The building is deserted - Part Three
Shin Ye-eun knew that the guard had lied to her.
Over the past few days, the true energy within her body has been gradually dissipating, all thanks to the food prepared by the Blood Palace. She was fully aware that the food contained some kind of poison she didn't recognize, which was slowly eroding her true energy and gradually turning her into an ordinary person.
She continued to eat the meals brought by the guards on time and in the same amount every day, and on the surface, it seemed that nothing had happened.
Xin Ruien had resisted before, but all her attempts ended in failure. She couldn't even defeat Ling Guang alone, let alone escape from the Blood Palace on her own. But if anyone thinks that this is because she realized her inability to fight her fate, and therefore allowed the Blood Palace to poison her and let others manipulate her like a puppet, then that would be a grave mistake.
She hadn't given up the fight; she simply didn't want to succumb to hunger in the end. Even if she couldn't escape death, she wouldn't die a pathetic death from starvation. The guard had indeed tricked her into eating poisoned food, but there was one thing she might be right about. He Zi'an was definitely on his way to finding himself, Xin Rui'en firmly believed that.
Xin Ruien looked forward to it. She hoped that He Zi'an would arrive before her martial arts completely disappeared, so that she wouldn't become a complete burden.
The guards hadn't come looking for her for several days, which was perfectly natural. Now that her goal had been achieved, there was no reason for her to continue feigning intimacy with her.
At sunrise, Shin Ye-eun would begin practicing her swordplay in her room. In the afternoon, she would sit quietly by the window, gazing absently at the drifting quicksand in the distance. This kind of life gradually became her habit.
That day, after her sword practice, she sat by the window to rest as usual. Her hands rested on the window frame, and a thin layer of fine sand quickly accumulated on her fingernails. But it didn't matter, because she would go to the bathhouse to bathe and change after a short rest. By the time she returned from the bathhouse, her lunch would have arrived just in time.
She followed the same pattern every day, repeating it methodically. She could foresee everything that was going to happen, like a prophet.
There were some unusual sounds coming from outside the window. At first, Xin Ruien didn't pay much attention. But gradually, she heard what sounded like shouts and screams mixed in with the noise.
Xin Ruien's eyes widened and her ears perked up. Everywhere she looked, waves of guards ran in the same direction, disappearing into the blind spots of the windows. The building's orientation limited her view; she tried to lean out to see further, but unfortunately, it wasn't very effective.
Soon, hurried footsteps sounded outside her door. The footsteps receded from her at an extremely fast pace.
She had missed her bath time, and lunchtime was long gone. The Blood Palace was unusually noisy today, but her room was unusually quiet. There was no maid to lead her to the bath with a change of clothes, nor a guard to bring her a wooden box to feed her poisoned food.
“Although I don’t know exactly what happened, could this be an opportunity?” Xin Ruien held her breath. She had given up on the window from which she could see nothing, her eyes fixed on the tightly closed doors.
Just as she was about to get up, the maid who usually accompanied the supervising soldier opened the door and came in. Xin Ruien pretended that nothing had happened and silently sat back down in her chair.
Xin Rui'en remembered the maid's name was Chunhua. Springtime in the desert was a rare sight, with flowers blooming in abundance. Upon first learning the maid's name, Xin Rui'en was somewhat speechless. But later, she thought that perhaps it was a beautiful wish deep within the Jianbing's heart. At that time, Xin Rui'en believed that since the Jianbing had bestowed such a beautiful wish upon the maid, perhaps she would be different from the others in the Blood Palace.
It was around that time that her prejudice against the military supervisors began to waver somewhat. Looking back now, that wavering was probably a mistake.
Chunhua had neither a change of clothes nor the wooden box containing the poisoned food. Her face was filled with panic, her hands clasped tightly together, completely devoid of her usual composure.
Xin Ruien's gaze passed over Chunhua, and she saw that the guards at the door had long since disappeared.
“Someone has broken into the Blood Palace,” Chunhua said.
Are you afraid I'll run away?
Chunhua tightened her grip on her clasped hands, and Xin Ruien noticed a look of grievance on her face.
"What happened?" Shin Rui-eun asked in a softer tone.
"It's a complete mess. That person might be an enemy of the Blood Palace," Chunhua replied, staring blankly at the ground. After a moment, she raised her eyes again and said, "Miss instructed me that if she didn't return, I should find a chance to let you go."
Shin Ye-eun met her gaze directly.
Chunhua opened her palm, revealing a dark blue pill with scattered black spots in the center.
"Is this for me?"
Chunhua nodded.
“I heeded your young lady’s advice and ate the Blood Palace’s food. Now I’m about to lose all the cultivation I gained in the first twenty years.” Xin Rui’en spoke calmly, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
Chunhua first looked surprised, then nodded repeatedly, muttering to herself, "So that's how it turned out."
"It seems you weren't unaware of the situation either."
To Xin Ruien's surprise, Chunhua did not offer any explanation, but instead frankly admitted, "I was the one who poisoned her."
"So, why do you think I would take the 'antidote' you gave me?"
“I won’t harm you. Not only will I not harm you, but I also need your help.” Chunhua shook her head and said, “Because Miss doesn’t know what kind of poison Lord Nangong gave you, he asked me to try to ingest it with a more potent poison. If we don’t do this, we can’t take control of saving you.”
"You mean, you used this poison that drained my internal energy in order to save me?"
"No." Chunhua's eyes showed no hesitation. She had no intention of lying. "It was our poison and Lord Nangong's poison that combined to create this poison that drains one's power."
"This was not part of your plan."
“That’s true, but it’s not entirely unexpected.” Chunhua fell into deep thought. She put the pills back into her sleeve and then took out a small, exquisite jade bottle from her waist. She poured all the pills out of the bottle and spread them evenly in her left palm. She placed the jade bottle on the table with her right hand and began to carefully select the pills. “In that case, this medicine can’t be used.”
Xin Ruien saw her frowning as she picked out a red pill and a yellow pill from her palm.
"You said you have a favor to ask of me."
"I hope Miss Xin can help Miss."
"The supervisor?" Xin Ruien asked, puzzled. The supervisor had encountered a problem he couldn't solve? This maid didn't go to the Blood Palace disciples, but instead came here to seek help from an outsider and a prisoner like himself. It didn't make sense at all.
“Only Miss Xin, who is not a member of the Blood Palace, can help Miss.” As if seeing through Xin Rui’en’s thoughts, Chunhua explained, “Miss went to the forbidden area of the sect a few days ago and has not been heard from since. No one but you will help me.”
This is an internal power struggle within the sect. Xin Ruien immediately thought.
Chunhua placed the pills in her left hand on the table and searched frantically. The more she searched, the more anxious she became, almost to the point of tears.
Shin Ye-eun stood up and went to the table. "I believe you. What's missing?"
"A green pill." Chunhua's voice was already trembling with tears. "It should have been in here."
Xin Ruien looked at the table, and indeed she couldn't see the green pill Chunhua had mentioned. Almost unconsciously, Xin Ruien picked up the jade bottle that Chunhua had placed aside.
A faint clinking sound came from the jade bottle, along with a weak vibration from the rolling of the pills. Xin Ruien turned the bottle upside down, towards Chunhua's palm.
A green pill rolled down without missing a beat.
*
Han Xiaozhou hadn't expected that "Tsunami" would resonate so well with her own nature. In just a few days, she had completely harmonized the sword intent contained within this malevolent sword.
Several times, just as her sword and the sword's spirit were about to merge, her training stopped. It wasn't that the sword was rejecting her, or that she wasn't fully prepared; rather, Han Hyo-joo herself hadn't made a decision. She hadn't yet decided whether or not to take that step of merging sword and spirit.
Chishu stood at the front of the bamboo raft, skillfully maneuvering it around the pond cypress trees on the water, and continued forward. On the way back, Chishu was much quieter.
Although Han Hyo-joo had been engrossed in assimilating the sword intent contained within the Calamity Sword these days, she had also keenly sensed the changes in her disciple's state of mind. The destruction of the Seven Sons of Misty Rain and the escape of Lim Jin-na had made Han Hyo-joo worry about the future of Misty Rain Pavilion. Several times, she had given up on the fusion of sword and heart at the last minute, partly because of her own inner concerns.
Han Hyo-joo had absolute confidence in her abilities, but she also understood that human lifespan was finite. There would eventually come a time when the Misty Rain Pavilion would need to be handed over to someone else.
"Master," Qian Shu finally spoke first, "did you really intend to give up on Senior Sister from the very beginning?"
Han Hyo-joo pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you remember what I said to you when we first met?"
"Be firm and self-disciplined."
“It’s not that I abandoned your senior sister, I won’t abandon any of you.” Qian Shu kept her back to her, but Han Xiaozhou still nodded. “It’s that she abandoned herself. Not only did she fall into the trap of lust, but she also violated the sect rules by passing on the Misty Rain Song to a man.”
Qian Shu fell silent.
"Is what that person said true?" Qian Shu asked again, "In the end, only one of me and my senior sister can stay."
"My senior sister and I." Han Xiaozhou looked at the duckweed on the water and couldn't help but sigh. Decades had passed in the blink of an eye, and everything had changed, but the duckweed was still exactly the same as when she first saw it. She continued, "My senior sister and I have dedicated our lives to Yan Yu Ci. Our dream is to recreate the Yan Yu Ci as described by our ancestors. If Yan Yu Ci chooses her, I will also be willing to dedicate myself."
Qian Shu had a bad feeling, and the air seemed to have become strange. She tried to calm her awe, resistance and fear, and after a while, she said, "I can't do it. If that's the case, I would rather Yan Yu Ci choose Senior Sister."
"It's impossible for Yan Yuci to choose her anymore."
Suddenly, Qian Shu felt a surge of courage, and she wanted to say something, perhaps to plead for Lin Zhenna. But at that moment, Han Xiaozhou interrupted her sharply, and her newly generated courage vanished instantly.
“Since you haven’t yet made up your mind to take on the responsibility of being the successor of Yanyu Tower, there’s no need for you to go back.”
Qian Shu felt the bamboo raft suddenly become lighter. Han Xiaozhou left the bamboo raft and stood on a branch of a pond cypress not far in front of Qian Shu, facing the direction of Yan Yu Lou and with his back to Qian Shu.
"Is Master angry because I said such irresponsible things?" Qian Shu looked timidly at Han Xiaozhou's back. Ever since entering the cypress forest, she had kept her back to her Master, not daring to look at her. Now that her Master seemed angry, Qian Shu wanted to observe her expression, but then her Master turned her back to her again.
“Master, I…” Qian Shu wanted to defend herself, but couldn’t think of anything sensible to say.
"You should leave. I've taught you everything I could," Han Xiaozhou said. "With your current mindset, you shouldn't go back to Yanyu Tower."
"Master," Qian Shu's eyes welled up with clear tears, "don't you want me anymore?"
"Go find Liu Shi'en. You know where she is. Think carefully about what I've taught you. Within a year, you are not to return to Yanyu Tower without my decree."
Han Xiaozhou didn't give Qian Shu another chance to speak. With a wave of her hand, a gust of wind propelled the bamboo raft backward. Qian Shu stood at the front of the raft, watching Han Xiaozhou's figure grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely.
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