22. Changing Faces (Part Four)
◎A hundred deaths, a vengeful spirit is born◎
Ran Qinghe leaned closer to him and said, "Now that things have come to this, I think the Grand Preceptor should have guessed something."
His expression gradually stiffened, and he slowly lowered his eyes, even the muscles in his cheeks twitching slightly.
"Impossible." Even now, he still refuses to believe it.
Ran Qinghe deliberately took out a small, antique mirror, loosely held it up, and casually turned it in front of his eyes.
The Imperial Preceptor's expression suddenly turned extremely ugly, and his gaze towards her became increasingly obscure: "The Mirror of Past Lives is in your hands." He paused, and in an instant, as if waking from a dream, he understood the key point. He stood up abruptly, but Lou Tinglan behind him pressed down on his shoulders. His hands were controlled by shackles, and his body involuntarily lost its balance, causing him to kneel on the ground.
Lou Tinglan turned to face him, half-squatting down to look directly into his eyes, her gaze filled with inquiry: "Who exactly are you?"
The Imperial Preceptor sneered, "Since you are from the Discipline Hall, don't you recognize my face?"
Lou Tinglan removed the illusion from her face and calmly asked, "If you are Lou Tinglan, then who am I?"
The forbidden art of face-changing is originally just an illusion. Therefore, once the true owner of the face is encountered, the illusion will collapse on its own due to the contradiction between the two.
As the twilight faded, the illusion dissipated, and sunlight illuminated his bowed head. His face, if it could still be called a face, was hidden in deep shadow, like a nightmare he didn't want to remember.
"It's happening again." He let out a short, bitter laugh, and after a long silence, he slowly pleaded, "Could you... please not look at me with that face?"
Ran Qinghe realized that the Imperial Advisor was talking to her. He was very concerned about her disguise. "Sorry," she said, forgetting to remove the illusion from her face. The disguised beautiful face was removed, revealing a face with a hint of coldness.
He finally raised his head, and the three of them politely suppressed the shock in their eyes.
His face was covered with not ordinary scars, but twisted lines, like red marks raised from being scratched by fingers. Dark energy lurked beneath them, constantly rising and falling slightly, as if insects were wriggling underneath.
Even though his appearance had changed so much, Lou Tinglan still recognized him at a glance: "Sixth Elder."
Qi Feng: "How could that be? Wasn't the Sixth Elder Lou Shuang in seclusion with the Fifth Elder Lou Fei?"
He had asked the hall master about it clearly when he sent him a message earlier.
The Discipline Hall has a total of seven elders. Apart from the Fifth Elder Lou Fei and the Sixth Elder Lou Shuang, who are in seclusion from time to time, the remaining five elders are still in the Discipline Hall handling related affairs. Because the Fifth Elder and the Sixth Elder are in seclusion together, Qi Feng has always thought that their guess is wrong, and that the Grand Preceptor may only know the Discipline Hall's binding techniques, and is not a member of the hall.
It now appears that this is not the case.
Lou Shuang chuckled for no reason: "It must have been hard for you. I've become like this, and you still recognize me."
This is... a direct admission.
Qi Feng asked with skepticism, "Then what happened to your face? The Fifth Elder was in seclusion with you, didn't he know?"
Mentioning the Fifth Elder, Lou Shuang became extremely agitated, his scars turning a fiery red: "Fifth Elder? Where is there any Fifth Elder?"
The fingers, tightly bound by shackles, said, "You, and you, when have you ever even seen him? He's just a pathetic wretch who died young." But as soon as he said this, blood slowly seeped from the corners of his eyes, his nose, and his lips.
It seems that the mantra used by the Discipline Hall to interrogate prisoners has been triggered.
Lou Shuang wiped the blood off his face, but he couldn't get it clean. The blood was smeared all over his face, making him look ridiculous.
Lou Tinglan silently handed over a handkerchief. Lou Shuang took it, but still mocked, "You're just like your saintly parents, all fake kindness."
Seeing this, Ran Qinghe snatched the handkerchief back and shoved it into Lou Tinglan's hands, looking down at him and saying, "Old man, you're the real expert at turning the tables and blaming others after putting down your chopsticks."
Lou Shuang was angered by her address and retorted, "Who's the old man? I'm only a little over two hundred years old. I'm much younger than Lou Yi and his father, Lou Yunya."
She didn't want to waste any more words with him, and raised her hand to activate the Mirror of Forgotten Past: "Alright, that's your Discipline Hall's business, it has nothing to do with me."
However, before the Mirror of Past Lives could be activated, the city gate, which had been tightly closed, was suddenly ripped open by a surge of black energy. The air was filled with a strange smell of rust and rotten earth. All the soldiers guarding the city were swept up by the black energy and then slammed down heavily.
All three were startled. Why would there be a vengeful spirit haunting the Mirror of Past Lives?
Its purpose was clear: billowing black energy rushed straight towards Lou Shuang, engulfing his body like pulling up a radish, trying to separate him from the binding array.
The black energy was tearing at the binding array. If the vengeful spirit were allowed to move freely, Lou Shuang would surely have her human skin torn off.
Lou Tinglan summoned Jingxin, and her longsword was drawn with a clang, meeting the overwhelming black aura. The black aura coiled around the blade. Qi Feng seized the opportunity to attack from behind the vengeful spirit, and the two of them fought back and forth, leaving the vengeful spirit unable to spare any attention.
Lou Shuang, having gotten a brief respite, roared at Ran Qinghe, "What have you done?"
Ran Qinghe was almost laughing in anger: "Why don't you ask yourself what you did to attract this vengeful spirit? Why doesn't it attack others, but instead rushes towards you?"
Reminded by Ran Qinghe, he seemed to realize something, his gaze gradually unfocused, and he unconsciously murmured, "Ran Qinghe?"
Ran Qinghe swung several spirit blades, dispersing the resentment around her, and said irritably, "What?"
Lou Shuang asked urgently, "Is Ran Qinghe dead?"
Ran Qinghe said, "Of course." She deliberately set the timeline after Ran Qinghe's death to facilitate the planning and performance.
As soon as she said it, she realized, "You mean this vengeful spirit is Ran Qinghe?"
She denied it, saying, "How could that be?"
Although Ran Qinghe had died at this point in time in the Mirror of Past Lives, she was just an ordinary mortal. Even if she had grievances in life, she would at most become a vengeful ghost after death. How could she cultivate into a vengeful spirit in such a short time?
Lou Shuang's hands began to tremble uncontrollably, her fingers repeatedly digging into the scars on her face until red, raw flesh was exposed. She kept muttering, "Failed again, failed again. What do I have to do? What do I have to do?"
Ran Qinghe swung her long whip, tightly wrapping it around his wrist, trying to calm him down.
A possibility suddenly surfaced in her mind, and she yanked the whip's end hard, demanding, "What do you mean by 'failed again'? How many times have you used the Mirror of Past Lives?"
Lou Shuang's face was ashen, and she had long lost her initial arrogance, as if all her energy had been drained: "I can't remember, I can't remember. Every time! Every single time! I failed."
So that's how it is. She suddenly realized why Ran Qinghe was able to cultivate into a vengeful spirit with the body of a mortal; she had experienced countless deaths in this Mirror of Past Lives.
Ran Qinghe felt a pang of pity: "Why do you do this?" Letting her die a hundred times would be another form of torture.
Lou Shuang said sadly, "What if? What if we succeed just once?" But even he knew that it was just a matter of chance, perhaps only once in ten thousand attempts.
In mid-air, the vengeful spirits entangled with Lou Tinglan and Qi Feng saw Ran Qinghe attack Lou Shuang again. They allowed two sword energies to pierce through her body and then flew towards Lou Shuang without warning. Ran Qinghe was caught off guard and was shaken away by the vengeful energy.
Qi Feng reacted quickly, leaping forward to grab her forearm, but Lou Tinglan's Tranquility Sword flew away uncontrollably, landing behind Ran Qinghe's waist before he could reach her.
Ran Qinghe managed to steady herself, but the sudden attack still injured her internal organs, and blood immediately splattered all over the ground.
She casually wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. In the two years she had been in Qingxiao, she had grown accustomed to being injured. Once the wounds healed, she would forget about them soon enough. However, the sudden appearance of someone catching her didn't seem like such a bad thing after all.
The vengeful spirit that attacked her, after being struck by two sword energies, had its resentment reduced from ten parts to three. However, it still clung tightly to Lou Shuang, protecting him and not allowing anyone else to get close.
Its voice was mournful, as if it were weeping: "Brother Ah Huai, I'm here. I won't let anyone hurt you again."
Lou Shuang froze, and after a long while, she replied, "You've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not Shen Zihuai."
The vengeful spirit persisted, saying, "No, I remember Brother Ah Huai's aura. I won't mistake him for someone else."
Lou Shuang flew into a rage again: "I told you I'm not Shen Zihuai! Open your eyes and look! Does your brother A-Huai have the same face as this monster? Hideous and terrifying? Are you blind?"
In the end, he fell silent.
Because he knew that Ran Qinghe was indeed blind. Every time Prince Yong couldn't accept the outcome of the defeat, he would use a spear to vent his anger by blinding her and cutting off her face, treating her like a pile of rotten flesh.
He had only witnessed this scene once before. Every time he saw it afterward, he would activate the Mirror of Past Lives in advance, so that it would be as if she were still alive.
The vengeful spirit seemed to believe him, and the black mist that had been gathered began to disperse. "Alright, you really aren't him. My brother Ah Huai wouldn't do this to me. I'm going to find him. Where is he? Where is he?"
The resentment is overflowing and will surge into the city. If the vengeful spirit is allowed to harm people in the Mirror of Past Lives, endless trouble will surely follow. The vengeful spirit can only dissipate when the grudge is broken. In other words, if Shen Zihuai is not seen, she will remain here for a long time.
Ran Qinghe stopped her, saying, "Is it enough as long as I see Shen Zihuai?"
Upon hearing her question, the vengeful spirit knew there was hope: "Can you take me to him? I just want to see him, talk to him, as long as he's alright."
Ran Qinghe had no choice but to agree.
She closed two fingers, and spiritual energy from her fingertips flowed towards the Mirror of Dust. After reciting the incantation, the four people and one spirit quickly disappeared from the spot.
On the long street, the atmosphere was completely different from the solemn one in the Mirror of Past Lives. Outside the Mirror of Past Lives, there was a scene of peaceful and prosperous prosperity.
The four people walking in the middle of the road attracted a lot of attention, especially one of them who was wearing a mask and had his hands and feet bound in shackles.
The vengeful spirit in the mirror was overjoyed, as if she were still a lively and spirited young girl: "Brother Ah Huai is already the emperor? That's wonderful, he must be a good emperor."
Lou Shuang, who had been silent for a long time, poured cold water on him, reminding him: "If you were to meet the current Emperor Jingming, you might be disappointed instead."
Fortunately, the emperor had reserved the position of Consort Rong for her, and thanks to this status, the four of them did not need to use any concealment techniques and met Emperor Jingming effortlessly.
However, the situation was completely contrary to their expectations.
When the vengeful spirit saw Emperor Jingming, its resentment did not dissipate; instead, it erupted: "You are all liars! He is not my brother Ah Huai! He is not him!"
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