Imperial Treasure

Chapter 603 - 393: Prolonging Life, Exchanging Life

Chapter 393

Sui Yi!

Everyone instantly understood, rose to their feet, and left efficiently..

As they left, a chain reaction occurred, and others naturally sensed the anomaly.

"It seems that she has already left. She had a good relationship with that young man, I suppose she won’t be passing through here.." Nie Wanqing said quietly, speaking to the woman sitting opposite her, "Miss Zhong, are you still planning to wait?"

Zhong Li lowered her gaze, speaking coolly, "Is that person really that powerful?"

"I couldn’t withstand a single move from her."

Nie Wanqing said no more, whether it was about that giant beast or whatever...

It was too fantastical to consider.

"Named Sui Yi as well?"

This question did spark some interest.

Nie Wanqing nodded, "Sui of ’Sui as the wind’, and Yi of ’to shoot with a bow’."

Zhong Li remained silent, then rose after a while, "Let’s go, we’ll talk more when we get back."

With this reminder from Gong Jiu and the others, the other powers naturally didn’t feel like waiting any longer. With the Combat Power of those two, they wouldn’t stand a chance even if they teamed up against them; they had stayed only to seek more information.

However, one thing was certain.

The treasure was either in the hands of that youth or in the hands of Sui Yi.

There were no third possibilities.

————————

It was said that Sui Yi had already left the Miao ethnicity’s area, but in reality, Gong Jiu and the others had not yet reunited with her, which was rather strange.

Sui Yi seemed to still have things to do, only telling them to go back on their own. Helplessly, the group could only leave, though they departed separately — Yhan Qingwu went to the Imperial Capital, Gong Jiu and others returned to the Provincial City.. as for Mount Mover and that fat man..

Yes, that possessed fat man who, upon waking up, bombarded with questions like ’who am I’, ’who are you’, ’what did I do’, ’what have you done to me’. After learning the truth, his reaction...

"Mount Mover old man, my reputation is ruined over there, I can’t mix in, from now on I’ll go with you to the Imperial Capital. Look at you, so frail and thin, with such low Combat Power, I should stay with you to protect you."

"Your Combat Power is high yet you were also possessed by a sneaky spirit.. save it, lest in the future you bring disaster upon me."

"Look at how you speak; I, the fat man, am bound to rebound. As you see, I’m all right, likely to be blessed with great Fortune.."

This man was not just verbose; he was downright tiresome, droning on and on. In the end, Mount Mover actually agreed...

As Gong Jiu and others would say, they could no longer tolerate it; if they had to start tolerating again from scratch. When they could no longer tolerate it, they simply agreed.

Upon separating at the airport, Yhan Qingwu boarded the plane and received a text message, neither long nor short. She closed her eyes.

Indeed, the Palace Family’s filth was even dirtier than she had imagined.

————————

At the Palace Family residence in Provincial City, in the main house, the old Family Head of the Palace Family watched the person who appeared silently in the room.

He remained silent for a while, the apparent wrinkles on his face seemingly becoming more pronounced with his facial expressions. His spine, though still quite straight, seemed to carry a hint of gloominess as he said, "Miss Sui truly did not disappoint me."

Sui Yi stood in front of the large French window, with the curtains billowing. Outside was the magnificent villa estate and the beautiful landscape with a cool breeze bringing scents of books from the bookshelf.

Those books had significant origins, but the old man sitting in the sofa, shrouded in shadows... how much of the past was he hiding?

"Disappointment stems from hope. What are your hopes then?" Sui Yi let the wind lift her hair, her voice cooler and more serene than the wind.

"Probably that my Palace Family can survive another thousand years... "

"Including your hope to live another three hundred years, I suppose. Should I address you as Gong Shan, or as Grandfather Gong Shan?"

Gong Shan is Gong Jiu’s grandfather.

So.. his grandfather’s grandfather, perhaps?

Two to three hundred years old?

Hearing Sui Yi say this would definitely stun Gong Jiu, and others need not even mention, but Sui Yi’s tone made it seem like discussing an ordinary antique from many years ago... relaxed, casual, simple.

"Gong Shan" laughed, the laugh deep and somber, "I knew the one Nine Girl found would be extremely formidable. There is a presence about you that I do not wish to confront, which is why from the beginning I was reluctant to face you."

This was why Sui Yi and Gong Jiu got along so well, yet the elder generations in power within the Palace Family had never met with Sui Yi. This was very abnormal; if it was out of disdain, they should have at least met once to know the basics, especially since Gong Jiu was the heir to the Palace Family. If it was out of respect, they should have met even more so.

But they hadn’t.

Not even once.

Although Sui Yi had visited the Palace Family several times, she had never even seen them, until that incident at school...

However, Sui Yi did not speak, just folded her arms and looked either at the books on the shelf or the valuable paintings on the wall.

"These items, with your abilities, you should be able to discern if they are genuine," they represent the rise and fall of the Palace Family spanning over two thousand years, as well as the past hidden by Progenitor Gou Heng... But after this glory comes the curse magicians imposed on my family, passing the title only from male to male, generation to generation, prone to dying young, every hundred years a catastrophic disaster hits us... Even forgoing our surname, still, we cannot escape,"

"Having no choice, the people of my family adopted many children as outward camouflage, to spread our branches and pretend prosperity, but one by one the direct descendants kept dying... until it came to me..."

When he said this, he specifically glanced at Sui Yi, whose expression was as undisturbed as a still well.

"You came to seek me out alone, you probably also know why I have lived for so many years..."

"Gong Shan" said with a light smile, "Using those who don’t carry the Palace Family’s bloodline to prolong the lives of my family members is merely the last resort. When the real curse strikes... like when it came my turn, only the true blood of the Palace Family’s direct lineage can dispel the curse."

"Exchange of lives..." Sui Yi softly said, "Your two hundred and seventy years were exchanged with the lives of many of your descendants including Gong Jiu’s parents, grandparents, and even your son... In terms of ruthlessness and selfishness, you closely resemble Gou Heng."

"To be like the Progenitor, I truly wish to consider this as a compliment from Miss Sui," he put down the book in his hands, and with his hands clasped together and placed on his lap, he slowly said, "But the witch’s curse is too severe, just that is still not enough... Gong Jiu is the key to resolving everything... so she arranged for her to go there..."

Sui Yi didn’t look at him, but indifferently said, "You being so frank with me today, are you taking a desperate gamble, or are you letting go of everything?"

She paused, then looked towards him.

"Or perhaps you want to fight me to the death?"

The other party instead laughed, overjoyed.

"I never like to do futile things... Although I have amassed ’Inner Strength’ for five hundred years, I am still no match for you... and since you have come, surely knowing everything, I don’t need to hide, defeat is common in military strategies, and I can afford to lose..."

Such sincerity was tinged with an air of finality.

Sui Yi looked down: "Prosperity wanes, life is fate, dynasties and emperors all thus, how much more so for the Palace Family, how much more so for you, was that sin worth it?"

"I don’t know... perhaps because I’m too much like Gou Heng... Do you know why our family name is ’Palace’? Because Gou Heng’s plan to kill and silence included his own family members... this way he could deceive Duke Heng of Qi, a huge family of hundreds, only a few luckily escaped, but still couldn’t evade that curse..."

"Compared to those magicians, my family members would perhaps rather have his body torn into ten thousand pieces..."

"He is already dead," Sui Yi randomly pulled out a book, "The person who killed him was formidable, not allowing his soul to rest."

"So what does Miss Sui plan to do with me?"

Sui Yi was silent for a while, her voice then clearly filling the room.

"The curse has a cause, it needs a certain person to undo it, that person will not be Gong Jiu."

"You can?... I understand..."

He closed his eyes, "I will handle it well, lighten her burdens... but this inevitably places some of the consequences on Miss Sui."

"It doesn’t matter," Sui Yi looked out the window, a white egret skimmed the lake, creating ripples.

Only her slender, straight back was visible, her long hair fluttering, as if she were a paper cutout, yet perhaps tougher than anyone else in the world.

"You are a very strange person, you seem very young, yet also appear very ancient... Forgive me for describing you with the word ’ancient’... Maybe you are even older than me, though I am already two hundred and seventy years old..."

"Gong Shan," he sighed softly, closing his eyes, "If I had known there was someone who could end this curse... maybe..."

There were no maybes, he opened his eyes, Sui Yi was already gone.

Only a book was left behind, the one Sui Yi had just pulled out, its cover still flipped open, with one line written on the prologue.

——The most pitiful are those who are cruel but not cruel enough.

If it weren’t for that momentary lapse that sent Sui Yi to that ancient tomb, there wouldn’t have been such a downfall today.

And that lapse,... could it really be his acting too genuinely towards that granddaughter over the years?

"How sad... which makes it all the more ridiculous,"

For a moment, his expression was very complex.

——————

Sui Yi returned to her residence in the Provincial City, and indeed saw Ye Xiuling and Lin Yun... The next day, Gong Jiu and others also returned to the Provincial City, their steps hurried, and they hadn’t even had the chance to meet...

The next day.

Sui Yi stood in the study, basked in the warm morning light; Gong Jiu’s hoarse and tired voice came through.

"Ah Yi, my grandfather has passed..."

"Hmm... okay,"

Sui Yi listened quietly, and after hanging up the phone, she took out the Misty the Pearl, softly saying, "The cause and effect are settled, the curse on her is lifted."

There was no one in the room, yet a faint voice was faintly heard.

"You obtained the secret scroll of witchcraft, you could have lifted our curse anyway, so why go to such lengths?"

"She can do it, I cannot... besides, to untie the bell, the ringer must be present,"

The voice grew fainter, seeming to say something last, before fading away, the faint black aura on that jade also dissipating.

Far at the Palace Family side, Gong Jiu was still immersed in sorrow when suddenly she felt a chill, inexplicably feeling some shackles and inner conflicts easing... Looking up at the black-and-white photograph hanging on the wall, the elderly man smiled kindly, watching her. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote on recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)