Hometown Gazing

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi smelled the aroma of meat from far away, making their already famished stomachs even harder to bear.

Many strange-looking people were drinking and eating inside the tavern. Xu Ying glanced over from the corner of his eye, and his heart turned cold.

From the corner of his eye, he saw not people, but White Bone Skeletons sitting there, eating and drinking. The dishes on the tables were human hearts, brains, and other such things.

Under the strange gazes of the tavern's guests, Xu Ying and Yuan Qi walked forward. One of the White Bone Skeletons in the tavern asked, "Where are they going?"

An old ghost said, "The Hometown Gazing Platform."

"They can't go any farther. Once they pass the Hometown Gazing Platform and see their hometown, they'll never be able to return to the Mortal Realm."

The old ghost muttered, "They should stay here like us and let us eat their flesh and blood, turning into solitary ghosts like us, instead of going inside to throw their lives away..."

The fog ahead gradually thickened. In the blue-gray mist, green tiles and white walls entered Xu Ying's view. It was a long street, broad and flanked by old shops.

Xu Ying looked at the street, finding it vaguely familiar, yet he was certain he had never been there.

Just then, the clear sound of reading drifted over. Xu Ying followed the sound and saw that it came from a private school. He stood beside its window and looked inside, only to see more than twenty children shaking their heads as they read.

The private-school teacher was a young man who looked to be around twenty, not yet thirty.

Xu Ying studied his face and found it somewhat familiar, but could not remember when he had seen him.

After a while, class ended. The children came surging out of the private school, shouting and laughing.

The female owner of the school came out. She wore a white dress and was a quiet, gentle woman. She dotingly stroked the heads of several children.

Xu Ying was puzzled. This woman also gave him a familiar feeling, yet he could not remember when he had seen her.

The woman noticed Xu Ying and asked with a smile, "Young man, who are you looking for?"

Xu Ying shook his head. "I'm just passing by. May I ask, do you know how to get out of here?"

The woman raised her hand and pointed out the way. Xu Ying thanked her and walked in the direction she indicated.

The woman watched him leave, then called to a mischievous child, "A Ying, don't run too far. It's almost time for lunch!"

"Got it, Mom!" The mischievous child ran past Xu Ying and bumped into his leg.

Xu Ying froze, standing there woodenly.

He suddenly turned his head. The private school and the street dispersed like smoke and dust.

He looked toward the child ahead. The child stopped and turned around. He looked exactly like Xu Ying had as a child.

A smile appeared on the child's face, and his figure dispersed like smoke and dust.

In that instant, tears streamed down Xu Ying's face.

"A Ying, what's wrong?" Snake Demon Yuan Qi noticed that he had stopped and asked in confusion.

"I saw my father and mother."

Xu Ying stood rooted to the spot. After a long while, he said hoarsely, "But I couldn't recognize them. I couldn't recognize them..."

He put down the Great Bell, squatted on the ground, covered his face, and sobbed quietly. "I can't remember what they looked like. I can't remember their names. I saw them just now, but I couldn't recognize them..."

Yuan Qi leaned against him and patted the young man on the shoulder. He said softly, "A Ying, we should keep going."

Xu Ying silently rose and followed the direction the woman had pointed toward.

Ahead, the road was long and difficult, a rugged path.

There was also a broad, level road beside it, but Xu Ying did not take the main road. Instead, he stepped onto this arduous path.

"Stop!" A group of deities soon chased to the vicinity of the tavern. Suddenly, a gray-robed man among them said gravely, "The Hometown Gazing Platform is ahead. We'll go around it!"

The gray-robed man did not look very old, but he was extremely tall, standing thirteen or fourteen feet high. Dragon horns grew from his forehead, and sharp claws extended from his fingers. He looked nothing like a human.

One of the deities asked, "Senior Stone Dragon Son, what will happen if we enter Hometown?"

The gray-robed man was the stone dragon from Ningyuan Confucian Temple, and also a divine being.

Ningyuan Confucian Temple was grand in scale and thriving with incense. It enshrined the Supreme Sage Teacher. Four bronze pillars stood before and behind the temple's main hall, each wrapped by a stone dragon. The dragons had been carved from the hardest stone.

Because the temple's incense was so prosperous, the four stone dragons gradually developed divine powers as well!

The four dragons had absorbed incense for four hundred years. Each had achieved extraordinary accomplishments and refined a golden body. The gray-robed man was named Stone Dragon Son, one of the four stone dragons.

Stone Dragon Son's gaze flickered. "Hometown lies outside the jurisdiction of the Yin Court and is exceedingly mysterious. It is said that anyone who enters will see their own hometown. That place lies between the underworld and the Mortal Realm. With the slightest carelessness, one will never return and will become a solitary ghost!"

Just then, a voice rang out with a laugh. "I've heard that some people on the verge of death hide in Hometown, placing themselves between yin and yang, neither living nor dying, neither aging nor perishing. To rashly intrude into the territory of such beings is extremely dangerous. To stay alive, those beings will do anything!"

Stone Dragon Son followed the voice and saw Magistrate Zhou leading a group of officials toward them at a brisk pace.

The two exchanged glances, then each looked away.

Stone Dragon Son said, "Xu Ying entered Hometown. He can forget about coming out alive. Magistrate Zhou, you can go back and report."

Zhou Yang said calmly, "He violated the king's law. Alive, I must see the man; dead, I must see the corpse!"

Their gazes met again. Smoke curled behind Stone Dragon Son's head, and the Incense Qi grew denser. Golden light gradually appeared over his body—clearly a sign that his golden body was circulating!

Zhou Yang smiled faintly, completely unruffled. "The golden body of the Yin Court is still a little inferior to my Zhou Family's Indestructible Diamond Body. As luck would have it, I've refined the Indestructible Diamond Body!"

Stone Dragon Son sneered. "There is no conclusion as to which is superior, a golden body or the Indestructible Diamond Body. Besides, Magistrate Zhou is still young. How many stages could he have cultivated the Indestructible Diamond Body to?"

Zhou Yang smiled. "The second stage!"

Stone Dragon Son's pupils slowly contracted as he felt the pressure.

If Zhou Yang had cultivated his undying body to the first stage, Stone Dragon Son could still have defeated him with ease. But if he had reached the second stage, it was still anyone's guess who would prevail!

If the two fought, they would very likely both suffer heavy injuries, or even perish together!

Zhou Yang was also unwilling to completely fall out with him, so he proposed, "Since Xu Ying has entered the Hometown Gazing Platform and his life or death is unknown, why should we fight to the death? Stone Dragon Son, let's go around the Hometown Gazing Platform and wait for him on the road ahead."

Stone Dragon Son nodded. "Whichever of us catches Xu Ying will depend on luck!" With that, he led his followers away.

Zhou Yang watched him depart, his eyes flickering. He looked toward the Hometown Gazing Platform shrouded in layers of mist and said quietly, "The Hometown Gazing Platform—a place said to let people exist between life and death. I've heard that many terrifying experts hide there. When their lifespans are nearly exhausted, they conceal themselves inside the Hometown Gazing Platform. But once they enter, they can never come back out..."

Behind him, an official asked in a low voice, "My lord, is the legend of the Hometown Gazing Platform true?"

Zhou Yang's expression shifted between light and dark. He chose to circle around the Hometown Gazing Platform from another direction and said, "I originally thought it was false too, but later I heard a rumor."

He paused, then continued, "This rumor has been passed down within my clan. It says that our Zhou Family Ancestor once faced a calamity that was certain to kill him. At the time, the ancestor wanted to enter the Hometown Gazing Platform and place himself in a state neither living nor dead, thereby evading the death calamity. Later, with wisdom that pierced the heavens and extraordinary talent, the old ancestor finally survived the calamity and extended his life. Only then did he avoid hiding in the Hometown Gazing Platform. That was when I realized that the legends of the Hometown Gazing Platform were all true."

The officials exchanged glances and looked toward the mist-filled place. One of them muttered, "The criminal Xu Ying entered there. Can he really come back out?"

Zhou Yang shook his head. "His lifespan has not yet run out. Perhaps he has a chance to come out. But perhaps..."

His expression darkened. "...he'll be possessed by those beings whose lifespans have been exhausted, neither human nor ghost, who borrow corpses to return their souls!"

The officials could not help shivering.

Within the Hometown Gazing Platform, the mist grew thicker and thicker. The road beneath Xu Ying's feet became increasingly winding and rugged. A bottomless abyss lay below, while strange rocks stood overhead like forests of blades and spears. A single misstep would send him tumbling to his death, his body smashed to pieces!

After crossing the cliff, they came to a single-plank bridge spanning two fortress-like peaks. It was merely a round log, and anyone walking across it had to be extremely careful. If the log rolled even slightly, they would fall into the bottomless abyss!

Xu Ying removed his shoes and adjusted his breathing. Barefoot, he walked along the log, sensing the changes in the strength of his soles and advancing little by little.

Behind him, Snake Demon Yuan Qi coiled around the thick log and wriggled forward bit by bit.

They looked down and saw clouds and mist swirling below. At the bottom of the abyss flowed a green river, its surface bubbling with green foam. Rotten corpses floated across the water.

Whenever a bubble swelled, it took on the shape of a human head. Blown larger and larger, it gradually floated up from the river.

"Where did this young man come from?" A beautiful young woman's face appeared on one of the bubbles. She questioned Xu Ying with alluring grace.

Xu Ying did not answer.

Yuan Qi blew toward the bubble. The young woman's face on it twisted more and more horribly as she cried, "I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Ah—"

The bubble burst with a pop, splashing green river water all over Yuan Qi's face.

Trembling, Yuan Qi followed Xu Ying across the single-plank bridge and reached the opposite bank.

They followed the mountain road onward, only to see someone standing beside it with three legs, motionless.

When they drew closer, they discovered that it was not three legs, but a person nailed to a wooden stake.

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi felt their scalps go numb. They quietly passed by, but the person was still alive and called out shakily, "Save me..."

Unable to bear it, Yuan Qi asked, "How can we save you?"

"Give me two years of your lifespan!" the person cried.

Yuan Qi turned to Xu Ying. "Give him two years of lifespan and we can save him. We still have plenty of life left. Why not save him?"

Before he had finished speaking, the trees on both sides of the road suddenly turned around. They were actually strange three-legged men, each with a wooden stake beneath them. Looking as if they had three legs, they cried out in unison, "Give me two years of lifespan and save my life!"

Yuan Qi was startled. Only then did he realize that they had not been nailed to the stakes. Their bodies had taken root in the earth, and they had already grown together with the trees.

Yuan Qi hurriedly caught up with Xu Ying and never mentioned saving anyone again.

The two proceeded with their hearts in their throats. Along the way, they saw someone sitting beside the road with his head tilted toward the sky, robust flower stalks growing from his mouth. Another person was like a scarecrow, standing in a field with branches sprouting from his body. He had the shape of a man, and a beating heart could be seen between the ribs formed by the branches.

And so on.

These people used strange Nu Arts to extend their lives, often turning themselves into wood and becoming plants, their postures bizarre and grotesque.

After walking for a long time, they finally saw a house. A normal person stood before it—a burly Bearded Man. He sized up Xu Ying and Yuan Qi, a trace of surprise in his eyes.

Mustering his courage, Xu Ying stepped forward to ask for directions. The Bearded Man asked in surprise, "You came from the Mortal Realm? Who guided you here? This is the only road out of Hometown that leads to life. Without guidance from an expert, don't even think of coming here!"

Xu Ying hesitated for a moment, then told him about arriving in Hometown and seeing his parents. "If not for my parents guiding us, we certainly could not have reached this place."

The Bearded Man was even more astonished. "Hometown, Hometown—of course, what you see here is your own hometown! Young man, what you saw was something from your childhood. Your parents saw the future you seven or eight years ago and pointed out a road of life for you! Those two are experts—truly extraordinary, truly extraordinary!"

Xu Ying was utterly stunned. In his memories, his parents had been buried at Xu Family Village, and they had been nothing more than ordinary people. How could they be experts?

He recalled the faces of his parents on the Hometown Gazing Platform. Suddenly, his memories blurred, and his father's and mother's faces gradually became indistinct. They stood within his memories, but their faces were two blank sheets of paper, devoid of features.

The Bearded Man said, "I can send you out of Hometown, but an enemy of mine has come looking for me and will arrive soon. I agreed to fight him while we were alive, and not long ago, he also came to Hometown. Today is the day we arranged to meet. Rest in my house for a while. Once I kill him, I'll send you away."

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were dumbstruck.

They had agreed to fight while alive and would duel after death. This Bearded Man truly possessed a heroic spirit all his own.

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi entered the house, only to see the Bearded Man take out a Sword Box taller than a person and set it before him. He propped one hand against the Sword Box and stood there proudly.

After a while, the Wind and Rain Like Darkness descended. Violent winds and torrential rain suddenly swept through the underworld, while lightning flashed and thunder roared. The sky darkened.

Vaguely, they saw a towering god standing amid the dark clouds. He called out, "Yuan Tian Gang, you severed my dragon's neck at Panlong Mountain and ruined my cultivation! Today, I will certainly cut you down and avenge this grudge!"