.
She turned and looked at Zhang Xiaofan again. Seeing that he stood up with some difficulty and that his movements were still not very nimble, she knew he was clearly still troubled by his injuries. At the same time, she also knew how much spirit and strength it must have cost him just now to pull her out of the water.
“To what level have you cultivated the Taiji Xuanqing Dao?” Lu Xueqi suddenly asked Zhang Xiaofan.
Zhang Xiaofan froze and did not speak. Lu Xueqi, however, thought he was deliberately refusing to answer. Turning her head away, she said flatly, “It doesn’t matter if you won’t say. But I heard my master say that your cultivation had only reached the fourth level, and that everything that day was because of that strange magical treasure’s power. At the time, I didn’t believe it. Having seen it with my own eyes today, if your cultivation were not high and your meridian foundation not solid, you would have long since collapsed under the hands of those Demon Sect evildoers.”
Zhang Xiaofan scratched his head, not knowing what to say for a moment, because even he himself was somewhat confused about his own cultivation at this point, so he simply brushed it off vaguely. In truth, how could Lu Xueqi know that if speaking solely of his cultivation in the Taiji Xuanqing Dao, Zhang Xiaofan at this moment truly only had the cultivation of the fourth level—the level where one could just begin to use a magical treasure. Yet within Zhang Xiaofan’s body there was another supreme Buddhist true art, the Great Brahma Prajna, and that was the true key.
Buddhist cultivation had always placed more emphasis than Daoist cultivation on comprehending one’s own nature. Though Zhang Xiaofan’s cultivation of the Great Brahma Prajna over the past five years was still shallow, the stability of his meridians and foundation within his body, forged by his day-and-night practice of two peerless true arts of Buddhism and Daoism, far surpassed that of young disciples of the same cultivation level in his sect. It was precisely because of this that when he took the heavy blows of the Demon Sect evildoers head-on, the Taiji Xuanqing Dao blocked one layer, and the Great Brahma Prajna blocked another at the same time, allowing him to survive by luck.
The two of them then stood up. Zhang Xiaofan summoned the fire poker back into his hand, and its dark cyan light spread out, surrounding both their figures. Lu Xueqi pondered briefly, then pointed in the direction opposite the water’s edge, and the two of them walked toward the depths of that endless darkness.
Once they began walking, they did not know how long they walked. This direction seemed to have no boundary at all. After a long time, the two of them were still walking across an empty expanse of ground. Beneath this Death Spirit Abyss, aside from being astonishingly vast, there was not the slightest sign of any living thing.
There were only the Yin spirits flying and wandering around them, still greedily longing for the taste of flesh and blood, drifting silently above and below.
The more Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi walked, the heavier their expressions became. At the same time, they felt the yin energy around them surge like a tide. At this moment, Zhang Xiaofan only felt his qi and blood churning, and waves of dizziness began to assail him. In truth, although his foundation was solid, his cultivation was ultimately not high, and after taking a blow from Nian Laoda, Wild Dog Daoist, and Liu Hao together, the damage to the meridians within his body was still extremely severe.
A moment later, Lu Xueqi also noticed that something was wrong with Zhang Xiaofan and asked in surprise, “What’s wrong with you?”
Zhang Xiaofan forced a smile and said, “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
Lu Xueqi glanced at him and said, “Do you want to rest—”
Before she could say the word “rest,” she saw Zhang Xiaofan’s body suddenly sway, then go limp. He actually collapsed. And the fire poker in his hand, following his falling body, rapidly dimmed.
Lu Xueqi was greatly startled and hurriedly supported him. The body beneath her hand was icy cold, and she realized in shock that Zhang Xiaofan had already fainted. In that instant, she, who had always been known among her fellow sisters for her extraordinary calm, actually felt a trace of panic.
Immediately, she thought of another, even more terrifying problem.
The fire poker had lost its effect. Then what could be used to block the countless Yin spirits around them?
Almost at the same time that Lu Xueqi thought of this question, the countless Yin spirits all around, emitting dim white light, seemed to freeze as well. Then before them stood two living bodies of flesh and blood, without the slightest defense remaining.
In the darkness, it was as if countless voices burst into triumphant laughter and furious roars at the same time. Countless Yin spirits seemed to solidify in midair for a moment. Afterward, like greedy beasts, they charged toward the two helpless people standing in the dark.