Chapter 84: Hatred of the Past
Tonight passed quietly amid the sound of cicadas.
The next morning, Gongsun Wuyou was still having breakfast when he heard what Prince Jia said. His chopsticks trembled and he couldn't even pick up the food. He raised his head and asked, "What did you say that man's name was?"
Prince Jia said, "Chen Yingqi, cousin, this man is an extraordinary swordsman. He is definitely a hidden master. Xu Wenda had already tried to recruit him on the street that day. You must not let him take advantage of you!"
Gongsun Wuyou slowly put down his chopsticks, wondering what he was thinking. Chen Yingqi, Chen Yingqi, is it really Lu Yan who came to Tianshui? ! But now the two armies are fighting, why did he come to find him? Is he not afraid of death?
Gongsun Wuyou frowned and asked, "Where are the others?"
Prince Jia: "I'm waiting in the side hall, cousin, do you want to see me?"
Gongsun Wuyou said, "No need. I will go to see him. You don't need to follow me."
Although the two armies went to war, the fairyland was not defeated after all, and the emperor was still the master of the twelve continents. There was no reason for him to summon Lu Yan.
Gongsun Wuyou dismissed the attendants who followed him and went to the side hall alone. When he stepped inside, he saw a familiar figure with his back to him. For a moment, he didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or be worried. He called out in a complicated tone: "King Fengling?"
"Prince Wuyou, I haven't seen you for a long time. Are you well?"
Lu Yan was originally admiring the landscape painting hanging in the main hall, but turned around when he heard this. He was still as heartless as before, and did not show any sadness even when two armies were fighting. It seemed that nothing in the world could affect his mood.
After just one year of not seeing each other, Gongsun Wuyou had also grown out of his childishness. Now he was handling government affairs with the king, and he seemed to have an independent demeanor. He no longer had the innocence of the past, but his eyes were still dark and lively. He looked Lu Yan up and down and asked, "Are you here alone?"
Lu Yan: "I brought fifty gold crow guards."
Gongsun Wuyou pursed his lips and said, "Do you know that the two armies are now at war? If you come to Tianshui alone, you may be tied up and sent to the front of the three armies as a sacrifice to dampen the arrogance of the immortals?"
He knew that in the letter declaring war, Wu Yun and Dong Li had both specifically asked Xianling to hand over Lu Yan. At this very moment, why didn't the other party stay in Xianling and run all the way to Tianshui?
Lu Yan smiled slyly: "Let them sacrifice me. I have a scar as big as a bowl on my head. I won't feel any pain if I die. Who cares what they do? They can even peel off my skin and make a drum."
Gongsun Wuyou said: "You are quite careless, but do you know that Wu Yun and Dong Li hate you?"
Lu Yan pretended not to understand what he meant and asked with a smile, "What about you? Do you hate me too?"
Gongsun Wuyou wrinkled his nose, and then he showed a little childishness: "We Tianshui people are not so stingy. You risked your life to save me and let me return to my country. I don't care about the monk's face, but the Buddha's face. Even if there is a huge grudge, it will be written off. To tell you the truth, this war was started by Wu Yun and Dong Li. We didn't want to join in at all, so we retreated to the rear and only provided food and grass."
Tianshui is like a fence-sitter and can only survive by relying on powerful countries. Now that the other two countries have united, they can't stay out of it.
Lu Yan's eyes flickered when he heard this: "Are you serious?"
Gongsun Wuyou was quite proud: "Why would I lie to you? We don't like fighting. It's better to stay here comfortably. They specifically asked the immortals to hand you over. I didn't join in the fun because you were good to me in the past."
Good boy, it was not in vain that I brought you snacks before!
Lu Yan stepped forward and asked, "Since you have no intention of fighting, can you do me a favor?"
Gongsun Wuyou was shocked. "You won't ask me to withdraw my troops, will you? My opinion doesn't count. My father's opinion doesn't count either. I have to listen to Wu Yun and Dong Li."
Lu Yan said: "Of course I know that you can't make the decision on this matter, but if I can persuade Wu Yun to withdraw his troops, and then only Dongli will be left, are you willing to stand on my side?"
Gongsun Wuyou thought for a moment before saying, "If you can convince Wu Yun to withdraw his troops, Dongli will naturally be in trouble. By then, my father will be able to extricate himself from the chaos without you having to tell him. The army's food and fodder will arrive soon. If you really want to go to Wu Yun, I can try to delay it for a few days to buy you some time."
After hearing what Gongsun Wuyou said, Lu Yan felt relieved. Thinking of the Emperor's illness, he asked hesitantly, "Do you still have Blood Toad Pills in Tianshui?"
"Also?"
Gongsun Wuyou's eyes widened: "This is the most precious treasure in the world, there is only one, do you think it is a meat bun sold on the street? You can just buy a basket of it."
Lu Yan did not tell the emperor that he was poisoned. After all, the matter was of great importance and could not be disclosed. "As you know, I was attacked before and received a sword wound in my chest. It has not fully healed yet. The imperial physician said that it would be best if I could use the Blood Toad Pill to treat it. Otherwise, I am afraid that my life span will be shortened."
Gongsun Wuyou shook his head: "If you want other natural treasures, I might be able to find them for you, but this Blood Toad Pill is indeed gone. To be honest with you, there are actually two Blood Toad Pills. One was presented to the immortal, and the other was eaten by my father... Hey, why didn't you let the Emperor give it to you? He loves you so much, I think he wouldn't be stingy with a mere pill."
Lu Yan just said: "That one was used up a long time ago."
Seeing that there were not many Blood Toad Pills left, he was inevitably a little disheartened. He could only think of another way to help the Emperor detoxify. He patted Gongsun Wuyou on the shoulder and said, "Whether today's matter succeeds or not, I thank you very much. No matter what happens in the future, it will not implicate Tianshui."
"I came here in secret, so I can't stay here for long. I will leave the palace today."
When Gongsun Wuyou saw Lu Yan, who was covered in dust and came with only a few guards, he could not help but call out to him, "Hey, are you really not afraid of death?"
Lu Yan paused, turned around and looked at him, and couldn't help but smile: "I'm afraid, and I'm not afraid, but after all, there are many things in the world that are more painful than death."
Gongsun Wuyou said, "If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? Zhao Yuzhang originally did not want to attack the immortals, but when you were awakened by the assassination, your temperament changed drastically, and you also imprisoned Shang Junnian and tortured him in the dungeon. That's why he was determined to teach you a lesson."
Hearing him mention that blank memory, Lu Yan didn't know how to answer, so he could only remain silent: "..."
Gongsun Wuyou glanced at him and asked, "Do you still have the pendant I gave you that year?"
Lu Yan came back to his senses, took out the blood-red jade pendant from his pocket and handed it to Gongsun Wuyou: "I have been carrying it with me all the time. I came here this time just to return it to you. If you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten about it."
Gongsun Wuyou didn't take it. He looked at him carefully before saying, "You have come all the way here alone. I admire your courage. It is said that misfortune can last for a thousand years. People like you should not die early. You don't have to return the jade."
He took off his badge of exile and threw it to Lu Yan, saying, "You can go now. If Tianshui encounters a disaster in the future, I hope you can help us out of our friendship today."
Lu Yan didn't understand the meaning behind his words at that time, so he just said "of course" and turned to leave. After leaving the palace, Lu Yan felt something was wrong the more he thought about it, so he subconsciously stopped and took out the Blood Soul Jade Pendant from his arms.
He observed it carefully, and secretly squeezed it with his inner strength, only to see the jade body on the outside shattered, revealing a round and translucent blood toad pill inside. He couldn't help but be startled for a moment -
There is a blood toad pill hidden in this pendant? !
It turned out that there were three pills of this medicine. The Queen of Tianshui was worried that Gongsun Wuyou would encounter life-threatening situations when he went to the immortal realm, so she embedded the pills in the medicine to save his life. Unexpectedly, the medicine fell into Lu Yan's hands by mistake. Now she really owed him a huge favor.
Looking at the Blood Toad Pill in his hand, the biggest stone in Lu Yan's heart fell. He did not dare to delay and immediately rode back to the post station and handed the Blood Toad Pill to Eunuch He.
"Take this and hurry back to Xianling immediately. Give the Blood Toad Pill to your father secretly. Do not let anyone else know, otherwise it will cause a fight for it."
Eunuch He asked anxiously, "Your Highness, won't you go back with me?"
Lu Yan shook his head: "I still have to go to Wuyun to try to persuade them to withdraw their troops. My father's illness cannot be delayed, and I don't trust others, so I have to trouble you to go on this trip."
Eunuch He was reluctant to leave Lu Yan alone, but considering that Lu Yan's swordsmanship was pretty good now, he thought he should be able to protect himself. In addition, the Emperor was in critical condition, so he had to disguise himself and rush back to Xianling. Lu Yan then led the remaining fifty Golden Crow Guards to Wuyun.
…
"Tianshui suddenly sent a letter saying that there were some problems with the food and fodder during transportation, and it might take a few days to get to the rear."
Under the maple tree in the backyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion, a man in a red shirt was playing chess by himself. Hearing this, he did not even raise his head, and controlled the black piece to eat a white piece. His thick eyelashes cast a shadow under his eyes, and his voice was indifferent:
"Let him find a way to deliver it on schedule. The challenge has been issued. If we can't start the war on schedule, it will be bad for the morale of the army."
Zhao Yuzhang lifted his robe and sat down opposite him. His clothes were embroidered with a five-clawed golden dragon. He was no longer a hostage at the mercy of others, but the ruler of a country. "Dongli is ambitious. If he conquers Xianling, how to divide the city will also be a problem."
Shang Junnian ate another white piece. He held the white jade chess piece with his slender fingertips and tapped it slowly on the table. "I know what Liu Quedan is planning. Wuyun is a vast country with few people. It's useless to have so much territory. It's okay to give him a few cities, but he must bring the people to me."
Zhao Yuzhang knew that the "person" must be Lu Yan, and he couldn't help but say, "Killing him is already a bargain, and I'm not going to trade him for the city. I won't take this stupid loss."
Shang Junnian raised his eyes and looked at him, his eyes were dark, like a bottomless cold pond: "Have you forgotten what you promised me?"
Zhao Yuzhang curled his lips: "I didn't forget, isn't it just bringing Lu Yan to you."
Shang Junnian slightly raised his lips, but no one could detect the slightest hint of a smile, and reminded him word by word: "Remember, I want you alive. I don't want a corpse."
As he finished speaking, he flipped his wrist, loosened his fingertips, and the chess pieces in his palm fell into the chess box, like a black and white rain, colliding with each other with a crisp sound.
Zhao Yuzhang stared at the rusty red clothes on him, somewhat dissatisfied: "You rarely wore such eye-catching colors before, and you only wore them once or twice occasionally. I have never seen you change all year long."
Such a gorgeous color was clearly Lu Yan's style in the past. That man liked to walk around in a red robe embroidered with a golden python. He already had an eye-catching appearance, and he was even more eye-catching in this outfit. If the fairy was ten points beautiful, the other person must have nine points.
A year has passed, and Zhao Yuzhang always felt that Shang Junnian should have forgotten. Even if he couldn't forget, he should have let it go. But when he looked at the seductive red shirt on the other person, he knew that not only had he not forgotten, but he missed her more and more.
Love and hate, no matter which word is taken out alone, it is unforgettable. When these two are mixed together, it is hard to forget even in death.
When Lu Yan was assassinated and his life was hanging by a thread, Shang Junnian was so desperate, and when he saw the absurd things he did after waking up, he hated him so much. Zhao Yuzhang was far away from Wu Yun, and he was so angry that he overturned the table after reading the memorial, let alone Shang Junnian.
Zhao Yuzhang thought about this and gritted his teeth and said, "Why are you still thinking about him? In my opinion, just kill him and be done with it. He is no longer the same person as before!"
Shang Junnian's expression remained calm, and he said the same thing: "I don't want his body."
A dead person can neither move nor speak, nor feel any pain, so what's the point of coming? He wants to be alive.
In midsummer, the maple trees in the yard are still green before they turn red. When dusk falls, the yard becomes even quieter, with only the sound of cicadas. A winding gravel path leads to the attic, shining like pearls under the moonlight.
Shang Junnian pushed the door open and walked in, only to see a torture room inside. The walls on all four sides were hung with all kinds of strange torture instruments, the tips of which were shining coldly, making people feel cold for no reason.
A man in a blue robe was dozing off behind a table. When he heard Shang Junnian coming in, he quickly stood up. However, before he could greet him, he saw him open the door and go straight to the dungeon.
This room was specially used to interrogate spies from other countries for Zhao Yuzhang. With the recent wars, more and more people with ulterior motives have come here. The originally empty cells were suddenly filled to the brim. However, there was only one person worthy of being interrogated by Shang Junnian himself.
A man was nailed to the rusty wooden frame, his wrists and ankles chopped off, and he could only stabilize his body by piercing his flesh with six-inch-long iron nails to firmly nail the wooden board behind him. His overly long hair hung down, and because the blood had dried and solidified into hard lumps, he looked even more emaciated than a beggar on the street.
When this man saw Shang Junnian coming, he let out a terrified cry from his throat, and trembled all over like an uncivilized beast, as if he was extremely frightened.
Shang Junnian took a clean long blade from the table beside him, then slowly lifted his chin with the tip of the blade, stared into the man's cloudy eyes and asked, "Are you afraid of my true identity?"
The man was shaking like a sieve, and the cloth covering his body slipped off, revealing a body full of holes and wounds. The deepest wound was so deep that you could even see the bones inside.
Shang Junnian smiled and said in a calm tone: "You are afraid of what I will do. You should thank me for using the natural treasures such as Ganoderma Lucidum and Ginseng to keep you alive and help you revive."
As he spoke, the blade in his hand had slowly slid down, past the bones on the side of his waist, and casually shaved off a piece of bloody flesh. The hung man screamed in pain more and more heartbreakingly, but he was unable to speak. He stared with bloodshot eyes filled with a desire for death, hoping that this man would kill him with one blow.
Staying in such a purgatory-like place, death becomes a luxury.
Shang Junnian turned a blind eye to it, and slowly moved the blade in his hand over the man's body, thinking about where else he could cut. Finally, he was disappointed to find that there was no more meat left for him to cut. He threw the dagger on the table with a "clang" and sighed, "You are weak and cannot be replenished. I'm afraid you won't grow any meat no matter how much I feed you."
The man's throat and mouth were stuffed with crushed silver needles. Over time, they turned into pus and blood. It was more painful than having his tongue cut off.
Shang Junnian walked to the back of the execution table, found a clean chair and sat down. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, as if only this place could make him completely relax. He said to himself, "The pain you are going through today is not even one ten-thousandth of what I went through back then..."
"After the Fairyland is destroyed, I will be able to see him. You'd better think about how to get his soul back, otherwise the suffering you are experiencing today will never end."
Only his voice could be heard in the silent and empty dungeon. As soon as Shang Junnian closed his eyes, the scene when Lu Yan was stabbed and woke up appeared in his mind. The other person's slightly upturned eyes no longer had the smile and brightness of the past, but only cruelty and bloodlust, like an emotionless beast.
Shang Junnian felt that something was wrong with Lu Yan from then on, but neither the Immortal Emperor nor anyone else thought that there was anything wrong with Lu Yan's abnormality. He secretly tested him with martial arts, but Lu Yan couldn't even take three of his moves, and was instead accused of assassination and thrown into a dungeon.
Over the past year, Shang Junnian had tortured the man on the rack in various ways, using almost every torture method in the world. Finally, the man could not bear the pain and told the truth, admitting that he had used the soul-stealing technique on Lu Yan.
In other words, that Lu Yan was not Lu Yan at all.
Shang Junnian slowly stroked his neck with his fingertips, where there was an old light brown wound caused by Lu Yan's sword. Although he was testing Lu Yan's skills, he was merciful when he attacked. He never thought that Lu Yan's moves would be fatal. He stabbed him in the throat when he was not paying attention. If it weren't for Eunuch He who desperately blocked him, he would have died in the immortal world.
His fingertips couldn't help but tighten, blue veins appeared on the pale back of his hands, but the knot in his heart was still hard to untie.
Shang Junnian suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the man nailed to the wooden frame, and asked without any emotion: "Don't you always want to know when I will let you go?"
A glimmer of hope appeared in the man's cloudy eyes, but it was crushed to pieces the next second.
He saw Shang Junnian smile. The rusty red clothes on his body looked like the color of coagulated blood, exuding an inexplicable sense of danger, and like a poisonous snake swallowing its tongue, pulling out the deepest panic and anxiety in people's hearts:
"I haven't let myself go yet, how can I let you go?"
The voice sounded softly, like a rhetorical question, but more like a question to oneself.
"But if you can get his soul back, I will give you a quick death."
After Shang Junnian realized that Lu Yan's soul had been captured, he immediately wanted to take him away from the fairyland, either by tying him up or binding him, perhaps there was a way to get his soul back. However, it was difficult to do so alone, and he was imprisoned in the dungeon and unable to escape.
Fortunately, he now has his own power. Since literary means don't work, he will use force. In any case, he must bring Lu Yan from Xianling. As long as he is by his side, everything can be discussed. He can always think of a way to get his soul back.
A gust of wind blew in from the air vent behind him, lifting the man's dirty hair and revealing an old and frightened face. If Lu Yan was here at this moment, he would definitely recognize this man as the black-robed weirdo Zhui Ling who had killed him in the suburbs.
He opened his mouth in pain and uttered an incoherent sentence:
"It can't be exchanged back..."
Although he wanted to be freed quickly, he did not dare to deceive the living King Yan in front of him. There has never been an example of a person who has captured a soul and whose soul has returned to the body. Lu Yan would never be able to come back.
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