Chapter 182 evened things out with "Dead Voice."...
The Taihang Sect's group of about ten or twenty disciples, all handsome and well-built, attracted attention wherever they went. They made quite a spectacle of themselves, only to find the wicked Gu Master already dead. Anyone unaware of the situation would have thought the Celestial Master had specially chosen a bunch of promising young men to show off and enhance the Taihang Sect's reputation.
Among the elegantly dressed men were two disheveled figures, Master Fang and the mirror polisher. They chatted animatedly with the young men, recounting their adventures of following Tingfengzhi through storms and surviving the raging waves at least twice. Of course, he knew in his heart that he should say what needed to be said and what shouldn't be said, and that he absolutely could not casually reveal matters such as the "body of Fuxi," which would cause disaster.
Master Fang, who had initially regretted boarding the ship, completely changed his mind after witnessing firsthand the "opening of the world with Fuxi's stroke." What were the storms and waves at sea? Even if he had to vomit his guts out, the trip would still be worthwhile.
Master Fang originally thought the chances of survival were slim, but unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Tingfeng Zhihe, that evil spirit—no, no, calling it an evil spirit is too disrespectful to that person—if it weren't for Bai Yuan's repeated rescues, considering the safety of these defenseless people, they would have long since perished in the ocean, their bodies never to be found.
"So weak you can't even kill a chicken?" one of the Taihang Dao disciples asked. "Are you talking about yourself?"
"Alas!" Master Fang, with a clear understanding of his own limitations, said with shame, "In that situation, compared to Tingfeng Zhi and Bai Yuan, I was utterly powerless."
Not to mention the mirror grinder and the boatmen.
Master Fang once thought he was just a burden, causing others to be distracted in the rescue. Fortunately, he and Old Jiang were still able to come in handy in the end, helping to save a few lives and not seem too useless.
"Master Fang is too modest. If it weren't for you and Mr. Jiang saving Tingfengzhi and Constable Lu, they would have been seriously injured and unconscious, and it would have been difficult for them to survive at sea."
Indeed, that was the case. Master Fang narrowed his eyes, grinned, and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Not at all, not at all."
They were the ones who could withstand the great storms and tribulations. When the heavenly punishment and lightning struck, it was Bai Yuan who opened the umbrella of death and took on the burden for them.
If it weren't for the two of them protecting them with all their might, how would they have survived?
Thinking of this, Master Fang couldn't help but sigh.
The sigh reached Zhou Yaren's ears. He leaned against the carriage wall with his eyes closed, silently clenching the hairpin in his hand—this was the hairpin he had asked Bai Yuan for. Otherwise, that person had left in such a hurry that if he hadn't shamelessly asked for it, he probably wouldn't have been left with anything.
How could she be so heartless as to leave him nothing?
At that moment, the boy outside the carriage asked, "The Gu Master is dead, what about those Wangxiang?"
"I don't know," Master Fang shook his head. "They're probably all soaking in the sea."
The sky is high and the sea is vast. It is impossible to find any trace of the Wangxiang in the sea. Even if there is deep hatred, Taihang Dao would not be foolish enough to look for a needle in a haystack. So he had to give up.
“It’s getting late,” Lian Zhao, who was leading the way, said, turning back. “Let’s stay in Mizhou City for the night.”
A large group of dozens of people from Taihang Road booked an entire inn in Mizhou City.
Li Liuyun, Lian Zhao, Lin Mu, and the other teenagers knew best about the ambiguous relationship between Ting Fengzhi and Bai Yuan, and they knew what Bai Yuan's "dispersal" meant for Ting Fengzhi. Therefore, they specifically instructed their fellow disciples not to bother him.
Although many disciples of the Taihang Sect admired the legendary Wind-Listening Master, they all wisely refrained from approaching him. As a result, Zhou Yaren remained remarkably quiet and oblivious to his surroundings throughout the journey. Apart from Lu Bing occasionally exchanging a few casual words with him, Zhou Yaren mostly kept his eyes closed, seemingly "recovering from his injuries." Although closing one's eyes was unnecessary for a blind man, it always made people think he was asleep, allowing him to conveniently isolate himself from others.
After a long day of travel, everyone went to bed early. Around midnight, Lu Bing was awakened again by the venomous snake inside his body. He immediately took out his medicine bottle, but couldn't pour anything out.
Lu Bing, his hands trembling, tried to pour the medicine bottle out, but it was completely empty.
Chen Ying said these medicines would last for two months, but he's only taken them twice in total.
Chen Ying lied to him!
Indeed, that treacherous and vicious woman, who spends her days fooling and tormenting him for amusement, is afraid that he will be comfortable. How could she really leave him so much medicine? Did she want him to run away with the medicine?
Chen Ying's words were merely a tactic to deceive and test him.
Lu Bingben never expected her to give him so much medicine. He never intended to continue living, otherwise he wouldn't have stabbed Chen Ying to death without hesitation. He knew that if Chen Ying died, he wouldn't be able to live either.
Chen Ying deserved to die, but Lu Bingyuan thought he still had at least two months to go back and kowtow to his grandmother and parents.
It now seems he may not be able to make it back.
Actually, it's nothing. He can go to the underworld to kowtow to his grandmother. However, he thought of Zhou Yaren, who almost walked into the sea of fire. He had just persuaded that person who was thinking of doing something stupid to come back. If he were to pass away at this time, Zhou Yaren would definitely go into the sea of fire again.
Lu Bing knew how Acong and those monstrous beings died, which is why Chen Ying kept threatening to burn Zhou Yaren to death and then scatter his ashes in the East Sea. No matter how stupid Lu Bing was, he knew that if the Undying People were burned to death, they would have no chance of survival.
Lu Bing gasped for breath, his limbs clenching in agony. He had tried countless times, and Lu Bing, who thought he was very resilient, finally lost all his backbone under this torture—he could never endure it by willpower alone, and each time he succumbed to the immense pain.
If he could just ignore everything, Lu Bing would love to give himself a quick death and end this torment that was worse than death.
So... just bear with it a little longer, just bear with it a little longer.
Unable to bear it any longer, Lu Bing rolled off the bed onto the floor, his body drenched in sweat and his face turning pale.
He finally couldn't help but let out a scream through his teeth, and the porcelain medicine bottle he was holding was crushed in his hand. The sharp porcelain shards pierced his palm, but they were nothing compared to the pain that the Gu snake had caused him.
"Lu Bing!" Zhou Yaren was the first to rush in upon hearing the noise.
Next was Elder He, who lived in the next room: "The venomous snake inside him has flared up."
And there was also Master Fang and his group: "Officer Lu."
"The medicine," Elder He squatted down, "let him take the medicine first."
Zhou Yaren frantically searched Lu Bing's body, "Where's the medicine? Lu Bing, where's the medicine?"
There's no more medicine.
Lu Bing gritted his teeth, unable to utter a word.
Master Fang wanted to come over and help, but didn't know where to start: "His hand is bleeding."
Elder He then noticed a shard of the medicine bottle protruding from Lu Bing's clenched palm: "The medicine is in his hand, quickly pry his hand open."
Zhou Yaren restrained Lu Bing's wrist, slowly prying open his tightly clenched fist. Shards of the shattered porcelain bottle were deeply embedded in Lu Bing's palm. There was no medicine in his palm, but there was a piece of blood-soaked paper, folded into a very small square.
"Hold him down." Elder He said, picking up the paper and unfolding it. The contents of the paper made Elder He's expression change drastically. "This is..."
While helping to hold down Constable Lu, Master Fang asked curiously, "What is this?"
"This is actually," Elder He said, unable to remain calm, "his prescription."
Zhou Yaren was caught off guard and repeatedly asked, "Elder, are you sure?"
"There's no mistake, it's his prescription." Elder He immediately stood up, habitually ordering people around, "Quickly, where's Lin Mu? Go and get him right away..."
Before Elder He could finish speaking, Lin Mu took the prescription and disappeared in a flash.
After a flurry of activity until the wee hours of the morning, they finally managed to get Lu Bing to take his medicine.
Elder He stayed by Lu Bing's side without leaving for a moment, studying both Lu Bing and the prescription, until Lu Bing finally recovered. Elder He showed him all sorts of concern and care, his voice eight octaves softer than usual.
Lin Mu swore he had never seen the old stubborn man care for anyone so much. Anyone who didn't know better would think that Elder He had suddenly discovered that Lu Bing was his long-lost grandson of more than 20 years.
Finally, the old stubborn man even asked, "Lu Bing, would you be willing to come back to Taihang with me?"
Zhou Yaren hurriedly asked, "Elder, do you have a way to cure him?"
"It's not a cure," Elder He originally had no idea how to treat the snake veins in Lu Bing's body, but when he saw this prescription, which even contained a few key words about the formation of the snake veins, the helpless Elder He suddenly had some ideas. He was overjoyed. "But allow me to take him back to Taihang to study it carefully. Maybe I can really find a way to cure him."
After days of despondency, Zhou Yaren finally saw a glimmer of hope and quickly bowed, saying, "Thank you so much, Elder He, you are so kind..."
Elder He raised his hand to stop him: "Don't thank me yet. Let me find a solution first."
Lu Bing propped himself up: "Can I see this prescription?"
The prescription was mostly stained with blood, but the delicate handwriting was still clearly visible. It was indeed written by Chen Ying, with each stroke carefully written without a single superfluous word.
Lu Bing found it hard to believe that Chen Ying had actually left him a prescription.
That vicious woman was ruthless, cruel, and utterly wicked, resorting to any means necessary...
Lu Bing couldn't help but recall Chen Ying's expression when she handed him the medicine bottle: "These medicines are enough for two months. If you don't want to suffer, you'd better stay with me obediently. After two months, I'll replenish them for you."
He only ever threatened him, tormented him, and beat him... How could he possibly give him the prescription?!
Lu Bing hated Chen Ying so much that his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs felt like they were coated with poison. In his entire life, he had never hated anyone with such resentment and madness.
What? Chen Ying harmed him so much, what's the point of leaving him a prescription? Will it lessen his hatred?
Impossible. Lu Bing wished he could kill her a hundred times over.
A prescription easily ignited Lu Bing's inner turmoil. The deep-seated hatred surged back, and he suddenly regretted killing Chen Ying. She was right; even killing her wouldn't quell Lu Bing's hatred. He now wanted to tear Chen Ying to pieces, cut off her flesh, and feed it to the fish and dogs!
However--
The scene of Chen Ying shoving him away and having her chest slashed open by a long knife is still vivid in my mind.
The splattered blood almost stained Lu Bing's eyes red. Lu Bing suddenly closed his eyes, trying his best to suppress the surging anger and hatred in his heart—Chen Ying deserved to die, her death was not a pity, this was the retribution she deserved long ago.
No, compared to those she harmed, what kind of retribution is this?
"Lu Bing," Zhou Yaren sensed his fluctuating breath and was about to ask when suddenly an unusual gust of cold wind rushed into the door and window, unexpectedly hitting the bellows at his waist.
The white jade pendant swayed incessantly. Zhou Yaren subconsciously lowered her head, and the violin began to hiss and groan, like a bellows being pulled, or like a cat wailing in pain.
“This melody…” Zhou Yaren looked up in shock, “is the sound of death.”
The hoarse sound of death suddenly gripped his heart, violently striking his very lifeline, almost causing his soul to leave his body.
Zhou Yaren was swept away like a hurricane.
“Sages create music to correspond with Heaven and rites to match Earth. Music can follow the two energies of Yin and Yang, follow the nature of the Five Elements, and emulate all things to form a rhythm.”
Back when he was at the Jingguan, while he was talking to some young men from the Taihang Mountains, Bai Yuan played with his bone music and, on a whim, sent a wisp of cold wind into it, producing a sound as thin as silk. Then he asked him, "What sound is the music I composed?"
The wind blew through the pipes, and the sound was not pleasant at all; if I had to describe it, it was like a funeral dirge, which was very ominous.
He answered truthfully: "Dead voice."
Every time she encounters a wronged person, the music she evokes is a death knell.
Zhou Yaren was very familiar with it; it was exactly the same as the current musical scale.
It was a death sound.
It was a false injustice.
There's no mistake, he can hear it from the wind, he definitely wouldn't be wrong.
Zhou Ya's heart was filled with turmoil as she followed the chilling aura towards the west of the city.
On the west side of the government office in Mizhou City, there was an open space. Over the years, the cracks in the bluestone slabs were stained with an indelible dark red, which was the execution ground used by the government for beheadings.
At this moment, the dark red bloodstains formed iron chains cast with inscriptions, which taut and sprang up from the ground.
When Zhou Yaren rushed there amidst the muffled sounds of death, she was shocked to see the figure bound in shackles and restraints on the execution ground.
Zhou Ya was deeply shocked: "Innocent."
It was truly a case of injustice.
The people in the execution ground turned around, and Zhou Yaren's blind eyes suddenly filled with tears. A gust of wind rose from beneath his feet, and Zhou Yaren rushed over, like the wind outside the secret realm rushing towards Bai Yuan, carrying his endless despair and helplessness, and finally he was able to embrace her as he wished.
Before Bai Yuan could react, the breeze whipped her clothes and hair into the air, and her trembling arms felt even tighter than the shackles binding her.
"You..." Bai Yuan was about to speak when he suddenly felt a hot, wet sensation seeping into his collar, and the words caught in his throat.
The person clinging to her was trembling, like a dying person clutching a lifeline, their arms tightening more and more, so tight that it was suffocating.
Zhou Yaren was speechless. He had to suppress the sobs that were about to burst out, but he broke down completely when Bai Yuan uttered a soft, almost murmured "Yaren".
An unprecedented heartache filled her heart. Bai Yuan tried to comfort him, but her hands were bound and she couldn't lift them at all.
Clinging to the hope of having regained what he had lost, Zhou Yaren's heart finally began to ache again, the pain so intense it felt like his guts were being torn apart.
At this moment, Zhou Yaren's numb body finally regained sensation. He felt pain, and the injuries all over his body were screaming and tormenting him.
He felt as if he had returned to the place of punishment where he was dealt with by the secret realm. His flesh and bones were pierced by spikes one by one, and he was covered in wounds. Only now did he belatedly feel the pain. He said in agony, "Injustice, I am in so much pain."
Bai Yuan's eyes suddenly reddened, overwhelmed with heartache.
"Why?" He was in so much pain that he could barely stand. He hugged Bai Yuan and slowly knelt down. "I begged you so much, I begged you so much, but you still wouldn't agree to my request."
This question felt like a sharp sword piercing her heart, and all the bitterness welled up in her throat. Bai Yuan could not answer him, because that was the path she had come from, and the path she had to follow.
She had no choice.
Bai Yuan originally thought she was going to die, but just as she was about to dissipate and her soul was scattered along with A Zhaosu's punishment, a ghost from Mizhou suddenly grabbed her, and a blood-red aura of a deadly injustice forcibly pulled her back to the human world.
Bloodlust and resentment transformed into several long shackles, clinging to Bai Yuan like snakes, dragging her into the meticulously crafted execution ground array in the west of Mizhou City.
This is very strange, because Bai Yuan is all too familiar with this situation. She encountered it in the Northern Qu Ghost Office and then in Fenglingdu. And now... she is repeating the same mistake again, just as she is about to disappear.
Bai Yuan didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse, so she stayed.
But what puzzled her even more was why there was a blood array in Mizhou specifically targeting her.
Wasn't Xu Fu dead?
Xu Fu was personally beheaded by her, his head separated from his body. Even if his head were sewn back up, he could not come back to life. So who was responsible for the blood array on the execution ground in Mizhou?
Bai Yuan pondered for several days but still couldn't figure it out, and he couldn't easily break free from the shackles welded to the blood array. Fortunately, Zhou Yaren has arrived now, but her crying is heartbreaking.
As if to make amends afterward, Bai Yuan whispered to comfort him, "I promise you now, is it too late to make amends?"
Zhou Yaren looked up at her, her blind eyes red and blurry with tears.
But almost, she almost perished in the sea, and he almost jumped into the fire pit too. They almost didn't make it in time.
Fortunately, there were no unforeseen circumstances that allowed us to reunite in Mizhou.
“You kept it from me once, and I didn’t tell you in advance this time either, so let’s call it even.” Bai Yuan leaned down and promised her the words he had once made to her, “From now on, wherever I go and whatever I do, I will tell you in advance.”
Zhou Yaren remained silent for a few breaths, and in the blink of an eye, tears streamed down her cheeks.
In fact, he understood everything. He understood why Bai Yuan had to do this, just like when he entrusted the Death Umbrella to Taihang Dao and went to Shanzhou alone to die.
They are all willing to risk their lives for each other, mostly because they have no choice in the matter.
"Ya-ren," Bai Yuan wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes and asked softly, "Does it still hurt?"
Zhou Yaren shook his head. He wasn't in pain; he just couldn't bear this heart-wrenching separation of life and death, which was devastating and made it impossible to go on living. Until this moment... he stared unblinkingly at Bai Yuan, slowly leaning closer and gently touching her cool lips. The unique, cold fragrance of Bai Yuan filled his nostrils, and he finally breathed in a breath that was enough to sustain his life.
From now on, he will depend on her for survival. He has learned his lesson in this life-and-death separation and will no longer ask her what she wants for a long time. Whether Bai Yuan agrees or not, or whether she disappears into the world for some other punishment, as long as she lives, he will live with her.
Life is unpredictable; if we can't force things, we should accept whatever comes our way.
(End of article)
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Author's Note: It's finally finished. Thank you to all the readers who have been following the story. I'm very grateful for your support.
I might write a sequel to explain Xu Fu.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, my next book will be "Lacquer Bones and Bronze Flowers".
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