As he spoke, the driver's eyes turned blood red, and conspicuous blood gushed from his eyes and nostrils, and his body began to swell.
Quan Ji and Jun Chenlan immediately realized something was wrong. They each grabbed one of her hands, held her wrists, and tried to use their energy to seal the coachman's body.
At the same time, they could also feel that the blood in the driver's body was as if it were out of control, with a powerful life force jumping wildly, as if it was about to break through the blood vessel walls and burst her whole body.
However, even powerful figures like Jun Chenlan and Quan Ji were powerless to stop this process.
"Cough cough cough."
The driver coughed up blood and then vomited it up.
The pungent smell of blood clung to the soil, seeping down, leaving only a bright red stain that was particularly striking.
She smiled bitterly, her disheveled state and blood-stained eyes revealing only a sense of relief and reluctance.
"It's no use. I've said too much already. The curse has taken effect. The Empress's strength is unfathomable. I'm powerless to reverse the situation. Promise me... save the Heart Dream Empire. I beg you. No one but you can do it."
Quan Ji felt a sudden sense of powerlessness. She gritted her teeth and looked at the person in front of her as she spoke, blood gushing from her body and quickly emerging from her pores, making her look like a blood-soaked person.
The Empress's methods... are truly ruthless!
Quan Ji nodded emphatically: "We will do it."
What kind of pain could make someone willing to pay such a price just to leak information?
The driver laughed, his laughter broken and intermittent, as blood continued to choke her.
Overwhelmed with grief and knowing her time was running out, she quickly said:
"The way to enter Xiangzhi City is... tell the blacksmith Gu Yuan, who is 300 meters from the east gate of Xiangzhi City, to forge two identity tokens belonging to your fake identities. Also... after I die, bring my body to him and tell him... that his Chiyu cannot accompany him to see the revival of the Xinmeng Empire."
May the gods be with you...
Before he could even utter the word "yes," the coachman named Akabane was enveloped in blood, his life extinguished completely.
Blood was flowing from all seven orifices, and all five internal organs were rotting.
In less than three minutes, because he revealed the information, the curse took effect, and he died a tragic death.
Quan Ji and Jun Chenlan's hands were still stained with her blood, and for a moment their feelings were so complicated that they couldn't express them, and they felt too uncomfortable to bear.
A person who was just alive and well a moment ago suddenly...
Quan Ji also felt an indescribable emotion stuck in her throat, unable to come up or go down, leaving her with mixed feelings and unsure of what to do.
Jun Chenlan's face was somber, and his pleasant voice carried a hint of pity:
May the gods be with you.
If the Xinmeng Empire can be freed from their grasp, Chiyu's contribution is indispensable.
Selflessness for the country—to be honest, while not something everyone should emulate, it is a spirit that is etched into one's very being and inspires a deep respect and belief.
Quan Ji pursed her lips, bowed slightly to the corpse, and performed a salute.
May the gods be with you.
Akabane, you will always deserve this "you" (formal title).
Even if it's just a fleeting connection.
Quan Ji continued to stare at Chi Yu's corpse and exhaled.
"Fortunately, she has passed away peacefully."
"Um."
Quan Ji closed her eyes and stored Chi Yu's corpse separately in a spatial treasure bag.
She straightened up and looked into the distance.
"Let's go to the blacksmith's shop."
Endless sorrow solves nothing.
The future is uncertain, but we must keep going.
Originally, the internal strife in the Xinmeng Empire had nothing to do with them, but from this moment on, they shouldered this responsibility.
Moreover, this also involves the power of the abyss.
Jun Chenlan nodded, and the two set off.
...
By the time we arrived at the blacksmith's shop, it was already dusk.
The sunset in the Heart Dream Empire is famously beautiful. The clouds, seemingly bound together by a fiery glow, are enveloped on one side, like a pair of lovers clinging to each other.
The blacksmith shop was not large, and it was not located in the market, but in an inconspicuous forest area, surrounded by trees. The sound of hammering and the girl's sweet shouts could be heard from time to time.
Smoke billowed from the rooftop, and the high temperature seemed to distort the air itself.
Knock knock knock—
Quan Ji knocked on the door, but there was no response. However, the sound of blacksmithing inside had stopped.
After waiting for a while, there was still no response.
Knock knock knock—
Quan Ji knocked again, and this time, there was finally a response.
"We're closed. No need to come back, and no need to come in the future. We don't accept customers anymore."
The girl's voice had a somewhat androgynous quality, and if I'm not mistaken, it was probably the same as Akabane's.
Quan Ji pursed her lips and said, "I'm not here to commission a forging."
These words made the atmosphere even more unsettling.
There wasn't a sound coming from inside.
"People from the HeartDream Empire are not welcome here, nor are outsiders. Regardless of your purpose, please leave."
The other person seemed to have no desire to socialize at all.
For a moment, Quan Ji even considered tearing down the door in front of her, but after thinking about it, she didn't.
Jun Chenlan called out, "Chiyu told us to come here."
Katz—
The door opened as soon as he finished speaking.
However, unexpectedly, the person standing in front of me was frightening.
She appeared to be a young girl, bald, with her head covered in black ash. She stood there, her face half-scarred, looking particularly terrifying.
Fortunately, Quan Ji and Jun Chenlan have strong mental fortitude; otherwise, they would have been scared to death here.
Gu Yuan looked at the two of them with a cold expression, sized them up for a couple of seconds, and said, "Come in and close the door."
Quan Ji and Jun Chenlan did as instructed. The temperature in the blacksmith's shop was so high that it felt like they were about to evaporate, and they didn't even know what they were doing.
There were countless books about forging next to the table.
Quan Ji vaguely saw two words.
Spirit Forging
This piqued Quan Ji's interest; there seemed to be words on the front and back, and she instinctively wanted to touch them to take a look.
But Gu Yuan stopped her.
"Don't touch anything here."
She closed the forge while speaking, making it impossible to see what was inside, adding to the mystery.
She turned around and asked:
"Who are you? Where is my wife? It's so late, why hasn't she come home yet?"
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
Jun Chenlan and Quan Ji didn't even need to think much to know.
They were right; the two of them were a couple, and... both were cursed with gender reassignment.
Quan Ji didn't know how to start the conversation. After all, they were a young couple, and it was hard for them to accept that their partner had died, especially from such a cause.
However, there are some things that must be said.
Quan Ji pursed her lips and said, "She asked me to pass on a message to you."
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