Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 281 The soul returns
Zhou Zhao looked at Su Changying, his eyes full of admiration.

Her hands were behind her back, and her fingers curled up involuntarily.

She pursed her lips and swallowed the metallic taste rising in her throat.

"Let's scout ahead and find a way out, otherwise Ah Huang will get anxious. When he gets anxious, he might do something to hurt himself."

Su Changying nodded, walked to Zhou Zhao's side, and squatted down. "Your feet are swollen, I'll carry you on my back."

Zhou Zhao was taken aback and looked down at his ankle.

Earlier, in order to save Zhou Yan, she jumped suddenly from a high place and twisted her ankle when she landed, which she hadn't noticed before.

Zhou Zhao's face darkened as he thought about it. "When you saw me earlier, I wasn't running around like a monkey, was I?"

Su Changying squatted down and didn't get up. He understood what Zhou Zhao was hesitating about. "My injury is nothing. It's your sprained ankle that makes you walk slowly and that's what's causing the delay. Weren't you worried that if we were delayed for too long, Ah Huang would get anxious?"

Su Changying's words struck Zhou Zhao's weak spot. Without hesitation, she climbed onto Su Changying's back.

She carefully wrapped her arms around his neck, avoiding his wound.

Su Changying's back was very broad, and Zhou Zhao was quite tall; there were few girls in Chang'an who were taller than her. Now, lying on Su Changying's back, she felt as if she herself had become somewhat "petite."

She reached out, pulled out a handkerchief, and discreetly wiped away the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Su Changying remained silent, focusing intently on finding the cave's exit. Zhou Zhao, perched on his back, calmly began analyzing the current situation.

"Ten thousand ghosts wailed in the clouds, their souls returning home, regretting their meeting."

Zhou Zhao pondered this sentence in his heart.

The first sentence is easy to understand; "clouds" indicates the location. She initially mistook the wailing of countless ghosts for the time of death.

After all, back in the Lost City, the line about "the north wind blowing" meant that she would be stabbed when the north wind blew.

But when it came to pass, it was clear that there was something fishy about the wailing sound.

From the moment she climbed Yunjian Mountain and entered Yunjian Temple until now, it seems that her adoptive father wanted to manipulate her into killing Su Changying.

No, to be precise, it was the godfather who wanted to regain control of Su Changying and make Su Changying kill her.

Based on her understanding of Su Changying, if she were to die at his hands today, and he were to regain his memories one day—memories that are like a person's soul, as the saying goes, "when the soul returns"—he would be filled with immense regret, wishing he had died long ago in the case of Shan Ming and Changyang.

He wished he had never returned to Chang'an so he could reunite with her.

That is, "regret for meeting".

Even when she was in a daze and saw Zhou Yan in her own fantasy, and heard Zhou Yan say "Zhao Zhao, run!", she wondered if it meant that when her brother Zhou Yan's soul returned, it would be the time she was killed.

After all, she was like a madwoman at the time, wanting to kill the godfather she saw.

And her "godfather," who was also under her control, killed her at that time.

However, both of these guesses now appear to be incorrect.

Even if Su Changying is controlled, even if he forgets her, even if this happens a thousand times or ten thousand times, he will not kill her.

Since Su Changying isn't killing her, then what kind of dead end is this?
She will not die at all.

If it weren't a dead end, why would there be a "Letter to My Deceased Wife"?

The first deadly situation occurred in Tianying City. Qin Tianying was highly skilled in martial arts, and even if she were to face Su Changying and A Huang again, she could not guarantee that she would achieve that bloody victory.

The second deadly trap was at the Star-Picking Tower. If she hadn't been aware of it beforehand and hadn't been vigilant, she would have eaten the drugged pastry and died in the collapse of the Star-Picking Tower.

The third deadly predicament occurred in the Lost City. She was stabbed by her trusted junior, Chen Jiyuan, with a poisoned blade. If it weren't for her prior precautions, which prevented her from inflicting a fatal wound, and the fact that Su Changying had helped her expel the poison through her internal energy and administered a potent pill…

This time, she was in grave danger; the slightest mistake could have killed her in the labyrinthine city.

The first three chapters were extremely dangerous, making the fourth chapter seem particularly inadequate. If Su Changying wouldn't kill her, what kind of dead end was it?

If it wasn't a dead end, why did it appear in the "Letter to My Deceased Wife"?

After these four death predictions, she had discerned many patterns.

First, the words on the letter to her deceased wife appeared for a very short time, but she could see them every time. This was burned for her by Su Changying, so at least before the deadly situation occurred, she could pick it up and see it at any time, but she could only glance at it before burning it.

She had already noticed the letter to her deceased wife that first appeared in the Tingwei Temple prison; no one else could see it, only she could.

Secondly, she suspected that this thing had many limitations, and that Su Changying must have paid an unimaginable price to reverse her fate.

Even though each appearance was brief, he insisted on starting from the beginning, leaving his mark on the bamboo slips with each dead end. Without restrictions, under normal circumstances, Su Changying should have simply written down the key information, and the more detailed the better.

But he didn't, which is not the behavior of someone who is extremely anxious.

This only shows that this thing has limitations.

The bamboo slips are very small; if this continues, they will eventually be filled with words, and no new announcements can be written. There is a limit to the number of times this can be done.

Zhou Zhao estimated that he could only write two more times at most before he ran out of space.

All told, there were six times in total.

It was precisely because of this number six that she couldn't help but suspect that the bamboo slip might actually be the real "Six Paths Heavenly Book".

Upon thinking this, Zhou Zhao couldn't help but darken his face.

Is she someone whom Heaven cannot tolerate? She's been on the verge of death time and time again.

She steadied herself, picked up her interrupted train of thought, and continued to think about the letter to her deceased wife.

It's not just a limit on the number of times, but also clearly a limit on the content. Changying's letters are written in such a literary style that he can never be direct, only hinting. Moreover, judging from this reminder, the details he can reveal are becoming increasingly scarce.

Moreover, if people are brought back to life and defy fate, how can they not pay any price for going against the will of heaven?

Zhou Zhao could understand the price he paid from the ever-increasing amount of blood on the bamboo slips.

Changying must have been burning his own life, or rather, sacrificing his own life to save her.

Zhou Zhao thought for a moment and then pressed his head against the back of Su Changying's neck.

Su Changying stiffened, said nothing, and continued to explore the path with Zhou Zhao on her back.

"Changying, what was the name of that pill you gave me on Micheng Island? Ah Huang said it was a rare life-saving medicine, probably the only one of its kind in the world. You have no idea how much he wanted to borrow that pill from my stomach after he took my pulse, so he could make a prescription."

Su Changying couldn't help but laugh as she recalled Ah Huang's obsession with poisons and worms back in Tianying City.

"That will disappoint him. The medicine is called Soul Return, and it was made by a famous physician in the martial arts world. There are only three pills in total. People in the martial arts world say that even if the soul leaves the body and goes to the underworld, taking this medicine can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. Of course, these are all exaggerated claims."

I once saved his life, and he made a promise to me that if I ever needed his help, he would do it for me.

Unfortunately, Physician Feng passed away not long after. Before his death, he entrusted someone to send the pill to Duobaoge, and through Duobaoge, he gave the pill to me, thus fulfilling his promise. According to his note, the prescription for this pill was not difficult, but the medicinal materials were hard to find.

He spent his entire life trying to refine three pills. It seems unlikely that Ah Huang will be able to obtain enough for the medicine.

It turns out that the pill was called "Soul Return".

That's right.

Zhou Zhao thought to himself.

Those pills have probably been tampered with long ago.

This deadly situation is a continuation of the last one, and there seems to be no way to avoid it.