Chapter 819: Chapter 609: Yin Peach Blossom
"Hmm?" As if suddenly discovering something, Xiang Fengchen quickly walked away, squatted by the well, and stared at the broken bowl on the ground, the pieces of the green porcelain bowl were shattered into several chunks.
At this time, Yang Xiao also noticed that something was amiss. The scene of the shattered bowl was very unusual, as if it had exploded from thermal expansion and contraction, with porcelain shards of various sizes that generally split into three parts. Upon close inspection, each part seemed to have a meticulously designed composition.
Xiang Fengchen was silent for a moment, then took out the Divine Turtle Fragment from his bosom, placed it on the ground, and after a while felt that something wasn’t quite right, he adjusted its orientation, shifting its position, and tried four or five times before he seemed satisfied. At the same time, he lightly waved his hand backward.
"Step back, don’t block the moonlight," Nalan Shuo took the lead to retreat, and the others followed suit. For a time, the space around the well cleared.
Time passed by the second. Xiang Fengchen, alone by the well, alternated between standing and squatting, and from time to time stood up to glance at the moon. After a few minutes, he took a long breath, picked up the Divine Turtle Shell from the ground, "It’s all right now, you can come over."
"What did you deduce?" Nalan Shuo cut to the chase.
"The first character is definitely ’spring’, and the second character would be ’Lu’ if it’s placed at the waxing moon, and ’He’ if it’s the waning moon. It must be one of these two characters," he paused and looked regretfully at the last part of the shattered porcelain, sighing, "The last character was accidentally stepped on, damaged, and now it’s impossible to guess."
Fang Zhou couldn’t help but widen his eyes. He looked over the three parts of the shattered porcelain up and down, left, and right, but could see nothing significant, much less guess the characters.
"Thank you all for your hard work tonight. Mr. Nalan and I, Xiang Fengchen, will remember this kindness in our hearts. Everyone should go back and rest," Xiang Fengchen spoke.
"Please wait, Senior Xiang!" Lou Huixiang suddenly spoke up, a troubled expression on his face. He said to Xiang Fengchen with a polite bow of his hands, "That... I would like to invite the senior to take a look at our room. I’m worried..."
"There’s no need to worry, the thing from the well won’t come again," Xiang Fengchen’s tone was as flat as it was cold, but what he said was very convincing.
"Zhang Songde’s corpse is also gone, dragged by that Ghost into the well, which suddenly appeared in our room."
Lou Huixiang seemed to want to explain further, but was ruthlessly interrupted by Nalan Shuo, "Go back and rest assured, the Ghost won’t come. If Zhang Songde’s body appears, remember to take good care of it, we will come and examine the body first thing in the morning."
Hearing this, Fang Zhou couldn’t help but tense up, "Do you mean Zhang Songde’s body will... will it be found tonight?"
"Put away your imagination and go to sleep in peace," Nalan Shuo gave Fang Zhou a comforting look, then returned to his room with Xiang Fengchen and Yang Xiao.
Jiang Qingluan also turned back, and Chang Chuchu, like a little follower, obediently followed her back.
Soon, only Fang Zhou and Lou Huixiang were left in the courtyard. They exchanged glances and could only proceed back with stiff upper lips, standing outside the door observing for a while. Seeing no issue inside, they then bravely entered the room. Everything that night felt like a dream to Fang Zhou.
Turning to close the door, Lou Huixiang had just breathed a sigh of relief when Fang Zhou behind him said ominously, "Brother Lou, do you think... will Zhang Songde come back tonight?"
This question scared Lou Huixiang badly, as he too was worried about this matter. The corner of his eye twitched involuntarily, "Don’t... don’t talk nonsense, when a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out. Besides, he was dragged away by that thing. The bodies of those people before haven’t come back either, don’t scare yourself."
"You are right, I was fortunate to have you with me tonight, Brother Lou. I’m not sleepy, you go to bed first," Fang Zhou sat at the table, ready to stay awake through the night.
"Then I’ll leave it to you, little brother Fang Zhou," Lou Huixiang didn’t hesitate, laid down on the bed without even taking off his clothes, knowing having someone voluntarily keep watch was a good thing, who knew what would happen next, maintaining plenty of energy was also key to surviving.
As soon as his head hit the pillow, the long-lost sense of sleepiness surged relentlessly. He turned over drowsily and unintentionally lifted his eyelids to look outside. It was this one glance that scared him so much that he sat straight up from his bed.
At some point, Fang Zhou had stood up from the desk, his wide eyes staring straight beneath his bed, the flickering candlelight making his pale, frightened face seem to flash with brightness and darkness.
...
"Will they be in danger tonight?" Yang Xiao asked in a low voice after returning to his room. After all the commotion, and the rush to escape that seemed to give endless strength, but once they stopped, they realized every part of the body was in pain, both physically and mentally exhausted.
"Who are you talking about?" Nalan Shuo was wiping his face slowly with a damp but wrung-out cloth, looking equally exhausted.
"Fang Zhou and Lou Huixiang," Yang Xiao said.
"As long as they do not actively seek death, they will be fine. If they are as foolish as Zhang Songde, then it would be better if they died early," Xiang Fengchen’s voice rose coldly.
With those words, Yang Xiao did not ask further and turned to a question that was even more critical, "How did you deduce the characters from the porcelain pieces on the ground?"
"It wasn’t deduction, it was divination," Xiang Fengchen lifted his gaze after bandaging his severed finger, showing a determined look, "Those characters were left by the last person who used the Divine Turtle Shell, and if I’m not mistaken, it was the old beggar you saw in the Land Temple."
"This is a clue," Yang Xiao somewhat understood.
"You could say that, it should be a place name, that person wants to meet us at a specific location."
