Chapter 210 Life and Death Without Blame (Part 7)
Shunni Tower is located to the west of Shengsi Tower. Shuncheng and Nicheng, where they are situated, are surrounded by open fields and desert, making the two adjacent cities appear particularly desolate.
Jiang Gu sheathed his flying sword and stepped onto the soft sand. The dry, scorching wind inexplicably made him irritable.
“The Shunlou is full of children and women.” Wu Ren jumped down from his flying sword right after him. “The Nilou is full of traitors and stowaways. Seventh Young Master, which way should we go first?”
Jiang Gu used the search technique he had learned from Qu Fengyu. Although he had only used this method to find Wei Feng, Wei Feng and Qu Fengyu were related by blood, so it was barely feasible to find him.
The search for the missing person ultimately led to Shunlou.
“Go to Shunlou,” Jiang Gu said.
Wu Ren had no objection, but Lin Feibai, who arrived later, frowned as he looked at the harsh living conditions around him and asked in confusion, "How could you let children and women live in a place like this?"
Wu Ren gave a wry smile: "There are countless formations and traps in this vast desert and wasteland, just to prevent them from escaping."
Lin Feibai vaguely understood something, staring incredulously at the two lonely cities in the distance, "Wasn't it said that most of the cultivators from the Eight Pavilions were selected from Shunlou? Could it be..."
“It’s just what you think.” Wu Ren’s expression turned serious. “Wu Yi and I were born in Shunlou. Children in Shunlou can have their spiritual roots and talents measured even in the womb. We studied and trained there with other children. Every year there were assessments and eliminations. Once our cultivation reached a certain level, we would go to Yin Yang Tower to participate in trials. Only those who passed could enter the Eight Pavilions and then work for Yan Yu Tai to explore ancient temples and secret realms, searching for divine artifacts and resources.”
"What about those that don't meet the standards?" Lin Feibai frowned in disapproval.
“Some who are not qualified cannot be born. Those who are eliminated are sent to different buildings and cities depending on their circumstances. Many others are left behind…” Wu Ren’s face showed a rare hint of disgust. “So that there will be more children in the city.”
"So the woman you're looking for should ideally not have had a chance to get pregnant yet, because the children here are born with a life-and-death contract."
Lin Feibai suppressed his anger and said, "You Wangyue are utterly inhuman! How could you be so... so despicable!"
The well-mannered young man couldn't bring himself to utter any more vicious words, but he thought of his seriously injured wife. If Zhou Tingran were trapped in such a place, he couldn't even imagine how anxious the women's families would be.
“Young Master Lin is overthinking it. They have no family,” Wu Ren said with a self-deprecating laugh. “That’s how they’ve lived for generations. Many of them never even left the city gates before they died.”
"Didn't any of you kids who went out think about coming back to save them?" Lin Feibai became increasingly angry.
Wu Ren said bitterly, "Like Wu Yi and me, we don't even know who gave birth to us, so how can we save them? We are bound by a life-and-death contract, so who can we save? The only thing we can be thankful for is that we have the same aptitude and a tacit understanding, which is why we were not separated."
Lin Feibai fell silent and looked at Jiang Gu, who was walking ahead, "Seventh Young Master, are we only going to save Fellow Daoist Qu Fengyu?"
Jiang Gu stopped and looked at him expressionlessly, his demeanor cold and indifferent.
Lin Feibai's heart sank. He shouldn't have asked that question. Jiang Gu was known for his ruthlessness, and his cruel deeds were famous throughout Pingze. Expecting such a cold-hearted person to save a group of unrelated people was really hopeless.
"Our mission is to obtain the Golden Spirit Pagoda," Jiang Gu said.
Lin Feibai chuckled self-deprecatingly, thinking to himself, "Just as I thought."
Wu Ren spoke up, "The Golden Spirit Pagoda is the lifeline connecting the two cities of Shun and Ni. They used the Golden Spirit Pagoda to deal with traitors, improve the aptitude of unborn children, and take away the divine artifact. I'm afraid these two cities are also..."
Lin Feibai was immediately shaken.
——
A mansion in Shuncheng.
Qu Fengyu sat cross-legged on the couch, looking at the young man in front of him with an irritated expression. "Boy, what's the meaning of this?"
Song Chongshi stared down at her, "I saved you from the auction, and you won't even say thank you? Do you know what happens to those women?"
“I need to correct you on one point. You bought me from the auction house with a clearly marked price.” Qu Fengyu stared at him with an unfriendly gaze. “Moreover, I also know that Shunni Tower and Qiankun Tower are extremely hostile to each other. I reckon that you knew about my past relationship with Wu Hezhi, so you bought me to try and control him. Unfortunately, you miscalculated. If he really cared about me, he wouldn’t have thrown me into the Life and Death Tower in the first place. So bringing me back is useless.”
Song Chongshi's gaze darkened. "Others would have trouble surviving in the Life and Death Tower auction house, yet you managed to get my attention. You still have your dantian cultivation; you're quite capable."
Qu Fengyu's gaze suddenly turned meaningful. "You brought me to Shunni Tower, you don't mean to make me have a child, do you?"
Song Chongshi sneered, "So you'd better cooperate with what I'm going to do."
“Having a child with you isn’t out of the question.” Qu Fengyu looked him up and down with a critical eye. “But let me give you a piece of advice: men who get involved with me don’t end up well. Think it over.”
"..." Song Chongshi was speechless, gritting his teeth and saying, "You wish!"
Qu Fengyu curled his lip, "Men really are all heartless. All the way here, he said that you, Young Master Song, are deeply in love with me, but... tsk."
Song Chongshi was stared at so blatantly by her that he finally stormed off in anger.
Qu Fengyu rolled his eyes silently at the closed door, then lay down on the couch, propped his head on his arm, and crossed his legs. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he remembered the tragic death of Shen Yuxin, and opened his eyes again in annoyance and sat up.
The formation around this place is so tight that even if she were reduced to ashes, she would have no chance of escaping. She had to think of a way, since Xuan Zhiyan was still imprisoned in the Tower of Life and Death. She figured that silly child couldn't escape on his own.
As she racked her brains for a solution, she suddenly sensed an extremely subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy. She was very familiar with this fluctuation; it was the Qu family's closely guarded secret technique for finding people—which she had taught to Jiang Gu.
Although it was fleeting, she keenly sensed something different, a feeling that wasn't related by blood, but rather as if someone had come looking for her from a distance... The person looking for her was Jiang Gu.
It seems that Wu Tuo has found Wei Feng.
Qu Fengyu felt much relieved. Wei Feng would definitely go to save Xuan Zhiyan first, but it was unexpected that Jiang Gu would come to save him.
But she didn't delay at all, and without hesitation formed a hand seal to search for the person in the opposite direction, giving Jiang Gu a response.
"Golden...Spirit...Pagoda?" Qu Fengyu carefully examined the message Jiang Gu had sent, his eyes darting around. "Golden Spirit Pagoda, could it be a divine artifact?"
——
Jiang Gu stared at the long string of information reflected back from the search array and fell silent.
"How is it?" Lin Feibai asked from the side.
"Too verbose, I don't understand." Jiang Gu said succinctly.
Lin Feibai: "...Ah."
Wu Ren asked anxiously, "What should we do?"
Jiang Gu was not in a hurry at all. Being able to contact Qu Fengyu was already an unexpected surprise, and judging from her long, rambling words, she should be safe and sound. "You two go to Nicheng."
Lin Feibai asked worriedly, "Are you alright here by yourself?"
“No problem,” Jiang Gu said.
With Qu Fengyu around, taking on the two of them shouldn't be a problem.
Seeing this, Lin Feibai and Wu Ren no longer hesitated. Before leaving, Lin Feibai left Jiang Gu with two strings of bells, saying, "These are sound transmission bells, which are more useful than communication bells. Keep in touch at all times."
Jiang Gu nodded and put it into his storage bag.
After the two left, he followed the information provided by Qu Fengyu and made his way there. This house was much more spacious than other places, and the lantern in front of the door had the character "Song" written on it. It should be the Song Mansion that Qu Fengyu mentioned.
The mansion was heavily guarded. Jiang Gu waited patiently for a long time before a maid-like person carrying a basket came out from the back door.
He followed them silently.
The other party was probably a maid in charge of purchasing medicinal herbs. She lingered in the pharmacy for a long time before coming out. She was in a hurry after she came out, obviously in a rush. She even took several shortcuts for this purpose. However, when she stood at the back gate of the Song residence again, her expression became much calmer.
Jiang Gu, carrying a basket full of medicinal herbs, glanced down at her pale yellow dress and knocked on the door without changing her expression.
"Waist token." The door opened a crack, and powerful array spiritual energy leaked out from the gap.
Jiang Gu handed over the waist tag, which had the character "Ling" engraved on it.
"Sister Ling'er, you're finally back." The door was opened from the inside, and a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a plump and cute appearance, came up and took the basket from Jiang Gu. "Quickly, Young Master Song's bath time is coming soon, and he is short of these medicinal herbs."
Jiang Gu followed her and successfully passed through the outermost layer of the formation. The little girl asked in confusion, "Sister Ling'er, what's wrong with you? You're not talking to me anymore."
"I'm not in a good mood," Jiang Gu said calmly. He still remembered that before Ling'er was knocked unconscious and put into the spirit pet bag, there were tear stains on her sleeves.
"Sigh, that's true." The little girl sighed. "But Sister Ling'er, don't be too sad. What kind of person is the young master? We maids can't possibly be worthy of him. We only got into the manor to serve him because we're good-looking. If it were any other woman, she would probably have been sent to the tower long ago... I secretly saw that the woman the young master brought back isn't very good-looking either. I guess he'll get tired of her soon."
Jiang Gu's eyebrows twitched slightly. "You went to see her?"
"Shh, I'm going secretly." The little girl approached him mysteriously. "There's a small loophole in the formation of the West Garden. I can get in by forming a hand seal. I'm only telling you, Sister Ling'er. Please don't tell anyone else."
Jiang Gu nodded, "Let's go, don't keep the young master waiting."
The young girl led him into the inner courtyard, where several maids were already waiting anxiously at the entrance.
"Yu'er, Ling'er, you've finally arrived." Someone came up and took the basket, handing it to the person behind them. The woman grabbed Yu'er's hand and said, "It's all thanks to you two. If we hadn't had these medicinal herbs tonight, the young master would have definitely punished us. We might have even been sent to the tower."
Yu'er turned pale with fright. Upon hearing this, Jiang Gu asked, "Have you seen that tower?"
“Of course not.” Yu’er shook her head, but fear lingered in her eyes. “Once you enter the tower, you can’t escape, and then…”
She covered her mouth, "I'd rather die than go in."
"Alright, you should all go back and rest. Leave this to us." The older woman who took the basket noticed their pale faces and kindly urged them to leave.
"Let's go, Sister Ling'er." Yu'er was probably frightened and quickly walked ahead.
Jiang Gu followed her to a secluded courtyard where two maids lived. However, they remained indifferent and unconcerned when they entered.
Yu'er led him into a narrow room with only two beds and a simple table and chairs.
"Sister Ling'er, you should rest now. We have to get up early tomorrow to wash the pool," Yu'er said.
Jiang Gu nodded. Seeing that she had rested, he casually put a soundproof cover on her and then got up and went to the West Garden.
He had read Ling'er's memories and was familiar with the way to the West Garden. He quickly found his way to the entrance. Just as he was about to look for the loophole that Yu'er had mentioned, a sudden fluctuation occurred in his mind.
Jiang Gu's gaze suddenly sharpened, and his primordial spirit sank into his sea of consciousness, preparing to strangle the invading primordial spirit. However, he was caught off guard and his face was covered with damp mist.
"Wei Feng?"
"Cough cough..." The primordial spirit, whose neck was being gripped by him, coughed violently twice, grabbed his wrist, and said with difficulty, "Master."
Jiang Gu reduced his grip slightly, but did not let go. His expression was cold as he asked, "Why was your primordial spirit able to enter my sea of consciousness?"
He set up countless barriers in his sea of consciousness to prevent anyone from intruding. Unless it was a powerful being with extremely high cultivation, ordinary cultivators simply couldn't get in, let alone Wei Feng.
"I missed you." Wei Feng avoided the main point, and the surrounding mist happily clung to him, but Jiang Gu ruthlessly brushed it away.
"You got eighteen cages?" Jiang Gu asked him while carefully examining his sea of consciousness.
"Ah, more or less." Wei Feng answered vaguely, but his eyes suddenly became wary. He sniffed Jiang Gu hard and asked suspiciously, "Master, why do you... smell of perfume?"
As he spoke, he tried to emerge from his sea of consciousness to see Jiang Gu's true form.
In the darkness, Jiang Gu, who had transformed into a woman, turned cold. His primordial spirit reached out and grabbed Wei Feng's waist, pulling him back.
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