Chapter 217: As it turns out, I've been dead all along

Liu Junyan finally let go of her hand.

In the face of right and wrong, emotion is the most inadvisable.

The responsibility he bears is far heavier than mine.

Moreover, him protecting me is far safer than me protecting them.

The silver needle pierced my middle fingertip, a drop of blood fell into the bowl and instantly spread.

Jiang Si Que held the silver needle and gently stirred the paste-like liquid in the bowl; as he stirred, the needle's color changed rapidly.

Like a poisoned hidden weapon.

Immediately afterward, he laid a yellowish-transparent sheet of unknown material flat on Du Chan's nape.

One needle.

One needle…

Needle by needle, he traced the two characters on Du Chan's nape.

The needle's color faded, dipped into the bowl to absorb color, faded again, absorbed again… the yellowish paper was nearly dyed red by the blood, except the two characters 「Du Chan」 pricked out remained black.

Once the 「Du Chan」 characters were fully formed, the paper was then placed on the back of my neck.

At the moment the icy, damp paper made contact, I involuntarily shivered.

Liu Junyan suddenly grabbed my hand and held it tightly.

I looked up and smiled at him: "It's fine, just a bit cold."

Afterwards I lowered my head.

I lowered it deeply.

When the silver needle first pierced, there was a sharp pain, like being pinched by an ant, then a piercing cold followed the tip straight into the flesh of my nape.

Jiang Si Que's movements were swift, precise, and ruthless; dense needles pierced my nape, and waves of Yin Cold Qi seeped from my nape into my limbs, making my head spin in waves.

I blinked, and a figure flashed before my eyes, startling me into a jolt that cleared my mind a bit.

But when the silver needle pierced again, I began to experience auditory hallucinations.

I heard a particularly hoarse voice speaking to me: "Xiao Chan… Xiao Chan…"

With each call, my consciousness sank again.

That voice was like a thread winding toward my soul, pulling I know not where.

I drifted, drifting.

Passing through layers of black mist.

The calling grew louder and louder.

"Xiao Chan… Xiao Chan…"

My soul body floated up and down, not knowing how long I had drifted, until a strong, pungent smell suddenly rushed into my nostrils, and my vision suddenly brightened.

As the swaying lamplight came into view, I realized I was standing in a vast underground palace.

The underground palace was filled with burning candles and oil lamps.

They were arranged in an orderly yet staggered fashion at various points of the underground palace; at a glance anyone could tell this was a formation array.

At the center of the formation array stood a huge, transparent, rectangular… crystal coffin?

No, not a crystal coffin; it resembled a fish tank filled with liquid.

The pungent smell I had just noticed, aside from the heavy, unpleasant lamp oil odor in the underground palace, came from these liquids.

Suspended in the liquid's center was a girl who resembled Du Chan ninety percent, but her skin was an abnormal deathly white.

She closed her eyes, lay face-up in the night, her lips opening and closing, constantly calling: "Xiao Chan… Xiao Chan…"

"Du Lian…"

I almost blurted out that name instinctively.

The girl's lips, which had been moving, suddenly stopped; she slowly turned her head and opened her eyes.

Her eyes were likewise a deathly white.

Without pupils, just a hollow white.

She stared straight at me, seemingly unaware why the one she had summoned was not her twin sister Du Chan but a stranger.

She suddenly spun, pressing her whole face against the tank wall; her deathly white eyes instantly turned blood-red and ferocious: "You're not Xiao Chan, who are you?! Where is Xiao Chan? Xiao Chan! Xiao Chan!"

She screamed hysterically, yet no sound escaped.

Her voice seemed to drill only into my ears and mind.

She roared in my subconscious!

"Xiao Chan, Xiao Chan come out! Elder sister lives, elder sister still lives!"

"I know you see me!"

"I know you can hear my voice!"

"Xiao Chan, save my sister, elder sister lives…… I live……"

Blood tears gathered in her eyes; as soon as they fell, they were instantly swallowed by the liquid in the tank, vanishing without trace.

Drop after drop of blood tears fell, disappearing one by one.

The liquid in the fish tank was like a vat of blood‑sucking leeches, constantly feeding on Du Lian's essence and blood.

No!

The leeches, after sucking blood, could still swell, but these liquids showed no change.

17 years!

Du Lian lived like this, in this environment, being consumed, for 17 years!

She longed to be discovered, longed for someone to come rescue her.

She longs to be proved she is still alive!

How pitiful.

I involuntarily walked a few steps forward, approaching the fish tank.

Then I slowly lowered my head, presenting the two characters "Du Chan" formed by the expanding yin on the back of her neck before the already mad Du Lian's eyes.

The shouting for help abruptly stopped.

I raised my head and locked eyes with the stunned Du Lian.

I am making a gamble.

Du Chan entered this area by chance while sketching from life.

She might never have gone to the Qilin Temple, nor could she truly have witnessed those horrific scenes appearing in my dream.

But she drew them out.

How did Du Chan draw those scenes?

I bet it was telepathy between the twin sisters that caused it.

Du Lian has seen.

In other words, when Fengli Ji absorbed Du Lian's essence blood through the liquid in the fish tank, Du Lian's consciousness resonated with Fengli Ji, and she saw that scene.

I stared at Du Lian's eyes without blinking.

Du Lian was also staring intently at me.

"Are they going to make a move?"

After a long while, Du Lian's voice sounded again in my mind, this time hoarse and sorrowful.

"It's me... I harmed Xiao Chan, right?"

I didn't speak, just silently looked at Du Lian.

Du Lian painfully closed her eyes, blood tears streaming down.

When she opened her eyes again, a large fragment of memory not belonging to me suddenly appeared in my mind.

At first, it was a small child, entirely bluish-purple, lying in a large rectangular fish tank.

She lay flat on the bottom of the fish tank, without breathing, without heartbeat.

Even small patches of livor mortis had appeared on her body.

Next, someone poured a large amount of viscous, pungent liquid into the fish tank.

As the liquid increased, the small body floated up, being tossed about by the impact of the liquid in the fish tank.

Until the liquid filled the fish tank, the small body hovered suspended in the exact center of the fish tank.

I saw that in the liquid there seemed to be countless threads of roots drilling into Du Lian's body…… This reminded me of the patterns on the Cangwu Mingyin.

I thought of the patterns in my liquefied ribs.

Her body suddenly arched, her chest heaved violently, and a hoarse sound came from her throat.

Her whole-body bluish-purple receded at a speed visible to the naked eye, the livor mortis also kept fading, until she suddenly opened her eyes……

In my mind, Du Lian's voice sounded again: "How could I have forgotten? It turns out I had already died..."