Hua Cheng's breath was warm but his words made one's heart cold.
Hiding in the grand hall?
A thought flashed, and Xie Lian instantly hugged Hua Cheng back.
Of course he wasn't hugging him because he was afraid. If there really was someone hiding there and they haven't noticed, then that meant this was someone powerful. If that person should notice anything off, then they might be forced to make a move. Thus, if it was only Hua Cheng hugging him, being so intimate, then it would easily arouse suspicious. If both of them were embracing each other, then it might appear more normal. Xie Lian scanned their surroundings inconspicuously, and whispered, "Where do you think that person is?"
There was only one giant door to the grand hall, and that was where they entered. It was completely empty within the hall, nothing out of place, and not even a stage or box for hiding anyone. Other than them, there were only the temple attendants that were turned into stone.
The two whispered at the same time, "The shells."
The insides of those stone people were all hollow, which meant, they served as hiding spots. Humans couldn't hide there, but ghosts certainly could!
After confirming that fact, Xie Lian sensed something and looked up. When he saw a stone person about 6 meters behind Hua Cheng, his pupils shrank.
That seemed to have been a young man who had a higher status and was fairly calm. Since what these statues recorded were the deaths of the WuYong people, most were hugging their heads wailing or curled into balls, and this was one of the very few who were standing. However, what made Xie Lian notice him wasn't his pose but his face.
Although the face was blurry, but he could still see on the face of that stone person, the left side was a crescent smile and the right side was a crying face!
Xie Lian blurted, "IT'S THAT ONE!" Then he pulled out his sword and struck as Hua Cheng called out, "Gege?"
That stone person was slashed into pieces, leaving broken fragments of the shell all over the floor, however, there was nothing inside. Xie Lian didn't dare to let it slide, and turned over every piece of the shards. Hua Cheng caught his hand, "Gege! What did you see just now?"
Xie Lian picked up and showed him a few of the fragments, "San Lang, this stone person, his face... was the White No-Face's mask."
Hua Cheng's face changed slightly but still he said, "Wait a moment."
Then he gathered and put together all the pieces, reconstructing a complete face. When the two looked, they were silent.
Just now, what Xie Lian saw was clearly a half crying, half smiling demon mask, but this head that Hua Cheng had put together was a blurred face, not unlike the other stone statues.
Was it a hallucination? Or did he fall for an illusionment spell?
Sitting around wouldn't get them answers, and the two searched all over the hall, smashing every stone person. After some thought, they felt that perhaps someone had rushed to climb the mountain before them, and decided not to stick around to wait for Pei Ming, and instead went straight towards the summit.
The mountain body of the Kiln seemed to have a peculiar gravity, grounding them and forbidding them from keeping light on their feet to fly. Thus, they could only climb by foot. The higher they hiked, the steeper the path became, and the colder the air grew. First, it was a thin
layer of snow. Then, as they went up, the snow became thicker, and could almost swallow half a boot. After four hours, the accumulated snow finally went past their knees, making climbing more and more arduous.
Since they were walking nonstop, Xie Lian didn't feel cold, and was instead covered with a thin sheen of sweat, his face powdery white with red cheeks. He wiped away his sweat with the back of his hand and looked back, about to talk to Hua Cheng when suddenly, his step fell hollow, and his entire person dropped short by two feet!
His body sank into the heavy snow, and thankfully Hua Cheng had been following close behind him, and quite naturally pulled him up, "Gege, be careful."
Xie Lian stood next to him and looked back to see where he sank, and a large chunk of that spot had caved in, revealing a dark, deep hole leading to who knows where. If Xie Lian didn't grab hold of the edge in time or if Hua Cheng moved too slow, then he would've fallen in for sure. Hua Cheng added, "There are many hollow ditches in this area. I still remember their general locations so just follow close to me. Take your time and it'll be fine. Gege walked too fast just now."
So it turns out, the body of the mountain beneath the snow was quite weak, and there were large and small holes everywhere, but just how many and how deep was unknown. However, Hua Cheng actually remembered where they all were as they climbed. Xie Lian puffed a breath, "Alright. Let's stick closer together. We can't yell or make loud noises on a snowy mountain anyway, so if anything happens, it wouldn't be easy to call for help either..."
Yet unexpectedly, just as the words left his mouth, angry roars came from up ahead, "ARE YOU DONE–!!"
"..."
Which good brother dared to yell like this on such a steep and perilous snowy mountain?!
Xie Lian looked towards the sound feeling dumbfounded, and saw within that world covered with snow, there were two little black dots currently in a brawl. One of them held a longbow, shooting arrows nonstop. The other held a sabre, swinging like a tiger, striking down every single arrow. Both the blade and the arrows held a sheen of spiritual light. Both parties were shouting curses at the other, and that man holding the blade yelled, "I ALREADY SAID THAT LITTLE BASTARD WASN'T KILLED BY ME, I'M LOOKING FOR THEM TOO!"
It was Nan Feng and Fu Yao!
Without going into why they were here too, Xie Lian was about to blurt out "shut up!" but then, his reacted in time and swallowed it before he yelled too. If he roared the same way they did, and the three of them screamed at each other, how could all the snow on the mountain still be bound???
Hua Cheng hugged his arms and cocked an eyebrow, "Don't they know that yelling on a snowy mountain would cause an avalanche?"
"They can't be that foolish?!" Xie Lian said, "Maybe they know, but they're like that... when they're angry they stop caring for anything!"
Nan Feng and Fu Yao were both extremely pissed off, cursing while fighting, but because they were too far away, their words were broken and what they were fighting over couldn't be heard, and they completely did not notice there were others who had come.
Xie Lian wanted to rush up to pull them apart, but with the heavy snow dragging down his pace and deep holes under, there was no way he could immediately make it there to stop them. Xie Lian ran for two steps before he stepped into another hole, and he stopped, "We can't just let them keep fighting like this!"
Just as he said so, a silver butterfly flew by like a sharp arrow, and Xie Lian was startled at first, but soon after he relaxed.
Good idea! If neither of them could make it there in time, then why not just let a wraith butterfly fly up and pass word first?
That silver butterfly's speed was extremely fast as expected, and it only took three shouts before it made it to the other side. However, before Xie Lian had tried to pass word, he saw Hua Cheng's expression grew cold. He noticed something wrong and asked, "What's wrong?"
The smile on Hua Cheng's lips had disappeared completely, replaced by a face that was as frigid as this snowy mountain. Xie Lian pressed, "San Lang, what's going on?"
Hua Cheng's lips twitched and didn't answer before Xie Lian suddenly felt panic for some reason, and whipped his head around to look to the top, his eyes widening.
Up ahead by the snowy bluffs, a giant chunk of white mountain body trembled, then collapsed.
On the other end, Nan Feng and Fu Yao who were in the heat of the fight also sensed this soundless pressure, and both looked up, and finally noticed what was about to happen.
The next moment. That mountain mass was like a thousand mile embankment, when it broke it broke completely, carrying with it a wave of snow tsunami, rumbling and rolling as it pushed down towards them!
They really caused an avalanche!!!
Xie Lian grabbed Hua Cheng's hand, turned and ran. But after making his first couple steps he remembered the other two further up ahead were much closer to the charging avalanche and stopped in his steps abruptly, looking back. Sure enough, the other two had ceased fire to flee together. Fu Yao didn't run for very far before stepping into a hole, over half of his body sunken, and snow buried over his chest. Nan Feng ran faster than him but also looked back, hesitating for a moment seeming to want to save him. However, that wave of snow had already attacked!
The moment right before they were going to be swallowed, Xie Lian released RuoYe. That white silk bandage leapt out into the distance and took no time to accurately looped around Fu Yao and Nan Feng, yanking them up. Hua Cheng said darkly, "Gege! Leave them, don't bother!"
Xie Lian held onto RuoYe tightly, dragging the two as he ran, "I can't! They might fall into a hole and get buried by snow!"
"Too late!" Hua Cheng said.
"What?! So fast??" Xie Lian exclaimed.
He looked up, and that overbearing shadow came crashing down overhead.
When Xie Lian turned back to save Nan Feng and Fu Yao, that moment he delayed and the wave of snow swallowed him whole. The cold and heavy wave of snow surged without rest, breaking him and Hua Cheng apart. Xie Lian was falling all over from the force, tumbling down with the white wave, but still managed to keep struggling somehow. However, there was too much snow, the surge too powerful,, and time and time again covered over Xie Lian's head, bringing series of sudden suffocation. In the end, Xie Lian shouted, "SAN LANG!", unable to hang on, and was buried down after all, disappearing within the icy snow current.
...
An unknown amount of time had passed before the snowy mountain was finally calmed.
A good moment later, in that field of flattened snow, a hand suddenly bursted out!
This hand felt all around the snow, then, an arm poked out, then a shoulder, then finally, a head. Soon after, a person crawled out. He shook out his head and heaved a long sigh. It was Xie Lian.
To forcibly dig himself out of that heavy layer of accumulated snow felt about the same as digging himself out of a grave. Xie Lian's face and hands were all red from frostbite, pretty much numb, but he only rubbed his face a couple times before looking up, looking lost.
In that blanket of whiteness, there was not a trace of red.
However, Xie Lian couldn't just yell randomly either. If he caused another avalanche then everything would be over, so he could only rise to his feet, walking aimlessly alone in that snowy world, and called out in a small voice as he walked, "San Lang? Nan Feng? Fu Yao?"
He was clearly going in the same direction they were going before, but now, it seemed to be much colder than when he and Hua Cheng walked together. RuoYe was also unwrapped from his hand. Xie Lian was puzzled; RuoYe shouldn't have unwrapped. Even if he let go, RuoYe would still bind itself to him, so what happened?
He knew something was wrong but he couldn't tell what, and continued walking in a daze. Suddenly from within the snowy winds ahead, someone had emerged. White robes black hair, his sleeves flapping in the wind as he walked over slowly with his head down.
Seeing this traveler, Xie Lian was delighted and went forward, "My friend! You..."
But just as those words left his lips, that man looked up. On his face, was a white and chilling mask, half of it smiling, the other half crying.
It was like someone had stabbed him with a blade, and Xie Lian screamed.
And after he screamed, he opened his eyes and shot up. It was after taking in some harsh breaths before he shakenly noticed that at that moment, he wasn't walking in the snowy mountain at all, but was lying in a dark, shadowy place.
So it was a dream.
No wonder. Something always felt off in dreams, and Xie Lian exhaled a long breath as he relaxed, wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead. After feeling things about for a bit, he found beneath him was rocks covered with a blanket of grass, Fang Xin hung at his waist and RuoYe was clearly wrapped around his arm. Xie Lian steadied himself and ignited a palm torch, illuminating the place he was sitting in, calling out at first moment, "San Lang? Are you there?"
Yet unexpectedly, the moment the flames brightened the place, he instantly noticed right next to him in the darkness stood another person, soundless and silent.
This was no small surprise, and Xie Lian was instantly covered in sweat, his hand on Fang Xin immediately. That someone should be standing at such a close distance to him, there was no way he couldn't have noticed!
However, when he looked closer, that cold sweat went away. Turns out, it wasn't alive, but a stone statue.
And, it wasn't the same as those stone statues of the victims fallen in the volcano eruption; this was clearly a sculpture, and it was that of a divine statue.
With the palm torch in hand, Xie Lian went around once and verified that the place he laid was a cavern. Within this cavern, a divine statue was erected and worshipped, its pose elegant, the folds of its robes and flowing lines were all sculpted exquisitely. However, there was something peculiar.
The face of this divine statue was covered by a light veil.
That light veil flowed like mist, and while it covered the face of the divine statue, quite strange, but it wasn't ugly. Instead, it added a mysterious beauty. However, Xie Lian had never seen a heavenly official whose statues had faces covered, and he reached out unconsciously to pull that light veil off when a voice came from behind, "Gege."
Xie Lian whipped around and saw at the entrance of the cavern was a figure in red who appeared out of nowhere. It was Hua Cheng. The face of that divine statue was instantly tossed to the back of his mind and he rushed up, "San Lang! Thank goodness, I was just wondering where you were. Are you alright? Are you hurt? That avalanche just now was too sudden."
Hua Cheng walked in, "I'm fine. How's gege?"
"Nothing is ever the matter with me." Xie Lian said, "What is this place?"
After exiting the cavern did Xie Lian notice there was a long corridor outside. It didn't seem short, and who knows where it lead to. It seemed, this was a fairly large underground space. Xie Lian was already used to Hua Cheng having the answers to everything, yet this time, Hua Cheng replied, "I don't know. Most likely under the snowy mountain."
Xie Lian was amazed, "And here I thought it was a shelter San Lang found. I can't believe not even you know where this is?"
"No." Hua Cheng said.
Well this was a first.
Hua Cheng had memorized where every ditch was on the mountain path but he didn't know what this place was. This cave wasn't small either, had he never discovered it before?
Xie Lian couldn't help but feel a little perplexed but didn't press on, and instead raised his palm torch higher, "How did we get here?"
Hua Cheng also summoned a few silver butterflies, letting them flutter about with faint light, and replied softly, "Maybe we all made a misstep and fell through a ditch. It can't have been someone who put us here intentionally."
Hearing him say so, Xie Lian couldn't help but recall that dream he had just now, and a slight chill went down his spine. Recalling another thing, he asked, "We're here, then where's Nan Feng and Fu Yao?"
Hua Cheng replied unsympathetically, "Probably buried in the snow. Who cares, they're heavenly officials. This won't kill them."
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Even if this won't kill them, if no one could help dig them out, then it still doesn't feel great buried for a few decades. Maybe they've fallen in here
too? Let's search for them. Oh by the way, San Lang, when your silver butterfly went forward earlier, what did you hear them say?"
Hua Cheng snickered, "It's just meaningless arguments, what else can it be?"
Xie Lian didn't think it was that simple, otherwise Hua Cheng's sudden change of expression when that wraith butterfly flew over couldn't be explained. Even now, while Hua Cheng was snickering, his eyes were unkind. However, if he wasn't going to tell, then Xie Lian wasn't going to ask. The two walked along the long corridor of the stone cave.
Only having walked for a while did they discover that the formation of this stone cave underneath the snow was much more complex than they thought. It wasn't just the one path going all the way, but there were many forks in the road going to various other caverns, big and small.
Within every cavern there was a divine statue; some tall, some short, some boyish some youthful, the robes were ever changing, the poses all different: reposing, standing, sitting composedly, sword wielding, dancing, all sorts. The level of skill were different too; some of the sculpting work was rough and unrefined while others were so extraordinarily exquisite they could be called otherworldly. They probably weren't sculpted by the same person.
As Xie Lian looked along the way, he couldn't help but exclaim in awe, "This... this place is a Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. The one who built this cave must be an incredibly devout believer."
However, all the divine statues had the same peculiarity. All of their faces were covered by a light veil.
Some had their entire bodies covered, exceedingly strange. Xie Lian really was quite curious, and wanted to pull off the veil of one of the divine statues to see its face, but Hua Cheng spoke up behind him "Gege, I suggest you don't."
Xie Lian looked back and asked, "Why not? I think these statues are a bit weird."
Hua Cheng approached him and explained, "It's precisely because it's weird that it's best you don't. If this face was covered, then there's a reason why it's covered. The head is the place where a person's spiritual energy is gathered, so if the veil is removed, who knows what would happen with all the spiritual energy gathered by these weird statues."
His speech sounded pretty out there, but it made sense. If the veil was removed and woken something within those statues, then things wouldn't be funny anymore. Xie Lian contemplated then dropped his hand in the end, "I was only curious which deity this is, that's all."
Hua Cheng said lightly, "This is the Kingdom of WuYong, so it's probably the Crown Prince of WuYong. Nothing amazing."
However, Xie Lian said, "I don't think so."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Hua Cheng asked.
Xie Lian gazed at him, "From all the murals we've seen along the way, the style of dress of the Crown Prince of WuYongAnd the people of WuYong are very different from the style of dress of these divine statues. So, I think these statues probably have nothing to do with the Crown Prince of WuYong. In fact, this might not have been sculpted by someone of WuYong."
Hua Cheng smiled brightly at him, "Is that right? Gege really has an eye for detail."
Xie Lian also smiled, "Nah. It's just, the style of these statues, whether it be the sculpting, the dress, the details in which the flowing lines are carved, they all look more the style of the later periods. For example... XianLe's style."
Hua Cheng raised his brows, "It seems, gege is also deeply gifted in this area."
"Nah. One would gain some knowledge after seeing so much of something like statues, it's nothing." Xie Lian said.
Although he couldn't quite put his fingers on it, but his instincts told him that since earlier, there's been something off about Hua Cheng. And after having talked to this point, Hua Cheng was starting to become subtly nervous.