Xie Lian dodged. He'd initially thought it was a broken branch or a bird's nest, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a long, rotten piece of wood, covered in rust, with chains attached at both ends. Anyone else would have struggled to pinpoint its true nature, but Xie Lian could tell it was a swing.
In the past, Mount Taicang was dotted with swings, perfect for both play and practice. As early as Xie Lian could remember, he once accompanied his parents to Huangji Temple to pray for blessings. They saw a group of young Taoist priests tumbling and fighting on the swings. It was truly spectacular. The King and Queen watched with fascination, and Xie Lian applauded. He was so delighted that he asked his parents to reward the young Taoist priests generously. From then on, the impression that "cultivators of Taoism are both powerful and fun" was planted in his mind. When he grew up and truly entered the temple to practice, it wasn't for fun anymore.
After a short rest, Xie Lian continued his climb. The higher he went, the thickets and vines grew denser and denser. From time to time, an animal would flash through the underbrush, leaving only the shadow of a large, fluffy tail. Squirrels would huddle in the trees in groups of three or four, munching on pine cones while spying on the uninvited guest.
Thorns blocked his path, scratching his clothes and limbs, but Xie Lian paid no attention. It wasn't until three hours later that he finally reached Prince Peak.
Of course, Prince Peak wasn't originally called Prince Peak. It was renamed after the Prince's Hall was built there. Amidst the overgrown weeds, patches of turtleback brocade paving can be vaguely seen here and there, along with a large, charred stone foundation. This was once the foundation of the main hall. Walking through it, amidst the rubble of broken walls and glazed tiles, there's a gaping ancient well.
Looking down from above, the ancient well had long since dried up. Just a few feet below, all that could be seen was mud. Yet, without hesitation, Xie Lian lifted his foot and jumped in.
He did not fall into the mud, but passed through this illusion, fell several feet, and touched the solid ground with his feet.
It was pitch dark all around, and when he looked up, there was no sunlight above, as if it was blocked by a curtain. He fumbled around at the bottom of the well and found a few stone bricks, pressing them one by one in a specific order. He heard a creaking sound, and a very low door opened on the side. Xie Lian lay down and slowly crawled in along the passage behind the small door. As soon as he entered, he heard the small door creaking and closing behind him. After half an incense stick of time, he finally crawled to the end. Xie Lian straightened up, snapped his fingers, and held up a cluster of flames.
After this small flame lit up, as if in response, a faint halo of light lit up not far away, as if a pearl had woken up from its slumber and opened its bright eyes.
In a moment, more and more pearl halos lit up, connecting into one, and the surroundings became brighter and brighter. It was clear that this was an empty underground palace. The ceiling of the palace was inlaid with thousands of stars.
It's hard to imagine that the imperial tomb of the ancient Xianle Kingdom lies hidden beneath the ravaged Taicang Mountain. Those twinkling stars are the luminous pearls and diamonds inlaid in the ceiling. The pearls glow brightly when exposed to light, while the diamonds reflect the radiance, creating a dreamlike interplay. It's like a miniature Milky Way hidden beneath the earth.
Each of these pearls and diamonds was priceless; prying off just one would bring a lifetime of wealth and glory. However, Xie Lian didn't even spare a glance, passing straight through the underground palace hall and arriving at the final tomb chamber.
Compared to the main hall, this tomb was extremely simple. It hadn't even been completed yet, so there weren't any fancy furnishings in it, only two coffins. Between the coffins stood a figure, dressed in gorgeous clothes and wearing a golden mask. A sword was held out, the gleam of its sharp blade pointed directly at him.
However, the man simply maintained this posture, making no further movement. Xie Lian also walked in without paying any attention to him. This was simply because Xie Lian knew in his heart that there was no face behind the golden mask, and no person beneath the gorgeous clothes. There was only a hollow frame made of wood and straw ropes, which was so realistic that it could be mistaken for a real person.
For many years, only this gorgeous dress and a mask have replaced him, accompanying the two lonely coffins. On each coffin was placed a small golden plate, and the contents of the golden plate seemed out of place: fruits that had shrunk so dry that only a core remained, and lumps that were so moldy and black that it was impossible to tell what they were. After Xie Lian came in, he collected the things on the plate, threw them into the corner of the tomb, and felt around in his arms. He originally had half a steamed bun on him, but he gave that bun to Hua Cheng, and now he had nothing. So he said, "Father, Mother, I'm sorry, I forgot to bring anything to see you."
Naturally, no one answered him. Xie Lian then slowly sat down in front of a coffin, leaning against it.
After being in a daze for a while, he said, "Mother, I saw Qi Rong."
"Qi Rong isn't dead, he's become a ghost. I really don't know how he survived these past few hundred years."
Xie Lian shook his head and said, “He… has killed so many people, and now someone wants to kill him too. Even the Heavenly Court probably won’t let him off. Sigh, I really don’t know what to do with this guy.”
He was about to say something else when suddenly, a faint crying sound came from very close.
Xie Lian froze, his expression changing drastically in an instant.
Listening intently, it wasn't an illusion. It was truly crying. It was so low, so soft, that if you didn't hold your breath and concentrate, you wouldn't be able to hear it at all. Furthermore, the voice was so thin, it must have belonged to a child, not a woman.
The sound of crying was truly too close to him, as if separated by only a thin wall, practically emanating from him. Xie Lian whipped his head around, finally confirming that the sound was emanating from the very coffin he was leaning against!
In the midst of extreme astonishment, the first words that came out of Xie Lian’s mouth were actually joyful: “Mom, is that you?!”
However, he immediately came to his senses. What he hoped for could not happen. His mother had passed away suddenly eight hundred years ago, freed from suffering, and never turned into a ghost. Moreover, the emotion in this cry was not sadness, but fear.
Who is crying inside his mother's coffin at this very moment?
Xie Lian couldn't wait any longer. He yanked the coffin lid aside with his left hand and was about to cut Fang Xin off with his right hand. However, when he saw clearly what was inside the coffin, his sword stopped abruptly.
There was no other person lying in the coffin, only a human figure dressed in black and with a veil covering his face.
This figure could only be his mother, but the person lying there couldn't possibly be her. This figure was too short, the shape and height were completely wrong, and most importantly, this person was still trembling, he couldn't be a living person!
Xie Lian lifted the veil. Sure enough, underneath the veil was a child's face!
In an instant, his heart sank. He grabbed the child and said in horror, "Where's my mother? Where's my mother? Where did you take my mother's body?!"
At first glance, this splendid black garment appears unremarkable, yet it is crafted from an extremely rare and precious silk from a dense insect cocoon. This silk, a tribute from a foreign nation, undergoes several meticulous processes before being adorned with herbal sachets and sealed in a coffin. This ensures the body remains intact for millennia, leaving it looking like a living being. Yet, this child now wears this exotic silk garment. Where is his mother's body? And what has become of it?
Xie Lian didn’t dare to dwell on it. He could only grab the child who had appeared out of nowhere and demand, “Where’s my mother? Who are you? Why are you here? Where did you take my mother?!”
But how could a frightened child, crying, answer these questions? Too frightened to speak a word. Xie Lian dragged him out of the coffin and suddenly noticed a grayish-white powder rustling from the strange silk garment.
With a pale face, he peered into the coffin and discovered that the bottom was also covered in a layer of powder. Suddenly, the world spun, and Xie Lian felt his heart almost stopped. He loosened his grip, letting go of the child, and knelt beside the coffin in a daze.
He didn't dare touch the powder with his hands, nor did he dare to let it scatter like the ashes of burnt incense. Although he didn't want to admit it, he knew in his heart what these were.
What will become of a corpse that has been sealed for eight hundred years and is forcibly stripped from its silk cocoon?
For a moment, Xie Lian's mind was in turmoil. His thoughts were completely distracted. He clutched his head, his ears ringing. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. Instinctively sensing danger, he turned around and, with lightning speed, grasped a sword with his bare hands. Behind him, a figure thrust a sword. And the one thrusting the sword was the very same wooden figure who had been standing motionless since he entered!
It turned out that someone had sneaked in before him, put on this gorgeous clothes, put on a mask, disguised himself as a lifeless wooden frame, and waited for him to come. With a "clang" sound, Xie Lian broke the sword blade in two with his bare hands. His hands were covered in blood but his face remained calm. He kicked out with a thunderbolt kick, kicked the man in the abdomen, and stepped on him firmly to the ground. The man's chest was firmly stepped on by Xie Lian. He hugged his boots with his backhand and tried to struggle, but he could not move, as if he was nailed to the ground. Xie Lian bent down and slapped the golden mask on his face away, revealing the face of a young man. Xie Lian shouted: "Who are you?! A tomb robber?! How did you get in?!"
At this time, the child shouted: "Daddy!"
His shout finally reminded Xie Lian of something. The two, one large and one small, looked familiar. Could they be the father and son who had been nearly cooked and eaten by Qi Rong in the Green Ghost's lair?
Xie Lian instantly understood what was going on. He immediately struck the young man in the jaw with a thunderous punch, angrily shouting, “Qi Rong, get out here! I’m going to kill you!!!”
The man laughed while spitting out blood, "Brother Crown Prince, I'm so happy to see you again! Hahahahahaha!"
Although this was another face, but this crazy and confused smile, who else could it be but Qi Rong? He had transformed into a virtual body and possessed this young father!
Needless to say, Qi Rong must have been thrown into the pot by Lang Qianqiu and his body was simmered to pieces. To evade his pursuit, he took advantage of the chaos and fled into the fleeing crowd, possessing this young man and arriving at the Xianle Imperial Mausoleum. Otherwise, how could an ordinary person know the location of the Xianle Imperial Family's secret mausoleum? And how could they have arrived so quickly?
He might have brought the child with him to keep as food, or perhaps to hide the child in a coffin like he had just done, to distract Xie Lian and allow him to attack from behind. Xie Lian punched him, and Qi Rong, feeling aggrieved, covered his face and cried, "Cousin, why are you so angry? I won't kill you if I stab you, hehehehe!"
Xie Lian threw two more punches, his eyes bloodshot. “How did my mother treat you?! You treat her like this?! You treat her corpse like this?!”
Qi Rong snorted, "My aunt died a long time ago. She's gone. Does it matter whether her body is human or powdered? It's just a corpse in a different appearance. It's still here, isn't it? And you're still crying like this? You were so cruel to Anle back then. My good cousin actually has two faces, hehe!" After saying that, his face suddenly changed, and he said, "Why did I treat her like this? Isn't it your fault? Don't you know how to reflect on yourself? This is all your fault! You plague god, you have the nerve to come to the Xianle Imperial Mausoleum to mourn!"
Xie Lian exerted force on his foot, and Qi Rong screamed, blood gushing out of his mouth. However, he seemed to be even more excited. He hugged his blood-stained white boots tightly with both hands and shouted, "Yes, yes! That's it, that's how you are! Fight, fight, kill, fight hard! Kill hard! Stop acting like a saint who endures humiliation and suffers in silence. It's so disgusting, ugh!"
The child crawled over and cried loudly, "Wow! Dad, Dad, what happened to you!" He didn't understand what was going on, he just knew that his father was being beaten. In his eyes, Xie Lian at this moment was simply a ferocious devil, but he was afraid that his only father would die, so he didn't back down, and tried hard to move the devil's boots that were stepping on his father's chest. The young man vomited blood, and the child was scared to death. He covered his father's mouth with his hands, as if he thought that this would stop the bleeding. Seeing this, Xie Lian calmed down a little, thinking that the owner of this body was innocent, he retracted a little strength, pointed his sword, and pressed the tip of the sword against Qi Rong's cheek, and said coldly: "Qi Rong, you, get out here by yourself! If you don't come out, I will pull your tongue and pull your soul out!"
Theoretically, pulling out a person's tongue by the root could indeed pull out the ghost attached to them. Qi Rong said, "I won't leave. I just won't leave. What do you think? Come on, come on, kill me! I'm very weak right now. If you kill this person and me, I'll probably die with you. Don't miss this opportunity, or you'll never find my ashes again!"
He even stuck out his tongue and spat it out, as if eager for Xie Lian to carry out his threat and drag his soul from this body in such a bloody way. He muttered, "Anyway, the person I'm possessing is just a piece of shit. Go ahead and do it. No one will know, no one will care, and the holy glory of your Highness the Crown Prince will not be damaged in the slightest. Look! I crushed your mother to ash, and you won't kill me? Hahahahahahaha..."
The child couldn't move Xie Lian's boots, so he hugged his legs and cried loudly, "Don't kill my father! Don't kill my father!" Xie Lian's breathing became more and more rapid, his head was dizzy, and his whole body was shaking. He wanted to smash Qi Rong's head with a palm, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Qi Rong spread his hands and said, "Hahaha, Prince cousin, what a failure, what a failure!"
Xie Lian lifted him up, raised his fist, and punched him in the face again and again, cursing with each blow: "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
However, the more furious he became, the happier Qi Rong became. Even if the price was a beating himself, dragging the other person down with him, Qi Rong felt infinitely happy. His eyes gleamed as he said, "Look! Your true face is showing! Cousin Crown Prince, is there anyone in the world who understands you better than me? No. You may look like a stray dog that anyone can step on, but I know too well that you are still so proud inside. You will never tolerate others calling you a failure! If I say you failed, you must hate me to death, right? Doesn't it hurt your heart to bleed? Come on! Or are you going to tell me loudly that this person is innocent, and that you will not implicate him in order to kill me? Come on! Let me see what you can do!"
Amidst this burst of manic laughter that seemed both provocative and triumphant, Xie Lian could no longer endure it.
With a "clang" sound, the heart was unsheathed.
The dark blade swung down!
Volume 2: The Prince Pleases God
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