Quan Hongming reveled in the heavy rain of the night.
He knew his relative, his indifferent sister, was trying to heal him.
The greedy, foolish, and fat Bald Donkeys chanted scriptures in his ear, but he couldn't hear them clearly, as if separated by a thick wall.
These muddled chants did not alleviate his loneliness and fear; instead, they made him irritable.
Quan Hongming probably realized that his mind had deviated from that of a normal person; he enjoyed solitude, darkness, and pain, these were his sources of joy, filling the emptiness burned out by anxiety in his heart.
However, these emotions further increased his manic depression.
It was like pouring cold oil on a wildfire; a temporary low temperature was useless.
Only.
Only that heavy rain.
The heavy rain brought vitality.
And when it rained, there were no more annoying chants.
The sweet rain slid down his twisted limbs, washing away the grotesque faces corroded by the poisonous blood on his skin.
Quan Hongming opened his mouth wide, like an alligator looking up, his oral cavity like a large sea bowl; raindrops tapped on his palate, tongue, and gums, feeling slightly cool.
The rainwater accumulated in his throat, and once there was enough for a mouthful, he swallowed it in a hurry.
Although the rain was heavy, it wouldn't last long.
Each time, it was only enough for a few sips.
Quan Hongming thought, if he could wake up, he would definitely thank this unknown physician profusely.
Of course, this was a joke he played on himself.
If he could wake up, then anything that followed, from eating a bowl of hot noodle soup to digging up his family's ancestral grave, such jokes always made him laugh heartily, and then his skin would crack again, blood would flow, bringing him intense pain.
But the pain once again brought him pleasure.
He hoped he could keep laughing.
But laughter had its limits.
He was laughing less and less.
...
Mo Yun sat in his room, moonlight leaking in through the open window, cold and sharp.
He had calmed down.
He no longer thought.
Just doing what he had to do every day, simply.
Idle time, time without anything to do, was the hardest to endure.
He couldn't forget many things; although he was annoyed by his memories, still, beneath his calm and unruffled demeanor, undercurrents surged.
One must learn to fight oneself.
Without smoke, without end.
He turned over and began to sleep.
On the roof beam, a silent Dragon Slaying Sword hung.
...
Simon and Kun Qing sat in the carriage, in front of the familiar tea set.
Quan Suhuan's face was calm, her hands and feet moved lightly as she prepared the tea, every movement natural and graceful, like a swan stretching its neck or a peacock fanning its tail; before drinking the tea, watching such an artistic process was another level of spiritual enjoyment.
Even after all three held a cup of tea, the carriage remained silent.
The soft light of the Suihou Pearl filled the room, providing basic illumination, but the more striking light was the sunlight streaming in through the carriage window, illuminating the tea set, making every cup and bowl seem to be covered with a layer of lustrous glaze.
This ethereal, shimmering light rose from all smooth surfaces: the wooden table, utensils, bead strings, skin, fingernails, clothing.
The fleeting light in this small space was vibrant, like the subtle ripples on a summer noon pond among the duckweeds, weak and swift like a shooting star, light and serene like drops of quiet tea.
Words were exhausted, and intentions followed the light.
Quan Suhuan turned her head to look at the world outside the window.
The deep winter snow seeped into the bones with its cold, the world shrouded in white repression was like decaying wood, and the crowds coming and going like ants were thoroughly decomposing and tearing apart these buildings.
Some abstract realization was thus conveyed through the intuitive scenery to the mistress of Quan Manor.
A sense of fragmented destiny assailed her heart, making her unconsciously tighten the fox fur on her body.
My dearest elder brother, why must you live?
...
Ning Baiyi retrieved the last jade needle from Quan Hongming's body and placed it back in the needle box.
She sighed with regret, if not for the loss of many essential techniques of the Bian Que Divine Needles, she would have been able to better alleviate the evil qi within this person's body.
This was a stone cell.
Crisscrossing chains bound the shirtless man on the bed.
His body was gaunt, but his skin was tough and coarse like tree bark, making him look like a master of external martial arts.
The bed and walls were covered in terrifying scratch marks; these chaotic trails were either from a caged beast or a frantic madman, and Quan Hongming was neither one of these, yet possessed characteristics of both.
He was chaotic, delirious, as if a swirling vortex of the sea was encased within his human skin, the turbulent flow creating a closed system, containing countless dark, evil, bloody demons, making everyone who tried to approach beneath his surface tremble with fear.
He was no longer a human being.
He could not be simply defined as human, even though he possessed a human form and everything a human possessed, but he was a different species.
Ning Baiyi looked with pity at this creature who had once struggled for life.
After nearly a year of treatment, she had basically understood his condition.
Lost soul, evil qi entering the body, physical mutation.
And it seemed he had not been completely devoured by the darkness and terror within him.
"Let me play a tune for you." The girl recalled the man crying in the bamboo forest and had a sudden idea, hoping to soothe Quan Hongming's tormented soul with the sound of the zither.
Calling for a maid to bring her beloved zither, Ning Baiyi placed the long zither on the round stone table, standing beside it; her waist was just at the height of the tabletop, making it convenient to strum the zither with her hands hanging down.
Again, she gently plucked the strings to test the sound.
After the lingering notes faded and complete silence settled, a sudden, mournful sound erupted, and the music swelled.
The rapid, joyful tune was like fireworks blooming, rising and falling in the vast night sky, like colorful trees growing in the firmament, blossoming with radiant light, more magnificent than a river of stars, more brilliant than the sun in the sky.
Such a grand spectacle, all who witnessed it would 'Not Think of Returning'.
The rustling zither music echoed, Ning Baiyi closed her eyes, completely immersed in it.
Such joy, can you feel it?
...
Laughing too long was tiring.
Laughter should not be forced.
Quan Hongming swallowed the last sip of sweet rain.
Silently, he no longer thought.
Darkness, if you let me...
No, no more 'if'.
On the stagnant heart-lake, a layer of solid ice slowly covered it.
He felt himself slipping.
At this moment, in his ear, music began to play.
Light pierced into his skull through his corroded and festering eyelids, startling Quan Hongming.
He sat up and opened his eyes.
A vast, beautiful spring scene.
Gurgling rivers, tender green grass, distant mountains and forests, leisurely white clouds.
Quan Hongming watched a butterfly land on the tip of his nose, a strange and unpracticed smile appearing on his face.
How beautiful...
Suddenly, a little girl shouted from behind him: "Brother!"
He turned his head to look around, but there was no one.
"Brother!" The girl's voice became steadier, but still couldn't suppress her innocent and joyful delight.
It was Quan Suhuan's voice.
Quan Hongming became anxious and called out loudly: "Huanhuan! Where are you?"
"Brother!" His little sister's voice had become like an adult's.
Where was she?
Where?
The sun on the western hilltop slowly fell, the firmament filled with dark purple, only the afterglow of the sunset still shone, flowing clouds paved a dark heavenly staircase, like a net, about to swallow the bright orb.
Night was coming!
Night was coming!
"Brother!" The voice was also weakening, as if coming from beneath the water, the gasp of a drowning person.
"Huanhuan!"
Quan Hongming ran frantically towards the horizon swallowed by darkness.
The world of thick ink rotated, and all beauty vanished with the wind.
Quan Hongming stepped into deep water.
A little girl in a red dress, in the shimmering water, revealed a brilliant smile.
"Huanhuan, Brother is here."
He exhaled the last air bubble from his lungs.
Annihilation—
...
The beast on the bed shed clear tears, which quickly evaporated, like an unintentional illusion.
Ning Baiyi closed her eyes, listening to the lingering notes slowly fade into silence, nodded with satisfaction, then walked back to the bedside, looking at Quan Hongming, who was still like a corpse; he was unresponsive, everything was futile, whether it was the struggle of vitality within him or her own rescue efforts.
"Alas.
"If you can come back to life, that would be wonderful."
Her delicate hand touched his withered, dark forehead, and beneath his messy brows, a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly opened.
-------------------------------
I've just uploaded the latest chapters on Patreon!
If you're following this story and want to read ahead, come check it out and support me there!
Here's the link: [patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you all so much for always being with me!