Volume 1: Absolutely No Same Parallel Universe Chapter 8: The Flower of Sin

  It's so beautiful I held my breath, and was shocked by the beauty in front of me, forgetting my own existence.

  It's as if I've come from hell to heaven, and no matter how hard I try, I couldn't have imagined that behind the rugged and precipitous mountain cliffs just now, there would be such a beautiful view. Before me lies a vast expanse of open land, where every inch of my line of sight is filled with a colorful sea of flowers, stretching out as far as the eye can see along the undulating mountainside, in shades of bright red, pink, reddish-purple, pure purple, pure white, and vibrant yellow. The mountain breeze blows, causing waves of flowers to ripple and surge forward, one after another, from afar to near, under the radiant sunlight, with a dazzling array of colors that seem almost otherworldly, burning across the mountainside like a patchwork quilt of color, as a small path winds its way through the sea of flowers all the way to the foot of the mountain ahead.

  I saw so many flowers for the first time, as if the whole world was submerged in this gorgeous color. Walking along the path to get closer, I took a closer look and found that these seven-colored flower buds were all of the same variety, somewhat like the tulips I had seen in my previous life, but with differences. Each straight stem had only one bowl-sized flower, shaped like a high-footed red wine glass, with long oval-shaped leaves having smooth surfaces but serrated edges, making me more certain that it was not a tulip. Its flowers were not single-colored, each petal having two to three colors, the transition being extremely natural, its color being gorgeous yet not vulgar, and it seemed to have a hint of mystery.

  "This is the legendary Afurong." Ruo Wei sighed beside me.

  "Artemisia?" I had never heard of this name, turned my head to look at Ruo Wei, only to see her staring blankly at the sea of flowers, without even noticing me.

  Even a little girl would be stunned by such beauty, I pushed her forward and she suddenly came back to life.

  I smiled and asked: "Yue, what kind of flower is this?"

  "Uh," Ruo Wei hesitated and said: "Madam, don't you know the town flower of Furong Fortress - Aoi?"

  Seeing me shake my head, she looked surprised and said: "How is this possible? Our Furuong Fortress relies on the Furong flower to shake the world and be rich in one side. The livelihood of tens of thousands of people in our fortress depends on the Furong flower. How could the lady not have heard of it?"

  I stared at her in astonishment, a thread of unease rising in my heart. This flower, how could it possibly have such high value, enough to support tens of thousands of people? Was it...

  I am reluctant to easily touch that word in my heart, because it was a representative of evil things in my previous life. Its product can be used for medicine and poison, its price is higher than gold, but it is the thing that the whole world abhors.

  Looking at my bewildered expression, Yu Wei muttered: "Madam really doesn't know? The hibiscus flowers in our Furuong Fortress can produce hibiscus paste, which is even more precious than gold. It's said that after taking it, no matter how tired you are, you'll immediately feel refreshed and energized. It can also be made into various medicines, and when added to medicine, the effect is doubled. It itself has hemostatic and analgesic properties, and can treat all kinds of internal injuries."

  She paused, seemingly wanting to continue describing the Furen ointment, but couldn't find more words of praise, so she said: "Our Furen ointment is one-of-a-kind in the world, due to its miraculous effects, it's always in short supply, every time it goes on sale, it sells out instantly, some people even fight over it, because it's produced in small quantities, even with gold you can't buy it, that's why the emperor decreed that Furen ointment is only supplied to the imperial court, becoming a royal exclusive."

  Ruo Wei's tone was filled with a hint of pride, but the more I listened, the more horrified I became. This was indeed the thing that had haunted my country for decades, the evil thing that had brought us invasion, destruction and the humiliating title of "Sick Man of East Asia". A great nation had fallen into a state of being carved up by foreign powers during those years of turmoil, to the point where every time I watched TV, as long as it was a drama set against the backdrop of that history, I would subconsciously resist.

  My body couldn't help but tremble slightly, a chill creeping up my spine. The sunlight on me felt no warmth at all. The vibrant flowers blooming around me seemed like demons with sinister smiles, piercing my eyeballs with pain.

  No wonder this place is called Furong Fortress, my teeth clenched tightly, a thread of anger rising to the top of my heart, how many more crimes are hidden in this Furong Fortress? Ling Yi, what kind of soul is under his handsome appearance? And now I'm actually placed in the ancient "Golden Triangle", that man trapped by infatuation, is actually a big drug lord.

  Rou Wei suddenly supported me and asked in surprise: "Madam, what's wrong with you? Where are you uncomfortable? Shall we go back immediately?"

  I woke up with a start, exhaled a breath and shook my head: "No, I'm fine. Let's go to the altar."

  I took a glance at the stone gate on the mountain belly not far away, and walked towards it in big strides, trying not to look at the sinful flowers around me again.

  "Madam, did I say something wrong?" Ruo Wei followed closely behind me, her voice laced with anxiety.

  "No, nothing." I shook my head and smiled: "Rou Wei, have you ever used this hibiscus ointment?"

  "Of course not." Yuwei widened her eyes and said while walking, "Even this hibiscus flower, I've never seen it before. Moreover, the castle owner has issued a strict order that no one in the castle is allowed to touch the hibiscus paste, so the back mountain became a forbidden area. Every year during the harvesting and medicine-making process, the castle owner only allows his trusted armored guards to participate, and anyone else who approaches will be killed. The people outside the castle are only responsible for packing and transporting the hibiscus paste, and every time they deliver the medicine, it's extremely secretive because too many people have their eyes on the hibiscus paste."

  I sneered inwardly, indeed you are thorough in your thinking, Ling Yi. I still had hopes that you wouldn't know the harm of this flower, but you even prohibit people within your own fortress from touching it, how could you not know? Even the process of producing poison is controlled by you so tightly, do you also have your own army? What are you trying to do? Become a monopolistic overlord in the ancient poisonous goods market? Or is there another deeper scheme?

  I dare not think further, a soul from another time and space who was brought here by force. Even if I know all this, what can I do? Can I resist him? With my own strength, can I change anything? The more I know, the more dangerous it is for me.

  Along the stone steps, we came to the front of the stone gate at the mountain's abdomen. The tightly closed stone gate was seamless, and there must be a mechanism controlling it. I carefully observed the surroundings of the gate and stretched out my hand to feel around inch by inch.

  "Madam, what are you doing?" Rowan asked me curiously.

  "Open the door." I closed my eyes, but carefully felt every detail of the fingertips touching.

  A stone block the size of a palm was slightly loose, I was overjoyed and opened my eyes to look over, on the right side of the stone gate at a height of about one person, where my fingertips were pressing, the color of the stone block was slightly different from the surrounding area.

  I took a deep breath, turned my head to look at Ruo Wei, and saw that she also had a tense expression. I nodded slightly, placed the lower edge of my palm on the stone, and pushed it with force.

  But there was no sound of the door opening, and the stone slab under my hand didn't budge at all. I was taken aback and carefully observed it again, I shouldn't have gotten it wrong, why wouldn't it move?

  I once again carefully examined the stone door's top, bottom, left and right sides. The more I looked at it, the more I felt that the stone block my hand was touching was the mechanism to open the door, but why couldn't I push it? There wasn't any place on top where I could exert force to pull it outward either. Was I supposed to turn it? I immediately rejected this idea of mine. The square stone block fit perfectly into the square frame, how could it possibly be turned?

  I withdrew my hand and thought carefully. It's normal that it can't be pushed open. If anyone could easily find this mechanism and push the door open with a slight push, then what kind of forbidden place would this be?

  "Madam, could it be a mistake?" Yvette said in a low voice.

  "It shouldn't be." I shook my head lightly.

  "Well, how can we open the door then? Is it because the method of opening the door is incorrect?" Yuwei continued.

  Of course, the method is not right, I'm thinking to myself, if it's correct, it wouldn't have gone in. What method? Suddenly, a bright idea struck me, why didn't I think of reversing my thinking? A door can open outward or inward, so this stone gate, if it can't be opened from the outside, then it should be opened from the inside.

  I felt a bit annoyed, if this door could only be opened from the inside, then I couldn't just shout for someone to open it. No way, after all the effort I put in, I couldn't let one door stump me. Thinking carefully, if this door could only be opened from the inside, then people outside would need to notify those inside to open it. How would they do that? My gaze fell on the stone slab again, this movable square block, could it be a doorbell?

  I rolled my eyes at myself, is there a door god in this era?

  I had to try it, so I put my hand on it again. This time, instead of pushing it, I applied gentle pressure along the edge of the block, and my fingertips followed the texture all the way up to the top edge. Suddenly, I felt a slight softness at the point where I was applying force, which made me feel a little excited. I increased the pressure with my fingertips and pressed inward, hearing a "click" sound as the block opened upwards like a lid, resembling the protective cover that prevents water from entering electrical outlets in bathrooms.

  "Ah!" A surprised cry came from beside me, I turned back to look at Yvette with a pleased expression, seeing her shocked face, I smiled and carefully observed the internal structure of the cover.

  All that can be seen is a trumpet-shaped recess, with a hole about five centimeters in diameter at the lowest point, like a pipe, extending straight into the stone wall behind. It's indeed a 'doorbell', but isn't it supposed to be shouted at?

  I was hesitating when a hoarse voice came from within the cave: "Who is it?"

  I was stunned, it turned out that this lid was connected to some mechanism inside, once the lid was opened, the person inside would know someone was 'knocking on the door'. What could I say to make him open the door?

  "The lotus flower blooms." A voice came from the stone cave, although it was extremely weak, I suddenly remembered that this was the voice of Pingyang Zhenren. He was indeed inside, and my heart couldn't help but thump wildly. Wasn't there still a password?

  I took a deep breath and walked up to the stone cave, saying "Gu Qingying".

  The voice in the stone cave fell silent. After a long time, just as I was starting to lose hope, the stone gate creaked open slowly from within with a "creak".