Chapter 79 Soul Wandering
A sword pierces the heart.
Neither Shang Junnian nor Lu Yan himself had expected the changes that would happen today.
Lu Yan originally planned to lead the team back to the city, but he did not expect to meet Zhui Ling who came to seek revenge. The other side brought a group of strangely dressed dragon masters. Nearly a hundred people surrounded them and sang and chanted. The sound penetrated into their heads and gave them a splitting headache.
Lu Yan had no time to think about how the opponent had found him, and immediately engaged in a fight with Zhui Ling. He thrust his sword straight out, intending to take his life, but Zhui Ling's face hidden under his black robe suddenly showed a strange smile. On his right hand, which was missing an index finger, there were many strange silver soul-catching bells, which vibrated and hummed:
"Today I will teach you to let your soul leave, and be reborn in front of the Yanluo Palace!"
"Today I will teach you to let your soul leave, and be reborn in front of the Yanluo Palace!"
As Zhui Ling muttered, Lu Yan seemed to have lost control of his body, and couldn't even hold the sword. He was shocked and wide-eyed, and felt as if a pair of invisible hands had forcibly torn his soul and body apart. He was in so much pain that his eyes were bloodshot. He watched his soul leave his body, and his body was stabbed in the heart by Zhui Ling's sword, and fell straight off the horse.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
Zhui Ling laughed crazily upon seeing this, and suddenly drew his sword and retreated: "Mission accomplished! Retreat!"
The system's warning sounded frantically in my ears:
[Warning! Warning! Encountered interference from an unknown force, the soul body lost its storage container! ! ]
[Warning! Warning! The soul body is on the verge of collapse! ]
【Warning! Warning...】
I'm warning you, my grandma! Think of a solution!
Lu Yan's soul floated in the air, unable to speak or land, and could only curse his mother madly in his heart. It seemed as if there was an invisible force pulling him upwards, while the black heart followed nervously beside him, saying something anxiously:
[It's bad, host! That black-robed weirdo can actually use the soul-stealing technique, which has disturbed the space body. You can't return to that body for the time being. I will find a place to temporarily place your soul, otherwise you will soon dissipate! ]
Lu Yan couldn't hear what the system was saying. He only saw that the originally clear sky suddenly turned stormy with lightning and thunder. The dark clouds around him gathered together to form a black vortex, which sucked him in.
“Boom——!”
A flash of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, illuminating the antique room as bright as day, and then it fell into a dark darkness. The curtain embroidered with gold thread hung down to the ground, and was blown open by the wind, revealing an unconscious man on the bed. His brows were furrowed, and he murmured something anxiously:
"Today I will teach you how to let your soul leave... and be reborn in front of the Yanluo Palace..."
"Today I will teach you how to leave your soul..."
The maid came in with warm water and saw that Lu Yan seemed to be in a nightmare. She patted his shoulder and whispered in his ear: "Prince? Prince?"
"!"
The unconscious man on the bed suddenly opened his eyes and stared at her. The maid was so scared that she fell to the ground. After she came to her senses, she hurried forward and asked, "My Lord, are you okay?"
Lu Yan stared at the maid in front of him without saying a word. After a long while, he uttered a sentence in a hoarse voice: "You are...Yan Bo?"
Although the maid didn't know why Lu Yan asked this, she still nodded timidly: "Your Highness, I am Yanbo."
Lu Yan used his hands to support himself and sat up with difficulty. His head hurt as if it was about to split. What was going on? Didn’t the system say that he should find a temporary place to house his soul? Why did he return to Fengling Palace?
Lu Yan closed his eyes and pressed his temples: "Where is the Prime Minister of Shang?"
He was assassinated in the suburbs, and when the news was brought back to the mansion, Shang Junnian would probably be shocked.
However, the maid was surprised and asked, "Prime Minister Shang? Who is Prime Minister Shang?"
Lu Yan paused in his kneading motion and subconsciously looked at Yan Bo, but saw that the other person's face was full of confusion, as if he really didn't know who Shang Guoxiang was.
“…”
The room was dead silent, with only the rumble of thunder outside.
Lu Yan had a bad feeling in his heart, and asked without any emotion: "It was Shang Junnian, the person who was sent as a hostage together with Crown Prince Wu Yun."
The maid only then found this person from the corner of her memory. She frowned slightly and told Lu Yan a piece of news that shocked him: "My Lord, you forgot that the three-year period has expired. The emperor ordered the envoys to offer treasures in exchange for the hostages to return to the country. Those hostages were released two years ago."
"Wu Yun presented the Mountain and River Sword in exchange for the return of Prince Yuzhang to his country."
"Dongli presented the founding seal to Prince Quedan to return to his country."
"Tianshui offers a Snow Region Ice Toad in exchange for the return of Prince Wuyou to his country."
Yan Boyu paused, recalled for a moment, and then said uncertainly: "No one is willing to replace Shang Junnian, and it seems that he is still in prison now."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Yan suddenly raised his head, his eyes like two sharp swords, making people dare not look directly at him: "What year is it now?"
Yan Bo didn't know what he had said wrong, and kowtowed in panic, "My Lord, it is now the 37th year of Shen Yao."
Thirty-seven years...
Lu Yan was in a trance when he heard this. How could he suddenly go back to five years later? No... to be exact, he seemed to have returned to his previous life. The three hostages returned to the country, and Shang Junnian was abandoned. Wasn't this the original destiny?
Lu Yan was puzzled because this was different from the timeline the system had told him. In the predetermined ending, the emperor died not long after the proton returned to the country, but now the emperor has lived for two more years. However, since he woke up, the system has never appeared again, as if it disappeared out of thin air, and there is not even a person who can answer the question.
The last heavy rain took away the only remaining warmth of the fairyland, and replaced it with a vast expanse of white snow. Snowflakes fell from the sky, covering the green tiles of the palace walls, and shrouding the entire imperial city in misery.
In the thirty-seventh year of Shen Yao, the emperor was seriously ill. Prince Nanxun and Prince Guxu jointly supervised the country, and the court fell into some subtle turmoil.
When Lu Yan arrived at the Emperor's bedroom, he could smell the strong smell of medicine in the air before he even entered. He paused, and through the layers of curtains, he saw the Emperor drinking medicine with the help of palace maids, and Eunuch She standing beside him. Their temples were gray, and they seemed to have aged a lot overnight.
"Your son pays respects to your father."
Lu Yan knelt down and saluted, and after receiving the emperor's permission, he stood up and went inside.
"Third brother, why are you here? I heard from Eunuch He that you caught a cold a few days ago and had a high fever. Are you feeling better now?"
The emperor leaned weakly on the bed, wrinkles appeared on his handsome face, his lips were dark blue, like a lion with dull fur, but the look he gave Lu Yan was still kind.
Lu Yan no longer knew if this was a dream or not. He lifted his robe and half-knelt beside the footstool. He held the Emperor's hand, which was trembling due to his old age, and whispered, "Thank you for your concern, Father. I am fine now, but I am worried about your condition..."
"It happens to everyone when they get old."
The emperor looked relieved. He patted Lu Yan's shoulder and said in an old voice, as if he was arranging his funeral: "When this year's snow is over, you can pack up and return to your fiefdom. The court is in turmoil now. The farther you stay away, the better. Wait until everything calms down before returning to the capital."
The King of Nanxun and the King of Guxu were fighting fiercely for the throne. No matter which one of them became emperor, he would definitely suppress Lu Yan, so the emperor was slow to decide who to make the crown prince.
Lu Yan frowned upon hearing this, but what he was worried about was not the matter of seizing the throne: "Father, I heard that Zhao Yuzhang, Liu Quedan, and Gongsun Wuyou have all ascended the throne. They were held hostage by the immortals in the past and their situation was miserable. I am afraid that they may bear a grudge and secretly unite to attack the immortals..."
He barely opened his mouth to speak when the Emperor raised his hand to stop him, saying in a deep voice: "The immortals have strong soldiers and powerful horses. If we were able to defeat them then, we can certainly defeat them now. If they insist on charging at us without knowing how to live or die, I will not show any mercy!"
Lu Yan didn't know for a moment whether the emperor was just showing off or was really so confident, but it looked more like the former. The king in front of him had been winning all his life, and he would definitely not be willing to admit defeat at this moment.
Lu Yan had no choice but to stop thinking about it and turned to another matter: "Father, I want to release someone from prison."
The emperor frowned: "Who?"
Lu Yan slowly uttered three words: "Shang Junnian."
He knew that if he wanted the emperor to give in, he had to have a reliable reason, so he lowered his eyes and said respectfully: "I think Wu Yun did not exchange him for returning to the country, Shang Junnian must be resentful. This person is quite talented. If he can be used for his own purposes..."
The Emperor closed his eyes and remained silent after hearing this. During the short period of contemplation, no one knew what he was thinking. Perhaps he was hesitating whether to put a beast with severed claws next to Lu Yan, or he was thinking whether Lu Yan needed a truly brave and resourceful person by his side.
Just as Lu Yan said, if Shang Junnian can really be recruited for his own use, he will definitely be a force that cannot be underestimated.
"Three months."
The Emperor reopened his eyes and looked at Lu Yan. "If you cannot recruit this man within three months, he must be put back in prison. Although he hates Wu Yun, he hates the immortals even more. You must not underestimate this man, or he will be pecked in the eye by an eagle."
After hearing this, Lu Yan finally showed a hint of joy on his face: "Thank you, father, for your grace!"
The palace aisle was covered with snow, and the white snowflakes set off the vermilion walls, creating a sharp contrast between the red and white. On such a cold day, the wind blew directly on my face, as if it was going to cut off a piece of flesh alive. However, Lu Yan stood in the snow for a long time in his outer robe, as if he was waiting for someone.
The prison door opened, and a ray of light from outside came in, but was immediately swallowed up.
The guard in charge of guarding the prison dragged a dying prisoner out. The man seemed to have just been tortured. His shoulders were covered with shocking bloodstains, and two horrible blood holes could be vaguely seen. His neck and wrists were covered with bloody marks due to years of wearing shackles. His overly long hair covered his emaciated body, and his eyes were like a pool of stagnant water, dull and empty.
"Bang--!"
The prisoner was thrown heavily into the snow like garbage. He moved his fingertips with difficulty and tried to get up, but finally fell back without strength.
The guard wearing the ghost mask armor saluted to Lu Yan. The voice coming from behind the mask was dull and emotionless: "Your Highness, the guilty minister Shang Junnian is here."
The prison was personally managed by the Emperor. He had trained a group of cold-blooded killing machines to guard this purgatory on earth. Naturally, Lu Yan would not say much to them. Hearing this, he nodded imperceptibly and said in a light voice, "Back off."
He did not bring anyone with him today, and Eunuch He and his men were just waiting outside the palace gate. After the guards left, Lu Yan slowly walked up to Shang Junnian, took off his fox fur cloak without saying a word, wrapped him up, and then lifted him up from the ground.
The palace maids and eunuchs passing by were so frightened that they could not even walk and bumped into the pillars one after another.
However, Lu Yan turned a blind eye and walked down the stairs slowly, holding Shang Junnian in his arms. He walked slowly and slowly, as if he was holding a fragile glass container that would shatter into pieces if touched even the slightest bit.
Shang Junnian couldn't count how long he had been locked up in that dark dungeon. He suddenly saw the daylight, which was so bright that he couldn't even open his eyes. The soft fox fur cloak was fumigated with sandalwood, but it was not enough to suppress the strong smell of blood on his body. Instead, it intertwined into an unpleasant smell.
The wind and snow came, and the cold wind rushed in through the collar. The wounds on the body were frozen to the point that they had lost the pain.
The messy hair covered Shang Junnian's face, revealing only a pair of cold and dark eyes. Under the dim sunlight, a ghostly aura emanated from his body, as if he wanted to devour anyone.
However, years of torture in prison had made him so emaciated that he could not even struggle. He could only stare at Lu Yan's angular chin to identify the newcomer. Finally, he uttered a hoarse and broken sentence:
"You are... King Fengling..."
Lu Yan didn't stop walking, just hugged him tighter, and said in a low voice: "Yes."
Shang Junnian's throat seemed to have been rubbed by gravel, so weak that he could only speak with a breath: "Twenty-three years of Shenyao... I have seen you..."
At that time, Shang Junnian and Zhao Yuzhang were both imprisoned in the dungeon of Fengling Palace. Now that the hostages have returned to the country, he is the only one left.
Shang Junnian closed his eyes: "You took me out of prison, what do you want to do..."
He looked numb and didn't seem to care what the answer was. Whether Lu Yan wanted to torture him or humiliate him, it couldn't stir up the slightest ripple in his heart.
Lu Yan's voice was originally warm and clear, but in the cold wind and snow, it had a sense of mystery: "They have all gone home, don't you want to go home?"
Lu Yan and Shang Junnian had met twice in the dungeon, but the shock of this time was far greater than any other time. The other party was truly on his last breath, broken and weak to the extreme. Because the fox fur cloak was too thick and soft, no one noticed that Lu Yan's fingertips were trembling slightly. He tried his best to control his breathing, but his slightly red eyes revealed his emotions.
Shang Junnian said indifferently: "I have no home, now I just want an end..."
Lu Yan paused: "..."
The sky was filled with snow and wind, blurring the vision.
Lu Yan brought Shang Junnian back to the palace. He did not explain anything, but invited the best imperial physician to treat his injuries. He also gave away rare and precious medicinal herbs as if they were free, making people unable to understand his attitude towards Shang Junnian.
"Your Highness, this... this young master has been too exhausted internally, and his organs have been damaged. He has long been on the verge of death. Even if he is fed with more natural treasures, he still cannot be replenished. Now we can only take good care of him, and live one more year."
The imperial physician, who was always cautious in his actions, had the nerve to say these words, which showed how bad Shang Junnian's health had become. Lu Yan had expected this, but now he could not feel angry at all, but his heart sank to the bottom in an instant.
"Everyone, please leave."
Lu Yan waved his hand and walked straight into the inner room. He drew aside the curtain and saw Shang Junnian lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what he was thinking about.
The blood on Shang Junnian's body had been washed clean. The gauze wrapped around his wound was thicker than his clothes. His face was pale and thin, and only his slightly upturned fox-like eyes could still show some of his former spirit, but if you looked deeper, he was still full of gloom.
Lu Yan lifted his robe and sat down beside the bed, reaching out to brush away the messy hair from his face: "Just stay here with peace of mind. No one will lock you up anymore. This is your home."
The following sentence sounds a bit overbearing if you listen carefully.
Shang Junnian finally rolled his eyes upon hearing this, and slowly turned his head to look at Lu Yan, but he did not say anything. He just pulled the corners of his mouth, and the cold sneer and ridicule were conveyed to him without any error: "Really?"
Lu Yan: “Yes.”
Shang Junnian suddenly said without any context, "Please help me peel a pear."
Although he didn't understand why Lu Yan wanted to save him, he had been responding to his requests during this period and even fed him medicine himself, so he thought he would not refuse this request.
Lu Yan was stunned when he heard this. Although he didn't understand why Shang Junnian, who had a very poor appetite, suddenly wanted to eat pears, he still stood up and picked a small fragrant pear from the fruit plate that he didn't know where to get from. He sat on the bed and carefully peeled the pear with a knife, and asked casually, "Is there anything else you want to eat?"
No one answered him, and the air was filled with silence.
“…”
Lu Yan was about to look up when his hands suddenly felt empty. The knife was snatched away without warning and was pressed against his throat. The sharp blade was so cold that it made people shrink.
Lu Yan slowly raised his head and met a pair of sinister and cruel eyes.
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