Chapter 56 - The Flower of Death
"Listen, child."
"That Ghost High Immortal of yours might not necessarily be a bad person, but his existence is still rather sensitive; you should understand that too."
"So, you absolutely must not go telling others about him everywhere, especially cultivators, understand?"
Under the curtain of night, Liu Miao walked on the road back to the city, her mind still silently pondering what that elder sister in red had said to her earlier.
The snow-covered ground reflected the clear, cold moonlight, making the small path in this bamboo forest reveal faint, intermittent patches of white.
This clearly should have been a somewhat horrifying scene, but at this moment, as Liu Miao walked the return path, she only felt that this moonlight was actually somewhat gentle, still lighting the path ahead for her.
Was it because she knew this bamboo forest was under the care of that Ghost High Immortal named Luo He…
Thinking of this, Liu Miao's steps unconsciously became lighter.
So many happy things had happened today.
However, what that elder sister in red said was also very reasonable.
A mortal like herself would be scared and want to run just from seeing a ghost; if a cultivator were to see a ghost... uh, Liu Miao couldn't quite imagine what would happen.
But it most likely wouldn't be anything good.
High Immortal Luo He was so good to her, she couldn't cause him trouble no matter what; she really should be mindful of his affairs.
However, Boss Hua was also very good to her. Liu Miao thought it over and over and still felt she should at least tell her about her current state, lest she worry.
But she was determined not to mention the existence of High Immortal Luo He.
Mm, it was decided then.
After thinking these things through clearly, she also gradually walked into the city.
It was already late at night; the streets were deserted, and the shop assistants at the flower shop had also long since gone home.
Because Liu Miao had nowhere to go, Boss Hua had let her live in the flower shop.
But today, the atmosphere in the flower shop seemed a bit strange.
Liu Miao pushed open the door and saw that the shelves, which should have been tidy, now looked very messy; all sorts of books and tables were also placed everywhere.
On usual days, they would definitely have put all these things away properly before going back.
Liu Miao, puzzled, returned everything to its original place one by one, then suddenly smelled a peculiar odor.
This smell... she, she was very familiar with it; it was the floral fragrance from Boss Hua's flower room.
But how did this floral fragrance drift outside the flower room today? And it smelled a bit…
Liu Miao, after having her meridians opened, always felt she could smell something a little different from this floral fragrance.
This smell made her feel somewhat drowsy, somewhat entranced, somewhat wanting to just fall onto the ground and have a nice sleep, to have a rather wonderful, beautiful dream…
No, that's not right, now is not the time to sleep.
Boss Hua must definitely be in trouble!
Liu Miao forced herself to become clear-headed again and immediately rushed towards the flower room.
The moment she pushed open the flower room door, that dense floral fragrance, as if it had transformed into a tangible water mist, hit her in the face.
And everything she saw before her shocked her even more.
She saw that throughout the entire flower room, all sorts of beautiful flowers had now been pulled out by their roots; their rhizomes, like people in their twilight years, were withered and shrunken, exposed to the air.
The whole flower room was spattered with soil; the dead flowers lay on the ground in bits and pieces, like an unmarked mass grave.
There were crushed petals and severed flower branches; the floral sap flowing from them seemed to be the source of this dense and pungent fragrance.
Without a doubt, this flower room was ruined.
And it was this very fact that made Liu Miao feel extremely shocked.
No one knew better than her just how important this flower room was to Boss Hua.
This place was never open to outsiders; even she could only enter when Boss Hua herself was present.
Every time she came in, she would see Boss Hua either carefully watering the flowers or gently pruning the branches.
That meticulous and endearingly kind appearance was simply like a mother treating her child.
She would also, from time to time, see Boss Hua gently caressing these flowers, murmuring to them.
And Boss Hua spent the vast majority of her time in a day, a month, or even a year, in the flower room.
Liu Miao didn't know what the flower room truly meant to Boss Hua, but she could be certain of one thing: this flower room was very important to Boss Hua.
Extremely important.
This appearance now…
Liu Miao panicked.
The flower room that Boss Hua regarded as her own life had become like this; what about Boss Hua herself?
An intense feeling of unease shrouded her heart.
At this moment, Liu Miao noticed that these flowers pulled from the ground seemed to have their root systems all interconnected, leading in the same direction.
Following the direction where these soil-covered rhizomes converged, Liu Miao noticed they actually passed straight through a wall.
"......"
Alright, Liu Shuishui actually had no idea if she should be doing this.
But she still tentatively mobilized a little of the spiritual energy that High Immortal Luo He had left in her body earlier.
Her control was very clumsy, very stiff, but she did it; she felt a profound aura swirl around her fingertips.
She touched that wall…
The wall disappeared like a phantom.
And inside was a courtyard far larger than the flower room.
In its center, there was an ancient and enormous Wutong tree.
Beside the Wutong tree was a small, simple wooden cabin. If a disciple of the Tianchen Sword Sect were to see it, they would surely recognize that this was the residence of Autumn Maiden Sword Gu Jing on her sword peak.
The surrounding furnishings also seemed to be deliberately imitating some place, but Liu Miao didn't notice these things.
What she noticed was a figure under the Wutong tree, leaning against the trunk.
Around her, the soil was still overturned.
Including on her own white clothes, which were also stained with many specks of mud and dust.
In her embrace, she held a sword.
To be precise, it was a broken sword.
That sword, even though broken in the middle, one could still tell at a glance that its form was beautiful and its structure clear.
But what surprised Liu Miao was that the roots of those flowers, which she had followed to get here earlier, at this moment, were actually all entwined around that broken sword, as if they had been nourished by that sword.
And on the blade part that could be vaguely seen, there were also a few mottled bloodstains.
And the owner of that blood could only be one person.
It was Gu Jing, using this broken sword as a medium, using her own blood to nourish these flowers.
Liu Miao slowly approached her.
She leaned against the tree trunk, gently holding that broken sword.
She didn't seem to notice Liu Miao's approach; her gaze was always fixed on some unknown place.
Her expression was indifferent, carrying an indescribable dead silence and emptiness.
Just like someone whose soul had been drawn out.
"Boss, Boss Hua..."
Liu Miao mustered her courage, walked to Gu Jing's side, and gently shook her.
Gu Jing remained unmoved.
Liu Miao, emboldened, wanted to touch that broken sword.
But Boss Hua shot her a glance that made her immediately dismiss the thought.
"......"
Liu Miao seemed to hear Boss Hua's low murmur.
She moved closer and barely managed to make out the content...
"This is all I want anymore; all I want is this."
"Don't go, don't go..."
"Don't leave me..."
A teardrop for a non-existent scene and a non-existent person traced a path from the corner of her eye.
How could she not know that she had long been unable to distinguish fantasy from reality?