Chapter 3 The Guest from Southern Xinjiang

  A few days passed, and a new rain poured over Chaohu Lake, causing the water to rise and once again gently washing the lake embankment. The willows hung down like golden threads, and along the embankment, a band of lush greenery unfolded from deep to shallow. On Chaohu Lake, a thin mist fluttered like a beautiful woman, softly and quietly spreading out a faint layer of white without leaving any trace.

  In less than half a month, the thick fog on Lake Chao has spread several hundred meters outwards. Originally, it only faintly shrouded Baiyangzhou in the center of the lake, but these days it has unknowingly spread to cover more than half of the lake's surface, retreating back to the lake center only at night. Since whirlpools have been all over the lake, people from Shouyang nearby have rarely come to Lake Chao to fish. As a result, even on clear sunny days, there are hardly any human figures seen on Lake Chao.

  On the gentle slope of the lake embankment, amidst a sparse forest, the faint sound of laughter could be heard. Before long, a little girl in a pink dress emerged from behind a tree, still laughing and saying: "Shen Gege, there are many wildflowers here, can you build me another flower house like you did the other day? I'll make you a sachet just like Mother made for me, okay?"

  Shen Bailian walked over, and indeed saw the wild fragrance behind the tree, blooming extremely luxuriantly. He rolled up his wide sleeves and smiled: "I don't dare to compliment Ah Cai's needlework, but building a thatched hut is not difficult, you go pick some flowers."

  Ruan Cihuan let out a shout of joy, squatting down among the flowers to pick and choose. Shen Bailian sat down on a large rock, smiling as she pulled over a willow branch, plucked off a narrow, long emerald leaf and put it to her lips, pursed them and then blew across the edge of the leaf.

  A clear and melodious tune suddenly rose from the woods, although not particularly pleasant to hear, it still had a few turns of elegance. Shen Bailian's eyebrows and eyes relaxed, her long hair scattered behind her head like dark clouds, her snow-white bare feet stepped on the green grass, her red sleeves fluttered gently in the wind, revealing a pair of arms that had been submerged in water for years without seeing sunlight, extremely comfortable and carefree.

  From that day on, Ruan Ci saved him, and the next day she came to the lake's edge forest as promised, bringing with her pastries from the mortal realm. Shen Bai Lian had never tasted mortal food before, but the soft, fragrant, and sweet Osmanthus flower pastry truly conquered the young demon's heart, also making him have a very good impression of Ruan Ci.

  From then on, the two became good friends. Shen Bailian had spent more than a decade by her mother's side, but Shen Danqing was strict and cold, showing no affection even to her own son, making most days of the year not very pleasant. Now, playing with Ruan Ci all the time, although this little girl is only □□ years old, she is very lively and clever, extremely good at telling jokes, often making Shen Bailian burst out laughing, and the anger she had accumulated from her mother would often be swept away.

  Ruan Cini was the only daughter in her family, spoiled by her parents and not strictly disciplined, so she often sneaked out of the house. She was very brave, although the people in the city heard that the lake was haunted and didn't dare to come near it, but she didn't care at all, just playing with Shen Bailian every day, obviously very happy to have Shen Bailian as a playmate. Not only did she bring some pastries and fresh fruits for Bailian to eat, but also sang songs that Bailian had never heard before, recited poems that Bailian had never heard before. Seeing that Bailian was very interested in human writing, Ruan Cini, who was not even a good teacher herself, taught him how to write his own name on the sandy ground with great patience, one stroke at a time.

  In just over ten days, the two children became increasingly close. However, although Shen Baiying had a good impression of Ruan Cixin, she still didn't dare to be completely open and honest, remembering her mother's teachings, not daring to reveal even half a point about her true nature as a monster.

  Ruan Ci easily plucked a few handfuls of flowers and rushed to Shen Gege's side, carrying a full load of purple and red blossoms. Shen Baiyun took each stem in hand and began to weave them together; his long fingers moved nimbly, and in the blink of an eye, the flower house had begun to take shape.

  Ruan Ci sat on the side, playing with the willow leaves in her hand from time to time, putting them in her mouth and blowing hard, while poking her small head out to look at Shen Baiyun's hands, seeing that the roof, doors and windows of the small house were gradually taking shape, she was overjoyed.

  Just then, a gust of dark wind swept through the forest, and all of a sudden, there was a loud rustling sound, and leaves fell from the sky, covering Shen Baiying's face. She looked up to see that the clouds had rolled in, and she didn't know when the sky had become a deep, foreboding grey. On the southern mountains, dark clouds were churning and gathering into a mass, surging forward like black ink towards the north of the mountain.

  The white fog on Chaohu Lake was also restless, spreading out as if it wanted to climb up the shore. The distant mountains on the other side of the lake gradually became blurred, dark clouds pressed down lower and lower, the wind howled, wild grass bent towards the ground, and fallen leaves and flowers flew wildly in the sky. Shen Bailian had never seen such strange weather before, feeling a little uneasy, but when she glanced sideways and saw Ruan Cixiao's face full of fear, she pretended to be fearless and protected her by her side.

  Only a black cloud with flying sand and walking stones was seen, and in an instant it arrived at the lake of Nest. It seemed to have a spirit, and it bypassed the white fog on the lake, turning towards the forest by the lake. Shen Baiying felt strange, narrowing his eyes to look far away, seeing that in the black cloud, there were five-colored lights flashing from time to time, suddenly shining brightly, and then being covered up again.

  That dark cloud went extremely fast, flying over from above the forest, Shen Bailian saw it clearly, heading straight for Chongshou City.

  It's strange to say that after the black cloud disappeared, the sky slowly cleared up. The wind stopped, and the dark clouds also dispersed. At this time, it was already dusk, and a wheel of residual red just touched the western mountain.

  Ruan Cilai pulled Shen Bailian's sleeve and suddenly said, "Brother Shen, that big wind just now was so strange, it passed by so quickly! I also saw a strange cloud, it flew by so fast!"

  Shen Bailian's heart skipped a beat as she thought to herself: The strange lights that occasionally appear in the clouds are indeed very eerie, could it be a monster?

  He himself was a monster, how could he tell Ruan Ci his speculation? He could only comfort her by saying: "It's just that the wind is strong, fortunately it didn't rain, otherwise we would have become drowned chickens. Alright, it's getting late, I'll send you back to the gate of Shouyang City."

  Ruan Cizheng was about to nod when he suddenly widened his eyes and pointed behind Shen Baiying, saying in surprise: "Shen Gege, what is that?"

  Shen Bailian turned around, also slightly startled, and saw several strands of colored mist floating from the direction of the black cloud, swirling in mid-air, as if they had heard Ruan Ci's question. After a while, they slowly descended to the ground. As the colored mist dispersed, several figures appeared within.

  Ruan Ci exclaimed: "Ah, there's someone inside the colorful cloud!"

  Shen Bailian felt something was off and took a step forward, blocking Ruan Ci behind her.

  A woman's voice came from the mist, saying: "Little girl, you're wrong. This isn't a rainbow, but the Five-Colored Poisonous Miasma of our Southern Barbarian Tribe!" Although her tone was soft and charming, it sounded somewhat awkward, as if she wasn't a native of the Central Plains.

  The mist dispersed, and standing on the ground were five young men and women. They had blue cloth wrapped around their heads, and they all wore black jackets with high collars, with five-colored embroidery of strange flower patterns on the collar. They wore blue trousers, and their arms and calves were wrapped in something, with only gold and silver rings on their wrists and ankles. They carried long knives on their backs, and there were large and small pouches and bamboo tubes hanging from their waistbands, looking utterly bizarre.

  The woman was not particularly beautiful, but her skin was very white and delicate. Seeing Shen Baiyun couldn't help but glance at their waist, she smiled and said: "This handsome little brother seems to like our poisonous insects very much, do you want me to give you one?" As she spoke, she raised her wrist and actually pulled out a snow-white small snake as thick as a finger from the high bun on her hair.

  "Qianhe, stop making a fuss!" A young man with a silver earring on his left ear scolded, taking a step forward and bowing slightly to Shen Baiyue, "Little brother, don't be alarmed, my sister was just playing a joke on you." He seemed to be the oldest among them, and the woman didn't get angry after being scolded by him, but simply smiled and put down her hand. The white snake flashed once before retreating into her hair and disappearing from view.

  The young man said, "Little brother, we people from the southern frontier do not understand your complicated etiquette in the Central Plains. There is one thing I want to ask you, if you know, please tell me, and our entire Black Witch tribe will be grateful to you. Just now, when you were in this forest, did you happen to see a man in black passing by?"

  Nanjiang, Hei Wu tribe? Shen Bailian thought for a moment before saying: "I've never seen the black-clothed people."

  The young man's words made all the men and women behind him look disheartened.

  Shen Bailian remained calm and unhurried, saying: "However, just now there was a strange black cloud flying over the forest, heading in the direction of Shouyang City." He pointed westward.

  Young man happily said: "It's him, he must be hiding in that dark cloud... Little brother, thank you!" He bowed his head again and turned to the people behind him, saying "Chase!"

  The woman smiled and glanced at Shen Baiying, saying: "Little brother is really refreshing, this has helped our Black Witch tribe a lot. Now if we find those things first, let's see what the White Witch tribe people have to say!"

  A rainbow-colored vortex suddenly appeared on the empty ground, wrapping up those few people in it, and slowly rose into the sky.

  The woman in the misty air laughed and said: "My name is Li Qianhe, and the one who asked you questions earlier was my older brother Li Qianyu. In the future, if there's a day when you come to our South Border, my brother and I will definitely invite you to our home as a guest. Is this not the custom of your Central Plains? This is a token of promise, be sure to keep it well!"

  Among the laughter, an object shot out from the colored mist and flew towards Bai Feng's face. The five-colored poisonous mist then floated and swayed as it flew in the direction of Shouyang City.

  Shen Bailian already knew that these Nanjiang people often had poisonous substances on them, so she didn't dare to rashly go and take the thing given by Li Qianying. She hastily retreated to one side. The object fell to the ground with a "pa" sound, and it turned out to be a small wooden knife.

  Ruan Ci was curious and had already run over to pick it up, laughing: "What a fun little thing, it looks like a knife." She handed it to Shen Baiyun.

  Shen Bailian took it in her hand and examined it carefully. The wooden knife was only as long as a finger, extremely primitive and crude, with only a strip of five-colored fine line woven into a silk ribbon tied around the handle. The dull blade also had shallow, strange flower patterns carved on it, which were similar to those embroidered on men's and women's clothes.

  He lowered his head to see Ruan Ci staring at the small knife with an infatuated gaze, seemingly very fond of it. He said: "Does Ah Ci like it? Then I'll give it to you."

  "We can't! That was a gift from that sister of yours, I don't want it. Otherwise, if that sister gets angry and releases a big snake to bite people, what are we going to do?"

  Shen Bailian couldn't help but smile: "Alright then, I think this wooden sword isn't that great either. Next time I'll find something even better for you to play with!"

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