books44 Chapter 367 Full of Harvests
Chapter 367 Full of Harvests
As dusk falls, the lights on Suzaku Street light up one after another.
When Hu Qing and Gu Yang came out of the "Moxiang Pavilion", their storage ring was already filled with various ancient books and novels, and even three volumes of the incomplete copy of "Shan Hai Yi Wen Lu" were found.
"Master Li should be satisfied now." Hu Qing and Gu Yang walked slowly on the bluestone slabs.
The lighting stones on both sides of the street emitted a soft milky white glow, making the bluestone road look like it was covered with a thin layer of frost.
The summer night was slightly warm, and the sound of cicadas came from the locust trees beside the road. Xiao Zi was chasing a few glowing fireflies, and their reflective scales were particularly conspicuous in the night.
The two of them walked leisurely and unknowingly turned into a secluded path.
After turning a corner, a gloomy tall building suddenly stood before my eyes——
The gray-black walls were dotted with small iron-barred windows, like countless cold eyes staring at them.
Hu Qing's footsteps suddenly stopped. He was too familiar with the place in front of him.
Gu Yang followed his gaze and immediately noticed something was wrong.
The air was filled with a faint smell of blood, mixed with the smell of mold and rust.
He saw Hu Qing's fists clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white.
"Should we go in and take a look?" Gu Yang asked softly.
Hu Qing didn't answer, but his feet were already moving towards the rusty iron gate.
The two guards at the door were slumped on the bench, their wine jugs rolling to the ground, and they were snoring like thunder.
Xiao Zi pricked up his ears and squatted outside the door vigilantly.
Hu Qing and Gu Yang sneaked in silently. In the dim corridor, there were only a few swaying oil lamps, stretching their shadows longer and shorter.
The moment I stepped into the prison, the cold and damp air hit me in the face.
Unlike the crowded scene in my memory, the corridor is now empty, and even the guards on duty are nowhere to be seen.
Hu Qing's footsteps echoed among the stone walls, and every step seemed to be stepping on the shadow of the past.
He quickly found the cell where he had been imprisoned.
Behind the rusty iron fence, there was only some moldy straw in the narrow stone room.
There were still several deep scratches on the wall - left by his painful struggle.
The cell next door was also empty, and the silent purple-haired monk disappeared without a trace.
"Strange..." Gu Yang expanded his spiritual sense, covering the entire prison, "Except for the two drunks at the door, there is no one here."
Hu Qing squatted down and wiped his fingers across the ground. "It's not very clean. There's still dust. At least no one has been here in the past few months."
As the night deepened, Hu Qing brought Gu Yang back to the prison gate with a changeable look in his eyes.
He raised his hand and waved it, and two streams of spiritual power accurately hit the acupuncture points of the two guards.
"Oh! Who, who did it..." The two guards woke up suddenly, and when they saw the two people standing in front of them, they were immediately scared and turned pale.
"Sir, please spare us!" The older guard slumped to his knees. "We are just... just closing our eyes to rest..."
"Shut up." Hu Qing interrupted coldly, a cold light flashing in his eyes. "Let me ask you, where are the other people in this prison?"
The two guards exchanged glances, and the younger one bravely spoke up, "My Lord, since the festival ended a few days ago, His Majesty has ordered the execution of all those in prison... We brothers were only transferred here this year..."
Hu Qing's body swayed, and his nails dug deeply into his palms.
Those jailers who had tortured him, those cruel officials who had punished him, had died so easily?
"What about the purple-haired prisoner in there?" he said hoarsely. "Was he also executed?"
The guards exchanged a glance, and the oldest one suddenly remembered something: "Well... we... don't know. The prison was empty when we were there, but I heard that a prisoner escaped on the night of the festival. I don't know if it's the person you're looking for..."
"Right, right, right!" the young guard added quickly, "The warden was even dismissed and investigated for this!"
The night wind howled, blowing up the fallen leaves on the ground.
Hu Qing was silent for a long time, then turned and left.
Gu Yang quickly caught up. Xiao Zi looked at the two guards warily, then trotted after him.
On the way back to Jingxin Garden, Gu Yang finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Ah Qing, who is that purple-haired guy..."
"Do you remember the vendor selling formation plates in the Nanliu Secret Realm? He was imprisoned next to me. His eyes were gouged out and he became blind." Hu Qing kept walking and recounted the situation of the purple-haired monk.
Gu Yang's eyes suddenly widened: "Is it him? That formation plate is so useful, how could he..."
Hu Qing and the others quickly returned to Jingxin Garden according to the route they remembered.
In Jingxin Garden, the moonlight shines through the shadows of the fruit trees, casting a silver glow on the ground.
Senior Sword God has not rested yet, and the lights are on in the house.
Xiao Zi slipped past the two of them and happily jumped into the pool, splashing a string of crystal water.
Hu Qing and Gu Yang knocked lightly on the door, and the Sword God's low voice of "Come in" was heard.
When I pushed the door open, I saw the Sword God sitting in front of the desk, holding a scroll of yellowed bamboo slips in his hand.
The candlelight flickered, casting shadows of varying depths on his angular profile.
"How is it? Is the royal capital still bustling?" The Sword God asked without raising his head, his fingertips gently stroking the edge of the bamboo slips.
Gu Yang chuckled and took out an exquisite food box from his storage ring: "Senior, this is the signature dish of Baiweixuan. We brought it specially for you."
The Sword God raised his chin and pointed to the mahogany shelf beside the door.
There was also a gilded food box with the seal of the imperial kitchen on it.
He said slowly, "Sanqi came here just now, and seeing that you weren't here, he sent a copy over."
"This..." Hu Qing touched his nose awkwardly.
The Sword God had already put down the bamboo slips and reached out to open the food box that Gu Yang had brought.
A rich aroma immediately filled the air. He picked up a piece of amber-colored beast meat, tasted it, and nodded slightly: "It's cooked well."
Hu Qing and Gu Yang breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
The Sword God pushed the food box aside and handed over the bamboo slips in his hand: "Take a look at this."
Gu Yang took the bamboo slips and found them heavy in his hand.
On the yellowed bamboo strips, the two ancient seal characters "Fen Jue" are vigorous and powerful, and there are some charred marks on the edges, as if they had been burned by fire.
"This is..." Hu Qing's pupils suddenly shrank. He was too familiar with this name.
The Sword God picked up the teacup, the steamy heat blurring his expression. "Zhou Li sent it tonight, saying it was useless and gave it to me to study."
"Is that the one Zhou Tianxuan secretly learned?" Hu Qing took a breath and almost dropped the bamboo slips.
He still remembers the terrifying scene when Zhou Tianxuan used his power that day and the sea of fire engulfed the heaven and earth.
The Sword God tapped the table with his fingertips. "Zhou Li said that this secret technique requires a special physique to practice. Zhou Tianxuan forced himself to practice and became possessed."
Hu Qing looked at the bamboo slips carefully and suddenly found a line of small words on the back: "Purple flame tempering the body, escaping nine deaths."
The handwriting is elegant, completely different from the ancient seal script on the front.