58. The Sea of Hatred (Part Six)
◎Is it confirmed? ◎
Lou Tinglan shook her head slightly.
From as far back as he could remember, everyone had told him this. This message had, imperceptibly, become an indisputable fact, one that no one would question.
Qianxue's death became a reason for Lou Yunya to be attacked. People always lament the loss of beauty, so they began to publicize Qianxue's merits and achievements, and sighed over the fall of such a cultivator.
However, their attitude towards Lou Yunya was completely reversed. Some even maliciously speculated that Lou Yunya might have preemptively struck after learning the divination results.
"Don't you find it a bit ridiculous?" Ran Qinghe scoffed. "Just because of a ridiculous divination, everyone believes that Lou Yunya will die because of Qianxue."
"But when Qianxue died, Lou Yunya became the target of the attack instead."
Lou Tinglan suddenly looked at him, a glint of light flashing in her eyes, as if she had suddenly thought of something.
Ran Qinghe's words did indeed give him inspiration. Although the truth about his mother's death was still unknown, the source of it all was originally just a divination. Therefore, as long as he found Qianjibu, he might be able to unravel the mystery and trace it back to its origin.
When Qianji Bu was mentioned, Ran Qinghe seemed to hesitate for a moment. The incident of falling into the Dao from the rift that day was still fresh in her mind, and she subconsciously distanced herself from Lou Tinglan again.
Lou Tinglan was completely unaware of this, and instead pondered, "But according to information from within the sect, Senior Qianji began his wanderings hundreds of years ago, and his whereabouts are uncertain..."
Ran Qinghe: "Presumably, the Second Elder should know his whereabouts." She deliberately omitted the matter of Lou Guan's fall from grace mentioned in the rift, only saying that he had gone astray and was later taken away by Lou Guan.
When the two visited Lou Guan's residence late at night, Lou Guan frowned slightly upon seeing that they had come together, but then smiled and said, "Ting Lan, you must have forgotten what I told you."
"Sometimes, if you seek the truth too much, you may end up losing more than you gain."
Lou Tinglan bowed respectfully: "If we don't investigate the truth, Tinglan won't know what is small and what is big. Sometimes, what is a small matter to others is extremely important to me. Therefore, I hope that the Second Elder can inform Tinglan of Senior Qianji's whereabouts."
Lou Guan sighed softly, but there was no warmth in her eyes. After a long while, she said helplessly, "The Tower of Babel, the Prison of the Void Refining Realm."
"He is currently mentally unstable, so what he can know is entirely up to you."
*
As dawn broke and the first light of day appeared, the first rays of sunlight began to show.
Two figures, shrouded in the morning mist, stood once again before the gates of the Tower of Babel.
“I once accessed the files of the Tower of Babel, but the library where the files were stored in the Discipline Hall was burned down by an unknown spiritual fire more than a hundred years ago. Therefore, I have no idea what evil spirits or vengeful spirits are imprisoned in the Refining Void Realm Prison of the Tower of Babel now.”
Lou Tinglan stood in front of Ran Qinghe and explained earnestly. He had lost most of his spiritual power and dropped a cultivation level. If danger arose, he feared he wasn't entirely confident he could protect her.
Ran Qinghe paused slightly, not immediately understanding his implied meaning, and then said:
"I will protect you, what's there to worry about?"
Lou Tinglan chuckled with relief; her answer always surprised him.
He gave a soft "hmm," drew several intricate hand seals in his palm, and then struck out with his backhand, immediately releasing the restrictions on the tower gate.
A chilling, bone-deep aura, mixed with decay and resentment, swept over them, making both of them shudder.
Unlike the lower-level tower prisons, the Refining Void Tower Prison is a dark space that exists in its own right. The gray sky is oppressive and gloomy, the ground beneath your feet is damp, cold, and sticky black soil, and a thin layer of miasma permeates the air.
"Hold your breath." Lou Tinglan was the first to notice the unusual aura of the Tower Prison. "The miasma here will interfere with your mind."
Ran Qinghe didn't take it seriously. She skillfully pulled out a Xuanhuang talisman and slapped it on Lou Tinglan's back without saying a word.
Having previously ventured into the miasma-ridden lands many times, she was more than capable of dealing with the miasma. A gentle spiritual energy emanating from the talisman instantly flowed through her limbs and bones, resisting the pervasive erosion.
Lou Tinglan turned and glanced at her, her eyes filled with complex emotions, before finally whispering, "Thank you."
"I said I'd protect you, so stop thanking me. Finding someone is the priority." Ran Qinghe scanned her surroundings, cautiously probing outwards with her divine sense.
Lou Guan only said that Qianji Bu had been imprisoned in the Refining Void Tower Prison, but the tower prison was so vast that the two of them searched for a long time in this desolate land before finally discovering a cave shrouded in a binding spell in a sunken valley.
The two exchanged a glance and stepped into the cave together.
The cave was dimly lit, and Lou Tinglan could only light a fire talisman for illumination.
In the firelight, they finally saw that in the center of the cave sat a disheveled man, none other than Qian Jibu. His clothes were tattered, and his exposed skin was covered with dark red patterns that flickered with his heavy breathing.
He sat casually in the mud with his legs apart, one hand resting on his raised knee, while the other hand fiddled with a few pebbles on the ground in front of him.
He arranged the pebbles in order, muttering something to himself, and then haphazardly picked them up and threw them all over the ground.
Sensing the presence of a stranger approaching, he did not immediately look up, but continued to repeat the action of picking up and throwing pebbles.
The two held their breath and waited until the pebble in front of him was thrown to a position that he was somewhat satisfied with, then Qianji Bu looked up at the two people in front of him.
Ran Qinghe subconsciously took a half step back, her eyes filled with vigilance. The crazed figure in the rift, clamoring for his disciple to duel with him, gradually overlapped with the person in front of her.
However, when Qianjibu's turbid gaze fell upon Lou Tinglan's face, his movements suddenly froze, and the bloodshot in his eyes receded slightly like the tide, revealing a brief, heartbreaking clarity.
His chapped lips trembled as he stared intently at Lou Tinglan, as if trying to see the shadow of another person through him.
“…Yunya…?” A hoarse, broken syllable was squeezed out of his throat with difficulty.
Lou Tinglan took a deep breath, bowed respectfully, and his voice trembled slightly at the end: "This junior is Lou Tinglan, son of Lou Yunya and Qianxue. I have come here today with the humble wish to ask you, senior, about the prophecy concerning my parents from back then..."
“Lou Yunya… Qianxue…” Qianjibu repeated these two names in a daze, his eyes trembling violently like a candle flickering in the wind.
Just as the chaotic aura was about to regain the upper hand, Ran Qinghe suddenly took out the small jade token of the sect leader from her bosom, a jade token engraved with the character "Chang".
This jade pendant, like a calming elixir, soothed Qianjibu's restless aura.
Seeing that the dark red markings on his body were beginning to disappear, Ran Qinghe went straight to the point and asked, "Do Lou Yunya and Qianxue have a grudge against you? Why would you curse them like that?"
Having regained some of his consciousness, Qianji Bu was clearly as difficult to deal with as he was in the rift. Fortunately, the binding spell restricted his spiritual power, so even in anger, he could only throw pebbles at Ran Qinghe like a child throwing a tantrum.
Ran Qinghe silently brushed the dust off her clothes: "Are all those who have fallen from grace so unreasonable and lawless?"
Lou Tinglan was slightly puzzled. Fallen into the Dao? He wanted to ask for details, but the situation was urgent, and he couldn't worry about that now. He could only repeat himself:
"I hope you can answer my question: what exactly was the meaning of the divination regarding my parents back then?"
"Why are you so certain that my father will die because of my mother?"
Qianji Bu sneered: "How do you know that it was my divination that yielded this result?"
Lou Tinglan said, "I'm sorry, it's just that everyone says the same thing. If it's not a senior, then who is it?"
Qianji Bu continued sarcastically, "Many voices can melt metal, and accumulated slander can destroy bones. Even if your parents didn't teach you this principle, you should still understand it."
Even Ran Qinghe found these words particularly grating, and she pretended to break the jade pendant in her hand, saying, "Old man, you should watch your words."
Lou Tinglan's expression remained unchanged as she stubbornly asked, "In that case, please tell me, senior, who spread this divination?"
Seeing Ran Qinghe clutching the jade pendant as a threat, Qianji Bu finally softened his tone and said, "I have no grudge against your father, and we even have some friendship. Back then, when I was doing divination, he kept pestering me, so I had no choice but to do a divination for the two of them."
"However, I later realized that someone had silently activated spiritual power to change the landing point of the tortoise shell, which is why such a divination was derived."
Ran Qinghe frowned, "So, it was you who divined it, then why are you denying it so vehemently?"
Qianji Bu was momentarily speechless with anger: "You—"
Lou Tinglan knew that the person who started all of this was probably the one who secretly changed the divination.
Within the industry, there are very few people who can manipulate things silently under Qianji Bu's control.
As he was pondering, Qianjibu's expression suddenly changed, as if an invisible hand had gripped his throat, and a hoarse "hoarse" sound came from his throat, his whole face contorted with extreme pain.
He raised his hand to cover his neck, staring intently at Lou Tinglan, his lips trembling violently, as if he had used all his strength, but could only utter broken breaths.
This wasn't the first time Lou Tinglan had witnessed such a scene, and he immediately realized what was happening:
"True Mantra".
Previously, in the Mirror of Past Lives, Lou Li had already died due to being cursed, and now the situation is the same again.
Ran Qinghe immediately activated his spiritual power, but even with his innate spiritual body, his spiritual power could only temporarily alleviate his pain.
Qianjibu suddenly grinned, his mouth filled with blood. He spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and with his last shred of consciousness, he trembled, grabbed Lou Tinglan's sleeve, and wrote a single word:
"thousand."
With just this one word, Qianjibu trembled violently, as if he had suffered a tremendous impact. His head lolled to the side, and he collapsed completely.
The dark red patterns on his body gradually faded away, leaving only a mess on the ground and that one bloody word.
But just these two clues clearly point to the same person.
Ran Qinghe seemed to understand something, sighed softly, and placed the sect leader's jade token into his palm.
"It's confirmed, right?"
She asked that question.
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