Acai's Sky

Chapter 881 The Little Nun Going Down the Mountain 23

A Cai scratched his head. It was so confusing and confusing!

She suddenly remembered the old maid she had met in the Wisteria Courtyard that day. As she walked by on crutches, a piece of red lotus embroidery flashed on her sleeve. "The secret record that Aunt Rong and I brought back from the Tong Family Ancestral Hall, the second half of which was entirely about forbidden techniques. One page said, 'Soul-taking requires the blood of a close relative, and the performer must sever all kinship.' - When the old marquis drowned his great-granddaughter, wasn't that severing all kinship so he could use the original owner as a rootless medicine inducer?"

Her fingertips traced the Seven Star Formation diagram on the secret record. The four cinnabar characters at the center of the formation, "Virgin's Heart and Soul," were particularly eye-catching. "The Seven Star Life Extension Technique requires the heart and soul to be replaced every seven years. The old marquis is eighty-eight years old this year. Tell me, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, wasn't it time to use me to extend his life?"

The oil lamp wick crackled, sending out a few sparks.

Xiao Yi suddenly pointed at 00541 and laughed out loud, "You little panda spirit! Just now you said that the old marquis's child swapping was a joke. Now you understand the situation, don't you? If you don't get rid of your own granddaughter, how can you legitimately raise a descendant of the Tong family as a medicine inducer?"

00541 flicked his short tail and said "Ah-woo" in disdain, "That Du Yanran is not a pushover either. She found something wrong with the birthmark, but instead of making a fuss, she just abused it. I'm afraid she wants to wait until the original owner's soul is weak, then snatch it away and give it to the Red Lotus Sect's people as a tonic."

A gust of wind suddenly blew outside the window, making the window paper rustle.

Ah Cai looked at the secret record spread out on the table. The lotus formation diagram on the yellowed paper flickered under the light, just like the red lotus blooming and withering in the lotus pond in the Bo Mansion.

She suddenly felt the birthmark on her shoulder getting hot, as if a lotus was slowly blooming beneath her skin. Each petal carried the dampness of that rainy night ten years ago, the scent of talismans in the basement of Wisteria Courtyard, and the conspiracy unspoken in the secret letter.

"Miss," Xiaojia suddenly pointed out the window, "There is a fire in the direction of the uncle's mansion!" Everyone crowded to the window and saw dark red sparks rising in the northwest. A faint burnt smell wafted in the night wind, as if something was burning.

Ah Da gripped the hilt tightly, the bloodstains on his wrist guard still aching slightly. "I'm afraid something has happened to the soul-locking formation in the basement. Once those talismans burn, who knows what kind of trouble will happen."

00541 suddenly jumped onto the windowsill, his short tail stretched straight. "Let's go! Go to the locust tree in the back alley! Old Zhou said that on the night the baby girl was drowned ten years ago, all the lotus flowers in the lotus pond withered. The next day, a wooden sign with the word 'twins' engraved on it floated to the bottom of the pond. Maybe the other child is buried under that old locust tree!"

Ah Cai touched the short knife at her waist, and the lotus pattern engraved on the scabbard poked her palm.

She looked at the secret letter, talisman paper, porcelain bottle of truth pills, and the musty secret record on the table, and suddenly felt that there was an invisible net in the center of this small inn's main hall. On the other side of the net were the purple vine courtyard, basement, and ancestral hall of the Pingkang Earl's Mansion, the secret letter from the Minister of Personnel, the seal of the Red Lotus Sect, and the night that was replaced ten years ago.

...

"Let's go," she blew out the oil lamp. In the darkness, she heard the rustling of Xiao Yi stuffing peanuts into his pocket and the soft metallic sound of Ah Da checking his weapon. "Whether the old marquis wants to save his life or silence us, tonight we have to break this ten-year conspiracy."

The wooden door creaked open, and the spring night wind blew the fragrance of locust flowers in my face.

Ah Cai touched the burnt birthmark on her shoulder and suddenly remembered what Old Zhou had said: "The night the old marquis returned with the child, the moon in the lotus pond broke into two petals, one white, one red."

Now she finally understood that the shattered moon was actually the reflection of twin lotuses, one bright and one dark, one real and one fake. In this treacherous world, they were waiting to be picked up and pieced together the truth of that rainy night ten years ago.

Everyone hurried along the bluestone pavement toward the back alley of the Bo Mansion. Xiao Yi muttered as they walked, "I wonder what's buried under the old locust tree. If we dig up gold, silver, or treasure, it would be enough for a nice meal at a restaurant."

Ah Da glanced at him and said, "You only know how to eat. Be careful or they'll dig up a zongzi (zombie) and bite you."

Xiao Yi was so frightened that he shrank his neck and hid beside A Er in a panic, which made 00541 laugh out loud.

Ah Cai looked at these puppets, which were becoming more and more like real people, and murmured, "Puppets have evolved too?"

...

The old locust tree in the back alley cast a huge shadow in the moonlight, and the red rope on the trunk swayed in the wind.

As Ah Da approached, he suddenly squatted down and said, "Something's wrong. The soil around the tree roots is freshly turned."

Everyone gathered around and saw half of the ulna exposed under the rotten leaves. Although the red rope around the ankle had rotted away, it was still wrapped with a dried lotus petal.

Ah Cai's heartbeat suddenly quickened. When her fingertips touched the wrist bone of the skeleton, a familiar warmth spread along her fingertips and spread over her body - there was a birthmark exactly the same as the one on her shoulder, but it was bluish in color and missing a petal.

Tong Jiayuan's hands trembled as he flipped open the secret record. "Twin Lotuses, one bright, one dark. The bright lotus is nurtured in the human world, while the dark lotus is buried in the underworld. The old marquis didn't drown his great-granddaughter, but instead sealed her soul here, nurturing it with the Tong family's bloodline, in order to bring the twin souls together and refine the Nine-Turn Soul-Seizing Technique!"

He pointed to the half of the silk painting exposed in the tree hole, on which were two lotus roots intertwined, which was exactly the "Twin Life-Sustaining Formation" recorded in the secret record.

At this moment, the sound of bells suddenly came from the alley, and three blue lanterns swayed closer. The red lotus pattern embroidered on the lanterns was exactly the same as the family tree in Du Yanran's makeup box.

The old man in the lead ripped open his shirt, revealing the red lotus tattoo on his chest: "Young lady, hand over the secret record. Our master has been waiting for this day for ten years."

Ah Da's knife was unsheathed first, the light reflecting the scar on his father-in-law's face: "You bastards of the Red Lotus Sect, you wiped out my entire Tong family back then. Today is the perfect time to settle the score!"

Before he finished speaking, red bells had already formed a web around him. Amidst the tinkling sound, Ah Er suddenly exclaimed, "This formation is just like the soul-locking formation in the basement!"

Ada gave him a look that said "Are you stupid?" We are all intelligent robots. Who the hell is afraid of the Soul-Locking Formation? We are not afraid of anything in this plane.

Ah Cai stared at the bell at the center of the formation, and suddenly remembered the method of breaking the formation in the secret record: "Twin lotus hearts, blood sacrifice from the same root!"

She gritted her teeth, pressed her palm on the birthmark on the skeleton's wrist bone, and with her other hand she scratched the skin on her shoulder, and blood dripped onto the withered lotus petals.

In an instant, the secret record emitted a strong light, and two lotus phantoms flew out of the book and crashed into the center of the formation.

Amid the sound of the red line breaking with a "bang bang", the old men fell to the ground screaming, and the lanterns fell to the ground and ignited a faint blue flame.

Ah Cai took the opportunity to pick up the skeleton, but suddenly saw Du Yanran's carriage rush out from the end of the alley. The curtain was lifted, and her face, heavily powdered, looked particularly ferocious in the firelight: "Little guy, you can't escape. The red lotus on your shoulder belonged to my daughter!"