He knows
Ruan Yi said, "Ran Niang and I met in Heqiao Town. I was still a scholar at the time, and she was a wealthy lady from Shuzhong. Her parents died when she was young, and she was sent to be raised by relatives in another province. After we fell in love, we returned to Shuzhong together, got married in Taoyuan, and worshipped heaven and earth. Everything was going well.
But, since I came to Shuzhong, I started to have a nightmare every night.
I dreamed... Ran Niang had changed her heart, and I pushed her into the Redwater Lake. I don't know why I had such a dream. I began to be afraid to see her, afraid to look into her eyes. I began to fear what would happen if she really changed her mind. I had this dream so many times that sometimes I couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams.
I went to find a monk without her knowledge. At first I thought it was a ghost, but the monk found nothing. Just when I was at a loss as to what to do, Ran Niang took the initiative to say that she wanted to leave...
I breathed a sigh of relief. This was fine. If I continued like this, I was afraid that sooner or later I would kill her. The more I wanted to be close to her, the more pain I felt. I endured the heartache and sent her out of Shuzhong. I didn't dare to shed a tear in front of her, nor did I dare to say a word to ask her to stay. When she left, she said coldly, "We'll meet again in the future."
As he spoke, his body was shaky, and his long blue robe was only hanging on his thin skeleton.
"After she left, I rarely dreamed. I thought about going out to look for her, but I didn't expect that anyone who tried to leave Shu would perish in the Blue Sea, and no one could get out. When you came yesterday, I was afraid you would find Ruan Niang. This morning, I took the boat out to sea, intending to warn her to leave Heqiao, but I encountered huge waves and was lucky to survive."
Bai Linchuan said: "Perhaps, she had the same dream as you, so she chose to leave."
Ruan Yi was startled. Thinking carefully, he realized something was indeed amiss. "During that time, Ran Niang was also very evasive towards me, so I couldn't help but suspect that she had changed her mind." He was startled again and said, "Doesn't that mean that my evasion was also seen as betrayal by her, so...she decided to leave."
Mo Xie asked, "Since you already knew you couldn't get out, why did you risk your life trying to leave today?"
Ruan Yi paused and said, "I...actually, I followed you. I thought you had a way and I could take the opportunity to escape."
Mo Xue scratched his chin and said, "You just said that He Shuangran's family has lived in Shu for generations. How did her parents die?"
Ruan Yi said, "Every time she talked about it, she would be sad, so I didn't ask any more questions. But they must have loved each other very much. That peach orchard was originally planted by them with their own hands."
"Where are her parents buried?"
Ruan Yi thought for a long time and said, "... Chishan."
Ruan Yi suddenly realized, tears streaming down his face as he spoke, "So they too... fate plays tricks on us like this."
Mo Xie's pupils dilated, and he finally understood, "What a bullshit fate, I'm afraid it's this Red Mountain Monster who's causing trouble."
Wei Si said, "If it really is invading dreams to sow discord between true love, then everything makes sense. No wonder all the lovers in Shu turn from love to hate and die in this lake."
Mo Xue was puzzled: "How can a monster do this? It's just a mountain after all, how can it control dreams?"
Bai Linchuan raised his head and looked at the sky.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, which obscured the entire sky. It was gloomy and gray. The sun had not been seen all day. He said slowly, "It's raining..."
Last night, it rained all night in Shu after a long absence...
Bai Linchuan suddenly said to Mo Xue, "Where is the demon spirit?"
Mo Xue blinked and said, "Crushed it."
Bai Linchuan was stunned for a moment. At first, he thought Mo Xue was trying to keep it and sell it, so he didn't ask. But now, fearing there might be some misunderstanding, he asked, "Crushed it? The demon spirit is a physical entity, how could it be easily crushed?"
Mo Xue: "A physical entity? The moment I touch it, that thing will fall apart."
Bai Linchuan was shrouded in a deadly gloom, even darker than the sky.
Mo Xue said stubbornly, "How do I know that the demon spirit is... a physical entity..."
Bai Linchuan's forehead twitched nervously: "It's written in the books and taught in class."
Mo Xie stopped talking and looked at Wei Si.
Wei Si stood beside Bai Linchuan and nodded: "That's right."
Bai Linchuan asked, "Where do you spend your time and energy?"
Mo Xue was not right but still confident: "Of course I will use it on... the person I care about."
His bright eyes, with a little starlight in them, stared straight at Bai Linchuan.
Bai Linchuan paused. If he had not seen that Mo Xue was not affected by the Chishan magma at all, he might have believed it.
He remained unmoved and turned his head away silently.
Wei Si looked up at the sky and could vaguely see black ghosts moving through it, but they couldn't break through the dark clouds. "The ghosts are still imprisoned, and the Red Mountain Demon is not dead yet!"
Ruan Yi glanced at the masked Bai Linchuan, then at Mo Xue, his eyes rolling, "So, the Red Mountain Demon is not dead, and we still can't get out..."
"Don't you know the big man who escaped?" Mo Xue asked.
Ruan Yi shook his head.
Wei Si slammed his hands, "He's telling lies all the time."
Ruan Yi looked at Wei Si curiously, not knowing what the relationship between that person and him was.
After Wei Si told him everything about the big man's conversation, Ruan Yi couldn't help but show a murderous look on his face and cursed, "How unreasonable!"
But he said doubtfully: "Although he lied to you, the story is not entirely false. Half of it was even dreamed by me..."
"Who did you tell your dream to?" Mo Xue asked.
Ruan Yi scratched his head. "This... I wrote it into a storybook, but I've never shown it to anyone."
Mo Xue hissed and glanced at Ruan Yi. It was really bizarre. The Red Mountain Monster specialized in killing lovers. The big man's mastermind had been leading them to capture He Shuangran. And there was also the strange little pockmarked man. What was the connection between all these things?
Wei Si said, "Can you let me take a look?"
Ruan Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay, but in Taoyuan."
Wei Si said, "I'll go with you."
Mo Xie said, "Just follow him, Junior Sister. Let's go meet someone."
"Who?" Bai Linchuan asked.
"Little pockmarked boy!" Mo Xie called out, "Brother brought you some candy!"
Xiao Mazi came out from behind the door with a sullen face, "What are you doing here again?"
Mo Xue smiled, squatted down and handed him a piece of candy. When Xiao Mazi was about to reach out to take it, someone suddenly appeared from behind the door.
He waved the candy away with one hand, and it rolled to the ground, covered in mud.
Mo Xue's smile paused, and he frowned at the man. Before he could say anything, the man's saliva almost sprayed on his face.
The man pointed at Xiao Mazi and said, "How many times have I told you not to eat from strangers?"
Mo Xie asked, "Are you Old Mazi?"
"Bah, are you in cahoots with the innkeeper?" the old pockmarked man shouted, his brows furrowed into a "川" shape.
Bai Linchuan went up and said, "We are disciples of Lingzhong Mountain, and we have come here to catch monsters."
The old pockmarked man glanced at Mo Xue, then at Bai Linchuan, and only then did he half-believe it. He said, "My name is He Mazi, not Old Mazi. Only that annoying guy would call me that."
Mo Xue asked Xiao Mazi, "Just ask the water monster you mentioned before and you'll know what it means."
The little pockmarked boy looked at the candy on the ground and said nothing.
He Mazi said, "You can't ask him anything. Since then, he has been like this from time to time. He is so demented that he can't speak a word."
"What's the matter?" Mo Xie asked.
He Mazi glanced at him and asked, "Did the innkeeper tell you to come find me?"
Mo Xue nodded.
He Mazi sighed heavily, "His inn hasn't closed down yet."
"It's collapsed. I went to see it today and it was closed."
He Mazi immediately smiled. "Well done, well done. That disgusting fellow gave my son something poisonous, and then he went crazy. I confronted him about it, but he refused to admit it."
Mo Xue was startled: "You mean, the little pockmarked boy was poisoned by the innkeeper!"
He Mazi said: "That's right."
"when?"
"Just...about a month ago."
"What exactly?"
"It seems... it was the night before Redwater Lake disappeared."
Elsewhere, Wei Si obtained Ruan Yi's storybook and opened the first page, which read: "My love is sincere, my love is deep, three thousand peach trees, eternal and immortal... How many tears are hidden beneath this peach garden..."
Wei Si looked at him suddenly, "Are you sure you haven't shown this to anyone?"
Ruan Yi said: "Of course, I was in a bad mood some time ago, so I wrote this down, and I will never let anyone see it."
…
Mo Xue slowly stood up.
Bai Linchuan's eyes were stern. "From Xiao Mazi to Ruan Yi, he has always been the one who gave us the news. The entire Shuzhong area has long been deserted. When we came, only his inn was open for business. After we left, it closed, as if..."
"Walk into the trap!" Mo Xie and Bai Linchuan said at the same time.
"And those 106 spirit stones." Mo Xue gritted his teeth and said, "I was wondering how it could be such a coincidence! Making money is not that easy! Even if they are good friends, the wool comes from the sheep!"
Outside the inn.
When Mo Xie and Bai Linchuan rushed to the door, Wei Si also rushed over at this time, "Mo Xie, look, the words in this book are exactly the same as what the store owner said." He looked at Mo Xie again, "You also discovered that the store owner is the mastermind behind this?"
Bai Linchuan said simply and frighteningly, "He Mazi said that Xiao Mazi went out to play the night before he disappeared from Chishui Lake and came back very late. The next day, the shop owner poisoned him and turned him into a retardation."
"How could such a coincidence happen in the world?" Mo Xue stared at the tightly closed door of the inn and kicked it open.
"Bang--"
Bai Linchuan's expression paused, the door was knocked open, and it swayed back and forth twice.
Mo Xue went in first. It was empty inside, the table was covered with dust, and there was no one there.
"It seems that he ran away a long time ago." Wei Si said.
Mo Xie smiled, brushed his fingers across the counter, and pinched off the dust on his fingers. He said, "We've only been away for less than a day, and there's already so much dust on the table?"
"He's deliberately covering it up," Wei Si said.
Mo Xue looked around and suddenly made a "hush" sound, pointing to the ground.
It was a pair of wet footprints, particularly obvious on the dusty floor. The footprints were about one and a half feet long, and must have belonged to a tall man. The footprints disappeared on the stairs.
Mo Xue raised a finger and gestured, "I'll check the first floor."
Wei Si made a "two" gesture, and Bai Linchuan walked silently towards the third floor.
Ruan Yi pointed at himself and asked, "What about me?"
Mo Xue pointed at the door and said: Stay away.
The first floor was not big, and at a glance one could see that it was filled with tables and chairs. Mo Xie flipped over to the back of the counter neatly, and with a "bang", the counter was empty, revealing only an account book.
Mo Xue took a look and saw that this inn used to earn a thousand spirit stones a month, but now... it couldn't even make a fraction of that.
Suddenly, there was a slight noise coming from the kitchen. Mo Xue stopped immediately, approached silently, his eyes turned sharp, and he raised his sword to break through the curtain and go straight in.
Swords clashed, sparks flew, and Mo Xue was forced out.
Mo Xue jumped back ten steps to avoid his attack and raised an eyebrow, "It's you."
The big man was wet all over and breathing heavily.
Seeing this, Mo Xie said, "From the looks of it, you're planning to escape from Shu, but..."
The big man said, "But there is no way out!" He wanted to draw his sword, but his chest hurt. He stared at Mo Xue in disbelief.
Mo Xue seemed to see his confusion and asked with a smile, "Is the fish delicious?"
"You! What medicine did you give me?" asked the big man.
Mo Xue said: "Don't worry, there is an antidote."
The big man breathed a sigh of relief and finally put down his sword. "When did you start to doubt me?"
Mo Xie laughed and said, "I never believed you from the beginning. You are too anxious, but... people often say that their ultimate goal is not what they want."
The big man suddenly raised his eyelids and saw Bai Linchuan had just come out of the house and was standing in the corridor on the third floor.
He smiled at Mo Xue and said, "I admire your many ideas, but do you know who is under the veil of your dear little apprentice sister?"
Mo Xie narrowed his eyes and looked at him, "Who?"
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