Should it pass now? The girls didn't know.
Those old people have left home. Once Jiao Mo's singing stopped, they woke up from the illusion one after another. One or two of them were confused and didn't know why they left the house. But not long after, the strange phenomena on Shiyue Mountain began to ease. The clouds gradually faded from darkness and turned white again, and the beautiful and strange sky gradually cleared up. Sunlight came in from sparse parts, and a few beams of light hit the Moon-eclipse Mountain. Although the sky was like a bright color plate washed away by water, becoming shallow and turbid, people could see that it was getting better and becoming clean again.
"Are they...over?"
Wenying looked in that direction worriedly.
"Since everything is normal now, they will be fine..." Jiao Mo didn't know whether he was comforting her or himself. But soon, she set her sights on the young man. He is not very tall, about the same as Jiao Mo, and even shorter than Wenying. However, Wenying is considered tall among women, so this standard may be a bit harsh.
"You are...where did you come from?"
Probably because they were slightly wary of these two people, the visitor did not announce his name. But he still answered the second question.
"I guess I'm from the northern continent like you."
"You are indeed not a local." Wenying looked at him, "And your Mandarin is very standard."
"Ah, I was sent by the imperial court." The young man said with a bitter smile, "It's just that I'm not familiar with the terrain here, and I accidentally got separated from my companions. I was attracted by the weird sky on the mountain, and wanted to find out, so I approached here. . I happened to catch you singing, so I was unconsciously attracted by the sound, and that’s why I came here."
After saying that, he looked at Jiao Mo with a hint of compliment. Jiao Mo smiled and said:
"I didn't expect that the imperial court would also allow monsters to serve as officials."
"Did you see it?" The young man raised his eyebrows slightly and said with some surprise, "In this case, I won't hide it from you. Yes, the place where I live is not in the South. If I want to integrate well into human life, I can only Compromise to humans. I am the more similar one among the pretenders, and with good luck, I became a small official."
When answering them, his eyes always glanced towards the smoke unconsciously. Indeed, the black smoke was so conspicuous that it seemed like it would take a long time to disperse. The three of them were silent for a while in embarrassment. Wenying looked at Shiyue Mountain, which was motionless, and then looked at the swamp.
Jiao Mo said to her: "Do you want to go there? I'm afraid it's still some distance away."
"I want to...wait for them."
It is easy to understand that the concern for her brother makes Wenying feel uneasy. She couldn't help but wonder, in the past, had Han Chang fought against terrible things like this in places she couldn't see? In her memory, humans were indeed terrifying, but Akatsuki's existence allowed her to retain some hope for the outside world. Xiao once told her that there are good people and bad people in the world, all kinds of people, and so are monsters. Grandma also often talks about things she encountered when she was young. Slowly, she opened her heart and yearned for the world. The death of her parents has brought a lot of trauma to her, but if she wants to hate, she should not let go of both humans and monsters. Now she hates no one, because she knows that only by making herself strong can she have the strength to fight against misfortune.
But how powerful is it to go against fate? Being like my brother is totally not enough. Could it be that... Wenjiu was pursuing such power and therefore went astray?
"Ask Firefly?"
Seeing her in a daze, Jiao Mo couldn't help but call her. Wenying immediately came back to her senses and turned to look at her. Needless to say, Jiao Mo knew that her expression must be that she was thinking about her brother. But the young man looked into the distance and suddenly said:
"Could it be that... the Wuyong clan is doing something there? We - we are here just for him."
"You, you know Wuyongshi?" The two girls were a little surprised.
"There's nothing strange about this." The young man shrugged and said nonchalantly, "The imperial court has always given special approval to their ships, and their family members are allowed to travel frequently between the two places. They pay taxes very generously. He also did a lot of things for the court in many places, including... the parts that are not convenient for people to know. As you know, there are always some things that are inconvenient for the palace onmyoji to do. At this time, you need to hire people for dirty work like this. Done."
Jiao Mo was very surprised: "You actually know a lot. You must be in a high position. I'm sorry."
"No, no, I'm just a minor local official." The young man smiled and said mysteriously, "It's just that I have more ways to get information and am more flexible."
"Then why are you here this time..." Wenying was a little doubtful. After all, since he is just a sesame official, what ability does the imperial court have to send him as an envoy here?
The young man rolled his eyes and said slowly: "Well... it's a long story. You must know about Wuyong's succession as head of the family, right? Although they haven't officially held a ceremony, people say that the one named Wuyong The evil man is already sure of victory. Even so, the family has not yet decided, and now it is still relying on the old man who is only alive. This is precisely because the different forces within the family are seriously at odds... If the result is finalized, let He holds great power alone, and I am afraid that the entire Jianghu situation will be affected."
Jiao Mo thought for a moment and decided to say more words. She pretended to be ignorant and asked: "But didn't you just say that the Wuyong family is at least very loyal to the imperial court, but you and others chased him to the south. Could it be that he has different intentions towards the imperial court?"
The young man shook his head repeatedly: "How could that be possible? Rather, he has given more benefits to the court. For the official who can be named, he has stuffed money up and down, or given other benefits. He was Many fragments of wish-fulfilling pearls were collected in the southern country... Do you know wish-fulfilling pearls? I heard that Garuda left something that could make wishes come true, but it was broken by Kanna-kun. He relied on these fragments to open up relationships and exchange There are many benefits. But they are all broken into pieces. Use one less one."
"But when the wish-fulfilling bead makes a wish, it will bring a corresponding curse!" Jiao Mo blurted out, "It was used freely in the hands of Garuda in the past because the glass heart could purify it. Who will bear the curse now?"
Even she didn't know what kind of curse she would bear. To this day, she still doesn’t know what the price for the sound will be. The longer it goes on, the more uneasy she becomes.
"Zhen is very cunning and cunning," the young man said. "He will never bear the price himself. I'm afraid he has some way to transfer the curse to others... Of course, this is just a rumor and has not been confirmed. Confirmed.”
"In this case, why would the court doubt him?"
"Hush! Don't dare to talk nonsense..." The young man immediately looked around, as if he was afraid of being overheard. After confirming that there was no one around and only the three of them, he continued: "The court did not doubt him. That's what you said. But as the saying goes, a tree attracts wind, right? Although he was good to the court, he was not good to individual officials. It has reached the level of bribery, and it was all bribery that he selected and purposefully offered. Originally, everyone turned a blind eye to this kind of thing, but in the end... the emperor was alarmed."
Jiao Mo and Wenying both opened their eyes in shock.
"The emperor actually knows how to..."
"Their power is too great. After all, they are not imperial Onmyoji. They are not under the control of the country. If they continue to let them develop, wouldn't they be raising risks? What's more, this person Wu Yongjian is really insidious and cunning, and we have to guard against him. In the eyes of the court, in addition to being an onmyoji, he is also a businessman. In order to prevent wealthy businessmen from reaching out to the political power..."
"I understand!" Wenying punched the palm of his hand, "The court is afraid that he will do something unseen where he can't see it!"
"Yes. Besides, there are quite a lot of Wuyong clan members in the southern country. It would be even worse to leak the secrets of the country. The head of the family has not been finalized yet, partly because the court is quietly interfering. But anyway, because there is a lack of substantive evidence. , and the cabinet's attitude towards this was also very divided. Everyone held their own opinions, and in the end they still took a wait-and-see attitude towards him, and did not invest much manpower and financial resources." The young man touched his chin, and suddenly remembered something, "That's right! Just listen to this, but be sure to..."
"We won't tell anyone, don't worry." Jiao Mo nodded, "That's why they sent you to observe..."
"Well, actually it's not." The young man smiled awkwardly, "Although he didn't take it very seriously, he didn't despise it enough to send just a sesame official like me. What they are sending now are some people who collect intelligence... Well, you know . In fact, I was so idle in a small place and had nothing to do, so I was brought here to see the world through some connections, hahaha..."
Jiao Mo sighed: "You are really brave..."
"After all, I heard that the South Country is still very interesting! There are many rare treasures, and the prices here are very reasonable..."
"You like treasures?"
"Who doesn't like it?" the young man asked, "By the way, I haven't asked the two girls yet what they are doing in such a wild place?"
"us……"
Before they could answer, there was another loud noise, which made their eardrums hurt and made them feel the ground shaking under their feet. This time the sound was smaller than last time, but in the same direction, the black smoke was stronger, mixed with red sparks rising into the sky. Although after reaching a certain height, the sparks cooled down and disappeared, which may allow them to see clearly at this distance, the real scene must be very exaggerated. The young man shook his head and said:
"What's the big commotion? Speaking of which, do you want to go take a look?"
"Should we... not go?" After saying that, Wenying looked at Jiaomo. But before she could answer, Wenying added, "But that's a lie... He's the culprit who stole my brother and their friends..."
Her voice became lower and lower, and only Jiao Mo could hear it. The young man tilted his head curiously, as if he didn't hear clearly. Jiao Mo nodded slightly and shook his head slightly. She was not sure what the best thing to do was. The sky above Shiyue Mountain was almost completely clear, but Xie Zhe and the others were still nowhere to be seen. None of them wanted to think about the worst, but waiting here all the time was not an option.
"Why don't we go over and take a look?" Wenying completely changed her mind. She was so fearless and wanted to prove her mettle.
"But don't be as impulsive as your brother... Wuyong will never show mercy to monsters."
"No, no way!" She said guiltily, "We don't need to go deep into the enemy camp, we can just watch from a distance. Maybe it has nothing to do with the Wuyong clan. And when my brother comes back and sees such strange things, he will definitely I’ll go over and take a look!”
"So you are waiting for someone." The young man suddenly realized.
Jiao Mo felt that what she said was reasonable and felt a little shaken. But it would still be too reckless to just let it go.
She said to the young man: "You seem to know something about Wuyongshi. I want... could you please give us a way? Don't worry, you don't need to do anything. We are just watching from a distance."
"Eh? I, I want to go too..."
