PFC Chapter 523
Chapter 523
Just when everyone was in despair, Dongfang Wan'er discovered a mysterious formation in an ancient medical book. The book stated that this formation could alter the climate and alleviate the drought. A glimmer of hope ignited in her heart, and she immediately discussed it with Ye Jiuchen. Although Ye Jiuchen had some doubts after hearing her story, seeing the determination in Dongfang Wan'er's eyes, he decided to fully support her.
Following the instructions in the book, they set up the formation in a high, open area within the city. Dongfang Wan'er carefully arranged each talisman and magical artifact, while Ye Jiuchen assisted her, ensuring that every step was accurate. Upon hearing of this, the surrounding people flocked to watch, their eyes filled with both anticipation and worry.
The moment the formation was completed, a strange thing happened. The previously cloudless sky suddenly changed, dark clouds quickly gathered, and the sky darkened. Then, a light rain began to fall. The fine rain, like silk threads, gently sprinkled down, bringing a touch of coolness to people's faces. The people were first stunned, then burst into cheers and jubilation. The rain grew heavier, and the parched land greedily absorbed the water, gradually becoming moist. The crops, nourished by the rain, also regained their vitality.
Through this experience, Qingping City deeply understood the importance of disaster preparedness and began to strengthen its disaster response measures. They built more robust water conservancy facilities, stockpiled sufficient food and supplies, and formulated comprehensive emergency plans. The relationship between Dongfang Wan'er and Ye Jiuchen deepened as they faced these difficulties together. They became the eternal guardians of Qingping City, and their story has been passed down through generations, inspiring people to bravely face challenges and protect their homeland.
As dusk settled, the ink-black light seeped into the cobblestone street, and the copper bells on the eaves tinkled softly in the breeze. Dongfang Wan'er, following the Regent's retinue, turned across the winding bridge when suddenly the lanterns ahead swirled wildly, and countless figures moved within the halo of fragmented gold light. The Imperial Guard Commander, his black cloak trailing on the cobblestones, still gripped his sword tightly at his waist; a bead of blood trickled from his throat, dripping down his chin into the cracks of the brickwork, spreading a dark purple hue in the moonlight.
The Regent Prince's jade thumb ring rested on his waist, the python-patterned jade belt gleaming coldly in the night wind. He stared at the figure on the ground, his brows furrowed into sharp, dark lines, his knuckles white from the pressure, and the golden dragon pattern lurking in the dark lace of his sleeve seemed about to burst forth. Dongfang Wan'er lowered her eyes, concealing the sharpness in them, her slender white fingertips lightly brushing against the dark lace of her sleeve. Suddenly, she caught sight of a dark red mark winding down the dragon carving on a vermilion pillar three zhang away—it was a bloody handprint with a crescent-shaped notch, the edges still glistening with undried blood, gleaming amber under the lantern light.
With a clang, General Li's cold iron sword was already three inches from its sheath, the blade reflecting Dongfang Wan'er's slightly furrowed brow. "The assassins on West Street used sleeping gas last night!" The general's armor clashed, the sword tip pointing directly at the hairpin dangling from her temple. "This morning you repeatedly left the group under various pretexts. Who else could it be but you?" Dongfang Wan'er took a half step back, her skirt sweeping across the shattered jade on the ground, the map in her sleeve digging into her palm. Looking at the general's bloodshot eyes, she suddenly remembered seeing him arguing with the Imperial Guard Commander when she passed the armory this morning, his sleeve still bearing half a purple grass leaf—a plant found only in the secret passages of the back mountain.
The Regent raised his hand to the hilt of his sword, the jade thumb ring gleaming warmly in the firelight. "General Li, do you know that embedded in the wound of the deceased..." He picked up a fine silver thread with his fingertip, which shimmered with a ghostly blue light in the moonlight, "...is it the poisoned silver thread of the Northern Desert Wolf Clan? You just returned from the Northern Desert when you were escorting the grain." General Li's pupils contracted sharply, and cold sweat seeped from beneath his armor, soaking his inner garment. Dongfang Wan'er seized the opportunity to unfold the map in her sleeve. Dark patterns appeared in the moonlight, revealing the underground passage of this courtyard. The red dot marked the location of the bloody handprint.
Suddenly, a mournful flute melody drifted from across the lake, plaintive and plaintive. Dongfang Wan'er caught a faint, sweet, metallic scent and quickly pulled a silk handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose. She saw the Regent leaning against a pillar, his brow furrowed, and General Li's sword clattering to the ground. The flute music carried the scent of some kind of Western Region spice. Her fingertips traced the edge of the map, suddenly touching a raised area—a wolf's head embroidered in extremely fine silver thread. When the flute music ceased, the group staggered and looked up, only to find a pool of still-wet blood on the ground; the Imperial Guard commander's body had vanished without a trace. Suddenly, the silver thread at the Regent's fingertips caught fire. In the eerie blue flames, Dongfang Wan'er saw a scrap of paper slip from his sleeve, on which the words "Wolf Guard" were faintly visible...
A sudden chill emanated from the hidden pattern on Dongfang Wan'er's sleeve—the mechanism of the hidden arrow passed down from her grandfather, a warning of danger. Just as the shredded paper was about to fall, she spun and flipped to the side, her wide sleeves billowing like clouds across the blue bricks, her fingertips already holding the paper as thin as a cicada's wing. The ink, bluish-gray in the moonlight, revealed the characters "Wolf Guard" boldly penetrating the paper, and indeed, in the lower right corner, a string of numbers—"Thirty-Four"—blended with water, resembling the shape of a salt lake in the northern desert.
The Regent's python-patterned boots crunched over the gravel, the gilded patterns on the soles crushing half a fallen leaf. "Twenty years ago, when the Wolf Guards used the Ice Silkworm Gu to poison the hostage, they used this very evil technique." His fingertips traced a hidden compartment at his waist, retrieving a bronze token engraved with a star map, its edges still stained with old blood. "Back then, I personally witnessed my third brother's body vanish into thin air in the Buddhist hall; these numbers were left on the altar." General Li suddenly trembled violently, a leather pouch falling from beneath his armor, from which rolled out several black pills—the very "Soul-Binding Pills" used by Western Region witch doctors to control minds.
Dongfang Wan'er pressed the shredded paper against the back of the map and discovered that the number "thirty-four" coincided with the mark at the thirty-fourth turn of the secret passage. She unfastened the jade pendant at her waist, revealing phosphorus powder hidden in the lining, and gently sprinkled it between the bricks: "The Northern Desert Wolf Clan is adept at using light and shadow to deceive people. The fluorescence on the walls of this secret passage is probably made from phosphorus and human skin." Before she finished speaking, a gray shadow suddenly flashed past the corner ahead, and as the cloak swayed, half of a silver wolf head ornament was revealed, which was the totem of the Northern Desert Wolf Guard.
The stone beast at the entrance of the secret passage suddenly turned its eyes and made a "clucking" sound. The Regent shielded Dongfang Wan'er behind him and shot three bone-piercing nails from his sleeve, but they turned to dust upon touching the gray shadow. General Li suddenly let out a wolf-like scream, clutching his head and banging it against the stone wall: "They've put a curse on my brain! At the bottom of the lake... there are thirty-four more iron cages at the bottom of the lake..." Before he could finish speaking, his pupils turned bluish-gray, black blood flowed from his seven orifices, and his fingernails grew longer and sharper at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Dongfang Wan'er suppressed her nausea and sprinkled phosphorescent powder on General Li's fingertips. A winding trail of fluorescent light appeared on the bricks he had crawled across, leading to the secret passage. The sound of flowing water echoed from the depths of the passage, growing clearer as they went further, the sweet, pungent smell gradually replaced by a putrid stench. The fluorescent light on the walls flickered, casting eerie shadows on everyone's faces, as if countless eyes were peering through the cracks in the stones. When the thirty-fourth brick was crushed, the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a bottomless underground river. Countless skulls floated on the surface, each engraved with a wolf's head totem.
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