The Willow Lodge was the best inn in Hanqiu City. It was adjacent to the most beautiful lake in the city and surrounded by a forest of ancient willows. It was the most tranquil in the spring and summer, but in the middle of winter, when the lake was frozen and the ancient willows were leafless, standing by the window and gazing at the scenery by the starlight would inevitably make one feel rather somber and miserable.
In the darkness, Hanqiu City was extremely tranquil, devoid of any noise. It could even easily make one think of a graveyard. Wang Po was still in the south and had not returned to Tianliang County, but it seemed like the Zhu clan was about to wither until it was digested. Many changes in the world would come so suddenly that one would be caught unprepared.
Nanke's voice roused him from his thoughts. He turned and sat down on the bed.
Nanke took off his shoes and socks and then placed his feet in the basin. She lowered her head and began to carefully scrub them.
The temperature of the hot water in the basin was just right. It was not hot, nor would it feel cold after a while. She had presumably just personally tested it, just like on those nights at Sloping Cliff Horse Farm.
In the days when Chen Changsheng was unconscious and unable to move after waking up, Nanke had been responsible for feeding him and cleaning his body.
He had tried many times to refuse, but he had been unable to convince her, just like tonight.
"My injuries are almost completely healed. In the future, can I do these things myself?"
"Not good."
Nanke did not even raise her head.
She could not remember anything, only that Chen Changsheng was the most important person to her.
Then she should properly take care of him, ensure that he lived a healthy life and recovered as quickly as possible.
Chen Changsheng thought it over, then very honestly said, "I'm not sure … if I can cure your illness."
"But only you can cure it, right?"
Nanke raised her head and stared into his eyes as she spoke.
Because her soul had left her body, the distance between her eyes no longer widened, but her eyes still seemed rather lifeless.
When she focused so intently on something or someone, it was actually rather frightening.
But Chen Changsheng was already used to it.
After washing up, Nanke very naturally untied her luggage and laid out the bedding on the floor. However, she did not go to sleep. Instead, she very naturally took off her clothes and sat in front of Chen Changsheng.
On those nights before leaving Sloping Cliff Horse Farm, Chen Changsheng had begun to treat her illness.
Even though she was now an imbecile girl, Nanke could still vaguely sense that being naked in front of a man was not a good thing.
But now she was used to it.
Chen Chang Sheng's finger brushed past the stone bead. His divine sense entered the garden and he took out his short sword.
Then, he took out a golden needle from the Vault Sheath.
True essence was poured in, and the tip of the golden needle began to tremble slightly. It pierced through Nanke's seemingly delicate but actually extremely hard to break skin, and probed into her meridians.
In these past few years, he had cured Luoluo's illness, cured Xuanyuan Po's injuries, and had also treated Zhexiu for a very long time. His ability to observe down to the smallest detail through the golden needles was much stronger than when he had first arrived in the capital, but he still did not have the confidence to cure Nanke's illness.
Because Nanke was not a demi-human, but a demon.
Through these few nights of treatment, Chen Chang Sheng had a deeper understanding of the demon's body, and the more he understood, the more he felt it was unbelievable.
The bodies of demons and humans seemed to differ very little on the surface, especially for a member of the Imperial clan like Nanke, but in certain aspects, there were enormous differences.
These differences were mainly concentrated in the meridians, Ethereal Palace, Qi openings, and sea of consciousness.
Demons had meridians, but they did not have Qi openings, much less Ethereal Palaces.
Most importantly, the sea of consciousness of demons was not like that of humans or demi-humans, which was an ocean formed from true consciousness. It was more like a mist of light.
The problem was, were the lights in the mist shards of consciousness, or some sort of objective existence?
Chen Chang Sheng was very curious about the light that was faintly discernible, yet omnipresent and ever-present, because he faintly felt that he had seen it somewhere before.
Regretfully, although Nanke had done her utmost to open up her consciousness, Chen Chang Sheng still could not delve into the depths of her sea of consciousness, unless he was not worried that his consciousness would invade her and turn her into a true idiot, or that she might just die. As a result, he could not see the true appearance of those lights.
… …
… …
Zhu Ye's remains had already been secretly transported back to Hanqiu City, but they had still not been buried, because the Zhu clan and the Emotion-Severing Sect did not know what to do. His remains were badly mutilated, as if they had been gnawed on by wild beasts, but the cold and cheerless Hanqiu City was on the verge of becoming a graveyard.
Even if the venerable Daoist and the Prince of Xiang continued to protect the Zhu clan for the sake of Zhu Luo, how could a clan without a true expert survive in this treacherous world? And this wasn't even considering the fact that the entire continent knew that Wang Po would one day return to Hanqiu City to take back what he had lost.
The Myriad Willows Garden outside Hanqiu City seemed to have predicted today's situation. Several years ago, it had been set ablaze, burning paper money ahead of time for Wang Po.
Not far from the Myriad Willows Garden was the ancestral grave of the Zhu clan. Only the heads of the Zhu clan or those elders who had made enormous contributions had the right to be buried there.
The starlight tonight was very bright, illuminating the tombs and gravestones. If one carefully read the characters on the gravestones, one would be able to understand the entire history of the Zhu clan and the Emotion-Severing Sect.
In the depths of the graveyard was a thin and small figure, his back hunched. He was waving his hands as he dug at something, his mouth constantly muttering something.
The starlight fell on his face, making his crooked eyes and nose seem even more terrifying, more frightening than all the gravestones put together.
The saliva that came out of his mouth stank to no end, even more stinky than the corpse water in all the graves that had been dug up.
Yes, this petite hunchbacked man was digging graves. His slender fingernails were filled with soil and rotting flesh, but for some reason, they were incomparably sharp. Very quickly, he was able to dig up a grave. In less than an hour, all seventeen graves of the Zhu Family's ancestral graves had been dug up by him.
Whether it was rotting corpses or white bones, they were both the most beautiful harvest for this thin and hunchbacked man.
His eyes glowed and his saliva flowed even more. He let out an extremely indistinct and incomprehensible voice. Only by listening very carefully could one understand the general meaning.
Your Zhu clan is about to be destroyed.
Then give me your resentment and your departed souls. I will help you kill your enemies.
The hunchbacked man suddenly sat cross-legged on a lotus seat, his palms facing the stars as he closed his eyes and began to meditate.
He was clearly using the most orthodox Daoist techniques of the Orthodoxy. In the starlight, his expression was dignified, even somewhat divine.
But his nose and mouth were crooked and his eyes could not be completely closed, making him look very ugly.
The most orthodox divine techniques of the Orthodoxy, the most beautiful starlight, and the ugly hunchbacked man.
This stark contrast was somewhat comical and absurd, but for some reason, it was also terrifying.
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