Chapter 19 The Spring and Autumn Annals is a book that devours people without spitting out the bones. ...

Following the direction of Shen Lixia's finger, Qiao Yanshen looked down and saw the cold light he had seen last night leaping up from the forest. Seeing that no one intended to attack, it boldly approached Qiao Yanshen's sword, its speed no less than hers.

The two people on Tang Huairou's side were full of doubt. They slowed down and looked in their direction, but found nothing. They only saw that the two of them were staring at a certain place.

Simmons, feigning bravado, supported Tang Huairou with one hand while clenching his fist as if to form a hand seal with the other, and shouted, "What kind of ghost dares to possess my fellow Daoists!"

"Go on top of me," Shen Lixia rolled her eyes. "If it's not visible to the naked eye, just scan it with spiritual power. Don't you have exceptional mental strength?"

As her spiritual energy swept across the area, Tang Huairou realized that there was indeed a strange, ethereal object in the direction they were looking, as if it would crumble at the slightest touch.

Why can they see directly?

Well, it's not like she just found out about all the secrets her junior sisters have. She's become somewhat numb to it since that Purple Heaven Divine Lightning struck her. What if both of her junior sisters were powerful ghost kings in their past lives?

Shen Lixia reached out towards the cold light as if teasing a bird. As she drew closer, she could see it was a semi-transparent, flickering will-o'-the-wisp, seemingly boiling with some kind of unceasing obsession, its color a pale blue, exuding a chilling, demonic aura. The will-o'-the-wisp seemed to respond to her, pressing against her fingertips. A burning anxiety quickly spread through Shen Lixia's consciousness, repeating itself endlessly:

"I'll take you with me."

"Follow me, stay close."

The voice was weak and mechanical, as if it weren't speaking at all, but rather a jumble of sounds pieced together from a single person's words, sounding extremely awkward. Shen Lixia sensed no hostility from her and lowered her head to scan downwards.

With her increased cultivation, her eyes became even sharper. She could perceive even the slightest movement in the shrunken forest below, like an invincible arrow piercing the night, leaving nothing to escape. The mountains and towns were now filled with pale, ghostly figures, enveloping the entire area.

At the same time, Tang Huairou, who had a higher cultivation level, whispered, "Junior sister, does this thing indicate the direction? Just now, I scanned it with my divine sense and found that an evil formation had sealed off Kuizhou. The blood energy was extremely strong. I'm afraid there are still some demonic cultivators with some rationality mixed in among the monsters, who intend to take our lives."

Shen Lixia nodded, gently raising her hand, and the will-o'-the-wisp drifted forward. She stared intently at the direction of the will-o'-the-wisp and said, "Senior Sister, follow her."

Qiao Yanshen urged his longsword to speed past Tang Huairou, who understood and followed closely behind her, the chilling sword aura slicing through the night sky.

Will-o'-the-wisps weaved through the forest, and the group chased after them. After a while, they stopped and looked up to find that there were no more trees in their way. A dilapidated and narrow courtyard appeared before them, overgrown with weeds and with stones scattered everywhere.

Part of the courtyard walls had rusted and collapsed, and in the center stood a building with faded eaves and mottled marks on its beams and pillars, as if it were a relic forgotten for a thousand years, now reappearing before the world only because of the will-o'-the-wisp. Logically speaking, such a temple should be eerie and filled with resentment, perhaps even shrouded in blood mist.

But all those present felt only a mournful sadness emanating from it. This resentment did not come from the pile of corpses; rather, it contained compassion and stirred a sense of helpless indignation in people's hearts.

Simmons, who came from a Buddhist family, stared blankly at the temple, muttering absentmindedly, "Could it be... that this temple holds wronged souls who cannot be reincarnated? How can there be such a desolate yet pure resentment?"

She had only ever felt such sorrow in her senior sister, whose cultivation had reached its limit and who had passed away peacefully, like a thin spider's thread leaking through the fingers of a compassionate Buddha.

"Let's go in and take a look." Qiao Yanshen stepped off his longsword, took Shen Lixia's sleeve, and walked into the courtyard first. The will-o'-the-wisp followed closely behind, and as it approached the temple, it seemed to gain more power, its light slightly stronger, allowing Tang Huairou and the others to see some hazy shadows.

After stepping straight into the temple, Shen Lixia exclaimed in surprise, "Eh!" and then quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth.

There were people inside the temple.

The person was quiet, their breathing so faint that even the dripping of water in the temple was clearly audible. The surroundings were dim, a pale blue-green like a crab shell, with only a pile of dry grass in the corner casting a warm glow. The grease in the lamp was almost burned out; the fire had not yet been lit. The person in the temple knelt before the altar, their back to them, their long, tied-up hair completely white, their body hunched and thin, as if they, along with the temple, had reached the point of exhaustion.

Upon hearing the boy's voice, the man was startled, slowly stood up, and turned around, revealing the face of a haggard yet kind old woman.

Her lips trembled, and her cloudy eyes suddenly lit up; she seemed very excited to see the group. Shen Lixia saw the will-o'-the-wisp slip to the old woman's side, perching affectionately on her shoulder like a little bird, and nuzzling against the woman's chapped lips.

"Are you gentlemen... messengers brought by Lord Ba?"

drought demon?

Shen Lixia frowned, instinctively sensing that the "ba" she mentioned was not the same as the drought demon rampaging outside. Just as she was about to ask for clarification, she felt her sleeve being tugged. Qiao Yanshen lowered his voice to a volume that only the three of them could hear, saying, "Her lips are cracked, her face is sallow, and she was trembling when she turned around just now. She must not have had a drop of water for some time."

Tang Huairou nodded in agreement: "Given her condition, she should have fainted long ago, but I don't know what's supporting her, that she can still... can still kneel down and pray."

“I also brought some food,” Simmons added. “Feed her first. Fellow Daoist Shen, don’t take out the dry rations yet. She’s been hungry for too long and is an elderly person, so it’s better to give her something soft.”

Simmons quickly walked to the old woman's side, helped her up, and led her to the pile of hay. She then took an old blanket from her storage bag, covered the hay with it, and let the woman lean against it. Shen Lixia and the others surrounded the old woman, carefully taking out water and handing it to her.

The old woman, her throat parched and her voice hoarse, thanked them softly before taking the water bottle and drinking. After drinking, she refused the food Simmons offered, instead looking at the group and repeatedly asking, "Are you ladies envoys brought by Lord Ba?"

"Ba?" Shen Lixia asked in confusion.

As the name was uttered, the will-o'-the-wisp leaped out. The old woman gently stroked its surface and replied, "It is this remnant soul..."

“Yes, yes, sir, it brought us here. Please have something to eat first! We can talk later.” Shen Lixia nodded quickly and said earnestly.

The old man shook his head, still unwilling to eat, and sighed deeply, "I must first tell you all this, otherwise I would truly be ashamed before Lord Ba..."

Shen Lixia nodded silently. She knew that the old woman's body was extremely weak, and that she had been able to hold on until now because of some extremely strong obsession. Without fulfilling this obsession, she might not be able to take any more steps forward.

The old woman coughed twice and then recounted her past in a steady voice.

Originally, the drought demon was not called the drought demon, nor was it a monster that brought drought and desolation. Instead, it was a goddess who came down from heaven to help the people, and her name was Ba.

In the ancient times, demons and monsters ravaged the world, causing chaos and destruction. Guided by the Azure Dragon, one of the Four Symbols, Ba followed it to the land to help the suffering people. She stopped the floods and illuminated the four directions when the eternal night fell, saving people from the demons that bred in the darkness. As the war subsided and the tribes gradually stabilized, the people in Ba's territory also prospered as the land regained its vitality. However, the tribes later fractured, and women were oppressed and usurped. Ba felt indignant about this and taught only women how to produce and hunt. She even guided them to perceive the heavens and earth and embark on the path of cultivation, becoming the protector of the local women.

However, her divine power gradually dissipated due to her long stay in the mortal realm and other reasons—the spiritual energy of the mortal realm was far thinner than that of the celestial realm, unable to support the body formed from the spiritual energy of the celestial realm, and the demon's strength slowly weakened. At this time, the man with long-standing grudges and the priest trapped her soul, which was about to dissipate, and sealed it in a certain place, which is the temple where they are now.

Unable to reincarnate, Ba could only watch as the priestly clan colluded with others, framing the women who had once benefited from her kindness. The usurper not only destroyed the harmony she had built but also silenced everyone, tarnished the legend of Ba, and vilified her as a drought demon that brought desolation.

"Then... how did you come to know about this legend?" Shen Lixia asked cautiously upon hearing this.

The old woman smiled and shook her head: "There is another clan... This clan of women went to great lengths to evade the priests' spies, keeping the legend a secret from everyone, passing it down orally until it was finally recorded in books and hidden in places difficult to find. I am the last member of this clan, and I often come to the temple to offer incense to Lady Ba, hoping that one day she can break free from her shackles and leave the mortal world..."

I also hope that one day, the truth will be revealed to outsiders.

Qiao Yanshen raised his hand to touch the flickering will-o'-the-wisp, hesitated for a moment, and asked softly, "This is... a demon?"

"The spirit of Lord Ba has long since dissipated over the years, and even harbored resentment because she could not reincarnate. This is just a wisp of her unconscious remnant soul. Just a few days ago, she told me that the men here would surely suffer the consequences of their own actions... and told me to evacuate the women as soon as possible and let them leave Kuizhou. After that, there was no further movement."

Why is this the case?

Why is it that the consciousness of the goddess who once responded to her calls and treated her like a child has been tormented to the point of being left with only resentment?

She didn't understand, but she could sense that there existed something in the world that devoured people without spitting out the bones, just like those greedy monsters crawling outside, who had never been satisfied in their previous lives.

Even her resentment was gentle; she never harmed innocent people. In fact, out of gratitude for the old woman's wish to stay in the temple with her until her death, she set up a barrier around the temple to prevent outside ghosts from discovering it.

A feeling that was hard to describe suddenly welled up in Shen Lixia's heart, as if she were not listening to an ancient story, but truly feeling the sorrow of the departure of an old friend.

“Resentment must have a vessel. If it is a goddess, this resentment must be residing in the statue. But I see no statue here, only burnt incense on both sides of the altar. Could you tell me where the statue is?” Simmons looked at the altar and asked after confirming that there was nothing else on it.

Upon hearing the image of the deity, the old man's previously bitter emotions overwhelmed him. Trembling, he reached into his worn-out, dust-covered clothes and pulled out a small wooden carving, barely a hand's width tall.

The group looked down and their hearts tightened.

On the small wooden carving, the woman's beautiful face had become blurred, losing its original spirit. But below her eyes, two deep red marks extended out, and there seemed to be a slight bleed out.

Like two lines of glaring blood and tears.

A note from the author:

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I've been getting chased by deadlines lately, so updates haven't been very stable. I'm really sorry about that.

Because the writing wasn't very smooth... these chapters might have a slightly strange style, please forgive me.