Chapter 140: Longxiang
Hiss, this content sounds a bit explosive!
Hearing the voices coming from the room, Luxianbei’s eyes brightened slightly. She took a couple of steps forward, pressed her body against the door, and perked up her ears.
The sight was just like the village gossipers, eager to hear about a girl who had been away working for years and finally brought back a man.
The gossip level was off the charts!
When the city gate of Yumen Pass opened, Luxianbei had vaguely seen a soldier in armor wielding a sword, beheading a beautifully dressed man who seemed to be there to receive imperial rewards.
She wasn’t clear about the whole situation, only feeling that the general was far too impulsive.
Even if he was dissatisfied with the emperor’s reward, even if he had personal grudges with the beautifully dressed man, he shouldn’t have chopped off the angel’s head in front of so many people, right?
If one wanted to k*ll someone, there were countless ways to do so without anyone noticing. Why resort to such a face-slapping method against the emperor?
Now, having accidentally overheard a conversation related to what she had seen at that time, she immediately developed a strong interest.
However, perhaps the man and woman inside the room felt the discussion was too sensitive, and immediately after a few words, their voices lowered. Even though Luxianbei had pressed herself against the door, she could only hear muffled murmurs and couldn’t make out the details.
This made the eager Luxianbei outside the door feel anxious, as if countless little cats were jumping around inside her body, sharpening their claws everywhere.
At that moment, a faint sound of footsteps came from behind her.
Turning around, she saw a middle-aged woman dressed in coarse cloth, hurriedly approaching with a wooden box in her hands from the end of the corridor.
Standing up straight, she took a step back.
As soon as Luxianbei stepped aside, the woman raised her hand and knocked on the door.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
After lightly tapping three times, the middle-aged woman pressed her ear against the door and whispered, “Miss, I’ve brought you what you asked for.”
After a few seconds of waiting, the door creaked open with a sound.
A beautiful woman leaned out from behind the door.
She looked to be in her twenties, with a smooth complexion and lively eyes. A flower-shaped ornament was attached to her forehead, and her long black hair was styled into a cone and tied up into a standard Huihu bun. She wore a scarlet dress with a folded collar and narrow sleeves and pink embroidered shoes embellished with mandarin ducks and butterflies.
That’s right, it was the pair of embroidered shoes that had been dangling above Luxianbei’s head not long ago, and she recognized them at a glance.
The woman’s appearance reminded her of a “cat demon” from a movie she had seen called “The Cat Demon Legend.”
Of course, that sense of otherworldliness probably came entirely from those embroidered shoes…
After leaning out, the woman glanced around and, seeing that there was no one around, took the wooden box from the middle-aged woman’s hands and quietly asked, “Sixth sister, you didn’t tell anyone that these things were to be delivered to me, right?”
“Of course not, Miss. You instructed me not to let others know, how could I tell anyone?” the middle-aged woman replied.
Upon hearing this, the beautiful woman sighed in relief, took out several copper coins from her waist, and pressed them into the middle-aged woman’s hand, saying, “That’s good! Thank you for that, Sixth sister.”
“If anyone asks afterward, I hope you will continue to keep it a secret for me.”
The middle-aged woman counted the copper coins in her hand, a smile spreading across her face as she nodded repeatedly, “Understood, understood, Miss. You know me; I’ve always kept my mouth shut.”
After saying this, she pocketed the coins and left with a happy smile.
The beautiful woman stood at the door, watching the middle-aged woman walk away, and let out a long breath before retreating back into the room.
Having stealthily slipped into the room while the beautiful woman and the middle-aged woman were talking, Luxianbei, seeing the woman’s guilty expression, couldn’t help but curl her lips.
“……”
An old saying goes, “To want others not to know, unless you yourself do not do it…”
Another saying states, “If you have no wrongdoings, you need not fear ghosts knocking at your door…”
This woman probably didn’t expect that there would be a “ghost” like me lurking in the dark to observe, Luxianbei thought inwardly.
Only at that moment did she finally experience the joy of being an invisible person.
Retracting her thoughts, she glanced deep into the room and frowned slightly.
Through the screen that divided the room, she could vaguely see a man seated upright on the bed on the other side.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties, whom the woman referred to as “general,” yet his complexion was delicate and refined, resembling a weak scholar from a strange tale, who would be encountered by female demons while walking at night.
If it weren’t for his sufficiently tall and robust build, along with the scars covering his body, it would be hard to associate him with the title of “general.”
Under the soft candlelight, his pale lips looked as if they had been coated in wax, and his body trembled slightly as he raised his hand to cover his chest, bl**d seeping subtly from between his fingers, suggesting he had sustained significant injury.
“……”
Strangely, in the scene she had seen earlier, wasn’t it the armored soldiers of Yumen Pass who had surrounded the beautifully dressed man’s attendants?
How could he be injured?
Luxianbei thought, turning to look at the beautiful woman, who had walked over to the man’s side and silently opened the wooden box, revealing scissors, clean cotton cloth, and various porcelain bottles.
It was likely that the bottles contained various kinds of healing medicine.
Without saying a word, the woman took out the medicine from the wooden box and poured it onto the clean cloth, while the man obligingly let go of his hand covering his chest.
Upon seeing the wounds on the man’s body, Luxianbei immediately realized that those injuries were probably not inflicted by the beautifully dressed man.
The edges of the wounds were slightly blackened, as though they had started to rot.
The deepest wound on his chest had exposed white bone, and if it went deeper by a few inches, perhaps the internal organs would be visible.
Furthermore, a faint red glow came from the depths of those wounds, emanating restless spirit energy fluctuations, appearing to be injuries left behind by some spiritual ability user or urban legend.
From the state of the wounds, it could be inferred that the strength of the spiritual ability user or urban legend was considerable, as the residual spirit energy fluctuation could persist for a long time and continuously harm the man’s body.
Looking at those wounds, although the woman was trying hard to control her emotions, even biting her lip to prevent herself from making a sound, the trembling of her hands while applying the medicine still revealed her unease.
Moments later, the woman could no longer hold back and said, “General, you shouldn’t have killed that envoy. This action is causing the sage to grow suspicious, and your situation may become even more difficult.”
Luxianbei nodded and gave the woman a thumbs up.
Openly opposing her immediate superior was just making things hard for herself, right?
Look at me; I’ve never opposed the leadership.
After hearing the woman’s words, the man hesitated several times, sighed, and said, “Sigh, how could I not know what you said? I’m just frustrated.”
“What do you mean by just putting on a show and not wasting resources? Am I not clear about what they’re thinking? They think that no matter what, even if Yumen falls, the Shaman Queen won’t affect them, so it’s better to save some expenses for their enjoyment.”
“But they are far away in Chang’an and Luoyang, enjoying peace, how could they know the suffering at the border?”
“……” The woman opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, but in the end, she merely patted the man’s shoulder gently and said, “The good medicine is right ahead; turn around.”
The man turned around obediently and continued to speak to himself, “This move of mine might attract the sage’s attention, and maybe it will be a good thing. After all, sending thousands of men against the Shaman Queen’s tens of thousands is still a bit too forced.”
“Oh, right!” As if remembering something, the man slapped his head, “You must not let anyone know about my injury!”
“If the soldiers find out I got hurt this badly, it will affect their morale.”
The woman shook her head, somewhat impatiently responding, “Do you need to remind me? I’ve already instructed that no one will know about your injury.”
“……”
The two were exchanging words, but Luxianbei was lost in thought over the spirit patterns on the man’s back.
That spirit pattern, just like the totem on the token in her hand, was the legendary dragon seed, Chiweng.
This person… could it be the legendary King Longxiang of Nanling Prefecture?
(Today’s writing block is serious, updating a little, will update more tomorrow…)
