Chapter 70: Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts.
Chapter 70
The canyon is densely forested, with almost no trace of human habitation.
Shen Suining carried He Hansheng through the woods, her trousers torn by thorns. Both of them smelled strongly of blood, which could attract wild animals in this place. Therefore, she was fully focused and kept her mind on high alert, not daring to relax for a moment.
Along the way, Shen Suining picked some herbs to treat He Hansheng's wounds, which barely stopped the bleeding. She also picked some wild fruits to fill her stomach. She hadn't eaten or drunk anything for a day and a night, and her body was already close to its limit.
But she can't fall down.
Ling Rui and Yan Zhen have not been found yet, and Feng Yu is also missing. She wants to get out of here alive with He Hansheng and then bring He Changxin's remains back to Huadu for burial.
She couldn't die here. This was the belief that kept Shen Suining going.
Around noon, Shen Suining found a mountain spring. She put He Hansheng down, carefully checked his breath to make sure his heart was beating, and then fed him blood again.
After bandaging the wound on her wrist, Shen Suining went to fetch spring water and washed her face to clear her head.
Strange rustling sounds came from the jungle. Shen Suining's eyes sharpened instantly. She drew her short dagger and returned to He Hansheng's side, standing in front of him and watching the direction from which the sound came warily.
The commotion didn't seem like that of any animal or wild beast; it sounded more like that of a person.
Shen Suining plucked two fallen leaves and threw them. The leaves instantly transformed into sharp blades capable of severing branches. She shouted loudly, "Who!"
The figures were getting closer, and judging from the footsteps, there seemed to be more than one.
Shen Suining knew that she might not be able to withstand the attack in her current state. She glanced back at He Hansheng, quickly broke off a nearby bush and covered him with it, then turned around to fight him to the death.
However, when the other person parted the bushes and revealed their face, surprise was evident in both of their eyes after their eyes met.
"Young Master! It's you?!" Ling Rui and Yan Zhen immediately put down their weapons when they saw Shen Suining.
When the two saw the injuries on Shen Suining's body, their expressions immediately changed from surprise to heartache and resentment. "How did you end up in such a sorry state? Who hurt you like this!"
"Let's not talk about that for now," seeing that the two of them were safe and sound, a huge weight was finally lifted from Shen Suining's heart. She almost collapsed to the ground, relieved. "Do you still have any of Jishetang's antidote on you?"
"Yes, yes." Ling Rui quickly took out a small bottle from her bosom and squatted down to feed Shen Suining.
Shen Suining turned her head away, weakly pointing in the direction of He Hansheng, "He was poisoned."
Ling Rui and Yan Zhen looked over and discovered He Hansheng, who was hiding under the bushes.
The two exchanged a glance and asked in unison, "Young Master, what happened? Why are you and Young Lord both in such a terrible state?"
Shen Suining didn't have the strength to explain much. She asked Yan Zhen to give He Hansheng the antidote, while Ling Rui bandaged her wounds. She briefly explained why she was there.
When they learned that she had come to find them, Lingrui and Yanzhen were taken aback.
Seeing the injuries on Shen Suining's body, Ling Rui, who had grown up with her, had never seen Shen Suining in such a disheveled state. Her eyes reddened, and she choked out, "Why trouble you, Young Master, with such a small matter? We are born of heaven and earth, and it is thanks to you, Madam, that we are where we are today. Even if we were to die in the wilderness, we would simply consider it our place of reincarnation. There is really no need for this..."
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Shen Suining frowned and pushed her forehead, interrupting her with displeasure. "Stop putting on that righteous act. You weren't like this when you won my money."
Ling Rui sniffed. "Young Master, one thing is one thing."
Shen Suining ignored her and turned to look at Yan Zhen.
Yan Zhen was much more composed and reserved than Ling Rui. Although she didn't say much, her eyes were a little red at this moment. Shen Suining pretended not to see it and asked her, "How did you get here? Judging from your appearance, you don't seem to have been through the Seven Palaces Formation."
"Seven Palaces Formation? Young Master, you've entered the Seven Palaces Formation?" Yan Zhen exclaimed in surprise, clearly having heard of the Seven Palaces Formation, and thus understanding why Shen Suining and He Hansheng were in such a sorry state.
Shen Suining hummed in agreement, not wanting to say more. "You came down directly from the cliff?"
Yan Zhen nodded, while Ling Rui next to her pulled out two grappling hooks, looking innocent, "With these, it'll be easy to get down from the cliff, right?"
Shen Suining: "..."
Shen Suining looked at the dim-witted Ling Rui with a complicated expression. However, since they were able to borrow tools from that pathless road to get down to the bottom of the cliff, they were quite clever. If they had entered the Seven Palaces Formation, the situation would have been much worse than it is now.
Seeing that Shen Suining's condition was really bad, and that He Hansheng was currently poisoned and unconscious, having lost too much blood, and that his life might be in danger if things dragged on any longer, Yan Zhen said, "We found traces of people in the deep valley. There should be a family not far from this Broken Head Valley. Young Master, why don't we find a place to rest first, and then make further plans?"
Shen Suining thought for a moment and nodded.
Ling Rui and Yan Zhen stood up, one supporting Shen Suining and the other carrying He Hansheng.
The four of them followed the path they had come from, and as evening approached, they indeed saw smoke rising from chimneys in the distance.
"Young Master, look," Ling Rui said, carrying Shen Suining on her back, pointing in the direction of the smoke, "there are houses over there!"
Shen Suining rested on Ling Rui's back for a while, and her mind became much clearer. She saw the thick gray smoke in the distance, realized something was wrong, and asked Ling Rui to put her down.
“Binoculars.” Shen Suining held out her hand, and Ling Rui immediately took out a pair of binoculars and put them in her hand.
Yan Zhen, who was standing to the side, put He Hansheng down and stepped forward to stand next to the two of them. After seeing the smoke in the distance, she also noticed something was wrong. "Normally, the smoke from cooking in a house should be white smoke. This smoke... looks like there's a fire."
Shen Suining held the binoculars and examined the area for a long time before her expression turned serious. "It's Feng Yu and Jiang Yuchu."
She put down her binoculars. "The two of them... are tied up."
When Shen Suining fell into the crack in the Seven Palaces Formation, the stone wall rotated, inexplicably opening up a connection with the Hidden Origin Palace where He Hansheng and Jiang Yuchu were located.
At that time, Shen Fengyu was putting up a desperate fight in the rain of arrows. When he heard Shen Suining fall into the crevice, he was distracted and was wounded in the shoulder by an arrow.
The moment the stone wall opened, He Hansheng rushed in and pulled Shen Suining out of the crack, while Jiang Yuchu pulled the injured Shen Fengyu into the relatively safe Hidden Yuan.
However, Shen Fengyu was injured, and after the stone wall closed, the path of the secret passage changed. Jiang Yuchu was not good at breaking this formation. He originally planned to take Shen Fengyu back outside the formation, but he was drugged by the poisonous smoke released from the cave.
When they woke up, Shen Fengyu had already fainted due to excessive blood loss. The two of them were tied to a huge fire frame, surrounded by firewood and dry grass. The villagers held torches and shouted that they would burn them to death.
Jiang Yuchu noticed that the villagers' clothing and hairstyles were somewhat strange, and even their accents didn't sound like people from this dynasty. He tried to communicate with them, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the shouts of the crowd.
The leader was an elderly man with white hair. His hair was completely white, even the beard on his chin was white, but his face still looked like that of a young man. What was even more strange was that he had heterochromia, one of his eyes was red, and blood vessels spread around the red eye like a spider web.
The old man pondered for a moment, then raised his hand to signal for the torches to be lit. At that moment, several arrows flew through the air, knocking the torches to the ground. Ling Rui, carrying Shen Sui Ning on her back, quickly jumped into the pile of firewood and kicked away the torches that were still burning.
Shen Suining held a short bow in her hand, looked at the panicked villagers, and whispered to the white-haired old man, "Elder, spare their lives."
Upon seeing that two women had barged in, the white-haired old man paused for a moment and gestured to the villagers to calm down.
He stepped forward and looked at Shen Suining, who was dressed in rags and looked disheveled. Her cuffs and trouser legs were covered in blood. "Miss, have you encountered some trouble and come here to seek refuge?"
Shen Suining jumped off Ling Rui, neither admitting nor denying, and knelt on the ground to pay her respects to the white-haired elder.
When she was sealed in the coffin, He Hansheng mentioned that there were many hermits from previous dynasties deep in the Taihang Mountains. Some of them even brought their wives and children into the deep forests hundreds of years ago to avoid disaster. They continued to have offspring here. As more and more people gathered together, they formed a village like a paradise. The villagers here had never left the deep mountains and were unaware of the changes in the outside world. They still preserved the rituals, music and clothing from hundreds of years ago.
They might not be bad at heart; they were just wary of intruders. Therefore, Shen Suining's kneeling was simply an attempt to lower the elders' and villagers' guard against them.
The white-haired elder had probably never left these deep mountains and was unfamiliar with the current etiquette. Seeing Shen Suining kneel, he quickly knelt down to help her up, saying, "If you have any difficulties, please feel free to speak."
Seeing that he had lowered his guard, Shen Suining finally spoke up to explain: "We did not intend to disturb the peace of the elders and everyone else. It is just that three years ago, a close relative of mine died unjustly in front of the Valley of Headless, and his body was never found. We only wanted to find his remains and accidentally entered this place. We hope the elders will not be offended."
Upon hearing Shen Suining's words, the white-haired elder pointed to Jiang Yuchu and Shen Fengyu, who were suspended on the shelf, and asked, "Are these two also your friends?"
“Yes,” Shen Suining said, afraid that he would not believe her. “If the elder does not trust us, I am willing to stay here temporarily in their place. Once they have taken away the remains of my elder, we will disappear from this place completely.”
"Since you dared to venture into the perilous Seven Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation for the sake of the deceased, it is enough to show that you are a person of great loyalty and righteousness." The white-haired elder's eyes showed appreciation, and he laughed twice, ordering the villagers to put Shen Fengyu and Jiang Yuchu down.
Some villagers, more vigilant than not, couldn't help but warn: "Village chief, they are outsiders after all. They are not of our kind, and their intentions are bound to be different. For the sake of our peaceful lives, it's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"
“Hey, this girl already said that they only want to find the remains of their deceased loved ones so that the departed can return to their roots. With such intentions, how bad can they be?” The white-haired elder waved his hand. “Pass on my order: continue to strengthen security and do not allow anyone else to break in.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Suining finally breathed a sigh of relief. She staggered slightly and half-squatted on the ground, using her short bow to support her body.
The white-haired elder watched all this without saying a word, a faint, enigmatic smile playing beneath his gray beard.
Shen Fengyu and Jiang Yuchu were put down. Ling Rui quickly went up to check on Shen Fengyu's condition. When she heard Jiang Yuchu say that she had been poisoned, she quickly put an antidote in her mouth and carried her down from the fire stand.
Jiang Yuchu looked quite disheveled, but upon seeing Shen Suining, he lifted his robes and knelt respectfully, saying in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Madam, for saving my life."
“We’re family, so let’s not stand on ceremony. I should thank you for taking care of Feng Yu,” Shen Suining helped him up and instructed, “Yan Zhen and He Hansheng are outside. Go and meet them. He Hansheng is injured, so take good care of him.”
"Yes, madam."
After arranging things for the others, Shen Suining turned to the white-haired elder, who stood there smiling and gesturing, "Please come this way."
Ling Rui, carrying Shen Fengyu, didn't know what Shen Suining was going to do, and tried to catch up, but was stopped by Shen Suining.
“Take good care of Feng Yu,” Shen Suining turned her head and said in a deep voice, “No one is allowed to follow us.”
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