Qing Chen’s hands trembled the moment the two entered the Crimson Garden. It looked as though he had suddenly remembered something, and fear filled his eyes. “This is the Crimson Garden. You must remember that you cannot ever publicize that you’ve been here, and you cannot even tell anyone about this place.”
Lu Yin grew curious. “Is this place that important?”
Qing Chen answered quietly, “This place is more important than you can possibly imagine.”
“Why is no one here?” Lu Yin asked.
Qing Chen replied, “If no one’s here, then we’ll just look for them. I’ll take you to see everyone here, but if you find the Redback, say nothing. It’s practically impossible for a traitor to be hiding in this place.”
Lu Yin nodded and fell silent, and Qing Chen did not say anything further either. He led Lu Yin along a flowing stream.
If Qing Chen were replaced with a woman, the scenery that they passed through would be the most beautiful place imaginable for a date. However, despite such a scenic backdrop, the fear in Qing Chen’s eyes only grew stronger with each passing moment, and the same was also true of Lu Yin. This place was lovely to look at, but he was trying to suppress a rising sense of panic.
Red flowers rained from the sky, almost as if they were trying to bury the two men.
After a brief time walking, Lu Yin’s ears twitched, and he looked in front of them. The soil was moving there, and he instantly raised his guard.
Qing Chen’s gaze instantly focused on that patch of dirt as he stared at the ground in front of them.
Suddenly, the soil erupted, and a figure rushed towards the two men.
Qing Chen waved his hand, shattering the void as the attack swept towards the charging figure.
The attack passed through the void and struck the figure, blasting it into the distance and drawing a strange cry from it.
Lu Yin only then saw that the figure was actually a man, though his hair was unkempt, and he looked completely insane. There was a red flower in his mouth.
There was a bang as the man fell into the stream, and he then shouted, “How bold! You dare to sneak into this old ancestor’s territory? Are you seeking death? If this old ancestor wanted to attack, you would be splattered across the gate.”
Qing Chen and Lu Yin stared at the stream, and the insane-looking man gave them a strange smile as he lay flat in the water. He did not move, though it was clear that Qing Chen’s attack had not hurt the man at all. The water flowed around the man, and he stared at Qing Chen. The man then approached the two. His eyes grew bloodshot, and he looked even more mindless than before. “Are you still not kneeling and bowing after seeing this old ancestor? Once I get angry, you will have no path towards survival.”
Lu Yin was stunned.
Qing Chen solemnly said, “The Crimson Garden is a prison. This is where the Perennial World keeps our most powerful madmen imprisoned.”
The old man had never told Lu Yin exactly what the Crimson Garden was. Lu Yin had asked, but the old man had never given any response. Also, Qing Chen had never mentioned the matter while they were traveling, so this was Lu Yin’s first time discovering the purpose of the Crimson Garden: it was a unique prison that was used to incarcerate lunatics.
“Who are these madmen?” Lu Yin asked.
Qing Chen replied, “You’ll find out later.”
The older man then proceeded on his way.
Lu Yin and the madman looked at each other. The man’s eyes were locked onto Lu Yin, and Lu Yin was able to see the man quite clearly through the ripples in the water. The man was sitting in the stream as though he was sitting on a glorious throne. The man was clearly insane, but there was also a readily apparent dignity to him.
“You dare trespass on this master’s property! I will eradicate your entire family!” the crazy old man shouted, but that was all he did, as he did not move an inch.
The man under the water continued grinning as he muttered something.
“Copy this scripture a hundred times: don’t be naughty. Don’t look at the ancestors…” The soft voice grew more and more faint. Lu Yin could not stop himself from turning and glancing at the crazy old man at the bottom of the stream one last time.
“Don’t worry. While these people all have their own obsessions, all of them are completely mad,” Qing Chen tried to reassure Lu Yin.
Before they were able to walk too far, they felt a slight vibration in the ground. Off in the distance, they saw a fat old woman squatting on the ground. They could not see what she was doing.
As the two men walked closer, they were able to see clearly.
The fat old woman’s arms were close to the ground, and she acted as though she was digging for something even though she didn’t have a tool. Most of the flesh on her arms had actually already rotted away, and in many places, one could see her bones.
“Don’t worry, it’s almost ready! What else do you want to eat? Fried iced fruit? Grilled fish? I’ll make them all for you! Haha.”
“Don’t worry, it’s almost ready! What else do you want to eat? Fried iced fruit? Grilled fish? I’ll make them all for you! Haha.”
“Don’t worry, it’s almost ready! What else do you want to eat? Fried iced fruit? Grilled fish? I’ll make them all for you! Haha.”
…
The plump old woman kept repeating the same words over and over as though they were etched into her very soul.
Lu Yin stared at the woman’s decomposing arms. For some reason, this sight roused a deep sense of sadness and discomfort from the bottom of Lu Yin’s heart. He stopped looking at the old woman and resumed walking with Qing Chen.
As they continued moving around, they passed by one mad prisoner after another. They met a little girl who ran by them while laughing heartily. She turned around to speak to someone who was not there and then resumed running, repeating this series of actions endlessly.
They saw a boy who muttered to himself while playing a game all alone. The boy’s words were coherent, and he seemed to be in a situation where he could not meet someone’s expectations, and was also afraid to fight back even when beaten.
After crossing over the mountains drowned in red, Lu Yin found that there was still a larger region off in the distance.
Lu Yin saw one lunatic after another. However, he felt that these people did not seem to be insane, but more that they were trapped within a specific illusion and were unable to free themselves.
“How is it? Have you seen what you’re looking for?” Qing Chen asked.
Lu Yin shook his head. “Not yet.”
Qing Chen seemed calm. He was unable to see anything off, so he did not actually expect Lu Yin to find anything here. He had only brought Lu Yin to this place because of a bit of hope.
“How many crazy people are in here?” Lu Yin asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lu Yin grunted.
Suddenly, they heard a shout, “Young master! Young master, you’ve returned! Young master, this old slave has missed you so much! Young master…”
Lu Yin and Qing Chen turned their heads to look somewhere, and they saw a man with messy hair and crazed eyes rushing towards them. This man was as skinny as a bamboo pole.
Lu Yin and the man stared at each other, and Lu Yin felt almost completely certain that this man was staring straight at him. Young master?
Qing Chen attacked. A wave of his hand shattered the void and threw the prisoner back.
However, the man was completely uninjured after landing, and he immediately charged straight back towards the two men, still shouting wildly for his young master.
“There’s no one else. Let’s go,” Qing Chen said. After he spoke, he set a hand on Lu Yin’s shoulder, and they vanished.
Before they left, Lu Yin looked back at the skinny man. The man was growing increasingly agitated, as though he was trying to break free. He never stopped shouting, “Young master! Young master, you’ve finally returned! Young master, this old slave has missed you so much! Young master…”
The scene around the two changed, and they returned to the empty place where they had stood before entering the Crimson Garden.
“Did you not find anything?” Qing Chen asked as he stared at Lu Yin with hope in his eyes.
Lu Yin felt helpless. “Your subordinate is incompetent. I was unable to find anything.”
Qing Chen’s voice dropped low, “I don’t blame you. Not even I could find any issues. Let’s go. I’ll take you to Dragon Mountain.”
Lu Yin knew that this trip to Dragon Mountain was unavoidable, and it would be almost impossible to explain why he continuously avoided going. There were certain shackles of thought that not even cultivators could break free of. In the end, Lu Yin had the identity of someone from one of the White Dragon Clan’s branch families, and it was impossible for him to break free from the White Dragon Clan, let alone convince others that he wanted to leave the clan.
The sky above the Higher Realm remained dark, as only the territories that belonged to the four ruling powers were allowed to be illuminated.
As they journeyed to Dragon Mountain, Qing Chen offered Lu Yin a bit of information regarding the Higher Realm, including topics like the White Dragon Clan’s Dragon Mountain. The bottom of the mountain illuminated the territory, and light actually radiated from the entire mountain. In addition, the mountain was surrounded by lakes, and the glowing mountain in the sky reflected off of the lakes, making for a stunningly beautiful sight.
No one knew where the light at the bottom of the mountain came from, though some people believed that there was a massive sourcebox array set up on the bottom of Dragon Mountain.
As for the Celestial Frost Sect’s lightsource, their territory was illuminated by white clouds. The sky above the Celestial Frost Sect was blue, and the clouds were white. What’s more, each cloud glowed in a soft and pleasant light that was amazing to behold.
Once again, no one knew why the clouds glowed. However, there was one important detail: the light from the clouds possessed healing properties that not only healed the body, but also gave people a peaceful and ineffable sensation.
As for the Wang family, all of them lived atop a severed hand. Since ancient times, countless people had sought to uncover the severed hand’s origins, but no one ever found any clues.
The severed hand was massive enough to support the entire Wang family, and it also meant that the Wang family lived at the highest altitude of all four ruling powers; their home was in the clouds.
There was a sphere above the severed hand that gave off light. This sphere was not a celestial body like a star, but rather more of some kind of a manifestation of some power.
When the severed hand was mentioned, Lu Yin suddenly remembered the severed hand that had appeared when Wang Su had utilized the visualization method. Had that been the hand that Lu Yin had just been told about?
The light source for Shenwu’s Sky was the most bizarre, as it was actually an imprisoned Jiao.1 Shenwu’s Sky had imprisoned a dragon, and the beast glowed bright enough to illuminate Shenwu’s Sky’s entire territory.
These were the four ruling powers, and each of them possessed their own light source. As for the rest of the Higher Realm, while any powerhouse of sufficient strength was capable of dragging a star up to the Higher Realm to illuminate a region, such an act was forbidden. The four ruling powers dominated the Higher Realm, and no other stars were allowed.
“My Humility’s Gate holds a special position. Because of the commander’s existence, the four ruling powers are forced to tolerate many things, but our special position mainly comes from the four ruling powers’ fear of the commander, as well as their hatred of traitors and Redbacks. This forced them to give Humility’s Gate its special status. If you think that your achievements for Humility’s Gate can make you untouchable to the four ruling powers, you need to know that that’s wrong,” Qing Chen said lightly.
“However, there is mutual tolerance between us. You can simply ignore the four ruling powers’ elite disciples, their elders, and even their Junior Progenitors. However, you absolutely cannot ignore their patriarchs and Semi-Progenitors. Understand?”
Lu Yin could sense that Qing Chen was truly trying to help him, so he nodded. “Yes, supervisor.”
Qing Chen sighed. He then led Lu Yin away, and they traveled along beneath the dim sky and made their way towards Dragon Mountain. As they traveled, the light grew brighter and brighter.
It was quite normal to see remnant fluctuations of a cultivator’s star energy as they traveled over the ground. It was readily evident that the Higher Realm was not at peace, as the battles that the two had encountered were truly fierce.
All of a sudden, there was a loud noise that shook the void itself and shattered space up in the sky. When Lu Yin looked to the south, he saw that the sky had changed.
Where the sky should have been dark and peaceful, there was instead a pair of scarlet eyes with slitted pupils. The eyes were cold and dead, and the owner of that pair of eyes stared menacingly at what seemed to be another dead being, the Perennial World.
Qing Chen also saw what had appeared. Compared to those eyes, even the Higher Realm did not seem that large.
The scarlet eyes looked down at the Higher Realm, and countless people saw them. The eyes instantly caused a wave of endless fear to sweep out, and many people’s scalps went numb.
Lu Yin felt a chill crawl down his back, and the fear that overcame him made him tremble uncontrollably. Those eyes gave him a feeling of utter despair.
[1] This is specifically a Chinese dragon, but this term works better than calling it a Chinese dragon when it’s essentially in another universe. ☜
