Mu Wan carefully looked at the mud stains. They are a little hard, and they have a scratchy texture when you scrape them gently with your fingernails, but you can't get them off at all. Dai Luan looked up and down in front of her for a long time, and said a little incredulously:
"What happened to your hands...and legs?"
Kapok raised his hands and looked around. Her fingers became thin and long, and there were even more than five - each finger sprouted "outside the joints" and sprouted green buds. The exposed legs on her white stockings also turned a strange brown color, which made people wonder how the mud fell on her legs through the socks.
Mountains and seas have a bad association. Recalling that when she walked towards them, her movements were staggering, as if she might fall down at any moment. Lord Ruyue looked at her and said with some regret:
"She is a monster... The barrier here will isolate the monster. Her remaining magic to maintain human form is fading. This child must be a tree demon, right? If she doesn't get out soon, she will become an immobile prototype in the Dead Man's Swamp. , no sunshine all day long.”
Kapok was still explaining. After they went down, when did Shi Wuqi come back, who came, who left behind, and when did Shi Wuqi go back. But it had been a long time since they came down, and the little girl named Jiang Doudou had no choice but to stay with her and didn't dare to run around. Fortunately, she didn't eat much, so she asked some of her old friends to bring some fruits.
"But she's sick... I guess you can't just eat one thing. I had no choice but to come down to you."
"Why is time so messed up?" Mu Wan looked at Lord Ruyue and asked, "Why was it that Wu Qi came... not very long?"
"Because there is no movement between different palace gates. Once the space is crossed, time will be slightly disturbed. It won't be too long. Some impermanent people don't like to go here intentionally, which will delay things. Unless the time is controlled well. ...Usually going to the Dead Man's Swamp is just to save trouble, but it doesn't really save time. The time it takes to reach the destination is not much different from what it should actually take."
"We have to save her, and Miss Jiang."
Dai Luan's words can only represent a wish, but it may not actually come true. The child had nothing to do with them, but when they thought of what Ruyue-kun had said before and that she might die, they couldn't just sit back and watch. And now it's not that far away from Qinglize, so he doesn't dare to delay the two things of treating Gu.
"It's still too late," Kisaragi-kun said, "before she completely turns back into a tree."
Arborization is intensifying. They could almost see with their naked eyes that the skin texture of those tree barks was slowly spreading. There were roots that burst through her socks and stuck out like tendrils into the ground. When she took a step forward, she would stir up some mud, causing a noticeable dragging sensation. Her hair became very hard, like buds. Even the fingernails have turned into young leaves.
"It's so scary here..." After meeting them, Kapok seemed to let out all the grievances he had been holding back. "I feel very bad. I seem to be able to see my friends in the poisonous fog. They are all phantoms, and some of me I don’t remember...it’s weird, I don’t like it.”
They suddenly remembered that along the way, they would occasionally see dead trees or fallen wood, most of which were rotten and moldy. Driftwood also appears in the mire. Where did all this wood come from...? The Swamp of the Dead is a place independently carved out between the cracks, and there should be no native things there. And these miasmas, maybe it wasn't Gaoyue-kun's doing back then, but these woods...
He didn't dare to think about it anymore, he didn't want Kapok to see it.
Seeing his worry, Lord Ruyue sighed softly and lowered his voice and said:
"When the Dead Man's Swamp was first formed, even though all the entrances were connected to the realm of death and life, as a buffer, the world still became barren... The Burial Head Riverside was not like this. It was also a dense forest, with red flowers and green trees. Born here, many beautiful demon spirits also live here. But...they all left later, and we can no longer live here. Including your mother."
"my mother?"
Shan Hai looked at her in surprise. Within today - who knows how long it has been in this world, he has received too much information. If those things before had nothing to do with him, Ruyue-kun's seemingly casual words shocked him to the extreme. Although strictly speaking, his mother's affairs had nothing to do with him, but he only knew that the desolate land was once his mother's hometown. Maybe he had stepped foot in the place where his mother lived at some point.
"What kind of person is she? In your opinion?"
"Well, I don't know her well. I only know that she is a miserable person."
"Misfortune?"
Lord Ruyue looked at him and asked: "Have you ever heard this sentence? 'Why are the crimson flowers so gorgeous, and for whom do the crimson flowers bloom?'"
"I don't seem to have any impression... Ah, could it be a ballad? I heard it sung by others when I was a child. It was sung by travelers and came from a far away place. We don't have this song locally."
The scarlet flowers fly, the scarlet flowers fly.
The crimson flower has no one to accompany it, and the crimson flower has no one to watch it.
Why are the crimson flowers gorgeous?
For whom do the crimson flowers bloom?
"Yes, it is a song that spreads from this area. It was not written by humans, but was sung by forest fairies, and spread among the people. There is a second half to this nursery rhyme. Maybe it was spread too far and was not brought over. "
The scarlet flowers bloom and the scarlet flowers fade.
The crimson flower sky mourns itself, the crimson flower sky weeps.
Who is buried under the crimson tree?
Who is buried under the crimson tree?
...Who is buried?
"Sakusaki Momona was a beautiful girl when she was alive. When she was young, her parents thought she was a girl and threw her into the flower forest - the flower forest was full of flowers, especially peach blossoms, and was called 'Utopia' by travelers from afar. ', it's nothing more than remoteness... They said that the monster had snatched their daughter away, which caused panic. As for her, she was raised by the monster in the peach blossom tree and grew up under the care of the spirits of plants and trees. She looked fresh and cute. She passed. A few years ago, a demon hunter came, and the villagers asked him to kill those monsters, but they never thought that the child would be brought back alive. Hualin was traumatized, and some monsters died, including her adoptive mother."
The other three girls were silent and quietly listened to the story.
"Her parents had a younger brother at that time, and they reluctantly took him back. When she grew up, they forced her to marry a rich man who was passing by for a stay. She refused, and was killed by the rich man and buried in Taoyuan. 'Under the cherry blossom tree. She was filled with spiritual power and could not let go. The flower forest reminded her of the indifferent truth of her childhood. So under the instigation of a spirit, she killed the rich man and her biological parents. They all died. In bed, when she woke up the next day, her body was covered with branches and leaves, and the ground was covered with blood, like falling flowers... The crime of parricide was particularly serious, and no matter what, her hands stained with blood could not be washed away."
Your mother is a murderer. Lord Kisaragi seemed to be telling him this. There are no other feelings, just simply stating the facts.
Shan Hai felt a little sad in his heart. Although he was someone who had never participated in his life, the thought of such a blood connection and the beating of his heart at this moment also made him extremely sad.
"Ah, I remembered." Kapok suddenly said, "Yingyue-kun... yes, Yingyue-kun often comes to our place. She is very kind and does not look like a murderer at all. I was still young, and I heard this story from other monsters That's what she said. She frankly admitted that she was appointed to be an impermanent person, not only for the sake of the world, but also to recognize her own mistakes. But, no matter how you think about it, I don't think it's her fault."
Her voice was hoarse, like a dry grinding sound. It has become difficult for Kapok to even open his mouth, his speech is inaccurate, and his facial skin is very stiff. Mu Wan quickly stopped her and wanted to pick her up to prevent her from being rooted. But she was too heavy, like a big tree.
"Rules are rules, and I don't want to set any precedent. Of course, she didn't support Ye Yue-kun's love affair back then... It wasn't until Hong Xuan Qing Nu was shattered by this that she vaguely understood something. Your father is a great man. Ruyue Jun looked at Shanhai, "He is an ordinary person. Qingnu opened the door for your mother, and your father took her out."
"Then who is my mother...that adult..."
"No. That Lord kept his word and kept his promise to the former Koshitsuki-kun. With the help of your father, your mother found the word spirit that instigated her to kill...and got rid of it."
"What kind of monster is that?" Dai Luan asked.
"It was her heart that was cut open." Lord Ruyue took a breath, "Your mother wanted both love and freedom. She didn't want to let go of your father. Your father just said, 'Go and choose what you really want.' You have suffered for hundreds of years. To her, she didn’t care that this only takes a human life, but her lover’s family and the townspeople strongly opposed it and obstructed it in every possible way. Your father didn’t care at all, but Lord Yingyue felt sorry for her. She She didn’t want her lover to suffer from love, so she chose freedom for the two of them.”
She didn't want her lover to suffer from love, so she chose freedom for the two of them.
Lin Shanhai was so uncomfortable that he could not speak. He had always believed in the past that the Lord of Naraku always looked at the overall situation, could always see what ordinary people could not see, and could always make the most correct choice among many decisions. Until now, he had no doubt at all.
But it's so impersonal, so impersonal...It's so cold, as if the ice never melts all year round.
This is the struggle and melting of rules and emotions. He understands, but that doesn't contradict him being sad about it. But this sadness cannot last long, because someone is coming.
"It's so touching!"
The soft ground swallowed up the sound of clogs, and there was a stiff applause in the air. Lord Ruyue frowned slightly, staring at the person walking towards him through the miasma, tightly closing his lips and saying nothing.
There was a soft feeling in Shanhai's heart, but suddenly it seemed as if he had hit a rock, shattered into pieces, and slowly sinking. He couldn't tell whether the color of the person who came here, Lord Xueyue, was the color of his clothes, or whether they were dyed with something else. Perhaps the faint smell of rust told him the answer.
"Where is Wu Qi?" Dai Luan murmured.
Lord Xueyue did not answer him. The bloody face is extremely vivid and more colorful than any of my friends here. Coquettish, treacherous, sinister... All other chilling qualities neutralized this feeling, making his demeanor more in line with a monster emerging from the sea of blood.
He opened his hand, and half-solidified reddish-brown liquid slowly dripped from his long nails.
"I'm a little tired...but it's okay, it's almost over."
After saying that, he suddenly appeared in front of Kapok. This is agility that is completely different from the tired tone, like flowing fire.
