Chapter 68: The Art of Voiding
Chen Qing finally succeeded in her persuasion, and Liu Jiuyue agreed to let her follow her, but Chen Qing must not step down at all.
She went to the dilapidated temple along the way in a calf cart.
The actual situation of Mount Li is not as serious as outsiders say. At least Chen Qing did not feel any sudden depressions on the ground, except for the obvious signs of collapse in the ruined temple.
The broken Maitreya Buddha statue was half buried by the fallen wooden beams. Even though it was imprisoned, the Buddha statue still smiled and looked down at everything in the world with a pair of compassionate eyes that could embrace everything.
Liu Jiuyue swept his sword across, and the strong wind from the blade washed away the piled up dirt and rubble and the scattered dusty wooden beams. A string of prayer flags flew up and slowly fell onto the face of the Buddha statue, just covering a pair of compassionate eyes.
With another cut, the Buddha statue was instantly "ripped open", and a wooden coffin tightly embedded in the Buddha's belly came into view.
Chen Qing stared at the wooden coffin, waiting for Liu Jiuyue to raise her knife and cut open the truth that had troubled her for two lifetimes.
When the wooden coffin was split open, a pair of tightly embraced corpses fell into the dust along with a black shadow. Chen Qing's heart suddenly settled down, and at the same time, the thought "as expected" flashed through his mind.
A lifetime of fruitless searching, the nightmares that had plagued her day and night, would now come to an end today.
Chen Qing ignored the servants' dissuasion and resolutely got up from the ground and walked to the corpse, his eyes sweeping over the two of them.
Of the two bodies huddled together, one had succumbed to the ravages of time, reduced to a pale skeleton, its hollow eye sockets staring at the sky. The other, seemingly "pristine," had a sickly, ashen complexion, its features pale and frail, its eyes even a bluish-gray hue characteristic of the chronically ill. If it weren't for the hideous stitches around its neck, it would have resembled a comatose young man.
She didn't know what she saw, and was suddenly stunned. She bent down and picked up the hideous "mask" on the ground. This was the thing that had fallen from the skeleton face before.
"魌头." Liu Jiuyue's voice came.
I saw that the brow bones of the fish in Shen Qing's hand were slightly raised, the eyeballs were slightly protruding and black, the tip of the nose was upturned, the lips were split to the left and right, there were two horns on the top of the head, and the teeth were yellow, green and white.
There is a folk saying that the head of a snake can preserve the soul of the deceased and be placed in a tomb to drive away evil and plague for the deceased.
This may seem like an ordinary burial object, but with the strange prayer flags surrounding it, it seems extraordinary.
What's more, everyone could see clearly that the fishnet was fastened to the skeletal face backwards, but the rope tied to the fishnet had corroded over the years and was extremely fragile. As soon as the corpse fell, the rope could not hold on and broke.
Turning the head of a prayer flag upside down still serves the purpose of exorcising evil spirits and calming the soul, but the target of this suppression is surprisingly the owner of the prayer flag himself. Prayer flags are meant to bring blessings and good fortune, but if the scriptures on them become curses that attract evil, they become objects of resentment.
Liu Jiuyue drew his sword and picked up a string of prayer flags on the ground. His eyes carefully scanned the incantations on the prayer flags. The more he looked, the tighter his brows furrowed. Finally, Liu Jiuyue crumpled the prayer flags into a ball and stuffed them into his sleeves.
Temples were originally sacred places where evil spirits retreated, but now they have been turned into extremely cold and gloomy places where resentment gathers.
This is the cold and bitter place mentioned by the happy funeral demon.
The ruined temple is home to a cold and gloomy corpse. The strange pool of water containing yin energy in the underground palace below the ruined temple is called bitter water.
If two more corpses filled with resentment are placed here, the souls of the deceased will be suppressed inside the corpses, making them suffer the pain of being tortured to death every day. Within a few years, the resentful souls suppressed in the corpses will condense the resentment of the world and turn into monsters.
Some people deliberately use the art of exorcism to gather corpses and raise demons.
Liu Jiyue clearly realized the seriousness of the situation. He turned around, his expression calm and composed. Meeting his deep gaze, Liu Jiyue smiled faintly and said, "These two are indeed the corpses of the Red and White Evil demons. You'an guessed correctly. How clever."
Chen Qing stared at him, "Brother, don't you know what the meaning of the inverted horn is? And what about the incantation on the prayer flag?"
Liu Jiuyue said, "Whether it's a tamper or a prayer flag, now that you've found the bodies of the two demons as you wished, after cremating them, it's time for you to return home." He rubbed Chen Qing's head, "You're getting married in a month and a half, so it's time for you to calm down and stay home with your parents."
During the period of coma, Liu Jiuyue must have informed Chen Qing's parents about the arranged marriage. I don't know what they said, but in short, Liu Jiuyue's prejudice against Li Daoxuan was no longer so strong, and she no longer showed dissatisfaction with the marriage.
Like... I accepted it naturally.
The two of them practically grew up together, knowing each other like the back of their hands. Such tacit understanding that words were unnecessary; a glance, a subtle gesture, and they could discern each other's thoughts.
Chen Qing saw that Liu Jiuyue was trying to get her to avoid the truth, so she refuted, "Li Daoxuan left with the two demons. His life or death is uncertain, and his return date is uncertain. Whether he can make it to the wedding is one thing, and someone deliberately gathering Yin to raise his corpse is another. Brother also knows that I disappeared because I was framed and fell into the White Water Demon's lair. There's no guarantee that the person who framed me is connected to this. In short, now that I'm involved, I can't stay out of it."
"Besides, my involvement in the Yuanchunlou case is no secret. Anyone interested would know it with a little investigation. The Liu family was wiped out, and the intention of those behind the scenes to silence them is obvious. I am also involved. Who knows when the disaster will befall me. Do I have to pretend that I know nothing and stay at home like a protected young bird?"
Liu Jiuyue said: "I will take care of everything. I will never let you get hurt."
"What if Senior Brother is seriously injured and unable to protect me?"
"That day won't come." He said with a firm look, "If it does, I will protect you even at the cost of my life!"
"But I don't want your life!" Chen Qing said with red eyes, "What I want is equal status! I don't want to be protected by you all day long, waiting for you to save me when I encounter danger. I also want to be able to stand on my own one day, and no longer have to live under the wings of my parents and senior brothers. I also want to be able to protect the people I care about."
All the powerlessness of her past life flooded back to her. Chen Qing, now a "wasteful" creature, was always in danger, helpless, waiting for others to rescue her. She watched them get bruised and battered trying to protect her, yet afterward, she became mindless and irritable, losing her temper over trivial matters, turning her sharpest words into blades, piercing the hearts of her fellow disciples time and again. She was fed up with this feeling of uncontrollable powerlessness.
Shen Qing spoke earnestly, tears welling in his eyes, and he almost choked as he said, "Brother, you don't understand at all. I don't like being protected by others at all."
What she wanted was to be able to fight side by side with her partners and friends in times of danger, rather than being protected behind others. Once the front shield was broken, she would be like a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.
Liu Jiuyue's Adam's apple rolled, and he tried his best to suppress the soreness in his nose. He was speechless for a long time. Then he raised his knife and cut off the heads of the two monsters. He cast another explosive talisman, and the bodies of the two monsters exploded instantly, completely turning into powder and annihilating the world.
This should have been an extremely exciting moment, but his depressed mood was like an icy pond, and no matter how much external stimulation he received, it would not boil over.
After dealing with the corpse, Shen Qing was forced back to the Shen Mansion by his tough attitude.
Before Liu Jiuyue left, a strong wind blew in the yard.
Thick clouds are approaching in the sky, and a storm is about to come.
Liu Jiuyue faced the wind, his azure robe fluttering fiercely, as if he were about to ascend to heaven in the next second. He said, "Remember when you were twelve, I took you to the Jiangnan Road area. You and I encountered several water monsters on the boat. At that time, I was protecting the other people and accidentally overlooked you, and the water monster swept you away."
"When I found you, your arm was gnawed to a bloody pulp, and you were half dead. You cried and said to me, 'Brother, I don't want to exorcise demons anymore.' I've remembered these words for five years."
Liu Jiuyue's eyebrows and eyes were suppressed by the dark clouds in the sky, and there was darkness in her pupils.
The twelve-year-old Youan felt that he was capable of standing on his own. He held the talisman and swore to his senior brother, "Brother, go with peace of mind. Youan is capable of protecting himself, so don't worry."
Liu Jiuyue hesitated for a moment, then turned to rescue the child who fell into the water. When he captured the last water monster, he found that You'an had been captured by a water monster that had escaped.
Although he arrived in time before the water monster could kill him, You'an almost lost half his life, and his body, which he had carefully nurtured, was almost ruined again.
Shen's father searched the world for famous doctors and medicines, and finally managed to remove the scar on Shen Qing's arm. However, You'an's monthly medicine had to include several more tonics, and she also became extremely afraid of water.
Even if Chen Qing turned around and forgot about this matter, Liu Jiuyue still blamed herself deeply and could not forget the tragic scene on the day when she was on the verge of death.
After that, he never let Shen Qing be in danger again.
Chen Qing vaguely remembered this, and she couldn't believe that Liu Jiyue could remember it for so long: "But that was just a passing remark, and I've never said anything like that again since then!"
She had a habit: the more she feared something, the more she would grit her teeth and face the challenge, until she was no longer afraid, until the thing she feared became the thing she was most familiar with, and then she would stop.
Therefore, after this incident, Xiao Youan gritted her teeth and forced herself to swim again and again until she was no longer afraid of water and became very familiar with it.
Chen Qing obviously underestimated Liu Jiuyue's stubbornness.
Liu Jiuyue was also determined not to let her get involved in this mess.
He declared: "Other matters are fine, but I will never let you interfere in this matter." Anyone who has the ability to build an underground palace and raise corpses under the feet of the emperor without anyone noticing is no ordinary person.
Even an imperial official like the Dali Temple Minister dared to take action. Liu Jiuyue was afraid that this hidden hand was extremely dangerous. He was afraid that if he was not careful, he would repeat the mistake of Chen Qing being captured by the water monster.
After saying that, Liu Jiyue set up a barrier in the Shen Mansion and left. The barrier kept evil spirits away, but it also effectively trapped Shen Qing in the Shen Mansion.
Chen Qing stared at the barrier that only she could see, her brows furrowed slightly, a cloud of worry swirling across her face. She had known this day would come, but she had never imagined it would come so soon.
The reason why she always went to investigate the matter of the Red and White Evil Demons without Liu Jiuyue's knowledge was to prevent Liu Jiuyue from getting into trouble one day by knowing how dangerous the Red and White Evil Demons were. To prevent her from getting into an accident, he would lock her up at home and solve the matter alone.
She wasn't afraid of those in the dark discovering her intentions; it was inevitable. After all, the fight at Yuanchun Tower had become known to everyone.
I just think that after this incident, the people behind the scenes might come up with some new tricks to deal with me, or the Shen family behind me.
Is the hand that pushed her into the underground palace the same one that gathered corpses and raised monsters?
With a loud thunder, the heavy rain that had been silent for a long time finally broke through the clouds and poured down.
This rain washed away the scorching heat in Chang'an and brought a brief coolness into the city.
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