Chapter 445 Every Household
Because Mei Liangyu broke the seal of the blessing bestowed by the master, Du Zheng sat on the edge of the bed and had a brainstorming session, constantly recalling things from his childhood. His cognition and memory conflicted with each other, making him look extremely ferocious.
Mei Liangyu asked him many questions, and Du Zheng answered them one by one.
Suddenly, Du Zheng knelt down and kowtowed to Mei Liangyu, pleading, "Please help me and my sister leave this place!"
Mei Liangyu stared at the stone wall and casually said, "We'll see."
Du Zheng: "..."
I thought I had met a righteous savior, but it turned out to be a passerby with a weak sense of justice.
Du Zheng gritted his teeth: "I'll tell you anything you want to know!"
“Even if you leave here, your eye condition will still be a problem,” Mei Liangyu said. “Didn’t you just say that once you go up there, you won’t be able to see anything?”
The underground city was devoid of direct sunlight and torrential snow; instead, it was illuminated by firelight.
“Before, we saw caravans unloading goods at the entrance. Looking up from the entrance, all we could see was a vast expanse of white, so we mistakenly thought we couldn’t see anything,” Du Zheng said. “Because before my memory returned, I didn’t know that what I saw was called ‘snow’.”
The children who emerged from the black pool had their memories sealed by a master, and in this underground city, they were reborn, their cognition and thoughts becoming completely different from those of normal people.
They regarded their eye disease as a calamity and devoutly offered incense to the people of the royal city, hoping to receive salvation from their master.
As for the sorcerers of the nine streams, the five elements, the sorcerers of the Pingju School, and the Lan Poison, they had absolutely no concept or knowledge of these related terms.
Mei Liangyu tapped the wall with his finger: "Do you remember when this mountain wall was first built?"
“It was there when I entered the workshop,” Du Zheng said. “Is there something wrong with it?”
That's been more than ten years.
Mei Liangyu shook his head, then turned and stared at Du Zheng for a while: "You said that when the people in the workshop have an eye attack, the supervisor will light incense for you. Have you ever smelled the incense?"
Du Zheng shook his head: "No."
"Neither your sister nor Ah Ling have any?"
After a moment of silence, Du Zheng said, "Ah Ling has smelled the incense."
"So that's why she became different from you?"
Du Zheng said, "I don't know if that's the reason, but since then, her eye condition has been different from ours; she can see things that we can't."
"From then on, Ah Ling tried every means to get the incense offerings. Every time there was an intruder... Ah Ling would..."
Du Zheng looked up at Mei Liangyu and said with difficulty, "She would deliberately help them enter the royal city, and then cooperate with the royal army to capture the intruders, so she could get thirty incense sticks."
After hearing this, Mei Liangyu merely glanced at where Yu Sui was, without replying, his expression unreadable.
Du Zheng said, "But I won't let Ah Ling do that this time, don't worry!"
"What can you do?" Mei Liangyu chuckled softly. "She has received many offerings of incense, but she has never given any to you."
Du Zheng remained silent.
That means there isn't one.
Yu Sui stood in front of the door, gently turning the red paper windmill that was stuck to the door.
Ah Ling, who was on the bed behind, peeked at this scene, but had no idea what she was doing.
Upon hearing the news from Shuifengjing, Mei Liangyu said to Du Zheng, "When you go to the workshop, gather those who have opinions about Wang Jun and who will resist them."
Du Zheng was taken aback, then nodded: "Okay!"
"When the first Wang Jun falls, it means he has become just like you."
Yu Sui closed her eyes, and invisible energy scattered in all directions. With her breath, the surging snow water paused briefly for a moment, white mist rose, and the shadow of a huge fish flashed past in the depths of the snow water.
The mist drifted over the high bridge and towards the houses within the gable walls.
Above the underground city, Gu Gan and Xun Zhiya fled through the snowy fog, with the voice relentlessly pursuing them.
"You coward! Now that things have come to this, all you can do is run away?"
The old man's voice, both authoritative and disdainful, echoed from the sky.
The blizzard obscured their vision, and Xun Zhiya raised her hand to defend herself. The black spear cut through the wind and snow, coming with a whooshing sound, and almost separated the two of them several times.
Gu Gan ran a long circle in the snow and finally completed the magic circle. When he was chased by the black spear again, he suddenly stopped, formed a hand seal, turned around, and faced the black spear head-on. His eyes blazed with bright gold.
"Fire!"
"Broken Blade Flame!"
Golden spirit words howled as they flew from his fingertips, igniting a raging fire in the vast snowfield and forming a massive "fire" character magic array on the ground.
The Fire Array cut off the wind and snow, and also cut off the sight of the famous sages who were hiding in the wind and snow chasing them.
The black spear, carrying killing intent, charged into the formation, piercing straight at Gu Gan with a whooshing sound. Gu Gan raised his hand and shouted fiercely, "Break!"
The Divine Strategist expanded his range, halting the black spear that was imbued with the blessing of a master: "Never stop before blood is drawn."
Gu Gan clenched his fists, gripping the heavy spear tightly, ready to crush it with a powerful jerk, when he suddenly heard an old man's anxious shout from ahead: "Wait!"
"Was that the Divine Mechanism Celestial Official you just used?!"
The raging fire blocked the howling wind and snow, and the old man who had been hiding in the shadows appeared. He stood outside the fire formation, wearing a white robe. The firelight reflected on his aged face, but his eyes looked bright and piercing.
The old man stared intently at Gu Gan, his eyes filled with excitement and anticipation.
Gu Gan noticed that the old man's expression didn't seem to indicate any enmity or a desire to kill him for his treasure, but he still dared not let his guard down and coldly shouted, "So what if it is!"
"Did you acquire your divine skills by killing someone?" the old man asked again.
Gu Gan coldly replied, "No one in this world has the power to take my Divine Mechanism Technique from me!"
The old man raised his hand and waved, golden characters flashing. In the blink of an eye, he had entered the fire formation. The raging wind and snow and the leaping flames were gone. He finally saw the face of the person in front of him and said in a trembling voice, "It's too similar."
Gu Gan reached out and stopped Xun Zhiya, who was about to make a move, behind him. He frowned and looked the old man up and down, and heard the old man ask, "Your father... is the famous Poison God, Gu Xiao?"
"How could you..." Now it was Gu Gan's turn to be shocked.
Few people know this name, and even fewer dare to mention it.
Seeing Gu Gan's reaction, the old man believed he had guessed correctly and said, "Your father is the renowned Poison Master Gu Xiao, and your mother is the second young lady of the He family, He Xingwen! Isn't that right!"
"...Do you know them?" Gu Gan asked hesitantly.
"You are their child! You really are their child!" The old man was incredibly excited and opened his arms to hug Gu Gan, but Gu Gan stopped him and had to stop to continue, "Your parents saved my life several times. Your father and I have a life-or-death bond! And your mother... if it weren't for the Second Miss's help, I wouldn't have been able to break through to sainthood!"
"Ever since that year, I've been guarding the snowfield for your father and haven't gone out again. Now, finally... finally, you've come!"
"Kid, I'm Xuehe! When you were little, didn't you always ask me to make snowballs?"
The old man gestured excitedly with his hands, trying to awaken Gu Gan's childhood memories.
Those vague memories flickered deep in Gu Gan's mind, and what became clearer and clearer was the way the man and woman looked at him tenderly.
Those were his father and mother.
"Senior Xuehe!" Gu Gan recalled those fragmented memories. Seeing that he had finally remembered, the old man happily hugged the young man in front of him.
This time, Gu Gan did not stop him. Instead, he opened his arms and hugged the old man back, his eyes filled with sorrow.
Since losing his father and mother, he had rarely received such a warm embrace from an elder. Nangong Ming was very kind to him, but he wasn't one to use gentle tricks.
Before He Xuyan died, she would secretly come to see him, but she didn't dare to meet him.
Everyone else only dared to secretly watch the child from a distance.
"Good, good! You've grown so much already. If it weren't for your divine skills, I would have almost made a terrible mistake!" Xuehe's eyes were filled with tears. "Come, let me take a good look. Did I hurt you just now?"
Gu Gan shook his head and flexed his wrists, saying, "I've grown quite a bit over the years. I only used some strength when setting up the formation just now. Senior, your Master's Blessing is more powerful than any I've encountered before. In the end, I still had to rely on the Divine Strategist Technique to get out of the predicament."
Xuehe laughed loudly: "Don't worry! From now on, anyone who wants to take the Heavenly Official position from you will have to step over my dead body!"
Gu Gan smiled and, noticing Xun Zhiya standing quietly behind him, quickly introduced her: "Zhiya, this is my father's good friend. She took care of me when I was little. She is a renowned master, Senior Xuehe."
Xun Zhiya bowed slightly to the old man and smiled in acknowledgment.
Xuehe smiled and nodded at Xun Zhiya.
"Senior, what are you doing here?" Gu Gan got down to business. "After my father died, you..."
“This is the stronghold your father entrusted to me. I promised him that I would protect it even if it cost me my life.” Xuehe pointed to the snow below. “Below this is the Xuan Kui stronghold that your father risked his life to preserve.”
"What?" Gu Gan couldn't believe his ears. He subconsciously looked at Xun Zhiya, who was also extremely shocked.
"Wait! Senior! Isn't this the base of the Abyss for cultivating vipers?" Gu Gan asked urgently.
“Vipers? Oh, those things, they exist too.” Xuehe nodded, and Gu Gan finally breathed a sigh of relief. “The old subordinates who stayed behind, led by Zhu Laosan, started to cooperate with the Xun family to try new methods of alchemy. It seems that they researched something very strange, but it was useful, so it has been preserved.”
Xuehe said, "I don't get involved in the alchemy. My only responsibility is to guard this place and prevent it from being discovered by outsiders."
"If it weren't for..." Before the old man could finish speaking, Gu Gan raised his hand to stop him from continuing, and turned to Xun Zhiya, saying, "Senior, please let me talk to her first."
Xuehe glanced between the two and then tactfully moved a little further away.
Xun Zhiya still seemed to be in shock. Gu Gan took a deep breath and said to her with an extremely solemn expression, "I didn't mean to hide it from you, but now that things have come to this, I must tell you frankly that my father is the famous Poison God, Gu Xiao."
Gu Gan met the woman's gaze as she looked up, then lowered his head again and said, "He was also the previous leader of the Xuan Kui Hundred Bandits of Nan Jing."
Xun Zhiya was about to ask a question, but she stopped when she saw Gu Gan's dejected expression and instead took his hand. Gu Gan was surprised by her action, slowly raised his head, and saw Xun Zhiya smiling at him: "Just like you told me before, you are you. Putting aside all background, you are just the person I like, so I will not have any bad thoughts about you because of your background or your parents."
Her gentle words gave Gu Gan strength, and his heart burned with passion again. He raised his hand and hugged the woman tightly.
Gu Gan buried his head in the woman's shoulder and said in a muffled voice, "My father always believed that Lan Du could help those who practiced magic. He initially participated in creating different Lan Du under the pretext of helping others. Even after being beheaded by the combined forces of the Three Kingdoms' Yu Lan Si, he never regretted it."
“My father said that as long as you have a strong enough will, you will not become a slave to the poison, but a master of it.”
"It can allow practitioners of martial arts to see a wider world, solve difficult and complicated diseases that even doctors cannot cure, and change the whole world."
"But he himself died young... and was unable to fulfill his dream."
Gu Gan gritted his teeth as he finished speaking. In his memory, the man was trapped in the mountain city by the murderous intent of countless people. He watched as countless figures rushed towards his father, but he was powerless to do anything. As a child, he could only have his mouth covered, unable to even utter a wail, and watch helplessly as his father died, while he himself had to stay away.
My father was different from the other Xuan Kui people.
Gu Gan firmly believed this.
He once thought that if he found the orchid poison left by his father, he would give it to Sui Sui and make her wish to become a ninth-rate sorcerer come true.
But now
Gu Gan closed his eyes, and the innocent smile of the girl appeared before him. Soon, the pair of dark pupils that were always smiling in his memory turned cold and murderous when they looked at him. These scenes intertwined, constantly reminding Gu Gan of the cruel fact that Sui Sui wanted to kill him.
Once upon a time, Gu Gan thought that the killing intent caused by the mutual attraction of the Yin-Yang fish was a misunderstanding. But after hearing the news from Qingyang, he realized that even without the Yin-Yang fish, Nangong Sui was no longer the person he knew.
Gu Gan took a deep breath, reopened his eyes, his expression resolute and his gaze determined.
“Let’s go,” he said to Xun Zhiya. “I will make those people give you an explanation.”
Xuehe stood at the edge of the magic circle, looking again at the two young men walking towards him. "Senior, I'll tell you about what happened over the years later, because I'm here to find someone." Gu Gan told him about Shi Yuezhen's situation, "I wonder if you could take me to find her."
"Of course!" Xuehe raised his already white eyebrows and pointed to the ground, saying, "You are Gu Xiao's son, everything in this underground city is yours! Come on, I'll take you down there. Anyone who objects, I'll smash their head in!"
The last sentence was quite brutal.
Gu Gan and Xun Zhiya followed behind, heading towards the underground city together.
Xun Zhiya looked back at the Black Castle standing in the wind and snow. That was just a trick of the Nine Schools of Famous Arts. The real Black Castle was actually underground.
Underground city.
After the drumbeats sounded, red-eyed crows flew over the house again, their cries waking the people inside. They opened their doors and appeared, preparing to head to the workshop.
Yu Sui turned to the girl who was pretending to have just woken up and asked her, "Am I going to the workshop too?"
“I’ll take you to the royal city.” Ah Ling shook her head. “But you two have to split up. I can only take one person in at a time.”
She rolled her eyes, scrutinizing Yu Sui's expression.
The people in front of me are different from the caravans I've encountered before. This woman seems to be more formidable. I can't let them gather together; I have to deal with them separately.
Yu Sui smiled at A Ling, her eyes crinkling, and said, "Then thank you in advance."
Ah Ling stepped forward, opened the door, and led Yu Sui into the crowd.
Yu Sui looked up at the tall black castle, which looked more like several tall buildings stacked on top of each other, strange and mysterious. The corridors connecting the buildings were painted in a terrifying black, and the underground city, which disappeared into darkness without any firelight, was full of majesty.
A group of people dressed in gorgeous clothes and colorful garments are walking across this black covered bridge.
Zhu Laosan, who was walking ahead, was picking his teeth, his fierce eyes looking towards the workshop: "Thanks to the strange fire that caused chaos in the world, everyone who is still alive knows that they need to improve their five elements to avoid being burned to death by the strange fire. That's why orchid poison is selling better than before, hahaha!"
"Have the higher-ups spread the word widely, let everyone know that only with Orchid Poison can one temporarily enhance the Five Elements Qi and avoid being burned to death by the Strange Fire! Let the people of the remaining five kingdoms come and buy our Orchid Poison, and every household should keep some on hand!"
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