Chapter 185 Rain Bell (Part 3) "...A high five to swear an oath."...
Wei Changzai is indeed not a liar, but he will choose to conceal things and will not tell unless asked.
Given the lessons learned from the past, Lin Feiran found it hard to completely believe, but having a compass would certainly be better if he wanted to find the White Dew.
Moreover, the only reason he would be here is if he had entered with the two of them earlier, which means he had been following them the whole time.
This makes no sense.
Lin Feiran was somewhat puzzled. Apart from Zhang Chunhe giving him extra work to do, she couldn't think of any other reason for it.
Seeing the inquiry in her eyes, Wei Changzai paused for a moment, seemingly finally finding his voice, and his gaze returned to calm.
"...I came here by chance, and whether you believe it or not, I have no intention of stopping you. The Myriad Compass is ultimately a treasure of the Daohe Palace, and it can be borrowed, but I must be with you."
Shen Qi glanced sideways at Lin Feiran, and Wei Changzai also slightly raised his eyes.
He knew that although Lin Feiran had taken the Myriad Compass, she wouldn't actually keep it for herself. By exporting it under the guise of a treasure, she had no reason to refuse.
A wise person will be hindered by these things.
Moreover, he could tell that she was somewhat anxious, eager to find the Holy Palace Lady. Opportunities were rare, and she wouldn't give up this chance.
“Alright. You use the compass to find your way, and we'll use the scrolls to decipher the formation. It's a win-win situation.”
Lin Feiran agreed as expected, and what he said was indeed what Lin Feiran didn't want to hear.
“But,” she continued, her gaze still sweeping over him, “please swear to me that no matter what you see or hear on this trip, you will not tell Zhang Chunhe or anyone else.”
The fact that she singled out Zhang Chunhe speaks volumes about her uniqueness.
Wei Changzai did not tell Lin Feiran about the Guanlan Terrace incident. Upon hearing this, he took a slight breath, turned to look at Shen Qi, and parted his thin lips slightly.
"...Doesn't he need to take an oath?"
After a moment of silence, he immediately turned to look at Lin Feiran and said without hesitation, "I can swear that I will not say anything. In the entire Imperial Academy, my mouth is the tightest!"
After he finished speaking, he asked Lin Feiran to form a seal and swear an oath, but she simply placed the two scrolls in her hands together, pressed his hand down, shook her head, and looked at him with clear eyes, carrying the familiar gentleness and calmness that Wei Changzai knew.
"A gentleman's friendship is based on a vow in his heart. He doesn't need that."
Wei Changzai lowered her eyes; she had clearly heard his gentlemanly argument with Shen Qi just now.
Now, however, it is obvious that they are speaking up for Shen Qi.
From childhood to adulthood, no matter what the two said or did, the "we" that Lin Feiran referred to was only him and her. He never thought there would be any other possibility, nor would he accept any other possibility.
From the very beginning, it was just him and her...
Wei Chang clenched the first volume in his hand, his eyelashes drooping, his eyes unfathomable, a question swirling in his mind: In such a predicament, what should he do? How could he get her attention back to him?
“…Alright, I hereby swear an oath.” He raised his hand, a hand seal appeared in his palm, but his gaze was fixed on Lin Feiran. “What I have seen and heard today, I will never reveal to anyone. If I utter a single word without your permission, may my Dao heart collapse and my soul vanish.”
Shen Qi couldn't help but gasp, inwardly marveling at the man's resoluteness; he actually dared to make such a vow!
Lin Feiran didn't seem surprised. After all, when Wei Changzai made a vow to her, it was always a vow from the heart. Of course, when she made a vow, she would also make a vow from the heart in return.
"Then let's leave this place together. The situation is complicated, and one more person means one more way out."
Lin Feiran turned to leave, but Wei Changzai called her back. He looked at her for a moment and then spoke.
"...a high five to swear an oath."
Shen Qi looked back, pondered for a moment, and then stared wide-eyed as if he had just realized something.
Of all the ways to make an oath, he chose the most dangerous one; it turns out that was his real intention.
Only vows made in the heart require two people to put their palms together!
This man is a scoundrel!
Lin Feiran stepped forward with the book in his hand, raised his palms together, and as they touched, his fingertips slightly bent, barely touching her fingertips. Upon feeling a touch of warmth, she withdrew her hand and took the book, "The Great Sound is Silent, Part One," from his arms.
"You've ruined a perfectly good book by picking at it."
This is Lin Feiran's heartfelt sentiment.
These copies of "The Great Sound is Silent" are all handwritten, with the profound meanings of the formations drawn on top clearly and the layout is appropriate, showing how much effort the compiler put into it.
Even though it was written by Bai Lu, Lin Feiran has always loved books and would not let this affect the books.
But why did she compile such a book?
With this question in mind, Lin Feiran followed the instructions in the book to unravel the formation in the room. She originally wanted to put the book back, but considering that she still needed to break the formation, she had no choice but to take it with her.
While breaking the formation, she caught a glimpse of a scroll hanging in the corner of the bookshelf. Because she was standing to the side, she could only vaguely see two people in the painting.
"What's wrong?" Shen Qi noticed her pause and followed her gaze, surprised. "There's a painting hidden here?"
He peered over and exclaimed, "This is... the Holy Palace Empress? And who is this woman beside her?"
Lin Feiran withdrew her hand and walked towards the painting. Wei Chang followed behind her, and the fireflies swirled around, illuminating the painting that was placed in the corner but was not covered in dust.
After a long period of careful examination, Shen Qi said with certainty, "This painting is at least a dozen years old, but the colors are still vibrant and the fine details are clearly visible. It must have been carefully preserved... Moreover, judging from the attire, it should be the painting of the Holy Palace Consort in her youth."
Wei Changzai did not speak. After looking at him for a moment, his gaze shifted slightly, and he turned to look at Lin Feiran.
The other woman in the painting bears a striking resemblance to her.
Lin Feiran stood firmly in front of the painting, staring intently at it without blinking.
The painting depicts two young girls.
The woman on the left, dressed in a white skirt and blue shirt, with her black hair casually braided over her shoulders, held a book in her hand. She wore only a faint smile on her face, her beauty exquisite, like the pink lotus in the slender lake behind them, standing gracefully and incomparably pure.
The woman on the right, however, was dressed in a rosy-colored dress, with bright eyes and brows. Her wrists were bound with sleeves, and she held a green silk umbrella to shield herself from the rain. She laughed heartily, and on her shoulder stood a wooden bird.
The two stood side by side at the bridgehead, both smiling and looking very close.
Behind them, the Jiangnan region was shrouded in mist and the gentle rain pattered on the eaves.
...
In Luoyang, the rain dampened the light dust, and the long-suffocating sky finally darkened, with a thin layer of mist rising, shrouding everything in the city in a hazy white.
As I stood by the window and looked out at the street, the once bustling area was soon deserted because of the light rain.
The wind rustled, and the peony under the eaves spun and broke. He reached out and caught one of the petals, examining it closely with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Just across from this inn, some distance away, a group of people were sitting around eating noodles. Their eyes kept glancing at the inn, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that all of them had stiff expressions and couldn't swallow a single bite of noodles.
"Aren't you giving us too much credit by asking us to monitor the Demon Lord's movements?" one person mumbled, picking up and dropping his noodles.
The other man also looked worried: "Who says otherwise? The higher-ups sent us here to keep watch, but they didn't say why. Maybe they just came to Luoyang for sightseeing and have no other intentions. Being watched by us like this has only made them angry."
If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility?
The group arrived early in the morning and staked out the place all day, trying several different shops, but they only managed to eat a few bites. Although they were hungry, they dared not eat.
One of them said awkwardly, "If he came here to enjoy the scenery, why would he stay indoors? There might be something fishy going on."
"Never mind, anyway, the higher-ups said we just need to watch from afar. We'll go back to report whenever he leaves the city. We won't do anything, we won't say anything, we'll just watch. Don't scare yourselves."
He carefully held the "Immortal Asks the Crane" in his hand and said, "As long as he moves, the treasure will react. In any case, we don't need to risk our lives."
The group breathed a sigh of relief, but despite saying that, they still didn't eat a single bite of noodles.
Suddenly, they heard a creaking sound, and a chill ran down their spines. They glanced over and saw the person push open the window, letting the mist and rain drift in, but then disappear behind the window, leaving only half a corner of their clothes visible.
Ru Xian already knew that someone was watching him, but he didn't know their intentions. So he simply stayed in the room, flipping through the treasure book written by the mad Taoist, while waiting for them to make their move.
After waiting for a long time, they didn't see them make a move, but instead received Xun Feifei's second letter.
Xun Feifei was a steady and intelligent man. Having served as an envoy for many years, he was already adept at handling many things. It had been a long time since he had sent messages so frequently when Ru Xian was away.
Like the sound of hail striking a jade tablet, a few lines of small regular script appeared, not many words, but enough to make his brows furrow slightly.
The western gate to the Endless Sea inexplicably shattered, allowing some rogue human cultivators to intrude and destroy the territory of the Chiyu clan. The southwestern gate is also unusual; it is not broken, but rather inexplicably stitched together, making it seem impossible for the demons living nearby to cross it.
This matter concerns the boundary gate, and many tribal elders have come riding the wind to request the Venerable Lord to intervene and quell the unrest.
Ru Xian stood with her arms crossed in front of her, raised her eyebrows, looked at the jade pendant, and smiled lightly.
The first letter mentioned the matter of Ji Hai Xue Yun, and someone asked him to go back and rescue her. The second letter mentioned the Jie Men, and someone asked him to go back and quell it.
Do you really want him to return to the demon realm?
He looked out the window, lost in thought. Then he wrote four characters on the jade tablet, stood up, put the book aside, stood by the window for a moment, and reached out his hand.
The light drizzle quickly settled on the surface, carrying a slight coolness. The rain was not heavy, but it was very dense, and in a short while it condensed into water droplets that dripped from my palm.
He said softly, "I still need to use an umbrella when I go out, but it's a pity that there's no one to shelter me from the rain."
He walked to the bedside, took the golden umbrella with one hand, and with a slight lift of the other, the umbrella instantly transformed into a jade ring that encircled his wrist, and together they went out the door.
In the misty rain, a scarlet silk umbrella suddenly appeared. A few people hurriedly walked by to take shelter from the rain, and they all looked back to see the golden and white figure under the umbrella.
As soon as Xue walked past the noodle shop, the bronze crane in the palm of one of the men immediately spread its wings. The men stopped eating their noodles and focused intently on walking away. Only after Xue had gone far away did they immediately leap onto the roof and follow him.
In the misty rain, the umbrella was so conspicuous that even before they got close, they could see Ru Xian walk all the way to the city gate and slowly leave the city under the guards' questioning and curious gazes.
He still left.
The group climbed over the city wall and saw Ru Xian fly away, disappearing for a long time without returning. Only then did they feel relieved and breathe a sigh of relief.
With a huge weight lifted from their shoulders, they left one person at the city gate to continue observing, while the rest went back to report, thus completing their mission.
...
Thousands of miles away, in Qingqiu.
After nearly falling into a nightmare last time, Qiu Tong regained her clarity of mind after discussing the Dao with Lin Feiran. She broke through from Zhaohai to the Wenxin Realm in one fell swoop and then discussed with the Tai'a Sword Spirit how to refine Qingguang or find other ways to allow Langqiu to regain a moment of clarity.
However, this path was extremely difficult, and the demon race was not skilled in it. After asking around, she still couldn't find a better solution.
She couldn't help but think of her past life.
While Wei Chang was in a nightmare, but had not yet fully fallen into the five signs of decay, Zhang Chunhe spent almost every night searching through ancient medical texts. Sure enough, he found a way to refine a Cleansing Spirit Pill.
Everyone thought this was hope, but after taking the medicine, Wei Chang only had a brief moment of lucidity, barely enough for him to examine each person before he closed his eyes and succumbed to despair.
For Qiu Tong at that time, that moment of clarity was very brief, but for her now, it is more than enough.
At that time, everyone was too busy to pay attention to the pill formula. It would be a pipe dream for Qiu Tong to refine it herself.
She should try to forge the Tai'a Qingguang.
Just then, the long-dormant Daohe Palace token suddenly lit up, revealing that it was Consort Wei sending her a message!
Qiu Tong bit her lip and looked at it, feeling a sense of loss and dissatisfaction. But after pausing for a while, she picked up the sign and flipped it over. Instantly, a sentence appeared in mid-air.
"Qiu Tong, it's been a long time since you left. When will you return?"
Author's Note: People are all independent, and many characters have their own hidden storylines, which will eventually converge. The author has tried to explain things clearly to avoid any gaps in the narrative.
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