Chapter 12 The Evil Sparrow Attacked the City

At the moment Zhao Xiang’er jumped into the well, the blue-and-white sedan with swaying white curtains just passed the arch of the imperial city. The young emperor had already stood in front of the hall, waiting there. This imperial city, which was originally enveloped by clouds, gradually became noisy after the arrival of the small sedan. Ning Changjiu said, “It should be the immortal master who comes from outside the secular world. Shall we go and have a look?” Ning Xiaoling’s bright eyes were full of admiration. When she heard Ning Changjiu’s words, she shook her head subconsciously. “It’s not a monster with three heads and six arms. What’s to look at?” After that, Ning Xiaoling sat up from the lakeshore, clapped her hands, and walked in the direction opposite the city gate. Ning Changjiu looked at her slender and petite back with his eyes slightly narrowed. ... In the middle of the Immortal Forest, the north of the imperial city, the gate of the wizard patriarch’s palace was slowly opened, and the disciples in sacrificial costumes were holding the memorials to the throne in their hands, entering and exiting the palace one after another. The scene just looked like a morning court meeting. They had the records of all the things that happened in the imperial city these days. The wizard patriarch, an old man, sat on the gray jade lotus seat. The ancient book he never let go of was opened on his knees at this moment. The memorials in front of him were all made of wooden blocks stuck with paper notes, which were already piled into three stacks. The wizard patriarch stretched out the index finger with an extremely long nail and curled it up. Instantly, the memorials just floated in the air and the notes were unfolded, showing in front of him page by page. The wizard patriarch glanced over them slowly and gradually knitted his eyebrows. “At midnight, Zhao Shisong was assassinated and then saved by a young Taoist priest. Tang Yu is missing.” “All the people in the junior general’s mansion have been sick. Some servants committed suicide by jumping into the lake after having nightmares around 2 a.m.” “The emperor has never left the palace anymore and there was a dispute over whether to start the Rosefinch Formation to protect the city at today’s morning court meeting.” “Song Ce has known his place well, who only acts under the emperor’s orders. Nothing is wrong with his conduct.” “Ning Changjiu and Ning Xiaoling toured around the imperial city with Zhao Shisong at 7:45 a.m., followed by strange birds in the sky, but nothing abnormal happened.” “The assassins who entered the city from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. are already in place, but due to the formation outside the imperial preceptor’s mansion, we can’t get in and acquire more information.” The wizard patriarch glanced swiftly and gazed at the last note. “From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., a blue-and-white sedan entered the city, which should be carrying an immortal master from outside the world.” The wizard patriarch frowned and muttered to himself, “So fast?” “A blue-and-white sedan? Is it the person from the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect?” The wizard patriarch was shocked. People knew very little about those immortal sects outside the world. Only when they reached his realm could they know some secrets. Almost all immortal sects were carefully enshrined by various states. In order to compete for the right to enshrine some immortal sects, countless wars broke out among many states. Those who could join the immortal sect were basically brilliant talents capable of fostering an innate spirit. Most of the immortal sects would choose to stand by towards the affairs of the secular world. They only took action when a state was in a critical situation. But Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect... It was not within the territory of the state of Zhao at all. When Blood Feather broke into the imperial city and no immortals came down the mountain to stop it, the wizard patriarch realized that the immortal had abandoned the state of Zhao. But today, the master of the immortal sect who lived far away from the secular world finally appeared. Was this rebellion of the imperial city even more complicated than he imagined? As the wizard patriarch was pondering, he was rubbing the edge of the ancient book with his fingers with a complicated look. Then he glanced at the young man kneeling beside him and said, “Qiu Li, do you know what realm the immortal master is at?” The young man named Qiu Li replied respectfully, “I only know that it’s a woman. The small blue-and-white sedan appears to be a powerful barrier separating her from the outside. Even the Hunmu Bead can’t detect her realm.” The wizard patriarch nodded and asked, “How are the preparations going?” Qiu Li replied, “We will kill Zhao Xiang’er once she gets out of the imperial preceptor’s mansion.” The wizard patriarch added with a nod, “Don’t fail again. I’ll take care of the rest.” Qiu Li knelt on the ground, hesitated for a moment, and still voiced out his doubt, “Sir, the imperial preceptor’s mansion... Is there any other possibility of coming out?” The wizard patriarch closed his eyes in meditation. He looked up at the light leaked from the ceiling and then shook his head, saying, “Impossible.” ... ... In the imperial preceptor’s mansion, the well rippled heavily at first and then it was restored to peace soon, as if an ordinary woman jumped into the well in despair with nothing else. After Zhao Xiang’er plunged into the water, the water curtains rippled away layer by layer, which appeared somewhat sharp and slit her fine red hairband and some parts of her dress, even leaving some faint blood traces on her fair face. The black dress spread out in the water and then sank suddenly. Zhao Xiang’er paid no heed to the water curtains that looked like a formation. As she fell fast, she broke through the barriers and plunged downward. Shortly after that, her hand touched the cold stone wall. The girl coughed lightly and vomited a mouthful of blood, which was taken away by the flowing water and became a blooming flower in the dark. After she touched the stone wall, she tapped against the ground and swam towards the deeper darkness. She used to come down to the well when she was a child, but her memory at that time was kind of a blur. She just remembered that she swam to an extremely empty underground palace. Now the water here was apparently darker than before. As she touched the water, she could feel an annoying chill and thickness. In the depths of the ancient well, the surrounding area was suddenly open. The turbulent undercurrent rushing across the stone path was just like a big sword lying across ahead while the opposite bank of the undercurrent was faintly glittering with dim flames. Zhao Xiang’er used the umbrella as a sword and struck a slash from the height. Amidst the splatter of water, the girl plunged into the water and crossed the flowing water. At the opposite bank of the water was the artificial wall. Some light came through a tunnel in the wall. On both sides of the entrance, there stood two giant golden-armored statues holding huge axes. Zhao Xiang’er got the strength by stepping on the wall and managed to jump onto the tunnel. The moment she set foot, the two golden-armored statues seemed to come back to life and then gave a slash with their huge axes. Not swayed at all, Zhao Xiang’er went straight through them and happened to parry the two axes. When the axes were slashed down, the two gold-armored statues hit each other. The sound of the statues being smashed into pieces arose behind her. The two huge axes were connected together in the air and turned into a flying blade rolling on the ground. It came from the tunnel swiftly and rushed towards the back of the young girl. Zhao Xiang’er seemed rather familiar with the mechanism here. When the axes rolled at her like a whirlwind, she immediately jumped up and pressed her body against the top of the tunnel. The huge axes rolled across beneath her. It happened that she was three feet away from the ground. And the wind blown by the axes was somewhat piercing but it didn’t hurt her. She landed on the ground. In her heart, she was aware that the huge axes seemed to kill her but they were actually to alarm the being deep in the underground palace. On both sides of the tunnel, there were rootless and sourceless flames floating in the air. At the end of the tunnel was an open underground palace. The underground palace appeared like a battlefield for monsters, spreading out circularly in a ladder style. At the very center of the underground palace, there was a huge and dark circular furnace. The furnace was connected to six iron chains. The four of them led to the four tunnels towards the underground palace; one of them was directly inserted into the dome of the underground palace, and the last one was buried deep underground. With the arrival of Zhao Xiang’er, something seemed to open the eyes in the center of the almost dark stove. The little red flame flared up. Immediately, the hollow circular copper furnace was illuminated by the burning flames. The copper furnace was so huge that it almost filled half of the underground palace. Hence, Zhao Xiang’er’s eyes and brows turned pink once the flame flared up. The flame’s layers were blurry, from extremely deep scarlet to faint pink. It was constantly changed into different shapes. Amidst the flame, there seemed to be a pair of eyes. The eyes were staring at the girl whose clothes were not dried, in which there were absolute heat and cold. At a closer look, it would be found that the center of the flame seemed to be ripped open by something, exposing a huge sword-like gap. The watermarks on Zhao Xiang’er’s dress were dried instantly. She could feel the great pressure just by standing here even outside the immortal’s seal. Likewise, more than ten years ago, when she stumbled across this place for the first time, she was directly shocked down by the momentum, thus lying prostrate on the ground and unable to move. She was not taken away by her mother until one day later. Now she was no longer the little girl back then, but the pressure appeared even more real. “Long time no see,” Zhao Xiang’er said with a smile. The flame gradually calmed down. An extremely old voice came slowly like an old donkey pulling the mill. “Oh, it’s you.” It stared at Zhao Xiang’er quietly and asked, “Where is that woman?” Zhao Xiang’er also said calmly, “My mother has passed away.” The flame rose instantly, filling the walls of the furnace as if it was about to burst out at any time. “What? Dead? Don’t you lie to me! How can she die? Who can kill her?” More than ten years ago, it saw this little girl entered the forbidden place by accident and then got so shocked by the pressure imposed by it that she couldn’t move at all. Then it just enjoyed watching this pretty young girl perish in pain before it, which was the hard-to-get pleasure over the past century. However, the girl turned out to be stronger than it imagined and held on for one day and one night. The next day, a woman suddenly appeared and took her away. Meanwhile, she pointed at it randomly. As a result, in the middle of its defected soul, there appeared a big hole, which was hard to heal for tens of years, putting it in endless pain day and night. The fear of the soul being torn apart was still vividly visible, which could be even compared with its fear for the immortal who suppressed it back then. How could such a woman die? “Are you her daughter?” It asked. Zhao Xiang’er nodded and said, “I grew up with my mother since I was a child.” The flame let out a sigh of mockery or regret. “But you are too weak to reach that realm even if you cultivate yourself for your lifetime.” Zhao Xiang’er didn’t answer, but she frowned. Obviously, she disagreed with what it said. The voice said slightly sarcastically, “I know you think you are still young, but you have to understand that on the road of cultivation, age mostly doesn’t matter much.” Cultivating was not like doing business. If it were not for tremendous lucky chance, most cultivators’ ceilings had been predestined before they were born. Besides, many cultivators hit the ceiling in their teens and as a result, they were mistaken as brilliant talents in the world. Sadly, they couldn’t make any progress from then on. Zhao Xiang’er said, “Since you are so invincible, can you guess why I’m here today?” The old voice smiled and said with self-mockery, “Can’t it be that you are here to keep me company, can it?” Zhao Xiang’er said directly, “I want to let you out.” It was silent in the underground palace for the moment and then here came a burst of laughter. A hurricane gushed out of the copper furnace, blowing the girl’s black hair backward. Her black dress was even swaying in the wind. She pursed her thin lips with her hands placed behind her back. Just like a boat going against the current, she struggled to stagger forward step by step. After a long time, the storm gradually ceased, and the underground palace with flickering flames was restored to peace again. Her tense body didn’t get relaxed. Looking ahead, she had no intention of retreating at all. The majestic voice was somewhat weird. “Do you know who I am?” Zhao Xiang’er said, “Five hundred years ago, a spiritual fox swallowed the Heaven Refining Bead of the state of Yin that was lost in the mortal world. Then it fled to the karst mountains and vanished through the earthly fire. From then on, it hid for more than ten years. Afterward, it grew eight tails and its furs entailed flames that could burn everything. It broke through the realm of Purple Court and entered the Five Realms, becoming well-known for the moment. However, a universal calamity happened back then, so it was suppressed in the Western State by Yuan, a divine god of the state of Yin. A hundred years ago, you escaped by luck and arrived at the South Continent. Then you were closely chased by an immortal and your body was smashed into pieces. An imperial city was established with four state-guarding treasures and you’ve been suppressed in the underground palace.” Listening to the young girl, the flame was gradually restored to tranquility. Amidst breaking and condensing, the flame slowly took the shape of an eight-tailed fox, whose long and narrow eyes were staring at Zhao Xiang’er. Deep in its eyes, there seemed to be ghost fire coming from hell. After the girl finished speaking, this fire fox that lived for a few centuries finally slowly said, “I’m even more confused whether you are really so reckless or you just have any special leverage.” The girl answered with a question, “Do you know who I am?” The old fox narrowed its eyes. “Who are you?” The girl grinned. “My name is Zhao Xiang’er.” ... ... As the autumn wind blew by, there were ripples on the surface of Lake Qifeng. Ning Xiaoling raised her face and covered her forehead with her hands, saying, “Oh no, raining again.” Ning Changjiu said, “Autumn rain always comes unexpectedly... Let’s go back early in case of getting a cold.” Ning Xiaoling nodded. Ning Changjiu raised his sleeves to cover her head, and the little girl also leaned against him. On the tower of the city wall, a small red sparrow was overlooking the ancient city. While combing its wings, it kept rolling its eyes and looking around. When it saw a young man and a young girl dressed in the Taoist robe by the lakeshore, it mumbled to itself in the human language. “Oh, so annoying! Why are they all so tough to deal with? Given my current capability, if I really make a fuss of the matter, I’m afraid that all my feathers will be got rid of.” “Today here comes another woman with unknown strength. If she is really from the Heavenly Sect...” Then, the red sparrow thought of its possibly miserable consequence and couldn’t help shivering. “Anyway, the task given by Her Highness is just to create a disturbance... I should just cause some trouble at random and then take off, right?” “If I knew that there was that kind of monster hidden in this place, I wouldn’t have come here to cause trouble even if they begged me to.” Hopping on the ridge of the tower, the red sparrow became even more fretted. Suddenly, a bell rang behind it, and the rain began to fall. The peal of the bell sounded like such a knell to the red sparrow that it stiffened all over its body. “Whatever. The worst case is death anyway... If I can get away this time, I will be completely free.” It blinked in despair, fluttered its little wings and jumped off the tower like committing suicide. “Your Highness...you must keep your promise. Imperial city, here I am again!” Amidst flapping its wings, the little red sparrow grew bigger and bigger. It rose from the tower and then suddenly returned to hit the tower. With a big bang, the tower was smashed. The colossal red bird stretched out its extremely long wings. As it surged its spiritual power, a crack was spread along the city wall. The riot in the imperial city began. Soon, almost everyone in the imperial palace saw the blood-red giant bird standing high on the city wall. Some old people recalled what happened back then and started to scream in horror. “Blood Feather! Blood Feather indeed! Has the great formation of the imperial palace been started?” “It’s too late……” “Go and ask Lord Wizard Patriarch to help!”