The last memory Liu Meihong and the other three had was of four snakes emerging from a clay pot.
"Red, with wings, soft, sticky, they burrowed straight into Old Zhou's neck. I was so scared then, I quickly hid behind a rock. The three of them were shouting and crying. I felt my body go weak, and then that snake found me and burrowed into my stomach through my mouth..."
Liu Meihong didn't want to recall any further.
Qin Yexuan's expression grew increasingly serious. "Besides that, the young man who harmed you... can you remember what he looked like?"
Liu Meihong looked up. "I, I can draw him."
Qin Yexuan found her paper and pen. Trembling with fear, Liu Meihong drew a sketch.
She had some talent for drawing. Though it wasn't lifelike, it perfectly captured the young man's features.
"He was very handsome, with a sunny disposition. The only distinctive feature was a mole between his eyebrows, like, like a speck of clear sand. That's all I remember."
Liu Meihong lowered her head, then suddenly her body trembled, as if she remembered something else.
Qin Yexuan comforted her, "Don't rush, think slowly."
"That bastard was singing. While we were being controlled by the snake demon, he was actually singing. I was very scared then, but his voice was too unique, and the lyrics were particularly strange."
Liu Meihong was a very intelligent woman, and women are sensitive to certain things.
But her memory was fragmented.
Liu Meihong knew the matter was important, and she tried hard to recall. "Sir, you saved me. I am immensely grateful. Any information that might be useful to you, I must remember."
Liu Meihong recalled with resilience. "Now that I think about it, the song he sang must be useful information."
Qin Yexuan exerted his Mind Control technique to its utmost, helping her recall with all her might.
"Yes, it was three lines of a rhyme, more like a riddle..."
Liu Meihong spoke slowly, her eyes closed, returning to that terrifying memory.
Then, she slowly wrote it down on the paper.
After a long while, she collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat, and began to cry again.
The memory was simply too terrifying.
Qin Yexuan didn't rush to see the "rhyming riddle." He gently helped her up. "What are your plans next? I can help you clear that memory now, but it will take some time."
"No, I can't clear that memory!"
Liu Meihong suddenly became agitated. "If I lose that memory, I'll continue to live in this city like an idiot, and every event, every person will remind me again."
Qin Yexuan nodded. "Memory is a terrible thing. The clearing technique isn't infallible."
"You seem like an important person. Can you help me leave?" Liu Meihong pleaded.
"I can arrange for you to go to the Goryeo Continent."
Liu Meihong shook her head desperately. "Can it be further away? The farther the better. I'd rather go to Black Continent, to the North Pole, even the South Pole."
In her mind, getting away from this world, preferably to a desolate place, was the best option.
Qin Yexuan said calmly, "I have a disciple on the Goryeo Continent who can look after you. I can't guarantee your safety elsewhere."
Liu Meihong hesitated for a long time and then nodded. "Thank you very much, sir. All my money, savings, and houses, I can give them to you."
"I don't need them. However, you once... after you were possessed, you were with a boy from Chaoge Academy."
Qin Yexuan rubbed his nose and tactfully mentioned Wu Yuefeng, the one who wanted to be an internet celebrity.
Liu Meihong's face turned red. "No, that wasn't me. After I was possessed by the snake demon, I became a monster, a fat, ugly monster. All those things were done by the snake demon. I don't know that boy, and I don't want to know him!"
Qin Yexuan's eyes flickered. "That's not what I meant. According to the video at the time, the snake demon used your body to do such things without any protection. I'm worried... you might develop pregnancy-like changes within you."
He was still being tactful, but Liu Meihong was terrified, almost grabbing scissors to stab her own stomach. Sudan Novel Network.
Qin Yexuan sighed and called Ling Su in. "Give her a full body check-up. Once confirmed there are no issues, send her to Lie Yuanzun on the Goryeo Continent. Tell Yuanzun to protect her as much as possible."
Liu Meihong was extremely grateful. After leaving with Ling Su, she suddenly ran back in excitement not long after.
She gripped Qin Yexuan's hands tightly. "Sir, one last thing. When I was possessed by the snake demon, I occasionally regained consciousness. Not long ago, Old Zhou and the other three of us ate something from that clay pot."
Qin Yexuan nodded. "It was ashes from burnt jade. It was some kind of ancient shamanistic ritual."
"It's not just that. The four of us also heard a word at the time!"
"What word?"
"It sounded like, 'Emperor's Fish'?"
Liu Meihong said sheepishly, "As a cook, when I heard those three words, I just thought it was a type of fish!"
At this moment, Qin Yexuan's whole body trembled, unable to believe it. "Emperor's Fish... No, you misheard. Was it 'Tian Zhi Yu'?"
Liu Meihong was also shocked. "Yes, it was Tian Zhi Yu!"
Qin Yexuan waved his hand gently, letting her leave.
He sat in the cramped little room, his eyes closed in deep thought.
Tian Zhi Yu was no ordinary thing.
Three thousand years ago, the outcome of the Battle of Muye was decided. The peerlessly handsome, immensely strong, and ambitious King Zhou of Shang sadly returned to Lutai, wrapped himself in magnificent robes, and self-immolated to death.
"In the past, Zhou was defeated in the southern suburbs. King Zhou of Shang, with jade wrapped around his body, self-immolated. Five days later, King Wu ordered a search for heavenly jade, finding five pieces of Tian Zhi Yu that had not been destroyed by the fire."
Qin Yexuan's eyes flickered. "On the Jiazhi day, King Zhou of Shang was defeated outside the Shang capital. That night, King Zhou took five 'Tian Zhi Yu' jade pieces, wore them, and set himself on fire. Someone then informed King Wu, and five days later, King Wu ordered a thousand-man leader to lead his men in search. Four thousand common jade had been destroyed by the fire, but the five pieces of Tian Zhi Yu were intact. King Wu regarded these Tian Zhi Yu as treasures."
What no one knew was that the Tian Zhi Yu found by King Wu were fake. The real one was singular, held within King Zhou's mouth, disappearing along with that great demon.
The mastermind behind it all, that young man with the mole, was looking for the jade King Zhou had in his mouth when he died.
Therefore, the place where the Liuyang River Restaurant was located was the former Lutai!
Qin Yexuan picked up Liu Meihong's paper and looked at the three riddle-like verses.
"Blood that seems divine yet is not, stone that seems jade yet is not, a woman who seems human yet is not."