After My Faked Death Failed, Can I Still Find a Happy Ending? - Chapter 3

A sheet of white light appeared before them, as if the chaotic world had suddenly been illuminated by sunlight, with the stars shifting and the world turning upside down.

The dilapidated wooden hut receded, and some brand-new scene came rushing toward Ji Mian, so close that it felt like they were about to collide violently. Ji Mian instinctively closed her eyes. Her center of gravity was lost, and she fell directly to the ground.

The tip of her nose was filled with the scent of damp soil mixed with lush green grass, and warm breath brushed against her face, carrying a cool, subtle, and elegant fragrance.

Ji Mian opened her eyes in a daze, meeting Lin Qingye’s gaze. The two were very close, their breath intermingling. Lin Qingye’s emotions were steady; she merely scanned her with a cold glance before leaning close to her ear and whispering.

“Do not make a sound.”

Ji Mian stretched out a hand to create distance between them. Lin Qingye was pressed against her, avoiding the gaze of passersby.

“How come I just heard movement over here?”

“I definitely did not hear wrong. The grass is so high here. Maybe it was a field mouse.”

“How is that possible?”

One of the girls looked suspiciously in the direction where the two were hiding.

“How could there be such a large field mouse?”

Ji Mian instinctively held her breath. The temperature around her body suddenly spiked, like a red crab trapped in a steamer, feeling as if she were about to be cooked through. Her breath caught in her throat.

Seeing the people walk away, Lin Qingye finally felt as if she were lying on a ball of fire beneath her.

“Ji Mian.”

“Hm? Ah?”

“Are you sick?”

Ji Mian’s brain was a tangled mess, and her thoughts were all over the place. The sudden intimate contact had caught her off guard, and she had not yet regained her senses.

After waiting for a while, Lin Qingye did not expect to get an answer from her. She scanned Ji Mian once more.

“Our clothes are too conspicuous. Come with me to change them first.”

The space within this mysterious formation was surprisingly prosperous. Ji Mian looked at the bustling market before her, where small vendors on the side of the road were shouting enthusiastically, fragrant delicacies whose names she did not know were overflowing with aroma, and smoke curled upwards everywhere.

How could this place possibly be haunted?

The two walked into an inn and paid for five days of lodging, settling down for the time being.

“Landlady, my younger sister and I have just arrived in this area. She is reckless and does not understand the rules, so I hope you can look after her a bit more.”

Lin Qingye handed a small piece of silver to the landlady. The landlady picked up the silver, weighed it, and immediately beamed.

“The two young ladies are truly beautiful. There are no particular taboos here, but the city has been quite unsettled lately. It is best not to go out at night, especially near the moat. If you do that, you will be safe.”

Lin Qingye feigned confusion.

“I wonder what has happened? Please tell us so that we can be prepared.”

“I do not know why, but it has been cursed recently; ghosts have been haunting the nights! Sigh, I heard it was reported to the authorities, but the government does not care. As common folk, we cannot find out any information, so hiding and avoiding it is the best policy.”

The landlady dismissed the topic and, after chatting with them for a moment, went to the back kitchen to work.

The two took their keys and entered their room. Ji Mian had barely finished tidying up when the door was knocked upon. Lin Qingye walked in, whispering in a low voice.

“Tonight, let us go out and investigate ourselves first, and tomorrow we will go to the government office to ask.”

Although the incident had been reported, based on what the landlady said, the local authorities were likely useless. If they were hiding the truth for their own selfish interests, it was not impossible.

However, Ji Mian knew clearly that a submerged underground palace was hidden beneath the moat, containing many treasures. The magistrate was planning to swallow it all alone, so naturally, he would not disclose the truth.

But the underwater palace was too ominous; ordinary people dared not enter at all. Even if a few fearless souls went, they would vanish without a trace within ten days or half a month. The one who finally returned did so as if their vital essence had been drained dry.

Ji Mian put on the night-walking clothes Lin Qingye had brought, covering herself completely from head to toe, and followed Lin Qingye out through the window.

Perhaps because the urban area encircled the river, the night felt exceptionally cold. Not a single shadow was visible on the road. The lanterns in front of some household were being blown by the wind, creaking and swaying, the fiery red light flickering on and off.

Even though she knew the oddity of this place, Ji Mian still felt afraid for no reason. A gust of chilly wind blew by, and the clothes behind her clung tightly to her back, as if someone were gently stroking her from behind. When she turned to check, however, there was nothing there.

Ji Mian could truly no longer endure it and reached out to grasp the hem of Lin Qingye’s robe.

Lin Qingye was walking along holding a lantern; being tugged like this made her quite unhappy.

Looking back, she saw Ji Mian’s face rendered deathly pale by the candlelight, shrinking like a hatchling quail.

Lin Qingye glared at her, but in the end, she did not have the heart to refuse. The two walked toward the moat hand in hand.

Perhaps it was an illusion, or perhaps the temperature difference was great, which caused the mist by the river to be particularly heavy. But when she looked closely, she felt something was wrong. How could the water mist be this thick? Before long, she could no longer see the road ahead.

Lin Qingye stopped first, pulled off the sword bound to her body, and with a burst of strength, swept it toward both sides. A clear breeze was stirred up by the sword’s passage, but it could not dispel even a bit of the fog blocking their vision.

Hearing the approaching footsteps around them, Lin Qingye’s heart tightened. She quickly turned back, pulled Ji Mian’s sleeve, and shouted.

“Do not speak, run with me!”

Ji Mian did not know what Lin Qingye was nervous about at first. After running for a while, the chaotic sounds around them grew louder, and the ground beneath their feet trembled faintly.

It was a maze formation!

This must be the contingency left behind by Ji Zhiheng.

While following Lin Qingye, Ji Mian scanned the surroundings. Her eyes were sharp, and she immediately noticed the clues among the various directions.

Every formation naturally has a formation eye; as long as the eye is broken, the force binding them will cease to exist. Although she did not know what Lin Qingye was thinking, continuing to run like this would only lead to them dying of exhaustion.

Reflecting on this, Ji Mian stopped, pulled Lin Qingye to a halt, and pointed to a corner she had spotted.

“The formation eye is there.”

The techniques cultivated by the Demonic Cult shared common ground, and the formations they drew were different from standard ones, but anyone who cultivated the same technique could see the clues at a glance.

Lin Qingye nodded, stepped on her sword, and reached out to pull Ji Mian onto it as well. In an instant, they approached the location of the formation eye.

Ji Mian, hovering in mid-air, looked down. A dense swarm of monsters was chasing from below, of all shapes and sizes. They crowded forward, disregarding the lives of their companions; if one accidentally fell, they would be trampled by countless footprints.

The leader was massive but not clumsy, being the fastest of them all. Seeming to sense Ji Mian’s gaze, the creature raised its head grimly. Its face, on which no features could be distinguished, suddenly sprouted two bloody holes. The bloody holes faced Ji Mian, oozing a steady stream of blood drop by drop, and then pulled out vine after vine from within.

The vines grew extremely fast and soon reached the height where Ji Mian and Lin Qingye were.

Lin Qingye was busy manipulating the direction and had no time to attend to what was behind them, so Ji Mian had to summon the Black Iron and brace herself to engage in a grueling battle with the cunning vines.

The thin, spindly shoots were very resilient. After striking the edge of the Black Iron, they deflected, circled around Ji Mian, and turned back to aim for her neck.

Ji Mian did not have time to retract her sword and was about to be bound by the vines. At that moment, the direction beneath her feet shifted slightly, barely dodging the attack. However, more and more vines appeared in the sky; if this continued, they would be unable to escape.

Lin Qingye suddenly pressed down on Ji Mian’s Black Iron.

“Jump down.”

Ji Mian: “?”

Ji Mian looked down and nearly fainted.

So high, and she wanted her to jump? Was she trying to kill her?

“Quick!”

Before the words fell, Lin Qingye had already jumped, plunging straight into the forest where the formation eye was located.

Lin Qingye’s sword was still beneath Ji Mian’s feet. She had no choice but to brace herself and jump as well. The air of the rapid descent made her face sting painfully. The shapes of the branches below became clearer in her eyes, and she could gradually see the leaves upon them.

A small black dot was moving below. Looking closely, she discovered that there was a pile of fallen leaves beneath, looking quite thick.

Ji Mian went into free fall, rolling all the way down from the very top. She endured the pain, held her waist, and stood up.

“Where did this thing come from?”

Lin Qingye raised the Shuangjiang in her hand and shook it, creating a gust of wind that rolled up the surrounding fallen leaves to form a small pile.

The group of monsters seemed to have been blocked outside. It was quiet all around; there was not a sound.

Lin Qingye patted her clothes and observed her surroundings, discovering a structure built from massive rocks not far away.

Ji Mian followed her gaze and realized that the formation eye was indeed set inside, but judging by the scale, it would likely take some time to explore.

However, she remembered that this formation eye seemed to be connected to the underwater palace. It could be considered reaching the same destination by different paths.

“The formation eye is inside there?”

Ji Mian nodded and led Lin Qingye inside. Lin Qingye stopped at the entrance, made a torch out of a wooden stick she picked up, and illuminated the dim environment inside in an instant.

The stone palace was not as magnificent as it looked from the outside; rather, it was dilapidated. Many stones had broken off the surrounding walls, leaving behind one ugly hole after another. Weeds grew in the corners, and dark green moss clung to the walls, appearing somewhat grotesque.

The two examined their surroundings for a while and stumbled upon a switch. Lin Qingye hesitated for a moment and pressed it. In an instant, the stone wall before them collapsed, revealing another platform. It was circular in shape, and some talisman-like characters were drawn in the middle; it appeared to be yet another formation.

This formation was the same as the one they had entered at the beginning, all drawn with cinnabar. The color of the cinnabar had faded significantly, yet it was still functioning.

Lin Qingye held the torch and half-knelt on the circular platform, stroking the runes on it with her hand.

“It is said that among the four kingdoms, Canglu was the nation most fond of drawing formations to create mechanisms. The emperor specifically established an agency for this purpose to cultivate talent skilled in mechanical arts. It is because of this that, to this day, very few Canglu underground palaces have been excavated and revealed to the world.”

Lin Qingye paused for a moment and said gloomily.

“Tell me, could this place be the ruins of Canglu?”