Chapter 626: Fourth Dolly’s Lost and Won’t Come Back Again!
Xu Qing looked hesitantly at the fruit, and then at the peerlessly beautiful young woman offering it to him. Given that the Heir Apparent was with her, it was easy to guess who she was. However, it was hard to match up what he was seeing in front of him with what he had seen back in the northern ice plains.
The difference was staggering. What was more, he had just been bracing himself for a big fight with a Spirit Trove expert. But now....
Xu Qing looked at the fruit, stowed any questions he had, and respectfully accepted it.
“Many thanks, Senior.”
Things were fine this way as well.
Princess Brightblossom nodded slightly. She had already taken a liking to this young man. One reason was that her little brother approved of him. The other was that she knew he had played a key role in freeing her from captivity.
She was the type of person who knew whom to show gratitude to, and whom to feel resentment against . And thus, she just couldn’t bear to watch the results of her little brother’s so-called ‘tempering’ and ‘gift-giving.’
The Heir Apparent looked vaguely irritated. He had been hoping to temper Xu Qing further, only to have his third sister take charge and do this. In the end, all he could do was smile.
“Well, I guess we should get going now,” he said, looking at his third sister.
Princess Brightblossom looked at the Heir Apparent, and the doddering form he had assumed, and sighed inwardly. Though she knew what her little brother really looked like, she could also tell that this form was a manifestation of how he actually felt about himself.
He used to be the elegant, charming, and famous Heir Apparent of an Imperial Sovereign.... But now, we’re both old. Our best years were spent sealed and unable to see the sun in the sky.
Princess Brightblossom shook her head and changed her appearance so that she looked like a kindly old grandma. “That medicine shop you’ve been staying at seems like a nice place.”
The Heir Apparent smiled. “The Green Spirit Pharmacy is indeed a very cozy little shop.”
Princess Brightblossom suddenly looked thoughtful.
Xu Qing, meanwhile, blinked a few times. Looking at the grandpa and grandma in front of him, he was suddenly getting the feeling that it wouldn’t be long before the Green Spirit Pharmacy acquired yet another elderly shopkeeper. The idea of an ordinary medicine shop being home to two Smoldering Gods... left Xu Qing feeling a bit dazed.
“Let’s go,” Princess Brightblossom said coolly. “We’ll head to the spots you mentioned where Fifth Sister and Eighth Sib were sealed. After what we did at the cathedral, the restraints on their souls should have been broken. Now we can summon them to us.”
She started walking.
The Heir Apparent hurried after her, beckoning at Xu Qing to come along.
Xu Qing brought up the rear, a strange expression on his face as he realized he’d made an error in judgment. It looked like the Green Spirit Pharmacy might not have two Smoldering Gods around. It might have four.
Wait, how many brothers and sisters is the Heir Apparent going to free?
Despite his level of willpower, that thought caused him to shiver and subconsciously look in the direction of the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Back when he first established the little medicine shop, he could never have imagined... that something like this could happen.
The three of them made their way off into the distance. Up in the air were ‘grandpa’ and ‘grandma,’ while Xu Qing walked.
The desert floor was so soft that Xu Qing had to be extremely careful with every step he took, lest he sink down into the ground. If he did end up sinking down, the sand would almost suck him down, making it even harder to climb back out.
The Heir Apparent seemed younger when he was around his sister. Now he behaved more like a crafty street urchin who never tired of observing Xu Qing. Princess Brightblossom watched for a few days. At a certain point, she finally waved her hand to drag Xu Qing out of a spot where he’d sunk down into the sand.
Xu Qing looked a bit embarrassed. He had been struggling for about four hours to free himself.
“You’re such a good kid! I can’t believe you’re being tormented like this!” She glared in dissatisfaction at the Heir Apparent, who was about to speak. Before he could, she continued, “Is this supposed to be like how father used to punish you, back in the day? That metal sphere looks familiar. Is it the same one father would strap to your waist?”
Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent. He had also noticed how the Heir Apparent would always watch closely when he struggled to climb out of the ground, his eyes full of reminiscence and even happiness.
The Heir Apparent laughed heartily and changed subjects. “Third Sister, the spot where Fifth Sister is sealed is very unique. Different from us. Let me go ahead to check the situation.”
As Princess Brightblossom helped Xu Qing to his feet, she nodded. “How is it unique?”
“Fifth sister isn’t sealed in this reality,” the Heir Apparent said, sounding very serious. Voice hoarse, he continued, “She’s imprisoned inside of a nursery rhyme.”
Hearing that, Princess Brightblossom looked thoughtful. Meanwhile, Xu Qing thought back to all of the things he had experienced and was certain this was the first time he had ever heard of someone being trapped in a nursery rhyme.
“Down south at the foot of Mount Eternal Centipede, there’s a little village. The village existed a really, really long time ago. It ended up being wiped out, becoming a village of the dead. Every once in a while, it shows up again. And there’s a nursery rhyme from that village....
“Fifth Sister is trapped inside of that nursery rhyme. If the time ever comes in which no one in the world remembers that nursery rhyme, she’ll die. Except, our little godchild brother wants to torment her, not kill her. So he makes sure to always have people around who remember the nursery rhyme.
“What’s more, he borrowed the power of Crimson Mother to make sure that every single time the nursery rhyme is repeated, Fifth Sister sustains serious injuries. It’s the same type of pain as having your flesh and blood consumed. As for why he picked this specific village, it’s because... her bloodline still survives there. Everyone living in the village is one of her descendants.”
Xu Qing was visibly moved.
Princess Brightblossom said nothing, but her eyes shimmered with fury and grief. There was something the Heir Apparent hadn’t spoken out loud, and she knew what it was. The godchild had ensured that the meat consumed by the residents of that village over the years was actually the flesh and blood of Fifth Sister.
The Heir Apparent maintained silence for a long moment.
A sensation of grief filled the silence. As they continued on their way, Princess Brightblossom didn’t say anything further. Nor did the Heir Apparent. The three of them left the Greenhair Badlands. In fact, they left the entire county, eventually departing the west and going to the south of the Moonrite Region.
Ordinary cultivators probably couldn’t make that journey in a lifetime without using teleportation portals. But the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom were able to make the journey in a day. And that was because they had to take care of Xu Qing. Otherwise, they could have done it in the blink of an eye.
Their destination was in an area of endless jungle, much of it filled with an air of rot, defeat, and death.
In the depths of the jungle, Xu Qing spotted a very unusual mountain. It was a few thousand meters tall, and looked like a giant centipede, rearing back and snapping its jaws at heaven. The centipede’s feelers were all plainly visible; it was extremely lifelike. The moment Xu Qing laid eyes on it, he felt something ferocious well up in his heart. He sensed something fiendish, as well as a rancorous energy that had been accumulating for countless years.
This was the Mount Eternal Centipede that the Heir Apparent had mentioned. The sky here was filled with dark clouds, which were formed by the never-ending accumulation of rancorous energy. Occasionally, lightning bolts snapped through the clouds, releasing loud thunderclaps. It was like the howling rage of all the living beings in the area, screaming defiantly.
Built into the foot of the mountain was a village surrounded by a rickety fence. It wasn’t a very large place. The buildings that made it up were all gray, and looked inauspicious. The ground was dirty. Apparently, this place was so isolated from the world, and the rumbling of the thunder was so intimidating, that outsiders never came here. As a result, the residents were relatively numb to life. The treacherous terrain that surrounded the village made the place bleak and desolate. As the years passed by, the place seemed to sink further and further into decay.
There were children.... However, the natural disposition of children ensured that they didn’t act like the parents. They took the angry lightning bolts to be fireworks, and just ran around jumping and laughing, all while reciting a nursery rhyme. Although there were only five children, the sound of their voices drifted gruishly far away from them.
“There was once a big dolly; with a bunch of little dollies; ten little dollies one two three; bloodshot eyes with hair gray and dusty; one day they didn’t say a word to me; the big kids looked around and yelled for mommy; the little kids shouldn’t think it’s that scary....
“Then suddenly something happened when; big dolly got sick and second dolly tended him; third dolly bought meds and fifth dolly prepped them; sixth dolly died and seventh dolly grinned; eighth dolly dug a pit and ninth dolly jumped in; tenth dolly asked why they were cryin’...
“Fourth dolly’s lost and won’t come back again!”
As the sound of the nursery rhyme drifted about, it seemed to contain a bizarre power that ensured it could be heard despite the booming thunder. As a result, it easily reached the ears of Xu Qing, the Heir Apparent, and Princess Brightblossom, who were now standing at the entrance to the village.
Mixed emotions could be seen on the princess’ face. The Heir Apparent’s eyes were closed to cover the pain within them. Xu Qing sighed deep in his heart.
The Imperial Sovereign had five daughters and ten sons, and as was the custom in imperial regimes, they were ranked, the males among the males, the females among the females.
The nursery rhyme was obviously talking about the Imperial Sovereign’s ten sons. As for the fourth... Xu Qing already knew that he was the godchild of the Red Moon Cathedral.
The ‘big dolly’ had to be the Heir Apparent.
From the expression on the Heir Apparent’s face, Xu Qing could only guess that in the past... he really had fallen ill. Although he couldn’t be sure what sickness he was afflicted with, it seemed highly likely to have something to do with Crimson Mother and the red moon.
“Why did fourth dolly run away in his youth? Big dolly is the one who knows the whole truth! He knows the whole truth!”
Xu Qing looked quietly at the Heir Apparent.
The Heir Apparent opened his eyes, looked at the village, and quietly said, “Fifth Sister’s soul is already awake. The way to get her free is... for you, Third Sister, to use your authority to take the traces of all the people who have lived here through the years and manifest projections of them. We need all of the nursery rhymes that have been repeated throughout history to be heard at the same time.
“Xu Qing, the process will require help from your violet moon power. It’s the key to unlocking the seal.
“I will do everything in my power to alter the perceptions of heaven and earth, and hide all fluctuations for at least ten breaths of time. I’m confident that as long as we don’t go for longer than that, the Red Moon Cathedral won’t detect what’s going on.
“However, we’ll only have ten breaths of time.”
The Heir Apparent turned to look at Princess Brightblossom.
“That’s enough time,” she said. Walking forward, she pointed at the village. Instantly, wild colors flashed in heaven and earth. Screaming winds rose up. The thunder in the dome of heaven ceased.
A river of time appeared, sweeping through the village. The waters churned, and waves splashed. Foam sprayed everywhere. At the same time, countless figures appeared.
Any person who had been born in this place had been dredged up out of time by Princess Brightblossom. More and more people filled the village. After three breaths of time, the place was packed. The current inhabitants of the village all walked out of their houses, blank looks in their eyes.
This was a gathering of living people and souls of the past. Rumbling sounds shook everything as the river of time gurgled. Then words echoed out that came from both life and death, both past and present.
“There was once a big dolly; with a bunch of little dollies....”
“Then suddenly something happened when....”