Chapter 141 Memories of Hong Chenji
"That day—
When I stepped into the Southwest Great Wilderness, it was just at dusk.
The dying sun on the horizon was as red as blood, dyeing the entire wasteland a dark crimson.
In the distance, a broken mountain peak pierced the clouds, its body pitch black as ink, as though split apart by some unimaginable force.
—Buzhou Mountain.
The remnant of the legendary pillar that held up the heavens, the ruins of the ancient Battle of the Fallen Sky.
I had not expected this mountain to appear here so abruptly, but for some reason, I felt as if it were 'provoking' me!
I laughed. Saint Realm power circulated through my body, faint golden light rising from my form.
What pillar of heaven breaking, what ancient taboos—merely the fantasies of ordinary cultivators.
I, Hong Chenji, have cultivated for tens of thousands of years, already transcending the mundane. What in this world could still make me fear?
Thus, I stepped into the mountain.
…
At first, everything was as usual.
The mountain path was rugged, but for me it was like walking on level ground. I rode the wind, my divine sense sweeping the surroundings, yet I suddenly realized… something was wrong.
This mountain had no living creatures.
No birds or beasts, no insect chirps, even the wind seemed frozen. Only the pitch-black rock underfoot, cold to the touch, like the scales of some unknown creature.
I frowned and continued forward.
Gradually, the mist grew thicker. It was not ordinary fog, but some kind of viscous, almost tangible gray-white substance that clung to my skin, making me feel a faint sting.
I gave a cold snort, my true essence shaking to disperse the mist.
But in the next instant, the mist gathered again, even denser than before.
"Playing tricks!"
I raised my hand in a sweep. Saint Realm pressure burst forth, instantly evaporating the mist within a hundred-zhang radius. Yet at the moment the mist scattered, I saw—
A face.
A face so enormous it defied description, embedded in the mountain wall, smiling straight at me.
Its eyes were pitch-black hollows, and its mouth twisted into a strange grin, revealing rows of sharp teeth.
My whole body froze, my heart nearly stopping.
But when I looked again, that face… was gone.
The mountain wall was smooth as ever, as if nothing unusual had appeared.
"…An illusion?"
I muttered to myself, only to find cold sweat seeping from my palm.
I continued climbing upward, but the more I walked, the more wrong it felt.
The mountain path was changing.
Steps I had just passed turned into a different fork when I looked back. The patterns on the rock walls writhed like the blood vessels of some living thing.
Worse still, I heard sounds.
Whispers.
Countless fragmented murmurs came from all directions, like tens of thousands of people whispering beside my ears. But when I focused to listen, I could understand nothing.
"Get out!"
I roared, smashing my fist into the mountain wall.
"Boom—!"
The rock shattered, but when the fragments hit the ground, they turned into pools of pitch-black liquid, writhing slowly, then fusing back into the mountain.
My pupils contracted sharply.
This mountain… is alive?
At last, I could endure no more.
Saint Realm power erupted completely. I turned into a streak of golden light, shattering mountains and splitting the earth wherever I passed!
"No matter what you are, die for me!"
I attacked everything abnormal—the twisted tree shadows, the writhing rocks, even the gray mist drifting in the air.
But soon, I discovered—
They could not be killed.
No, more precisely, they did not care about death at all.
I severed a dead tree, but the next instant it reappeared intact in its original place.
I smashed a boulder, but the fragments fell and reformed again.
Even—
When I leveled the entire valley to the ground, only a few breaths later, everything returned to how it was before.
As if my attacks had never happened.
"This is impossible…"
Panting, for the first time a trace of fear rose in my heart.
Just then, I saw "them."
Those things I had killed stood up again.
No, not only them.
There were more…
The servants I had accidentally killed in my youth, the enemies I had personally slain, even shadows I had long forgotten but once feared.
They emerged from the mountain mist, smiling at me."
"Hong Chenji… you cannot escape…"
And then… I went mad.
At that moment, I was completely insane.
I burned all of my true essence, rushing toward the mountain peak without care, only wanting to escape this nightmarish place.
At last, I reached the summit of Buzhou Mountain.
And then—
I saw "it."
I cannot describe what it was.
It was like a mountain, like a mass of writhing flesh, like countless human faces pieced together into a colossal being.
Its mere existence twisted my perception.
My eyes began to bleed, and my soul nearly collapsed.
Yet I still forced myself to stare at it, trying to understand its form.
Then—
It "looked" at me.
Just one glance.
My memory… broke.
I do not know how I left Buzhou Mountain, nor do I know what happened afterward.
The only thing I remember is that before my collapse, I used the last of my will to carve three imprints deep within my soul—
The Unnameable.
The Unutterable.
The Unseeable.
When I awoke again, I had already returned to the Hong family.
My cultivation had fallen by half a realm, my lifespan had inexplicably withered away, and even signs of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man had begun to appear.
But I survived.
I wanted to tell someone of this experience.
But those three imprints in my soul kept reminding me—never do so!
Because once I did, those horrors would find a path, and truly descend upon the Xuanying Continent!
So I resolved to take this secret to my grave!
Yet… I was too lonely!
Too lonely!
Every quiet night, I would still dream of that mountain.
Dream of "it" watching me.
And I knew—
One day, it would come for me."
…
"The Unnameable? The Unutterable? The Unseeable? Then what are you telling me right now?"
Ji Hongli's mind suddenly blared with alarm!
A wave of extreme danger surged within her intuition!
The last time she had felt this was when she had fallen into an ambush, surrounded by the Ten Saints of the human race!
She lifted her gaze, and sure enough, she saw Hong Chenji still speaking, but blood tears were flowing from his eyes. His pupils had vanished, leaving only a pair of whites—terrifying to behold!
And at some unknown moment, faint gray-white mist had begun to spread around them…
"Not good!"
She waved her hand, dispelling the barrier.
She discovered that in the side courtyard, aside from Chen Xingcai standing dazed, all the other members of the Hong family had already vanished without a trace.
"Where are they…" Ji Hongli asked.
"Gone…" Chen Xingcai shrugged, pouting her lips. "When you two first went 'silent,' they left."
"How long has it been?"
"How long?" Chen Xingcai quickly realized Ji Hongli meant the time since the barrier had been set. She thought for a moment. "Oh, about one hour."
Then, she saw her master's face change, and in the next instant, was pulled away by her.
"Go!"
…
"Leave? It's already too late…"
A hollow, twisted voice suddenly echoed beside the two of them…
…
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