Chapter 45 The Journey to Shiburg: More Twenty Years Like a Dream

Xi Ling returned to the dungeon. For some reason, the originally dim room was now brightly lit with candles, and the only room was exceptionally bright. Ning Hanshuang's eyes were visible in the flickering firelight.

Huo Yunfeng's body remained unburied. Ning Hanshuang tightly embraced the vine-covered corpse, and after a long while, she slowly spoke, "You're taking him away."

The madness in Xi Ling's eyes had subsided. He looked at the two people embracing each other, as if he were looking back at the years when they had gone through life and death together.

“No, I have a better option now,” Xi Ling said.

"Then you should let us leave."

Xi Ling smiled, seemingly at Ning Hanshuang's naiveté, yet also at his unwavering confidence that the outcome was already decided. He slowly said:

"Once everything settles down...wouldn't it be better if we went back to how we were before?"

Ning Hanshuang gritted her teeth: "You're crazy."

Xi Ling muttered to herself, "Jie Fenglian is dead. I can finally kill the culprit... No, all that's missing is Lin Youbie... It'll be soon. Everything will start anew, my Zhiying..."

"if only……"

His face contorted for a moment, and he tilted his head slightly, as if he were having a conversation with someone from Ning Hanshuang's perspective.

"Yes, my wish is finally about to come true."

"Happy? How could I not be happy..."

A smile played on Xi Ling's lips, a trace of happiness reflected in the candlelight. "Another soul is more powerful, more vibrant. Zhiying will like it."

Ning Hanshuang held Huo Yunfeng's hand, which was covered in vines, tightly, feeling an indescribable sense of suffocation.

Xi Ling turned to look at Ning Hanshuang and smiled, "Don't worry, once everything settles down, I will personally take you home."

His words were contradictory, and Ning Hanshuang felt a chill run down her spine. She opened her mouth, but her throat felt blocked, and she couldn't utter a word.

...

Zhou Ziheng's condition is far from optimistic.

He was delirious with fever and mumbled in his sleep, only vaguely hearing "Huo Qin" and "Xi Bingyi".

Xi Bingyi, who was standing by, had a complicated expression.

Huo Qin's injuries were also unclear, and he had been rushed to the clinic by Madam Mei. Now, only Xi Bingyi and Zhou Ziheng remained at Plum Blossom Manor.

Xi Bingyi took out an old ginseng and stuffed it into Zhou Ziheng's mouth, barely keeping him alive.

She didn't understand why things had taken such a sudden turn for the worse.

Thunder roared outside. Xi Bingyi looked at her senior brother's flushed face and her eyes slowly welled up with tears.

Mei Zhiying's notes provide very limited clues; the only useful ones all point to Shiborg.

In the stories of their parents' generation, they had tried to break the terrible curse, but all their efforts were in vain.

What about Zhou Ziheng? What should he do?

Ning Hanshuang and Huo Qin's blood...

The deceased mother and Huo Yunfeng, whose fate is unknown...

The curse and the opportunity of winning the laurel wreath...

Everything was like an unsolvable tangled mess, entangled in Xi Bingyi's mind, leaving her unable to find a way out.

Xi Bingyi wiped her eyes and got up to close the window that had been blown open by the strong wind.

As soon as she stood up, a gust of wind, carrying the dampness of rain, rushed in, instantly ruffling the loose hair on her forehead. A few strands of hair clung damply to her cheeks, but she paid them no heed, simply reaching out to forcefully close the window.

Outside the window, the wind and rain were bleak and desolate.

Just then, a hot hand grasped her cold fingertips.

Zhou Ziheng slowly woke up, his hoarse voice coming through: "Bingyi, why do you seem so bitter and resentful?"

Xi Bingyi shook off his hand, but didn't dare to use too much force.

She retorted angrily, "How dare you say that?!"

"How long have you been hiding this from me? Why has it gotten so serious?"

Zhou Ziheng could only lift his eyelids a tiny crack, and Xi Bingyi's vision was hazy, making it impossible to see her expression.

He simply closed his eyes, touched the bedding and bed, and confirmed that this time he had lost his sense of touch.

"I'm sorry," Zhou Ziheng apologized sincerely. "I didn't expect it to be this serious. Perhaps my love and hate were too intense, and I could no longer suppress Zhegui."

Xi Bingyi took a deep breath, knowing that now was definitely not the time to criticize Zhou Ziheng.

She resignedly tucked the blanket around Zhou Ziheng: "What do we do now? We don't have a solution for the time being..."

"Huo Qin was injured by you, and his condition is not optimistic..."

"You really are... Senior brother, you should change your arrogant personality. Last time it was the pirates at sea, and this time you're personally involved..."

Zhou Ziheng forced his eyes open, a resolute glint flashing in his cloudy pupils.

"Go to Xibao." He said decisively, interrupting Xi Bingyi's rambling.

"Bingyi, we must go to Xibao to get the answers to all of this."

"Who was behind the scenes, leading us to Plum Blossom Manor? And who recruited Yu Xijun, Yao Guang, Uncle Mei, and Xie Fenglian into their ranks, setting up a trap?"

Xi Bingyi remained silent for a moment. At that moment, her mood was like the raging storm outside—anxious and heavy.

After a long silence, she murmured, "But Master and Mistress won't allow you to go to Xibao..."

Zhou Ziheng stared at her intently: "Sometimes, not allowing it is also an answer."

He knew that he was forcing Xi Bingyi to make a choice.

Between her only close relative and her senior brother, Zhou Ziheng pressured her to give herself an answer today.

Xi Bingyi's body trembled slightly.

She forced a smile, but still firmly replied, "Okay, senior, let's go to Xibao together."

If everything really goes as Zhou Ziheng predicted, she will... she will...

She's going to end it all herself!!

...

After finalizing their itinerary, the three of them set off quickly.

Huo Qin recovered quickly. Apart from occasional throbbing pain in his left hand, the arrow wound that pierced his chest had no effect on him.

Zhou Ziheng breathed a genuine sigh of relief when he saw Huo Qin, who was lively and energetic.

He hugged Huo Qin tightly, smearing his snot and tears all over the other man's clothes.

Huo Qin first patted Zhou Ziheng on the back reassuringly, but then he felt something was wrong and quickly pulled him away, only to find that his shoulder was already soaked.

Huo Qin's face turned ashen, and he gritted his teeth, but out of consideration for Zhou Ziheng's illness, he refrained from hitting him.

They grabbed some life-saving medicinal herbs and, under Madam Mei's worried gaze, hurriedly set off for Shiburg.

Inside the carriage, Xi Bingyi was still thinking about Mei Zhiying's notes. She pondered:

"I found some stories about winning the laurel in the old books at home, which may be of some help to us."

"Zhou Ziheng, can you wake up? I'll read it to you."

Zhou Ziheng yawned, forced himself to stay awake, and gestured for Xi Bingyi to continue.

“My mother believes that this curse is essentially plant parasitism, and that methods to inhibit plant growth may also help to suppress the curse, but this is just speculation.”

"Master also said that the curse of plucking laurels has the power to change the world, but she doesn't know exactly what its effect is."

Regarding the former, Zhou Ziheng shook his head after listening: "It's useless. It's rooted in my soul. If I try to destroy the curse using traditional methods, my soul will also be annihilated."

But he has something to say about the latter.

"I've also heard of their ability to change the world."

"Since winning the laurel wreath is closely related to the soul, I guess this ability might also be related to the soul."

After listening to the two men, Huo Qin pondered for a moment and then revealed the whole story of "killing people to take their bones".

"If my father had been alive many years ago, then the phrase 'killing people to take their bones' would certainly not have been unfounded."

"Perhaps, this is the real solution."

Even so, just hearing those four words is enough to feel the bloodshed and turmoil involved.

Xi Bingyi murmured, "Kill someone, then take out their bones? Is that what you mean?"

"But who are we to kill, and what bones are we to take?"

At that moment, all three of them thought of Huo Qin's blood and Ning Hanshuang's blood.

After Huo Qin finished speaking, he touched the flower bud between his eyebrows and sighed.

...

When Huo Yunfeng woke up again, he was back in that small courtyard with three sections.

He was still somewhat dazed, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while before his thoughts began to come to him.

Oh, so we've already returned from the Kesu Desert.

Huo Yunfeng turned his head and the first thing he saw was Ning Hanshuang, whose face was cold and stern. He didn't know how long she had been guarding him, but her eyes were bloodshot.

He smiled reassuringly at Ning Hanshuang, then turned his gaze to the window, where he saw the heavy snow of midwinter.

"Such heavy snow," Huo Yunfeng murmured.

Ning Hanshuang didn't speak, but pulled his arm out from under the covers and examined the laurel branch. Huo Yunfeng followed Ning Hanshuang's movements and, unsurprisingly, saw a blood-red laurel branch mark.

Huo Yunfeng was fully aware of his own situation, but he was more worried about the safety of Mei Zhiying and Xi Ling: "How are Xi Ling and Zhiying? I saw that scholar's pen earlier..."

Ning Hanshuang's voice was a little hoarse: "They are all fine. Apart from having chest pain and shortness of breath, Xi Ling is fine."

"That's good, that's good." Huo Yunfeng breathed a sigh of relief and finally showed a genuine smile.

"What about Xie Fenglian? Is she dead?"

Ning Hanshuang shook her head: "The situation was urgent at the time, so he escaped."

Huo Yunfeng frowned; this was not good news.

Ning Hanshuang continued, "Let's go back to Plum Blossom Manor. There will always be a way to lift your curse. Mei Zhiying and Xi Ling are both working hard, you..."

Huo Yunfeng remained silent.

He stopped staying at Plum Blossom Manor for two reasons: first, because of Ning Hanshuang, and second, because his own success in winning the laurel wreath was at risk of getting out of control, and he didn't want to put everyone at Plum Blossom Manor in danger.

"Mei Zhiying and Xi Ling have collected many ancient books; they'll surely find a way..."

Huo Yunfeng didn't want to see Ning Hanshuang in a bad mood, so he agreed to go back and changed the subject, asking about the Zhuzhu fruit.

"Previously on the carriage, Xie Fenglian said that the Vermilion Pearl Fruit could temporarily enhance martial arts skills. Later in the desert, she said that the Vermilion Pearl Fruit would catalyze the growth of curses. Why is that?"

"In this world, everything has its gains and losses. The Vermilion Pearl Fruit was originally born to cure the curse of breaking the laurel tree. The so-called temporary improvement in martial arts can only temporarily solve the problem of the cursed person losing their five senses."

Having clarified the matter of the Zhu Zhu fruit, Huo Yunfeng looked at the scar on Ning Hanshuang's palm, remained silent for a moment, and then asked, "Why did you...?"

Ning Hanshuang's hand clenched slightly, as if she couldn't bear such a heavy gaze.

She didn't know where to begin or how to explain, but in the end, Mei Zhiying, who had braved the snow, pushed open the door and softly replied, "Her blood can temporarily suppress the outbreak of the curse."

Snowflakes landed on Mei Zhiying's hair and eyelashes, quickly melting into water in the warm room, making her look wet.

Mei Zhiying's eyes were wet, it was hard to tell if they were tears or snow.

She laughed and said, "Let's go home. I've looked at some ancient books and found a good solution."

The best way, of course, was to deceive Huo Yunfeng, but after returning to Plum Blossom Manor and drinking bowl after bowl of medicine, the glory of Zhegui faded again, and everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction.

The price paid for this was Ning Hanshuang's increasingly pale complexion and Huo Yunfeng's increasingly delirious state of mind.

Mei Zhiying and Xi Ling stayed up all night, scouring through ancient books. The only solution they could think of was to use Ning Hanshuang's blood as a medicinal guide, combined with various cold-natured drugs that could inhibit plant growth, to suppress Zhegui's development.

“Loquat, Viola yedoensis, cicada molting, snake molting…” Mei Zhiying muttered as she checked the dosage of each herb, “This can’t go on like this…”

Beside her was the frail Ning Hanshuang, who had already fallen into a light sleep.

Mei Zhiying looked at Ning Hanshuang, whose face was pale, and then glanced in the direction of Huo Yunfeng's bedroom.

Outside, heavy snow fell in abundance, with large snowflakes swirling in the air. Further away, Xi Ling could be seen hurrying back.

Xi Ling caught a chill and his chest ached, but he couldn't care less about that now. He took a breath and said excitedly, "My grandfather loved to travel and enjoy nature. He had written many travelogues and agricultural records before. Some time ago, I found a book in the family library that specifically recorded the curse of Zhegui."

Before he could finish speaking, Mei Zhiying's eyes lit up: "Quick, quick, take it out and let me see!"

Xi Ling took out the warm ancient book from his bosom, and the first page contained the legend of winning the laurel wreath—

"If one plucks a laurel tree, it will nourish the soul. If there is a person whose body is intact but whose soul has dissipated, transplanting a laurel tree may bring them back to life."

However, those who curse others have intact souls, which can only be nourished by love, hate, joy, anger, and delusion.

The process is complicated and arduous, but if "Zhu Zhu" (a type of precious gemstone) is combined with it, it may be quicker.

This method may offend people's hearts, but Heaven is impartial, and the great way is achieved without being bound by trivialities.

Mei Zhiying's joy was like melting snow. She snapped the book shut and said seriously, "This matter must not be known to more people."

Xi Ling was also seeing this content for the first time. His hopes were dashed, and his face was full of sorrow.

Mei Zhiying sighed: "Let's use the old method for now. Generally speaking, it's still manageable. Hopefully, everything will get better..."

"Use less martial arts and less emotional outburst, three years shouldn't be a problem. Surely we can find a new method within three years?" Mei Zhiying forced a smile, trying to lighten the mood with a teasing tone, and Xi Ling smiled in agreement.

She lifted the lid of a small pot boiling beside her, inside which was stewed ginseng chicken. The steam rushed out and hit Mei Zhiying's eyes.

Mei Zhiying ladled out a bowl and placed it in front of Ning Hanshuang, who had already woken up, tears streaming down her face.

The three remained silent; the room was quiet, save for the howling wind outside.