The carriage sped along, the scenery blurring past.
Lu Yiyi lowered her head, fiddling with the jade pendant at her waist. Incense burned on the low table in the center of the carriage. Nan Shiying, having had her jaw removed and her hand and foot tendons severed, disabling her martial arts, was the former楼主 of the Wan Ku Lou. She picked up her tea, looking relaxed.
"Sister!"
Lu Yiyi slowly raised her head, her voice timid.
Nan Shiying looked up at her upon hearing her. Seeing her hesitation, she said, "You don't have to say it if you don't want to!"
Lu Yiyi thought for a moment, then took a jade pendant from her embrace and offered it to Nan Shiying. Nan Shiying did not take it, but merely glanced at it carefully before signaling for her to put it away. Lu Yiyi did not retrieve it, instead placing the jade pendant on the table.
"Since its founding, the Lingyun Sect has existed for only one purpose."
Lu Yiyi spoke vaguely, but Nan Shiying understood perfectly. From Gu Santu to the Lin family, and then to the Lingyun Sect, that person had left behind one contingency after another over these three hundred years. Nan Shiying recalled Ju Xian Zhuang, her fingers unconsciously rubbing her sleeves.
At this moment, she was more convinced than ever of one thought: Yue Sinan was definitely still alive.
Three hundred years!
Was his existence for these three hundred years merely to wait for her?
A muffled groan came from beneath Nan Shiying. She forcefully stepped down, breaking the other person's spine.
Lu Yiyi pursed her lips and added, "About a year ago, my father gave me a portrait and told me that the person in the portrait was the master of the Lingyun Sect."
A year ago.
It was when she had just transmigrated and married Jin Mo.
It was almost immediately after she became Nan Shiying that the other party obtained her portrait. She had often joked that Lin Yuan was like a sieve, but now it seemed Lin Yuan was indeed a sieve.
Yue Sinan had lived for three hundred years.
Nan Shiying couldn't quite understand one thing: since he had lived for so long, why hadn't he declared himself emperor?
"I understand!"
Nan Shiying nodded and picked up her teacup again, swallowing all her emotions mixed with the tea. Seeing that she didn't want to say more, Lu Yiyi sensibly did not strike up the conversation again. She lowered her head and looked at her toes, inadvertently noticing the blood seeping into the carriage's wooden floor.
"Drip, drip~"
The blood dripped onto the ground through the gaps in the wooden boards, only to be covered by the dust kicked up by the carriage wheels.
The carriage traveled for two days and stopped on the official road at Xianggang Ridge.
"Sister, I will wait for you at the Lingyun Sect."
"Alliance Leader Feng, we shall meet again!"
Lu Yiyi got out of the carriage and, as she looked back, was still eagerly anticipating. Wei Ruyun pulled Lu Yiyi onto his horse and bowed to Nan Shiying before taking his leave.
The horses galloped, disappearing into the sunset.
Dai Zhiqiu and Huang Yuyao alighted from another carriage. After bidding farewell to Nan Shiying, they re-boarded their carriage, which turned around and headed towards the official road leading to Jieyang Town on the west side of Xianggang Ridge.
Ying Yi hitched up the carriage again and galloped towards the capital.
...
Gouzi pushed open the door and brought the medicine into the room.
He placed the medicine on the low cabinet beside the bed and bent down to help up Du Lao, who was still covered with a thick quilt despite it being the hottest part of summer. Du Lao's bones were like huge, sharp thorns, while his skin was like paper soaked by rain, devoid of elasticity, loose, and wrinkled.
"Are your chest pockets stuffed with iron plates? You're poking me!"
Du Lao tilted his head slightly. His eyelids were so heavy that even opening his eyes was difficult, and his breathing was weak and short, but his mouth was still as stubborn and unpleasant as ever.
Gouzi had been practicing martial arts with Shisan during this period. Being young, his bones were gradually growing, and he now had the outline of muscles, becoming much stronger than before. But no matter how strong he became, his muscles were nothing like iron plates. This old man was just looking for trouble!
Gouzi sniffled, trying his best to control his emotions so that Du Lao wouldn't detect the sorrow hidden in his heart. He retorted as usual, "Tsk, you old man, I haven't even said you're poking me yet!"
"Look at you, you're all skin and bones. Stop babbling and drink your medicine quickly!"
Gouzi turned, picked up the medicine, and brought it to Du Lao's mouth. Du Lao obediently opened his mouth and gulped down the bitter medicinal soup.
"Tsk, it tastes awful!"
He smacked his lips. The bitterness remaining in his mouth was enough to contort one's face.
But there was no help for it; good medicine tastes bitter!
If he wanted to cling to life, he had to drink it at every meal.
Just then, the door creaked open from the outside. Gouzi looked up, the first thing he saw being a black robe embroidered with python patterns.
Du Lao laboriously lifted his eyelids, only able to see a blurry outline.
"Your Highness!"
Gouzi wanted to bow, but Ji Jinmo stopped him.
"I wish to speak with Du Lao."
He said to Gouzi.
Gouzi lowered his head. Du Lao patted his hand, signaling him not to worry.
If Ji Jinmo had wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have lived until today.
Gouzi folded the other quilt and propped up Du Lao's medicine, carefully adjusting it to the most comfortable position before slowly standing up and picking up the medicine bowl to walk out of the room.
He closed the door, placed the tray and bowls on the corridor stool, and stood in the covered walkway.
Shisan glanced at him but said nothing more.
"What does Your Highness wish to discuss with me?"
Du Lao twitched the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse, speaking with difficulty.
Ji Jinmo counted his prayer beads one by one. The old man before him was on his last legs, having deteriorated to this extent in just one year. Some matters had become clear with the passage of time. He only wanted to ask one question, cared about only one question.
"My imperial brother!"
"I want you to talk about him."
"As expected!"
Du Lao seemed to have anticipated Ji Jinmo's question. He smiled, "I thought you would wait for her."
He smiled, but a glint of ferocity spread through his pupils, hidden by his heavy eyelids. The ferocity broke through the fog covering his eyeballs, spreading with his smile.
Ji Jinmo's hand paused slightly. He said, "Waiting or not waiting makes no difference, regardless of the answer."
"Is that so?"
The sharpness in Du Lao's eyes gradually receded with Ji Jinmo's answer. He lowered his eyelids, leaving only a sliver of a gap to peer into the light within the room. He was a man who lived in darkness, and in the presence of light, he hated his own filth and the ugliness hidden beneath his skin.
He wanted to live.
After his master saved him with the blood of the Empress of the Yuan Dynasty, his master and he had been researching how to extract the Nirvana from the Empress's body, or rather, how to completely preserve the medicinal properties of Nirvana. Later, they discovered that refining the Empress was the best option.