68 Epilogue 1: Three Butterfly Cocoons
The long street was like mercury. When you stepped on it, ripples suddenly appeared. The figures of people passing by covered the dim mirror surface, leaving only disturbed lines.
A very shrill voice rang out, "Ouch, you bumped into a monster! Can you please watch your step?"
"Forget it, let's go. Is the Blood Ghost Egg okay?"
"If you break these eggs I worked so hard to lay, you won't be able to leave today," the witch said, opening the cage and carefully counting each pickled egg. Finally, she felt relieved. "Fortunately, fortunately, none of them are broken."
The male demon also took a look and said, "How long have you been pickling these eggs? The color doesn't look right. If they're over-pickled, they won't taste good."
The banshee angrily replied, "Get out of my way! I laid my own eggs, don't I know how much salt to put on them?!"
Hua Lang, who had been particularly confused about the atmosphere in the Demon Realm since entering it, said: "..."
The two demons suddenly stopped arguing, and the female demon stuffed an egg into Hua Lang's hand. "Tell me, is this egg over-pickled?"
Hua Lang's scalp tingled. She politely declined the egg and asked, "Excuse me, which way is the City Lord's Mansion?"
Hearing this, the two demons stopped arguing, "What, what City Lord's Mansion? Are you new here? There is no such thing in the Demon Realm anymore."
Hua Lang hesitated for a moment and then changed the question, "Have you heard of Murong Jun? Where does she live?"
The male demon then spoke, "Lord Murong, of course I've heard of her. She should be at the Demon World Demon Service Center now. If you want to find her, take this route."
The banshee was not willing to be left behind. She reached out and pushed Hua Lang onto the road, "Just keep walking forward and you'll get there."
Demon Service Center?
In an unfamiliar place, Hua Lang could only utter, "...Thank you," no matter how confused he was.
"If you really want to thank me," the banshee rolled her eyes, "go ask the city lord for a little red flower for me, and then help me promote my Pickled Blood Ghost Eggs. Don't make any mistakes!"
Following the direction given by the kind-hearted demon, Hua Lang walked slowly, "The service center... should be here."
A mansion made of pitch-black mysterious stone appeared before his eyes. The entire mansion had no regular layout, but rather looked like a forcibly twisted mountain. The wide-open stone gate meandered all the way upwards, leading to the main hall in the distance.
Hua Lang hesitated for a moment and tried to walk inside. The demon guards on both sides acted as if they saw nothing and did not stop her at all.
The journey was extremely smooth. After climbing half the mountain, Hua Lang finally entered the main hall. The hall was empty. There were a few books and papers placed messily on the central desk. It seemed that someone had left not long ago.
"Is anyone there?"
No one responded to her, only a faint snoring sound came from behind the desk.
Hua Lang followed the sound and saw a figure slumped over a chair. She whispered, "City Lord?"
Murong Jun finally woke up slowly, "...Who's calling me? I've told you so many times, I won't give you a red flower unless you're helping the dying and the wounded."
"It's me, Zhaoming."
The name sounded very familiar. Murong Jun first searched her memory carefully, and the next moment, an expression of seeing a ghost appeared on her face.
"Who did you just say you were?!"
…
After being forced to listen to Murong Jun's glorious deeds over the past twenty years, Hua Lang almost forgot the purpose of his trip. Instead, Murong Jun, who was sipping tea to soothe his throat, remembered, "Zhao Ming, after all this talk, since you've already returned to Zhongzhou, why are you coming to the Demon Realm now? Did you hear about what I did and want to join me?"
Hua Lang hurriedly said, "Aunt Yun, we haven't seen each other for many years. Logically, I shouldn't bother you again, but I have a question that I'm afraid only you can answer for me."
Murong Jun slammed the desk and said, "My dear child, you have found the right person. There is nothing in this world that I, Murong Jun, don't know."
Hua Lang: "Aunt Yun, how do I get rid of the cold poison?"
Murong Jun immediately choked on his saliva. "Cough, cough, cough, cold poison? Why are you asking about this?"
Hua Lang was startled by her movement, "What's wrong, Aunt Yun? Is there something wrong with this cold poison?"
She remembered that Murong Jun had been accidentally infected with a cold poison several years ago. Besides her and Yan Rong, it would be hard to find a third person who knew about the cold poison.
"This is a big problem," Murong Jun smoothed his chest. "Back then, in order to avoid Ashu and the people from Zhongzhou, I fabricated the story of the cold poison. I waited for them to let down their guard and escape to the Demon Realm. There's no such thing as a cold poison in this world!"
The cold poison is also fake.
When Hua Lang heard this answer, she was no longer surprised. "No cold poison? I understand..."
Her thoughts briefly returned to the stone chamber. The system had given her two choices: death, or continuing to be used by them.
Hua Lang was unwilling to be exploited by the system anymore. She also fully realized that there was no way the system could break through. She could only place her last glimmer of hope on Yan Rong. "Yan Rong, you saved my life in the Broken Tower, and later I chose you over Xie Hanjing in front of Rong Chengchuan. Our grudges have long been settled. Even if you have many grievances against me, you have locked me up here, so we should be even. You keep saying that I owe you, but I have never settled the debt between us."
Yan Rong paused while wiping his sword. All the people in the world owed him something. Except for the dead, no one could repay his debt. He would never allow anyone to take away his debt at any time.
He suddenly remembered something, "...No, you owe me, you clearly owe me! If you hadn't chosen Xie Hanjing, how could I have been infected with the cold poison? This is what you owe me, you can never repay me..."
Seeing him coming with a sword, Hua Lang said anxiously, "Let me go, I have a way to cure your cold poison!"
Murong Jun suddenly interrupted Hua Lang's recollection and asked, "Why are you asking this? It's strange. I haven't heard anyone mention this word in many years."
Hua Lang shook his head and prepared to say goodbye, "Nothing, now that I have the answer, I should leave now considering the time."
Seeing that Hua Lang was really leaving, Murong Jun was even more puzzled. "Where are you going? Given the current situation in Zhongzhou, you might as well stay with Aunt Yun."
Hua Lang paused slightly, still unable to suppress her curiosity, "Aunt Yun, what happened in Zhongzhou?"
Murong Yun: "Don't you know? I remember that last time in Ghost Abyss, that kid was clearly traveling with you. He brought most of the demons from the Demon Realm to Zhongzhou. I'm afraid most of Zhongzhou has now become the territory of the Demon Realm. Since you're staying in the Demon Realm anyway, you might as well just stay here with Aunt Yun."
Hua Lang was incredulous. "They've all gone to the demon world? How could this happen? Isn't the Wu family in power in Zhongzhou now?"
Rong Chengchuan is dead. According to Wu Tingque's personality, he holds all the power. How could he allow Zhongzhou to be slaughtered by the demons?
Murong Jun said, "Of course, the Wu family kid is still in power. But strangely enough, he doesn't seem to care about this matter at all. Since everyone in Zhongzhou has given up, why bother going back to cause trouble?"
Hua Lang sighed. Yan Rong had asked her to find an antidote to the cold poison within seven days, but there was no such thing as a cold poison, so there was no antidote. Calculating the time, in five days, the system would likely completely erase her existence. There was no point in returning to Yan Rong. Even if Di Palace was the only thing left in Zhongzhou, she would still want to go back and take a look.
After bidding farewell to Murong Jun, Hua Lang chose a secluded path and walked out of the city. She was stunned by the customs of the people in the demon world that she saw along the way.
Murong Jun treated everyone equally as children. Under this kindergarten atmosphere, although minor fights never ceased, the overall style of the demon clan improved a lot.
Hua Lang even suspected that if there was a traffic light here, they would start fighting over who would help the old lady cross the zebra crossing in the next second.
Hua Lang passed through the broken gap between the Demon Realm and Zhongzhou, stopping and walking along the way, and finally stopped in an empty city.
She heard the whistling wind and saw the familiar teahouse and elegant building. The power of the demons had spread here. Yujing was now deserted, with only charred black and loneliness on the ground.
Could it be that Wu Tingque was planning to cultivate the power of the demon clan like Rong Chengchuan to balance the laws of nature? But now that Zhongzhou was without gods, what was the point of him doing all this?
The Di Palace was visible from afar. Hua Lang looked at the palace in the sky and hesitated for a moment. She decided to go to the city first.
The Yujing on the top is in ruins, while the city filled with mortals is not only free of demonic aura, but also looks much more prosperous.
Hua Lang moved uncomfortably among the crowd. The noise was like an invisible hand dragging her to blend in. But the further she went on the road, the more time she had. The various people around her also moved away from her one by one. When she looked back for a long time, she was left alone.
She felt the power, the bead left in the city.
"Do you think those demons will come and attack us?"
"Call us if you want, but we have nothing here except sculptures, so they probably won't care about us."
"Last time, my mother said she saw little tigers. I don't know if it's true. Could it be that they didn't die that year..."
Hua Lang hurried forward, passing through the crowd of people. She saw a hand, and the brown bead lying on the palm of the hand was the illusion bead she had been looking for for a long time.
The thin, cold white knuckles grasped the illusion bead into the palm of his hand. The owner of the hand was hidden behind the brick wall, and standing in front of the wall was the Grandma Yu who had chased Hua Lang in Tiancheng.
She looked even older, and her limbs were gesturing with something, as if she was describing something vividly to the person in front of her. After chatting for a while, the hand was retracted behind the brick wall. Grandma Yu waved her hand and staggered into the crowd.
"Hey, don't go!"
Hua Lang hurriedly turned the corner, but she couldn't catch up with the man at all. Looking around, she saw a dense crowd of people. She hurriedly pushed through the crowd and finally saw a familiar piece of clothing flash by.
Hua Lang hurriedly squeezed forward. Seeing that person walking further and further away, she became more and more anxious. It would have been fine if she hadn't seen the bead, but fate seemed to be playing a trick on her. She had to watch someone else take the illusion bead away.
Just as the corner of his clothes was about to disappear, the man suddenly stopped and stood at a stall.
"Wait, don't go!" Hua Lang tried to move flexibly, but people in the market were walking and stopping. She stumbled and ran for a long time before finally catching up.
After catching her breath, she stood up straight, only to find that the man had indeed left. Hua Lang turned her head in annoyance, only then did she see the puppets with lively expressions on the stalls.
She was slightly stunned, her eyes moved downwards, and she picked up the brown bead from the palm of a puppet. The man left the thing behind.
Even after getting the illusion bead, the feeling of loss still did not dissipate. The crowd was bustling, and Hua Lang stood alone in front of the stall. She noticed that the doll had a small empty butterfly cocoon hanging on it. Perhaps this thing was so difficult to sell that it attracted butterflies to make it their home.
The dozing stall owner drowsily lifted the straw fan covering his face and mumbled, "Young lady, you have good taste. Why don't you buy one? This is the most famous doll in Zhongzhou. They are all carved in the image of goddesses. They can be used to decorate the house or as a plaything for children."
Hua Lang shook his head, put Eou back, and asked, "Old man, the demons have already reached Yujing, aren't you going to flee?"
The stall owner yawned. "Why are we running away? Those demons have two eyes and a mouth, and they look exactly like us. What's there to be afraid of? As for those monsters, there's a statue of the goddess in the city, so they naturally don't dare to get close. I'm just an old man, so I'll just die."
After hearing what the stall owner said, Hua Lang pondered for a moment. Although the insects were gone, the demons were still there. If she took the illusion bead away, the demons might break into the city again.
Seeing that she was reluctant to leave, the old man thought she had something to hide, so he casually picked up the e-idol that Hua Lang had put down and put it in her hand, saying, "Take it. You don't look like a child who would fill the city. If the demons attack, you can take this e-idol and escape from Zhongzhou as soon as possible."
After saying this, the old man covered his face with the straw fan again, used his arm as a pillow, and fell asleep in the busy city.
Hua Lang held the doll, and the wood carving texture under her fingertips made her rub it unconsciously. She looked at the butterfly cocoon on the doll. There was a barely visible crack on the cocoon. She wondered whether the butterfly inside was dead in the cocoon or had already flapped its wings and flown away.
After placing the beads into the butterfly cocoon, Hua Lang hid the doll in the fox-holding statue standing at the gate of Tiancheng.
After doing all this, Hua Lang estimated the time before going to Di Palace.
The Di Palace was as prosperous as before. Immortals lingered on the Jade Rainbow Bridge, and Hua Lang felt a little uncomfortable as he stepped on the formations all over the ground.
She didn't have any engraved ring on her, so she could only explain her purpose to the servants guarding the gate. Unfortunately, things did not go as she wished. The layers of communication took a lot of time, and by the time Hua Lang stepped into the Wu Mansion, she saw that there was not much time left.
It took five days to go back and forth, and another day was spent on filling the city. Seeing that the last bit of time was spent on waiting, Hua Lang did not dare to delay. She walked through the complicated formation and went to the main hall. She heard faint sounds behind her, but when she turned around, it was empty.
There was no one in the reception room. Wu Tingque was as busy as usual. A young man about fourteen or fifteen years old was sitting in the main seat.
After separating from Wujiuzhou, Rong Chengyunxuan no longer had to worry about others seeing anything on his face, so he simply removed the spell that covered his face. At this moment, he was making a sour face and flipping through the pages of the book in front of him.
"Xuanyuan?" Hua Lang called tentatively.
The turning of pages stopped abruptly, Rong Cheng Yunxuan raised his head and looked at Hua Lang blankly, not even knowing what expression to make for a moment.
It was the first time Hua Lang had seen him with this expression, as if he was about to drop pearls in the next second, "Why, you don't recognize me?"
Rong Chengyunxuan's facial features were still tightly furrowed. He ran to Hua Lang's side, rushed into Hua Lang's arms, and grabbed Hua Lang fiercely, "I should have guessed it earlier. Wu didn't lie to me. You really are still alive!"
Hua Lang gnashed her teeth in pain. She pulled Rong Cheng Yunxuan out of her arms and asked, "Where is Wu Tingque?"
Rong Chengyunxuan's face fell. "Why are you asking about him? I knew I shouldn't mention him. Where have you been? Your treacherous apprentice took you away. Tell me, where is he now?"
Hua Lang was dizzy from his string of words. She found the Wujiuzhou seed from her body and said, "These questions are not important. I came back this time to return this thing to you."
Rong Chengyunxuan turned his head away and said, "I don't want yours. If the old man hadn't insisted on giving it to me, I wouldn't have used your things!"
Hua Lang twitched his lips, but decided to maintain this precarious relationship. "I'm leaving soon, and this is the last thing I can leave you. Do you really not want it?"
Rong Chengyunxuan's face immediately darkened. He grabbed Hua Lang's belt and said, "Where are you going? Are you going to look for your disciple? Have you become more and more confused these years? The situation outside is chaotic, and you don't stay at home, but go to a dangerous place!"
There was no time left. Hua Lang stuffed Wu Jiuzhou's seeds into his hands and said, "You don't have to ask anymore. I'm going to find Wu Tingque now. You just need to tell me where he is."
Rong Chengyunxuan moved his hands and the hall door closed. He sneered, showing the demeanor of a naughty child.
"No, you belong to the Rong Cheng family. You must come back with me. I've been approving official business for you for nineteen years!"
Hua Lang had not expected Rong Cheng Yunxuan to be so difficult to deal with. No matter how much he said good things and bad things to him, he didn't seem to budge at all.
The naughty kid was completely oblivious to what he was saying. Seeing this, Hua Lang could only go along with him and change the subject, "I have something to say to Wu Tingque. If I don't see him today, I will definitely not go back with you."
Rong Chengyunxuan simply thought that he had persuaded Hua Lang. A hint of unconcealed pride appeared on his face, which was very similar to Hua Lang. "I know where he is now. Come with me to meet him, and then we'll go back home."
Along the way, Rong Cheng and Yun Xuan talked about the situation in Zhongzhou in recent years, but did not mention the demons so close at hand. Hua Lang was also daydreaming the whole time. The two of them had their own thoughts and stopped in front of a wall of sound.
Rong Chengyunxuan activated the mechanism, opened the sound wall and said, "Wutingque is inside, let's go."
Hua Lang stopped him and said, "The adults are chatting, what's the point of a child listening? Go back to the mansion first."
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking," Rong Chengyunxuan snorted heavily, "I'm not leaving. I'll just stay outside this secret room and not go in. Is that okay?"
Hua Lang didn't expect him to be so stubborn. After a moment of stalemate, she saw that time was passing by, so she had to give in again and entered the secret room alone.
This was the secret room she and Xie Hanjing had visited before. The layout looked as familiar as before. Hua Lang quickly walked to the innermost treasure cave. Sure enough, a familiar figure was sitting in front of the desk where the box had been placed.
Wu Tingque rested his hands on the wheelchair and looked at the visitor without any surprise. "You are here to claim your third condition, right?"
He shook his head. "I just casually agreed to your request. I never thought that after all these years, I would still be ordered around by you."
Hua Lang felt guilty for a moment, but he still found the Sand City Seed and whispered, "Can you help me give this thing to him?"
Wu Tingque didn't need to ask, he could guess who she was talking about. He took the thing from Hua Lang's hand, and Hua Lang noticed that his skin had become so thin that it was sunken.
"When have I ever refused your request?"
Hua Lang paused for a long time, "I'm sorry for what happened back then."
When talking about the past, Wu Tingque's expression was clear and clear: "It has nothing to do with you. It's all my own fault."
The two were silent for a moment. Seeing Hua Lang about to leave, he spoke again, "Given Xuan Yuan's personality, you will inevitably get entangled with him if you go out. You can rest here for the rest of the time."
There was only a chair in front of the desk. Wu Tingque was sitting in a wheelchair, so Hua Lang didn't bother to be polite with him and sat directly on the chair.
She asked tentatively, "Do you know where I've been all these years?"
Wu Tingque's expression remained calm. In this dark, narrow chamber, he seemed to have dropped all pretense. "Everything in this world, whether known or not, is of no use. Everything follows its own path. To try to stop it is to be shattered to pieces."
Hua Lang was silent for a moment. These words coincided with her current point of view.
She clearly guessed who took the Illusion Pearl from Tiancheng, but she would rather come to Wu Tingque for help than dare to see him again.
"What if you are unwilling to accept the inevitable outcome?"
Wu Tingque picked up the scroll on the table and said, "It was in this secret room that I proposed to my father that the only way to eliminate the demon is to kill its leader."
"At the time, all the patriarchs of the immortal sects in Zhongzhou agreed to this proposal. Once the Sky Foxes were extinct, the engagement would undoubtedly fall on me. And just as I suspected, I finally got what I wanted—a piece of the thinnest red paper, and the mouths of those who mocked me, forever shut. This insignificant gift led me to become part of Rong Chengchuan's chess game. Under his manipulation, I watched as you and I became victims of this game. Had I known this would be the outcome, I would never have set foot in this secret room."
"There's still time." Hua Lang could vaguely hear the crackling sound of electricity in her head. After listening to Wu Tingque's words, she suddenly said, "I want to go see him. I can't accept this ending!"
Wu Tingque didn't stop him. He stretched out his hand and let Hua Lang take the Sand City back. He said, "I'll take you out."
Hua Lang nodded. With Wu Tingque around, she didn't have to deal with Rong Cheng Yunxuan anymore.
After Wu Tingque took Rong Cheng Yunxuan away, Hua Lang walked out of the secret room. She knew that Xie Hanjing would never show up in Zhongzhou on her own initiative, so she took the initiative to go out of the city along the broken building.
This place was also captured by the demons. Deep and light black spots were all over the ground, and the smell of burning was lingering.
The Zhongzhou barrier was broken and no one was maintaining it. Even without the imperial order, Hua Lang was able to pass through the thick city tunnel smoothly and finally stopped in a vast expanse of wind and sand.
The blinding sand made her lower her head, and Hua Lang looked at the two big blinking eyes in her shadow.
She bent down and tried to pick up the coal, but it twisted its round body and darted around in the shadow. Hua Lang was about to stop it, but the coal jumped straight forward and sank into another black shadow.
The flying sand stopped for a moment, and Hua Lang was finally able to raise her eyes and look at the familiar face before her. She said helplessly, "...When we were filling the city, you clearly saw me, so why did you run away in the end?"
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