Chapter 31

There was a commotion outside the hospital.

Rong Ti turned his head to look over and said to Gu Luoyan, "Time is running out. Does the leader have any questions?"

Gu Luoyan looked at him and thought of Li Shisan and Concubine Jue, whom she had only met a few times.

She choked up and whispered, "How can I save you, Doctor Rong?"

The hollow eye sockets looked over, then quickly lowered their head. A moment of surprise crossed Rongti's face, then faded into a smile.

He clasped his hands together and saluted in the direction of Gu Luoyan's voice: "Master Kuishou is compassionate and will surely be rewarded."

"The young doctor killed his master, his luck has come to an end. Even if he leaves this house, he will not live for long." Bitterness was revealed on his face. When Gu Luoyan saw it, she seemed to see traces of tears on his face.

The wind rustled the fallen leaves and grass in the yard, and the black door through which we came was blown open.

Rong Tiqiang propped himself up, his face showing an expression that Gu Luoyan himself was very familiar with: weak and tired, sad and painful.

He finally said in a low voice: "Sir, let's go. It's great to see you again."

In the sky, seven stars were vaguely connected in a line, changing their direction from where the Ming Palace was to where Gu Luoyan was.

Gu Luoyan stood in the wind and was penetrated by it.

She knew Rongti couldn't see, but she still bowed to him.

"Doctor Rong, take care." After saying this, Gu Luoyan turned and left.

The leaves in the wind surrounded her on both sides, making way for her and seeing her off.

Gu Luoyan didn't look back. She knew that this departure would probably be a farewell to Rongti forever.

The tears didn't fall, but they burned in her heart, and she didn't know what it felt like.

Fate brought so much injustice and absurdity that made her want to laugh and question loudly.

As her foot stepped over the threshold, the black door closed.

——

In the courtyard, the man lying on the ground looked increasingly pale.

A servant ran out of the door on the other side, and then a fortune teller ran in.

The crowd pulled him up and tied him to a chair.

The fortune teller looked at the compass in his hand and his heart trembled at the needle that kept turning.

The fortune teller's face changed. He walked forward, pulled up Rongti's coat, and shouted at him:

"What have you done? What on earth have you done?!"

Rongti didn't answer anything, he just smiled.

A dead leaf in the yard fell to the ground without the support of the wind.

Rongti's hand dropped from the wooden chair.

Rongti died amid the fortune teller's almost collapsed insults.

·

According to Rong Ti, Gu Luoyan hired a carriage the next morning and headed for Dulian Mountain outside Mingjing City.

She did not ask anyone to accompany her. After the carriage stopped at the post station outside the city, Gu Luoyan got off the carriage and borrowed a horse from the post station. She and her horse set off alone to Dulian Mountain.

Dulian Mountain is not far from Mingjing. If you stand outside the west city wall and look into the distance, you can see a mountain shrouded in purple mist. That is Dulian Mountain.

An hour later, Gu Luoyan arrived at the foot of the mountain. The path was too steep for the horse to go any further, so Gu Luoyan found a nearby family at the foot of the mountain, took the horse there, paid a copper coin, and asked the owner to look after it.

Then he went up the mountain alone.

As we walked into the mountains, we discovered that the hazy purple mist seen in the distance was actually the reflection of yew leaves.

Gu Luoyan walked up, and as she walked, she couldn't help but recall the conversation she had with the family who fostered horses at the foot of the mountain.

When she was fostering a horse, she asked the villagers at the foot of the mountain where Penglai Peak was.

But the old man kept silent, and the old woman kept looking back while holding the horse.

After Gu Luoyan paid the money, the old woman still couldn't bear it and returned the money to Gu Luoyan. Before leaving, she gave her a warning: "Penglai Penglai is the residence of the immortals. If you don't want to forget it, go home."

Gu Luoyan showed a puzzled expression and asked, "Oh? What do you mean?"

The old woman sighed. Seeing Gu Luoyan's question, she raised her hand and waved it away: "Forget it... Hurry up and go up the mountain. It will be difficult to find the way after dark. You won't be able to find Penglai Peak anyway..."

The old couple were silent, one chopping wood and the other making a fire, no longer paying attention to Gu Luoyan.

——

Now that they had entered the mountains, although Gu Luoyan was still confused, he was still thinking about how to find the peak.

She thought of reaching the top first and then seeing if she could find Penglai Peak.

Gu Luoyan picked up a broken branch and used it as a stick to chop through the weeds and thorns, trying to make a path.

Dulian Mountain is strange. It is a mountain with its back to Mingjing, but not many people come and go. There are only a few families living at the foot of the mountain. The mountain is extremely primitive, without any trace of anyone setting foot on it.

Gu Luoyan walked in the mountains. She walked for three hours, until sunset, but still hadn't reached the top of the mountain.

The mountain is not very high, but walking in it feels like a maze.

The yew trees in the mountains grew so thick that they almost blocked out the sun and moon. As Gu Luoyan walked beneath them, she felt a vague sense of eeriness.

It’s getting dark.

The chirping of insects around is getting louder and louder.

Among the swaying shadows of the trees, it seemed as if many eyes were watching her.

Gu Luoyan wiped the sweat off his face, but was not frightened by the scene in the forest.

She had seen all the people in the Hong Kong Coliseum and was not too surprised by what happened in the world.

So she took out a piece of rice cake from her bag in the dark and eerie shade of the trees, ate it slowly, and continued to move forward.

The last rays of sunlight receded from the intertwining tree trunks.

The forest fell silent.

Gu Luoyan had no candle with him and gradually became unable to walk.

She thought about what the old woman at the foot of the mountain had said about how she couldn't find Penglai Peak.

Penglai is the residence of the immortals...

Who is the fairy?

As I was thinking about it, coincidentally, fog started to rise around me.

Water vapor rose from somewhere and hit Gu Luoyan's skin.

The mist began to spread from the farthest end of the sight, gradually swallowing up everything.

Gu Luoyan stopped completely, and a subtle feeling arose in her heart, and a feeling of discomfort overflowed.

A woman's laughter came from the surrounding fog.

Gu Luoyan gradually felt something touching her feet and arms.

She still stood very steadily, and now she even squatted down to take a closer look at what was touching her.

It turned out to be a vine.

The moss-covered vines or roots were moving. Gu Luoyan reached out to grab them, but the vines were so frightened that they quickly retreated into the mist and never reappeared.

The female voice that had just been laughing and crying had disappeared, but Gu Luoyan was already clear.

I have encountered a monster.

She stood up again and walked into the mist.

At this moment, rustling sounds began to appear all around, and the female voice rose again:

"Stop! I am the Fairy Du Lianshan. If you go any further... don't blame me for being rude!"

The rustling sound became more and more deafening.

However, Gu Luoyan did not stop. She followed the inexplicable feeling in her heart and went to a place in the fog.

“Stop it!”

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

"I am a fairy..."

"Okay, fairy lady, let me ask you, where is Penglai Peak?" The woman lying on the tree pretending to be mysterious shuddered all over, and then she saw Gu Luoyan asking the question under the tree.

She became terrified in an instant, and actually screamed at Gu Luoyan first, and then fell down from the purple tree.

Fortunately, her hair turned into vines and entangled the branches, so she didn't fall badly.

The woman took two hurried steps, and the vines wrapped around the branches retracted and turned back into her hair.

She looked at Gu Luoyan and didn't dare to get close. Without saying a word, she turned around and was about to run, but she was tripped by the tangled roots of an old tree blocking the way and fell head over heels.

They were so frightened that the magic spells around them were withdrawn, the water vapor fell back to the ground, into the grass, trees, mountains and rivers, and the fog dissipated.

She shook her head, fluttered up from the ground, turned around and met Gu Luoyan's eyes, and was scared to death again.

He retreated with a groan, but bumped into a tree trunk again. He had nowhere to retreat and just stared at Gu Luoyan, wanting to cry but unable to.

"How...how did you find me?"

Gu Luoyan smiled at her in the darkness: "I don't know either."

After hearing this, the woman burst into tears and curled up into a ball, crying loudly.

The crying became louder and louder, the sound was thin and soft, and in this deep mountain where only the two of them were, it seemed particularly creepy.

Gu Luoyan felt helpless. She walked over and wanted to comfort her, but she didn't know how to start.

She was indeed puzzled. She had a premonition upon entering the mountains today, a premonition that seemed to guide her in the right direction. Furthermore, when the fog thickened, she instantly saw through the little demon's intention to intimidate her.

For some reason, one night later, inspiration came to her heart. There were always some fleeting things appearing in her mind. As long as Gu Luoyan grasped these ideas, she could move towards what she wanted.

The little demon was tired of crying, so she stopped crying and sniffed at Gu Luoyan in front of her: "You said you wanted to find Penglai Peak, what is it about?"

Gu Luoyan thought for a moment and said, "I have a monster friend who is sick and needs the spring water from Penglai Peak to save her."

The woman was stunned for a moment, then muttered, "No wonder you're not afraid of me..."

"Then why did you scare me?" Gu Luoyan reached out and helped her up. "This isn't the first time you've scared passersby in this mountain."

"I'm just doing what my eldest brother told me to do, and I don't know the reason!" The woman pouted and glared at Gu Luoyan.

"Okay... then could you take me to get some spring water, little monster?"

"What a little monster! You have no manners! I have a name, it was given to me by my eldest brother. My name is Xiaofu!" She walked in front, her hair flying up and turning into vines, on which flower buds grew and bloomed red and purple flowers.

"You save monsters, so you're different from those people. Come with me," Xiaofu said. As the flowers in her hair bloomed, the surrounding bushes seemed to have grown legs and retreated in all directions. Soon, the vines retracted and turned back into her hair. At the end of this path, which wasn't really a road, a hidden cave appeared.

She turned to look at Gu Luoyan, who no longer looked like she had cried. She said, "I saw you wandering in the mountains for a long time today. Are you also wondering why you can't get out of this mountain? Why can't you reach the top?"

Gu Luoyan looked at her, but actually she didn't really want to know.

"Hehe, that's big brother's magic. Isn't it amazing? Mortals like you might only get to see it once in your lifetime!" Xiaofu said proudly. She walked to the cave and pointed it out to Gu Luoyan.

"Here, we've arrived at Penglai Peak."

Gu Luoyan looked at the cave, blinked, and asked, "Is Penglai Peak inside this?"

Xiaofu shook her head. "No, this cave is called Penglai Peak." She rolled her eyes. "Who says Penglai Peak has to be a mountain?"

Gu Luoyan shut up and walked into the cave. She thought to herself:

No wonder I couldn’t find it.

·

In the Ming Palace, in front of the flower garden where the mountains and flowing water are playing tricks.

The fortune teller knelt down at the edge of a gold-threaded glass skirt, his voice trembling:

"Your Majesty...it is because I am useless. Marquis Yongle is dead..."

The person standing by the flower bed stretched out his fingers to touch the waterfall flowing down from the rockery.

A glimmer of light appeared in Liu Rujian's eyes beneath her veil.

He spoke again, his tone calm and composed: "My luck is gone too."

Upon hearing this, the fortune teller lowered his head even lower, not daring to look up, and trembling all over.

"You go now, I understand."

The fortune teller was stunned, then burst into tears of joy. He knelt before Liu Rujian and said, "I am incompetent. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace... I will surely find a way to make amends when I go down... I will take my leave."

The fortune teller stood up slowly, bent his body, and walked out of the courtyard step by step.

He took a deep breath and then remembered to wipe the sweat off his face. The fortune teller stepped out. He blinked, and the next second his head split apart.

Before even a drop of blood could flow out of the neck, it was swallowed up by the shadow on the ground, and the whole person disappeared from where he was.

A man in a gorgeous black suit walked into the yard. He spoke calmly to the woman who was still watching the flowing water:

"Sui Xin, you are still too soft-hearted."

"Mortals are like scum. Keeping such animals is really useless."

"I hate these opportunists. Do you blame me for killing them?"

His red eyes were bloodshot, like two red moons embedded in his face.

The veiled woman looked over and chuckled:

"Brother, you're teasing me again."