diskusbooks Chapter 335: Festival
Chapter 335: Festival
Rotten straw clung to the wound, and every breath carried a musty odor.
Hu Qing propped himself up with his right elbow and pushed the blood-stained straw to the corner of the wall bit by bit.
The straws had long been soaked with pus and blood, and gray-green mold had grown on the edges. They would crumble into pieces if the slightest force was applied.
He curled up his body, and the festering wound on his left leg was crawling with maggots.
He mechanically fiddled with the small white dots with his right hand, and the squirming feeling from his fingertips made his face gradually distort.
"Ding-ding-ding"
The sound of a distant bell pierced the stone wall, sending a plume of dust falling from the roof of the cell.
Hu Qing looked up at the air vent, and the palm-sized sky was dazzlingly blue.
He suddenly remembered that during this period last year, he was living with Qingyin. Those days were so beautiful...
"Hey, blind man."
He turned to the cell on the left for the umpteenth time, "It looks like there's a festival going on outside today."
The purple-haired boy in the cell on the left still sat as still as a stone statue.
The brown rice delivered today was placed next to the fence and was already crawling with ants, but the boy didn't even raise his eyelids.
His empty eye sockets faced the stone wall, and only the coarse pottery bowl in the corner proved that he was still alive - the water in it was decreasing every day.
Hu Qing moved his body with difficulty, and the wound on his broken arm rubbed against the ground, causing a piercing pain.
His right hand was scratching the wall unconsciously, and his nails made a harsh sound as they scraped against the bluestone.
These days he has also thought about escaping from this prison on his own, to see if he can break out of prison, just like in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" in his previous life.
He reached out and touched the marks he had carved on the wall with his fingernails over the past few days. The deepest mark allowed one to vaguely see the array pattern under the stone wall.
It was a confinement talisman drawn with a mixture of monster blood and black iron powder, emitting a faint blue light in the darkness.
Moreover, the array runes in the crevice will glow red when touched, bouncing all the force back.
"Isn't it possible..."
As soon as my fingertips touched the iron bars, a familiar feeling of weakness immediately swept over my body.
Hu Qing collapsed to the ground like a dehydrated fish, and only slowly regained his strength after he let go of his hands.
He didn't know how many times he had experimented with this iron railing, and it was the same every time.
There are strange dark patterns swirling on it. If the skin comes into contact with it for more than three breaths, the muscles all over the body will become limp as if cramps have been pulled.
"Cough cough..."
Hu Qing suddenly started coughing violently. When he came to his senses, he looked at his festering thigh with a wry smile. On the white bones exposed from the rotten flesh was the word "奸" (traitor) carved by the guard with a knife.
He stared at the spider-web-like cracks on the ceiling, feeling somewhat disheartened. However, he didn't know why he suddenly remembered the words "Wait for me" that Deep Sea King had said before he was taken away.
——How much does that old monster know?
"boom!"
Suddenly, there was a roar of an iron door opening from deep in the dungeon.
Hu Qing immediately turned over and lay on his back, pressing his remaining limbs under his body to pretend to be unconscious.
The clanging of armor came closer, accompanied by the guards' flattering words:
"Sir, please look at this confession signed and sealed by this sea clan spy..."
A pair of steel-clad combat boots rested outside the fence.
"That's it?" A cold male voice sounded above his head.
Through the gaps between his eyelashes, Hu Qing saw the star pattern embossed on the silver armor breastplate - this was the team that had captured him before.
The silver-armored general holding the confession frowned and glanced at the cell. The three guards behind him were nodding and handing over the keys.
The moment the iron door opened, the long-lost fresh air rushed into the cell.
"take away."
When the cold shackles were fastened around his wrists, Hu Qing pretended to have just woken up and struggled violently.
The silver-armored soldier grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him out of the cell like a dead dog.
The long-lost sunlight pierced his pupils like a sharp sword. He closed his eyes reflexively, but hot liquid still slid down his cheeks.
——I don’t know if they are physiological tears or tears caused by strong light burns.
"Boom!"
The moment the body was thrown into the prison van, the rotten flesh collided with the iron plate, making a disgusting muffled sound.
Someone pried open his mouth and poured some water into it. Then a pill dissolved under his tongue, and the cool medicinal power flowed down his throat and throughout his limbs.
"drive!"
The vibration of the prison van rolling over the cobblestone road made Hu Qing open his eyes slightly.
Through the gaps in the wooden fence, he saw black flags hanging on both sides of the streets in the imperial city, and the outline of the mountains in the distance looked like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath under the scorching sun.
..............................
The scorching midday sun shone vertically on the jade steps, and each stone step reflected a dazzling halo and emitted a distorted heat wave.
From a distance, the entire Dazhou Mountain looks like a bronze sword piercing the sky.
When Zhou Li stepped onto the first step, the golden dragon pattern on the hem of his black dragon robe seemed to come alive and move in the strong light. The light spots reflected by the dragon scales were so dazzling that the ministers dared not look directly at him.
Empress Dowager Li fell half a step behind. The pearl curtain hanging from the Nine-Phoenix Golden Crown swayed gently with her steps, casting tiny spots of light on her white jade-like cheeks.
She caught a glimpse behind her—Zhou Tianhao was following the rituals step by step, stopping every three steps and bowing to the Holy Mountain;
However, Zhou Tianxuan stood with his hands behind his back, casually lifting the hem of his dark blue brocade robe, and the crystal longbow at his waist reflected a dazzling light.
Behind him were the Tianxing Guards - those armored warriors who followed the ranks of officials like shadows.
The long sword hanging at his waist swayed with his steps, and the sword occasionally flashed a strange white light.
"Xuan'er."
Zhou Li suddenly spoke, his voice neither loud nor soft, "The armor of the Tianxing Guards is too dazzling. If it's exposed to the sun for too long, it will injure the people."
On both sides of the stone steps, the silver-armored Tianxing Guards stood like javelins.
The star patterns on their breastplates shone in the scorching sun, like countless prying eyes.
Zhou Tianxuan chuckled at the words and stroked the edge of the bow with his fingertips: "Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. I am just worried that someone will disturb the ceremony."
The mountain wind suddenly stopped.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Zhou Tianhao's forehead, and the crystal longbow stuck to the back of his hand.
He saw a blue vein slowly emerging on the back of his father's neck in front of him.
But the emperor finally just adjusted the twelve-tassel jade crown and continued to climb.
"Father."
Crown Prince Zhou Tianhao suddenly quickened his pace. The mountain breeze blew his golden dress tightly against his body, outlining his thin figure. "The sacrificial text has already been..."
"Silence."
Zhou Li interrupted without even turning his head, the beads on the twelve-tassel jade crown remaining motionless. "Don't tell lies when you ascend the steps to heaven."
The bronze lampposts on both sides of the stone steps suddenly ignited without wind, and the faint blue flames lit up step by step along the mountain path.
Only halfway through the 999 steps, someone at the foot of the mountain fainted.
The elderly Minister of Rites leaned against the stone railing to catch his breath, the back of his official uniform soaked.
The Tianxing Guard's formation remained motionless, and the strong light reflected by the silver armor forced the onlookers to retreat further away.
Several children were shaken so hard that they couldn't open their eyes and hid behind their mother's skirts, sobbing quietly.
"Your Majesty..." Empress Dowager Li suddenly pinched the corner of Zhou Li's sleeve.
There was a sudden commotion at the foot of the mountain.
Zhou Li stopped and looked back, only to see the Tianxing Guards driving away the people approaching the stone steps, their long black iron spears drawing cold arcs through the crowd.
A woman holding a baby was thrown to the ground, and the child's cries pierced the sky.
"Xuan'er." The emperor's voice was colder than the snow on the mountaintop. "This is a festival, not a battlefield."