Acai's Sky

Chapter 882 The Little Nun Going Down the Mountain 24

Countless red threads flew out of the carriage and wrapped around Ah Cai's wrist. At the critical moment, 00541 suddenly pounced on the brocade box in Du Yanran's hand, which contained half a lotus jade pendant.

The moment the jade pendant fell to the ground, the birthmark on Acai's shoulder and the wrist bones of the skeleton glowed at the same time, and the two lotus shadows merged into one in the air, turning into a blade of light that split the carriage in half.

With a clang, the carriage crashed into the old locust tree. Du Yanran scrambled out of the carriage in a panic, her temples already frosted. "Do you think that destroying the secret record will solve the problem? The Emperor wants the longevity technique, the Minister wants power, and I—"

She stared at the birthmark on Ah Cai's shoulder, a mad flash in her eyes. "As long as my daughter's soul can come back, I will go to hell!"

Before he finished speaking, the sound of an official sedan chair was heard in the distance, and the jade ring of the Minister of Personnel flashed coldly in the firelight.

Ah Cai suddenly remembered the "July 15th" in the secret letter, the soul-locking formation in the basement, and the seven-star lamp in the ancestral hall.

She knew that what was revealed that night was just the tip of the iceberg. A bigger conspiracy was hidden in the ruins of the Bo Mansion, in the remaining pages of the secret records, and in the calculations behind everyone's eyes.

"Let's go!" Ah Da cut the last few red lines, and everyone ran deep into the alley.

When passing by the old locust tree, Ah Cai looked back and saw two lotus flowers emerging from the soil beside the skeleton, one as red as blood, the other as white as frost. They swayed gently in the night wind, like a pair of sisters who finally reunited and recounted their ten-year separation.

When the inn's oil lamps were relit, daybreak had already begun. Ah Cai stared at the fragments of the secret record on the table, illuminated by the firelight. The eight words "Twin lotus flowers bloom, grudges and grievances are resolved" were particularly clear.

She knew that her story had just begun - with the red lotus on her shoulders, the sister of the Xiahou family under the locust tree, and this group of companions who shared life and death with her, she would eventually carve out a path of her own in this treacherous world, even if the road ahead was full of thorns, conspiracies, and unfinished grudges.

A Cai touched the birthmark on her neck and shoulder. It was no longer hot, but felt warmer, as if a little life had finally found its way home.

Outside the window, the fire in the Bo Mansion gradually went out, leaving only a few wisps of green smoke floating towards the sky.

The first ray of sunlight at dawn is penetrating the clouds, shining on the old locust tree in the back alley, on the two twin lotuses that have just bloomed, and on this morning that is about to usher in a new life.

...

"She must be buried properly."

Ah Cai looked at the skeleton she had brought from under the locust tree. The blue birthmark on her wrist was as pale as melting frost in the morning light. "Since the old marquis didn't have the heart to drown her, he couldn't let her lie in the tree hole for another ten years."

Tong Jiayuan nodded, his fingertips tracing the image of the twin lotuses on the fragmented pages of the secret record: "Now that the twin soul-guiding lotuses have appeared, it is only right that the souls return to the same grave."

He suddenly looked up, his gaze landing on the red lotus on Ah Cai's neck. "Miss, do you know that the Tong family secret records say that if twin lotuses coexist for a hundred days, they can change destiny?"

00541 suddenly jumped from the skeleton onto the table, brushing Xiao Yi's nose with his tail. "Don't be so sentimental yet. Do you smell it? I hear the sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of the Earl's Mansion. I'm afraid it's the Minister's men coming."

Its amber eyes reflected the morning light. "Last night, we burned the Soul Locking Formation and destroyed the Secret Records. Those people have given up their hopes and I'm afraid they'll resort to desperate measures."

Ah Da's knife clicked into its sheath. "I'll go keep watch outside." He walked to the door and suddenly turned back. The bloodstains on his wrist guard glowed dark red in the morning light. "Miss, no matter what the old marquis did back then, the seven-star lamp in the ancestral hall...I'm afraid it's still lit."

Morning light filtered through the carved window lattices, casting tiny specks of light on the blue brick floor. Ah Cai touched the missing birthmark on the skeleton's wrist bone and suddenly remembered what Old Zhou had said: "The night the old marquis returned with the child, the water in the lotus pond remained red for half the night."

She suddenly turned to Tong Jiayuan and asked, "The secret records say that 'taking a soul requires severing family ties,' but Xiahou Chun drowned his great-granddaughter. Does that count as severing two lines of kinship?"

Tong Jiayuan's finger stopped at a certain page of the secret record: "What is severed is the Xiahou family's kinship, and what is continued is the Tong family's bloodline."

His voice was low, "The old marquis probably knew long ago that after the Tong family was wiped out, the only way to preserve your bloodline was to use the shell of the Xiahou family—even if it meant sacrificing his granddaughter's life."

Suddenly, hurried footsteps were heard at the entrance of the alley. Xiaojia rushed in from outside, his sleeves still stained with morning dew. "Miss! Someone from the Bo Mansion is carrying a coffin to the ancestral tomb. Leading the way is Xiahou Shanhe, and the coffin is engraved with 'Xiahou Miaozhen'!"

He gasped, his eyes fixed on the skeleton, "Miaozhen... is this the baby girl who drowned ten years ago?"

Ah Cai stood up suddenly, the skeletal wrist bones gleaming in the morning light: "They want to destroy the body!"

She turned to look at 00541 and asked, "Do the twin lotuses under the locust tree in the back alley coincide with the location of the ancestral grave?"

00541 shook his tail and said, "It's the 'Yaoguang' position of the Big Dipper. The ancestral tomb is at 'Tianshu', and the locust tree is at 'Yaoguang'. There's a dark river in between -"

It slashed its claws across the table. "Back then, the old marquis set up the 'Northern Dipper Soul Locking Formation,' with two lotuses restraining twin souls. Now the bright lotus has appeared, and the dark lotus has been unearthed. The core of the formation has been broken, and they are panicking."

Xiao Yi suddenly woke up and wiped the peanut crumbs from the corner of his mouth. "Then let's go to the ancestral grave and stir things up!" He shook the porcelain bottle of truth pills. "It's a good time to try out the new and improved pills. Even ghosts can speak human language!"

The ancestral tomb was on the back mountain of the Bo Mansion. In the morning mist, more than twenty servants were carrying the coffin into the Forest of Steles.

A Cai hid behind a tree and saw Xiahou Shanhe holding a jade box in his hand, which was the one in the secret compartment in the basement.

00541 suddenly called out softly, "Inside the jade box is the other half of the jade pendant, which the old marquis used to seal his soul!"

When the coffin fell in front of the "Xiahou Miaozhen" monument, Acai suddenly rushed out, and the red lotus on her shoulder shone like blood beads in the morning mist.

Xiahou Shanhe looked up, a flash of fear in his eyes: "You, what are you..."

Before he could finish his words, the jade box fell to the ground with a "bang", revealing half of a lotus jade pendant with fresh bloodstains on the missing corner.

"Ten years ago, your father didn't dare to drown her, yet you dare to mutilate her body?"

Ah Cai stared at the words on the tombstone. "Miaozhen...what a nice name. It's a pity that she wasn't even included in the family tree, and became a sacrifice in the Soul Locking Formation."

She bent down to pick up the jade pendant, fitting it perfectly onto the red string around the skeleton's wrist. "Do you know why the twin lotus flowers bloomed this morning? Because it's time to pay off your Xiahou family's debt."

Suddenly, the sound of bells was heard in the morning mist. The official sedan chair of the Minister of Personnel came from the other end of the mountain road, and the jade ring shone coldly in the mist.

At the same time, Ah Da's knife was unsheathed, and the blade reflected the red lotus tattoo of the man in red next to the minister - it was the father-in-law who escaped last night.

"Daughter of the Tong family," the Minister smiled as he lifted the curtain of the sedan chair. "I hope you are well. The Emperor has heard that the Tong family possesses the 'Longevity Spell' and is looking forward to having you visit the palace."

He raised his hand, and the red-clothed men instantly dispersed, forming a lotus formation. "You destroyed the secret record last night. It doesn't matter. As long as you are here..."

He tapped his chest with his fingertips and said, "With the blood of the Tong family, I won't have to worry about not being able to refine the elixir of immortality."

Ah Cai suddenly understood why the old marquis wanted to exchange the child, why Du Yanran wanted to abuse her, and why the minister had been keeping an eye on the Bo Mansion for ten years - they were all keeping an eye on the Tong family bloodline and the twin lotuses.