Chapter 39 Lord Jiang, can't you hear me? Then let me move closer…
Under the bright sunlight, the two people in the room suddenly vanished.
The guards, who were generally well-trained, were still taken aback by what they saw.
The person who had just made the suggestion to Su Heng was of a higher rank, and he felt that now was the right time for him to step forward.
He stepped forward decisively, interrupting the painter, his tone respectful yet laced with a hint of threat, and said:
"I wonder where you took our master, sir. Could you please show mercy and let this matter rest? That would be the best thing for you."
The crown prince had told him that the old man was exceptionally capable and instructed him to be mindful of etiquette, but...
She didn't seem like anyone special. It's normal for someone from a powerful and influential family in the capital to be unknown, but the surroundings were so dilapidated that it was clear she wasn't doing very well in this mere Changxingfang. What was there to be careful about?
The young man, confident in his status and talent, was already being quite polite to this "ordinary painter" by saying such things.
The painter realized upon hearing him speak that the person who had arrived was not the one she had expected.
She raised her head impatiently, turned around and looked at the uninvited guests in the room, meeting the young man's gaze.
Her eyes were covered with a layer of grayish-white, making her look like a blind person.
However, since she was able to paint freely and make eye contact with the young man, her eyes must still be able to see.
However, her extraordinary qualities do not stop there.
Her eyes appeared calm at first glance, but beneath that calm lay endless turmoil, a kind of almost insane obsession that, if stared at for too long, could inspire a sense of dread.
Is this person crazy?
The young guard who was talking to her felt uneasy. Knowing that there were a lot of people watching, he didn't want to show his fear, so he forced himself to keep his eyes fixed on the old woman.
After the painter saw the people in the room clearly, he said slowly, "You can go and wash the inkstone in the courtyard too."
The young man was shocked, never expecting that this person would not listen to a word he said and would dare to order him around like this.
Just as the artist had described, a hooded guard who had been looking out of the room turned and went into the courtyard.
The young man noticed the commotion, glanced at it, and quickly turned back.
It was that country bumpkin; I wonder where the Crown Prince promoted him from.
What's the point of such flattery if you're not even addressing someone in a position of power?
He naturally had no intention of going, and immediately frowned and said, "Old man, the person you have imprisoned is the Crown Prince of the current dynasty. Releasing him sooner will not only prevent you from being blamed, but will also bring you a generous reward. Why are you so stubborn?"
He didn't mind annoying the person in front of him.
Nominally, he was the Crown Prince's bodyguard, and he was promoted quickly. The Crown Prince had been kind to him, but that was definitely because of his family background.
No one in the group stopped him; they even secretly regarded him as their leader and never hindered his actions. This made him feel that the Crown Prince had long intended to win people's hearts.
The Crown Prince must have already told his subordinates to treat him well, right?
But he didn't only have the option of becoming the crown prince.
In this Great Zhou Dynasty, there are those who hold a higher position than the Crown Prince, aren't there?
The artist, seemingly puzzled, asked, "Aren't you going?"
The young man sneered, "Of course!"
The artist, utterly bored, waved his hand and said, "Then get lost."
The young man vanished completely in the next instant, without even a sound of surprise, as if he had never existed.
This is very similar to the way Jiang Geyun and Su Heng disappeared before.
The room was completely silent.
Just then, the hooded man washed an inkstone, scurried into the room, placed it beside the painter, and bowed, saying, "Please use it."
The painter glanced at the inkstone, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.
She looked up at the hooded man and said, "...I didn't do it, and I can't release him. You should find your master and think of another way!"
The hooded man said repeatedly, "What are you saying? We just wanted to help you. As for our master's whereabouts, your guidance is enough."
The artist said, "I told you there's no way to help you. Otherwise, I would have just returned your companion to you."
“Hey, hey,” the hooded man said, bowing. “This is his own fate, not something we ask for. He should just pray for his own good fortune, right everyone?”
The guards behind the hooded man stood silently. Upon hearing this, they exchanged glances, their eyes filled with a hint of mockery, before nodding in agreement. A peaceful atmosphere filled the room.
The hooded man said, "There will be a way to explain this later. He offended you, so he deserves to end up like this. If you can tell me more about our master, that would be great!"
The artist did not understand what the people in front of him were doing.
She didn't care, and simply said, "None of them died. The rest is up to fate."
As soon as she finished speaking, the hooded figure was about to respond when she seemed to suddenly remember something and asked, "Wait, who did your companion just say was trapped?"
*
"I still don't understand who you are."
The girl's eyes were as pure as the blackness of her surroundings, only much brighter than the dark, flowing blackness.
Jiang Geyun had just hurriedly explained a lot, including who she was, who Su Heng was, and what had happened before.
This shows that people tend to talk more when they are embarrassed.
Hearing the girl's slightly confused reply, Jiang Geyun calmed down a bit.
Children this young probably don't have much understanding of certain things.
Besides, Jiang Geyun has already explained, so there's no way she'll be misunderstood again.
Once her emotions had calmed down, Jiang Geyun bent down and said, "It's alright, as long as we all know we want to leave, what about you?"
"Me?" The little girl tilted her head. "I don't remember much. It was dangerous outside, so I opened the door and came in, and then... and then you came."
Su Heng smiled and asked, "How long has it been since you came in and before we arrived?"
The girl paused, then slowly looked up.
During her brief silence, Jiang Geyun straightened up, her gaze fixed on her, wary of whether she might suddenly erupt.
The main villain is incredibly perceptive; having him as a teammate is quite reassuring.
Although they are only temporary teammates.
The girl complained, "There's no way to keep track of time here, how would I know!"
Jiang Geyun pondered for a moment, then asked, "So, little girl, what have you encountered? Can you tell us about it?"
The little girl suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Jiang Geyun's left hand, and pulled it in front of her.
Jiang Geyun didn't seem to have any malicious intent in her actions, and she cooperated by bending down again.
The girl wrote on Jiang Geyun's palm, where a white scar had not yet disappeared: Chao, Wu, Jiu.
Although there is no ink or brush, the shape of the characters can still be roughly discerned.
After writing, the girl nodded in satisfaction.
Jiang Geyun understood and asked, "Is this your name?"
Chao Wujiu said, "Yes, just call me that. 'Little girl' is a bad term..."
Chao Wujiu whispered something.
Her voice was already immature and somewhat unclear, and when she deliberately lowered her voice, it became even more difficult to hear.
Jiang Geyun asked, "Okay... Wujiu, what have you encountered here?"
Chao Wujiu seemed to be thinking very seriously for a while.
She said, "I don't know how I was thrown in. After I came in, everything else was fine, and I wasn't hungry. But those black things in the corridor were chasing me and trying to kill me. I had to keep an eye on both sides and grope my way into this room. I was trapped here until you came."
Jiang Geyun asked in confusion, "Those black things in the corridor?"
Chao Wujiu seemed quite troubled. She scratched her hair and said, "Yes, it will turn from walls and floors into hands, into swords, into thorns. Wherever I go, it will change."
Was the danger Chao Wujiu faced the flowing black objects around him, rather than the brown-clad puppets?
This is quite different from the situation the two had encountered before.
As Jiang Geyun pondered, Su Heng suddenly asked with a smile, "You've been trapped for so long, aren't your family worried?"
Chao Wujiu glanced at Su Heng and said, "I have no father or mother, and no one cares about me."
Su Heng added, "Even without fathers or mothers, one can still have sisters and brothers."
Chao Wujiu said impatiently, "What exactly do you want to say?"
Instead of replying to Chao Wujiu, Su Heng looked at Jiang Geyun.
He said gently, "I may have some clue as to why this place is."
Jiang Geyun glanced at Chao Wujiu and then at Su Heng.
In the outside world, the main villain is undoubtedly the one to be most wary of, but here, this unknown Chao Wujiu is clearly more dangerous.
The unknown is always the most frightening.
Jiang Geyun, seemingly unintentionally, carefully separated Su Heng and Chao Wujiu.
She said, "Please speak, Your Highness."
Su Heng was somewhat puzzled by her actions.
Upon closer inspection, his smile softened even more.
He said softly, "The painter whom Lord Jiang just met is named 'Chao Wujiu'."
—So, is the person in front of you an imposter, or something else? What are her thoughts when she calls herself "Chao Wujiu"?
Jiang Geyun's doubts were aroused, and she turned to observe the reaction of "Chao Wujiu" in front of her.
The "Chao Wujiu" in front of them stopped abruptly, his face showing surprise, which did not seem to be a pretense.
Then, she stared intently at the two people in front of her.
...He doesn't seem like a good person.
Seeing her terrifying expression, Jiang Geyun was unsure whether to push her away or pull Su Heng away.
How could the main villain speak so carelessly? Shouldn't he have told her this in private? That way, they could have escaped without anyone noticing!
Anyway, there are so many rooms in the dark corridor, one more won't make a difference. If all else fails, we can just go out and find another room to stay in, and then make other plans.
I'm retracting my "reliable teammate" rating; now it's a bad review!
Su Heng said, "We may be drawn into the broken painting and glimpse Chao Wujiu's inner world and... his past."
In response to Su Heng's words, Chao Wujiu, standing in front of Jiang Geyun, also lowered his head and pondered for a moment.
Taking this opportunity, Jiang Geyun looked at Su Heng and gestured with her eyes.
Ignoring Jiang Geyun's glances and hints, Su Heng did not move away. Instead, he took a few steps forward and leaned down to look at Jiang Geyun.
His breath made her neck feel inexplicably itchy.
He said, "Can't you hear me, Lord Jiang? Then I'll move closer."
Jiang Geyun said, "...Okay."
Chao Wujiu said, "I am a memory, so what?"
Under Chao Wujiu's hateful gaze, Su Heng said, "The puppet we just encountered should be an innocent subject of the painting. A puppet without a mind can only carry out residual commands. To carry out commands, it needs to leave this place. What did it do to leave this place?"
Jiang Geyun said in a deep voice, "It wants to kill us."
“Indeed, it seems the conditions for leaving won’t be easy to agree to,” he chuckled softly. “I wonder, does this Miss Chao Wujiu wish to leave?”
Upon hearing this, Chao Wujiu shrugged.
The next moment, the surrounding blackness surged like an inky tide, transforming into hundreds of hands that attacked the two of them!
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Author's note: Why did they have to chase that young girl away? It's so mysterious!
-
Here it comes!
I forgot to explain something. There was a jump in the plot between chapters 35 and 36, skipping over some scenes. Some were foreshadowing and will be left unsaid for now, while others were just things I felt were too boring to write, such as Yun being taught some techniques by Xiao Pei and summoning his natal fire.
After posting chapter 38, I was wondering if adults would be confused about when I learned it, and whether it would present any reading difficulties. If so, I'll take some time to revise it and write it in a more straightforward style. [Sunglasses]
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