Return to the Mountains
Taking advantage of the monster's distraction, Master Yuanshe took off the cassock he had been wearing. The crisscrossing golden lines on it seemed to come alive, with countless scriptures floating on it. The Buddha's light emitted dispelled the evil spirits, and he led several people out of the water cage and retreated to an open space in the distance.
Yu Beining supported A Lian's body and sat on the ground, breathing the hard-earned oxygen rapidly, and saw Ding Can standing alone in front of him.
Qin Ran was still in the alley. The man who had been nearly killed was frightened and needed to be properly dealt with. The other people also caused quite a commotion after hearing the noise and needed to be dealt with.
Ding Can heard some stories of the past from the old woman, and arrived late at this moment, only to see the scene of everyone being trapped.
The monster was also walking out of the water cage. The last ray of light from the sky had long since disappeared, and the night was already dark. However, the red dress seemed more eye-catching than the flames still burning in the mountains and forests.
In fact, if she had tried to stop them just now, those people would not have been able to escape. However, she did not care about them. She just looked Ding Can up and down and asked, "What did you say?"
"Although I don't know why you have become what you are now, I know that you must be Madam Lan Xin who took care of Zhao Sheng back then. You lived in your mother-in-law's house some time ago because you wanted to repay her for her care."
After listening to the old woman's story and making some guesses, Ding Can was almost completely certain that the person in front of him was the one who accompanied Zhao Sheng in his last days of life.
Twenty years ago, when Zhao Sheng was recuperating at home, only his acquaintance Lan Xin was by his side to take care of him, while the neighbors rarely showed any concern.
On the contrary, this old woman heard about his story when she passed by the street one day, and she would often come to give him some daily necessities. Although her life was also very difficult, she still did her best to help.
At that time, Lan Xin didn't have the extra energy to express her gratitude, but she always kept this kindness in her heart.
It was only a few days ago that he finally had the opportunity to return to his hometown. He was worried that too much gold and silver gifts would make the old woman a target of evil people and put her in danger, so he used a seemingly not very valuable jade hairpin as a cover.
In order to avoid being recognized, he transformed himself into a young man.
"What do you want to gain by saying this? Make me not kill you?" The monster curled the corners of his lips, but his eyes were extremely cold.
"Why are you trying to reason with this monster? You've just come down from the mountain and haven't seen much. Why are you just following him and getting involved? Why don't you just leave?"
Seeing that the two of them were getting closer and closer and he could no longer stand, Yu Beining quickly reminded them that they were not bad people, but they were very proud of their status as a senior disciple of the immortal sect. At this critical moment, they wanted to let Ding Can escape.
After all, she didn't actually attack the monster, so she could still leave if she seized the opportunity.
Ding Can turned around and saw that he was covered in dirt. He just shook his head and said, "Now that I'm here, I won't leave. As long as I understand the truth of what happened back then, maybe I can know that this demon is not necessarily evil at heart."
Yu Beining subconsciously retorted, "Monsters are born to be eliminated. There's no need to distinguish between good and bad."
He had been taught by his elders since he was young to take it as his responsibility to help the world, and what was particularly important was to deal with all the demons and ghosts that posed a serious threat to the people in order to gain more peace in the world.
At this moment, I just feel that Ding Can is inexperienced and has such naive ideas.
If we don't take precautions and intervene against evil spirits early on, once they start to cause harm to the human world, it will be too late to save the situation.
Ding Can looked at A-Lian, who was extremely weak and pale from rescuing the little snake, and sent a magical power to her. Seeing her face slightly reddened, he felt relieved. "We already agreed to go together, I can't leave alone."
Those who had previously been singing against each other in the City Lord's Mansion did not expect that they could be so united at this time.
A Lian held her arm and said, "Don't let your guard down. Can you contact your master now?"
Why would someone who hadn't appeared suddenly be mentioned? Ding Can was stunned for a moment. "Master didn't leave any magical instruments for communication, and he's been in seclusion recently."
A-Lian pursed her lips, wanting to say something but stopping herself: "Anyway, don't confront her head-on. If you have a chance, run away first. Help us find external help right then."
"I'll play it by ear."
The monster suddenly spoke at this moment: "You guessed right, I am Lan Xin, but I am not that either."
In fact, from the very beginning, she had no intention of denying her identity at all.
"What grudge did you have against those people you killed before?" Zhu Nanjing frowned. He didn't know the ins and outs of the matter, but from a few words, he could understand that this person should have been a commoner living in Lancheng.
Lan Xin snorted coldly, "So what if you know? Do you think that if I tell you the reason, you will let me go without any regrets today? I'm afraid you just want to gather more warlocks and kill me here."
Although these people in front of her were not her opponents, she also knew that there were more than a handful of hermits and masters in the world. If they really took action, she might not be able to gain the upper hand.
Zhu Nanjing paused for a moment before speaking: "I can't make decisions for others, but if you kill people for no reason, you should pay the corresponding price. You have your purpose, and I have my own responsibilities to bear. I just want to save the people of Lancheng."
Influenced by his father since he was a child, he has long regarded Lancheng as something very important that he needs to protect.
"Even if it means sacrificing your life, is that worth it?"
"Of course." Zhu Nanjing said without hesitation.
Lan Xin looked through his unusually determined eyes and thought of another person, another person whose memory had become somewhat vague. "But sometimes, even with the will, we are powerless."
Her eyes were red with anger. "It's just a few lives. Even if they were saved, how can they be compared with the lives of the entire Lancheng? Shenglang saved so many lives back then, but didn't he end up with a tragic death?"
Ding Can raised his head: "Then do you really know what he was thinking? Perhaps until the last moment of his life, he did not have any resentment. You were the only one who was truly trapped in his memories for so many years."
Although she said this, she was thinking that it had only been more than 20 years until today. No matter how many methods she had to increase the speed of cultivation, she could not have reached her current level. She even turned from a human into a monster. She must have encountered some opportunity.
"Where did you go on the day Zhao Sheng died?"
At that time, the body was discovered by a neighbor, and it was said that the body was still warm. She had been taking care of it for many days. Suddenly facing such a situation, her heart must have been even more sad. Where else could she have thought about?
Lan Xin walked towards them slowly. Suddenly, several loud thunders were heard in the sky. Her cheeks were covered with black scales. She looked cold and damp, and her eyes turned into light yellow vertical pupils.
As the shape of a beast gradually appeared behind her, the little white snake, which had lost consciousness in A Lian's hands, subconsciously shrank its body, showing a defensive and submissive posture.
This breath made Ding Can feel a little uncomfortable, as if an invisible pressure was falling from above her head, making it almost impossible for her to stand up straight.
Yuan She was the first to recognize the monster's true form: "She is a dragon."
"Shenglang suffered so much before his death. Those ignorant people who caused him such pain simply don't understand. His eye injury kept coming back and showing no signs of improvement. He took many medicines, but nothing worked. Eventually, half of his face was almost ulcerated. He had a high fever all day long and couldn't even hear what people were saying to him."
Lan Xin said sternly, "The instigators of all this are all those Lancheng citizens who prevented the city gates from closing. It doesn't matter who they are, it's all connected to the people of this city. Therefore, on the first day of my resurrection, I wanted to make everyone pay the price."
So it turns out that the City Lord's Mansion had not been able to find out the relationship between these deceased people because they actually had no connection with each other at all.
It was just unlucky that I became one of the people she randomly selected.
On the day Zhao Sheng failed to defeat the disease and passed away, Lan Xin stayed by his bed, listening to his gasping sounds caused by body pain gradually disappear.
Her chest no longer rose and fell, and after she felt her breath disappear completely, she felt hopeless and could barely stand.
The two knew each other a long time ago and had supported each other over the years. Originally, they only needed the last bit of window paper to have the chance to be together for a long time.
Unfortunately, all the beautiful aspirations disappeared along with the incident at the city gate. The injured Zhao Sheng didn't want to delay her, and his initial cold words only hoped to drive her away.
But Lan Xin knew why he did this, and she never wanted to give up.
During the occasional conversation, Zhao Sheng did not show any resentment. He just thought that it was bad luck for him, but for the entire Lancheng, getting away with nothing was already a very good outcome.
It was precisely because of this that Lan Xin felt even more sorry for him.
The little bit of hope that she had been guarding all day long left with Zhao Sheng. Lan Xin only wanted to end her own life, but before that, she wanted to see the scene he had mentioned to her.
There is a cliff on the high mountain behind Lancheng, from which you can see the most beautiful scenery of Lancheng. However, due to various reasons, I have never been able to go there. Now I finally have the chance.
Lan Xin climbed all the way up, but unfortunately the weather was not good that day. The sky was full of dark clouds. Not long after she walked up the mountain, it began to rain, even though it was sunny and windy not long ago.
After finding the edge of the cliff, she looked in the direction of Lan City. It was a square city shrouded in dark clouds, with almost no beautiful scenery to speak of.
She just felt a little regretful in her heart. Her wish of helping Zhao Sheng recover from his illness had not been fulfilled. Now even her wish to remember Zhao Sheng's concern before she died had become out of reach.
Lan Xin's desire to survive faded away. When she reached the edge of the cliff, the cold wind blew up the corners of her clothes, and she saw the river water surging at the bottom of the cliff.
I had been to the area under the cliff before. There should be a very calm and wide river flowing there, and the water and soil nourish the people around it to live and recuperate.
How could there be such a big storm? Normally, only when the weather is good can you see the river from here with a wide view, but now, it seems that the water has risen several times.
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