Chapter 113 Relying on the memories of the day, ...
Relying on her memories from the daytime, Xie Baoqiong took the shortest path towards the mountain gate.
The layered palaces were built along the mountainside, with only the main hall emitting a soft glow. The dim night provided the best cover for him, and the lush flowers emitted a cloying fragrance that brushed against his clothes, leaving a lingering scent.
As Xie Baoqiong passed by the secluded courtyard, which he was also forbidden to enter, he unconsciously paused and glanced back at the brightly lit palace high above. He vaguely felt that Qi Gui's whereabouts were not as Lin An had said. Lin An had not even seen Qi Gui, so how could he know Qi Gui's true form...
He hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his step toward the mountain gate, transformed into a piece of blue stone, and threw himself into the courtyard with a soft thud.
The courtyard, separated by just one wall, felt like another world. A desolate and bleak scene, so different from the outside world, came into view. Withered vines climbed the courtyard wall, and the houses in the middle had lost their color. Spider webs were spun in the corners, but there were no spiders. There were no insects chirping nearby. It was like a place forgotten by life.
The blue stone landed in the pile of weeds, the withered yellow weeds hanging down, barely covering the suddenly appearing stone. There was no one around. He had just rolled around once when the door of the dilapidated palace was suddenly pushed open, and two or three people dressed as Yu'an Guards came out.
A gentle breeze swept by, revealing a pointed blue stone peeking out from among the weeds. Two unsuspecting figures walked along the path beside it and disappeared into the vast night.
Xie Baoqiong released a wisp of her divine sense to confirm that no one was around before revealing herself and pushing open the door from where the two had come out.
The room was empty, with a thick layer of dust covering the tables, chairs, and beds. The hazy moonlight peeked through the broken window and fell on the wooden floor.
Xie Baoqiong's gaze followed the light down. In the dilapidated room, the floor was spotless, without any footprints left by the two of them. Even the places where he had stepped were unmarked.
The dim light did not affect his vision. He carefully explored every inch of the room, but only felt a slight fluctuation of spiritual energy under his feet, and it was present on every floorboard he walked on.
Thinking that every floorboard couldn't be an entrance, Xie Baoqiong lay down on the floor and gently felt around with his fingers. He had explored a third of the large room, and even moved the furniture around him, mimicking the mechanisms often seen in storybooks, but the room remained unchanged.
When he stood up, his newly changed robe, along with the surrounding furniture, was covered in dust, its bright colors shrouded in a gray veil.
A sharp light flashed in the darkness, and a long knife appeared in the boy's hand, his wrist pressed against the floorboards.
A few minutes later, Xie Baoqiong stared at the hole she had dug in front of her and jumped down.
—
In the brightly lit palace in the distance, a figure seemed to sense something and just raised his hand when someone outside the door requested an audience.
"My lord, the young... young master is missing."
The man knelt on the floor tiles, suppressing his fear as he recounted what had happened. The gleaming tiles almost reflected his pupils, which were dilated with terror.
"They can't even take care of a small child."
The voice from above was languid, and a flowing purple robe trailed on the ground. A dark shadow, extending from below, gradually approached, shrouding everything in the hall in gloom.
The young man raised his hand and waved, and the figure crawling on the ground instantly disappeared from its spot.
—
She jumped into the deep pit through the excavated hole. Xie Baoqiong blinked hard, but all around was still pitch black. It was as if all the light had been sucked into the belly of an unknown creature, along with the divine sense it released.
In the darkness, his vision was limited, and he could only see within a meter. The surrounding environment was chilly, and gusts of wind from the cave above whipped at his hair. If it weren't for the solid ground beneath his feet, he would have thought he had fallen into the stomach of some giant beast.
He raised his hand, and a faint flame emerged from his palm, emitting a soft, warm light that illuminated the space around him.
The pitch-black road ahead was like the gaping maw of a giant beast, waiting to devour those who entered.
Using the faint light of the fire, Xie Baoqiong walked through the long passageway. The rough walls were gradually replaced by thick, long iron railings. He turned his head to look to one side as if he had a premonition. Behind the railing was endless darkness, and the vast space could not be illuminated by the faint firelight.
However, creatures that live in darkness for a long time will be agitated by even the faintest light.
The heavy clanging of iron chains rang out, and dull sounds echoed from all directions, drawing people towards the flame like moths to a flame.
A haggard face appeared first from the gap in the railing beside him, with dark eyes set in the aged face, staring intently at the boy holding the light.
His eyes trembled in the dim light, slowly shifting from the light that was bright enough for him to the boy's face. He was instantly drawn to the similar eyes. His face, covered by hair and dust, was filled with overwhelming hatred, which then subsided into calm in an instant, like a stagnant pool.
"I never thought that damned thing could still have bloodlines..."
A hoarse voice emerged from the silent darkness, followed by a dense murmur of whispers that mingled with the hollow echoes, making it difficult to hear clearly.
The flame in Xie Baoqiong's hand flickered. Instead of moving to escape this space, he asked the boundless darkness:
"Was it Lin An who locked you up here?"
The surrounding whispers abruptly ceased, restoring the seemingly deserted silence.
A cold sneer broke the silence, seemingly mocking the boy's naiveté, but no one answered his question, as if tacitly agreeing.
Seeing no one answer, Xie Baoqiong stepped forward again, only to find countless shadowy eyes following her in the darkness.
Neither malicious nor indifferent stares could stop the boy's steps. He held up a faint flame and walked alone through the vast underground palace.
"Thank you, fellow Daoist."
A faint, low cry was heard.
The firelight followed the sound and turned to reveal a cell even narrower than the one she had seen not long ago. In the center, a patch of snow-white mixed with blood appeared in Xie Baoqiong's eyes.
The female cultivator who had spoken raised her head, and a few long, white feathers appeared on the side of her face where her long hair fell down. The flickering firelight was reflected in her round eyes. It was Bai Dongyi.
Lin An indeed did not tell him the truth.
Xie Baoqiong strode to the edge of the cage: "Is Qi Gui here too?"
Bai Dongyi pushed himself up from the ground, leaned weakly against the wall, and shook his head with a solemn expression:
"I don't know where he is either."
Unable to obtain any useful information, Xie Baoqiong turned to leave.
"Wait." The white figure leaned against the wall, his white hair losing its luster. Bai Dongyi coughed weakly twice: "I was sorry for accidentally hurting you that day and for leading you into this mess."
"What do you mean?" The departing boy turned around, the warm firelight illuminating his pale face.
“I spoke to you that day on the orders of the master of this underground palace. He offered me a price I couldn’t refuse, and asked me to test you and lead you to a designated place.”
The shadow of the railing fell upon her white figure, imprisoning her in this small space.
Xie Baoqiong recalled the token with a corner sticking out, and the pattern in the corner gradually overlapped with the jade tablet she had seen in the Fox Fairy Temple deep in her memory.
“I thought that if I told you that there was no one you were looking for in Fenghai City, you would leave.”
The boy crouched down, separated from the woman in the cage only by the bars. As the woman described her situation, his confusion deepened. He had a question that Bai Dongyi had omitted, and he needed her to answer it:
Why did you change your mind at the last minute?
Since it was an offer that was impossible to refuse, why back out at the last minute...?
A flickering firelight danced in the depths of his dark eyes:
"I cannot betray my own people."
"But Qi Gui isn't..." Xie Baoqiong belatedly realized, "You know Qi Gui's mother?"
Her messy white hair covered half of Bai Dongyi's face. She replied softly, "When I first saw him, I couldn't be sure, but when I saw his transformed appearance the next day, I was certain that his transformed appearance was very similar to his mother's."
The boy stood up, and the soft light gradually moved upwards, falling along with his voice:
"I will find him..."
Who are you looking for?
Before the words even reached the ground, the faint flame was extinguished by the daylight, and the flame in his palm flickered twice before turning into a wisp of smoke and disappearing.
A fluorescent butterfly flew in from the light, followed by a tall figure. Xie Baoqiong turned her head and saw Lin An's face. She had just taken a step back when several figures shrouded in black appeared behind her, blocking her way.
Lin An's leisurely pace made it seem as if he were strolling in a garden, but in the blink of an eye, he was right in front of him:
"You really like this place. Should I send someone to make up a bed for you here?"
The words, which sounded like a reprimand from an elder, seemed strange in the dungeon, indicating that the other party did not take his behavior seriously at all.
Xie Baoqiong shook her head, her tone calm: "I'm just here to find my friend. My great-uncle is lying; he wasn't taken away by anyone at all."
Lin An glanced at the cage beside him, then his gaze fell on the seemingly oblivious boy in front of him. He couldn't immediately tell if the boy was simply foolish. The cold, stern smile remained, but a feigned tenderness flickered in his eyes as he patiently explained:
"She was just caught this afternoon, but she hasn't told us where your friend is yet."
The young man emphasized the word "friend" and reached out to grab the boy's wrist, but paused when his eyes fell on the dust covering the boy's body, and instead grabbed the boy's relatively clean collar.
"You believe a fugitive's words? But you don't believe mine?"
A cool breath brushed against her neck, and Xie Baoqiong couldn't help but shrink back. But then the young man pulled her forward, and the dark figure blocking her path disappeared back into the darkness. The young man dragged her back to the hole he had dug, and a voice as cold as ice rang out:
"You're quite capable."
Xie Baoqiong was forced to raise his head as his collar was pulled down. Moonlight streamed in through the hole and fell into his eyes. It wasn't dazzling, but the young man's gloomy face in his peripheral vision was more striking.
"Uncle, my neck is sore."
Cool fingers moved away from the collar, instead grasping the boy's slender neck and tightening slightly:
"You seem unusually bold. Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
Once the mask was peeled away, there was no longer any need to maintain that pretense. All the affection in Lin An's eyes faded, leaving only a chilling look.
Despite having her life in someone else's hands, Xie Baoqiong's face, which had nowhere to hide under the moonlight, remained calm and composed.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Beast Mimicry Mini-Theater
Xie, still in her prime but already learned to wreak havoc: Waaah!
Xie Zhuo (blinded by the whimpering puppy): How could my little treasure possibly destroy the house?
Lin An: ? ? Look at this huge hole in my house and say it again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
