Chapter 61: The Shadow Villa's Lament (Three)

  "I am Yuan Feibai." He sat in his wheelchair, smiling lightly, with eyes that resembled Yuan Feibai's phoenix eyes gazing at me, yet full of deep valleys and winding paths that could not be entered.

  I let out a sigh: "Bai San Ye called him by his father's name, and since you know so much about the past, and have Ping Ning Princess's handkerchief, I think you must have been someone from Zi Qiu Mountain Villa before," I paused for a moment, looking into his phoenix eyes: "If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who has been with Yuan Qingwu all these years, aren't you?"

  "He smiled happily: 'What makes you think so, Mugen.'"

  I stood up, tightly grasping the handrail, and calmly said: "This place is full of plum blossoms, but the garden is filled with a strong, pungent smell. I went to the back garden and found that it was planted with Western lotus, which is a tropical plant. This garden must have a hot spring, and its geographical conditions should be exactly the same as those of Xifeng Garden. Otherwise, it would not be able to survive. Even if there are material conditions for the survival of Western lotus, ordinary people do not have the conditions or understand its growth rules, so it is impossible for them to plant it alive casually. Therefore, I boldly speculate that you came out of the secret palace of Zixu Mountain Villa, so you know so well about every blade of grass and tree in Xifeng Garden and this Western lotus. And your true purpose of planting this Western lotus should have two purposes: one is to reminisce about the secret palace of Zixu Mountain Villa."

  He looked into my eyes and smiled warmly: "You're right, there's another reason. Can you tell me?"

  "Because you're using live people for experiments, I don't know how exactly you turn these living people into walking zombie puppets, but I do know that you've been luring martial arts masters to your mansion to help Yuan Qingwu absorb their powers. However, it's impossible for you to process all of these corpses into puppets at once, so you're using this strange and peculiar gas to cover up the stench of their rotting bodies."

  He clapped his hands there: "Good, no wonder that little scoundrel is so fond of you, indeed not like ordinary children."

  I continued: "Mr. Lu, due to the stimulation he received, sometimes his mind is not clear, so he mistakenly took the person you arranged by his side as real and seriously built another secret palace for you."

  He smiled and pushed the wheelchair towards Xi: "What you said is all right, now guess what I'm going to do to you."

  My body couldn't help but tremble, I took a step back and forced myself to calm down: "You and Yuan Jia must be either enemies or friends. If I were you, I would definitely use me as bait to lure Yuan Fei Bai over, then kill me in front of him, making him feel the pain you're feeling."

  I emphasized the part about "not killing me in front of Yuan Fei" to remind him that he can't kill me now, no matter what. First, let's stall for a bit and then let Yuan Fei handle it. He nodded his head with a smile: "A clever delaying tactic, indeed feasible." I spoke up: "May I ask your name, sir? So that I and my Third Grandfather can know who exactly I've fallen into the hands of."

  That man smiled slightly: "How many years has it been since someone asked me my real name?" He raised his head and laughed, saying: "Simaa Lian."

  Then with a flick of his hand, he peeled off the disguise from his face, revealing a terrifying face full of scars, as well as a head full of white hair.

  I muttered his name, and was startled in my heart. Since the Sima family were all slaves of the Yuan family, why would this Sima treat the Yuan family like that.

  "Could it be that Mr. Mo is the former Dark God and dared to kill the former master of the Dark Palace, Yu Qingfeng's Sima Lian?"

  He threw back his head and laughed loudly, a harsh and terrifying sound full of hatred and indignation, with a sharp glint in his eyes: "Exactly."

  Siman Lian looked at me for a while, seemingly having made up his mind. He raised his hand and suddenly had a bamboo flute in it. He put it to his mouth and blew softly. A little boy walked in with a strange smile on his face. Behind him, Lu Yuan stumbled in, still laughing and saying: "Ah Nong, don't run so fast!"

  As soon as he came in and saw all this, he was stunned for a moment. Sima Lian smiled at me and said, "I remember that the young lady had another companion."

  He was asking about Duan Yu Rong.

  "Tell me, if the proudest and most arrogant Treading Snow Son knew that his people were being manipulated by others, what would he think?" His mouth began to curve into a cruel smile: "Or perhaps, if he witnessed with his own eyes his beloved being ravished by force, what kind of expression would he have?"

  The weather isn't very cold, especially since there's a hot spring right behind this courtyard. It's even a bit stuffy in the house, but I'm breaking out in a cold sweat. What does he want to do?

  He blew the flute, and Madame Xie's portrait was taken away. Everything was exactly the same as in the dark temple. I had no choice but to be pulled in by the man with a radiant complexion. The familiar torches lit up, and we wound our way through seven twists and eight turns until we came before a wall adorned with carvings of flying apsaras playing flutes amidst lotus flowers. As I looked at the flying apsara and the flute-playing youth again, my heart stirred. This flying apsara was incredibly like Madame Xie, while the young man was handsome but seemed unfamiliar.

  Two kneeling human-shaped objects stood by the wall, their faces rotten and hidden behind freshly nailed boards. They were covered in sleeves and knelt in front of the wall. Sima Lian blew a tune, surprisingly it was "Long Xiang Shou". The two human-shaped objects immediately opened their eyes, turned the huge gears beside them, and the big wall emitted a loud noise, slowly rising up.

  It was clear that the scale of this dark palace couldn't be compared to any of those under the Ziqi Mountain Villa. The further in we went, the thicker the Western lotus fragrance became, but no matter how thick it got, it still couldn't block out a pungent bloody stench. Su Huai walked over and opened a black iron gate, forcing us to enter. Once inside, I was stunned by what I saw - the entire space was filled with large torture racks, each one locking in a human body. Several of them were still alive, their bodies covered in small steel needles inserted into every acupoint, twisting in agony, their eyes wild and crazed. The air was thick with blood and bodily waste.

  I couldn't help but tremble, what on earth does this devilish tin bringer want to do?

  Siman Lian pointed at the only one alive and uncorrupted dark thin figure, smiling: "Wooden Maiden can recognize this person."

  I went forward, and the person still had a breath. This person was indeed familiar, wasn't he an acquaintance from Ziqiu Mountain Villa?

  I took another look and couldn't help but let out a loud cry together, startled me to retreat three steps, I fell sitting on the ground.

  That person was none other than Duan Yu Rong!

  Two days without seeing, originally the heavenly face of Duan Yue Rong, now is a pale and wan complexion, her face as white as a ghost, her body covered with silver nails, the blood beads extremely fine, flowing down from the steel nails to a hole on the ground.

  Perhaps it was my cry that made the emaciated figure slowly open his eyes, his purple pupils still shining brightly. He saw Sima Lian, and a mocking smile appeared on his face, with deep hatred in his purple pupils, yet still proud and unyielding. Then he shifted his gaze to me, seemingly surprised and enlightened, but only gave me a faint, cold smile.

  I know Duan Yu Rong is a man who does evil and will eventually be punished by heaven, but why must it be so cruel.

  I sat on the ground, my legs and feet going soft. Lu Yuan stared at Zi Tong's Duan Yue Rong, his face shocked, unsure if it was due to the hatred of destroying his family or being scared by this human hell as well. He started screaming wildly.

  "Why on earth did you have to go and do something so cruel?" I stared at him, taking a long time to muster up a complete sentence.

  From the first generation of Yu Qing Feng, the Xuan Yuan royal family has been weak and incompetent. Now, the current head of the Yu clan, Yu Qing Jiang, is already the tenth generation. The Yu clan has been in Xi'an for nine generations, with many talented individuals and strong military power. The Duan clan is in chaos, and it's a good time for heroes to rise up. The Yu clan occupies the northwest region, while the Duan clan controls Bashu and the capital. They plan to attack the Yu clan from both sides and eliminate them. In the central plains, there are also bandits from the Deng clan causing trouble. Governor Zhang Zhi is strictly defending the Wu Yue region and refuses to send troops. It's laughable that those small city masters, governors, and local officials all start dreaming of dominating the world as soon as they have a bit of military power.

  He sneered lightly, tapping his wheelchair. The "Su Hui" puppet came over to push his wheelchair to where Duan Yue was standing. "Our Sima family should also be able to gain freedom soon," he said. "I am the ninth generation of the Sima family, and I am more intelligent than any dark god. I like to play with mechanisms. Although I can no longer replicate that pair of fish-shaped palace locks, I only heard Yu Qing Feng play the 'Longxiang Shou' melody once, and I grasped the rhythm to open the lock. At that time, I was proud and arrogant. My Sima family is full of talented individuals with heavenly wisdom. Why should we be bound by that oath for nine generations, serving as slaves? What does the Yu clan amount to? Yu Qing Feng's heart is kind and soft, although he promised that my descendants would gain freedom. But thinking about spending a lifetime in this dark palace makes my heart restless."

  His eyes flashed with hatred, and he let out a long sigh: "I watched that flying sword dance and grow day by day, always wondering if the Xuan Yuan princess was as beautiful as this flying sword? Our Dark God clan has passed down the ancestral teachings for generations, serving the Yuanshi Nine Clans, and it is forbidden to enter the Purple Imperial Palace privately. As I grew older, my ability to manipulate mechanisms and my martial arts skills increased day by day. I thought that if one day I left the Dark Palace, I would never have the opportunity to enter the Purple Imperial Palace again. So, relying on my years of diligent research, I couldn't bear my curiosity, and one day I opened the Purple Imperial Palace, found this purple silk book, and discovered all the grudges between the four major families at the time of the founding of the country, as well as all the secrets of the Yuan family and the Dark Palace."

  He became excited, his eyes flashing with the excitement and novelty of treasure hunting: "Xuan Yuan Princess is so..." His scarred face was dazed for a moment, muttering to himself "I didn't want to read that 'No Laughing Scripture', I swear I only wanted to take a glance and leave, but my eyes couldn't move away from it. What exquisite martial arts! No wonder even someone as cunning as Yuan Liang couldn't resist this true scripture. I took away the handkerchief of Princess Chang, so I decided not to be a slave of the Yuan family anymore. I killed Yuan Qingfeng and wanted to lead my people to escape from the Dark Palace, but unfortunately failed."

  "Yuan Qingjiang." He gritted his teeth and spat out these three words: "I underestimated Yuan Qingjiang, he took advantage of the situation to threaten my father's life, so my father was forced to make another vow, the Sima clan would stay in the dark palace, serving the Yuans for eternity. And that Yuan Qingjiang ordered someone to cripple my martial arts and throw me into the Mojie Lake to feed the Golden Lotus."

  "I survived with the help of my clansmen in secret, I had been thinking of revenge all along. I knew that Yu Qingjiang liked Yu Qingwu and admired Ming Fengyang, but in reality, she had an unmentionable relationship with Yu Qingjiang."

  "Hmph! I originally thought that such a man would not be emotional, but unexpectedly, such a hero actually liked a little girl who didn't know the characters. He killed my and my clan's long-awaited freedom, so I want to destroy everything he likes. So, I secretly showed the 'Wu Xiao Jing' to Yuan Qingwu, and someone as arrogant and greedy as her was immediately infatuated with it. I really didn't expect that she would even urge me to destroy the stupid person that Yuan Qingjiang loves the most."

  He burst out laughing: "This pair of brothers, how alike they are! They love with such fervor, such utter disregard for the norms, yet it's so venomous."

  "So I went, and I still remember that the weather was very good, I remember it clearly," his eyes suddenly shone with a light, and his cheeks flushed slightly: "She was embroidering in the room, completely absorbed, her neck exposed a patch of white skin, I walked up behind her, she didn't even know, I took a look, what she was embroidering was a picture of a lily."

  He fell silent, and I felt a stir in my heart. Suddenly, I smiled at him, and he turned around, also smiling: "Mugu Niang is the second person to arrive here, see all these things, and still smile."

  I smiled and said: "The first one should be this Duan Yue Rong Wang Ye."

  He smiled faintly: "Indeed a loving husband for a hundred days, you really understand him."

  I cursed him seventeen or eighteen times in my heart, who would be with him for a hundred days and repay his kindness. I smiled and said: "Since the host knows that one day's husband is a hundred days' kindness, why treat Xie Mei like this?"

  He smiled unchanged, looking at me with an unyielding gaze in his eyes, as if I had inserted a steel knife into the deepest part of his heart.