Chapter 32 - His Enigma
—Without command, neither living people nor undead spirits may pass through the Bronze Gate.
When they first met, Rakshasa had said this sentence to them.
That is to say, Rakshasa, from the very beginning, was not standing on the same side as them.
Facing Rakshasa's long saber that pressed closer step by step, Gu Jing immediately stood in front of Luo Hongyu, doing her utmost to activate her already exhausted dantian and the Autumn Maiden Sword in her hand.
But Rakshasa didn't even glance at her, directly stopped her steps, and looked at Luo Hongyu behind her.
"Logically speaking, it should be so."
"But you can be an exception."
"Exception...?"
While Luo Hongyu was in a daze, Rakshasa made a grabbing motion with her hand, and the red jade from Luo Hongyu's waist had already landed in her hand.
Luo Hongyu's breath hitched; she subconsciously wanted to raise her sword and rise.
But facing Rakshasa's phantom-blue long saber, she clenched her fists and stood her ground, staring fixedly at the calm, phantom-blue eyes beneath Rakshasa's helmet.
Rakshasa quietly looked at the red jade in her hand and slowly lowered her raised long saber.
Under Luo Hongyu's gaze, she felt the atmosphere around her soften somewhat; in those phantom-blue pupils... a few traces of a reminiscent expression seemed to appear.
"Good, I didn't misidentify it."
Her coarse gauntlets rubbed against the red jade, yet so delicately that not a single trace was left.
Afterwards, she returned the red jade to Luo Hongyu, her demeanor actually showing traces of reluctance.
"Is he alright?"
He...
Luo Hongyu hurriedly tied the red jade back to her waist, having heard Rakshasa's words.
"You mean, Luo He?"
"So he's called Luo He now, is he? Mmm, a good name."
"Wait, you know him?"
"I don't know Luo He."
Facing Luo Hongyu's further questioning, Rakshasa merely denied it faintly.
"Since he chose you, then I won't say more. Let's go, I'll take you out of the Netherworld."
"What on earth is his relationship with you!"
"......"
Rakshasa turned her head, her eyes calm.
"I am the gatekeeper who exists in the Netherworld to suppress evil ghosts; I have no relationship with him."
"Even if there were, you don't need to know."
"Past worldly affairs cannot be recalled; for him, the most important thing is always tomorrow."
"Stop asking, leave."
Arriving once again before the Bronze Gate, Rakshasa inserted her long saber into the lock.
Boom.
Accompanied by a tremendous roar as if shaking heaven and splitting earth, the Bronze Gate, as heavy as a coffin lid, gradually opened.
This lightless and dim Netherworld welcomed dawn in the truest sense.
Luo Hongyu and Gu Jing walked towards the light. As they felt the space gradually blurring, Luo Hongyu glanced back.
Rakshasa had put her saber behind her back and was quietly watching them.
Beneath her helmet, emotions flickered like the tip of an iceberg on the sea's surface, giving Luo Hongyu an alternative sense of familiarity.
She remembered, from time to time, in Luo He's gaze which was like stagnant water...
There would also be such faintly undulating sea waves.
"......"
The surrounding space began to distort; sounds, images, all were torn apart as if turning into a void of white.
When Luo Hongyu and Gu Jing opened their eyes again, they had already returned to the small courtyard.
Those husks that had fallen to demonhood were still there. Gu Jing quickly reacted and looked at the sky... Roughly only a little more than one shichen(2 hours) had passed since they were sent into that Netherworld territory.
Rakshasa's words before departing also deeply shook Gu Jing's heart. Who Luo He was, how Luo He came to be—she couldn't be clearer about it.
All of this, what exactly was it...
"Senior Sister Gu..."
Luo Hongyu supported herself with her sword and stood up; in her eyes was an unstoppable confusion and daze.
"Just how many things are there that I don't know."
During this period, with each passing day, she felt the red jade at her waist grow heavier by a fraction.
Now, she could almost no longer recognize this red jade's original appearance.
"......"
But Gu Jing also couldn't give her an answer.
The Luo He she knew, the one who was always silent, always unmoved, had also developed a crack.
It's just that as things stand now, was that still important?
No, for Gu Jing, who had almost given up... it actually wasn't important.
What she could do was to witness all of this.
Witness one person's death, and another person's new life.
Afterwards, she would, just as she had thought.
Release her own sword, and a lifetime of pride.
In order to pursue a figure already dead, she would re-enter the rolling red dust of the mortal world.
Gu Jing smiled faintly, her joy or sorrow indiscernible.
"All of this, after the Immortal Ascension Assembly, Young Master will know."
"......”
At this moment, the red jade floated up again, drifted towards a certain direction, seeming to still be guiding them.
Luo Hongyu immediately understood tacitly where they were going this time.
It must be the location of the instigator, Huoxin.
...
"I've definitely said it before, you're very clever, little fellow."
Chen Ping, or rather, Huoxin, was at this moment thoughtfully sizing up Luo He, who had found his way before her.
He still had that same old appearance of a black robe and fox mask, but this time... Huoxin always felt she could sniff a somewhat dangerous aura from him.
That figured; if he didn't have some backing, how could he possibly appear before her just like this.
Darkness under the lamp was a common disguise tactic used by Huoxin.
Few people would have thought that after Shen Huai's identity among the eleven people who fought consecutively that day was exposed, another identity Huoxin used for this operation was still hidden among these eleven people.
It was even the first one.
For Huoxin, this was still a rare occurrence, for someone else to understand and grasp her situation so well.
It made her feel somewhat unfamiliar, and also somewhat excited.
"Since we parted that day, it has only been about seven days in total. I hadn't found you, yet instead, you found my identity and whereabouts."
"Mmm... sure enough, that little girl from the Remnant Moon Sect is quite a hidden danger. It's just a pity that because you messed things up for so long, I never managed to free up my hands to deal with her."
"Seeing this fearless look of yours, backed by your confidence, I suppose you've also flipped to the interesting parts in the ghost language book... Hehe, well done."
"Right now, I actually do have some thoughts of letting you become a ghost cultivator together with me."
Huoxin gave a couple of enchanting smiles; within the Zen courtyard of the Nine Elephant Gate, several layers of barriers were instantly set up, sealing this place off airtight.
Her trademark Crossing of No Return appeared again. Huoxin sat on the roof of the soul ship, propping her chin and asking with puzzlement:
"However, I'm still somewhat curious, how did you help your Young Master Luo's side... That place isn't somewhere ordinary people can connect to."
"In my premonition, the most ideal situation would have been to directly let her die there; at worst, I could also delay things until after the Immortal Ascension Assembly. But I didn't expect them to actually escape so quickly."
"Even if the gatekeeper wasn't there, to find a path inside would also... Ah..."
Huoxin suddenly remembered the thing she saw on the night Shen Huai died.
"So that's how it is, it was that red jade... Hehe, truly a miscalculation."
Huoxin covered her mouth and chuckled lightly. With a wave of her sleeve, a melodious flute sound gradually began to play.
"However, ah, you were also somewhat careless... This Art of Soul Guidance of yours, although considered rare, don't you forget, I am a ghost cultivator."
"You moved that red jade towards your location; I could certainly feel it."
"The connection you just broke, I helped you reconnect it. Now your Young Master is probably on her way towards us."
Hearing these words, Luo He knew he could delay no longer; regardless of whether Huoxin had any follow-up moves, he immediately gripped his iron sword and rushed forward.
"You guess, do I still have follow-up moves to deal with her?"
Huoxin dodged Luo He's attack, smiling enchantingly and eerily.