Release Faction
“Hahaha, I told my Transformer is invincible! Woo!” cheered Xiaoshuai, doing a double flip.
“Next time, you supply the energy, and I’m controlling the skeleton soldier,” griped Mu Yu, watching the boundary life autonomously giving them another metre.
“Good job!” complimented He Liankong, gliding over.
“Here is your femur back in pristine condition, Elder,” Mu Yu replied, smiling.
Instead of taking back his femur, He Liankong queried, “My soul item is good, hey?”
“Indeed. The soul energy inside it must be credited with our victory.”
“You can hang onto it for now, then. Use it to win a few more matches.”
“I have a question: if we want to reach Fiend-Sealing Pagoda at the centre of the island, how many matches do we need to win?”
“Let’s see… The pagoda is approximately thirty kilometres from here, which isn’t that far, is it? You’d reach it in two blinks with your cultivation. Each win gives you one kilometre, meaning you need to win sixty thousand matches. If you can win two matches every day without losing any, you’ll be able to reach it in eighty years.”
Mu Yu’s knees buckled. “Eighty years? You want me to stay for eight years?”
“We’ve been stuck for five millenniums. Eighty years is nothing in comparison.”
Mu Yu ran a hand across his cheek rather vigorously. “Any shortcuts, such as gaining ten kilometres in one win or something?”
He Liankong subtly tugged up the corner of his lips. “Of course there is.”
“Let us say that is the only option. What exactly do you want me to do?”
He Liankong leaned forward to whisper, “Do you know why the fiends are adamant on pushing the boundary line over?”
“Why?”
“Because we occupy Fiend King Yujiang’s imperial city,” replied He Liankong, sounding proud.
“What difference does that make if he is in the pagoda? Should they not be thinking about how to enter if they want to release him?”
Fiend King Yujiang didn’t need to cast off his heart or whatever to protect elsewhere as he was trapped on the island.
“It’ll make sense when I tell you about the past. Reverend Xuan Jizi and Fiend King Yujiang both got hurt during their fight, and, although Xuan Jizi barely won in the end, we suffered substantial losses sealing Fiend King Yujiang and eradicating the fiends. Reverend Xuan Jizi sealed the island to prevent Fiend King Yujian, thereby sealing all the souls on the island.
“Reverend Xuan Jizi chose to stay on the island an enter Fiend King Yujiang’s imperial city. Since Reverend Xuan Jizi never returned, nobody knows how to enter the pagoda. As such, you need to find where Reverend Xuan Jizi and then convince the fiends to allow you access into their territory if you want to enter the pagoda.”
“Why… are you helping me?”
“Because you’re my junior.”
“I am convinced. Is that what you thought I would say? You fought all these years to prevent Fiend King Yujiang returning, yet you are now telling me a way to activate the pagoda. Are you trying to release him?”
He Liankong dryly chuckled as he searched for a response. “No, I just don’t want our sect to lose a talented young man.”
“Can you be upfront with me? What exactly do you want me to do at the imperial city?”
“Uh… uh…” He Liankong heaved a heavy breath. “I want to be released from this world.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“It’s been five thousand years of fighting with other souls, seeing the same other souls and never seeing a new day. It’s like the same day has been repeating for five thousand years; it’s torture. As souls, we can’t enter the imperial city. Therefore, I want you to locate Reverend Xuan Jizi and find a way to lift the restriction on the island so that we can leave. I don’t mind if that means I will vanish from existence.”
Mu Yu could sympathise after meeting Chen Tiandao and learning of his suffering. “Is that what everyone else also desires?”
“No. We are divided between a release faction and a fight-on faction, which is the majority. Gui Yuzi and Bo Hong lead the fight-on faction that wishes to continue fighting until they take back Fiend-Sealing Pagoda. Mu Mengfei and I find this fighting pointless for nobody knows what we’ve done. “
Well, it isn’t their duty to guard the tower if we’re being fair. They already gave their lives to seal away Fiend King Yujiang. I’d hate to do spend thousands of years doing something for no recognition, myself, thought Mu Yu. “How do I enter the imperial city if you cannot?”
“I have the key to the city. Rather, it’s now in your hands.”
Mu Yu looked to his hand then looked back up. “You mean this femur or yours is the key?”
“And that is precisely why Gui Yuzi wants it.”
I have trouble believing Gui Yuzi is so altruistic… Why would Ghost Gate want to come here if they can’t collect the souls? Mu Yu mused. “Why do you have the key to the imperial city?”
“Reverend Xuan Jizi already altered the imperial city and cast numerous spells around it. The fiends see the city as an empty shell as he already laid claim to it. He cast a special qi into my soul item before he headed to the imperial city and informed me that it was crucial to entering the imperial city.”
“Release Fiend King Yujiang? Why would Reverend Xuan Jizi think humans want to release him after going through all that effort to seal him?”
“We would like to ask the same question. Prior to him vanishing, Reverend Xuan Jizi told me that there was more to the conflict between fiends and humans than we knew and to release Fiend King Yujiang when the time was ripe!”
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