Chapter 65

A stream of gloomy wind and miserable mist surged and churned. The laughter was shrill and crazy, as if it were overflowing from the depths of hell with endless resentment. Once it touched the walls, it suddenly echoed and expanded, as if ghosts were crying together and blood souls were wailing, seemingly wanting to tear apart people's minds and souls and stir up a bloody storm. Anyone who had just walked out of such a bizarre cluster of corpses would be terrified to hear such a miserable laugh.

Zi Hao's gaze swept upward suddenly. The moment the laughter came out, his figure moved. Then came several cracking sounds; the bricks and stones where he had originally stood burst, countless fine lines extended rapidly, and the entire ground instantly shattered into pieces.

A flash of white clothing passed by, and Zi Hao reappeared under the eaves, still standing with his hands behind his back, his expression cold.

The gloomy wind surged, and the fierce laughter did not cease. A human voice came from nowhere, "Since the King has arrived, why do you hesitate? Could it be that the scenery along the way startled the Imperial Majesty?" The voice was sometimes sharp, sometimes deep and heavy, every word flickering and bizarre, filling the entire space, making it impossible to grasp its accurate position.

Zi Hao lowered his handsome eyes, a trace of contemptuous cold smile appearing on his lips. The voice became a bit more gloomy, "Entering my Witch Mansion Ghost Residence, the King should have some courage..." Just as he said these words, Zi Hao suddenly leaped up, striking directly at the plaque hanging in the center of the main building.

The voice stopped abruptly, hurriedly turning into a hasty shriek.

The dozen or so Gu corpses that had been standing on the outside were pulled as if by invisible silk threads, flying straight up and attacking Zi Hao, who was in mid-air, in an attempt to block his strike filled with True Essence!

With a strong wind covering his body, Zi Hao did not even look back, but his body accelerated in an impossible moment. He printed a palm firmly on the plaque, then suddenly used the force to retreat, spreading his sleeves and sweeping toward his side like flowing clouds.

The two rows of Gu corpses flew straight out, hitting the surrounding walls solidly. The high walls on both sides were hit as if by a thousand-pound blow, collapsing with a roar, along with the sound of the plaque on the building shattering, which was incessant.

A flash of dark blue sharp light flickered before his eyes, and two sword blades smeared with deadly poison stabbed toward his chest!

Zi Hao drifted down and waved his hand forward. Finger wind leaked from his sleeves, and several strands of Mysterious Penetrating True Qi shot through the air.

In the gloomy mist, a bright light suddenly burst forth. The blue glow seemed to be scattered head-on and disappeared without a trace.

Shaking his sleeves and putting his hands behind his back, Zi Hao stood quietly a few steps away, looking coldly at the stairs below through the flying dust. Similarly, there was a pair of vicious eyes staring at him there.

"So, coming to seek medical treatment means first tearing down buildings, smashing walls, and hurting people. Now, the way the royal family acts really opens one's eyes!" After a long time, the man spoke gloomily. Having lost the echo array based on the surrounding high walls, his voice, though still sharp and harsh, could no longer use internal energy to attack people's minds as before.

Zi Hao said coldly, "How the royal family acts is not for you to judge."

He had just forced the enemy to appear, destroyed the array, repelled the Gu corpses, and blocked the killing move. It seemed light and easy, but Qi Shi had already turned twice at the gates of hell. In the final head-on clash, he was invaded by the Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating True Qi, and now half of his meridians were paralyzed, almost unable to move. Knowing that he could definitely not take advantage with martial arts, he immediately calculated several times in his heart, "A good Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating, humph! You can go back. If it were just a matter of being plagued by poison, that would be one thing, but having reached this point, why come to find me?"

Zi Hao said, "You have no way to solve it?"

Qi Shi rolled his eyes. "The Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating came from the hands of the first generation of elders of the Witch Clan. All Witch Clan heart methods originate from this, but everyone only practices witchcraft. The true Mysterious Penetrating Heart Method is passed down from generation to generation, but no one dares to touch it, because this skill defies common sense. It uses deadly poison to soak the meridians and urge the refining of True Essence. The poison exists with the essence, Qi, and spirit, and merges with the bones, blood, and flesh. If the poison is there, it burns the heart and bones; if the poison is gone, the skill is abandoned and the body dies. Even an expert in using poison like me does not dare to taste the feeling of ten thousand poisons devouring the body. You are seeking your own death by practicing this kind of skill, so don't blame me for not saving you!"

After his long speech, Zi Hao nodded after listening. "Very good." He turned and took a step.

Qi Shi was stunned. Seeing him walk away without looking back, he suddenly hit the ground with his palm, flying up to block his path. "Since you came to seek medical treatment, why are you leaving just like this?"

Zi Hao said, "When did I say I was seeking medical treatment?"

"If you are not here for medical treatment, could it be that you came specifically to tear down walls and kill people?"

"A fugitive who escaped the net, what does it matter if I take your life?"

A cold light flashed in Qi Shi's eyes. "The King should think twice!"

Zi Hao smiled faintly and nodded. "That is true. Twenty years ago, the royal family spared your life because of the birth of the Nine Princess. Today is Zi Rao's birthday, so letting you live a little longer is not out of the question."

As soon as these words were spoken, Qi Shi's face changed suddenly, and the ferocity in his eyes grew intense. Staring at him for a moment, he suddenly laughed wildly at the sky, his voice shrill like a ghost, revealing an incomparably vicious meaning. "Twenty years ago, the royal family spared my life? If I hadn't escaped from the heavenly prison myself, would you have really allowed me to live? These legs of mine were destroyed by your hands!" When he spoke, his face was hideous, his eyes staring at each other. Where he sat, his legs from the knees down were empty, and sharp lights flashed—they were two short swords quenched with deadly poison. "Just because of your royal family, you think that breaking my legs can do anything to me? Let me tell you, no matter who it is, wanting to kill me, Qi Shi, is a delusion!"

Zi Hao's gaze then moved toward him. Qi Shi's escape from prison that year was a major case that shocked the Imperial Capital, because it was not just him who escaped, but also hundreds of dangerous criminals locked in the death row. And what was most bizarre was that the nearly a thousand guards who originally guarded the heavenly prison saw the dangerous criminals escaping, yet not one of them blocked them; instead, they fought to the death to block the royal city garrison for these fugitives.

That night, the royal city was in chaos. Nearly a thousand guards seemed to be possessed by ghosts and evil spirits, rushing around crazily, hacking at anyone they saw and killing anyone they met. They felt no pain from broken hands and limbs. No matter who it was, as long as they were entangled by them, they would either die or be injured. In the end, these thousand people forced the city garrison commander to request orders overnight, mobilizing five thousand imperial guards to suppress them with heavy crossbows, shooting them all to death. By the time the riot subsided, all the prisoners had long since escaped the royal city, and Qi Shi had disappeared without a trace ever since.

How could a man with broken legs escape, and where did he escape to, being able to avoid all subsequent pursuits?

"That night you did not leave the heavenly prison. If someone had turned back to search the cells carefully at that time, you would have surely died. How could you be here talking so boastfully?" Zi Hao threw out a cold sentence, and Qi Shi's eyes suddenly turned sharp. "What did you say?"

"You were waiting for death under heavy punishment at that time. Although you used evil arts to cause such a great chaos, you couldn't even take half a step out of the royal city. Finding a way to let all the dangerous criminals go was just to make people think you escaped in the chaos, leading Ying Nu and the Witch Clan to go out and pursue you, while you yourself hid in the royal city all along. Even if no one found you that night, as long as the royal city was sealed and searched strictly afterward, you would not have escaped death. Taking a step back, even if you couldn't be found for a while, as long as the person who helped you escape and protected you while you healed was strictly interrogated, how long could you have hidden?"

Qi Shi said gloomily, "Whether I go or stay, why would I need anyone's protection?"

Zi Hao said, "Those reports from the Witch Clan might have deceived the Imperial Observatory and the late King, but they might not have been able to deceive everyone. The person responsible for handling your case at the time, who had advised the late Emperor that killing you was inauspicious, and who had entered the prison to interrogate you that night, wasn't Lu Di your accomplice?"

Qi Shi's gaze flickered like a knife. "There was more than one person who advised to pardon me at that time. Why are you so sure it was him?"

When Zi Rao entered Chu to look for Qi Shi, although Zi Hao said he wouldn't care, he was afraid she would be careless and suffer losses, so he had transferred all the records related to Qi Shi in the palace to read carefully, so as to grasp the situation. This inspection, connecting the past and the future, had long since deduced the whole thing that year. With his intelligence, guessing the identity of Qi Shi's accomplice was naturally not difficult. "Whether it is or not, you know and he knows."

Qi Shi laughed strangely several times and said gloomily, "Twenty years ago, you were still a nursing baby. Today, you can actually guess the matter eight or nine times out of ten, which is much better than those blind people back then. As for whether it is Lu Di, why not ask him yourself? He might be under your feet right now."

Dark mist floated and surged, and the surrounding scenery appeared and disappeared, revealing tunnels extending in all directions.

Pieces of white bones were neatly assembled into a road. If one looked carefully, one could even clearly see which piece was a human skull, which was a thigh bone, which was a rib, and which was a shoulder blade. After Qi Shi escaped from prison that year, Lu Di, who was also one of the three great elders of the Witch Clan, soon disappeared. To this day, he had not been seen alive or dead. Who would have thought that he had long since become the road stone of this Witch Mansion Ghost Residence.

Zi Hao glanced at Qi Shi faintly. "If I had been born twenty years earlier, you would have been a ghost for twenty years. You should be glad you are lucky."

Qi Shi was furious in his heart and almost couldn't help but strike again, but thinking of the power of the Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating, he took several rapid breaths to restrain the impulse. "If I had been a ghost for twenty years, you would probably regret it today! Don't think that I promised others to detoxify you..."

"But I never promised to let you detoxify me." Zi Hao interrupted him. "If you want me to beg you for treatment like others, and take this opportunity to humiliate me to avenge the hatred of being controlled by the royal family back then, I advise you to give up this idea, so as not to bring humiliation upon yourself."

Qi Shi's intentions were laid bare by him. He didn't speak for a long time, just staring at him, his gaze gloomy and changing. Suddenly, he laughed dryly a few times, lowered his head, and said, "My fault, my fault. It must have been the words just now that offended the King. I hope the King will calm his anger. How would I dare to have such an idea? I still have to ask the King to show mercy and spare this life."

Zi Hao looked at him with a half-smile. He became more and more respectful. "I wonder if the King would be willing to do me the honor of letting me take your pulse. The poison of the Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating is no small matter. If it drags on and hurts the dragon body, that would not be good."

This sudden reversal of yin and yang, from arrogant to humble, was like two different people. It was a pity he could do it in the blink of an eye without the slightest hesitation. Zi Hao, however, did not have a trace of surprise, curling his lips and saying faintly, "You ask me to take your pulse, didn't you just say there was no way to solve it?"

Qi Shi apologized with a smile, "How can I dare to make a conclusion without trying? King, please sit here, and let me diagnose it before speaking."

He stepped aside to the blue stone table. Zi Hao actually followed him, sat down, and placed his hand flat on the table. Just as Qi Shi raised his hand, he suddenly heard him say faintly, "The matter of sneaking an attack and grabbing my pulse point can be avoided. A pair of legs is already broken; if you break your hands again, you will really become a useless person."

Qi Shi's face changed slightly, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but twitch, but he said, "The King is joking." His hand landed firmly, and he restrained the internal energy that had reached his fingertips, not daring to move a bit. He was truly diagnosing carefully. While taking the pulse, he closed his eyes, turned his head, frowned, and shook his head, not knowing how many expressions he changed on his face, constantly reciting the names of some poisons, "Nine-Step Immortal, Vermilion String Grass, No-Fault Seed, Drunken Face Flush... Tsk, actually using Blood-Crowned Golden Snake to fight poison with poison, you really don't want your life." His fingers rose and fell, changing several techniques in an instant. Suddenly, he looked up at him, seeming a bit surprised, "No wonder, you actually forcibly broke through the Nine Nether Mysterious Penetrating Life-and-Death Realm, forcibly suppressing the toxicity attacking the heart meridians and dispersing it back into the blood. Humph! With years of accumulated deadly poison, how many times can you suppress it with internal energy alone? Moreover, the higher the skill, the more severe the backlash. When it flares up, the True Qi in your whole body will flow backward, and the poison will invade your bones and flesh. You will be unable to seek life or death." After a while, he added, "Thinking too much, worrying too much, has caused great damage to the heart meridians, and the blood is weak and hard to sustain. I dare to conclude that even without the pain caused by the deadly poison, you cannot sleep for an hour or two every day. If this continues, even a normal person would have their lifespan greatly damaged, let alone a body like this. Hmm... you were also seriously injured not long ago, and you didn't rest properly afterward, adding frost to snow..."

Zi Hao was impatient to hear it and withdrew his hand, saying, "How much time?"

Qi Shi squinted and calculated, "At this rate, even with the miraculous effect of that snake gall, it would be a miracle if you could survive until this winter."

One word determined life and death. Although the Witch Doctor Qi Shi did all kinds of evil, when it came to the art of medicine and Gu, if he admitted to being second, no one in the world could be first. Qi Shi secretly observed the Eastern Emperor's expression, originally thinking that no matter how determined his nature was, he would show fear and terror when facing the deadline of life and death. Who knew that when he looked up, he saw a trace of a faint smile flash across his lips, almost doubting his own eyes. He added, "If I don't take action to treat you, King, you only have these few months left."

Zi Hao turned his head and raised his eyes slightly. "The pulse has been taken, and you have figured out the situation. Why do you still have to put on an act? Why not talk about how many insidious methods you have thought of now to slowly torture me to vent your anger?"

The veins on Qi Shi's forehead jumped, and he finally couldn't bear it anymore. "Does the King not want to live a few more days?"

Zi Hao laughed lightly, as if watching a play. "For the sake of Zi Rao, I will give you a chance. You must be familiar with the matter of secretly playing tricks in medicine. Whether it is Gu poison or blood curses, make your techniques more brilliant, so as not to insult the reputation of the Witch Doctor for nothing. Also, I don't have so much spare time to come to your ghost residence again. If you want to treat me, you can move into Chu Du yourself. As for this ghost residence..." His eyes swept over it. "I find it very unpleasant to look at. You had better burn it clean with a fire as soon as possible, otherwise, I will send someone to do it myself." Having said everything, there was no need to stay, so he got up and left. Before he walked out of the gate, True Qi surged behind him, and the sound of hard stones shattering came from afar, almost shaking the entire residence.

Walking away with his hands behind his back, hearing the sound of Qi Shi smashing the table and shaking the ground, the trace of a faint smile on Zi Hao's lips gradually expanded. Walking out of the gate and seeing Zi Rao standing prettily in front of him, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and smile.

Snow-white clothing in the wind, snow-like beauty, a bright and soaring smile, illuminating the world of heaven and earth, a wanton and unrestrained smile, tilting the secular world.

The two people beside the carriage were stunned there, unable to look directly at this brilliant smile. The person in front of the steps stared at him, forgetting the past and present, her heart and soul infatuated.

This was his smile, such a man, such elegance, such indulgence, such an unrestrained smile.

Zi Rao gently, gently curled her lips, infinite joy turning into tenderness, turning into thousands of threads of affection like water...

(End of chapter)