[Who Hears Right and Wrong] She feels like someone is always trying to harm her
The intense pain from the drug and the impact of that strange memory made Zhou Suyao sleep for a whole day and night. When she opened her eyes again, it was dusk outside the window.
The wound in her lower abdomen still ached, but the new, weak yet resilient warmth within her dantian lifted her spirits. She subconsciously curled her fingers, the cold touch of the bronze mirror from her dream still lingering on her fingertips.
It all feels so real.
Real and confusing.
She couldn't figure out her relationship with all this, and she didn't understand why the mystery of it all, and the heavy fate that came from nowhere, fell on her shoulders without any warning.
It's a headache.
She lay in bed for a long time before she finally struggled to sit up. When she turned around, she found a clean, plain dress on the bedside table, and a bowl of warm medicine next to it.
After she changed her clothes and took her medicine, there was a knock on the door.
I saw my second senior brother Qu Mingwu push the door open and come in, holding a simple cloth bag in his hand.
"Awake? How do you feel?"
He looked her over and frowned again, "You're still as white as a ghost."
"I won't die." Zhou Suyao deliberately showed her eight teeth and put on a fake smile, intending to disgust her second senior brother. However, Qu Mingwu not only ignored her, but also walked over with a sad face and touched her forehead gently.
"?"
"I don't have a fever." Qu Mingwu said dimly, "How could you be so stupid?"
"Second! Master! Brother!"
Even though she was furious, business was more important. Soon, her eyes fell on the cloth bag that Second Senior Brother had brought with him since entering the house, and she asked, "What is this?"
"For you."
Qu Mingwu handed her the cloth bag and said, "Inside it are the high-level talismans I found in my master's study, as well as a small bottle of the Soul-Restoring Pill. Jinluo Pavilion is a mixed bag, and Mingluo's words are still uncertain. In short, be prepared for any eventuality, and don't be too reckless."
Hearing this, Zhou Suyao felt warm in her heart and said, "I know."
"And this," Qu Mingwu said, pulling out a small jade talisman from his sleeve. The jade was soft and smooth, and its color and feel were both top-notch. It was obvious it was worth a fortune. Zhou Suyao was so frightened that she shook her head repeatedly, "No, this is too expensive."
But the second brother's words were filled with an undeniable tone, and he said firmly: "Take it."
He continued, "This is the protective jade that my senior brother carved for me. It can block one magical attack. Take it with you."
"Remember, your life is more important than anything else. If there is any unusual movement, have Linque send a message to me immediately. Don't try to hold on."
Seeing the heavy worry in his eyes, she couldn't say anything to refuse. Her throat tightened and she nodded heavily: "Yes!"
Jinluoge is the largest den of illicit goods at the foot of Xincong Zongshan Mountain. It is five feet high and magnificent, with a constant flow of distinguished guests and the sounds of stringed instruments and orchestras.
It's just that this place looks like a place for pretentiousness on the surface, but in fact, all kinds of people from all walks of life and all kinds of religions come here to gather here, and information is well-informed, making it an ideal place for many private transactions.
It was already the afternoon. Zhou Suyao was wearing a plain gray dress and carefully restrained her spiritual energy. To others, she looked like an inconspicuous female guest.
Inside the pavilion, the scent of rouge and powder mixed with the smell of wine and tea, making it a bit of a headache. Zhou Suyao dodged a girl who bumped into her and walked straight up the stairs leading to the upper wing.
A gust of wind blew by, and she heard a faint ringing of bells.
It was the most secluded corner on the third floor. Pushing open the carved wooden door, an elegant orchid fragrance filled my face. Looking at the exquisite screen, I saw Mingluo had indeed arrived.
At this time, she changed out of the blue and white school uniform of Xincong Sect and put on a light blue casual dress. She looked more beautiful, but there was an indelible sadness between her eyebrows.
"I sneaked down the mountain without my master's knowledge. Time is of the essence, so I won't exchange pleasantries with you any more."
After closing the door, Ming Luo didn't express any concern or sympathy. Instead, he immediately lowered his voice and spoke quickly, "I suspect this new disciple competition is a conspiracy."
"What do you mean?"
"After returning home that day, I was ill for a long time. While bedridden, I suddenly remembered that Master had gone to the place where the Spiritual Stone was sought for several days before the competition. I felt that this was unusual. In previous years, the layout of the examination hall was arranged by the sect elders with no official duties. But why did he take this competition so seriously?"
Ming Luo continued, "At first, I thought Master wanted to ensure safety multiple times because of me. But after this competition, I felt there was something else going on. So, while Master was practicing with several other Grandmasters, I sneaked into the sect's secret room. In one of the secret books, I discovered that the Spirit Stone, in addition to distributing trials, has another little-known function - it can sense the presence of a certain container and then send it to a pre-set location."
container?
This word instantly reminded Zhou Suyao of the accusation of the female ghost in red.
She clenched her hands under the table suddenly: "You mean, Elder Xuan Yangming..."
"Shh!" Ming Luo nervously gestured for silence, his voice lowered. "I didn't completely identify Master. But later, when I continued my secret investigation, an elder told me that he discovered that before we entered the illusion, Master had approached the Spirit Stone alone several times under the pretext of inspecting it, and performed an extremely secret hand seal. Now that I think about it... I'm afraid that was the hand seal that opened the passage to the underworld."
"Also," Ming Luo hesitated for a moment before finally speaking as if he had made up his mind, "I accidentally discovered a portrait in the secret compartment of Master's meditation room... The woman in the painting looks seven points like you!"
Hearing this, Zhou Suyao's breathing almost stopped.
The image in her dream flashed through her mind and quickly overlapped with the terrifying face of the female ghost in the underworld.
It was indeed her.
"Who is the woman in the painting?" Zhou Suyao asked, her voice trembling slightly.
This trembling contained both the excitement of being closer and closer to the truth, and the caution she had to take every step carefully.
She couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.
"There's no signature on the painting, only a line of small characters: 'Qinggui'. I asked the sect's oldest master, and he hinted that a hundred years ago, the Xincong Sect did have a brilliant female disciple named Ning Qinggui, a demon. She was incredibly gifted and deeply favored by the sect's then-grand elder, Dao Moxing. But she later mysteriously disappeared."
"If the portrait is genuine, why would Master collect a portrait of a woman who disappeared a hundred years ago? Also, do you remember that the red-clothed female ghost we encountered in the underworld also accused you of looking like her?"
"Are there really so many similar faces in this world, Suyao? Don't you think it's quite strange?"
Mingluo stared into her eyes and spoke word by word.
The clues were like a cold chain, one link after another. All this information came too coincidentally.
Ning Qinggui and Xuan Yangming.
A female ghost from the underworld.
She had just dreamed about Ning Qinggui's past, and the next second, someone told her that Ning Qinggui was the female ghost from the underworld.
It seemed as if all this was deliberately designed by someone so that she would know.
Thinking of this, Zhou Suyao raised her head slightly and met Mingluo's eyes.
"But why did you tell me all this?"
Zhou Suyao said this, her tone was very slow, and she enunciated each word clearly:
"What does all this have to do with you?"
In the room, the fragrance of orchids was still elegant, but the atmosphere dropped to freezing point because of Zhou Suyao's question that went straight to the point.
The air was so thick it was suffocating.
The worry on Mingluo's face froze instantly, a crack appearing in the fragile mask she'd carefully maintained. Her eyes flickered, avoiding Zhou Suyao's sharp scrutiny, her fingers unconsciously twisting the corners of her clothes.
"I..." She opened her mouth, her voice dry, "Suyao, what do you mean? I'm risking betraying my master to tell you this, so of course..."
"What is nature?" Zhou Suyao interrupted her, leaning forward slightly. The dull pain in her injured lower abdomen made her mind unusually clear.
She stared at Ming Luo, not missing a single subtle change on his face. "Is this to protect yourself? Or is it to... get rid of me, a potential 'vessel'? Or are you simply the bait sent by Xuan Yangming to test me and lure me into his scheme?"
"You!" Ming Luo raised his head suddenly, his eyes instantly filled with offended anger and a hint of barely perceptible panic, "Zhou Suyao! How could you be so ungrateful! I was kind..."
"Kindness?" Zhou Suyao asked back. "From the moment you approached me, everything was too coincidental. You just happened to be my companion in the underworld, just happened to find a portrait that looked like me, and just happened to know the secrets from a hundred years ago."
She sneered, "Mingluo, how can there be so many perfectly timed 'just right' things in this world? Your story is so complete, so timely! It's like I wrote the script on purpose, just for you to memorize and perform for me."
"What exactly is your purpose?"
Hearing this, Mingluo's face turned completely pale. The pitiful look he had before disappeared, replaced by a look of embarrassment as if he had been exposed.
"Shut up!" Ming Luo said sternly, her voice trembling slightly. As if she had made some kind of decision, she suddenly tore open her underwear, revealing an extremely strange red mark above her collarbone.
"Did you see it?!" Ming Luo pointed at the mark, his voice desperate and helpless. "The Seal of Life and Death. Not only do I have it, the woman in the portrait also has it. This mark originates from the demon race. Once the curser needs it, the Seal of Life and Death will activate and forcibly drain the cursed person's Dao foundation and spiritual energy."
"The trip to the underworld wasn't an accident at all! He wanted to see how much potential I, his vessel, could possess in a desperate situation. He must have some very important plan waiting for him, and he can't wait any longer."
This sudden revelation of the truth suddenly exploded in Zhou Suyao's ears. Her pupils shrank sharply as she stared intently at the ominous brand, her stomach churning.
In this way, the potential Mingluo displayed in the underworld that day was no accident. And her hatred for Xuan Yangming was also real.
But…that doesn't mean her actions at this moment are completely sincere.
"So," Zhou Suyao said in an unusually calm voice, suppressing her doubts. "You came to me because you realized that I, a 'vessel' that unexpectedly appeared and was extremely similar to Ning Qinggui, might be able to divert Xuan Yangming's attention."
"No." Ming Luo denied, "I never need anyone to die for me. I just want to earn a way to survive, and you can be the variable that breaks this fate. I hope you can cooperate with me."
"After all," she paused, "female ghost—no, Senior Ning Qinggui also said in the underworld that you two have many similarities. Do you think you can live in peace?"
Zhou Suyao was silent.
Just as she was weighing the pros and cons, a very abrupt bell sound came from outside the door.
They both looked out the door at the same time.
However, the person outside the door did not show up directly, but said softly with a hint of teasing:
"Have the people inside finished their performance? Am I allowed in?"
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