Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem - Chapter 39-1
Chapter 39-Trail of Zhen Hun Part 1
Translated by Snowfall77
Xia Ge: “Mmm, I guess if we don’t want to end up a tragic story, we’ll have to find a way out quick.”
Ah Tang gave a small smile: “Young man, your words are very inspirational.”
A deadpan Xia Ge: “Yes, I know.”
As they conversed, Xia Ge kept slowly walking.
The new stone passage was still lit by a night pearl every 3 steps, however the walls were blank. No murals and no arrays.
“Ah Tang, what did that blue deer you mentioned look like?” Xia Ge asked offhandedly.
“It was a sika deer, and it was covered with blue pear blossoms.” Ah Tang’s tone was soft and agreeable, “The other day I was embroidering my wedding clothes, but I grew tired. I fell asleep, and I dreamt of a child singing. ‘The deer has lost its way, it doesn’t know how to return……’ Then, in my dream, I saw the blue deer and woke up. But when I did so, I found myself in that stone room.”
Lost the way, don’t know how to return.
Maybe Ah Tang also had unfinished business from a past life?
Xia Ge inquired: “Did you see the deer anywhere else?”
“”
“This humble servant is naturally timid……” Ah Tang sounded melancholy, “I was always so afraid of ghosts and evil spirits, that I never ventured away from home.”
“Oh……”
Xia Ge fell silent, continuing the slow pace forward while carrying Ah Tang on her back.
This particular stone passage seemed endless. Xia Ge had been walking a long, long time and they still hadn’t come to its end.
Gurgle……
Xia Ge halted, her face wooden: “Ugh……hungry.”
The feeling that she was starving had abruptly hit Xia Ge, and now all she knew was that she was very, very hungry.
Ah Tang’s eyes widened: “Young man……?”
“I’m fine, let’s keep going.”
Going quiet again, Xia Ge moved forward. Ah Tang was apparently as light as a feather, for Xia Ge barely felt the beauty’s weight on her back.
But the system was growing concerned: [Host, Are You Alright? What If You Can’t Find Your Way Out……]
Oh, she would find a way out.
Xia Ge sighed to herself. After all, she still had to get a top spot in the Danfeng entrance examination.
Hard work would bring favorable results, and promises made to others must be kept.
And that was why being alive was so wearying.
“Young man, look……I think we’ve reached the end of this passage.” Ah Tang sounded slightly surprised, “There is a wall up ahead.”
Xia Ge raised her head and found that Ah Tang spoke the truth. A stone wall blocked their way, an incomplete, yet colorful mural spread across it.
The mural showed a woman in a slight green garment standing at the summit of a mountain, surrounded by clouds and mist, and her dress fluttering in the breeze. Her gaze was cold and resolute, while hands like white jade held a bone flute that she was faintly playing, her black hair drifting about her. All in all, the woman looked like a peerless talent, unrivaled in the world. But the bottom half of the mural was missing, the green mountains chopped off at the middle, with no way to tell what the lower scene might have been.
Next to the mural, in boldly elegant calligraphy, was a line of verse.
Still holding Ah Tang, Xia Ge contemplated the mural’s woman on the mountain peak: “……this ancestor was standing up so high……and wearing such thin clothes……wonder whether she was cold or not?”
System: [……]
Not getting her stingy little puppet’s approval, Xia Ge regretfully moved on to carefully reading the mural’s accompanying line of verse out loud.
“The bones of the dead mourn and the flute’s music is cut short, a sorrowful song……the end of Zhen Hun.”
Xia Ge’s pupils contracted.
——Zhen Hun?!
Coincidence……or not?
“Young man……where exactly are we, and who is that lady in the mural?” Ah Tang’s voice was soft, but mildly inquisitive, “This humble servant is curious—-can the young sir tell me?”
“This is the tomb of Lingxi’s great ancestor,” Xia Ge replied, “Therefore this mural is of the Lingxi ancestor……I didn’t imagine she could play the flute, but I guess she was a well-rounded, accomplished person.”
Since playing the flute was more than Xia Ge could do, she had to give credit to her Lingxi ancestor.
“The first ancestor of Lingxi.” Apparently believing Xia Ge, Ah Tang next asked, “In that case……young sir can find a way out from here?”
Xia Ge eyed the wall awkwardly: “……um, apologies to the ancestor, but I guess I could chisel through the wall?”
System: [……]
Ah Tang forced a smile: “……why doesn’t the young man consider some different methods besides that?”
Carefully putting Ah Tang down, Xia Ge had the beauty lean against the stone wall on one side. Then Xia Ge started tapping the wall with her sickle, hearing ‘du-du’ sounds.
Which meant the wall was just a wall, and not solid rock. Suddenly full of self-confidence, Xia Ge turned to Ah Lang and declared: “No need to worry, everything will be fine in a minute.”
As soon as she’d said that, Xia Ge’s sickle slashed right through the ancestor’s head on the mural!
Ah Tang: “Young man, please show mercy!!”
System: [Host! Don’t Deceive Your Master And Destroy Your Ancestor——]
But before Xia Ge could take another whack at the mural with her sickle, a trickle of brilliant golden light showed through the crack in the wall. Immediately after, an immense burst of power ruthlessly threw Xia Ge back in the air——
Unfamiliar notes of a flute playing could be heard, its tune mournful. Deep in an underground tomb, the sound of it unexpectedly didn’t seem eerie. Instead it was relaxing and peaceful.
Xia Ge’s pupils shrank even more, and thanks to {ghost and shadow}, she righted her body in the air before landing firmly on her feet.
Golden light dimming, the stone wall shattered into fragments!
The volume of the flute music become lower and lower, the last few strands of tune fading away as the final bit of stone rumble hit the ground.
