B6C15: 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 a.s.sailant was more powerful than him and used a sneak attack so he was killed on the spot.”
“d.a.m.n!”
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
Almost all of the majesties in the main hall immediately curse.
Di Long, however, keeps questioning 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 s.n.a.t.c.h 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 s.p.a.ce 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 restrictive 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.
Kan 1, therefore, is the maximum security prison cell in Universal Palace.
“Who’s that? Why are they locked up in Kan 1?”
“Heaven knows. But it must be some formidable expert. Anyway, this is none of our business.”
…
These warders begin to chat with each other and guess at the ident.i.ty of the prisoner in the most important cell.
In the main hall, Di Jian has just returned.
“Summon guardian Terror Jellyfish.”
Di Long orders. As soon as this order is given, his brothers all know his meaning.
He wants to let guardian Terror Jellyfish absorb Qin Yu.
“Big brother, according to Qin Yu’s words, his master seems very formidable. If what he said is true, once we kill him, his master will get furious and come to the Nine Demons Hall …” The 3rd brother Di Yang says worriedly.
Di Long says with a smile: “3rd brother, you’ve been fooled by that brat. How can his master possibly be such an expert as he said? In the overseas Xiuzhen world, except for Old Freak Three-Eyed and Overlord Azure Dragon, is there anyone so powerful?”
“Not necessarily, big brother. Don’t you know that legend? In the southernmost area of this ocean, near the Chaotic Astral Ocean, there is an ancient teleport formation.” Di Yang warns.
Di Long says smilingly: “You’re telling me his master comes from that place?”
Di Yang nods. The other majesties’ faces all become solemn. If Qin Yu’s master is really from that place, things will become a bit more complicated.
“You’ve all become a bit too timid already. If you just believe it when someone boasts about their master’s awesomeness, later will the Nine Demons Hall still be able to kill anyone? Also, have you thought carefully about what Qin Yu said just now?”
The other majesties all look at Di Long.
He says at once: “Qin Yu said that the 9 Swords don’t deserve the attention of someone with awesome abilities like his master. Humph, the 9 Swords were left behind by an immortal. Perhaps even many inhabitants of that place would go mad over them, but his master unexpectedly doesn’t care about them. This is a bit too exaggerating. Moreover …”
After listening to this point, the other majesties also believe Di Long. That’s right. Who in this Xiuzhen world would not care about an immortal mansion?
“In the end Qin Yu said that his master was aloof and proud but cared a lot about him, the only disciple. Why did he say this in the end? He just wanted to let us know that there is a bogus super expert who cares about him very much to scare us all. Indeed, you were frightened, 3rd brother.”
Di Long’s face changes color: “If Qin Yu’s master was such a super expert, how could he have let us capture his disciple with such ease? I don’t believe there’s anyone who disdains the 9 Swords in the Xiuzhen world. All right, 3rd brother, quickly summon guardian Terror Jellyfish.”
Di Yang says immediately: “Don’t worry, big brother. Humph, just now I was fooled by that brat indeed. But this time he definitely won’t escape. After guardian Terror Jellyfish absorbs him, not only will his soul be destroyed, not one bit of his body will remain either.”
He then goes summon guardian Terror Jellyfish at once.
NOTE:
(*): These are the 8 trigrams.
End of b6c15.