Critical: Ages Below Critical - Chapter 7.1

Chapter 7: Relic of Youtuer (Part 1)

Beneath their feet is a large path paved with marble,

the passing of time of tens of thousands of years

as if they have carved countless marks on its surface.

Looking into the distance,

in the vast darkness,

stands numerous tall and imposing groups of buildings,

although they are all dilapidated,

yet one can still imagine the prime of this relic

and how it has once flourished.

[West of Aslan Empire – Surrounding waters of Rennes – Grave of the Souls]

Surrounding the valley is two continuous black precipices, on them, countless swaying soul weapons are humming, the white, murky and thick fog seems to bury the bottom of the valley, making it resemble a turbulent ocean of white.

Raising one’s head, one can see a thin strip of the moving screen of the sky at the furthest peak, to be more precise, it is seawater because the Grave of the Souls is situated in the depths of the surrounding waters of Rennes.

The massive and snow white An Chi is like a floating island constructed of feathers, soundlessly gliding along this vast canyon, if you look down from above, it’s as if a small snowflake is drifting along the canyon. This dark canyon is much too big, the three are currently heading towards the north face of the canyon, An Chi and Cang Xue Zhi Ya’s large wings beat soundlessly, in the empty valley, the light shines through the white wings and unfurl ahead of them, blowing towards the end of the Grave of the Souls.
 

Qi Ling and Tianshu Youhua both dripped the juice of the Sishya fruit into their eyes and hence the two of them are staring unblinkingly at the countless soul weapons protruding from the cliffs. Some only have a thin layer of web-like golden soul mist surrounding it, and some are like the mouth of a spring filled with golden spring water, the golden soul mist around them uncountable.

Qi Ling feels dizzy from it all.

“Hold up.” Tianshu Youhua suddenly shouts, and so Qi Ling hugs Cang Xue Zhi Ya’s neck and stops, the two large soul beasts hovering in the air, their large white wings beating slowly.

“Guishan Lianquan, tell me what soul weapon is in that cloud of golden soul mist.” Tianshu Youhua raises her hand and points towards a corner on the rock wall, asking without turning her head.

Qi Ling lifts his head, as he has the juice of the fruit in his eyes, he can see the large cloud of turbulent mist as if melted down golden metal and hence he is unable to see what soul weapon is actually inside, “So awesome……”

Lianquan takes in Tianshu Youhua’s arrogant expression as if it’s a matter-of-fact that people should cater to her needs, and the fact that she calls her name including the surname, she frowns in disgust, yet she doesn’t want to make a fuss with this young girl, all she wants to do is leave this place as soon as possible, because she has more important things to tend to. Without the effects of the Sishya fruit, she looks towards the direction Tianshu Youhua is pointing at, she sees a a bow made of silver hanging out from the cliff.

“It’s a bow, about three and a half feet long, the two ends of it have carvings of wings, the string is an ice blue, there is no tube for the arrows and there are no arrows, so if I’m not wrong, the arrows of ice can be made on the spot with soul powers or attack directly with agitation.” Lianquan stands on the broad back of An Chi, the wind rustling through her robe, her beauty is one of indifference and rational.

“That is it.” An insuppressible excitement covers Tianshu Youhua’s alluring face.

“I’ll send you up.” Qi Ling hugs Cang Xue Zhi Ya’s neck tightly, just as he’s about to fly up, he hears Tianshu Youhua’s reproachful yell: “I don’t need your help!”

Tianshu Youhua’s feet stomps heavily on Cang Xue Zhi Ya’s back, using the rebounce, she flies towards the black rocks, when she reaches the wall of rocks, she uses the soul weapons as leverage and jumps up tens of meters. Her white dress rustling in the wind like tendrils of silk, emitting a blurred white gleam.

With a last leap, she is at the brim of the golden liquid surrounding the bow. She reaches out, a layer of heavily concentrated soul’s return circuit appears faintly on her arm, she directs a stream of soul powers towards the rocks, with a loud boom, the entire piece of rock explodes into shards, the bow and her both plummeting down, she grabs onto the body of the bow with nimble reflex but that can’t stop her from falling.

Qi Ling sees Tianshu Youhua who falls suddenly, with an urgent heart, he rides Cang Xue Zhi Ya towards her, the large physique of the soul beast turns in the air, its wings folding in. Tianshu Youhua lands safely on its soft and broad back.

“It’s good that you’re fine, when I saw you falling just now, it was so scary.” Qi Ling scratches the back of his head and laughs, revealing a set of pearly whites, his stardust like eyes stare straight at Tianshu Youhua, his gaze straightforward and is filled with warmth.

Tianshu Youhua blushes under Qi Ling’s leveled gaze, she clenches her teeth and dismisses: “Who asked for you to save me, do you think I can’t handle that?”

QI Ling’s smile freezes awkwardly on his face. Cang Zue Zhi Ya roars angrily, its body trembles, causing Tianshu Youhua to stumble. “What is this animal trying to do?” A layer of ghastly anger shrouds her alluring features, “Control your own soul beast, will you!”

“It is my friend, you are not allowed to say that about it.” Qi Ling’s expression is serous and sincere.

“Hmph, a soul beast is a soul beast, what’s so good about being a friend with an animal.” Tianshu Youhua’s tone is filled with scorn.

“Maybe you’d only understand when you have one,” Guishan Lianquan moves beside them on An Chi, saying, “Next time, the one that lives and dies for you will be this animal you talk about with disdain, and in all situations, it is willing to die for you, that animal.”

“I don’t care,” Tianshu Youhua sneers, her childish voice full of arrogance, “With just one sentence of mine, even humans, soul masters can die at any time for me, let alone a beast.”

Guishan Lianquan frowns as she looks at Tianshu Youhua who thinks the heavens and earth revolves around her. She turns her head away and leaves her a silent silhouette.

Tianshu Youhua lets out a curt chuckle before piercing the bow she has just obtained into the back of her right shoulder with force, the gurgling of flesh and blood can be heard as the large silver bow melts into her body effortlessly. Throughout the whole process, Tianshu Youhua’s face is void of any pain, there’s even a light and dismissive smirk on her face, as if mocking the pain that Lianquan went through at taking in her first soul weapon.

Qi Ling looked at Lianquan quizzically, Lianquan tells Qi Ling softly: “That is her talent, no one else can compare. Their bodies heal so fast that the pain they feel is a lot lesser than us. When the soul weapon pierces into our flesh for the first time before melting into our lord’s seal, this process is overwhelmingly painful for us, but to them, it’s nothing. Actually Youhua isn’t much, her lord, the man with the title of ‘Immortal Lord’, ‘Lord to the Sixth Degree’ Xiliuer, that is one monster amongst lords.”

“Our talent is something that you people won’t have no matter how envious you are.” Tianshu Youhua has completed the process of moulding her soul weapon to her lord’s seal for the first time, she sits primly on Cang Xue Zhi Ya’s back as she releases the bow from her body again and holds it in her hand, at this moment, the smooth and pale skin on the back of her hand is filled with a dense concentration of golden patterns.

“What are you trying to do?” Guishan Lianquan looks at her in high alert.

Tianshu Youhua doesn’t reply, a sudden burst of air explodes from beneath her feet, rustling through her hair and dress, she reaches towards the bottomless darkness of the abyss and grabs the air with her fingers, and from the thick sea of fog, three streams of air twist up from the nothingness like three white snakes, in an instant, they turn into three large arrows of ice with the thickness of a human wrist, she tightens the string of the bow and shoots towards the cliff in three loud thuds.

The three silver-white arrows pierce into the black rocks, instantaneously; a loud bang is followed by an explosion of shards of black rocks and dust, spreading in the empty canyon. The impact of the arrows results in three bottomless holes the circumference of bowls, a crack tens of feet long runs through the valley along the horizon; the cracking sound of rocks breaking apart can be heard in the distant darkness.

Tianshu Youhua looks down at the bow in her hand with satisfaction, on her face is the insuppressible look of conceitedness, “What are you so nervous for, I’m just trying it out.”

Qi Ling stands behind her, stupefied with fear and awe.

Lianquan’s has a heavy look on her face, she’s slightly worried, with Tianshu Youhua’s young age and pampered personality, this soul weapon is too murderous for her. She says nothing as she calls for Qi Ling, saying: “Let’s keep heading towards the front. Keep an eye out for the soul weapons that appear.”

Qi Ling nods and turns to tell Youhua: “Hold on tight, we’re going.”

The large wings beat away the thick fog beneath them, as if a large curve of light cutting across the surface of the milky white ocean, in an instant, they travel far.

Only that none of them noticed, in the depths of the canyon far from the bottom of their feet, buried by the thick fog, a flash of scarlet tremors in the fog, and then the thick fog covers it again. It resembles a scarlet blood vessel.

[West of Aslan Empire – Abyss Corridor]

Yin Chen and Guishan Fenghun stand silent and unmoving before the pale youth.

A tendril of golden sunlight pierces through the thick crown of the trees and the sticky fog, shining onto the youth’s ivory skin, making him seem even more weak, his whole person gives off a tarnished and breakable beauty.

Guishan Fenghun looks like he has something to say, but he never opens his mouth.

The pallid youth looks at Fenghun with his amber-like eyes, “Don’t you have something to ask me?”

Fenghun ponders before lowering his head, speaking softly: “If Yin Chen is the previous Disciple of Heaven, Lucifer, then, his soul’s return circuit should be identical to the previous Top Lord. If that’s the case, his soul powers should overwhelm all of us, but I sensed that the soul powers and the way he controls them are not of overwhelming advantage……”

“He is different from all of you,” The waned youth’s voice sounds like it can be scattered by the wind, “What you can feel is the first layer of his soul’s return circuit, the return circuit that belongs to the Lord of the Seventh Degree, yet at the same time, deep in his body, there is a sealing stamp with the soul’s return circuit of the previous Top Lord, as long as he needs it, he can regain the power of the Top Disciple at any time.”

“He……He has two return circuits of the soul in his body?” Guishan Fenghun’s pupils tremor.

“Yes……he also has two talents at the same time.” The pale youth turns his gaze to look at Yin Chen who is as silent and cold as a snow mountain, his vision resembles the bitter cold wind at the peak of the snow mountain, a blizzard occurs in his eyes.

“Two……talents……” Guishan Fenghun’s voice quivers.

“Why do you know of these?” Gold patterns appear faintly on the exposed part of Yin Chen’s neck at his collar. Guishan Fenghun moves a few steps further without saying anything as he stands between the youth and Yin Chen.

“Because three years ago, when you’re only shattered bones and mangled flesh, full of injuries and nothing else, lying on the ground of the Heart, it is us who sealed the soul’s return circuit of the Top Lord, at the same time, we gifted you with a never-before-seen soul’s return circuit, making you the Lord to the Seventh Degree……Have you forgotten?”

Yin Chen’s pupils suddenly contract, a surprised look of one that has just seen a ghoul flashes across his frost-like face, “You are……you……” Subconsciously, he takes a step back, as if scared by his own thoughts, yet these fearful thoughts seem to be the truth……

“What you’re thinking is correct, I am one of the Silver Priest.”

The pallid youth’s voice echoes through the isolate Abyss Corridor.

Roars from unknown soul beasts can be heard in the distance, as if callings from the depths of Hell.