61 See you again in the secret room
Hua Lang's expression remained calm upon hearing this secret. She closed her "On the Way of Life" and looked up at Yan Rong. "Yan Rong, you were the one who brought me back to Zhongzhou, and now you want me to leave. Why?"
Yan Rong was stunned for a moment, then quickly explained, "I work for Wu Tingque, so I shouldn't have told Master about this. But what I've heard and seen these past few days has left me feeling uneasy."
Hua Lang looked at him. This was the first time Yan Rong had confided in her. Of course, if this wasn't a lie, perhaps she would feel more at ease.
She didn't say much, but only asked tentatively, "How can I leave the city?"
Yan Rong immediately said, "Master doesn't need to show up at Broken Tower. If we escape now, no one will know about this within three hours."
Hua Lang's eyebrows twitched, and before she could continue asking questions, Yan Rong handed her a Beijing order.
"With this, Master will surely be able to escape successfully," he said, as if understanding Hua Lang's thoughts. "No matter where Master wants to go or whoever he wants to find... he will be free."
Hua Lang didn't hesitate to take it. "It seems you know exactly where I want to go. Do you think my journey will be smooth?"
Yan Rong whispered, "If you're worried about Wu Tingque, Master, don't worry. He's probably been tied up in something important right now, so he won't be here anytime soon."
"Without further delay, let's go."
The door opened and the bier stopped. Hua Lang looked at Yan Rong, whose face was calm, and his heart sank.
She didn't believe the power-hungry man in the original novel would go to such lengths just to avenge the dead. Revenge might be there, but it wasn't directed at her. Wu Tingque's true motive was undoubtedly profit.
Given the current situation, it's likely someone has learned of the benefits the Wu family will receive and can no longer contain their anger. But to her surprise, the person behind this was able to directly incite Yan Rong to revolt—a plot that truly caught her and Wu Tingque off guard. Who, exactly, possessed such power?
Half-coerced and half-cajoled by Yan Rong to step out of the funeral carriage, Hua Lang looked ahead and saw the deserted, winding streets with no one around.
"Master, the city wall is ahead."
Hua Lang understood that what was coming next might be a real dead end.
She was about to speak, but before she could put her mind to delaying, Yan Rong urged her, "Let's go quickly. Once the Wu family catches up, it will be too late."
"Will you leave Zhongzhou with me?"
Yan Rong shook her head.
Hua Lang pretended to be unaware that there was someone else behind him. "But you have betrayed the Wu family now. If you don't leave, I'm afraid you will be retaliated by the Wu family."
Yan Rong turned his head, and Hua Lang also saw the gloom and evasion in his eyes.
In the past, he always had a gloomy look on his face, hiding like an insecure little animal. Now, his uneasiness has faded, and something else has emerged.
He seemed to be sincere and said, "After Master leaves the city, I will stay in Zhongzhou. Master will not have to worry about the pursuers."
Hua Lang suddenly raised her hand, touched the top of his head, and said meaningfully, "When I first met you, I felt that our fates were very similar. Back then, I thought that fate is full of twists and turns, and if I could change even a little bit, perhaps something would be different. Unfortunately, I ultimately failed to do so. Fortunately, you are now at the pinnacle of cultivation and status. If you gave up everything for me, how could I accept it?"
Yan Rong looked at Hua Lang and suddenly asked inexplicably, "Since Master knows that you and I are similar, then Master, how do you think people like me should deal with the injustices in this world?"
After Hua Lang listened to his questioning, everything became clear to him.
"Yan Rong, I know what you want to say," Hua Lang looked at him steadily, "I never thought that what you did was wrong. Since our interests are conflicting, the current situation is understandable."
Yan Rong's heart skipped a beat and she suddenly looked up at Hua Lang.
Hua Lang pressed on, "What exactly do you want? Xie Hanjing and I have no entanglement with you. You are in Guiyuan, so just attack him."
Yan Rong's eyes instantly revealed hatred. He looked at Hua Lang and said coldly, "Master, it's better not to ask such detailed questions."
"Let's go, Master. I know you want to go to the Eastern Region to find Xie Hanjing. Once you pass this tower, you will be able to fulfill your wish."
Hua Lang looked at the city wall and frowned. It had been so long, why hadn't anyone discovered her yet?
According to Wu Tingque's character, it is impossible for him to make such a mistake on the most important day of the discussion. Could it be that... someone has dealt with the people sent by Wu Tingque in advance?
Could it be the Rong Cheng family that can compete with the Wu family?
Hua Lang repeatedly used the existing information to think about it, and soon realized the limitations of the information. At least according to the current situation, Rong Cheng's family would never do such a thing.
Hua Lang walked towards the city wall, a sharp object pressing against her waist. Seeing that the two of them had already reached the wall, Hua Lang said, "Before I 'leave', tell me, who asked you to do this?"
Yan Rong's hand withdrew from behind her waist, and he shook his head, "There is no one else, only you and me."
Forced to set foot on the land outside Zhongzhou, Hua Lang looked around vigilantly, thinking that there would be people guarding outside the city who would take her life. However, what Hua Lang did not expect was that, as Yan Rong said, there were only the two of them.
Could it be that she really misunderstood? Hua Lang walked out, but suddenly, a spiritual energy gathered near her left shoulder. She covered her chest, dodged to the side in embarrassment, and immediately turned her head!
A sword.
A sword, a sword that was not driven by anyone, but seemed to have consciousness, rushing towards her again from the air!
An extremely subtle force made Hua Lang instantly feel the aura on the sword, which was different from the three spiritual, demon and monster auras, and was extremely strange. Could this be the reason why Yan Rong had to let her leave Zhongzhou?
Without time to think, Hua Lang hurriedly dodged the sword, but the sword seemed to have precise thinking and actually anticipated the direction of Hua Lang's avoidance. It flexibly turned the sword body and was about to stab Hua Lang!
“Zheng!!!”
With a sharp sound, the sword was turned back by a force, and the tip of the sword avoided Hua Lang's vital points, and only the still sharp side of the sword drew a bloody line on Hua Lang's collarbone.
Hua Lang survived the disaster and looked at the people who came.
Yan Rong, who was originally standing under the city wall, had long since disappeared. Now, there was a man wearing brocade clothes of the same color as her. The man's face could not be seen clearly, and his facial features were only blurry, but the pressure from his attacks still allowed Hua Lang to quickly recognize him.
It’s the weirdo in Sand City!
In a blink of an eye, he bent the bent sword into a ball of scrap metal. The strange aura twisted unwillingly in the air, and then the scrap metal suddenly fell to the ground, and from the distance, a knife rushed over again.
Hua Lang's pupils constricted. This aura could actually be transferred!
The man teleported to Hua Lang's side in a few steps. He seemed a little puzzled by this thing. When Hua Lang saw him take action, he broke several weapons in succession. However, in the distance, a steady stream of weapons came towards the two of them.
"Hurry and get into the city!" This wasn't going to work, Hua Lang said anxiously, "It seems it can't enter Zhongzhou!"
The man stood still, as if determined to challenge the creature. But those strange forces always came towards Hua Lang, and she really didn't want to play this dangerous game with him.
She found the right moment and rushed towards the city wall while they were fighting.
But in an instant, the weapon fell to the ground with a clang, and another weapon abandoned under the city wall rushed straight towards Hua Lang -
Seeing that he couldn't dodge in time, a white light flashed before Hua Lang's eyes!
The weapon and the force disappeared out of thin air, and Hua Lang rushed into the city.
She looked at Rong Chengyunxuan, who was still standing outside, looking at something with his fingers spread out, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Aren't you a guest of the Wu family?"
After confirming that the power was locked in the Wujiu Boat, Rong Cheng Yunxuan looked at Hua Lang.
"Even a Jindan cultivator could deceive you, how did you survive until now?"
Hua Lang was choked by him. Without waiting for her to reply, Rong Cheng Yunxuan said, "Alright, let's go. If we don't leave now, those old guys won't be able to sit still anymore."
Hua Lang was brought back to the funeral carriage by him. She turned her head and saw the scarlet, still flowing bloodstains on the snow-white floor, which was glaring. It seemed that all the traitors on the floor had been dealt with by him alone.
As for Yan Rong, he should have escaped far away.
The coffin was heading towards a towering altar not far away. On the way, Hua Lang cautiously confirmed, "Where is Wu Tingque?"
Rong Chengyunxuan didn't care, "Not dead."
Hua Lang:?
"What happened to him?"
Rong Chengyunxuan said unhappily, "Why are you asking him? Instead of worrying about him, you might as well worry about how you're going to deal with those old guys at the upcoming discussion meeting without him showing up."
Hua Lang paused. This was indeed a problem. The altar was already there in the blink of an eye. Through the white weft, she first saw the six people on the high seats.
Why are there only six people? Hua Lang looked at these people. One of the empty seats belonged to Wu Tingque, so who was the other empty seat?
The bier finally stopped, and Hua Lang could easily hear the sporadic discussions from the huge crowd below the stage.
"Who has the nerve to have so many people waiting here?"
"Look, it's the Wu family's funeral carriage. Wu Tingque can't come today. Could the person sitting inside really be the Zhaoming Envoy?"
"How can you believe such rumors? If there really was such a thing in this world that could resurrect the dead, wouldn't the world be in chaos long ago?"
"It's fine if the Wu family member doesn't come. After all, there was a demon riot in his mansion today, injuring several people. But why didn't the Xuanyuan Envoy come?"
Hua Lang clenched his fists. Is there something fishy going on? Could it be that the coal has been captured?!
"For hundreds of years, the Rongcheng family has been a single-line family. If Envoy Zhaoming hadn't died, Envoy Xuanyuan might not have been born. It's only natural that he heard this nonsense and deliberately avoided the discussion meeting, unwilling to show up and become a topic of conversation."
Rong Cheng Yunxuan held down Hua Lang, who was about to get up, and glanced at her: "How can we, as Rong Cheng family, go out and argue with others over a few idle words? You can't show your face."
Hua Lang ignored the subtle sarcasm in his words and the words "Let's become a family." She finally confirmed his identity and asked, "Are you the Xuanyuan Envoy?"
Rong Cheng Yunxuan said "hmm", pressed Hua Lang to his seat, then brushed Bai Wei away and walked out.
Amidst the bewildered discussion, Hua Lang heard his voice ring out, "At today's Daoist meeting, on behalf of the Rong Cheng family, I announce that the Zhaoming Envoy is not dead."
After speaking briefly, he ignored the noise from the crowd and went straight to his seat on the stage.
The six people on the stage echoed: "It is a blessing that the Zhaoming Envoy is still alive."
"I watched that child grow up under my care. I am relieved that she can come back."
Everyone was talking one after another according to the predetermined lines. Hua Lang, sitting behind Bai Wei, could feel countless gazes penetrating the curtain and falling on him. Envoy Xuanyuan had just walked out of here, and there were so many powerful people diverting their attention to Hua Lang. For a moment, everyone even forgot to question the resurrection.
Someone shouted, "Murong Jun is still alive as a demon cultivator. Could she be a demon cultivator as well?"
"My friend, be careful with your words. Murong Jun enjoys the company of demons. How can he be compared with the Zhaoming Envoy?"
In this way, the discussion went on for half a day, until the end, Hua Lang still did not show up. She was bored waiting and even flipped through the "Theory of Life" again. If she guessed correctly, this book could allow her to sense the power of living beings. Although this skill was of no use, she saw initial results after only a few days of practice, and she was still very surprised.
When Rong Chengyunxuan came to see her, she was already unable to sit still. She said briefly, "I have to go to the Wu family first."
Rong Cheng Yunxuan glanced at her and sneered, "No, you are now a member of the Rong Cheng family, why are you going to the Wu family?"
Hua Lang didn't know if the coal block had really been exposed, so she could only find another excuse. "The person who wanted to kill me today was my former second disciple, a retainer of the Wu family. I have something to ask Wu Tingque."
Rong Chengyunxuan remained motionless. "There's no rush for this matter. Let's wait until Wu Tingque submits his report. Why would you need to go to him again?"
Hua Lang frowned. "Aren't you in the same group as Wu Tingque? Why, you don't like him?"
It was clear that he did not have this attitude when he was on the Wujiu Boat.
Hua Lang only asked casually, but Rong Cheng Yunxuan was like someone had hit a sore spot and said angrily, "I don't like him? Do you really like him? When he approached the Rong Cheng family to cooperate, he didn't tell me that you two were engaged."
Hua Lang didn't understand his attitude. Was he afraid that he and Wu Tingque would join forces to defeat him?
Hua Lang was amused by her own guess and suppressed the corners of her mouth. If she could defeat Xuan Yuan and successfully inherit the Rong Cheng family, then she would be the most successful substitute in the world.
She asked curiously, "Logically, the engagement between Rong Chengyunwen and Wu Tingque should be known to everyone in Zhongzhou. Since you live in Zhongzhou, how could you not know about it?"
Rong Chengyunxuan's face darkened. He had been thrown into the Wujiu Boat for training since birth, and had rarely been outside, let alone knowing about this matter. "Engagement? I did find a marriage certificate in the mansion."
Rong Chengyunxuan found a clean place to sit down before continuing, "But it's not the marriage certificate between Zhaoming and the surname Wu."
Hua Lang didn't understand what he meant. "If it's not theirs, then whose is it?"
"With a dead man," Rong Chengyunxuan sneered, "probably because it's too embarrassing, so no one in Zhongzhou knows about it except me."
Hua Lang vaguely sensed something was different. She thought of the task Wu Tingque had given her. Being extremely sensitive to such secrets, she hurriedly asked, "Who is the dead man?"
Rong Cheng Yunxuan didn't answer. He glanced at Hua Lang and asked, "Any engagement you have, no matter who it is with, must be annulled. As for Wu Tingque, you'll only be used by him if you follow him. You'd better forget everything he said to you now. Joining the Rong Cheng family is your best choice. Otherwise, just like today, he won't even know if you die somewhere."
Hearing him say this, Hua Lang subconsciously suspected that it was Yan Rong sent by him, but when she thought that the person in front of her was only eight years old, she temporarily suppressed her speculation. This guy was easier to understand than Yan Rong.
She tentatively took out the engraved ring on her body and coaxed, "His things are still with me, and I still need to return them to him. Even if he lied to you, there are some things between him and me that need to be made clear."
Rong Chengyunxuan frowned when he saw it and said angrily, "Why did he give this to you?"
This ring really couldn't be handed over to anyone else. After thinking it over, Rong Chengyunxuan said reluctantly, "Then we'll meet today. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning!"
After saying that, he leaned over to Hua Lang. Hua Lang felt a slight chill on her face. She couldn't help but touch her face, but she didn't touch anything. "What did you do?"
Rong Cheng Yunxuan said unhappily, "Since you are a member of the Rong Cheng family, then you should protect this face."
Hua Lang thought of those faceless sculptures. Could it be that Rong Cheng Yun Wen also never showed his face before? "Why?"
Rong Cheng Yunxuan's tone was extremely mysterious: "Because, everyone in the Rong Cheng family has secrets on their faces."
Hua Lang: ...
They all have two eyes and one mouth, what secrets can there be?
*
It was indeed a lump of coal. Hua Lang looked at the destroyed house and felt a headache. He didn't expect that the usually well-behaved lump of coal would eventually cause such a disaster.
It was late at night, and Rong Cheng Yunxuan would not allow her to stay any longer, so Hua Lang had to hurry up and go to Wu Tingque to get the coal back.
After asking the night watchman where Wu Tingque was, Hua Lang sighed and planned a route based on the map of the Wu family in her mind. This place was really too big, and she was now sleepy and tired after being chased for half a day.
The further they walked, the colder the surroundings became. They couldn't see the corridor for a long time. When Hua Lang was wondering if he had taken the wrong road, a very faint flute sound was heard in the distance.
Hua Lang was cheered up and immediately followed the sound of the flute.
In a blink of an eye, she stepped into a courtyard. In the courtyard, a dark black stone shelf occupied an entire wall, with several shiny jades placed on it. The flute music came from here.
"Spiritual Sound Stone?"
Hua Lang looked around the yard, and soon she found something suspicious. Given the size of the house, why was the courtyard so small?
She took a few steps back and walked back to the spiritual sound wall. Finally, she felt an extremely weak breath of life coming from inside the wall.
There really is a mystery!
Hua Lang reached out and pushed without hope, and the wall of sound opened a crack. Faint flames could be seen jumping inside, as if inviting Hua Lang.
Hua Lang hesitated for a moment, but she thought that this was the Wu family, and she had an engraved ring on her body. No one could attack her except Wu Tingque. Wu Tingque was not here, so even if she bumped into someone, the other party could not do anything to her.
Unable to resist his curiosity, Hua Lang slipped sideways into the gap...
In the cave, extremely precious spiritual sound stones are scattered on the ground like gravel, countless music scores are stacked together casually, and various flutes are placed on high racks.
Hua Lang was almost dazzled by these things, but the extremely subtle aura of life did not come from these things.
So she continued to walk deeper...
After passing through countless caves filled with treasures from heaven and earth, the aura finally got closer and closer. When Hua Lang opened the last cave, she immediately discovered the difference here.
Unlike other caves where several lamps were lit, this place was pitch black.
She reached out and took the lamp from the cave behind her, and walked forward in the light.
The cave was not big, and she quickly reached the innermost part.
There was something like an altar there, and Hua Lang slowly lowered the lamp.
A piece of the tail, which looked a little withered but still snow-white, hung on the edge of the table, and the vitality emanated from it.
Hua Lang shifted his gaze from the broken tail to the jade box that was placed askew on the table.
She finally realized something was wrong.
This severed tail should have been placed in a box. Someone took it out, and he was the one who opened the door to the secret room...
Hua Lang seemed to hear a faint breathing sound.
It seems that there is indeed another person here, and this person should be in the darkness, staring at himself quietly for a long time.
【Author’s words】
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