He asked rudely, “When can you leave?”
Xing Shuishui asked, “Why?”
He Liansheng looked at her expressionlessly. Xing Shuishui touched her neck and thought this person was quite strange. She hadn’t complained about He Lianshui, yet he complained about Xing Shengsheng first.
What an uncouth person.
After everyone got dressed, they set off for the Divine Mountain Manor. Jade flower petals floated in the sky along the way.
The closer they got to the manor, the stronger the flower fragrance became. Xing Shuishui observed the recruitment area for a while. The place seemed well-organized. The east gate recruited civilians willing to grow flowers. The west gate recruited workers for the Divine Mountain Manor.
It wasn’t like this many years ago.
She remembered when she came to Luodan Country with her sister – this Divine Mountain Manor was just an inn for people to rest. Now it seemed like a workshop.
What did they want to do with so many jade flowers?
Xing Shuishui was lost in thought when it was her turn. She walked forward.
The manager looked at her: “You’re too skinny and short. This place isn’t suitable for you. Next.”
The crowd behind laughed. Most people here were former laborers, while she looked very weak, like she came to cause trouble. Xing Shuishui glanced at He Liansheng and others who had already passed through, then showed her palms to the manager: “Being skinny and short doesn’t mean I can’t do it. I can work, and I can work well.”
The manager looked at the calluses on her hands and tossed her a token: “Then go in.”
After a hundred years, Xing Shuishui returned here again.
Divine Mountain Manor had undergone earth-shattering changes. The courtyard housed many stone pestles and mortars. Workers sat clustered on the ground, left hand holding pestles, right hand holding mortars, thump thump thump – grinding jade flowers into paste.
The supervisors were people wearing white robes. They would whip those who were lazy. Xing Shuishui observed secretly and quickly noticed something was wrong.
Those workers sitting on the ground had lifeless eyes. Even when whipped, they showed no reaction, only focused on grinding jade flowers, with no awareness of the outside world. This inevitably reminded her of those puppets from before.
Were they being controlled?
“What are you spacing out for?” The person leading them in spoke coldly.
Xing Shuishui hurried to catch up, following them to their lodgings.
The manager threw each of them a set of clothes: “You’ve seen what needs to be done. Change into these clothes today and tomorrow you’ll join them grinding flowers. No meals until you finish grinding a thousand flowers!”
After he left, several people gathered together.
Li Guanyu set up a sound barrier and asked He Liansheng: “He Lian, you must have noticed too?”
He Liansheng said: “No traces of puppetry.”
Xing Shuishui pretended to be confused: “Huh? Where are the puppets? Aren’t they just grinding flowers?”
Li Guanxing said: “How would a mortal like you notice!”
Li Guanyu explained: “Those people grinding flowers seem off, like they’re controlled by puppetry, but there are no traces of magic on them.”
“Besides, haven’t you noticed? Since we came in until now, the sun has set, but they haven’t stopped. They keep grinding flowers. No rest.”
It did seem to be that way.
No rest, just exploitation.
Xing Shuishui suddenly realized this was actually a sweatshop.
Li Guanxing frowned: “We can’t stay here long. Something’s wrong. I’ve only been here a short while but my consciousness feels fuzzy, like early symptoms of being affected.”
Li Guanyu said: “I feel it too…”
Xing Shuishui was about to say she hadn’t felt anything wrong.
Suddenly something occurred to her – wait, the flower fragrance. The flower fragrance here had always been problematic, much more concentrated than outside. But because she was a peach spirit, the jade flower fragrance affected her less.
She also pretended to hold her head, mumbling: “The smell here is so strong, makes me want to sleep.”
Li Guanyu’s eyes lit up: “The flower fragrance!”
He continued: “I see now, the flower fragrance here can control people’s minds. Smell it long enough and even a normal person becomes someone who only knows how to grind flowers. Seems someone urgently needs large amounts of jade flowers. What are they used for?”
No one could guess.
Xing Shuishui asked: “What do we do now?”
He Liansheng sneered: “What to do?”
He stood up: “Catch one of those useless people and ask what this is for.”
What if they don’t know? Wouldn’t it be a waste if we caught the wrong person!
Xing Shuishui felt something hard under where she sat. She stood up and found a notebook under the bed. It must have been left by the previous resident.
Opening the notebook, she saw several lines of text.
Luo Year 372, August 3rd. I came to Divine Mountain Manor with my cousin. Heard the treatment here is good, easier than building dams.
August 4th. Daily task is grinding flowers. No food if we don’t finish. I noticed my cousin becoming increasingly confused, like being controlled by something, often spacing out. I also feel myself losing consciousness sometimes, mind only thinking about grinding flowers, grinding flowers, grinding until death. Like I was born just to grind flowers.
August 9th. Something’s wrong with the jade flowers! Definitely wrong! I talked with others, they noticed too. To stay awake, we cut ourselves with daggers. So painful, much more than building dams. What to do? How to get out?
August 12th. We accidentally found the Flower King. Maybe burning it would end everything, let us return home safely. Hope all goes well, my sister stays safe, hope they all escape the flower disaster.
August 15th. Hahahahaha, can’t burn it! Can’t burn it! It’s alive, it’s over, everything’s over, someone save us! We were discovered.
The last line was written in blood: If you ever see this notebook, don’t be hopeful, run! Run! Leave here, leave Luodan Country! Run to Spirit Mountain for immortals’ help! The whole jade flower thing is a huge conspiracy! This country faces an unprecedented disaster, run!
So people had noticed something wrong before they came.
Xing Shuishui showed it to Li Guanyu. After quickly scanning it, Li Guanyu frowned: “Where did you find this?”
Xing Shuishui pointed to the bed.
Li Guanxing said: “Sister. Perhaps killing the Flower King mentioned in this notebook would end Luodan Country’s flower disaster.”
Xing Shuishui asked: “Do you know where the Flower King is?”
Li Guanxing fell silent.
The urgent matter was finding the Flower King.
On a dark windy night, the grinding sounds outside stopped as most people entered dreamland. They planned to take this chance to explore, splitting up to search. Originally they weren’t going to bring Xing Shuishui. But she worried about being unsafe alone, so she followed He Liansheng.
It would be best if demons were involved with the jade flowers, then he would likely use the Demon Suppression Pagoda. Xing Shuishui sensed no demon energy upon entering Divine Mountain Manor. These Spirit Mountain people must have noticed too.
Night patrols were very strict, same people as those supervising workers during day. Security here was even tighter than the palace, encountering guards every few steps, not even a fly could get in.
The most heavily guarded place was likely where the Flower King was. But reaching this place, Xing Shuishui had a familiar feeling – this was where her sister died…
She instantly felt cold, like falling into an ice pit. Everything from that night with her sister was vivid, too painful.
For a long time after, she dared not set foot in Divine Mountain Manor.
He Liansheng pushed open the door, tone emotionless: “What are you spacing out for? Hurry in.”
Seeing her still standing there, he frowned.
The flower fragrance affected people’s minds, naturally stronger closer to the Flower King.
Xing Shuishui suddenly realized she wasn’t completely unaffected.
The patrol noticed something unusual in this direction.
“Seems like something’s over there? Quick, go check.”
As lanterns approached, surroundings grew brighter.
He Liansheng’s eyes turned cold. He pulled Xing Shuishui into a gap between two walls, acting violently without thinking. She only came to her senses after bumping into his chest.
Her forehead hurt slightly. Brain fuzzy.
It was so quiet they could only hear heartbeats, thump thump – thump thump –
In such a strange atmosphere, Xing Shuishui dared not raise her head.
They both froze simultaneously.
His fingers still rested on her arm. Xing Shuishui looked down – when would he move his hand? He kept gripping so hard it hurt, showing no consideration for women at all.
Such an unlikeable man.
The patrol was just steps away. Peach Spring Sword was already half-drawn. One step closer and it could cut off their heads.
“Strange, clearly heard something here.”
“Check over there?”
After they left, He Liansheng pushed her away roughly. Xing Shuishui almost fell, steadying herself against the wall she gave him a puzzled look – she hadn’t complained about him, which was already quite nice.
He Liansheng’s expression looked difficult.
No one knew that when he grabbed Xing Shuishui in the gap, his heart suddenly paused, as if such a scene had occurred many years ago. A sense of déjà vu.
He stared at Xing Shuishui’s face. Impossible.
This was just an ordinary mortal.
Xing Shuishui got goosebumps from his staring. Since she pulled off his forehead band, he often stared at her with strange eyes. That… that thing wasn’t something important like a betrothal token, right…
Please no.
He Liansheng said coldly: “Still spacing out?”
Xing Shuishui consciously kept distance: “I’m not spacing out, you’re spacing out!”
He Liansheng gave her a mocking look.
The courtyard had a barrier. Anyone setting up formations would notice anomalies. He Liansheng was rather arrogant. He raised his hand and broke the formation, talisman fire shooting straight at the Flower King.
This all seemed normal.
But Xing Shuishui suddenly felt everything was too smooth – from discovering how to solve the jade flower problem to finding the Flower King.
Finding the notebook upon entering the manor, learning they needed to destroy the Flower King, then finding it. This flower protection barrier seemed like decoration. How could such a simple barrier be set to protect something so important?
So smooth it seemed like a trap.
Having a bad premonition, she called out: “He Liansheng, you first…”
Too late.
The Flower King’s white petals bloomed under moonlight, fragrance rising. The rich scent differed from normal jade flowers. Since being reborn, this was the first time she felt such intense danger.
Xing Shuishui instinctively covered her nose and mouth, but it was useless. Just one light breath and she lost consciousness.
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