Trigger Warning: graphic descriptions of gore and blood, trypophobia.
The Emperor quickly got used to his surroundings. He had forced himself to calm down after listening to the two of them quickly going through with him all that happened.
After all, he was much better off right now with two more people by his side, rather than standing alone in the midst of the enemy's countless ambushes.
He mimicked them by suppressing his voice as he asked, "According to Master Cui, how does the situation look right now?"
Had it been someone else, they could not have allowed someone more inferior in status to order them around, but the Emperor knew very well that at this moment, he had no chances of escaping alone, and that among the three of them, although Zhangsun might possess far more superior martial skills, the most reliable figure was none other than Cui Buqu.
Without changing his attitude, Cui Buqu asked, "Does Your Majesty remember where you came from?"
The Emperor's face was brimmed red from running for his life just a moment ago. How would he spend the effort to remember where he came from?
"Let me think."
He has quite a good sense of memory. Through fumbling on the stone statues that he's touched before, he gained a vague impression of where he came from.
"Follow me."
In order to avoid drawing eyes from the darkness, Zhangsun hadn't lit a torch. He had instead placed a hand on the Emperor's shoulder.
Cui Buqu followed behind Zhangsun.
The Emperor felt the engravings on top of the stone. He still remembered the picture he felt just now.
The group of people were riding on horses and camels as they travelled across the seas to pay respect to the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva was sitting on top of their lotus throne, a seal in their hand as they sat high above.
The Emperor felt the cloud that resembles good fortune, and above that cloud was the Bodhisattva in his memory.
He knew he was going the right way, and thus moved slightly forward.
"There should be someone up front who pretended to be me, but he's fainted."
Zhangsun said, "Don't go, Your Majesty. Let me take a look."
He passed the Emperor to Cui Buqu as he walked on his own to the place where the Emperor had pointed out.
It wasn't very far.
"There's no one here, Your Majesty."
How could it be possible?
The Emperor refused to believe it.
Because he couldn't have woken up so quickly. Even if he had woken up, he wouldn't have been so silent.
He couldn't help taking a few steps forward, wanting to be certain of it himself.
As he took that step, his shoulder slipped away from Cui Buqu's grasp.
"Your Majesty, there are many tunnels here. It's best not to hastily move around." came Cui Buqu's voice from the back.
"That person looks incredibly similar to me, with few differences that cannot be noticed. If not for the fact that I know I am the real deal myself, I would have mistaken it myself. If he escaped, then a series of troubles would follow."
The Emperor knelt and fumbled around. Other than the rough debris on the ground, there wasn't anything else.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Impossible.
The Emperor knew very well that the bogus Emperor had fallen onto him when he came down. He'd viciously pushed him off and his head was hit against a rock. It was very likely that he bled a lot.
But the scent of blood did not surround them.
He found a spot where the dampness hadn't dried.
It really was here.
Where was that bogus Emperor?
"It should be near here." The Emperor quietly told Cui Buqu and the others.
He felt that the enemy could have slipped away while he was in a daze and hid while keeping silent.
But Cui Buqu and the others did not reply.
"Master Cui? Zhangsun?"
The Emperor felt something was afoot.
Just a moment ago, Cui Buqu and Zhangsun Bodhi were obviously just behind him. How could they have not heard him?
All of a sudden, the Emperor touched something.
It was like a leg, warm yet there was nothing covering it. Its surface felt rough, as if there were scales on them.
Splitter-splatter.
Water dripped from above and onto his head.
The Emperor instinctively reached out with a hand to wipe it off.
It was sticky and it had a raw scent to it.
It was not water, but blood.
He cussed.
A flash appeared next to him.
The Emperor abruptly turned his head to see Zhangsun Bodhi holding a fire starter.
As if he realised what happened, his body froze, and his gaze slowly rose above his head.
There was a person.
But that creature was no longer able to be considered a person.
It only had the four limbs of ordinary humans. All its hair had fallen, and from its head to its face, no part of it wasn't splattered red. It looked like something that was glowing red after being splashed with hot, steaming water.
However, on its skin were tiny holes countless in number near to each other with either black or white worms squirming in and out of it.
Even its eye sockets, where originally two eyes should have been, had been turned into two dark holes like two orbs of black fire. It glared at the Emperor like a poisonous snake setting its gaze on its prey, pinning the Emperor on the spot where he stood.
Scales covered its hands and legs and its sharp nails were stained black.
Although the Emperor had seen many things in his life, he had never seen such a creature in this world before.
For a moment, he was unable to speak. He inhaled a cold breath of air.
When his haze met the worms, the Emperor could only feel the hairs all over his body stand on their tips. He would have given anything to immediately leave his body in the form of his soul and fly to a faraway place, no longer needing to see such a creature.
It was no wonder Zhangsun and Cui Buqu had kept their words scarce just now. No one would be able to contain themselves after seeing such an ugly creature!
The Emperor realized it too late. When he recalled having placed his hand on the creature's feet, his soul was almost scared out of his body as he immediately withdrew his hand!
The creature emitted a deep growl from its throat. It reached out for his head at the speed of lightning.
The Emperor reacted too late. He felt a wind swept into his face and that he didn't even have the time to take a step back.
This life of his will soon be forfeited!
As this thought surfaced in his mind, fire rose up all around them!
Zhangsun's reflexes were quick. When the Emperor was still in a trance, he had already tossed the torch from his grasp.
The torch had hit the creature's brain as it painfully recoiled backwards.
"Commander!" shouted Zhangsun.
No one had replied to him.
Cui Buqu was nowhere to be seen.
The torch had fallen onto the ground and lit a pool of blood that came from unknown sources, and yet, Cui Buqu was still nowhere to be seen.
The creature let out a deep growl and lunged itself at them once more. Zhangsun pushed the Emperor backwards as he flew at the creature to fight a frontal battle with it.
He could only use waves and waves of wind from his palm to force the creature to retreat, but he dared not go near it, because Cui Buqu had said before that all those worms on him were gu, and if a gu were to enter someone's body, they would similarly succumb to the gu poison.
Sly gu would not panic. They would choose to remain hidden in the body and pick the best moment to attack.
Just like how Pei Jingzhe had previously experienced. It was rare for anyone to take them out, because most of them would fall to a similar fate like those people from the Yandang Estate—having the gu infiltrate their brains as they fell into their control, and finally become incurable.
And so, it became even more difficult to spar with the creature. For the sake of waiting for Cui Buqu, Zhangsun could have just taken the Emperor and leave, but he was forced to remain here to buy some time.
The Emperor dared not act hastily as he backed himself against a wall. He, too, was calling out for Cui Buqu.
However, Cui Buqu was nowhere to be seen.
Zhangsun Bodhi could no longer delay any longer.
With the Emperor by his side, he must first guarantee the Emperor's safety.
This was his responsibility, as well as the task Cui Buqu had assigned to him.
The creature went wild. Each time it lunged itself at Zhangsun, the latter had to spend more effort to block him.
He suddenly realized that this creature had human intelligence. Step by step, it had lured the enemy deep into the maze, before finally exhausting Zhangsun's qi.
Zhangsun gritted his teeth, and with another palm, he forced the creature to take a few steps back. He then turned around to grab the Emperor and retreated, fleeing into the boundless darkness.
The creature flew into pursuit without hesitation.
Cui Buqu was standing quietly, his back against a cold and icy wall.
He seems to be able to feel the contours of the wall, and that it should be a picture of the classic 'The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'.
However, he hadn't spoken, because his throat was being held.
The person holding his throat was extremely close to him. They were just face-to-face, breathing lightly, and from time to time the other's breath would brush across his cheek.
In the darkness, he could not even tell the silhouette of the other, but Cui Buqu knew who he was.
This person was using their left hand. They had strong and long fingers, dry and cold.
There are many people in the Jianghu who were left-handed, but there was only one who could infiltrate into this place.
Xiao Lu.
Until that creature had chased Zhangsun and the Emperor far away, only then did Xiao Lu gradually release Cui Buqu's neck and tapped on his meridians instead.
"Commander Cui, here we meet again."
"Pavilion Lord Xiao, nice to meet you."
Both of them had addressed each other with familiarity, just like friends of old that happened to have reunited without feeling that they have drifted apart.
But Cui Buqu knew that if Xiao Lu could choose, he would be unwilling to come down here.
Eight out of ten it's probably because Feng Xiao had tossed the bogus Emperor down, and so he was left with no choice but to come down here searching for him himself.
Cui Buqu coughed a few times, and said, "That beast from just now; what was it all about?"
Xiao Lu was still in the mood to joke, "How are you sure that I would know for certain? Commander Cui, aren't you overestimating me?"
Cui Buqu said, "The underground palace was dedicated to the Ashtamangala, so perhaps there might be a few trap mechanisms and a few poisonous creatures, but such an aggressive, demonic beast should never be here. It is covered in gu worms, so the host must have obviously be thrown into a pool of gu and nurtured for seven thousand seven hundred and forty-nine days, so that all his internal organs have rot and the gu have taken over his body, turning him into a walking corpse who only know how to kill."
The human used to make this creature could not simply be just anybody. They must have a healthy body, and it would've been better if they were decent at martial arts as well, only then could they withstand all the gu squirming into their body and drill into their internal organs as they watch them form a thousand holes in their body until they finally die of pain.
In order to create such a devilish, sinister creature, the maker must have paid quite a huge cost.
Xiao Lu remained silent for a moment. "That human gu was the eldest disciple of the Nanhua Sect, Song Yuntao, back when he was alive."
Cui Buqu was taken aback. "Kuhezhen has only been to the Central Plains for just a few months, and Song Yuntao had been missing for more than three years. How could he have fallen into his hands?"
Xiao Lu sighed and said, "Back in that year, the Nanhua Sect had an internal strife. The Sect Leader took a young and beautiful young woman for his wife, but the one his wife had fallen for was his eldest disciple, Song Yuntao. And so, the Sect Leader had a fight with his wife and they separated on bad terms. In order to search for his Master, Song Yuntao set out for the journey of a single person into the Saiwai and has never shown up ever since. It's such a pity that Song Yuntao could have succeeded the Nanhua Sect and become its next Sect Leader to once again return it to its former glory, but he had run into misfortune and hence perished."
Cui Buqu. "Didn't Pavilion Lord Xiao participate in this matter?"
Xiao Lu, "If I denied it, would you believe me?"
Cui Buqu expressionlessly said, "I would. Although you would use any method to achieve your goals, you never lie."
Xiao Lu smiled and said, "If only you could give up aiding the Great Sui, we would have been the best of friends."
Cui Buqu did not answer him. Instead, he asked, "How did you people discover this place?"
Xiao Lu said, "Ashina."
He had only mentioned a tribe. Cui Buqu pondered over for a moment, and then finally he recalled how that tribe was linked to the history of the place they're in.
"Khatun Ashina?"
He had only mentioned a tribe. Cui Buqu pondered over for a moment, and then finally he recalled how that tribe was linked to the history of the place they're in.
"Khatun Ashina?"
Xiao Lu applauded him. "Not bad. Fifteen years ago, Ashina, daughter of Khan Muqan, married Yuwen Yong."
The Göktürks believed in Buddhism, and Ashina was not an exception.
But back then, for to the immense power Buddhism held, it was a threat to the Emperor's powers. Yuwen Yong elected to demolish Buddhism and arrest its monks. Even Daxingshan Temple had to endure some of its external buildings being taken apart. According to the sayings, someone discovered one of the entrances into the underground palace. When Khatun Ashina knew about it, she ordered a group of people to investigate the underground palace, but it was a pity that those who entered never came out, and this matter had come to an end.
The entrance into the underground palace was very quickly sealed up, yet, Ashina could not put it behind her. She ordered someone to look for the construction plans of Daxingshan Temple and deliver them back to Göktürk.
As Cui Buqu listened, he raised an eyebrow, and said, "That's to say, the construction plans of Daxingshan Temple made during the Jin Dynasty had fallen into the hands of Göktürk, and then into Kuhezhen's hands?"
Xiao Lu confirmed it, then continued, "When this temple was built, the Buddha statues were generally built with wooden sticks and reeds, and white clay was used to give it colour. Only the statue in the Mahadiva Hall was an exception; this statue was empty inside and it linked to the underground palace. It was wide and airy inside. Before your Emperor sealed this place up tightly, I had already made my way in."
At first, Cui Buqu had thought that the enemy would disguise themselves into monks, or perhaps disguise as someone who accompanied the Emperor in his Imperial Chariot, in order to make their way into the temple and sow chaos. However, he would never expect the enemy to take this route.
This was wholly unexpected.
Xiao Lu appeared to have guessed what he was thinking. "However, I had not expected the Göktürks would choose this time to sow strife with me. I originally thought that Kuhezhen would at least have waited until the power had fallen into my grasp, only then he'd make things difficult for me."
But that wasn't what Kuhezhen had done.
To him, it didn't matter whether it was Xiao Lu or the Sui Emperor sitting on the throne. Both of them could serve the same purpose of putting his plans into motion and sow discord within the Northern Regions of the Central Plains.
Cui Buqu, "So, Pavilion Lord Xiao, it seems like we are now on the same boat. Let us work together before we leave the underground palace."
Xiao Lu smiled, and said, "I agree. This way."
Cui Buqu, "You know where the road leads to?"
Xiao Lu, "I do not. Kuhezhen would never give me those plans. So, I can only entrust this to you and allow you to lead the way."
There was no need to say more. Cui Buqu quietly moved.
The bogus Emperor was sealed mute by Xiao Lu just a moment ago, so he couldn't speak. Xiao Lu lifted him lightly as he followed behind Cui Buqu.
The tunnel was deep and in the midst of the darkness, only the footsteps of the three of them could be heard. The bogus Emperor bounced in and out of consciousness, his footsteps echoed in an uneven rhythm and gave off an unpleasant sound.
Although the bogus Emperor served a very important purpose, it seemed he didn't have much power within the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai judging from Xiao Lu's treatment of him.
What's more, is that he might only be a puppet that Xiao Lu had found.
A puppet would only need to do their part. What he was thinking of, or whether he hated Xiao Lu in his heart, was not Xiao Lu's concern.
There were three people and three completely different sets of thoughts. They were only there for their own needs.
The reason Xiao Lu made Cui Buqu walk in front was so that, of course, if there was any danger present in front, Cui Buqu could be his meatshield.
But Cui Buqu had no comment on that.
He walked very slowly because he was memorizing his routes.
But very quickly, Cui Buqu realized that it was futile.
"The stone engravings on the walls are repeating themselves." Cui Buqu said suddenly.
Xiao Lu raised a brow. "What does it mean?"
"Since a moment ago, I touched what was supposed to be a picture of the 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Listening To Sutras', and following that was a picture of 'Vajrasattva's Self-sacrificing Endeavours To Feed Himself To The Tiger', then the 'Kind Prince's Journey Into The Sea In Search Of The Treasure', and so on. But now, the sequence has repeated itself."
Xiao Lu, "Perhaps they were simply the same pictures?"
Cui Buqu, "Unlikely. Even if they were the same pictures, there would be differences in the details. I know what I've touched. They were the same pictures."
That also meant that they were walking around in circles.
Xiao Lu sighed, "Now I am beginning to regret not asking Kuhezhen for the construction plans of Daxingshan Temple's underground palace."
However, since Kuhezhen had arranged it this way, even if Xiao Lu asked, Kuhezhen might not give him those plans.
After a moment of thought, Cui Buqu pulled out a firestarter and lit it.
The light around them was limited, yet the darkness was infinite.
However, they could all see clearly that they were situated in a circular hall. Not far off in the middle, there was a stone pagoda.
Cui Buqu said, "If I am correct, this centre is also the centre of the entire underground palace. It appears to represent a concept of the Heavens, the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. Eight stars are located around it, but in reality, they represent the bagua. Just now, I had walked past one of them, which is supposedly the Southeast Wind1, and as for this one—"
The white marble pagoda located in the centre looked exceptionally clean under the light of the fire, as if there was a layer of white light on top of it that easily made one unable to move their gaze away.
Cui Buqu could not help himself taking a step forward.
The bogus Emperor was in a daze as he moved forward even quicker than Cui Buqu in uneven steps simply to touch the pagoda's body.
Even Xiao Lu could not hold himself back. On the third step he took, he suddenly stopped, his heart skipped in a warning beat!
He had always been calmer than most people. Even if a demonic woman was dancing in front of him, Xiao Lu had enough self-restraint to close his eyes if he did not wish to see it.
But now, that white marble pagoda was causing him to lose his own self-restraint. What did that mean?
It wasn't because Xiao Lu did not have enough self-restraint, but that something was amiss with the pagoda itself!
He abruptly closed his eyes.
The firelight in Cui Buqu's hand flickered and wavered. It was nearing the end of its life.
The white marble pagoda glowed and glimmered under the firelight with a demonic air.
"Don't go near it!"
Following his words, Cui Buqu's fire finally died out.
Darkness once again befell them.
In the next second, a pained cry filled their ears!
Xiao Lu only managed to catch Cui Buqu, who was closer to him and pulled him to his side. He was, however, too late to rescue the bogus Emperor.
If only he could use both his hands, then naturally, he could have done it.
But it was a pity that he could only use one.
Cui Buqu's reflexes were extremely quick. After Xiao Lu caught him by his waist and pulled him into his arms, he fumbled for another firestarter and lit it.
As it burst into light, the bogus Emperor's silhouette came into sight.
He was strapped by a thousand red threads to the stone pagoda. Those red threads were around his head, neck, and all over his body. It had cut into his flesh, forcing blood out of it.
The red threads had wounded around the bogus Emperor so tightly that his eyes had popped slightly out of their sockets.
There were at least seven to eight red threads on his neck that had cut deeply into his flesh.
At that moment, both of them inhaled a sharp breath of air in unison.
They had seen the most chaotic events and they were not frogs in wells, but this manner of dying had surpassed anything they had ever seen.
Xiao Lu held Cui Buqu's wrist to move the firestarter forward, while he himself took a few steps closer.
"Those red threads came from within the pagoda." Xiao Lu said as he raised his sleeve to pat the pagoda.
His qi shattered the pagoda, revealing the source beneath it.
The inside of the pagoda was supposedly empty, a place originally used to hold the Śarīraof high monks, but now, it had turned into a mini human-shaped puppet.
There were a countless number of red threads on it. There was even a faint scent of machilus wood coming from it.
When they touched the pagoda, it had triggered the mechanism, resulting in the red threads inside shooting out. The machilus scent that came with it would make even the most skilled martial artist find it difficult to escape, and so the bogus Emperor had fallen victim to it.
Just now, if Xiao Lu had not pulled Cui Buqu backwards, Cui Buqu would have been greatly wounded even if he lived due to how close he was standing to the pagoda.
After Cui Buqu bent down for half a beat, he finally stood back up.
He said, "Someone altered this pagoda before. Kuhezhen hadn't only ordered someone to put some gu here. He had even visited this place before to set up such traps."
Xiao Lu lightly touched the neck of the bogus Emperor.
Cui Buqu, "How is he?"
Xiao Lu slowly said, "Beyond help."
Once the bogus Emperor is dead, Xiao Lu's plans have failed. Cui Buqu should have been happy, but now that both of them were on the same boast, it was unknown whether or not they would make it out alive at all. Cui Buqu felt that it was imprudent to overexert Xiao Lu and provoke him enough that he'd feed him to the human gu.
He coughed twice, then feigned being sad, "My condolences."
Xiao Lu twitched his lips. "If you hadn't said those words, I could at least pretend that you are sincere."
Cui Buqu shifted the topic. "Obviously, Kuhezhen has turned this place into his own prison hell. We need to find a way out of this place quickly. Let us go."
Once he finished speaking those words, he felt something was wrong.
That sensation came from beneath his feet.
Cui Buqu lowered his head to look. It was unknown since when the earth beneath Xiao Lu's feet had split apart.
As the fissure grew wider, Xiao Lu didn't hesitate as he caught Cui Buqu and flew onto a stone wall, sticking fast to it.
Following afterwards, the pagoda was destroyed and the earth split apart in all four directions as all the earth crumbled and fell.
Xiao Lu emitted a groan, then his hand released Cui Buqu and both of them dropped down!dropped both of them together!
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[1]巽卦: there are eight directions in the bagua. The Southeast direction is called the yi, which is also wind elemental.