Chapter 109
At night, a thick fog grew and covered the bamboo forest.
He was dazed, and the taste of rust in his throat would not go away, as if someone had choked him and pierced his chest with an iron chain. Every breath he took was excruciatingly painful.
My fingers were the only part of my body that could move, so he groped blindly. The roots of the grass on the ground were turned up and the dew wet his palms.
It had rained a few days before and the soil was damp and cold, freezing his fingers to the point of pain. He thrust his fingers into the soil to support his body, which felt as if it were falling apart.
A faint red light was reflected on his pale face, cold sweat glistened on his forehead. He felt the heat next to him and turned around incredulously.
The dense bamboo forest was the dividing line between the deep night on one side and the bright red of the sky on the other side, the densest part of the red light turned into a crackling flame, tongues of fire licking the collapsed beams, rolls of smoke rising to the sky and blending into the thick fog.
The people who had just been walking around just now, looked like roasted ants, and were laid out disorderly over the mud, utterly silent.
The nearest one to him, their white clothes had been dyed scarlet. He recognized the astonished wide-eyed face, Bai Jin.
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He looked down at his hands, fingertips were trembling. The blood was mixed with dirt, the filth covering his hands.
A few moments ago, this was still the well-organized Mu Mansion.
——What did he do?
He only vaguely remembered that the moonlight was extremely bright, and under her guidance, he absent-mindedly drew the last stroke of the reverse talisman, and then felt a huge force burst inside his body, nearly tearing his whole body in half.
He was instantly sent flying by a wave of air and nearly swallowed by the uncontrollable energy.
When he opened his eyes again, this was what he saw.
Deathly stillness, cold, with only the sound of flames snapping, as if it were a ridiculous nightmare.
Today was the first day he tried drawing the reverse talisman with blood, believing that the talisman paper would just be a little stronger than the normal talisman.
His thin body trembled, his face as white as paper: “No, I wasn’t ……”
It wasn’t meant to be like this……
The woman’s eyes smiled with satisfaction as she approached him step by step, “How well you’ve done. Look, isn’t it so clean now?”
With his hand on the ground, he backed up with difficulty, the blunt pain in his chest pushing him. Like a small startled beast backed up in a corner, he stubbornly resisted: “That’s not what you said……”
She coaxed him, lied to him, taught him the reverse talisman for a whole year……
It was only now that he finally began to understand.
At this moment, a thousand thoughts like swimming fish, desperately hit the bottom of the boat that was about to capsize, his chest was stuffy with panic, and he felt like vomiting. He bit his lips until he tasted blood.
“What did I say?” She fiercely pinched his jaw between her fingers and raised her chin towards the burning ruins, half pitying and half provocative, laughing softly, “Look carefully, those people were killed by you, what does it have to do with me. You repayed their favor with enmity. Seems they raised an ungrateful child, hm?”
Her gaze faltered slightly and landed behind him. She released her hand and murmured in a disinterested manner, “Looks like one slipped through the net.
He turned his head back quickly, Mu Yao, who had just returned, stood motionless in front of a piece of rubble, the girl was staring at a fire, her voice lost, her figure was so thin that it seemed likely to fall over at a gust of wind.
The woman pulled out an arrow from her sleeve: “Go and have a reunion with the rest.”
The tip of the arrow was so sharp that it was almost invisible. The flash unique to sharp metal flashed across it. The weapon belonged to Mu Huaijiang and its power was enormous.
“Sister!” His heart almost leapt to his throat. He lunged at the same time as the sleeve arrow was fired, and it hit him in the shoulder with a cold wind. The two were knocked over by its force
Mu Yao came to her senses and pulled him behind her, her face was white: “Bai Yirong, are you crazy!”
Another sleeve arrow was shot, and the woman’s chestnut eyes carried an icy smile.
“Mother……” He stretched out his arm in front of Mu Yao, either from the cold or from the poison on the sleeve arrow, his whole body was swaying, “Mother…… please don’t kill Sister……”
“Mu Sheng, you have killed so many people already…… ” the woman seemed to see something interesting, laughing gently, ”Now, why are you pretending to be good?”
His voice had become hoarse: “Mother……”
“Who is your mother?” The woman’s arrow shifted, aiming at his forehead, and the corners of her mouth were coldly hooked, “If you weren’t useful, why would I have kept you alive until today? You should have died a long time ago, bastard.”
The sleeve arrow burst through the air and instantly headed for his life gate. The moment the cold arrow hit his forehead, the air trembled and a large ripple spread through the air, as if an invisible hand had grabbed the arrow and wrenched it to the side.
Clack. The arrow fell to the ground.
“Little Sheng’er……” her voice echoed between heaven and earth, gentle, with a faint sorrow, and a long lasting echo.
He looked around in confusion, she was in every corner, like fog, and like fog about to dissipate——
It was her.
Beside him, Mu Yao’er body swayed and fell down first, followed by him. A breeze brushed his forehead, like someone’s hand gently stroking it, and all the trees and branches moved at the same time, erasing all the fire and blood in his mind.
“Child, it’s not your fault, go with your sister, forget about today.”
“Along with you mother…….”
She was like a firework, shattering to pieces. In her last moment, all things in heaven and earth were willing to deliver her message.
*
“A’Sheng, open the door ……”
“A’Sheng, something’s wrong……”
He leaned back on the bed and opened his eyes blankly, his eyes were fixed on the emptiness for a long time before they focused, and when he moved slightly, the emotions that had accumulated in his chest turned into black blood, which suddenly welled up and was spat out of his mouth.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips with his sleeve and looked back at the girl on the bed with her eyes closed, still asleep, her face still red from the fever, but her lips pale.
She clutched his sleeve with her hand.
His cold hand covered it and wrapped around the back of her hot hand for a moment before his sanity gradually returned.
He calmed down, let go of her hand, gently put it under the quilt, and went to open the door.
Liu Fuyi raised the hems of his clothes before sitting at the edge of the bed. Blood blisters had formed at the corners of his mouth. Even though Miaomiao was not yet awake, he deliberately lowered his voice and spat out a string of discouraging news: “The resentful banshee pretended to be Yao’er, tampered with the Seven Killing Formation and took the Nine Mysterious Demon Restraining Pagoda.
“We are trapped.”
Mu Sheng listened quietly and raised his eyes, his dark eyes looking at him: “Has it become a deadlock?
Liu Fuyi did not expect him to hit the nail on the head. He opened his mouth, but did not say anything and frowned, silently acknowledging his words.
Mu Sheng was silent for a while: “Can we get out?”
Liu Fuyi looked at him for a long time and gently shook his head.
Ling Miaomiao was awakened by the system.
She was still in a deep sleep when the system suddenly played a three-minute long applause sound effect in her head, waking her up.
She stared at the top of the canopy with her eyes wide open in bewilderment, and after the applause, a passionate female voice sounded: “Congratulations to 【Ling Miaomiao】, Mission One is successfully completed, Segment Reward 【Order Invalidation Talisman】, please continue to work hard.”
Ling Miaomiao didn’t respond until a while after. She pressed her lips together, grabbed the pillow and threw it violently, nearly crying.
The first task had been completed. That was to say, the path she had taken the trouble of setting up was useless. The Nine Mysterious Demon Restraining Pagoda was already in the hands of the resentful banshee, and they were already trapped in a deadly situation caused by the resentful banshee.
After wandering around in circles, no matter how hard she struggled, she still went back to the ending of the original story.
“The first pill refining will take place in seven days.”
Ling Miaomiao’s ears were perked up, and beside her, Liu Fuyi was still talking worriedly.
The large formation wrapped around the entire mansion, not only like a cage isolating the entry and exit, but also like a huge stomach, aiming to digest all the living creatures inside bit by bit.
The Seven Killing Formation, which was tampered with by the resentful banshee, was precisely this kind of deadly game, closing in every seven days and concentrating on destroying the prey in the formation, known as “pill refining”.
For those who knew how to cast spells, they wouldn’t be able to survive the third time even if they tried their best, and for ordinary people like her who didn’t know how to cast spells, they wouldn’t be able to survive even the first time.
After hearing that, Mu Sheng’s eyes fell on Miaomiao.
“Is there no other way?”
“……” Liu Fuyi hesitated to say something, but then closed his mouth.
Mu Sheng looked him in the eyes: “That’s the only way left, isn’t it?”
Liu Fuyi shook his head: “Until the last moment, do not think about that option.” He reached out and patted Mu Sheng’s shoulder, his eyes containing a bit of determined light, “Don’t worry, your sister and I are here.”
A rare occurrence, Mu Sheng did not avoid it, but quietly tucked in the edges of Miaomiao’s quilt, his long delicate eyelashes drooping: “This is the third day she’s been burning with fever.”
Liu Fuyi reached out, touched Miaomiao’s forehead, and was startled by the heat: “There is still some medicine in the kitchen……”
Mu Sheng’s glowing black eyes stared at him unblinkingly, eyes swirling with complex emotions, his eyelashes fluttering: “Do you think it’s because of me……”
“It is not.” Liu Fuyi instantly understood what he meant, cutting him off, “Don’t think too much.”
Even if this was really the case, at this moment, it still could not be said.
The young man revealed a self-deprecating smile, lowered his eyes, and said no more.
Ling Miaomiao lie straight on the bed, the warmth having left her hands and feet, still thinking about the conversation she heard just now.
That way……
In Demon Hunters, this deadlock wasn’t insurmountable, if they were desperate, they only needed one person to enter the heart of the formation and sacrifice themselves to the formation, and the rest of the group could cooperate to break the formation and have a chance of survival.
This method was not only applicable for dealing with the modified Seven Killing Formation, but also for breaking any formations.
But the four of them were like the four legs of a table, were one to be missing, it would make the originally stable situation unstable. That’s why Liu Fuyi would say that until they reached the last minute, they would never consider this method.
In the original story, Mu Sheng secretly joined hands with the resentful banshee to obstruct the protagonists’ path to happiness, leading to Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi being trapped in the formation. The two endured the pill refinement twice. Out of options, Mu Yao resolved to sacrifice herself to protect her lover by secretly offering a sacrifice to the formation.
At the critical moment, the blackened villain, Mu Sheng, without saying a word, entered the heart of the formation and died in place of his sister, thus saving the heroine’s life.
Mu Sheng’s psyche was far too subtle, subtle to the point that it’s difficult to explain or understand. Perhaps he still couldn’t bear to see Mu Yao die, or perhaps he didn’t want to live anymore.
In this way, the second male lead, who was also the second villain, brought about the happiness of the hero and heroine. At the time, Ling Miaomiao even shed two lines of tears for him.
But now, as soon as she recalled this ending……
Forget it, she shouldn’t even think about it.
In this life, the direction of Mu Sheng’s life had already diverged from his sister, so he shouldn’t do the same thing again……
“System……” Her eyelashes fluttered in agitation as she rested her wrist on her boiling forehead. After three days and nights of fever, she felt that she was roasting a pot of brain flowers 1 in her skull, “Why do I feel so awful?”
“System Notification: The host’s body condition is arranged for the plot, there is no special situation, please take it easy and continue the task. End of Notification.”
Miaomiao cursed silently and fell asleep again amidst another wave of heat.
Mu Sheng pulled her wrist down, lifted the quilt, picked her up, and untied her inner clothes to reveal the girl’s white collarbone, and he used a handkerchief dipped in cold water to wipe her face, all the way down to her chest.
The person in his arms moved restlessly, reaching out and grabbing his neck, hugging him shamelessly. Miaomiao’s lips were boiling hot, she pressed herself tightly against his neck, trembling slightly as she spoke: “So…… cold.”
Mu Sheng paused and stroked her long, soft hair that was completely let down: “Be good, we need to bring your temperature down.”
If her fever continued on like this, they wouldn’t need to wait for the first pill refinement, as her body would collapse first.
Ling Miaomiao hugged him and refused to let go of his hand. She was clearly as hot as a large furnace, but her body was shivering: “Yes…… you’re cold.”
The young man’s eyes were red. He carefully held her, closing his eyes, eyelashes trembling as he gently kissed her at the top of her head.
Footnotes:
[1] Roasted brain flowers wrapped in tin foil is a special snack in the Sichuan area, mainly using pig brain, carefully prepared with various ingredients, wrapped in tin foil and then baked.