After a fruitless search, just as I was about to despair, I suddenly heard a passing soldier saying: “It seems the Principal God has allowed that mysterious person to enter the forbidden area.”
I immediately perked up and turned my head toward the top of Que Mountain.
Having been in Que Mountain for so many days, I had learned many of their legends. The “forbidden area” they spoke of was the large stone at the top of the mountain.
Compared to Kunlun, the Northern Wilderness had very flat terrain, making Que Mountain the highest mountain here.
And that huge stone was the highest point in the Northern Wilderness. The stone resembled a magpie bird, which is how Que Mountain got its name.
Inside that stone was Que Mountain’s forbidden area. It was said that only Principal God Ji could go there.
No one knew what was inside.
“Our Principal God said shortly after the mysterious man arrived that he could go anywhere in Que Mountain, just like the Principal God himself. It’s just that the mysterious man hadn’t gone to the forbidden area before.”
“What do you think his background is? Could our Principal God have trusted the wrong person? Can he solve this disaster in our Northern Wilderness?”
“If he can’t solve it, the Principal God surely can. I trust anyone the Principal God trusts. We just need to guard the city gate well. I’ve heard that the situation outside is getting worse and worse…”
I didn’t listen any further and turned to fly toward the stone at the top of Que Mountain.
At the “magpie’s eye” of the stone was an exposed cave. The cave was deep and dark; from a distance, it looked like the eye that gave life to the giant magpie stone. As I flew closer, I discovered it was about ten feet high, easily accommodating four or five people.
I was just thinking of flying into this magpie’s eye when suddenly, I saw someone walking out from inside. He stopped right at the cave entrance, gazing into the distance—it was Xie Zhuo.
I floated to Xie Zhuo’s side, circled around him twice, and seeing that his expression was natural and he had no injuries, I relaxed, quietly settling on his shoulder, my soul gently leaning against him who knew nothing of my presence.
“I heard the Northern Wilderness is getting worse,” I said, looking into the distance with Xie Zhuo.
The position was high, offering a view of the forests and marketplace below, and even the Northern Wilderness beyond Que Mountain.
But I saw that the vast Northern Wilderness was covered by a faint but present layer of black energy.
That was evil energy. Its prevalence indicated that the Northern Wilderness outside Que Mountain had almost fallen.
I had heard the people of Que Mountain say that perhaps after some time, Principal God Ji would close Que Mountain’s gates. At that point, no one from outside would be allowed to enter Que Mountain.
Principal God Ji was perhaps thinking, if he couldn’t protect the Northern Wilderness with his power, he could at least protect Que Mountain.
But I tragically knew that Que Mountain… wasn’t protected in the end.
This place…
Became the City of Undying.
Only I didn’t know yet why it would become like that.
“Young Master Xie Zhuo.”
From behind came Principal God Ji’s voice.
Xie Zhuo and I both turned around to see him in his white robes, walking toward us from behind Xie Zhuo.
He slowly walked to Xie Zhuo’s side. Xie Zhuo nodded slightly to Principal God Ji as a greeting.
“You found no trace of the Evil God here, did you?”
“No. The energy here is cleaner than outside.”
Principal God Ji frowned slightly: “This place is Que Mountain’s spiritual vein. He has not even visited this place… Such actions make me unable to discern what he wants this time.”
Thousands of years ago, the eight directional gods worked together to finally seal the Evil God in the deep-sea abyss. After that battle, the gods were almost all destroyed, with only ten remaining.
Principal God Ji and Xi Wang Mu were the principal gods who survived that battle.
They had both confronted the Evil God and knew his habits.
“How did he act before?” Xie Zhuo asked.
“Kill the principal gods, cut off the spiritual veins.” Seeming to recall past events, Principal God Ji’s expression grew solemn for a moment. “After destroying a place’s spiritual veins, the people there would have no source of soul energy to fight against him…”
“But this time, he doesn’t seem to have this plan,” Principal God Ji said. “Previously, I came here daily to investigate. I thought he was good at concealing himself, and I couldn’t detect anything, so I sought you out. You are so sensitive to evil energy, yet you haven’t felt anything either. It seems he truly hasn’t come here. What does he want this time?”
Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes, pondering for a moment: “Previously, his soul wanted to turn me into his vessel. He fought with me within this body, and he lost.”
Principal God Ji’s expression changed slightly: “He lost?”
Xie Zhuo nodded: “When he escaped from Mingjing Forest, he was already very weak.”
Principal God Ji looked at Xie Zhuo somewhat incredulously.
I understood why Principal God Ji was surprised.
The Evil God’s power, in the legends of Kunlun and people’s mouths, was almost invincible.
Before, when the gods fought against the Evil God, they could only seal him in the abyss. Now, the Evil God’s soul had been recalled, and even if it was just a soul, it should still be stronger than all other souls in this world.
But Xie Zhuo said the Evil God had lost.
In a “vessel” created by the Evil God, the Evil God’s soul fought against Xie Zhuo’s, and the Evil God lost.
Became “weak,” and fled in disarray…
“Just now, examining the spiritual vein, I realized Que Mountain’s spiritual vein is powerful. At present, he probably has no way to cut this spiritual vein. And…”
Xie Zhuo looked into the distance, the color of the outside sky reflecting in his jet-black pupils.
“After he escaped, he released evil energy along the way, continuously creating evil spirits and corpse ghosts. Through them, he continuously created chaos, expanding the evil energy. I think… after you sealed him in the abyss, when he returned, his goal must have changed.”