Chapter 73, Imperial Decree.

Chapter 73

After the Seven Palaces Formation was deactivated, in addition to the recovery of He Changxin's remains, Shen Yan also ordered people to carry out the remains of those who had been trapped and died with He Changxin in Tianxuan Palace and place them neatly at the entrance of Fuhu Cliff.

The incomplete corpses were pieced together, totaling thirty-two people. Their names and origins were unknown, and they were all handed over to the government for processing. The task of investigating the identities of these people naturally fell to the Thousand Machines Pavilion.

Before coming here, He Hansheng had already made arrangements with Zhang Shan, the prefect of Yunzhou. The government had already lifted the arrest warrants for the Qianji Pavilion members. When Zhang Shan learned that He Hansheng and Shen Yan had come in person to investigate the cause of He Changxin's death, he immediately expressed his willingness to fully cooperate and also compiled some official documents and letters from Liu Chunying, the former prefect of Yunzhou, who had lied about military intelligence back then.

With Shen Yan and He Hansheng in charge, Shen Suining found herself with a lot of free time, as investigating cases of the imperial court was not her forte.

However, in order to dispel the doubts of Shan Qian and the villagers, and to temporarily not open the mechanism of the Seven Palaces Formation so that they could investigate the case more easily, Shen Suining insisted on staying deep in Taihang, ostensibly as a hostage, but actually hoping to take the opportunity to find the witness that Wei Zhao had discovered.

The Gu poison in her body had not been cured, so she posed no threat to the villagers and thus naturally stayed.

When Shan Qian came deep into the mountains to find Shen Suining, she had just been tormented by the Gu worms and vomited blood all over the ground. The grass and trees on the ground withered instantly when they were stained with blood.

Shen Suining was in extreme pain. Her internal organs felt like they were being burned by fire every day. She could still endure it in front of others a few days ago, but now she couldn't bear it at all. Fortunately, He Hansheng and Shen Fengyu had been sent away to investigate the case. Only Ling Rui and Yan Zhen, who knew the truth, stayed behind to keep her company.

Despite this, Shen Suining did not want the two of them to see her like this, so she avoided them. However, Shan Qian, who had a mother worm in his body, could easily find her.

Seeing her in such pain, Shan Qian couldn't bear it. He sighed and said, "Actually, if you just kill me, the mother insect will die, and you will also be free."

“I know,” Shen Suining closed her eyes and regulated her breathing, trying to calm the worms in her body, “but I won’t.”

"Why?" Shan Qian asked, puzzled. "Aren't you afraid of dying?"

“I’m afraid. Because I’m also afraid of death, I won’t kill you to save my own life,” Shen Suining slowly opened her eyes and saw Shan Qian’s full head of white hair and beard. She was covered in sweat, and her blood-stained lips forced a smile. “You’re only sixteen years old, and you have a long life ahead of you. I don’t want to disrupt your peaceful life.”

Shan Qian's lips moved slightly, and his heterochromatic eyes revealed a hint of emotion.

He walked to Shen Suining's side and squatted down, saying softly, "I won't live long. There is a mother worm in my body, which sucks my essence day and night. Although I am only sixteen years old in reality, I have the body of a sixty-year-old. In a few years, I will be exhausted and die. You might as well kill me sooner so you can suffer less."

Shen Suining stared at the pair of heterochromatic eyes. The red pupil was dull, and the blood vessels around the eye were like a spider web. That was probably where the mother insect was raised.

“Shan Qian,” Shen Suining called his name softly, “I can help you.”

Shan Qian was stunned for a moment, then quickly burst out laughing, "What?"

“You didn’t willingly offer yourself to feed the Gu. The mother worm is growing inside your body, and you are in a lot of pain,” Shen Suining said, emphasizing each word. “I can help you remove the mother worm.”

“You…” A glimmer of hope flashed in his brown eyes, but it was quickly covered up again. Shan Qian smiled and shook his head, saying bitterly, “You can’t help me. Once the mother worm is removed, I will be of no value to the villagers. They will no longer trust me and will only choose another suitable child to continue raising the worm and make him the new village chief. As for me, in this ghostly state, I won’t be able to survive even if I leave this deep mountain.”

Shan Qian's voice grew softer and softer as he spoke, until finally he murmured, "This is all I can do in this life. You can't help me."

Shen Suining remained silent. The people of this village had been isolated from the world for hundreds of years, and their civilization and beliefs were beyond the comprehension and interference of an outsider like Shen Suining. Since Shan Qian was unwilling, she would not easily meddle in the affairs of others.

At this moment, the branches and leaves in the forest rustled, making a soft sound. Shen Suining looked in the direction of the sound and saw the "monster" she had seen in the underground palace that day suddenly jump down from the tree and land next to the two of them, which startled Shen Suining.

His face was painted differently today, but it still had that ambiguous smile and tearful expression.

“Don’t be afraid, young lady. This is my good friend,” Shan Qian said, thinking that Shen Suining was scared. “His name is Shan Xiao. He was born with a disease that prevents him from growing up. When he was a child, he was thrown into the mountains and raised by monkeys for a long time. Later, the villagers took pity on him and let him live here.”

Shen Suining then understood why this person always behaved like a monkey, and even his voice was like one.

The mandrill squatted on the ground, babbling as if it wanted to say something, but couldn't utter a single word. Shen Suining frowned: "Can't he talk?"

Shan Qian hummed in agreement. "When the villagers found him, he had no tongue and couldn't speak."

"What's that on his face?"

Shan Qian thought for a moment and asked Shen Suining, "When you were in the Seven Palaces Formation, you must have seen the poisonous smoke spewed out by those lions, right?"

Shen Suining nodded. The poisonous smoke was so intense that even the medicine given by Jishetang couldn't suppress it, so she naturally had a deep impression of it.

“The poisonous smoke takes effect once it penetrates the skin; no one else can withstand it. The stuff the mandrill has on his face protects him from the smoke,” Shan Qian paused, “Speaking of which, quite a few people have tried to break into the Seven Palaces Formation in recent years. Your deceased elder almost broke through the formation three years ago. When the mandrill came to report, the villagers were all prepared to evacuate, but…”

Shan Qian sighed and shook his head, seemingly with a mix of relief and regret. After all, the Seven Palaces Formation had protected the peace of their village for hundreds of years, and no one could defeat it. He probably wanted to see which hero could break through the formation alone.

Suddenly, the mandrill jumped up excitedly, hopping around on the ground with its claws outstretched, sometimes baring its teeth and shouting, sometimes jumping to the other side and waving a branch around, as if trying to express something.

Shen Suining stared at his every move, watching the mandrill stand up and wave the branch, then watch it pretend to be pierced by a thousand arrows, slowly kneeling on the ground, the branch supporting its weight, its head suddenly drooping. She immediately realized, "Are you imitating the scene you saw back then?"

When the mandrill saw that she understood, it immediately raised its head excitedly, like a chick pecking at rice. It frantically scratched at the ground with a twig and wrote a single character in a crooked and messy way.

Since the mandrill was illiterate, it couldn't write anything clearly and could only draw it vaguely based on its impression. Shen Suining looked at it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. Then the mandrill made a circle with its two hands, pointed to the character on the ground, and raised the circle with its hands in front of Shen Suining to indicate it.

This truly tested Shen Suining's eyesight; she simply couldn't understand it, and the mountain demon was also scratching its head in frustration.

Suddenly, the mountain demon saw the token on Shen Suining's waist. Its eyes lit up immediately. It grabbed her young master's token and brandished it, making a gesture as if it were raising the token. Then it stood up and acted out the scene of being pierced by a thousand arrows again.

This time, Shen Suining figured it out. She tentatively asked, "You mean, someone had a sign like this with this word written on it, and then Lord He was riddled with arrows?"

The mandrill nodded vigorously, its eyes filled with joy, and gave Shen Suining a thumbs up.

Shen Suining sighed wearily, then looked at the unrecognizable drawing on the ground. "But what kind of character is this?"

Shan Qian pondered for a long time, but the books he had come into contact with were all from a hundred years ago, and he did not know the characters of today. Moreover, the characters written by Shan Xiao were not even readable.

Shen Suining lowered her head, biting her lip and pondering for a long time. Suddenly, she remembered the token of the Imperial Shadow Envoy that the emperor had given her and blurted out, "Could it be the 'Imperial' token?"

The mandrill scratched its head, seemingly confused. Shen Suining then picked up a twig and wrote the character "御" (Yu) on the ground.

Upon seeing it, the mandrill immediately nodded, pointed to the character, and then pointed to its palm, meaning that this was the character.

Shen Suining's expression froze for a moment, and a bad feeling arose in her heart, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. So she asked the mountain demon to reenact the scene he had seen.

But the mountain demon was exhausted. He squatted on the ground with his head down, seemingly somewhat unwilling. Shen Suining didn't want to force him. She took back her young master's token and said, "Thank you."

A few days later, He Hansheng, led by Zhang Xuanqing, came into the mountain to pick up Shen Suining.

Zhang Xuanqing was a scholar who had lived in seclusion in the Taihang Mountains for a long time. In addition, he was quite knowledgeable, so the villagers and the mountain people respected him to a certain extent. When he brought Shen Yan in, they did not make things too difficult for him.

Before leaving, Zhang Xuanqing went to say goodbye to Shan Qian, while Ling Rui carried Shen Suining on her back and prepared to leave.

Upon seeing this, He Hansheng said to Ling Rui, "I'll do it."

“I don’t want to,” Shen Suining refused, burying her face in her hands and saying in a muffled voice, “Lingrui and Yanzhen made a mistake, I’m punishing them, you should stay out of it.”

He Hansheng paused slightly, seemingly sensing that something was wrong with Shen Suining. But at that moment, Zhang Xuanqing, who had just finished saying goodbye, walked over and patted He Hansheng on the back, mocking him: "In public, such a breach of etiquette! You're still not like your father!"

Zhang Xuanqing snorted twice and walked forward. Ling Rui and Yan Zhen, afraid that He Hansheng would notice something was wrong, quickly followed.

He Hansheng stood there for a moment, glanced back at the direction of the village, and felt that something was not quite right. It wasn't until Zhang Xuanqing urged him that he quickly followed.

The people in front walked quickly, and Zhang Xuanqing's legs were practically spinning. He gripped his whisk in his hand and said as he walked, "Niece, hang in there! Your uncle has already obtained the prescription for the antidote to the Gu worms for you. Once we enter the city, you'll be free."

Shen Suining hummed in response, too exhausted to even offer a thank you.

Lingrui asked worriedly, "But this is a mother-child Gu, and that Shanqian Village Chief... what if he wants to..."

“Nothing is certain!” Zhang Xuanqing interrupted Ling Rui, quickening his pace. He said between breaths, “Shan Qian isn’t a murderous child. I just told him he wouldn’t activate the mother worm. But the offspring worm is highly poisonous. If it’s been inside the body for too long, it will cause great harm. We still need to hurry and find a place to remove this Gu.”

The group quickened their pace.

At this moment, Shen Suining, who was resting on Ling Rui's shoulder, suddenly let her hands fall limply, her head tilted slightly, and she became still.