Chapter 425 - Preparations for War

A flurry of confusing thoughts swooped into his mind like the wild winds of a storm. He tried to calm himself and organize his thoughts but to no avail. The more he tried, the deeper he sank into the quagmire of confusion and perplexity.

“What’s wrong, Lil Chen?” Yu Yifeng asked, seeing him looking troubled and tensed.

Xiao Chen awoke from his catatonic stupor, his back slick with a coat of cold sweat and the fresh shirt that he just put on clung to his back. A wind blew amongst the eaves of the trees, and he felt his back tingling. He managed a shake of his head and croaked, “Where’s Senior Qingfeng? I need to ask him something.”

He needed to speak to Qingfeng about the two babies from so many years ago and ascertain his hypothesis.

Yu Yifeng nodded hastily and pointed the finger at a cluster of trees not far away, “He’s with a couple of others discussing some matter of importance. Do you want me to come with you?”

“It’s fine. I can go on my own.” He scurried over quickly and saw the flicker of a flaming hearth amongst the woods. More than thirty men, including the Elders Zi Mo and Qingfeng, Perfected Immortals Fengxi and Feng Lan, and Master Guyang, were standing around the fire, talking, and a few other acolytes watching outside the grove.

As he drew near, he heard voices saying, “These Corpse Puppets are sustained by hatred. That makes them Yin-element creatures of the foulest. No ordinary flames would be able to harm them, least of all the 12 which were former High Chieftains of the Sect. I’d daresay that this Red Sleeve would be far stronger.”

“Come to think of it, and you just reminded me of a valley in the Southern Continent — a place called the Valley of the Southern Vermilion. There’s a magical field there; the Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird. For centuries or even millennia, no one has succeeded in taming the spirit that guards this magical field… If only we could…”

Xiao Chen came over suddenly, and everyone’s head turned. “How can I help you, young friend?” Qingfeng asked him.

“My apologies, everyone, for bothering you all.” Xiao Chen looked hard at Qingfeng and asked, “There’s something that I wish to ask you about, Senior.”

Qingchen fell silent at once and looked at his peers, muttering, “Please excuse us.” He turned to Xiao Chen, “Let’s go.”

They left the grove, walking to a small expanse where no one would be listening, and Qingfeng stopped. “Is it about what happened many years ago?”

Xiao Chen looked at him, inhaling tersely. Even his calm demeanor could not entirely hide his choppy emotions. “Indeed. Please tell me more about what happened then.”

“Ahhh…” Qingfeng grimaced wearily, his head looking up at the stars as if raking his mind to remember. “It’s almost twenty years since that very day. I was a hermit in the mountains. I was working on my magic and sorcery when there was a dull thud outside my monastery. I looked out and saw under the glimmer of stars a large sarcophagus just in front of my doors.”

“And then?” Xiao Chen asked almost instantly, his face enliven with anticipation. Qingfeng sighed. “What else would you have thought? A sarcophagus, for the love of the gods! I thought some enemy of mine had come seeking vengeance! But when I opened the lid, there was a little infant just fresh out of his mother’s womb. He looked nothing different from ordinary toddlers, but I quickly noticed that his soul was damaged. Knowing that I had to be quick lest the baby dies, I thought of using some Taoist sorcery to lengthen his life. But when I removed him from the sarcophagus, he looked even more deader than before! Something within the sarcophagus is sustaining him.”

I see. Xiao Chen breathed hard. It’s the bewitched sarcophagus lying just in front of the stronghold of the Skygale Sect. It could gather Yin energies. It was used to preserve the physical body of Patriarch Guanshan, keeping it from rot and decay.

Qingfeng took a long gasp of air before he went on, “So I put him back in. But there was little to what I could do. His soul was mangled and no magic on the face of this earth can do anything to repair that. What a pitiful and short-lived existence, I thought, And there was only naught but destitution across these wildernesses. I could not bear to leave him outside, so I took him and the sarcophagus in. But the next day, sometime late in the night, I heard someone screaming for help…”

Xiao Chen frowned as Qingfeng paused briefly and continued, “I thought that someone’s life was in danger. But when I opened my doors, a man was carrying another infant in his arms. The infant’s soul was almost similarly damaged, and he was dying. That man is your father, Xiao Yifan.” He stopped and turned to look at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen batted an eyelid and pressed, “What happened next?”

“I bade your father wait outside while I took the baby into my arms. Imagine my shock when I saw that he looked completely identical to the baby in the stone sarcophagus. Completely the same that I would have thought they were twins. Their souls were both mangled, and only one of them will live. At first, I tried to tear the soul of the baby in the stone casket and fuse it with the infant your father brought. But I failed. With no other choice, I had to rip the soul of the baby your father carried and fused it with the baby in the stone casket.”

Xiao Chen breathed hard, trying to sound calm as he uttered the words, “And I was the infant in the stone sarcophagus.”

Qingfeng looked hard at Xiao Chen for seconds before he finally nodded. “Sometime later, the sarcophagus went missing. Feeling something was amiss, I began looking for clues and finally, I found… Anyway, I went to the residence of the Xiao family three years later. I spoke to your father and told me what I discovered. It was also me who had magically sealed your Spiritual Meridians, although your father knows nothing about this.”

So this is what transpired before, Xiao Chen brooded quietly. The reason why he has memories only after he was three. And the only reason was that somebody did bring him back to life using high magic to circumvent the Six Paths of Samsara.

Qingfeng looked up at the starry ceiling overhead. “Everything about us is a bestowment from our parents. You might not have been born by your parents, but they have showered and nurtured you with love and care. They are your parents still. I hope you understand that.”

“Of course, Senior,” Xiao Chen replied, nodding, “I will never be an unfilial son no matter how.”

Qingfeng stroked his beard. “You are keeping well. It’s the single most important sign of appreciation for all that they’ve done for you. Remember that. Well, it’s getting late. Let us go back.”

They withdrew back into the forest and found Yu Yifeng, and the others still awake. Luo Shangyan asked when he came back, “You found Senior Qingfeng and spoke to him?”

Xiao Chen nodded and sat down on the soft mushy grass. He said to Yu Yifeng, “Brother Yifeng, you mentioned before that Senior Fengxi had sent for Perfected Immortal Tian Yi of Kunlun? Who is he?”

“That’s the Leader of the Kunlun Sect. The Kunlun Sect is a mage brotherhood that prefers to reside away from the hustle and bustle of the common world, and their leader, Perfected Immortal Tian Yi, has reached the Realm of Divinity. Three hundred years ago, he already achieved the Unity of Nature and Human. With his help, I’m sure we’ll be able to save Muxue. You wait.”

Then he remembered something, “Wait, there is something…” He stopped to look around and went on in a hushed tone, “What about Senior Mo Xuan? Is he well?”

Qingyu sidled closer at the mention of Moxuan Zi. “Well… Martial Uncle Moxuan Zi is…” Yu Yifeng’s hand shot up to stop her. He looked around and edged closer. In a faint whisper, he said, “Senior Uncle Moxuan has long infiltrated into the Corpse Refinery Sect…”

Xiao Chen nodded. Moxuan Zi was known to be a man impatient with niceties and blunt in his manners, but he was never a dishonorable person and there was no reason Xiao Chen needed to doubt him.

The night drew darker, accompanied by the hissing of winds amongst the shadowy trees in the forest that brushed and caressed the hairs and bristles of the people resting. Everyone was tired, but hardly anyone slept a wink. They were anxious. Waiting for the word from the senior leaders of the Orthodox Path.

The hour slowly grew late as the Moon glided elegantly and silently across the night sky. Qingyu was already soundly asleep, her head leaning on Zhou Li’s shoulders. So was Liu Feiyan of the Xianyong Sect, whose head was similarly resting on Qin Shaoyang’s shoulder, snoring tenderly.

Xiao Chen turned to Luo Shangyan beside him and said hushedly, “You should get some rest, Senior Sister Luo.”

She looked up at him, her lips parting as if to say something, but she could not. Her head lowered and she said nothing. She could not say anything. Too much has happened in recent years, and they were no longer close like before. The divide between them only seemed to grow.

Xiao Chen sighed, his thoughts wandering back to his former days at the Sunset Peak, where the stronghold of the Three Pure Sect sat. The years were kinder and sweet then, with the three princes, Xiao Han, Shangguan Yan, and the rest of his friends… But there was nothing he could gain by dwelling on the past. Time only flows ahead and not back.

Yu Yifeng came back with more firewood for kindling. He noticed them still awake and whispered, “Have some rest. I’m afraid the discussion is a long and moot one…”

But he stopped. More than 30 senior leaders of the Cultivators’ sect had ended, and they were returning to rejoin the others. Yu Yifeng allowed the bundle of firewood he was holding to fall to the ground, and he quickly roused the rest of his fellow mages.

More than 30 of the senior leaders came back, and every one of them was likewise grim and somber, even the usually jovial Zi Mo too was strangely quiet. The debate must either had come to a moot, or the leaders had decided on a terrible choice.

Perfected Immortal Fenglan cleared his throat and began frankly, “It is open knowledge that Corpse Puppets are creatures of Yin and can only be dealt with using fire. But no ordinary flames can destroy them. We need the Samadhi True Fire, the Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird, the True Fire of the Sun, or the Divine Flames of the Noble Rose; flames richest of the Yang element. But we know only one source, the magical field of the Flames of the Southern Vermillion Bird located in a valley within the Southern Continent. It is a magical field of the most ancient, and hence it has an immensely powerful spirit keeping it…”

Magical fields of the most ancient are magical bounded fields and formation naturally-birthed by Nature since the beginning of Time and the Creation of the Domains. Unlike human-conjured magical formations, magical fields of the most ancient have Spirits, sentient and fleshly manifestations of the magical fields that keep them and guard them. The Spirits would usually wield destructive powers that no man could easily tame them. Hence, only a person with intricate knowledge and skill in the lore of magical formation could be fitting for such a task.

“Junior Brother Xiao is able to cast magical formations in an instant! He’s one of the most skillful students I know in the mastery of magical formation and field!”

No one could tender any objections. Xiao Chen was indeed the best user in the magecraft of magical formations that none of the senior leaders could contradict him. Perfected Immortal Fenglan looked at Xiao Chen, “You will need to break down the defenses of the magical formation and take the Sword of the Vermillion Bird, the relic that serves as its catalyst. Can you do it? The sword is also crucial to our preparations for the war against Red Sleeve; only it can destroy her who has more than three thousand years’ worth of Heavy Grudge.”

Xiao Chen rubbed his fingers apprehensively. Even with the support of all the mages in the world, there is no way to defeat Red Sleeve by brute force. Only the Flames of the Southern Vermilion Bird seemed to stand a chance in saving Muxue from her captivity. Tersely, Xiao Chen muttered, “I’d do my best.”

Yu Yifeng looked at him and said, “You’d need to get some rest to prepare for the journey to the Valley of the Southern Vermillion tomorrow. I’ll go with you.”

Everyone woke up in the dawn, before the morning’s dew began to dry. Perfected Immortal had summoned for his Flying-cloud Stone for their use. Before sending them off, he said, “You have only five days. Bring back the magical field as soon as possible. We need to stop Red Sleeve before the seventh day of the seventh month.”

Zi Mo came over, waving at them brusquely, “Be that as it may. I’ll go with these two whelps. We don’t want any trouble on the way there.”

Xiao Chen and Yu Yifeng naturally welcomed the company of Zi Mo. Without any more delay, they took off with the magical stone conveyance and sped towards the Southern Continent. The Valley of the Southern Vermillion was situated at the westernmost corner of the Continent. It meant that they had to traverse almost the entire length and breadth of it. They stopped many times, allowing for inspections by security personnel whenever they passed by foreign countries, which had become necessary, especially with the evil folk lurking about these days.

It was already the fourth day of the seventh month when the party of three finally reached their destination. Chirping of birds and the sweet scent of flowers and plants beckoned when they entered the skies overhead the Valley of the Southern Vermillion. It was a beautiful and tranquil place, but they also felt a strange but palpable swelter coming from the North. That must be where the magical field be.

They leaped off the Flying-cloud Stone and proceeded North. The heat only grew stronger and stronger the more they walked that even the sands and gravels were scorching their feet through the soles of their shoes. The surroundings were becoming more barren and desolate with hardly any plants or lifeforms save only for rocks and sands hot enough to fry eggs. Then a voice resounded suddenly far up ahead, “The magical formation is too hot for us, Teacher! I don’t think we’ll be able to take the Sword! We should go back!”

“No,” a frail and ancient voice retorted feebly, “I’ve come a long way for this. I’ll never leave without it…”

Xiao Chen’s face curdled with recognition. He knew these two voices only all too well.