There is a hint of madness in Di Luan’s eyes. He looks at the Great Shell Cave: “What do you mean, 6th brother?”
“Kill them all, from the cave master to the guards and servants. We’ll let none survive!” Di Jian’s voice is exceptionally grim.
Hearing that, Qin Yu is secretly startled.
Kill them all?
The Di brothers killed at will in his Blood-red Cave so he has been harboring a grudge against them for a long time. Therefore, this time he seized the opportunity to kill Di Qing and put the blame on someone else so determinedly. These members of the Nine Demons Hall are really too cruel.
Now they want to slaughter the entire Great Shell Cave.
“Di Luan, Di Jian, there are more than 1000 Xiuyaoists in a cave. Only a very few of them are spies. You …” Even though he is ruthless, he finds this somewhat unacceptable.
“Shut up.”
Di Jian gives him a cold look.
……
Bloody night,
The whole Great Shell Cave is covered in blood. Di Jian and Di Luan’s massacre was really too terrifying. They transformed into 2 Purple Demon aquatic dragons and ran amok. Nobody in the Great Shell Cave was able to resist them.
Qin Yu still remembers Fu Hao’s anguished dying cry.
“Go. From now on, we’re going straight back to the Nine Demons Hall without entering any caves.” Di Luan has made a decision.
Both Qin Yu and Di Luan get on Di Jian’s huge flying sword. The 3 of them are riding one flying sword together so their current speed is much faster than when they just left the Blood-red Cave. They thus head extremely fast for the Nine Demons Hall.
……
After this fight, the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion have both come out from behind the curtain. At the same time, the amity between the 3 superpowers has cracked. The 8th jade sword is the cause of this breakdown in relations between them.
Because Di Jian and Di Luan massacred the Great Shell Cave, the other caves are all terrified.
Luckily, afterwards they go straight back to the Nine Demons Hall without stopping at any caves. Otherwise, perhaps some cave masters would have become prostrate with fear.
Di Qing is dead.
The Nine Demons Hall immediately tries to call the Azure Dragon Palace to account, demanding to know why vice overlord Teng Shan killed Di Qing.
Teng Shan does not admit killing Di Qing. He only admits that he badly injured Di Qing.
However, that day, right after seriously injuring Di Qing with a punch, he tried to grab Qin Yu without checking carefully so he is uncertain whether he did not kill Di Qing. He thinks that there is a possibility his demonic elemental energy shook the yuanying and shattered the soul after damaging Di Qing’s chest.
To sum up, in just about a year, the entire underwater Xiuyao world is shaken. At the same time, Qin Yu’s name and his connection with the 8th jade sword become known by everyone here.
……
Outside the Nine Demons Hall,
Di Long, Di Xu, Di Yang, Di Feng and Di Nai are standing side by side. Through their transmitters, they already know that Di Jian and Di Luan are about to return. In just a while, the 5 of them can see Di Jian, Di Luan and Qin Yu coming back on a flying sword in the distance.
When Di Jian and Di Luan rush up to their 5 brothers, there is only pain on their faces.
“6th brother, 7th brother.”
Di Long and the other 4 brothers look at the 2 of them.
“2nd brother is dead.”
Di Jian slowly says. The eyes of the Di brothers all redden. Di Qing’s death is obviously a heavy blow to the remaining 7 brothers of the Nine Demons Hall. They only recover from their mournfulness after a long time. Di Luan then looks at Qin Yu, his eyes glittering with coldness: “Brothers, this is Qin Yu.”
Di Long and the other 4 brothers all look at Qin Yu.
To the Di brothers, both Di Tong’s death and Di Qing’s death have to do with this Qin Yu fellow. Except for Di Long, who is still somewhat calm, all of them want to kill Qin Yu immediately to vent the hatred in their hearts.
Chapter 15: Death Sentence
The Nine Demons Hall as a whole forms a Twelve Capital Gates Formation. 12 palaces have been built on the 12 eyes of the formation. Each palace has different structures such as gardens, courtyard houses, multi-story buildings, pavilions and so on. The 9 majesties live in 9 of the 12 palaces.
The other 3 palaces are Universal Palace, Treasure Storing Palace and Main Hall Palace.
At the moment, the Nine Demons Hall’s remaining 7 majesties and Qin Yu are in the main hall. The 7 majesties sit down according to their respective orders with Di Long sitting on a raised platform in the main hall. Qin Yu is the only one who is standing.
With his back robe fluttering, he bows and says: “Greetings, great majesty and the other majesties. I am Qin Yu, the Blood-red Cave’s master.”
He then faces the majesties smilingly in an indifferent and moderate manner.
Because he is a prince’s son, he has been used to seeing great things since he was a kid. These Nine Demons Hall’s 7 majesties are powerful but their manners and appearances are not as splendid and sumptuous as mortal monarchs. After all, the number of Xiuyaoists is much smaller than the number of mortals.
“Qin Yu, I ask you, how did my 8th brother die?” Di Long looks down at him from the raised platform and asks.
Qin Yu says smilingly: “Great majesty, can you allow me to give a brief account of myself before talking about 8th majesty’s death? If you listen to my story, you’ll probably know everything.” He says with confidence and composure.
The majesties on the lower end of the main hall are all somewhat impatient.
These majesties know very well that if they immediately grab Qin Yu and let that terror jellyfish guardian eat him, they can know everything. However, there is one disadvantage in doing so, that is, they will not be able to ascertain whether guardian Terror Jellyfish will tell them the truth or not.
“All right, go ahead.” Di Long is in no hurry either.
Qin Yu nods his head then says: “Originally, after making some achievements in practice, I left my school with my brother Hou Fei. We then wandered about and arrived at the Blood-red Ridge, where there are a lot of Xiuyaoists.”
“Your school?”
The 7 majesties, including Di Long, frown because most Xiuyaoists practice by themselves using techniques which are taught to them by their own clans and very few Xiuyaoists have a school. Therefore, how can they possibly not be startled after Qin Yu mentioned his school?
Qin Yu continues: “Later in the Blood-red Ridge, I fought and became acquainted with Cha Ge and became a guardian of the Blood-red Cave as well. I asked my master for instructions and my master also thought that I should cultivate myself in the Blood-red Cave and improve my social skills.”
“However, afterwards …” Qin Yu’s eyes dim, as if he is recalling what happened that one day.
Di Long and the other majesties all become focused, knowing that Qin Yu’s story has reached an important point.
“A fierce fight broke out between 8th majesty and cave master Cha Hong on the cave’s underground secret floor. Cave master Cha Hong died in this fight and 8th majesty obtained the black jade case that Cha Hong had had to spend 100 years to open, and of course he obtained that 8th jade sword.”
“There should have been a jade slip too, right?” Di Long suddenly asks.
“I don’t know. My master didn’t tell me exactly what there were inside the case.” Qin Yu answers naturally. “But later a mysterious figure appeared all of a sudden and sneakily attack 8th majesty right away. The assailant was more powerful than him and used a sneak attack so he was killed on the spot.”
“Damn!”
“Bastard!”
Almost all of the majesties in the main hall immediately curse.
Di Long, however, keeps questio
ning Qin Yu with a calm expression: “Qin Yu, what you said sounds as if you saw this with your own eyes. How did you know?”
“My master told me.” Qin Yu replies smilingly.
Di Long continues to ask: “Then how did your master know? If your master’s holy sense is so extraordinary that he could even know what was going on, why didn’t he kill that mysterious killer to snatch the 8th jade sword?”
“My master has marvelous abilities, why would he care about the 8th jade sword? He already knew about the legend of the 9 Swords long ago. When his holy sense discovered that black jade case, he immediately figured out everything. However, he follows the way of Heaven and is very aloof and proud so he did nothing, thinking that it was the mysterious killer’s destiny to obtain the jade sword.” Qin Yu suddenly lets out a sigh.
“Alas, I knew nothing when that fight was going on either. If I had known beforehand, I would’ve asked my master to help. Perhaps 8th majesty’s life would’ve been saved. My master is aloof and proud but he cares a lot about me, his only disciple.”
Di Long nods his head.
Suddenly --
“6th brother, you personally escort Qin Yu into Universal Palace. He is to be detained in the Kan 1 room.” Di Long unexpectedly orders Di Jian to shut Qin Yu in a room of Universal Palace.
Qin Yu has no objection either.
“There’s no need to use force, 6th majesty. I’ll go with you. With your power, you don’t have to worry that I’ll run away, do you?” Qin Yu immediately says as he sees Di Jian reaching out his hands intending to grab his own hands.
“Okay.”
Di Jian is confident in his own abilities so he immediately leads Qin Yu out of the main hall, heading for Universal Palace.
Qin Yu does not know at all that Universal Palace is basically a prison. Moreover, it is where serious offenders are kept. The warders of Universal Palace’s rooms are all extremely loyal guards of the Nine Demons Hall. It is very difficult to escape once locked up in here!
……
Qin Yu and Di Jian are going forwards alongside each other on a road paved with blue stone.
“6th majesty, you brothers want to lock me up because you’re afraid that I’ll run away. But I wonder what you detain me this time for. Just now I should have already told you everything. Before letting me go, can you explain to me a bit?”
Qin Yu says to Di Jian enthusiastically.
But the latter’s face is totally grim.
In his eyes, Qin Yu is already dead. Letting Qin Yu go? After guardian Terror Jellyfish absorbs Qin Yu, there will not be even a corpse left
“Oh, this palace is called Treasure Storing Palace? There should be a lot of treasures here, right?” Qin Yu, however, does not see many guards outside this palace. If it is really Treasure Storing Palace and contains valuable treasures, why are there so few guards here?
Di Jian gives a rare nod: “This is Treasure Storing Palace among the 12 palaces of the Nine Demons Hall. But we aren’t afraid of anyone stealing from it.”
“Oh, how so?” Qin Yu becomes curious.
Di Jian says haughtily: “Do you know what my Nine Demons Hall is best at?”
“Making pills.” Qin Yu immediately answers.
There is a hint of satisfaction on Di Jian’s face: “You should know that Xiuyaoists are generally inferior to humans in pill making and weapon forging, but the Nine Demons Hall’s art of pill making is comparable to those of the best pill making Xiuzhen schools thanks to this Treasure Storing House.”
Qin Yu listens attentively.
“Generally, good crystals to forge weapons are very valuable because top-grade holy weapons are highly attractive to experts like us. But top-grade crystals are extremely rare, so storage bracelets and spatial rings already have enough space for them. There’s no need for a Treasure Storing Palace.”
There is a rare note of excitement on Di Jian’s face as he is about to mention the Nine Demons Hall’s proudest achievement.
“This Treasure Storing Palace absorbs the life essence in nature, solar energy and so on through restrictive spells, holy-energy-gathering formations, high-level elemental-energy-gathering formations and many other profound formations. The palace’s 8 large areas of land are used to plant various kinds of rare herbs. The hardest thing in pill making is to find materials. A single pill may need several tens materials. Since the ocean is huge, it’s difficult to gather them. Therefore we brothers have been trying to find rare herbs and transplant them into this palace.”
After listening, Qin Yu cannot help secretly praising the Nine Demons Hall.
Transplanting?
Suitable environments are very important to rare herbs. Some grow in hot places, some grow in cold places, some grow in dry places and some grow in shade. Therefore, it is easier said than done to grow them on a large scale.
There is also another requirement, that is, patience.
In general, it takes relatively long for rare herbs to grow. Of course, there are ones that only need several months to become fully developed, but there are also ones that need as long as even 100 years or 1000 years. According to legend, it takes some extremely rare herbs even several thousand years to more than 10,000 years to become full-grown.
Generally, after planting rare herbs, one will have to wait patiently for several decades to several centuries on average to gather them. This patience is worthy of praise too.
“The Jade Dawn Pill you took is the Nine Demons Hall’s esoteric pill. It was made from some materials in Treasure Storing Palace.” Di Jian’s face suddenly turns cold. He shouts at Qin Yu: “Stop asking so much. Follow me.”
After saying so, he quickens his pace, heading for another palace.
Qin Yu secretly laughs: “Me? Isn’t it you who couldn’t control yourself and talked so much without a break just now? But … this Treasure Storing Palace is really quite something.”
“6th majesty, there are such rare herbs in Treasure Storing Palace, but why does it have so few guards?” Qin Yu asks his original question again.
Di Jian says with a cold laugh: “Who would dare to steal from it? The 8 plantations are protected by the restrictive spells around them. If someone touches a restrictive spell, we brothers will know immediately. Also, what’s the point of having a large number of ordinary guards here? Some are already enough.”
Qin Yu understands this so he stops asking.
After a while, he and Di Jian arrive at the outside of a huge palace, which is none other than Universal Palace.
The Nine Demons Hall’s 12 palaces are about the same in size. Each of them is 1 to 2 km long. Heaven knows how many years it will take mortals to finish building such large palaces. However, it is easy for Xiuyaoists to build them.
“6th majesty.”
The guards at the entrance of Universal Palace say after getting down on one knee.
Di Jian nods then leads Qin Yu into the palace directly. As soon as Qin Yu enters the palace, he feels as if he is in a maze and has lost his sense of direction. There are only 8 directions, which are Kan, Li, Dui, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Kun, and Gen (*).
Di Jian goes directly to the outside of a cell with a plate that says ‘Kan 1’ in the Kan direction. This prison cell is made entirely of a certain kind of black stone, looking very oppressive. Except for the door, the cell also has a window. It is only because of this that there is a little light in the cell.
“Open the door.”
Di Jian shouts at the guard of the Kan 1 cell.
Frightened, that guard hurriedly executes the technique for opening and closing the cell’s door. Di Jian then looks at Qin Yu, who smilingly goes into the cell. The guard hurriedly executes that technique again to close the door.
“Good heavens! This entire Universal Palace is a huge formation and each cell is surrounded by restrictive spells. Even if I can destroy these black stone walls, I won’t be able to break the spells.” Qin Yu can feel the defense of the r
estrictive spells with his holy sense so he knows that he cannot break them.
As for the window, though there seems to be nothing here, when he touches it, he discovers that it has a transparent restrictive layer.
“Qin Yu, you stay here quietly.”
Right after saying so, Di Jian turns around and leaves.
This Kan direction has 8 prison cells from Kan 1 to Kan 8. Among them, Kan 1 is the one where the most important offenders are kept. Kan also tops the 8 directions.
Stellar Transformations Book 6 Page 14