Chapter 168 Which Fifth Realm Realm Person Has Fallen?
The thunder lasted for over an hour, until the end of the Chou hour (1-3 AM), when the lightning suddenly disappeared. The night sky returned to its original tranquility, the dark clouds dispersed, and the moon peeked out, as if nothing had happened.
As the moon set and the sun rose, and the first rays of dawn appeared, Achan opened her eyes.
"Achan, you're awake." Chen Hui's voice rang out. She quickly walked to the bedside and asked, "Is there anything wrong with your body?"
“No,” Achan shook her head. “I feel great.”
Or rather, it's better than before.
The feeling of weakness that had accompanied her ever since she awoke from this body seemed to have vanished suddenly.
She felt lighter than ever before, and her mind was clearer; this was a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time.
"Really?" Chen Hui was still a little worried. "You suddenly fell asleep yesterday and we couldn't wake you up no matter what we did."
After thinking for a moment, Achan comforted her, "Don't worry, it's just because my body is recovering that I suddenly fell into a deep sleep, just like when you advance in your cultivation level."
She felt her explanation was reasonable and well-founded, but unfortunately, it failed to convince Chen Hui at all. After Achan had her breakfast, Chen Hui still took her to the clinic on the next street.
The old doctor had already taken Achan's pulse yesterday, and seeing that she was conscious and brought over by Chen Hui today, he took the initiative to take Achan's pulse.
The old doctor took her pulse for a while, his expression showing some doubt, and then asked her to switch to her other hand.
After a while, he released his hand and said to Achan, "Miss, your blood and energy are abundant, and you are much better now."
Achan winked at Chen Hui, who thanked the old doctor and offered to pay the consultation fee, but the old doctor refused.
"No need for the consultation fee, it's just a small favor. However, I do have something I'd like to ask you, young lady." The old doctor looked intently at Achan.
"Please speak."
"I remember when I took your pulse before, your pulse was very weak. I wonder which miracle doctor you met that enabled you to recover so quickly?"
Achan paused for a moment, then mumbled, "I met a doctor from Jiaozhou while traveling."
She couldn't very well tell the old doctor that her recovery was because she had been "helping others" all year, sending off one family after another until she couldn't count them all on her fingers.
The old doctor nodded knowingly: "I see, then congratulations, young lady."
After leaving the clinic, the two did not rush home, but instead went for a stroll in the East Market. On their way back, they went to a clothing shop on Tianjie Street to order several spring clothes.
While taking measurements, the tailor, whom she had dealt with a few times before, chatted with Achan and mentioned the thunder from the previous night.
"The thunder last night was truly terrifying. Did Miss Ji see it?"
Ah Chan had no idea about thunder. She asked curiously, "Did it rain last night?"
The ground was still dry this morning, with no sign of rain at all.
The tailor shook his head: "That's the strange thing. The thunder lasted for more than an hour, and the lightning was all red, but it didn't rain at all. Not a single drop of rain fell. I don't know what's going on."
"That's so strange..."
Thunder without rain is clearly an unusual phenomenon. Could it be that one of the Five Realms has perished?
This thought only flashed through her mind, and Achan didn't think about it deeply. Even if there were really five realms perish, it wouldn't concern her.
It was almost noon when I came out of the garment workshop.
The two did not drive today and walked all the way back to Changpingfang. Achan did not feel too tired.
At this moment, the two were carrying large and small bags, most of which were food. Seeing that the incense shop was not far away, Achan quickened her pace and saw two tall and strong men standing outside her shop across the street.
There were many passersby on the street, but these two people stood out conspicuously in the crowd. They were at least eight feet tall and had dark skin.
They were dressed in common cloth robes, one in a blue robe and the other in a cyan robe. Although they tried to blend in with the crowd, they seemed a little uncomfortable with their attire and appeared somewhat awkward.
Chen Hui also saw the two people standing outside her shop. She pulled A Chan aside, frowned slightly, and said uncertainly, "These two people have very strong blood and energy. They seem to be from other ethnic groups?"
The Shang Yin she had met before was not as strong as these two.
Achan stared at the two people for a while, then nodded: "They certainly don't seem to be from the Great Xia. In broad daylight, they probably won't do anything. Let's go and take a look."
After crossing the street and arriving at the shop, the two men saw Chen Hui open the shop door and hurriedly asked, "Are you two the owners of this shop?"
Achan turned to look at them. The two looked very alike and seemed to be brothers. They had regular features, deep-set eyes, and handsome appearances, but it was clear that they were different from the people of Daxia.
"Yes, do you two want to buy incense?" Achan asked them.
The two exchanged a glance and nodded: "Can we go in and take a look first?"
“Okay.” Achan welcomed them into the shop and then had Chen Hui bring out several newly made incenses for them to see.
The two men glanced at them casually, clearly showing little interest in the incense.
Upon seeing this, Achan's eyes flickered slightly, and she went upstairs to retrieve a box.
"Perhaps you two are interested in incense sticks?" Achan opened the box, which contained dozens of incense sticks.
This is the soul-summoning incense she made last year. Some of it was made by people from the Mingjing Division, using the same formula.
The burly man in the blue robe widened his eyes upon seeing the contents of the box and blurted out, "Soul-guiding incense?"
Achan closed the box and gave the two a meaningful smile: "So you are from the Witch Clan?"
The two were startled when their origins were suddenly revealed, but they quickly relaxed.
The burly man in the blue robe introduced himself: "Greetings, young lady. My name is Lie Xian, and this is my younger brother, Lie Xing."
"Greetings, gentlemen. My name is Achan." Achan didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "You two have come all the way to my shop, surely you have something to discuss with me?"
Lie Xian nodded: "To be honest, Miss Achan, we two come from the wilderness. We came to see you today specifically to deliver a message."
Upon hearing them mention the wilderness, Achan immediately knew who had sent her the letter.
Her eyes lit up instantly: "Is it a letter from Xue?"
Lie Xian grinned, looking somewhat simple-minded: "It is indeed Miss Shen's letter."
As he spoke, he took out a cloth bag from his pocket and handed it to Achan.
Achan opened the cloth bag, and inside was a page of white bone book. She couldn't tell what kind of bone it was. The bone book was extremely thin, snow-white as jade, and very elastic. Even when rolled into a tube, it showed no signs of breaking.
After she took out the bone book, the two brothers, Lie Xian and Lie Xian, looked away and did not try to find out what was on it.
The words on the bone book were carved in, and there weren't many. The first few lines were Hui Xue's greetings to A Chan and a description of her current situation.
Shen Huixue has settled with her mother in a witch village in the wilderness. She said that the villagers are very friendly to her and her mother. She often hunts with the villagers and has also participated in the village festivals. She is very happy living there.
She then said that she had asked around about the person Ah Chan had asked her to find.
She learned from a two-hundred-year-old witch priest in the village that there had indeed been a couple living nearby; the husband was a fox demon, and the wife was a witch, and also the high priest of the witch clan.
However, the couple has been missing for a long time, but their residence is still preserved, and no one has been inside to this day.
Hui Xue guessed that the old priest probably knew a lot about the couple, but she refused to say more.
At the end of the bone book, Huixue says that the brothers who delivered the message were the grandsons of the village's high priest, named Liexian and Liexing. They formed a caravan that traveled between Bactria and the Wildlands.
If Achan intends to come to the wilderness, she can travel with them; the journey will be very safe.
Achan's fingers caressed the bone book, her fingertips touching each engraved character, yet her emotions remained unsettled.
Hui Xue said that her father and mother had been missing for a long time. Did they find another place to live to avoid being disturbed?
Achan didn't know.
But the wilderness was the only place she could find that was connected to them.
Perhaps they didn't want her to look back, but Achan still wanted to know if they were alright and if they still remembered her.
"Just this once," Achan thought, "I'll give myself this one chance. If I can't find them, I'll give up."
After a while, Achan came to her senses and bowed to Lie Xian and Lie Xing: "Thank you both for bringing the letter."
"Miss Achan, you don't need to be so polite. We're just going the same way."
Lie Xing glanced at his older brother, seemingly disagreeing with his words, but was glared at by his brother and didn't dare to say anything.
Achan pretended not to see the exchange of glances between the two and said, "Huixue told me that you two often travel between Daxia and the wilderness. If I were to travel with you, would it be convenient?"
"The young lady is going to the wilderness?" Lie Xian was somewhat surprised. Although he felt that his hometown was quite safe, the people of Daxia would not think so. They seemed to think that everything outside Daxia was dangerous.
However, it is indeed very dangerous for ordinary people.
Lie Xian thought for a moment: "It is convenient, our caravan only has a dozen or so people, including women. However, we will be traveling very fast on the way back, and the girls' bodies may not be able to handle it."
"It's alright, I'm in pretty good shape, I should be able to hold on." Achan was actually glad that the last chain broke, otherwise she really wouldn't have dared to say such a thing.
“Since you’ve made your decision, it’s settled then. We will leave the capital on the third day of the third lunar month, the Shangsi Festival. You can come to the Fulai Inn at the North Gate of the West Market on the second day of the third lunar month to find us.”
"Okay, thank you both."
"You're welcome."
After Lie Xian and A Chan reached an agreement, Lie Xian took his younger brother and left.
After leaving the incense shop and walking a distance, Lie Xing turned to look at the shop in the distance before speaking, his tone filled with deep doubt: "Brother, why did Grandmother suddenly use an array to send the letter over last night, and even used such a precious bone book? It's just a letter; she could have just brought it over next time she came home. It would only have delayed us for half a year."
Although it was just a letter, the effort required to send it from the wilderness to the capital was enormous. Moreover, bone books are very difficult to make, and only bone books can withstand the power of the array and preserve the contents intact.
When they received the letter, they all thought something terrible had happened at home.
Lie Xian couldn't fathom his grandmother's thoughts either. Thinking of the box of soul-summoning incense, he guessed, "Perhaps it's because of the other person's identity? This girl must have some connection with our witch clan."
"But she looks like an ordinary human being. Even if she knows some information, there's no need to take it so seriously, right?"
"Didn't she say she wanted to come with us? Maybe we'll know the reason when she sees her grandmother."
After the two brothers left, Achan stared blankly at the bone book, and Chen Hui did not disturb her.
After the incident with the Dowager Princess of the Northern Wilderness, Chen Hui already knew the origins of A Chan.
She knew that A-Chan harbored many secrets, but she was unwilling to uncover them. If A-Chan had been doing well, she wouldn't have come to the capital alone and become Ji Chan.
After the day when Liesian and Liexing came to deliver the letter, Achan did not sleep well for several days.
Every night she would have dreams, sometimes of two blurry figures pointing at her and telling her to get out and never appear in front of them again.
Sometimes they don't speak, they just watch her from a distance.
With only a few days left until the Shangsi Festival, Achan's mood became increasingly depressed.
Chen Hui had discussed with her about taking her to see a doctor, but A Chan refused.
She could sleep soundly through the night without dreams after taking the medicine, but she didn't want to do that.
She hadn't seen her parents for a very, very long time, even though the ones in her dreams were just figments of her imagination, without even their faces.
She could see them in her dreams, as if they were very close to her.
Chen Hui couldn't persuade A Chan, but she didn't give up either.
She thought about it for most of the day, and finally, on her way out to buy groceries, she stopped by Mingjing Division.
Just a few days later, Chen Hui returned to the Mingjing Division. She was still a little uneasy. Last time, at least she had a legitimate reason, but this time it was purely for personal matters. She was unsure whether Bai Xiuming would care.
This time, she successfully met Bai Xiuming again.
"Master Bai."
"What happened again?" Bai Xiuming asked without looking up.
Chen Hui hesitated for a moment before saying, "Achan hasn't been sleeping well these past few days."
Bai Xiuming raised his eyes.
"He doesn't seem to be in a very good mood either."
Bai Xiuming frowned, his attention completely shifting away from the case file. He found it hard to imagine what could have upset Achan.
"If you are not too busy, would you be able to visit me?" Chen Hui asked.
"...Thank you."
It took Chen Hui a while to realize that Bai Xiuming was thanking her.
That night, Achan fell asleep as usual, and in her dream she saw her parents again. This time, she heard her mother say to her, "I shouldn't have given birth to you."
Ah Chan always knew that her mother didn't want to give birth to her and Ah Mian.
Her dream was simply a repetition of the brief time she spent with her parents that she had repeatedly recalled.
Every time she thought about it before, she would feel sad for a long time.
But now, I'm not as sad as before, but I still feel empty inside.
Just as she was about to sink into her dream again, she suddenly heard someone calling her name.
“Achan”.
That was a voice that didn't belong to her parents. When that voice rang out, she felt her heart race and her lips involuntarily curl into a smile.
The mother's voice seemed to be completely cut off by that one "A-Chan".
“Bai Xiuming…” Achan murmured this name as she woke up from her nightmare.
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