Chapter 24 Chapter 24 (Three-in-One) He may already be the Tao...
Gu Zhi stood up, brushed off the fallen flowers on his body, and walked to her side.
When Asong saw this, he immediately wanted to call the maid to help her back to the house, but he stopped abruptly not far away.
Very perceptive, stopped aside.
Sure enough, Gu Zhi squatted down, passed through her knees, put one of her arms around his neck, held her in his arms, and went back to the house.
Ah Song: "Tell the kitchen to prepare a bowl of osmanthus flower hangover soup and eight-treasure hangover soup quickly. And for the eight-treasure bowl, add some sour plums, honey, and..." He paused, finally remembering, "Hawthorn."
*
Gu Zhi was calm and composed throughout his life. Even when faced with a huge crisis, he remained calm.
But, only recently, sometimes.
Will be afraid of her.
In fact, it’s not necessarily because he is afraid of her.
He was afraid of himself.
The sleeping person was completely unaware of where they were. Gu Zhi carefully placed the person on the bed, first flattening their knees, then gently removing their arms from under their neck, straightening their head, and gently placing it on the brocade pillow, as if placing a priceless antique porcelain.
Sleeping so soundly.
Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, her cheeks flushed, like the dolls that serve as attendants to the immortals in New Year pictures.
He couldn't help but use his index finger to comb her hair.
Suddenly he realized what he was doing, stiffened, and turned to look at the door.
The door is closed.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
His preference for her had caused jealousy among the disciples in the sect and had also brought her fatal disaster.
He lowered his eyes, pulled the quilt up to her snow-white chin, wrapped it around her chin, and tucked the corners of the quilt for her.
He whispered, "Don't kick off the quilt. You'll catch a cold."
She fell asleep and didn't answer.
His fingers lingered on her eyebrows again, then her eyelashes, the bridge of her nose, the philtrum, and...
lip.
He called out softly, almost earnestly, "Jiaojiao."
She wasn't a naive person, but in his eyes, her drunken, sound sleep looked peaceful, satisfied, and tranquil.
For no reason, he thought of the best apple that grew in autumn.
Red, sweet, and fragrant, a comforting aroma.
Yes, why does it smell so good?
He sat beside the couch, leaned over, pretending to be a fool and thinking nothing, and gently pressed against her body.
To smell her neck.
The aroma of wine brewed with peach blossoms.
Oh right, he thought, great, he was drunk too.
So he relaxed and, like drinking poison to quench his thirst, he sniffed from her neck, the warm and fragrant collar, her pointed chin, all the way to her lips.
Those two lips.
He seemed to have been thinking about those lips for a long time, day and night, and he didn't even know when it started. When she smiled, when she spoke, when she pursed her lips in grievance, he would pay extra attention to her.
Bright red, wet, and crystal clear.
If, he goes to suck.
So, it fits perfectly.
It felt like there were ten thousand ants crawling around his heart, ten thousand ants with sixty thousand legs, densely packed and harassing his heart without leaving any blind spots, making it impossible for him to sleep or eat, and leaving him restless for even a moment.
Pain is easy to endure, but itching is the most excruciating.
He suddenly remembered that day. That day, just seeing her pull a few saliva-soaked hairs from her mouth made him restless. He stood under the waterfall for an hour, thinking his body had cooled, but his head was still burning.
As a result, the next morning, something like that happened.
He really didn't want to be like that.
People say that the reason you miss something so much is because you have never got it.
So, what if... you get it once?
If you get it once, will it not be like that?
His long eyelashes drooped tightly, as if he was trying to hide the secret thoughts in his eyes.
His thumb caressed her slightly upturned lips lovingly.
What's the matter? He's a drunk anyway.
She was drunk anyway.
Anyway, it was just a gentle, gentle kiss.
It won't smudge her lipstick, won't scratch the corners of her lips. When she wakes up, she won't find anything.
Perhaps after a taste, he would forget about it. He closed his eyes, ready to be killed.
Slowly, slowly, move closer.
But when he almost touched her lips, he suddenly opened his eyes.
The whole body is drenched in sweat.
Gu Huaijin, what are you doing? !
Miss Chu is still drunk, how dare you take advantage of her?!
He sat up in panic, almost jumping up like a drug addict afraid of drugs, at a loss and covered in cold sweat.
He took a few steps back in panic, as if the narrow wooden couch was a whirlpool that would mercilessly swallow everything.
He trembled, his hands covering his face weakly and painfully, and he took a long breath.
What is he doing? What's wrong with him?
Sometimes, he was really afraid of himself.
He was not the elegant gentleman he had thought he was, not at all.
As soon as the door opened, Asong was waiting at the door with a tray of food.
He shuddered: "When were you here?"
Ah Song said respectfully, "The kitchen has prepared two bowls of hangover soup. I was about to knock on the door when you opened it."
He nodded, then came out and closed the door, not wanting others to see her sleeping. He said:
"The girl has fallen asleep, so I'm afraid she won't be able to drink it. Send it to my room first. I'll make another bowl for her tomorrow."
"Yes." Asong bowed and left in a hurry.
He had long noticed the situation between the young master and that woman, but it was not his turn to intervene.
Asong left. It was already late and there was no one in the courtyard. Gu Zhi walked to the stone table where the two had just been drinking and playing chess.
On the table, the remaining chess pieces had not been put away yet, two wine cups were placed on the table, and some flower petals had fallen on the chessboard.
His chest still felt burning, and not only burning, but also empty, like a piece of paper licked by flames.
There was still some wine left in the cup, but he was already drunk. Drinking more would be a more sinful waste, so he wanted to just walk away.
But for some unknown reason, he stopped.
The white-glazed lotus-petal cup with a crescent-shaped red mark on the rim was hypocritical, silent and glaring.
He walked over, picked up the cup, and turned it around in his hands.
There was a lingering hint of red in the wine.
Those were the remnants of her lip balm that pretended to be innocent.
He swallowed uncontrollably several times.
That lip print... must have tasted like pineapple, sweet, but stinging, making the whole body numb, not just the lips and tongue.
He spun the cup and thought for a while with his eyes lowered.
A mountain breeze blew, and he felt hot, but he was also frightened and broke out in a cold sweat on his back. The wind blew through him to the bone, and his mind became clear.
No. He put the cup down with a thud on the stone table.
Miss Chu might not want to.
If we let it go this time, there might not be a next time, a voice said.
Yes. But no.
He couldn't do such a thing... taking advantage of others' misfortune, being shameless, hypocritical, and acting like a beast.
Although he may be hypocritical.
But, you can't make a mistake on top of a mistake. Gu Huaijin, you must not indulge in your own selfish desires.
His eyes were dark and gloomy, and he was silent for a long time.
After a long time, he picked up a white chess piece from the chessboard with his fingertips and hid it in his sleeve.
That white seed that was stained with a bit of her delicate lipstick.
*
The candlelight flickered in the room. A figure was sleeping on the wooden couch, wrapped in a quilt, facing inward and breathing heavily.
The shadows projected on the wall rose and fell regularly, and suddenly a shadow as huge as a mountain appeared next to the sleeping person.
The man was squatting beside the couch like a frog, with extremely broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and his little fingers were circling around his ears.
Mist Blade: "Hello."
No one responded.
Wu Dao: "Wake up."
The person on the bed was still breathing steadily with his eyes closed.
Wu Dao: "Hey? So drunk? That's weird."
He rummaged through the leather bag slung around his waist and pulled out a small green pill. He carefully held it between his thumb and index finger and placed it on the lips of the person on the bed.
Then I didn’t know what to do.
Wu Dao scratched his head. This job was not usually his job, so he went over, pinched Nan Qiong Shuang's earlobe, and pulled it out with force.
Removed her jaw.
Looking at the person with her mouth open like a drawer, Wu Dao said, "Hmm!" He nodded with satisfaction and threw the small pill into her mouth like throwing it into a pot.
He lifted her chin and put it back.
She rummaged through the bag for a while and pulled out a small lotus leaf-shaped box. She opened the lid and placed it under her nose.
The person sleeping soundly on the bed took a few breaths, suddenly wrinkled his nose, and opened his eyes.
Wu Dao sat beside her couch, looking into her tired, bloodshot eyes, swinging his legs. "Oh, are you really drunk? That's not like you."
Nan Qiong Shuang sat up with difficulty, her head splitting. She covered her head and tasted the small meatball in her mouth in confusion. Her whole body ached, as if all her joints were rusted.
Suddenly, there was a "hiss..." and he touched his ears with a confused look on his face.
It's okay to have a headache, but why does my jaw hurt too?
"Where have you been?" the voice was muddy.
Today she underestimated the wine and drank too much, and she was so drunk that she didn't even realize it.
However, in the past, when she was about to get drunk, Wu Dao would remind her in her ear that she had never been really drunk.
This time, he was not there.
"I'm not going to get drunk this time. Nan Qiong Shuang," Wu Dao paced around the room with his hands behind his back, "is this considered a step back?"
Nan Qiong Shuang rolled her eyes.
"I didn't say anything to him." Her last memory was holding the cup up to him. After that, she realized her mind was really starting to get hazy, so she lay down on the table and pretended to fall asleep. Because she was already drunk, she fell asleep as soon as she lay down.
Wu Dao: "Are you sure you didn't lose control?"
"Sure. You tell me?" She glanced at him again. "Since you weren't here just now, what are you doing here now?"
Wu Dao said nothing, pacing around the room with his hands behind his back. Finally, he said, "Nan Qiong Shuang, I have to give you a heads up."
The man who spent his days joking and joking, trying to grab food, had a frighteningly cold look in his eyes. With the candlelight at his back, his massive figure completely enveloped her, like a Five Finger Mountain bearing down on her.
The look in his eyes was like that of a crocodile that had quietly sensed its prey approaching the shore, so it surfaced, quietly opened its eyes, and waited.
He said, "Nan Qiong Shuang, don't underestimate your current glory. The sect values and trusts you. If something goes wrong and the sect's secrets are leaked, what will happen to you?"
He grinned grimly, "When the time comes, even if the King of Hell doesn't take you, you'll have to go to hell."
Nan Qiong Shuang just looked at him with a cold expression without saying a word.
His five fingers gradually clenched the quilt above his knees.
The candle flame went out with a hiss, and a thin wisp of smoke rose.
The room suddenly became dark, and the only light was the moonlight that forced its way in through the window panes, making everything look cold and terrifying.
In the darkness, Nan Qiong Shuang closed her eyes and whispered, "Yes."
Wu Dao immediately burst into laughter, his body, which had been tense like an arrow on a bow, suddenly relaxed. He walked over to the candlestick and lit another candle, then said in a friendly manner, "Hey, why are you so serious? I was just teasing you."
The candlelight swayed and rose again. Nan Qiongshuang looked at the warm light and felt a chill all over her body.
Tease her?
fart.
If she really made a mistake, the first one to report it would be him, Wu Dao.
After ten years of companionship and ten years of living side by side, she knew best how he would kill her.
She calmed down and said, "Where have you been? What are you doing here?"
Wu Dao turned around, holding a scroll in his hand. He loosened his thumb and the yellowed parchment rolled down.
Nan Qiong Shuang tilted her head and tried to look sideways. After looking for a long time, she hesitated and said, "Rag?"
Wu Dao turned around and took a look, then hurriedly turned the scroll over and turned it sideways, "It's upside down." He was a grown man and scratched his head in embarrassment.
Nan Qiongshuang looked at the mountains, rivers and streams drawn on the paper and said, "This is..."
"Map of the Tianshan Mountains."
"There's no Xingchen Pavilion." Nan Qiong Shuang glanced at Wu Dao. "Has anyone done this mission before?"
Wu Dao said, "Fifteen years ago, the Wangsheng Sect sent someone to infiltrate Tianshan Mountain with the intention of taking away the Tianshan Mountain Guardian Jade Plate. This is the picture that the sect asked her to draw at that time."
"However, it failed. The mountain-guarding jade tablet was intact, the map was not completed, and the person died on this mountain."
Nan Qiongshuang listened with a normal expression.
"We all thought she was dead. At least, that's what we all thought before you entered the mountain."
"Until, I followed you up the mountain."
Wu Dao's eyes were cold.
"Listen, Nan Qiong Shuang," he said, "that man is still alive. He's besieged in a corner of Tianshan Mountain, right on this map."
"I can't live, and I can't die."
Nan Qiong Shuang understood what he meant.
Being alive means variables for those inside.
The gate of rebirth hates variables the most.
She sighed. "I'm hungover, have a splitting headache, and reek of alcohol. I can't do it tonight."
Wu Dao said nothing, and slowly squatted down beside her couch. He looked at her gloomily with a pair of eyes as sharp as knives, and tilted his head.
She said impatiently, "I can't do it! You're pretending to be so weak. Even the servants on this mountain are skilled in martial arts. I'm drunk now. Where can I go? How can I go?"
Wu Dao slowly asked, "Do you know who was the person sent up the mountain fifteen years ago?"
"How should I know?!"
"It's Master Zi Ni." He said word by word:
"The predecessor of Rouge Hall Master was the former Bliss Hall Master, Zi Ni."
Nan Qiong Shuang felt as if all the meridians in her body were frozen inch by inch.
The Master of Zi Ni Hall.
It is said that he was the top person in Paradise Hall in the past fifty years. Although he disappeared without a trace and even his body could not be found, his name still has influence today.
A delicate heart and evil hands.
As for her appearance, it is more than just stunning.
The one who was buried in Tianshan Mountain was actually the head of Zi Ni Hall?
Nan Qiong Shuang pinched her eyebrows and sighed.
"When you assigned this task to me, you didn't tell me it would be such a difficult one."
Wu Dao thought she was worried about what happened tonight and laughed, "What are you afraid of? We have a map."
She sighed again.
If that was the case, it was no wonder Wu Dao was squatting here to force her.
It would be fine if a person who was once very important died, but it is terrible that he is still alive, neither human nor ghost, and he would reveal something from time to time.
If she didn't know, it would be fine, but she knew. If the former hall master leaked any secrets during her time in the mountains, and the former hall master died, the whole thing would be blamed on her.
She sighed deeply and put her snow-white hand under Wu Dao's eyes: "Where's the mint ointment? Let me smell it again."
In addition to the mint ointment, Wu Dao took out a small dumpling, placed it in his palm, and gave it to her.
"This is?"
"Guipo Pill. I got it from Guizhu. It's my private collection." Guizhu is said to be a witch doctor.
"do what?"
"It's something that can temporarily restore a person's sanity. However, I've never used it before, so you can try it." Wu Dao smiled, "Ask her to reveal some information at the end, use it thoroughly, and then kill her. I'll be nice to you, right? Keep it for yourself!"
Nan Qiong Shuang said nothing, but put the little ball into the secret compartment of the wooden bracelet.
"Oh, by the way," she suddenly remembered, "what were you doing while I was drinking?"
"Aren't you going to take on a mission?" Wu Dao continued to pick his ears.
Nan Qiong Shuang paused as she stood up: "What mission did you accept tonight?"
Wu Dao glanced at the ceiling: "About an hour ago."
Nan Qiong Shuang sneered, put on her clothes and stood up.
The Tianshan Sect treated its access control system as a treasure, but it had already been completely infiltrated by outsiders. Not only had she and Wu Dao infiltrated, but there were even informants on Tianshan who kept in touch at all times.
She sat down in front of the dressing mirror, combed her hair, and blew out the candles. Previously, she had been reluctant to use her Qinggong skills to go out alone. First, she was wary of traps, second, she didn't want to show off, and third, if she could capture Gu Zhi, she would already have everything, so there was no need to go through all that trouble.
However, times are different now.
In the darkness, she raised her eyes, her pupils as sharp as cold stars.
*
With that half of the map, dodging the traps was easy. Under the moonlight, Nan Qiongshuang followed the route on the map and stopped in front of a dark cave entrance.
The unlit cave on the mountain was already pitch black, and now, nearing midnight, it was even darker. A damp, chilly wind blew faintly from the cave entrance, ruffling the hair on her forehead like an invisible, soft hand.
There was a sour, fishy smell in the wind.
Nan Qiongshuang looked at the black hole that was about to swallow everything, rolled up the map and put it into her sleeve.
Others might not be able to smell the scent in the wind, but she knew it well.
There's nothing good in this cave.
She lowered her eyes and slowly lit the tinder.
Mist Blade chuckled in her ear, "Delaying? Are you scared?"
"I'm drunk and have a headache." She yawned and smiled, "Are you scared?"
"I'll tell you what." She stepped into the darkness, her slender figure swallowed by the chaos. "The most terrifying person on this mountain is me."
The cave was extremely cold, or rather, it was filled with a dead air.
This place has not been illuminated by sunlight for thousands of years.
A tinder lit a corner, revealing some hideous stalactites on the cave's ceiling. Their sharp, canine-like tips dripped water, which echoed faintly into the deep pools on either side of the narrow path below.
The cave is filled with impenetrable darkness; even if there is a fire, it is only a drop in the bucket.
Nan Qiongshuang held the fire starter and walked calmly on the winding path, squeezing through the narrow cracks between the rocks and moving forward.
Before Songmei died, she cursed her to be thrown into the salt water of a cave to feed crocodiles. Apparently, that was a common punishment in the mountains after a spy's identity was exposed. The cave she had mentioned was the one Songmei had mentioned.
If her identity is exposed, she will be the next one to suffer in this bottomless cave.
A smile played at the corner of her lips.
Quite interesting.
Suddenly, in the extreme silence that almost made people suspect they were deaf, there were some tiny, faint sounds.
From far away, after turning several corners, came the sound of jingling iron chains.
There were also some rustling and hissing sounds.
She walked straight ahead.
In the light lit by the tinder, she turned through several connected caves, and finally, she stood still in the same darkness.
The hissing sound suddenly became louder.
When he raised the fire lighter, he saw a deep blue pool in front of him, with a mountain pressing down on it, almost pressing down on the water surface.
In the pool, a large group of spotted snakes rolled together, twitching wildly, twisting and turning with each other, trying to separate, and all rushed towards the light with their tails shaking. It was so dense and dazzling.
Nan Qiong Shuang took two steps back, tied the spider silk around her fingers, and when she looked up, she saw that in the center of the scattered snakes, there was actually a... person.
Or rather... it should be a person.
The man's hair had grown incredibly long. He was squatting on a rock in the middle of the pool, with iron chains tied around his ankles. His hair was scattered and floating in the water, and the heavy rock was directly above his head. He could hardly even lift his head.
Beneath the tangled long hair, his body was covered in mud, sores, and blood.
The hissing sound was almost overwhelming in the cave, with echoes coming from all directions, and the twisting and stirring snakes also rushed ashore.
Nan Qiong Shuang shook her hands, and the spider silk was woven into a large and fine net, which directly caught all the snakes crawling in front of her feet. With a flip of her hands like flowers, the twisting and struggling snakes were all cut into several pieces, twisting wildly and falling out of the holes in the net.
When the snake came ashore again, it would sweep it up and twist it again.
After half a cup of tea, the hissing sound in the cave finally died down.
Nan Qiong Shuang panted and smiled, "You really don't want to help at all."
Wu Dao stood beside her, hugging her shoulders, "Why not use poison?"
Nan Qiong Shuang sighed and sniffed the blood on her cuffs. "I'm afraid this water is connected to the mountain water source. I'm afraid it might cause trouble."
Then he asked, "Are you really sure that was the former hall master?"
She had never had the good fortune to meet the Purple Slaughter Hall Master. However, someone whose reputation as a stunning beauty still lingered in the martial arts world fifteen years later, by all accounts, shouldn't be like that.
Not like a human, but like an animal.
She exchanged glances with Wu Dao.
Wu Dao actually looked fearful and silent.
Nan Qiongshuang opened her hand, and the spider silk in her palm swam consciously towards the reef in the center of the deep pool.
The thing on the reef, which was not sure whether it was a human or an animal, was manipulated like a puppet, its joints tied up, and it was hoisted into the water and dragged over.
The thing could hardly struggle anymore and was dragged silently in the freezing cold water of the cave, dragged ashore, and dragged to the feet of the two men.
Nan Qiong Shuang looked at Wu Dao again, and they both squatted down to look at each other.
As soon as I squatted down, a foul odor hit my nose.
It had been an unknown amount of time since it had defecated or urinated normally. Something wet was stuck to its body, tangling its long hair.
There was something almost indistinguishable mixed in his long hair. Even though he was wrapped up in it, his body was still snow-white. However, it was so rotten and decayed that the whole person looked like a piece of smelly meat that had been swollen and rotted. There was even a thin water snake nailed to his arm.
Both of them could hardly control their urge to vomit.
Nan Qiong Shuang was so disgusted that she couldn't bring herself to do it, and glanced at Wu Dao.
Wu Dao knew about her mysophobia, so he rolled his eyes, sighed resignedly, and pulled the water snake off the thing's arm.
He suppressed his nausea, pinched the thing's chin, made it tilt its head back, and then removed its jaw neatly.
"Guipo Pill. Hurry up!" he said angrily.
When she looked up, Nan Qiongshuang saw that, although half of its face had rotted away, that thing was indeed the Master of Zi Ni Hall.
The woman who had been missing for fifteen years, whose portrait was still hung in the center of the reception hall of Jile Hall, was famous for her peerless beauty, and even today there are still many ambiguous legends and scandals about her.
In the portrait, the former hall master is holding a hibiscus purple paper umbrella with several strands of shark silk hanging from the edge of the umbrella. He is wearing a gorgeous dusk mountain purple robe with flowing sleeves. He looks back and smiles, and his whole body is as misty and ethereal as smoke.
That person with bright eyes and white teeth turned into such a thing.
Nan Qiongshuang couldn't help but feel a chill all over her body.
"Guipo Pill!" Wu Dao shouted.
Nan Qiong Shuang quickly put the small meatball into her mouth, took two steps back, and almost staggered.
Wu Dao swiftly put her chin back in place, then let go and went to the pool to rinse his hands.
The thing suddenly had medicine stuffed in its mouth, and it pinched its neck and coughed dryly, with thick phlegm rolling in its throat like a broken bellows.
After Wu Dao finished rinsing his hands, he stood beside her, and the two of them looked at her in surprise and confusion.
After a long time, the thing that was neither human nor ghost finally stopped coughing, gasped violently, and raised its head.
The originally distracted and crazy eyes became clear, and the half-rotten face became even more weird and terrifying because of this pair of normal eyes.
Zi Ni's gaze lingered on the two men's faces for only a moment before he hissed and laughed.
"Who is this person inside?" The voice was as strange as a file on metal. "Why, you finally remembered me and came to take my life?"
Nan Qiong Shuang tried to speak calmly, "Master, you know the rules of this sect."
Zi Ni sneered, "Well, I've been trapped in this dilemma for years. You should have come a long time ago." He added, "How many years has it been since I disappeared?"
"Fifteen years."
"Fifteen years... Time flies." Zi Ni smiled, looking at the festering body, and said nonchalantly, "Then, let me ask you, how is Gu Qingyao now?"
Nan Qiong Shuang said, "The Sect Master? He is always in seclusion, I have never seen him."
Zi Ni smiled sarcastically.
"How many children does he have? Who are their parents?"
"In the past, there was a man named Gu Zhi, who died young. Now he has only one son, named Gu Zhi. As for who his mother is, I don't know. It seems she is not in the mountains."
"Oh, that must be the daughter of the Yueshan Sect down the mountain." She shrugged casually, "I have no regrets. I can kill anyone I want."
Wu Dao: "Hey, don't be so anxious. Tell us if you have any information." He pointed his thumb towards Nan Qiong Shuang. "This is a formidable young man in the Paradise Hall. He might be able to take your position at such a young age. Please give him some advice."
"A word of advice?" Zi Ni asked, "Let me put it this way, the Mountain Guarding Jade Plate may not be in the Xingchen Pavilion, but it may not be out of the Xingchen Pavilion either."
Nan Qiong Shuang frowned.
"Back then, I broke into the Xingchen Pavilion and explored. The jade token was indeed there, but unfortunately I didn't take it. Since I broke into the Pavilion, the jade token might have moved somewhere else."
"So, I want to tell you, if we want to break the impasse, the key may not be the Star Pavilion," she said, "but the people."
Gu Zhi.
As she spoke, she suddenly laughed, "Also, remember, never fall in love with anyone on this mountain, no matter how kind and upright they may be."
Nan Qiong Shuang's expression was a little strange: "Why, are you in love with Gu Qingyao?"
"Fall in love?" Zi Ni suddenly burst into a heart-wrenching laugh. The sound was more like a shrill whine than a laugh, as if someone had cut open his abdomen and intestines. "Fall in love? Fall in love? How could I have ever loved Gu Qingyao? It's really a joke!"
"If Gu Qingyao loved me, why would he send me to this place to suffer? Why would he have two sons with Huang An? And why has he refused to even come to see me for over a decade? Our son is buried under the peach blossom forest by the waterfall. He said back then that he would marry me today, but what about now? What about now?"
"If he doesn't love me, how can I love him? I have no choice but to kill him! If I can't kill him, I wish I could tear him into pieces!"
The voice became more and more crazy and distorted.
Nan Qiongshuang listened, her heart slowly sinking.
She must have loved Gu Qingyao.
The deeper the love, the deeper the resentment.
However, the people of Paradise Hall understand best that one should not be tempted.
How could...
For people in their line of work, if they fall in love, this is the only outcome.
Looking at her silent expression, Zi Ni smiled meaningfully, "Hey, you've fallen in love with his son too?"
Wu Dao suddenly stared at her.
Nan Qiong Shuang: "Bullshit."
Zi Ni's eyes darted across Wu Dao's face for a long moment, then he shook his index finger and said with a smile, "Little girl, don't listen to your teachings. Didn't they all tell you that after five tasks, you'd either be promoted to hall master or set free?"
"Don't listen to their nonsense." She said firmly, "The Wangsheng Sect hates traitors the most. They won't let you go. Unless you die."
"If you want freedom," she stretched out a snake-like cool arm and held her pale arm softly. Her lips moved as she whispered, just like a snake spitting out its tongue:
"The best way is to make his son fall in love with you, and you can live peacefully on the mountain as the headmaster's wife. From then on, you will stay on the mountain, under the protection of the Tianshan Sect, and sever ties with the Wangsheng Sect."
"I'm telling you, this is your best chance. If you believe the five missions of the Rebirth Gate..."
In the middle of his words, his head suddenly jerked upwards, his neck stretched straight, as if someone had violently pulled a handful of his hair.
There was a crescent-shaped wound on the filthy neck.
Bright red blood trickled down.
Zi Ni fell heavily to the side and fell into the deep pool, splashing water.
Nan Qiongshuang hurriedly looked down with a tinder in hand. In the bottomless pool, a ball of long black hair slowly sank, and bright red blood dyed the bottom of the water red.
She exclaimed, "What are you doing!"
"What am I doing?" Wu Dao sneered, and walked to the pool to rinse his knife. With a "swish", he sheathed the dagger again. "You seem to be listening very attentively."
Nan Qiong Shuang tried her best to steady her panicked breathing and remained silent.
In the light of the tinder, he said with a friendly expression, "You want to betray our Wangsheng Sect?"
A drop of water hit the pool, making a dripping sound.
Nan Qiongshuang's heart trembled, and her hair stood on end uncontrollably.
He was testing her.
The Wangsheng Sect hates traitors the most. If there is even the slightest sign of betrayal, the leader will report it directly to the sect.
The informant who was in contact with Wu Dao should still be in Tianshan Mountain.
If she had even the slightest bit of rebelliousness, or what Wu Dao thought was rebelliousness - she would directly become the next Zi Ni.
Her face was calm and she smiled, "What? What do you want?"
He turned around and waved his hand, as if he was too lazy to pay attention. "That's great. I will report this matter to the sect now."
Wu Dao put the knife back on his waist and walked beside her, with a nonchalant smile on his face, but his eyes were like a crocodile that had emerged from the water and was spying.
He said, "You'd better not think about it, Nan Qiong Shuang."
Nan Qiong Shuang sneered.
But he touched his chin and suddenly came to his senses.
"Let me ask you," she pressed her still aching ear, "did you also remove my jaw to feed me that hangover pill?"
*
That night, there was no light in Gu Zhi's room.
The night was as cool as water. He sat quietly beside the couch, the moonlight casting a restrained figure on the wall.
When those dirty wet marks first appeared on the quilt, he thought it was just a coincidence due to his age.
I didn't take it to heart.
Until yesterday.
He meditated for an hour under the cold waterfall, came back and bathed for an hour, changed into clean pajamas, and lit a calming incense.
When I woke up, the scene was the same again.
Just because I saw her brushing away the hair stuck on her lips, it was just a small thing.
Something seemed to be spiraling out of control.
Once he realized this, he actually began to be afraid to fall asleep.
In fact, he was drunk too. How could he not be drunk? That was the peach blossom wine that had been stored under the icy spring for twenty-five years.
But he didn't dare to sleep.
The fire in his heart that had been suppressed by the cold waterfall, meditation, and Buddhist scriptures during the day was easily rekindled after he saw the half circle of her lip balm with ill intentions on the rim of the cup, burning him to a loss and defeat.
He knew what he would see the next day if he went to bed right now.
He pulled out a stool and took a Buddhist scripture from the bookshelf.
Under the moonlight, he put on his clothes, ground ink, and forced himself to copy the scriptures.
As I was copying, I finally felt sleepy.
He then took a statue of Bodhisattva from the bookshelf and placed it on the bedside table.
With the Bodhisattva staring at him, he no longer dared to have any dirty or false thoughts, he thought.
Drunk, he finally gave in, put down his pen, and got on the couch.
The crescent moon was setting in the west, and the leaves in the forest were drooping. A startled magpie flapped its wings and darted out from the shadows of the trees, shaking the tips of the leaves so that they fell.
Under the shadow of the tree, the person in the house had closed his eyes and fell asleep. The person who was asleep had a dream. He dreamed that he was still in the window under the shadow of the tree, carefully sketching a statue of Bodhisattva.
The Bodhisattva statue had not yet been painted. Gu Zhi took a brush, dipped it in copper-blue paint, and carefully depicted the intricate necklace hanging from the Bodhisattva's chest.
While painting, he suddenly saw a body of water outside the window, shimmering in the moonlight.
The moonlight was so bright that it shone in his eyes, making him dizzy for a moment.
But suddenly, among the fragments of light, I saw a figure.
It looked as if there was a person, nearly drowning, clinging to the shore, barely breathing, his head on the bank but his body still in the water.
Is someone drowning?
Gu Zhi put down his pen and opened the door.
When the door opened, he saw a vast open space outside the room. The moonlight was bright and the room was surrounded by mountains. Only the sound of water outside his room could be heard in the moonlight.
In the shimmering water, there was indeed a person lying on the shore against the light.
He hurried over.
I was shocked when I saw it.
It's a mermaid.
The mermaid lay crouched on the shore, her long hair almost reaching her hips, draped wetly over her body. Her hair was the purest, darkest black, her skin the purest, purest white. A hint of her almost silvery back and lower back was visible through her black hair.
There is a small black birthmark in the waist.
And, below the waist, there are pieces of fish scales reflecting the moonlight.
The fish's tail sank into the water, and she lay on the shore, motionless, even her breathing was weak.
He couldn't believe it and stood in the distance.
How could there be mermaids in the Tianchi Lake on the mountain?
But suddenly, the mermaid heard the noise of the person coming and opened her eyes weakly.
He trembled and struggled to stand up from the mud. His eyes were pointed at the corners and drooped sadly at the ends. The two watery eyes kept falling as his body trembled.
"Sir," she said in a trembling voice, her tears turning into pearls, "save me."
Gu Zhi suddenly understood.
The one who drowned was Miss Chu.
Why is Miss Chu a mermaid?
Without time to think, he stepped forward and grabbed the arms of the person in the water, turning her over so that she was facing up and it would be easier for him to hold her.
However, this time, he realized one thing.
Mermaids are...
They do not wear human clothes.
Her head was tilted weakly in his arms, her chest and abdomen rose and fell slightly with her breathing, and she was completely unaware that the area from her chin to her navel was a clear snowfield.
Gu Zhi turned his face away as if he had been slapped.
Fortunately, her hair was so long and draped over her chest, so he really didn't see anything, he thought comfortingly.
He carried her back to his room and carefully placed her on his bed.
Chu Jiaojiao closed her eyes, leaned against the head of the bed, and sat weakly to one side. Her long hair was wet and covered her chest, with water dripping down.
He let go of his hand and wanted to carefully check if there were any injuries on the person's body, but after just a quick glance, he was forced to take three steps back.
My chest was beating like a drum.
What should I do about this?
Save people? How? He shouldn't even look at them.
Could he actually see it? Should he see it? But if he didn't, what would she do?
Or, should I let her get hurt? Let her die?
Chu Jiaojiao lowered her long eyelashes, and two butterflies seemed to be resting on her porcelain-white face.
The lips were slightly open, and the cherry-like delicate lips opened and closed.
Her long hair was like an ink waterfall, dripping with water and hanging down smoothly, shining like satin under the moonlight.
Beneath that long hair…suddenly his body felt like it was on fire. He turned his eyes away, and his Adam’s apple rolled painfully several times.
He shouldn't look at it, and he can't.
He certainly didn't see it, he said to himself.
Fortunately, I didn’t feel sorry for her.
He suddenly thought of a way and planned to use his quilt to cover her so that he would not be in a dilemma and she would not wake up with shame.
So he leaned over to reach for the quilt he had folded aside.
The quilt was placed on the inside of the bed, and she was on the outside, her fish tail glowing coldly in the moonlight.
He carefully reached over her damp and cold fishtail, placed his fingers in the empty space, and pulled the corner of his quilt.
Holding his quilt, he slowly pulled it over.
Suddenly, a faint light floated in the room, and the shimmering scales emitted little fluorescent lights, which dissipated in the air like blue fireflies.
The fish scales glowed and faded, and when they finally went out, there was only a dim snow color in the night.
Two long legs like jade chopsticks suddenly appeared in front of him, even under his nose.
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