Chapter 25
The morning mist lingered, shrouding the pedestrians on the street in a hazy haze.
It was still early, and there were few people in the city. The old woman walked back silently with the loaded carriage. When she passed the corner, she suddenly heard a whistle.
Dozens of black-clad knights fell from the sky, their swords flashing coldly, heading straight for the carriages.
The old woman lost her voice in panic and tried to escape, but when she turned around, she saw a knife pressed against her chest. Holding the knife was a man.
Bai Lang took off his mask and said to the old woman, "Are you a shopping shopper for the Hong Kong Pavilion?"
"Yes, yes, yes...Sir, please don't kill me." The old woman raised her hands and bowed, trembling with fear.
Bai Lang put away his knife, walked closer to the old woman, and said, "Have you ever thought about leaving the Hong Kong Coliseum?"
The old woman was stunned for a moment, her face showing pain. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Bai Lang repeatedly: "Please, sir, let me go, please, sir..."
"Oh? You don't want to leave?"
There was a cry in the old woman's voice. She kept kowtowing but didn't say anything.
Bai Lang looked at her, pondered for a moment, and said, "If I could remove the mark of the red leaf flower from your body, would you be willing to leave?"
The old woman stopped, stunned. A strange expression appeared on her face, tears still on her eyes. She suddenly looked around, and finally fixed her eyes on Bai Lang.
The old woman hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke in a whisper: "How can we solve this? Does the lord have any solution?"
Bai Lang squatted down and patted the old woman's shoulder. He said to her, "I know you have no choice. After you are released, leave Mingjing and go away. Don't come back."
The old woman nodded vigorously and said with tears in her eyes: "Okay, okay, okay..."
Bai Lang formed a seal with his hands and took out a yellow talisman from his inner lapel. He then placed it on the old woman's chest.
The old woman's breathing quickened, and the veins on her neck began to show. The dark red color spread all the way to her chest and extended to the palms of her hands.
Under the yellow talisman that Bai Lang held between his two fingers, the sound of his heartbeat rose and fell powerfully, and the spell on the talisman paper appeared. Circles of gold mixed with turbid black seeped from the old woman's chest to Bai Lang's fingers.
An evil flower gradually blossomed on Bai Lang's chest. The mark of the red leaf flower was removed. It was just transferred from one person to another.
Bai Lang let go, and the talisman spontaneously combusted and dissipated.
He stood up, put his cloak on the old woman, and told her to go quickly.
Qiu Niang discovered that the method to remove the brand was to exchange one life for another. She exchanged her own life for the red leaf flower brand on Gu Luoyan's body, proving the method's effectiveness.
Now it is used by Bai Lang.
The old woman knelt and bowed deeply. Tears streamed down her face, yet she dared not utter a sound. She stood up, took a scarlet leaf from her bosom, and placed it in Bai Lang's hand. Finally, she said to him, "Take care, my dear." Then she strode away, disappearing into the morning mist, never to return.
The surrounding black-clad crowd quickly moved after the old woman left. Peach wood swords, talisman paper, and various magical instruments were loaded onto the shopping cart.
The food covered the container, which was then covered with linen and tied tightly. Bai Lang then grabbed the reins of the skinny horse.
He bowed to the people around him to express his aspirations.
Someone in black wiped his tears, but in the end he said nothing. The horse set off, Bai Lang changed his clothes, drove into the alley, and entered the back door of the Red Pavilion.
The vermilion door opened, and an unpleasant fragrance wafted towards us.
The carriage moved forward, Shiro following beside it. Suddenly, a gaze descended from the sky, illuminating him from head to toe.
Bai Lang's heart stirred, but he continued to walk forward silently, still holding the reins. Soon, the gaze faded, and he realized he had gotten away with it. The brand was both a lock and a key. Anyone without the brand would be instantly noticed by the owner if they entered the Red Pavilion.
·
The carriage passed through the various kitchens of the Hong Kong Coliseum, then entered a courtyard. Bai Lang pushed open the door. Everything inside the house remained the same, with a thin layer of dust on the wooden furniture.
Bai Lang unloaded the things from the carriage, and soon the wheels began to make noise again. The people followed the carriage further and further away.
An hour later, there was a noise in the cupboard. The door, carved with a spring bird, opened. The bottom panel had vanished. Qiu Niang walked in front, Guan Qing and Gu Luoyan behind. The three of them emerged and closed the cupboard.
This is an uninhabited courtyard.
The entire layout was similar to that of an ordinary Jizi courtyard. This was the room where Concubine Jue committed suicide.
Qiu Niang was called in to clean the house after Li Puzi's death. It was at that time that she discovered that there were no red leaf flowers in the house.
So he told Gu Luoyan that after the white cat delivered the message, he had a plan.
Gu Luoyan and Qiu Niang went to the side room to move out the things that Bai Lang had placed there.
Guan Qing took out cinnabar, ground ink, and began to write on the talisman paper.
The sticky rice retrieved from the temple was scattered around the corners of the house, and red ropes were tied to the beams. Gu Luoyan and Qiu Niang each took a peach wood sword. The hunt was about to begin.
A multicolored banner stood in the center of the room. Guan Qing sat down and closed his eyes. The banner fluttered without wind.
The small bell tied to the rope began to make crisp sounds, and the little mice made of paper money were caught by the wind and began to chase around the colorful banners.
Gu Luoyan and Qiu Niang stood on the left and right respectively, staring with bated breath, not daring to be distracted.
The sound of the bell became louder and louder, and after a while, finally, a few rustling sounds were heard in the subtle corner of the room.
A hole appeared in the wallpaper blocking the outside, revealing a rat hole in the corner. Then a puff of black smoke rose from it, and a huge black rat appeared. Its red eyes rolled, and it tried to retreat back into the rat hole.
Unfortunately, Glutinous Rice started to emit white smoke and the room was sealed.
The colorful banners in the room never stopped fluttering, and the paper mice on them never stopped fluttering.
It seemed as if there was an invisible force pulling the black rat over there.
Seeing that she couldn't escape, another burst of black smoke appeared, and the rat woman appeared. She pounced on Guan Qing who was meditating with her fangs and claws.
The red rope on the beam lit up and hung down from the top like a snake, hitting the woodlice.
Qiu Niang moved first, with red ropes wrapped around her sides. She raised the wooden sword and stabbed at the woodlice.
But what was stabbed was just a ball of black mist.
The red rope flew over and wrapped around the mouse woman's waist. The next moment, her robe loosened and her body turned into countless mice and ran away in all directions.
Gu Luoyan ran over and swung his sword. The wooden sword hit the mouse at his feet, and the mouse turned into a ball of gray smoke.
Rats were scurrying underfoot and on wooden objects.
The red ropes hanging from the top trapped some of them, and more came to attack.
A bunch of rats climbed up the red rope, and the glowing red rope gradually lost its magic. The rats climbed to the beams, then suddenly jumped down, trying to bite the faces of several people in the room.
Gu Luoyan raised his sword and swung it upwards. The tip of the sword became increasingly blunt.
This wooden sword is not as good as the one Guan Qing gave her before, which has been carefully tempered.
I'm afraid it won't last too long.
Countless mice turned into ashes under the wooden sword. As one wave subsided, a new wave surrounded them.
The swarm of rats running around noticed that the two people swinging the swords were exhausted, and suddenly changed their previous behavior and began to attack the people aggressively. The rats climbed onto the backs of their own kind one after another, biting their tails and hands and feet, forming a rat wall, and were about to fall on Gu Luoyan.
A strange female voice rang out from the rat wall, first with a sharp laugh, then with a mocking tone:
"Guji, Guji, the master was looking for you, and you came here on your own!"
"I thought you were capable, but that's all. Then let me eat you and relieve my master's worries!"
Some rats in the rat wall squeaked a few times and turned into black mist, pressing towards Gu Luoyan first.
Gu Luoyan was about to swing his sword when he suddenly heard a voice beside his ear:
"Hold your breath. This smoke will bring you sickness."
The sound disappeared in a flash, and Gu Luoyan pointed his sword at the Rat Wall, so he did as he was told.
Just as the terrifying thousand-faced rat was about to strike down, a soft fluorescent light lit up first.
A huge calico cat emerged from nowhere, its pupils erect, and it waved its claws to grab the rat wall.
Almost instantly, the rat wall collapsed, and the rats fled in all directions, no longer having any human wisdom.
The giant cat pounced down lightly, then jumped up again. It fixed its eyes on a spot where the rats were running and bit them. All the rats in the house turned into smoke in an instant, leaving only a fat rat appearing where the giant cat pounced.
The colorful banners waving in the house suddenly stopped and the sound of the bells stopped.
The fat rat seemed to be stunned and hesitated for a moment.
The calico cat bit it and immediately turned into a wisp of smoke.
The voice that had echoed in Yu Gu Luoyan's ears spoke again: "Gu Luoyan, it's time."
So the woman rushed forward tacitly, and before the rat's eyes could turn, she pointed the peach wood sword at its chest.
Gu Luoyan gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands and stabbed downwards with all his strength.
Blood mixed with the screams of rats.
The rat's head finally revealed a woman's head, and she cursed fiercely: "Gu Luoyan, the master will not let you go!"
She died after she had finished speaking. The rat, pierced by the sword, went limp and emitted a foul odor.
Guan Qing, who had been concentrating with her eyes closed, frowned, then opened them. She formed a seal with her hands, drawing all the foul smell and foul air into the colorful banner.
Guan Qing said in a deep voice: "Such a foul smell, this monster must have eaten a lot of people."
Then there was a sound of gnashing teeth.
Nian Qing appeared out of nowhere, her hands and feet resting on a wooden table not far away. Her eyes turned into animal pupils, staring at Guan Qing viciously.
During the standoff, Gu Luoyan turned around and saw Nian Qing. Her eyes trembled for a moment, and just as she was about to speak, Nian Qing pointed a finger at her and said, "Dirty."
The green smoke was covered with bone smoke, and in the blink of an eye, the blood stains on her hands, face, and clothes were cleaned up, and a refreshing fragrance came out.
The fox's ears and tail appeared, and Nian Qing's body was tense as if he could jump up at any time.
The sudden arrival of a piece of arm interrupted her fierceness.
Gu Luoyan's hands circled her neck, and then her soft body came close to her, and Gu Luoyan's face pressed against Nian Qing.
The fox ears with their fur standing up drooped down, and Nian Qing's face showed surprise, and then quickly turned red.
Those vigilant eyes had not yet recovered and still maintained their animal look.
Nian Qing's hands and feet relaxed, and he fell into Gu Luoyan's arms.
"Gu Luoyan..." She was confused and it was the person next to her who spoke.
"Nianqing, I'm so glad to see you're okay."
Without loosening her arms, Gu Luoyan smiled and moved away a little. She looked at Nian Qing, and Nian Qing also looked at her.
"Have you healed your injury? Are you still feeling unwell?" Gu Luoyan asked anxiously.
But when the words reached Nian Qing's ears, they automatically slowed down, became silent, and became unclear.
She only saw Gu Luoyan's eyes reflecting her own, a face as beautiful as spring.
Then Nian Qing realized what position she was in and immediately relaxed her strength. Nian Qing opened her arms and hugged Gu Luoyan, and she buried her head in Gu Luoyan's chest.
She laughed and used her body to push Gu Luoyan down. However, she changed the direction of her body while falling, so that she was cushioned underneath and fell together with Gu Luoyan.
"Gu Luoyan, I miss you so much!"
Nian Qing's heart was filled with joy. She rubbed her face here and there, holding Gu Luoyan tightly and unwilling to let go.
After all, this was presented by Gu Luoyan himself.
Nian Qing completely forgot about Guan Qing's threats and just acted like a spoiled child.
Gu Luoyan let her "make trouble" under him, and thinking of the tense scene just now, he explained: "I invited Taoist Guan to deal with the madam. Nianqing, she is not a bad person."
The satisfied fox beneath him moved his head and said obediently, "Okay. Got it."
Then he added, with a hint of grievance in his voice: "Where have you been these days? I can't smell you. If the rat smell wasn't so bad today, I would have come to take a look. Otherwise, I would have missed you again."
Her heart was filled with bitterness, but she found it difficult to speak. Gu Luoyan looked at the person below her, a dark flash in her eyes, and then she patted Nian Qing's shoulder, only to see Nian Qing reluctantly let go of her hand.
Gu Luoyan sat up from Nian Qing and looked at him. Her hand slowly moved from Nian Qing's arm to his cheek. "You saved me today. How do you want me to repay you?"
Nian Qing was lost in thought as he looked at the person before him. A buzzing sound appeared in his head, and he could not remember anything.
Gu Luoyan looked at her, and those eyes seemed to be able to see through her heart.
She said to her, "Can I repay Nianqing with a good night with you?" Gu Luoyan wrapped her fingers around Nianqing's fox ears.
It itched, and it felt like it was scratching Nian Qing's chest.
·
Xue Yi and Chun Tao bathed Gu Luoyan, who splashed water, stirring up ripples. The water droplets slid down her arms into her body, creating a shimmering pattern.
Qiu Niang led Nian Qing, who had cleaned his body, to a place in the secret passage.
The door opened and Qiu Niang stopped. She bowed to Nian Qing and motioned him to go in.
The simple rest room was covered with velvet carpets and sandalwood was swirling around it.
The couch was piled high with soft pillows and silk.
The person who had been waiting for a long time now appeared behind the curtain, and Nianqing saw a beautiful silhouette.
The bone pipe was lit, she took a puff and exhaled.
Then he knocked his pipe three times beside the bed.
Gu Luoyan softened her voice and called her softly, "Nianqing, come here."
My heart is pounding.
Nianqing lifted the curtain.
A strange fragrance came.
I know she belongs to me tonight.
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