Xu Qing hesitated. He looked at the fruit and then at the peerless woman in front of him.
From the figure of the heir at the side and the motive for coming here, he could naturally guess who this was. However, he couldn't overlap the appearance of the other party in his memory when she first appeared in the northern ice plains to her current look.
The difference was too great.
Just now, he had been prepared to fight a battle with that Spirit Repository.
But now…
Xu Qing glanced at the tree and lost all interest. He then respectfully took the fruit.
"Thank you, Senior."
He felt that this wasn't bad either.
Princess Mingmei nodded slightly. She thought very highly of this junior in front of her. On one hand, it was because of her younger brother's recognition. On the other hand, she understood that her escape had some relation with this junior.
Hence, to someone who clearly distinguished gratitude and grudges, she couldn't stand her brother's so-called training and the awkwardness of giving gifts.
The heir was helpless. He wanted to train Xu Qing. However, since Third Sister had taken the initiative to give it to him, he could only smile.
"Then, shall we go?"
The prince looked at his third sister.
Princess Mingmei glanced at the heir's aged appearance and sighed inwardly. Although she knew that this was just the disguise of the heir, she could sense from the other party's expression that her younger brother really liked his current appearance.
'The elegant and famous heir of the ruler… Now, we're both old.'
'Our best years were sealed in a place where not even the sunlight could reach.'
Princess Mingmei shook her head and her appearance changed. She transformed into a kind-looking old lady and spoke calmly.
"You seem to be very comfortable in that apothecary."
The heir smiled and spoke softly.
"That small apothecary is warm."
Princess Mingmei fell into deep thought.
Xu Qing blinked and looked at the old man and old lady in front of him. He had a faint feeling that it wouldn't be long before he had an additional old shopkeeper in his apothecary.
At the thought that there would be two Soul Accumulation cultivators in this ordinary apothecary… Xu Qing was a little dazed.
"Let's go to the place where Fifth Sister and Eighth Brother were sealed. According to what we did in the temple last time, the bindings of their souls have been secretly broken, and now they can be awakened."
Princess Mingmei calmly spoke and walked forward.
The heir waved at Xu Qing and followed.
Xu Qing had a strange expression. He felt that he had miscalculated earlier. In the future, his apothecary might not have two Soul Accumulations but four.
'Perhaps, as the heir's siblings are unsealed, there will be more?'
When Xu Qing thought of this, even with his composure, his heart trembled. He couldn't help but look in the direction of his small apothecary.
Back then, when he opened an apothecary here, he didn't expect that one day… such a thing would happen.
Just like that, the three of them left.
The old grandfather and grandmother were moving in the sky while Xu Qing followed on the ground.
They walked in the sky while Xu Qing rumbled in the desert.
The softness of the desert caused Xu Qing, after retracting the power of the Purple Moon, to put in maximum effort with every step he took. A slight misstep, and he would sink into the sand.
Moreover, when some areas of the sand caved in, a huge suction force would appear, making it difficult for Xu Qing to crawl out.
In front of his elder sister, the heir seemed to have lost some of his elderly demeanor, like an old playful child, joyfully watching. After observing for a few days, Princess Mingmei waved her hand and pulled Xu Qing out from a depression in the desert.
Xu Qing felt a bit embarrassed; he had been climbing there for two hours.
"A good child, turned into what kind of state by your torment!"
Princess Mingmei glanced at the heir unhappily. The heir was about to speak.
"Did you think of the punishment Father gave you when you were young? This iron ball looks a little familiar. It's the one Father tied to you back then, right?"
Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the heir. He also discovered that every time he struggled to crawl these few days, the heir would look at him with reminiscence and joy.
The heir laughed and changed the topic.
"Third Sister, the place Fifth Sister is sealed in is a little special, different from ours. I went there to sense it before."
Princess Mingmei, holding onto Xu Qing, nodded slightly.
"How special?"
"Fifth Sister wasn't sealed in reality." A solemn expression appeared on the heir's face. His eyes revealed a strange glint and his voice became hoarse.
"She is sealed in a nursery rhyme."
Princess Mingmei fell into deep thought. Xu Qing sensed strange when he heard this. Even though he had experienced many things, this was the first time he had heard that nursery rhymes could be used for sealing.
"At the foot of the Black Centipede Mountain in the south, there's a small mountain village."
"This village has existed for a long time. Even if it encounters a disaster and becomes a dead village, it will often appear again after some time."
"There has always been a nursery rhyme circulating in the village…"
The heir's voice, carrying a sense of vicissitudes, echoed as he walked forward.
"Fifth Sister was sealed in this nursery rhyme. When no one in the world remembers this nursery rhyme, Fifth Sister will completely die."
"However, our divine son younger brother wants to torture Fifth Sister. How could he let her die? So, other than remembering it himself, he always arranged for others to remember it."
"At the same time, he borrowed the power of the Crimson Goddess, causing this nursery rhyme to cause great harm to Fifth Sister every time it was recited. It was like the pain of devouring flesh. The reason why he chose that small village was because that place… was the legacy of Fifth Sister's bloodline. The people living there were all her descendants.
Xu Qing was moved.
Princess Mingmei fell silent, and her eyes revealed anger and sorrow. This was because she could hear the hidden meaning behind the heir's words.
That place used the nursery rhyme method to cut out the flesh of Fifth Sister and was given to them by the divine son, becoming the food they had eaten in the past years.
The heir fell silent.
The sadness grew deeper and deeper in the silence. On the way, Princess Mingmei didn't speak anymore and the heir didn't speak either. The three of them left the green sand desert and this county. They crossed the west and went to the south of the Moon Worship Region to reach their destination.
For ordinary cultivators, it might take a lifetime to traverse such distances without relying on teleportation. However, under the footsteps of the heir and Princess Mingmei, it only took a day to cross the vast expanse.
Moreover, this was because they had to consider Xu Qing's endurance. Otherwise, it might only take an instant.
As for this destination, it was an endless jungle that was filled with rot, giving off a feeling of desolation and death.
In the depths, Xu Qing saw a special mountain peak.
This mountain was about 8,000 feet tall, like a huge centipede stretching its fangs toward the sky.
The tentacles of the centipede were also clearly visible, lifelike.
A malevolent feeling gushed into Xu Qing's heart the moment his gaze met it.
He sensed the fiendish aura and the dense resentment that appeared to have accumulated for countless years.
This was the Black Centipede Mountain that the heir had mentioned.
The sky here was pitch-black and one could faintly see countless black clouds permeating the air. That was formed by resentment that didn't dissipate all year round.
Only bolts of lightning continued to flash and thunder rumbled in all directions.
It was like the mournful roars of all living beings venting their unwillingness.
At the foot of the mountain, there was a village surrounded by a dried-up fence.
The village wasn't big and was built against the mountain. Most of the houses inside were grayish-black and gave off an ominous feeling. The ground was also covered in dirty marks.
It seemed that because this place was isolated from the world and the rumbling of the world also stopped outsiders from coming, numbness was the norm for the residents here.
Also, because they were in a desolate place, depression became the main theme.
When all of this fused together, it decayed under the passage of time.
Only the children… due to their nature, they didn't seem to have so many worries. They treated the lightning formed by resentment as fireworks. Hence, as the lightning continuously flashed across the sky, they were jumping around and chanting a nursery rhyme.
Although there were only five to six of them, their voices strangely spread far away.
"Once upon a time, there was a big doll, followed by a row of little dolls. Ten dolls, six, seven, eight, with red eyes and gray hair. Silent all day long, the older children saw and shouted, 'Kids, don't fear…"
"Until one day suddenly, the big doll got sick, the second doll looked, the third doll bought medicine, the fifth doll boiled, the sixth doll died, the seventh doll laughed, the eighth doll dug a hole, the ninth doll jumped, the tenth doll's tears fell on the ground. I went to ask him why he was crying…"
"The fourth doll is lost and won't come back!"
The nursery rhyme drifted, seeming to possess a strange power. Even the sound of thunder couldn't suppress it. It spread outside the village and entered the ears of Xu Qing and the other two, who appeared at the village entrance at that moment.
Princess Mingmei had a complicated expression. The heir closed his eyes to hide the pain in them.
Xu Qing exhaled softly inwardly.
The ruler had five daughters and ten sons. According to the imperial custom, males were in one group, females in another.
This nursery rhyme referred to the ten sons of the ruler back then. Among them, the fourth son… Xu Qing knew that he was the divine son of the Red Moon Shrine.
As for the big doll, he was the heir.
From the heir's expression, Xu Qing guessed that back then, he might have… really fallen sick.
As for the cause of the illness, Xu Qing didn't know but he sensed that it might be related to Red Moon and Crimson Goddess.
"If you want to know why the fourth doll is lost, the big doll knows it best, knows it best!"
Xu Qing fell silent and gazed upon the heir.
The heir opened his eyes and stared at the village as he uttered softly.
"Fifth Sister's soul has already awakened. The way to undo the seal… is for you, Third Sister, to use your authority to transform all the traces of everyone who has appeared here from ancient times to the present, and make the nursery rhyme that echoed in this place for countless years drift."
"Xu Qing, during this process, we need the power of your Purple Moon. This is the key to opening the sealed place."
"As for me, I'll do my best to change the cognition of the world and hide all fluctuations. For ten breaths, I'm confident that even if the Red Moon Shrine pays attention to me at all times, they won't be able to sense anything."
"However, there are only ten breaths of time."
The heir turned his head and gazed upon Princess Mingmei.
"That's enough."
As Princess Mingmei spoke, she took a step forward and lifted her right hand to point at the village in front of her. Immediately, the color of the sky altered and a storm brewed. Even the lightning in the sky stopped at this moment.
A river of time suddenly manifested and flowed through the village.
The river water surged and waves churned, splashing up countless water foam that floated in the world, transforming into countless figures.
As long as it was someone born here, their time would be scooped out by Princess Mingmei. More and more time passed in the village.
Three breaths later, they were densely packed and there were countless of them.
All the residents in the village walked out of their houses in a daze.
At this moment, the living gathered toward their souls.
The world rumbled and the void trembled. As the river of time flowed, the chanting of life and death, the praises from the present and the past echoed in all directions.
"Once upon a time, there was a big doll, followed by a row of little dolls…"
"Until one day…"
