For the past few days, after Candle Jiu Yin had speculated about the mystery of Yun Jiu Tang's life from the Extreme Deep Undead Cave, he fell into endless anxiety and panic. He felt a danger that was as sharp as a blade, and he had to take action. It was the first time in years that he had felt such panic. He wanted to find someone to play a game of chess in the Qing Qiu Mountains. Perhaps it was time to activate her.
In the music industry, ever since Yu Zhangxiang's birthday banquet three months ago, after that hubbub, it had sunk into the loneliness and desolation of the past. At this time, it was the late winter and early spring. The afternoon sun was lazily shining, and everything was drowsy. The middle stage was completely silent. There was no longer any interest in life, and it was a huge contrast to the beginning of spring.
The sole female disciple of the Central Music Altar, Painting Hall Spring, had just quietly walked out of the room of the Altar Master Yu Changxiu. She was in the middle of tidying up her messy clothes and preparing to take advantage of the lack of people to return when suddenly, a strange, clear flute sound came from the forest deep in the mountainside behind the Altar. Her face contorted with pain, and she didn't want to hear the familiar, unfamiliar voice. However, the call sounded. She had to go, or her soul would be shattered the next moment.
Her steps were light and trembling as she entered the deep forest. She didn't know who it would be this time, nor what sort of difficult task it would bring her.
"Painting Hall's Spring. I haven't seen you in a few years. How have you been?!" An unfamiliar voice drifted out from behind him, like the voice of a ghost. The painting hall spring was so shocked that he suddenly jumped, his face was as pale as the moon. He subconsciously cried out, "Who is it!? You... "Who are you!"
"So you were so forgetful that even the person who sent you here died?" Zhu Jiuyin was like a ghost, standing in front of the painting hall spring without any warning, spitting out a leaf from his mouth, "I guess I've gotten along well with that Yu Changxiu these past few years, don't think too much …" The voice of Candle Jiu Yin became softer and softer, but the smile became more eerie.
"So it's the young master. I've never forgotten the young master, and it's just that I felt a little dizzy just now, that's why …" How could Painting Hall Spring forget about him? Back then, it was precisely because of his appearance and the threat of the thousand troops that he agreed to hide in the music industry and secretly investigate the important secrets of the Setting Sun Sword and the Mysterious Great Vein Map. Since then, he and the army had been separated by two different realms. Even now, there was still no news about the army.
"Young master, I had no choice but to play with that Yu Changxiu." Painting Hall's Chun still lowered his head, but his face was covered with shame. "If not for … "Thousand Army …" By this time, the tears of humiliation had soaked his face, and his voice had become choked and quavered. She knew that Zhu Jiuyin did not care about this at all. The people who came to see him were all ordered to come. They only knew to ask for the information they wanted, and no one listened to her explanation or difficulties.
"Alright, let's not talk about all these useless things," Candle Jiu Yin didn't want to waste his time listening to her complaints. His tightly knitted eyebrows relaxed slightly, and his tone became sharp and cold, "Let me ask you this, does the Devil Ancestor want you to accomplish two things?"
Of course, she understood the two things that were mentioned by Zhu Jiuyin, "Young Lord, the Mysterious Great Vein Map is already in sight. I can obtain it in a few days. When that time comes, I would like to request Young Master to present it to the Devil Ancestor." She had already stolen the Mysterious Great Vein Map, but something had happened recently. However, it was obvious that she didn't want Candle Jiuyin to know about this.
"What about the Twilight Jade? There are rumours in the Six Realms that this treasure is here. " Candle Jiu Yin's question was sharp and direct, just like his move: direct, lethal, and ruthless. He did not beat around the bush and went straight for the vital points.
"This Painted Chun really didn't find any valuable clues," Painting Hall's Chun lowered his head again, but his voice was stronger than last time. "But I will find out for sure. Even if I have to flip the stage over, I still have to find for myself."
"Really? You don't have much time left," Candle Jiu Yin glanced at her, not caring about her grief or grievance, "If you still fail to succeed this time, then your thousand soldiers will not meet with you anymore …"
Although Zhu Jiuyin's words were ordinary, they were like a thunderbolt from a clear sky to a painting hall, "Oh, no... "Please don't worry, this time, Painting Hall's Chun will definitely find the Twilight Jade!" At the sound of the name, she seemed about to scream hysterically. Yes, that was the whole point of her concealment.
The thoughts of the painting hall seemed to drift back to his memory. That year, she was still a devil disciple who had been transformed from a piece of green bamboo leaf by a sword and eyebrows. An exquisite young lady had been lost in her thoughts, and a chance meeting that had made her and the Sect Master of the Blood Alliance fall in love at first sight. After that, when the Devil Ancestor discovered the love between the two of them, he immediately stopped them. The Thousand Army was sent to the Six Realms for the most dangerous mission, which was to escape death a few times. She was also sent to the human world, where she was treated as a dead chess piece and secretly placed next to Yu Changxiu. She clearly remembered the promise that the ruler shaped brows made. As long as she completed this mission peacefully and helped to find the Mysterious Great Vein Image and the Twilight Jade, she would grant him permission to reunite with the thousand troops and let them fight against each other. To this end, she had not seen Qian Jun for a whole five years, but every day, she would reminisce in her dreams. For the past five years, she had been enduring the humiliation and indulging herself in Yu Changxiu's lust. All of her efforts were for the moment she completed her mission, to stay together with her beloved for as long as possible.
"The Devil Ancestor doesn't have time to wait for you, so you have to be quick!" Zhu Jiuyin sternly said, as if he did not see the expression of Chun Tang, "This is your last chance, do you understand?" It seemed like this was the only option, and he didn't want to waste too much time here.
"Thank you for Young Lord's guidance. Painting Hall Spring understands!"
With a slight noise that pierced the air, Zhu Jiuyin disappeared from the painting hall when spring came back to its senses. The painting hall stared blankly at the forest. It was still very quiet, as if nothing had happened.
The gentle afternoon breeze blew through the forest and onto the face and hair of the painting hall, but she only felt waves of cold wind blowing down from the top of her head. She quickly jumped back to reality from her memories, as her mind flipped through all the fragments of the Great Mystery Meridian Diagram. Suddenly, she felt as if she had stood up straight. Her eyes were round as she shook her head shakily and muttered to herself, "No …" "Impossible, how could this happen …" Without delay, she had to hurry to the racetrack. If she was discovered, all her efforts would be in vain.
Along the way, the painting hall sprinted with horses and the figure sped along the road leading to the racetrack. At the end of each month, the altar will transport the items of clothing that disciples want to wash to the racetrack, and will also bring back the clothes that were washed clean by the racetrack last month. This month, more than four days had passed since the Central Music Altar sent the clothes, and the painting hall spring's clothes were in the middle. Why does such a common racetrack wash cause such tension in the painting hall? It turned out that last month, Painting Hall's Chun had stolen the Mysterious God meridian map from the Altar Master Yu Changxiu. In order to avoid detection, she had sewn it under a top quality silk dress and had been waiting for the opportunity to bring it out of the center stage to hand over to the sword ruler eyebrows. However, a few days ago, because of Yu Changxiu's birthday banquet, the altar was messy and dirty, so all the disciples were sent to the racetrack shop. At that time, when Tang Chun was cleaning up her racetrack, she let in her top quality silk dress due to a moment of carelessness.
She knew how careful the people at the racetrack shop were when they picked, tore, and washed their clothes. Once they entered the racetrack, they would be checked several times before they washed the clothes for the sake of the racetrack, but everything inside would be returned to the various altars. But since then, the Mysterious Great Vein Map that she had secretly hidden was exposed to the crowd, and what followed was the revelation of her identity … Thinking of this, the painting hall trembled with fear. At this moment, she blamed herself for her negligence. If this were the case, how could she see the army of a thousand soldiers?
As he got closer to the racetrack, he pretended to be calm, but his heart was in turmoil. In the Qing Qiu mountains, although the racetrack shop was only a place for washing clothes for the twelve pots of racetracks in four cities, the maids there were all extremely sharp and sharp tongue-in-cheek, and were no easier to deal with than the twelve pots of people.
Entering the small town of the racetrack shop, the streets were noisy and crowded. Painted Spring dismounted and used a silk scarf to cover her face. She lowered her cloak even more. The people here were all different and she didn't want to meet any familiar faces, especially the disciples of the central music industry. After passing through two long and narrow streets, they arrived at the center of the Raccoon Clothing Workshop — the Raccoon Clothing Bureau. All the clothes delivered to the racetrack must first be registered and kept in a book before being distributed to the maidservants in charge, so that they can carry out the task of inspecting and washing the clothes. Thus, the final destination of each piece of clothing could be clearly found here, with a clear indication of which maidservant would wash it, when it would be returned, and so on.
Tang Chun walked into the department and straightforwardly asked to see the recent registration book, but because of her strange appearance and unknown identity, she was rejected mercilessly by the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper's eyes were sharp and vigilant, filled with suspicion and greed. He stared fixedly at the painting hall spring, as if he wanted to pierce through her cloak and veil and reveal her face. Tang Chun didn't even look at him as he took out a gold ingot from his sleeve and placed it on the table in front of the shopkeeper. As expected, the storekeeper quickly moved his gaze away from her and stared at the gold ingot. It seemed that this gold ingot had played a great role. The registration book was presented to her, and she was surprised to see that she was wearing the clothes of her maid — Sister Ruan.
Painting Hall Spring got on the horse again and galloped towards Zhuo Shui lake outside the raccoon shop. She had expected that Sister Ruan had already gone to the Zhuo Shui lake to wash her clothes. Once she found her, she would be able to find her own silk clothing, and her Mysterious Great Vein Map would also be returned.
The road outside the small town of the Raccoon Workshop was as wide as ever. The painting hall was filled with horses and whips, and it was as if they wanted to fly straight to the Lake of Zhuo. Suddenly, a maid dressed in ordinary clothes, riding a thin horse, entered the picture hall. After entering the painting hall, seeing her dressed in the special clothes of the racetrack, he guessed that this person was also a servant girl who had gone to wash at Zhuo Shui Lake. "Miss, may I ask how far we have to go to Zhuo Shui Lake?"
"Oh, it's not far. We'll be there in ten miles." She looked at the painting hall's spring camouflage and was very curious, "Are you going to the Zhuo Lake as well?" the girl asked in surprise.
"Yes, I'm looking for a servant girl from the Raccoon Workshop. She's called Sister Ruan, I wonder if Miss can recognize her?"
The girl looked at Painting Hall Chun with even more surprise. Her face was full of astonishment, as if she couldn't believe her own ears. "I …" I am Sister Ruan, may I ask you … What's the matter? "
Her words also surprised Tang Chun. He didn't expect the person he had gone through so much trouble to find to be in front of him. His eyes still had traces of doubt. "You really are …"
Before he could finish, the girl said anxiously, "I am Sister Ruan. There is only one sister Ruan in the whole market, it is a fake one!" However, what she did not know was that once she said those words, what awaited her was a bottomless abyss.
Tang Chun's expression behind her veil was strange and evil. Her eyes seemed to be grinning evilly as she looked at the basket of clothes on Ruan's back. She hurriedly asked, "Lady, whose clothes are you going to wash?"
"This time, I will be in charge of washing the music industry. These are all the clothes belonging to a female disciple of the music industry. I have singlehandedly picked out the music industry …"
She had already seen the corner of her silk dress inside the basket. Since Sister Ruan had said so, it was very possible that she didn't discover the Mysterious God meridian diagram sewn into her clothes, which made her feel slightly relieved.
"I haven't asked you for your name yet. What business do you have with me?" Ruan Niang still had an innocent and naive expression. She didn't notice the pair of evil and vicious eyes beneath the cloak.
"As for me, I'm a friend of one of your old friends," stammered the Painting Hall. Perhaps she hadn't expected Sister Ruan to ask such a question at all, and didn't know how to answer, but kept thinking about the dress. "What's so special about these clothes?"
"They are all disciple attire, nothing special," Ruan Niang was a little surprised, "Hey, what a strange question you are asking."
He jumped off the horse and walked over to the basket on Sister Ruan's horse. He casually picked up the familiar silk clothing. He flipped over the clothing's inner layer and saw that the sewn Taixuan meridian image was safe and sound. Her face was immediately filled with joy. The joy of having lost everything surged up in her heart. Her gaze swept over Ruan Niang as an evil aura filled her heart.
Since he had already recovered the Great Mystery Meridian Map, how about he let this innocent girl off? However, during the years he had been hiding in the middle of the music industry, in order to reunite with the Thousand Army, he had endured Yu Changxiu's wanton ravages. Who would care about his own fate and feelings?
Her tightly clenched fists creaked, and her expression distorted in pain. Her love for the Thousand Army had been cut off by the Devil Ancestor. She agreed to a dirty and despicable transaction with the Devil Ancestor, concealing herself in the music industry. How many times had he been ravaged by Yu Jiajia? How many times had he thought of giving up, or even dying on his own, but when he thought of the man he loved deep down in his heart, the man he loved deeply, he endured it. She had endured all the humiliation, pain, and suffering in order to reunite with the army at an early age, and now the dawn of hope was just around the corner, a step closer to her reuniting with the army in order to complete her mission. This was something she had been eagerly anticipating for the past five years. At this moment, she would not allow anyone to obstruct this hard-earned opportunity.
If he didn't harden his heart, then he had to give up his own happiness! If he was soft-hearted and Sister Ruan leaked what had happened today, the consequences would be unimaginable. The painting hall spring seems to have made up her mind, her strange vicious eyes once again turned to the face of the panic-stricken Ruan sister.
A ghastly wind blew over, and a sharp blade emerged from her sleeve. It shone with a cold and merciless silver light. It shone in Ruan Zi's eyes, and it got closer and closer. Dark red blood gushed out from Sister Ruan's neck. She turned around and fell off the horse, becoming a corpse lying on the ground.