Chapter 911 877: White Bones

The thoughts of women and men are indeed different; in the current situation, the first thing Xu Chunliang thinks of is how to escape.

However, Cao Mulan's mind is filled with the events of the past two days. Xiahou Zun has entrusted the business to her over the years, and she has been handling both major and minor matters for the Weary Sect herself; she never thought of relying on a man. But after this guardian sand disappeared, her personality underwent a subtle change—she was even too lazy to consider how to escape, forming a strange notion that Xu Chunliang should be able to resolve this issue.

Now, Xu Chunliang is taking the lead, with her assisting from the sidelines. She suddenly realized that she had started choosing to show weakness and compliance before Xu Chunliang, something unimaginable in the past—could it be because he did that thing to her? Aside from that, they didn't truly know each other.

Cao Mulan's pretty face heated up, thankfully, Xu Chunliang was turned away from her, unable to see her shy appearance.

The steps extended down to the stone chamber, where Xu Chunliang saw two skeletal remains.

One lay on the ground with a knife still embedded in the chest, while the other knelt nearby, embracing the deceased.

Xu Chunliang immediately recognized the one lying on the ground as a man, and the one kneeling and holding him as a woman. Although man and woman had turned to bones, the shapes of their skeletons were different.

From the scene's condition, it can be inferred that the man was stabbed first, the woman discovered it, brought him here, and then got trapped. Their bodies were left here together.

Cao Mulan picked up an old pocket watch from the ground, opening it to find the watch hands had stopped moving; inside was a photograph.

The photo depicted a family of three, with both parents being very attractive, holding a cute little girl between them.

Cao Mulan immediately recognized the little girl as herself; there was no need to ask—the other two in the photo were her parents.

Inside the pocket watch were engraved names—Xiahou Zun, Cao Xinzhu, Xiahou Mulan.

Xiahou Zun was her father, Cao Xinzhu her mother, and Xiahou Mulan naturally herself.

When she just started understanding things, Xiahou Zun told her that her surname was Cao to commemorate her mother, who died during childbirth. It turned out everything was a lie—the two deceased before her were her real parents, and the current Xiahou Zun was highly likely an impostor. Her personal history, everything about her mother, was all woven into lies by this despicable, shameless swindler.

Gazing at her parents' bones and seeing their tragic state in death, Cao Mulan's tears instantly flowed; she resolved, from now on, she would be called Xiahou Mulan.

Xu Chunliang roughly guessed the situation; she was already suffering greatly, so there was no need to rub salt in her wounds.

If this was the real Xiahou Zun, then who was the impostor outside?

Xu Chunliang searched the stone chamber but found nothing else.

Xiahou Mulan suddenly said, "This watch belonged to my dad; that person killed them." The person she was referring to was the impostor Xiahou Zun.

Xu Chunliang asked, "Why did he kill your parents?"

Xiahou Mulan replied, "Isn't it obvious? He wanted to monopolize this secret; he killed my father to replace him, becoming the Weary Sect Leader."

Xu Chunliang secretly pondered, Xiahou Zun wanted to monopolize not just Cao Cao's troop provisions route; he might have discovered Cao Mulan's special physique long ago, knowing that with careful cultivation, she could become a Profound Yin body. For Xiahou Zun, wealth meant nothing compared to the importance of absorbing Profound Yin Qi.

Xu Chunliang said, "Looks like your parents discovered the troop provisions route early; they might have been trapped here by Xiahou...that old bastard."

Xiahou Mulan said, "Maybe they hid here to escape pursuers, and because my dad was murdered, my mom didn't want to live alone." Since childhood, she had called that old rogue her father, in line with his insistence; now she understood why he did so.

Xu Chunliang said, "If your speculation is correct, there should be a passage here." He had already searched through the stone chamber without finding anything unusual, except for the area beneath Xiahou Mulan's parents' remains.

After obtaining Xiahou Mulan's consent, they moved the two skeletons together, and Xiahou Mulan pulled out the knife from her father's ribs. The knife was embedded in the rib, and so it remained in its original position for many years, with two characters engraved on the blade—Xinwei.

Xiahou Mulan pondered, as her mother was named Cao Xinzhu, could Xinwei be her brother? Could it be the name of the murderer?

Xu Chunliang said, "Mulan, look at the blood on the ground."

Xiahou Mulan followed his gaze and indeed saw a depression on the ground, with the color crimson red. Upon careful inspection, one could discern that this was a pool of old blood, about palm-sized—no doubt it belonged to her father.

Xu Chunliang said, "Don't you find something amiss?" He thought of a type of stone that dissolves upon contact with water, but he had only read about it in ancient texts and never seen it in reality.

Xiahou Mulan didn't see anything amiss; her father was fatally stabbed, of course he would bleed, leaving marks on the ground was completely normal.

Xu Chunliang said, "Given his wounds, it's impossible there was just this little blood; where did the rest go? Moreover, this stone has a depression, as if dissolved by something."

Xiahou Mulan said, "Perhaps the bleeding was stopped in time, or it seeped into the stone cracks." After more than twenty years, it was very difficult to infer the situation from the scene—perhaps time had faded the blood.

Xu Chunliang said, "Don't you think this blood stain is too neat? This stone is peculiar—could the blood have dissolved part of the stone?"

Xiahou Mulan didn't find anything peculiar; she had never heard of blood being able to dissolve stone.

Xu Chunliang tapped the stone, verifying it wasn't hollow underneath, and attempted to strike it—it was exceedingly hard.

Xu Chunliang wanted to find some water to test it, but after such a long time, the clothes on both of them were basically dry, and they didn't have water on them. Xu Chunliang asked Xiahou Mulan to turn around.

Xiahou Mulan didn't know what he wanted to do, but she turned to face the wall as he said and heard the sound of water behind her. She immediately understood what Xu Chunliang was doing. This guy was really thick-skinned. Was he not aware of the need for privacy right in front of her? But on second thought, Xu Chunliang did have her turn around.

Xu Chunliang wasn't being mischievous; he mainly wanted to see what was peculiar about this stone. After a stream of urine, the stone actually melted—it was indeed a mystery stone.

Inside the stone was a bronze dragon head, which also matched the characteristics of the mystery stone. The mystery stone is not naturally occurring but made according to a formula. Within half an hour of being made, it is as soft as mud and can be shaped into any form, but it hardens like iron stone and dissolves upon contact with water.

"Hey, look!"

Xiahou Mulan shook her head, "I'm not looking!" Thinking to herself what's there to see, it's not like she hasn't seen it before.

Xu Chunliang said, "Dragon head!"

Xiahou Mulan thought to herself you're really good at boasting, never seen a dragon head like yours.

Xu Chunliang said, "Bronze, just like the one outside."

Xiahou Mulan finally turned around and saw that Xu Chunliang had already pulled up his pants. The stone tainted with blood had mostly melted, revealing a bronze dragon head.

Xu Chunliang said, "See if you can twist it."

Xiahou Mulan gave him a glare; although she hadn't watched just now, don't think she didn't know what method he used to melt the stone. Asking her to touch that thing, wasn't she afraid of getting dirty? Actually, she wasn't unwilling, just a bit shy.

Xu Chunliang said, "Counterclockwise or clockwise? I'm afraid I might not get the measurement right, and if I twist it too hard and break it, it'll be troublesome. At this point, do you still think I'm dirty? Why didn't you say that earlier?"

Xiahou Mulan blushed and kicked him, "Get out of the way."

She understood now wasn't the time to worry about these trivial matters. If Xu Chunliang hadn't achieved the desired effect earlier, maybe she'd have to help. She reached out to grab the bronze dragon head and twisted it counterclockwise twice. She heard the east wall make a sliding sound as the whole wall moved aside, revealing an opening.

Xiahou Mulan illuminated the entrance with a light, excitedly saying, "This is the armory; we can leave now." She quickly realized the armory was not far from where the old villain secluded himself for training; wouldn't the sound here have not alerted him?

Xiahou Mulan had come to the armory countless times in the past but had never thought that the place where her parents were buried was just beyond a wall. The most important thing right now was to leave the passage used for transporting military supplies.

Xiahou Mulan led Xu Chunliang out of the armory, traversing the tunnel, and quickly reached beside the emergency passage. There are two ways to leave the passage used for transporting military supplies: one is the elevator inside the Hundred Herbs Building, and the other is the emergency passage that requires climbing up.

After opening the secret door to the emergency passage and before going in, they heard a strange laugh.

"Mulan, oh Mulan, never expected you could escape."

The fake Xiahou Zun appeared like a specter less than ten meters away from them.

Xiahou Mulan's heart sank. She wanted to leave quietly but didn't expect to alert the old villain.

Xu Chunliang shielded her behind him, speaking in a deep voice, "You go first; I'll handle him."

Xiahou Mulan said, "No, I'll stay with you."

The old villain felt both jealous and hateful, "It's true that women stand by men; I'm seeing it firsthand today. Neither of you will leave; I promise to bury you together after killing you."

Xiahou Mulan said, "Cao Xinwei!"

The old villain hesitated for a moment, "How... how do you know?"

Xiahou Mulan raised the knife in her hand and said, "You should recognize this knife, shouldn't you?"

Cao Xinwei's eyesight had regained about seventy to eighty percent, and seeing the knife, he immediately understood. He laughed heartily, saying, "Looks like you found your father's remains."

Xiahou Mulan was now completely certain that Cao Xinwei had killed her parents, her chest filled with deep-seated hatred, "Cao villain, give me back my parents' lives!" She gripped the knife, ready to rush forward, but Xu Chunliang stopped her, saying softly, "Mulan, you've just lost the Profound Yin Body; you need to recover well. Leave this old thing to me."

These words were actually meant for Cao Xinwei; Xu Chunliang wanted to provoke Cao Xinwei's anger.

Cao Xinwei had suspected at the well earlier after hearing the sounds of fervent activity that Xiahou Mulan had been taken by Xu Chunliang. Now, Xu Chunliang's words publicly announced that Xiahou Mulan's Profound Yin Body had been broken by him.

Perhaps now was still timely. Before Xu Chunliang could absorb Xiahou Mulan's Profound Yin Qi, he could try to draw the Profound Yin Qi from Xu Chunliang's body.

Cao Xinwei shouted, "Xu Chunliang, it's either you die or I die today!"

I'll be home by nine tonight and will repay all the debts next week.