Chapter 65 Tangdao Bathing Beach ⑦ The Truth: He felt guilty.
But then she thought about it again. He had just deliberately used ambiguous words to distract her. If she were to fall for such a trick, she would be too naive.
So, Lan Shuyin feigned realization and smiled, "Oh, I'll call you son next time."
Kui Li gazed at her intently.
She forced herself to look back without flinching, showing no fear whatsoever.
After a moment, Wei Li chuckled softly, as if he was amused by his own anger, "If you like playing like this, then it's not impossible."
He suddenly leaned forward slightly, his tone meaningful, "Shall we start now, stepmother?"
"..."
—Damn, she said Kui Li's reaction at the time was wrong!
Lan Shuyin was speechless, admitting defeat, and decisively changed the subject, "Do you know about the Jiuli Clan?"
"The Jiuli Clan." The tenderness in Kui Li's eyes froze for a moment, his expression unchanged, but he slowly straightened up, his aura noticeably deepening. He asked, "Did Sa Nan say that?"
Lan Shuyin nodded. "He said that after I died, I lost my facial features, and now those features are in the hands of the Jiuli Clan. He was attacked because he discovered this and was captured by that group of people posing as medical staff... Kui Li, I don't want to die, please help me."
"You won't die. This time, no one can touch you."
"This time? Then..."
Lan Shuyin's unfinished questioning came to an abrupt end.
A sharp, sudden pain shot through her chest, as if an invisible hand had gripped her heart and twisted it violently.
Suddenly, everything went black before her eyes. She instinctively grabbed Kui Li's collar and collapsed forward uncontrollably.
Kui Li reacted quickly, reaching out to catch her and prevent her from falling to the ground. The words "No one can touch you" from just now were still ringing in his ears, but now he was caught off guard by this sudden turn of events.
He frowned, and with a flick of his fingers, touched her brow. A hint of ominousness escaped, but he caught it.
"Deed of Rebirth..."
...
Deep in an abandoned private sanatorium in the north of the state
The night was desolate. The rusty iron gate was half-collapsed, and the walls were covered with withered vines. Wild grass grew rampant in the courtyard, almost knee-high, and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant residue and some kind of burnt herbs.
A few emergency lights provided a dim light source, barely dispelling the darkness and illuminating the shadows of people moving under the eaves.
Two patrolmen in grey robes leaned against the corner of the corridor, chatting idly. One of them glanced aimlessly at the corner of the wall, when suddenly his gaze was drawn to a strange glimmer of light.
That was a caterpillar.
It presents a dreamlike iridescent color, with a soft yet dazzling luster, and is so beautiful that it seems otherworldly.
"Wow, what a rare thing!" The man murmured in surprise and reached out to touch it.
However, the moment his fingers touched the cool insect's body, he suddenly stiffened, unable to utter a sound, and collapsed as if all his blood and energy had been drained.
The eerie caterpillar seemed to twitch slightly, and its luster became even more dreamlike and enchanting.
The companion was stunned by this sudden turn of events and hesitated for a second before rushing over to check on him.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?!"
The commotion attracted two or three other patrolmen nearby. They quickly approached, their footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.
"What happened?"
"How could he..."
The cacophony of questions abruptly ceased.
"My God! How can there be so many bugs?" someone exclaimed in surprise.
Only then did everyone realize that the surrounding walls, trees, and even power lines were covered with these bizarre, iridescent caterpillars! They slowly wriggled, making this desolate place look like a surreal nightmare.
"Don't touch it! Don't touch it!" A slightly older man with a deep scar on his face shouted sharply, his voice shrill with urgency.
Unfortunately, the warning came a little too late.
A young member who was close to the wall was captivated by the beauty that was beyond comprehension and curiously reached out to touch the one closest to him.
The same scene played out again—touch, stiffen, fall to the ground silently.
"This is a young Blue Spotted Gu, even a Great Luo Golden Immortal couldn't save it if you touched it!"
Upon hearing this, the people around him scattered in panic, and fear spread rapidly in silence.
Amid the commotion, the scarred man on the face suddenly turned around and shouted sharply, "Who goes there?!"
Following his gaze, a tall, slender figure had appeared, standing silently in the most open area.
A large black cloak completely enveloped him, obscuring his face. Only a chilling sense of oppression emanated from him, and even the light around him seemed to distort slightly.
"I've come to ask for something back."
A cold voice came from under the cloak, faint yet causing the surrounding temperature to drop several degrees, "The Blue Spotted Beetle told me that the person who appeared in Tangqian Alley forty minutes ago and took away the spirit medium Sa Nan is right here."
The scarred man forced himself to remain calm, his fierce demeanor masking his inner weakness. "So what if it is! Do you intend to oppose my 'New Path'?"
A very soft, almost mocking laugh came from beneath the cloak, "Summon the person in charge."
"Arrogant!" the scarred man shouted, enraged. "You may have some skill, but you have no right to act wildly on my Xindao turf!"
He stomped his foot, his hands rapidly forming hand seals as he chanted incantations. In an instant, from beneath his feet, streams of dark purple light, as if alive, snaked out and intertwined on the ground to form a complex and eerie array pattern—the Nine Netherworld Binding Spirit Array!
The moment the formation was completed, a cold wind howled, and countless invisible shackles seemed to appear in the air, carrying a strange power that devoured spirituality as they entangled the dark figure in the center.
However, Wei Li seemed completely unaware, not even glancing down at the shimmering array, and simply casually lifted his foot and took a light step forward.
"Buzz!"
A deep, resonant sound, as if the space itself were vibrating, rang out.
The seemingly ferocious formation, like glass struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly cracked and then shattered! The dark purple light shattered inch by inch, and the powerful backlash surged back like a raging tide!
"puff--!"
The scarred man was the first to be hit, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying backward as if struck in the chest by an invisible hammer. The others who had set up the formation were not spared either, all being thrown about and groaning as they fell to the ground.
The scarred man struggled to sit up, wiping away the blood that kept spilling from the corner of his mouth. His gaze as he looked at the dark figure was filled with horror. "Even my New Dao's Nine Nether Binding Spirit Array can't trap you... Just who are you?"
Kui Li ignored him and simply said, "The decree for rebirth."
"What?" The scarred man was stunned, seemingly not understanding.
“A deed of death.” Kui Li repeated, his tone flat, yet carrying an impending storm. “A woman just signed it.”
The man's fear hadn't faded, replaced by confusion. Then, as if he understood something, he forced a bitter smile that was more like a grimace. "You should have said so earlier! That woman isn't anyone important. If you want her, you can have her back..."
As he spoke, he laboriously reached into his robes, fumbled for a moment, and pulled out a folded piece of dark yellow paper of peculiar material. The paper appeared thin, but ominous blood-red patterns faintly flowed along its edges.
He held it in both hands, trembling as he offered it to the dark figure.
"Is this what you wanted?"
Kui Li didn't say a word, took the paper, unfolded it, and glanced at the signature at the bottom.
The name "Lan Shuyin" came into view.
Having confirmed it was correct, he turned and disappeared into the deeper darkness of the corridor in a few steps, as if he had never been there.
Only after the suffocating sense of oppression had completely subsided did the surviving members of the New Path dare to slowly gather around, their faces pale and still in shock.
Someone helped the scarred man up, their voice still trembling, "Brother Qiang, who is that guy?"
The scarred man wiped the blood from his lips, gazing in the direction where Wei Li had disappeared. His eyes were filled with an overwhelming sense of lingering fear and deep apprehension. "With that kind of strength, I can only think of one place..."
"The Temple of Truth".
...
Lan Shuyin awoke in a soft, hazy state.
As consciousness returned, touch preceded sight. Beneath me was an excessively soft mattress, and the air carried a clean, dry scent characteristic of five-star hotels.
She opened her eyes to find herself in a luxuriously decorated presidential suite. Heavy curtains blocked out all light, leaving only a bedside lamp casting a soft, dim glow.
She was alone in the room.
She propped herself up to sit up, rubbing her still throbbing temples, and her memories of the time before she lost consciousness gradually became clear.
Her phone was on the pillow. She picked it up, and the screen lit up, showing an unread message from Wei Li.
Your unconsciousness was due to signing the death certificate. I've taken care of it, so don't worry. Get some rest.
Her tone was flat throughout, as if the man who had approached her at the alleyway in the twilight, staring at her with almost scorching eyes and saying, "You are the treasure I want from head to toe, inside and out," was just a fleeting phantom.
Looking at that concise line of text, Lan Shuyin silently uttered two words in her mind: cunning.
His silence and lack of conversation were simply to avoid her questioning. His previous reaction clearly indicated that he knew the true nature of the Jiuli clan.
At times like these, saving face is a minor matter; getting to the bottom of things is the most important thing.
Without hesitation, she dialed the number directly.
Kui Li answered very quickly, as if he had been holding the phone the whole time, "You're awake."
"Where are you?" she asked directly.
"Outside the door."
Lan Shuyin immediately got up, walked to the door, opened it and peeked out. Sure enough, she saw Wei Li leaning against the wall, just putting his phone down from his ear.
"What are you doing outside?" she asked, puzzled, as she hung up her phone.
He remained calm and said, "You're sleeping, so it's not convenient for me to be next to you."
...As if we never slept together back then.
Lan Shuyin muttered to herself. During their years of travel, they had never paid any attention to such things, whether it was dilapidated temples, charitable institutions, deserted villages, cave dwellings, or even communal sleeping quarters by the roadside.
As if seeing through her inner thoughts, Wei Li continued, "Back in that inn in eastern Guizhou, a waiter tried to take advantage of a girl working there, and you overturned the table on the spot." A subtle light flickered in his eyes. "That man argued that he was engaged, and you pointed your finger at him and said—'Being unmarried means you can enter without being invited?' Do we have to wait until someone gets married to learn respect?"
Lan Shuyin paused for a moment. It seemed there really was such an old story. But she herself had forgotten what was said at the time; Wei Li's memory was truly exaggerated.
She didn't want to dwell on old stories, so she stepped aside to make way for her. "Come in, I have something to ask you."
Before the words were even finished, Wei Li had already stepped into the room as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Lan Shuyin pointed to the sofa and said, "Sit." She then walked to the small refrigerator in the corner of the suite, bent down, and took out two bottles of chilled cola.
"Want a drink?" she asked casually, handing him a bottle.
Kui Li accepted it and said gently, "I'll drink whatever you give me."
Lan Shuyin paused, looking up at him. Had her mindset changed, causing her to feel an almost overflowing possessiveness in his eyes? It was completely different from the cold tone in his messages.
She must be overthinking it.
She lowered her eyes, clicked open the can, and said calmly, "How much do you know about the Jiuli Clan?"
Kui Li said, "I thought you would ask about the coma first."
"Didn't you say it was a death decree? Those people made me sign something before they left. I guess it's something like a 'Death Note'."
"clever."
"Thank you, I know." Lan Shuyin took a sip of cola, the sweet, cool taste sliding down her throat. "Right now, all I want is to get my facial features back."
"This matter is complicated."
"I trust Boss Wei's eloquence; one night is enough time to explain everything clearly."
Faced with her stubborn gaze, Wei Li remained silent for a moment before gently placing the Coke can on the coffee table.
"You fell off the cliff and died. Your body was found three days later." His voice was steady, but a barely perceptible undercurrent flashed in his eyes. "By then, you were unrecognizable. The Jiuli clan elder who stripped you of your facial features was executed afterward. Your facial features... were returned to you at that time."
He raised his eyes, his gaze falling on her surprised face. "But the matter is not over. Because from the very beginning, this matter has involved another person, your sister, Feng Zhizhaoxue."
Lan Shuyin was taken aback. "What does this have to do with Xue?"
"In your eyes, Feng Zhizhaoxue is frail, docile, and unable to lift a finger. But in the eyes of others, even in Feng Zhishanyi's eyes, she is a monster, an anomaly."
“Although Feng Zhishan is not a kind person, he acts in a methodical way. Since he can allow you to wander outside, he will not imprison his own daughter without reason. The reason he confined her is because he discovered that she was secretly having deeper and deeper dealings with the Jiuli clan, which had reached a dangerous point.”
"But he didn't know that this suited her perfectly. Feng Zhizhaoxue fully agreed with the Jiuli clan's philosophy that 'flesh and blood can be molded, and the soul can be altered.' All her obsessions pointed to one goal—"
Kui Li looked at her and said, word by word, "She wants to be with you forever. Not just as sisters, but as a more complete fusion."
"Impossible!" Lan Shuyin interrupted resolutely. "Her internal organs were all taken out! You saw it with your own eyes, and you put them back in yourself!"
"So she scolded me for meddling." A cold smile curved at the corner of Wei Li's lips. "In her view, removing and soaking the organs is a necessary process for 'purification.' It's not really anything new. In ancient times, there were honey people in Lingnan, and in modern times, there were foreign ointments in Southeast Asia. They all used human parts as materials containing special energy. The Jiuli clan believed in 'human medicine.' Feng Zhizhaoxue voluntarily offered her organs, which were purified through the Jiuli clan's secret methods. They believed that in this way, she could share her most primal life force with you."
"No, this is outrageous..."
“She did it willingly.” Wei Li’s voice deepened, “The very first thing she did after you fell off the cliff and your body was found was to personally take a knife, cut open your chest, and slice off your facial features…”
Every word he uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "Then, she inserted her own organs, inch by inch... into your body."
Lan Shuyin stood frozen in place, feeling as if all the blood in her body had turned cold.
What kept her calm at this moment was Wei Li's increasingly clenched hands. He remained seated, his face trying his best to remain calm, but his voice was low and hoarse, as if recalling what he had seen at that time, he too was on the verge of collapse.
Although she didn't understand why he was so angry, she still subconsciously reached out and hesitantly patted the back of his tense hand.
This almost instinctive act of comfort startled Wei Li slightly. Having experienced such a horrifying event herself, her first reaction was to comfort him.
The dark look churning in Kui Li's eyes subsided slightly, and he gently took her hand in return.
Now that the topic has come up, he no longer hides anything.
"After realizing she couldn't complete the fusion or save you, she went completely mad. Driven by a world-destroying obsession, she cultivated into a vengeful ghost and slaughtered many members of the Jiuli clan. I went there too. Under pressure, the Jiuli clan returned your body and features, executed the elders who assisted her, and burned the remaining true form of Feng Zhizhaoxue. But..."
“The matter is not over yet. The Jiuli clan is still losing members. There are rumors that she has not only broken through the boundaries of a vengeful ghost and reached an even more terrifying realm, but she has also been searching for you.” He looked up at her. “Everyone has a soul, but not all souls can condense into an indestructible spirit after death. But she does not believe that you will disappear. She is convinced that you are still somewhere.”
Lan Shuyin remained silent for a long time.
The neon lights outside the window cast shifting shadows on her face through the gaps in the curtains. She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but reason told her she should be suspicious. Ah Xue, such a gentle and kind person, couldn't possibly have done something so horrifying.
But it was Dawei Jiali who exposed these things.
Moreover, she should have felt nauseous, sad, or angry at that moment. But as the initial shock slowly subsided, she found herself unusually calm.
That was all in the past life.
She had lived a fulfilling life for over twenty years, and now she lived it to the fullest. The cruel tales of the past that Kui Li spoke of now sounded like tragedies that had happened to someone else.
She remembered. She remembered the unforgettable regret and pain she felt as Feng Zhi Zhaoyin, but the feeling was like watching a long, immersive tragedy. When the lights came on and the curtain fell, she walked out of the theater and was bathed in the sunlight of reality. The joys and sorrows of the characters in the play were separated by a blurry glass.
If it's difficult to truly connect with someone, then it's also difficult to fully empathize with them.
After a long while, Lan Shuyin finally found her voice, "So, who exactly is that flesh statue on Xiangweng Mountain? I saw it with my own eyes, and it was clearly the outline of Xue."
“What you saw back then was indeed Feng Zhi Zhaoxue,” Kui Li did not deny. “But what you see now, with its features removed and its body arranged in the Yu step… is Guo Guo.”
Lan Shuyin was shocked, and even forgot to pull her hand away from his grasp. "Guoguo?"
The image of that small, thin figure and those beautiful, stubborn eyes flashed through her mind. They were one of the few moments of warmth in her darkest, loneliest years of wandering.
Kui Li picked up the cola can again, gently stroking it with his fingertips, leaving a trail of water droplets condensed on the aluminum can's surface.
"After you left, she lived on very bravely." His voice was soft, as if recounting a distant dream. "When the plague struck Ganli, she wrapped herself up tightly and used the little herbal knowledge you taught her to deliver medicine from house to house. Later, during the war, she took in fleeing children in an abandoned temple, giving the youngest child the food she begged for first..."
His gaze drifted to the night view of Hong Kong outside the window, as if piercing through time.
“Because she always remembered what you said—'As long as I see it, as long as I can still move, I will save it,' she persisted for twenty years, walking the path you didn’t finish, saving the people you didn’t have time to save, until she voluntarily removed her facial features and cast her own body into flesh, to be eternally guarded on Xiangweng Mountain.”
"Why?" Lan Shuyin couldn't be more shocked. "Why would she go to such lengths?"
Kui Li smiled faintly, “Those years were not peaceful in Along Village. Bandits followed by severe drought resulted in no harvest. The villagers were driven to the brink of despair. Their worship of the mountain god eventually led them to consider sacrificing young boys and girls.”
He paused, his voice lowering, "She felt that if you were here, you would never have stood by and watched this happen. Since those people needed a tangible god to place their hopes in despair... she molded herself into a true god in exchange for a chance for the children to live."
Lan Shuyin listened in a daze, never expecting that such a heavy yet tender truth was hidden behind that real statue.
Those who truly revere her... have never abandoned Xiangweng Temple.
—Those people wanted her to slowly decay, but the believers refused. They worked tirelessly to keep her resting place clean and tidy, even after they were martyred.
—I just want her to know that not everyone has abandoned her. There are still many people in this world who are doing their own thing... guarding the little bit of memory she left behind.
Suddenly, I recalled that day, the strange expression on the old man's face on Xiangweng Mountain, his eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and hope—so that's what it meant.
Through her eyes, which bore a striking resemblance to those of an old friend, he was seeing another figure long since vanished into the past.
The person he was referring to wasn't her, but Guoguo.
He mistook the "god" he was supposed to be bidding farewell to for someone else.
However, what's even more puzzling is, "How do you know all this so clearly?"
Lan Shuyin looked directly into Wei Li's eyes. What he knew far exceeded the scope of what an observer should have.
For the first time, Wei Li's eyes flickered slightly.
She raised her hand, her fingertips lightly touching his chin, forcing him to look directly at her. "Because I've always remembered what I said... but I clearly remember that I only said that to you. Guoguo could never possibly know."
These words startled Wei Li. "Really?" A helpless, bitter smile immediately appeared on his face. "I got it mixed up."
His reaction almost revealed the truth, which was about to be exposed.
"you……"
However, Lan Shuyin didn't finish her sentence.
Kui Li's aura suddenly changed, and with a flick of his wrist, he gently parried her hand away with a force that wouldn't hurt her.
The next moment, his figure swayed slightly, and he quickly retreated to the door.
"Feel sorry."
He left behind only those two words, not even daring to look at her expression, and hurriedly opened the door, his figure disappearing into the light and shadow of the corridor, almost fleeing in panic.
Lan Shuyin stared blankly as he disappeared into the interplay of light and shadow, never having seen him so disheveled. But the next second, she snapped back to reality—"Where are my features? Kui Li!"
She realized what was happening and immediately chased after him.
That night, Mr. Xu, who was staying on the same floor of the hotel, didn't sleep a wink.
At two in the morning, he called the front desk, trembling. "There's a crazy woman running back and forth in the hallway, shouting 'Where are my facial features?'... Yes, that's it, she's been shouting it for half an hour."
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