in2ebook Chapter 255 Things are becoming more and more confusing
Chapter 255 Things are becoming more and more confusing
The wind from the sleeves and the broken wood grain as he escaped, the carved window lattices of the library making a slight creaking sound in the night wind.
Shen Yue's fingertips were tightly gripping the wood grain of the window sill.
It was a shallow, snake-shaped scratch, strikingly similar to the scratch on the corner of her modern office desk, making her forget for a moment that she was in danger.
Jun Jiuchen's palm suddenly covered the back of her hand, the warmth of his palm coming through the coarse cloth sleeve, with a barely perceptible tremor: "Follow me closely."
Shen Yue was horrified and pulled his hand away instantly.
When the hem of his moon-white shirt swept across the windowsill, it stirred up a cloud of fine dust.
Shen Yue followed closely, his eyes falling on the black blood oozing from his left sleeve - the bloodstain had dyed the bamboo pattern embroidered with silver thread into a deep purple, which looked very much like the morning glory that had been hit by frost in late autumn in his hometown.
The sound of clothes rustling in the wind came from deep in the bamboo forest. Jun Jiuchen spun around suddenly and shook out three copper coins from his sleeve. The silver needle between his fingers flashed in the moonlight and accurately pierced the "Yangxi Point" on the person's wrist.
"The Shadow Guard's Soul-Chasing Needle?"
Shen Yue exclaimed as she saw the blood-red crabapple tattoo slip off the black-clad man's sleeve.
Jun Jiuchen didn't answer, but just pulled her around a clump of old bamboo. The gravel kicked up by the tip of his shoes hit the bamboo joints, making a crisp "thump thump" sound.
She noticed that he stepped on the thickest fallen leaves with every step, just like the snowfield hunters she had seen in documentaries, trying not to disturb their prey.
When the first rays of light at dawn seeped through the window paper, Shen Yue was using a bamboo stick to open the skin of Jun Jiuchen's wound.
The wound caused by the blood crabapple was so deep that the bone was visible, and the muscles at the edge were a strange purple-red, which was exactly the same as the symptoms of "scorpion tail grass" poisoning recorded in the illustrations of "Baicao Shiyao".
She pinched out the veins of the fern from the ceramic jar, and when her fingertips touched the velvety tissue, she suddenly remembered the mimosa she had touched in the vegetable market when she was a child.
"This poison requires live insect therapy."
Jun Jiuchen's Adam's apple rolled violently due to the pain.
Shen Yue raised her eyes and saw that he was gritting his teeth, with beads of sweat on his forehead sliding down his hairline and dripping onto the open collar of his moon-white shirt.
There was an old scar there, extending from the collarbone to the shoulder socket, and its shape was exactly like the rusty iron lock at the entrance of the alley in her hometown.
"Live insects?"
Her hand holding the medicine shovel paused, and her eyes swept over the crisscrossing scars on his forearm.
The most profound vein, the one that ran from the elbow joint to the wrist, reminded her of the fracture reduction diagrams she had seen in modern hospitals.
Jun Jiuchen seemed to notice her gaze and suddenly turned his head to the side, a suspicious blush on the tips of his ears. "Go to the herb garden and catch three 'Seven-Star Fireflies'. Remember to bring your pottery bowl."
When Shen Yue turned around, she saw the handle of the dagger exposed under his pillow. The wood grain was exactly the same as the broken wooden plate she had touched in the secret compartment of the library, except that there were a few more recently engraved symbols, which looked very much like the binary code she had used to encrypt files.
The originally blurred number at the broken part of the wooden sign is now clearly visible, and it is engraved with "Bingtang Xiaoba".
At three quarters past five in the morning, the martial arts arena was shrouded in mist. Shen Yue stood in the "C" formation and felt the collar of his moon-white shirt rustling in the wind.
the next morning.
As the elder who was teaching the skills swept his eyes across the queue, he paused on the silver bamboo bud on her left chest. The look in his eyes was strikingly similar to the expression on the HR's face when she failed the interview - a routine glance, but with no intention of stopping.
"Bingtang Xiaoba, you will be on duty at the Soul-Breaking Cliff today."
The black wooden sign thrown by the deacon hit his palm, and the skull totem on it was icy cold.
Shen Yue heard a sneer behind her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw several inner disciples wearing four golden bamboo leaves pointing at her.
One of them stroked the jade pendant at her waist. The word "Jun" on it reminded her of the bamboo joints on the windowsill of Jun Jiuchen's quiet room - the same seal characters were also engraved on the bamboo joints, but they were mostly covered by moss.
The stone road leading to the Cliff of Broken Souls was paved with broken porcelain. Shen Yue stepped on the gaps with every step to avoid making any noise.
The Ganoderma lucidum growing by the roadside was exceptionally beautiful, and the patterns on its caps reminded her of the gradient colors seen in modern cosmetics advertisements.
Suddenly, she realized that this seemingly peaceful immortal gate was actually full of invisible traps, just like the workplace she escaped from.
At noon, the Soul-Breaking Cliff was shrouded in a blue-gray miasma. Shen Yue crushed the Dust-Repellent Grass and applied it to the sides of her nose. The strange fragrance reminded her of the aged mugwort that her grandmother had dried in her hometown.
The wind at the cliff edge suddenly changed direction, blowing up the knot of her hair and revealing the light brown birthmark behind her ear - the shape of which looked very much like the flame symbol on the handle of Jun Jiuchen's dagger.
She lay behind a pile of rocks and witnessed three men in black carving runes on the cliff.
One of them took off the leather bag around his waist, and the fluorescent powder that was poured out formed a strange trajectory on the rock.
Shen Yue recognized that it was the "Soul Locking Formation" that the Xiaoyao Sect prohibited from spreading to outsiders, but there was a twisted "Jun" character at the center of the formation, which was exactly the same as the strokes of the word "Jun" on the secret letter.
When the leading man in black took off his hat, Shen Yue suddenly covered his mouth - the scar above the man's left eyebrow was exactly the same shape as the old wound on Jun Jiuchen's forearm!
At this moment, the opponent was using a dagger to cut open his palm and dripping blood into the center of the formation, muttering: "Use blood as a guide to lock its spiritual veins..."
The miasma suddenly surged, Shen Yue felt dizzy, and vaguely saw the meeting room of Modern Company.
She took out the broken wooden card from her sleeve, and the burrs on the broken part pierced her palm.
Suddenly she understood why the secret letter pointed to her: Perhaps Jun Jiuchen had already known that her existence itself was the key to breaking the family's pursuit.
As dusk fell over Qinglan Mountain, Shen Yue fled back to the quiet room clutching the three seven-star fireflies and prepared to report the matter to the elders.
Jun Jiuchen was leaning against the windowsill wiping the dagger. The bloodstains on his moon-white shirt had dried into a dark purple color.
When she poured the fireflies into the ceramic bowl, she found that there was a tiny "Chen" character engraved on the carapace of each insect, which formed a strange echo with the old scar on his wrist.
"They carved a soul-locking formation on the Soul-Breaking Cliff."
Shen Yue spoke breathlessly, his eyes sweeping over the wound he had rebandaged. "There's a very familiar symbol on their foreheads, it looks like the word 'Jun'."
Jun Jiuchen paused, and the dagger fell to the bluestone floor with a crisp sound.
He raised his head, the twilight shattered into stars in his eyes, his Adam's apple rolled, but he didn't speak for a long time.
Shen Yue noticed a small piece of skin exposed behind his ear - there was a light brown birthmark similar to hers, but the shape was more like an open lock.
The bamboo forest outside the window rustled in the evening breeze, like countless voices whispering.
Shen Yue suddenly remembered the last words the system said before it disappeared: "The law of survival is never to fight alone."
She looked at the faintly visible Soul-Locking Array tattoo on Jun Jiuchen's wrist, and finally understood the truth behind those coincidences.
Perhaps from the moment she traveled through time, fate had already tied together the two people who were trying to escape its control with bamboo shadows and bloodstains.
At this moment, the seven-star firefly lit up a faint blue light in the pottery bowl.
The long and narrow lines cast on the bluestone slabs look very much like the winding snake-like marks on the window edge of the library.
The broken wooden plaque with "Bingtang Xiaoba" engraved on it was lying quietly in Shen Yue's sleeve.
The wood grain at the break shimmered in the fluorescent light.
Shen Yue was a little scared, the truth didn't seem to be as simple as the system said.