“Well, putting aside my dream of becoming a pirate, it seems that the lot of you have a very interesting plan to enter the forbidden area of the Garden of Shadows?” The King smirked as she spoke, her eyes glistening with excitement as she leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest.
Xue Wei frowned when he heard her question. He had not expected that she was eavesdropping on their previous conversation; however with her current attitude, it did not seem like she had any intention of stopping them.
“That is right,” Xue Wei admitted with a nod of his head. “We went to the ninth floor of the Soul Tower today and saw some rather unsettling things.” He continued, “these things gave us an idea of what might be hidden within the forbidden area, and we would like to enter it to make sure whether or not we are correct.”
“Ah, you saw the creepy blood marks and scratches.” The King nodded her head as she heard Xue Wei’s words. “As a matter of fact, I have been to the ninth floor once too and saw the walls being filled with bloody scratches while I was there, it was definitely a gruesome sight.”
“I too had an idea that perhaps the daily ten missing people had something to do with the Soul Tower, but every time I tried to investigate it, I was stopped. I had also wanted to enter the forbidden area, but they were quite alert around me, and I never got the chance to enter before the old King died and I was forced to drop out of the academy and take over his job.”
Xue Wei pondered on her words for a moment, and then he made a decision. “Do you want to come with us?” he asked as he looked at the King with a hesitant expression on his face.
Truth was that he was not trusting a lot of people here at Yan Dalu. As the King had said, it was hard to determine who was actually interested in fixing this mystery that was shrouding the continent, and who was involved in it.
But when he looked at the King, he had a sense of kinship. It felt as if the King was just like him—curious about what was going on. She seemed to be the same kind of person as him too; a kind of person who dreamt of one thing but was forced to become something she did not wish for because of outer influences.
Xue Wei did not feel any kind of romantic attachment towards her, but he innately felt as if they were friends who had known each other for many years already.
The King was surprised when she heard the offer Xue Wei came out with, and her eyes shone with happiness and excitement.
She looked behind her at the darkness outside the house, contemplating the pros and cons of the offer.
“I have a few hours before they notice that I left the palace,” the King muttered to herself. “A few hours should be enough to deal with the forbidden area! Let us go!”
Having agreed, the group of five were already prepared so they started moving out from the courtyard, and towards the forbidden area immediately.
Although the academy was rather bustling at all hours of the day, the space around the forbidden area was usually empty as there was nothing here nor was it on the path towards much else.
A few people would come here out of curiosity every now and then, or couples would walk past while being intimate, but when they arrived, no one appeared to be there.
Looking around, Xue Wei noticed that the forbidden area was behind a large wall. There was also a massive closed gate blocking their entrance.
There were no guards around the walls nor the gate—which appeared to be quite securely locked too. Surveying the obstruction, Xue Wei considered that since everyone within the academy were cultivators of primarily Spiritual Energy, their physical strength would be quite limited, so they simply would not have the power to jump above the wall usually, thus making an effective deterrent.
Things were different for the group of friends, however. All of them, excluding Bai Tianyi and the King, were cultivating Qi, making it a simple feat for them to jump to the top of the walls and drop down on the other side.
Hei Gou had the highest rank and strength among them, so he quickly grasped the King around her waist. “Pardon me,” he said casually before his legs crouched and moments after, a great force was propelling them both upwards, soaring through the air before landing surprisingly gracefully on the top of the wall.
Seeing Hei Gou taking action, the others did not waste time either. Lin Xiao grasped Bai Tianyi’s collar and jumped to the top of the wall, closely followed by Xue Wei.
As they landed on the top of the wall, they quickly glanced around themselves, only to notice the silence and tranquility was the same as it usually was. No one seemed to have noticed anything, so they quickly jumped down on the opposite side of the wall before anyone had a chance to see them so exposed.
There were no formations to protect the Forbidden Area; neither were there guards or traps. Everything seemed far too easy.
As they quietly landed on the ground, Xue Wei once more looked around, surveying the courtyard. He sniffed the air to see whether or not he could smell any blood or the scent of death, but the only scent that wafted into his nose was the scent of peach blossoms.
The entire side of the road they had landed on had a breathtaking row of peach trees, all of them blossoming, their beautiful petals elegantly fluttering to the floor, looking very much like snow descending from the skies above.
The scenery was beautiful, with the silver moonlight lighting up the road in front of them, and the slightly cold rays of light shining against the petals carpeting the ground.
Many petals had been left on the ground, all of them seemingly untouched by humanity. There were no signs of any kind of human activity within the forbidden area, even the houses that were hidden behind the peach trees seemed as if they had been left to their own devices for many many years already, most of them even appeared to be crumbling to ruins.
Looking around, Xue Wei frowned. He had his spiritual energy spread wide to try and keep an eye on every movement around him, but it was as if an invisible power was blocking his own.
It was impossible to sense anything around him. Even his sight was capable of reaching further than his spiritual energy, causing him to feel slightly uncomfortable and apprehensive.
Although it was hard to see or sense anything immediately wrong with the Forbidden Area, there was definitely something going on within this area to be able to block his spiritual energy like this.
Looking at the others, he saw that the King and Bai Tianyi both were frowning.
“Seems like it is not only me who has their spiritual energy blocked,” Xue Wei muttered, and both of them nodded their heads in confirmation.
Bai Tianyi was the one who had it the worst. His entire body was composed from soul and spiritual power. Every step he took felt as if he had been wrapped with large chains, and his entire body was so weak that he could not help but tremble, even just standing up proved to be challenging.
Xue Wei watched him silently, just waiting for Bai Tianyi’s own decision.
After a few minutes of conflicting emotions, Bai Tianyi finally gave up and sighed. “I can’t do it,” he said firmly. “My body is being suppressed here; the energy is trying to rip my body apart. In fact, it feels as if chains are holding me down, but at the same time it also feels as if something is draining the energy that this body is created from.”
He frowned, “If I stay here, I am likely to lose my body.”
“Lin Xiao, help him back over the wall,” Xue Wei said with a nod of his head. He had not asked Bai Tianyi anything before, and he had not wanted to make a decision for the other man. Although Bai Tianyi seemed to be a kid in the eyes of others, his companions knew that he was an ancient old monster. He understood his own situation much better than any of them.
Hearing Xue Wei’s order, Lin Xiao once more hoisted Bai Tianyi up in the collar of his robes and leaped on top of the wall.
He did not jump down with him. Instead he pushed him, casually tossing him down the wall seemingly without any care for whether or not he was capable of surviving such a long fall.
It might have seemed ruthless, but Lin Xiao was aware that Bai Tianyi’s body was not human. It was made from energy, so even if it crashed heavily onto the ground, it would be impossible for him to die from it. He might feel pain but death was impossible, and it might be quite amusing to see the usually carefree but composed kid in an undignified flail as he fell.
Lin Xiao was grinning when he saw the annoyed expression on Bai Tianyi’s face at the bottom, but neither of them said anything else before they went their own ways, Bai Tianyi going back to their own courtyard and Lin Xiao back to Xue Wei and the others.
As Lin Xiao returned to Xue Wei’s side, he noticed that Xue Wei had not paid attention to him throwing Bai Tianyi down from the tall wall, instead his eyes were focused on a building that was placed a bit away from the others.
His eyes were dark, a dangerous air was around him, and the temperature felt as if it was dropping drastically. Xue Wei’s lips slowly curled into a grin, but this grin was not a friendly one but one that was filled with malice.
Lin Xiao was confused. What could have happened during the short time he had jumped to the top of the wall and down again?
The others were also looking at Xue Wei with rapt curiosity, but Xue Wei slowly started walking purposefully towards the house. He was not trying to be sneaky, nor was he being loud. He just walked normally, his back straight, his head held high, and the chilling smile plastered on his face, with his dark and dangerous eyes focused fully on the door leading into the house.
The others were perplexed at first, but when Xue Wei started moving, they did not hesitate to follow him. It was impossible to sense anything with spiritual energy, so the only thing that might have caused this sudden change in Xue Wei’s expression is if he had seen something, yet the house seemed similar to the other ruins, with no trace of inhabitants or movement to be seen from the outside.
Still, they were advancing slowly towards the house and were getting closer by the second. As they got nearer, they suddenly started hearing some weird sounds from within the house. They sounded like slow, scratching or scraping sounds as if someone was dragging a chair over the floor.
The sounds were eerie in the middle of the otherwise silent night. Although they were faint, no one was able to ignore them, it was obvious that there was someone within the house, but who could it be and what were they doing?
The forbidden area had supposedly been closed off to the outside world for seven thousand years. No one seemed to know what was within the forbidden area, not even the principal and his elders were entitled to enter the forbidden area.
Although there was no real protection, no one would dare enter the forbidden area. This was a taboo that was simply impossible to see someone break. Yet here they were, a group of four had entered, only to find that there was at least one living being within a ruined house.
They had arrived in front of the house. Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and the King were all looking at Xue Wei, wondering what he would do next. Would he try to force entry? Yell for the person inside to come out? Cause a scene?
Contrary to their expectations, Xue Wei calmly lifted his hand, clenched his fist and knocked on the door.
“Excuse me, we are wondering if you wouldn’t mind some guests?” His voice drifted through the air. Although his expression had been one of malice moments before, he suddenly looked like a gentleman as he stood outside the door. His face held an amiable smile on his lips, his eyes serene.
All his companions were shocked silly upon seeing him behave like this.