Ye Sha and Ye Mei were about to go mad! From where in the blasted abyss did this Dark Emperor’s tomb pop up from?
“Young Miss….. From where did you come to know about this Dark Emperor’s tomb?” Ye Sha asked very cautiously.
“It is a well known fact in the Middle Realm. A long time ago, the Dark Emperor passed on, and the people from the Dark Regime erected a tomb. The location had always been a deep mystery and it is said that all the treasures and magical items the Dark Emperor had acquired throughout his reign was buried together with him in the Dark Emperor’s tomb, which greatly stirred up all the Twelve Palaces, leading them to send countless people down to the Lower Realm in a relentless search for it.” Qiao Chu knew Jun Wu Xie was not well skilled at long explanations and he opened up his mouth to help explain.
Ye Sha’s and Ye Mei’s eyes widened, especially when they heard the words “the Dark Emperor passed on”, and rage began to fill their eyes.
But what further fueled their rage was when they heard that the Twelve Palaces were also involved in it!
“The Dark Emperor’s….. ‘cough’, who spread that news?” Ye Sha did not dare even utter the word “passing” together with his Lord’s title. Irregardless that it was to be used just as an analogy, it would still be a blasphemy to his revered Lord.
“Erm….. That, I do not know. But at that time, there was a great flurry of activity within the Dark Regime. How and why the Dark Emperor died was not known but the Dark Emperor’s tomb had always been something everyone in the Middle Realm dreamt of finding.” Qiao Chu replied, scratching at his head. He had witnessed Ye Sha’s skills before. Those skills were strong enough to oppose the larger part of people from the Twelve Palaces and Qiao Chu had naturally assumed Ye Mei and Ye Sha to be from the Middle Realm, but…..
They didn’t seem to have the slightest idea of the widely known fact of the Dark Emperor’s passing.
“When the Dark Emperor died several centuries ago, and the Dark Emperor’s tomb was erected the very next year. Is there anything wrong?” Qiao Chu asked innocently.
Both Ye Sha and Ye Mei felt the corner of their mouths start to twitch.
“Please wait a moment here.”
Upon saying that, the two immediately walked away to the side speaking in soft whispers.
“Nobody knew anything about it back when our Lord was sealed down here in the Lower Realm, don’t tell me those morons back in the Dark Regime really thought Lord ….. erm….. is no longer around?” Ye Sha whispered with a frown on his face.
Ye Mei nodded.
“That shouldn’t be too far from the truth. I suddenly realized that only the few of us were with our Lord then and only we were aware of the fact that our Lord had been sealed down here. At that time, we only knew that our Lord was somewhere in the Lower Realm but we did not know exactly where he was located, and all of us had been frantically searching blindly all of that time, while not a single one of us had gone back to inform the Dark Regime….. I’m afraid those people back in the Dark Regime really thought that our nobel Lord ….. and that is how this tomb came about.” Ye Mei was feeling that a massive headache was going to hit him.
The events that happened at the time, was not known to anyone in the Middle Realm. Only the few of them who were with Jun Wu Yao knew exactly what happened. Once Jun Wu Yao was sealed away, all of them had been unimaginably frantic and they all lost their heads, thinking of nothing else but to locate Jun Wu Yao, and not a single one among them even thought to return back to the Dark Regime to pass on the news.
“What a….. farce this has become!” Ye Sha said, with a heavy sigh.
“But we can’t be entirely sure of this, and this is just a guess. We don’t know for sure that this place is built by the Dark Regime.” Ye Mei reminded Ye Sha.
“But the Young Miss seems to hold high interest in this place!” Ye Sha had lost his past memories and he had always found it rather curious that Jun Wu Xie would choose to travel together with Qiao Chu and the others. Now, things were finally becoming clear to him.
The Young Miss was highly intent on going in with those kids and dig up his esteemed Lord’s “bogus” tomb!
Ye Sha suddenly could not decide whether he should laugh or cry.
“Should we reveal the truth of the matter to the Young Miss?” Ye Sha was feeling mightily conflicted. If the place at the bottom of the Heaven’s End Cliff was really designed and built by the Dark Regime, then it would only be all too clear to him just how insidious and dangerous that place could turn out to be.
Volume 7
Chapter 659: “Arriving at Heaven’s End Cliff (3)”
Ye Mei shook his head.
“Lord Jue did not leave any instructions pertaining to this and we cannot decide on it unilaterally. Moreover…..” Ye Mei’s brow furrowed up and said: “I think the reason Lord Jue did not reveal his real identity to the Young Miss was to avoid drawing any dangers to her. Those people had up till now still not given up on their persecution of our Lord Jue.”
Ye Sha thumped his fist into his palm angrily.
“If we hadn’t fallen into their trap at that time, based on those lowly insects, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything to our Lord! It’s a shame that after having been sealed for so many years, our Lord’s power has diminished, or I will be the first to follow right behind our Lord Jue, in his charge to erase the previous humiliation suffered!”
The things that had happened to Jun Wu Yao at that time, was now a prickly thorn lodged in the hearts of Ye Sha and his comrade.
Having allowed their Lord to be humiliated, it was due to the incompetence of his subordinates!
If they had not been duty bound to locate Jun Wu Yao at that time, they would have taken their own lives to atone for their crime in failing to protect their lord.
“That’s all in the past. We will need to wait till Lord Jue comes back to decide how to handle this. But from what I can see, the Young Miss seems determined to go down the Heaven’s End Cliff. If we cannot reveal the truth to her, we should at least go down together with them. Firstly, that will give us the opportunity to keep a tight watch over the Young Miss, and secondly, it will also let us ascertain for sure whether that place below the Heaven’s End Cliff is truly the work of the Dark Regime.” After deliberating on all the available options, Ye Mei realised that was the only logical choice.
Ye Sha could not come up with any better ideas and could only agree to it.
The two of them went back to discuss it with Jun Wu Xie, requesting to be allowed to tag along for the trip down the Heaven’s End Cliff, as they would be unable to answer to Jun Wu Yao if Jun Wu Xie was to come into any harm.
The moment they brought out Jun Wu Yao’s name, Jun Wu Xie gave up on arguing the issue.
Moreover, Ye Sha was highly skilled, and looking at the way Ye Mei interacted with Ye Sha, Ye Mei’s skills did not seem to be inferior. Having two skilled fighters with them would naturally make it safer for the companions.
Jun Wu Xie’s group brought along a total of ten coils of strong ropes in preparation for any unexpected turn of events and they were able to give two spares to Ye Sha and Ye Mei.
Mu Qian Fan was to remain at the top of the cliff to guard the equipment while Jun Wu Xie and the others had already secured their ropes and thrown the other end over the edge. The long ropes fell a long way down and they were quickly lost as they fell beyond the layers of thick white rolling fog.
“Please let us go ahead of you.” Ye Sha offered.
Jun Wu Xie nodded.
Ye Sha and Ye Mei took the ropes at the two extreme ends, where they would be most exposed to danger. At the same time, Ye Sha took Lord Meh Meh from Jun Wu Xie and stuffed it into his robes to reduce Jun Wu Xie’s load.
Moments after Ye Sha and Ye Mei had started on their descent, Jun Wu Xie heard them holler up to them and all the companions gripped their ropes, beginning on their own descent as well.
The distance from the top of t
he cliff to the bottom was extremely far and they were even made to spend the night hanging from the ropes. The companions had already changed into thicker clothing and they had even worn coats treated with a waterproof coating as the outermost layer. Although they were unable to make it completely keep out the damp in the mist, it was nevertheless better than nothing.
Wearing thick and rough gunny cloth gloves over her hands, Jun Wu Xie gripped the rope tightly, gradually moving herself down the cliff face.
They did not move very quickly. For such a long climb, overexerting your strength too quickly would only cause them to completely deplete their energy halfway through it.
They had just descended barely ten metres when Jun Wu Xie felt the temperature around her drastically drop suddenly. The ropes they had just thrown down not too long ago was already coated with a very thin layer of water vapour. If they had not been well prepared by purchasing the rougher hemp ropes, paired with their rough gloves to increase the friction to improve their grip, these wet and slippery ropes would have given them a lot of problems now.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head and looked up. She found that she could no longer see the top of the cliff. Everything before eyes her had been covered by a thick white mist.
Volume 7
Chapter 660: “To the Bottom of the Cliff (1)”
It was just a mere ten metres and even when facing towards the sun, the visibility was already so low, it would be reasonable to think that not a sliver of light would reach the bottom of the cliff.
Jun Wu Xie brushed away her thoughts and focused on carefully moving herself downwards.
The descent was expected to be a long one, hence, Jun Wu Xie and her companions had before beginning their descent, coiled a loop of rope around their hip, as a precautionary measure.
The climb down was slow and dull, but none of them could relax even a moment. The rope gripped in their hands was the only thing their lives depended solely on and the slightest slip might cause them to fall deep down the bottomless abyss, smashed into countless pieces!
Enveloped in the thick fog, the companions’ grasp on time’s passing was distorted. All around them, they saw only the blinding white, monotonous and unchanging. If they did not feel the temperature around them dropping further and further, they would have felt that they had not moved at all.
Jun Wu Xie refocused herself, and continued with the long and weary descent.
If she was attempting this with just the strength from her past life, she would not have held out till now. But after being reborn, her spirit powers have grown and throughout the climb, those spirit powers greatly helped her reduce the physical strain. Jun Wu Xie’s position was right in the middle of the climbers, merely a metre away from her companions at her sides. The distance between the climbers was deliberate to allow them to look out for each other when needed.
In the beginning, Jun Wu Xie had still been able to see Rong Ruo on her left and Qiao Chu on her right. But as they descended lower, visibility fell further as the fog grew thicker and the sunlight’s penetration gradually waned. The surroundings became dark, gloomy and a clammy cold seeped in.
Jun Wu Xie was no longer able to see Qiao Chu’s and Rong Ruo’s faces clearly and was only able to make out a blurry silhouette of their figures.
They had not even gone half the distance down and the situation was already like this.
At that moment, Jun Wu Xie grew more wary and cautious of what they might have to face at the bottom of the Heaven’s End Cliff.
As they descended further, the temperature dropped to a point that made them start to feel the chill. Jun Wu Xie had no choice but to expend a little of her spirit power to cover over herself, to slow down the loss of her body heat.
“Should we take a break?” Qiao Chu’s voice suddenly reverberated.
“How long have we been climbing?” Fei Yan’s Boyce chirped in, from within the dim surroundings.
“I don’t know. “
Jun Wu Xie paused. “Ten hours.”
She had been counting the seconds in her mind and without realising it, when she reached the six hour mark, half a day had passed.
“Let’s rest a little.” Jun Wu Xie said.
Although her hands were protected by heavy gloves, but after ten long hours of constant friction, it had caused her palms to feel slightly numb.
And that was even when she had her spirit power to protect her body. If they had not made prior proper preparations and did not have spirit powers to support them, they might not even have lasted half the amount of time.
“Alright! I was thinking something didn’t feel right with me. It must have been my hunger. Let’s all rest up a little and get something to eat to regain our strength.” Qiao Chu said, his voice slightly tinged with anguish.
Everyone agreed to the suggestion and they concentrated their spirit powers into one hand to firmly secure their grip on the ropes. They then planted their feet against the cliff face to maintain their balance while they reached into the little bag at their hips with the other hand to take out prepared bits of dried meat to stuff into their mouths to chew and swallow.
Under the low temperature, the meat was hard as rocks and even the water they carried with them was biting cold.
In their current situation, they did not have any other choice but to make do with what they have to fill their stomachs.
“Ye Sha, Ye Mei.” Jun Wu Xie held the dried meat in her hand but did not immediately consume it, but she instead called out for Ye Sha and Ye Mei who had started their descent one step before them.
Volume 7
Chapter 661: “To the Bottom of the Cliff (2)”
“We’re here right below, Young Miss.” Ye Mei and Ye Sha said together.
“What’s the situation down there?” Jun Wu Xie asked. With the help of her spirit power, Jun Wu Xie was able to relay her voice across without having to speak loudly.
“Visibility is extremely low and the temperature is even lower. I would like to suggest for our Young Miss and her companions not to rest for too long. The mist here feels rather strange. It accelerates the draining of the body’s spirit power. If we remain within this mist for a long period, more and more spirit power will be drained away.” Ye Sha’s voice reached them through the impenetrable fog suddenly.
He was just ten over meters further down below Jun Wu Xie and her companions the mist surrounding them felt completely different from those they had just passed earlier. The mist here felt as if there was something within it that drained at their spirit powers.
Ye Sha’s words made the hearts of the youths above sink. Although they had prepared themselves mentally before this and they knew that the Heaven’s End Cliff was filled with many dangers, but they had not expected that even the mist itself would be so dangerous.
“Suddenly, I have the utmost admiration for Mu Qian Fan and his men. How did they actually manage to do this?” Qiao Chu moaned. A place so filled with dangers everywhere, as people from the Lower Realm, it was a miracle that Mu Qian Fan and his team had actually made it down to the bottom.
And Mu Qian Fan had even survived long enough to make it back, that was just unbelievable!
“As seasoned adventurers, Mu Qian Fan and his men are much more experienced than all of us when dealing with such a place like this, I would assume they have their own ways.” Hua Yao chimed in.
“The mist around us now are not showing signs of draining away our spirit powers yet, but when we go further down, I believe the situation will turn out just as what Ye Sha said earlier.” Rong Ruo had summoned her Hell Butterfly to check the air around them.
“Try to recover your physical and spirit power here as much as you can as we will not have time to rest after this.” Jun Wu Xie bit on her ration of dried meat. The cold and hard dried meat was like a stone pebble as it went down her throat.
All of them stopped talking and followed Jun Wu Xie’s instructions to rest as much as they can, while conserving every bit of spirit power the
y could.
After resting for a short while, they resumed their descent once more.
After descending a short distance, they could finally feel the phenomenon that Ye Sha mentioned earlier.
The spirit energy that the companions covered their bodies with seemed to dissolve into the air, unable to coagulate into a complete protective layer. They disappeared bit by bit and the companions had to expend more of their spirit energy to patch the areas where the protective layer had dissipated.
The temperature surrounding them had turned bitingly cold. Even after having worn extra thick clothings, Jun Wu Xie could still feel the icy chill, freezing up her face. The dampness in the air made the chill seep right to their bones.
In such circumstances, without the protection from their spirit powers, they would easily get frostbitten.
The seconds slipped by going into minutes. Jun Wu Xie continued with her habit of counting the seconds in her mind. Visibility was getting lower and lower all around her, to the point that Jun Wu Xie couldn’t even see Rong Ruo’s and Qiao Chu’s silhouettes clearly anymore. Very soon, even the shadows disappeared when everything fell into darkness so deep she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face.
Thick silence engulfed her, only the sound of her gloves rubbing against the rough ropes and the crushing noise of loosened gravel as her feet stepped on the cliff face could be heard.
In blind darkness, the absence of noise amplified the sense of insecurity and fear towards the unseen and unknown in their hearts. The high number of lives the Heaven’s End Cliff claimed reminded them clearly the level of danger it harboured!
‘Sha sha…..’
‘Sha sha…..’
Besides these sounds, nothing else could be heard.
The cliff face became wet and slippery, if they were not wary of where they stepped, they risked the possibility of a bad sprain anytime.
Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss Volume 7 Page 16