Chapter Twenty-Eight: Ambush from Ten Sides, Part Four
Let's guess how the Imperial Guards felt when Gao Lang was seriously injured and taken back. Fear, worry, and helplessness. And all of this happened around that time, right after Hōgō brought Gao Lang and Kōsa back.
Fuchsia was not immediately by her side that day; she rushed back after receiving the news.
It seems that magic is not allowed to be used casually in Yishan City, otherwise Mingjin would not understand why Fuxia ran back in her haste.
"How is the situation?"
The color in front of her was very similar to that of a palace. It was probably the steps at the entrance of a palace. Fuxia was about to walk up when she saw Gongsha sitting on the steps with his head resting on the railing. He didn't turn his head. He glanced at Fuxia, who had stopped walking, and asked, listening to the footsteps of the people behind him.
“Not good,” the voice was unfamiliar, but as Fuxia looked up, Mingjin recognized it as the Qianli she had seen yesterday. “Ciyun caught some cub meat and fed it to Master Gao, but Master Gao didn’t react much.”
"how so?"
Fuxia was very worried. Seeing Qianli sit down on the edge of the public sand, she quickly ran up to him. Just then, she met Zhegui and Fengwu coming out of the door. They gave her a look, telling Fuxia not to make any noise.
“He wanted to lie down by himself for a while,” Zhe Gui said.
"Ciyun, is there any other way?" Qianli turned halfway around and looked at Zhegui standing behind the fence. "Not being able to eat is a sign of a major disaster."
“Lord Fengwu,” Fuxia walked to Fengwu’s side, who was standing silently to the side, and asked in a low voice, “Where is Wu Rang?”
Feng Wu didn't say anything, but he made his stance clear.
"What method did that cultivator use? How could he not be saved?"
Gong Sha's injuries hadn't fully healed, and he couldn't get the answer he wanted, so he stood up abruptly, his hand still on the railing.
"Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice instead," Zhe Gui said calmly, resting his chin on his arm on the railing. "The sneak attack failed and he was killed. He had no ability to fight head-on at all. Why didn't he just hide behind Feng Wu and Gong Sha? What a joke he made by coming out here."
"You're planning to anger him," Qianli quickly interjected, pointing to the closed door, "and shorten his life by two days, right?"
"They're far away, how could they hear that so easily?" Zhegui didn't take it to heart.
“This is his barrier; it’s easy for him to find out anything,” Qianli said, frowning.
“He’s injured like that, and he still has the time to monitor us,” Zhe Gui rolled his eyes. “He should take care of himself.”
“Lord Zhegui,” Gongsha said helplessly as he watched Zhegui and Qianli chatter back and forth, “we are all under the same roof. If something happens to Lord Gao, our roof will fall apart.”
“And then,” Zhe Gui looked at Gong Sha with a puzzled expression, then turned to Feng Wu, “the three of you are dealing with the other three, why would you need him to step in? His only skill is fixing roofs.”
"These cultivators have developed something new, and I accidentally fell victim to it without noticing." Gong Sha had no choice but to sit down face to face with Qianli.
"And you?" Qianli asked Fengwu.
“Master Gao never shows up,” Feng Wu felt innocent, after all, he could have dealt with those cultivators and rescued Wu Rang at the same time, “I didn’t expect him to be there.”
However, Gongsha was clearly more anxious than everyone else present, so he interrupted Fengwu and quickly added, "That's not the important thing right now! If we can't find a way to save Master Gao, and this barrier breaks, we'll have to fight those cultivators day and night! Our peaceful days will be ruined in an instant. Why aren't you all worried?"
“He won’t die anytime soon,” Zhe Gui said, annoyed. He patted Fu Xia on the shoulder and prepared to leave. “We’ll find a solution eventually. I’m leaving now, don’t bother me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Feng Wu followed Zhe Gui away.
"Big brother..."
Seeing Zhegui's attitude, Qianli told Gongsha to remain calm and said, "Ciyun has always been like that. Alright, there are always people better than you. We can just find another one."
"Why,"
Seeing that Qianli was also leaving, Gongsha sighed, and considering that he had not fully recovered, he followed Qianli.
However, Mingjin could not see the following scene clearly.
Fuchsia pushed open the door and went in; suddenly, her vision went black.
"She's leaving." Seeing Fuxia stand up from the ground while Mingjin hadn't stopped casting the spell, Old Jiang was at a loss.
"Watch me."
As they were talking, Shanliu jumped down from a nearby tree, transforming into another form in mid-air, and dashed past conspicuously through the forest.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared at the edge of Fuchsia's vision, so she decisively entered the forest. Amidst the tangled vines, she was astonished by what she saw before her.
"Lu Yuzhu?"
The shadow flickered in the woods, and Fuxia rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
The woods were dimly lit, and it couldn't see what it was, so it slowly walked a few steps further in.
"Lu Yuzhu..." To Shanliu's surprise, Fuxia stopped after only a few steps and began to sob, "Wu Rang and Pinghe are both gone, and now Lord Gao is also in trouble... If only you were still here. But how could that be? I saw it with my own eyes..."
Before she could finish speaking, Fuchsia wiped away her tears, turned around quickly, and left.
Shanliu had originally disguised himself as Luyuzhu, using the vines to create a mystical illusion and buy himself some time, but he hadn't expected Fuxia to react this way and simply leave. Helpless, he could only cautiously return.
During this time gained, Mingjin was able to continue reading the second half. What she saw after pushing open the door wasn't a magnificent scene, but a large screen with something painted on it that was unclear because Fuxia was moving very quickly. She was very familiar with the place; Mingjin could only see a small tea room in the corner of her vision, with many unfolded scrolls hanging on the walls.
The light outside was bright, but as soon as Fuxia carefully opened a door, it quickly became dark inside.
"My lord, I am Fuchsia."
A sound came from the darkness. Mingjin didn't know what it meant, but Fuxia went inside after hearing it. The room was dim, but some light still shone through, allowing Mingjin to see the rich furnishings and a writing desk. On it was a brocade box containing a bright pearl.
Fuchsia was very excited, or perhaps not; Mingjin could only sense through the borrowed memories that she was not at peace.
As she walked from the foot of the bed towards the edge, black dots gradually appeared in the scene. Fuxia's pace slowed down, and Mingjin could only strain to keep her eyes open. As the distance decreased, a bright spot suddenly appeared in Fuxia's vision on the silent bed, and this bright spot came from a glimmer of water on the chest of the person lying on the bed.
It was like a large knife piercing Gao Lang's chest.
"Who's there?" Gao Lang, his breathing unsteady, suddenly asked in a somber tone.
“It’s me, Fuchsia.”
"It's not you, there are others here."
"My lord, it really is just me; the others are discussing matters outside."
"Hmph...who is it..."
Those eyes shone with a faint light in the darkness, fixed on Fuxia's direction.
However, Fuxia had gone far away, and Mingjin's magic could not continue. He could only lean against the tree trunk after ending the spell and losing most of his strength, panting slightly to calm his heartbeat.
"How is it?" Old Jiang asked when he saw Mingjin come back to his senses.
"This is already a very valuable opportunity, thank you very much. Once this matter is over, Mingjin will definitely repay you both."
"It's good that we can help," Old Jiang breathed a sigh of relief. "It's worth the effort we put in all this day."
“Remember to buy some good tea and wine,” Shanliu chimed in. “We can’t afford your other things.”
Seeing that the ribbon on his arm had turned black, Mingjin realized that they must have been waiting outside for a long time. Although his heart was still pounding with the contents of Fuxia's memory, he couldn't care less about this small change: "The people outside have been waiting for me for a long time. I have to go back now."
"Oh," Shanliu jumped onto the tree, celebrating softly, "After squatting on the tree for so long, I can finally walk. Hey, what kind of flower is this?"
He reached out and touched the flower petals on Mingjin's arm.
Mingjin initially thought it would take some effort to pull it off, so he let Shanliu touch it. Unexpectedly, the petals vanished the moment his fingertip touched the flower, disappearing beyond the reach of his eyes.
"What's going on?"
Amidst Shanliu's confusion and Lao Jiang's surprise, Mingjin felt some force grabbing her and pushing her towards his arm.
She had been drained of her power once. This feeling was so familiar to her that she understood where the spell came from.
In a split second, she landed on the ground and rolled twice. The pain and the mud on her face were no joke.
Rubbing his head, he looked up and saw a large flower petal, as long as a person's arm, aimed directly at Mingjin's head. Luckily, Mingjin dodged quickly, hiding directly under the stand displaying twin flowers. The petal missed its target and disappeared, but Mingjin couldn't escape another attack; his forehead bumped against the stand's leg while dodging the petal attack.
There's no escaping it.
Jiang Chao, standing next to the shelf, shook his head and said.
He also had a red mark on his head, and two petals were missing from the flower on his arm.
"I told you to come back on time."
Mingjin was still sitting cross-legged on the ground when Jizhen slapped her on the back.
Coming to his senses, rubbing his head, Mingjin quickly stood up from the ground: "Wait a minute, Master Ji, I've made a big discovery."
Meng Sheng took the ointment that hadn't been put away yet.
“If the news isn’t significant, you’ll get scolded,” Zhou Wei added fuel to the fire.
The hourglass completed one cycle and started timing again, causing Mingjin to be delayed by a quarter of an hour.
"The major crisis has ended, and now there's more big news."
Seeing Mingjin and Jizhen return to the crowd and sit down, Zhuo Yong touched his neck.
"Crisis and opportunity are always two sides of the same coin."
Because they looked so alike, Mingjin couldn't tell which Elder Tian it was. He had originally wanted to see who was sitting closer to Li E, but found that Li E was sitting between the two of them.
"What's wrong?" Ming Jin asked, completely bewildered, looking at Meng Sheng and Zhou Wei beside him.
Zhou Wei grabbed the stool, leaned back, revealing Jiang Chao's resolute smile, who pointed at himself and said, "I've been discovered by the evil spirit."
"What?" Mingjin was taken aback.
"Perfect timing, everyone's here, let's get started," Zhuo Yong said helplessly.
“I’m not sure if it had any effect,” Jiang Chao said, shrinking slightly. “I was investigating in the forest from south to east. The further I went from the south, the weaker the ghostly activity became, so I sped up my leaps between the branches. When I saw that time was almost up, I climbed down the tree, still clinging to the trunk, when I suddenly heard something behind me rustling through the leaves. I was so scared that I didn’t dare to speak. I turned around and saw two ghostly figures behind me. I made eye contact with them.”
As Jiang Chao pointed to his eyes, Zhuo Yong flicked his forehead with a wind spell, saying, "Stop fooling around."
"Then, I heard the two evil spirits say, 'Ugly monster,' which confused me. Then I heard the other evil spirit say, 'What's a spirit doing here?' I realized that for some reason, I was being mistaken for a spirit, so I kept pretending to be the same as when they first encountered me, not saying a word, just hugging the tree and not moving. They glanced at me and then darted towards the city gate. I was scared and wanted to leave quickly, but I bumped into the tree trunk, scraped off two petals, and got hit twice."
After saying that, Jiang Chao was about to reach out and touch his wound, but Meng Sheng stopped him and told him not to touch it, otherwise the wound would heal slowly.
"This is actually, 'the disguise technique of spirits'?" Jiang Wen said, frowning on one side.
Everyone focused their attention on Wei Jing and Ban Rui. The latter genuinely knew nothing and therefore didn't understand why everyone was still looking at him. The former, while knowledgeable, didn't know much and couldn't answer the questions.
Mingjin suddenly became curious whether he had changed when Lao Jiang and Shan Liu saw him.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure either," Wei Jing could only admit as her gaze became increasingly focused. "Mainly because this spell is rarely used, and some of the previous records are missing, so all I know is what its effects are."
“That’s alright,” Mingjin scratched his head. “Being mistaken for a spirit by a ghost doesn’t count as being discovered, right?”
“That’s right,” Meng Sheng added, “Could it be that no spirits or monsters ever went into the barrier before?”
This was just a question Meng Sheng casually mentioned, but no one responded. Meng Sheng suddenly felt something was strange, and then it dawned on him: "Even spirits shouldn't be able to enter the barrier, right?"
“I don’t know,” another Elder Tian said, but his voice was quite distinctive, so Ming Jin recognized him as Elder Tian Jia. “When we first experimented, the spirits were able to enter.”
"If those two evil spirits go back and spread rumors, won't it cause some kind of disturbance?" Guo Hao asked with some concern. "Jingxin, what are the characteristics of those two evil spirits? Are they on record?"
“No,” Jiang Chao shook his head. “Those two, their faces were quite ordinary, I don’t remember them very clearly now, but they were wearing the same clothes, and they didn’t look like soldiers’ clothes, but rather their private attire. Moreover, when they left, I stared at their backs and felt that their walking movements were almost identical, to the point that their sleeves were somewhat wide, and the arc of their sleeves when they swung was very similar, making them look like two identical ghosts.”
"The Ghost Brothers?"
Meng Sheng looked at the two elders beside him, but Tian Jia, who was closer, pushed his face back with one hand.
“It shouldn’t be. Those two ghosts look completely different. It’s hard to say what their features are. Maybe I just didn’t remember them. But I remember they looked very different,” Jiang Chao recalled carefully. “I think they might have practiced the same martial arts and developed these physical characteristics.”
“It seems there are still some characters in Yishan City that we haven’t seen before,” Wei Jing said after deep thought. “I don’t know the full effect of this spell yet. I’ll go back and ask the elders in the city before I give you an answer. Right now, it would be best if Jing Xin was just mistaken for a spirit.”
“You’re late.” Zhou Wei patted Ming Jin on the shoulder.
"Your turn." Meng Sheng patted the other side.
"I touched the cliff, but because I didn't accidentally touch any petals on the way back, I didn't remember the exact location."
Mingjin thought about it carefully, but because the matter had been so urgent just now, he hadn't had time to assess the surroundings for any particular features.
“That’s alright,” Li E said. “There’s only one spot left, and it seems to be the one you’re going to.”
“That’s good,” Mingjin nodded. “I hope to run into Fuxia, so I’ve been lurking around there, hoping to use the ‘Half-Body Possession Technique’ to find some useful information…”
"Do we really have to use this name?" Ban Rui asked with a pained expression.
"Just accept it." Zhuo Yong, resting his chin on his hand, pondered matters big and small, and replied to Ban Rui upon hearing his voice.
“Let’s use a more intimidating name,” Guo Hao said, looking at Ban Rui, also feeling a bit regretful. “After all, there are some unstable risks. Tian Guang, continue, what did you discover?”
"I really did wait for Fuchsia..."
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