The first time was when she was in Seqiu. She went out alone to look for food. The servant who was with Anlu had such a bell tied on his wrist.
The second time was at Changmitai in Jiaosong County. When King Yan Zici was trying to steal the secret seal and was surrounded by the Black Feather generals, a subtle sound of bells from the crowd of spectators pointed the way out for him.
If that were all, it wouldn't have made her so alert.
What she really cared about were the secret runes engraved on the bell.
Back then, when she and the emperor were hiding from Puhuna's pursuit in the wilderness west of the Lingxi Mountains, they encountered a pack of wolves.
The lone wolf that had come sniffing out the scent of blood had a blood symbol on its head, with strange characters on it. At the time, she had only thought it was a Southern Qiang secret technique, but now she realized she had never encountered such techniques in Bijiang, let alone seen similar characters or symbols in daily life.
Even earlier, the trigger for Xiaoxue's surprise attack on the king's tent was Su Pingchuan's black horse. There were runes written in blood on the black horse's head, and those runes were exactly the same characters.
The sound of the bells and the text that was so ancient that its origin could not be traced all pointed to some unknown connection between the Shen family and Puhuna.
Perhaps, the secret technique did not originate from Southern Qiang, but from the north.
The descendants of the Kuyi clan, who were said to be able to speak the languages of animals and birds, actually left Lingxi completely after the devastating flood and settled in the north.
Proficient in the art of taming beasts, this art is both small and great.
To put it simply, it is just the animal realm, far inferior to the ability to move mountains and seas and change the world.
But if we take a broader view, besides flowers, plants, and trees, living things are the most abundant in the world. And wherever there are living things, there are places where they can stir up trouble.
When you think about it, it's actually quite daunting.
Shen Linlin, who was five steps away, naturally had no idea what she was thinking. He was still immersed in the shame of losing the confrontation with his elder sister, and was eager to find some excuse to vent his anger on others.
He kicked the guard from the Zou Mansion and glared at Zhao Ximei fiercely.
"What are you standing there for?! Go clean up the deer park quickly. If you don't finish it before dawn, I'll have you tied up and sent to the Murhe Bear family."
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Ximei's face looked as if she had seen a ghost. She ran away with the big men in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Nanhui watched from the side, feeling very sad.
Back then, the Zou family prospered thanks to the medicinal ingredient, Mausoleum Blood, sourced from the flesh and blood of countless wild deer. Now, Zou Sifang's whereabouts are unknown, and the entire Zou household is enslaved by the Shen family, forced to herd deer. Even Zhao Ximei, the once pampered and commanding mistress, is forced to serve those four-hoofed beasts. Whoever hears this would beg to differ.
Taking a deep breath, she followed Ding Weixiang, eager to find an opportunity to rub shoulders with him and share her recent speculations about Puhuna. However, with Chen Yangyang following her almost constantly, she worried that her inferences might be inadequate and might even alert the enemy. She suppressed her worries and joined the others in silence, heading towards the lonely city gate between the two mountains.
Underfoot, the wet mudflats lay still. It wasn't so much a path as it was a fenced-off path. If it weren't for the deer, it would have been impossible to find any trace of the path on the mudflats. As for whether the other paths hidden in the dark woods held more dangers, Xiao Nanhui had no idea.
After passing through the fir forest, you will enter the city gate. The road inside the gate is still narrow, with towering mountain walls on both sides. Occasionally, there are narrow passages between the mountain walls that are only wide enough for one person to pass through. It is impossible to tell whether they are naturally formed cracks between the mountains or artificially carved.
The left half of the mountain had been hollowed out, littered with giant black holes left by coal mining, while the right side, like a massive cross-section, had been carved by a knife or an axe. Years of rain had eroded this section, leaving a sheer, barren rock face. Countless caves, large and small, had been carved into the rock face. At first glance, they looked like grottoes used by ancient people to carve Buddhist statues, but a closer look revealed no statues, only empty stone platforms.
She had never seen such a strange city structure before, so she deliberately slowed down her pace to take a closer look.
The bottoms of those stone platforms are shaped like petals, which seem to be the shape of lotus flowers. Due to their age, the patterns carved on them have been worn away, and it is impossible to tell when they were carved.
Xiao Nanhui stared intently until a huge cave appeared in front of him.
This cave, deeply embedded in the mountain, is somewhat different from those seen before. It is roughly estimated that it can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time. There are carved rune patterns on its inner walls, densely packed from the ground to the towering cave ceiling, and then converge into a small hole in the center of the ceiling. Some black liquid is dripping down from the cave entrance, and the place where the liquid falls is the only stone platform in the cave.
Several gray-clad guards walked by holding torches, and the firelight illuminated the back wall of the cave. Xiao Nanhui discovered that there was a charred area on the wall that spread out in all directions. It did not seem to be naturally formed, but it did not seem to be rendered with paint.
There was a pungent smell in the air, which was still very obvious even though it had just rained tonight.
It smells like kerosene.
She looked at the round stone platform and finally understood what was carved on it.
The petals were not shaped like lotus flowers, but flames. The gully between the flames and the stone platform was filled with flowing black kerosene. It was not difficult to imagine what the scene inside the cave would be like if a spark ignited it.
The person next to her seemed to notice her gaze and spoke softly in her ear.
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