The east wind vanished, and a sorrowful north wind suddenly howled to life. As the north wind rose, flocks of swallows streaked across the high sky above everyone’s heads.
The entire scene shifted from one of autumn’s gentle beauty to a desolate, chilling autumnal desolation.
Red leaves fell in drifts, yellow flowers wilted one by one.
A mournful female voice suddenly echoed from within the valley.
“Azure clouds in the sky, yellow flowers on the ground, the west wind blows tight, north swallows fly south. Who dyed the frosted woods drunk at dawn? It is always the tears of the parted.”
The voice was frail and slow, carrying the desolation of autumn winds and the sorrow of separation. It drilled into every heart, filling each person with an endless sense of grief.
As the voice faded, amid the swirling, falling red leaves and yellow flowers, a woman in white appeared.
From every angle, the white-clothed woman faced away from all of them. She had a slender figure, her hair like flying willows, gently swaying in the autumn wind. Red leaves and yellow flowers continually drifted onto her.
It was as if the white-clothed woman embodied all sadness and sorrow, filling the entire world with boundless desolation.
Everyone present felt as though they might die of grief.
“Rumble!”
Just then, a thunderous roar echoed. The once clear sky darkened instantly, black clouds pressed down, and a torrential downpour poured forth. The continually wilting red leaves and swirling yellow flowers were soon beaten down.
The red maple trees were battered by the rain until they withered and drooped low. The yellow flower seedlings were quickly smashed to the ground by the rain, wilting away.
Then, they astonishingly turned into skeletons.
The swallows in the void were also struck down by the rain. They fell midway through the air and transformed into skulls, crashing towards the ground.
Those red maple trees soon all drooped to the earth, becoming corpses.
The heavy rain stopped abruptly, leaving heaven and earth dim as moonlight.
The entire red maple forest instantly became a valley piled with white bones and skulls, stacked with corpses.
The slender white-clothed woman standing amid the bone piles suddenly had blood oozing from her head. The blood flow grew, dyeing her hair and her entire white robe crimson. The white-clothed woman had become a red-clothed one.
The whole heaven and earth filled with a sinister, chilling aura.
“Like a flower yet not a flower, no one pities it.
Corpses cast by the roadside, bones without thought.”
A wretched sobbing voice echoed faintly, as if a heartbroken woman were speaking directly into everyone’s ears.
All were jolted awake by those words.
“Not good!” Lin Xiao’s heart filled with horror. A chilling, spine-tingling sensation rose uncontrollably, his entire body breaking out in goosebumps.
They had just been drawn in by that scene, their minds fixed in place. Only now did they snap back.
The sight before them was too eerie. Lin Xiao immediately urged his internal power, preparing to retreat violently.
But at that moment, he realised with shock that his body would not move.
“What!” Lin Xiao panicked inwardly, but no matter how he urged his power, he could not budge an inch.
It was not just him; the others were the same.
Everyone felt thick fear rising.
“Tears of the parted, tears of the parted.
Heart and guts torn to shreds, tears of the parted.”
That utterly wretched female voice sobbed in everyone’s left and right ears, like endless chill seeping in from both sides, surging into their hearts.
Everyone’s scalps tingled, their hearts trembling.
Yet they could not move in the slightest.
Not only everyone in this valley, but the entire Qiu Lu Mountains filled with sorrowful intent. Countless spirit beasts within the mountains prostrated on the ground, trembling in fear.
In a secret place deep within the mountains, a man with two enormous forked deer antlers was originally circulating medicinal power to heal. But at this moment, his entire body shuddered, his eyes snapping open. His expression changed, and he could not help cursing, “Bloody hell, who has the guts to provoke that female ghost? They are asking for death.”
With that, he hurriedly urged his power. Azure light flowed over his body, and a sheet of azure beast hide emerged, wrapping him tightly. His aura, even all signs of life, were completely isolated from the outside world.
At this time, around the valley, everyone was enveloped in endless sinister chill. Thick fear cloaked their hearts.
“Parted once, two grudges, ghosts on different paths.
What evening is this? You are a stranger on the road.”
That faint female voice rose again. Everyone’s hairs stood on end once more, scalps prickling as if they were about to die of sorrow. A sense of death rose from within their hearts.
“Farewell to you, farewell to you.
Eternal gloom, farewell to you.”
Endless sorrow and resentment echoed forth. That red-clothed woman suddenly began to compress and condense, finally forming a single tear.
That tear was very small, yet everyone saw it clearly.
The tear carried boundless vicissitudes and sorrow, as if nothing in the world was more wretched than it.
“What on earth is happening?” At this moment, Lin Xiao’s heart was full of shock, for he already felt his heart about to stop beating. His body was shrouded in endless chill, his form beginning to stiffen, on the verge of losing sensation.
Yet what shocked him even more was that beside him, Chao Rong’er suddenly walked forward in a daze, her entire being soulless as she stepped through the void towards that tear. A faint voice emerged from Chao Rong’er’s mouth:
“Miserable and wretched, my love is gone.
Resentful and hateful, you are a stranger on the road.”
As Chao Rong’er walked, she emitted faint, sorrowful sounds, her voice like the wailing of a dead soul.
“Farewell to you, farewell to you.
This resentment endless, without end.”
“Chao Rong’er!” Lin Xiao’s heart jolted, veins bulging on his forehead. But no matter how he tried to shout, to wake her, he could not open his mouth.
He could only watch helplessly as Chao Rong’er walked to the tear hovering above the bone pile.
Then, blood oozed from Chao Rong’er’s head as well, dyeing her hair and her entire body red.
And at this moment, even denser sorrowful chill and deathly intent swept towards Lin Xiao. The vitality in his body actually began to fade.
“What!” Lin Xiao’s heart filled with terror, but he was helpless. Thick deathly aura spread through his body. His entire form began to stiffen from the surface inward.
“Sizzle!”
Just then, near Lin Xiao’s dantian, a mysterious power suddenly surged forth, repelling all the deathly aura from his body.
Lin Xiao’s deathly crisis lifted at once. Vitality returned to his flesh and blood.
“Heavenly Eye!” Lin Xiao jolted in surprise, immediately realising it was the Heavenly Eye within him that had expelled that deathly intent.
Cold sweat broke out on Lin Xiao’s face. This scene was truly too terrifying. Without the Heavenly Eye inside him, he would likely have died on the spot.
And just then, Chao Rong’er suddenly turned her head, staring fixedly at Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao jumped in fright. Chao Rong’er’s face now held no trace of colour, pale as a corpse. Beneath one dead-white eye hung a single tear.
That tear was the one the red-clothed woman had condensed into.
“Sizzle!” But in the next instant, Chao Rong’er’s body, along with the countless white bone skeletons, skulls, and corpses in the valley, all vanished.
The valley instantly reverted to its former ordinary state.
Lin Xiao’s body recovered. He immediately turned his head to survey his surroundings. On the peaks around the valley, on the mountainsides, on the trees, hung corpses.
Those corpses were unmistakably the people who had gathered around the valley earlier. Apart from him, everyone was dead, including the youths from the three valleys.
Lin Xiao’s hairs stood on end again.
“Dead, all dead!”
Lin Xiao murmured in horrified shock within his heart. And just then, a faint voice suddenly entered his ears: “Like a flower yet not a flower, no one pities it.
Corpses cast by the roadside, bones without thought.”
“Run!” Lin Xiao was so frightened he leaped up. His yuan spiritual power surged violently. His entire body turned into a bolt of lightning, streaking towards the horizon behind him.
