560. Spin-Off – A Journey to the South Ocean (18): Was It a Curse or a Paradise?

Ji Yanlai did not seem to be many years his senior … Well, actually he was. Ling Zhang had almost forgotten that Ji Yanlai was about Yuwen Tong’s age, though he did not know for sure which one of them was older. It was because of Ji Yanlai’s powerful internal energy that he appeared so young. Previously, when Ji Xiaocong and Ji Yanlai had stood together, people could tell that they were uncle and nephew, but now the two of them looked like brothers …

Ji Yanlai was unwilling to continue talking about his father. It seemed that his father’s actions were giving him headaches. Ling Zhang, however, was becoming more and more curious about this former clan leader whom he had only heard some rumors about.

The couple of elders of the Millennium Pavilion were handling the matter with high efficiency. After less than an hour, they undid the Formation.

The moment the Formation was undone, what had been hidden behind it was revealed.

Dead bodies were strewn higgledy-piggledy over the whole area. The carpet of corpses covered the streets, the corridors and stretched all the way to the palace in the center which was the highest building in the city.

These dead bodies were the very source of the rank odor Ling Zhang and the others were smelling.

However, the odor was mixed with a peculiar fragrance, which was why it smelled so weird …

Ling Zhang and some others had psyched themselves up for this, so they were not surprised. But those blindsided by the combination of the sight of these dead bodies and the funky odor were on the verge of vomiting. Some directly threw up.

“Wha–What’s going on?” The King of the South Ocean almost fainted for the pungent foul smell.

“This fragrance … ” Ji Yanlai’s eyes suddenly became wary.

“Clan Leader!” called Ji Yin, emerging from around a corner. “There’s a whole Soul-Devouring Tree here.”

“I knew it,” muttered Ji Yanlai coldly.

A Soul-Devouring Tree? Ling Zhang had never heard of this kind of thing before. “What’s that?”

“A tree that emits a hallucinogenic fragrance which can cause people to lose their minds. They became extinct a very long time ago, leaving only some items made of wood from their trunks, which are normally used as tools for mind control. In the Xia Dynasty, an evil warlock once used a statue of Buddha made of that kind of wood to manipulate Buddhists. He controlled over a thousand people’s minds with that statue, reducing them to his marionettes, and did a lot of inhumane things,” replied Ji Yanlai.

A mere tool made of wood from a Soul-Devouring Tree could be used to control that many people’s minds, and in this place, there was a whole tree …

Ling Zhang felt that he was in over his head.

“Can it be destroyed?”

“Yeah. We can just burn it.”

Ji Yanlai looked at Ji Yin, who said, “This way.”

Following in Ji Yin’s wake, they weaved their way through dead bodies strewn across the ground to an open space on the other side, in the middle of which was a well beside which was a tree that seemed to have long since died. The tree had only its trunk left, looking bare and inconspicuous, but they smelled a bizarre scent emanating from it at their approach.

Ling Zhang took Yuwen Tong by the arm. “Don’t get any closer to it.”

They had brought flints with them. Yuwen Tong gave the order for the tree to be burnt. Not until flames shot up the trunk did Ling Zhang feel relieved.

“Every one of us inhaled a certain amount of that scent. Will anything happen to us?” Ling Zhang asked Ji Yanlai.

“No, because we didn’t inhale much. In order for the scent to produce the desired effect, you have to either perform certain kind of mind-control on those smelling the scent or have them keep inhaling it for a long time. It works in the same way as this Illusion Formation – people trapped in it for too long lose their minds,” responded Ji Yanlai.

“So this scent was the very thing that caused those pirates and those demented men to hallucinate and eventually go crazy?”

Ji Yanlai inclined his head.

Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong, who said to Ji Yanlai, “There are dead bodies in almost every house in this city. All of them seem to have inhaled this kind of hallucinogenic scent before death. But how come those people died indoors while these people died in this place? And some of them even made it out of this Formation to kill people?”

After a few moments’ silence, Ji Yanlai inexplicably looked at him. “How am I supposed to know?”

Yuwen Tong, ” … ”

Ji Yanlai continued, “Anyway, the source of the scent has now been burnt. I was not here to see how it happened at that time. I only know a little bit more about it than you guys do. I’m not really an omniscient immortal being.”

‘If you say so,’ thought Yuwen Tong resignedly.

The corpses had been gathered and piled up in a corner. They had wanted to burn the bodies, but there were too many of them, and it would take a very long time to burn them all, so eventually they decided to leave them be.

All the soldiers assigned to gather the corpses had covered their mouths and noses with cloth, but they still vomited violently after the job was done.

Yuwen Tong looked in the direction of the palace and then decided to give his men a break. “I want all of you to stand guard outside this palace lest anybody else intrude into it. And send some men to the ships to get some food supplies back here, just in case.”

“Yes, Sire,” answered the officer ordered to stay, who soon made arrangements for fortifications to be built on the perimeter, and for some men to return to the ships to get more food supplies.

“The others are to follow me,” commanded Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Jin said, “Cousin, this palace looks huge. There might be another entrance. Do you want me to take some men and check?”

Yuwen Tong shook his head. “No. That won’t be necessary.”

“Judging from its structure, I think this building is a shrine for sacrificial offerings,” said Ji Yanlai.

“Hey, look. Is it just me or are there really some things in the palace gates?” the King of the South Ocean suddenly said, pointing in the direction of the palace gates at the top of the steps.

The others turned to look where he was staring. The pair of giant palace gates were tightly shut.

As chance would have it, the sun was slanting onto the palace gates, in which some things were reflecting it.

“They seem to be shining … Wait. Do you think they are gemstones? Like those mounted in the city gates?” said Yuwen Jin.

“Gemstones? What gemstone?” The king and his men were baffled.

“You didn’t see them?” Yuwen Tong and the others looked at him.

The king and his men, perplexed, all shook their heads.

The astrologist asked, “You mean the city gates?”

“Yeah, city gates,” said Yuwen Jin.

“Sire, didn’t we see that the gates had been detached from the walls when we entered the city? You said the pock-marked gates looked very ugly,” the astrologist said to the king.

The king, having recalled it, said, “Yeah, yeah, but there were no gemstones in the gates.”

On hearing that the gates had been detached from the walls and were pock-marked, Ling Zhang and the others immediately came to realize that the gemstones had been extracted.

“So there’s nothing fishy about the city gates we saw. It’s just nobody had passed them before us,” mused Yuwen Jin.

“Nobody apart from us has ever found them in the past two years?” asked someone standing on the side incredulously.

“You’ll have to ask those pirates why they’ve been so unprofessional in their treasure hunt,” said Yuwen Jin.

The others lapsed into silence.

“Okay, let’s go and check those palace gates.”

“Wait a moment!” The king stopped them. “The pirates said there’re monsters in there which eat people, remember? I don’t quite believe the story either, but you can’t be too careful.”

“I think they were just hallucinating,” said Yuwen Jin.

“Still, it does no harm to be extra careful,” said Ling Zhang. “I’ll go. You guys may stay behind me.”

Yuwen Tong held his wrist. “No.”

At this time Ji Yanlai walked up the steps. “You’re wasting time. I’ll do it.”

Ling Zhang flushed slightly, casting a reproachful glance at Yuwen Tong, who was unswayed and refused to release Ling Zhang’s hand, appearing somewhat serious.

Ling Zhang looked at him and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll stay. Let go of me.”

Yuwen Tong didn’t slacken his grip. “You’ve been so disobedient lately, wandering around whenever I’m not keeping an eye on you.”

Ling Zhang, ” … ”

He tossed Yuwen Tong another glance, feeling that Yuwen Tong was behaving a little weirdly. Disobedient? He was not a child.

But since Yuwen Tong refused to let him go, he could do nothing about it and just let Yuwen Tong continue holding his hand.

After Ji Yanlai walked up the steps, the elders and guards of the Millennium Pavilion all followed in his wake, and so did Ji Yin.

Ling Zhang kept motioning Yuwen Tong to go up there, but the latter wouldn’t budge. With his hand grasped by Yuwen Tong, he couldn’t go anywhere.

Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong were behind the two of them. Seeing that the two of them were standing still, Ling Maomao asked, “What’s wrong, cousin?”

Ling Zhang swiveled his head around and smiled, “Nothing.”

Ling Zhang secretly tugged at Yuwen Tong’s sleeve, but Yuwen Tong merely edged an inch forward and then stopped.

Ling Zhang, ” … ”

“Cousin, we’re going up there.” Ling Maomao had no idea what was going on between the two. Suspecting that they were having some kind of disagreement again, not daring antagonize either of them further, he hastened to lead Ji Xiaocong around them and up the steps.

Looking resignedly at Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang asked him in a quiet voice, “Are you still mad?”

Yuwen Tong said, “No.”

But the lines on his lower jaw were a little tight.

Ling Zhang felt a little guilty at the sight of this, wondering if it was because he had been too impulsive that Yuwen Tong was angry. But it struck him that there had been nothing wrong with his conduct just now. He wanted to go up there to check because he really believed he could handle it. Now Ji Yanlai and his men were all standing in front of the gates. Even the king and the prince were ascending the steps, heading for the gates.

“The gates can be pushed open. Step back a little, all of you. Do not get too close,” said Ji Yanlai, standing at the top of the steps.

All the others backed away a few paces and with that Ji Yanlai pushed the palace gates open.

The gates were opened with a high-pitched creak. The space inside seemed to be cavernous, given the loud echoes.

However, nothing happened. When both of the gates were wide open, there was still no people-eating monster coming out.

“It’s very dark in there. Light the torches,” said Ji Yanlai.

Yuwen Jin had some torches lit before leading a team of men into the palace.

“There’s nothing in here!” yelled Yuwen Jin, now at the far end of the hall.

His voice echoed loudly.

It was after the others in the gateway filed into the palace as well that Yuwen Tong moved, still holding Ling Zhang’s wrist. Ling Zhang had no choice but to walk side by side with him.

At the sight of them walking inside hand in hand, the prince standing beside a gate smiled at them, “You’re so happily married, Your Majesty, Your Highness.”

Ling Zhang smiled apprehensively, but a faint flush spread over his ears. He was rather embarrassed, feeling teased by a youngster.

Yuwen Tong, however, was quite composed, as though the prince weren’t there.

The prince did not take offence. With a nonchalant smile, he trotted in Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong’s direction.

Ling Zhang, looking left and right, discovered that the dome of this palace was very high. There was no skylight in it to let sunlight in, so they could not see what it was like up there. The palace was quite spacious, but it was empty except for four pillars and some fragments of wooden furnishings on the ground. Even the walls were empty. There was no mural or anything like that.

But from the walls and the pillars hung some lamps which were no longer fit to burn. Yuwen Jin and the others removed the lamps and positioned their lighted torches in the lamp holders instead, which illuminated the palace.

Ling Zhang looked around him and was astonished by the emptiness of this place.

“Here!” came Yuwen Jin’s yell from behind an enormous stone screen covered with sculpted reliefs.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked around the screen and were greeted by an even more commodious hall, which was not empty but had a gigantic gold chair decorated in relief. The back of the chair bore a totemic pattern of a phoenix flying above flames, presumably one that had just been reborn from the ashes.

And then they noticed the floor, which was very smooth and looked like transparent crystal. Beneath the crystal surface was a carpet of red gemstones, some of which were a different shade of red and formed a huge pattern of a fiery phoenix. After Yuwen Jin and some others inserted their torches in the lamp holders, torchlight was shed over the floor, making it seem as though it were burning, which was a breathtakingly magnificent sight.

“Are th–these real gemstones?” The king stood transfixed with shock. Too plump to stoop down to get a closer look, he directly sat on the floor, staring in awe.

Not only him but also all the others were flabbergasted, unable to speak.

“This pattern depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes,” said Ji Yanlai, scrutinizing the floor.

It was a long moment before the others came to themselves. Ling Zhang raised his head and said to Ji Yanlai, “You said this is a shrine for sacrificial offerings. Was it phoenixes that this place was dedicated to, by any chance?”

Ji Yanlai said, “At least it has something to do with that.”

Ling Zhang’s heartbeat quickened somewhat. He and Ji Yanlai both knew very well what a phoenix meant to them, and this place, curiously enough, somehow seemed to be a shrine dedicated to phoenixes …

Ji Yanlai’s countenance was no more relaxed than Ling Zhang’s, and there was a slight frown on his brow. “How are you feeling?”

“What do you mean?” Ling Zhang was confused.

“You’re not feeling restless?” Ji Yanlai looked at him surprisedly.

Ling Zhang said, “I’ve been circulating my internal energy and inwardly reciting the cultivation method all along. Right now I feel fine, except for that my heartbeat is slightly quicker than usual.”

Ji Yanlai said, ” … That’s smart. I’m not feeling very well either, and my temper seems to have become much shorter too.”

That was why Ji Yanlai, who had been quite composed during the journey, had appeared progressively impatient as they had approached this shrine.

“We should be extra careful.”

“Yeah.”

Ling Zhang felt Yuwen Tong’s hold on his hand tighten somewhat.

“There’s a mural here, and words too!” yelled Ling Maomao, who was standing in front of a wall on the right side with Ji Xiaocong.

“Same here!” cried Wei Dong before the opposite wall.

Both walls bore huge carved murals, but they were quite monotonous, for their subjects were still phoenixes.

The only part that made them somewhat different was that there was a line of words engraved beside the mural on either wall, which were in a language that was unfamiliar to Ling Zhang. “Do any of you know what language this is?”

Ji Yanlai walked up, took a look and then said, “It’s a written language peculiar to a microstate which existed before the Xia Dynasty.”

“You know what these words mean?” asked Ling Zhang.

“‘This palace belongs to a phoenix, a sacred beast. Mortals that enter without permission will be cursed’,” replied Ji Yanlai slowly.