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墨書 Inktalez
“Brother Gui! What are you doing here?” I asked in disbelief.
“There’s no official business at the moment, so you might as well just call me by my name. I’m a few years older, so if Firefly Girl doesn’t mind, you can call me ‘Big Brother’,” he replied.
Honestly, how to address him seemed rather trivial.
“Gui… Brother Gui, how did I end up here?” I stammered.
Guilin furrowed his brow. “That’s something you’ll have to ask yourself!”
Noticing my terrified expression, he stepped forward and helped me up. I looked around; there were no tall Crabapple Trees, no stone tables or benches, and certainly no Luo Dachun! Instead, I found myself in an enormous graveyard, eerily silent, with occasional ghostly green flames flickering about, creating a chilling atmosphere.
Behind the grave where I had been lying was not a Crabapple tree but a tall Ancient Sophora. Its branches twisted and turned like ghostly fingers. Although I didn’t understand feng shui, I knew that the character for ‘Sophora’ included the word for ‘ghost,’ symbolizing a tree of extreme yin. Oh my God, this was terrifying.
“Firefly Girl, just now you were riding alone on the road all night. But suddenly, you stopped. After a moment, you turned your horse around and went off the path down the slope into this Cursed Mound. You dismounted and stood there for a moment before starting to dig up someone’s grave…”
I was left speechless. How could such a bizarre thing happen to me? But wait!
“Brother Gui, didn’t you have urgent matters to attend to? Why are you here at this hour?” A sense of wariness suddenly arose in my heart.
“Yes, I did intend to leave, but after thinking it over, I felt uneasy and decided to come back. When I rushed back to the county office, it was already very late at night when I happened to see you quietly riding out of the city. I had no choice but to follow you from behind.”
Guilin paused for a moment before speaking seriously. “You’re surrounded by heavy yin energy. I came back to warn you to be cautious and avoid approaching cold or dark places to prevent any unforeseen events. Who would have thought you would venture out alone in the middle of the night!”
"Am I really possessed by a ghost?" I felt a slight tremor run through me.
"It's still unclear," he shook his head and extended a hand toward me. "May I check your pulse, miss?"
What? People usually use talismans and perform rituals to contact spirits, and you think you can figure it out by checking my pulse? It seemed rather unreliable, but I steadied myself and extended my arm to him.
Guilin pinched my wrist with three fingers, pressing and probing with a serious demeanor. His fingers were warm and strong, the heat soothing my anxious spirit. After a while, he suddenly frowned, and I felt a stream of internal energy flowing from his fingertips into my meridian.
This internal energy entered my body without any noticeable temperature; it was neither hot nor cold. Yet, I could clearly sense its invasion. The energy was as fine as silk but continuous, surging from my left wrist, coursing through my entire body like an electric current.
At that moment, I suddenly felt a warmth in my Dantian, as if a vast, bottomless mouth had opened in my abdomen. The flow of internal energy surged dramatically, all of it being drawn into that gaping void.
Guilin's expression changed, but he did not let go. The amount of True Qi flowing into me suddenly increased, causing my meridians to feel as if they were about to burst from the pressure. Unable to contain myself, I cried out, "Brother Gui, stop! I'm feeling terrible!"
Yet Guilin let out a muffled groan; his fingers seemed to want to open but were inexplicably glued to my wrist. His internal energy continued to pour into me relentlessly.
Could it be that he wasn't transferring True Qi to me but rather that I was absorbing it?
I quickly focused on my Dantian according to the internal cultivation mantra. The more I tried to gather energy, the more True Qi I absorbed from him. Panic surged within me; was I becoming a low-pressure wire that he couldn't release?
Seeing that this could lead to disaster for both of us made me nearly cry out in desperation. Just then, I felt an excruciating chill in my left wrist, abruptly cutting off the flow of True Qi entering my body.
When I looked closely, I was stunned. Guilin's entire right hand, along with his arm, had formed a layer of ice as if encased in a crystal coffin.
His internal energy suddenly changed its attribute to extreme cold, freezing his right hand and cutting off the pathway through which Liao Zhen's energy was being channeled into my body.
Guilin let out a long sigh of relief, but then I felt the air around us suddenly become hot. The ice crystals on his right arm began to melt instantly, water trickling down. He opened and clenched his hand several times before wiping the water off with the hem of his clothing.
"Did you see that? Last time, I fell for your trick just like this," he said indignantly.
I didn't have time to ponder how he had fallen for my trick; I was already dumbfounded. This Lord Gui must be some official from somewhere, but his martial arts were simply unfathomable. Among those I knew, Nie Qiuyuan's internal energy was extremely hot, and Luo Dachun's was extremely cold, but someone who could fluctuate between extreme cold and extreme heat like him was truly incredible.
"What kind of training have you done before?" Guilin asked, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Your body's condition and the method you just used are two completely different paths."
I shook my head.
"I don't know what I've practiced because I can't remember."
"Amnesia?" he exclaimed in surprise.
Guilin sat quietly for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, he stood up, brushed off the dirt from his clothes, and reached out to pull me up.
"Where is the Firefly Girl going?"
"I..."
How was I supposed to answer that?
"Wherever you go, I will accompany you," he said.
"Ah? Brother Gui, why is that?"
"Because of the strange aura surrounding you; I couldn't discern its origin. You have seen for yourself what you do when you're alone! If I hadn't shown up, who knows what dangerous things you might have done? So, at least for now, it's best that I stay close to you to find out exactly what is attached to you."
Our two horses were obediently wandering not far away, and Guilin led them back to us.
"May I accompany you to wherever you are heading tonight?"
I pondered his words carefully and found them quite reasonable. I had already been in a sleepwalking state twice recently, digging into the ground alone. If something happened without someone knowledgeable by my side, I truly wouldn't know how to respond. Perhaps encountering him was indeed a stroke of luck.
"Then, about the urgent matters Brother Gui needs to attend to..."
"The matters concerning the ghostly presence relate to your life. In this world, there shouldn't be anything more important than a person's life, right? Moreover, we both serve in the Jade Balance Bureau; that counts as fate."
His words were filled with kindness and warmth, bringing me a sense of calm. So I decided to share my purpose with him: "To be honest with you, Brother Gui, Liuying intends to return to my hometown, Wanzi Mountain. I didn't mention it earlier because I was afraid my brothers Yichuan would worry. Liuying wants to... retrieve something that has been forgotten."
Guilin nodded gently and said, "Firefly Girl, I have a feeling that the ghostly presence around you may be related to this forgotten time."
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