109. Sinister
At noon, Qingling hadn't traveled for nearly half a month and couldn't finish three meals a day, so he moved the time of breakfast to later, so that he could eat twice.
Shortly after breakfast, Qingling sat at the table, tracing the outline he had memorized with his fingertips on the table. He had been practicing like this for the past few days, and even Shang Changheng didn't know what his wife was studying.
Suddenly!
Qingling stood up, opened the door, walked into the yard, and went straight to the west wing.
Bang--
The door was suddenly pushed open, and a paper figure that was almost the same as a human was seen placed on the narrow bed. The colors were crudely painted, and the facial features were even more messy. Only the eyes were vivid - they were made by Miss Zhu herself.
He roughly twisted a human shape out of bamboo strips and then pasted paper on it. This was the paper doll substitute Zhu Lezhi made for Zhu Hongxu.
It's sloppy and not very realistic.
It's so ugly that it's shocking.
Coupled with the cold and resentful atmosphere in the room, Qingling noticed it even from next door.
Now there was a rustling sound coming from the paper figure, as if... something with thin claws was crawling around inside. The overlapping sounds of the thing rubbing against the paper made Qing Ling's scalp numb. He stood at the door and did not dare to go in. Instead, he whispered, "Chang Heng... did they take action? Why are they so anxious?"
Normally, evil spirits would not start harming people in broad daylight, after all, night is the most suitable time. Now, the opponent has probably just arrived in the city, and he has a long enough distance to start killing people directly. I think it is because the backlash of exchanging lives and karma has been repaid, so the opponent is impatient.
Qingling was as cautious as ever and even made the hand gestures.
Shang Changheng was still living in the Huanlong Pendant. He didn't dare to show up rashly at this moment, for fear of... scaring the other party away.
"Don't be afraid." The first thing he said was to comfort Qing Ling, and then he whispered: "It seems that the real master has come, it's the ghost Gu, follow the plan."
Ghost insects are different from evil spirits. These insects have eaten evil things and their own kind, and have been raised to become evil spirits that harbor resentful and negative energy. They also parasitize on the human body, and if they disagree with someone, they will drag the person who has been poisoned to death with them - but the paper man will not die.
The vitality of the paper man is maintained by magic, which can deceive evil spirits into thinking that it is a living person. Even in the eyes of a powerful evil spirit like Shang Changheng, the paper man changes its appearance after being given life.
The world he sees is different from Qingling's.
"Okay." Qingling took out the soul-guiding incense.
He wanted to find out where the hidden saint was.
As they were talking, Miao Yuan and Zhu Lezhi also came out of the house.
"This really is like a sorcery." Zhu Lezhi looked around the room in amazement. "You can cast a Gu without even knowing where the person is. Ghost Gu is indeed much more powerful than live Gu."
None of them had ever seen this thing that was said to never come out of the deep mountains and old forests. Miao Yuan also stood by and watched, chanting the Buddha's name, and said, "They must have something that belongs to the prince."
Qing Ling had used this ancient divination technique once when he was searching for Princess Dongli. This time, he was much more efficient in drawing talismans on the ground with the soul-calling incense, and even his speed was twice as fast.
After extinguishing the soul-guiding incense, he handed it to Shang Changheng, and then his slender white hands quickly formed hand seals and slowly recited the three words.
"cry."
"not."
"Buzz."
At the moment when the hand seals changed, Qingling's feeling was even stronger than the last time. He seemed to have seen the rules of chaos in the invisible way of heaven, the alternation of the four seasons, the passage of years - the rise and fall of all things in the world, eternal and everlasting.
All the flowers, trees, grass and stones in this world have their own destiny. Rivers flow into the sea, rise into clouds and rain, and then fall back to the earth, repeating this cycle over and over again. It seems like a coincidence, but in fact it is destiny.
When he opened his eyes again, the color on Qingling's face had faded a little, but he was far less weak than last time.
He paused for a moment, a strange expression on his face.
"They're in...the inn."
Qingling really didn't expect that in addition to the noble prince, he could also see another nobleman, Prince Jing Zhu Yanzhang.
Funing Inn is the best inn in the city.
In the upper room, Zhu Yanzhang lay on the couch, dying. The smell of blood and the bitter smell of herbs mingled. Alan placed many strange objects and porcelain boxes of various sizes on the table, almost filling it up. In front of her was a wooden lacquered round box, in which was placed a piece of red paper with Zhu Hongxu's name and birth characters written on it, as well as a thin strand of black hair. Many black, hard-shelled insects as big as ants were crawling up and down inside, gnawing holes of varying sizes in the red paper.
An incense stick of time passed.
Alan frowned in disbelief.
Why aren’t you dead yet?
This time she showed no mercy. While exchanging lives, she directly wiped out the roots. Originally, when she exchanged lives for the first time, she had already killed him, but at that time the prince still had the luck of an emperor and survived many dangerous situations, so she simply directed the karma onto him. This time the prince was already at the end of his strength, and should have been devoured by these poisonous insects, with his flesh and blood devoured and not even his soul left.
But how could that be?
After such a long time, his vitality has not shown any signs of weakening!
Alan suddenly turned around to look at the man sitting in front of the window not far away, and said coldly: "What are you still standing there for!? If something happens to His Highness, neither you nor I will have an easy life!"
"Someone is protecting him." The man turned around, revealing a young face with deep brow bones. It was a very standard appearance of a Northwestern foreigner, with long curly hair tied behind his head, brown skin, deep eye sockets, and a straight nose. He smiled indifferently and said, "They will come to find you."
Alan's eyes were almost bloodshot, and his pretty face was ferocious. "What do you mean? If my prince is gone, you prince will never get what you want!"
"Oh, that's terrible." The man seemed to be half asleep, leaning back in his chair, smiling leisurely, "Since I'm here, I will naturally help you, but I don't know where to start now. Miss Alan, whether it's you or His Royal Highness Prince Jing, we are all in the same boat. Now that things have come to this... we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate."
When he talked about "leaving it to fate", his tone was particularly playful and carried a hint of sarcasm.
Alan's face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Fang Yi! Aren't you a master of foresight? Why didn't you predict this day?!"
"I never said that." Fang Yi smiled innocently. "Less than a hundred years is not enough time for people to plot against each other. His Royal Highness Prince Jing has only been planning for a few years, so it is understandable that some mistakes have occurred. But I did not expect that there are still such people in the world today. I thought they had died a hundred years ago."
Although he was smiling, his murderous intent was obvious at the end of his words.
Alan, who was extremely worried, couldn't help but feel terrified and asked in a deep voice, "What about you?"
"I told you, I will help you." Fang Yi chuckled, his eyes cold, "Keeping such a capable person in Daxia will ruin my business."
In his hand, he held a copper talisman carved with some kind of bird pattern, and there was an ancient character engraved on the back. It looked like it had been held in his hand for many years.
At a certain moment, Fang Yi paused in playing with the copper talisman, opened his eyes wide as if in disbelief, subconsciously put his hand over his heart, and stood up suddenly. The copper talisman fell on the cabinet in front of the window with a click.
Alan was shocked to hear Fang Yi mutter, "How is it possible..."
In just a blink of an eye, a strange and cold gray-white fog appeared in the room. Fang Yi, who had been at ease before, now looked confused and doubtful. He leaned over and pushed open the window. Originally, the window could see the backyard of the inn, but after it was opened, there was still thick gray-white fog.
"This is a barrier." Alan hurriedly stepped forward and opened the door. There was also such a thick fog outside the door. She had never seen such a strong evil aura before. She couldn't help but take a step back. "This is... a very evil thing."
They were trapped in this inn.
Fang Yi came back to his senses at this moment, his eyes still looked cold and sinister in the floating gray mist. He sneered and seemed to be sighing.
"As expected..."
"Changheng?" Qingling outside the house grabbed Shang Changheng's hand with a little force.
Shang Changheng looked down at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Let me go." Qing Ling whispered, "Don't hurt anyone..."
"I know." Shang Changheng took Qing Ling's hand and squeezed it gently. "I know my limits. I'm going to scare them first and test what other abilities this saint has. She's just a turtle in a jar. Don't worry."
The door of the guest room was still closed and Alan did not open it.
But Qingling felt extremely uneasy for some reason as he looked at the tightly closed door. The strange premonition that had been brewing in his mind since he met Zhu Hongxu was now growing wildly like weeds. Some sinister omen that had been hidden under the stagnant water seemed to have surfaced - behind this door.
Qingling didn't know where this feeling came from, but he became more and more agitated, and even wanted to rush in and kill Alan to end everything. He could only hold Shang Changheng's hand tighter and tighter, and sweat broke out on his palms.
"Hmm?" Shang Changheng suddenly raised his eyebrows and said, "One of them ran away."
"What?" Qing Ling was stunned.
Shang Changheng pulled his hand away, patted Qingling's head, and whispered, "The saint named Alan is still inside. You stay here, and I'll go after her."
Before Qing Ling could react, Shang Changheng had already disappeared. Zhu Lezhi, who was leaning against the wall on the other side, also stood up straight and said in a deep voice, "He must have escaped through the window. I'll go and see. Little Master, stay and be careful of that Saint Girl."
She turned around and jumped down the stairs, leaving Miaoyuan and Qingling looking at each other.
"They..." Miao Yuan hesitated to speak.
Qing Ling slowly lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment. Without saying anything, he just spread out his hands and looked at his empty palms.
——Shang Changheng was waiting for this opportunity.
There was someone in this room just now who was deliberately let out by Shang Changheng.
Qing Ling walked forward expressionlessly, suddenly raised his hand and opened the door. In an instant, talismans rose up around him, and the white fog that trapped the people in the room moved away obediently.
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