Chapter 84: Aftermath of the Shell-like Object (Two)

The old woman stared at the shed shell before her, pondering for a while.

She directly broke off a relatively flat fragment from that massive shell-like object, and wrapped it up in a piece of soft cloth she had long since prepared.

After finishing all this, she tucked this unremarkable cloth bundle into another inner pocket at her chest.

Only then did she finally leave this lightless, sunless secret chamber.

Along the way, she headed straight for the central area of this region.

Before long, she arrived near one of the houses in the central district.

"Knock knock knock"

A series of knocking sounds rang out.

"Come in!"

After a while, a steady, composed voice came from inside the house.

And only then did the old woman—She Po—stride in solemnly.

Upon entering, She Po saw a large man with a solemn, steady countenance sitting beside a table, busily reviewing and annotating something.

After a quick survey confirming no one else was present, she did not speak.

She simply gazed quietly at this solemn, steady-faced man, a hint of tenderness in her eyes.

After a long while, seeing that the visitor still had not spoken, the man finally came back to himself.

He raised his head, just about to speak, then froze—because he had seen clearly who the visitor was.

A flash of delight crossed his face; then, as if remembering something, he glanced left and right, and confirmed no one was there.

Only then did he continue speaking in that same steady voice.

Yet he himself, beaming with joy, went over to the old woman's side.

The two of them spoke in formulaic, by-the-book fashion.

While all the while exchanging winks and meaningful glances with smiles on their faces.

It was hard to imagine—an old woman, and a man who appeared to be in his middle years.

Wearing such expressions at each other—it seemed rather odd.

After a long while, it seemed they had finished their exchange.

Or perhaps they truly felt no one was watching this side; only then did they stop speaking.

Silence fell for a while.

At this point, the man cleared his throat a few times to himself, as if muttering: "Sigh, finally nearly done with the work. Going out for a stroll sounds good."

After saying this, the man shed his earlier composure, took the old woman by the wrist, and softly led her to the side of his previous seat, directly opened a hidden secret door, and went in together.

The room once again fell silent.

Upon entering the secret chamber, the man spoke with delight on his face: "Why are you here? You didn't even give me a heads-up before coming."

Saying so, without waiting for her reply, he directly pulled the old woman into an embrace and kiss.

She Po was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses; a softness flashed through her eyes as well, and she went along with it.

After a long while, the two separated once more.

"Qing Qing, take off that disguise on your face. Always seeing you in your current look, it just feels a bit strange."

The man's slightly foolish-sounding voice rang out.

She Po—that is, the old woman the man called Qing Qing—let out a "pfft" of laughter, and cast him a coquettish glare.

At this moment, the voice that came from her mouth was no longer aged and hoarse, but gentle and graceful with a hint of coquettish charm:

"Then you still kissed me? You can actually bring yourself to do it with me looking like this?"

Saying so, she hooked something at the back of her head and pulled, then took some powdery substance from a small pouch at her waist, and applied it to her face just like that.

With this application, first the human-skin-like substance visible to the naked eye was wiped away, and then an aged human-face mask was actually peeled off.

Next, she pulled out a hairpin from the top of her head.

In an instant, hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

At this point, She Po—or rather, the woman named "Qing Qing"—finally revealed her true appearance.

A face red as rouge, starry eyes bright with light, moth-brow delicate and even, teeth white as silver masonry, lips red and mouth well-shaped.

Looking at this young and beautiful woman before him, the man's expression also went dazed for a moment; then he once more gently drew her into his embrace.

"Stop fooling around, I'm here on serious business."

However, this time the man's advances met with the woman's resistance; she lightly patted his chest, and took out from her bosom that container filled with the peculiar medicinal liquid from before.

"Here, Brother A Niu, look at what this is?"

The woman held it out before the man with both hands as if presenting a treasure, her eyes full of anticipation, seeming delighted that she could be of help to him.

"This is……"

The man—oh, the man named A Niu—hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat puzzled at the beautiful woman before him.

"This is a potion I compounded from that Dragon Species shed shell from before—a potion that can let our brothers break through to the Five Limits quickly."

"What?!"

A Niu was so shocked his voice nearly cracked; then, seeming to realize his behavior was improper, he quickly reined in his voice, his large hands gripping Qing Qing's shoulders tightly, and asked again in disbelief:

"Qing Qing, you—are you serious?!"

"Mm." Qing Qing responded with a smiling hum; she knew just how delighted her man was at this moment, and she knew what kind of pressure he was bearing.

"Th-this is wonderful." A Niu looked at the beautiful woman before him, his lips twitching a few times, ultimately at a loss for words, and could not help muttering to himself.

In the end, unable to express himself, a flash of guilt passed through his eyes, and he forcefully drew the beauty before him into his embrace.

He owed her far, far too much—too much that even serving as an ox or a horse in his next life could not repay it.

He had once been nothing more than a snake-catcher at the foot of a remote mountain; what virtue or merit had he possessed to be so favored by the beauty before him?

Unfortunately, he couldn't even give her a proper status; perhaps he had no path of retreat left to speak of.

His life had already been given to this damned world… the only thing he could offer her was perhaps this insignificant apology…

Feeling the warmth of the beauty in his arms, the man named A Niu before his eyes seemed to recall his entire life, his lifelong wish, and the experience of the moment they met each other.

That year, he was nothing more than an abandoned infant beneath a great mountain; fortunately, an elder in the village took pity on him and adopted him, allowing him to survive. But the good times did not last, for after a few years the elder reached the end of his days, once again leaving him alone to live in the world.

Fortunately, the uncles and elders in the village took pity on him, letting him beg for food from a hundred households and wear clothes from a hundred families as he grew into adulthood, and he also learned the trade of a snake catcher.

But that year the heavens met with a great drought, famine everywhere, and the court never came to provide disaster relief.

Then the local prominent clan, in order to select two children—a boy and a girl—to sacrifice to the Dragon King in the river, prayed for the drought to be lifted.

He was in the prime of his youth and strength, and, indignant, tried to stop them—who could have known this would bring disaster.

With no choice, so as not to implicate the uncles and elders who had shown him kindness, he fled from that point on.

Wandering all the way, occasionally encountering strange adventures along the way, he finally obtained a power called that of a martial artist.

And only then did he truly understand that, above this world, there actually existed such a group of beings that seemed like demons yet were not human, clinging to the backs of all common folk and gnawing flesh and drinking blood.

He witnessed with his own eyes just how absurd this world was; the common people could not survive—not only because of the abnormal changes in heaven and earth, but even more because of the existence of these demon-like beings!

And this Da Zhou Dynasty was even more so!

It was the true source that had created all of this!

(End of this chapter)