ITOTIABSAM | The Immortal on Liuyun Mountain | 137
The longest and healthiest leaf pressed against the ground, angled upward. As soon as it was lifted, Gu Cong broke through the soft soil around him and pulled himself out.
Guided by the elongated, almost invisible puppet strings, firmly supporting him, Gu Cong didn't fall down. Instead, he swayed towards the flowerpot that had magically appeared.
His consciousness was very clear.
But he couldn't control his body at all.
Slightly different from the common impression of a marionette, the thing called puppet threads in the original work disappeared completely after entangling him, leaving only the part wrapped around the young man's hand. Then, Gu Cong saw the young man's index finger gently raise, and everything spun around. He found himself rooted again in the jade-made flowerpot.
"I was too slow to let you go."
The voice was clear like a mountain spring, yet as crisp as jade clashing. The young man lifted the flowerpot and stood straight, speaking softly.
For a moment, Gu Cong thought his plan of the original host's undercover mission had been exposed, and he prepared himself for another primordial spirit out-of-body experience. However, he later realized that the other party was merely speaking to himself.
The umbrella, opened just in time, shielded him from the slightly overheated sunlight. Without any visible movement from the young man, small dark clouds gathered above Gu Cong's head, and a limited range of fine rain fell.
As the leaves stretched out, the thirst that had been subtly troubling Gu Cong since his arrival in this world was gently relieved. There was a faintly cool sensation, as something, presumably spiritual energy, traveled through the roots into his body.
"It's spiritual energy," 0028, who had been silent for a while, offered some knowledge, then clicked its tongue, "I didn't expect this villain to have such a love for plants and flowers."
Not only did he pick the weakest Star Grass to take back, but he also generously helped make it rain.
Despite being trapped in a tiny plant, Gu Cong's soul still retained the human senses. As he drew closer, he could distinctly smell the faint woody fragrance emanating from the young man, reminiscent of a pine forest after snowfall.
Several tens of miles away, Shen Qingshu, who had stored Song He's body in a specially made coffin-like container, was urging the giant beast formed from condensed spiritual power to gallop northward, using a magical device resembling a carriage.
Behind him loomed a towering mountain range that seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky, intercepting the entire landscape. There was no ordinary immortality aura surrounding it, and the sky above wasn't a clear blue but a suffocating deep purple, almost oppressive and overwhelming. It felt as if all the thunder tribulations of the cultivation world throughout history had accumulated here, just one glance could unsettle the mind.
Pale, stiff corpses hung suspended in the air like puppets, while countless sinister and grotesque vines with gnashing teeth and claw-like tendrils further added to the eerie atmosphere. The farther away one looked, the more normal the surroundings appeared, and the sky gradually lightened.
Liuyun Mountain.
Such an elegant name, yet it was a forbidden place that everyone in the cultivation world avoided.
Legend had it that no one had ascended to immortality in the cultivation world for nearly ten thousand years because of the obstruction of this mountain. It greedily seized the fortunes of talented individuals and proudly stood in place, giving birth to its own descendants.
Nowadays, those "descendants" had become the masters of the mountain.
Xie Ye.
When this name became known in the cultivation world, no one could say for sure. At least in Shen Qingshu's memory, Xie Ye's existence was akin to those ghosts in the mortal realm that made children cry, always accompanied by fear.
Yet all sects, including Taoists, Buddhas, demons, magicians, and swordsmen. None of the sects dared to give him too derogatory a name. After much deliberation, the term "The Strange Immortal" was settled upon.
Different from others, hence, "The Strange Immortal."
As fate would have it, Shen Qingshu once accidentally ventured into Liuyun Mountain during a family conflict and strife when he was young.
"Don't look."
The increasingly distant and elusive images seemed to draw in every thought that glanced at them like a vortex. Just as Shen Qingshu's body was about to fall from the artifact, a pair of hands covered his eyes, pulling him back into the carriage.
Qin Ji.
If 1101 were here, they would surely recognize him as the protagonist, the Gong, from the novel "The Strange Immortal." In the end, he would break through the enemy lines, collaborate with Song He, the supporting male lead, and the imprisoned protagonist under Shen Qingshu's manipulation. Together, they would strike with coordinated attacks, shattering Liuyun Mountain and turning their own host into a hedgehog.
"Friend Song's vitality hasn't faded. He shouldn't have been discovered," Qin Ji smoothly changed the subject, restraining his jealousy, and brought up another matter that Shen Qingshu was concerned about.
With a slight furrow of his brow, Shen Qingshu said, "But the look in his eyes at the end..."
They had jointly devised a plan to sneak into Liuyun Mountain using Song He's ability to wander as a soul after losing consciousness.
Six months ago, Shen Qingshu fortuitously obtained an ancient inheritance, before he even reached a hundred years old and smoothly reaching the Nascent Soul realm.
His parents, teachers, and the close allies of his sect all celebrated his success. However, it was on that very night that he inexplicably disappeared from the Immortal Sword Sect, revered as the leader of the righteous path, and appeared thousands of miles away at Liuyun Mountain.
Under the looming moon, so large it seemed capable of flattening anyone beneath it, a white-clad strange immortal who appeared to be his age greeted him with a smile, "Long time no see."
"Would you be willing to stay with me here?"
Who dared to refuse a monster's request?
Even though the person before him seemed polite and charming, Shen Qingshu always remembered the truth outside Liuyun Mountain.
Especially those white threads scattered and tangled between the young man's fingers, like venomous snakes ready to pierce through his skull at any moment, turning him into one of those puppets hanging between heaven and earth.
Bold and unwilling to accept his fate, Shen Qingshu tested, "I still have unfinished business."
The white-clad youth responded leisurely, "How long will it take?"
Although he wanted to say a number in the thousands, Shen Qingshu ultimately restrained his impulse and said, "Three years."
In the world of cultivation, where time is not measured in years, three years might be nothing more than a period of closed-door cultivation after a sudden enlightenment. Sure enough, Xie Ye agreed to his request and personally escorted him out of the mountain.
In the following days, Shen Qingshu had been striving for freedom tirelessly. However, Xie Ye's power and influence were formidable, and few sects were willing to join forces against him. If Shen Qingshu hadn't been truly desperate, he wouldn't have allowed Song He to take such a dangerous step.
"He seemed quite surprised, he probably didn't expect me to be so ruthless." Bringing the conversation back to the present, Shen Qingshu glanced at the coffin-like container beside him, engraved with arrays, and sighed bitterly.
Qin Ji responded calmly, "He agreed willingly."
With the instincts of a wild beast, Song He could hide as well as he wanted, but Qin Ji could still see that the other had the same intentions as himself.
"Don't think too much," Qin Ji rarely softened his tone to comfort, sitting in the corner with a wooden sword in his arms, he was like the North Star in Shen Qingshu's heart, rational and steady. "Stick to the plan."
Unfortunately, the carefully planned ambush that should have kept Gu Cong close to the antagonist went off track, with him now seeming quite relaxed.
Xie Ye's residence wasn't a makeshift cave or the demonic lair that people might imagine. Instead, it was a delicately crafted courtyard with lush trees and a pond below, where ripples spread out and a few small fish swam, completely normal.
Gu Cong was placed on a table directly facing the window.
The charming villain was nowhere to be seen. Just as he was set down, Xie Ye, once again, opened his umbrella and left.
"He’s going to check on the puppets, the one you're going to possess in the end," 0028 explained without much enthusiasm.
In its view, these small worlds assigned to rookies by the agency rarely had any chance of failure if one was careful and daring enough.
The original host Song He's talent was like a customized cheat code tailored by the author to assist the protagonist and wouldn't be easily discovered by the villain.
Therefore, while Xie Ye posed a danger, all Gu Cong needed to do was lay low and, as the climax approached, manipulate the villain's least guarded puppet to strike at their weak spot.
【Did Shen Qingshu ever tell Xie Ye the truth?】Gu Cong brought out the seriousness he had during his final preparations for the college entrance examination, meticulously going through what was considered the "original plot" that would determine his fate.
0028 was momentarily stunned: 【?】;
Gu Cong said, "It seems like Shen Qingshu never told Xie Ye the truth from the beginning to the end. He didn't want to stay by Xie Ye's side, nor did he want to stay at Liuyun Mountain."
【Ah, you're still just a kid,】 0028 gradually felt a bit of novelty in dealing with such a young host for the first time in a while. "Have you heard of 'seizing by force'? That's a label often associated with antagonists."
Gu Cong responded, "But the author didn't write about Xie Ye's heart."
The past, the motives—all were skimmed over, as if the other was just a simple obstacle to the protagonist's happiness, to be brought out only when needed.
“Heart？" Calm yet ruthless, 0028 pierced through the truth of this world. "Before reaching the conclusion and departing from the plot, everyone except you and the protagonist are NPCs—paper people who act according to programmed instructions."
【Paper people have no hearts, let alone rights.】
【They are just strings of code hammered out to maintain the stability of the small world, ready to be replaced at any time.】
—What about you?
Although he wanted to ask this question, Gu Cong, with a maturity far beyond his eighteen years, swallowed it back.
He had to stay alive.
Alive, perhaps he could rely on the points earned after completing the mission to return to his own world.
Due to the inherent condition of his wandering soul, the original host, Song He, needed to remain conscious at all times. It was precisely because of this that despite his average aptitude, his cultivation was outstanding, making him a model of diligence compensating for mediocrity.
While lying in the ground earlier, Gu Cong noticed how pitifully thin the spiritual energy was on Mount Liuyun, as if all the spiritual essence had concentrated on Xie Ye alone.
Taking advantage of his current status as a beloved plant and a small night lamp favored by the antagonist, when the young man returned to his room in the twilight, Gu Cong quietly stretched out his leaves and seemingly accidentally brushed against Xie Ye's fingers:
There was an excess of dispersed spiritual power, and Gu Cong was willing to help share the burden.
The puppet strings trembled, and Xie Ye, whose consciousness was exceptionally sharp, quickly withdrew his hand.
But it was too late.
The long, slender leaves drooped weakly, and the twinkling stars dimmed.
Dead again.
Staring at his fingertips, Xie Ye thought to himself that sentient beings shouldn't have been brought back and left by his side.
"It's not dead, it's not dead," weakly, 1101 appeared online. "It's just a little exhausted. Don't believe me? Take a closer look."
Gu Cong, feeling too comfortable to even lift a leaf tip: …
It's strange. If Xie Ye hadn't withdrawn his hand in time, Gu Cong would have definitely passed out immediately, only to experience another out-of-body journey.
0028, with a hint of schadenfreude, remarked, "What do you think is the purest spiritual energy in the world?” No matter what cultivation method you practice, you can take it as a great tonic pill.
So, the withering of the Starlight Grass in his memory was caused by actively absorbing the spiritual power within his body, leading to being "overwhelmed" rather than being scared to death by the "monster"?
"Don’t do that next time," Xie Ye's mood suddenly lightened, curling his lips. The puppet strings bent, resembling the flexing of fingers, gently tapping on the limp leaves of the Starlight Grass.
"What a glutton."
Author's note:
Gu Cong: …
Gu Cong: The villain looks really good when he smiles.
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