Chapter 768: Chapter 248: White Paper Immortal City_2
“Go.”
Saying that, the Grey Bone Elder waved his sleeve once more.
The White Bone Crocodile Demon and Xie Sichao, the two Golden Core Cultivators, suddenly felt the world spinning. Once steadied, they were astonished to find themselves transported to the entrance of the Water Burial Valley.
Helpless, the two started to discuss.
“Is the Grey Bone Elder in the Nascent Soul Stage or the Divinity Transformation Stage?”
“Hard to say. His cultivation realm has always been a mystery.”
“What should we do about this?”
“We clearly can’t force our way into the Water Burial Valley, and we don’t have the capability even if we wanted to. Let’s report our current findings to the master.”
“But…”
“Rest assured, the prophecy, despite its incompletion, can still be barely handed over. Didn’t it say to first eliminate Sang Le Youling? This female cultivator indeed poses a grave threat. What’s more interesting is, if she has divined and guided Wen Ruanyu’s actions, her lifespan must have greatly diminished by now, making it the perfect time to strike.”
The two conversed while hurrying back.
White Paper City, Tingyou Pavilion.
This is Sang Le Youling’s piano room.
Outside the window, the Netherworld Bamboo Sea was silent; even the blue-green phosphorescence that usually flitted through the woods lay hidden deep within the bamboo thickets.
The rotting scent of leaves seeped into the piano room through the window’s crevice.
Sang Le Youling reached out to flick the bronze lamp wick, and the pure cyan flame suddenly twisted into a human shape, struggling painfully.
With a slight frown, Sang Le Youling took a deep breath, gently stretched her ten fingers, placing them on the zither strings.
“Nine Springs Peaceful Sound”!
The first harmonic sounded like spring water breaking through ice, causing the prayer flags hanging from the walls to flutter despite the lack of wind. The zither’s sound soothed the twisted humanoid flame within the bronze lamp, calming it and relieving its distress.
Outside, amidst the silent sea of bamboo, a few leaves began to sway gently, even rotten bamboo leaves started turning green.
The melody continued through six transitions, and as the note of “Shang” played, the smoke from the incense burner condensed into an Utpala Flower, falling down, affixing itself between Sang Le Youling’s forehead and eyebrows.
The slight furrow of Sang Le Youling’s brow gradually smoothed out.
However, at the seventh time of playing the “Jiao” note, the humanoid flame transformed back to its normal appearance.
The bamboo grove swayed, and many of the decayed leaves turned green.
As the score entered the later segments, the “Zhi” note frequently intensified, making the candlelight rounded and warm.
The bamboo sea swayed comfortably, the rotten odor barely perceptible.
The smoke-condensed Utpala Flower became a sparse flower rain, enveloping Sang Le Youling.
Twang!
Just as the musical healing was about to succeed, a zither string suddenly snapped.
From the depths of the dark bamboo forest, countless hidden weapons shot forth suddenly.
Sang Le Youling felt a stab of pain in her heart, blood surged out, which she forcefully swallowed back down.
Her entire aura surged, conjuring a protective treasure cloak; her sleeves suddenly grew large and long, forming cloud sleeves.
The cloud sleeves danced, capturing all the hidden weapons, sealing them completely.
Nine assassins emerged from all directions, crashing through windows, breaking walls, smashing doors, and almost simultaneously attacked Sang Le Youling.
A flicker of panic flashed in Sang Le Youling’s gaze; she failed her healing, leaving her in poor condition, her combat power was only thirty percent of her usual strength.
Facing a life-and-death crisis, she immediately reached into her bosom, about to crush an emergency jade pendant.
But in an instant of thought, she halted this action, instead pulling out a spare instrument, a pipa, producing a tearing sound akin to silk breaking.
The sound waves swept out, with Sang Le Youling exerting all her strength, sharp beyond compare.
The two assassins charging at the front were directly cleaved in half, their bodies disintegrating into a pool of foul Black Water.
From the vile Black Water, it condensed into an Eight-clawed Ghost Spider, continuing its assault.
Sang Le Youling spun and leapt onto the beam, avoiding the combined attack of the remaining seven assassins, but the defensive magical artifact, the Silver Step Shaking ornament near her temple, shattered, and a strand of black hair drifted down.
Sang Le Youling bit the tip of her tongue, spat essence blood onto the pipa.
Immediately, the pipa manifested the Golden Red Magical Prohibition, and the poignant “Nine Springs Burial Song” shattered the air.
Boom, boom, boom…
The sound wave swept everything away, shattering all forty-eight bamboo blinds of the Tingyou Pavilion, generating a massive whirlwind of dust and air that spread outwards with immense momentum.
Such massive commotion immediately triggered the guards’ rush to aid.
Once the dust settled, only three assassins remained.
They looked at the sternly poised, floating Sang Le Youling, and their fighting spirit hit rock bottom.
“This Sang Le Youling is truly formidable! We’ve set up traps in her treasure zither and piano room several times facing fatal crises, yet she hasn’t used a single item, rendering our traps useless.”
“What’s even more frightening is that she hasn’t crushed the jade pendant to escape void. Had she done so, she would certainly fail in transmission, her body twisted into countless pieces.”
“Let’s go, if this task couldn’t be completed, we still have secondary targets.”
The three assassins conjured black smoke, leaving a slew of Eight-clawed Ghost Spiders behind as they fled.
The guards hurried forward, and after confirming Sang Le Youling’s safety, she couldn’t hold on any longer. She spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and her breath utterly faded.
Elsewhere, Commander Qing Yan’s three warships had already docked early.
He personally led several male concubines, walking all the way, approaching the city gate.
White Paper City is entirely pale in color, the material of the city walls neither stone nor wood, strikingly close to paper.
The city gate towered, extraordinarily massive, the magical prohibition of the “Yin Tide Heavy Water Technique” on the door exuded heavy water light, emitting sounds like tides rising and falling.
Most of the City Guard Army is comprised of the Ghost Clan, with the leaders or elite members being from the Human Clan.
Their armor and weapons are also quite unique, as if folded from white paper boards.
“State your name.” The official at the city gate, holding a book in one hand and a pen in the other, exuded literary energy, evidently a Confucian Cultivator from the Human Clan.
Upon seeing those entering the city, he would glance up and record the names in the book.
With Qing Yan leading, Ning Zhuo and others stated their respective names.
Sun Ning and the other were slightly anxious, but their fake names and surnames were recorded smoothly, without being exposed.
Passing through the city gate, the group officially entered the White Paper Immortal City.
Here, pavilions crowded, the walls resembling old book pages crumpled and flattened by an invisible giant hand, the aroma of bone glue brewed by craftsmen wafting through cracks in the window lattice.
Ink marks often appeared on the white stone road, alongside various incomplete phrases.
The owner of a Paper Craftsman Shop stood at the door, soliciting business from passersby: “Take a look, have a glance, this is the store’s newly made Yin Cloud Umbrella, capable of shielding against Soul-Devouring Rain for an hour.”
Sun Ning and the other raised their eyes to observe, finding that the shop mainly sold paper umbrellas.
Continuing down the long street, they discovered numerous Paper Craftsman Shops. Besides selling paper umbrellas, there were also paper weapons, paper people, paper horses, paper houses, and so forth.
Aside from Paper Craftsman Shops, there were many shops selling talismans.
Passing through the street lined with paper shops, the group followed the scent of ink, turning towards the West Market.
The sound of flowing water came from ahead, shortly revealing a city river before them.
The ink-colored river flowed, gleaming with black light. On the river surface, various sizes and heights of paper boats drifted.
An old man punted a black awning paper boat, steering a long bamboo pole, while a boatwoman sang on a painted paper junk.
Qing Yan led the group across four bridges consecutively, drawing closer to the center of the city.
Sun Ning and the other found it peculiar.
This unique landscape of the Immortal City was their first witness of such a sight.
Zhu Xuanji only instructed Ning Zhuo to come here, providing a token, without much elaboration.
Sun Ning and the other originally planned to gather intelligence, but after assuming the roles of Jiao Ma and Iron Tuo, they lost the opportunity, being directly brought inside.
They peered across, noticing several tall buildings among the multitude of terraces, quite eye-catching.
One was a tall paper person in the south, facing the south gate, its back towards Qing Yan and his group.
A black tower emitted rolling Yin Qi, with hundreds of brushes hanging at each corner of its seven eaves.
There was also a Cloud Pavilion, which rested on white clouds, floating in mid-air.
Boom, boom, boom…
After a series of explosions, flames shot into the sky, igniting the southern paper statue.
The enemy’s attack alarm echoed throughout the entire city.
Sun Ning and the others were shocked, looking at each other.
In such a dignified Immortal City, could there be such chaos?
Qing Yan’s face turned solemn, turning to instruct Ning Zhuo and the others, “You make your way to the City Lord’s Mansion, I will check the situation and offer aid as much as possible!”