Chapter 158
As promised, Sheng Xuan personally led a team of soldiers to transport dozens of heavy camphor wood chests, sealed with tape, to the Shuyu Courtyard where Su Zhelan lived.
The box was filled with all the scrolls, books, diagrams, and scattered records looted from the core altar of Blacksha Valley.
As the boxes were carried into Su Zhelan's study, filling almost half the room, a flicker of emotion finally appeared in Su Zhelan's eyes. It was a kind of greedy, eager focus.
He didn't even wait for his personal guards to completely leave the room before impatiently tearing open the seal on the first box. He pulled out a dark yellow animal hide scroll that smelled musty and faintly bloody, went straight to his desk, sat down, and immediately immersed himself in the morning light streaming in from the window.
From that moment on, Su Zhelan seemed to have "disappeared" from this world.
He locked himself completely in his study, spending day and night poring over and studying the mountain of evil documents. Meals were often left untouched at the door, only to be reheated and cooled repeatedly before being reluctantly taken away by the worried servants.
The lights often stayed on all night, illuminating his increasingly thin and haggard profile as he hunched over his desk, writing furiously or deep in thought.
He seemed possessed, driven by a terrible, unhealthy fanaticism. It seemed that only by thoroughly deciphering and understanding these textual patterns filled with bizarre symbols, bloody rituals, and vicious curses could he fill the enormous black hole in his heart, cracked by trauma and the emptiness of revenge, prove his worth in life, and perhaps... find a tiny, insignificant clue related to his deceased loved ones.
Sheng Xuan was extremely anxious. Every day, he would pace back and forth outside the tightly closed door countless times, knocking, persuading, and even angrily scolding, but he was always met with only silence.
He dared not force the door open, fearing it would agitate Su Zhelan's already unstable emotions. He could only anxiously stand guard outside, straining his ears to catch any slight movement inside, fearing that Su Zhelan might faint or have an accident inside.
A few days later, Xiao Qiyun finally managed to temporarily escape from the suffocatingly heavy military affairs and post-war reckoning, and rushed to Shuyu Courtyard as soon as possible.
He was still wearing his princely robes, which he hadn't had time to change out of. His brows showed the weariness of days of toil, but even more so, a deep worry. He dismissed the guards outside the courtyard and walked into the quiet courtyard alone. He immediately saw Sheng Xuan, who was sitting like a door god on the stone steps outside the study door, with disheveled hair, bloodshot eyes, and an aura of dejection and anxiety emanating from him.
Xiao Qiyun's brows furrowed immediately, and his ominous premonition intensified. He strode to the door, raised his hand, and tapped the door three times with his knuckles, neither too lightly nor too heavily.
“Ze Lan, it’s me.” His voice was low, with a hint of barely perceptible hoarseness.
The room was deathly silent at first. After a long while, extremely slow, dragging footsteps could be heard.
The door wasn't fully open, only a narrow crack appeared. Half of Su Zhelan's face was visible in the shadows. His complexion was almost transparently pale, his eye sockets were sunken, and his lips were cracked. Only his eyes, bloodshot yet frighteningly bright, burned with an almost obsessive, life-consuming light.
His gaze lingered on Xiao Qiyun's face for a moment, as if it took him some effort to recognize him. Then he lowered his head slightly, his voice dry and hurried, carrying a clear sense of impatience and detachment after being disturbed: "Your Highness... military affairs are busy, there's no need to worry. I... am at a critical juncture, let's talk another day."
Before he could finish speaking, and before Xiao Qiyun could react, the door was slammed shut again with a soft "bang," and the faint sound of the bolt being bolted could be heard from inside.
Xiao Qiyun's outstretched hand remained frozen in mid-air. He stared at the tightly closed door, which seemed to separate two worlds, a flicker of surprise crossing his handsome face, quickly replaced by a deeper worry and a sense of helplessness. He had never been so directly, even rudely, turned away by Su Zhelan.
He slowly lowered his hand, turned around, and his gaze fell back on Sheng Xuan, who was still squatting on the stone steps, looking up at him.
Sheng Xuan forced a smile, a smile more painful than a grimace, tinged with exhaustion and helplessness. His tone was sour, even bordering on resignation: "Be grateful, Your Highness. At least you'll let him open a crack in the wall and say a word. How many days have I been squatting here? I've shouted myself hoarse, and he won't even bother to utter a single word like 'get lost' to me."
Xiao Qiyun looked at Sheng Xuan in silence, then glanced back at the closed door, and finally said nothing.
He knew that Su Zhelan's current state was extremely abnormal; her frantic dedication seemed more like self-torture and escapism. But he also understood that any forceful intervention at this moment could backfire.
He stood there for a moment, and finally could only order Sheng Xuan in a deep voice, "Keep a close eye on him. As for food... find a way to get him to eat a little." His tone was full of an unquestionable command, but also revealed a hint of helplessness that was hard to hide.
Sheng Xuan nodded weakly and buried her face in her knees again.
Xiao Qiyun took one last deep look at the door, as if trying to see through the thick wooden planks to the self-immolating figure inside, before turning around and leaving the courtyard with heavy steps.
The oppressive atmosphere and anxiety seemed even stronger than when they arrived.
Several more days passed in Su Zhelan's almost self-destructive, frenzied research. In the study, the once mountain of files had been categorized and spread across the desk, the floor, and even the walls were covered with clue diagrams that Su Zhelan had jotted down, which only he could understand.
The air was thick with the scent of old paper, ink, and an indescribable chill that seemed to emanate from the files themselves.
Su Zhelan was so thin he was almost unrecognizable, with sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones, and an unhealthy pale complexion. Only his eyes shone with a terrifying brightness, born of extreme focus and a near-collapse-like excitement. His fingertips were worn raw and bleeding from turning over rough papers for so long, but he was completely oblivious.
He was facing a tattered piece of animal hide, its edges charred, inscribed with obscure details of the transfer of the "Holy Source" and the selection of the "sacrifice" in an extremely ancient cryptic script. These words eerily overlapped with fragmented, painfully buried memories within his mind!
His breathing suddenly quickened, his heart pounded wildly, almost bursting out of his chest! His fingers trembled as he rapidly compared and sketched on the scattered notes and maps... Finally, his movements abruptly stopped!
“...It’s there...really,” he murmured, his voice hoarse like sandpaper, trembling with disbelief, a mixture of immense grief and a faint, almost nonexistent hope.
The mental tension that had been stretched to its limit for so long finally gave way to an unbearable wail under the shock of this sudden, all-encompassing discovery.
He suddenly stood up, but the world spun before his eyes, and a strong sense of dizziness and weakness engulfed him instantly like a tidal wave. He staggered towards the door, used his last bit of strength to pull the latch, and pushed open the door that had isolated him from the outside world for so long.
The blinding sunlight streamed in, causing him to squint uncomfortably.
Sheng Xuan, who had been standing guard outside the door like a stone statue, was startled by the sudden commotion and jumped up! He saw Su Zhelan standing unsteadily at the door, her whole body pale and fragile as if she would dissipate in the sunlight at any moment, and his heart instantly jumped into his throat!
"Su Zhelan! What's wrong?! Do you need anything?!" Sheng Xuan rushed forward and urgently supported his almost unsteady body, her voice filled with panic.
Su Zhelan's eyes were unfocused, seemingly unable to concentrate. She instinctively grabbed Sheng Xuan's arm, her lips moving as she murmured extremely faintly, like a dream: "Found it... I... found it..."
Before he could finish speaking, his body went limp, the terrifying light in his eyes went out completely, and he fell straight backward like a puppet with its strings cut! The extreme exhaustion and the huge mental shock finally made him "go offline" at the moment the goal was achieved.
"Su Zhelan!" Sheng Xuan cried out in alarm, his heart pounding. He frantically scooped up the unconscious woman and carried her in his arms. The woman was so light that it made his heart race!
He could no longer care about anything else. Carrying Su Zhelan, he rushed out of the courtyard like an arrow and ran wildly toward the medicine courtyard where Su Yan was!
"Master! Master Su Yan! Save him!!" Sheng Xuan roared as he rushed into the medicine courtyard, his voice trembling with sobs.
Chaos erupted inside the pharmacy. Su Yan rushed out upon hearing the commotion and saw Su Zhelan, pale-faced and barely breathing, in Sheng Xuan's arms. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately instructed Sheng Xuan to carefully place her on the sickbed. Su Yan quickly placed his fingers on Su Zhelan's wrist pulse, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.
After a tense process of acupuncture and medication, Su Zhelan's pulse finally stabilized slightly, but it remained weak. Su Yan stood by her side, his face so gloomy it could drip water.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Zhelan's eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she finally slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, then gradually focused, revealing Su Yan's face, which was filled with worry and anger.
Seeing him awake, Su Yan's pent-up anger flared up instantly. Pointing at his nose, she began to berate him, her voice trembling slightly with lingering fear: "You little brat! Are you out of your mind?! You've ruined yourself like this! Your spirit is depleted; a few days later, even a celestial being couldn't save you! I really..."
Seeing this, Gu Linzhao quickly stepped forward and gently patted Su Yan's back, softly advising, "Su Yan, Su Yan, calm down. It's good that you're awake, it's good that you're awake... Just take your time to recover, don't get angry..."
Just then, Sheng Xuan and Xiao Qiyun, having heard the commotion, rushed in.
When Sheng Xuan saw Su Zhelan wake up, her eyes instantly reddened. She opened her mouth, but choked up and couldn't speak. Xiao Qiyun quickly walked to the bedside, looking at Su Zhelan with a complicated expression. Seeing that he was awake, but still so weak that he seemed like he could break at any moment, he frowned.
Su Zhelan's gaze swept across the crowd somewhat blankly before finally settling on Xiao Qiyun's face.
He seemed not to hear Su Yan's angry curses at all. Suddenly, a desperate light flashed in his eyes, and he reached out and grabbed Xiao Qiyun's wrist! His fingers were cold and weak, but they carried an astonishing stubbornness.
“Your Highness…” Su Zhelan’s voice was weak but exceptionally clear, carrying an undeniable urgency, “The exact location of the… cult’s… headquarters that was raided by the imperial court… that you found before… is it? Tell me!”
Xiao Qiyun was taken aback by his question, completely unexpected that Su Zhelan's first question upon waking up would be about this.
He answered instinctively, "In...in the northwest border, at Black Wind Pass, three hundred miles west of Crimson Flame City. It was Sheng Xuan's father's generation who led the troops to wipe it out back then, so what?"
Upon hearing the place name, Su Zhelan's pupils constricted sharply, and her fingers tightened around Xiao Qiyun's wrist, her fingertips trembling slightly from the force. She murmured, "...It matches...I knew it..."
Hearing that Su Zhelan, upon waking up, didn't even ask about her own safety but instead kept asking about the cult's lair, Su Yan was furious. He roared, "You little brat! You should worry about your own frail body first! Stop worrying about all that nonsense! Burn all that filth away! The most important thing for you now is to lie down and recover! Do you hear me?!"
But Su Zhelan seemed to ignore him, staring intently at Xiao Qiyun as if seeking final confirmation from him, and the room fell into an eerie silence.
"Su Zhelan, you should rest well first." Xiao Qiyun's gaze calmly met Su Zhelan's anxious eyes, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "I promise you, once you've recovered your strength and energy, I will tell you everything I know about you."
He paused, emphasizing his words as if making a solemn vow: "But now, you need sleep. Close your eyes and get some rest. We'll talk about everything else after you've rested."
“…Okay,” a faint, almost inaudible syllable escaped from his chapped lips. As if a tremendous burden had finally been lifted, or as if all support had been removed, his long eyelashes trembled a few times, and finally, slowly and obediently, he closed his eyes.
Almost instantly, his breathing became deep and even, and he fell into a deep, unguarded sleep. It was a deep, comatose sleep caused by the sudden relaxation of the mind after exhaustion.
Su Yan watched as Su Zhelan finally fell asleep. His tense face relaxed slightly, but his brows remained furrowed. He snorted heavily and muttered in a low voice, "Finally, she's quiet! This little devil..." His tone was sharp, but it carried obvious heartache and lingering fear.
Inside, the candlelight flickered gently, illuminating Su Zhelan's face, which had finally found a moment of peace in her sleep, and the people standing by her side, each with their own thoughts and feelings.
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