Chapter 261: Chapter 166: Conflict over the Deceitful Object
And on the locust tree clung a glob of pitch-black stain, as if splattered there by accident. But upon closer inspection, the stain was clearly dabbed on using an ink-flinging technique. The tip of a brush had then been used to adjust the ink’s shade, and a few fine strokes outlined the delicate texture of an insect’s wings, forming a lifelike summer cicada.
"Green Lotus in High Summer!"
Zheng Xiu blurted out the name of the ancient painting.
"Then tell me, where exactly is Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault? I’ll let you leave Yunhe Village, and from that moment on, we’ll have nothing more to do with each other."
’Then I definitely can’t tell her.’
Zheng Xiu thought this, but his gaze remained fixed on the reassembled Autumn Scene and the flawless Green Lotus in High Summer. Perhaps the Painter’s soul within him was burning too brightly. Though he’d decided not to tell Xie Luohe the location of Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault, that didn’t stop him from examining the paintings. ’No harm in looking,’ he thought.
But no matter how he looked, Zheng Xiu could only see that his grandfather’s technique was exquisite; he couldn’t spot any clues.
He weighed the two scrolls in his hands. ’Maybe there’s another way to crack this secret,’ he mused. ’Like tossing them in a furnace. Destruction before creation. Maybe burning them will reveal something.’
Of course, Xie Luohe had no idea that the scoundrel before her was entertaining the bold notion of burning the paintings. She watched as Zheng Xiu silently toyed with the scrolls until the sun set and night fell. The disappointment in her eyes was impossible to hide. "It seems you’re unwilling to talk."
Zheng Xiu panted heavily, then gave a slight smile. "Is it possible that the secret can only be revealed once all four scrolls have been gathered?"
Xie Luohe shook her head and walked toward Zheng Xiu, step by step. "Do you really think I, Xie Luohe, am so easily fooled?" she said as she approached. "You clearly can’t decipher the secret of the Four Seasons Map, so don’t be so full of yourself. Even without you, and even without the Four Seasons Map, I will dig up Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault if I have to scour the ends of the earth to do it."
Black patterns emerged on her skin, and her jet-black hair began to stir and dance behind her, though there was no wind. She slowly reached a hand toward Zheng Xiu’s stunned face, drawing closer and closer. A cruel smile touched her lips, making her look like a demoness stepping out of the shadows.
"Since you know about Feng Bei, you should also know what will happen to you if this hand touches you."
Zheng Xiu remained undaunted. He retorted, "And since you know about my... affliction, you should know that it won’t have any effect on me."
"Is that so?" Xie Luohe’s hand crept closer, until it was inches from Zheng Xiu’s face. "Zheng Shan is Zheng Shan, and you are you. Gongsun Mo."
PAT.
Xie Luohe’s fair hand gently patted Zheng Xiu’s cheek, and then she burst into wild laughter as the ugly black patterns on her face faded. Still laughing, she continued to pat his cheek, enjoying the look of utter shock on his face at her mercurial behavior. Right in front of him, Xie Luohe brushed aside the long hair covering her right eye and leaned in abruptly.
Her eye came so close it nearly touched his; their wide eyes were practically pressed together.
Warm breath from her lips washed over Zheng Xiu’s face.
The atmosphere might have seemed intimate, but the moment Zheng Xiu got a clear look at her right eye, a jolt went through him.
In Xie Luohe’s right eye, the two words "Ding Wei" were missing. In other words, her right eye lacked the mark unique to a Mystic.
"I’m not the one you’re looking for. You have the wrong person."
Xie Luohe turned and left again, moving so quickly that she was little more than a blur. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from sight, disappearing into her small, solitary wooden cabin.
Under the dome of the night sky, Zheng Xiu was left all alone.
SLAP!
Zheng Xiu suddenly slammed his palm on the table and shouted toward Xie Luohe’s solitary cabin.
"I am who I say I am! My name is Zheng Xiu! The Zheng from Zheng Haoran, and the Xiu from the phrase ’to cultivate one’s character’! Zheng Shan is me, and Zheng Er is me! The only person I’m not is Gongsun Mo!"
The cabin remained deathly silent. There was no response.
"Xie Luohe, do you dare make a bet with me?!"
An oil lamp flickered to life inside the cabin.
"I, Zheng Xiu, will make you, Xie Luohe, willingly admit that you are Feng Bei and change back into her!"
"The deadline is the moment before you find all four paintings: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter!"
"All you have to do is keep denying it, and you win! If you win, I’ll tell you the secret of the Four Seasons Map and the location of Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault!"
An icy voice drifted from the cabin.
"And if you lose?"
A stream of blood trickled from the corner of Zheng Xiu’s mouth. He grinned, the red of the blood a stark contrast against his white teeth. His smile was radiant.
"There will be no more Zheng Xiu in this world, only Gongsun Mo!"
CRACK!
The moment Zheng Xiu finished speaking, the clear night sky flashed a deathly white as a bolt of lightning streaked across it, gone in an instant.
THUD.
His strength gave out. Zheng Xiu collapsed, his head hitting the table, and passed out from blood loss.
Comments