Chapter 166 - 162: It Got Bigger?

Chapter 166: Chapter 162: It Got Bigger?

Her eyes were vacant at first, as if she had just woken from a deep dream.

She blinked, looked at the stone table she was slumped over, at the scattered fragments of bowls and dishes on the ground, and at the people lying haphazardly all around.

Then, her expression changed dramatically.

"Ghost... Ghosts!"

She let out a scream, and the people who had fainted in the courtyard began to wake one after another.

Everyone scrambled for the courtyard gate as if they had gone mad. Some knocked over chairs, some crushed bowls and plates underfoot, and one person stumbled over the threshold and staggered out.

In moments, only Chen Yue and his group remained in the courtyard.

Just as Chen Yue was about to turn and check on Lin Quan, a low groan came from behind him.

Lin Quan was slowly waking up.

His eyelids twitched a few times, then flew open. He slowly began to remember what had just happened.

The images were like knives, stabbing into his mind one by one.

Lin Quan’s body shuddered violently. His eyes widened, his pupils filled with terror and disbelief.

He shot up into a sitting position, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the courtyard. He saw Chen Yue and the other two standing not far away.

Lin Quan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then, his eyes instinctively drifted to Shi Zhen Shu on the ground.

Lin Quan’s mouth twitched, his lips trembling, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to begin.

His gaze lingered on Shi Zhen Shu’s pale face for a moment, then darted away, only to return again, several times over.

"Chen Yue,"

Lin Quan’s lips trembled slightly. "Was it Miss Yuqing and the others?"

Chen Yue looked into Lin Quan’s eyes and was silent for a moment.

"Yes. The Mountain Monarch refined them all into Chong Ghosts. They followed some faint, unseen connection to find us."

Lin Quan nodded, his movements slow and heavy.

His gaze returned to Shi Zhen Shu’s pale face.

"Then... Zhen Shu..." His voice grew softer, almost a whisper to himself. "Is she a ghost, too?"

Seeing Lin Quan’s state, Shen Dujiang sighed inwardly.

"She’s not a ghost. Chen drove the real ghost away. But whether she remembers what happened recently... we can’t say for sure."

The words were tactful, but the meaning was clear.

Shi Zhen Shu was innocent. Whether her tenderness and intimacy toward Lin Quan were her own feelings or just a puppet show controlled by the Ghostly Creatures, no one knew.

A flash of joy appeared in Lin Quan’s eyes, but it dimmed just as quickly. His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.

Shi Zhen Shu was carried to a bed. Her face was still as pale as paper, and a fine layer of cold sweat beaded on her temples.

Her breathing, once faint, gradually grew steadier, her chest rising and falling gently.

Lin Quan sat on a round stool by the bed, his hands clasped over his knees, his fingers unconsciously fidgeting.

His gaze almost never left Shi Zhen Shu’s face, the emotion in his eyes as tangled as an unsolvable knot.

He would occasionally glance back at Chen Yue and the other two, then his gaze would return to Shi Zhen Shu’s face, like a drowning man searching for something to grab onto.

Chen Yue stood by the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed.

His gaze lingered on Shi Zhen Shu’s face for a moment before moving away to scan the room’s furnishings.

It was a small bedroom, simply furnished but with care evident in every detail. A new canopy hung over the bed, and a pair of red candles sat on the table.

All of this, Lin Quan had meticulously prepared for his wedding day. But now, this room that should have been filled with joyous celebration was instead shrouded in an indescribable gloom and heaviness.

Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu stood slightly behind Chen Yue; neither of them sat down.

Just as the silence became almost suffocating, Shi Zhen Shu began to stir on the bed.

Her eyelids twitched a few times, then her eyes slowly opened a crack, adjusting to the dim, yellow light of the room.

The moment they opened, her eyes were vacant, as if she had just woken from a deep dream and hadn’t yet distinguished it from reality.

She blinked, her gaze moving from the canopy above to the carved wooden bed frame. Then, she slowly turned her head to look at Lin Quan nearby, and at Chen Yue and the other two standing by the door.

She looked at Lin Quan, her eyes naturally showing the tenderness and reliance shared only between those who are close.

Lin Quan shot to his feet almost instinctively, his movement so fast it knocked the round stool behind him, which wobbled with a faint CREAK.

His hands lifted slightly, as if to take hers, but his feet seemed nailed to the floor, unable to take that single step.

He hesitated.

"Lin Lang,"

Shi Zhen Shu’s gentle voice rang out in the quiet room, not loud, but as clear as a mountain spring:

"What’s wrong with me? What just happened?"

Hearing this, Lin Quan froze.

He instinctively walked to the bedside and, after a moment’s hesitation, gently took Shi Zhen Shu’s hand.

"You... you don’t remember anything?" Lin Quan’s voice was strained, as if he was afraid to ask the question but had to anyway.

Shi Zhen Shu paused, as if searching her memory. After a moment, she shook her head.

"I only remember you calling for me in the courtyard, so I came out. I don’t remember anything that happened after that."

Lin Quan was stunned, his questions still unanswered.

"What about before that?" His voice grew even softer. "What about before we met? Do you remember?"

Shi Zhen Shu looked at Lin Quan, her face full of confusion.

"I’ve told you all this before, Lin Lang. My Shi Family was fleeing Guoyuan County for the Celestial State Prefecture when we ran into mountain bandits on the road. My parents and I were separated in the chaos. I eventually stumbled my way into the Prefecture City alone..."

As Lin Quan listened, his eyes showed both joy and doubt.

He instinctively turned his head to look at Chen Yue and the other two behind him.

Chen Yue didn’t speak immediately. His gaze lingered on Shi Zhen Shu for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’In my mind, I’m quickly piecing together all the information, weaving it into a possible answer.’

Shen Dujiang stood by the door, his gaze shifting between Lin Quan and Shi Zhen Shu for a moment.

"Let’s let her rest for a bit," Shen Dujiang said. His voice wasn’t loud, but it perfectly broke the silence in the room.

He glanced at Chen Yue, who nodded.

Chen Yue straightened up from the doorframe and turned to walk out of the room. Shen Dujiang followed, with Hu Shaoyu leaving last, gently pulling the door closed behind him.

Inside, Lin Quan sat by the bed for another moment, whispering a few soothing words to Shi Zhen Shu.

A moment later, Lin Quan stood up from the bed, tucked in the corners of Shi Zhen Shu’s blanket, and then tiptoed out of the room.

He looked up and saw Chen Yue and the other two waiting in the courtyard.

Lin Quan strode toward them, his steps quick and urgent.

"What in the world is going on? Zhen Shu remembers everything! She remembers where she came from, how she came to the pharmacy, every single word we’ve said to each other."

He paused, his voice trembling slightly.

"I remember that Guoyuan County isn’t far from Youlin County,"

Chen Yue finally spoke. "The Shi Family was fleeing. If they were traveling from Guoyuan County toward the Celestial State Prefecture, they would have passed near Youlin County."

Lin Quan’s eyes widened slightly. He understood the implication in Chen Yue’s words.

"Chen Yuqing and the others must have possessed your fiancée a long time ago,"

Chen Yue continued, his pace unhurried. "They probably only exerted a subtle influence most of the time, rather than direct control. That’s why your fiancée remembers everything. Those memories are her own."

Lin Quan was beginning to understand. The Chong Ghosts’ influence on Zhen Shu had been a subtle push, nudging certain events into motion—making her visit the pharmacy more often, making her gaze fall more naturally on Lin Quan, making the strings of her heart easier to pluck.

The initial urgency and anxiety in Lin Quan’s eyes gradually faded into calm. Finally, a smile uncontrollably bloomed on his face.

He didn’t care if this influence came from the Chong Ghosts or from his own feelings.

He only needed to understand one thing: he wanted to be with Shi Zhen Shu, and she clearly felt the same way.

For Lin Quan, that was the best possible outcome.

’As for whether it was the Chong Ghosts’ influence... does that matter?’

’Not at all!’

Hu Shaoyu stood to the side and opened his mouth, as if to say something.

But when his gaze fell on Lin Quan’s face, brightened by his smile, he swallowed the words he was about to say.

A faint smile touched the corners of Chen Yue’s mouth as well.

’Life is but a few short decades; there’s no need to be so particular about everything.’

’Living in the moment, being happy and comfortable—that’s enough.’

...

Night fell. The moonlight, like water, spilled onto the courtyard’s bluestone tiles, covering them like a thin layer of frost.

Chen Yue sat alone on a stone bench in the courtyard. The moonlight stretched his shadow long across the ground, making it look like a long saber leaning against the earth.

His eyes were slightly closed, the Vast Heart Rock Skill slowly circulating within him. His aura flowed like silken threads, cycling endlessly through his meridians.

The night wind blew past, causing the few flowers and plants in the courtyard to sway gently, making a soft RUSTLING sound like a low nocturne.

Suddenly, Chen Yue’s expression flickered.

His eyes remained closed, but his consciousness had already sunk into the Storage Ring on his hand.

’The black fragment I put inside during the day has shrunk.’

’But what concerns me more is another change: the space inside my Storage Ring has actually gotten bigger.’

’It’s not an illusion. I can clearly sense that the space inside the ring has expanded by more than ten percent.’

With a thought, Chen Yue retrieved the black fragment from the Storage Ring.

The fragment appeared in his palm, its touch icy cold—even colder, it seemed, than it had been during the day.

Moonlight shone on the fragment, and its surface reflected a dark, profound luster, like a small tear in the fabric of the night sky.