Chapter 67 The Past of Nan Yue: The Holy Land
Are you envious?
An hour later, footsteps were heard outside the door, and Yueying walked into the room with a leisurely air.
Tang Yu was still half-submerged in a dream, her whole body seemingly floating on the azure sea, rising and falling. Even though she heard the footsteps of the approaching person, she was too lazy to open her eyes, and even softened her breathing to make herself look like she was still unconscious.
The blind old man beside the couch looked up, his tone neither sad nor happy: "You've come."
Yueying's gaze first fell on the person on the bed. Although the smile was gentle, there was a chill in the eyes.
Then, she turned her gaze to the old man, her tone as casual as if she were asking about the weather: "Well, has she woken up?"
"No," the old man replied without hesitation.
"You've learned to lie to me." Yueying's lips curled into a sharp, knife-like smile.
She narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, suppressing her impatience, and slowly approached. "What? Do you think it would have been better if she had been the one taken away back then?"
The last few words, though seemingly light and airy, felt as if they were falling heavily onto thin ice, as if they could shatter the ice and plunge one into an abyss of ice.
Old Mu's body trembled slightly, an indescribable sorrow choking him, yet he could not refute it.
Ignoring his wounded expression, Yueying stamped her foot in front of the bed and looked down at him again.
In that instant, she put away her cold expression and smiled brightly, like the most beautiful flower in spring, and said gently, "Now that you're awake, I should take you to the Blood Pool tomorrow."
The old man's heart tightened, and he hurriedly advised, "The Holy Maiden's injuries have not yet healed, and she can barely speak. Taking her there rashly might..."
"Enough." Yueying raised her hand to interrupt, her smile still sweet, but with a hint of grievance. "I was clearly worried about the fall of Nanyue Kingdom, just as you all thought, which is why I rushed to take the Holy Maiden to the Blood Pool."
She turned to look at him, "Think about it, how much did the Yuezhi pay for this? Are you really going to wait until she recovers and causes some trouble, and then you become a sinner of Nanyue before you're satisfied?"
"I..." The old man was speechless for a moment.
Tang Yu's eyelashes trembled slightly; she was too disturbed to sleep by the two of them. Even though her eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, she still managed to open her eyes.
Yueying met those bright, clear blue eyes, and her smile grew even brighter.
Unfortunately, Tang Yu found that smile extremely irritating and simply looked back coldly.
"That's good. Even if you hate me, there's nothing you can do." Yueying said dismissively, as if admiring her own masterpiece.
Before turning away, he said with a smug look, "Don't worry, soon Tang Yu will no longer exist in this world."
Staring at Yueying's departing figure, Tang Yu felt a strange sensation.
What do you mean by "Tang Yu will soon be gone"?
Are they going to kill her?
Of course she knew that Yueying wished her dead; she also knew that her blood could help them re-enter the Ten Thousand Gu Blood Pool.
But she didn't understand, if the ultimate goal was to kill her, why bother saving her life?
And why must she, alive, be brought into the blood pool?
Tang Yu slowly closed her eyes, not thinking about anything else.
But the pain in her chest remained, constantly stimulating her nerves and making her increasingly lost in thought.
*
They were simply impatient.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking and the mist had not yet dissipated, Yueying led a group of people into the room, pushing in a crudely made wooden wheelchair.
"Let me do it." The blind old man stopped the shadow guard, unwilling to hand Tang Yu over to someone else.
Yueying glanced at him sideways but didn't say anything more.
In this strange balance, everyone got ready and set off.
It wasn't until she stepped outside that Tang Yu realized the house was built in the mountains, surrounded by towering trees and shrouded in mountain mist. It would have been extremely difficult to spot unless she had come close.
Finally, Tang Yu was led deeper into the mountains. However, the mountain roads in the southern border region were rugged and the terrain was treacherous. The wheelchair was of no use and the Shadow Guards had to lift or carry her uphill with difficulty.
The higher they went, the steeper the mountain path became, with withered branches and weeds blocking the way, and rocks scattered everywhere. The constant jolting reopened Tang Yu's still-healing wounds.
She gagged several times, and finally couldn't hold back any longer, spitting out a mouthful of dark blood. The fishy smell was instantly dispersed by the damp, cold mountain wind.
The old man's heart tightened, and he quickly stopped, advising in a deep voice, "The journey to the Holy Land is not even halfway complete, and the road is already so difficult. The Holy Maiden's injuries are too severe; if we continue... it might cost her her life. Perhaps... we should turn back first."
"Go back?" Yueying sneered, giving a light scoff. "Why don't you ask who's willing to return now?"
As she spoke, her beautiful eyes swept over the people around her, finally landing on Yuexi's face, where she raised an eyebrow and asked silently.
Elder Mu also looked in Yuexi's direction, with a hint of hope. After all, the other party also cared about the Holy Maiden's life or death, and perhaps could help persuade Yueying.
"This matter cannot be delayed any longer. Elder Mu, you should also distinguish between what is important and what is not." Yuexi sighed.
He not only unexpectedly spoke up for Yueying, but even hinted at a reprimand.
Old Mu's face turned deathly pale instantly. He tried to console her, saying, "But what if she dies on the way..."
Yueying interrupted calmly, "I've already wrecked her. Even if she recuperates for a few months, she won't be much better off with a body like this."
She looked at Tang Yu's face, which was even paler from vomiting blood, and laughed, "It's really lucky that she's still alive. If you really want to give her a chance to live, you should obediently take her into the blood pool and help her become the real... Yue Qimeng."
Yueying spoke the last three words with a hint of gritted teeth.
Despite the excruciating pain throughout her body, Tang Yu looked up at her, a mocking smile playing on her lips.
Enraged by that smile, Yueying asked coldly, "What are you laughing at?"
Tang Yu couldn't speak, but she still tried her best to mouth the words, her lips slightly parted:
Are you envious?
During the brief pause in their conversation, she was able to catch her breath, and as the pain subsided, she finally had time to ponder Yueying's strange behavior.
He suddenly realized where Yueying's hatred for him came from.
From the crescent moon that deliberately pierced his own left arm, to the desperate attempts to take her life, and the three words "Yue Qimeng" filled with hatred.
Everything, all of it, is simply because she isn't.
At that moment, the panic of being seen through instantly overwhelmed Yueying's thoughts. She almost rushed forward to tear Tang Yu's mouth apart, but was firmly stopped by the old man and Yuexi.
The atmosphere was stiff and silent.
In the end, it was Elder Mu who relented first, saying helplessly, "Let's hurry on our way."
Now that things have come to this, Yueying naturally couldn't continue to argue with someone who couldn't even speak.
The group set off again.
The path gradually became so steep that an ordinary person would need to use both hands and feet to climb, rendering the wheelchair completely useless. The old man had no choice but to carry Tang Yu on his back and securely tie her to his back with a thick cloth.
Fortunately, he possessed profound internal strength and a solid foundation, so even when carrying the injured person over mountains and valleys, his feet remained as steady as a rock.
Tang Yu regained some of her composure and looked around.
The Nan Yue Mountain forest is damp and cold, with persistent fog. Logically, it should be a breeding ground for snakes and insects, and therefore fraught with danger at every turn.
But the journey was eerily quiet.
Not only was there no rustling in the grass, but there was also no sign of startled birds flying among the branches and leaves, as if all living things were intentionally avoiding this place.
After crossing this most treacherous ridge, ahead lies a gentle but damp dense forest.
Upon entering the dense forest, the fog suddenly thickened, making even the figures a few steps away blurry, let alone discerning the path ahead.
But these Southern Moon people walked very steadily without stopping, as if they knew every direction in the forest like the back of their hand.
As they went deeper, the fog gradually swallowed up even the surrounding light.
Tang Yu's world was plunged into darkness in an instant. Coupled with the pain that kept eroding her reason, she couldn't tell whether she was truly alive or had already sunk into some damp nightmare.
Fear began to grow in her heart.
Will she be forever imprisoned in that cramped, narrow pool of blood, living with darkness and Gu worms?
Could it be that, as Yueying said, Tang Yu will never exist again, leaving only the emotionless and joyless "Yue Qi Meng"?
A jumble of thoughts, a disordered heartbeat, and a sharp pain surged into my chest, making each breath feel like an eternity of struggle.
For some reason, a person suddenly popped into my mind.
A person who, even after losing his sight, never showed the slightest fear, even when surrounded by darkness or facing danger.
It was as if he had never panicked or been afraid.
But is it really possible not to be afraid?
Or perhaps they've grown accustomed to being strong on their own, to facing the unknown.
Tang Yu sighed very softly.
Perhaps it was for Xie Xingzheng, or perhaps it was for herself.
But the fear that the darkness had instilled in her heart slowly faded away when she thought of him.
It was the crackling sound of a tinderbox lighting an oil lamp that pulled Tang Yu back from her daze.
A damp and chilly wind blew from the depths of the passageway, causing the flames of the lamps to flicker merrily, illuminating the sticky and eerie environment around them.
This is a place that has been untouched for many years, and the stone walls are covered with a layer of damp moss.
Yet, traces of human carving can still be seen in the natural mountain textures. For example, hidden under the moss, those deformed and distorted reliefs, resembling neither snakes nor poisons, are blurred and difficult to discern due to the erosion of time.
Having entered the Southern Moon Holy Land, Yueying had Elder Mu, who was carrying Tang Yu, walk at the front to clear the way.
Unlike the outside forests, which have been devoured of life, this cave is bustling with activity.
The further you go, the more insects and shadows appear in the stone walls and crevices, and even countless brightly colored venomous snakes coil around, which is terrifying in the flickering firelight.
Fortunately, none of them dared to approach, only watching them menacingly from a distance.
Tang Yu understood that it was the blood in her body that was at work.
She walked for an unknown amount of time, so long that her consciousness began to fade again, before Old Man Mu finally stopped somewhere.
She struggled to lift her eyes and vaguely saw what appeared to be a huge stone gate in front of her.
The reason it cannot be confirmed is that a cloud of black mist hangs in front of the stone gate, obscuring the view and making it impossible to see clearly.
"Go open the door." Yueying gently raised her hand and ordered a shadow guard to step forward.
He took Tang Yu from the old man's back and carried her into the black mist.
Originally, Tang Yu didn't even bother to open her eyes. But suddenly she heard a painful, suppressed moan coming from the man's throat.
Curious, they opened their eyes and discovered that what they had stepped into was not black mist at all.
It was a Gu, composed of countless tiny black insects, guarding the stone gate.
Although they didn't attack Tang Yu, they skillfully avoided her body. But the shadow guards holding her didn't have that ability. Some of the bolder insects had already tentatively stepped forward and started gnawing at his bare wrists and neck.
The black insect pierced his skin, like black ink dripping into water, and burrowed into his body along his blood vessels.
The shadow guard's skin quickly developed bluish-black lines, causing him to convulse in pain.
But he didn't back down.
Before completely losing consciousness, he forced himself to raise his hand and insert a key with a dark pattern into the recess in the center of the stone door.
"Clang—"
The stone lock, which had been sealed for many years, moved in response.
The stone door, which had been lifeless, seemed to be awakened, began to tremble, and slowly opened.
The shadow guard could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground like a sack of empty flesh.
Tang Yu also fell down, her body crashing heavily to the ground and rolling twice.
The excruciating pain, as if her internal organs were being torn apart, caused her to cough up a mouthful of blood. Her ears were ringing, and her vision blurred with black spots.
After a long while, she was finally able to focus her gaze.
What came into view was something deep in her memory—something she had deliberately tried to forget, yet was all too familiar with.
Blood Pool of Ten Thousand Gu.
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