dognovel Chapter 497 The Mystery of the Cloud Shadow
Chapter 497 The Mystery of the Cloud Shadow
I pressed my fingertips against the "Cloud Shadow" on the scabbard, the heat seeping into my veins from my palm.
When Wen Chen's hand covered mine, I was startled to realize that I had unconsciously clenched the Zhuxie sword, my knuckles turning bluish-white.
The warmth of his palm traveled through the jade prayer beads on my wrist, like a thin thread, slowly pulling me back from the surging memories—the image of the female immortal kneeling on the scorched earth was still lingering on the edge of my consciousness, and the scabbard in her arms and the one in my hand were exactly the same, even the lotus pattern embroidered with gold thread.
"A-Yao," Wen Chen called softly, his thumb gently brushing against the back of my trembling hand, "Let's see everyone first."
Then I remembered my surroundings.
Ziling was kneeling at my feet at some point, her fingertips clutching the hem of her clothes, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. When she saw me looking at her, she immediately sniffed and said, "Sister, I... I was so scared just now..." Her voice trembled, but she tried to force a smile, which was more heartbreaking than crying.
Elder Qingfeng leaned against the broken Bagua plate, his chest heaving violently, each breath accompanied by a hissing sound—he had just forcibly burned thirty percent of his power to activate the Demon-Trapping Array.
I was about to get up when Wen Chen grabbed my arm first: "I'll go."
As he walked over, the hem of his robe swept across the silver skull ornaments scattered on the ground. The silver objects, purified by the golden light, had lost their evil nature, leaving only a cold, hard touch.
Elder Qingfeng, seeing Wen Chen reach out, grabbed his wrist first: "Young friend... that Evil Lord that Mo Yu spoke of..." His Adam's apple bobbed, "...in the cataclysm three hundred years ago, the Evil Lord's demonic seed was probably..."
"Elder." The ethereal immortal had appeared at the cave entrance at some point, bamboo leaves rustling between his fingers. "If the demonic seed could revive so easily, the female immortal wouldn't have sacrificed her life to seal the sword three hundred years ago." As he turned, moonlight shone into the fine lines at the corners of his eyes. "And now, the demon has recognized its master."
I looked down at the sword in my hand.
The "cloud shadow" on the moon-white scabbard was still glowing, flowing with my movements like a living thing.
The keychain felt hot against my chest, but this time it wasn't a burning pain; it felt like a fine needle was gently pricking me, once, twice, drawing me to the deepest part of my heart.
I took out the pendant, and the "cloud shadow" on the back overlapped with the one on the sword sheath, forming a line under the moonlight. In a daze, a phantom image appeared—a valley shrouded in green mist, with a white jade platform in the valley and a carved box on the platform.
“That is…” I blurted out, but before I could finish speaking, Wen Chen was already back beside me.
He lowered his gaze to the pendant in my palm, his fingertips lightly touching the small characters: "Just now in the cave, you said the female immortal's sword sheath also had these two characters?"
I nodded, my throat tightening.
The face of the female immortal was always blurred, but the sword in her arms, the city behind her that was burned to ashes by evil fire, and the resolute look in her eyes when she looked up for the last time were all engraved on her bones.
Wen Chen reached out and tidied my hair, which had been ruffled by the night wind: "Let's go to the library."
The ancient book pavilion in Immortal Spirit Valley houses fragments of scrolls passed down from antiquity; perhaps clues can be found there.
Zi Ling immediately jumped up: "I'm going too!"
I remember there's a book called "The Records of Immortal Tombs" on the third floor of the Ancient Books Pavilion, which specifically records the titles of ancient immortals! As she spoke, she went to help Elder Qingfeng, "Elder, you're badly injured, why don't you go back to the meditation room first?"
Elder Qingfeng waved his hand and stood up, supporting himself with the fragments of the Bagua plate: "Back when the female immortal sealed the sword, I saw her back at the Star Gazing Platform."
The name 'Cloud Shadow' might be related to her lineage. He coughed twice. "These old bones of mine can still hold up."
The ethereal immortal chuckled as he twirled a bamboo leaf: "I'll join in the fun too."
The bamboo hut where the female immortal guarded her sword back then should be sprouting new bamboo shoots now.
When we emerged from the cave, the moon had already climbed to its zenith.
The mountain wind, carrying the sound of pine trees, rushed into my collar. I wrapped my outer robe tighter, but Wen Chen's hand remained loosely protective around my lower back.
Ziling skipped ahead, holding a tinderbox to light the way. The firelight made the pearls on her earrings flicker: "Sister, look!"
The eaves of the Ancient Books Pavilion are just ahead!
As the wooden door of the Ancient Books Pavilion creaked open, the young celestial attendant rubbed his eyes and peeked out from behind the desk. Upon seeing Wen Chen, he immediately bowed and said, "Immortal Venerable, have you come to look up books again?" Wen Chen nodded and said, "To retrieve the 'Ancient Immortal Taboo Records' and the 'Nine Heavens Tribulation Records' from the third floor." The young celestial attendant responded and scurried up the wooden ladder, the copper bells at his waist jingling.
Zi Ling had already rushed to the table, her fingertips quickly scanning the open "Chronicles of the Immortal Tomb": "Cloud Shadow... Cloud Shadow... Ah!"
"There's a half-page fragment here!" she pointed to the yellowed page. "It says, 'The Cloud Shadow, bearing the covenant of Heaven and Earth, holds the pivot of all spirits,' but the back is eaten away by worms..."
Elder Qingfeng leaned closer, squinting to decipher the handwriting: "These are my master's annotations."
He once said that in ancient times there was a mysterious immortal who never revealed his true name, only using the pseudonym 'Cloud Shadow'. He traced the wormholes on the page with his fingertips. "When the female immortal sealed her sword, the star chart at the observatory suddenly went completely scrambled. My master said it meant that a 'defender of destiny' had awakened in the world..."
“A defiant of fate?” I repeated these words, and the pendant on my chest suddenly burned intensely.
Wen Chen immediately grasped my hand: "A Yao?" I shook my head, my gaze falling on another open book on the table, "The Nine Heavens Tribulation Chronicle"—with a dried lotus petal tucked inside, the word "Cloud Shadow" written on it in cinnabar.
The ethereal immortal appeared behind me, his shadow falling on the petals. "Three hundred years ago, on the day the female immortal sealed the sword, I planted a patch of blue lotus outside the sword tomb." His voice was soft. "Later, the sword tomb collapsed, and all the blue lotuses died, leaving only this patch."
I suddenly recalled the phantom in my mind's eye earlier—a valley shrouded in mist, and a carved box on a white jade platform.
Perhaps that box contains a secret related to "Cloud Shadow"?
Wen Chen pointed to a page in the "Ancient Immortal Records": "It is mentioned here that 'Cloud Shadow' once suppressed the Nine Netherworld Fire with his own power, but later disappeared without a trace."
Some cultivators said he was being punished by Heaven, others said… “He paused, looked up at me, and said he sealed himself inside a divine artifact.”
I looked up abruptly and our eyes met.
The Demon-Slaying Sword was burning hot in my palm, and the "cloud shadow" on the scabbard was so bright it almost pierced through my skin.
Zi Ling suddenly exclaimed softly, "Sister, look!"
The words on the back of the pendant are moving!
I looked down, and the "cloud shadow" on the keychain slowly rose up, condensing into a streak of light in the air, pointing out of the window of the ancient book pavilion.
Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, casting shadows on the light streaks and revealing a line of even smaller characters: "Cloud Shadow Terrace, concealing true meaning."
"Cloud Shadow Platform?" Zi Ling tilted her head. "I've never heard of it."
Elder Qingfeng suddenly gasped: "Three hundred years ago, when the female immortal sealed her sword, someone saw a white jade platform rising from the sea of clouds to the east at the Star Gazing Platform..." He stared at the line of light characters, "Could it be...?"
Wen Chen gripped my hand tighter: "Ayao, perhaps we should go to Yunying Terrace."
I gazed at the night sky outside the window, and the moonlight etched the name of Yunyingtai into the wind.
The image of the female immortal flashed again, and this time I saw it clearly—on the scabbard in her arms, below the words "Cloud Shadow," there was a line of extremely small characters: "Waiting for Cloud Shadow to return, to unlock the shackles of ten thousand eons."
If "Cloud Shadow" really is that immortal's name...
The night wind rustled the pages on the table, and the "Records of Ancient Immortals" turned to a new page. I glimpsed the last line: "The secret of cloud shadows is as long-lived as destiny."
The moonlight outside the window suddenly dimmed, as if a dark cloud had obscured the moon.
I gripped the Demon Slayer sword tightly; the "Cloud Shadow" on the scabbard was so hot I almost let go, but within that temperature, there was clearly a familiar warmth, like a spring breeze.
Perhaps, I am not far from the answer.
“If ‘Cloud Shadow’ is indeed the name of that immortal, then the divine artifact is very likely to have some connection with him.” Wen Chen’s voice was like jade bathed in moonlight, clear and resonant with certainty.
I looked at his hand with its distinct knuckles. The hand that had just been covering the back of my hand was now resting on the corner of the scroll of "The Record of Ancient Immortals," with his fingertips pressing the words "Longevity equal to Heaven's Mandate"—the marks he had left as he turned the pages.
My throat bobbed, feeling like I had a jujube stuck in it.
The image of the female immortal raising her eyes for the last time suddenly became clear: the beauty mark at the corner of her eye trembled slightly with the movement, but the corner of her mouth was curled into a smile, as if to say, "I've finally waited for this moment."
I loosened my grip on the sword, the "Cloud Shadow" inscription on the scabbard was still hot, but this time it felt comforting, like someone was warming my hand through a thin blanket. "I'm going to Cloud Shadow Platform." I was surprised when I said it, but the thought had already taken root in my mind—from the moment I saw the three words "Cloud Shadow Platform" appear on the pendant, from the increasingly clear image of the white jade platform in my sea of consciousness.
Wen Chen's fingertips paused on the pages of the book. When she looked up, her eyebrows twitched slightly, but she didn't ask why. She simply said, "Okay."
He's always like this; he understands seven-tenths of what I say with just a glance, and leaves the remaining three-tenths to me to figure out on my own.
Zi Ling's hair brushed against my arm. She had come closer at some point, the jasmine scent in her hair mixed with the musty smell of old book pages: "Sister is going to Yunyingtai?"
"I...I can help you look up the map!" She turned around and searched for bamboo slips on the table. Half of her hair ribbon came loose and swayed behind her like a small waterfall.
Elder Qingfeng suddenly coughed, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the table. "Cloud Shadow Terrace... My master drew its location at the Star Gazing Platform three hundred years ago." He pulled a faded silk bundle from his sleeve, unfolding it to reveal a crumpled sheepskin map. "Back then, the star map was a jumbled mess, like crumpled cotton, but only at three-quarters past midnight, did the twenty-eight constellations suddenly align to form the shape of a platform—"
"Buzz——"
The words were abruptly cut off by a tremor.
Suddenly, the Demon-Slaying Sword in my palm trembled violently, and the "Cloud Shadow" on the scabbard burst forth with golden light, so bright that it was impossible to open one's eyes.
Zi Ling let out a soft "Ah!" as Wen Chen pulled her behind him; Elder Qingfeng's map fell to the ground with a "thud," and he hurriedly reached for it, only to be burned by the golden light and pull his hand back; the ethereal immortal's bamboo leaves rustled onto the table, and he squinted, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes reflecting a flickering light: "It's a divine artifact resonating."
I was enveloped in that light, as if I were soaking in a hot spring.
The vibrations from the exorcising evil drilled up my arm and into my heart, and the key pendant also became hot. This time it wasn't burning, but rather like two loose threads tied together in my veins.
When Wen Chen's hand covered me, I realized that I had stood up without knowing when, my fingertips almost touching the light on the scabbard—a light with tiny golden specks floating in it, like a shattered galaxy.
"Ayao, slow down." Wen Chen's voice drifted from afar, but I could hear every word clearly.
His thumb pressed against my wrist, striking my pulse, rhythmically synchronized with the vibrations of the demon-slaying technique.
The golden light suddenly receded, and a line of dark patterns appeared on the scabbard, as if carved with moonlight, crooked and uneven, like someone scratching tree bark with a fingernail: "Returner, unlock the chains of eternal damnation."
"This is..." Zi Ling tiptoed closer, her hair brushing against my earlobe, "It looks like the words on the sword sheath of the female immortal you mentioned before!" I remembered the sword sheath in the female immortal's arms, the small characters "Waiting for the cloud shadow to return, unlocking the lock of ten thousand calamities" were now overlapping with the dark patterns on the sword sheath—so "the one who returns" refers to me?
Or perhaps, "Cloud Shadow" is about to return?
Elder Qingfeng picked up the map and held it up to the light: "These patterns... are very similar to the star map lock that my master mentioned."
When the female immortal sealed the sword, the star lock on the Star Gazing Platform suddenly loosened; he said it was waiting for someone who could unlock it. His finger moved across the map. "The location of the Cloud Shadow Platform... should be thirty miles outside the East Sea, a floating island hidden in the sea of clouds."
The ethereal immortal bent down to pick up his bamboo leaf, his fingertips tracing the golden spots on the tip: "Three hundred years ago, when I was guarding the sword for the female immortal, there was always a blue mist floating in the bamboo house."