Chapter 14: The Bloody Gate

The cyan inscribing pen dipping into Lin Xun’s blood was alive with its own spirit, sketching from the incomplete part of the weird pattern.

Chi chi…

An abstruse line flowed with the tip of the pen, flexible like a dancing snake and fluent like running water. The bright red color was suffused with an indescribable charm.

An ancient yellowing scroll, a weird pattern on the last page, and a cyan inscribing pen waking up from deep sleep together created a mysterious and frightening image.

Lin Xun’s eyes glared due to surprise. Staring wildly at the scene, he couldn’t do anything about it.

His body seemed to be controlled, and his hand that held the inscribing pen was not obedient to his command just sketching freely over the weird pattern at its own will.

It was his first time having such a weird experience, and naturally he was shocked.

He could tell that it all had something to do with the blood he coughed up, which woke the inscribing pen from its deep sleep and turned the weird pattern less simple as it looked.

For the scene happening before him, it was like an invisible hand controlling everything, completing the fragmentary, dim, intricate and chaotic weird pattern with the ancient scroll as the paper, the blood the ink, and the inscribing pen the guide.

How unbelievable was that! Lin Xun just couldn’t believe what he saw!

Just a moment ago, he thought he was most likely to die this time. How could he ever imagine that such mysterious changes could be triggered by a single inadvertent act of his own?

What did all this mean?

Before he could figure it out, Lin Xun suddenly felt the blood throughout his body, as if pulled by a powerful force, flooding to his right hand.

The cyan inscribing pen in his right hand unleashed a strong sucking force and started drawing blood from his body.

Gurgling***

Lin Xun could even hear the voice of his blood flooding to the inscribing pen like a gurgling stream.

“Damn!”

Lin Xun was extremely anxious as he knew the continuous flow of blood, if not stopped, would accelerate the process of his death. He could die at any minute.

He fought franticly but it didn’t work. The cyan inscribing pen kept sucking his blood steadily like an immovable mountain and sketched lines of red strokes along the weird pattern.

Face getting paler, his lips purplish and blue, Lin Xun looked as if he had lost his vitality and was showing signs of decay. How did that happen?

Was the inscribing pen going to perfect the weird pattern at the cost of his life?

Lin Xun felt anguished in heart. He had thought that this pen and scroll Master Lu left him would help him to defy the god and change his fate. Who’d ever think that, in the end, all this was killing him?

Sitting in front of the desk, Lin Xun was like a manipulated puppet, with the inscribing pen in his right hand, sketching continuously on the last page of the ancient scroll, making rustling sounds.

There was nothing but a dead silence.

Lin Xun couldn’t make any sound, his face getting paler, breath weaker, and consciousness vaguer…

He couldn’t stop it now; it seemed he could only wait for death.

Lin Xun never expected that death would come upon him at such an early time when he had just arrived in Ziyao Empire, settled down in Feiyun Village, and started to work hard in cultivation.

Was this his fate?

Strange enough, Lin Xun thought of the stunning scenes he just saw, the deep sigh “Fate is not with me!” from that majestic figure echoing again in his mind.

Then Lin Xun lost his conscious completely.

In the deep and tranquil night, starlight poured from the window. The mountains were aloof and misty in the distance.

Lying face down on the desk, the thin young boy was barely breathing. But his right hand, guided by the cyan inscribing pen, sketched continuously over the last page of the ancient scroll.

After an unknown period, the cyan inscribing pen stopped abruptly, and a sudden flash of dazzling gold flames spurt from its sword-like body, lightening up the entire dark room. Then the whole pen was on fire and vanished into the weird pattern on the last page of the mysterious scroll.

Hum!

In the old scroll an extraordinary fluctuation surged, creating obscure sounds drifting around the room like legendary sounds of nature. Right at that instant, the scroll turned into a flicker of light and vanished into Lin Xun’s body, who was now completely unconscious.

At the same time, over the three thousand mountains, the bright stars shined eternally over the inky sky in an unchanging way. But the moment the scroll disappeared, a circle of indescribable and invisible ripples sprang up in the dark sky like waves spreading through the canopy.

At that moment, billions of stars over the canopy flickered as if startled and returned to normal in a blink of eye, which if not observed carefully, would be impossible to notice.

…

The same night in Ziyao Empire, wind howled like a roaring dragon at night at the peak of the Observatory that was 9900 feet high and located on the outskirt of the capital. It was the tallest building in the capital, from which one could get a panoramic view of the entire city.

It was late at night, an old man in black robe stood alone on the Observatory. He was white-haired and stooped as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

He was the Flamen of Ziyao Empire, an old man who enjoyed supreme position and was wise enough to read god’s will.

It was said that he had lived for a very long time and had been the only owner of the Observatory since the first emperor’s ascension.

Like so many other days passed, the old man came to the top of the Observatory alone tonight as usual. However, he didn’t meditate or observe the stars as he normally did. Standing quietly before the railings, his gaze fell on the prosperous world of mortals covered in the dark sky. Something was not right.

“Sure enough, something will happen tonight!”

After a long time, seeming to sense something, the old man looked up abruptly and cast his gaze far out into the night sky. A bright glow flashed by his eyes that were surging with vicissitudes of life.

But only a moment later, the old man muttered with a frown, “Why did it disappear? No, this is impossible. Before an anomaly fall upon the mortal world, there must be some signs of it, which may hide in the changeable clouds, conceal in the cycle of stars, or present itself in way of extraterritorial disasters or auspicious lights shining over the rivers and mountains.”

“But why did the signs disappear? Did I deduce it wrong?”

His white hair fluttering with the cold and harsh wind, a touch of rare seriousness appeared on his wrinkled face. He had a feeling that something unusual did happen tonight, but he was unable to see it with his own power.

Such an abnormal situation had barely happened over the years.

Though old, he was still a Flamen, a person even the royal family in Ziyao Empire must show respect to.

An anomaly even a Flamen was unable to perceive must be of unusual significance which would shock the world.

The old man gave out a heavy sigh after long time of deep meditation, he then turned away and walked down the Observatory.

This night, a special notice from the Flamen was sent directly to the Imperial Study, which even disturbed the emperor already in sound sleep.

In the notice it read “A heavenly anomaly fell upon the thousands of mountains on the southwest border, whose profound mystery is beyond my capability to perceive. I sincerely hope your majesty would pay great attention to this as it might indicate the appearance of peerless treasure.”

Peerless Treasure!

Little would the Flamen think that the words he used would expose the southwest border to the highest ranks in the capital, bringing about a big upheaval in the following days.

…

Lin Xun was woken up by a sudden cockcrow. When he opened his eyes, his mind was in a trance.

“Still alive?”

Raising his weak body from the desk, Lin Xun noticed that it was already daylight. A ray of morning light shone through the window, casting a warm glow.

He was alive!

Taking a deep breath, Lin Xun felt the Qi reverberating throughout his body, now finally sure that he was still alive.

He examined himself at once, and found his blood and Qi thriving, his Qi-function connected. There was no sign of injury as if what he experienced last night had been just a dream.

But Lin Xun knew it was not.

He remembered clearly that last night, his life was flowing away. He was at death’s door with his blood absorbed continuously and uncontrollably by the cyan inscribing pen.

Wait…where was the pen?

Stunned for a moment, Lin Xun checked around the desk and found no trace of the cyan inscribing pen or the ancient scroll.

He then stood up anxiously looking for the pen and the scroll. They were the most significant treasures Master Lu had given him, how could he bear to lose them in his own hands?

But he almost rummaged through the whole room and did not find the two treasures. Lin Xun frowned and grew more anxious.

Did anyone steal them during the night?

Lin Xun wasn’t sure of that. Just then, he inadvertently noticed that an extra gate appeared in the empty sea of his consciousness.

It was indeed a gate, bright red and shining as if soaked in blood, whose surface was engraved with an intricate and mysterious pattern.

On closer inspection, a wild and antique atmosphere pervaded the pattern. Just a quick glance at it gave Lin Xun a faint reminiscent feeling.

It was the weird pattern on the last page of the scroll.

Suddenly, Lin Xun remembered that the pattern on the gate bore a striking resemblance to the weird pattern he had seen.

But unlike the incomplete pattern he saw before, this one carved on the gate was complete, creating a sense of renewal.

The gate floated silently in the empty sea of his consciousness, presenting an inexplicable mystery.

Lin Xun’s expression altered suddenly, and an uncontrollable thought came to his mind, “Did the disappearance of the scroll and the pen have anything to do with this suddenly popping up gate?”

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