Chapter 312: Blackened Junior Sister (17)
Yue Ran let out a small chuckle. She raised a hand to brush a strand of her hair that stuck to her face to the back of her ear, then glanced at the sword spirit with a playful look in her eyes before her gaze locked onto something.
"Hmm, Long Yuan, look at that," the young woman said.
Yue Ran raised her chin to indicate that there was a sudden gap in the White Jade Snow Mountain after the avalanche. Long Yuan held the young woman a little closer and flew to the rift valley. There was presumably a valley here in the past. However, the snow had been falling for a long time and accumulated too heavily on it, enough to turn it into a hill in and of itself.
The valley that had been silent for a hundred years revealed its genuine appearance once more. A chunk of compact ice crystals broke off from above, and the sound of it hitting the wall of the hole could be heard faintly, but such noise became less clear when it fell further down.
Yue Ran was curious as to what could be kept down below, so she hung an arm around the neck of Long Yuan, leaned closer, and whispered in his ear, "Long Yuan, get us down there to have a look around."
With a nod, Long Yuan held the young woman tightly and went into the deep ravine. The further they went down, the colder their surroundings became.
The bottom was a cold and lifeless place. It most certainly looked like there were no other living things except the two of them.
The two slowly descended. After a little more than half an hour had passed, they could vaguely see the bottom of the valley. There was a small stream that appeared to be heading somewhere hidden where the eyes could not touch. Yue Ran withdrew her gaze from it, jumped off the arms of Long Yuan, and caressed the rock's surface in order to observe things more carefully.
With her warm hands, Yue Ran wiped away the cold frost, revealing some patterns on the stone walls.
The young woman took half a step back and glanced at Long Yuan. With that one look, he immediately understood her intention and waved his hand. The spiritual power flowed out from within his body and moved with his silent command, melting the glistening frost on the wall.
Under the ice crystals, there were countless dense words and images engraved on the rock surface. Yue Ran could sense the surge of spiritual power from every line and curve traced with her eyes, even though she was not able to understand them.
Yue Ran turned her head to Long Yuan and asked, "Long Yuan, do you understand these words?"
"I… I can understand them vaguely," Long Yuan answered.
Long Yuan was also surprised. He actually found these foreign words familiar, and he could somewhat understand them.
When his first master was still alive, Long Yuan remembered that this foreign text was a unique writing from his master's sect. However, too much time had passed since then, so he could hardly recall it.
Every time the master he served was changed, a great deal of his memories would be forcibly obliterated by an unexplained power and force that he found himself powerless to resist.
He would forget a lot of things; he would lose a lot of memories.
As for the text in front of him, he could only understand a small portion of it.
"These seemed to be the words used in the... Exalted Sea Sect," Long Yuan said.
Yue Ran could not help but ask, "Exalted Sea Sect?"
She had never heard of this sect before. She did not hear of it from those rumor mongers walking the streets or even from those storytellers in the teahouse. Could it be that the Exalted Sea Sect is a hermit sect that has long been secluded from the world?
"Sorry, master, I can't remember anything more than this," Long Yuan said with a tone that held a hint of apology and regret. "Every time the master I serve is replaced with another, most of my memories will be taken away, and the remaining ones will gradually fade away during the long wait."
"It is all right," Yue Ran replied with a smile, her voice clear and moving. "You just have to remember me alone from now on."
Yue Ran: I will always take priority. Do not think of others; only think of me.
"Yes, master… I have taken your order," the sword spirit said.
Long Yuan suddenly felt strange. The emergence of a lump in his throat and a strong thump in his chest, where his beating heart was, caught him by surprise. He blinked several times in confusion and raised a hand to touch the source of the strange pounding on his upper torso, not really comprehending what had just happened.
Long Yuan: Why does my body feel weird? Everything is so strange. I do not understand why.
Not paying attention to the unusual state of the sword spirit, Yue Ran surveyed her surroundings before deciding on where to go. Then, little by little, the two went in one chosen direction.
According to Long Yuan's fragmentary interpretation, following every step they took, the two learned that this place might be the base of an ancient sect that had stayed isolated for hundreds of years.
This ravine is vast, stretching far, appearing as if it could go on forever. The dense strokes engraved on the stone walls continued to extend ahead.
The two walked for about half a day before they could finally see that the words and mural had come to an end, and only a hollow space with the shape of an open hand was left at its periphery.
"Right here," Long Yuan said, gesturing to the conspicuous indentation on the wall. "It appears that it is necessary to infuse spiritual power into it."