Mount Huancang was located at the junction of the West Spirit Illusion Continent and the Qianyuan Continent where the Kingdom of Ning was situated. Surrounded by continuous mountain ranges, it naturally isolated the West Spirit Illusion Continent from the Qianyuan Continent. For ordinary mortals without cultivation who wished to pass through, they would certainly need a cultivator to lead the way, as otherwise it would be harder than reaching heaven. The West Spirit Illusion Continent and the Qianyuan Continent faced each other, but the gap in spiritual energy between them was just like that between cultivators and mortals, both being worlds apart. Even if the Heavenly Dao was declining nowadays, cultivators were not people whom mortals dared to provoke easily.
Except for fools like Zou Shaoyan, as this kind of person attracted beatings no matter where he was.
The north of Mount Huancang connected to Woyun Peak, while the south bordered Mount Lanwen, where the scenery was quite good. In the past, many sects liked going to the Qianyuan Continent to select disciples of suitable age, testing their aptitude before returning by flying boat from here to broaden the horizon of newly enrolled disciples.
Yan Baichuan and his party arrived at the foot of Mount Huancang, only to see several disciples wearing sect attire standing in front of the entrance leading up the mountain. Yan Baichuan raised an eyebrow, as Mount Huancang did not have this tradition in the past, so since when did they start collecting toll fees?
Lingyun had clearly traveled plenty over these dozen years, explaining in a low voice to the group, “Ever since that grand battle, Mount Huancang was tainted by yin energy, which did not disperse for a long time, and I heard that now only broken walls and ruins remain inside. The location of this place is special, so those sects reached a consensus to take turns sending people to keep watch, so as to avoid accidents.”
Having finished speaking, Lingyun glanced at the cultivators at the foot of the mountain, saying, “With the Taiji symbol embroidered on their clothes and swords without tassels, looking at it from their attire, today’s watch seems to belong precisely to the disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion.”
Yan Baichuan looked toward those two disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion, always feeling that the clothes on their bodies looked somewhat familiar. After recalling with a frown for a moment, he indeed dug out a person who used a sword similar to theirs from his memory.
The former direct disciple of the Sect Master of the Shangyuan Sect, Pei Wuji of the Wufeng Sword.
Yan Baichuan had an extremely poor impression of the Shangyuan Sect. In his view, the Shangyuan Sect was a gang of bastards who sucked the blood of mortals to nourish themselves, being hypocritical to the extreme. Yet a lotus could still grow out of mud, and as for moral character, no one could say for sure, at least Pei Wuji was an exception in the Shangyuan Sect.
Pei Wuji possessed exceptionally high talent, being a person whom Yan Baichuan rarely regarded as a rival, but before Yan Baichuan died, he was still the head disciple of the Shangyuan Sect, though for some reason he got involved with the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion.
This guy, when practicing sword techniques in the past, was always nagging about how the Great Dao was simple and how man and sword were one. Yan Baichuan was usually exhausted enough just from killing ghosts, yet still had to be issued battle challenges by him from time to time, and as long as he did not respond, Pei Wuji would chase behind his tail to compete with him in killing ghosts, being a total battle maniac.
Thinking of Pei Wuji, Yan Baichuan walked toward those two disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion with complex feelings, asking in a grand and careless manner, “Two little brothers, what relation does Pei Wuji have with you?”
The two disciples exchanged a glance, and the one with a hot temper drew out his long sword directly to point at Yan Baichuan, his face filled with anger, “How dare you name our Sect Master directly!”
“Aren’t names meant for others to call, why must little brother get angry?” Young people were youthful and aggressive, so Yan Baichuan did not take his anger to heart in the slightest.
The disciple beside him held him back, cupping his hands to the group, “Apologies, I am Chengfeng, a disciple of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion, and beside me is my junior brother, Chengguang. Chengguang, do not draw your sword against others at will.”
Chengguang let out a ‘tsh’, putting away his sword reluctantly. Yan Baichuan caught a glance of the sword in Chengguang’s hand, letting out a laugh, “Oh, the edge is sharpened, could it be that fellow has opened his mind?”
Chengfeng drew out his own sword along the momentum, explaining with a smile, “Chengguang and I do not have high cultivation, and in the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion currently, only the Sect Master is worthy of carrying the Wufeng Sword.”
Yan Baichuan came to a sudden realization that it was only a dozen years after his death, and the foundation of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion was not deep, with this generation of disciples barely having grown up, so it was no wonder.
Gazing at Mount Huancang behind the two men, Yan Baichuan asked him, “We want to go to the other side, what, is passage not allowed now?”
Chengfeng showed a difficult expression, but it was still the frank and outspoken Chengguang who stated the reason, “You couldn’t possibly not know, right? Recently, major sects have all been selecting disciples in the Qianyuan Continent, so to prevent ghosts from mixing in among them, we naturally have to send people to keep watch. If you want to pass through, fine, unless you have tokens or proof from major sects, otherwise you can only wait until it ends before going over.”
The territory of the Qianyuan Continent was vast, and the Kingdom of Ning was merely one country within it. Jin You had an ill premonition in his heart, “Then how long until it ends?”
Chengguang stood holding his sword, saying with a fair bit of gloating, “It only started three days ago, I don’t know when it will end.” Serves him right, the Sect Master had superb sword techniques, being honorable and noble, so how could he be named directly by that person dressed in short garments who acted so casually!
Jin You cupped his hands to the two men, “Could the two of you make a concession, the few of us truly have important matters and cannot afford to waste this time.”
Chengfeng looked at the group apologetically, so they had no choice but to leave this place temporarily.
Jin You looked at Mount Huancang not far away with somewhat of a headache, asking Yan Baichuan, “What to do, shall we force our way through?”
Yan Baichuan remembered Pei Wuji, abandoning this idea, “Forget it, they are Pei Wuji’s disciples after all, so leave him some face, lest he knows I returned and asks me to fight every few days, unable to run away.” If the ones keeping watch were disciples of another sect, Yan Baichuan might have forced his way through long ago, rather than talking nonsense with people here.
Jin You also knew that personality of Pei Wuji’s, agreeing immensely with Yan Baichuan’s words. Moreover, the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion was established for only a dozen years, so it was better to cause less trouble for Pei Wuji.
Around Mount Huancang, there were only mountains besides mountains, and right now, apart from Woyun Peak, only Mount Lanwen was left to bypass through. Woyun Peak had excellent scenery, where standing on the peak looking down at the mountains and rivers had a unique flavor, but its terrain was extremely high. Mount Lanwen was quite the opposite, where the terrain of the whole mountain was not as high as Woyun Peak, and the whole mountain was lingering with a faint fog all year round, being much more desolate compared to Woyun Peak, with very few people going there even during the day.
Having delayed quite some time earlier waiting for Lingyun to refine her artifact in the Forest of No Return, right now Yan Baichuan and Jin You unanimously decided to go up the mountain from the more trouble-saving Mount Lanwen, bypassing Mount Huancang to head for the West Spirit Illusion Continent, which would take less time.
The mountain name of Mount Lanwen faintly carried a scholar’s aura, but the scene inside after stepping in was completely unlike the beauty implied by its name. The trees in the mountain generally grew tall, with poplars, willows, and banyans, several tree species that should not have grown in the same patch of soil now surviving on Mount Lanwen in a bizarre yet harmonious way. The branches and leaves at the top of the trees were dense, covering the sky tightly, so that even stepping in during the day gave a false impression as if it were night.
The group stepped slowly into Mount Lanwen, yet a kind of faint, subtle yin energy kept lingering around the surroundings, like snooping, yet never daring to come forward the whole time. Walking in front, Yan Baichuan was almost tripped by something, looking down only to discover it was the root of a banyan tree, climbing on the ground in a tangled mess.
Yan Baichuan cut off one of the gnarled roots, and a stream of water flowed out from the root system, where who knows how much moisture was stored. Raising his eyes to look, there were still many such obstructive root systems on Mount Lanwen, crisscrossing and tangling until it was impossible to distinguish how many banyan tree roots there were.
Walking on like this, it was estimated not to be much more trouble-saving than climbing Woyun Peak. But right now, having already walked here, they could only go deeper inside to see if there would be any changes in the path.
Yan Baichuan carried his blade on his shoulder to clear the way in front, while Jin You followed behind using water flow to sweep away scattered branches and leaves. The two worked together seamlessly, and before long, they truly cleared a path leading deep inside. Jin You also withdrew the water flow in his hand, fanning himself with his fan as he complained half-truthfully and half-falsely, “Others get paid for doing work, yet we are working for a mountain for free here.”
Lingyun had been keeping her head down to observe the marks on the ground, raising her head only when hearing Jin You speak, “There is something strange in this mountain, be careful.”
They knew this mountain was somewhat strange from the moment they entered the mountain, but Jin You’s attention was all on the eye-catching trees and annoying tree roots before his eyes, having not paid attention to what was beneath his feet instead. Looking down at this moment, he also discovered something was wrong, immediately raising his head and narrowing his eyes to look at the leaves above his head, “Walking all the way just now, did you hear any sounds of insects chirping or birds calling?”
Ying Chuang froze for a moment, changing back into wolf form to climb up the tree, quickly vanishing from sight amid the cover of the tree leaves.
A moment later, Ying Chuang transformed into human form and leaped back to the ground, shaking his head at the three of them, “There are no bird nests on the trees.”
Lingyun also nodded in agreement, “Not only that. In an environment as humid as Mount Lanwen, there are not even insects or ants on the ground, which is very unnatural.”
It was as if the whole mountain had no other living things besides the trees.
Ying Chuang, however, shook his head, pointing in one direction as he said, “There is something over there, but it is too far, so I couldn’t see clearly from the tree.”
Yan Baichuan carried his blade on his shoulder, turning back to look at Jin You, “Go meet it?”
“Sure.” Jin You followed behind Yan Baichuan, his speech even carrying a trace of teasing, “Just right to see who made our Ghost King do hard labor here without paying a single cent of compensation.”
Yan Baichuan let out a snickering laugh, walking toward the direction pointed by Ying Chuang.
Only before taking a few steps, Yan Baichuan suddenly stopped in his tracks, his tone somber, “This is-”
The thing Ying Chuang saw on the tree was nothing else, but mound after mound of bulging graves, with crooked tombstones standing in front of the graves, starting from before their eyes and spreading all the way up along the terrain of Mount Lanwen, densely packed as far as the eye could see, sticking tightly to the ground of Mount Lanwen like countless fish scales, which was truly terrifying.
With such a massive scale, just how many people had died on Mount Lanwen?
Ying Chuang was already pinching his nose, pointing at the grave mound in front of him that he did not want to approach in the slightest, saying in a muffled voice, “There is a stench inside, I am almost dying.”
Quick with her hands, Lingyun pinched a spell seal, and a coffin wrapped in roots and vines rose at the sound. Lingyun flipped it open to take a look, almost vomiting out her overnight meal from the stench, hurriedly shaking the bell on her wrist, wrapping the coffin back up intact, and throwing it aside to go vomit.
Jin You sealed his sense of smell at the very first moment, grabbing Ying Chuang, who was about to be stunk to death, and was currently pinching his Philtrum with force, shouting at Lingyun, “Look at the good deed you did, couldn’t you refine some elixir pills that block the sense of smell?”
Weakly supporting herself against a tree trunk, Lingyun dug out a small bottle from her Qiankun bag, shakily pouring out one for herself to eat before tossing it to Jin You, saying listlessly, “I forgot, hurry and give it to him to eat, don’t let Brother Ying Chuang be stunk to death alive.”
After Ying Chuang ate the elixir pill, he indeed felt better. Jin You let go of him, raising his head to look at Yan Baichuan on the tree, “You ran truly fast.”
Unable to count on these few people, Jin You relied on the fact that he could not smell the odor, walking up to the grave heap and squatting down to examine the tombstone in front of him.
“Zhao Shoucai, tortured and dismembered while alive, buried in Mount Lanfen.”
“Wang Duan, burned to death while still breathing, buried in Mount Lanfen.”
“Sun Dezhong, sunk into a lake for committing adultery with someone while alive, buried in Mount Lanfen.”
Jin You raised his head slowly, saying in disbelief, “The people buried here are all people who met violent deaths. And the true name of this mountain, I am afraid, is not Mount Lanwen either.”
Yan Baichuan jumped down from the tree, standing in front of the wooden coffin, his expression shifting unsteadily as he spoke the true name of this mountain, “Mount Lanfen.”