Shengshuiyuan

Chapter 12 Sacrifice

Walking on the empty aisle covered with a red carpet, Li Muyan carefully cast magic with his heart to ask his doubts

"Don't you think this man is a secret from beginning to end?"

Lantiere pursed his lips lightly and smiled.

"He didn't want to say that we can investigate it ourselves without alarming everyone. I'm looking forward to finding out some interesting reasons."

Li Muyan, who knew Lantiere's character well, shrugged his shoulders and narrowed his eyes to look more like a fox.

Lan Nuo, who had a face of not knowing the situation, tilted his head, looked at the two inexplicable people who were smiling, and instinctively felt a chill down his back.

The night was quiet and silent, looking at the bright starlight in the sky outside the window, the young man fell into deep thought.A slight knock on the door brought the thought-ridden boy back to reality.

Lantiere let out a soft breath and opened the door.Looking at the white-haired man with animal ears who couldn't sleep like himself, Lantiyer took a step back to signal people to enter the door, and raised his hand to set up a barrier around the room.

After closing the door, Li Muyan asked Lantierre's opinion with a straight face

"How is it? Did you find anything around the room?"

Rantier sighed and shrugged slightly.

"I haven't found anything different yet."

Looking at Li Muyan who was frowning slightly and looking around.Lantiere also followed to carefully examine the room.

Suddenly, on the side of the stone bookshelf, Li Muyan pressed lightly, and a small raised stone sank inward.With a slight sound of "click", the ancient paintings of figures collected from Ning An suddenly disappeared in front of them, and a bottomless secret passage appeared in front of the two of them.

Lantiere frowned slightly, followed Li Muyan who was holding a torch, and stepped on the stairs into the bottomless secret room.

After walking for about an hour, they had reached the deepest part of the secret room. Looking at the empty secret room, they thought that there would be no one in the quiet secret room. The two were about to find a way to leave.Suddenly, an inaudible sound of spinning wheels was heard.

Holding up the torch and groping carefully in the dark secret room, Li Muyan found a raised stone at the bottom of the stone wall and pressed it lightly.There was a sound from a stone door, and it was opened from the outside with a slight sound.Looking at the calm face inside Shimen, the gray-haired old woman with hunched back and shabby clothes was weaving cloth on a wooden loom alone.On the top of the head, there are animal ears and tails unique to werewolf women.

Lantiere frowned slightly, approached cautiously and asked

"Excuse me, may I ask who you are?"

I asked once, and found that the old woman was still spinning, as if she hadn't heard her.Lantierre continued to ask tentatively

"Excuse me, can you hear me?"

The old woman who was originally spinning stopped her hands, sighed softly and said in a hoarse voice.

"Hey, no matter who you are, you shouldn't be here..."

Looking at the old woman who hesitated to speak, she politely squatted down and remembered the portraits of past members in the corridor, Lantiere asked softly

"Looking at your appearance, you should be Muks' mother, right?"

Hearing Lantierre's question, Li Muyan who was standing aside was surprised and speechless.

The old woman who was still sitting still looked calm when she heard Lantiere's affirmative question.

"I know, what are you here for? It was my fault from the beginning to the end, so in the past ten years, I swore never to leave here, just as if I was dead..."

Lantierre comforted the old woman by stroking the back of her hand

"I know, it's rude to ask like this. But can you tell us all the ins and outs of that year, I swear, it will never cause you any trouble."

The old woman let out a long sigh and recalled the tragedy of that year

"An accident that year ruined my originally happy family. It was on a snowy night. My daughter, who was in adolescence, had a rather irritable personality. Because of a trivial incident on the balcony, I had a problem with her. They had a dispute with her because they didn't fit together, and pushed her off the balcony as soon as they missed it. Everything at that time happened to be seen by Mukes who had just returned home..."

In the middle of speaking, as if returning to the past, the old woman closed her eyes and her face instantly turned pale

"I panicked at the time. I looked at my daughter who fell from the balcony and fell directly into a pool of blood. I will never forget the way she kept her eyes open until she died... At that time, I didn't know what to do. I was also surprised when I saw it. Looking at my son with hatred in the next second, I am still in pain until now..."

As if all the mysteries had been solved, Lantiere still wanted to make sure, so he squeezed the old woman's hand and asked

"Then the old lady... Mukes asked us to help him save his sister who was taken away by the robbers this time?"

The old woman who opened her eyes and regained her composure slightly frowned and said

"That's a puppet doll that Mukes has imitated my daughter for ten years. They have a very good relationship since childhood, and he has been very attached to his sister since he was a child. Naturally, he couldn't stand this incident. So he secretly taught himself the puppet technique of Ning'an in the south, and created another "sister". In order to make this "sister" more like a real person, Mukes, who knew it from nowhere, went to snatch the gang of robbers himself. The boss's ancestral jade, it is said that that jade can make dead things look exactly like real people, and even have human flesh and blood... That's why he offended the other party."

Listening to the old woman's entire narration like a horror story, Lantiere stood up and said with a sigh

"Old lady, the nightmare between you and Muks should be over."

Relieved as if relieved, the old woman raised her head to look at the boy in front of her, and shed tears gratefully

"Thank you, thank you so much."

In the next second, the old woman suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, sincerely begging the two of them

"Mux is a good boy, please! Help him get back to the right path, he can't go on like this again! Please!"

Seeing the old woman who looked old and sick, actually knelt down to beg others for her only son, Lantiere frowned slightly, helped her up, and assured her

"Don't worry, old lady, we will help Muks, please rest assured."

With a heavy heart, he closed the secret room door and returned to the room when he came back.Lantiere took a sip of tea, soothed the complicated mood just now and fell into deep thought.

Li Muyan exhaled lightly, looked at the pensive Lantier and asked

"Next, what should we do?"

Soothing his frowning eyebrows, Lantiere looked at the young man in front of him and said seriously

"Let's act like nothing happened, and then..."

While speaking, Rantiyer motioned Li Muyan's ear closer, and whispered to him the next plan.

The next day was a rare sunny day, and Muks planned to invite the three of Lantiere to go for a walk in the city together as a kindness of the landlord.

Except for staying on that battlefield half a year ago, it really didn't let Lantiere really understand the customs of the north.Walking on the not very bustling but very lively street, it was rare for Lantiere to let go of his heavy heart and take a stroll with everyone.Looking at the bustling people buying items on the street, and the cries of small vendors.Looking at Muks' friendly introduction and friendly smile beside him, it is difficult to connect him with the other side described by the old lady.

During lunch time, several people were chatting and laughing happily. Suddenly, an arrow shot from nowhere, pierced Mux's seat exactly five centimeters away from his head.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the arrow tied with the letter, everyone looked seriously at Mukes who was reading the letter.

Lantiere looked at Muks, whose face turned pale in an instant, and asked with a slight frown

"How is it? The other party said to wait for me on the snowy mountain where my sister was robbed, and let me go right away... But I'm worried that they will set a trap."

Li Muyan patted Mukes on the shoulder to comfort him

"Don't worry, we'll go with you."

Slow down the tense look, Muks thanked

"Thank you, thank you!"

On the mountain peak 500 meters away from the actual place, there was heavy snowfall, and it took more than an hour to look around, but the appointment person was still not seen.

Lan Nuo, who was tense and nervous, shouted impatiently from left to right

"Hey! Is there anyone! We are all here! Come out quickly!"

Lantiere frowned lightly, held Lan Nuo's wrist to dissuade him

"Keep your voice down, the terrain here is dangerous, and there is a lot of snow. You can't speak loudly, otherwise it will cause an avalanche."

Lan Nuo please scratch your head and bow your head and dare not speak.

Just as the few people were on guard, a huge ball of fire quickly shot at the few people without anyone being prepared.Except for Lan Nuo, Lan Tier and Li Muyan, who have almost no energy, Muks can easily dodge them.

Looking up to the direction where the fireball came from, more than fifty burly werewolves appeared in front of them with hideous faces.

Seeing the leader of the werewolf with crimson eyes, Muks, who was originally calm, clenched his palms and asked angrily.

"I have come as promised, where is my sister! Give me back my sister!"

The leading werewolf man looked contemptuous, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke and said

"Sister?! Where did you come from? We have checked carefully these days. This woman has no living breath, no feeling, no breathing and no heartbeat in her body? She is simply the woman you sneaked ten years ago , a puppet made by stealing jade from me! You still have the nerve to call her your sister?! How ridiculous!"

As if he had been humiliated, Muks gathered the lightning with one hand with a look of resentment, roared and rushed towards the man who laughed at him.

Just when everyone joined the battle, the fight was in full swing.Not far away, on a mountain peak, a man in a dark black cloak crossed his arms with interest, looking at the people fighting on the opposite mountain like watching a show.

At the end of a battle, everyone's strength was comparable, and they were all panting from exhaustion.Red-eyed werewolf man raised his hand and said

"Wait a minute! There is no way for us to continue fighting like this. Let's settle the matter first!"

The red-eyed werewolf raised his hand, motioning for his subordinates to bring Muks' sister up.

Turning his head and looking at his sister who was thinking about him, Muks was so excited that he wanted to take them away immediately, but then thought that they were robbers, and it would be impossible for them to be released easily. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Muks looked Looking at the man opposite him seriously, he asked

"What are you going to do to let my sister go?"

The red-eyed werewolf looked playful, raised his eyebrows lightly with his arms crossed and said

"It's very simple, as long as you dig out the jade in this puppet's chest in front of me. The rest is easy to talk about!"

Hearing the conditions of the red-eyed werewolf, Muks opened his eyes wide in disbelief, and said with tight lips.

"Impossible, if the jade is taken out of her body, my sister's body will fall apart immediately. Impossible, I can't do it!"

The werewolf with red eyes was full of fierce eyes. Before everyone could react, he fisted with one hand in front of Muks, and thrust his palm into Sister Muks's chest, grabbing the jade embedded in the chest.In the next second, blood spattered, and Muks' sister had a painful expression on her face, and blood flowed out of her mouth continuously.The person who lost the jade stretched out his hand weakly, shouted and looked at the person opposite and called out his name

"Mux..."

As if returning to the painful past ten years ago, Muks screamed heart-piercingly, and threw himself in front of the puppet whose body was rapidly falling apart, looking up in despair and screaming

"Sister! No!!!"

Mux's room five days later

Lantiere knocked on the door lightly and got no answer, so he pushed the door open and walked in

"Mux, are you alright?"

Looking at the lifeless man with empty eyes who seemed to have lost his soul, he was still holding his sister's puppet fragments like a puppet in pain, and sat in front of the window in a daze.

Sighing lightly, Lantiyer walked forward, squatted down, looked at the obviously emaciated man, lightly held his comforter and said

"It's been five days. You should eat something. Otherwise, your body won't be able to bear it."

Looking up at the person on the seat whose expression remained unchanged, Rantiyer stood up, looked helplessly at Li Muyan who followed him into the room, exhaled lightly and shook his head and said:

"No matter what method is used, Mukes still has no response."

Li Muyan frowned lightly and said

"The person who tied the bell has to be untied. This matter can only be resolved by Muks' mother."

Lantiere, who has always been sensitive, suddenly realized what was going to happen with a pale face, and wanted to leave the room nervously to prevent the tragedy from happening, but was stopped by Li Muyan holding his hand with one hand

"Don't go, whatever the cause will have the effect, this matter can only be resolved by her alone."

Sighing and frowning, he lowered his head regretfully

"Oh, that's the only way..."

robbers headquarters

In the spacious hall, a man with a playful face and one leg raised up on the armrest of the chair, half lying down and leisurely eating a bunch of grapes in his hand raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at the man kneeling in front of him, who was obviously much older the old woman asked

"Why? Think it over? No regrets?"

The gray-haired old woman kneeling in the center of the hall frowned in relief, opened her eyes, and gave an affirmative answer with a relaxed face.

"I've already thought about it, this incident happened because of me, so naturally let me end this tragedy."

Instead, the old woman lowered her head and said sadly.

"After all, he hates me so much, so I can be regarded as atonement..."

After listening to the old woman's decision, the red-eyed werewolf lightly raised his hand to signal his subordinates to bring up the jade.

Seeing the crystal-clear palm-sized jade slowly placed on the table in front of her, the old woman raised her head and closed her eyes as if relieved. She resolutely picked up the dagger on the table, stretched out her wrist without hesitation, and cut the dagger. The aorta of the arm, facing Yushi, will flow all the blood from the wrist to Yushi.

Like a hungry wolf that has been hungry for a long time, the jade stone continuously and frantically absorbs the blood and life that the old woman dripped on the jade stone.Looking at the woman who sacrificed her life for atonement, and the red-eyed werewolf sitting in the chief seat, he couldn't help but instinctively clenched his palms, his nails deeply embedded in his palms.

The frail old woman looked up at the man facing her indifferently, and said easily

"You have to feed all the blood of your loved ones to the jade. From then on, this jade will belong to him, right? After I die, you must keep your promise and give him the jade, so that I can see you with peace of mind and no shame. Their father is..."

After saying the last word, the gray-haired old woman leaned back and fell down with a peaceful face. At the last moment of her life, she finally called out the name she dared not call out for ten years because of guilt.

"Mux... you want... well..."

When Lantiere and Li Muyan hurried over, it was already too late.The old woman who was full of worries but full of kindness in the past finally turned into ruby ​​ruby-like debris and flew slowly towards the snowy sky. . . .

Riding on a tall reindeer, Rantiyer, who had already left Muks's house far away, looked preoccupied.Recalling what he saw and heard in the north in the past few days, Lantiyer was full of emotions, but he turned his head to look at Li Muyan, who was riding a white horse calmly and slowly, and asked with some worry

"What happened to Mukes later? I heard from the waiter in the fortress that one day Mukes handed over all the things and family property to his cousin and left. Now what about others? Where did he go?"

Li Muyan rode close to Rantiyer and said with relief

"Come with me, I'll take you to meet them."

Llantier, who was full of doubts, came to the town not far away, the town where Mux brought them last time.The town was still calm and lively, and he led the reindeer and followed Li Muyan through a few small alleys.In front of a flower shop with more than 100 square meters decorated in brown and white, a tall werewolf with sapphire blue eyes was attentively taking care of a pot of delicate flowers in front of the shop.Lantiere walked forward in disbelief, looked at the werewolf man in front of him, and forgot to express it for a while.

The werewolf man who appeared in front of Lantiyer and Lan Nuo turned out to be Muks who left without saying goodbye a few days ago.It is different from the extreme and crazy a few days ago.The current Muks makes people feel very gentle from the bottom of his heart.

Mukes raised his head with a calm face, as if he saw a friend reunited after a long absence, he narrowed his eyes slightly, and greeted Lantiere and Li Muyan

"Long time no see, how are you?"

Seeing Muks, who looked like a normal person, Lan Nuo was so excited that he was about to cry, he walked forward and raised his arms and palms into fists, and lightly tapped Muks on the chest and blamed him.

"It was you kid who asked us to help you back then, but now you just leave without saying a word! Do you know that we are very worried about you!"

Unexpectedly, Lan Nuo, who was thin and thin, had such great strength, not only made Muks stagger back two steps after being beaten, but also made Muks feel a little lingering fear when he saw the deep pit under his feet due to the custom.

Reassuringly patted Lan Nuo on the shoulder, Mukes kindly motioned for several people to follow him into the flower shop.

Just entering the flower shop, the elegant and comfortable fragrance of flowers in the room makes people instantly feel happy. Turning to look at the "sister" of Mukes who has carefully arranged the plants in the middle of the flower shop and has restored them to their original state, Lantiere smiled and talked with others in relief. say hello

"Hello, I haven't introduced myself formally yet, my name is Lantiere."

Speaking of which, Lantiere turned his head and introduced the two people beside him one by one.

"These are my two friends, Li Muyan from Ning'an, an ancient southern country, and Lan Nuo from the elves."

Muks' "sister" smiled politely and saluted

"Hello, my name is Joan."

Looked puzzled at Mukes, who was sipping his tea lightly and calmly

"What's the name?"

Mukes lightly put down his teacup and shrugged lightly.

"This is my new name for her. I have always regarded her as a substitute for my sister. I feel it is very unfair to her, so I gave her a new name. It is considered a new student."

Li Muyan nibbled on the delicious snacks brought by Joan, looked at Mukes and asked

"What about in the future? What are you going to do?"

As if recalling the past, Muks slightly frowned and said

"I was impulsive when I was young, which caused the disaster. It wasn't my mother's fault from the beginning to the end, it's just that I couldn't let go of it for ten years."

Instead, Muks eased his brows and smiled lightly.

"Now everything is over, I feel like a newborn, I have a new look. I don't blame anyone or hate anyone. From then on, I have nothing to ask for, I just want to be with Joan in this small flower shop Live your life in peace."

Looking at Muks with a relieved face, Lantierre smiled lightly and took a sip of tea, which rarely relieved his nervous mood.

For most of the day, several people chatted and laughed happily, chatting very comfortably.

Politely reject Muks and Joan's request to let them stay for a few more days.Lantiere, Li Muyan and Lan Nuo embarked on the journey to the northern fortress.

northern fortress

A few hours ago, I received news from Fei Ge that Lantiere would come.Everyone is as happy as a festival, and is warmly preparing to wait for Lantiere's arrival.

Looking up at the huge flying dragons flying densely in the sky again, Lantiyer was filled with emotion.Not far away, the black city wall with a height of hundreds of meters resolutely appeared in front of several people.

From a distance at the gate of the barracks, you can see a pair of furry animal ears on the top of the black head with a calm face, the non-commissioned officer Gerd wearing glasses, and the very excited Quill who waved his hands vigorously to greet several people. Germany.

He let go of the rein in his hand and walked off the giant white reindeer riding under him, but was suddenly embraced by the excited Queld and said

"Brat! I haven't seen you for half a year! You miss me so much! Come on, come in! Talk to me, what interesting things have you experienced in the past half a year!"

As he said that, Queld laughed heartily, put his arm around Lantier's shoulders and entered the barracks.

Entering the warm interior of the main tower, it was miraculous to see more than a dozen generals who had turned from contemptuous attitudes to themselves in the past to respectful attitudes towards themselves, approaching and fighting Lantiere like old friends gathering together. Say hello.

Suddenly everyone turned their heads to look at the young man with white hair and animal ears who came with Lantiere. They felt that this person was both strange and familiar. In the next second, no one spoke, and the air seemed to be frozen. . .

After everyone looked at me and I looked at you in embarrassment, the man with white hair and animal ears beside Lantiere lightly shrugged and said

"What? Just change the hair color, and you won't know me if you have more animal ears?"

The next moment, everyone present shouted in surprise as if they were shocked by electricity

"What?!!! You can't be Linde, right?! How is it possible!!!"

Queld looked at Li Muyan carefully from left to right in disbelief and said

"If you don't tell me, I really can't believe it. You are the Linde whose eyes are as gray as your hair at that time, and your face is like that of the whole family. You are a completely different person!"

Hearing Queld's evaluation of himself in the past, Li Muyan angrily punched Queld into the left wall regardless of his status.

Seeing Li Muyan who was furious as he clacked his wrist, the others swallowed, feeling scared for a while.

After dinner, a bonfire party was held in the barracks, and everyone drank happily and happily.

After drinking all the wine in the glass in one breath, Queld asked with a bright face, who was sitting around the bonfire with everyone

"How about you boy, come and talk to us, what kind of interesting and thrilling things have you guys encountered in the past six months."

Taking a sip of the fruit wine, Lantiere smiled lightly. In the past six months, since he couldn't sleep well due to nightmares, he went to the ancient southern country Ning'an to not only cure his illness, but also help the former Lin De and the current Li Muyan to relieve their happiness. Afterwards, they respectively went to Fowle with exotic features, the beautiful elves, and this adventure in the north. Everyone's joys and sorrows happened, and I will tell you all about it.All the people who listened to the scene felt as if they were there, either laughing or crying.

Unknowingly, it was late at night, and everyone, who was rarely happy and happy, had already passed out from drinking.

Standing on the high city wall, Lantiere looked at the beautiful full moon in the sky and was filled with emotion.Li Muyan, who didn't know when he arrived, came to Lantiere's side, exhaled lightly and said,

"How does it feel to travel to several countries for half a year?"

Speaking of which, Li Muyan thought that Lantiyer would look relaxed, but saw that Lantiyer suddenly looked serious, and said seriously:

"Not all countries have been visited, and there is one place I haven't visited. Although it is very dangerous there, the people and things I have encountered in the past six months are more or less related to them..."

Putting away his relaxed smile, Li Muyan frowned lightly

"Indeed, it's time to go there once—the succubi clan..."