The Light of the Righteous Path Has Gone Offline - Chapter 13

Ming Jing’s breathing became slightly uneven.

Her eyes remained wide and unblinking. Her lips moved, but in the end, she still said nothing.

Murong Chi watched her, her lips curving into a bewitching smile.

“Whether you’re willing or not, you’re coming with me.”

“You may not know whether you want to go back, but I desperately do.”

For thousands of years, whenever she closed her eyes, her nightmares had been filled with scenes of the Human Realm.

That bustling mortal world, dazzling with the light of countless homes, had been bloodier than an endless abyss.

Even if she had to crawl, she would crawl back there.

When Murong Chi said this, her eyes were as black as ink.

The emotions within them were deeply complicated. There was ruthless, unyielding solitude that could never be dissolved, as well as an obsession so profound that even time had failed to erase it—deeper than the whirlpools of the cold pool.

When speaking with Ming Jing, Murong Chi usually referred to herself as this sovereign.

It was a distant form of address that deliberately created separation and displayed her pride.

With her red robes swaying and a faint smile upon her lips, she resembled a deity enthroned above the Ninth Heaven—cold, indifferent, and detached from the mortal world.

Only when the emotions within her heart grew too turbulent and complicated to restrain would Murong Chi forget such things and reveal her truest self.

Loneliness surrounded her as her brows drew together. Shimmering light flickered within her eyes, making her resemble a vicious little beast that instinctively rejected everything in the world without reason.

Like her cold, gloomy laughter during their first dual-cultivation session.

Like the dark violence in her eyes when Ming Jing called her Miss Murong.

Like only a moment ago, when vivid blood had spread beneath her like a bed, and she sat at its center with her face raised in a daze.

Ming Jing lifted her eyes and looked at her.

Her expression did not change, and she appeared perfectly calm.

“When are we going back?”

When would they return to the mortal world above the cliff?

“Now.”

Murong Chi turned her back to Ming Jing and removed the clothing that had been torn apart by the surging currents of energy.

Large expanses of translucent, snow-white skin were exposed, marred by deep scars that looked terribly out of place upon such a body.

Ming Jing stared directly at Murong Chi without any intention of looking away.

Murong Chi did not appear to care.

Smiling faintly, she pulled on a fresh set of clothing and moved her legs. Supporting herself against the bed with one hand, she straightened, climbed down, and prepared to walk toward the stone door.

The instant her toes touched the floor, her body went weak.

An unfamiliar, heart-piercing pain shot from her ankles through her entire body.

Murong Chi frowned.

Her body twisted unsteadily as she fell toward the hard, icy floor.

Just before she struck it, a long, pale hand reached out, wrapped around her waist, and drew her into an embrace, becoming the support that kept her standing.

Ming Jing’s face moved close to hers.

Her gentle voice flowed beside Murong Chi’s ear.

“You can’t walk right now.”

Murong Chi’s ankles had been bound by those blood-red chains for so long, and she had broken them apart in such a violent manner.

Blood had flooded the room.

Although Ming Jing’s Asura energy could heal external wounds, it could not restore Murong Chi completely and leave her entirely unharmed.

Therefore, she was currently incapable of walking.

Murong Chi looked at Ming Jing, her entire body supported by the arm around her waist.

Determination and stubbornness filled her eyes.

“But I want to leave this place now.”

She was unwilling to remain here for even one more moment.

Ming Jing met her gaze.

Through those pitch-black eyes, she saw the unquestionable resolve buried within them.

At that moment, Murong Chi easily reminded her of herself nine years ago.

Even if she had to crawl, she would crawl out.

As long as a single breath remained within her, she would never willingly give up.

It was the kind of desperate gamble for which one would willingly stake one’s life.

Murong Chi had already remained in this cavern for an incomparably long time.

Surely staying for a few more days would not make any difference.

That thought flashed through Ming Jing’s mind, but when she opened her mouth, entirely different words emerged.

“All right,” Ming Jing answered softly.

She paused, then tightened her grip.

With one arm around Murong Chi’s waist, she placed her back on the cold-jade ice bed.

Then she bent one knee and crouched before her, her voice low and firm.

“Climb on.”

“I’ll carry you out.”

Her clear voice struck the smooth stone walls, producing wave after wave of reverberating echoes.

Murong Chi sat upon a clean section of the cold-jade bed beyond the pool of blood.

When she lowered her head, her eyes flickered, their depths dark and unreadable.

The back crouched before her was slender.

Through Ming Jing’s luxurious robes, one could faintly make out the winding scars beneath them. Inescapable demonic aura surrounded her, yet her spine remained perfectly straight.

Ming Jing crouched for a while, but Murong Chi did not move.

She turned to look at her, raising her tone into a questioning drawl.

“Miss?”

Murong Chi met her gaze without moving for a long time.

For a moment, the air was so silent that the only sound was blood dripping as the currents stirred it.

Ming Jing remained silent for a moment.

Then she rose and turned toward Murong Chi.

After carefully arranging her words, she slowly forced out a sentence.

“I’m willing.”

“I want to.”

She paused.

Her voice went from soft to heavy until the final words seemed weighty enough to shatter stone.

“I desperately want to go back.”

“I want to return to the world above the cliff.”

Icy coldness flickered within Ming Jing’s eyes.

Her right hand gently stroked Murong Chi’s face. The warm, tender touch seemed entirely at odds with the person Ming Jing had become.

Her voice deepened slightly.

“I’ll go back with you.”

Until the life-and-death contract was dissolved, wherever Murong Chi went, Ming Jing would go as well.

“So climb on.”

She crouched again.

Her reverent posture resembled a warrior submitting before her sovereign, yet a trace of teasing appeared upon her face.

“If you don’t like this, miss, I can carry you in my arms instead.”

At those words, emotion rippled through Murong Chi’s eyes.

She looked at the body crouched properly before her, then slowly reached out.

Hooking her arms around Ming Jing’s neck, she pressed herself against her and placed all her weight upon that slender back.

Ming Jing stood.

Her gaze swept across the stone chamber as she walked past the cold-jade bed.

When she reached the stone door, she paused.

“Is there anything you want to bring with you?”

After all, once they left, they would probably never return.

“Something I want to bring?”

Murong Chi exhaled and lazily played with a lock of Ming Jing’s glossy black hair.

Her cool gaze swept across the stone chamber.

Then she lowered her head and moved close to the ear of the woman carrying her.

Her voice was extremely gentle.

“There is.”

Ming Jing turned her head, but no matter how she moved, she could not escape the scorching breath spilling from Murong Chi’s lips.

She immediately understood that the woman’s wicked sense of amusement had returned.

The more flustered and uncomfortable Ming Jing became, the happier and more triumphant Murong Chi would be.

Ming Jing simply ignored her.

Struggling to disregard the damp sensation beside her ear, she adjusted Murong Chi on her back and suppressed her body’s reaction before asking again,

“What do you want to bring?”

As she spoke, Ming Jing stepped through the stone doorway.

She intended to place Murong Chi on the white-jade couch first, then return to gather whatever she wished to take.

Instead, the woman bent forward and tightened her arms around Ming Jing’s neck.

The posture was intimate to the extreme, and her voice carried an equally suggestive softness.

“I’m taking you.”

As Murong Chi spoke, she raised her head.

Her gaze passed over the white-jade couch, the circular pool where the cold pool’s undercurrents converged, the grand ancient pavilion…

And the swing swaying beside it.

It had been exquisitely crafted from only the finest materials.

It had existed within the cavern for more than a thousand years, yet Murong Chi had never sat upon it even once.

Now that she was leaving, she naturally had no intention of giving it any further attention.

Her gaze swept past it and quickly returned to Ming Jing.

The cavern had accompanied her for a thousand years.

Ming Jing had arrived only nine years ago.

Yet somehow, Ming Jing held more attraction for her.

Murong Chi curved her lips into a self-mocking smile.

Within the wordless silence, it seemed to announce that something had come to an end.

Ming Jing did not hear it.

She laughed softly and kicked aside a stone blocking the path.

Listening to it roll across the ground, she slowly replied,

“You don’t need to take me.”

“I was already going to remain by your side and accompany you.”

The words sounded deeply affectionate and ambiguous.

Murong Chi, however, knew that Ming Jing was merely in the mood to indulge her.

No matter how thoroughly she spoke words of love, it did not change the fact that their relationship remained physical rather than emotional.

Murong Chi fell silent.

She rested her head against Ming Jing’s slender yet powerful shoulder, which was hard enough to make her ache.

Puffing out her cheeks, she blew at the loose strands of Ming Jing’s black hair, sending them spinning up and down.

Ming Jing felt helpless.

She also understood that Murong Chi probably had nothing she wished to bring.

Her steps became light and swift as she crossed the vast cavern in only a few strides.

Ahead, the loose-stone path led toward the cavern entrance, where withered vines twisted around the opening.

The farther outward they traveled, the purer and denser the spiritual energy became.

The thick scent of blood gradually faded, replaced by the openness and clarity of the world beneath the blazing sun.

Sparse sunlight filtered through gaps between the leaves, illuminating the radiant scenery beyond the cavern dwelling.

Astral winds swept fallen leaves into the air, their sharpness carrying the vigorous vitality of living things.

Ming Jing carried Murong Chi forward one step at a time.

The closer they came to the cavern entrance, the more hurried the breathing upon her back became.

Murong Chi gripped Ming Jing’s hair and lifted her eyes.

She gazed at the distant banyan tree with its powerful, tangled roots, the great eagle piercing through the mist as it prepared to spread its wings, and the vast sky where the clouds met the heavens.

Her breathing quickened to its limit.

For a moment, her heart seemed ready to leap from her chest.

Her chest rose and fell unevenly.

Her soft body pressed tightly against Ming Jing’s back, while her red robes trailed across the ground and became stained with mud and dust.

Murong Chi was pulling Ming Jing’s hair hard enough to hurt.

Ming Jing instinctively frowned, but she could easily understand her emotions.

Anyone who had been imprisoned in one place for a thousand years would find it difficult to control their truest emotions when freedom finally appeared within reach, no matter how deeply calculating and unfathomable they were.

That emotion was called longing.

Ming Jing herself had spent only three months imprisoned within the Human Realm Prison, yet she had nearly lost control when she escaped.

Looking at Murong Chi now was like looking at her former self.

Ming Jing pressed her lips together and swallowed the blood rising in her throat from the turbulent energy within her.

After drawing a long breath, she quickened her pace.

The road she had once crawled while counting every breath now passed beneath her feet in a single stride.

She even summoned her demonic aura.

Her toes swept above the ground, and her body became as light as a drifting feather as she leaped toward the cavern entrance.

“Boom!”

A deafening explosion erupted beside her ears, resounding like thunder.

The air seemed to ignite instantly.

Violent waves rose from the ground, crashing toward Ming Jing’s heart like a hurricane carrying an ocean with it.

Ming Jing’s pupils contracted.

Her steps shifted unpredictably as she changed direction at the greatest speed possible, retreating with the flow of the surging energy.

Her hands released Murong Chi, tossing her upward in an instant.

One palm struck forward and dissolved part of the chaotic current.

Her other hand wrapped around Murong Chi’s waist, stabilizing her within her embrace.

Amid the violently disturbed air, Ming Jing bit her lip and struggled to endure.

The current forced her backward several steps.

Only after repeatedly increasing the output of her demonic energy did she barely manage to stabilize herself.

Something wet faintly seeped from the corner of her lips.

Ming Jing coughed up a mouthful of blood.

After the oppressive heaviness within her chest faded, she lowered her head and looked at Murong Chi.

The woman lay within her arms, her eyes fixed darkly upon the space above.

Storm-like hostility gathered within their depths.

Following Murong Chi’s gaze, Ming Jing looked toward the cavern entrance.

Layer upon layer of ripples had appeared within the air, spreading outward in concentric circles.

Blood-red patterns crawled across the empty space, continuously flashing with shadowy light.

One strange character after another pulsed and trembled, shaking the surrounding currents.

These were…

Formation runes!