Chapter 674: Huang Song (Part )
The bitter scent of pine resin mixed with the fishy smell of rain lingered among the ruined temples of Chengtian Sect.
Shen Dinghai's fingertips brushed across the cracked vermilion lacquered corridor columns, and his fingertips were stained with a little moss - just like the feeling of the sword tassel brushing across the back of the hand when the young man Huang Song touched the sect leader's sword in the dream.
Shen Zhichen tilted his umbrella towards Shen Dinghai, looking at the bronze bell hanging from the eaves, he couldn't help but ask: "Second Uncle, do you think we can still find things from the past in the old site of this sect?"
"It's not necessary to find it." Shen Dinghai squatted down and picked up a half-broken pine needle from the gap between the steps. "It's just my obsession."
"I want to come and see it for my cousin."
The rain suddenly became dense, beating out tiny drumbeats on the faded cinnabar umbrella.
Shen Zhichen looked at the glass pendant swaying along with the gray spider web in the hall, and vaguely saw the silhouette of the leader of Chengtian Sect standing with an umbrella in his hand in the illusion. The plain white Taoist robe rippled in front of his eyes, overlapping with the moon-white clothes of Shen Dinghai at this moment.
"Huangshan pine, probably when the master chased the yellow pine out of the house, they were also planted here." Shen Dinghai stepped through the puddles, and the pine needles reflected in the water looked like something from the past. "Now it's growing better and better."
The two searched the hall but found nothing.
On the contrary, when walking back along the way he came, Shen Zhichen suddenly kicked a hard object among the piled pine needles. He bent down to pick it up and found that it was half a jade plate engraved with the words "Huangshan".
The broken part was covered with spider-web-like cracks, as if it had been rubbed repeatedly by someone.
"Is this the piece that the sect leader gave to Huang Song to carry with him?" Before he finished speaking, the entire ruined palace suddenly shook.
Dust fell from the beams, and the sobbing of pine trees could be heard in the rain.
Shen Dinghai pressed the jade token on the mottled sect leader's throne. The cracks matched perfectly with the marks on the armrests. When the last line overlapped, the stone wall behind the throne suddenly opened, revealing a secret room covered with sword marks.
Shen Dinghai looked at Shen Zhichen in surprise, "It seems that Huang Song renovated this place later."
Slightly cold air rushed in, and the candles in the secret room lit up one after another. In the flickering candlelight, countless eternal lamps surrounded an ice coffin.
But the ice coffin was indeed empty. When Shen Zhichen got closer to take a look, he found a half-broken pine branch lying quietly inside.
Shen Dinghai said calmly: "Huang Song's original plan was to leave the sect master's body here, but he didn't expect..."
"The leader not only committed suicide resolutely, but he also left no ashes behind, scattering them all on the mountain."
Shen Zhichen looked around curiously, and then he found that a corner three meters away from the ice coffin was filled with yellowed letters.
“Personally addressed to Master” was written on each letter, but they were never opened.
The people who could open these letters have left forever, and Huang Song himself knows this. These letters are just his thoughts written to himself.
Shen Dinghai picked up the top one. The edge of the letter paper had been rubbed and was becoming hairy. After thinking for a moment, he opened the envelope.
Seeing Shen Zhichen's curious eyes, Shen Dinghai said calmly: "I came here today to explore, and besides, he is gone, so there is no need to worry about it."
The letter reads as follows:
"The rain is cold in the Waking of Insects, and new bamboo shoots are sprouting from the soil in the back mountain. This morning, while practicing swordplay, I cut off 300 pine needles, all of which were stored in a green porcelain jar. I remembered what Master once said, 'The sword is like a pine tree, it would rather break than bend.' Suddenly, I felt that the needles on my hands had become sharp blades, stabbing me and keeping me awake at night."
The handwriting had a large ink stain at the end, as if the hand holding the pen was shaking violently.
Shen Zhichen leaned in to take a closer look, as if he could smell the scent of pine needles between the lines. "Second Uncle, is he pretending that he has returned to the past?"
Shen Dinghai nodded, "Yes, he pretended to have returned to the time when the Sect Master had not left yet."
He gestured with his hand to measure the thickness of the letters. "There are so many. He probably writes every year during the Spring Equinox."
Shen Dinghai's fingertips stroked the sword marks on the wall, deep and shallow, Huang Song seemed to be using the sword energy to carve his thoughts for his master...
And hatred for himself.
A draft suddenly blew into the secret room, the candlelight flickered and then went out, and a cold female voice like the sound of jade clashing rang out in the darkness:
"We have obtained enough things that Huang Song has personally touched. Do you want to activate the scene reconstruction?"
Shen Zhichen scratched his head, "Xiaoyu, you finally came out. If you don't come out, my second uncle and I don't know where to find clues." He pointed at the secret room awkwardly, "After all, we have already found the tomb that Huang Song prepared for his master..."
Xiaoyu did not respond immediately, but looked at the jade plate.
"I found something better."
The jade pendant on Shen Dinghai's neck emitted a warm light, and the bright white light flowed like water and poured into the broken jade plate.
A shadow was projected onto the ice coffin.
Shen Zhichen opened his eyes wide, and saw a woman lying in the originally empty ice coffin.
"Second Uncle, is this the Sect Master?!"
Shen Dinghai nodded, "It should be correct."
While the two were talking, the woman in the ice coffin opened her eyes at some point, and the frost between her brows turned into water droplets and rolled down.
Shen Dinghai could see a thin golden thread wrapped around her fingertips, with the other end disappearing into the void - it should be the master-disciple contract that she had severed when she drove Huang Song away.
The woman floated up from the ice coffin, and pointed her fingers into a sword, aiming at Shen Zhichen.
"Leaving a residual soul? This method seems to be able to exert at least half of the deceased's power before his death." Shen Dinghai frowned vigilantly, but Xiaoyu said to comfort him, "She has no ill will towards us."
"She just didn't expect to wake up to us."
The wandering soul seemed a little dazed, staring at Shen Dinghai and Shen Zhichen for a long time before shaking its head slightly.
"I am not my traitor Huang Song. I admit my mistake now. Please forgive me."
Shen Dinghai said in a gentle voice: "It's okay. My nephew and I came here to find out what happened back then. We also came here to fulfill the wish of an elder. It was an accident to find the remaining soul of the Sect Master."
"If the Sect Master feels that this cannot be said, my nephew and I will leave now."
The shadow of the woman stroked her own body in the ice coffin, and her eyes paused on the unopened envelope beside her.
"There's nothing to be said. It's all in the past."
