Chapter 81 Ghost Cry Village: The Deal
I'd much rather make a deal with you.
Despite the rustling wind all around, the place seemed unusually quiet.
Yueying's tendons in her hands and feet were severed, rendering her already limited martial arts skills useless, leaving her only with the ability to speak.
But throughout the journey to the southern city, she never uttered a sound or cried out in pain.
At this moment, the Tang family members were supporting her, and Tang Yu forced her to raise her head.
The cold wind on the city wall stung her pale face, while below the wall stood the familiar faces of her people.
But she suddenly realized that she still had nothing to say.
All that remained was a deep weariness, and even irritability.
No one knew the myriad thoughts swirling in her heart, and no one understood the desolation within.
As Tang Yu said, for many years she has been dominated by insatiable desires and insane jealousy.
He seems proud of his own wisdom and his secret schemes, but in reality, he is empty inside and is gnawed by a strong sense of "unworthiness" every day.
Why do you want Tang Yu to die?
Because she's always the winner.
Why did you agree to cooperate with King Xia Nan?
It's because she wants to stand higher. Higher than those Southern Moon people who, even after their country is destroyed, still feel noble and take it for granted that they can use and manipulate her.
But if you peel back the layers, the truth is that these people with such a strong sense of superiority are nothing more than a bunch of fools who have been completely deceived.
She was tired.
I am no longer able to stand on anyone's side.
Therefore, I choose to remain silent.
No matter what she says, even just remaining silent is enough to shake the moon's breath.
Seeing that Yueying did not speak, Tang Yu was not annoyed. He simply released his grip on her chin and said calmly, "Back then, it was King Xia Nan who told the Great Xia about the layout of the Nanyue Imperial Palace and the entrance to the Holy Land."
Yuexi's heart pounded wildly, her lips trembled slightly, and her eyes were bloodshot with rage.
Even without Yueying's confirmation, he could tell that Tang Yu was not lying.
Because he was all too aware of the tragic state of the country's destruction back then.
As a senior elder of the Yuezhi, upon learning that the Great Xia had invaded Nanyue, he immediately arranged for his assassins to help the Holy Maiden escape, and he himself was among the first to leave.
But Xie's army arrived too quickly, as if they already knew where the holy place was.
Although they knew that the Great Xia must have obtained the intelligence from somewhere, they never expected that they would be betrayed by the King of Nanzhao!
When Nanyue was at its peak, almost all the kingdoms in the southern border regions sought protection by forming marriage alliances, including Nanzhao.
The younger sister of the King of Nanzhao was one of the most favored concubines of the King of Nanyue.
Looking back now, he really did have a chance to get the original defenses for Great Xia.
Thinking of this, Yuexi felt her blood run cold.
They almost paved the way for the mastermind behind the betrayal of Nan Yue to become king and emperor.
What evidence do you have?
Even though Yuexi had already made up her mind, she was still unwilling to admit it.
Tang Yu looked at his distorted expression and only curled the corner of her lips: "What I said, although it was admitted by King Xia Nan himself, is now considered as unverifiable."
She paused, her gaze shifting to the little Qi Meng in Yue Xi's arms. "However... what you lack, the other half of the secret manual for creating Yue Qi Meng, has been hidden somewhere in this city by King Xia Nan."
Yuexi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He had assumed that the royal family's half of the secret manual had been lost in the war.
After years of fruitless searching, he constantly needed women and infants, trying to use his half-finished scroll to research the formula for the blood pool.
Unexpectedly, the other half of the book had already been obtained by King Xia Nan and hidden away.
All those years of watching him make a fool of himself were for nothing!
Yuexi gritted her teeth in hatred, but she did not show any weakness in front of the Great Xia people. She asked in a cold voice, "Why are you telling me all this?"
It can't be that they're trying to discourage people from leaving.
Now, the various kingdoms of the southern border have gathered their troops here, and a rebellion has begun. There is no turning back for anyone.
Tang Yu shook her head, her tone indifferent: "I'm just very interested in how many of Nan Yue's secret Gu techniques were hidden away by King Xia Nan back then."
She paused, her gaze slightly lowered: "And among them, could there be... a way to completely escape from this dream?"
Yuexi stared at the figure on the city wall, his eyes sinister and wary, remaining silent for a long time.
Clearly, they were weighing the truth or falsehood of her words.
Tang Yu didn't wait for his response.
"You only sent out Gu people, but the soldiers of the Southern Frontier did not move an inch. I suppose you wanted to test them with this."
Her gaze slowly swept over the dark mass of troops outside the city, and she slightly turned her head. "I just wonder, are you satisfied with the result?"
Yuexi's face suddenly darkened.
Tang Yu was right; the Southern Frontier was deliberately testing them.
After all, Xie's army was renowned, and even the brave and warlike nomadic tribes in the northwest were unwilling to confront them head-on.
Although these small southern kingdoms sent troops, they did not want their own soldiers to be the first to be targeted. That's why they asked him to release these long-dead Gu people.
The result, however, only made these people from the southern border even more wary.
After all, they had personally witnessed the painless and insensitive nature of the Gu people as they went on a killing spree.
But today, Xie's army broke the deadlock easily without even relying on the power of "Moon Dream," how can this not inspire fear?
"I think,"
Tang Yu suddenly turned to Xie Xingzheng and said in a clear voice, "It's not time to start a war yet, is it?"
Xie Xingzheng immediately understood.
He raised his sword, his voice booming from the city wall:
"But if you wish to fight, my Xie family army will gladly oblige!"
"War! War! War!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers inside and outside the city walls roared in unison and raised their weapons.
Their imposing presence terrified the soldiers in the southern border regions.
After a few breaths, Xie Xingzheng raised his hand.
"receive."
At the sound of the order, the tense atmosphere lingered, but the commotion abruptly ceased.
The soldiers stood firm as pines, their disciplined training awe-inspiring.
Yuexi's face was extremely pale.
Tang Yu spoke slowly and firmly, "I do not want to be 'Yue Qimeng'. Even if I am now, I will stand with Xie Xingzheng on the side of Great Xia, not Southern Xinjiang."
"If it's war, then let's fight."
Without giving him a chance to think, she changed the subject, "However, I'd rather make a deal with you."
"What transaction?" Yuexi asked, puzzled.
"You retreat to your camp and give me one day to find the secret book hidden by King Xia Nan. Regardless of whether it contains a method to completely rid me of Qi Meng, I promise to hand over the half-book on the cultivation of a saintess."
"how?"
Tang Yu spoke calmly and slowly, her question carrying an undeniable air of pressure.
The moon suddenly looked up.
He wasn't sure if Tang Yu was stalling for time or genuinely looking for a treatment.
As soon as these words were spoken, a slight commotion immediately arose in the Southern Frontier Army.
The generals spoke in hushed tones, their eyes frequently glancing towards the city walls, clearly assessing the deal.
However, they did not doubt that Xie Xingzheng would delay the battle for the sake of a woman.
After all, Xia Nanwang's plan of collusion from within and without was precisely to save Nan Yue's holy maiden, which was why he temporarily left the south gate.
Therefore, Tang Yu's call to halt the conflict at this tense moment did not seem abrupt.
The southern border states, already fearful of Xie's army, were naturally shaken and unwilling to ignite war today.
After a lengthy discussion, a general from the southern border finally stepped forward and whispered a few words in Yuexi's ear.
Yuexi remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he nodded with a sense of helplessness.
Today's battle was never fought with the intention of starting a war. It would be better to retreat to the rear and wait for the other nations' forces to gather before launching an attack on the city.
He slowly raised his eyes, his gaze dark and brooding: "Fine!"
"I'll give you one day! In exchange, you must hand over all the secret manuals you find to the Southern Frontier."
"Of course," Tang Yu replied softly, but with unwavering conviction.
After all, the so-called Gu techniques and secret methods were nothing but junk to her as the Gu Queen.
*
When everyone retreated back into the city, it was still early.
The city was still in a state of war preparedness, and the streets were sparsely populated, making their group stand out somewhat.
Wang Shanyue was anxious and couldn't contain himself any longer: "Where is the secret manual? Is it hidden in the Xia Nan Prince's mansion? Let's not bother finding a place to discuss this. I'll take a small group of people and search for it now!"
Tang Yu shook her head, her tone firm: "Not in the Xia Nan Prince's Mansion."
"Huh?" Wang Shanyue was stunned, clearly not expecting this answer.
Xiao Fangliang pondered for a moment and then understood, explaining, "Since King Xia Nan and those people from the Southern Frontier are not of one mind and have a grudge against each other, he would not hide such an important item in such an obvious place as the royal palace."
Tang Yu nodded and added, "Moreover, the fact that he told Yueying about all the secret passages and chambers in the palace, and even allowed her to use them, shows that he was very confident that even if the entire palace were laid out in front of the Nan Yue people, they would not be able to find anything."
Wang Shanyue frowned and hurriedly asked, "Then...where exactly in Xia Nan would it be?"
Xie Xingzheng, who had been walking in front without saying a word, suddenly stopped and said calmly, "Perhaps, not in Xia Nan."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yu subconsciously looked up at him, only to be met with those deep, ink-black eyes.
Unlike the bright stars in the night sky, those eyes were the complete opposite. They were like the coldest, purest obsidian under the blazing sun, more lustrous than jade.
It looks cold, but it's surprisingly warm.
Before she could gather her thoughts, Wang Shanyue interrupted her with a question: "Not in Xia Nan? But we only have one day, is it still enough time?"
"There's still time." Tang Yu withdrew her gaze, unhurried.
"It's not in Xia Nan because it's too obvious. Whether it's the Blood Well or the later Gu Plague, Xia Nan has always had the support of Nan Yue forces. Over the years, searching the entire city wouldn't have been difficult."
"And the matter of the Gu people also shows that if King Xia Nan hadn't really wanted to kill us, he wouldn't have even given the secret recipe to Yue Ying."
Wang Shanyue finally understood completely and immediately asked, "So, where exactly is the booklet hidden?"
Tang Yu raised her eyes and slowly uttered three words:
"Ghost Cry Village".
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
After a long pause, Wang Shanyue repeated incredulously, "Ghost Cry Village?!"
Xiao Fangliang's brow twitched slightly, and he whispered a guess: "Could it be... that locust tree?"
Tang Yu nodded.
Wang Shanyue was even more shocked: "That locust tree, the one that was cut down?"
"Exactly."
Her voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear in the silence: "When I passed through Ghost Cry Village this time, I had a question in my mind."
"What question do you have?" Wang Shanyue asked.
"Why did he cut down that locust tree?"
Tang Yu's gaze darkened slightly as she slowly said, "I guessed back then that the locust tree was simply hollowed out by wood-boring insects, which is why it makes a ghostly wailing sound when the wind blows through it. Therefore, I specially prepared medicine and gave it to King Xia Nan. In just over a month, the strange phenomenon can be completely cured."
She looked up and said, "Then why bother cutting down that old locust tree that the villagers revered as a symbol of their faith?"
"Could it be," Wang Shanyue gasped, "that he hid something in the tree trunk?!"
Tang Yu didn't deny it immediately, but just tilted her head and said, "Maybe."
She spoke calmly, piecing together all the scattered clues from the beginning: "First of all, the time when strange noises appeared in Ghost Cry Village was extremely close to the time when the Southern Moon Kingdom was destroyed, which was by no means a coincidence."
"Secondly, at the Beauty Market in Zhongjing, Yueying and the others did not have any Gu practitioners to help them. Otherwise, Xie Xingzheng and I would not have been able to escape alive."
Xie Xingzheng's expression slightly changed, but he did not refute her.
Tang Yu continued, "When we arrived in Sichuan, the first batch of Gu people appeared. They were not familiar with the methods of making Gu, which is why we found the booklet left in the cave as a reference."
Xie Xingzheng's eyes flickered slightly, and he said coldly, "This proves that the method of creating Gu people was discovered in two separate periods."
"That's right."
Tang Yu nodded. "If we act within Xia Nan City, it's easy to be noticed. But what if we cut down the Ghost Crying Locust Tree that has been troubling us for years in a small, inconspicuous village next door?"
Xie Xingzheng replied in a deep voice, "Ghost Cry Village belongs to the capital. Even if the people of Nanyue become suspicious and want to extend their reach, they will inevitably have to weigh whether they will expose themselves."
Wang Shanyue suddenly realized, but after a moment, another possibility came to mind, and he asked, "Since the locust tree has been cut down, could it be that the secret manual... has been retrieved by King Xia Nan, or moved away?"
Tang Yu shook her head.
"Cutting down trees is already a major undertaking."
She lowered her eyes and pondered as she said, "When Nan Yue destroyed the country, he must have stolen more than just two secret manuals. It would be easy to transfer one or two volumes, but it would not be easy to retrieve and transfer all the manuals."
Xie Xingzheng's gaze grew even colder: "Since he chose to hide there, there must still be people he trusts left in the village."
Tang Yu nodded in agreement, her tone slightly cold: "Even..."
There may be more to the story behind the annual ritual of commemorating young girls in Ghost Cry Village.
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