Nine Desolate Records

The path up the mountain was steeper than I had imagined. It wasn't a sturdy dirt road like the official roads, but a narrow trail worn down by people, no more than three feet wide. On one side was a dark mountain wall, and on the other side was a bottomless cliff. The stone steps were incomplete, and in some places they were simply natural steps formed by exposed tree roots.

Lu Li walked ahead, carrying a lantern in one hand and clutching the mountain heart stone in the other. The stone was always cold, so cold that his palms went numb. But the dark mark on his shoulder had indeed quieted down; the heavy throbbing had disappeared, replaced by an eerie emptiness.

"Did you hear that?" Lin Qingyuan suddenly asked in a low voice from behind.

Lu Li stopped and listened intently.

The sounds of wind, insects, and water. Not the rushing sound of a mountain stream, but a more subtle gurgling sound coming from deep underground.

"The sound of the hot spring," Lu Li said.

"No," Lin Qingyuan said, lowering his voice even further, "it's the sound of breathing."

As soon as he finished speaking, two green lights suddenly lit up at the bend in the path ahead.

It's not a lantern.

It's an eye.

Lu Li tensed instantly, the dagger already in his hand. But those eyes didn't approach; they remained suspended in the darkness around the bend, watching them intently. The green light flickered slowly in the darkness, as if scrutinizing them.

"Don't move." Lin Qingyuan's voice came from behind, almost close to his ear. "It's a 'Spy Bug.' As long as you don't look into its eyes for more than three breaths, it will leave on its own."

Lu Li forced himself to look away and stare at the stone steps beneath his feet. There was a puddle of water on the steps, reflecting the flickering light of the lantern and those green eyes. He saw that, in the reflection in the water, that slender shadow was slowly emerging from around the bend.

It's the neck.

An outrageously long neck, as thin as a bamboo pole, stretched out from the darkness, its tip topped with a pair of green eyes. The neck meandered through the air, silently reaching towards them. The distance drew ever closer.

"It's coming..." Lu Li said through gritted teeth.

"Don't look." Lin Qingyuan placed his hand on his shoulder. "As long as you don't look into his eyes, it can't lock onto you."

His neck was already three feet in front of Lu Li.

Time moved terribly slowly.

Just as Lu Li was about to look up, his neck suddenly shrank back. The green eyes retreated to the corner, flickered twice more, and then went out.

Lu Li let out a long breath; his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

"Keep going," Lin Qingyuan said. "Remember, no matter what you see or hear along the way, don't look back. Jiang Yin wouldn't have said that for no reason."

The two continued on their way. As they rounded a bend, Lu Li glanced at the trail of dark green slime left on the stone steps, which stretched all the way into the grass at the edge of the cliff.

He didn't dare to look closely and walked past quickly.

The higher you go, the higher the temperature gets.

It wasn't the weather that was warm; it was heat seeping from underground. The vegetation on both sides of the stone steps began to thin out, replaced by a dark red moss.

The smell of sulfur in the air grew stronger, and Lu Li felt his throat dry and his breathing difficult. The dark mark behind his shoulder was quiet, but the emptiness it evoked grew more and more intense.

"How much further?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"We should be almost there." Lin Qingyuan's voice was slightly out of breath. "Look ahead."

Purple mist rose from the depths of the valley, drifting slowly in the night breeze. Within the mist, the shimmering light of water could be faintly seen.

We've arrived at the source of the hot spring.

At the end of the path lies a wide valley. In the center of the valley lies a huge hot spring pool, from which the surrounding purple mist rises.

Seven or eight human-shaped statues stood in a circle by the pool, kneeling and facing the hot spring. The statues were made of a dark red, translucent material, like solidified blood amber. The statues were in extremely painful poses; some held their heads in their hands, some roared to the sky, and some were curled up in a ball. Their facial features were all distorted, their mouths opened to an unbelievable degree, as if they had experienced unimaginable torture before death.

And right in the center of the circle formed by the statues, on the edge of the hot spring pool, there was indeed an altar.

The altar was small, about three feet square, and made of a kind of jet-black stone. The surface of the stone was covered with densely packed runes, which shimmered with a faint golden light in the mist. A piece was missing from the center of the altar, which matched exactly the fragment of the "Yu Gong Tu" (Tribute of Yu) map.

"That's it." Lin Qingyuan took out the half-roll of sheepskin map from his pocket.

The two exchanged a glance and stepped toward the altar.

The ground beneath my feet was soft, like walking on thick moss, but with each step, dark green water seeped from the soles of my shoes. The water quickly seeped into the soil, leaving a trail of wet footprints. In the lantern light, those footprints took on a strange shape, not shoe prints, but more like…webbed feet.

Lu Li looked down at his feet and noticed that the dark red moss sap on the soles of his shoes was slowly wriggling and crawling up the seams. He stomped his foot hard, shaking off the sap, but instead of seeping into the soil, it gathered into a puddle and then, like a living thing, flowed towards the hot spring pool.

"These mosses are alive." Lin Qingyuan also noticed the anomaly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the nearest statue suddenly moved.

It wasn't a large movement, just a very subtle change. The statue that had been clutching its head and roaring slowly raised its head.

It was the face of a middle-aged man, with ordinary features, but his expression was frozen in extreme fear.

"It...is it watching us?" Lu Li's palms were sweaty as he gripped the dagger.

"Never mind, keep going." Lin Qingyuan quickened his pace.

But as soon as the two took a few steps, all the statues around them started to move.

It wasn't an attack, but a change of posture. They slowly rose from their kneeling positions, their joints creaking dryly, as if they hadn't moved in years. After standing, they remained in a painful posture, but their heads were all turned in the same direction—towards the altar.

"They don't want us to get close to the altar," Lin Qingyuan said.

"What should we do then?"

"Charge!"

Lin Qingyuan drew his sword, the sapphire on its blade shining brightly, forcing the approaching purple mist back three feet. He charged towards the altar first, with Lu Li close behind.

The statues did not stop them, but simply "stared" at them with their dark, hollow eye sockets. But when the two stepped into the circle formed by the statues, something strange happened.

The water in the hot spring pool suddenly boiled.

It wasn't ordinary bubbling; it was violent churning, as if something enormous was about to burst forth from the bottom of the pool. The milky white water began to change color, from white to gray, from gray to black, and finally turned into a texture like asphalt. Huge bubbles rose to the surface, bursting and spewing out thick, dark green smoke.

Thick smoke condensed in the air, twisting into blurry human figures.

The humanoid figures had no facial features, only outlines, but the posture of each outline was exactly the same as the surrounding statues. They hovered in mid-air, emitting silent roars, and then pounced on the two of them in unison.

Lin Qingyuan unleashed a sword strike.

The sword light sliced ​​through the smoke-filled humanoid figure as if cutting through air, passing right through without hindrance. The figure remained unaffected and continued its charge. The nearest figure had already extended a hand formed from smoke, reaching for Lu Li's neck.

Lu Li subconsciously lifted the mountain heart stone.

The moment the stone came into contact with the smoke, it suddenly burst forth with a blinding white light. Wherever the white light touched, the humanoid figure in the smoke dissipated rapidly, like morning mist meeting the blazing sun. But at the same time, a thin crack appeared on the surface of the stone.

"The mountain heart stone won't last much longer!" Lin Qingyuan shouted. "Quickly repair the altar!"

Lu Li rushed toward the altar, with Lin Qingyuan holding his sword to protect him from behind. Smoke-like figures surged in from all directions, each impact blocked by the white light of the mountain heart stone, but with each block, another crack appeared on the stone.

The altar was right in front of us.

Lu Li rushed to the edge of the altar and pulled out the half-scroll of the "Yu Gong Tu" (Tribute of Yu) from his robes. The sheepskin map gleamed with a dark yellow luster in the mist, and the mountain and river veins on it seemed to come alive, slowly flowing. He squatted down and aligned the incomplete scroll with the gap in the center of the altar.

Just as he was about to put it down, he saw what was at the bottom of the gap.

It's not a stone.

It is a scale.

A palm-sized, jet-black scale was embedded at the bottom of the altar. Fine golden patterns naturally grew on the scale, and the pattern's direction was exactly the same as the pattern on the edge of the black mark on his shoulder.

The scales were pulsating slightly.

Like a heart.

Lu Li's hand froze in mid-air.

"What's wrong?!" Lin Qingyuan shouted as he turned around. The light of the mountain heart stone was rapidly dimming, and cracks had covered its entire surface, threatening to shatter completely at any moment.

"There's something down there," Lu Li said.

"No matter what, repair the altar first!" Lin Qingyuan swung his sword, forcing back two smoky humanoid figures. The sapphire on his sword had dimmed considerably. "Quick!"

Lu Li gritted his teeth and pressed the incomplete copy into the notch.

Perfectly fitted.

The moment the fragment was inserted, the entire altar trembled violently.

It wasn't an earthquake; the altar itself was shaking. One by one, the runes carved on the stones lit up, golden light surging from them, flowing along the cracks in the stones, and finally converging on the central fragment. The mountain and river veins on the fragment began to glow, the golden light extending along the veins, flowing from the altar to the ground, and then spreading in all directions along the ground.

Where the golden light passed, the dark red moss withered and turned to ash. The kneeling statues around them crumbled and collapsed one after another, turning into a pile of dark red fragments. The boiling black water in the hot spring gradually subsided, and the dark green, humanoid smoke all dissipated.

The mountain heart stone shattered completely at that moment.

The stone transformed into a handful of white powder, which fell through Lu Li's fingers. The powder landed and was quickly swallowed by golden light, disappearing without a trace.

The dark mark on my shoulder began to throb again.

But this time, the rhythm of the heartbeat changed; it was no longer heavy and oppressive, but rapid and sharp.

"Did you succeed?" Lin Qingyuan asked breathlessly.

Lu Li didn't answer. He stared intently at the center of the altar, where the half-scroll of the "Tribute of Yu" had become one with it, golden light still emanating from it. But at the source of the golden light, the black scale embedded at the bottom not only hadn't disappeared, but instead…

On the contrary, it is growing.

Golden patterns spread from the scales, climbing like vines towards the remaining fragments. The moment the patterns touched the parchment, the luminous mountain and river veins on the image began to change color.

From gold, it turned black.

"No..." Lu Li murmured, "No..."

"What's wrong?"

"Jiang Yin lied to us." Lu Li stood up and took two steps back. "This isn't suppressing the altar... this is... activating the altar."

As soon as the words were spoken, the tattered copy in the center of the altar turned completely black.

The golden light disappeared.

Instead, a thick, ink-like darkness surged from the fragments, flowing backwards along the runic patterns of the altar. One by one, the runes that had just lit up went out, consumed by the darkness. The darkness spread across the ground, and wherever it passed, the withered moss regrowed, growing ever more lush and crimson.

The collapsed fragments of the statue began to writhe. Pieces of dark red, as if drawn together by invisible threads, were pieced back together. The fragments made a sticky, rubbing sound as they joined, and when the last statue rose again, its appearance had changed.

No longer a suffering human form, but a monster.

Each statue has been transformed into a half-human, half-snake form, with a thick snake tail as its lower body and the human outline as its upper body. However, the facial features have been removed, leaving only a gaping mouth that stretches to the ears, filled with countless sharp teeth.

They all turned their heads at the same time and looked at Lu Li.

The hissing sound coming from its mouth wasn't a snake flicking its tongue, but the sound of countless people simultaneously gasping for breath.

In the hot spring pool, the black water began to boil again.

This time, instead of bubbling, the surface of the pool slowly swirls, forming a huge whirlpool. The center of the whirlpool is bottomless, and from its depths comes a heavy, dragging sound of chains.

"Run!" Lin Qingyuan grabbed Lu Li and turned to flee.

But it was too late.

Those half-human, half-snake monsters were much faster than them. With a flick of their tails against the ground, they shot out several meters, instantly blocking all escape routes. They didn't attack immediately, but instead surrounded the two, "watching" them with their gaping maws.

Within the vortex, the clanging of chains grew louder and louder.

Then, a pale hand reached out from the center of the vortex.

It wasn't a hand made of flesh and blood, but a translucent hand with a jade-like texture, long and slender fingers, and jet-black nails.

A figure slowly rose from the vortex.

Its upper body was humanoid, but its lower body was submerged in black water, obscuring its exact form. Heavy black chains were wrapped around its body, the other ends of which were submerged in the pool, making a rustling sound with its movements. Its face was obscured by disheveled long hair, revealing only its eyes.

"A key..." a voice came from within it, "A fake key... is still a key..."

It raised its pale hand and pointed at Lu Li, "Come here."

Lu Li felt that her body was out of control.

It wasn't from an external force pulling him; it was from within. A searing, excruciating pain erupted from the dark mark behind his shoulder, instantly spreading throughout his body. Every muscle and every bone twitched. His legs moved on their own, step by step, towards the hot spring pool.

"Lu Li!" Lin Qingyuan tried to grab him, but halfway through his hand, he was lashed across the back by the tail of a half-human snake monster. He groaned and fell to the ground, his sword flying out of his hand.

Lu Li continued walking forward.

We're getting closer and closer to the edge of the pool.

He could now make out the details of the figure; the chains weren't binding it, but rather passing through its body. Collarbone, ribs, pelvis—every joint was pierced by chains, which were fused with the flesh and bone, with dark red granulation tissue growing along their edges.

"Three thousand years..." the voice continued, with a morbid pleasure, "Three thousand years... finally, the key has arrived..."

Lu Li walked to the edge of the pool.

Black water lay at his feet, emitting a pungent, fishy stench. A pale hand reached out to him.

Her fingertips were only three inches from his face.

In that instant, all the fragmented clues in Lu Li's mind suddenly came together!

The woman in the mountain god temple said: "You are not a sacrifice, you are the key."

Jiang Yin sighed, "A key is used to unlock locks."

The prisoner screamed, "A fake key...it's still a key..."

There was also Xun Wenruo's calm gaze when he gave him the dagger, and his words, "If you encounter great danger, this dagger can protect you."

Whom should be protected? And how should they be protected?

Lu Li suddenly reached into his robes with his left hand, not to block the other hand, but to grasp the dagger Xun Wenruo had given him.

A crazy idea took shape in the blink of an eye:

If everyone—Xun Wenruo, Jiang Yin, the woman at the mountain god temple, and even the prisoner himself—was telling him that he was the "key"...

If this "key" was carefully prepared by Xun Wenruo.

What if my "key" pierces not the lock, but myself?

What if the action of "unlocking" turns into "locking"?

This is not an epiphany, but a gamble based on all the clues in a desperate situation.

Just as that pale hand was about to touch his skin—

Lu Li suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a laugh born of fear, but rather a knowing, almost mocking laugh.

"You've got it wrong," he said, his voice hoarse but unusually clear. "I am the key."

"Also... a lock."

The moment he finished speaking, Lu Li turned around and plunged the dagger into his own chest.

Not the heart, but the very center of the chest, at the Tanzhong acupoint. The instant the dagger pierced the skin, no blood flowed; only a thick stream of darkness gushed from the wound. The darkness coalesced in the air, transforming into countless tiny chains, each ending in a sharp claw, all aimed at the figure in the pool.

The figure let out a piercing scream that shook the entire valley.

It tried to retreat back into the pool, but the dark chains had already wrapped around its body, and the claws were deeply embedded in its flesh and bones, intertwined tightly with the black chains on its body.

The chains clanged together, producing a harsh metallic scraping sound.

Lu Li knelt by the pool, the dagger still embedded in his chest. Darkness continued to surge from his body, and with each surge, his face grew paler, and black veins began to appear beneath his skin.

"What...what did you do?!" Lin Qingyuan struggled to get up and rushed to Lu Li's side.

Lu Li did not answer. He stared at the figure in the pool, watching the dark chains tighten and tighten, watching its pale body begin to crack, with dark golden liquid seeping from the cracks.

"A fake key..." The figure struggled frantically within the chains, "Why... why is there a seal..."

"Perhaps..." Lu Li coughed up a mouthful of black blood, "From the very beginning... I was prepared as a... cage for you."

The dark chains completely bound that figure into a cocoon.

The cocoon slowly sank into the black water, and the whirlpool began to shrink. Before disappearing completely, Lu Li heard a final roar, not of anger, but of despair:

"Yu...you've schemed against me...for three thousand years...and you're still scheming against me..."

Then, everything returned to calm.

The black water in the hot spring quickly faded, turning milky white again. The mist dissipated, leaving only the faint light of lanterns in the valley. The half-human, half-snake monsters all froze in place, then collapsed like sandcastles, turning into a pile of dark red powder.

In the center of the altar, the fragment of the "Yu Gong Tu" had turned grayish-white and crumbled into dust at the slightest touch.

Lu Li pulled the dagger from his chest.

The wound healed quickly, leaving a complex, dark rune mark—shaped like an ancient lock, with the hole in the center where the dagger had pierced.

The black mark on his shoulder disappeared, and all the strange sensations shifted to the newly formed lock mark on his chest.

At the same time, from the depths of the altar's breach, a cyan-gold light shot into the sky!

A dagger slowly rose in the light.

It was entirely bluish-black, with a long, narrow blade engraved with ancient cloud patterns. The bronze hilt was carved with a coiled dragon, its mouth holding a dark red gemstone. Its aura was heavy, ancient, and majestic, completely different from the coldness of the dagger in Lu Li's arms.

The dagger paused in mid-air, then transformed into a streak of light and flew into Lu Li's outstretched left palm.

Its skin was warm to the touch, like the pulse of life, resonating with the bloodline of the Yan Emperor within me. A name naturally came to mind—

"Dragon-Suppressing Dagger".

At this moment, the dagger given to him by Xun Wenruo, which he held in his right hand and had just pulled from his chest, was undergoing a strange transformation: the dagger's disguise was removed, revealing a dark, blood-like texture underneath, and fine, eerie runes appeared on the blade, exuding a cold, sticky aura that was of the same origin as the lock seal.

This is its true nature.

"Two daggers..." Lin Qingyuan's pupils contracted.

"One is real, and the other is fake." Lu Li's voice was hoarse. "The one Xun Wenruo gave me is fake."

The Soul-Locking Dagger trembled slightly in his hand, as if trying to break free. But the seal on his chest exerted a suction force, and the dagger began to etherealize, transforming into a dark red stream of light, which then burrowed back into the seal and completely merged with Lu Li's body.

From then on, the Soul-Locking Dagger no longer had a physical form, but became part of the seal within his body, continuously eroding and accelerating its fusion.

The Dragon-Suppressing Dagger lay quietly in his left hand, its cyan-gold light swirling around it like a stabilizing needle, suppressing the churning darkness within him.

Lin Qingyuan supported him: "You...you knew all along?"

Lu Li shook his head: "I don't know. It's just... when I saw that scale under the altar, I suddenly understood."

He paused, then looked at the surface of the pool.

The pool was as still as a mirror, reflecting the night sky. But deep beneath the water, one could vaguely see a cocoon bound by dark chains, slowly sinking into the deepest part of the earth.

"What is it?" Lin Qingyuan asked.

"I don't know," Lu Li said, "but it's definitely not a dragon. A dragon wouldn't be chained for three thousand years."

He stood up, his legs still weak, but he could barely walk. The lock on his chest throbbed with pain, pulling at it with every breath, as if reminding him: something is now imprisoned within you.

"What do we do now?" Lin Qingyuan picked up the sword. The sapphire on the sword had completely dimmed, as if it had exhausted all its power.

Lu Li looked down at the road leading down the mountain. A faint glimmer of dawn was already appearing on the horizon.

"Let's go back to the estate," he said. "and ask Jiang Yin what exactly happened."

The two turned around and began their journey home.

Behind me, a bubble suddenly rose from the surface of the hot spring pool.

The bubbles vanished in the blink of an eye, as if they had never existed.