Chapter 927: Heart Turbidity

Chapter 927: The Turbid Heart

Lian Zhibei came and went with haste; when she returned, eight sturdy young White Lotus devotees followed, grunting under the weight of a towering black coffin they carried into the hall.

The Turbid Heart was surely sealed within; to prevent any mishap, the coffin had been bolted shut.

A thing like the Turbid Heart could spell disaster if unleashed within the hall, so at Bai Lingmiao’s command, it was moved to the subterranean temple, a space originally carved out to house the statue of the Unborn Mother.

“Have you all memorized it? Once the Turbid Heart emerges, if he forgets us, your own minds will cease to hold any trace of my existence. That is why I told you to write it down—if all else fails, carve it into your own flesh!” The Second God’s impatient voice echoed through the hollow, cavernous hall.

The others, waiting on the periphery, nodded frantically, gripping their brushes as they scribbled notes onto paper with trembling hands.

To be forgotten by the Turbid Heart was to vanish; yet, to force him to remember was to compel him to release what the White Lotus Sect desired.

The timing had to be perfect: too early, and the target might remain hidden; too late, and other complications might arise.

“Miaomiao, why not send the White Donkeys instead? You needn’t go; I hear it is a terrifying place. If something were to happen to you...” Chun Xiaoman, tasked with coordinating the outside, said with deep concern.

Bai Lingmiao looked at the coffin and shook her head gently. “Sister Xiaoman, I am not so frail anymore. Besides, if I do not enter, how can I lead the Heart-Elements out? Rest assured, I have much experience with them.”

As the nails of the black-mist-exuding coffin were pried loose and the lid thrown back, a man with a large birthmark covering half his face crawled out, his clothes hanging in tattered rags.

He scanned his surroundings with profound bewilderment, as if he had forgotten who he was and where he stood.

“Everyone, retreat and shut the doors. Do not let him see you. In three days, use our portraits to remind him, then force him to deliver us out,” Bai Lingmiao commanded, leading the White Donkeys toward him.

“Where... where is this? Why am I here?” the Turbid Heart asked Bai Lingmiao.

She stepped before him, sensing him intently to ensure her image was perfectly reflected in his eyes, then draped a red bridal veil over his head.

When the Turbid Heart finally pulled the veil away, the room was empty. He showed no surprise; he had already forgotten Bai Lingmiao and the White Donkeys entirely.

“Where... where is this? Why am I here?” he asked the void, bewildered.

He turned, looked at the identical surroundings, and repeated, “Where... where is this? Why am I here?”

By now, Bai Lingmiao and her retinue had already emerged from the secret chamber, but the hall—and indeed the entire city of Shangjing—had undergone a grotesque transformation.

The sky was a pitch-black void, leaving everything suspended in a twilight between sight and blindness. Vast rows of houses lay in ruins, desolate and bleak, as if the Great Liang Dynasty had perished entirely. This was the world forgotten by the Turbid Heart.

“Let us move. Be vigilant; those trapped here have long been tortured into something neither human nor ghost. They harbor great hostility toward the living.”

Bai Lingmiao led the White Donkeys through the ruined imperial city, intending to capture a tongue to ask the way.

If there were truly Heart-Elements here, their unique abilities should make them well-known among the trapped.

The empty road did not last long. Bai Lingmiao’s keen senses soon picked up frantic, babbling voices from within the Three Palaces. “Aha-hahaha!! Strange, strange, strange, the grandson marries his grandmother...”

“This way! The sound comes from over there.” Bai Lingmiao led the White Donkeys toward the noise, which grew louder.

“Pigs and sheep sit on the kang, kin boiled in the pot; the daughter eats her mother’s flesh, the son beats his father’s skin-drum... Heh-heh-heh-heh.”

The voice seemed unaware of their approach. As they drew near, Bai Lingmiao saw the source.

A monk sat inverted on a lotus throne, his shoulders twitching as he uttered his incomprehensible madness. “Everyone comes to celebrate, but I see only suffering, such suffering... hehehe.”

At Bai Lingmiao’s gesture, two White Donkeys clad in talisman-paper tunics rushed forward, swinging iron chains.

The chains whipped through the air, binding the inverted monk instantly.

With a sharp tug, the monk was dragged and tumbled before Bai Lingmiao.

He was skin and bone, clearly long gone mad. His claw-like hands were busy pulling at his own intestines, turning them over like prayer beads.

“Master, have you seen any Heart-Elements nearby? If you can assist me, I shall surely help you escape this sea of suffering once the deed is done.”

Despite her tempting offer, the monk seemed not to hear, continuing his gibberish. “...Pigs and sheep sit on the kang, kin boiled in the pot... the daughter eats her mother’s flesh, the son beats his father’s skin-drum...”

After questioning him several times with no response, the Second God spoke up: “It’s no use. This one is long gone; heaven knows how long he’s been forgotten by the Turbid Heart.”

“It seems if we want to capture a tongue, we must find someone who arrived more recently.”

Bai Lingmiao did not answer, instead retreating quickly into the ranks of the White Donkeys. “Watch out! Many are coming from behind the ruined temple!”

No sooner had she spoken than the tattered curtains were ripped away. A horde of naked, bloated freaks with blood-red eyes surged toward them like a tide.

Men and women alike, driven to madness by the endless oblivion.

Seeing Bai Lingmiao, they grew even more frantic, charging forward with no regard for their own lives.

“Form up! Protect the Saintess!” As the White Donkeys invoked their spirits, possessed by various entities, they easily held the creatures at bay.

Yet, even decapitating them proved futile; there was no death here.

Unlike the previous disappearance of the Heavenly Dao, this place was filled with madness and slaughter.

“This way! Hurry!! If you stay here, they will only multiply!” A voice suddenly rang out from outside.

As Bai Lingmiao sensed the source, she was shocked to recognize the man: Tuoba Danqing, the former superior of Brother Li at the Surveillance Bureau.

He had been left behind during the last encounter with the Turbid Heart.

Judging by his demeanor, Bai Lingmiao realized he had not been here long enough to be driven insane; he was still capable of communication.

“Withdraw toward the southeast. Follow that man.”