spring flowers

Chapter 12
Taiji gives birth to two instruments, which are Yin and Yang, and are the roots of each other, and they are endlessly moving.

When Meilin heard a light flick, and then a series of friction sounds of chain sprocket teeth, a stone pillar in front of him slowly descended and formed a Taiji pattern with the open space where the jade coffin was.At that moment, her awe and admiration for Murong Jinghe reached its peak.

Back in time, she left the problem of getting close to the jade coffin to Murong Jinghe.

Hearing her question, Murong Jinghe turned his eyes away from the jade coffin and looked around. Because he stood on the top of the stone forest, he could have a panoramic view of everything in the cave.It was then that they discovered that the layout of the entire cave was different from what they had taken for granted.It turns out that the stone forest that seems to be in the middle is not a circular island, but has a round head and a tail that is as small as a big-headed fish, bent on one side of the cave, forming a huge Tai Chi pattern with the raging fire.There is indeed a passage on the other side, but it is directly connected to the stone forest.

Looking at this wonderful scene, Murong Jinghe frowned slightly.It took him a long time to move his eyes away from the flames that had no tendency to decrease, and returned to the jade coffin not far away and the uneven space in front of him.As if thinking about some unsolvable problem, the long and narrow phoenix eyes are slightly squinted full of research, making the eyeliner look longer and graceful.

Mei Lin didn't bother him, and looked at the strange cave aimlessly, while carefully sniffing the changes in the air, to judge how long the two of them could linger here at least.

Then I saw Murong Jinghe's eyes brighten up, looking towards the other side of the stone forest opposite the jade coffin.

"If there's an alcove there, I can find a way out of here," he said.

So they dragged their feet and searched for it, but they didn't expect to see a deep well there that was incompatible with the surrounding stone pillars.The size of the deep well is similar to that of a sarcophagus, and it is impossible to see the bottom at a glance, let alone whether there is water.

"What should I do? Jump down?" Mei Lin was at a loss, unable to think of how to escape from such a dark pit that made one's feet go weak.

Murong Jing gave her a blank look, and didn't even bother to curse.

"I don't believe that when the huge coffin was lifted up, those people had to avoid the mechanism step by step." He said his thoughts lightly, and the original goal was still the jade coffin.

While speaking, his eyes wandered around the well, looking for possible mechanisms.

On a whim, Meilin asked him to sit on the ground leaning on a stone pillar, and then used a dagger to cut a stone from the stone pillar and throw it into the well. He didn't want to hear the echo for a long time, and couldn't help feeling horrified.

And because of the change in height, Murong Jinghe suddenly saw the gossip pattern carved on the outer wall of the well, and his heart moved.

Meilin stepped forward to touch according to his instructions, and found that the pattern really protruded from the outer wall of the well, but it didn't move left and right, as if it was integrated with the well wall.When he continued to frown and think, she still grasped the square carving and turned and pushed it to study. She didn't have any hope, but she didn't want to pull it casually, but she heard a "click" , it actually popped out, and she backed away in fright. After waiting for a long while, there was no other sound, and then she was relieved, but she didn't dare to move casually again.

Here, Murong Jinghe saw joy on his face.After thinking for a while, he said, "Try to pull them out one by one in the order of dry, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight."

Where did Meilin recognize these Lao Shizi, so Murong Jinghe had to point them out one by one.When Meilin reached the last one, there was a "click" sound, followed by the heavy and slow friction sound of chains and gears.I don't know if it was an illusion caused by the sound, but she felt that the ground under her feet was trembling faintly, she couldn't help but hold her breath, and almost stiffly retreated towards Murong Jinghe, hoping to take him to escape in time in case of danger.

As soon as she helped Murong Jinghe up, she heard a dull gurgling sound from the well, as if water was being poured into it.The sound became louder and louder, gradually turning into a rumbling noise, and the ground shook violently.

Meilin's face turned pale, not knowing what would happen, and was about to ask Murong Jinghe if he wanted to escape elsewhere, when he saw the surrounding stone pillars sinking slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After a while, the sound and shaking stopped, and the place where they stood turned into a flat white stone, and the jade stone in the open space where the jade coffin was before somehow changed color, and the light of the night flowed.Black and white are distinct, but they intersect end to end, like a ring without reason, endless.You don't need to stand on a high place, even if you look at it like this, you can see that this is a Tai Chi diagram.The jade coffin and the water well are exactly the two opposite colors of the pure black and white, representing the yang within the yin, and the yin within the yang.

There are still many stone pillars all around, separating the two Tai Chi pictures, one large and one small, inside and outside.

"We..." Mei Lin couldn't digest this change, looked at Murong Jinghe blankly, and asked in a difficult tone, "What should I do?" Even the stones have sunk, can this place still be stepped on?

Although Murong Jinghe knew that there might be a trap, he didn't expect such a scene to happen, but his reaction was not as big as that of Mei Lin.Smiling, he said, "Maybe you can walk around."

After taking the first step and finding that the ground was as hard as before, without the slightest sense of vainness, Meilin looked at the well first, and it was filled with water as she heard, and it was flush with the edge of the well. But there is no risk of leaking.

She wiped off her cold sweat, feeling more and more frightened by this weird place, she only hoped to leave sooner, so she supported Murong Jinghe and walked towards the jade coffin without hesitation.

When they got closer, the chill from the jade coffin invaded their bodies, causing both of them to shiver involuntarily.

"Is it made of ice?" Meilin frowned and muttered, but felt that in the place where fires were burning all around, it didn't show any sign of melting, so it shouldn't be ice.

Murong Jinghe didn't answer.

The jade coffin almost reached Meilin's nose, without a cover, and the whole body exuded a lustrous luster, but it seemed to be faintly flowing with a faint green awn.

Meilin couldn't see it, but seeing Murong Jinghe staring inside for a long while without saying anything, she couldn't help asking: "What's inside?" The person sleeping in the coffin naturally knew that, but she wondered if she should Something else, like a reminder of where they left off?
Murong Jinghe was silent for a moment, and then said lightly: "Alone."

Mei Lin choked for a moment, and then felt that asking for help was better than asking for himself, so he put him down, and supported the outer edge of the coffin with both hands, he jumped up lightly.In any case, she has practiced kung fu, her body is light, and she jumped onto the outer coffin and hung on it. If she hadn't worried about crushing the dry bones inside, she might have landed inside the coffin.

When she saw the person in the coffin, Mei Lin froze, and even forgot to blink.

No matter what she thought, she never expected to see a living person.Well, at least she hasn't seen anyone who can maintain such a fresh appearance after death. Not only is her complexion not pale, but it is faintly pink.

Of course, this is only one reason.Another reason is that this man, this man looks better than everyone she has ever seen.

She is only in her twenties, with black satin hair, white jade skin, beautiful facial features, but intelligent brows, bright and fresh air of pine and bamboo, not enchanting.

What is surprising is that in such a magnificent tomb, in this gorgeous coffin, he was actually wearing a sackcloth.The white jade-like hands and feet are exposed, except for the jade pillow under the head, there are no ornaments or funerary objects.

No... funeral objects!Meilin finally recovered from the beauty, and noticed this shocking point.She looked it over again, and it was true that there was no one. She became anxious and wanted to jump into the coffin.

Just as she was about to lift her foot, Murong Jinghe, who was sitting on the ground against the coffin wall, noticed it.

"what are you doing?"

"I want to see if he's dead, and if there's anything hidden on him..." Meilin paused to explain, and couldn't help but add at the end, "This man is so good-looking, I've never seen such a good-looking man people."

Of course Murong Jinghe knew how good-looking that person was, but hearing Mei Lin say that, he still felt a little uncomfortable, so he said coldly: "You go, I can't save you if you run into a trap."

As a result, Meilin's foot stretched in quickly retracted.After seeing all kinds of weird things inside, she became like a frightened bird, even afraid that she would touch something if she sat on it for a long time, so she hurriedly jumped down and squatted outside the coffin like Murong Jinghe.

"Then what do you say?"

Glancing at her faintly, Murong Jinghe suddenly felt irritated in his heart, "Are you out of your mind?" He knew it as soon as he said it, but he was used to being superior, even if he knew he shouldn't, he would not take it lightly. Bow your head to a woman who is not even considered a concubine.

Mei Lin was stunned, it seemed that she hadn't heard him speak in such a bad tone for a long time, she was in a daze for a while, and it took her a long time to react, she couldn't help laughing, "I have...Of course I do." When she said this, she His hands were hanging down his sleeves, trembling slightly in places out of sight.

After finishing speaking, without looking at Murong Jinghe again, she stood up abruptly, turned over to the coffin again, and jumped in.

The coffin was huge, and she didn't accidentally step on that person when she landed, but still twisted for some reason, which made her grin her teeth in pain, and slowly sat down against the inner wall of the coffin, closing her eyes and waiting for the pain to ease.

Hands are still trembling.

"Hey, what did you find?" The man asked from outside the coffin, his tone was not as impatient as before.

Mei Lin opened her eyes, and searched the coffin with a blank expression.

The coffin was empty, and there was nothing there, so it didn't take much time to search for it.She raised her head and said calmly: "No." Then, her eyes fell on the jade pillow.

After hesitating for a while, she leaned over, carefully lifted the man's upper body, and reached for the jade pillow with the other hand, but she couldn't hold it, so she couldn't help being surprised.

"I can't lift the pillow." She said again, when she spoke, she smelled a faint scent of pine and bamboo, her head was dizzy, she almost fell down, she hastily put the man back to the original place, she moved a little farther and sat down.

Biting her tongue, the pain cleared her mind slightly, just in time to hear Murong Jinghe's words, the voice seemed a bit muffled through the thick coffin.

"Try pressing down."

Mei Lin turned her face away and took a deep breath, feeling better, so she crawled over.But this time she didn't dare to touch the man's body again, or even look at his face, for fear that he would suddenly open his eyes, so she just put her hands on the sides of his head and pressed down hard.

When she did this, she didn't have any hope, but she didn't expect that the jade pillow would actually sink slowly, together with the man, which startled her and quickly withdrew her hand.However, Yu Zhen and the man did not stop because of her stop, and continued to descend, while feeling the vibration around them.

"Come out!" Murong Jinghe's urging sounded from outside, with a little anxiety.

Meilin's face changed slightly, and she didn't care about the beauty's jade pillow anymore, she grabbed the coffin wall with both hands and jumped up, but just as her body jumped into the air, her head suddenly fainted, and she fell down.Fortunately, the dizziness was only short-lived, and she reacted quickly enough. When she saw that the place where she fell had turned into a big black hole for some reason, she hurriedly grabbed it to the side, and she really caught something.It's just that not only did the thing not stop her falling, but it was brought down by her.

She was in a daze, and she didn't know how long she had been there, but she just realized that what she was holding was Murong Jinghe's foot, and when he had already fallen below her due to the weight, she couldn't help but hold on tighter.Just when she thought that the fall would never end, she heard a "bang", water splashed everywhere, severe shock pain spread from her chest to her whole body, the cold water flowed over her head, and darkness instantly surrounded her.

Naturally, she couldn't see that the jade pillow and the person in the coffin sank to a certain level and then slowly floated back to their original positions, and the hole where they fell was closed again without a single gap.

The crisp birdsong came to the ears, and the body felt the unique warmth produced by the sun's rays, as well as the indescribable tingling.

Meilin coughed, which involved her chest, causing a burst of severe pain, but she couldn't help the choking feeling of water in her throat, so she turned over slowly, and coughed again, spitting out the blocked things at the same time , until the spit out has a sweet and fishy smell before trying to hold it back.

Meilin struggled to open her astringent and heavy eyelids, the long-lost clear sunlight came into her eyes, she couldn't help raising her hand to cover her eyes, and she dared not put it down until a moment later, the corners of her lips were already curled up.

It actually... came out!

Just when he thought he was certain to die, he came out like this.She no longer knew how to describe the feeling in her heart, but she just felt that it was a wonderful thing to still feel the beating heartbeat in her chest and see the sun.

But she didn't indulge in this feeling for too long, and immediately remembered Murong Jinghe who didn't know where she had fallen, and hurriedly got up to search, but suddenly found that she was still holding something firmly in her right hand.Looking down, what is Murong Jinghe's feet?She didn't expect that she didn't let him go even though she was in a coma.

Murong Jinghe was lying on her right side, still not awake, her hair was dripping wet on the ground, her hands were cold and cold, making people involuntarily think about the worst.

Turning him over, seeing that ashen-like face, Mei Lin couldn't help but pause, instead of checking his breath like last time, she directly rushed forward to press the water out of his belly, He untied his dripping clothes again, and rubbed his chest, which had no warmth at all, until it gradually warmed up, and he could feel a faint but unignorable beating, and then stopped.

Mei Lin randomly collected a pile of firewood, and touched the fire pocket in her arms, only to find that it was soaked and it was impossible to start a fire.

Pursing her lips tightly, she touched her body and found that the dagger was still there, so she didn't even need to think about it, she picked up a very hard stone nearby, put a small pile of dry moss and dead leaves around it, and then hit the dagger with the back of the dagger. When a hard rock is hit, sparks fly in all directions, and the dry moss and other things are ignited in a short while.

A fire was kindled, and a layer of pebbles was spread under it.

She collected a pile of hay and spread it beside the fire, stripped the unconscious man naked, hung up all the clothes to dry, and dug a pit half a person's depth on the nearby beach, surrounded it with stones, and led The river is [-]% full, and then cut off.After everything was busy, he still didn't wake up. Even after roasting by the fire for a long time, except for the warmth in his heart, he still couldn't feel any warmth in his whole body.

She didn't bother to call him, but just moved the fire to the other side, and then used a wooden stick to pick all the pebbles burned underneath into the nearby puddle. After a while, white mist rose from the water, and the temperature hot.

Putting Murong Jinghe into the water, she also took off her clothes and soaked in, hugging him from behind, rubbing his heart and back.

The pit was not small, and the two of them sat in it, but it was a bit crowded. The water was rippling and went straight up, just reaching Murong Jinghe's neck.Mei Lin was a head shorter than him, if he was sitting, he would be sunk, so he could only kneel.

At that time, even though she was holding a man naked in her arms, she didn't have the slightest bit of charming thoughts or disgust or reluctance in her heart, she just kept on trying to save him.

Maybe the hot water had an effect, or maybe her stubbornness responded, the person in her arms finally let out a low, inaudible sigh. Although she didn't wake up, it was enough to cheer people up.

Mei Lin involuntarily tightened her arms, pressed her forehead against the back of his neck, and let out a slow breath.At that time, she realized that her chest had been tight all the time, so tight that it was aching.

When the water became warmer and cooler, she got him up, and the clothes that had been baked by the fire were already dry, so it was time for him to put them on.Mei Lin tidied up herself before sitting beside him, looking at where the two of them were.

It is a river valley with dangerous mountains on both sides, and dense forests behind it, it seems that it is still in the deep mountains.The river turned a big bend here, forming a triangular tidal flat on their side.The river is wide and the current is slow, which is obviously why the two men will be washed ashore here and save their lives.

Mei Lin sighed, looked up at the blue and cloudless sky and the sun approaching the mid-heaven, after the initial excitement and a series of worries, she calmed down at this moment, and she suddenly felt a little dazed.

Before being trapped in the stone forest, she had a simple idea, to find a remote place to hide, and try to get rid of the poison on her body, that's all.Although she promised Yue Qin, it was just perfunctory. She never thought about going to him. In fact, according to the rules set by Muye Luomei before, as long as she left Zhongshan, Yue Qin would be free, but she was different. .Not to mention Makino Luomei and others, they are where she came from, and I'm afraid they won't let her off easily because of her betrayal.She didn't want to implicate that heartless boy.

It's just that now... now she was a little confused, as if something had changed.

This man... well, this man...

The sound of cracking dry wood made Mei Lin's thoughts pause, and then suddenly realized that he was thinking about a bunch of messy but useless things, so he couldn't help laughing at himself, so he stood up, intending to go into the woods to see if he could Find some useful herbs or food.

She just took two steps and suddenly felt something was wrong, but her heart jumped up suddenly. She stood still and collected herself, and then tried to circulate the zhenqi in her body with some disbelief but also some concerns about gains and losses.I only felt a very thin air flow slowly rising from the dantian. Although it was far from before, it was thin and continuous, weak and detectable, and it really existed.

Meilin's heart tightened slightly, she tried again, she was sure it wasn't her own illusion, she couldn't help feeling in a trance, almost suspecting that all this is just a dream.Otherwise, how could there be true qi again for no reason?No wonder it didn't take much effort to move Murong Jinghe before.

Shaking her head, although this happened strangely, it was still a good thing, so she stopped worrying about it, and felt that she should go get something she needed first.This time, due to falling into the water, I don't know where I hit on the way, and there were several large and small wounds for no reason, plus the old wounds that were split, it was really more embarrassing than before entering the stone forest, but she was more embarrassing than ever before. All full of confidence.

On the way to escape, she missed the abandoned martial arts more than once, but she never imagined that she could really get it back.For her, this is tantamount to a gift from heaven, and it also gives her greater courage to face the confused and dangerous future.

Two days later, Meilin arrived at a remote village with Murong Jinghe, who was still unconscious, on his back.The village is called Laowozi, located in a valley that is almost isolated from the world, where the land is barren and the villagers are poor. There is only one road leading to the outside of the mountain, but there is an old man who knows herbs and can cure diseases.

Meilin was brought here by a hunter who met in the forest.The hunter stumbled and hung on the cliff, and she was caught by her who was going to pick wild fruits, and she rescued him.The hunter was from Laowozi Village, and seeing that she was wounded and carrying a sick person, he led them back to the village.

There are no more than [-] or [-] households in the village, most of them live in the flat land in the heart of the valley, and a few households live in the mountains.The old man lives alone at the end of the village, in two dilapidated thatched houses that are not protected from the wind.Meilin was really taken aback when the hunter brought them there.

The old man only knew how to treat common minor ailments and pains, so he bought some herbal medicines for trauma for the two of them and confiscated the money, but he was helpless against Murong Jinghe's internal injuries, and he didn't see that Meilin was poisonous.

Mei Lin didn't hold out much hope, and she couldn't say she was disappointed.But the hunter who brought them here felt sorry for them, so when she heard that she wanted to live here, he actively helped them run around to make arrangements.I greeted the village head and all the villagers, and called some people to help clean up a house that had long been unoccupied. What should be repaired, what should be repaired, and what should be repaired. In just one day, Meilin and the others have got his footing.

That house was actually pretty good, with stone foundations and wooden beams. Although the walls were made of earth, they were so solidly rammed that there were no cracks.There are three main houses, a kitchen and a woodshed, with carved wooden windows, and a yard. Although it is a bit dilapidated, it is still better than most houses in the village.But the hunter didn't approve of them living in that house at first. He said that if they really wanted to stay, they could ask everyone to help them build two new houses.Because the family of the original owner of the house died one after another in the past few years, and no one was left alive. Everyone in the village said that it was the problem with the house, so after so long, no one wanted to move there. it.Regarding this, Mei Lin didn't mind very much, for her, it would be nice to have a place to stay, so there were so many things to pay attention to, she was even a little thankful that this place was so shunned by others, otherwise there would be no room for them.She persisted like this, what else could the hunter do, just give them a few more words of advice before they moved in.

After entering, looking at the things left in the house that had been used by the original owner, Meilin felt lucky again.

From pots, pillows and pans to bedding and clothes, everything is available. Although it is a bit worn out, and because it has not been used for a long time, it has already been covered with dust and moisture, but it is neatly placed there, and it is true that no one has touched it.This shows how deep the taboo of the villagers is about this house.

Meilin didn't dislike it.In fact, she didn't have any money, so she couldn't make so many things in a short period of time.And the hunters and those hospitable villagers themselves are poor enough, even if they want to help, they can't bring anything.

Meilin felt that her luck seemed to be slowly improving.

She was really busy for the next few days.Clean the room, remove and wash the quilts and those old clothes, and take advantage of the sun to dry all the quilts and other things, and cut the wormwood to smoke to get rid of the damp odor.He also went into the mountains to beat the roe deer and a few pheasants back, and ate them for a few days.Compared with those utensils, she doesn't have to worry too much about eating.

When she was almost ready and could take a breath, Murong Jinghe still didn't wake up, but her breath had calmed down, as if she was just asleep.This disturbed her, so she ran to the old man again.

The old man stroked his white beard and thought about it for a long time before he said tremblingly that using ginseng would probably work.After saying this, he sighed for a long time, naturally knowing that these words were in vain.People living in this small mountain village, let alone ginseng, may not even be able to afford the beard of ginseng.And Meilin and the others are especially poor, it can be said that they have nothing, even though they really don't look like poor people.

Sure enough, after saying this, Mei Lin was a little dazed, and asked after a while, "Is there any ginseng in this mountain?"

The old man shook his head.

So Meilin asked again: "Where is there ginseng?"

"There should be pharmacies in the city." The old man said, and then sighed again.

Mei Lin thanked her and walked back slowly.On the way, she met a hunter and learned from him that the city was tens of miles away, and it would take two or three days for people in the village to go to the city and back.

"Is it the capital city?" Meilin suddenly remembered that she still didn't know where this place was and how far it was from Zhaojing.

The hunter was surprised for a moment, and then laughed, "Of course not. I heard that the capital is hundreds of miles away from here. It's Anyang City."

Meilin was dumbfounded.It was only after returning home that she regained her composure, she couldn't help throwing herself beside the unconscious Murong Jinghe, leaning into his ear and whispering softly: "We are really near Anyang."

Although Murong Jinghe's face was pale, his expression was never before peaceful and serene. The trauma on his body from the bumps on the way to escape was all healed up, but he was still awake.

Meilin didn't know where the problem was, she would rather face the vitriolic but full of vitality Murong Jinghe than this quiet and powerless man.

"If you continue to sleep like this, I'll throw you into the mountains to feed the wolves." She muttered unhappily, stretched out her hand and gently squeezed the tall nose, straightened up and tucked him in the quilt, then turned and walked out. Door.

Mei Lin is a person with a less strong sense of right and wrong.In her heart, nothing is more important than being alive, so when necessary, she can do everything for it that others think shouldn't be done.She knew very well that those so-called etiquette, justice, integrity and shame can only be discussed when there is life, and it has nothing to do with her who has always dealt with death.

As for Murong Jinghe, according to what they thought when they first partnered, she would never put too much thought into saving him.Anyway, he has already escaped, if he dies like this, it will actually do her more good than harm.But now she wants to save him, no matter what the reason is, since she has made this decision, she will definitely save him.This kind of self-confidence is actually not blind arrogance, but because once she has decided on something, she will do whatever it takes to achieve it.

So, she went to Anyang, visited all the drugstores in the city, and when she returned to Laowozi Village, she brought back a bag of ginseng.She wondered how it would be enough for Murong Jing and him to eat for a while.The reason why she was so ruthless was because she was afraid that she would be alerted after doing it once, and it would not be so easy to take next time, and secondly, it was because the poison in her body was about to explode, and she might not have the energy to go into the city again.

It's just that she never expected that when she stepped into the house, Murong Jinghe had already woken up.

He was staring at the wooden window next to him in a daze, but when he heard the voice, he turned his head, his face was still pale, as calm as when he was in a coma, and he didn't change when he saw her.

"Get me something to eat." He said, but didn't ask anything, still in the usual commanding tone.

The surprise in Mei Lin's eyes was fleeting, he took two steps forward, stopped abruptly, nodded slightly, and went to the kitchen with the ginseng he brought back.After a while, she came in with a bowl of hot corn porridge.

"This is from yesterday, you eat some first." She said, ignoring his slightly frowning brows, helped him sit on the kang, put a mattress on his back for support, and began to feed him with a smile.

Murong Jinghe was just a little displeased, but didn't say anything, and finished a bowl of porridge in silence.In fact, he woke up in the middle of the night, when Meilin was on his way to Anyang.It was dark all around, and he could only see one or two twinkling stars through the cracks of the window occasionally. Facing everything quiet and strange, he couldn't help being afraid, but he couldn't find anyone to ask.This emotion lasted until Meilin returned.

He had to admit that the moment he saw Mei Lin, his heart that had been suspended all night immediately fell back to its original place.

(End of this chapter)