Chapter 511

If He Lingchuan's luck had been even slightly worse, Jiao Yu would probably be picking out a coffin for him right now.

It had only been half a night, and the other party was bullying them again!

This was truly pushing their luck, showing no regard for the Crown Prince's special envoy or the dignity of the Red Yan Nation's ruler.

"Prioritize the important business first; we'll settle these two scores later." He Lingchuan patted the tiger's head, "I have a premonition that we'll be able to settle them soon."

Since the enemy used such methods, the two sides were irreconcilable, with no room for any turning back.

Weren't Zhongsun Mou and the Cen Mansion's arrogance just because they were too anxious? At this time, he should be calm instead.

As it turned out, the important business he went to handle next was slipping into the street to eat a bowl of steaming hot salty porridge.

This was made by boiling diced dried tofu, diced radish, diced meat, and dried clams with rice porridge, then adding any vegetables available, boiling until the rice grains bloomed and the porridge was thick and sticky, then adding a lethal amount of pepper before serving.

He Lingchuan tasted it; the flavor was good, but the reason the place was packed wasn't just this, but also the two salty milk balls served with the porridge.

This thing was as white as snow and as round as a tangyuan; those who didn't know better would bite into it raw, only to get a mouthful of crumbs, which wasn't tasty at all. But if you pressed it hard into the boiling porridge base and let it soak for a few dozen breaths, it would become a chewy, soft, and bouncy treasure. With one light bite, the salty fragrance of the buffalo milk would explode in your mouth!

"Refreshing!" He Lingchuan had tasted this for the first time and immediately finished two large bowls of the salty porridge.

When the third bowl came, he also ordered two freshly fried dough sticks and a bowl of Houlin beans.

These yellow beans were boiled until soft and glutinous, tasting like bean paste, but they were salty. The local way of eating them was to scoop up the Houlin beans and stuff them into the cracks of the fried dough sticks, then crunch away; the outside was crispy, the inside was soft and glutinous, a double delight.

The midsummer morning wasn't cool either, so everyone was still huddled around the low tables, eating noisily while wiping away sweat.

And Jiao Yu could only eat cold food, so it went to the market next door to buy half a fresh lamb hind leg, slaughtered at dawn, weighing less than twenty jin.

It didn't have much of an appetite, so it just ate a little.

Cheng Yu was also eating breakfast.

The rich and delicious medicinal porridge, with the least medicinal ingredient being century-old ginseng, tasted like wax in his mouth.

His chest felt stuffy and nauseous; he managed to eat a few more mouthfuls, and the food almost sprayed out of his throat.

He had no choice but to push the bowl away: "Take it away."

Old Wu on the side saw his face like gold paper and his expression withered, and asked with concern: "You still need to find a way to sleep for a while."

This guy had such a big reputation, such high pay, and such an arrogant demeanor earlier, even daring to boss the Young Master around.

The Young Master also had high hopes for him, thinking he would succeed immediately.

And the result? The result was that he failed to assassinate the Crown Prince's special envoy, was seriously injured instead, and now required their side to take care of him with all their might, filling his mouth with all kinds of good medicine.

It was simply ridiculous.

"If I could sleep, I would have lain down long ago." Cheng Yu looked at him coldly, "The other party was able to kill the Hundred-Faced Nightmare, which shows he is also proficient in curse arts. If I fall asleep, it would give him an opportunity."

Who didn't know that after a serious injury, one needed a good sleep the most? Adequate sleep was the only way to nourish essence and vitality, something no elixir could replace.

But how could he dare to sleep now?

Last night, the spell failed, and as soon as he left, the other party chased him to the inn. This showed that the guy surnamed He's tracking spell was also very impressive, and he might have even obtained some clues from the Hundred-Faced Nightmare.

The Hundred-Faced Nightmare had actually been defeated; he still found it unbelievable when he thought about it now. That was a Nightmare transformed from the soul of an immortal! But the facts were before his eyes, and he couldn't help but believe it.

Old Wu felt disdain in his heart; was this guy so afraid of He Xiao that he didn't even dare to sleep? But on the surface, he still had to sigh for the other party: "Isn't it daytime?"

Didn't people like them all cast spells to harm others at night?

Cheng Yu didn't speak.

He suspected that the other party also had a Nightmare, and one even more powerful than the Hundred-Faced one.

Old Wu added: "Staying up like this isn't a solution; you've already meditated several times."

Normal people feel uncomfortable when sleep-deprived; for someone like Cheng Yu who was seriously injured and still trying to stay awake by force, it would probably end in him fainting.

Old Wu added: "My Young Master has just set off to find this guy surnamed He in person. Do you want to take the opportunity to sleep for a while?"

At this time, He Xiao had to deal with Cen Boqing and shouldn't be able to spare his hands to plot against Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu heard this and felt it was a way.

As his tension eased, his head became even more dizzy.

"Then I'll sleep for a while; you find someone to sit in the courtyard and keep an eye on the rope-bell array!" Cheng Yu moved slowly to the bed, "No matter which direction the rope-bell rings, that means an invisible evil spirit is approaching, and you must wake me up immediately."

He had long ago set up some talisman arrays in the room and ordered people to pull red ropes around the four corners of the room, the four corners of the courtyard, and the four corners outside the courtyard, and then tie eighteen, thirty-six, and seventy-two silver bells to them respectively.

That was equivalent to three squares nested layer by layer.

Strange to say, the bells would jingle before being hung up, and the gatekeeper thought it would be noisy to death, but after the red ropes were pulled tight, they all became silent.

The wind wasn't small today, but not one of the more than one hundred silver bells rang; how strange.

After Cheng Yu finished his instructions, he lay down on the bed in the center of the rope-bell array.

He was truly too exhausted and tired, falling asleep in a second.

Old Wu immediately sent two people to guard the courtyard, and every two hours, two people would come to change shifts with them.

Time passed slowly.

Old Wu stretched himself, thinking he still had things to do, and was about to get up and leave, when he suddenly heard a crisp bell sound.

Ding ding ding—

It seemed to be coming from the east.

At first, only the outermost rope bells rang, and within the time of two blinks, the middle-layer rope bells also followed suit.

Old Wu didn't dare to delay, took a step to the bedside, and shook Cheng Yu's shoulders vigorously: "Wake up! Wake up quickly!"

As long as this guy didn't open his eyes, he wouldn't mind slapping him a few more times.

Blood suddenly flowed from Cheng Yu's nose.

Old Wu was startled, thinking he had finally been plotted against.

However, Cheng Yu still opened his eyes.

The moment he opened his eyes, the crisp bell sound stopped abruptly.

The three people on the side looked up, all feeling it was eerie.

Cheng Yu hadn't slept for long, and his spirit was still poor, so he said weakly: "How long have I slept?"

"A quarter of an hour." Old Wu said in a deep voice, "He actually really came."

Sleeping for this short while was worse than not sleeping at all for a seriously injured body. Cheng Yu pressed his dizzy head: "I set up talisman arrays; ordinary curse masters can't track me here."

Those talisman arrays were like a maze; curse masters with weaker attainments would be trapped to death inside.

Old Wu asked curiously: "He is just a teenager, his martial arts look good, but he doesn't look like he's proficient in curse arts. The guards around him look even less like it."

"Whether someone knows curse arts, how can you tell from their appearance?" Cheng Yu said irritably, "Besides, those proficient in curse arts aren't necessarily human."

"Then, what should we do now?"

Cheng Yu thought for a moment and took a transparent conch shell from his bosom.

This conch shell was almost clear and colorless, but snowflakes were flying inside the shell, as if it were experiencing a blizzard.

In the center of the conch shell was a small wooden house, with doors and windows closed, and warm light shining from inside.

If He Lingchuan were here, he would probably recognize it as a snow globe.

There was also a small stopper on the conch mouth.

Old Wu also asked curiously: "What is this?"

"A dreamland." Cheng Yu was still a bit reluctant, "This is a fixed and closed dreamland; other curse arts or Nightmares cannot invade, but it can only be used three times... I have already used it twice, and this is the last time."

This kind of life-saving backup was used once less each time.

But then again, if not now, when?

He instructed Old Wu: "Do you see the lanterns outside the door?"

"Yes." Old Wu could see through the conch shell that a pair of red lanterns were hanging at the door of the wooden house, swaying with the wind and snow.

"Once the red lanterns light up, you must plug the stopper tightly and close the entire dreamland." Cheng Yu said solemnly, "Wait until the red lanterns dim, then you open it; there can be no mistakes!"

"Okay."

"During this period, guard the dreamland and my body well, and don't let anyone snatch them away."

"A small matter." Old Wu smiled, "You are currently resting in the Cen Mansion's courtyard; no one dares to break in here."

"That's..." Cheng Yu coughed a few times, his face even worse, "That's good."

His face looked as ugly as a dead person's, but he still forced himself to give a final instruction: "Absolutely, absolutely do not pull the stopper early. I am too seriously injured this time and need a long time to recuperate. Pulling the stopper early will cause my soul to scatter, and not only will I have an accident, but the person who pulls the stopper will also be unlucky. Remember, remember!"

Old Wu agreed readily.

Only then did Cheng Yu swallow some pills and lie down again.

Old Wu held the conch shell, always feeling that after Cheng Yu closed his eyes, there was something more in the room.

Before long, Cheng Yu's snoring began.

The wind and snow in the conch shell suddenly stopped, and the red lanterns suddenly lit up.

Old Wu didn't dare to delay and hurriedly pressed the stopper of the conch mouth tightly, causing the entire conch shell to be completely sealed.

Then the snow scene inside remained the same, and the orange light from the wooden house was warm, but it seemed...

Was there a shadow moving? Old Wu leaned in to look closely and saw that there was indeed a shadow on the window paper, seemingly walking back and forth in the room.

Was this person Cheng Yu? After another two quarters of an hour, the rope bells outside the courtyard suddenly rang again.

Ding ling ling, ding ling ling.

The ones outside the courtyard rang, and the ones in the courtyard rang.

Something was approaching this room rapidly.

Soon, the rope bells in the room—also rang!

The bell sound was crisp, cold, chaotic, and eerie amidst the urgency.

This was the first time in Old Wu's life that he hated the sound of bells so much.

He knew the opponent had already entered the room and was currently wandering around here, right beside him and Cheng Yu.

But he couldn't see or hear the other party, and it was very likely that the other party couldn't see or hear them either.

The two sides were perhaps not in the same space.

It was probably because they hadn't found Cheng Yu, so the opponent was a bit anxious, and the bells on all four ropes in the room rang together.

Was this thing wandering around the room? Old Wu looked at the conch shell in his hand.

The shadow in the wooden house was also swaying, seemingly very nervous as well.

(End of chapter)