Zhan Shen City is much smaller than Wang Shen City. It is not as bustling and noisy as Wang Shen City and is much quieter. But the layout was similar to that of the city, with the cathedral in the center of the city, which occupied nearly half of its land.
The church in Zhanshen City is a miniaturized version of the church in Wangshen City, but it is less imposing. And at the top of the church, there are no eight tall statues of gods. Because those statues that overlook the entire city are a special symbol of the holy city.
The prison slaves walked past the church doors, looking at the believers coming and going, with pious and contented smiles on their faces. Looking at the familiar salvation sign on the top porch of the church door and listening to the familiar prayers coming from within the church, it seemed as if one hand had grasped one's heart.
She slowly stopped and stood in front of the church, and all that had happened before flashed through her mind again.
After a long while, the doctor who was following her said, "Would you please take me to see the patient quickly?"
"Oh, okay." Looking at the familiar surroundings, the prisoner almost forgot what he was supposed to do.
Two men, one in front and the other behind, entered the inn, went upstairs, and then entered a room. The prisoner pointed to the man lying on the bed and said, "Doctor, please do cure him."
The doctor nodded, put down the heavy medicine box and went over. He sat down beside the bed, looking at the young man's head full of white hair, and was slightly startled. He lifted the man's eyelids with his fingers and found that the man's eyes were also white. The doctor casually said, "This man is very strange."
The prisoner stood by, nervously watching the doctor examine Gu You on the bed. She was afraid that the doctor, like the previous ones, would curse, "It's bad luck to have me treat the dead," and then leave in a rage. She knew that Gu You was not dead, and that day on the cliff he had told her that they would meet again.
The doctor lifted Gu You's wrist with one hand and placed the index and middle fingers of the other hand lightly on Gu You's pulse.
A few seconds later, the doctor's face turned gloomy. He put down Gu You's hand, stood up, and looked at the prisoner with some anger. The "patient" had no breath or pulse at all, but the woman had asked him to treat him. But seeing the prisoner's eyes brimming with tears, he had to soften his tone. He said, "This is your husband. Don't look for a doctor in vain. Prepare for his funeral."
"No, doctor, he isn't dead, he's still alive, I can still feel him." Tears streamed down the prisoner's fair face.
The doctor shook his head. "He has no breathing or heartbeat anymore. He has..." Take care of himself. I'm leaving first."
The prisoner grabbed the doctor's sleeve and said, "He isn't dead, he isn't dead, please, save him, will you?"
"You'd better find someone else." The doctor broke free from the prisoner's hand and flung the door away.
The prisoner knelt by the bed, his head on the bed, and tears quickly soaked the large sheet. Gu You is not dead, not dead. His body was still as intact as that of a healthy person, without stiffness. And the prison slave could really sense Gu You, as if his breath were diffusing in his heart.
"Gu You, wake up, wake up, okay?"
"I've been looking for you for so long, and I've finally found you. But why don't you even look at me? Why don't you say a word to me?"
"You're not dead, are you? Tell me you haven't... No..."
The prison slave held Gu You's hand, the hand that had been held before was cold. The prison slave rubbed Gu You's big hand with both hands and blew on it with his mouth, trying to infuse his warmth into Gu You. He wanted to use his warmth to summon Gu You back from the boundless realm of death.
Recalling the time in the dungeon of the Peiluo Chamber of Commerce, Gu You reached out his hand to him, his eyes somewhat vacant. He slowly reached out his hand and said, "I don't want you to leave."
Then he fainted.
When the prison slave saw Gu You motionless, he secretly took his hand for the first time. The warmth of the two of them interacted, without words, but there were so many things flowing in the mind. At that time, the prison slave almost burst into tears in the dungeon because of the words "I don't want you to leave".
But now Gu You, his palm has lost its warmth. Pulling his hand, no longer could he hear the voice from the bottom of his heart, those weak words. The prison slave wanted to gather all the warmth in Gu You's palm, but soon it vanished. It seemed as if the whole world had been frozen.
The prison slave held Gu You's hand tightly, tears dripping into the slightly curled palm, shining with glistening spots. Tears spread along the lines of Gu You's palm, vanished, or sank into Gu You's world.
"Gu You, can you feel it?"
You can feel it.
"Gu You, I don't want you to leave."
You won't leave. Really?
Though Gu You before him could not speak, like a soulless corpse, the prison slaves could sense him. He could sense the faint warmth from a distant place.
A few days ago, she arrived in Zhanshen City. She had been asking all the way. Every time she met someone, she would ask them, "Excuse me, have you seen a young man?" He has a head full of silvery hair and white eyes..."
Time and again, the answer was an impatient "I don't know."
Once and again. Hope is worn away, but not extinguished. The prison slave believed that Gu You had said they would meet again, and they would, they would.
She kept asking, almost thousands of times a day, without the slightest weariness. Every time she asked, she did so with a strong desire.
"I don't know."
"Sorry, I haven't seen it."
"I really don't know."
"I don't know. I'm busy. Get out of the way."
Every night, lying in the inn bed and looking at the blurry ceiling, those fragmented words come to mind one by one. Why, why no one has ever seen Gu You, where on earth has he gone? Why did he seem to disappear from this world all of a sudden?
Tears fell from the side of the face, wetting the hair.
Finally, crushed by fatigue, with sadness, I fell into a dream.
In the dream, it was still that familiar face, close at hand. The prisoner reached out his hand, wanting to touch the face of longing. But as soon as the fingertips touched the face, ripples spread across the face and the whole face was distorted. The prison slave withdrew his hand in terror, tears streaming down his face.
She waited quietly for the face to calm down.
At this moment, he heard Gu You's voice, sad and painful.
"Prison slave... I miss you so much...
"Prison slave, I don't want you to leave."
The prison slave seemed to hear Gu You's tears sliding down. She said loudly, "Gu You... Gu You... Where are you? Tell me, where exactly did you go? Gu You... I miss you..."
The ripples in the air subsided, but Gu You's face was gone and turned into a square, smooth surface. The color of the smooth surface has aged and turned yellowish. A series of curved lines stretch over the smooth surface.
Isn't this the map of the Hyno Plain? The prison slave was somewhat surprised.
It's getting clearer and clearer, yes, it's the church map of the Heno Plains. The City of the Gods, the City of the Gods, the Unforbidden River, and the northernmost valley of the Dragon Burial, the Lake of Death.
"Gu You, what do you want to tell me?" The prisoner asked softly, "Do you want to tell me where you are?"
The surroundings suddenly spun and then were silently distorted. The bed was gone, the table at the head of the bed was gone, the wall was gone, everything turned into patches of light of all colors. Only the body of the prison slave and the map hanging in the air remain clear.
All the color spots began to move and change in an irregular pattern.
Suddenly, the sound of water and the rustling of leaves being stirred by the wind came to my ears. All the spots suddenly recombined, and a whole new world appeared before the prisoner's eyes.
The prisoner kept turning around, looking at this strange environment, not knowing exactly where he was. On both sides were high cliffs, straight as if cut by a knife. Standing at the bottom of the valley and looking up, I saw only a curve of the sky.
Beneath my feet were a jumble of sharp stones, and through the crevices of the stones emerged some fresh green grass, silently sprouting in the cool breeze at the bottom of the valley.
Looking further ahead, a small wooden house was found, with a pile of weeds and stones on top that was almost imperceptible.
A red dot flickered faintly on the map in the air. The prison slave saw that the red dot was in the gap between two mountains in the Burial Dragon Valley. "Gu You, do you want to tell me that you are right here?" asked the prison slave.
There was no reply. The map flashed a few times and disappeared.
The prisoner carefully approached the house and saw that the door was closed but not locked. She hesitated for a moment, stretched out her hand, and her delicate fingertips landed on the door, pushing it open. It was dark in the room, and the prison slave went in.
The door was pulled by an invisible force and closed heavily. The world returns to darkness.
The prisoner sat up from his bed, and the lamp that had been lit on the table had gone out at some point. The prisoner curled up at the corner of the bed, hugging his bent legs with his arms, and tears fell on his knees as cold as night.
"Gu You... I miss you..."
The next day, the prison slave bought a map and, as indicated in her dream, found the small house in the valley. When she saw Gu You again, it was like a surging tide in her heart. All the longing, all the bitterness turned into tears that fell into her long white hair.
Only Gu You lay still, without a breath. No matter what the prisoner said, he remained silent and did not answer.
The prisoner lowered his head slowly and closed his eyes. The lips gently touched Gu You's broad forehead, leaving a mark. For a long time, I was immersed in that void happiness, unable to extricate myself.
"Gu You, open your eyes and look at me, will you?"
On Gu You 's pillow were two black hidden character stones with the character "hidden" facing up. The prisoner frowned and picked up the two stones with some curiosity. "Remnant soul... Gu You..." Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed through the prisoner's mind, and all the darkness was swallowed up by the violet light.
"Gu You... You... Why do you have this stone? Why?" The prison slave lay on Gu You's pillow, wailing loudly.
Waking up from the tearful memories, his hand still firmly grasping Gu You's big hand.
The prison slave gently withdrew his hand, as if afraid of disturbing his sleeping lover. He took out the two black lettering stones from his pocket and looked at them carefully, muttering to himself: "Gu You, I keep hiding from you again and again, I'm looking for someone who has the black lettering stones. Time and again, I want you to escape from this circle of bickering, so as not to be killed. I once asked you if you had black lettering stones on you, but you denied it. At that time, I did not continue to ask because I was thinking that if there really were none, that would be great."
"Because I love you, I don't want you to wander between blood and tears. But, by accident, I found you, and I also found the stone that belonged to you. Could it be the arrangement of fate? Could it be that God really doesn't want you to escape from the disaster?"
"Gu You, wake up quickly, will you?"
"Or, just don't wake up and keep sleeping. Let's forget about the black lettering stone and let me stay by your side, just as it is now. Stay with you until we both grow old slowly."
Gu You's clothes moved slightly.
"Gu You, are you awake? Did you hear me? Did you hear me?" The prison slave seized Gu You's hand again. Hoping he would wake up, hoping to see his rare smile, hoping to hear his voice. Listen to her saying to herself: "I don't want you to leave."
However, he was paradoxically reluctant to let him wake up. Otherwise, there will be endless wars. She did not want to see Gu You's white robe stained with blood again.
She once thought she could forget Gu You, completely. Forget him and do the important things in your life. But she couldn't do it. Now she understands that for Gu You, she is even willing to give up everything she has.
"Gu You, how wonderful it would be if there were no black Word stones, if there were no Earth cultivators. If it weren't for all these things that bring disaster to us, perhaps I would be your wife by your side, making our home cozy for you. For you, have two children, a boy, a girl..." A pale smile couldn't help but appear on the prisoner's face.