Although the Scimitar Silver Moon Tribe had lived in the dense forest for a long time, they were not isolated from the world, and they had heard a lot about what the Baifu Sect was doing. La Yue said: “Perhaps she has never killed anyone with her own hands, but there are hundreds or thousands of people who have died because of her. The cult used the Holy Maiden as a lantern, causing many believers to risk their lives and lose their minds. Even if such a person is judged according to the laws of Dayan, she may not have a way out.”

“Whether or not she has a way out will be decided by the prince. All you and I have to do is bring her to justice.” Ku You said, “Let’s start tonight and get it done quickly without further delay.”

La Yue was astonished to hear this: “It sounds easy, but how can it be done quickly? I’ve seen how the Holy Maiden walks, and her qinggong skills are not inferior to mine. It will not be easy for me to catch her.”

“She will come here tonight,” Ku You said. “You only need to find a route to take her away. Leave all the rest to me.”

La Yue looked doubtfully at the silver gauze covering his eyes and thought to himself, he said this so confidently. How will he trap her, with male beauty?

He hid in the darkness of the rafters and waited until it was dark outside. Sure enough, the sound of the wooden door being pushed open sounded from the courtyard, and the bell on the girl’s waist rang loudly. Wumeng Yunle lifted her skirts and stepped into the room. She looked at the silver-haired young man sitting at the table and said with some reluctance, “I must leave again tomorrow.”

Ku You asked: “Where are you going?”

“To go and do what I should do.” Wumeng Yunle sat down. “This time will be longer than before, and I may have to leave for thirty or forty days. In fact, I wanted to take you with me, but Master didn’t agree, and he also gave me a lecture.”

Ku You smiled slightly.

Wumeng Yunle stared at the corners of his beautiful slightly raised lips and unconsciously stretched out her fingers to trace them. In the end, she stopped halfway and only held onto a trailing strip of material. The silver gauze fell to the ground, revealing a pair of light golden eyes. She admired them attentively and said: “Your eyes are so beautiful, just like the sun this morning.”

“So you also like the sun.” Ku You asked, “Then why do you always stay in dark rooms?”

“Everyone has something they must do,” Wumeng Yunle said happily. “You don’t understand. That doesn’t matter, because I don’t understand either. I don’t understand why you keep chasing our people. They aren’t doing anything wrong, and only want to live a better life.”

She stood up, looking forward to being closer to him, and looking forward to being this man’s wife. Although she actually didn’t know what being husband and wife meant, she knew that if she fell in love with a man, she should marry him. Wumeng Yunle leaned forward slightly and put the tip of her cold nose against the other person’s forehead. Just like those fanatical believers kissed her fingertips with extreme piety and love, she wanted to cover the same pale skin with her lips.

La Yue in the dark: ……

He was considering whether he could still see the upcoming scene, but Wumeng Yunle had already let out a muffled groan. Her body leaned to one side limply, and a thin stream of blood oozed from the corner of her lips. Ku You grabbed her and raised his head, saying, “Thank you.”

La Yue jumped down and deftly shook open a sheet that he had found somewhere. He rolled Wumeng Yunle into it, saying: “I’ll take this little enchantress away. Will you be alright?”

Ku You said: “I won’t stay here any longer.” He picked up half of the silver gauze on the ground. “The maids will soon be looking for her, so we can’t stay here long.”

Without further delay, La Yue picked up Wumeng Yunle and went out. With the help of the night and the terrain, he disappeared into the dense forest miasma in the blink of an eye.

Ku You tied the silver gauze in front of his eyes and sat back at the table. Not long after, a maid indeed came and said respectfully in the courtyard: “Holy Maiden, we should go back.” After saying this, she pushed open the door and entered. Seeing that there was only Ku You in the room, she was a little taken aback. Ku You said: “She has already left.”

“She left early?” The maid couldn’t believe it, and hurriedly departed. After a while, a cacophony of voices could be heard in the distance.

Ku You remained alone in the darkness, waiting very patiently. He knew who would be the first to come to him, and as expected, that person indeed came first. Feng Xiaojin grabbed his collar and said through nearly gritted teeth: “Where is A-Le?”

“She is safe, at least for now.” Ku You pried his fingers apart one by one. “But whether she will be safe in the future depends on Young Master Feng’s choice.”

Feng Xiaojin looked at him. “If something happens to A-Le, I will kill you.”

“That is easy to say.” Ku You said. Unmoving, he only listening to the sound of swords being unsheathed outside. “But the future can be discussed later. As for now, Young Master Feng should think about how to save my life. After all, Cult Master Mu should also be furious at the disappearance of the Holy Maiden. I am a delicate person and cannot withstand any severe torture.”

The voices outside the window were getting closer and closer. Feng Xiaojin didn’t have time to think, and firmly held his shoulders: “Let’s go!”

. . . . . . .

La Yue carried Wumeng Yunle and leaped through the depths of the white mist all the way. The people of the Scimitar Silver Moon Tribe were gifted, and could hold their breath for a long time. Therefore, his range of activities in this dense forest was even wider than that of the disciples of the Baifu Sect. A large, gnarled tree stretched out its canopy in all directions, with lush green leaves, forming an excellent natural shelter. La Yue held his breath and hid in a high place, letting the disciples of the Baifu Sect shuttle back and forth in the forest. But nobody noticed anything strange above.

Worried that the hostage would wake up, La Yue specially pulled open the sheet and took a peek inside during the journey. Wumeng Yunle’s head was turned to the side, a hidden weapon nailed into her snow-white neck. It looked like the crude nails commonly used when hunting wolves and bears in the Northwest. His eyelid twitched slightly. Even though she was a witch, this style of attack seemed too barbaric.

Once the Baifu Sect disciples had left, La Yue also jumped off the tall tree and continued to run toward the Valley of Ten Faces.

When the seasons changed, the climate in the mountains did as well, and a moderate sunny rain fell in the early morning. The golden light mixed with the golden silk of rain and embroidered thousands of li of green beauty all over. Liu Xian’an was still wrapped in his big robe, with his bare feet stepping on the clean and moist bamboo floor. His upper body leaned over the railing as he reached out to catch rainwater to play with.

If Master Liu saw his dissolute appearance with no care for his health, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that he would be beaten again, but the person who came back was His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. He gazed at his sweetheart’s snow-white arms, slightly damp forehead, and the rain falling on his thin shoulders, and all the scarce literary eloquence in his bones was dug out. What mountains in the distance, what fragrant frozen pear blossoms. No wonder those pedantic scholars would risk their lives to write a carriage full of poems after just one look at a beautiful woman. It was truly human nature.

Liu Xian’an said: “The weather is still a bit cold.”

“With rain and blowing wind, it will be cold even in the middle of summer.” Liang Shu took out his handkerchief and wiped the other’s hands carefully, then picked him up and returned to his room. He placed him on the couch, took out his shoes and socks, and put them on for him. “Where is A-Ning? Why were you just standing there in the wind and rain today?”

“He went to assist Da-ge. I will go there later, but I still wanted to wait for the prince to return first.”

“Waiting for me to return. Do you still want to be lazy again?” Liang Shu smiled. “According to my past habits, I wouldn’t come back at this time. I went out in a hurry today and forgot to pick something up. I didn’t want others to disturb your sleep, so I had to make an extra trip to get it myself.”

Liu Xian’an motioned at a pile of official documents placed by his shoulder: “Military reports can just be thrown on the pillow?”

“They weren’t…..” Liang Shu stood up and defended himself. “Before going out, I was confused by desire.”

Liu Xian’an had slept very soundly in the morning and didn’t remember what he had done to make His Royal Highness Xao Wang so intoxicated as to forget himself. 

Liang Shu smiled and tugged his slightly open collar, tying his belt again: “Let’s go. Come with me to have something to eat first, and then go to the pharmacy.”

Liu Xian’an picked a light cloak in order to avoid being nagged about the cold and humidity by his elder brother later. Liang Shu intertwined their fingers. As soon as they walked out of the courtyard, they saw Gao Lin running over in a hurry. La Yue ran side by side with him, conspicuously carrying someone on his shoulders.

Looking at the bloodstains seeping out of the sheets, Liang Shu frowned. He strode forward and asked urgently: “How is he?”

La Yue was extremely tired: “Fine, she was knocked unconscious by Commander Ku.”

Liang Shu retracted the hand touching the sheet: “What do you mean, it’s not Ku You?”

“No, it’s the cult enchantress.” La Yue explained, “I originally intended to bring Commander Ku out with me, but he refused. He said that he would continue to stay in the Baifu Sect and get more things so that the prince would not have to worry.”

Gao Lin gave a thumbs up. Yes, this is the right idea, if it were me, I would scoop things up too.

In the end, Wumeng Yunle was imprisoned in secret. She woke up in a daze, her neck feeling as if it had been bitten by a beast, and she almost screamed in pain. And what frightened her more than the severe pain was the unfamiliar environment around her. This was not a prison, but there were two long iron chains fastened to her ankles, and at the other end of the chains was a huge and heavy iron ball.

Her memory seemed to be blank. She could only remember those beautiful golden eyes, and then she opened her eyes and saw the scene in front of her. She tried to move her body, but felt rough fabric pricking and stinging her back. The woman in charge of guarding her said from the side: “The clothes Wumeng-guniang was wearing were contaminated by poison, so I temporarily found a dress of my own. Although it is an old dress, it is very clean.”

“This…..this is your military camp.” Wumeng Yunle sat up. “He knocked me out and brought me here!”

“He, Commander Ku? He has not returned, and is still in the dense forest.” The woman brought a bowl of sugar water and said, “His Highness will be here later. You have lost too much blood, please drink something first.”

Wumeng Yunle waved her hand to ward her off. She had never thought that she would one day fall into the hands of the Yan army. Those rumors about Liang Shu’s cruelty poured into her mind uncontrollably, causing her face to pale even more. Upon closer inspection, there were even blue and black lines on her neck.

The woman put the sugar water on the table with a sigh. The sunlight shone on the bright red dates in the bowl, like shining gems.

Wumeng Yunle felt that the red color was exceptionally and abnormally alluring. She pushed the bowl onto the ground and tried to stand up, but her whole body swayed due to excessive blood loss.

The woman stretched out her hand to assist her.

“What are you trying to do!” Wumeng Yunle asked sharply. As she stepped back, she caught a glimpse of herself in the bronze mirror. Her hair was disheveled, bloody white gauze was wrapped around her throat, and she wore an ill-fitting old white dress. Such a strange appearance made her feel more and more lost. For a moment, she couldn’t even think about running away. Dragging the chain, she staggered to the mirror and stared at the person in it, and reached up to neatly tie her hair.

“I want my clothes.” Wumeng Yunle turned around and repeated, “I want my clothes!”

The woman never thought she would have such a reaction after waking up. She didn’t dare stimulate the other party’s emotions too much for a while, so she comforted her while sending someone to report the matter to Lieutenant General Gao.

Gao Lin was with Liang Shu, and Liu Xian’an and Liu Xianche were also there. No matter how serious the injury to Wumeng Yunle’s neck was, it couldn’t be more severe than the poison in her body. There were seventeen or eighteen kinds of poisons scattered around her body, and most of them had been with her for more than ten years. Liu Xianche said: “Mu Zhe should feed her the antidote regularly and quantitatively, but the antidote is also poisonous. As the toxins accumulate over the years, she may not be able to live long. At most, five years.”

“Mu Zhe doesn’t need her to live long,” Liang Shu said. “Only for her most beautiful years.”

“Her brother may be in the same situation.” Gao Lin turned around and asked, “First Young Master Liu, can this poison be cured?”

“It cannot, and it wouldn’t be of much use to treat it,” Liu Xianche said. “Instead of trying every possible means and causing the poisoned person to live in pain for another year or two, it is better to continue to take the so-called ‘antidote,’ so that at least she can live a slightly more comfortable and decent life in her remaining years.”

“This Mu Zhe…..” Gao Lin was even more disgusted. “Raising a freak with an ageless appearance, and raising such a short-lived brother and sister pair, this doesn’t fall short of his sinister and immoral spirit at all.”

Liu Xian’an went alone to the hut where Wumeng Yunle was imprisoned.

He held a cloth bag in his hand and handed it to the woman guarding the courtyard, saying: “This is A-Yuan’s dress. It’s new. She doesn’t think the color looks good, so she hasn’t worn it before. Give it to her.”

The woman brought the dress into the house. Yumeng Yunle had already torn her old dress to pieces. It was unknown how much force she exerted, but her sharp black and red nails broke, and crescent-shaped bloody marks were printed on her body one after another.

She was like a crazy person. And she was indeed going insane, simply because she saw that she was not beautiful enough.

The woman placed the cloth bag on the table, and the silk fabric poured out like running water, giving off a gentle luster. Wumeng Yunle was drawn to the sight. She stopped taking off her clothes, and when she was about to touch it, she saw the butterfly gem button on the collar and her eyes suddenly seemed to burn: “This is Liu Nanyuan’s clothing.”

“It does belong to Third Young Lady Liu. She is the only one in the army with a figure similar to yours. But this dress has never been worn.” The woman said, “Put it on, ba. No matter whether it fits or not, at least the material is good.”

Wumeng Yunle stood without moving, and only stretched out her hands haughtily. The woman wasn’t bothered. She stepped forward to change her clothes and then took two steps back and looked her up and down. She said: “It fits well, but the waist is a little too big by half an inch.”

She just mentioned it casually, but Wumeng Yunle became happy again because of her half-inch slimmer waist. She lifted her skirts and looked at the vague figure outside the window screen, asking: “Who is that?”

“Second Young Master Liu.”

The woman opened the door and invited Second Young Master Liu in. The sunlight was very bright at noon, enough to illuminate every corner and every person in the room. Although the two of them had seen each other before, they had only glanced at each other in a hurry. This time, they finally had enough time to slowly look at one another’s faces.

Wumeng Yunle asked: “Where is your sister?”

Liu Xian’an replied: “She went to the towns and villages farther south.”

“When will she return?”

“It’s difficult to say.”

“Does she look like you?”

“She is very similar.”

Very similar. Wumeng Yunle stared at his face, as if trying her utmost to imagine what it would look like if the same facial features appeared on another woman’s face. She became anxious again as she thought about it, because it seemed that she really was an alluring beauty, walking in the sunshine, surrounded by singing and laughter. She remembered the words of the Master, and how she should use her body to confuse those men, use her slender waist and mellowest tone in exchange for the other party’s absolute fanaticism and piety.

But now, she was trapped here with wounds all over her body, blood flowing out of her flawless white skin and solidifying into hideous and ugly scars at the wounds.

The current situation caused Wumeng Yunle’s face to gradually become distorted, and her eyes turned a bright red. Seeing that the Gu worms in her body were about to start wandering again, the woman raised her palm and knocked her out at the crucial moment, asking in confusion: “What’s wrong with her? Did she train to become a demon?”

Liu Xian’an said: “It is obsession, an inner demon.”

Inner demons were the hardest to heal.

Liu Xian’an left a bottle of soothing pills, returned to the study, and roughly recounted the situation to Liang Shu. He said: “I wonder if the parents who gave these siblings to Mu Zhe will feel remorse after learning the truth.”

“How can there be so many medicines for remorse in the world?” Liang Shu said. “I just received another secret report, you take a look first.”

Liu Xian’an picked up the letter on the table. It roughly said that because of Liu Nanyuan’s activities in the southwest, many members of the Baifu Sect had begun to doubt their previous choices, as well as if the Baifu Buddha Mother who could cure diseases and eliminate disasters really existed. So they confessed one by one to get leniency, hoping that the goddess…..the miracle doctor could also cure them and their families.

Liu Nanyuan and the other disciples of Baihe Mountain Village welcomed everyone who came, conducting free medical consultations along the way, and actually found poisonous Gu in many people’s bodies. Many people watched this scene, and seeing was believing. When more and more people learned that the Baifu Sect’s seemingly miraculous chanted blessings were actually poisonous Gu used to play tricks, fearful worship turned into furious cursing. Moreover, there were various styles of cursing, up to the ancestors and down to the grandsons, not missing half of the family tree. It was a cursing style evenly distributed like rain and dew. 

“Okay, okay, please keep your voices down!” Chang Xiaoqiu held up the Pojun sword to maintain order and shouted loudly, “If you want to curse, then go away and curse. If anyone dares to speak filthy words in front of Third Young Lady Liu, I will seriously beat them!”

Therefore, everyone went away to curse, all of them talking at once. Unsatisfied with just cursing, they directly submitted a collective petition asking the prince to eradicate the Baifu Sect as soon as possible in order to seek justice for everyone.

Upon receiving the petition, Liu Xian’an looked at the long string of fingerprints and names on the back and sighed: “The prince should send more people to protect A-Yuan. I feel the Baifu Sect will not allow her to be so free and happy.”

“No need to tell me, I already made arrangements in the morning,” Liang Shu said. “Of the Imperial guards sent by Emperor Brother, I will only keep one, and send the rest to protect A-Yuan.”

Hearing this, Liu Xian’an felt a little relieved. Because if nothing else, the Imperial guards appeared particularly reassuring just by their physiques. Each one was tall and broad, full of a simple sense of security.

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Chapter One Hundred Sixteen << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Eighteen