Lan WangJi was speechless.
Wei WuXian pushed him while laughing, “Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s get off this ridge. I don’t think that there are any other monsters. The people here are so gossipy that a few useless walking corpses became ruthless monsters in their mouths. Things like the ‘man-eating castle’ must have been fabricated as well. Such a waste of efforts, don’t you think?”
Lan WangJi only started walking after a few more pushes from him. Before Wei WuXian caught up, a series of wild barks suddenly came from far away in the cedarwood forest.
Wei WuXian’s face changed instantly. He shifted behind Lan WangJi in lightning speed and squatted into a ball, arms hugging the other’s waist.
Lan WangJi, “… It is still far away. What are you hiding for?”
Wei WuXian, “I-I-I-I-I-I-I’m gonna hide first then see. Where is it? Where is it?!”
Lan WangJi listened intently for a moment, and responded, “It is Jin Ling’s black-haired spiritual dog.”
Hearing Jin Ling’s name, Wei WuXian stood up at once, but squatted back down after hearing a few more barks. Lan WangJi continued, “If a spiritual dog is barking in such a way, something must have happened.”
Wei WuXian groaned a few times, then stood up with effort, his legs still trembling, “Th-th-th-th-th-th-then let’s go and see!”
Lan WangJi didn’t move at all. Wei WuXian cried, “HanGuang-Jun, why don’t you move? Move! If you don’t move, what do I do?!”
After a moment of silence, Lan WangJi replied, “First… let go.”
The two pushed and staggered. Although they followed the barks of the dog, they only circled two times around the cedarwood forest. The spiritual dog’s barks also appeared sometimes near, sometimes far. Having listened to a long while of barking, Wei WuXian finally grew somewhat used to it, at least ceasing to stammer as he spoke, “There’s a maze array here?”
This maze array was definitely created by a person. A while ago, he said that the legends of the ridge were all hearsay, but, now, things were getting interesting.
After about fifteen minutes of barking, the black-haired spiritual dog still wasn’t tired out. The two followed the sound after they found the method to exit the maze array. Not long afterward, the silhouettes of creepy, stone castles appeared amid the cedarwood forest.
The castles were made of greyish-white stones, its surface covered in green vines and fallen leaves. Every one of them was made into strange semi-spheres, appearing as if a few large bowls were turned over on the ground.
Who would have known that there really were such stone castles inside the Xinglu Ridge? It seemed that the legends didn’t appear out of thin air after all. However, it’d be hard to say whether or not this was a “man-eating castle”, and what beings were inside of it.
Jin Ling’s black-haired spiritual dog was outside of the cluster of stone castles. It ran around them, sometimes grunting in a low voice and sometimes barking wildly. Seeing that Lan WangJi approached, it backed off slightly out of fear, but, instead of running away, it barked even louder at them. It then looked toward the stone castles, its front paws restlessly digging into the ground. Wei WuXian hid behind Lan WangJi and spoke in a pained voice, “Why is it still not going away…? Where’s its owner? Why is its owner gone?!”
From upon hearing the barks until now, they hadn’t heard anything coming from Jin Ling at all, not even cries for help. This black-haired spiritual dog must have been brought here by him, and it must have been the one who broke the maze array as well. Yet, it seemed as if a living person just disappeared like that.
Lan WangJi spoke, “Let us go inside to see.”
Wei WuXian, “How? There’s no door.”
There really wasn’t a door. The grey-white stones were stuck tightly together, without any space for doors or windows. The dog yelped as it leaped. It seemed as if it wanted to bite the corner of Lan WangJi’s robes, but didn’t dare to, so it went around him to bite Wei WuXian’s clothes instead, tugging him in a certain direction.
Wei WuXian’s soul almost flew out of him. He extended his arms toward Lan WangJi, “Lan Zhan… Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan… Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!!!”
The dog dragged Wei WuXian, and Wei WuXian dragged Lan WangJi. The dog lead them halfway around, to the back of the stone castle. To his surprise, there was an entrance about a person’s height in the wall. The shape was uneven, and there were fragmented pieces of rocks on the ground, which meant that it had just been violently blasted open with the use of a magical tool. The inside of the entrance was too dark for anything to be seen, aside from a red light that faintly shone. The dog loosened its teeth. It made another series of barks toward the inside, and madly wagged its tail at the two of them.
It was clear that Jin Ling must have broke open the stone castle by force, but something happened to him after he entered.
Bichen unsheathed on its own by an inch. The blade of the sword emitted a cold glow of light blue, illuminating the dark path ahead. Lan WangJi bent down and went inside first. Wei WuXian was almost stirred crazy by the dog, and rushed inside as well, nearly crashing into him. Lan WangJi held his hand to support him, and shook his head, either out of dissatisfaction or unwilling resignation.
The black-haired spiritual dog appeared like it really wanted to follow him, also trying to rush inside, but it seemed as if it was blocked outside by some sort of a force. It couldn’t break the barrier no matter how hard it tried, so it could only sit down outside of the entrance, its tail wagging faster and faster. Wei WuXian was so glad that he almost knelt down for it. Taking his hand away, he walked a few steps inside. The distant shade of blue light coming from the sword almost appeared to be white when surrounded in this darkness.
The Xinglu Ridge was covered in a tall, deep forest, so it was quite chilly. And, inside of the stone castle, it was colder than it was outside. Wearing only light clothing, there was wind blowing through Wei WuXian’s cuffs and behind his back—the cold sweat due to the dog had already dried. The light at the entrance had disappeared as if it was a candle having been snuff out. The deeper they went inside, the darker and more spacious it became.
The top of the stone castle was spherical. Wei WuXian kicked a few pieces of rocks on the ground. He could hear a slight echo.
He finally couldn’t endure it any longer and stopped in his tracks, pressing his right hand on his temple and scrunching his brows.
Lan WangJi turned around to ask, “What happened?”
Wei WuXian replied, “… It’s so loud.”
Inside the stone castle, there was only dead silence. It was as quiet as a cemetery. Actually, it itself also seemed similar to a cemetery.
But, in Wei WuXian’s ears, right now, they were already surrounded by noise.
Chapter 22 Contentment—Part 4
The noise came from all around them.
It was an ocean of whispers, rustles, and giggles, from in front and behind, above and below. The voices involved both male and female, old and young, loud and quiet. Wei WuXian could even hear a few fragmented sentences, but they came and went, not allowing him to catch any specific words.
It really was too loud.
Wei WuXian continued to press on his temple with one hand, and used the other to grab a palm-sized Compass of Evil from the Qiankun Bag. The pointers on the compass shakily spun two times, then started to spin faster and faster. A few moments later, it spun madly around!