Chapter 112 It looks a lot like a dog.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuanyuan stopped and looked at him suspiciously: "You know? Didn't you just say you'd never seen it before?"
“I have never seen the actual object, but…” Duan Lansheng seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking at her, the shadows of leaves reflected in his pupils: “There is a place where you might find records of it.”
Lu Yuanyuan quickly realized why he had that expression.
Because the place Duan Lansheng took her to was actually a secret room located in the Sword Sect's Myriad Swords Pavilion.
The seven peaks of Mount Shu each have their own specializations. In the early stages of joining a sect, disciples from other clans did indeed attend classes together. Only after they became direct disciples of a particular sect would they delve into more in-depth and specialized content according to their cultivation direction; sword cultivators would practice qi cultivation and swordsmanship, alchemy cultivators would study medicine and refine elixirs, and so on.
Each peak has its own library. The Sword Sect's is called the Ten Thousand Swords Library. It has a vast collection of books, including the evolution of sword manuals and saber techniques since the sect's founding, collections of mental scriptures, annotations and insights from senior masters, guides to selecting swords, methods for maintaining sword blades, and more.
The Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion is seven stories high, six above ground and one below. Its exoskeleton and main gate are crafted from black iron, giving it an ancient and solemn appearance. Neatly arranged bookshelves stand tall. At this hour, it is completely deserted, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. As you walk by, it feels as if even your own breath is absorbed into this sea of books.
The place Duan Lansheng took her to was the basement level.
The pearls embedded in the walls emitted a soft glow, illuminating the surroundings. This underground study contained mostly obscure and miscellaneous notes. Compared to the more popular journals and personal reflections, these were practically ignored, hence their placement in this most inconveniently accessible location.
Because it rarely gets sunlight, it's noticeably colder and more gloomy here than outside. The distinctive smell of aged paper and ink wafts through the air.
Lu Yuanyuan looked around. She had been to the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion before, but this was her first time entering the basement. Walking inside, she saw that many bookshelves were not full, the collection of books was sparse, and the books were askew and covered in thick dust, indicating that very few people usually came here. There were even two outdated tables against the wall.
However secluded it may be, this place is still filled with books about sword cultivation. What did Duan Lansheng bring her here for?
Duan Lansheng walked ahead of her, his back straight. Noticing that she hadn't followed and was instead standing still in thought, he turned around and softly gestured, "Come over here."
Lu Yuanyuan snapped out of her daze, took a step to follow, turned the corner, and walked to the innermost part of the basement. There she saw several bookshelves placed against the wall, which were no different from the ones she had seen along the way.
Under her questioning gaze, Duan Lansheng stood in front of one of the bookshelves, reached out and pulled it down forcefully, revealing a section of floorboards. Then, he squatted down, inserted the blade of his sword into the gap in the wooden planks, and pried it open with a skillful pry.
With a "click," a corner of the floorboards lifted up. This seemingly ordinary corner held a hidden secret. Dust billowed in the wind, swirling wildly, and the wooden plank was slowly lifted with a drawn-out "creak," revealing a dark hole.
Lu Yuanyuan was extremely surprised. She took a step forward and saw a small room below the cave entrance. There weren't many things there, just two wicker boxes. She couldn't help but exclaim, "There's actually a secret room here? What's in there?"
Duan Lansheng nodded, then shook his head, and said, "The box is full of books. I've glanced through them, and they shouldn't be books from Mount Shu."
How do you know it's not a book from Mount Shu?
Duan Lansheng looked at her: "What I saw contained unknown cultivation techniques and some plants I've never heard of before. I've never seen these things in Mount Shu. I haven't seen the things you asked me about either, so I immediately thought of this place. Maybe you can find the answer there."
Lu Yuanyuan recalled her guess about the origin of the azure plant and swallowed slightly: "You've always known there's a secret room here?"
“No, I only discovered it by chance after I came back this time.” Duan Lansheng placed the wooden board against the wall, his elbows resting on his knees, his eyes lowered, the bright light of the pearl shining on his face, alternating between dimness and light: “The things that were cleared out this time have all been temporarily placed on the sixth floor of the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion and are under strict guard. The books and scrolls that were originally there have to be moved to other places with spare space. Yesterday, I was clearing out some bookshelves in the basement to put things in when I accidentally discovered that this floor is hollow.”
Lu Yuanyuan was slightly taken aback, but then she understood.
The "things that were cleared out" that Duan Lansheng mentioned were the items that Shushan had moved out of Yin Xiaozhu's residence, mainly books, letters, and other such items. Because they were numerous and varied, and involved important matters, it was inappropriate to put them anywhere else, so the Shushan sect leader ordered that these items be temporarily placed on the top floor of the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion.
The Myriad Swords Pavilion was originally open to all disciples, but now a rule has been set that no one except the direct disciples can enter or leave, not even the disciples serving as servants.
The books and scrolls that were originally on the seventh floor had to be moved elsewhere. Since the servants who were supposed to do the work couldn't get in, the tasks of cleaning, tidying up the bookshelves, and clearing out the clutter naturally fell to the personal disciples of the Sword Sect.
The basement level is rarely visited, so the air is stagnant and the dust is thicker than elsewhere, making it time-consuming and laborious to clean. It's obvious that a direct disciple would be the least willing to clean this level. Only someone like Duan Lansheng, a rare individual who has never employed servants and is used to taking care of himself, would take on this task without complaint.
Therefore, he should be the only one who accidentally discovered this secret room.
Lu Yuanyuan ran her fingertips across the rough wooden floor and asked the crucial question: "When did you discover this place? Have you told anyone else that there's a secret room here?"
“It happened last night. I didn’t intend to tell anyone.” Duan Lansheng paused slightly, his long eyelashes fluttering as he looked at her intently. “I never intended to hide it from you. You are the only person besides me who knows about this place right now.”
Perhaps it was just my imagination, but he seemed to emphasize the word "only" even more, and his eyes were fixed on her without blinking, which inexplicably reminded me of some animals that think they are behaving very well and run up to humans to show off their plumage and curry favor.
Lu Yuanyuan's lips twitched, suppressing the strange and inexplicable association that was forming in her mind: "Oh."
She turned her head, stared at the hole below, and began to ponder.
This secret room is indeed very suspicious. Should we hide the box in a storage ring and then take it out to examine it more closely?
No, that won't do. She may seem free now, but she's still being watched by many eyes, and she's still staying at the guesthouse on Danqing Peak. Besides, if the person who kept the books suddenly returns, she'll be in trouble.
Almost no one comes to this basement, and two boxes of books... that's not much.
Lu Yuanyuan made a quick decision. She sat at the cave entrance with her legs dangling down, estimated the height, and said, "I want to go down and take a look."
Just now, seeing that she didn't react much to his words, a hint of disappointment flashed in Duan Lansheng's eyes. However, seeing that she was about to go down, he quickly came back to his senses and took the initiative to say, "It's too dark down there. I'll go down and light a lamp. We can search together; the two of us will be faster."
Lu Yuanyuan stopped, without turning around, and said softly, "Don't follow me."
Her tone wasn't fierce, but it seemed to have struck a nerve with Duan Lansheng. He paused, his outstretched hand stopping.
"You stay up there and keep watch for the wind."
Lu Yuanyuan added a sentence, then leaped down, landing as lightly and silently as a cat.
The secret room was indeed very small. Lu Yuanyuan placed the lamp in the corner and carefully lifted the lid of the wicker box. Even though she was holding her breath and squinting, the dust made her cough. Inside the box were indeed heavy scrolls. After the dust settled, Lu Yuanyuan picked up a book and quickly began to flip through it.
Just as Duan Lansheng said, every page of the book contained illustrations of medicinal and poisonous substances that she did not recognize. It not only had detailed illustrations, but also textual descriptions of their effects, places of growth, and meridians of tropism, making it seem like a "Compendium of Materia Medica" from another world.
Time slipped by unnoticed, and when Lu Yuanyuan reached the last book at the bottom of the box, her hand suddenly paused.
The books in the box were almost all the same thickness, but this one felt different. When I took it out, I found that it was missing many pages.
Ancient books were all bound with thread, so tearing off a page or two wouldn't be noticeable. But when so many pages are missing, it's really hard not to notice. Besides, the person tearing the book was quite rough; the binding threads were loosened and broken into several pieces.
What she was looking for was most likely a drug or poison with special effects. To save time, she had been skipping over anything irrelevant to the topic when she opened the book. But this book was far too strange. Lu Yuanyuan laid it open on her lap, opened the first page, and was immediately shocked.
Because the first thing it records is a method for creating ghost infants and conditioning the body.
Lu Yuanyuan quickly flipped through a few pages; they were all filled with lewd content. The more she read, the faster her heart pounded, and cold sweat began to seep from her palms.
Such bizarre things are definitely not something that Mount Shu should have. Not to mention Mount Shu, the entire cultivation world would never accept such evil and heretical practices. No wonder they have to hide these books away and not let them see the light of day.
Unfortunately, because the other party had completely torn off the entire theme, she couldn't determine what part was missing.
Who is the person who hoards and tears up the books?
Yin Xiaozhu?
That's not entirely unreasonable. First, Yin Xiaozhu is a disciple of Danqing Peak, so he deliberately hid the item in the Sword Sect. If the item were ever discovered, everyone would assume it was hidden by someone from the Sword Sect, and had nothing to do with him.
Secondly, he's a big bad guy, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to hide such evil books.
But for no apparent reason, a vague sense of unease told her that something was wrong.
Yin Xiaozhu is a very meticulous person. She, who was betrayed by him and still happily counted his money for almost four years, is a living example. If he wants something to disappear, he will never leave any handle or trace.
A person's style of doing things permeates every aspect of their life, big and small, and manifests itself unconsciously. For example, this book; if it were Yin Xiaozhu, he certainly wouldn't have torn the stitching so obviously—that's a subconscious habit.
Lu Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment, then put the book aside. She had already finished looking through this box. She quickly began searching through the second box.
However, even after flipping through all the diagrams, she still couldn't find what she was looking for.
What she was looking for wasn't among these books?
Was it all just a coincidence?
Lu Yuanyuan gritted her teeth, a strong sense of unwillingness gripping her. Why was it that even though she felt she had grasped the clue, she could only watch it vanish in her palm?
Just then, the shadow hanging over her head deepened, and she suddenly came to her senses.
Seemingly noticing that she was lost in thought and wouldn't respond to his calls, Duan Lansheng came down as well. He squatted down in front of her, anxiously examining her expression: "Yuanyuan, what happened?"
Lu Yuanyuan let out a breath and put the book back in the box: "It's nothing, I don't find what I'm looking for here, let's go."
Duan Lansheng seemed to want to say something, but his attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere. He grabbed her wrist and fixed his gaze on her fingers: "Your hands are covered in dust, and so is your face."
Lu Yuanyuan then realized that all ten of her fingers were covered in blackish-gray dust. Although there was no mirror, she guessed her face wasn't much better than a cat with a grimy face. But who could leave a place like this completely clean? Lu Yuanyuan dejectedly withdrew her hands: "Just dust."
But she couldn't pull her hand back. Duan Lansheng gripped her wrist tightly and lowered his head. The tip of a person's nose is usually a little cooler than other parts of their body, and his was no exception. His delicate, slightly cool nose pressed against her palm, and he took a few deep, slow sniffs.
It looks a lot like a dog.
No, it's not that they look like foxes; foxes are actually canines.
Feeling the scorching heat on her palm, yet unable to pull her hand away, Lu Yuanyuan's expression changed, and she angrily said, "Duan Lansheng!"
This bastard! She was so angry she wanted to slap him, but even with her fingers tightening, she only managed to grip his chin, making it seem as if she was actively slapping his head. She had no choice but to kick him to vent her anger. Unexpectedly, Duan Lansheng didn't dodge, enduring several kicks before finally lifting his head from her palm and concluding, "It's not dust."
Lu Yuanyuan, who was initially furious, paused for two seconds before pausing to ask, "What?"
"This is ashes, the ashes left after a fire."
Taking advantage of her distraction, Duan Lansheng carefully wiped her palms and fingers clean with his sleeve. Lu Yuanyuan glanced down, feeling slightly annoyed, and withdrew her hand.
It turned out he smelled the peculiar scent from her hands that had been touching the book; she had thought he had suddenly fallen ill.
That's a dog's nose.
Despite being kicked several times without mercy by her, Duan Lansheng showed no anger. He glanced at her before turning his gaze to the box beside him and taking out a book. Judging from the speed at which he flipped through the pages, he wasn't carefully reading what was written inside. Soon, two tall stacks of books had piled up on the floor.
Lu Yuanyuan wiped her palms again and again, and couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking for?"
"I want to confirm something."
A moment later, Duan Lansheng stopped and picked up the books he had chosen. Lu Yuanyuan, disregarding everything else, leaned over to take a look. Upon categorizing them, she was surprised to find subtle differences in the paper of the two stacks of books. The ones on the left were noticeably yellowed, with slight ink stains, while the two on the right were clearly brand new.
Duan Lansheng turned the old book to the back, ran his fingertips over the back cover, and gently rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, which indeed turned blackish-gray.
Lu Yuanyuan stared at his hands, her thoughts racing. She murmured, "These books survived a fire? Were they rescued from a blaze? Could the newly copied books have been damaged by fire and had to be re-transcribed? But, was there a fire at Mount Shu?"
Duan Lansheng turned his head to look at her face, which was so close to his: "It did happen once."
Lu Yuanyuan's heart tightened, and she moved closer to him: "When did this happen?"
Duan Lansheng looked into her eyes. Perhaps because so many years had passed and his memory was hazy, he paused for a long time before continuing, "Eleven years ago, there was a fire at the Wanjianpu Pavilion that burned down several floors."
Eleven years ago?
Eleven years ago, Duan Lansheng had already become a disciple of the Shushan Sect.
Eleven years ago, Yin Xiaozhu was just a little monster, trapped in Princess Manjushri's golden cage.
In other words, if these books really did survive the fire, then they must have been brought to Shushan and placed here at least eleven years ago.
They certainly couldn't have been hidden by Yin Xiaozhu.
The trail went cold once again.
Could it be that these books are really unrelated to the answers she's looking for, and that what she's found is just the dark secrets of some unrelated person?
Or perhaps she was mistaken, and these books had nothing to do with the fire?
Duan Lansheng looked at her face, opened his mouth as if to speak, but before he could say anything, she stood up abruptly, suppressing her emotions: "I understand. Let's restore this place and go out first."
.
That night.
On Danqing Peak, outside a secluded and dimly lit abode with its lamps extinguished, Lu Yuanyuan observed for a long time. After the patrolling disciples left, she silently slipped inside along the base of the wall.
This was once the residence of Master Xugu.
Since it had not yet been proven that Master Xugu was dead, Mount Shu had a strict rule forbidding disciples from trespassing into the master's room. However, the master of the room was nowhere to be found, and she entered the hall with almost no obstacles.
Duan Lansheng mentioned the fire eleven years ago, which still bothered her. But Duan Lansheng was too young then to remember much, and she didn't want him to see through her secrets. After shaking off Duan Lansheng under some pretext, she secretly inquired and actually found out some details.
It is said that due to the dry weather and the presence of flammable materials inside, the fire spread extremely quickly, burning half the sky red and alarming the entire Sword Sect. Everyone rushed to fight the fire. Some Sword Sect disciples, seeing that the building was full of precious documents about to be destroyed, even rushed in, hoping to save as many as possible, almost losing their lives in the process.
Fortunately, on the night of the fire, Master Xugu happened to be reading in the building and hadn't gone far when his reckless disciple pulled him out.
...
The moment Lu Yuanyuan heard the name Master Xugu, her nerves were jolted.
She knew she had no evidence, yet she grasped at a baseless possibility, which was utterly absurd. Master Xugu may very well have simply saved someone on a whim.
But after experiencing so much, hearing this name again inevitably set off alarm bells in Lu Yuanyuan's mind.
Was it really just a coincidence that Master Xugu appeared in that area that night?
Ever since that azure plant appeared, Lu Yuanyuan has always felt that an invisible thread connects her past and present lives. Some things that have always been shrouded in mist are now within reach, and she runs through this fog, trying to touch the boundary.
She didn't want to let go of even the slightest possibility. Even if it all came to nothing, it was still a definite outcome, and she wouldn't waste her time on the wrong path in the future.
Actually, upon closer examination, it's not necessarily a complete loss. Master Xugu has always been quite suspicious of Yin Xiaozhu's identity; she must know something she doesn't, and perhaps useful evidence can be found in her residence.
Lu Yuanyuan arrived outside the bedroom and was about to climb through the window when she suddenly sensed a very faint breathing sound in the quiet night.
Someone's there!
The next instant, her lips were suddenly covered forcefully.
“Yuan Yuan, it’s me.”
Lu Yuanyuan froze, her anger dissipating, and her struggles ceased. She raised her hand and pressed the other person's hand down hard, quickly freeing herself. Looking back, she indeed saw Duan Lansheng under the moonlight.
Duan Lansheng looked down at her and said, "I knew you would come out."
Lu Yuanyuan clenched her fists: "You were following me?!"
Duan Lansheng paused for a moment, then said frankly, "It wasn't following you. I've been watching your window outside the Qingzhufeng Inn all night."
Lu Yuanyuan was both shocked and furious. Her expression changed slightly, and the word "pervert" flashed through her mind. How could he talk about such a shameless act in such a natural tone, like "I'm just going for a walk tonight"?
She backed away warily, her mind racing with all sorts of possibilities, and glared at him fiercely: "What exactly do you want? Are you trying to find fault with me?"
His blunt, barbed words were like invisible daggers pressed against his throat. In the darkness, she was like a frightened bird, retreating whenever he approached. Duan Lansheng noticed this and stopped pushing forward, lowering his voice: "I'm just very worried about you."
Worried about her?
Duan Lansheng continued, "I'm not here to find fault with you. I just want to tell you that whatever you want to do, you can tell me, and I will definitely help you and stand with you through thick and thin."
That sounds familiar.
The last time Duan Lansheng said those words to her was in the medicine hut, when she lured him into the scheme.
She almost ruined him and left him with nothing, yet he didn't learn his lesson at all. Didn't he see what kind of person she was?
That's really stupid.
Perhaps noticing that her hostile expression had softened slightly, Duan Lansheng turned to the side and said good-naturedly, "Go inside first, don't stand here, the patrolling disciples may pass by at any time."
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