Chapter 7

The Stone Forest is backed by the towering and lush Zhishan Mountain, and is surrounded by lush bamboo forests on the other three sides. The two are separated by a ring of scorched earth several feet wide, with clear lines.

Mei Lin squatted down and carefully observed the ground for a long time, then picked up a handful of charcoal-like sand and handed it to Murong Jinghe.

"Look, this has been burned... but why is there no grass growing?" She wondered. After many years, there should be lush vegetation on the ashes left by the fire. Thinking of this, she suddenly threw the sand to the ground as if she had caught something terrible, and wiped her hands on her clothes. When she glanced sideways, she saw Murong Jinghe's undisguised mockery in his eyes.

She pursed her lips and threw him unceremoniously on the ground covered with bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots. When she turned around, she heard a suppressed groan of pain. The corners of her lips could not help but curl up slightly. Then she tore off a piece of cloth from her clothes, bit the base of her arm that had grasped the sand with her teeth, and hurried towards the stream not far away.

The stream flows out from Zhifeng and does not pass through the burning site. The water is clear and the plants on both sides are lush. From time to time, you can see the footprints left by small animals.

She washed her hands in the water, rubbed them with rough leaves, and then lifted them up. She found out that her entire palm was as black as ink, like those burnt stones. Mei Lin sighed, pulled out the dagger, and cut a cross-shaped wound in the palm of her hand. Then she held her arm through the sleeve and pushed it from top to bottom. She saw black blood dripping into the stream, and in the blink of an eye, there were several streaks. The little fish floated with its white belly turned over.

"How heartless." She muttered, but there was no hint of complaint in her expression. She knew very well how ruthless that man could be. If she gave him a chance to turn things around, she would definitely die without a burial place. Besides, she saved him only because she was forced to do so, so naturally she didn't think he should repay her.

As the blood from the wound gradually turned from dripping to a continuous stream, the numb palm slowly regained consciousness, first like ant bites, then turned into pain. The blood finally returned to its bright red color.

After waiting for a while, Mei Lin untied the cloth on her arm. She didn't panic when she saw the blood gushing out in her palm. She rummaged through the herbs on her waist and found something to stop the bleeding, she chewed it up and spit it on her palm, then wrapped it with several layers of cloth strap and then she got up.

A wave of dizziness hit her, causing her body to sway. She had no choice but to squat down again, lean over and taking a few sips of the clear stream water, only then did she feel a little better.

In fact, she is not too afraid of being poisoned, because when she entered the dark factory, her body has been planted with chronic poisons that will attack regularly, and she is more or less resistant to other poisons. It's just that the amount of blood that can be shed is very limited. If she lose more blood a few times, it will become unbearable.

She cleaned the dagger in the water, then cut a bamboo tube, filled it with water and returned to the edge of the bamboo forest. Murong Jinghe was lying on the ground, with his face tilted and his side leaning on the thick dead leaves. It was obvious that he fell to the ground head-on, and he never moved again. There was no anger or resentment in his open eyes, just an elusive depth. When he saw her coming back, he raised his lips and smiled, and said in an unusually soft tone, "If you are smart, you'd better kill me now. Otherwise, today's shame will be repaid a hundred times in the future."

Although she already knew it in her mind, Mei Lin still felt a chill in her heart when she heard him say it in that tone.

"You don't need to worry about what I'm going to do, Your Majesty." She kept her expression calm, squatted down and turned him over, then lifted him up slightly and started feeding him the water she brought back.

Murong Jinghe sipped the water leisurely and raised his eyelashes, trying to see something from Mei Lin's calmness.

On her fair face her wet hair quietly sticking to her cheeks, making people want to reach out and tuck it behind her ears. With thin eyebrows and quiet eyes, this is the kind of woman who is accustomed to keeping her head down and submissive eyes and has not having her own opinion. However, unexpectedly, her mind is so deep and scheming and her actions are unexpectedly decisive and capable.

Murong Jinghe took a closer look at Mei Lin's appearance for the first time. When she lowered her eyes, she finally understood why he had made a mistake. The memory between the two of them was limited only to the small red mole on her eyebrows and their interactions in the past few days. They had clearly slept in the same bed before, but he couldn't remember it. Even if he really didn't care about this person, it wouldn't be like this. From this, it can be seen that she must have deliberately weakened her sense of existence.

Sensing his thoughtful and probing gaze, she raised her eyes and looked at him without hesitation. The indifference that existed in her eyes hit straight into Murong Jinghe's heart, making his pupils shrink involuntarily.

Mei Lin's lips tightened, and then she smiled, but the smile did not dispel the coldness in her pupils. Even so, Murong Jinghe still had to admit that she was actually very beautiful. Although this kind of beauty cannot be compared with Muye Luomei's plum blossoms.

"Since the soil is poisonous, the rocks are probably poisonous as well. Are you sure we really have to go in?" she confirmed again.

"Are you scared?" Murong Jinghe raised his eyebrows and was about to provoke her again, but suddenly his expression changed drastically, and his originally pale face suddenly turned red.

Mei Lin discovered that if they won't cooperate together it is hard for the two of them to get along peacefully. Just when she was thinking about whether to retort or ignore it, a series of loud stomach growls suddenly came to her ears. She was shocked and asked, "Are you hungry?" She almost never stopped eating along the way, and she was still feeling uncomfortable with the fullness. How could he get hungry so quickly?

Murong Jinghe clenched his fists, and his motionless body twisted imperceptibly in a convulsive manner. He looked away and almost squeezed out a few words almost from between his teeth, "I need to poop." It turned out that he was eating all the way. His delicate stomach couldn't stand these strange things, and began to feel upset.

In order to avoid embarrassment, he had tried to eat less and drink less water in the past few days. He had never had a bowel movement before, and Mei Lin helped him with his urination. Now that he wanted to have a bowel movement, he didn't know what to do.

Not only him, but also Mei Lin was at loss for a moment.

"Hurry up!" Seeing that she was still in a daze, Murong Jinghe urged her angrily.

"Oh." Mei Lin panicked and stretched out her hand and started to take off his pants. However, the more anxious she was, the more chaotic she became and she accidentally pulled the belt into a knot.

"Cut it off, cut it off..." Murong Jinghe no longer had the heart to curse, and said anxiously.

"Just bear with it a little longer, it will be over soon…" Mei Lin had already loosened the knot and was reluctant to break the belt. Unexpectedly, because of this delay she heard a "puff" sound, and a strong smell filled the air.

She was stunned, while Murong Jinghe turned his face away in shame.

A clearing was raked out in the bamboo forest by the stream. A bonfire was burning in the middle. Two bamboo poles were placed horizontally next to it, and washed clothes were hung to dry.

Murong Jinghe was lying on a large rock leaning into the water. Except for his head, all other parts of his body were submerged in the cold stream. Mei Lin was half-immersed in the water as well, washing the dirt off her body beside him. Neither of them spoke, one because of embarrassment and the other felt slightly guilty.

Mei Lin knew that if she hadn't stuffed him with random herbs and refused to cut his belt, perhaps such an embarrassing thing wouldn't have happened. For a grown man, especially a prince of high status, this is not only a loss of face, but also a very serious injury to self-esteem.

But such things will happen to him sooner or later because he is paralyzed. From now on, she will have to take care of his poop and pee. She thought, and the rare feeling of conscience suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Mei Lin used a large piece of soft grass to scrub his back, thighs and limbs, and then she put her hand between the man's legs without hesitation to clean his most private part. She felt the body under her hand tremble uncontrollably, and then calmed down again, but the stiffness has not dissipated for a long time. Mei Lin couldn't help but speed up, and after washing his back, she turned him over.

The firelight not far away passed to the stream and turned into a faint yellow color, but it was enough for people to see clearly that Murong Jinghe had his eyes closed, and he was biting his lower lip with dark blood stains. This shows how hard he suppressed the shame in his heart.

Mei Lin secretly sighed, knowing that if she wanted to save her life, she would have to keep him paralyzed.

The man who never opened his eyes naturally didn't know what she was thinking, and maybe even if he knew, he wouldn't take it to heart.

Having been on the run for the past few days, it was a rare opportunity to wash themselves. So Mei Lin simply washed Murong Jinghe's hair and dragged him to the clean and soft dry grass on the shore, and then went to get the clothes that were being dried.

The autumn night wind blew through her wet undershirt and hit her body, chilling her to the bone. She had no internal strength to keep out the cold, and her upper and lower teeth chattered involuntarily, so she rushed to the fire at almost a running speed, pulled off his half-dried clothes and returned to the stream. She casually wiped the cold water stains on his body with her hands, and then put the clothes on him.

With great difficulty, she brought the man back to the fire and let him lie on his side on the thick and soft bamboo leaves, using the heat of the fire to warm his body, which was as cold as ice. She hoped that he would not catch a cold and fall ill, it will undoubtedly make things worse for them. Mei Lin returned to the water again, took off the soaked middle coat that clung to her body, washed it and hung it to dry on the empty space beside Murong Jinghe's clothes. While trembling and gritting her teeth, she entered the stream and carefully wash the dirt off her body.

When Murong Jinghe opened his eyes, she had already finished washing and was sitting by the fire treating her injuries, wearing a lotus-colored embroidered bellyband that exposed a large area of ​​snow-white back and a pair of thin underpants.

After the sharp dagger was heated over the fire, the rotten flesh and blood on the wound was cut away decisively until the blood gushed out and slid down to the snow-white arm. The wet black hair hung on her body, with a few strands falling on her chest, dripping with water. She neatly applied the chewed herbs and bandaged it. Except for the imperceptible frown on her beautiful eyebrows when she was cutting away the rotten flesh, she seemed too calm throughout the whole process. However, this kind calmness, set against her almost enchanting clothes, actually revealed a kind of touching charm.

Of course, Mei Lin certainly didn't know if it was charming or not. She treated the wounds on her arms and legs, washed the blood off her body by the stream, and put on her dried clothes. She also took off her bellyband and underpants, washed them, and hung them up to dry. Only then did she re-bandage the wound on her palm with a dry cloth.

After everything was packed up, she was about to go to sleep on the spot when she suddenly noticed that the man opposite the fire was shivering imperceptibly. The dry leaves under him were wet by the water on his hair, but she didn't hear him complain. Without thinking too much, she got up and walked over to move the man to a dry place, letting him sit against her with his back to the fire so that his wet hair and clothes on his back could be warmed. During the whole process, Murong Jinghe only glanced at her when he was moved at the beginning, and then there was no reaction.

Suddenly, Mei Lin knew that everything was going to be different.

The next day, the two of them did not immediately enter the stone forest. In a place where even the soil is highly toxic, while one of them is injured and the other has trouble moving, if they are not properly prepared, it would be tantamount to seeking death.

The bald eagle hovered relentlessly above the bamboo forest, reminding them that its owner might arrive at any time. Mei Lin cut down a few bamboo trees and chopped off the branches and leaves. Except for the four thickest parts that were used as wheels, the rest were all used as water containers. Using a bamboo section half an arm's long, the chopped branches and leaves, and long vines, Mei Lin once again made a simple cart. It was more than half the size than what Yue Qin did last time.

A thick cartload of hay was cut, wild fruits and herbs and various edible foods, which was enough for the two of them to eat for a few days, and more than ten barrels of water were all placed on the cart.

Mei Lin tied the long vine used to pull the cart around her waist, then half-carried Murong Jinghe on her back, and finally walked out of the bamboo forest two days later.

When she stepped into the empty black transition area, she couldn't help but look up at the evil bird still staring at them eagerly above, licked her lips, and suddenly felt the urge to roast it.

There was no rain, and the autumn sky is high and clear blue. Murong Xuanlie not coming for them is by far the luckiest thing.

When they got closer, they discovered that the boulders were four or five feet high above the ground, they are square and of varying thickness, as if they were cut by humans. But no one would really think of human intervention. First, the number of huge rocks here is definitely no less than tens of thousands, and there are no traces of excavation in the surrounding mountains and fields, which can rule out the possibility of using local materials; secondly, because of the geographical environment, there are no large canals or roads that can withstand enough pressure to transport stones, so it is hard to imagine how such a huge workload was completed. Therefore, apart from admiring the miraculous workmanship of nature, it is difficult to make other conjectures.

Some of the stones were embedded in each other so tightly that no air could pass through them, while others were spacious enough for two carriages to pass side by side. The ground is extremely flat, just like the outside, it is full of black sand mixed with the charred boulders. Once you enter the stone forest, you feel as if the whole sky has darkened.

Mei Lin carried Murong Jinghe on her back, dragging the small cart, and entered the dreaded fire field from between the two huge rocks that were like portals. Because the road was flat and there were no plants, she saved a lot of effort, but she no longer dared to rest on the objects around her.

Even if there is no danger in such a large rock formation, it is not difficult to get lost after entering, so Mei Lin planned to leave marks while walking, but was stopped by Murong Jinghe. He didn't say the reason, but she immediately figured it out. If Murong Xuanlie and his men are determined to pursue them, the mark they left behind would be an excellent guiding light.

Murong Jinghe rarely talked to Mei Lin except when necessary. He would do whatever she asked him to do, as long as it does not touch his bottom line. Mei Lin felt that she was not used to his quietness. She felt that she missed the version of Murong Jinghe who was always high and mighty and would complain and make sarcastic remarks from time to time.

The sound of the rolling bamboo tubes was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, accompanied by the heavy and dragging footsteps, which seemed extremely eerie and terrifying in the dark stone forest. If it wasn't made by herself, Mei Lin would have thought they had encountered something scary.

Murong Jinghe did not give any directions, so she could only follow her own judgment and head in the direction of Zhifeng. There is a deep chill in the black stone, and the wind passes through the gaps between the stones making a whistling sound like a person crying. Apart from being a bit cold, the air in the stone forest is not unpleasant. However, after walking for more than half an hour, the scenery in front of them did not change at all, as if it had not moved.

Mei Lin felt something was wrong, so she found a place sheltered from the wind and prepared to rest for a while while thinking about the situation. When she was trying to support Murong Jinghe and prevent him from falling, and spread the dry grass on the cart to the ground to isolate the poisonous black soil, she realized how wrong it was for her not to weave a bamboo mat to save time.

In the end, she could only let Murong Jinghe sit on the ground, and she knelt beside him while using her body to support his upper body, which was unable to sit up straight, while she spread dry grass on the ground to make a place for the two of them to lie down together.

When she moved him to lie down on the hay, she fell down on him from exhaustion, while her mind was rapidly thinking of ways to save more effort.

Hay can be tied into bundles, which not only saves effort in spreading it, but also makes it easier to collect it. Her eyes unconsciously glanced up to the sky, and then she sat up suddenly.

"How is it possible..." She murmured in a low voice. Her face looked a little strange and a chill ran down her spine.

The originally clear and blue sky in the distance was covered with a layer of gray at some point, like fog but not fog, like clouds but not clouds. It was like a hazy chaos just above the boulders. No wonder she felt the light was so dim.

That was not the sky. Mei Lin knew, but couldn't tell what it was, so she looked at Murong Jinghe who was lying on the ground and staring at the sky quietly.

"Hey..." Seeing that he didn't seem to want to talk to her, she could only take the initiative to speak, but she paused before addressing him, "Prince Murong, this place doesn't seem to be appropriate."

Murong Jinghe slowly turned his eyes, and finally they fell on her.

"Yes." He answered weakly, saying nothing more.

Mei Lin waited for a long time, knowing that she could no longer take out anything useful from his mouth. She could not help but sigh, sat down again, and began to tie the hay on the ground into arm-thick bundles as she had thought before.

She started from the end of Murong Jinghe's feet, so when she lifted his legs, she couldn't help but notice the tips of his shoes because he had been half-dragged, a hole had been worn on them, exposing his big toe, and the socks on top were about to be worn out. If this continued, his toes would touch the ground without any obstruction.

Mei Lin had to be thankful that she discovered it early, otherwise she wouldn't know when she was dragging a dead person. She thought for a while, then used a dagger to cut a piece of cloth from the hem of her skirt, folded it into several layers, inserted it into the tips of his shoes, and tied up his trouser legs and sleeves with a cloth belt. She didn't dare to take his clothes casually, for fear that there would be too many tears, and he couldn't move, and his skin might come into contact with the poisonous stones and sand around him if he wasn't careful. He was different from her, and she wasn't sure he wouldn't die from the poison.

After checking that there was no skin exposed on his body except his hands, face and neck, she felt relieved and started to tie the hay.

After resting for a while, the two continued on their journey.

It seems as if time has not passed in the stone forest, which has always remained in a gray and hazy state. It is impossible to see everything around clearly, but it is not completely invisible either.

Mei Lin felt like she had been walking for a long time, but the surroundings were still the same huge rocks, black soil and chaotic sky, as if they were endless. There seemed to be something pressing on her heart, so heavy that she could hardly breathe. Fortunately, she could still feel Murong Jinghe's warm breathing on her neck steadily and leisurely, which made her feel a little at ease. At least she's not alone.

Bang! Rolling!

Her foot kicked something and it rolled far away, it didn't look like a stone. Mei Lin paused for a moment and continued to move forward. Unexpectedly, she stepped on something, and the crisp snapping sound can be heard in the quiet stone forest, like dry branches.

Mei Lin had to stop. She knew exactly what it was.

She stepped back some distance, she spread the grass, settled Murong Jinghe, and then returned to the place she had just passed.

Squatting down, in the dim light, one could see a pile of bones lying there, with broken ribs and tattered clothes hanging on them, swaying in the wind, with no head. It was obvious that this was the result of Mei Lin's kick just now.

Mei Lin took a closer look at the clothes, which were so rotten that the pattern could not be seen, so she had to give up. She stood up, bowed twice to the bones, and was about to move forward, intending to help it find its head.

"Come back." Unexpectedly, Murong Jinghe would call her from behind.

Mei Lin was startled for a moment, and then she felt an inexplicable joy in her heart, and her feet automatically turned around.

"What's the matter?" she asked standing some distance away, her tone as cold as ever.

"If you walk past the stone pillar in front of you, you might not be able to find it back." Murong Jinghe did not keep anyone in suspense and expressed his guess. When he said this, he didn't have any emotion at all, as if he was stating a fact. People couldn't help but wonder that if he was not unable to move, he probably wouldn't have stopped Mei Lin.

"Why?" Mei Lin couldn't help but take a few steps back. In fact, she already believed 70% to 80% of what he said. Even she herself didn't know where this trust came from..

"Or you can just confirm it." Murong Jinghe said indifferently without explaining the reason.

Mei Lin smiled widely, walked over and lay down beside him, "Let's talk about it after we go to sleep." She yawned, leaned against his back, and closed her eyes. Although she couldn't see the sky, she could tell from her tiredness that she had walked all day. Since they stopped here, she might as well rest up before going on.

She was afraid that the poison in the sand would seep into the hot air after making a fire, so although she had a fire starter, she didn't bring any firewood. In a place like this, they could only rely on each other's body heat to get through it, there is no other way.

Fortunately, there were two of them. This thought popped up in Mei Lin's mind again, and the smile that had just faded from the corner of her lips became thicker again.

"There's a dead person over there," she said. "He must have been dead for a long time. There's no flesh left. Only a skeleton is left."

Murong Jinghe did not respond. Mei Lin didn't care either, she was too tired and fell asleep quickly.

Mei Lin dreamed of meeting her master on the day she left the dark factory. In fact, it is not exactly the same.

She knelt in the bedroom with the large carved window, the incense was filling her eyes, and a man wearing a white robe and long black hair stood in the depths of the room, looking at her with deep eyes. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see clearly what the man looked like. She only had a vague feeling that he should be a man. She felt that she should know who that man was.

Someone called her outside the window, telling her it was time to hit the road, so she went out.

When she was almost at the door, she suddenly heard a violent cough behind her, close to her ear. She thought that the man was really sick and needed to be treated, so she picked out a few herbs from her waist and wanted to give them to him, but what she saw was a white, withered skeleton without a head.

She was startled, stumbled on the threshold, and she fell forward with a thump.

With a kick on her feet, Mei Lin woke up from her dream, with cold sweat covering her back.

The coughing sound in her ears continued, it sounded quite hoarse, and she discovered that it was Murong Jinghe.

Mei Lin found out that she had turned over without knowing when, and her arms and legs were almost wrapped around him. Maybe it was too cold she thought, but she didn't let go. Instead, recalling the scene in her dream, she felt an inexplicable fear and tightened her arms unconsciously.

As the coughing became more intense, Murong Jinghe's body trembled to the point of convulsions.

Mei Lin felt that he was a little pitiful, so she put one hand on his chest and the other on his back, and started to rub it gently. But her thoughts were still lingering in her dream, a little confused, she didn't notice that Murong Jinghe stiffened because of her sudden concern.

That dream seemed to be a mixture of reality, shredded and blended together, without any value for further investigation. However, Mei Lin could not ignore the panic caused by the dream from the bottom of her heart.

She never knew who her master was. Not only her, but also the other assassins in the secret factory, including people from other departments, few people know about it. That day was the first time she met her master. Although the master allowed her to enter the inner room, she obeyed the rules and did not dare to look up. But she has a nose and she is not deaf.

So she smelled the elegant incense carried by the master, and also heard the cough, that unexpected cough that left no time to hide the sound. When she heard it, she almost thought she would never get out of that door again.

She had smelled that smell on Murong Xuanlie, but now she heard a similar coughing sound on Murong Jinghe. God really loved playing jokes on her.

"Have you touched enough?" Murong Jinghe's voice, which became hoarse due to coughing, interrupted her thoughts and rang out in the silent stone forest.

Mei Lin was stunned for a moment, and then she realized that her gestures had become extremely slow due to her distraction, and it seemed more like an ambiguous touch than a massage.

"Let go!" Maybe it was because of the situation, but Murong Jinghe actually felt a little uncomfortable with his posture, and his voice couldn't help but become harsh.

Mei Lin came back to her senses, withdrew her hand awkwardly and sat up with some embarrassment. She looked up at the sky, trying to determine the time, but found that it was in vain.

"Are you still sleeping?" she asked. Waking up from the dream did not help to relieve her fatigue at all, but made her feel even more tired. Coupled with the overwhelming coldness, she really couldn't lie down anymore.

"No." Murong Jinghe's voice returned to calmness, but his body shrank involuntarily. He felt the cold air penetrate his already cold body because of her departure. He had to control himself to stop his upper and lower teeth from chattering. "Help me up." He didn't know when it started, but he never said the word "prince" again.

Mei Lin didn't notice this subtle change. She leaned over and helped him up, letting him lean on her, then pulled the cart over, took down the bamboo tube of water hanging on it, let him drink two sips, then drank it herself, and shared a roasted yam. When she felt a little warm in her body, she got up and set off.