General’s Gown

Chapter 59 Tan Hua Dream Part 8 

In the morning, before the sun rose, the Baicang Snow Mountain was surrounded by moist and cool fog. From a distance, the layers of mountains and peaks seemed to have been soaked overnight, with a cool blue color. 

Yan Changqing climbed over another high mountain, allowing the cold mist in the mountains wet his hair, eyelashes and clothes. But he knew that soon the sun would rise. 

Yan Changqing had learned from the people of Qinchuan before that all the people of Qinchuan who were infected with the plague drank the unboiled White Wolf River water. The White Wolf River was created by the great witch doctor who led people to dig water veins from the Baicang Mountain a few years ago. 

The White Wolf River, plague, holy medicine, what is the relationship between the three? The source of the infection of the people of Qinchuan must be found from the source of the White Wolf River. 

Judging from the bloodstains that the great witch doctor shed when he escaped, and the footprints of the white wolf, it seems that the great witch doctor also fled to the source of the White Wolf River. 

In order to avoid alarming the enemy and because the mountain road was steep and cold, Yan Changqing had the rescue soldiers called by Shuang Zhui take the boys and girls back to the city first, and only went up the mountain with Helian Rongchuan, Xiang Yu, and Wei Jin to find out what was going on. 

“Changqing, are you cold?” Helian Rongchuan caught up with him, his brows a little worried. 

Yan Changqing shook his head. Along the way, he had rejected Helian Rongchuan’s concerned gaze countless times and his request to take off his clothes to give to him.

“I’m not a child, I don’t need your protection.” 

Handsome brows furrowed deeply, and Yan Changqing firmly refused: 

“Instead of protecting me, take care of yourself.” 

This time, when he came out of Qinchuan City, Helian Rongchuan protected him too well. Whenever he was in danger, Helian Rongchuan would immediately stand in front of him. This made Yan Changqing very angry. 

You b*stard, could it be that Helian Rongchuan didn’t care about his own life at all!? 

“I can’t do that…” Helian Rongchuan spread his hands helplessly: “Protecting you is my first instinct.” 

It was his usual joking tone, but Yan Changqing could clearly see the bottomless tenderness in his crystal clear amber eyes. 

Helian Rongchuan was not joking. Every time he faced danger, Helian Rongchuan would not think twice about his protection, staking everything on it. 

But because of this, Yan Changqing was even more confused and frightened. 

Yan Changqing didn’t say a word, but he moved faster, deliberately trying to throw Helian Rongchuan behind. It seemed that only in this way could he avoid Helian Rongchuan’s scorching gaze and ignore his panicked, throbbing heart. 

Helian Rongchuan looked at his stubborn back, shook his head and smiled helplessly, and followed him with big strides. 

“Look here.” After walking for a while, Yan Changqing suddenly stopped. Not far from his feet, there was a deep pit more than ten meters deep, which had obviously been trampled down.

The four of them looked down cautiously, only to see the bodies of two white wolves lying in the deep pit. They didn’t how long it had been dead for, but the shriveled wolf skin was glowing with green light, and the tongue was sticking out long, pale and white. Miserable soulless eyes were still staring at the sky, as if full of grief.     

Along the way, they encountered dozens of such deep pits, and in each of the deep pits, there were dead animals trapped in them. Moose, sheep, deer, and of course the most common was the white wolves.     

These deep pits, like the ones they encountered on the grasslands, were obviously naturally formed. However, they heard from the Qinchuan people among the reinforcements that they had never seen these deep pits before the excavation of the White Wolf River.     

The further up the mountain, the more these deep pits appeared.     

What surprised Yan Changqing and his party even more was that with the increase of deep pits, there were more and more dead animals along the road. In addition to those who died in the pit, there were also those who died outside the pit.     

Dry corpses, pale eyes, and, without exception, outstretched tongues.     

For some reason, the corpses of these animals made Yan Changqing inexplicably think of the people infected with the plague in Qinchuan City.

With a serious expression, Wei Jin instructed everyone to wear face masks. 

“Yes.” Wei Jin stared at the corpse of another White Wolf, and said:. “These animals were infected with the plague, like the people of Qin Chuan” 

Among the seas of clouds and boundless mist and fog, the sun did not come out as it fell heavily under the gray cloud. Unexpectedly, some scattered rustling snow particles floated out accompanied by an increasingly fierce cold wind, hitting several people in the face. Finally, after crossing a dense black pine forest with towering ancient trees, the scene in front of them opened up. 

On the top of the towering Baicang snow mountain was the pure white ice and snow that had not melted for thousands of years. The white mist was like a ribbon in the middle, thick and faint, constantly gathering, spreading, and permeating, and finally precipitating and melting in a small pool of clear, sapphire-like lake water. 

The water from the White Wolf River that irrigated the entire Qinchuan City originated from this lake. 

Although the scenery was extremely beautiful, the expressions of the four people were very solemn. 

“Ci, Ci, Ci.” 

The thick fog covered part of the line of sight in front of him, and only a sharp sound could be heard from the far side of the lake behind the fog, as if a fingernail had scraped a hard object. 

Helian Rongchuan and Yan Changqing looked at each other, and at the same time pulled out the scimitar from their waist and had it in front of their chest. 

A gust of cold wind came, and the fog gradually dissipated. The four of them looked towards the lake and couldn’t help being stunned by the sight in front of them. 

Hundreds of white wolves were densely gathered by the small lake, unintentionally digging at the hard black rocks on the lake shore with their claws. That harsh scratching sound was made by these white wolves. 

The wolves were digging extremely hard, and many wolf claws had been worn away and blood was shed. But none of the wolves stopped.

The four of them took a closer look, and only then did they realize that the lake in front of them seemed to be a small gem embedded in the mountains. The shore of the lake was extremely high, and it was almost entirely surrounded by extremely steep and hard boulders, almost perpendicular to the lake. 

Yan Changqing couldn’t help feeling strange about the geological structure of the lake in front of him. How can there be such a lake? The lake surface is so low and the lake shore is so steep, apart from the birds in the sky, what kind of creature can get close to this lake and fetch water for drinking? 

So these white wolves were… digging lakes? They wanted to dig into this steep lake shore to get water? 

Yan Changqing’s brows furrowed even tighter. 

A little wolf cub, seemingly tired from digging with it’s mother wolf, slipped away quietly, its furry head reflected in the clear lake water. The cold lake water seemed to have a great allure to the thirsty little wolf with its pink tongue sticking out. 

The little wolf stepped cautiously. Down the sloping, smooth boulders, it approached the pool of water deep in between the boulders. 

However, the boulder was too wet and slippery. Just when the tip of the little wolf’s nose touched the lake water and was about to take a greedy sip, the little wolf slipped and plunged into the lake with a thud. 

The sound of the little wolf struggling in the lake immediately alerted the white wolf who was working hard. One of the she-wolves rushed out in panic, but a steep boulder blocked her way.     

“Woo!” The she-wolf wailed, kicked her hind feet hard, and plunged her head into the lake. In the splash of water, the she-wolf grabbed the cub by the back of the neck and swam hard to the lake. But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t re-climb the boulder that was nearly perpendicular to the lake.     

Thin ice had formed on the boulder, and the slippery wolf claws had nowhere to grip on. The other white wolves were standing by the lake and circling in a hurry, whining constantly, but there was nothing they could do.     

Gradually, the sound of splashing water disappeared. The she-wolf still maintained the rigid posture of struggling to go to land, while holding her baby in her arms, and slowly sank to the bottom of the lake.     

Yan Changqing wanted to look away.

“Oh my God!” Wei Jin shouted in surprise behind him.

Looking along the place where the she-wolf sank, they saw that there were countless bones and many dead animal corpses deposited at the bottom of the lake. At the bottom of the sparkling clear lake, these corpses even flashed green. 

“No human bones.” Helian Rongchuan carefully identified: “It’s moose, white wolf, and other animals. It seems that like the mother and son wolves, they fell down accidentally to drink water and never climbed up again.” 

Yan Changqing suddenly realized something. 

So many rotting animal carcasses were deposited at the bottom of the lake. And this lake was the birthplace of the White Wolf River. No wonder the people of Qinchuan, drinking the water from the White Wolf River, would get the plague! 

It turns out that this corpse lake was the source of the plague! 

The four of them were surprised when the white wolves closest to them seemed to hear their sound, and their sharp ears snapped. Immediately afterwards, all the white wolves seemed to have heard the call, and they all stood up with a whimper. The snow-white wolf’s fur stood on end. Sharp teeth and piercing eyes with murderous intent was ready to pounce and tear them to shreds! 

However, at this moment, only a short, fluttering whistle could be heard on the other side of the lake. 

All the wolves turned their heads and looked across the lake. 

Between the swirling snowflakes, a thin figure faintly appeared. They saw that figure waving his sleeves gently, and the leading white wolf nodded, took a few steps calmly, then walked to Yan Changqing and the others, flicking his tail gently. 

Yan Changqing put down his sword and was slightly taken aback. 

What this white wolf asking? For them to follow it? 

“What does this great witch doctor mean, is there some sort of trick?” Xiang Yu said hesitantly.

“We’re already here, what are you still afraid of?” Wei Jin said: “I want to see what this dying person has to say. If you are afraid, hide here and wait for us!” 

“How am I afraid? If I wasn’t worried about your injury…” Xiang Yu explained, somewhat bewildered. 

Wei Jin laughed. How could he not know what Xiang Yu meant, but he deliberately wanted to use these sharp words to tease this silly great man. 

Helian Rongchuan held Yan Changqing’s hand and did not speak. Yan Changqing nodded slightly, and the two walked side by side. 

The heavy snow fall became more and more flamboyant. The great witch doctor stood on the high platform. He had already changed into a snow-white robe. 

In the strong wind, the great witch doctor was like a snow bird flying in the wind, and it seemed that it would break its wings and fall at any time. 

Yan Changqing followed the white wolf and climbed the high platform step by step. Only then did he realize that there were hundreds of transparent ice coffins on the platform behind the great witch doctor! 

The great witch doctor did not look at the four people who came forward, but staggered towards an ice coffin behind him, leaving a bloody footprint with every step he took. 

The great witch doctor leaned down and smiled. 

Across the ice coffin, Yan Changqing clearly saw that there was also a young man in a white robe lying there, with drooping black eyelashes, a thin and graceful profile, as white as snow, without the breath of a living person. 

A few blooming Meng Xiantan was being solemnly placed on the ice coffin by the great witch doctor. 

Around the ice coffin, there were hundreds of slightly blooming Meng Xiantan.

“I’m sorry.” The great witch doctor stretched out his hand and gently stroked the soft black hair of the young man in the coffin, his tone full of guilt: “In addition to the previous ones, it’s still not enough for a thousand flowers, so I don’t know if it’s still useful?” 

The great witch doctor said this while raising a short dagger and sliced his own palm. 

The bright red blood fell drop by drop on the Meng Xiantan, and in an instant, it melted on the white petals like ice and snow melting. Because of the nourishment of fresh blood, the few flowers that had only bloomed slightly became more prosperous, and the scarlet-red stamens stretched out, exuding a faint fragrance. 

The great witch doctor leaned over, deeply sniffing a flower, then suddenly turned around. His face had a surprising brilliance to it. He looked at Yan Changqing and the others: “You see his fingers, did it move again?”     

Yan Changqing was stunned. He stared at the beautiful young man who was motionless in the coffin, as if carved from ice and jade. He couldn’t have seen it wrong. From the beginning to the end, this young man had never shown any signs of living.     

“Why don’t you speak!?” The great witch doctor’s voice was a little flustered: “He clearly moved, but you can’t see it?”     

Helian Rongchuan took a step forward and stood in front of Yan Changqing: “Are you crazy? This man had clearly died long ago.”

“Dead?” The great witch doctor opened his eyes wide, and immediately rushed back to the ice coffin, with a firm tone: “Impossible! You are wrong!” 

Yan Changqing was silent. He still remembered what Wei Jin had said to him. The Meng Xiantan, watered by the blood of a virgin, will make people hallucinate and see what they most want in their hearts.     

This great witch doctor must have confused illusion with reality, right?     

The great witch doctor looked at four silent, staggering people, then suddenly thought of something. He muttered: “Yes, I must have too little blood, it must be too little blood!”

Before anyone could react, two silver lights flashed, and the great witch doctor cut the blood vessels of his two wrists with a knife, and a large amount of blood instantly dripped onto the Meng Xiantan along his palm.     

Immediately afterwards, the great witch doctor stabbed his thigh without hesitation.     

The dazzling blood splattered on all the Meng Xiantans’ around the ice coffin. In an instant, all the Meng Xiantans who had soaked in the blood trembled slightly. Layers of petals bloomed more vigorously, and the bright red stamens stretched out one by one.     

“Not good!” Wei Jin shouted, but it was too late. The extremely strong fragrance of flowers came from the pavement, and the scene in front of them instantly turned into a dazzling bright white.