Ch121 - Inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower

Ying Jianhua looked at the cold Su Hansheng, not angry at his sudden attack, but smiling.

—Though it was still Ying Jianhua’s face, the expression changed his features, making him seem extremely strange and unfamiliar, sending a shiver down Su Hansheng’s spine.

Su Hansheng said gravely, “Who are you? Why are you pretending to be my senior brother?”

Ying Jianhua just smiled, lightly moving his hand.

Su Hansheng was fast, his talismans flying out, but before they touched the person, his mind darkened, and he fell back onto the bed, dazed.

The pleasure boat traveled all day, finally landing outside the Heaven-Reaching Tower at sunset.

Jin Yiyuan yawned, knocking on the top floor door. “Young Master, we’re here.”

There was no response.

Jin Yiyuan thought he was sleeping and didn’t hesitate to open the door and walk in. “Young Master Su…”

As he entered the inner room, he froze.

Under the candlelight, the bed was empty, the window open, and cold wind rushing in.

Jin Yiyuan’s face instantly darkened.

In the pleasure boat high above, Su Hansheng was nowhere to be found.

***

Inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower, Chongjue spread his spiritual sense for thousands of miles but found no trace of Ying Jianhua. Unable to continue, he withdrew his web-like awareness and flew toward the tower’s broken entrance.

The Heaven-Reaching Tower, symbol of Heaven’s Will, was filled with eerie demonic energy, as if crawling up from eight thousand feet underground, like roots faintly visible and interwoven within the stone tower.

Chongjue hadn’t fully merged with his evil half, and the sinister atmosphere made him deeply uncomfortable.

The entrance to the tower, a small gap that only his evil half seemed to know about, was barely noticeable. Yet as he walked through, he found it was ten zhang high, open at first, but growing darker and narrower the deeper he went.

The tower was pitch black, impossible to see with spiritual energy. Chongjue took out a night pearl to light the way.

Sacred objects and the Heaven-Reaching Tower were faintly connected. The light drove back the darkness, and as he glanced to the sides, he saw the broken walls covered in dense talismans and strange murals.

Chongjue looked them over one by one.

He’d never been to Infinite Hell, but his evil half had described an identical Chongxiao Shrine deep underground, where a long-life lamp burned, guarding the boundary gate.

The walls, filled with symbols and dense writing, seemed to tell the story of how the Heaven-Reaching Tower was built, how Heaven’s Will had blessed it to support the Three Realms and the Heavenly Realm.

Chongjue gazed at them, his heart unmoved.

For thousands of years, Heaven’s Will had grown weaker. If the Heaven-Reaching Tower collapsed, Infinite Hell would likely connect with the Three Realms.

Chongjue kept walking, studying the walls, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice.

“World-Honored One.”

The night pearl floated forward a few feet.

Ying Jianhua stood among the walls, looking at the murals. He nodded slightly at Chongjue, his body surrounded by snowflakes, as if he deeply disliked the filth around him.

Chongjue frowned. “When did you get here?”

Ying Jianhua pointed to the left. “I’ve been here half an hour, came in from that side.”

Chongjue looked in that direction.

Indeed, there was another gap, but much narrower than the one he’d used, almost impossible to spot.

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After walking for a long time, the night pearl’s energy began to fade, its light dimming.

Chongjue was about to replace it with a new one when Ying Jianhua coughed and spoke up. “World-Honored One, why not use spirit fire for light?”

Chongjue said calmly, “The tower hasn’t been entered for years. The air is thin and strange. Using fire might trigger an explosion of spiritual energy.”

Ying Jianhua nodded in understanding.

Just as Chongjue replaced the night pearl, he paused, suddenly smelling the scent of burning fire.

Ying Jianhua also noticed, frowning as he looked back.

In the pitch-black path behind them, a torch was bouncing toward them, carrying a strange, explosive aura.

Chongjue, Ying Jianhua: “…”

Was there really a fool lighting a fire here?

Chongjue didn’t know who else would dare enter the Heaven-Reaching Tower. He stood and waited for the person to approach.

As the fire drew closer, the dust and thin spiritual energy around them seemed about to ignite, sparking with flashes of fire.

It could explode at any moment.

Chongjue sensed something was wrong. He instantly flicked his finger, sending a thread of spiritual energy that extinguished the torch several zhang away.

Before he could react, the person holding the torch let out a scream.

“Aaah! What kind of place is this?! Fire! Fire! Aaah!”

Chongjue: “…”

At the first scream, Chongjue recognized the voice. Though he couldn’t believe it, his body instinctively rushed forward, pulling the person into his arms.

“Xiaoxiao.”

The “fool” with the torch was Su Hansheng. In the eerie darkness, he screamed until he was almost out of breath, his head spinning. Only after a while did he realize the familiar warmth holding him.

He shakily hugged Chongjue’s waist. “Chong… Chong… Chongjue?”

Chongjue nodded, gently touching Su Hansheng’s trembling shoulders. He didn’t scold him right away, but softly comforted him.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”

Hearing the familiar voice, Su Hansheng finally relaxed, his voice trembling. His first words were an unfounded accusation. “It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this damn place. Hmph.”

Chongjue: “…”

Chongjue was blamed unfairly, but his temper remained good. He patiently waited for Su Hansheng to calm down before calmly questioning him.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay at Wendao Academy? Why did you come here?”

Su Hansheng straightened his messy hair, then said seriously, “Because I’m your savior.”

Chongjue: “?”

Su Hansheng put on a mysterious look. Seeing Chongjue’s pale face in the night pearl’s light, he couldn’t help wanting to stand on tiptoe and kiss him.

Suddenly, “Xiaoxiao?!”

Su Hansheng jumped in fright, dazedly looking ahead.

Ying Jianhua walked over, seeing his junior brother shamelessly clinging to the World-Honored One’s clothes, his brows unconsciously furrowing.

Seeing Ying Jianhua, Su Hansheng instinctively felt he’d forgotten something. After thinking, he remembered he’d come on Jin Yiyuan’s pleasure boat, landed, then flown to the Heaven-Reaching Tower and entered alone through the gap.

It seemed he hadn’t encountered Ying Jianhua.

Seeing his senior brother glance at his hand, Su Hansheng quickly pulled it back and obediently said, “Senior Brother, you’re here too.”

Ying Jianhua nodded, displeased. “And you? Who brought you here?”

Su Hansheng didn’t want to implicate Jin Yiyuan, so he awkwardly smiled.

Chongjue, perhaps knowing that as a sacred object, Su Hansheng couldn’t avoid coming here, said calmly, “Since it’s done, don’t waste time blaming. Let’s go inside.”

Ying Jianhua didn’t challenge the World-Honored One’s words. He nodded and stepped forward to lead the way.

The moment his senior brother turned, Su Hansheng, emboldened, grabbed Chongjue’s clothes and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips.

Chongjue: “…”

Chongjue, who had lived a thousand years of restraint, finally had a young Dao Companion, but hadn’t figured out how to interact with him. Su Hansheng’s boldness left him stunned.

And right in front of others, too.

Su Hansheng grinned, reaching out to intertwine his fingers with Chongjue’s, silently mouthing.

It feels like we’re sneaking around.

Chongjue couldn’t help but cough violently.

Up ahead, Ying Jianhua turned at the sound. “World-Honored One?”

At the last second, Su Hansheng quickly pulled his hand back, hiding the “evidence” under his wide sleeve, and obediently answered, “Uncle’s fine, just choked on dust.”

Ying Jianhua didn’t suspect anything.

—It was far too difficult for someone who had cultivated the path of emotionlessness for years to notice the two’s little secrets.

Su Hansheng didn’t dare to be affectionate under his senior brother’s watchful eyes. As they walked, he asked Chongjue, “Why did you put out my fire just now? Can’t we light a fire here?”

Chongjue “mm”ed and explained again.

Su Hansheng suddenly understood. “So it really could cause an explosion. Good thing you put it out quickly.”

Otherwise, everyone in the passage would have been blown to bits.

Su Hansheng was still relieved when he suddenly sniffed the air, puzzled, and looked at Chongjue. “Chong… Uncle?”

Chongjue’s eyelid twitched. He smelled the familiar scent and had a vague sense of dread.

The air around them was even stranger than when Su Hansheng lit his fire. Countless tiny specks of dust exploded into tiny sparks, crackling as if about to merge into one.

Ying Jianhua also sensed something was wrong. The three turned together.

On the path behind them, firelight appeared again.

This time, there were two torches, blazing brightly.

A familiar voice came from afar.

“…Lingxiu, are you sure your brother is here?”

“Certain. He’s been gone too long. I’m worried he’s completely transformed into a dragon here.”

“Oh, alright—cough cough, it’s so dark. Should we make the fire bigger?”

Su Hansheng recognized the voices instantly—Xu Nanxian and Zhuang Lingxiu.

Without thinking about why they were here, Su Hansheng quickly called out, “Senior Brother! Senior Brother, put out the fire!”

The chatter from afar suddenly stopped.

“Is that Xiaoxiao’s voice?”

Chongjue didn’t wait for them to approach. He raised his hand, sending a thread of spiritual energy toward their torches.

But it was too late.

The dust around them exploded, merging into a single blaze that roared through the dark, long passage.

Boom!

Flames surged, sweeping to both sides.

Chongjue raised his hand, instantly pulling the still-dazed Su Hansheng into his arms. Spiritual energy formed a glass-like protective barrier, blocking all the explosions.

Afraid the blast was too loud, he even managed to cover Su Hansheng’s ears, worried he’d be frightened.

The explosion raged for a long time before finally dying down, leaving the passage filled with dust and smoke, the murals on the walls blackened.

Chongjue and Su Hansheng were spotless, not a speck of dirt on them.

Ying Jianhua coughed a few times. Though the explosion hadn’t hurt him, the foul smell and the blackened, scorched walls triggered his cleanliness obsession, nearly making him faint.

At the center of the explosion, Zhuang Lingxiu and Xu Nanxian hadn’t realized their fire could ignite the whole cave. They were dazed, faces blackened, clothes torn, looking like wild men from the mountains.

“Cough.”

Xu Nanxian coughed blankly, spitting out a black smoke ring.

Zhuang Lingxiu’s pale face was sooty, only his eyes visible, a pitiful sight.

Su Hansheng, seeing them from afar, felt sorry but couldn’t help burying his head in Chongjue’s chest, shaking with suppressed laughter.

Thump, thump.

Hearing hurried footsteps, Su Hansheng looked up to see Ying Jianhua approaching with a dark expression. He realized he was still leaning on Chongjue and, thinking he’d been caught, quickly tried to pull away.

He braced himself for a beating.

…But Ying Jianhua strode past them, heading straight for Xu Nanxian and Zhuang Lingxiu.

Not far away, Xu Nanxian’s voice was still dazed and confused at seeing his senior brother here.

“S-Senior Brother? Why are you here… Aaah!”

Su Hansheng: “…”

The one getting beaten was someone else.

***

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