Nightmare Shuttle

They walked until they came to a hidden courtyard on the south of the elven tribe. Behind the courtyard was a cluster of dry and bald trees, with heavy snow falling from the branches from time to time.

After Chu Yi followed the back road for a while, he found that there was soil under his feet as the thick snow gradually became thinner. After dozens of steps forward, the shadow of the snowflakes was gone. In the moist soil, the budding grass could now be seen.

The withered branches stood out in spring, and the small pink flower buds emerge. He seemed to walk from winter to deep spring, it was only when he happened upon a pool shrouded with blurry white mist in the heat, did the elder stop and speak:

"Every human who participates in our ceremony must achieve the unattainable state of purity. The Beinan Lake should cleanse your body of the filth of the human world and make it so that you are fit to worship in the presence of the guardian tree."

Chu Yi stared at the warm pool, the scent of sulfur and limestone soothed his tense muscles and purified his mind. The elder didn't urge him but regardless of whether it was his mind or his body, both cried for him to sink into the waters of the Beinan pool.

Chu Yi shrugged, grasped the edge of his shirt, and pulled it over his head, a thin layer of goosebumps appearing on the white skin. Tossing the shirt to the side, he went down into the spring with only his pants.

The warmth immediately hit, the height of the spring water rose to Chu Yi's waist. He found a place to sit on the protruding rocks, leaving only his shoulders above the water surface, and could not help but sigh comfortably.

He waved away the mist before his eyes with the palm of his hand and began to watch the changes on the water surface.

Elder Ling stared down at the man in the pool without emotion. He didn't seem like a human but more like a cold immortal watching, the pitiful mortals struggle in the mud. 

In addition to washing away dirt, the water in the Beinan Lake had a more important function, to wash away the desires and greed in people's hearts.

Each time, a person soaks in the lake, they will become sane and refreshed, but it would also take all emotion. If you soak in its water a long time, it was possible to achieve a near-immortal state of ruthlessness, where there is no desire and no demand.

He shifted as if to leave, no evil could withstand the waters of the Beinan Lake. "Is this bad?" Chu Yi's voice came from behind him, he turned his head back and the usually cold eyes saw something that made his pupils shrink.

In his eyes, he saw a circle of pure black liquid slowly overflowing from Chu Yi's body in the crystal clear water. The strange pollution extended outwards at a slow but constant speed and instead of dissolving the black pollution, the waters were continuously eroded by the pollution. Amidst the astonishment of the Elder, half of the spring water was swallowed in a flash.

The Elder walked to the side of the spring and looked down at a pool of black water.

The heat lingered around him, and Chu Yi watched the blackness pour from him with some surprise.

What is this?

The Elder suddenly waved a hand at Ling Zheng. CHU Yi didn't know what he was going to do at first, but in the next second, the Elder moved forward and gently stepped into the black spring water.

Ling Zheng immediately cried: "Elder Ling!!"

The man shook his head: " Be still."

By this time, he was completely in the water.

The movement of the elder made black water ripple and the slightly fluctuating darkness began to dissipate almost immediately. The Elder raised his cold eyes to look at Chu Yi and walked towards him slowly.

The half-length robe of the Elder was wet with water, but he didn't care. While he was walking, the darkness around him began to be purified, and the dark color quickly turned grey before becoming a clear and transparent color again.

In the end, only the darkness around Chu Yi still lingered, like a defeated general unwilling to give up his prized possession.

Elder Ling had already walked in front of Chu Yi and slowly stretched out his hand towards him, those light-colored pupils that seemed to hide the vicissitudes of life, and with a cold voice, he commanded: "Hold my hands."

Chu Yi's fingers twitched under the water, staring at the cold eyes, he raised his hand with a small smirk and placed it in the hand of the elder.

At the point in which the two hands touched, Chu Yi's fingers stained with the remaining black water droplets were enclosed in a fist. Starting from the tips of Cu Yi's fingers, every drop of black-stained water on the young man's body quickly became clean and transparent, falling into the pool and rapidly eroding the remaining black water around his body.

The both of them were silent, when the last drop of filth was finally purified, Elder Ling stood up from the pool and extended a hand to Chu Yi. Red eyes stared up at him and slowly grasped that hand.

"How do you feel."

Hearing this, Chu Yi looked around at the scenery around him. He clearly remembered that he was still immersed in anger and dissatisfaction but for some reason, now he could not find it in him to mister any emotion, so he answered indifferently: "It's okay."

As soon as these two words were spoken, Chu Yi instantly realized that something was wrong.

Is there something wrong with his mood?

Yes. It's too plain.

His reason told him clearly that he was not right.

It seemed that what was washed away was not the filth left by the human world on him, but the inherent malice and desire in his heart. The excitement of evil.

No matter how much he knew this, his emotions were still and plain, like a barren mountain.

Chu Yi returned to his room silently.

He sat on the bed motionless, even as the sun went down and a cluster of dark clouds appeared in the sky. A flash of thunder lit up his silent and bloodless face, it wasn't known for how long he sat there, but his clothes had already become cold and hard, absorbing the warmth of his body. Chu Yi's fingertips were pale, and the color of his lips was purple from the cold.

But he didn't want to pay attention to these now. Motionless like a rock, his eyes boring holes into the walls. Boring, knowing that it was boring but he couldn't produce the feeling of boredom.

A slight disgust was born silently in his heart, the rain continued to flash and the billowing storm raged against the forest trees, his disgust accumulated. In his mind, he couldn't help but recall Ruan Quixi.

The disgust dissipated.

So he started thinking about him crazily, Chu Yi remembered their previous confrontation, the merman, the conductor, the evil spirit. The make him surrender, to conquer him!

Dancing on the tip of his knife, blood, and guns‐

Sweat and excitement!

His emotional fluctuations became greater and greater before something in his mind seemed to crack with a bang! Suddenly breaking the deadlock, Chu Yi grinned wickedly, like an evil spirit that had dragged himself from hell.

Lightning hit the top of the trees and behind him, two cold hands slowly rested on his shoulder and a low hoarse voice sounded in his ears, "I thought I would have to lend you a hand."

"What did you find?"

"You were right, this entire forest, is just one big prison.'

"We can't get out."

Chu Yi raised his head but didn't answer.

Looking in the direction of his eyes, a puddle of water was spread before the Guardian tree. The silver moon rises from the night sky, and a cluster of cold light shines through the dark curtain of rain, looking down on the earth condescendingly.

In those growing pools of water, a hideous and inexplicable phantom slowly blurred through the mist and the picture gradually became clear.

The black tree reflected on the water surface, its dark canopy flowing down from the dark sky, dyeing the cold and hard lines on the edge of the horizon into a deep color, rich and hideous.

Just as a dark cloud passed by, the moonlight was concealed under the layers of the night sky.

The heaven and the earth dimmed.

The black shadow that distorted into the shape of a human entangled in the watery depths, and the next second, the shadow seemed to howl and break through the puddle!

Thunder flashed and the sky lit up for the third time before falling dark again, the shadow was gone.

In the curtain of rain, a low and melancholy flute suddenly appeared at the edge of the clearing and a long red carriage like a winding dragon slowly marched into the elf tribe.