Chapter 239
Chapter 239
Yu Lang asked again, “Then the woman in white they met in Liangzhou City in the first story was your young lady?”
Changsheng shook his head once more. “Everything in that story came from what they said. I never saw it myself.”
Ren Fengjue asked, “Were the master and driver in the second story the first people to enter the villa?”
“Yes.” Changsheng nodded. “Before them, no one had ever come except that man.”
“The young lady said she had allowed them to enter.”
Yu Lang said, “So everything they saw at the inn was an illusion your young lady created to lure them to the villa?”
Changsheng nodded again.
Ren Fengjue continued, “They left, but the master died a violent death not long afterward.”
“His death was very strange. A wisp of Baleful Qi passed through his body and shattered his soul. Do you know of any connection?”
Changsheng answered honestly, “No. They obeyed the rules that night. They never left their room or harbored any evil thoughts, so the young lady spared their lives.”
“As for what happened after they left, I know nothing.”
Ren Fengjue considered this for a moment. “Apart from them, did anyone else ever leave this place?”
Changsheng thought back carefully before answering. “There was also a married couple seeking medical treatment, and a father and son. The young lady let them go too.”
“Do you know who they were?”
Changsheng shook his head again. “No.”
Ren Fengjue immediately thought of the names hidden in the dark iron box…
If Meng Zhiyuan’s death was connected to this, might the couple and the father and son Changsheng mentioned also be on that list?
Another mystery.
Xia Ximo suddenly spoke, coming straight to the point. “I only want to know two things. First, who is your young lady? Second, who is the man in the story?”
Faced with these two questions, Changsheng visibly hesitated.
He lowered his head again, apparently unwilling to answer.
Xia Ximo’s voice grew colder. “If you will not even answer that, how do you expect me to save your young lady?”
Only then did Changsheng slowly lift his head, his gaze wavering.
But just as he was about to speak, the sound of bells began echoing through the villa, approaching from far away.
Then the cold wind howled more fiercely, and swirling snow filled their vision.
Joy immediately lit Changsheng’s face. “Young lady! Young lady! You have returned?”
No figure appeared in the snow. Instead came a sigh, followed by a woman’s cool, clear voice.
“Changsheng, she cannot save me.”
Xia Ximo stepped forward and was about to speak when Wuyou raised their voice. “A hundred years ago, snow fell in the Underworld Administration…”
Everyone paused.
As a Daoist, Yan Zhengchu had once visited the Underworld Administration himself. Hearing this, he could not help objecting.
“How could it snow deep underground?”
Wuyou coughed lightly. “Because an earth deity of the Underworld Administration fell in love with a mortal. She wanted to cross his name out of the Book of Life and Death.”
“So, while the Earth Lord was away, she caused an eerie snowfall in the Underworld, where it had never snowed before.”
“The ghosts grew drowsy when the snow touched them. Order broke down in the Underworld Administration, and the earth deity seized the opportunity to steal the Book of Life and Death…”
Everyone listened in astonishment.
But Xia Ximo frowned. “An earth deity?”
Wuyou dared not speak too loudly and merely whispered in her ear. “She was actually an attendant of the Earth Lord. They say there are twelve attendants in the Ghost King’s Palace. She was the foremost of them, honored as the Attendant of the Cold Abyss. In the Underworld Administration, she was called Lady Xueyin.”
“…”
So this was another of the Earth Lord’s messes.
Xia Ximo’s expression grew even less pleasant.
Wuyou continued, “But no one knows what happened afterward. Once the Earth Lord recovered the Book of Life and Death, this earth deity disappeared from the Underworld Administration.”
Yu Lang could not help asking, “What happens if a name is crossed out of the Book of Life and Death? Does that person live forever?”
Before Wuyou could answer, Yan Zhengchu said, “I have heard that the book is divided into the Volume of Life and the Volume of Death. If one’s name is removed from both, one escapes the governance of life and death.”
Yu Lang was doubtful. “Can there really be such a wonderful thing?”
Xia Ximo said, “If she truly succeeded, why was she left alone in Mingyue Villa?”
Yu Lang speculated, “Could it be… that man in the story…”
Before he finished, a woman in white materialized from the wind and snow, standing directly before him.
Vice Minister Yu’s breath caught in fright. He hurriedly covered his mouth. “I was only guessing. Do not take it seriously.”
The woman in white gave him an icy glance. Only then did everyone see her clearly.
She was unlike the description in the story.
Her hair still reached the ground, but it was snow-white. Even her eyebrows seemed formed from frost and snow.
Only her eyes showed a faint blood-red tinge.
Changsheng suddenly fell to his knees. “Young lady, how did you… become like this?”
Wuyou said quietly, “She has killed too many people and exhausted her spiritual essence. Now she is no different from a Vengeful Ghost or an Evil Spirit.”
Xia Ximo asked coldly, “Did you really fall this far for a man?”
The woman in white turned to look at her, then glanced at Ren Fengjue. “I simply was not as fortunate as you.”
Hearing the implication, Xia Ximo frowned again. “What has fortune to do with it?”
The woman said, “The person you love was willing to risk his life and abandon everything for you. In the end, you forgot it all and were left free of every burden. Is that not a kind of good fortune?”
“…”
Xia Ximo’s expression changed. She could feel an intense gaze beside her…
She knew Ren Fengjue was looking at her.
Suddenly recalling what the Earth Lord had said during her last visit to the Ghost King’s Palace, she felt another small shock.
Seeing her silence, the woman continued, “I was different. I gave up everything, and all I received in the end was resentment and betrayal. And he, like you, will remember nothing.”
Xia Ximo was about to refute her when Ren Fengjue spoke. “Love is a matter of what two people freely choose. If you truly loved someone, why would you keep account of gains and losses?”
Yu Lang immediately agreed. “I think Lord Ren is right!”
Yan Zhengchu understood little of these romantic entanglements. What concerned him more was what became of someone whose name had been struck from the Book of Life and Death…
So he asked, “Then did this person really become immortal in the end?”
The woman in white looked at him and gave a cold laugh. Then her figure merged with the wind and snow once more, leaving only her voice echoing in the air.
“Since you are all so loving and loyal, let me see whether you will sacrifice yourselves for one another when death truly stands before you.”
As her words faded, darkness abruptly swallowed everything around them.