110. Unkindness
Saint Alan looked very similar to Aji whom Qingling had met before, except that her features were more delicate. She was also dressed like a wandering woman with her long hair tied behind her head. She was holding a dry and yellowed bone flute and standing vigilantly in front of the bed, where a person was sleeping unconscious with little life left in him.
Qingling stood in the fog and Alan couldn't see him.
Shang Changheng's yin energy was too overbearing. He was a fierce ghost that had been evil for thousands of years. He was far from being comparable to these ghost poisons that were raised with resentment and evil spirits. Not to mention the bottles and jars on the table, even the mother poison that Alan raised in his body had become dormant.
Just when Alan was at a loss for what to do, a young man in an apricot brocade robe slowly walked out of the gray fog. He looked gentle and elegant, but Alan's heart sank suddenly. Although he was a living person, with talismans glowing white around him, the yin energy in him was thicker than that of a ghost - and the first time Alan saw him, he knew that he was the one who killed his brother.
Alan held the bone flute tightly in front of the bed, staring at Qingling with eyes like knives, and asked fiercely: "Who are you?"
"Enemy." Qing Ling did not kill right away, but looked around the guest room. When his eyes passed by the cabinet in front of the window, he paused and continued in a light tone, "Your brother is a fool. He dared to kill people on the road, but he didn't know his own weight. He deserved to lose his life. If he hadn't caused trouble first--"
Qingling withdrew his gaze and looked at the pale and barely breathing man behind Alan.
Alan subconsciously took a step forward.
It was a very obvious gesture of protection.
Qingling might not have understood what this meant in the past, but from Alan's expression... he was filled with hatred, perhaps not only because of his brother, but also because of... the man behind her.
Qing Ling continued calmly, "The person behind you wouldn't have ended up like this."
"Shut up!" Alan roared in anger, she wanted to say something else but suddenly stopped.
Because Zhu Yanzhang, who was lying on the couch, woke up. He called out "Alan" hoarsely, his breath was weak, as if he was already exhausted.
"Your Highness..." Alan didn't turn around, but his voice softened a bit, as if to comfort him, "It's okay, Your Highness, I'm here, no one can hurt you!"
Qingling had already walked slowly to the table where Alan had piled bottles and jars. The insects in the lacquer box were motionless as if they had lost their lives, but Qingling still couldn't help but frowning slightly and looking away.
Zhu Yanzhang, who was sitting on the couch, laughed bitterly. He asked with difficulty, "It was you who... helped my brother?"
"It's just a matter of convenience." Qing Ling glanced at him. "You used Gu magic to change people's fate. Actually, it has nothing to do with me. It just happened that I have some...unending grudges with the girl who used Gu."
Zhu Yanzhang's face changed. Alan panicked and turned around. At this moment, Zhu Yanzhang regained his previous expression and gave Alan a forced smile before saying, "If Alan has offended you in any way, I will... apologize to you on her behalf. I wonder if you can just... stop doing that?"
"It's hard to say." Qing Ling answered ambiguously. He had already walked to the window. On the cabinet was an old copper talisman. It was conspicuously old and exquisitely crafted. No one knew what was carved on it. Qing Ling reached out and picked it up, his eyes suddenly froze -
Qing.
The word behind the bronze talisman is "Qing".
There was someone here just now, the window was open, and he escaped through the window. Shang Changheng went to chase this person!
Zhu Yanzhang was struggling to speak. He asked weakly, "What do you want?"
Qing Ling was silent for a moment, then turned around, holding the copper talisman between his two fingers, and said, "This thing... was originally from my clan, but it was accidentally lost many years ago, and we have never found out who stole it. Do you know... who took this thing and ran away from here just now?"
Zhu Yanzhang slowly stood up from the bed. Alan quickly bent down to support him and helped him sit up. At this moment, she no longer mentioned her hatred. She just looked at Zhu Yanzhang and closed her eyes, as if she had swallowed something. She said in a cold voice: "Yes... yes, a Taoist priest from the northwest, who calls himself Fang Yi... He is the prince of the Wuhe tribe in the northwest."
Northwest, west of it, Wuhe tribe.
Qingling suddenly remembered what the coffin maker said that day. People from the northwest broke into the territory of Da Xia, using all kinds of treacherous and sinister means, and slaughtered people at will in Da Xia.
Someone broke the rules and had ties with the imperial court. There was a dispute over the crown prince, foreign small countries... The strange waves between the yin and yang worlds seemed to be entangled together. The chaotic world a thousand years ago and today, a thousand years later, seemed to be returning to the starting point like a reincarnation.
Fang Yi.
Bronze Talisman.
Qing mustard.
This person... is the reason why Shang Changheng exists in the world? Who is he, from the Qing family?
Qing Ling slowly put down his hand and hid his trembling hand that was tightly holding the bronze talisman in his sleeve. He felt lost and out of control. He couldn't help but wonder whether his journey with Shang Changheng would end here... Would Shang Changheng, who had just left, suddenly appear beside him?
"Oh, I see." Qing Ling said softly, his eyes suddenly falling on the man and woman.
Alan stood, bent over, Zhu Yanzhang leaned on her, their hands held together.
One was pale and the other had red eyes.
For Zhu Yanzhang, Alan put away his hatred.
Qing Ling suddenly asked: "Are you two in love?"
Alan looked up sharply, "Naturally, what are you going to do?!"
"Don't be nervous." Qing Ling did not show any killing intention from beginning to end. He asked as if he was chatting with the two of them: "Did he marry you?"
Alan said nothing.
——My great cause has not yet been accomplished, and it is too unfair to ask you to be my concubine. You should stay by my side. When we are done, I will allow you to be the mother of the country.
Qing Ling asked again: "Are you willing to die for him?"
He said this while looking at Alan.
Alan was stunned again, and then suddenly understood the meaning of this sentence.
“What did you say?!” Zhu Yanzhang was the first to speak. He took a few breaths, and there was a hint of gnashing of teeth in his voice. For a moment, he couldn’t even speak clearly: “You…you…”
"Your Highness!" Alan supported him, not caring about anything else, looked up at Qingling and said: "Since it is a grudge between you and me, I am not afraid of death, but I... I want to do one more thing for Your Highness."
Alan, whose natal Gu was silent, knew that she had no chance of winning, but if she died, what would His Highness do?
Qing Ling seemed to be watching an absurd play. He could not laugh, nor did he want to sneer. He just said, "It's up to you."
"Alan..." Zhu Yanzhang's voice was as soft as a mosquito.
"Your Highness, it's okay." Alan comforted him again. She held the bone flute in one hand, suddenly put it to her lips and blew a sharp sound. The mother Gu hidden in her heart was forcibly awakened, and the pain went into her heart, but the flute sound did not stop. Blood oozed from her chest, and a snow-white worm crawled out of her chest - it was the mother Gu she had raised for many years with her body.
Alan stopped and tremblingly used the bone flute to draw a bloody mark on the palm of Zhu Yanzhang's hand. The natal Gu was also half-dead. When Alan picked it up and put it on Zhu Yanzhang's palm, it smelled blood and drilled into the wound.
"My destiny Gu... can, can..." Alan's eyes were blurred, and the sound of rain from the past seemed to ring in his ears. The sound of rain carried the dampness of death and ominousness, and was burned dry by the burning fire. The figure curled up in the fire was burned to ashes, and was blown away by the wind of that year and scattered across the sky and earth -
She's next.
The sickly young man came across mountains and rivers to save the village and her. After many years, when they met again, she was no longer the weak girl she used to be. She had become a saint who held the entire village in her hands - she could help him.
I can help.
Alan leaned against the bed, slid down to the floor, and loosened his grip.
The bone flute fell to the ground and rolled twice.
Qingling was actually delighted when he saw her last look. She used her own life to exchange for Zhu Yanzhang's life once again.
Zhu Yanzhang looked at his palm in disbelief, looking as if he was out of his mind.
Qing Ling suddenly felt bored. He held the copper talisman in his hand and said coldly, "That's enough. No one is watching your show anymore."
Zhu Yanzhang raised his face suddenly, his hatred was genuine. He regained some strength and shouted angrily: "You...what did you say? How could you..."
Qingling looked back with no joy or sadness.
He never intended to let these two people go. One had a blood feud with him, and the other was in a high position. Whoever got away alive would be a threat in the future. But when he saw Alan's eyes, he actually felt pity. From the moment he entered this door, every word he said was a test.
Initially, it was to test Fang Yi's identity, and then -
"You two are in love?"
"Did he marry you?"
"Are you willing to die for him?"
Every response he got from his tentative words made Qingling feel that the scene before his eyes was expected.
How can it be like this when you truly like someone?
There was no marriage, no official status, and when talking about life and death, Zhu Yanzhang never stepped forward and said, "If someone must die, let me do it."
But that doesn't matter anymore. Other people's joys and sorrows have nothing to do with him. Even if he had a moment of sympathy, Qingling just wanted Alan to leave in peace. At least she was happy before she died.
The moment Qing Ling raised his hand, Zhu Yanzhang suddenly roared fiercely: "Why? Why?! He is the prince, he is born with a good life, blessed by heaven, healthy, noble, everyone looks at him and looks up to him! Just because he is lucky?! But I...but what about me?! I am no worse than him! Heaven is unfair, so I can only force justice! I just want to live...I just want to live!"
Qingling was slightly startled.
Zhu Yanzhang's eyes were red, and he suddenly lost his strength after roaring. He asked: "Why should I die?!"
"——But on what basis?"
In the alley, Fang Yi, who was stuck in a dead end due to the gray fog, leaned against the wall and sneered. He looked at the figure standing in the thick fog and asked again, "Why are you so lucky?"
Shang Changheng also laughed, with a sinister look.
"You said..." he asked slowly, "I am lucky?"
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