Chapter 134 A look of panic appeared on that cold, stern face for the first time…
As dawn broke, the door creaked open, and the hem of her ankle-length skirt brushed against the narrow tip of a knife.
Suddenly, her toes touched a hard, foreign object. Qi Tang looked down and saw a dagger leaning against the shadows in the crack of the door. It had a jade hilt, a silver sheath, and a blade that was only about seven inches long.
After a moment of stunned silence, Qi Tang bent down to pick it up. As soon as she lowered her shoulders, she felt a gaze fixed on her, and her eyes instinctively turned to the shadows at the entrance of the corridor.
Leng Xue leaned against the wall at a distance, arms crossed, gazing out the window as if he were merely keeping watch, exuding an aura of unapproachability.
The cool jade handle, when held, is not light and agile, but rather carries a heavy, menacing weight.
Qi Tang curled her fingers, the intricate dragon patterns on the hilt of the knife embedding into her palm, causing a slight numbness.
The half-closed door slammed shut behind her, losing its grip. Qi Tang lightly pressed her thumb against the door, and the scabbard slid up half an inch, revealing a pair of hesitant, flustered amber eyes reflected in the gleaming, frosty blade.
Her heart rose and fell with the cold glint of the blade, as if she were walking on a thin thread suspended in mid-air. Her entire being was drawn by the contradictory thread-holder, yet she had no idea how to unravel the mystery called Leng Lingqi.
Even a fool could discern a bit about the origin and inner meaning of this dagger.
Even after escaping the nightmare, he remained the scarred wolf boy from the Dark Nest. It seemed she could never understand or soothe his wounds.
Leng Ling abandoned him completely...
The young man in the corner of the corridor seemed to sense something, turned around, his eyes locking onto her as usual, his lips pressed together unnaturally, and preemptively questioned, "Where were you last night? Why did you leave alone?"
His gaze was sharp, and his sudden aura was so cold that it shut up the words Qi Tang was about to say.
Speechless for a moment, feeling bewildered and a touch of indescribable bitterness arose within me.
Why did she not sleep all night?
As dawn broke, they were to set off. The little demon in the ghost market wouldn't delay them for long. Once dealt with, barring any unforeseen circumstances, she would have no choice but to leave this place with Song Ju, traveling to all corners of the world.
The person in front of her was the 'accident' she had been hoping for.
It's all because of you, she thought.
Such heartfelt and tender words are naturally impossible to utter to a heartless and cold man who has abandoned her.
She had no choice but to swallow her anger and deliberately misinterpret the situation, replying, "I certainly didn't meet any informants under the cover of night last night, nor did I have a romantic rendezvous under the moon. No matter which one you want to ask about, I didn't."
Her tone was soft yet barbed, but her gaze unconsciously drifted over there.
A hard, heaving Adam's apple bobbed briefly before the door on the left opened at the opportune moment, the carved window frame obscuring the solitary figure at the entrance of the corridor, making it impossible for Qi Tang to see his expression clearly.
With a haughty glance, Song Ju didn't say a word, but Qi Tang knew he must have heard everything perfectly!
Qi Tang's ears turned red. She glared at him, suppressing her embarrassment, and subconsciously tucked the jade-handled dagger deep into her sleeve.
As soon as she reached out, a burlap bundle was thrown at her. Qi Tang caught it in her arms and pressed it against her chest. Inside were a cloak and a mask.
.
After walking a mile north, they stopped at a deserted hillside where few people ventured, and changed into cloaks and masks.
After leaving the inn, Leng Xue did not travel with the two of them. He followed them silently at a distance. Qi Tang originally thought it was because he only had two cloaks, but she did not expect that the other party had also found one from somewhere and changed into it.
As they got closer to the location marked on the letter, the rough sand beneath their feet gradually turned into grayish-white loose soil, and as soon as they put their ankles down, their feet sank deep into it.
The place was completely silent, with only the whistling of the wind as it swept through the open space. All around, there were rows of dead and fallen trees, their trunks twisted and deformed, their branches splintered and their cracks like dark, gaping holes.
Staring at it for too long feels like countless eyes are staring intently at you from all directions, giving you the creeps.
The scene was undeniably a bit creepy. Qi Tang hesitated for a moment, then carefully turned half her body around to look back.
Unexpectedly, I bumped into the blue-eyed person I was looking for.
The withered branches beneath their feet snapped as if startled, and both of them were taken aback. Leng Xue silently looked away.
"Snap—"
There was another sound. Qi Tang looked down in a panic and realized that the sound was coming from in front of her.
Song Ju had stopped walking.
Her gaze followed the broad shoulders forward... to a dilapidated temple, its walls largely collapsed, the remaining sections blurred by wind and rain, with only half of the temple door open, revealing an impenetrable darkness inside.
How eerie, Qi Tang thought to herself. If it were before, there would definitely be an old monster living inside.
Before he could even take a few glances, Song Ju stepped inside, his expression as usual, strolling leisurely as if he were inspecting an inn.
Qi Tang had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow.
Stepping into the empty courtyard, the smoldering smell of incense ash mixed with dust filled my nostrils, and the ground was littered with broken bricks and tiles. The only saving grace was that I wasn't covered in cobwebs as I had expected.
I hate that stuff the most; it's sticky.
Qi Tang wrinkled her nose, walked to Song Ju's side where he was standing, and peeked out, asking, "What's wrong?"
Song Ju twirled the incense ash between his fingertips and gestured with his chin toward the incense burner.
The bottom of the dilapidated stone incense burner was covered with hardened and cracked incense ash mixed with sand, forming lumps that were grayish-black in color, indicating that it had been abandoned for many years. However, a ring of grayish-white incense ash had settled in the center of the burner.
The texture is soft and fluffy; it crumbles easily when rubbed between your fingers, indicating it's definitely a fresh ash left over from recent painting.
Offering incense and making offerings here is only related to the entrance to the Ghost Market.
It could be that demons or ghosts devour incense offerings, or that there are hidden mechanisms or secret passages, or that someone is pretending to be a deity or ghost—there are only three possibilities.
Qi Tang glanced at the temple at the end of the courtyard and said, "Let's split up and search."
The answer must lie in the riddle itself.
Song Ju did not comment.
Qi Tang ignored him and walked up the steps to the main hall. Beside the dilapidated wooden door stood a stone statue of a monk holding scriptures, his features no longer recognizable.
Qi Tang tilted her head and leaned closer to look at the scripture clutched in the stone statue's hand; only faint indentations remained of the characters on it.
I guessed and fumbled, and the first line should be "Holding this petal of incense, to which precious image do I take refuge?", but I couldn't recognize the rest.
After silently repeating it to himself, he pushed open the door and entered, the old bell on the eaves making a muffled 'clang' sound.
The interior of the temple was not much better than the exterior. A corner of the temple roof had collapsed, the temple was full of ruins, and the two statues of gods were eroded by wind and rain, dirty and dilapidated.
The Bodhisattva with lowered brows in the left hall has a broken wrist and layers of cracks on his forehead. Rainwater meanders and drags along the solidified sand, like lines of sorrowful tears.
The wrathful Vajra in the right hall holds a vajra, its body covered with countless holes, and its lotus pedestal is covered with dark green moss. In front of both statues are incense burners, containing a few fresh ashes.
'Taking refuge in which precious image' seems to mean offering incense to one of the images, but what kind of incense is it?
The incense ash, whether in the courtyard or in the incense burner inside the hall, is extremely fine in texture, and the lingering fragrance carries a faint scent of agarwood, making it far from the common items that can be easily purchased in the northern border regions.
The fact that they are so consistent suggests that most of the people offering incense obtained their incense from inside the temple.
The temple is dilapidated everywhere; where is the incense offering hidden?
Her gaze darted around, finally settling on the faded murals. If there were hollow walls, it would surely be a perfect place to store incense.
Unfortunately, the mural was badly damaged and could no longer be discerned by sight. Qi Tang had no choice but to grope and tap on it inch by inch.
The wall beneath her fingertips was cold and rough, raising a thick layer of dust with each press. Qi Tang held her breath and had to soften her pressure, carefully discerning the vibrations of the wall as if touching Braille.
In the darkness, touch and perception are amplified.
Her palm pressed against the mural, tracing the eyes of the tormented demon. The next instant, without warning, her fingertips struck another source of warmth that was being explored.
The two froze simultaneously.
It felt as if some kind of subtle electric current was traveling up my arm, sending a shiver through me.
Both hands jerked back as if startled birds.
Qi Tang heard another breath suddenly quicken in the darkness, and her palm went numb as if it had been branded with a hot iron. A faint glimmer of water immediately welled up in her eyes: "Why are you following me? The palace is so big."
Why are you following me?
This doesn't make much sense. There aren't many places to explore inside the hall. Although the murals cover the entire wall, the one depicting the torture of a hundred ghosts is the best preserved.
It's perfectly normal for a cold-blooded person to become suspicious.
However, he did not refute it; his entire arm was trembling slightly, which he could only try his best to suppress. Leng Xue clenched the soft flesh in his mouth, trying to forcefully cover up the strange sensation remaining on the back of his hand with pain.
He did not answer, and the hall fell silent again, with only the sound of slightly heavy breathing rising and falling.
Qi Tang was completely unaware of his contradictions and thoughts. She only felt that his cold and indifferent appearance was not as good as the angry glare of the Buddha statue above his head.
He was always silent. But isn't silence itself a form of answer?
The bird bells under the eaves outside the hall jingled, and a timely breeze blew through the crack in the door, making her feel a little chilly.
Qi Tang told herself: There are murals all around, why be confined to just one wall?
He let out a small breath, turned to the side, and walked towards the back of the Buddha statue with its lowered brows. As the saying goes, "Only by not seeing the Buddha can you see its true face," and there might be a mechanism on the lotus platform behind the statue.
However, she had only taken half a step when her wrist was gripped tightly, her knuckles tightening sharply, and the calluses suddenly embedded themselves into the veins on her wrist.
Qi Tang's heart skipped a beat, and she opened her eyes wide, thinking something was about to happen, but she only heard a hoarse, dry voice behind her.
"Found it."
His voice was stiff, and his palms were burning hot, far exceeding normal body temperature.
Qi Tang turned around, staring blankly at the large hand gripping her wrist, and said in a daze, "...What?"
Leng Xue pursed his lips, gripped his sheathless sword, and with a swift movement, soared onto the roof like a hawk. The tip of his sword pierced through the bell ring, and with a gentle flick, the bird-startling bell was pried off.
He landed silently in one smooth motion, clenched his fist, and handed out the copper bell: "Wind Bell."
"for you."
With his cold-blooded lightness skill and internal strength, he would never have been out of breath because of these few moves. However, his breathing sounded like a broken bellows, as if he had done something extremely difficult and troublesome.
There was no wind, yet the bird-startling bell jingled incessantly in his palm.
Qi Tang hesitated for a moment before raising her hand to take it.
Turning his wrist over, he saw a stick of incense cleverly tied to the copper tongue with a thin wire.
Unless one has exceptional hearing, no one would suspect that the incense sticks were hidden inside the wind chimes that jingled in the wind.
Qi Tang lowered her head and took two light sniffs; it was indeed the scent of Qinan agarwood.
Qi Tang held the incense stick by her fingertips, as if it were a weed, and lit the other end with her spiritual power. Although her gaze was on the incense burner, her pupils were not focused. Her thoughts, which had been stirred up again, were too difficult to unravel. She simply followed her instincts and inserted the incense stick into the burner.
He asked casually, "Aren't you a constable?... What are you giving me?"
Am I not the suspect you're trying to monitor? Her ears practically perked up.
The wisps of smoke drifted, the incense sticks embedded in the burner, and finally a sound came from behind, but it was a broken voice that had lost its composure.
Cold-blooded pupils contracted sharply: "Get out of the way!"
For the first time, a look of panic appeared on that cold, stern face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
