Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 55

Chu Yanhe led Yun Qing’s group to an empty room. This place was used to receive female guests during weddings in the mansion, and at the moment it was very quiet, with only three or four elderly women watching over it.

Chu Yanhe dismissed the women, asking them to help with the banquet at Chaoque Tower.

Yun Qing placed the scroll on a table and slowly unrolled it, allowing everyone to see it more clearly.

The woman in the painting was different from ordinary lady portraits; she wore plain cloth garments and had a very simple hairstyle with a silver hairpin inserted into her bun.

She stood beneath an osmanthus tree, reaching out to catch falling osmanthus flowers. With her head slightly tilted back, her gaze was lively, and her face radiated with a happy smile.

Yun Qing thought of the female ghost’s pale face and hollow eyes from that night, and couldn’t help but sigh.

In the corner of the scroll there was an inscription:

Beauty turned to emptiness, 

The lone mandarin duck does not call. 

Vast heavens above, 

This hatred is hard to resolve. 

Ten thousand bright spirits, 

An immortal soul shall be born. 

Words broken, heart extinguished, 

Linglong city-toppling beauty.

The signature read “Eleventh month of the year of Renzi, Qingcheng Zi.”

“This is Wei Sanniang… this inscription and signature…” Fu Xue suddenly became excited, “Senior Sister, our previous guess was correct. This Chu Jing’an is indeed Qingcheng Zi!”

“Linglong city-toppling beauty, Linglong city-toppling beauty,” Yun Qing murmured, her expression gradually becoming serious. “So his Daoist title Qingcheng Zi isn’t because he considers himself devastatingly beautiful, but because he intends to topple an entire city.”

“What?!” Chu Yanhe covered her mouth in shock. “What does that mean? Is he planning to kill everyone in the entire city? How would he do that?”

Jiang Baiyu pointed at the inscription and said:

“‘Ten thousand bright spirits, an immortal soul shall be born.’ Bright spirits are earth souls. He needs to collect a hundred thousand earth souls to forge one immortal soul. This immortal soul would be a treasure at the level of an immortal artifact. If he truly succeeds in creating it, then his words aren’t exaggerated.”

Yun Qing: “Also, look at the date of the signature, the eleventh month of the year of Renzi. If I haven’t calculated wrong, it was two hundred and seventy-three years and nine months ago, which is approximately a hundred thousand days.

He collects one earth soul per day, and by now he has probably gathered the full hundred thousand souls. So he could take action at any moment.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expressions changed.

Fu Xue became so nervous that her hands and feet grew cold. “This Qingcheng Zi is truly insane. Senior Sister, what should we do?”

“The most urgent task is to find Qingcheng Zi.”

“How do we find him?”

“How to find him, I don’t know…” Yun Qing gave a bitter smile. “We still have too little information, and time is running out.”

Cheng Suiyan asked, “Didn’t we say earlier that Qingcheng Zi practiced the Way of Formlessness? Should we ask Baiyu’s mother? They both practice the Way of Formlessness, perhaps they know each other.”

Jiang Baiyu suddenly shook his head and said, “No, he doesn’t practice the Way of Formlessness.”

“What?”

Jiang Baiyu: “We previously speculated he practiced the Way of Formlessness only because that statue had no face.

Earth souls control a person’s consciousness and personality, which can also be considered a form of ‘appearance.’ From this perspective, his collection of a hundred thousand souls also fits with the saying ‘ten thousand appearances amount to formlessness.'”

Fu Xue paced in circles with her hands on her hips, rapidly talking to herself. “What should we do, what should we do? He could take action at any moment!”

Chu Yanhe cried anxiously, “Sister Yun Qing, what should we do? Are we all going to die? Will my eldest brother and second brother die too?”

Ci Li hanging on Yun Qing’s shoulder spoke, “Hey, can you release me now? At times like this, it’s better for everyone to escape on their own.”

Chu Yanhe was startled, “This pendant is alive?” She had always thought it was just a unique, cute accessory that Sister Yun Qing wore.

Yun Qing said to Ci Li, “Then promise me that if Qingcheng Zi appears, you’ll help us fight against him.”

Ci Li snickered. “Am I crazy?”

“Fine, then you can continue hanging here.”

“You… shameless!”

“Yes, I am just that shameless.”

“You, you’re such a…”

As it was still searching for appropriate insults, she quickly held out her hand, “If you want to have your bottom touched every day, then—”

“Alright, alright, I promise you, just this once!”

Jiang Baiyu restored Ci Li to its normal size.

Chu Yanhe watched wide-eyed as the pendant-like small cat suddenly spoke, suddenly grew larger, then suddenly fell to the ground and with a roll transformed into a handsome young man. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

This was the first time Yun Qing carefully observed Ci Li in human form.

He had jade-like features with red lips, round eyes with slightly drooping lower eyelids that were very rounded, and amber-colored pupils. He looked like a good-natured little brother—who could have imagined that he was actually a foul-mouthed great demon who insulted everyone?

His black clothes were embroidered with several silver carp fish. Whether due to the embroiderer’s poor skill or his peculiar taste, the carp were extremely plump, about twice as wide as ordinary carp, looking more like little pigs covered in fish scales.

His black hair was tied into a casual bun with a silver hairband, with loose strands falling in front of his forehead and behind his head. The ribbon and gold beads around his neck were the same as that night, and in daylight, the gold beads looked like bells on a pet’s collar.

After transforming into human form, Ci Li stretched out his hand toward Cheng Suiyan. “Hand it over.”

Cheng Suiyan was puzzled. “Hand over what?”

“My Water-Gathering Wind-Condensing flower, don’t play dumb, give it back quickly!”

“Oh, can’t you be a bit more polite, little cat?” Cheng Suiyan said as he took out the fan to summon the beauty.

Ci Li said irritably, “What little cat? I’m old enough to be your ancestor many times over.”

Chu Yanhe watched in astonishment as a beautiful fairy suddenly leaped out of the fan and floated in the air.

The colorful-clothed beauty lowered her flower basket in front of Ci Li. Holding up a light green dandelion stem, Ci Li watched as all the white fluffy balls lying in the basket took flight, surrounding the stem and reassembling into a fluffy ball.

Chu Yanhe stared in amazement again. She had seen many people blow dandelion seeds away, but this was the first time she had seen a bare dandelion restored to its original state.

After these successive shocks, she was becoming somewhat numb.

She realized that these people were far more mysterious and powerful than she had imagined. Hope now burning in her eyes, she clutched Yun Qing’s clothes, her eyes brimming with tears, and said:

“Sister Yun Qing, please think of a way to find that Qingcheng Zi! I don’t want to die, I don’t want my eldest brother and second brother to die, I don’t want anyone in the mansion to die, and I don’t want to see anyone in Linglong City die!”

Yun Qing closed her eyes and recalled everything she had experienced since arriving in Linglong City, all the details flashing before her eyes.

Li Siniang, Chu Yanhe, Chu Yanchuan, Chu Xing, Qinniang, Chu Yanzhang, and even the maids and servants she had seen in the Chu family, as well as the dancing girls on the painted boat—she had missed none of them.

For some unknown reason, her mind flashed to the scene of when she first met Chu Yanzhang that night, the way he had stroked his chin while thinking. A strange feeling stirred in her heart, and she couldn’t help but imitate the gesture.

Cheng Suiyan suddenly burst into laughter.

In such a tense atmosphere, this laughter was very inappropriate. Fu Xue scolded, “Hey, what are you laughing at?”

“She’s scratching her chin like my father.”

Yun Qing opened her eyes and gave him a puzzled look.

Fu Xue said, “How can you randomly claim people as your father? That’s too familiar.”

“No,” Cheng Suiyan raised his hand and imitated Yun Qing’s chin-scratching gesture, “My father strokes his beard just like this. Yun Qing, you don’t have a beard but you’re doing the same thing, it’s a bit funny.”

It was as if a bolt of lightning flashed through Yun Qing’s mind, illuminating the world shrouded in mist.

She looked at Jiang Baiyu, who frowned and said, “Rouge, candied haws…”

Chu Yanhe asked anxiously, “What rouge and candied haws? Have you figured out where Qingcheng Zi is hiding? Tell me quickly!”

Yun Qing’s expression darkened as she nodded and said, “Yes, there’s something we’ve been overlooking all along.”

“What is it?”

“Qingcheng Zi is using a hundred thousand earth souls to forge a treasure, but not just a treasure.”

“What do you mean?”

“This treasure could also be himself.”

After she said this, everyone except Jiang Baiyu was stunned.

Yun Qing continued to explain, “He had already abandoned his physical body and his two hun souls and seven po souls, retaining only the earth soul.

He cultivated this earth soul as a treasure, strengthening it by stealing others’ earth souls, forming an abnormal earth soul.

Theoretically, this abnormal earth soul can attach itself to a person’s earth soul. No, rather than attachment, it’s more like fusion.

It actively fuses with someone’s earth soul, becoming that person’s new earth soul, and thereby replacing that person’s consciousness and personality, controlling all their thoughts and actions.

On the surface, it’s still the same person, but in reality, they’re completely different.

For over two hundred years, his earth soul has continuously fused with the most revered individuals in Linglong City in each generation, becoming the actual and only ruler of this city for more than two centuries.

Does what I’m saying make sense to you, Yanhe?”

These words left Chu Yanhe’s mind reeling. “I, I don’t understand…”

Yun Qing had to speak more plainly. “Yanhe, I believe you mentioned that a fortune teller predicted your eldest brother would face a calamity this year. I think he’s already encountered it. Qingcheng Zi has fused with his earth soul.”

Chu Yanhe’s body went limp, and Fu Xue quickly supported her. With tears in her eyes, she murmured, “I don’t believe it, how could this be possible, no, this can’t be…”

Unable to bear looking at her, Yun Qing averted her gaze and frowned as she looked outside at the sun-bleached landscape.

Cheng Suiyan said, “If that’s true, then why didn’t we notice anything unusual when we examined City Lord Chu’s soul that night?”

Jiang Baiyu answered. “That’s simple. That night, Qingcheng Zi sensed our suspicion of Chu Yanzhang, and his earth soul left the body beforehand.

Normally, when losing an earth soul, the overall color of the soul would become dim, but Chu Yanzhang was a person bearing virtue, so his soul was naturally brighter than ordinary people’s, which interfered with our judgment.”

Chu Yanhe suddenly shouted, “Impossible! You’re just making random guesses. What evidence do you have that my eldest brother was possessed by that… that thing? He’s always been the same! He never changed!”

Yun Qing sighed deeply and said, “This abnormal earth soul hasn’t just possessed your eldest brother—it has possessed many generations of city lords before him.

When it possesses someone, it observes the next generation’s city lord, then possesses the new city lord when they take office, allowing it to imitate them perfectly. As for evidence, we indeed don’t have concrete proof, but we’re not entirely without basis.

I think the reason Qingcheng Zi didn’t extract a hundred thousand earth souls at once is because the stolen earth souls need time to be digested. Just like how we need to digest food.

While digesting a new earth soul, some characteristics of that new earth soul might remain. That night when Chu Yanzhang stroked his chin, it was possibly because he was digesting an old man’s earth soul who had a beard, retaining this unconscious movement.

You said he stole candied haws—is it possible that he had digested a greedy child’s earth soul that day and temporarily couldn’t resist the temptation of candied haws?

Also, we found a used rouge box in his room the night before last. The maids in the City Lord’s mansion are well-trained and wouldn’t leave a used rouge box on City Lord Chu’s table.

So, is it possible that he was digesting a beauty-loving woman’s earth soul and couldn’t resist the rouge?”

“I don’t believe it,” Chu Yanhe shook her head in despair, “I don’t believe it! How could my eldest brother possibly… he…”

She froze mid-sentence, suddenly recalling the day her second brother became simple-minded—her eldest brother’s gaze, his embrace, and the way he gently patted the back of her head to comfort her…

All of it was similar to her second brother.

In that moment, she felt as if she had returned to her second brother’s embrace.

She suddenly burst into tears. “How could this be, how could this happen…”

Fu Xue, thinking of how Chu Yanhe had just lost one brother and now this… She felt sympathetic and asked Yun Qing, “Senior Sister, what should we do now?”

“Let’s go find him first and see. I hope I’m overthinking this.”

The four of them rose to leave, with Chu Yanhe wiping her tears and following behind them. Fu Xue stayed back a step to comfort her.

Jiang Baiyu said to Chu Yanhe, “You should not come with us, to avoid losing control of your emotions.”

Yun Qing nodded, “Baiyu is right. Yanhe, wait here for now. I’ll call a maid to keep you company.”

Chu Yanhe looked at them with tears streaming down her face.

Yun Qing felt a pang of sympathy. She was, after all, just a sixteen-year-old girl who shouldn’t have to bear such a heavy blow.

****

The four of them bid farewell to Chu Yanhe and arrived at the foot of Chaoque Tower.

Chu Yanzhang was standing on the tower.

Today he wore a vermilion dragon robe with a white jade belt inlaid with gold, and on his head was a filigree pearl coronet. His long eyebrows extended to his temples, and his phoenix eyes slanted upward.

At this time, the sun was high in the sky. Standing on the flower-covered Chaoque Tower, he was like a peony flower in full bloom leaning against carved railings and jade steps—stunningly talented, noble, and magnificent.

As Yun Qing looked up at him, he also lowered his gaze toward them.

Meeting her eyes, the corners of his mouth, which had always been kept neutral, suddenly curved upward slightly.

“Pity, I had planned to spare you.”