Chapter 47: The Peacock Flies Southeast (Three)

  My mind is a complete blank, stiffened there, no tears can be shed, no tears can be shed, the injustice has been practiced to the point of having no tears to shed!

  Just as I was about to ask, the dead man suddenly turned his head, staring at the flames and chuckling: "When I opened the first page of the Tearless Sutra, I clearly remembered that it said: Don't say that success comes without tears, for tears will eventually dry up like a spring."

  She burst out laughing: "The small characters in the footnote say that those who practice this skill, during practice, their minds become abnormal, their senses are confused, and those who succeed will be invincible in the world. However, they will forget love and affection, and their personalities will change greatly. The greatest tragedy in the world is none other than this. Therefore, those who want to practice this skill should be careful... This... This is such a terrible martial art! I'm so scared, but Minglang is like he's possessed by a demon, saying that this secret book was given to him by his best friend, and he has practiced it before. Now his martial arts are extremely high, and he has many concubines. Where did that say that? As long as you don't practice to the last level, your personality won't change greatly. He told me not to worry, promising me that he would only practice one level, but he couldn't resist practicing layer by layer. I was beside him, protecting his formation, and also became enchanted, following him in practicing one level. Indeed, my martial arts have made great progress."

  That Fei Jiao has cultivated the Wu Lei Jing, I wonder if he will also undergo a great change in temperament and go crazy. I was shocked and anxious, my whole body covered in cold sweat, blood surging up to my throat. But then I thought again, remembering that Fei Jiao had told me he had already succeeded in his cultivation. Since he still remembers me, it must be that this woman's Ming Lang has cultivated incorrectly and gone crazy.

  My heart slightly calmed down, thinking that this woman had become a widow, and must have been related to the Tearless Scripture. I blurted out: "How terrifying is this martial art? Why do you all insist on practicing it?"

  "It's not scary, but that despicable person is even more terrifying." She roughly interrupted me, but her voice gradually became tearful, filled with infinite regret and pain, saying: "If I hadn't returned to Purple Bamboo Mountain Villa, how good would it have been? If Minglang and I hadn't moved into West Maple Garden, how good would that have been?" She exclaimed, "Then Minglang wouldn't have met that despicable person, and his heart wouldn't have been captivated by her."

  I spent five whole years with Ming Lang in Xi Feng Yuan, busy every day helping him dissipate his powers. But Ming Lang didn't remember me. No matter how I told him about our past, he wouldn't listen. His mind had become like a child's, and he would leave Xi Feng Yuan every day, laughing foolishly as he practiced his light skills. Sometimes I didn't dare tell Er Geo, fearing they would bind him up and hurt him. But then one day, Ming Lang suddenly disappeared. I searched for him bitterly for a month, and just when I had lost hope, he appeared again. His expression was tired and haggard, heartbroken to the extreme, but his mind was clear and awake. All of his astonishing powers had vanished without a trace. He called out softly, "Qing Wu," and I threw myself into his arms, almost fainting with joy. My heart overflowed with gratitude to heaven for finally returning my complete and intact Ming Lang to me. But Ming Lang was like a different person now. In the past, he had been a standard rich young master, always dressed in fine clothes and riding horses, showing off on the streets with Er Geo, attracting more attention from the city girls than they did themselves. But now he was silent and taciturn every day, uninterested in dressing up or practicing martial arts.

  "I returned to the Ming family with Ming Lang, only to find out that the world had completely changed. The Ming family had broken off relations with my mother's family three years ago and had joined forces with the Qin family. My honest father was thrown into the Grand Temple by my maternal grandfather and second brother's father-in-law, where he was tortured to death. Naturally, the people of the Ming family would not look at me with good eyes, only Ming Lang protected me with his life. Although he treated me with great respect and love, he no longer approached me as closely as before. In his free time, he only planted flowers, taught Yang Er martial arts, and then sat blankly in the courtyard watching the sunset. I knew that during the time he went missing, he must have been with that woman."

  It must be that there is a third person, alas! I didn't expect it to evolve into a family ethics tragedy later on. Thinking of the experiences of my past life, I couldn't help but feel sympathetic. I asked involuntarily: "Then why don't you think of a way to win back your Minglang from your love rival?"

  "I have no way, I simply have no way to compete with her," she said with infinite fear and resentment: "Because she's already dead, how can I compete with a dead person? She will forever be vividly beautiful in Ming Lian's heart, while I am withering away, and there is simply not enough time. We've only been back at the Ming house for a year, and yet the winds of fortune have shifted again - the former emperor has reinstated the Yuan family to power, issued an edict to confiscate the Qin family's assets, and thoroughly investigate the Ming family's crime of treason. And the one leading the charge is my own beloved second brother."

  Only to see big drops of tears rolling down from her delicate eyes: "My second brother, he said that he would do anything for me, but just one year after not seeing him, I asked him to spare the Ming family, spare Ming Lang and Yang Er, but he coldly refused me. He also said that Qin Xiang Ye killed my father, with the support of his backer, and blamed me for marrying into the Ming family, even saying that the Ming family helped the Qin family kill my father without knowing it, and that I was not worthy of being a daughter of the Yuan family, nor worthy of being his sister. However, Ming Lang grew up with me and my second brother together, so my second brother should understand Ming Lang better than me. Moreover, in these five years, Ming Lang has been practicing martial arts in seclusion, and I have been guarding the formation for him. When Ming Lang came out of seclusion, he was confused and didn't even remember me, how could he possibly collude with his father to harm the Yuan family?"

  "Ming Lang is not as good to me as before, I'm already suffering enough, resentful and angry, regretting that I shouldn't have let him practice that martial art. But Second Brother still blames me for being a Yuan who only knows how to help my husband's family. He wants the Ming family to be destroyed, to kill all the people of the Ming family to avenge our father. I knelt in the middle of the courtyard and begged him for a whole night, but he was unmoved."

  "Why is heaven treating me like this? My husband's family treated me like their own daughter, so why did they harm my father? Why did my second brother want to destroy my husband's entire family? Not even sparing my only child? My second brother still had some sense of sibling affection and used a female prisoner to secretly exchange me from the execution ground, but...”

  She was crying uncontrollably there, her face smeared with oil paint and tears, looking more like a terrifying evil spirit. But the deep despair and pain in her eyes were unmistakable, those of a heartbroken mother, making one feel a pang of sorrow. She looked at her own tears mixed with oil paint dripping from her hands:

  "But my poor son, he was only seven years old when he died! I really don't understand this world anymore. I don't understand my second brother. When we were young, he was so fond of me and would do anything for me. He promised to grant me any wish, but why wouldn't he spare my son? Even though Yang'er had the blood of the Ming family in him, he also had half of our original family's blood. Yang'er is his own nephew! He used to hold him, kiss him, and even personally put on him the long-life golden lock from our original family. I really don't understand... how could he turn around and want him dead? Why, why?"

  She burst into loud sobs, crying so hard that her voice cracked, the cuckoo wept blood. I originally hated her to the bone, but now I couldn't help feeling deeply sympathetic towards her, and my hatred dissipated a lot.

  I let out a sigh and asked in a soft voice: "What about your Minglang? Was he also beheaded after being imprisoned?"

  She suddenly lifted her head, grasped my lapel: "My Minglang is known as the divine sword of Qin, how can it be so easily caught?" Then she violently shook me off and sobbed: "But Minglang didn't die, where did he go again?"

  "I've risked my life searching all over the world, I've been to every one of his friends' places, but I didn't expect to end up here?" She laughed self-mockingly, her eyes filled with sorrow: "Could it be that he can't let go of her after all."

  "No, Ming Lang must have gone to the Dark Palace to practice the Wu Xiao Jing. He'll come back to avenge the Ming family's grievances. Yes, that must be it." Her eyes flickered with cruel intent: "Yes, that must be it. He must want to kill all the Yuans, to avenge the 361 lives of the Ming family for me."

  "Then let's start with you!" Her eyes changed, and a fierce killing intent suddenly appeared.

  "I've never seen you before, nor have I ever seen your love rival," the soft feeling towards her instantly disappeared, and I said with hatred: "Then why did you come to harm me?"

  She looked at me with disdain, "As for your relationship with me, it's too great," she smiled coquettishly: "That cheap woman is actually one of my second brother's concubines. My son died, but that cheap woman still has a son. Haven't you heard? Qin Zhong Tuxue Gongzi, the world praises him, and he has someone he loves to death, that person is you, Hua Shi Mu Yin."

  I was stunned at that moment, speechless, and everything in my mind was chaotic...

  Crazy, crazy, the whole world seems to be spinning wildly, and the cheap person in this crazy woman's heart is actually Xie Meixiang, Bai's mother? Is he using me to lure out Bai?

  She spun around with a joyful smile, and mockingly pulled me close, her beautiful yet eerie face pressed against mine. Her sparkling eyes scanned the bloodstains scattered on the ground, and there was an unstoppable maniacal laughter in her eyes: "Tell me, will you live to see your husband find you?"

  I clutched my wound, seething with hatred for this woman's cruel and eccentric ways. I said coldly, "You'll naturally keep me alive because you want to use my bloodstains to lure him over, so he can open that accursed Dark Palace door for you. But your calculations are wrong. The Yuanyang army is currently attacking Xi'an City, and he's busy with the battle, not to mention I've never heard him mention anything about a Dark Palace."

  She was dancing lightly there, her water sleeves fluttering like snowflakes, singing with relish: "You should be the rock, I should be the reed, the reeds are tied together like silk, the rocks do not shift."

  "You say this world is full of wonders, but the men of our family are actually the most venomous in the world, yet they're also extremely sentimental," she put down her water sleeve and walked lightly to sit beside me: "Look quickly, he's already following your bloodstains and pitiful cries."

  She suddenly turned my face around, looking back at the granite corridor that was dimly lit by the faint candlelight, with a long shadow appearing in front of us, slowly moving out from the corner.

  A man in white clothes like snow, with an ancient zither on his back, holding a black whip, bloodstains on his chest like red plum blossoms, cold and stern face, pale complexion but unable to conceal his majestic bearing like the moon in the middle of the sky, standing out from the crowd, he is Yuan Fei, the third son of the Yuan family.

  The author has something to say: A reader asked me if I was from Xi'an, unfortunately, I am a Shanghainese and have never been to Xi'an. However, my friend Yang Mengchen from New Zealand is originally from Xi'an and provided me with great help in understanding the city's culture, architecture, and customs. She also suggested the design for the scene where Duan Yue meets Fang Ruoxi in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her, as it was she who inspired me to set the headquarters of Yuanjia and the first half of the story in Xi'an. From her proud and detailed descriptions, I felt the pure and kind folk customs of Xi'an people and the grandeur unique to the imperial capital. This has made Xi'an the city I most want to visit in this world. I wish my friend Yang Mengchen all the best for a bright future ahead.

  Also thanks to those friends who have been supporting me and Muzhen, thank you for your tolerance and encouragement towards this rookie. Tomorrow I have something to go out, so there will be no update, please come back on Monday. Wish everyone a happy weekend!

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