Chapter 58: The Sword of Heaven and Earth, the Death of a Young Man (Part 1) I promise, I won't do that again...

Hu Sanniang finished, then smiled and retreated from the room. Ye Qingzhan glanced at Wen Gu, who had quickly cleaned up the mess on the floor. His eyes, full of sincerity, he looked at her and said, "I promise, I won't lose control again." Ye

Qingzhan snorted and walked out. Wen Gu, looking calm, followed him.

The Red Dust Inn has two floors, the second floor housing the ghost quarters. As they left, they found a number of ghosts gathered in front of the stage in the center of the ground floor courtyard. Besides the original guests, Shanniang and Grandma Chuntao were there, as well as

Chuntao, the head of the Infant Spirit Hall.

Grandma Tao held her hand tightly.

Ye Qingzhan dragged Wen Gu downstairs, having many questions to ask.

Shanniang, holding Xinxin and eating a candied pastry, saw Ye Qingzhan coming down and beckoned them to the table. The two took their seats. Chuntao, clutching a pair of tiger-head shoes, smiled at Ye Qingzhan and affectionately took her arm.

"Miss, even if you changed your face in the fantasy realm, I would still recognize you."

Ye Qingzhan glanced at the four mirrors surrounding the stage, realizing that everything in the fantasy realm was once again a play, fully visible to the ghostly guests.

Many questions still awaited answers within the fantasy realm. Ye Qingzhan first turned to Shanniang and asked, "Shanniang, do you know what the 'Purifying Heart Incense' used by Madam Wang is?" She thought, Shan'e having once worked in the palace, might know something.

Shanniang held Xinxin in her arms and looked at Wang Jingshan standing beside her. She replied, "I did serve my wife for a while when she was pregnant. My wife didn't believe in the use of blessed water. She said that whether her child was talented or not was unimportant. She only wanted the baby to be safe and happy. After a big quarrel with Master Wang, she ran away from the mansion. My wife treated me well, so I sent people to catch up with him before anyone else. At the foot of Yudie Peak, I saw... an immortal."

Immortal? Ye Qingzhan asked, "What kind of immortal?" Speaking of immortals, the banished immortal is one, and there's also the one from Tianqi Mountain. Although he doesn't let people call him an immortal, the one from Tianqi Mountain is indeed the most immortal. Shanniang

paused, as if thinking, and after a moment she said, "The immortal was wearing a red dress. The color was very bright, and the patterns and embellishments were somewhat like wedding clothes. He had silver hair and wore a mask."

When mentioning the red dress, Ye Qingzhan glanced at Wen Gu, who shook his head slightly. And when she heard about silver hair, the person that came to her mind was the one from Tianqi Mountain.

"The immortal's eyes are very beautiful, and their pupils are amber."

It was the one from Tianqi Mountain. Ye Qingzhan remembered the first time she met the immortal -

at that time, she carried her adoptive mother Li Ying on her back and walked up a hundred stone steps in the wind and snow. Her foot accidentally slipped on the ice, and she fell and fainted. When she woke up, a red robe caught her eye.

Her eyes followed the red robe upwards, and she saw a white gold flowing cloud jade belt loosely tied around her waist, buckled with shells, decorated with long tassels, and hung with silver bells. She blinked slightly, and was stunned by the double buttons in the shape of jade shells. She raised her head to see the real face.

The person who came was elegant, with a gold silk shirt, a red dress as a robe, and silver hair hanging down her shoulders. Her eyes were like deep sea pupils and amber pupils. When her eyes fell on people, they were mixed with a little scrutiny, mostly idle and indifferent. Then he saw her right hand holding a bunch of gardenias, and her left index finger slightly raised auspicious clouds...

"The immortal held a bunch of bellflowers and broke off a branch to give to the lady. When the lady reaped the fruit, the flower suddenly turned into a stick of incense in her hand. The immortal said, 'A mother should have a pure and respectful heart.' I respect you and give you a pure heart. If others ask, don't tell me the truth.'"

The night breeze was light and blew away a strand of black hair by the woman's ear. Shanniang lifted the hair over her ear and said, "I didn't remember these words at first. After the lady returned home, she wrote them on paper and recited them every day, so I remembered them. The lady said that the immortal didn't let us tell others about our encounter with her, so she told others that she bought the incense."

After she finished speaking, there was silence for a long time.

Ye Qingzhan felt that he could not guess the mind of that strange immortal.

"It's a pity that the lady is gone."

Shanniang touched Wang Jingshan's head. Wang Jingshan put down the candied biscuit in his hand and said, "My mother became ill because of my father's anger. Before she died, she told me not to pay attention to anything he said."

With that, his chubby hand picked up another candied biscuit. It seemed that only sweets could suppress the tears that flickered in his eyes.

Wen Gu glanced at him, lifted him up and sat him on his lap, saying, "Your mother is right." He then looked up at the full moon that always hung high in the sky.

Ye Qingzhan also stroked Wang Jingshan's head and looked at Chuntao again. His eyes dropped, as if he had made a decision. He raised his head, met her gaze, and asked, "Chuntao, what exactly happened in the mansion after my mother and I went to Baiyu Temple?" Chuntao's

body froze for a moment, then she said, "Master, he's dead..." As

soon as he finished speaking, a tear fell from Ye Qingzhan's eye, and his heart clenched.

In the real past, Dongfang Yuanshan had not found a cure for the epidemic, but he himself was infected. Like most people who contracted the disease, he died ten days later.

His wife, Yuan Qingran, fell ill from lovesickness and passed away soon after.

Amidst the common people's curses, Ye Shaolin hoped Xuejun and Ye Qingzhan would not return home, and he gave his all to help those whose families had been devastated by the illness.

However, before one crisis subsided, another arose. Sui'an County was hit by a devastating epidemic

, and heavy rain fell for several days. The epidemic ravaged the city's young and middle-aged people. The relentless downpour washed away Yudie Peak, severing Sui'an County's connection with the outside world.

Some people from neighboring counties demanded exorbitant prices, while others offered timely assistance. For the former, Ye Shaolin paid a large sum of money; for the latter, he offered valuable gifts as a token of his gratitude.

With so much to offer, the common people in the city scorned him and his family. The rain in Sui'an County also seemed to have stopped. Everything seemed to be getting better.

"However, something unexpected happened. Some disaster victims died after drinking the porridge sent by the Ye Mansion."

In the illusion, Ye Qingzhan stayed in the Ye Mansion to take care of Mr. Ye for a few days and was unaware of this. When Chuntao mentioned it, he was at a loss for a moment, and then he remembered the words of the group of men in black.

He said that a doctor ruined their "good deed."

Ye Qingzhan looked at the only doctor who appeared in the illusion.

Wen Gu withdrew his gaze from Wangyue and met hers, his eyes full of questions: "What's wrong?"

Ye Qingzhan stopped looking at him and continued to listen to Chuntao.

A series of natural and man-made disasters had already weighed on the hearts of the people in Sui'an County, and the death of relatives by poisoning became the floodgates of all emotions.

The anger of the people was ignited, and they all rushed into the Ye Mansion.

Ye Shaolin dragged his sick body and knelt on the ground.

The angry people spared their lives, but the men in black later massacred the Ye Mansion.

Tears could not stop flowing down Ye Qingzhan's face. Wen Gu put the child in his arms back on the chair with a panicked look, wiping her fingers non-stop.

"I wanted to save the master, but was still shot to death by random arrows."

The tiger-head shoes in her hand gleamed with light in the moonlight. Chuntao put down the small shoes and looked at her grandmother beside her.

Grandma Chuntao continued: "I am a person who is sometimes clear-headed and sometimes very confused. After being deceived by the fox Taoist priest outside the capital, I didn't remember anything. After I came to my senses, I ran to the city. After I went back, I heard about what happened in the Ye Mansion. I ran back to the mansion, and blood flowed out from under the door. I pushed open the door, and in front of me..."

The white-haired old man seemed to be unable to bear to say anything, and silently lowered his head.

Everyone was silent, but they understood in their hearts.

That night, the Ye Mansion was a river of blood and corpses were scattered all over the ground. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a purgatory on earth .

After a long time, Grandma Chuntao raised her head.

"That dog-headed county magistrate actually attributed more than a dozen deaths in the Ye Mansion to the people's riot. Those real killers..."

The real murderer is still at large in this world.

The law does not punish the masses, and those who razed the Ye Mansion are also alive and well.

The tears dried up, and Ye Qingzhan clenched her hands tightly, with red fingertips. Wen Gu slowly unfolded her clenched fingers, gently placed them in his hands, and held them.

Mr. Ye died for good deeds and was destroyed by kindness.

Wen Gu thought so in his heart, and his mind remembered the things he saw and heard in the darkness, the things in the world. Suddenly, another picture came in, and his eyes looking at Ye Qingzhan suddenly brightened a little.

Chuntao looked at the two of them, and hid the words she wanted to say in her stomach.

Having heard almost everything they wanted to know, Hu Sanniang came over and whispered a few words to Chuntao. Then she said to Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu, "You spent three full days in this fantasy realm, plus the three days you spent before. You took him—"

Sanniang pointed to a large-eyed young man with cracks from head to toe not far away.

"We only have one day left to get him through."

Before she finished speaking, Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu exchanged a glance, stood up, and walked over to the young man.

The young man looked not much younger than the two of them, about fourteen or fifteen years old. His eyes were round and dark, and if he weren't so melancholy at the moment, his eyes would be bright and clear.

Ye Qingzhan named him Mingche because when he blinked, his eyes were as bright as the stars in the sky, and his gaze was as clear as a stream.

Mingche had a very pleasant face, and now that he saw the two of them approaching, his white jade face smiled, revealing two shallow dimples. It made you want to poke him again.

Ye Qingzhan suppressed the urge and looked at Mingche.

There was a crack from head to toe on the young man's body, as if he had been split open and glued together again, like a cracked porcelain. The crack was blood red.

Looking closely, it was quite shocking.

Mingche stretched out his hand to the two of them.

Ye Qingzhan glanced at Wen Gu, grabbed his hand, and put one hand each into Mingche's hand. The moment they touched, the world spun.

When they opened their eyes, they saw two people and a ghost squatting in the grass. Ye Qingzhan opened his eyes first and found that there were many people hiding in the grass besides the three of them.

Wen Gu also looked around quietly, and finally his eyes fell on Ye Qingzhan's clothes at the moment. He was unhappy, but he didn't dare to show it easily.

Mingche squatted between the two of them, his big eyes moving around. When his eyes were about to fall on Ye Qingzhan, Wen Gu turned his head away.

After looking around, Ye Qingzhan began to study the outfits of the three of them.

Wen Gu was wearing a pomegranate red robe with a silver silk ribbon tied around his waist, outlining his narrow waist. His black hair, which was usually tied up high, was loosened down, looking elegant and unrestrained. He wore a small snake-shaped silver ornament on his ear, like a young man from the Miao area.

Ming Che wore a bat-shaped mask, which only covered the area around his eyes. In her opinion, it was really useless, and his big round eyes were not covered, so he was really easy to recognize.

And what about her? Ye Qingzhan lowered her head to glance at the translucent red gauze on her body, and raised her head with an unnatural expression.

Fortunately, there was a veil covering her, otherwise she really wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide.

- What tribe's clothes are these? Why can't they cover anything?

After a while, Ye Qingzhan raised his head resignedly and looked at Wen Gu sadly, his eyes saying: Turn your head away too.

Wen Gu did not move.

Ye Qingzhan glared at her and thought, forget it, they had already slept in the same bed, there was no point in fussing over it. With this thought, she moved behind Wen Gu and lifted up the collar of her shirt that was against her chest. This made her feel much more comfortable. Wen Gu still did not move, but her eyes passed Ye Qingzhan and looked behind her.

Ye Qingzhan was a little surprised and turned around to look.

At some point, a smiling fox in a white robe was standing in the air in the bushes, behind her where no one could see.