Seven Songs(Yin Deng Jue/Secret Of Leading The Light) - Chapter 33
Chapter 33: A Scheme Within a Scheme (Part 3)
“May I ask you two, where is this place?”
“You don’t remember what just happened?” Yu Sang asked, somewhat incredulous.
“Just now? What happened just now?” The man looked at Yu Sang in confusion.
Just as Yu Sang was about to speak again, Yan Qige raised his hand to signal her to stop.
Sweeping away the spiritual energy sword that had formed between his fingers, he stepped forward holding the lantern and asked, “May I know how to address you, young master?”
“My surname is Hu, and my courtesy name is Ziyue.”
“Do you still remember what you have done?”
“I… I remember Ran’er was about to be married off. I went to the riverbank to pray to the River God to give me a sign, and then… and then…”
Hu Ziyue’s expression gradually shifted as he recalled the memory. He knitted his brows tightly, then clutched his forehead and squatted down in apparent agony.
“And then, did you agree to something with someone?” Yan Qige asked calmly.
“He said he could help me and Ran’er stay together forever—that we would never be parted. As long as I was willing to surrender my soul, he could help me keep Ran’er,” Hu Ziyue answered in a muffled, pained voice.
“Where is he now?” Yan Qige stepped forward to press him.
But before Hu Ziyue could answer, Yan Qige suddenly let out a muffled groan.
His brows twitched, and his eyes grew deep and furious.
He slowly turned his body around, only to find a fishbone dagger plunged deeply into his waist.
“You ruined all my efforts. You deserve to die…”
Liu Mingran’s eyes shimmered with a turquoise glow as she spoke viciously, thrusting the fishbone dagger in her grip a few inches deeper at the same time.
Yan Qige frowned, but before he could say a word, Hu Ziyue slowly stood up from the side, opening his eyes wide and crying out in a trembling voice.
“Ran’er… You’re Ran’er…”
Hearing his voice, Liu Mingran glanced sideways and saw that the man who had fallen out from the flames was looking at her with a affectionate yet astonished gaze.
Yet, she had no reaction whatsoever; her turquoise-glowing eyes remained icy and heartless.
“I’m Ziyue, I’m Ziyue!”
Hu Ziyue said excitedly, reaching out to grab Liu Mingran’s wrist.
“Don’t!”
Yan Qige called out to stop him, but it was already too late.
Liu Mingran turned her hand into a palm strike and slammed it hard onto Hu Ziyue’s forehead.
Amid his disbelieving expression, his soul scattered and flew in all directions at once.
Immediately after, Liu Mingran leapt up and flew away, disappearing into the vast, continuous expanse of reed marshes without a trace.
Before Liu Mingran fled, she cast a meaningful glance at Yu Sang, looking somewhat puzzled.
This made Yu Sang’s heart tighten—because just now, she had seen Liu Mingran launching the sneak attack from behind, yet she hadn’t stopped it.
Clearly, Liu Mingran had noticed.
Unable to spare the moment to pursue Liu Mingran, Yan Qige quickly tossed the Soul-Guiding Lantern high into the air.
He pinched his fingers to formulate a spell, using his finger as a brush to draw several soul-summoning runes in the air.
He trapped and gathered Hu Ziyue’s scattered soul in the center to keep it from dispersing, then used a guidance technique to lead the scattered soul into the lantern.
By the time he withdrew his hand, his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.
Seeing Yan Qige stumble, Yu Sang stepped forward to support him, only to discover that a large patch of his light-colored robes had been dyed red by the blood seeping from the wound at his waist.
Only then did Yu Sang remember that although Yan Qige was formidable, he was still a creature of flesh and bone after all.
This stab wound was truly severe; losing this much blood was more than any human could take.
Feeling a touch of concern, she asked, “This wound is so deep, can you still hold on?”
Yan Qige turned his head to look at Yu Sang, his face pale.
He raised his hand and shook it as if wanting to deny it, but before the words could leave his mouth, he slowly closed his eyes, and his body went limp, falling against Yu Sang’s shoulder.
“Yan Qige, Yan Qige…”
Yu Sang called out to him twice.
Seeing that he gave no response at all, she realized he had truly passed out.
Supporting Yan Qige, Yu Sang looked around before her eyes settled on the scorched remains of a stone nearby.
Reaching out her hand to probe, an object flew up from behind the stone and was caught in her grip—it was the very object that had tumbled out from the flames earlier, the octagonal soul-sacrificing disk she had seen before.
A smile appeared at the corners of Yu Sang’s mouth as she put away the Soul-Sacrificing Disk.
She glanced sideways at Yan Qige, who lay with his eyes tightly shut against her shoulder, feeling a bit sorry for him.
But if she hadn’t let Liu Mingran attack him like that, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take the Soul-Sacrificing Disk under these circumstances.
“Yan Qige, don’t blame me,” Yu Sang muttered to herself.
She helped him up and walked out of the wall of fire.
The carriage they had arrived in was still there.
Yu Sang settled Yan Qige inside.
Looking at him again, most of his clothes were now soaked in blood, and his face was as white as Xuan paper.
If this continued, he would likely kick the bucket.
After a moment of thought, Yu Sang took out the storage bag she usually used to store demon inner cores from her bosom, extracted a glistening white pill from inside, and stuffed it into Yan Qige’s mouth.
She channeled her energy to help him swallow it before turning around to step off the carriage.
“From this moment on, everything you have experienced will be forgotten when you wake up next time.”
Standing beside the carriage, Yu Sang closed her eyes and listened to the wind.
She pinched her fingers before her chest for a long time, and a silver-white light gradually radiated from around her body until the glow enveloped and submerged her.
She pulled out a white jade calligraphy brush and made a sharp stroke in front of her.
It was as if a rift had suddenly been torn open between heaven and earth; a hurricane blasted out from the tear, blowing Yu Sang’s hair and dress back in the wind.
She flipped up and leaped onto the carriage, grabbed the reins, and slapped the horse’s flank hard.
With a loud neigh, the horse charged straight toward the rift.
As the carriage passed through the rift, Yu Sang was overturned by the massive force of the wind and tumbled into the cabin.
Following that, the carriage jolted violently and lurched forward.
Yu Sang tried her best to hold onto the unconscious Yan Qige to keep him from being injured further by the jolting.
Before long, the carriage crashed hard against something and came to a stop.
The world-shattering chaos of the moment before returned to stillness.
Yu Sang raised her head and listened; the surroundings were dead silent.
She got up, helped Yan Qige lean back against the inner wall of the carriage, pulled aside the curtain, and stepped outside.
A grand and majestic sight immediately met her eyes.
A red wall tens of meters high stretched left and right, its end invisible to the eye.
A city tower with red tiles, white walls, and sweeping eaves at its four corners towered before her, adorned with carved balustrades, painted dragons, and gilded lacquer.
At the four corners sat formidable Luan beasts facing the four directions.
The curved mouths of the beasts held glass lamps with golden bells bound beneath them. In the past, those four glass lamps had burned bright without extinguishing, and on windy days, the golden bells beneath would play a melodious tune.
That music and light symbolized and passed down the Soul Decree of the Fengjian Clan: Wherever there is wind, the Fengjian moves; wherever there is a lamp, the soul returns.
The wind passes over a thousand faces without ceasing; the lamp illuminates the four directions without burning out.
Now, however, the lamps here were extinguished and the wind had died down.
The surroundings were so silent that there wasn’t a single sound, as if in a vacuum.
Yu Sang leaped off the carriage, grabbed the reins, and stepped forward.
She pushed open the large red city gate.
With the creaking sound of the door hinges turning, a vista of the palace city unfolded before her eyes.
Only, this place was not as rich and magnificent as what was seen from the outer wall.
All that remained here were broken wells and dilapidated walls.
The golden palaces that once reached into the clouds had lost their luster; the vast plaza was filled with wild grass, broken walls, and the scorched traces left behind by a great fire.
Yu Sang jumped back onto the carriage, whipped the reins, and drove forward along the straight road paved with marble, passing through the Meridian Gate that was more than half-collapsed, and then crossing the ruined Central Grand Hall.
The only sounds wherever they passed were the clicking of horse hooves and the rolling of carriage wheels.
