Chapter 35
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Chapter 35: The Soul’s Palsy
Mo Li, once a mighty warrior whose name echoed through the ancient realms, now dons the tattered garb of a gray robe, his beard rough and unkempt, his gaze clouded with the numbness of ages. Imprisoned in the damp confines of an underground dungeon for eons, the man who could level mountains with a mere flick of his wrist has become a mere shadow of his former self.
The harsh screech of iron pierced the musty air, signaling the arrival of a group of demonic figures—horned, blood-red, and scaled, their visages twisted into sinister masks. They hauled a young man into the cell, his form limp and lifeless. Mo Li, whose eyes had grown still for countless millennia, suddenly found them darting with a surge of desperate hope, yearning for escape.
“This is the moment, move!” Mo Li’s heart thundered, yet after an eternity of silence, he let out a heavy sigh, his hands falling limp by his side.
“What’s the use of escaping through that door?” Mo Li mused. “Beyond it lie more gates, imbued with the enigmatic power of the demon realm, and beyond them, hordes of winged fiends. Escape is an illusion.”
With another sigh, Mo Li regarded his wrinkled arms, a bitter taste in his heart. The limbs that once bore the strength to shake the earth and part the seas were now feeble and weak.
“Human, this is your new cellmate. From this day forth, he shall share your quarters,” a demon hissed, his violet eyes filled with malice as he spat upon the young man and delivered a vicious kick before cursing and leaving the dungeon.
In the distance, the demons’ grumblings wafted through the air: “These wretched humans should have been eradicated long ago. This whelp dared to provoke the Second Prince, even severing his arm. Had it not been for our innate regenerative abilities…”
With great effort, Mo Li rose, the heavy iron chains around his wrists clanking with each movement, and approached the young man. He examined the youth with a scrutinizing gaze: a countenance of striking beauty, long black hair splayed across a face pale and gaunt, his breaths shallow and weak. A glance at the youth’s chest was enough for Mo Li to deduce that he had suffered grievous wounds, perhaps even a collapsed chest cavity, with internal energy flowing at a snail’s pace and in meager quantities.
“Ah! Kill! Kill!… You all deserve death!” the young man suddenly cried out in his delirium, his face, clenched in the throes of agitation, a visage of torment.
“Awaken,” Mo Li whispered, extending a trembling finger to tap gently on the youth’s chest. With several feeble prods, a speck of milky white energy was transferred into the young man’s body. A faint mist emerged, swirling around him for a brief moment before being absorbed, bringing a hint of rosiness to his cheeks.
As consciousness returned, Fengyun Wuji’s eyes fluttered open to behold a weathered elder, his face etched with the细纹 of time, offering a warm smile, “You’ve regained your senses.”
Fengyun Wuji nodded, pushing himself up with one arm, then sat cross-legged, hands intertwined, eyes closed, as the Nine Turns of Life and Death True Qi whirled within, mending his internal injuries with haste. In no time, his body had healed to a remarkable extent.
Perplexed, Fengyun Wuji recalled the severity of his previous injuries, which should have been much more debilitating. The source of his rapid recovery eluded him.
“Gratitude, elder,” Fengyun Wuji spoke, having sensed the familiar energy of the old man coursing within him, aiding in his convalescence.
Mo Li offered a faint smile, returning to his previous spot on the ground.
“Elder, where are we?”
Mo Li heaved a sigh, his gaze fixed on the dungeon’s ceiling, adorned with peculiar symbols and shimmering silver light, “The demon’s water dungeon, a place where all enslaved humans are imprisoned.”
“…How many souls are trapped here?”
“Unknown. When I arrived, there were already over a hundred thousand of our kin.”
“How could so many of our people be ensnared here when you arrived?”
“I’ve been here for a million years, and the number of our people brought to the demon realm since then is beyond my knowledge.”
Fengyun Wuji was aghast, “A hundred thousand? How could that be possible. I’ve encountered the Second Prince of the Demon Realm and his four minions before; they did not seem overwhelmingly powerful. With the might of our ancient warriors, surely we could break free by force.”
At this, Mo Li blinked his murky eyes and instructed Fengyun Wuji, “Punch, strike the ceiling above with all your might!”
Though puzzled, Fengyun Wuji clenched his fist and swung upwards, a hissing sound accompanying his motion. Mo Li watched as, instead of a burst of energy, a robust sword aura shot from the youth’s fist, colliding with the silvery metallic mesh above. A peculiar four-sided pattern, akin to an enchantment, glowed red in response, and beams of light radiated from a six-pointed star,沿着 the silver threads in all directions, yet the impact caused not a ripple.
“And how do you feel?”
“Why is there no effect, what is this?”
“I’m inquiring about your internal sensations,” the elder clarified, shaking his head.
Fengyun Wuji’s eyes closed momentarily, reopening with a look of astonishment, “How can this be? It seems my internal energy has diminished, the energy I expelled has hardly been replenished.”
“It’s not that it hasn’t been replenished, it’s just minimal,” the elder explained. “Here, every ounce of energy is precious. Each expenditure lessens your reserves. Moreover, can you sense the oppressive atmosphere, as if a mountain presses down upon you?”
Observing Fengyun Wuji’s reaction, the elder continued indifferently, “We’ve been here for eons, not without thoughts of escape, but it’s futile. This is no longer our world. Our energy is repelled by the power of this realm. The Second Prince and his guards you saw, they too must feel this suppression, making them seem less formidable. The demon race in our ancient world faces a hundredfold greater repulsion than what we experience here. As for the Second Prince’s power, if multiplied by a hundred, you can gauge his true strength.”
“The power of a world repels foreign forces; it’s a cosmic rule and the reason why our human race endures despite being weaker than demons and monsters. Furthermore, in exchange for peace, the people here have abandoned thoughts of escape. We will spend our entire lives within these confines. Should you attempt to flee, you would become a traitor to our race. Then, not only would your fellow kin, but I myself would not spare you!”
Fengyun Wuji stood petrified, as if struck by lightning, staring at the elder in disbelief: “You…!”
“I understand you are newly ascended, but for the sake of our race’s peace, personal sacrifice is a small price. This is why so many of our people remain in the demon realm, suffering through the centuries without attempting escape. Compared to the greater good of our nation, our individual fates are insignificant.” The elder’s voice was unnervingly serene, yet Fengyun Wuji felt a tremor that resonated from the depths of his soul.
“After enduring such a long enslavement by the demon race in their realm, subjected to countless adversities, they don’t yearn for freedom but instead…” Fengyun Wuji felt a palsy of the soul, a profound chill that raced from the soles of his feet to envelop his entire being, leaving his heart icy with dread.