The Ways of Immortals

The passage was dim and damp, covered in moss.

A few steps farther in, they heard birds beating their wings and insects chirping softly. What had once been an immortal's cave abode had now become a nesting place for birds and insects.

The passage was narrow and deep. After roughly a hundred paces, it opened into a broad stone cavern.

The cavern had not been leveled or smoothed. Eighteen glittering green jade stones were set into its ceiling, shedding a faint light.

At its center lay an enormous skeleton. Judging by its shape, it belonged to some kind of serpent or python, and a pair of horns had already grown from its skull.

Meng Yuan stepped forward. Looking at its skull and spine, he reckoned this great serpent must have been several times larger than the Black Serpent raised by the Chen Household.

If this great serpent had been reared by an immortal, it must have lived for over a thousand years. It might even have transformed into a flood dragon, or developed a Divine Ability.

"The Black Serpent our household raises is a descendant of this Snake Lord." Chen Yuyin came in as well. "Back then, the Snake Lord guarded this place. Blades could not pierce it, and its breath became mist. The moment that poisonous mist touched you, it entered your body and dissolved your flesh and blood. Four generations of our three households pressed on, one after another. It took eighty-one years, twenty-seven lives, and countless methods before we finally slew the Snake Lord."

Meng Yuan gazed at the serpent's skeletal remains, unable to imagine what a sight such a colossal creature would have presented in motion.

They continued onward, reached the far end of the cavern, and entered another passage.

This passage was somewhat broader than the first and sloped gently downward.

The husband and wife descended for about a quarter of an hour before coming upon a cavern even larger than the last.

Seven-colored fluorite stones were set into its ceiling. There was another passage at the far end, but before it stood a stone platform bearing a bronze bottle.

Dragon claws were engraved on the bronze bottle, extraordinarily lifelike.

Human and animal bones lay scattered across the ground within fifty or sixty paces of the bronze bottle. Most were broken, as though severed by sharp weapons.

The bronze bottle looked utterly ordinary, but here and now, however ignorant Meng Yuan might have been, he knew there must be something extraordinary about it.

"Our ancestors called it the Sword Qi Bottle." Chen Yuyin stopped fifty paces from the bronze bottle and pointed at a line scored into the ground. "Cross this line, and the bronze bottle activates at once, spewing Sword Qi. Even steel tempered a hundred times cannot hinder it in the slightest."

Without a word, Meng Yuan picked up a pebble and hurled it at the bronze bottle.

He used seventy percent of his strength in that throw, enough to pierce heavy armor. Yet there was only a dull crack as the pebble shattered. The bronze bottle did not move a fraction, and not even a mark remained.

"The bronze bottle only reacts to living things?" Meng Yuan asked.

"Precisely," Chen Yuyin said.

"I see cattle bones and deer bones on the ground. I suppose those were all things you tried? Didn't you try anything else? Hornets, for instance, or butterflies, or birds?"

Meng Yuan asked curiously, "The great Dao is simplicity itself. If the bronze bottle kills living things, just give it living things. Couldn't we muddy the waters and slip through? It doesn't have eyes."

"Of course we tried that too, but it wasn't very effective." Chen Yuyin sighed. "There's a sense of resistance around the Sword Qi Bottle, as though you've entered water. Ordinary birds fall to the ground after flying for a dozen breaths or so, and can never rise again."

Hearing this, Meng Yuan stared at the Sword Qi Bottle, pondering how to break through.

After a long while, Meng Yuan still had no ideas, so he asked directly, "Was this where that Pei Liuguang you keep mentioning met her end?"

"No," Chen Yuyin said.

"In that case, I suppose you have a way through?" Meng Yuan asked with a smile.

Chen Yuyin nodded slightly but said no more.

Before long, footsteps and the tapping of a cane sounded behind them.

Bai Xingshuang and Pei Huasheng entered.

Bai Xingshuang carried a sack. He walked up to the line and eyed the bronze bottle warily.

"Before we entered the mountain, we agreed I would take the medicine once I saw the Immortal Mausoleum. Now my wish has been fulfilled," Meng Yuan said with a smile.

"Brother Meng, your generosity of spirit won me over long ago. Why bring up that day again?" Bai Xingshuang laughed, untied the sack, and flung something from it toward the bronze bottle.

A loud buzzing instantly arose. The object was a beehive, and countless bees poured out.

Whatever variety these bees belonged to, they were all a vivid red.

The bronze bottle immediately began shaking without pause. Then an unknown number of streams of Qi shot from its mouth, like countless invisible blades, and the bees fell thickly to the ground.

"The bronze bottle only kills living things. It has no intelligence. But the Sword Qi is so abundant and dense that getting through still takes some luck," Pei Huasheng said.

"Great-aunt has difficulty moving, and Yuyin has never been inside, so she'll stay outside to keep Great-aunt company." Bai Xingshuang brushed the bees from his clothes and stepped forward. "The Sword Qi is invisible, but the red bees stand out. We can use them to judge where it moves. Brother Meng, life and death are in fate's hands!"

Before he had finished speaking, Bai Xingshuang had already entered within fifty paces of the bronze bottle. His movements were graceful, rising and falling. In just seven or eight breaths, he passed the bronze bottle and entered the passage opposite.

Meng Yuan saw it clearly. The man's lightness skill and the depth of his internal power were no less than his own. He had probably consumed some extraordinary fruit as well.

"I'm going in to take a look!" Chen Yuyin gritted her teeth and stepped into the sword formation. But her internal power was not as profound as Bai Xingshuang's, nor were her movements as light. After only a few steps into the formation, her hairpin was sliced away, and her black hair immediately spilled loose.

Before Chen Yuyin could steady herself, she saw dozens of red bees cut apart by invisible Sword Qi before her eyes. She immediately ducked, only to see red bees falling beneath her as well.

At this critical moment, Chen Yuyin proved decisive. She twisted, intending to sacrifice a foot to save the rest of herself.

Just then, Chen Yuyin felt a palm support her waist. That hand lifted her, and with a turn, they evaded several streams of Sword Qi.

They had been husband and wife for years, and those large hands had touched every part of Chen Yuyin's body countless times. Naturally, she knew them well, yet at this moment they stirred a somewhat different feeling.

In a daze, Chen Yuyin landed on solid ground and found that they had already passed the sword formation and reached the passage.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Meng Yuan pulled a wooden hairpin from his own hair and pinned up Chen Yuyin's hair, then straightened her clothes. "If you injured those lovely feet, my life would lose a great deal of pleasure."

They had shared a bed for years. Chen Yuyin knew Meng Yuan's tastes and naturally knew he meant it.

Chen Yuyin had been somewhat moved, but then, while straightening her clothes, he took the opportunity to pinch the soft flesh at her waist, as casually as though they had not yet fallen out.

Only then did Chen Yuyin truly understand that the man who shared her pillow held not a shred of affection for her. He simply had not slept with her in a long time and probably wanted to keep sleeping with her for free.

Meng Yuan, however, had not thought that much about it. He followed Bai Xingshuang onward for a stretch, and a number of stone chambers appeared along both sides of the passage.

These stone chambers varied in size, but most were empty.

Farther ahead, another stone cavern stood at the end, with luminous gems set into its ceiling.

At the other end of the passage stood a stone door.

Beneath the stone door was a Bronze Candle Stand, shaped like two dragons playing with a pearl, holding up a faint candle flame.

Many human and animal skeletons lay on the cavern floor, all entirely intact. Judging by the tattered clothing on them, those who had died here ranged from over a hundred years ago to as recently as the last ten years or so.

"What wondrous power does that Bronze Candle Stand have?" Meng Yuan could tell at a glance that the candle flame was responsible for the deaths here. But it was unlike the Sword Qi Bottle, for these skeletons bore not the slightest injury.

"We don't know," Bai Xingshuang said.

"You don't know?" Meng Yuan was startled.

"We don't know."

Bai Xingshuang pointed at the Bronze Candle Stand. "Whenever someone comes within fifty paces of it, it's as though their wits are stolen away. No matter how you call to them, even if you stab them with blades, they won't wake. Some days later, their vitality runs out. So no one knows what sort of art they've fallen victim to."

"Poison? Or some kind of stupefying drug?" Meng Yuan asked.

Bai Xingshuang shook his head. "All three of our households have inherited medical knowledge. How could poisons or stupefying drugs confound us? Though it's possible we simply cannot recognize an immortal's poison."

"Then couldn't you tie a rope around someone and pull them back as soon as they fall into a trance?" Meng Yuan suggested.

"It's no use." Bai Xingshuang shook his head. "Even after you pull them back, they're like witless fools. No medicine helps, and you can't get any answers out of them. Feeding them gruel and water can prolong their lives, but their vitality keeps dwindling while they're unconscious. In as little as three to five days, or ten days or so at most, their heart suddenly gives out, and they die just like that."

"Can't you put out the candle?" Meng Yuan asked again.

"It won't go out. Generations of us have tried countless methods. The flame rekindles as soon as it's extinguished, as though it could burn until heaven and earth grow old," Chen Yuyin said.

That left them without a single lead.

"There's a dragon depicted on the Sword Qi Bottle, and the candlestick is dragon-shaped too. Maybe it has something to do with my wife's ex-husband!" Meng Yuan spouted casually.

"I was widowed, not divorced. He isn't my ex-husband," Chen Yuyin said.

Seeing that he had angered her, Meng Yuan had achieved his purpose, so he examined the candlestick again.

He did not fear traps or ambushes, but faced with methods whose workings he did not understand, he felt helpless.

Wondrous though the Sword Qi Bottle had been, there were still traces to follow. This candle flame, however, killed without a sign. He did not even know how to guard against it.

Meng Yuan stared at the candlestick without the slightest idea, then sat cross-legged and gazed blankly.

Bai Xingshuang, however, kept talking, pointing out the skeletons and introducing them one by one. Finally, when he spoke of the deaths of Chen Yucheng and Pei Liuguang, he too lost his spirits.

The three stayed there for half a day and discussed matters at length. Meng Yuan did not recklessly charge farther in. Instead, they left the Immortal Mausoleum together.

The mountain breeze was cool, and the peach blossoms remained as before.

Meng Yuan had intended to visit Mount Xiyi and Snow Mountain, only to learn that no such places existed. Mount Xiyi, Snow Mountain, and Mysterious Valley were all names bestowed by the immortal.

By the time the peach blossoms had all fallen and the green fruit began to redden, Meng Yuan had still gained nothing.

He could not even determine how the Bronze Candle Stand killed without a sign.

His achievements in laying plans, his campaigns far and wide, his extensive reading of the hundred schools-all his past experience had become utterly useless.

Though the immortal was dead, the few minor means he had left behind were already problems mortals could not solve.

This time, Meng Yuan truly felt the smallness of human life.