CH 18

In the early morning of the next day, Mu Xiyun woke up to the faint sound of the lake water lapping on the shore. In the breeze, a few pink begonia petals floated into the half-opened window and landed on the table in front.

Mu Xiyun picked up a petal, and inadvertently saw a person leaning sideways under the begonia tree outside the window. It was the young man who called himself Gu Xiaobo. He didn’t know how long he stood there, but several petals had fallen on his head and shoulders. His face was slightly raised and the halo of the rising sun shrouded it. His eyes were slightly closed, and the corners of his mouth were slightly hooked, as if reminiscing something good.

Although that face was ordinary, it became brilliant and bright because of that gentle smile.

At the entrance of the small courtyard, Luo Qingyao gently pushed the door open, and what she saw when she raised her eyes was this smiling face. She couldn’t help blushing, and said softly, “Can I ask the young master to step outside with me for a moment?”

Gu Qingqiao seemed to have woken up from a dream, and his smile was immediately lost. He glanced at the window inadvertently and saw Mu Xiyun who happened to turn around and leave from the window. He couldn’t help but froze.

Although he was annoyed in his heart, he had no choice but to follow Luo Qingyao out of the small courtyard, came to the lake, and stood one step away from her. The breeze blew the girl’s forehead. Luo Qingyao hesitated for a while before asking, “Is the young master from the desert?

If it was the Gu Qingqiao before the disguise, the outline of the appearance was more three-dimensional than the average Central Plain person, the bridge of the nose was higher, and the eye sockets were deeper. Now that the disguise had been planted, the appearance had already been revised to an ordinary Central Plain person, and no longer have the characteristics of the western regions.

Could it be that this little girl knows something? 

Gu Qingqiao secretly became on guard against her and asked, “Why did Miss Luo say this?”

“I… I’m looking for someone who is very important to me, and the only clue is a portrait.” 

“Let me guess, that portrait is from the desert, why do you think I’m from the desert? Do I look a lot like the person in the portrait?”

“No….” Luo Qingyao looked at his face again, lowered her head and whispered, “Mingyue Sword Technique.”

The rising sun illuminated the distant green hills golden, just like the golden sand dunes in the desert. There seemed to be camel bells ringing in his ears, and a group of teenagers waving their knives in the sea of sand. That was the memory of Gu Qingqiao more than 60 years ago. But now standing by the lake was Gu Xiabo, Zhang Jinjin’s cousin. No matter what this girl was looking for, now was not the time to revisit the past. 

It was not a surprise if she could easily guess his sword technique. Gu Qingqingqiao breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and took two steps, stopped and said, “The Mingyue Sword Technique created by the Mingyue Desert Immortal, was originally for the people of the desert to defend against the western demon clan, and was widely spread in the western desert regions. My swordsmanship was learned from a martial artist that also taught other children other martial arts. He probably thought that I was more suitable practicing this technique, so he supervised me to practice for a few years. Sorry, but I can’t help you much. “

“I see.” Luo Qingyao said in a low voice.

The two were speechless for a while, and the atmosphere was very awkward.

Gu Qingqiao was only thinking about Mu Xiyun and didn’t want to wait any longer. Just when he was about to say goodbye or something, Luo Qingyao spoke first, “Such an encounter is out of luck, I was also curious for a moment, you don’t need to care about it. I’ve been giving you trouble these days!”

He didn’t expect such a little girl to be so open-minded and transparent. Gu Qingqiao glanced back at her with a little surprise, then waved his hand and walked back towards the small courtyard.

Nie Yao came to the small courtyard while he was talking with Lou Qingyao. In such a short time, the small courtyard became empty and only the begonia tree was still swaying gently in the wind. Gu Qingqiao rubbed his forehead with a wry smile, and quickly went to the front hall to find Zhang Jinjin.

Hongye City Yamen.

Nie Yao took Su Yanjun and Mu Xiyun to sit in the side hall as Lin Xuewu was brought out by several officers.

Unexpectedly, Lin Xuewu was very calm. Lin’s family had been taking care of him. At this moment, he was neatly dressed, his face was clean, his hair was neatly combed, and there was nothing wrong with his behavior. If it weren’t for the chains on his hands and feet, he would be more respectable than any ordinary person on the street.

Nie Yao had participated in the interrogation before, but he was afraid that his opinion would affect their judgment, so he asked Lin Xuewu to recount his own experience again.

It was actually very simple. Lin Xuewu set out for Taiyuan half a year ago, but he didn’t reach his destination at all. The night before arriving in Taiyuan City, the escort team spent the night in a small inn. Lin Xuewu had two drinks at dinner and went back to his room to rest early. He had no memory of what happened after that. When he woke up, it was already half a year later, when he arrived at Hongye City, his hair was disheveled and his body was stained like that of a beggar.

A few gangsters on the street saw that a piece of jade pendant on his waist was valuable, and they became eager to snatch it. Unexpectedly, Lin Xuewu was a martial artist, and several gangsters were injured in the fight. Yamen officers immediately came upon hearing the news and fought against Lin Xuewu fiercely, injuring several of them and sending Lin Xuewu to prison.

Lin Xuewu had been in a daze for a few days, but he slowly came to his senses. But he couldn’t remember the experience from when he was in the small inn until the time he came to Hongye City.

“Hongye City Government Office also contacted Taiyuan Prefecture, and sent someone to check the inn.” Nei Yao added, “The inn has been empty, but there is no trace of a fight, and the goods escorted are still in the room. The Yamen and the owner of the goods have settled the accounts. Nothing was lost, but those were still valuable products that should’ve been sold a year ago. Although there were many treasures of high value, there was nothing special.”

“It sounds like ‘soul capture’,” Su Yanjun pondered. “But the soul of the victim should be damaged, and likely impossible to restore to normal. Brother Mu, what do you think?”

Mu Xiyun frowned and shook his head. He had no way of knowing what happened to Lin Xuewu, but this memory loss made him secretly startled. 

While thinking about it, he suddenly heard a choking sound. That’s the sound a person makes because of throat spasm when they’re particularly frightened or distressed. Lin Xuewu clutched his heart with his hands and fell to the ground. Mu Xiyun raised his head, only to see his face becoming pale and was sweating profusely. 

Mu Xiyun took two steps forward to support Lin Xuewu, but found that a cyan totem suddenly appeared on his skin. That totem was like a living creature, spreading like branches and leaves from the neck to the face quickly. Lin Xuewu suddenly widened his eyes and suddenly stepped away from Mu Xiyun’s reach, broke free from the chains and waved it to attack him.

He was caught off guard and it was too late to draw the sword. Instead of retreating, he advanced, ducked and avoided Lin Xuewu’s raised arm.

At the entrance of the side hall, Gu Qingqiao and Zhang Jinjin rushed in.

When Gu Qingqiao found out that Mu Xiyun was already gone when he came back to the small courtyard, he went to find Zhang Jinjin. But he didn’t expect that the Young Master Zhang was busy with business, and it took nearly half an hour before they got out. The two rushed to Hongye Yamen in a hurry. 

The totem on Lin Xuewu’s face was extremely hideous, making his face look like an evil demon. Gu Qingqiao stopped abruptly and looked at the totem in disbelief. The chain that Lin Xuewu was waving was in front of him, but he didn’t move and stayed rooted on the spot.

Zhang Jinjin pulled him from behind, and Su Yanjun had already come forward at this time, pulling Lin Xuewu’s arm to the side, and several officers rushed up and pinned Lin Xuewu to the floor.

When Gu Qingqiao came back to his senses, he forced himself to bow his hands to the crowd. “I’m sorry, I was scared for a moment.” After speaking, ignoring the doubtful eyes casted by Mu Xiyun, he retreated to the wall and remained silent. The totem on Lin Xuewu’s body had receded, and at this moment, his whole body was curled up and was shivering.

After this scene, although everyone was full of doubts, they knew that nothing would come out of the trial. Nie Yao ordered the officers to take Lin Xuewu back to the prison and put him under strict supervision, and returned to the small courtyard of the post house with everyone.

Although they’ve discovered something, but everyone can’t think of why the totem on Lin Xuewu’s body suddenly appeared, and why he suddenly burst out and hurt people, they only agreed that the totem was the key.

Mu Xiyun was the closest to Lin Xuewu that time, and he drew a few copies of the totem on paper based on his impression. Nie Yao took a copy and took it back to Lingshan. Su Yanjun entrusted Zhang Jinjin’s post house to send a copy to Moyun Mountain to ask the leader and several elders to help. After that, he set off for Shanhai City according to the original plan.

Sitting alone in the room, recalling Lin Xuewu’s changes and the hideous totem, he always had a strange feeling in his heart. He seemed to have seen this totem somewhere, but he could only remember it vaguely.

Unknowingly, it was already time to light the lamp. Mu Xiyun simply lay down and decided to take a nap, but the terrifying totem kept flashing before his eyes, causing him to feel uneasy. Half-dream and half-awake, a face suddenly appeared in Mu Xiyun’s mind, and the pattern that flashed on his face completely overlapped with the totem on Lin Xuewu’s face today.

Mu Yun suddenly sat up from the bed, it was—

“It’s Li Yao.” Gu Qingqiao whispered to Zhang Jinjin.

The two of them were wearing dark clothes at the moment, lying on the roof of the Hongye Yamen house, waiting for the time of the shifting of prison guards.

“That totem, I have seen it on Li Yao’s face.”

Gu Qingqiao continued in a low voice, “On the night he….on the night he died.” 

“You really killed Li Yao?” Zhang Jinjin asked in surprise.

“You could say it was something like that.” Gu Qingqiao looked bleak.

“What do you mean? Killing is killing, not killing is not killing,” Zhang Jinjin felt that this person must be stupid. “Look at how deeply you are in love with that little immortal, don’t you think there is a misunderstanding between the two of you that needs to be solved? I didn’t really expect the legends on the streets to be true!”

Gu Qingqiao’s eyes narrowed, “Don’t talk nonsense, there is nothing between me and him, he is a disciple from a decent immortal family…”

Halfway through his sentence, there was movement below, and several officers took advantage of the shift and chatted together in the yard. The two crept close and like a puff of black smoke, slipped inside quietly.

Hongye City was adjacent to Lingshan Mountain, therefore the security was good. As they passed through rows of cells, none had any prisoners inside. Lin Xuewu was kept in the innermost room. The two swept past like a gust of wind, and saw him still curled up on the bunk.

Zhang Jinjin waved his hand and added a simple barrier outside the prison door, so that people outside could not see or hear what was happening inside the prison for the time being.

When Gu Qingqiao approached Lin Xuewu, he saw that he shrank deeper, his breath shortened, and he looked in pain. Before long, the totem gradually appeared on his face.

“Strange,” Zhang Jinjin said, “how do you feel that because of you he suddenly turned berserk and attacked people?”

Thinking about what occurred during the day, Lin Xuewu really behaved fine, and it was not until the two of them came to the side hall of the Yamen office that the totem appeared. 

Could it be? Gu Qingqiao suddenly had an idea.

He took out a dagger, lightly cut Lin Xuewu’s wrist, and also made a small cut on his finger. He pinched his finger to bleed a drop of blood onto Lin Xuewu’s wrist while also probing Lin Xuewu’s body with his spiritual energy.

Probably because it had already happened once today, this time Lin Xuewu only struggled for a while and immediately became powerless. Gu Qingqiao keenly felt that the drop of blood traveled through Lin Xuewu’s veins and his spiritual energy through his meridians, and when it reached the heart, it was blocked.

Gu Qingqiao let out a surprise sound, opened the front of Lin Xuewu’s shirt, stared at the position of his heart. He decided to increase the input of spiritual energy and erased the trace of his blood in Lin Xuewu’s body.

The skin at Lin Xuewu’s heart suddenly moved, as if some living thing was wriggling inside.

Gu Qingqiao raised his hand and tapped a few acupoints in his chest, took out a porcelain bottle from the Qiankun pouch, and poured some powder on his skin. The living creature under the skin became restless, writhing like crazy. 

“Quick, cut it open with a knife!” Gu Qingqiao ordered.

Zhang Jinjin was stunned and blurted out, “Why don’t you do it yourself?”

“Then you catch it?” Gu Qingqiao gave him a sidelong glance.

Zhang Jinjin touched his nose, accepted his fate and resignedly pulled out his dagger. He carefully cut the skin of Lin Xuewu’s chest and a fat worm emerged from the wound.

“Gu worm?” Zhang Jinjin took a step back in disgust. 

“En.” Gu Qingqiao stretched out his hand fast, and before the bug could react, he firmly caught it. But he did not stop there, he took out another medicine and sprinkled it lightly on the Gu worm.

When Zhang Jinjin saw him like this, he knew that things were not so simple. Sure enough, not long after, from Lin Xuewu’s wounds, crawled out of more than a dozen of tiny Gu worms, which were all caught by Gu Qingqiao.

After waiting for a while, after confirming that there were no more worms, Gu Qingqiao took out an empty porcelain bottle from inside his shirt and put the fat worm in it. 

“How did you know it was a Gu worm?”

“You said it just now.” Gu Qingqiao glanced at him, “You said that it was because I was near that it caused him to attack.”

“Is it because you studied in the Southwest Valley?” Zhang Jinjin asked curiously. 

“There are many poisonous insects in the Southwest Valley, and all the disciples would decisively refine them to cure the sick.” Gu Qingqiao explained, “But it did not became agitated because of this.”

“What do you mean?” 

Gu Qingqiao’s eyes flashed gloomily. “It’s because of my blood.”

Lin Xuewu’s breathing had calmed down. Gu Qingqiao didn’t want to say more, and simply applied some medicine on the wound, straightened his clothes, and stood up. The two packed up their things, removed the barrier, and quietly slipped out of the prison.

The author has something to say:

Small theater: 

Gu Qingqiao: Ah Yun, Miss Luo came to see me on a business matter! It’s not what you think!

Author: Bwahaha, be careful, the more you try to explain, the darker you get!

Gu Qingqiao: please help me explain it!

Author: Okay, I’ll go, I’ll go. Ah? anyone here? Ask yourself for more blessings!