Chapter 38
Hongli's hand loosened.
A golden fish appeared from the air, spinning and swimming in a spiral shape to fill the empty space on the puppet's chest.
The folded insect wings began to disintegrate into threads, into dots one by one.
Countless small fish touched each other with kisses, lifting the puppet's body until it sat up.
The pupils in the red carp's eyes began to return to their normal shape.
She pointed her finger in front of her, and the air rippled like water.
The ripples in the air touched the little fish and the body of the puppet, and the little fish drilled into the puppet's arms, joints, legs and feet.
Then flesh and blood began to grow from the surface of the dark wood. The chest was sewn up, and the heart that had transformed into wings began to beat.
Guan Qing's face grew on the puppet's head. Soon, the ripples in the air stopped, and all the fish on Guan Qing's body disappeared.
The noisy voices from the surrounding temple fair reached Guan Qing's ears. She opened her eyes, as if she had just had a long sleep.
Hongli stood up and reached out a hand to pull Guan Qing up. She had a warm smile on her face: "Yijin, welcome back."
Guan Qing looked at her blankly. After a while, she finally asked Hong Li, "Master, where are we?"
"I'm visiting the temple fair. Yijin, I want to eat that." Hongli pointed to a stall selling fried fruits and then walked over there.
"Oh... okay, I'll pay." Guan Qing followed and took out her purse. The look in her eyes turned from dark to lively, and she said nothing more.
"How are we going to get back later?" Guan Qing asked Hongli after paying the money.
"Walking back, it's a good opportunity to take a look at the night scenery of Mingjing."
"Master, did the devil run away just now?" Guan Qing put away his purse, took the fried fruit handed to him by Hongli, shook his hands, and blew away the heat.
"Yeah, it ran away." Hongli took a small bite of the fried fruit, a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Then shouldn't we chase him? That devil has great powers and might be a disaster." Guan Qing took a bite of the fried fruit and stuck out his tongue because of the burn, but he still asked worriedly.
"Everything has its cause and effect. Don't worry, she won't cause any trouble."
Hongli looked at Guan Qing beside him and whispered, "Besides, she is at most a demon, not a devil."
"It's not a demon..." The demon in Mingjing is someone else. Guan Qing was stunned, and once again felt annoyed by his own weakness.
Guan Qing fell into deep thought. She quickly finished her fried fruit and followed Hongli sullenly. She clenched her fists and then unclenched them. Finally, she couldn't help but say:
"Master, Yijin wants to become stronger."
Guan Qing's memory last stopped when she was seriously injured by Dou Shiqiu and fell to the ground. She could not remember anything after that.
But she knew it was the master who saved her.
Hongli turned around and looked at her, and her eyes showed the same kind expression as usual.
"The child's bravery is unstoppable. How can a teacher ignore it?"
The red rope stretched out from the two fingers of the red carp and formed a circle around the master and the apprentice.
As a result, everything around is blocked.
Hongli said to Guan Qing, "Yijin, spread your wings."
·
In the Yunshang Escort Agency.
Nian Qing was helping Gu Luoyan pack her bags. The journey to the border was long, so they needed to be well prepared to prevent any danger.
She was delighted because she heard from Lian from the escort agency that Gu Luoyan would only take her and a fox with him on this trip to the border.
Lian wept, Chuntao and Xueyi were worried. Only Nianqing remained arrogant, forgetting to even hide his joy.
The trip was scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 AM. It was still early and Nian Qing didn't know how to distinguish the travel expenses for those dresses, so she walked out of the escort agency knowing that it was boring and planned to go for a walk on the street.
The originally fresh and lively mortal world always feels a little less interesting without Gu Luoyan's company.
Nianqing walked on the road, feeling uninterested in everything he saw.
Suddenly, a fishy smell came into Nian Qing's nose.
She came to her senses and sniffed it again, her pupils erect.
The smell seemed to have some kind of magic that made her turn around and look for the way.
The fox's five senses were completely aroused, and it convulsed uncontrollably for a moment. In Nian Qing's eyes, the smell took shape.
She followed the smell, walked out of the main road, and then walked into a dark alley on the side of the road.
He squatted and jumped up, then leaped onto the roof. Bending over to take another look, Nian Qing licked his lips and smiled.
The body turned into a puff of green smoke and dissipated where it was.
——
When I looked through the crack in the wall, I saw that the floor of Huitong Hall was full of people sleeping.
They slept in all sorts of strange postures, as if they had fallen asleep before finishing the work in their hands.
The fox was puzzled but kept quiet and went on. Finally, he smelled the strong fishy smell in the rare orchard renovated by the foreign envoys.
A figure emerged from the green smoke. Nian Qing squatted on the fruit tree and looked forward silently.
There was a body lying on the ground, grabbing the fruits on the vine and stuffing them into its mouth.
Just enough sweetness to make her skin glow.
She absorbed the honey and the nourishment from the land in an extremely embarrassed posture.
The broken body was being shaped by the juice, and she was healing.
It was the first time Nian Qing had seen someone using fruit pulp to mend their wounds. She couldn't help but watch intently, not wanting to interrupt.
But the aroma was too tempting.
When the tail swept left and right for the third time, Nian Qing finally lost his patience and jumped up from the tree and pounced forward.
The person was frightened for a moment, her tentacles still on her forehead, her eyes widened, and her body turned into a moth and flew around.
The fox's eyes were swallowed by the darkness and the Mind Lost Curse began.
She spoke in human language and said quickly, "Don't even think about escaping."
Then the flying silver moth was pulled by an invisible force, fell back to its original place, and pieced together to form her body.
Nian Qing flew over to her, stretched out his sharp claws and pressed down half of her shoulders and neck.
The lost part of her body had not yet recovered. The woman was pinned down by Nian Qing, unable to move, and could only scream.
The discordant tone broke through Nian Qing's eardrums, and blood instantly flowed from her ears.
The whole body seemed to be fixed for a breath.
She watched as her "prey" struggled to grow a pair of transparent wings from its back. The woman tried to pull Nian Qing away, but ultimately, she was controlled by the mind-destroying technique and unable to escape.
Pain was evident on her face, and when her pale eyes looked at Nian Qing, they didn't hold hatred. Complex emotions intertwined in her eyes, and she didn't even think about running away.
But in just a breath, Nian Qing broke free from the restraints, and she took a step forward, trying to overwhelm her prey again.
Nian Qing saw the woman open her mouth, about to scream again, but she spoke first: "You've lost your voice."
The moment she finished speaking, two scars appeared on the woman's throat. The wounds scraped open her vocal cords and white blood oozed out.
She could no longer utter a sound, and her broken body even made it impossible for her to stand.
She was like a lamb waiting to die, seeing the fox pounce on her with its mouth open.
She wanted to close her eyes and not look directly into those eyes that had completely turned into the deep darkness.
Unfortunately she couldn't do it.
A kind of sacrificial self-destruction became the final act.
She didn't even have time to close her open mouth before it was no longer under her control.
Nian Qing grabbed the woman's only remaining hand and neck and began to suck and enjoy her prey.
Rich spiritual energy rose from the woman's open mouth and flowed into Nian Qing's mouth.
The bound prey instantly looked old, its skin becoming transparent, revealing the eggs and crawling larvae inside.
The woman's eyes began to blur and lose focus.
After struggling only two or three times, he stopped resisting.
The fox's tail twitched happily.
For Nianqing, this was a complete feast.
She spared no effort and absorbed every last bit of the woman's spirit.
Then the woman's body was like a lotus root segment, with her only remaining hands and feet broken off, leaving only a mutilated body.
As she severed her limbs, Nian Qing also let her go.
She continued to lick her mouth and comb her fur like a wild animal. The dark color in her pupils faded back to normal.
The tail behind Nian Qing began to change.
One tail began to split, becoming two, and eventually three.
A lineage of the fox clan uses its tails to witness its magical powers. The nine-tailed fox ascends to heaven and becomes an immortal, while the one-tailed fox enters reincarnation as a beast.
In the future, when Nian Qing becomes a great demon, her magical skills will reach a new level.
After tidying himself up, Nian Qing looked at the woman again, with a fairy-like look in his expression.
She blew a stream of fairy air towards her, and the severed limbs were sewn back to her body. Even the half of her body that was missing began to grow, and new limbs grew out.
The three-tailed fox has a more divine look about it.
This time, Nian Qing approached her and helped her sit up.
Nian Qing combed her temples and straightened her clothes, just like ordinary sisters taking care of each other and helping each other.
She leaned close to the woman's ear and whispered to her, "Don't blame me. I can smell it. The person making the rain in the Red Pavilion must be you."
"Miaoyinfangzhu."
Dou Shiqiu's pale pupils shrank briefly, and pain appeared on her face.
"Don't look for Gu Luoyan again from now on. You are useless now. Just muddle along."
After saying this, Nian Qing's figure retreated backwards, but in just a moment, it turned into a puff of green smoke and disappeared.
Dou Shiqiu was left standing there alone, as still as a rock. After a long moment, she covered her face with her hands, curling up into a ball. She trembled and shed tears, wanting to cry out but unable to make a sound.
Monsters don't cry.
Monsters don't understand human emotions.
What Dou Shiqiu is suffering now is probably retribution.
·
In spring, Dou Shiqiu entered the palace when Shuang left and stood in front of the thick curtains to receive orders.
"Dou Shiqiu, I want you to go to the Red Pavilion and monitor Zu Qianjiao's actions for me."
"Yes, my lady."
In summer, the night wind was gentle, Dou Shiqiu played the piano, and someone danced to the music.
"Shiqiu, I love your string playing the most. I'm lucky to have met you in this huge Hong Kong Coliseum. You're the reason I'm not crazy, I don't feel resentful, and you've allowed me to live."
In autumn, the ground in the Red Pavilion was covered with withered and decaying things. The woman took Dou Shiqiu's hand, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Shiqiu, I entrust Gu Ji to you. Don't let her be bullied or suffer. Protect her and help her grow up safely for me."
In winter, Dou Shiqiu took care of an injured man in a secluded house in the capital and taught him a secret technique to attract the soul of a cat.
"You are so powerful, why did you save me and not Nanzhi?" the man questioned Dou Shiqiu. His words were restrained and full of resentment, which eventually turned into a long sob.
Back to that winter day.
There is rarely any snow in the south, only the biting cold wind whistling by.
As night falls, the Hong Kong Coliseum is brightly lit.
Dou Shiqiu stood in the dark and tried several times to reach out and grab the woman with injured legs and feet.
Unfortunately, her body was unable to move forward, and she ended up watching the woman being burned to death.
Breathing hurts, the wind and snow enter the lungs.
That was the first time Dou Shiqiu cried.
So much so that on that extremely chaotic night in late autumn, Zu Qianjiao begged Dou Shiqiu for help in front of the clay Buddha statue in the Hong Kong Coliseum, but Dou Shiqiu did not respond.
She witnessed Zu Qianjiao being burned, corroded, and beheaded.
After the death formation was activated, she finally felt a sense of relief in the withered state of Yu Zu Qianjiao's head.
Bai Lang asked her why she saved him and not Yan Nanzhi.
Doesn't she want to save him?
She can't do anything.
Later he made amends, saved Bai Lang, led Mao'er's soul, and brought Qiu Niang's soul back.
Dou Shiqiu watched it all, and saw it all in her pale eyes.
I still remember Shiro asked her at the end.
"So what are we to you?"
She replied, it was a moment.
Human life is but a few short decades, but for monsters, it is indeed just a moment.
But those moments put together are enough for her to reminisce for a lifetime.
Yan Nanzhi will run through her life.
Dou Shiqiu knew it very well.
There was one sentence Dou Shiqiu never had the chance to say:
"Nanzhi, Nanzhi. It is my great fortune to have met you in this life."
There was a ripple in the monster's long life. Although it was just a stone, it could be polished into a treasure.
The spirit of Liu Rujian's words seemed to still echo in Dou Shiqiu's ears.
She looked at Liu Rujian's eyes that were shimmering with blue fireflies, and from then on, she was bound to him forever.
"When you enter the Hong Kong Coliseum, you become my only eyes. I am powerless and helpless."
"The Hong Kong Coliseum is your prison. Without my permission, you can't do anything. You are like an ant."
The spell of words was broken only after the madam's death, and only then did Liu Rujian release his control over Dou Shiqiu.
So why was Dou Shiqiu able to save Bai Lang outside the Red Pavilion, why could he only lead Mao'er's soul here after her death, why did he want to destroy the Red Pavilion, and why couldn't he help Gu Luoyan escape.
Everything is due to the spirit of words.
As Liu Rujian's most powerful magic, the Word Spirit cannot be surpassed, despised, or disobeyed.
The fate of the silver moth is not in its own hands.
Fortunately, now, she has nothing. She no longer needs to be the knife of the empress in the palace. She has lost her value. She wants to die and avenge Yan Nanzhi.
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