Chapter 36 Peony Soul Identity
Shao Yanzhe looked at the peony leaves very close to his head, then glanced at the crooked branches. He wondered when Madam Yin, who was possessing the peony, had come to her senses and how long she had been in that crooked position.
If you've read through Leng Zhijie's memories from beginning to end, I hope Madam Yin doesn't go berserk.
He tentatively asked, "Madam Yin, you saw everything?"
Madam Yin glanced at him with her cold eyes and said, "I saw it all! I saw everything! It actually led him astray!"
"You all deserve to die!"
"Die, all of you!"
Her face contorted in pain, the peony branches and leaves rustled, and roots emerged from the ground.
Unlike the previous peony flower riot, this time Madam Yin was rational and clear-headed, and she manipulated the roots to swing them down at Shao Yanzhe and the others.
Seeing this, Shao Yanzhe quickly dodged the tree roots that were slamming down from above, and Zhou Jiming and the other two fled in a sorry state.
"Brother Shao! Quickly think of a way!" Chen Yunhe cried out for help, rolling to the right as the roots brushed against his back, snatching away a piece of torn cloth.
"Brother Shao! Help! Quickly use the previous method!" Zhou Jiming also shouted for help. He was stronger than the others and could barely avoid the roots.
Shao Yanzhe was equally disheveled. His health wasn't great to begin with, and he was barely holding on thanks to the literary energy within him. With quick hands and eyes, he grabbed Liu Mingyuan by the back of the neck and dragged him backward, saving him from having his legs broken by the roots.
“No! It’s not elegant enough!” he replied loudly.
At the same time, he looked at Leng Zhijie. He originally thought that Leng Zhijie had been killed by the roots long ago, but he was surprised to see that he was tied up properly. Although his face did not look good, he was not injured. And the roots did not seem to be heading towards the well.
This shouldn't be happening!
Logically speaking, Leng Zhijie should be the most hated among these people, and Madam Yin should be targeting him first.
Even if it were a full-scale crackdown, Leng Zhijie shouldn't be completely unaffected like this.
"Meow!" Xuan Yao called out from the well railing.
Shao Yanzhe decisively grabbed Liu Mingyuan and ran towards the well.
Realizing his intentions, Madam Yin snorted coldly and once again sent a large portion of her roots hurtling towards the two of them.
Shao Yanzhe quickly used his remaining spiritual energy to block the flow of water. Fortunately, they were not far from the well and arrived quickly.
Sure enough, just as the two leaned against the well railing, the roots that were about to fall stopped abruptly, swaying back and forth above their heads, and finally could only leave unwillingly to attack Zhou Jiming and Chen Yunhe.
"Brother Zhou, Brother Chen, come this way!"
Shao Yanzhe shouted a warning, and then a thin root lashed out at him, startling him so much that he fell to the ground.
The slender roots brushed past his head, narrowly missing him.
Zhou Jiming and Chen Yunhe, having received the hint, immediately felt hopeful.
Chen Yunhe reached his limit and was sent flying, but luckily Shao Yanzhe pulled him back.
"Oh! Thank you so much, Brother Shao!"
Chen Yunhe was in a really bad mood, vomiting several mouthfuls of blood in succession, looking much more disheveled than Liu Mingyuan.
Shao Yanzhe breathed a slight sigh of relief. It was at this moment that Zhou Jiming crossed over several roots that were trying to block him and reached the well. He pressed his back against the well railing and began to pant heavily.
The roots lingered half a meter away from the well, wanting to attack but for some reason not crossing that half-meter barrier.
Madam Yin stared at them with a ferocious expression, glancing at the well as if she were lost in thought. She neither continued to control the roots to attack nor retreated.
Immediately, a standoff ensued between the two sides.
After a long silence, Madam Yin finally spoke, unwilling to back down: "Give me Leng Zhijie, and I will not attack you now."
Zhou Jiming and the others turned their gazes to Shao Yanzhe, waiting for his answer.
Leng Zhijie swallowed hard, knowing that her life was in Shao Yanzhe's hands, and her gaze involuntarily turned to him.
Madam Yin's cold, resentful gaze also fell upon him.
Shao Yanzhe, now the center of attention, was a little nervous. He looked at Madam Yin, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm sorry, no."
Madam Yin immediately flew into a rage and was about to attack them without regard for anything else.
"Meow!"
Upon seeing this, Xuan Yao lunged at the roots.
Shao Yanzhe reacted quickly, grabbing Xuan Yao the moment he lunged forward and pulling him into his arms.
He took out the jade hairpin pen, intending to use his remaining literary talent to fight back.
Suddenly, a dazzling beam of light shot out from the shadows of the trees to the east, landing precisely on the root that had been stepped over half a meter away.
With a whoosh, the root seemed to be burned by a beam of light and abruptly retracted back to the ground.
Madam Yin glanced at the east, then looked at Shao Yanzhe and the others with resentment before retracting her roots.
"You're lucky! You won't be so lucky next time we meet!"
After she finished speaking, black mist emanated from around the giant peony. When the mist disappeared, only a peony about half a person's height remained on the ground.
Everyone stared at the peony, knowing that within this peony, which looked similar to other peonies, lay the sleeping Lady Yin.
"Ah! Look at the buildings around us!" Chen Yunhe exclaimed in surprise.
Shao Yanzhe looked around, his pupils suddenly contracting.
As the first ray of sunlight pierced the darkness and fell on the gilded eaves of the courtyard, the shimmering gold suddenly became murky, like carbonized paper, turning into black fragments that peeled off from the eaves.
Immediately afterwards, time seemed to speed up throughout the entire house.
The vibrant colors of the carved beams and painted pillars have faded, revealing the brown wood cores beneath. Pieces of glazed tiles have shattered and are covered with a thick layer of dust. Curtains that sway in the wind are wrapped around the pillars, torn into pieces and scattered in all directions. The floor has collapsed, revealing the soil overgrown with weeds beneath. Vines, as if catalyzed, have spread wildly among the broken stones, tiles, and walls.
This huge, luxurious mansion was reduced to ruins in an instant.
Standing amidst the ruins, everyone felt as if in a dream.
"What, what exactly happened?" Chen Yunhe asked in a trembling voice, seemingly on the verge of tears.
He has faced life and death since last night, and now, seeing this unbelievable scene before him, he is on the verge of collapse.
Shao Yanzhe had a vague guess: "This is probably Madam Yin's method, which can make this house, which was originally in ruins, look intact again at night, in order to attract people to move in."
"I see. Can we leave now?" Chen Yunhe asked excitedly.
He didn't want to stay here any longer!
Shao Yanzhe pointed to his forehead, reminding him, "Have you forgotten the curse on you?"
Chen Yunhe's expression froze, only then belatedly realizing that he still had the Floating World Ephemeral curse on him.
"What should I do? Judging from Madam Yin's behavior just now, she probably won't help me lift the curse on her own." He was somewhat frustrated, and at the same time blamed himself for being so careless!
He was somewhat flustered. He accidentally stepped on a stone and staggered back a few steps. He managed to grab onto a broken stone about half his height so that he wouldn't fall.
"Brother Chen, are you alright?" Shao Yanzhe quickly stepped forward to help him up.
"I'm fine, thank you, Brother Shao."
With his help, Chen Yunhe stood up.
"Huh? There seem to be words on this stone."
Shao Yanzhe glanced at the stone and saw faint characters carved on it.
He squatted down and carefully examined the words on it.
The stone in front of me has a rather strange shape, about half a person's height. Its appearance has been damaged over the years, with many pieces broken off in some places.
The side with the inscription was clearly chiseled flat, and the inscription was somewhat blurry. However, after careful examination, the content of the inscription could still be recognized.
Shao Yanzhe softly read out the words on the 't': "The Tomb of Shen Qiongzhi, erected by Yin Danhuo."
"Shen Qiongzhi? Who is she? And who is Yin Danhuo?" Liu Mingyuan asked in confusion after hearing this.
After pondering for a moment, Shao Yanzhe said, "Yin Danhuo should be Madam Yin's maiden name, but I don't know about Shen Qiongzhi."
At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up: "I seem to have some impression of this Shen Qiongzhi."
Everyone looked over and saw that the speaker was Chen Yunhe.
"Do you know her?" Shao Yanzhe asked.
Chen Yunhe shook his head and then nodded: "I wouldn't say I know her, but I've heard of her. As you know, my family are merchants, and our business covers all over the country."
I once overheard my father and grandfather talking. My father had a marriage agreement with a woman whose family was also merchants. My grandfather knew the head of the woman's family, so the marriage was arranged.
Later, the woman's father died in an accident while traveling as a merchant. The woman's side sent someone to break off the engagement with my father. The person said that the woman had taken a liking to a scholar and did not want to continue the engagement.
The grandfather originally thought they were after the woman's family fortune, so he contacted her to confirm the news and then agreed to cancel the engagement.
The woman's given name is Shen Qiongzhi.
"Are you sure the Shen Qiongzhi you're talking about is the same Shen Qiongzhi as this one?" Liu Mingyuan asked.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yunhe hesitated immediately: "I'm really not sure about this."
Shao Yanzhe said, "It's alright, we can ask Brother Leng. I'm sure he knows."
As he spoke, he looked at Leng Zhijie, who was still bound, and everyone else looked at him as well.
He asked with a gentle expression, "Brother Leng, can you tell us Shen Qiongzhi's identity?"
Leng Zhijie glanced at the tombstone, his eyes flickering, and said, "I don't know."
Shao Yanzhe sighed and said, "Brother Leng, you are very smart. I imagine you have already found some information after all this time. You are very smart, and you should know that telling us the answer is the best choice for you."
Leng Zhijie should be happy to be praised, but she felt a lump in her throat, unable to let go.
He glanced at the people surrounding him; they outnumbered him, and he had no other choice.
Thinking of this, he looked up at Shao Yanzhe and said, "Brother Chen is right. This Shen Qiongzhi is the same Shen Qiongzhi he knows. This house is the former villa of the Shen family, which was the dowry given to Shen Qiongzhi by the old master of the Shen family."
Upon hearing this, Shao Yanzhe frowned: "Wait a minute, this house was a dowry given to Shen Qiongzhi by the old master of the Shen family. What about Madam Yin?"
Since Leng Zhijie had already said it, he simply revealed everything: "Shen Qiongzhi is Yin Danhuo."
Upon hearing this answer, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Shao Yanzhe couldn't help but think of a sentence.
The living dig their own graves, burying my body from yesterday.
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