Peaceful Jianghu - Chapter 34
By now it was almost completely dark, and Xiao Dao felt a chilling aura behind him. He patted Xue Beifan and said, "Don't talk nonsense, isn't that scary enough?"
Xiao Dao glanced at the wooden figure again and couldn't help but frown. "Let's hurry up and leave."
"Wait a minute." Xue Beifan waved his hand, put his hand on her shoulder, and leaned closer to whisper, "That wooden figure seemed to have opened its eyes just now."
Xiao Dao gasped and quickly turned around to look, but couldn't see anything wrong. He frowned and stared at Xue Beifan, "Are you trying to scare me? Is that funny?"
Xue Beifan thought to himself, "Of course this is interesting," and lowered his voice to ask, "Look around and tell me your impressions?"
Xiao Dao actually looked up and around, then replied, "Black."
“Yes.” Xue Beifan nodded with his arms crossed. “It’s so dark. I’m afraid I won’t be able to see the marks I made at night. What if I get lost? Who knows how many traps there are?” Xue Beifan was unusually serious for a moment. Perhaps because the forest was too quiet, Xiao Dao found his words quite pleasant to listen to.
"Then let's find another place." Xiao Dao looked at the wooden figure behind the haystack. "It's kind of creepy."
"Aren't you fearless?" Xue Beifan laughed and walked towards the wooden figure. "Let's see how the bleeding is..." Before he could finish speaking, he turned back and looked into the depths of the forest.
Xiao Dao seemed to have heard some noise as well, and pointed to the woods to Xue Beifan. The two of them leaped up to a nearby tall tree, squatted on the trunk, and looked down.
Not long after, a white figure ran into their field of vision.
It was quite eerie for a woman in white to run into the dense forest in the middle of the night.
The woman was wearing a long white dress, so long that the hem trailed over a meter away. Xiao Dao was worried that she might trip over the dress as she ran so fast.
The woman's demeanor was very strange. She held up her long skirt with one hand, gripped a dagger in the other, half-closed her eyes, and hummed a tune softly.
She stumbled over like that, taking steps, twirling, or dancing, all while reciting lines.
Xiao Dao subconsciously raised his head and exchanged a glance with Xue Beifan, who was also looking puzzled.
The woman in white seemed mad or possessed. The mountain wind blew her white dress and black hair, and she sang in a clear and resonant voice, "The east wind is cruel, our joy is fleeting. A cup of sorrow, years of separation. Wrong, wrong, wrong."
Xiao Dao heard it clearly; the song being sung was "The Phoenix Hairpin," so melodious and poignant.
After the woman sang a verse, she crashed into a tall tree with a "thud," the very tree where Xiao Dao was crouching.
She stopped, tilted her head to look at the tree trunk in front of her, and slowly opened her slightly closed eyes, as if filled with grief and indignation. Suddenly, she pointed a withered finger at the tree trunk, "You heartless man, the vows of eternal love are still ringing in my ears, yet you turn away to rejoice, you heartless man!" After saying this, the sorrow on her face turned into hatred, she frowned and glared, and pounced on the tree, raising the dagger in her hand and began to stab it viciously, making the branches tremble slightly.
Startled, Xiao Dao quickly grabbed the tree trunk beside him, staring in horror at the white-clad woman below who was going mad.
After a vicious flurry of blows, she wearily slumped down, hugging the tree trunk, and sobbed softly against its slightly crooked surface. She murmured, "Human nature is cruel, human kindness is fickle... You betrayed me, I'll kill you! Stay here with me, don't think about those other women anymore. I'll cook you and eat you, so our flesh and blood will be united forever, never to be separated again?"
The woman in white had a hoarse voice, which sounded somewhat shrill and manic. Xue Beifan and Xiao Dao were completely dumbfounded.
Xiao Dao was a little worried. If she cried like this under the tree, she could see him as soon as she looked up, and she might be discovered.
Xue Beifan was also a little worried, but not because the woman would discover the knife. He was worried because he saw the woman's face! Although it was dark all around and he could only make out her outline by the dim moonlight, the woman's face was so pale that it was almost dazzling, so he could see that she looked seven or eight parts similar to the wooden figure!
Looking around, deep in the mountains and forests, how could such a woman be out performing opera?
Xue Beifan inexplicably thought of the actress who used to be by Cai Lian's side, the one who squeezed out the mountain woman but got nothing... But looking closely at her age, she was only around thirty and didn't look old... Maybe not?
Just as they were speculating, a voice called out from afar, "Second Madam!"
Xiao Dao and Xue Beifan recognized the voice.
Sure enough, two nuns soon came running over; they were the same two who had been playing tricks in the woods earlier.
"Why did you run out again?" The two nuns snatched the knife from the "second wife's" hand, lifted her up with both hands, and helped her walk back.
The second wife was still singing a tune, but this time the "Phoenix Hairpin" was changed to "Eternal Joy," the melody of which was both joyful and resentful, making people's hair stand on end.
Xiao Dao waved to Xue Beifan, indicating that following them would lead them out of the forest.
Xue Beifan nodded, but before leaving, he glanced back at the wooden figure in the bushes, his brows furrowing slightly. He then leaped away, following the two nuns with Xiao Dao.
As soon as the two left, a "clicking" sound came from the wooden figure. The wooden figure slowly sat up, and the head stuck in the wooden body slowly turned and turned... until it turned to face the side. The squinting eyes, with a pair of pupils in the dark slits, followed Xue Beifan and Yan Xiaodao as they walked away, until the two figures disappeared into the depths of the dense forest.
...
Xiao Dao and Xue Beifan followed the three of them forward, and sure enough, they left the forest and arrived near the Xianyun Temple.
The second mistress was led through a side door. Xiao Dao and Xue Beifan, unable to resist their curiosity, followed her in. They saw the second mistress being helped to sit on a rattan couch, where a nun helped her comb her hair and tidy her clothes, brushing off the dust.
The other went towards the kitchen and returned shortly after, carrying a soup bowl. He sat down beside her and fed her with a spoon; it seemed to be some kind of soup.
Although Xiao Dao couldn't see what was in the soup bowl, the taste was familiar, a strange flavor that seemed both fragrant and foul.
The second wife sat like a wooden doll, mechanically eating the "food" served to her, her eyes vacant as she stared ahead, completely devoid of life.
Xiao Dao shook his head. He was quite engrossed in the opera performance just now. Could it be that he got so into the role that he forgot himself?
Although Xue Beifan was curious, he felt that this matter was beyond the scope of their investigation. Even if the woman in white was driven mad by love, it still had little to do with the Dragon Bone Five Diagrams, so he pulled Xiao Dao and decided to leave.
Xiao Dao pointed to the main hall in front of him, gesturing for Xue Beifan to look.
Following her finger, one could see that a window in a side room of the main hall was open, and the old nun who had just entertained the seventh concubine was sitting by the window, carving a wooden stake in front of her with a carving knife and hammer. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that she was carving a wooden figure.
The two were trying to figure out who the wooden figure looked like, and why it looked somewhat familiar.
Suddenly, the old nun turned her face sharply, her eyes gleaming with a piercing light as she stared at the rooftop where Xiao Dao and the others were.
As soon as they met, Xiao Dao felt a sudden jolt in his chest.
"Let's go!" Xue Beifan grabbed Xiao Dao's wrist, turned around and leaped off the roof in a few strides, exited the temple, and ran quickly down the mountain along the mountain path.
Although Xiao Dao's internal strength and martial arts skills are inferior to Xue Beifan's, her lightness skill is superb, and no one can compare to her when it comes to escaping; she runs faster than a rabbit.