Chapter 214 The Mysterious Tomb (1)
The tomb was a series of passages that tunneled deep underground.
Accordingly to the stele outside the cave, Ji Yuan and his group were now entering into an immortal tomb where the golden skeleton remains of the ancient immortals had rested. All they needed to go was really simple. Find the tomb that was deep underground and just walked through it.
This caused Ji Yuan, Little Princess, Ling Feiyue and Shui Xisi to be a little perplexed.
“Actually this tomb is huge and we will only be seeing part of it. If I’m not wrong then all we need to do is to pass through the tomb and we will clear this trial.” Bai Qianfeng explained.
“So simple?” Ji Yuan was in disbelief as he said aloud to Qianfeng.
Bai Qianfeng smiled. “We have to meet one of the ancient immortals in order to clear the trial.”
Ji Yuan: …
Ling Feiyue was gasping with shock and so were Little Princess and Shui Xisi.
“I don’t want to fight any immortal.” Ling Feiyue was stunned.
Bai Qianfeng smiled. “Don’t worry. The ancient immortal isn’t exactly alive. All I can say is that we should try to fulfill the wishes of the ancient immortals in order to clear the trial. This trial is actually an easy one, don’t worry.”
Ji Yuan frowned softly. “I don’t believe.”
Nothing was easy for him until he had truly verified it.
A few hours, they had come to a passage where there were strong winds and beyond the passage were the entrance of three cave entrances.
Ji Yuan immediately probed with his divine sense to find out where the strong winds had come from but he was soon bewildered; it was because the strong winds did not seem to have come from any of the cave entrances but were just circulating in this cave cavern.
The other maidens were equally bewildered.
But all of a sudden Shui Xisi was gasping softly and she seemed to have tripped on something and she was suddenly falling to the ground.
All the maidens tried to flash to her to support her but Ji Yuan was the fastest as he immediately caught hold of her.
“Sisi, are you alright?” Ji Yuan gasped as he caught hold of her; how can he allow his woman to fall in front of him?
Shui Sisi seemed to be in a daze and this stunned Ji Yuan. He had never seen Shui Sisi in this state before as she is usually quite strong will and confidently knows what she is doing.
“Sisi, are you well? Do you want to rest? Is it the fumes earlier?” Ji Yuan asked gently.
All the other maidens were also calling to her to arouse her from her dazed expression. “Sister Sisi, are you well? Yea, we can rest here. It is all Ji Yuan’s fault…”
Ling Feiyue, Little Princess and Bai Qianfeng were genuinely asking with great concern after her wellbeing and they were even blaming Ji Yuan for it.
Ji Yuan naturally did not mind that they were helping Sisi to blame him. It is always his pleasure of course to be of service to their emotion needs and he loves all of them equally.
Even Xiang Li was panicky asking. “Is Sister Sisi…alright? She doesn’t look alright at all…her mental state is quite weak right now…”
Xiang Li displayed her voice outside of Ji Yuan’s soul sea. “Sister Sisi, Xiang Li is here for you. Please don’t cry…”
“Sisi…Sister Sisi, are you really…alright?” Ling Feiyue gasped panicky as she quickly examined her.
Ling Feiyue is actually the most righteous among the maidens here even though she is an unorthodox cultivator. For the sake of Xue Qianxue’s friendship, she was willing to risk her sect leader position and even risk a war with the entire orthodox fraternity.
She knew that Shui Xisi had given Ji Yuan a priceless sixth rank divine pill and she could not even find a way to repay her for this casual kindness. At that time she did not understand why Sisi would give Ji Yuan such a priceless sixth rank divine pill but she soon realized that Sisi likes Ji Yuan. It was just that the way she expressed her feelings were a little out of the norm.
Ji Yuan of course had a better instinct than anyone. Even though the first few times that he had met Sisi were not exactly meeting on a friendly term but he had never sensed that he was in danger from her even though she was actually battling him hard.
On the contrary, he had been intrigued by her playful wiles and even been aroused by her insults. It was a lucky thing that Sisi was not an old woman or else Ji Yuan would have thought that he had a fetish with old women; he had so much fun insulting her back that he had forgotten that that there were others around.
The young masters of the lesser and major orthodox clans usually cannot take any insults to their honors and will surely feel offended.
But for Ji Yuan has a minor orthodox clan origin, he practicably grew up to insult others and to receive insults from the uncouth cultivators that were around him. This was their way of life. It was something that few young masters and famous protégés will be able to understand. The hearts of the cultivators of the minor celestial clans were actually very simple and they consisted of the 90% of the cultivators of the Desolate Celestial Fraternity.
That was why Ji Yuan had always been a rogue. Even if he was arrogant, he was an arrogant rogue.
It startled Ji Yuan and the other maidens that there were flowing tears on Sisi’s cheeks now.
This time Ji Yuan was really panicky as he shook her gently. “What happens please? Surely you can share with us?”
Shui Xisi burst into loud sobs as she buried her head into Ji Yuan’s head. “Xiao Ruan, she…is no more…”
“Xiao Ruan? Who is she?” Ji Yuan returned a perplexed look.
“She…is…that epic…divine blue firebird…that is with me…” Sisi sobbed uncontrollable.
Ji Yuan was stunned as he had suddenly recalled the epic ninth rank divine beast. Even for him, he was not confidence of handling that divine beast of that rank.
“How do you know erm…that she is no more? Premonitions sometimes cannot be trusted. Or maybe it is a future event that can still be changed.” Ji Yuan laughed weakly as he made a weak attempt to comfort her.
Shui Xisi shook her head lightly as she trembled hard. “We are linked together. Xiao Ruan had given two wisps of her soul…to me and my sister. I can sense her demise…I have a phoenix spirit entity if you remember…”
Ji Yuan had suddenly remembered that when he had fought with Sisi for the first time, she had indeed displayed her divine phoenix spirit entity.
He really did not know how to comfort her so he muttered weakly. “Sisi, don’t cry alright? Xiao Ruan is a phoenix. Maybe she can be reborn again…”
All of a sudden Shui Xisi looked at him and she was trembling even more uncontrollably. “Ji Yuan…you are right…please help me to find her artifact core…”
Ji Yuan said firmly. “I will.”
Shui Xisi looked quietly into Ji Yuan’s eyes as she nodded lightly.
Little Princess, Bai Qianfeng and Ling Feiyue were all saying at the same time. “We will also help you to revive your Xiao Ruan no matter what it takes!”
Shui Xisi covered her mouth as she wept aloud. “Everyone…Ji Yuan…sisters…I…really don’t know what to say…”
Ling Feiyue smiled gently, “We are all sisters and we should help each other.”
𝚗𝑜𝐯𝑒𝑳𝚗𝓮xt.𝗰𝒪𝓜
Shui Xisi looked away, “Then help my Sister Feifei (Jiajia). She is the real heroine. I’ve been too playful. I have never helped her, not even once…”
All of a sudden there was a deep voice. “Welcome to my immortal dwelling…”
This startled everyone but no one could hear or see where this deep voice had come from…
However the strong winds were now howling even louder and eerier.
–
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Jiajia had quietly gathered Fairy Ye Chengxi, Shangguan Yan, Saintess Yuluo, Xue Qianxue and Ling Tianshui as she said to them. “I will be departing from the settlement soon. I shall leave my protectors here to protect you…”
Shangguan Yan suddenly said. “Sister Jiajia looks extremely melancholy. I know that your Sister Yan’Er is weak but I hope that Sister Jiajia will not leave us on your own.”
Fairy Ye Chengxi nodded as she said firmly. “We are all weaker than you here but if Sister Jiajia needs us to help, we will surely help you. Even if you are unwilling to risk us but we will try to help you.”
Just as Jiajia shook her head, Xue Qianxue added quietly. “Sister Jiajia, you look really so melancholy in the last couple of days. Something must have happened. We all know that we can’t help but we are all willing to share your battles with you. Aren’t we sisters?”
Jiajia slowly averted her eyes before she slowly turned her body completely around. “You won’t be able to help me…my battle is not an ordinary battle…our lord Ji Yuan will not want his women to take any risks…also…I am fine on my own…”
“No, you’re not!” Shangguan Yan and Xue Qianxue said at the same time.
Now Shangguan Yan and Xue Qianxue are the two smartest maidens in the group and they had shared their observations with the other maidens. Jiajia was definitely not alright!
Saintess Yuluo slowly said. “I know that I am merely a middle tier saintess but I will never be shy from a battle.”
“That’s right.” Fairy Ye Chengxi nodded with a firm conviction. “Sister Jiajia’s battle is our battle as well! Please do not treat us as strangers.”
Ever since she had married Ji Yuan, her cultivation level has shown a rapid advancement and her fighting spirit is also aroused; it is because her ultimate dao is actually not the sword but with her Old Master Ji Yuan. She had idolized him for a long time but she was also afraid of letting him know lest he would expel her from the sect as Ji Yuan had always been a strict master.
When Ji Yuan had handed over to her the leadership of the Orthodox Sword Sect, she had taken plenty of hardship to try to maintain the sect. However she was not really good in handling the unruly cultivators or the other cultivators from the celestial clans; when she tried to join them in a hunt to gather cultivation resources for her sect, she was often sexually harassed because of her beautiful looks.
In the end, she could not endure that and hence she did not join the cultivators from the other celestial clans for any hunts. This reduced the cultivation resources of the Orthodox Sword Sect and she would barely support the sect. This caused many of the protégés to quit the sect for a better future.
In the past Ji Yuan would always find a way to maintain the sect even though she was often perplexed how her old master got his spirit stones.
Naturally she did not know that many of the sect leaders and elders of the Five Heavens Peaks owed their lives to Ji Yuan and they had even secretly formed a secret fraternity to go tomb raiding.
Of course Ji Yuan and the others would never let their protégés know about it because they were all taught by their old masters to do so; this was a secret among the sect masters and their close associates only.
This was not an honorable thing so Ji Yuan did not want Chengxi to know that Guo Taiming and many other sect leaders from the Five Heavens Peaks were raiding the tombs of the other celestial sects nearby.
At one time, Guo Taiming and Ji Yuan had even raided Guo Taiming’s patriarch tomb too due to dire finances. Guo Taiming had to pretend that he did not ‘see’ or ‘hear’ anything. It was extremely lame since he was his own sect’s sect master.
That was why Ji Yuan was never upset with Guo Taiming for his offensive and insulting remarks. In order to solve his finances and many others, Guo Taiming was even generous to the point of allowing them to raid his own patriarch tomb.
But that is really how poor the cultivators and sect leaders of the Five Heavens Peaks really are.
Fairy Ye Chengxi life blood had come from Jiajia when she had founded the Emperor Hall Sect and she had supplied Chengxi with generous loans to help her to maintain the Orthodox Sword Sect.
No one knows what was the background of Xia Jiaqing who had found the Emperor Hall Sect or the origin of her wealth. All they know was, this new Palace Mistress of the Emperor Hall Sect was really rich and many of the cultivators from the Five Heavens Peaks had flocked to her banner as their own sects could not support them anymore.
Fairy Ye Chengxi still remembered the first time that she had been to the Emperor Hall Sect and she was shocked to see the many beautiful palaces that were seemingly built at a lavish cost. She was not the only one and all the other cultivators from the rest of the Five Heavens Peaks were also shocked by the wealth of this new sect.
However many of the cultivators from this new sect were also unruly cultivators with dubious background.
As Fairy Ye Chengxi hoped to see her old master again, she was forced to endure humiliations after humiliations by these cultivators who were interested in her peerless heavenly looks. But as things got worse each time, Jiajia would always step in in a timely fashion.
At that time she had thought that these cultivators were acting under Jiajia to harass her but at the same time, she was confused if Jiajia was really helping her or not since these cultivators had kept coming.
The truth was that Jiajia had little control over these cultivators who had their own political camps and she was reluctant to kill them as she was in a strange place with strange customs. Moreover this was Ji Yuan’s home mountains and therefore she was willing to close one eye so that they would be willing to repent. Many never did and eventually Jiajia killed them all before she quit the Five Heavens Peaks for good.
This had been a cultural shock for Jiajia as these cultivators were all expert liars, promising her time and again not to harass Fairy Ye Chengxi but they would find one way or another to do so.
That was when Shangguan Yan had volunteered to go to the Emperor Hall Sect to ease the pressure for Fairy Ye Chengxi and to find out more about the intentions of the Emperor Hall Sect.
Fairy Ye Chengxi never knew that her Sister Yan’Er has always idolized Ji Yuan as well and she is willing to sacrifice her happiness to keep the Orthodox Sword Sect because this represented the only memory of their old master together even though he may never return.
Imagine the pleasant surprise that were from Fairy Ye Chengxi’s and Shangguan Yan’s when their old master had suddenly returned without his beard and without his golden celestial eyes; they suspected that he may have lost his cultivation realm level as he no longer had any golden eyes but in their hearts, they still secretly idolized him.
But none of them had the courage to tell Ji Yuan that they all know who he was from day one because they knew that Ji Yuan would surely leave them if they tell him they had recognized his beardless self.
It was not because they know that Ji Yuan had prided his beard a lot but because their old master had always trained them to be independent and he was often not at the Five Heavens Peaks but exploring the trials and visiting the other nearby celestial clans.
He would often say, “My own sect isn’t exactly a safe place for me. Even the trials are safer than my own sect. Haha.”
His remarks would often cause them to be bewildered. Because to Fairy Ye Chengxi and Shangguan Yan, their own sect is the safest place and it is where they have grown up together.
Of course they did not know that Ji Yuan would be dogged by the Evil Cultivation Palace from time to time due to something that he had done in the past.
Therefore they were all hoping that he would stay for much longer in his own sect. They really did not mind that he was no longer a golden celestial anymore.
But it turned out that Ji Yuan was merely hiding his golden celestial state of divinity using a mystic profound art that he had stolen from Little Princess while he was in a secret base of the Evil Cultivation Palace; his breakthrough was actually a great success minus a little hiccup that caused him to lose his beard and he was a half-step saint when he had exited his cultivation retreat, becoming the only saint in the Five Heavens Peaks in many thousands of years and the strongest cultivator in the Five heavens Peaks.
But of course Ji Yuan never know that Jiajia was stronger than him at that time.
Jiajia knew that all the cultivators, including the four golden supremacy elders were actually not his match one to one even if he was not at his peak because Ji Yuan is a high level sword saint and that he was only playing them until he had recovered his profound strength.
But she did not expose him.
Jiajia was able to know that Ji Yuan had been hiding his true cultivation level because she is a great saintess; she can probe his inner spiritual sea with her secret profound art that only a great saintess can master.
Ji Yuan’s cultivation disguise actually cannot work against a great saintess with formidable divine sense. But to the four elders of the Emperor Hall Sect, he could fool them.
When Fairy Ye Chengxi and Shangguan had both married Ji Yuan, the blemish in their soul sea was lifted and their cultivation level had quickly advanced. It was because Ji Yuan had always been an anchor of their soul sea.
When Ji Yuan while using the alias Yuan Ji had told Fairy Ye Chengxi to abandon the Orthodox Sword Sect, Chengxi refused because she was only telling him half the truth.
She had told him, “This one principle is the anchor of my soul sea. I will never be able to drop it.” But she was actually referring to Ji Yuan. She will never drop him from her soul sea.
The same goes to Shangguan Yan as well.
So when finally Ji Yuan had finally confessed to them who he was just before his death duel with the Divine Palace Master of the Hundred Flower Divine Palace, the dark blemishes that were in the hearts of both Fairy Ye Chengxi and Shangguan Yan had finally broken free, allowing them to advance in their cultivation realms and they were able to become a golden supremacy and golden celestial respectively.
Their heart demons for their life and death tribulations were actually Ji Yuan their old master and they both hid a terrible secret that they had both known who ‘Yuan Ji’ true identity was all along.
Fairy Ye Chengxi was now saying to Jiajia. “You can’t leave us. We may not be as strong as your protectors but we are all your sisters now.”
Shangguan Yan was smiling. “Yan’Er may not be strong but I can always contribute my ideas to Sister Jiajia.”
Jiajia shuddered lightly as she looked at everyone with a deep sigh. “Everyone…sisters…”
Ling Tianshui winked her eyes, “Hey! Don’t forget about me here!”
Xue Qianxue chuckled with great loveliness. “Although our group here may not be as formidable as Ji Yuan and our other sisters inside the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth but our group is definitely the smarter one!”
Saintess Yuluo laughed softly. “We are definitely the smarter group and we can pool our brains together to outwit any opponents.”
Indeed Saintess Yuluo is right; their group consists of all the smartest maidens.