Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Bastard Bastard Bastard!

Behind the Marriage Temple, there was a cave the size of a gourd. The young monk approached the entrance, afraid to go any further. "Donor lady... this is it. There really is... a ghost in there. I dare not go in."

Seeing Nan Xu about to raise her hand again, he revealed a fearless expression, "Even if... you kill me, I'm not afraid!"

The cave was pitch black, with no end in sight, like the gaping bloody mouth of a devil.

Nan Xu felt dizzy and turned her head away.

"I can spare you, but you have to tell me everything about this cave."

Everything inside was unknown, so Nan Xu didn't dare let anyone in rashly.

The young monk immediately nodded and agreed, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you."

"This cave has been around for a long time. Emperor Taizu once climbed the mountain and took people on a tour of its wonders. Oh, and there are even statues of the Eighteen Arhats inside! Pilgrims used to come here because of its reputation, but then half a year ago... one day, Huineng brought an unmarried couple to fulfill a vow. The male donor insisted on going inside to see the cave. It was raining heavily in the mountains at the time, and there were occasional landslides. Huineng tried to persuade the male donor, but failed. He had no choice but to watch him go in. And then..." As he spoke, his face suddenly changed, as if he had thought of something terrifying. "In less than half an incense stick of time, the female donor ran out screaming, saying there was a ghost inside. We didn't believe her, but she stretched out her arms and saw two bloody handprints behind her. The handprints were ten feet long and wide, almost enough to hold the female donor in her palm. What else could it be but a ghost?"

Nan Xu listened quietly and asked, "Where is the male donor?"

"That's even stranger. The female donor said the male donor had been eaten by the ghost. The abbot found this unbelievable and organized a few brave monks to go into the cave to investigate. Sure enough, they found a pile of fresh bones near the Eighteen Arhats. We were amazed at the time. How could a ghost eat people and spit out bones? The abbot was worried that someone else might stray in, so he ordered the cave entrance to be sealed and the Marriage Temple to be closed. But three days later, a brother went to fetch water halfway up the mountain and found a half-dead person on the roadside. Can you guess who it was? It was the male pilgrim!"

His voice was hoarse, and the rustling of the wind in the forest was so eerie that it made people's hair stand on end. Yuxiang hurriedly pulled Nanxu towards the guards, "That doesn't make sense. You said the cave was sealed, but the entrance isn't sealed either! And you're so afraid of the 'ghost' in there. I thought you'd seen it with your own eyes, but it turns out you only heard it from others!"

Yuxiang's question was resounding. Seeing that she seemed unconvinced, the young monk smiled bitterly and said, "Everything I said is true. I don't know why the big rock that sealed the cave disappeared..."

Yuxiang wanted to accuse him of lying, but Nanxu stopped him. She pointed to the flattened weeds on both sides of the cave entrance and asked her to look at them.

"The entrance to the cave is indeed blocked, but someone just moved the big rock away."

The entrance to the cave is not small, and the rock that is blocking it must be quite big too. The person who can move it must be very strong. He cannot be an ordinary pilgrim, nor the skinny fortune teller just now. It seems that there are other people in the back mountain.

For some reason, my mind suddenly recalled the man I had seen standing with Yin Ruizhu in Tianxiang Tower before. Yin Ruizhu looked at him with a smile on her face, her eyes full of admiration that was about to overflow, and her unusual dress today... These seemingly unrelated things seemed to become clear as if the clouds and fog had been cleared.

"Come on, let's go in and take a look."

The young monk wanted to persuade him, but when he saw Nan Xu's clear and fearless eyes, he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

*

There is water flowing through the cave all year round, so it is very humid. Yuxiang supported Nanxu and moved forward carefully, with the guards guarding them on both sides.

Without anyone to guide the way, when we come to a fork in the road, we can only tell which way to go based on the number of footprints.

The further they walked in, the fresher the footprints on the ground became, and Nan Xu seemed to be able to smell the faint fragrance of Yin Ruizhu.

“Hurry up!”

She knew her guess was correct.

Passing through a field of stalactites, they saw the lifelike carvings of the Eighteen Arhats on the rock face directly in front of them. Nan Xu was too anxious to look for someone to examine them, so Yu Xiang exclaimed, "Why is there so much black ink on the Arhats' clothes?"

Nan Xu glanced at it and didn't take it seriously. There were many strange things in the world, and the strange color of the arhat statue's clothes was not a big deal.

Going further in, the cave became narrower, only enough for one person to pass through, and it felt a bit constrained to walk. The only consolation was that half a piece of cloth that had been scraped off was found on a protruding rock wall. The color was very similar to Yin Ruizhu's clothes.

Nan Xu was in high spirits, and every step he took was brisk.

After exiting the cave, there is an extremely spacious stone chamber at the end. Through the screen in the middle, you can see two shadowy figures at the other end.

Nan Xu's heart was pounding and she slowly turned around the screen.

"Ruizhu!"

"Shh!" The man with the ghost mask half-huggled Yin Ruizhu and put his finger to his lips. "Azhu is the better behaved one. Don't scare her."

"Woo woo" Yin Ruizhu's mouth was blocked, and it seemed that her hands and feet were controlled. When she saw Nan Xu, she squirmed forward in ecstasy, but was easily pulled back by the man with the ghost mask who held her shoulders.

He kissed Yin Ruizhu through his ghost face and said, "Azhu, if you don't behave, I won't be gentle with you!" Then he put her on his lap and forced her to look at her feet.

Only then did Nan Xu notice that there was a ditch more than one meter high dug in front of where the two were sitting. Snakes and scorpions were crawling in the ditch. If you accidentally fell in, you would either be bitten to death or poisoned to death.

Nan Xu tightened the horn crossbow hidden in her sleeve, her expression flickering. He was wearing a mask, so her face couldn't be seen clearly, and her figure was unfamiliar. Seeing him fiddling with Yin Ruizhu in his hands, Nan Xu tried to divert his attention. "Who are you?"

The man stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her, or to be more precise, he looked her up and down.

"I was saying that that bastard had been celibate for so many years, and I thought he was inhumane. I didn't expect that he would marry the descendant of the Nan family. How about him, is he good in bed? Hahahaha." He laughed unscrupulously, and Yin Ruizhu was almost shaken to death several times by him. Such a strong person was so scared that she couldn't stop crying.

Nan Xu frowned, "You're not here for the Yin family and the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, you're here for Duan Wenpei."

His word "bastard" made people extremely uncomfortable. Nan Xu suppressed the anger in her heart and continued to deal with him.

"yes!"

"I should have killed that bastard in Tianxiang Tower that day. I never thought he had been driven out for so many years, not only becoming a dog by Emperor Xuanwu's side, but also learning such excellent martial arts." He gritted his teeth as he spoke, as if he hated it very much. "Oh, by the way, I saw you in Tianxiang Tower that day. If I had known you were the woman from the Nan family mentioned in the imperial edict, I would have taken your life first!"

"But it's not too late now!"

He suddenly jumped up, threw Yin Ruizhu aside, and leaped straight for Nan Xu's face.

Seeing Nan Xu being captured, several hidden weapons flew from the side, temporarily slowing down his speed. Taking advantage of these few moments of buffer, Nan Xu no longer hesitated, raised his arm to put on the arrow, and the crossbow arrow flew out into the air.

"Swoosh, swoosh"

"call out"

As expected, the crossbow arrow finally brushed past the ghost-masked man's ear and fell to the ground. The only consolation was that it rubbed off the mask, revealing his true face.

It was a face that was four points similar to Duan Wenpei's, but with a more feminine beauty.

After failing to hit her, Nan Xu had no support. The ghost-faced man smiled evilly, and his fingers turned into claws and he appeared in front of her in an instant. The guards rushed up to protect Nan Xu, but were easily defeated by him. Nan Xu's breathing stagnated and she met his eyes.

"Sister-in-law, didn't you ask me who I was?" He stroked Nan Xu's earlobe and breathed softly, "Since you're about to die, I might as well tell you."

"My name is Zhao Huaijue, and I'm the half-brother of that bastard Zhao Huaizhou."

Duan Wenpei's courtesy name was Huaizhou.

Zhao Huaizhou?!

Nan Xu couldn't explain what she felt in her heart. She just felt that her body was thrown into the air as light as a kite. As her body fell rapidly, she thought of Duan Wenpei's calm face.

If he were at her funeral, would he also be neither sad nor happy, as if the person who died was just an insignificant person?

The hissing sound of a poisonous snake came to my ears...

Nan Xu suddenly felt like crying.

She was still young, hadn't seen Duan Wenpei sign the divorce papers yet, hadn't completely gotten over her last failed relationship, hadn't...

Live the happy life you want.

not yet…

Falling into a warm embrace?

Nan Xu suddenly opened her eyes, and Duan Wenpei's deep and handsome face appeared in front of her like a god descending from heaven. He was still so calm, but Nan Xu felt her whole heart beating violently.

The huge gap between her life and death made her lose all restraint. She jumped up and threw her arms around Duan Wenpei's neck, "Asshole, asshole, asshole!"

Woohoo——

She was almost killed by that damn brother!

Duan Wenpei's body stiffened slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he clenched his fist and gently patted her back.

"It's okay." He comforted her awkwardly.

In the past, I thought his voice was too calm and cold, but today I just felt it was close and caring.

As her mood gradually calmed down and her crying subsided, Nan Xu subconsciously realized how awkward and ambiguous her current position was.

call--

She took a deep breath and slowly released her hand.

"Ruizhu is still in his hands. You must, you must keep her safe."

Duan Wenpei patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry."

*

Eight years later, Duan Wenpei met the Zhao family again.

"Fourth brother, how are you?"

His voice was still indifferent, but Nan Xu could hear disgust and hatred in it.

Fourth brother? What on earth had turned these two “brothers” into strangers and enemies? Nan Xu looked at him with a complicated expression.

Zhao Huaijue laughed as if he had heard a huge joke, "Don't do that! You are just a bastard born by your father outside, you are not worthy of being called my brother."

He opened his arms and looked down at Duan Wenpei as if he were a superior.

Having just failed in his attack, his eyes were full of blood and there was a hint of madness in them.

"Really?" Duan Wenpei stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes blank. "If I remember correctly, when Qin married into the Zhao family, Zhao Mingcheng and my mother had already worshipped heaven and earth and offered sacrifices to the ancestors. You may not have acquired any other skills, but your ability to distort right and wrong is exactly the same as Qin's. In fact, you're even better than her!"

"Zhao Huaizhou! How insolent!" Duan Wenpei's words seemed to hit Zhao Huaijue's sore spot. Veins bulged on his forehead and he stared at Duan Wenpei fiercely.

No one can tarnish his identity and his mother!

In a flash, in the ancestral hall, under the gaze of his uncles and aunts, the tall figure looked at him and his mother so indifferently, as if extremely disappointed.

"If Huaizhou were still here...it wouldn't be your turn!"

"You...are not Huaizhou after all..."

People who have been suppressed for too long will eventually become devils that eat human flesh and blood. Zhao Huaijue trembled and smiled strangely.

Since we can't kill Zhao Huaizhou, killing the people related to him is the same!

"Azhu, don't blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame your good sister for not wanting to die. If that's the case, then use your life to feed my poison!"

He lifted up Yin Ruizhu, and as soon as he loosened his hands, the woman rolled into the ditch like a rag.

Duan Wenpei had been on guard against him and flew to rescue him almost at the same time. Unexpectedly, Zhao Huaijue had other intentions. He lifted up Yin Ruizhu with his arms and used her as a human shield, and stabbed Yin Ruizhu's armpit with the sharp sword in his right hand.

A flash of cold light flashed and pierced Duan Wenpei's throat.