Chapter 410 - 197: Revisiting an Old Place
Chapter 410: Chapter 197: Revisiting an Old Place
"Dragon Abyss?"
Miao Feichan’s expression turned strange.
"Could Night Rain Tower be connected to Dragon Abyss?"
Seeing the confused look on Fang Shuwen’s face, Miao Feichan explained:
"Dragon Abyss is a very strange organization.
"The stories about them in the Jianghu are a mix of fact and fiction, with the oldest ones dating back several hundred years.
"Every ten, or even several decades, fragmentary news about them will occasionally surface in the Jianghu.
"But it’s never anything particularly important...
"So, most people don’t know much about Dragon Abyss.
"No one knows where they come from or what their goals are.
"They’re like an ethereal shadow cast over the Jianghu..."
Fang Shuwen rubbed his chin.
"Tell me about these stories that circulate in the Jianghu. What are they about?"
As he spoke, he leaped onto Fang Dabao’s back.
He gently patted its large head, and it began to walk forward.
Miao Feichan then told Fang Shuwen everything she knew about Dragon Abyss.
But just as she had said, the stories were a mix of fact and fiction, making it hard to tell what was true.
Many of the rumors were dubious. For example, a sect in the Central Domain was wiped out by its longtime rival, but after word spread, some people claimed that Dragon Abyss had been pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
But that was just speculation among the Jianghu people.
No one knew if there was actually a connection.
To date, there is only one concrete piece of evidence proving the existence of Dragon Abyss... It comes from the Celestial Essence Conference held in the Central Domain one hundred and seventy years ago. The greatest talents of the era gathered to compete for a treasure known as the Black and White Twins.
The Black and White Twins were a pair of game pieces, one black and one white, made of an extremely unusual material. When activated with Inner Strength on a Celestial Essence game board, the pieces would fly out on unpredictable trajectories that no weapon could block and no armor could defend against.
It was truly a top-tier unconventional weapon.
The competition for this item came down to a final match. One man, with a display of absolute dominance, overpowered all his peers and successfully claimed the Black and White Twins.
Since no one recognized him, someone asked about his origins before he left.
He claimed to be from Dragon Abyss.
Among all the rumors and hearsay, this is the only definitive record.
Besides that, even the very first appearance of Dragon Abyss was marked only by the emergence of a Dragon Abyss Order.
Hearing this, Fang Shuwen asked:
"After the Celestial Essence Conference ended back then, didn’t anyone follow him to find out more?"
"How would I know what happened one hundred and seventy years ago? Perhaps some people did, but they either never returned or found nothing."
Miao Feichan toyed with the Dragon Abyss Order in her hand, her brow slightly furrowed.
Fang Shuwen glanced back at her.
"Can you tell me about your sect, and what happened to you?"
Had he asked this question at any other time, Miao Feichan might not have been willing to answer.
But now, her mind was in turmoil. The appearance of the Dragon Abyss Order had brought many things to the surface, and she needed someone to help her sort through them. Even if it wasn’t about sorting things out, simply recounting the memories might bring to light details she had never noticed before.
Thus, after a moment’s hesitation, she began to speak:
"My origins are a bit complicated.
"I was originally from a small, obscure sect in the Central Domain called the Unheeding Pavilion.
"Including the Pavilion Master, our sect had no more than twenty-odd members.
"We were all extremely close to one another.
"And since I was the youngest, I was the most doted upon.
"That year, I was not yet thirteen. I was practicing my stances when my Master suddenly burst in, grabbed me, and started running.
"She had a look of unprecedented urgency, one I had never seen on her before. I kept asking her what was happening...
"But she never answered me.
"She ran without stopping all the way to the back mountain and burst into the sect’s Forbidden Land.
"It was my first time going to the Forbidden Land, and I was a little curious.
"My Master, her mind clearly preoccupied, led me to the heart of the Forbidden Land, to the spot before the ancestral tablets of the Unheeding Pavilion.
"I would never have guessed that the altar table was cast from Profound Iron, and that it held a secret mechanism underneath.
"My Master fiddled with something on the altar table, and a hidden door opened beneath it, revealing a small, cramped secret room.
"She threw me inside, then pulled two books and a letter from her robes and shoved them into my hands.
"Then she told me... ’No matter what happens, don’t come out!’"
After that, her Master closed the hidden door. Peeking through a crack, Miao Feichan saw her Master kneeling before the ancestral tablets.
But soon, a group of men in black burst in.
Like her, her Master was not skilled in combat. In just a few moves, she was killed in front of the altar table.
The men in black then set a fire that engulfed the Forbidden Land.
Thick smoke billowed everywhere. Although Miao Feichan was hidden in the secret room beneath the altar table, the smoke still poured in.
Miao Feichan didn’t dare move or leave. Then, her vision went black, and she passed out.
She didn’t know how long she was unconscious. When she awoke, the men in black were long gone, and her Master’s body had been burned beyond recognition.
She cried for a long time before finally leaving the Forbidden Land.
When she returned to the sect’s entrance, she found that the place that had once been her small but warm home had been reduced to a barren wasteland.
She didn’t go any further. She didn’t even dare to go back to the Forbidden Land to search for her Master’s remains.
She carefully retreated into the mountain forest, where she lived like a wildling for three months.
During that time, she read the letter her Master had left for her.