Mahayana 104
Chapter 104: Don’t Look Back on the Road to the Yellow Springs
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
After Su Miaoqing came to, she found the others already awake. They were gathered just beyond a massive gate, facing a two-metre-wide path of uneven blue-green stone that stretched into the unknown.
The place was drowning in fog—dense, icy, and pitch-black. It didn’t look anything like a celestial estate; if anything, it felt like walking straight into a nightmare. Worse still, they couldn’t extend their divine sense at all, which made every step feel unsafe. Flying was basically off the table too—anyone trying could barely float half a metre above the ground, and it drained of their spiritual energy.
“Heh, since we’re here already, there’s no point chickening out. We keep going,” Old Demon King chuckled, then strode forward without hesitation.
The others followed, all on high alert as they pushed forward.
After about fifteen minutes, the fog thickened so much it felt like a wall. Then, out of nowhere, a jet-black stone slab jutted up from the ground ahead.
“There’s a stele up front,” Su Miaoqing whispered to Xiao Yifeng, her voice low and tense.
The others soon spotted the stone too and quickened their pace. When they reached it, they found a round, pitch-black boulder with a flat face. Four huge words were carved across it—Road to the Yellow—the strokes looking disturbingly like they’d been smeared with fresh blood.
Beside them, a smaller inscription read: When the flowers of the underworld bloom, do not turn back on the Road to the Yellow Spring.
“Great. After the Ghost Gate, now it’s Road to the Yellow Spring. Whoever built this place really has a flair for theatrics,” Liu Yue said with a frosty tone.
“Right, let’s get one thing straight. Since we’re not allowed to look back, nobody pull any tricks from behind! If you get hit ‘by accident,’ that’s on you!” Old Demon King cackled, slapping several powerful talismans onto himself.
The others nodded quickly and followed suit, covering themselves with protective artefacts and talismans.
“Fufufufu, this humble lady can’t help but wonder what on earth awaits us ahead,” Mo Shuiyao said with a teasing, almost playful smile.
“If Fairy Mo wishes to know, then we shall uncover it,” Lin Xiao replied smoothly. With a flick, he folded his fan shut and placed his hands behind his back. Thanks to the powerful talismans protecting him, he walked forward brimming with confidence and became the first to step onto Road to the Yellow Spring.
The rest of the group soon followed, each stepping onto the eerie path.
Xiao Yifeng stopped in front of the Underworld Stele, slammed a palm against it, curled his fingers, and effortlessly stored the entire monument away.
“Miaoqing, come on—let’s get moving too,” he said, taking the confused Su Miaoqing with him onto this so-called Road to the Yellow Springs.
As they walked down the narrow path, a freezing chill crept over their bodies. The endless mist around them felt alive, carrying with it countless currents of icy dread.
Shadowy figures glided in and out of the fog beside them, so many that it seemed like an endless procession, but the silhouettes were too blurred, too unreal to make out.
Su Miaoqing shivered, fear gripping her heart, and instinctively moved closer to Xiao Yifeng. Already familiar with this place, Xiao Yifeng whispered reassuringly, “Don’t be scared. They’re just restless remnants of souls. Whatever you do, don’t turn around.”
“What a lovely smell!” Su Miaoqing suddenly exclaimed. The others also noticed it, a drifting perfume so faint yet intoxicating it made their minds sway.
After a short walk, a wash of crimson came into view. Xiao Yifeng and the group soon stepped before a breathtaking sea of scarlet blossoms, blanketing both sides of the eerie path. The entire stretch of Road to the Yellow Spring was flanked by blazing red othershore flowers, looking, from a distance, like a blood-soaked carpet stretching into eternity.
“So these are the fabled Red Spider Lilies — the ones said to bloom without leaves, never appearing together?” Luo Yun murmured, her voice soft and distant. “They say that under their glow, the Road to the Yellow Spring shines like fire itself. That this endless path, utterly barren of colour, has only these flowers as its scenery. And that souls walk this fiery trail all the way to the depths of the underworld.”
Liu Yue raised a brow. “Fairy Luo, you’re a cultivator. You actually believe that sort of thing?”
She let out a gentle laugh. “It’s just something I read to pass the time. Hardly worth taking seriously. Please don’t mind me.”
The group stepped deeper into the sea of scarlet. The flowers were stunning up close, each one bright as a flame. The sweet fragrance drifted into their noses, making their heads feel a bit light, as though they were slipping into a dream.
“Senior Sister, be careful,” Xiao Yifeng’s voice echoed quietly in Su Miaoqing’s mind. “There’s something off about this scent. No matter what happens… Don’t turn back.”
Su Miaoqing shot him a startled glance, then gave the slightest of nods.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind them. Footsteps. Here, of all places? All eight of them stiffened. A few instinctively began to turn around.
“Don’t look back!” Elder Lingyun barked sharply. “The stele said it plainly, you mustn’t turn your head on the Road to the Yellow Spring!”
At his words, a chill ran through the group. Those who had begun to turn froze, suddenly terrified to so much as twitch. Unable to use their divine sense and forbidden from turning around, for seasoned cultivators used to watching their surroundings, it was pure torture.
Everyone could feel something closing in behind them. Something brushing shoulders. Something tugging at their legs. Whispers breathed right beside their ears, soft, secretive, impossible to understand.
Su Miaoqing nearly jumped out of her skin. “Someone grabbed me! What the hell is that?!” she cried, stabbing her sword backwards in panic, only for the blade to cut through empty air.
“Don't let your guard down, Miaoqing. These are illusions, pay them no mind,” Xiao Yifeng cautioned in haste.
Su Miaoqing obeyed, though unease prickled across her skin.
“Qing’er… what are you doing here?” A familiar voice—her mum, Lin Ziyun—called from right behind her.
And everyone else wasn’t any better off. One by one, they heard the voices of the people they cared about most… Or the ones they absolutely couldn’t stand… Whispering to them from behind.
Xiao Yifeng, too, heard the voices—Liu Hanyan’s soft call, Lin Qingyan’s gentle murmur. Yet he was not the sort to be swayed. Even if he had never walked this path, such feeble, mind-bending whispers would not have shaken him.
To him, they were trifling illusions. He strode forward with unwavering steps, keeping a watchful eye on Su Miaoqing lest she be tempted to look back.
“Stay alert—something is approaching!” Liu Yue shouted.
Ahead, the flower field stirred. Fragments of bone rose into the air, assembling themselves piece by piece into skeletal figures. Their stiff bodies lurched toward the group.
Likely the remains of cultivators who had died here, now consumed by the otherworldly blossoms. Some skeletons still gripped the weapons they once used, and in their hollow skulls burned ghostly emerald flames.
Their movements, stiff and awkward at first, grew steadily smoother until, at last, they were sprinting as though the wind itself were carrying them.
“Let’s get through this together first,” Liu Yue said, voice firm. “And let me make myself clear now, if I find out anyone tries to stab us in the back, don’t blame me for being ruthless. Any objections?”
“This Old Demon King has none,” The Old Demon King replied with a broad grin, baring his big yellow teeth. “Just make sure you two from the Star Saint Palace keep a tight grip on your blades. I’d hate to be ‘accidentally’ cut down.”
“Hmph. This lady knows when to hold back,” Mo Shuiyao said coolly. “At a time like this, turning on each other is nothing but suicide.”
Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Liu Yue nodded with satisfaction. “In that case,” he said, “I’ll take the lead. Stay close behind me and we’ll break through together—let’s walk this so-called Road to the Yellow Spring.”
He unsheathed the golden great saber on his back. In a blaze of motion, he dashed forward, sending gleaming crescents of blade-light tearing through the ranks of skeletons—splintering bones with every strike.
The others surged after him, magic artefacts flaring to life as protective light curled around their bodies.
Lin Xiao’s folding fan danced like a fluttering swallow; Old Taoist Lingyun wielded a dust-whisk that crackled with spiritual force; Mo Shuiyao gripped her short dagger, small but deadly.
As for the Old Demon King… He brought out a pair of eerie looking hook-blades, every swing packing some serious bite.
Most striking of all was Luo Yun. Drawing out her yaoqin, she drifted into the air like a celestial maiden. Each delicate pluck of her fingers released a shimmering arc of sound that cut sharper than steel.
Su Miaoqing’s beautiful eyes gleamed with admiration, and Xiao Yifeng couldn’t help but smile inwardly, this airy, elegant combat arts were exactly the sort she loved.
He and Su Miaoqing thrust their swords again and again; Xiao Yifeng discreetly crushed a few sword-qi talismans, letting threads of invisible power rip through bone.
The skeletons were weak, thankfully, and he could still maintain the bearing of a Golden Core realm cultivator.
For a time, the air was filled with sword silhouette, fan-shadows, and the melody of death. The group advanced swiftly, forcing their way towards the edge of the Road to the Yellow Spring.