93 Burial goods
See? I told you her son, Amo, is the smartest.
Compared to Du Zhijin, who was being treated with great hospitality by Uncle Zhao's family, Ying Jianhua looked much more disheveled. Not only had she lost a shoe while hiding, but her hair and clothes were also disheveled and messy from being scratched by tree branches, a far cry from her usual neat and tidy appearance.
But he was very concerned about his reputation, and immediately stopped Du Zhijin, who was about to step forward: "Don't come any closer!"
She stopped as instructed and thoughtfully turned her back. Amidst the rustling sounds behind her, she fired off a barrage of questions: "Didn't I tell you to wait for me in Liulijing? But what happened to Lu Ping? And how did you get here? Even riding the fastest horse, it would take more than ten days."
Ying Jianhua didn't answer her immediately. Instead, he quickly adjusted his hair and hat, not wanting her to see him in an unseemly state. Only after confirming that he was properly dressed did he finally speak: "I'm done."
So Du Zhijin obediently turned around again, and the first thing she said when she saw him was, "Amo, you've lost weight."
Not only had she lost weight, but she also looked much more tired. She could tell he must have rushed here day and night. Thinking of this, she sighed with heartache, held his hand tightly, and didn't know what to say.
Upon seeing her expression, Ying Jianhua knew that the matter with Lu Ping was now completely over. The dark cloud that had been weighing on his heart suddenly dissipated, and he smiled faintly, his tone light: "Nothing's wrong in the capital. I just... don't want to be separated from you for so long."
He didn't say he was worried about her; he only said he didn't want them to separate.
Upon hearing this, Du Zhijin felt a mixture of joy and pity, as if honey were tinged with sourness: "You can't just come over without saying a word, you should at least let me know."
Ying Jianhua smiled but did not answer, thinking to herself that if she had let slip the news beforehand, the matter would definitely not have worked out.
However, judging from her tone, she didn't seem to mind his presence here. Given Du Zhijin's personality, there was only one reason.
This means she has found a solution.
He followed her all the way from Jinxi City to the village, only seeing her bustling around arranging things, knowing nothing else. But he guessed something, so he asked, "Can this formation kill monsters?"
"Yes." She nodded, without hiding anything, "This is a spirit-locking array, which is perfect for suppressing the evil dragon's attributes."
He murmured, "Evil dragon... Dragons can control wind and rain, so that fog was created after the evil dragon stirred up the Tiger's Blood Pool?"
Upon hearing him reveal the secret behind the miasma, Du Zhijin exclaimed in surprise, "Exactly! How did you know that, Amo?"
If she was able to detect the anomaly in the pool because she was sensitive to demonic energy, how could Amo, who had never cultivated and knew nothing about demonic or spiritual energy, have known this?
He paused slightly, then mumbled, "I've lived in the village for over ten years, so I know exactly what fog is like." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her nodding, as if she believed him, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's next? Lure them into a trap?"
She frowned slightly and said with some difficulty, "I'm still thinking. The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light. The evil dragon never shows itself. We're still missing an opportunity to lure it to the center of the formation."
Ying Jianhua pondered for a moment, then said, "A serious illness needs a catalyst, and so does exorcising a demon. Did you and Honghua discuss this beforehand and reach any conclusions?"
"You even saw red flowers?" Du Zhijin's attention wandered. "Amo, when did you start following me?"
Before he could answer, she suddenly realized: "Ah, you were the little demon who followed me outside the county government office in Jinxi City that night?"
Stalking and following someone isn't exactly respectable, and Ying Jianhua's cheeks flushed. She spoke hesitantly, her eyes darting around: "...Hmm."
"So you were there back then. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she said.
Seeing that she showed no sign of blaming him, he had an absurd idea.
Does that mean I can secretly follow her from now on?
————
“Honghua and I guessed that the evil dragon must have come for some kind of burial item. You see, in terms of population and location, Wuling Village is no different from other villages, but it specifically chose Tiger Xue Tan in Wuling Village and even hinted to the villagers to move the graves around Tiger Xue Tan.”
Du Zhijin pointed towards the back mountain in the distance, then turned his gaze to the row of brand-new tombstones.
The final resting place is a major event, and generally speaking, a completed grave should not be disturbed easily. But this cunning demon actually came up with the idea of "polluting the water."
What kind of dream about a pool of water can cure diseases? It's clearly the evil dragon manipulating people's hearts.
"Burial goods?" Ying Jianhua recalled carefully, "There are exactly seven graves around the back mountain, some famous and some unknown. My parents have one, the Zhao family has two, the Wang family has one, and the rest are all dilapidated, nameless graves that haven't been visited for over ten years. What kind of burial goods could be in these graves?"
The Zhao family was slightly wealthier, but only better off than other families in the village. Having witnessed the wealth and power of the Jianchang Marquis's mansion, Ying Jianhua didn't think that a peasant family had any burial goods that would be coveted by a great demon.
Thinking of this, he suddenly realized: "The back mountain used to be owned by a family that had some influence. Could it be that they're after them?"
“Very likely,” Du Zhijin agreed. Glancing at the sky, she added, “The Spirit-Locking Array needs to be activated at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM). Time is running out; we must find the item as soon as possible, otherwise we'll have to wait until tomorrow. Amo, you're more familiar with the back mountain; do you know where the secret passage is hidden?”
He shook his head: "The back mountain used to be owned by someone, and unauthorized people were not allowed to go up. Later, the owner died, and when we went up, the mountain was full of wolves and tigers, and we only dared to walk in certain places. The deepest place I've ever been is Tiger Xue Tan. There's nothing else around there, and I don't know about the others."
Some daring hunters have ventured deep into the mountains, but none of them have ever claimed to have discovered a secret passage. Besides, the original owners of the back mountain were merely small landowners, what's commonly known as nouveau riche, who had repeatedly tried to curry favor with Prince Chengduan without success. If they truly possessed rare treasures, the saying "a commoner is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime" applies; given the character of Prince Chengduan and his son, they would dig three feet into the ground to find it.
Ying Jianhua didn't quite agree with the idea that there was a secret passage hidden in the back mountain, but Du Zhijin was inexplicably confident. He took him up the mountain on a sword and cleverly avoided the patrolling people.
"Let's look for it together."
She insisted, so Ying Jianhua had no choice but to agree. The back mountain was really huge. Even excluding the areas that the villagers had already explored, such as Tiger Pool, it would be like throwing an egg against a rock for just the two of them.
He couldn't help but wonder if Du Zhijin had also been affected by the fog. Because compared to their outnumbered and vulnerable state, if the so-called "burial goods" were truly in the back mountain, the evil dragon could easily find a pretext to instruct the villagers to search for them. Wuling Village had over two hundred people; it was impossible for two hundred people to have searched so diligently for a month without any results.
Judging from her appearance, it didn't seem like a whim.
When Du Zhijin said she wanted to find a secret passage, she really meant it. Completely disregarding the terrain, she carried Zuilan and meticulously chipped away at every stone and tree.
The more serious she was, the more Ying Jianhua considered. He really had no idea what earth-shattering secret this small village, which hadn't produced a single scholar in decades, might be hiding.
Except for his mother, who was a demon.
A mountain breeze swept through the valley, casting dappled shadows on the trees. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering round patches of light on the ground.
These spots of light, about the size of copper coins, swayed gently in the wind. One of them even landed on Du Zhijin's heart, like... a demon core.
In an instant, he suddenly understood. The evil dragon wasn't looking for burial goods, but for his mother's demon core.
It searched in vain for many days, not because the demon core was hidden in the secret passage in the back mountain, but because that thing had long been taken away by Prince Chengduan along with a painting, and then fell into his hands.
As for the whereabouts of the demon core now? At that time, Lu Ping was on the verge of death and urgently needed a blood transfusion. The voice in his mind told him that swallowing his mother's demon core would turn his blood into "Shennong blood," and he did so.
Shennong, the legendary Chinese herbalist, tasted hundreds of herbs and encountered seventy-two poisons in a single day, earning him the title of "King of Medicine." My mother's extraordinary medical skills may well be related to Shennong.
If Lu Ping hadn't needed "Shennong's Blood," he wouldn't have touched that demon core at all, but Lu Ping's near-death experience was also caused by him... Now, Ying Jianhua truly understands what it means for good and evil to be predetermined, and for cause and effect to have their consequences.
He couldn't help but wonder if Du Zhijin already knew that the evil dragon was actually after the demon core left by his mother, and that the so-called "coming to find the secret passage" was just a pretext.
The more she thought, the calmer Ying Jianhua became. Du Zhi could smell demonic energy; he had always known this. Before, his half-human, half-demon identity hadn't been exposed, perhaps because his mother had prepared in advance, or perhaps, someone with only half demon blood like him simply had an almost imperceptible aura. But ever since he consumed the demon core, his aura could no longer be concealed; someone like her couldn't possibly have failed to detect it. Perhaps she already knew on the day of the blood transfusion, but hadn't uttered a single word.
Did he bring me to the back mountain under the guise of "burial goods" in order to get me to confess?
He understood.
"I found it."
Du Zhijin turned around at the sound and saw Ying Jianhua holding something in her hand, looking at him with a complicated expression.
She smiled.
See? I told you her son, Amo, is the smartest.
She didn't press him on how he found the treasure the evil dragon had been searching for for a month in such a short time. Instead, she said naturally, "Great! Let's go down the mountain while it's still early."
Ying Jianhua pursed her lips and nodded slowly.
Zuilan soared upwards, riding the wind and clouds; to those below, it was nothing more than a meteor streaking across the sky in broad daylight. Apart from a few children excitedly closing their eyes to make wishes, everyone else dragged their weary bodies slowly home.
As dusk fell, accompanied by the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs, dinner was served on the table in the courtyard. Du Zhijin, who had already abstained from grains and didn't actually need to eat, kept her portion and secretly gave it to Ying Jianhua.
"Don't steal your own offerings!"
The image should be: "..."
At 9:00 PM, Zhao Xiaocui called Du Zhijin to wash up. After the Zhao family finished washing up, all the candles in the house were extinguished.
At midnight, as the night deepened, a thick fog rose.
At the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), a thick fog completely enveloped Wuling Village. The two of them tiptoed away from the Zhao family and arrived at Huangtupo.
At the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), the sky is no longer pure black. A faint layer of pale white has spread along the edge of the inky blue sky. From the eastern horizon upwards, the color gradually fades, and the stars are still sparsely scattered on it, dim and without light.
As the two drew closer, a gust of wind rushed in from all directions, tousling their long hair.
Ying Jianhua stood near the center of the formation, clutching the "demon core," while Du Zhijin stood beside her, holding the Drunken Mist.
"Amo, are you scared?" she asked.
He shook his head and blurted out, "No."
Because he knew that she wouldn't let him take such a risk unless she was absolutely certain.
And he will always believe in her.
As soon as the words were spoken, a clap of thunder roared, and a torrential downpour began. Within the thick clouds, a swirling figure appeared and disappeared, its form flickering in and out of sight amidst the purple lightning and thunder.
Du Zhijin's eyes sharpened, and he drew his sword, warning, "They're here."
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