Chapter 58 The night dew is heavy, Xie Zhuo is warm...
The night was heavy with dew. Xie Zhuo's warm palms left his ears, and a sudden gust of wind brought a chill.
Xie Baoqiong rubbed her ears and stared blankly at Xie Zhuo's head, which was shaking.
As for what Xie Zhuo mentioned about Rong Feng, he focused most of his attention on Ying Yue and couldn't remember which sentence Xie Zhuo was referring to.
His calm expression, devoid of lingering fear or guilt, caught Xie Zhuo's eye.
Xie Zhuo, his expression unreadable, rubbed his reddened earlobe, then instead of leading him back into the house behind him, he took him back to the room he had spent the day in:
"If you're tired, get some rest."
Several candles were lit inside, unlike the pitch-black room where Yingyue was imprisoned; only the faint light emitted by the talismans provided illumination.
The warm glow of the lamplight filled the room with a cozy atmosphere. Xie Zhuo paused for a moment, then said:
"If you're scared, Dad will stay by your side."
The warm candlelight shone on Xie Zhuo's concerned face, but he wasn't afraid of being rejected without hesitation by Xie Baoqiong, who was sitting on the low couch.
"Dad, I'm not afraid."
Her bright almond-shaped eyes darted around, a glint of intelligence flashing in them.
Before the owner of the almond-shaped eyes could utter any earth-shattering words, Xie Zhuo quickly comforted him:
"Get some rest. Dad will be back soon."
Xie Zhuo closed the door and returned alone to the room where Yingyue was being held.
The cramped room remained cold and austere.
As if he had known all along that Xie Zhuo would return alone, Rong Feng leaned against the wall, silently watching the figure enter the house alone.
The talisman, emitting a faint glow, still hung high below the beam, casting a cool, eerie light.
Xie Zhuo swept the cold light across a corner of the ground. When he left, Yingyue, who was still panting, had lost all her vitality.
The yellow talismans scattered around her were stained with reddish-brown grime, mixed with white insect corpses, blurring the symbols on the talisman paper.
The blood that gradually dried up congealed on the fur that had become a thin layer sticking to the ground, making it impossible to see Yingyue's appearance before she was born.
"He only has himself to blame."
Rong Feng stepped out of the shadows by the wall and said sarcastically:
"She should have died long ago. She stole the life force of others, reversed life and death to live to this day, sat on the altar, and this is the end she deserves."
Xie Zhuo calmly withdrew his gaze and asked about the matter he was concerned about:
"What did you find out?"
Rong Feng didn't rush to answer, but instead brought up: "The children they kidnapped and stole all have spiritual roots."
The dim light of time left a mark on Xie Zhuo's brow, and Xie Baoqiong also met this requirement, thus falling within their target range.
His lowered gaze swept over the thin puddle in the corner, and in an instant he understood:
"For their evil magic that reverses life and death?"
Rong Feng nodded slightly and stood in front of Yingyue's corpse:
"The list was provided by her accomplice Cao Zhuangling. Cao Zhuangling's magic is unpredictable, and he can see through many ways, but he does not act easily. Usually, she or her subordinates are responsible for the actions."
Her title of "fox spirit" was merely nominal; in reality, she obeyed the orders of Cao Zhuangling, the temple keeper.
The Fox Fairy Temple is merely a front; they use it to amass wealth through incense offerings, and... to win over the people, and also to bury the remains of those they have harmed.
Rong Feng stared at the brown liquid that had spread to the edge of his shoe but was blocked by the yellow talisman, calmly recounting the information he had obtained through interrogation, his tone undisguisedly sarcastic:
"Greedy and insatiable, he has many desires."
Xie Zhuo neither confirmed nor denied Rong Feng's words. The "fox spirit" was dead, and the person had been found. Although one person had escaped, others were still investigating, and the matter seemed to be closed.
The air was thick with a pungent, fishy stench; the smell of insect and jackal carcasses soaked in blood was increasingly acrid. Xie Zhuo then inquired about the subsequent handling:
What should be done with her body?
“There are practitioners of Gu poison in the Anti-Evil Division who are interested in the Gu worms in her body, and someone will come to study them.”
Rong Feng frowned. "This smell is indeed unpleasant. I'll have someone set up a magic array at the entrance of the house later."
He spoke to Xie Zhuo as he walked out of the house:
"Since Lord Xie has come all the way from the capital, why not lend a hand and think about how to resolve the public opinion surrounding the Fox Fairy Temple?"
Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes and stepped out of the door first.
Given this mess, especially with the involvement of evil arts that can reverse life and death, and the unrest among demon cultivators, it's highly unlikely that everything will be revealed...
Xie Zhuo agreed to the matter, saying, "I will handle this matter. Once it is over, I will take Qiong'er back to the capital first."
"Regarding the matter of Cao Zhuangling, please keep a close eye on it, Young Master Rong."
“This case is under my jurisdiction. Even if Lord Xie doesn’t mention it, Cao Zhuangling must be brought to justice.”
Rong Feng followed closely behind and left the house. The door behind him slammed shut automatically without any wind, shutting out some of the odor.
No lanterns were hung under the veranda outside the house, and the silvery moonlight draped like silk and satin over the steps of the veranda.
"I am worried that my child will have nightmares, so I will not stay any longer."
After Xie Zhuo took his leave, he stepped out of the corridor and before his shoes even touched the moon brocade, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice behind him and stopped in his tracks.
"Xie Zhuo, do you really think he'll be scared?"
Rong Feng changed his form of address, indicating that what followed was a private conversation.
Xie Zhuo didn't even turn his head, his lowered gaze fixed on the gleam in front of his shoes:
"He's still young. He wasn't scared when he saw the bloody scene on the spot, but he'll still be scared when he thinks about it later."
"As far as I know, Young Master Xie has been back at the manor for some time now. Don't you really see anything suspicious about him?"
Rong Feng stopped hiding his thoughts and directly stated that he thought Xie Baoqiong had a problem.
The crescent moon was obscured by drifting clouds, and the light in front of my toes, along with the bright moonlight in the courtyard, vanished in an instant.
Xie Zhuo's eyelashes trembled slightly, his voice even:
"Never."
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping indifferently over Rong Feng standing at the door:
"Does Lord Rong think there's something wrong with my son?"
Rong Feng met Xie Zhuo's gaze directly:
"Don't you think that Young Master Xie's appetite, behavior, and speech are inappropriate for his age?"
Xie Zhuo raised his eyebrows slightly:
"May I ask if Young Master Rong is married?"
Rong Feng frowned:
Not yet.
"Do you have any children?" Xie Zhuo asked calmly.
“Of course not.” Rong Feng’s brows furrowed even deeper.
"Since you have never raised a child, how would you know what an ordinary child of this age looks like?"
Xie Zhuo's words may have flaws for ordinary people, but Rong Feng's own growth experience is not ordinary.
This statement is sufficient for Rong Feng.
As expected, Rong Feng frowned and remained silent for a long time before finally saying:
"If he is truly an ordinary person, why are all the others unconscious except for him and Qi Gui, who is a half-demon?"
Xie Zhuo chuckled softly:
"Qiong'er was with them closely at the time, so they might not have drugged him."
The moonlight shone through the steps again, and Rong Feng seemed to want to say something more.
Xie Zhuo had already turned around and started walking down the steps.
"Stubborn to the end..."
The four characters "Rong Feng" were left far behind him.
—
While Xie Zhuo and Rong Feng were talking, Xie Baoqiong, who was left in the room, rolled around on the couch a few times.
He was wrapped up in the quilt, and he looked up at the flickering firelight on the lamp.
I can't sleep...
The moment the thought crossed his mind, he jumped out of bed and landed on the floor, while the blanket was unfolded and spread back onto the tatami behind him.
The moment he landed, a book that was open and placed on the table next to the tatami fell to his feet.
County Annals.
He randomly flipped to a page, put it back on the table, and was about to run outside.
But when his gaze fell on the words on the page, he stopped in his tracks.
【Four Waters and Mountains…】
He then remembered that the place beneath his feet was indeed a corner of the Sishui Mountains.
Xie Baoqiong continued reading following the small print.
On the sixth day of the third lunar month, purple thunder fell from the sky.
Fearing that a wildfire might spread to the farmland at the foot of the mountain, a tenant farmer took his son into the mountain to search for the place where the lightning had struck.
Upon entering the mountains, breathing became easier and fatigue disappeared.
The tenant farmer and his son were overjoyed, and a rare treasure descended to earth with a thunderbolt.
The two men, unconcerned about the lingering smoke, decided to proceed.
The dark smoke suddenly dissipated without a breeze, and the two men, hearing the cries of an infant and children, fearing that spirits would steal their treasure, fled in terror.
Xie Baoqiong gripped the page, realizing that this page recorded the day he regained consciousness.
But he clearly didn't cry when he first gained consciousness, this book is just making things up!
He remembered seeing many people that day, including Su Xiaochun, Senior Xin, Senior Wu...
Everyone came to congratulate him on his birth:
"Congratulations, young friend, on your blessed birth..."
Someone else seemed to have said something else to him, but he doesn't remember it.
Xie Baoqiong remembered clearly that he didn't cry; water can't flow from a stone.
He turned the pages, trying to find the names of the tenant farmers and the author, but on the next page, in small print, he saw words left by a monk:
[The spiritual energy is abundant, or a secret treasure may appear in the world, or an immortal may perish.]
The spirits and monsters in the mountains, all due to the workings of nature, were fortunate to have taken form from the ethereal mist.
Unfortunately, I never saw his face; he ended up in the pocket of a fellow traveler.
After reading these three lines, Xie Baoqiong's mind went through a lot of trouble before she realized that the monster described in the book was Amei.
It turned out to be the mist in Sishui Mountain; no wonder the scent felt familiar.
At that moment, a sound came from the door.
Xie Zhuo appeared in the room. Seeing Xie Baoqiong flipping through the books on the table, his eyes darkened, and he quipped:
"Qiong'er actually had the initiative to study one day."
As he spoke, he moved to Xie Baoqiong's side.
“The book fell down, and I don’t know which page Dad saw,” Xie Baoqiong said.
"It's nothing, thank you Qiong'er." Xie Zhuo casually took the pages from Xie Baoqiong's hand and glanced at them:
"The light is poor at night, so if you want to see it, you should go tomorrow after it gets light."
Xie Baoqiong withdrew her hand from the table:
"No need, Father."
Xie Zhuo's lips curled into a smile. He turned the book over and placed it on the table, then stroked Xie Baoqiong's messy hair.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
Xie Baoqiong tilted her head back and brushed against Xie Zhuo's palm:
"I can't sleep, Dad. I want to eat a sugar figurine."
Xie Zhuo pinched Xie Baoqiong's cheeks with his other hand, squeezing out two dimples on her cheeks:
"The stalls are all closed by now, we'll eat tomorrow."
Xie Baoqiong deliberately pressed her face against Xie Zhuo's palm, her almond-shaped eyes drooping innocently as she stared at Xie Zhuo.
Xie Zhuo lowered his hand, which was tidying Xie Baoqiong's hair, to cover her eyes, and said in a frightening tone:
"No acting cute at all, still eating candy at this hour, be careful your teeth get eaten by aphids."
Suddenly, darkness enveloped them. Xie Baoqiong tugged at Xie Zhuo's hand, but insects don't eat stones, and he didn't whine or act cute.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
