Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 653 - 569: Drawing the Prison, Moths to the Flame

Chapter 653: Chapter 569: Drawing the Prison, Moths to the Flame

The woman’s waist was adorned with the gleaming "Yellow God Seal," her long hair draped freely, her figure slender and frail.

Curled up in a corner of the Great Wall, she appeared exceptionally desolate and helpless.

Tears "plink plink" fell onto the battlements, immediately transforming into a milky-white fog that spread in all directions.

It swiftly engulfed her figure completely.

Only the sound of sobbing remained, along with a song filled with sorrow that lingered persistently:

"Great Yan’s mercilessness brings all seas to dry, building the Great Wall to block the northern tribes. People and soil amassed for ten thousand li, Qiliang’s faithful wife wails ceaselessly.

No father above, no husband beside, no sons below, alone and doubly alone. The wall crumbles, coloring the land with bitterness, crying again as Qiliang’s bones unearth. Weary souls and starving spirits chase each other home; lads of the streets, do not cross each other!"

As the song rose with the chilling wind, not only did the bricks of the wall start to loosen gradually.

It seemed as though the interior of the wall emitted the clacking sounds of bones moving and the piercing screech of nails scratching the surface.

Moreover, some entity buried deep below, with its decaying vocal cords, let out a deep roar that was unbearable for the living to hear.

It seemed desperate to break through the wall and re-emerge under the sunlight.

Lady Mengjiang’s cries at the Great Wall were unyielding as she continued to weep and sing with utmost sorrow.

It was as though her beloved husband was truly buried beneath the wall.

In reality, her husband and this love story were both completely fictitious!

Historical records show that during the span from the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States, Yan Country, Qi State, Qin State, and later Wei State each built a segment of the Great Wall belonging to their nation.

Two thousand years ago, when Emperor Shi united the land,

to effectively utilize the Great Wall to resolve the northern border troubles, he dispatched General Meng Tian with 300,000 troops to supervise and construct the Great Wall as it stands today.

Utilizing the strategic terrain, he connected the segments of the Great Wall built by various states bit by bit into a whole.

It took roughly ten years to finally construct the wall stretching from Dragon Head Pass in the west to Xuchuan River in the east, later dubbed by posterity as the "miracle" of the Great Wall.

Subsequently, dynasty after dynasty undertook large-scale renovations to ensure it remained intact despite two thousand years of weathering.

The manpower and resources expended during this period were far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

Before turning into a "Strange" being, the folk tale about "Lady Mengjiang’s Weeping at the Great Wall" described:

Lady Mengjiang brought down 800 li of the Great Wall for her husband who had dodged labor by hiding in her home, only to be recaptured to continue laboring.

She inadvertently handed over the heartland of Red County Shenzhou to the covetous Huhanxie.

In the end, she cursed "Tyrant" Emperor Shi and leapt into the water to join her husband in death.

However, this legend, alongside "Cowherd and Weaver," one of the four great love stories, also harbors deep secrets.

Both stories underwent later-period alterations and distortions, drastically changing their original narratives.

The story of "Cowherd and Weaver" was modified to reduce the killing power of Chinese Valentine’s Day by the Nine Soldiers; however, the "Lady Mengjiang’s Weeping at the Great Wall" was altered by the Sect!

The original tale actually took place in Qi State, and had no connection with the Great Wall.

It told of Qiliang, who died in battle while accompanying Duke Qi to attack Ju State. When his body was transported back, his wife, Lady Mengjiang, touched the coffin and lamented with tears and blood, causing Qi City to suddenly collapse by several feet.

Praising: "Courageous through ages, remember Qiliang, with the city in sorrowful collapse. Qi State fostered the custom, widows mourn like Lady Mengjiang."

During this period, the story still seemed rather normal.

Later, from an unknown point, the protagonist of the story was transplanted onto Emperor Shi and the Great Wall two hundred years later.

The brave warrior Qiliang also became an unfortunate laborer building the Great Wall for Emperor Shi.

And the version circulating among the people kept changing.

Initially, Lady Mengjiang wept down five zhang of wall; later, it became an entire city, and finally, an astonishing 800 li of the Great Wall.

As the tale spread and distorted, Lady Mengjiang’s power grew stronger and stronger.

Until the last Great Wall reconstruction during the Great Yan dynasty, the latest version of the story portrayed Lady Mengjiang as the Great Wall’s... arch-nemesis!

In this process, it seemed everyone only saw the earth-shattering love between the couple.

No one paid attention in the story to the husband’s evasion of labor on the vital national defense project;

nor did they care that if 800 li of the Great Wall collapsed, when the Alien Clan charged in, how many commoners would suffer their cruelty.

Of course, Emperor Shi and the dynasties that followed also had their own faults.

Perhaps during the construction, the mighty Daoist Soldiers were the main force.

But from the very first construction, one-twentieth of the country’s labor force was conscripted, and countless commoners died of exhaustion on the site were buried on the spot.

The rulers of successive dynasties weren’t much better, employing only unpaid laborers who brought their own provisions; none who died there received any compensation.

Compared to Wang Yuan and Zhou Jinhuan, who dredged the Turbid River, offering generous treatment to the disaster victims, the difference was truly heaven and earth.

It can be said that "Lady Mengjiang’s Crying at the Great Wall" embodied the deep-seated resentments of countless commoners burdened with feudal dynasty labor.

The over-extraction of civilian force was too severe.

[Taboo: The longer Lady Mengjiang cries at the base of the wall, the greater the damage to the Great Wall or any city walls in the world.

If she cries continuously for ten days and nights, she could collapse 800 li of walls in one go.

And like activating "Knowledge," it can animate the bones underground, allowing the dead to "resurrect!"]

They chose this moment to act.

Aiming to take advantage of Naiman Five Divisions and Heaven Righteous Dharma Dao’s approach, to unleash an endless stream of weird and sinister "Strange" beings from the plains all at once into the city.

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