Chapter 130: Two-Sided Blade
There is no sunlight in the underground palace.
She recovered faster, and in just two days she was no longer troubled by complicated emotions.
However, Zhuxing fainted due to severe pain and woke up two days later. Because her arm was injured too badly, Chai Che would not let her get out of bed.
She was lying on the bed, calling Biluo's name in a daze. He left his parents when he was so young.
Jiaoran and Mu Jin discussed that they must return to Xiu Tu as soon as possible because their senior sister missed the child so much.
The day Jiaoran saw Zhou Zhi and Mu Jin meeting, she was a little at a loss.
Mu Jin was also a little flustered.
Turning around and grabbing Jiaoran's arm, he explained, "I want to quickly—"
Jiao Ran said he knew and put down his hand, "You want her to help us escape."
Zhou Zhi said coldly, "I thought that with your invincible mental method, you would have escaped from this underground palace long ago."
Jiao Ran heard the disdain in her words and was annoyed. He immediately retorted, "I can escape, but I'm not as cold-blooded as you. You can't abandon anyone. You care about yourself the most, but I don't. If I want to get out, I have to take them with me."
Zhou Zhi curled his lips, crossed his arms, and waited, "Then tell me, how are you going to escape from his strict guard?"
Jiao Ran refused to give in. "Of course we can't tell you. You're his right-hand man. Even if we really have a plan, we wouldn't be stupid enough to tell you."
She said, "You are becoming more and more capable, and you don't even take your mother seriously anymore."
"My mother is about to kill me, how can I still take her seriously?"
"You're lucky you didn't die in my hands."
Jiao Ran said angrily, "Why didn't you kill me when you were a child? If you had killed me then, I wouldn't have had so many troubles when I grew up."
"Yes, I should have drowned you then!"
"If you drown me, how can you replace your good son?"
"Don't you have a conscience when you say that? I tell you, I'm sorry to everyone, sorry to Mu Jin, but I haven't let you down either. I've done everything I should have done for you. In this world, the person I owe the least to is you."
"Don't you owe me anything? You sealed my Ren and Du meridians, and made me think I was a mediocre martial artist since I was a child. You made me think I was a fool, and made me afraid to do what I wanted. You are so scary, the scariest person I have ever met."
"So you hate me, right? Then let me tell you, the people you should hate the most are Fenghuang Chu, Chai Ying, and Chai Yu. Of course, you've already killed your father. If your mother were still alive and she stood in your way, you would definitely kill her too."
"Stop framing me, stop framing me. I'm not as cruel as you. Don't you know who I killed Chai Yu for? It was for Mu Jin. You said I would kill my mother, right? I wouldn't. You've been so cruel to me time and time again. When will I really kill you?"
"You dare to kill me? Do you dare? I raised you with my milk. I fed you and you drank my milk. I did everything for you except not giving birth to you."
Jiaoran rubbed his eyes. "But you also used me, didn't you? You abandoned... abandoned me..."
Zhou Zhi glanced at Mu Jin, her throat clenched. She turned to Jiao Ran and said, "For sixteen years, there hasn't been a single day that I haven't treated you as my own child, my biological child. But I'm also his mother. I've already abandoned him once. If I let him lose his freedom forever and die in the Governor's Mansion, am I still worthy of being his mother?"
You can't have it both ways.
She will always abandon one and choose the other.
She couldn't bring both of her favorite children with her.
Mu Jin just stood quietly in the darkness, with a rough stone wall behind him. His hand was holding a protruding corner of the stone wall, which was cold and prickly, but he never let go, as if he was worried that he would fall.
He also felt aggrieved. It was not only Zhou Zhi who had to make a choice, but he too.
He had to choose between the two of them.
I don’t know why things in the world are so unpredictable.
When I walked to the back, I found that everything had changed beyond recognition and everyone looked different from their original selves.
Jiaoran knew very well that she and her daughter could never go back to the past.
From the moment Zhou Zhi participated in the hunt for Chai Ying and from the moment she betrayed Chai Ying, Jiaoran could no longer be her daughter.
Zhou Zhi said, "Don't even think about killing the Phoenix chick. We all know the consequences."
Jiao Ran was furious, "Do you think I don't know that his life and Mu Jin's are linked? It was Jin Chong who connected them."
She looked at her, her eyes unclear, and then said, "I'm glad to know. You don't want Mu Jin to be buried with him, do you?"
Jiao Ran said, "I will find a way. The Phoenix Chick must die, and I will not let Mu Jin be harmed."
Zhou Zhi said, "That's good. I can't be out for too long. You should go back too. If you want to escape, make a detailed plan."
Mu Jin was still in the darkness, quiet and silent.
Jiao Ran suddenly called out to her, "Have you ever considered me your own child, even for a moment?"
She suddenly burst into laughter. "Are you a heartless child?"
Jiao Ran said, "I no longer trust my heart. Perhaps it will lie to me too."
"Then you should take care of your heart. You are an adult, not a child. Not all questions have answers, and I don't have to answer every question you say."
Jiao Ran said, "Then let me ask you again, if you could go back to that day, would you make the same choice and let Mu Jin replace me?"
Zhou Zhi didn't answer this question, but asked her, "If killing me can bring Chai Ying back, will you kill me?"
Jiaoran couldn't answer either.
It is always difficult for people to hold a weapon with two blades. No matter which side you hold, it will bleed. Sometimes things in the world are like this. There is no choice. No matter which side you choose, it will be a bloody mess.
Jiaoran could neither hate her nor love her anymore.
The cruelest thing in the world is to make a child unable to hate or love the mother who raised him and loved him.
Jiaoran and Zhou Zhi walked towards two corridors. Neither of them looked back, and neither of them dared to look back.
Mu Jin stood in the darkness for a long time, until they parted ways unhappily, then he walked towards Jiaoran.
He went forward and followed her closely, fearing that she would abandon him this time too.
When I caught up with her, I saw that she was already in tears.
Mu Jin felt a pang of pain in her heart, "Don't cry, she's gone, no one will argue with you anymore."
Jiao Ran said angrily, "I was arguing with her just now, why didn't you say a word?"
Mu Jin said helplessly, "Do you want me to scold her with you?"
"Yes, if she hadn't abandoned you as a child, would you have suffered so many years in the Governor's Mansion?"
Mu Jin said, "But if she hadn't abandoned me, you would have been the one to suffer in the Governor's Mansion."
"That being said, but..."
Mu Jin hugged her, stroked the back of her head, and said, "What happened in the past has already happened. We can't reverse or change it. We can only look forward."
The corridor was deep and Jiaoran and Mu Jin originally wanted to return to the stone hall, but they didn't expect that the girl with crab claws had been waiting outside the stone hall for a while.
She still held a crab lamp.
Seeing Jiaoran coming back, he was very happy, "You are back, I have been waiting for you for a long time, Ah Heng asked me to take you to a place."
Jiaoran's heart tightened, fearing that Phoenix Chick had heard what they had just said to Zhou Zhi.
But Mu Jin shook her hand and signaled her not to panic.
Jiaoran calmed down and thought that the phoenix chick probably didn't have the ability to predict the future yet. Their conversation with Zhou Zhi had just happened, but the girl said she had been waiting for a long time.
"Where is he taking Jiaoran?" Mu Jin asked her.
The little girl smiled and said, "If you're curious, you can come with me."
"Really?" Mu Jin was a little unconvinced.
She said, "Yes, Jiaoran is Ah Heng's friend, and you are Jiaoran's friend, so you are also Ah Heng's friend. Ah Heng won't blame you for going to meet friends together."
The two of them were led by the little girl to a new corridor.
Jiaoran felt that it looked familiar and entered a stone chamber. This time the stone chamber continued downwards.
"Where are we going?" Jiaoran asked her.
She shook her head. "Ah Heng didn't tell me."
"Have you ever been to this place before?"
The little girl said, "I've been here before. There are many coffins here, but we don't know who is in the coffins."
Jiaoran and Mu Jin looked at each other, wondering what the phoenix chick was up to.
This stone temple is dark green and very old, looking like it has been there for many years.
You can vaguely see its former grandeur from the hundreds of stone steps outside.
There are some traces of moss on the stone steps, which shows that someone cleans them frequently, but the green color of the moss has seeped into the stone bricks over the years.
It was a bit desolate all around.
Inside the stone hall, the main hall stands like a mountain, and the two stone lions have experienced many vicissitudes of life.
Continue walking in, it seems to be the gate of a mansion.
Jiaoran walked silently, with a very strange feeling in his heart.
It was very familiar, yet a little strange to her.
Until she saw from afar the strong roots of the plants spreading under her feet on the soil.
Mu Jin obviously also discovered the tree roots under his feet, which were like countless blood vessels in the giant's body.
What a big tree this is! The Governor's Mansion is built on the mountain, and there are countless dense forests in the mansion, but he has never seen a tree bigger than the one in front of him.
In front of this giant tree, he suddenly wanted to kneel down, as if this tree was a silent god looking down at mortals.
Continuing to look upwards, the tree went straight through the underground palace and stretched to the ground. The Phoenix Young did not damage the tree when it was built, so they can still see the winding roots of the tree.
Outside the hall, there was the sound of footsteps.
The two turned around and saw the Phoenix Chick coming towards them.
What on earth is this place? Mu Jin held Jiaoran's hand tightly, and he found that her hand was colder than usual.
Jiaoran stood there motionless, looking at the tree's magical roots. She thought, she already knew where this was and what kind of tree this was.
"What do you want to do by bringing us here?" Mu Jin asked.
He only spoke to Jiaoran, "Do you recognize this tree?"
Jiao Ran said, "Stop talking so much nonsense. I believe you are not a coward. Why don't we fight head-on and fight to the death? Stop doing these boring things behind my back."
He sneered, "Don't you always like to pray to this tree?"
Mu Jin said, "She is Jiao Ran. You should understand that she is not just Jiao Ran."
When Phoenix Chick heard his words, she laughed like a ghost, "Really? She thinks so too?"
Jiao Ran said word by word, "Of course, I'm just Jiao Ran. What you reminded me of were all my past lives, or even my previous lives. Death is like the extinguishing of a light. I don't want to look back. What's the point? Life is just one life."
"Promise me you'll wait for me."
Jiao Ran blurted out, "I never promised you before I died."
When these words came out of her mouth, Phoenix Chick was stunned for a moment, then laughed. Jiao Ran was immediately filled with pain and sorrow. "Wuxia is already dead, a person who has been dead for hundreds of years. Why do you still want to keep pestering me? I just want to live a good life. You want to kill me or cut me up? I won't blink an eye. Let's just fight to the death, isn't it better?"
Jiaoran was ready to summon the thin dragon.
But Phoenix Chick said, "What's the point of killing you? Killing is never fun."
"You took back Takayama Shou just to fight back, didn't you?"
Phoenix Chick said, "I want to resurrect you too."
He was afraid she would forget, so he pointed to the roots of the tree at his feet and said, "That day I cast a forbidden spell to make you immortal. This tree was filled with my blood. From the crown down, my blood soaked every part of this mulberry tree."
Jiaoran found himself in front of him, with no way forward and no way back.
You can only face him head-on.
She opened Mu Jin's tightly clenched hands and suddenly began to walk towards him, walking very slowly but without hesitation.
She walked slowly towards him among the tree roots that spread all over the field.
"Wuxia should remember that you gave me her memories as well. Although we share a soul, we are not one person after all. Don't make things difficult for me, and don't make things difficult for yourself. Let's settle our grievances in this life as soon as possible. You harmed my mother and set up so many traps. Your sins are unforgivable."
"You come to judge me?" He found it very funny and looked into Jiaoran's eyes without blinking.
Jiao Ran said calmly, "I'm not trying to judge you. I just want to resolve our grudges through victory or defeat."
"Can you solve it?" he asked.
Then he said to Mu Jin, "Do you know why I asked you to come along?"
Mu Jin didn't know where this place was.
But after looking around, Jiaoran realized that the furnishings here were the same as the courtyard where Wuxia lived during his lifetime. This mountain should be the mountain where they finally lived in seclusion, and this tree was a giant tree in front of a temple. Wuxia liked to dig a hole next to the giant tree and then talk to himself in the hole.
Her sachet was finally hung on this tree.
Only then did Jiaoran recognize the past of this mountain and this tree.
The Phoenix Chick pressed a mechanism, and a sarcophagus slowly emerged from the stone wall and appeared in front of them.
Jiaoran wanted to hold Mu Jin back, but she didn't do it in the end. If she did that, Mu Jin would probably be more suspicious. She wanted to be more open with him.
No matter what the outcome, she wanted to be honest with him and herself.
Sure enough, the sarcophagus opened.
Inside was a dead woman, her body embalmed with spices and ice so it had not yet decayed.
She only has half a head.
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