Chapter 51 Oil Painting

Shi Yuan herself is quite strong, and with Ran Wen Huan Ni and Shi Mei Li protecting her, no matter how many people Wu Tian Ying puts in the Little White Building, she can't stop them.

With almost no one noticing, they discovered the secret hidden in the little white building: a basement filled with the stench of blood.

Ran Wen said, "The stench of blood is so strong; I wonder how many lives have been lost."

Shi Yuan looked around and saw that the room was square, and the only thing that could be used as decoration was a huge oil painting of a red maple forest on the east wall.

She was wearing soft-soled cloth shoes today, and her feet were very sensitive to touch. As she paced around the room, she naturally felt the unevenness of the floor.

Huan Ni controlled the palace lantern to illuminate the place Shi Yuan indicated: "It looks like some kind of formation?" "Ran Wen, come and take a look."

Ran Wen was standing in front of the oil painting when she heard this and turned to walk towards Shi Yuan and the others. She wondered if it was because of the light and shadow, but a certain part of the oil painting seemed to move.

“Ran Wen, look, this seems to be a life-changing formation.” Huan Ni rubbed her chin gently. “It’s a bit like what Gu Linyuan said, the one that the dodder used to change the fate of the world back then.”

Ran Wen squatted down and carefully examined the small bumps in different places: "It's quite interesting." She continued, "However, this isn't about defying fate, it's about skin regeneration."

"Is it the kind of skin-changing I'm thinking of?" Shi Yuan frowned. "Like changing the soul into a new vessel?"

Ran Wen shook his head: "No."

"It's using an array to transfer the skin and flesh of another person onto one's own body." That didn't seem clear enough, so she frowned, organized her thoughts, and continued, "This might be a more vivid way of putting it."

"It's like a lifeless skin being infused with new life."

"The skin is still the same skin, but it has become plump and elastic again because it has absorbed new vitality."

Shi Yuan: "I understand." It's the same reason she suspected that Sakura Takeda had hyaluronic acid injections, except that Sakura Takeda was legally pursuing beauty, while Sakura Takeda was using other people's flesh and blood to fill her body that should have been decaying long ago.

Huan Ni's complaint followed: "No wonder he looks so young, but he smells like an old man! It's disgusting!"

"As the old saying goes: dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and a rat's son knows how to dig a hole. Mo Xun is rotten to the core."

Shi Yuan patted Huan Ni's head and asked Ran Wen, "Is it possible for those injured in this kind of formation to have a remnant soul left behind like Ji Shuyang?"

Ran Wen had already told her about Ji Shuyang, and she immediately asked Huan Ni to send a message to Gu Linyuan, saying that once things were settled here, the brothers would meet with Ji Shuyang.

Upon hearing this, Ran Wen pulled Shi Yuan to the oil painting and said, "This is a seal. If I'm not mistaken, it should contain all the souls that were killed by Takeda Sakura's skin swap."

"How can we let them out?"

Ran Wen patted Shi Yuan on the shoulder and continued, "This oil painting not only seals those souls, but there are probably other things inside as well."

"What is it?" Huan Ni asked curiously.

Ran Wen shook her head: "It's not certain yet, let's go in and take a look!" After saying that, she led Shi Yuan and Huan Ni into the oil painting.

The world of oil painting is an endless maple forest, with maple leaves falling silently from the branches. In this vast maple forest, only the falling leaves are dynamic, without a single sound.

This made Huan Ni nervously bite her wing, afraid to make a sound.

"Come with me." Ran Wen put Huan Ni on her shoulder and pulled Shi Yuan toward the end of the maple forest.

"Are these maple trees fictional?" Shi Yuan asked. She used to love the sound of her feet stepping on fallen leaves, but now, even though she could feel herself crushing the maple leaves, she heard no sound at all, which was really eerie.

“It’s not fake, but it’s not real either,” Ran Wen said. “These maple trees are the molts of alien plants.”

Shi Yuan's expression turned somewhat solemn: "I remember you said before that even exotic plants must abide by the rules of heaven and earth?" Seeing Ran Wen nod, she continued, "Shedding is an animal's instinct, isn't it?"

"For example, cicadas."

Ran Wen nodded: "That's right, but as I said before, alien plants can also mutate and advance in rank." "It's just that in this era, it's almost impossible."

Shi Yuan replied solemnly, "Unless there's some external force at play." She looked around, "Are the maple leaves so red because they were dyed with the blood of those whose flesh was taken from them?"

Going against nature comes at a great price, and not all exotic plants have the courage to undergo mutation. But what if it is someone else who has to pay the price?

The endless metamorphosis was something Shi Yuan couldn't even imagine how many people Takeda Sakura and this strange plant had killed!

What about the Mo family in Beicheng?

Did Mo Qianwu know about this? Did he aid and abet the evildoer?

Mo Qianwu aged more than ten years in one go. The pain of a parent outliving their child was heart-wrenching, not to mention the various scandals surrounding Mo Xun that followed.

Although the Mo family is powerful, Mo Qianwu wouldn't dare to say he "does everything" in Beicheng, let alone in Haicheng.

He wanted to take back Mo Xun's explicit photos to clear Mo Xun's name and help the Mo family reverse their passive situation, but unfortunately, not everyone would give him face.

Mo Qianwu was in a state of near panic. He smashed the laboratory that Mo Xun had prepared for Liang Peilian in the Little White Building. His confidants dared not stop him and said tremblingly, "Madam said that Master Mo has accumulated toxins in his body. If you smash the laboratory, it will be difficult to investigate."

The last few words were swallowed back down under Mo Qianwu's murderous gaze.

He sneered, "What evidence do I need? Mo Xun is dead! What evidence do I need!"

He won't let any of the people present that day get away!

"Go find Liang Peilian." His voice was calm. "I need to see her, alive, no matter what method I have to use!"

After his confidant left, Mo Qianwu sat dejectedly on the only intact chair in the laboratory, clutching his head.

It's his fault!

He personally interviewed Liang Peilian! He was the one who brought Liang Peilian to Mo Xun's side!

He even hinted that Leung Pui-lin could use her body to retain her position if necessary.

He always thought he was a hunter, but little did he know that the one who hunted geese all day had his eyes pecked out; Liang Peilian was the venomous snake hiding its fangs!

He called another person in: "I remember Liang Peilian has a younger sister and a master back in her hometown. Bring them here alive." He then proceeded to have them torn to pieces.

"yes!"

After ordering his confidant to pursue Liang Peilian, he came back in. Mo Qianwu stared at him coldly. He said Liang Peilian was a viper, but his eyes now seemed to be more like one.

"Mr. Mo, Madam said that we can have a formal newspaper publish a clarification statement, and also write about Mr. Mo's good deeds in the past." Seeing that Mo Qianwu seemed to be thinking, he continued, "With so many true and false messages, some things can be blurred over."

After hearing this, Mo Qianwu neither agreed nor disagreed, but instead asked, "She still refuses to see me?"

"Madam said that her identity will bring you and Master Mo to utter ruin." He paused, then continued, "Before you came to Haicheng, Master Mo's affairs hadn't caused a sensation, so she was able to keep the news from spreading when she took over Master Mo's case. Now..."

The most widespread and detailed news in Haicheng right now is about Mo Xun. Not to mention that those photos have been worn smooth by countless people, even Mo Xun's unknown romantic affairs from years ago have been dug up bit by bit.

It can be said that after Mo Xun's undignified death, his reputation has become increasingly tarnished, and some people are already saying that he deserved it.

Looking back now, the only solution seems to be to suppress public opinion with public opinion.

"Go and do it," Mo Qianwu said. "Tell Madam not to blame herself. Even if she had been there, she couldn't have saved A-Xun's life." With Mo Xun gone, there was no longer any bond between him and Madam.

"Yes, I'll go right away."

"Ring ring ring!" The living room phone rang, and soon after, a subordinate rushed over in a panic, his lips trembling as he reported, "Old Mo, a lot of Mr. Mo's photos have been scattered on the road from Haicheng to Beicheng..." Meeting Mo Qianwu's murderous gaze, the subordinate quickly stopped talking.

"Go and destroy all the photos!" Mo Qianwu said in a deep voice. "Coercion, bribery, robbery—do I need to teach you how?"

"No need! I'll take care of it right away!"

After his subordinates left, Mo Qianwu kept his eyes fixed on the reagent bottle he had smashed to the ground.

When did Liang Peilian come to Mo Xun's side?

Five years or six years? Six years!

Ten years ago, Mo Xun was ambushed. After that, he arranged a family doctor for him. At first, he found an experienced male doctor. After Mo Xun recovered, he indulged himself for a while. The male doctor gave him a few words of advice, and Mo Xun asked him to change doctors.

He then arranged for a male doctor to go over, and this time the time was even shorter, less than a week.

Then came middle-aged female doctors, and then the doctors got younger and younger, but they kept changing frequently until Leung Pui-lin appeared.

She was very good at taking care of Mo Xun, or rather, she knew very well how to coax Mo Xun to get checked and treated.

After she arrived, Mo Xun's health improved, and even when he indulged himself occasionally, he no longer caused trouble that required him to find someone to clean up the mess.

Later, he hinted to Liang Peilian that no one had ever been able to hold her position securely. He knew she had a frail younger sister and an elderly master to support, so he suggested that she could use something other than medical skills to keep Mo Xun, as keeping Mo Xun would be the same as keeping her position.

Liang Peilian didn't struggle for long before getting into Mo Xun's bed. During that time, Mo Xun was in excellent physical and mental condition, and he was very satisfied with Liang Peilian's performance, so he gave her a raise.

Later, whenever someone in the Mo family was unwell, they would ask her to take care of them.

Dark clouds gradually gathered in Mo Qianwu's eyes. If he remembered correctly, the eldest son of his elder brother's family died not long after that.

Then came his eldest sister's second son, followed by his second brother's third son, and then his eldest brother's fourth son.

I was too busy grieving to think much back then. Now that I think about it, everyone except Mo Xun died in descending order of age!

Mo Qianwu stood up and kicked the only intact chair he had just sat on to pieces. Before, he only thought it was the weasel's revenge and didn't think about anything else. But now that he looks at it, it might also be Liang Peilian who did it!

But why didn't she attack Mo Xun, who was ranked sixth, after the fifth, but instead bypassed him and killed the seventh?

He summoned his trusted aides and emphasized, "We need Liang Peilian alive, just enough to keep her alive." There were some questions he had to ask personally, and if he didn't know the truth, he would never sleep a wink for the rest of his life!

Thinking of this, he slumped down again. What was the point of him sleeping peacefully every day if Mo Xun was gone?

To whom will the Mo family's immense power be inherited?

In that instant, his back bent even more, and he looked even older.

“Go and tell the lady again that I want to see her!” he said.

Sakura Takeda's methods are unpredictable; what if she has a way to give the Mo family another child?

Over the years, he has helped Sakura Takeda so much, not only because he genuinely has feelings for her, but also because of her unpredictable abilities.

Now, it's time for her to give back to the Mo family!

Shi Yuan, who was in the maple forest, was naturally unaware that the old lovers, Mo Qianwu and Wu Tianying, were about to change their decades-long way of getting along because of Mo Xun's death.

When the one who has always given suddenly starts to demand, it is the beginning of the end of the relationship or even the beginning of animosity!

"Is a maple tree a metamorphosis?" Shi Yuan asked coldly, looking at the dense maple forest. "Does each metamorphosis require a life?" How many people have been lost in this boundless maple forest?

Shi Yuan felt like she was about to catch her breath, but fortunately Ran Wen's words relieved her from the suffocating feeling.

“Logically, yes, but most of the maple trees here are mimicry, used to scare people,” Ran Wen said. “If he really had killed so many people, he would either have been struck by lightning and turned to dust long ago, or he would have already become a force to be reckoned with, and wouldn’t have hidden his true form in an oil painting.”

Shi Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, but her mood was still not high. Based on her own experience, she estimated that many of the girls buried here were girls who had been tricked into coming from the Flower Kingdom.

Sakura Takeda deserves to die, and Yasuko Takeda, who aided and abetted evil, also deserves to die!

They walked all the way to the end of the maple forest without encountering anything unusual, so Shi Yuan naturally didn't let her guard down and became even more vigilant.

Sure enough, the next second, the maple leaves that were falling suddenly sprouted sharp thorns and attacked them like darts.

Without Shi Yuan saying anything, Shi Meili's vines swept over and knocked down the maple leaves.

After a moment of silence, the maple trees on both sides began to move rapidly, surrounding them. Then, the maple leaves began to fall, and halfway down, they sprouted sharp thorns that shot towards them.

Shi Meili wrapped Shi Yuan and the others in vines to block out the dense maple leaves. A metallic clanging sound came from her body. Shi Yuan asked her if she was injured.

She said smugly, "I've wanted to slap that Japanese woman in the face for a long time. What a joke that her exotic plant could suppress me!"

"Let me tell you, when that thing comes out later, don't try to take it from me. I'll eat my hat if I don't tear it to pieces!"

"Well done, Shi Meili! You have the same charm I had when I was young!" Huan Ni praised.

"Of course, you're my boss."

Seeing that Shi Meili was still in the mood to chat and laugh with Huan Ni, Shi Yuan felt relieved. She asked Ran Wen, "Can you figure out what's going on?" This was to ask her about the origin of the strange plant.

Seeing Ran Wen shake his head, Shi Yuan asked again, "Then how can we kill him completely?"

Ran Wen and Shi Meili are both considered exotic plants in terms of their category. They have both told her without reservation that plant-type exotic demons are a bit harder to kill than animal-type exotic demons.

For example, that octopus turned to ashes without its demon core.

Octopus: ...You're going to whip a corpse again? Have you no manners?!

But plant-type demons are different. Take the mountain rhododendron Sang Rou as an example. Even if she lost her demon core, she wouldn't immediately turn to ashes. Instead, she would first turn back into an ordinary plant.

Because it has already achieved some success, it will be more likely to have another opportunity than other ordinary plants.

Ran Wen explained, "Do you know about Heaven and Earth? Plants grow in the soil, so they are more or less related to Mother Earth. Mother Earth is kind, benevolent, and tolerant of all things, so it's normal for her to treat plants better." She said this with a face full of reverence.

Although she was born and attained enlightenment in the Underworld, and seems to have no connection with the Earth Mother, after leaving the Underworld, she liked to bury herself because of the habits of plant demons.

After being buried in the soil for a long time, Mother Earth came to accept her. Several times when she was being chased and in danger, she escaped by hiding underground.

Shi Meili remained oblivious to this, and Huan Ni remarked, "Foolish Zhi has foolish luck."

Huan Ni wasn't envious. She was blessed by heaven and earth, a born divine beast, and her starting point was much higher than Ran Wen's. However, when she encountered the calamity, she lost more than Ran Wen.

Ran Wen often coveted the magical treasures and artifacts in Huan Ni's storage world, but she didn't know that Huan Ni had almost exhausted all her high-level magical treasures and all her magical power to survive the calamity.

However, Huan Ni is a natural optimist and doesn't like to recall the days when she became bald because of the catastrophe. Sigh, it's all tears when you talk about it!

Let's get back to business.

Ran Wen said, "I remember there's a poem that goes, 'If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they'll grow back in the spring breeze.'"

Shi Yuan: ...Is this a poem? It doesn't seem quite right, does it? What was the original line again? It sounds so familiar, it's right on the tip of my tongue, but Ran Wen has distorted it, and I can't say it!

Forget it!

"So, the only way to completely kill it is to destroy its root system, right?"

“That’s right!” Ran Wen said, making no attempt to hide his weakness from Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan didn't think much about it; all she could think about was killing the maple leaf plant and then sending Sakura Takeda to keep it company later!

"We need to find its original form first." Ran Wen felt it was a bit tricky. "No wonder that thing wanted to mutate. It turns out it was a maple leaf that had somehow become a spirit."

Huan Ni naturally added, "Then it will be very difficult to find, after all, there are so many maple leaves here, and it is so ordinary."

Shi Meili seemed to empathize: "Oh, so it's a maple leaf spirit. It needs to mutate, at least into a tree, otherwise what is it?"

Shi Yuan joined them: "That's really quite ordinary. There are so many maple leaves, and I still can't figure out which one is the most impressive."

"Tsk!" Ran Wen said in a tone reminiscent of Lai Zhi, "It's too ordinary, like a drop of water falling into the sea. You can only see the sea, who can see the drop of water?"

Shi Yuan: "Anyway, I can't see the water droplets."

Huan Ni Ran and Wen Shi Meili said in unison, "We only saw a maple forest, not a maple leaf spirit!"

As soon as they finished speaking, Maple Leaf's offensive intensified.

Shi Meili whispered, "The attack from the west is stronger." Then she wrapped Shi Yuan and the others in the vine ball and rolled them westward.

The next second, Ran Wen transformed into a butterfly, and Huan Ni fluttered her wings, maintaining her balance within the vine ball.

Shi Yuan: ...What happened to being a family? Why don't you two lift me up on either side to keep me balanced?!

Shi Yuan experienced the workings of a front-loading washing machine and almost threw up. Shi Meili said awkwardly, "I didn't think too much about it."

Ran Wen and Huan Ni also said awkwardly, "Hey, she's just a bit silly, please forgive her."

Shi Yuan revealed a sinister smile and said rather "gently," "Of course I will forgive her!"

"And what about you guys? Are you idiots? You all know how to transform and fly to maintain balance!"

"Well," Huan Ni's eyes darted around, immediately shifting the blame, "it's all the maple leaf spirit's fault!" "That's right, it's all its fault!" "Let's go settle the score with it!"

Ran Wen and Shi Meili immediately chimed in, "That's right, let's skin it alive and get revenge for you!"

What could Shi Yuan do? Of course, she'd take it out on the maple leaf spirit. But could she really hold a grudge against Huan Ni and the other two?

"Let's go and wipe out its lair!"

Upon hearing Shi Yuan's words, Huan Ni and the other two breathed a sigh of relief and immediately began searching diligently for the maple leaf spirit.

Outside the oil painting, Sakura Takeda stared at the few small ink dots in the maple forest, her eyes swirling with emotion. A venomous smile curved her lips: "Who is the prey, and who is the hunter?"

"Mom, Mo Qianwu has sent another message. He wants to see you." As she said this, Takeda Anko looked anxiously at Takeda Sakura, fearing that Takeda Sakura would abandon her father and go with Mo Qianwu, just like she had done years ago.

Upon hearing this, Sakura Takeda sighed and finally said, "Have him come over tonight. I'll meet him in the study."

Yasuko clenched her fists, mustered her courage, looked up, and asked with red eyes, "Mom, you won't leave us again, right?"

Looking at the similar features to her own, Sakura Takeda remained unmoved: "Get out!"

"Mom, all these years Dad and I have been there for you! What's so great about him? He's old and ugly! My brother is already dead! Why do you still want to get involved with him!"

"Slap!" The sound of a slap interrupted Yasuko Takeda's words and also extinguished the courage she had finally mustered. Almost instinctively, she lowered her head and bowed her back: "Mom, I was wrong!"

"Get out!"

"yes!"

As Sakura watched Yasuko Takeda's retreating figure, her eyes swirled with emotion. What Yasuko Takeda said was all true.

In her youth, she would defy her family and fate, and for the sake of a man's looks and affection, she would rush headlong into love and freedom. Yet, because of separation, she would linger for many years, unable to let go of her feelings.

But she's not young anymore!

After so many years apart, how could she believe that a man with such power would still be so devoted to her?

She was heartbroken by Mo Xun's death, the fruit of her love with Mo Qianwu. She wanted nothing more than to kill the woman who had killed Mo Xun immediately. But at the same time, she suddenly realized that Mo Xun would not have become so promiscuous for no reason.

She knew very well how conservative the social atmosphere was in the Flower Kingdom and how strict the restrictions on relationships between men and women were.

Which of the heirs who held higher positions than Mo Xun wasn't self-disciplined and valued their reputation?

Given that everyone's environment and peers are the same, why does Mo Xun become an outlier?

Who made him become like that?

There's probably only one answer!

That man who once made her fall deeply in love and whom she had longed for for many years!

After all these years, it's time to let go of some things. When it comes to interests, we shouldn't mix them with so-called feelings.

"There's still time to wish," said Takeda Sakura, turning around and walking back to the oil painting. She gently swept her hand across a certain spot, and a beam of eerie blue light extended from her feet into the entire room. Various strange patterns flashed in mid-air, clearly indicating that some kind of formation had been activated.

“I have always been a hunter.” Sakura Takeda said with a confident smile, then turned and left.

The moment Shi Yuan stepped onto the fallen leaves, she sensed something was wrong. She lifted her foot, tapped her fingertip, and a blasting talisman swiftly landed where she had just stepped.

"Bang!" "Ah!" The sound of the talisman exploding, accompanied by a sharp scream, rang out in the quiet maple forest, eerie and terrifying.

Shi Yuan threw over a few more talismans, and then Ran Wen flicked his hand and ginseng whiskers flew out and pulled out something from the messy place that had been blown up. Well, I don't know how to describe it.