The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Chapter 86: Top of the World

Translated by Rikko of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Why am I here? Why do I look like this?

Once again, Gu Ting Yu awakened from his slumber, his body limp without any bit of energy. Nonetheless, although he was in a state where even breathing was a luxury to him, he was bizarrely calm. Someone had weaved a web of fear and bound him tightly to it. Under that merciless sensation, he could vaguely detect someone else's consciousness. That being questioned Gu Ting Yu again and again, asking why he was born with such terrifying looks, why he was trapped inside the dense mist in the deep ocean.

Of course, Gu Ting Yu had no answers to that. However, his mind unconsciously drifted to the time before he had transmigrated to this world. Every single day, whenever he'd gaze at the variety of pedestrians through the car window, he would ponder where did they come from and where were they headed. Their attires hinted at their occupation and the experiences they'd had. While surveying them, he would guess the life they led. Warm smiles and lonely misery, they emerged on their faces over and over.

A peculiar feeling surged up as his observation continued.

All of us are born with the same naked body. Why does life differ so much after that point of time? In the world, is it an intentional plan of someone who made us who we are now? Is every single bit of brief encounters a scheme set up by someone? The reason for ignoring those queries that can't be answered is that they are incomprehensible. Since they are incomprehensible, there is no point in wasting energy to mull over them. It is much easier to blend into the world belonging to us whilst leading a life of ignorance.

The familiar breathing sounds from his surroundings dragged Gu Ting Yu back to reality. Under the blurred lights, he could discern out Zhuo Yin's anxious gaze at him to some degree. Sorry, Gu Ting Yu thought, sorry for worrying you all again.

An immense black hole seemed to be deep inside Gu Ting Yu's mind.

In the following days, his naps got more and more frequent. Right after he struggled out from his dreams, he uselessly felt his eyelids getting heavy. Thus, he sunk into the mist in his consciousness again.

In his dreams, he constantly attempted to close the distance between him and the man. He laboriously crawled towards the other. The flexible, tough tentacles like brambles twisted around in between them. He used all of his strength to move them slightly, but moments later, the tentacles stuck onto his body, forcing him to take even more steps back.

"Ugh…" although a victim to the pressure of layers and layers of tentacles, his frail body stubbornly insisted on moving forward, turtle-like slow yet determined.

That person's gaze was still as blank as ever. He appeared to be looking at Gu Ting Yu, yet seemingly gazing through him into an unknown world. Gu Ting Yu gritted his teeth, shivering while reaching his hands out to grab the man's ankles. He used them as leverage, refusing to let go despite the thrashings and beatings from the tentacles high above him. The moment he touched the male's body, he felt it—behind that fearful appearance and the numb, empty gaze, there was a trembling man.

Initially, Gu Ting Yu, like a devout religion follower, lowered his head at the guy's feet. Slowly, he climbed up the man with his quivering hands over his knees and upper legs to his waist… The tentacles twisted and turned more and more madly. The branches of the willows, as though flailing around in the hurricane, made a last-ditch effort to pry Gu Ting Yu away from the man. The tentacles tightened around Gu Ting Yu's neck. The unbearable feeling of suffocation darkened his sight once again. Before he lost consciousness, he couldn't stop himself from sighing. He was just a step away from exploring the deepest part of the consciousness locked inside that person…

"Cough cough!" Gu Ting Yu grabbed his neck as he let out a series of violent coughs. The feeling of suffocation remained in his body. As his eyes opened, he realized it was already dawn. Three deadly pale faces were focusing their concerned gazes at him. Another anxious look was cast at him from the foot of the mountain. Tong Ying was leaning onto the wall by the cave, gazing at Gu Ting Yu in silence without moving closer. Gu Ting Yu directed his eyes outside. That cave was indeed the entrance to the barrier. After a lengthy amount of time wasted on him, they had finally arrived. Gu Ting Yu heaved a secret sigh of relief.

"Ting Yu… Are you alright?" With bloodshot eyes, Qing Que bit down hard on his lips, his voice choking up.

Gu Ting Yu opened his mouth as he tried to assure him that he was fine. However, the sounds he let out was alarmingly hoarse. Without any choice left, he could only shake his head.

"Xiao Yu…" Nian Xing pursed his lips, repeating his murmurings after some time, "… Xiao Yu."

As Gu Ting Yu cupped Nian Xing's face in his hands, he lifted the corner of his lips to reveal a comforting smile on his pale face.

Currently, the rising sun had crawled up to the skies. Unlike the warm morning sun rays in any other places, the sunlight here was strangely strong since sunrise. The blood-red sun hung high up the desolate mountain, shooting out dark, gloomy rays of light. The scene looked as though it was straight out of an apocalypse.

Zhuo Yin couldn't bear to look at the frail Gu Ting Yu anymore. He suggested with the same deep, hoarse voice, "Let's… continue ahead."

Tong Ying, who was on the side, started cracking up like a maniac, yet not a trace of joy was in the pair of his freakish crimson eyes. Instead, the complicated look in his eyes was mixed with grief and pain.

"…hate you," all of a sudden, a whisper drifted with the wind into Gu Ting Yu's ears. He cast a confused glance at Tong Ying.

Tong Ying confronted Gu Ting Yu's glance by reiterating firmly, his voice twice as loud as before, "I hate you, Gu Ting Yu."

"…" Gu Ting Yu was at a complete loss.

"I hate you! I hate how presumptuous you look! I hate your attitude of wanting to take everything upon yourself! I hate it so much! I… I'm so sick and tired of you!" Tong Ying's holler echoed through the valley. Everyone nearby flashed puzzled gazes at him, bewildered by his emotional outburst. He strode towards Gu Ting Yu before tearing the clothes of the weak person in front of him uncontrollably, "Why didn't you say something?! Why didn't you spill out the things you had to go through? Who are you to not spill it out?" Who are you to make me ache for you…?

With a zip, Gu Ting Yu clothes were ripped apart. The moment Tong Ying saw the various crisscrossed bruises on the frail body, he descended into madness. His fiery red eyes darkened into ink black. The lava in him boiled over, erupting out to the skies. Without any care of the futile attempts of struggling made by the guy he was on top of, he forcefully pried open Gu Ting Yu's legs. As expected, that soft, fragile area was utterly red from the bruising, with a few streaks of blood and unknown fluid in it. Tong Ying felt as though he had swallowed a piece of scorching hot iron whole; his entire body started burning up in bright flames. Instead of the usual scarlet fire, the flames surrounding him were translucent blue. The fire encircled them rapidly. It twirled round and round swiftly, engulfing Tong Ying and Gu Ting Yu in the process.

"Tong Ying, stop!" horrified, Zhuo Yin wanted to dash into the fire right away, but before his fingertips even came in contact with the flames, a powerful force blew him away. As he collapsed onto the floor, he dazed in shock at the two who were enveloped by the glowing blue flames. I've never seen such a translucent blue flame. Perhaps Tong Ying… Being subjected to the tremendous pressure of psychic power, Zhuo Yin couldn't get up at that moment. There is no mistaking it. Such a massive compression of forces… Is Tong Ying… igniting his soul…?

"Ah…" Gu Ting Yu, situated in the center of the blue fire, felt two forces tearing in one another in his body, gentle in one moment, madly chaotic in the next; one moment he was in a fiery pit, the next he landed himself in freezing ice.

"Ah… Ahh…" He was drenched in sweat. A peculiar force expelled the filth and terror that were occupying his body; a boom echoed near his ears. Who was the one howling out in rage? Who was the one revealing a bitter, grievous expression?

Through the fog, a fox with its body covered in blazing flames pounced at the enormous sea creature. The tentacles curling around the fox appeared to be burned by the fire. Nine pitch-black shadow escaped from the inner part of the fox's body. They tore away at the sticky tentacles with their teeth, tossing and turning around with their slimy opponents in the air before slamming hard onto the ground. Unable to withstand the swift, fierce, risky moves, the enormous sea creature retracted its scattered tentacles and summoned every ounce of its power to face the fox head-on.

"Awooo!" the fox's howl ignited into a fireball and pierced through the center of the sea monster's brows without the slightest hesitation. After a rumble, the flames, smog, fox and sea monster vanished into thin air. The whole world quietened down.

Gu Ting Yu's body felt a lot lighter. Gu Ting Yu, lying onto the floor, fell into a warm embrace. His eyes fluttered open to meet the heavily gasping man who was hugging him, Tong Ying. The blue flames around him had been extinguished.

Ba-dump, ba-dump… The rapid, distinct heartbeats were crystal clear to Gu Ting Yu's ears. However, when his line of sight shifted away from Tong Ying's broad shoulders to the silhouette perfectly still behind them, his eyes grew wide in astonishment.

Dozens of sticky soft tentacles hung motionless in the air, looking down at the puny people on the ground. In the middle of the tentacles, there was an emotionless man. His muted expression gave the illusion of not being a threat.

Mian's physical form had appeared.