books44 Chapter 239 Butterfly Loves Flowers
Chapter 239 Butterfly Loves Flowers
Although the sword fell, Mei Shiyu remained calm, as he was very experienced.
When he first learned the sword control technique, he often fell. Which high-level cultivator didn't fall and get bruised all the way?
The worst fall he ever suffered was two hundred years ago, when he descended from the towering peak and crashed into a young boy wandering at the foot of the mountain, disfiguring him and leaving him with a jumbled mess of facial features. This collision, however, led to a strange and unexpected encounter.
Mei Shiyu caught Li Tingyun, who suddenly lost consciousness and fell on top of him. With one hand around his waist and the other protecting his head, just before he hit the ground, Mei Shiyu rolled over, cushioning the impact with himself and his heavy body.
Unfortunately, they fell on a steep slope, about ten feet long. Except for the first half foot, which Mei Shiyu started rolling on her own, the remaining nine and a half feet were left to fate. The two of them tumbled together to the bottom of the slope, with Li Tingyun like a big rock pressing down on Mei Shiyu.
Mei Shiyu's first reaction was not to push the man away, but to immediately check his breathing and meridians, ignoring even his back pain.
His fainting spell was far too abnormal!
Mei Shiyu's heart was in her throat.
Although Li Tingyun's breathing was steady and his pulse was normal, Mei Shiyu's spiritual energy could not penetrate his body, so she could not determine why he had fainted, whether he was injured, or when he would wake up.
Aside from knowing that he was alive and well, as if he were asleep, the rest of the situation remained unclear, leaving them helpless for the time being.
Li Tingyun was extremely wary.
Even if she faints, she will never be someone who can be manipulated by others.
Mei Shiyu grasped his hand, wanting to transfer some spiritual energy to him, but triggered the restriction and was met with a backlash. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that he was shrouded in a layer of dark demonic energy.
If Mei Shiyu's attack had been any more forceful, and the restrictions on Li Tingyun had mistaken it for an attack rather than a rescue, the consequences would have been far more severe than a simple "rebound"; she would have been subjected to a frenzied backlash from the chaotic energy.
Mei Shiyu dared not move him easily. She wanted to get away from his "mountain pressing down" but could not use her spiritual power to move him. So she had to use some brute force to move him aside.
He had just sat up when he heard a "crack" sound, a sharp sound coming from his lumbar spine, and his face turned pale instantly.
Suddenly he realized that almost another 60 years had passed, and it was time to replace his spine.
Since his injury two hundred years ago, he has had to have his bones replaced every sixty or seventy years. Two hundred years have passed, and he has had two replacements in between. Now it is time for the third one. He can't delay any longer, but it's at this critical juncture...
Just be patient.
Mei Shiyu squatted down beside Li Tingyun, but he wouldn't wake up or move. There was nothing else she could do. Looking around, all she saw was scorched earth and withered flowers. As expected, they had fallen into a vast flower field on the road to the underworld, a dark expanse that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.
Mei Shiyu used her magic to search for the Qing Shuang Sword, which was nowhere to be found, and summoned it back. She grabbed Li Tingyun's arm, put it on her shoulder, and supported him with the sword on her back. She found a pile of rocks nearby where she could rest for a while, put the man down, and settled him down. Suddenly, she noticed some sparks of fire shining through the cracks in the rocks.
Open flames are uncommon in this realm, so he immediately planted his sword beside Li Tingyun, creating a small protective barrier. He then went around to investigate behind the pile of stones, and inadvertently discovered a nursery about ten zhang in circumference. It was planted with the same Lycoris radiata unique to the Netherworld, but compared to the scorched earth and withered flowers outside the stone fence, it presented a completely different scene.
This artificially partitioned nursery is fertile and lush, with vibrant red flowers in full bloom.
The glimmer of light that Mei Shiyu had just caught was not an open flame, but a firefly.
Fireflies, transformed from decaying grass, frolicked among the flowers, creating a scene brimming with life.
That's really bizarre.
But there's something even stranger: in front of the flowerbed stands a low stone house.
Passing the stone house and walking further ahead, you'll find a fenced courtyard with stone tables and benches, a stone well with a clear spring, and a swing.
If this house hadn't been built in the underworld, its owner would truly have had a very rustic and unconventional life.
Mei Shiyu could roughly guess whose "home" this was.
I just can't understand why she would buy "property" in a place like this!
Mei Shiyu searched the surroundings with her divine sense but couldn't find the fox's tail. Seeing that the front door of the stone house was wide open, she said "Excuse me" and went straight in. There was only one lamp left in the house, which reflected the mess on the ground, as if someone had fought here and destroyed all the furnishings.
Mei Shiyu bent down and picked up a fan. He unfolded it and saw two large characters written on it: Ling and Yun.
The Lingyun Fan belongs to Si Wuxie.
Then look at that lamp; it cannot be extinguished by the wind, nor does it run out of oil. If you get too close, you will feel unbearable heat.
The fire of Nanming was lit by the summer wind.
Clearly, the two had passed by and had only been gone a short while. Mei Shiyu had already made up her mind. She closed her fan, picked up her lantern, and went further into the stone house. She found a small door in the corner of the back wall, pushed it open, and saw that it was the flower garden.
I walked close to the outer edge of the flower bed, around the stone fence that was a little over a foot high, and sure enough, I found something else.
One is a lotus-shaped watering can, used for watering flowers.
The second item is a bamboo strip inserted into the pot, used for stirring the water.
The pot was empty, without water, but it had a strong smell of blood. Mei Shiyu pulled out the bamboo strip and saw that the bloodstains on it had dried.
One can't help but wonder what the owner used to nourish these flowers. Human blood? Whose blood? If it was someone else's, why don't the flowers show any resentment or evil? If it was her own... that's quite possible.
The flowerbed was filled with fragrance, and even butterflies were attracted to dance with fireflies.
However, it should be noted that the red spider lily itself has no fragrance and does not emit any scent.
At Mei Shiyu's feet, a palm-sized red-winged butterfly perched on a flower calyx, feeding on the pollen.
Before long, the butterfly wings fluttered gently, and it changed its position, fluttering onto another blooming red flower.
Butterflies are indeed living creatures, but when they spread their wings, they grow larger than flowers. All the flowers that have been pollinated by them show signs of withering. Mei Shiyu wanted to observe them closely, so he bent down and used a bamboo strip to part the flower stems. Unexpectedly, the butterfly suddenly flapped its wings and pounced on him. With a flick of his wrist, he used the bamboo strip as a weapon to pin the butterfly to the flower mud.
A red butterfly died, and then a blue butterfly flew in. Naturally, Mei Shiyu got rid of it too. But one after another, there were yellow, green, blue, purple... exactly seven, no more, no less, all of them died under that bamboo strip.
Mei Shiyu felt increasingly that something was amiss. He threw away the bamboo strips and was about to leave when he discovered that the butterflies he had killed were miraculously resurrected. They fluttered their tattered wings, stumbled and flew towards the bamboo strips, disappearing into them without a trace.
Mei Shiyu had no choice but to pick up the "bamboo strip" again.
Only after the dried bloodstains on it cracked and peeled off could one see that it was a wooden slip with writing on it, written in neat small regular script, which was not difficult to recognize.
"Butterfly Loves Flowers..." Mei Shiyu read aloud softly.
Under the title of the poem "Butterfly Loves Flowers," there are two lines of scrambled lyrics. The first line is "A swing inside the wall, a path outside; a passerby outside the wall, a beautiful woman laughing inside the wall." The second line is "Where in the world are there no fragrant grasses? The affectionate are always troubled by the heartless." The lyrics are not difficult to understand, but it is unknown what the writer intended when writing these two lines.
The top and bottom edges of the wooden slip are also carved with flying cloud patterns, making it look as if a piece of wood had been twisted off from a beautiful scroll.
It's not a "unique item," but a "damaged item."
Mei Shiyu put the wooden slip, along with the lamp and fan from before, into his sleeve and returned the way he came.
Outside the flowerbed, behind the pile of stones, Li Tingyun still leaned against the wall, motionless.
It's been at least fifteen minutes.
Mei Shiyu repeatedly checked his forehead, breath, and heartbeat, finding nothing wrong, but he remained unconscious, causing great concern. In desperation, Mei Shiyu could only think of that one method, which was... that method that wasn't really a solution.
Mei Shiyu was too embarrassed to say exactly what to say. Anyway, what he did to Li Tingyun, Li Tingyun had done to him as well. There was no special meaning behind it. It was just for "saving people." There was nothing to be ashamed of. So they were even.
The mouth and nose are the places where the body's vital energy enters and exits. Li Tingyun's breathing is normal, which at least shows that he has not closed his five senses and seven orifices. Therefore, it is worth a try to transfer his energy through him. Mei Shiyu adjusted her mind and kept reminding herself of the legitimacy of doing so. Soon she stopped being hesitant and instead, full of worry, she pressed her lips to Li Tingyun's with her brows slightly furrowed.
However, at that moment, Li went offline.
The signal is temporarily unavailable as the device is not in service.
What a pity! What a regret!