128. Hell Of No Return
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After Bailong's bold declaration, the Sky Emperor cleared out the guests and excused himself, leaving Bailong and Tianlong alone in an awkward silence.
This silence didn't last long however, as Bailong wasn't one for silences, and Tianlong sputtered out his tea when Bailong said,
"I sounded confident right? Aiya, I lied... I was just guessing!"
"You-!" Tianlong glared between sputters. "How can you lie to the Sky Emperor?!"
"Shhhh! What if we get caught?!"
"'We'?!!"
"Aren't we *'two grasshoppers on the same rope'?"
(*They're in the same boat)
"We most certainly are not!"
But Bailong waved him away. "Anyways, calm down, calm down! We have two thousand years to figure it out!"
"Two thousand years go by in a blink!"
"Yes! But we can have fun adventures trying to solve it!"
Tianlong was incredulous, his irises darting left and right in disbelief. "He's crazy... You're crazy! This is an issue even Lord Medicine can't solve!"
"Heh! Don't worry about such things! I can boldly put my words here:
"You've just met the greatest healer you'll ever meet...!"
After which he appeared some distance away, studying a solid gold pillar. "Tsk tsk tsk... Too ostentatious! Call me 'Bailong'! Can I call you Tianlong? A-Tian? 'Xiaotian'? All three?!"
Tianlong scowled. "Wait... Why have you been speaking without honorifics? Even if we ignore my title, I still senior you!"
"Ei?! Didn't you just say 'two thousand years go by in a blink'?" *shrug* "How then can I acknowledge the mere three years separating us?!"
"You-!!!"
And through near-endless banter, two friends were somehow formed...!
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Hundreds of years flew by and Bailong and Tianlong grew unbelievably close, as they both journeyed on quest after quest to find a cure, or to carry out several missions for the Sky Emperor, fighting the demons who managed to approach Sky Realm's outlands.
As they journeyed, Tianlong would often lose hope, but Bailong would snap him out of it, pulling him out of his shell and dragging him off to explore the joys of the mortal realm.
"Ehehe, you can look, but not touch!" Bailong warned when Tianlong's eyes roamed towards some scantily-clad women on the balcony of a rustic flower house. "Your father will kill me if I smear his precious Crown Prince!"
"You -!"
The two became so inseparable in those early years, that quite often, Immortal Kai Zhen would appear to drag Bailong away...
"Some disciple you are!" Immortal Kai Zhen complained. "I don't frown on friendship, but one must not be distracted from their goals! Come! List how many new ventures you've embarked on in the last hundred years...!!"
For Old man Bao, he had simply tweaked Bailong's own reverse-talismans, using them to forcefully summon Bailong to his presence.
"Old man Bao! What kind of trick is this?!" Bailong asked, to which Old man Bao scoffed.
"Hmph. Genius runs in our family... You have about a millennia to go before you can ride on this old man's head!"
However, there were times when Bailong simply vanished for months or even years...
These were the times when he sought some rare herb or flower in an immensely dangerous region, or when the Sky Emperor sent him on a secret mission beyond Tianlong's level.
And it was on one of these journeys that Bailong was suddenly ambushed by an older Immortal...
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Bailong had set out to a place called Bu gui yu, a steep abyss soaked in the blood of countless Immortals and demons, and which literally meant, 'No return from hell'.
Historical records stated that this place was originally just a border between Sky Realm and Shadow Realm, but it had become the past battle ground where the Demon King had fallen,
and the Abyss was now rumoured to have originated from a single clash between the Demon King and the previous War deity.
Whether this was true or not, the place held precisely what Bailong was looking for...
'Blood Hell Lily!' Using his 'Yuan Jing' technique, Bailong could clearly see a brilliantly glowing red lily at the darkened depth of the abyss, its crimson petals dripping blood.
The blood hell lily grew in mass graveyards as it fed on blood, but it also required divine and demonic energy, so it could only be found here... An Abyss which divided Sky Realm and the Shadow Realm.
There was just one problem...
This abyss was immensely dangerous hence its name, and even in Shadow realm, it was jokingly called, Bu gui tian, which in turn meant, 'no return from heaven/the sky', as the place bordered Sky Realm.
The area surrounding the Abyss was always dark, seeing no sun, and the Seal separating both realms was weak, so immortals and demons alike swam here freely.
Of course the Immortal and demon armies monitored the Abyss from miles away on both sides. But neither side ventured closer as theabyss was considered 'No Man's Land', and any offences committed within or around the Abyss were lost in the gray areas of both realms.
Simply put, both sides warned their citizens to stay away whenever they approached, and if they insisted on venturing forward, then their fates were theirs and theirs alone.
In Sky Realm, this warning came after one crossed a certain bridge. This bridge began the dark region of no sun, and it was extremely misty with broken boards.
Still, it was no danger for most immortals, and one could easily cross it to find a wide and thorny expanse of land.
"Be warned traveller..." A voice greeted whoever reached that point, drawing their eyes to a beautiful, but bloodied and blind-folded statue. "The gods have no eyes after you take a single step forward!"
Bailong had hesitated there, but had stubbornly pressed forward.
He had once ventured into Shadow Realm itself, just to cure his brother Yin Xing. And here he was now, determined to get a flower which had lured uncountable fools to their deaths.
'It's the only way!' Bailong reminded himself.
He had already found a way to heal Tianlong, but without this little red lily to fortify Tianlong's meridians and stabilize his contrasting qi flow, the cure would be too powerful for him, either harming him or fading away as a complete waste.
And so, Bailong leapt into the Abyss. 'I'll grab the flower and reverse-summon myself to the Palace!' He assured himself, but for almost fifty days, had couldn't return and ended up battling demons and monsters to claim the flower.
'Arrogant!' Bailong chastised himself as he flew towards the top of the abyss. 'I actually believed I was powerful!' He raised a hand, wiping blood off his lips with the back of it.
The Blood Hell Lily had been sealed with a deadly curse, but Bailong had easily broken it. The flower wasn't fully grown, but he was confident he could make it mature within Tianlong, perhaps yielding even better results!
However, there had been almost a thousand demons lurking, waiting to ambush whoever succeeded in seizing the flower, and several of those demons had been close to Grand Immortal level!
There were even a few at High Grand Level, and Bailong had been forced to cleverly evade them...
Talismans and formations simply did not work, which trapped whoever ventured in, unless their natural powers could teleport, and even then, one's level was important, because the mix of divine and demonic qi constantly disrupted one's internal qi!
'There are true masters in this world... I have a long way to go!' Bailong thought as he finally landed at the top of the abyss, panting hard from the strain of the past days.
He straightened and was just contemplating how to break into the Grand Immortal level, when he heard,
"Hahaha, Yin Xiaolong... It wouldn't be asking for too much if I ask for that flower you carry, right?"
A brilliant pink projectile shot at Bailong, but he dodged it in a split of a split second before it would have surely separated his head from his body.
He skidded to a stop and swivelled to face his attacker.
It was an old man with long gray hairs which swayed in the wind along with his long pink floral robes. Flanking him on either side were two much younger immortals, each with a greedy leer.
Bailong scowled at the old man. 'Grand Immortal, 5th level!'
He tried secretly activating a talisman but it still failed, so he sighed, linked his thumbs and bowed.
"Senior. I don't know how I've offended you, but please let bygones be bygones... Please permit this junior to pass."
"Pass?" The old man said, then gave a loud bark of laughter, his lackeys doing the same. "You're indeed a genius! Not just anyone can come out of that hell! But I assure you, you won't get past me!" He gestured behind him.
"Hmph. But let it not be said that I bullied a junior... You can pass by at any time. Just leave me and my younger brothers with the Blood Hell Lily and all your other treasures!"
"Oh?" Bailong raised a brow. "An elder calling such young men 'brothers'... Senior! Did you forget your shame in the house?!"
"You-!"
Bailong boldly brought out the blood Lily. "Hao-ah. Since you want the treasure, why not come and get it?"
"Get him!!" The elder thundered and his two companions charged at Bailong.
"Hmph. Overestimating one's ability!" He said as he blurred, faster than their eyes could follow, and they suddenly found themselves airborne, falling right into the abyss.
"Old man, do you have any more lackeys?"
"You -! Such disrespect! I'll like to see what you can do against me!" The old man suddenly appeared before him, making Bailong's eyes widen.
'So fast!'
"Heh! Now you know fear?!" The old man's hand had lashed out, grabbing Bailong's throat in a death grip. "I'm going to enjoy destroying you, and I'll relish it whenever I use one of your treasures!"
But Bailong wasn't struggling, his face now emotionless. "You old undercooked coward. Rather than venture into the abyss yourself, you lie here in wait for someone to bring out treasures. Then, how about I send you in there?"
'Bailong' suddenly dissolved into water, slipping through the old man's hand, and he gasped.
"A water clone-?! Not good! A trap!"
"Too late!" Bailong called from a distance away. "Look below!"
The old man inevitably glanced downwards as a brilliant blue seal glowed brightly, and he suddenly vanished, appearing somewhere down below, at a particularly dangerous place within the abyss.
"Hmph. Instead of bullying the weak, you can enjoy the masters here." A voice said, and the old man swiveled to find a ghostly form of Bailong floating.
"No one can teleport out of this abyss... I learned the hard way. But I left a bit of my essence here so I could trap whoever attacked me! Enjoy fighting your way out!"
The old man lunged for the figure, but it faded away in bright blue particles, leaving him in darkness.
At the top of the abyss, the real Bailong scowled into the chasm. "Hmph. That jade token on his belt is somewhat familiar." The symbol on the old man's token gnawed at him for some reason.
Interestingly, the old man hadn't seemed interested in his life. In fact he had known Bailong, and even knew he was carrying the Lily...
Bailong shook his head, dismissing his suspicions and putting the matter from his mind.
However, a few feet away and he was ambushed again, this time by demons, and like the old man, they didn't seem to be after his life.
Just the Lily.
Then he was attacked again.
And then again.
And again...
Finally, he crossed the Statue's warning point, back into Sky realm territory, and hurriedly crossed the bridge.
But as he stepped into the brilliant sunlight, he found himself surrounded by even more demons...!
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