hotmtlnovel Chapter 54 Naqi
Chapter 54 Naqi
Three days later, the RV stopped at the last village on the outskirts of Sanqiandongkeng.
The village has no name; it is only marked with a number on the map.
Muddy roads, adobe houses, thatched roofs.
Lu Siye got out of the passenger seat and looked around. The village was not large, with about twenty or thirty households, but most of the houses were no longer inhabited.
He counted no more than five households with chimneys emitting smoke.
But there were quite a few soldiers.
Three military trucks were parked at the entrance of the village, and several military tents were set up next to the trucks, with several soldiers standing at the entrance of the tents.
Their figures were exaggerated, with their necks and shoulders almost merging into one, and the fabric on their chests stretched taut as if it might burst at any moment.
Lu Siye glanced back.
As Liara jumped out of the driver's side door, her eyes were already locked on the soldiers as her feet landed.
She was about to burst from holding it in.
Lu Siye knew.
For the past three days, he has heard sounds coming from the direction of the master bedroom every night.
The sound of covering one's mouth with a pillow.
He didn't want to hear it, but the RV wasn't very soundproof, and his hearing was too good.
Three days.
For her, it probably felt like three years.
Lu Siye sighed.
"I went to the village to investigate," he said.
Liara turned her gaze away from the soldiers, looked at him, and nodded.
Her expression was very serious, even more so than he had expected.
It's probably because she knows he'll be disappointed if she seems too eager now.
"Okay," she said, "be careful on the road."
Lu Siye turned around and walked along the muddy path at the entrance of the village.
He walked about twenty steps when he heard Liara's footsteps behind him, not towards him, but towards the military truck.
Then he heard a voice, neither too loud nor too soft, with a hint of laughter.
"Hey handsome, can I borrow a light?"
He didn't turn around.
......
......
The village was very dilapidated.
The further you go in, the more dilapidated it becomes.
The houses near the village entrance at least had doors and windows, but in the middle of the village, the houses were basically just half a wall.
In some places, the ground has cracked. The cracks are not large, about two fingers wide, but they are very deep and the bottom cannot be seen.
Pit.
Lu Siye squatted down and touched the rock fragments.
The smell of sulfur.
He stood up and kept walking.
At the very back of the village, there is a relatively intact adobe house.
The door was closed, and the windows were boarded up.
Lu Siye walked to the door and knocked three times.
The door opened about half a foot wide, revealing an old man's face.
"Out-of-towner?"
"Hmm," Lu Siye took out a few bills from his pocket and handed them over, "I want to ask you something."
The old man glanced at the money, but didn't take it. Instead, he opened the door wider and stepped aside to let him in.
The room was dark, with only a kerosene lamp on the table.
An old woman sat on the bedding, her head down, seemingly looking at something.
Lu Siye sat down at the table and placed the money on it.
The old man glanced at him, and this time he didn't refuse. He reached out, took the money, and put it in his waistband.
Then he sat down opposite him, poured a bowl of water from the teapot on the table, and pushed it in front of Lu Siye.
"What do you want to ask?" the old man asked.
"The Three Thousand Caves," Lu Siye said, "have you seen what's inside?"
The old man's hand trembled slightly.
"I've seen it," the old man finally spoke, "I saw it when I was young."
"I was not yet twenty at that time. I went hunting in the mountains with the villagers. We chased a wild boar and chased it all the way to the other side of the pit."
"The wild boar fell into a pit. We lay down at the edge and looked down, and saw the boar struggling at the bottom, and then..."
He paused for a moment.
"Then that thing came out."
"What kind of thing?" Lu Siye asked.
The old man raised his head.
"It was red," he said. "Very big. When it came out of the pit, the whole ground was shaking."
"It swallowed the wild boar whole in one gulp, then raised its head and looked at us."
Has anyone seen her since?
"And then?" The old man gave a bitter smile. "After that, no one dared to go to that place anymore."
"The young people have all left. They've gone to the city, to the north, anywhere is fine, but they won't stay here."
"Those who remain are all old fogies like us, too old to walk anymore, and don't want to walk anymore."
"A lot of soldiers came recently and set up camp at the entrance of the village. They ran towards the pit every day, and every time they came back, a few of them were missing."
"They are not afraid of death, they are young and strong, but they are not stupid either."
"Now they're scared too, they only dare to go during the day, and once it gets dark they hide in their tents and dare not come out."
Lu Siye remained silent for a moment.
"What's the situation over there in the pit?"
The old man shook his head.
"I don't know, I haven't been there in a long time, but if you go south and go over that small hill, you'll see it."
"There are pits everywhere, big and small, like a honeycomb."
"The biggest one is said to be bottomless; if you throw a stone in, you can count to a hundred and still not hear a sound."
Lu Siye stood up, took out another banknote, and placed it on the table.
The old man glanced at it, did not refuse, reached out and took it, and stuffed it into another waistband.
"Be careful, young man."
The old man said.
Lu Siye nodded, turned around and walked out.
......
......
By the time we got back to the village entrance, it was already dark.
Lights were on inside the military tent, and several soldiers sat around the tent entrance smoking.
As Lu Siye walked past them, he noticed that there were fewer people than when he left.
There were about a dozen soldiers at the village entrance before he left, but now only seven or eight remain.
He didn't see the three most burly soldiers, nor did he see Liara.
The lights in the RV were on.
Lu Siye walked to the door of the RV and stopped.
He heard a sound.
A sound that was a mixture of pain and pleasure.
There was more than one voice, at least two, no, three.
He stopped.
There was no knocking, no pulling of the door, and no sound.
He simply stood beside the RV, leaning against its black body, his hands in his pockets, watching the sunset on the horizon.
I waited for about twenty minutes.
The sound stopped.
After another five minutes, the door opened.
Liara stood at the door, her hair loose, a thin blush on her face.
Her breathing was relatively steady, though slightly rapid.
She looked at Lu Siye, a slight smile playing on her lips, a smile that was neither too deep nor too shallow, carrying a hint of weariness and a touch of satisfaction.
"You're back?" she said.
"Hmm," Lu Siye said.
He glanced behind her.
There were two people lying on the floor of the RV, no, three people?
He looked closely; there were two.
There are only two.
Both men were wearing military uniforms, their pants pulled down to their ankles, their shirts ripped open, several buttons popped off, revealing their well-defined chest and abdominal muscles.
Their eyes were closed, and their lips were purple.
Lu Siye walked over, squatted down, and reached out his finger to check the carotid artery of one of the people.
died.
Normally she can probably control herself, at least she won't kill anyone.
But after three days without release, the side effects of the Sin Mark had accumulated to a critical point. She needed a much larger dose than usual, so much so that even these soldiers, as strong as oxen, couldn't withstand it.
Lu Siye stood up and looked at Liara.
She stood there, her face showing no other expression except for a faint blush.
There was no guilt, no fear, no regret, and not even a thought.
But her eyes moved slightly.
"I'll help," Lu Siye said.
He bent down and dragged the two bodies out of the RV.
The dead soldier was much heavier than him, with firm, dense muscles.
He dragged them by the collar and walked step by step out of the village.
Liara followed behind without saying a word or offering any help.
He walked about two hundred meters and found a relatively soft patch of land behind a patch of barren bushes on the north side of the village.
He picked up a rusty shovel that someone had left there and started digging a hole.
They dug for about half an hour.
There were two shallow pits, about a meter deep, just big enough to fit two corpses.
He pushed the body into the pit, shoveled the soil back in, flattened it, and sprinkled some dead leaves and dry grass on top to make it look no different from the surrounding ground.
Liara stood to the side with her hands hanging at her sides, like a primary school student being punished for doing something wrong.
The evening breeze ruffled her hair, her golden curls swaying in the twilight.
Her lips moved a few times, as if she wanted to say something, but each time she only opened her mouth and then closed it again.
Lu Siye planted the shovel in the mound of earth, turned around, and looked at her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
Her expression did look somewhat apologetic.
Lu Siye looked at her for two seconds.
Then he walked over, reached out, and ruffled her hair.
Liara's body stiffened for a moment.
She took a step forward and buried her face in his chest.
"Little brother," she said, "you're really good at comforting people."
She looked up at his face.
"My sister should have met you sooner," she said.
Lu Siye looked into her eyes but did not answer.
He didn't know how to answer.
He lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead.
"Let's go back," he said.
Liara nodded, released her grip, and took a step back.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, took a deep breath, and then reached out and took his hand.
Back in the RV, Liara took a shower and changed her clothes. When she came out, her hair was still wet and hanging loosely over her shoulders.
Water droplets dripped down her hair, landing on her collarbone, sliding down its curve, and disappearing into her collar.
She sat at the dining table, holding a glass of warm water, her head down, lost in thought.
Lu Siye sat down opposite her.
"Learn to absorb Qi," he said.
Liara looked up at him, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
She remained silent for a few seconds.
"I used to think it wasn't necessary," she said. "Just having sex is enough. It's convenient, quick, and pleasurable. It's a win-win situation."
Lu Siye remained silent.
"But as you've seen," she smiled, "the side effects are getting stronger."
"People wouldn't die before; at most, they'd be bedridden for a few days."
"Right now... I don't know what will happen next time."
The mark of sin is more like a curse.
Lu Siye learned this from Wen Ranran.
It's not that they don't want to control it, but that they can't.
One method is to absorb Qi.
It's not about curing it, but about suppressing it.
By absorbing the Qi of heaven and earth, one can replenish the life force consumed by the Sin Mark, reduce dependence on sexual intercourse, and weaken the side effects of the Sin Mark.
Lu Siye should have taught her long ago, but she always refused to learn.
She felt that she could solve the problem through intercourse without going through all that trouble, and to be honest, she enjoyed the process.
It's not about enjoying the act of intercourse itself, but about enjoying the sense of control, the feeling of being superior, like a queen.
But two people died today.
She knew she couldn't delay any longer.
"I'll learn," she said.
They stayed in the village for the next three days.
Liara learned very quickly.
Although she has never cultivated, she has extremely high talent and her perception of Qi far surpasses that of ordinary people.
On the first day, she could already feel the Qi flowing in the air.
The next day, she learned to inhale Qi into her body, circulate it along her meridians, and store it in her dantian.
On the third day, she learned to absorb Qi directly from heaven and earth, without needing to engage in sexual intercourse or rely on anyone.
Each time she finished absorbing Qi, her complexion would improve.
More importantly, her desire was diminishing.
It doesn't disappear, but becomes controllable.
In the past, when she saw those muscular soldiers, she would instinctively pounce on them, unable to control herself.
Now she can see and feel the impulse surging up from the depths of her body, but she can take deep breaths, circulate her Qi, and suppress the impulse.
On the evening of the third day, the sun was about to set.
Lu Siye leaned against the RV and looked at her.
"I've learned it," she said.
"Hmm," Lu Siye said.
She stood up from the grass, brushed the grass clippings and dirt off her skirt, and walked up to him.
She tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek.
"When I can control the number of times," she said, "would you like to do it with me once?"
He paused for a moment.
I'm speechless.
"Okay," he said, "you take control first."
Liara's eyes lit up.
She smiled.
"It's a deal," she said.
"It's a deal," he said.
She reached out and hooked her little finger around his.
"Thank you, Lu Siye," she said.
Then she turned around, opened the door, and went inside.