How could someone make such a huge mess?

Two tears slid down her face, showing her unwillingness to accept defeat.

I watched her quietly, waiting for her to figure things out on her own. The entire courtyard was silent, much like a trial being held by the crowd.

After a long while, she cried for a long time before pointing to the dense flowerbed: "There, I buried myself under the flowerbed back then. If, if the flowerbed hadn't changed, there wouldn't be a problem with the location."

Finally, I said it. I nodded to Muli, and with a gesture from Muli, all the unrelated servants in the courtyard were quickly cleared away by the Imperial Guards. I looked at Muli and said, "You can go out too. I'll call you when it's done."

"Okay," Mu Li nodded, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to me, and then left.

Only Ah Shi, Madam Zheng, and I remained in the courtyard. I pointed at Madam Zheng and said, "Go, dig it out."

Madam Zheng looked up at me, then took out a handkerchief to wipe herself clean before picking up a shovel and starting to dig little by little. Her tears kept falling onto the excavated soil, as if overlapping with the woman who buried bones with a heart full of resentment. At this moment, I seemed to see two people—one was her in the past, and the other was her in the present.

I suddenly realized that no matter which direction a person goes, they will eventually return to the fork in the road. It's just that they start from the original point, take a look at other paths, or spend half their lives looking at them, and then one day they will return to the original fork in the road, completing the loop.

This is life.

I suddenly felt an itch in my hand, an itch that made me want to scratch my head. I quickly took off my glove and discovered that my middle finger was covered in a dense mass of flesh and blood... The flesh and blood grew and covered the finger very rapidly, soon making it completely covered...

Ah Shi was standing nearby, his eyes wide with surprise, but thankfully he didn't gasp out.

A bare hand bone, with only the middle finger covered in flesh and blood—it looked utterly bizarre. I pursed my lips, calmly put my gloves back on, and watched as Madam Zheng, her face streaked with tears, walked over, holding the grayish-black finger bone.

I nodded to Ah Shi: "Set up an array to neutralize the malevolent energy."

Ah Shi threw out his magical artifact, enveloping Madam Zheng within it, and began to dissolve the malevolent energy on her finger bones.

As the finger bone slowly turned from grayish-black to normal white, Ah Shi dispelled the formation, and Madam Zheng collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

I crouched down and looked at her: "Aren't you feeling a little more relaxed now?"

"Yes," she said, her face streaked with tears, but her voice was surprisingly calm, "I do feel much more relaxed."

“Okay,” I nodded, “Let’s go back.”

She looked at the bone in her hand: "This piece of bone..."

"Take it back if you want to keep it..."

"I don't want to stay."

I breathed a sigh of relief: "Then give it to me."

“Okay,” she stood up, placed her finger bone in my palm, then took out the soaking wet handkerchief again to clean herself up before following Ah Shi out.

I looked at the little finger bone in my hand and noticed a bright white light at the tip. Oh, it seems I can use it to forge a bone spur.

When I looked at the patch of soil that Madam Zheng had dug up, it seemed to be a bit blackish. I wanted to go over and see if the land also needed to be cleansed of its evil energy. As a result, I saw clusters of black malevolent energy emerging from the dug-out soil. I quickly called out to Ah Shi, "Ah Shi, come quick."

Then I took a few steps forward and stepped onto the earthen hole that was still emitting malevolent energy, trying to stop it from spreading. But my feet, which were all bones, couldn't stop the malevolent energy at all. The malevolent energy burst out in waves and then scattered and flew away, disappearing in an instant...

Ah Shi also ran in at this moment. Seeing this scene, he quickly set up a defensive barrier around me. After the yellowish light of the barrier capped off, I moved my feet and let the malevolent energy from the ground rise out. I didn't know where that malevolent energy came from, but it kept rising out and accumulating in the barrier.

I casually sat down on the ground and looked at Ah Shi: "Go to the Imperial Observatory and find a few more people. You can't handle so much malevolent energy by yourself."

“Okay,” A-Shi said, seeing that the formation had blocked the malevolent energy, and ran out in a few steps. At this moment, Mu Li came in and stopped A-Shi: “You stay here, just in case. I’m going to the Imperial Observatory to find someone.” After saying that, he ran out.

I was the only 'living thing' in the formation. When those malevolent energies realized they couldn't get out, they rushed towards me. But I was just a skeleton, full of holes. I went in one place and came out the other. They couldn't hold onto me at all. In the end, they simply gave up and gathered around me, slowly piling up and completely obscuring me.

I heard Ah Shi shout from outside the formation, "Auntie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. This negativity doesn't affect me. Don't worry."

There was too much malevolent energy, filling the entire formation. I was also submerged in it, unable to see anything outside. All around me were violent voices, constantly muttering complaints and anger in my ears...

It's so noisy. I helplessly propped my head up with my arm.

I don't know how long I waited, but then I heard the supervisor's voice: "Xiao Xuyi, how are you?"

Huh? Even the supervisor is here? "I'm fine, it's just that this hostility is too noisy."

"Oh, no rush, they'll let you out once they've calmed down their hostility."

"Hmm, I'm not in a hurry, you guys take your time." Remembering the escaped malevolent energy, I asked the supervisor, "How's that escaped malevolent energy doing?"

"This malevolent energy seems to have been around for a long time. We don't know where the ones that escaped have hidden. We'll just have to search for them slowly later!"

"Sigh..." I sighed. It was truly my oversight. The supervisor had told me there was something in the soil, and I should have had Ah Shi set up a formation to completely isolate the courtyard. Now, the malevolent energy has escaped. At most, if it infects someone, they'll go mad, and we can just draw it out and neutralize it. But I'm afraid it might infect some powerful evil artifact, which would be terrible...

How could someone make such a huge blunder? I'm speechless.

Next, I'll be busy...

I was sighing and complaining inside the formation when I heard a malevolent aura clamoring in my ear: "You're not happy either? Help me out, let me out, and I'll give you half of what I absorb, how about that?"

"Not good at all, not good at all."

However, I glanced at the hostile energy nagging in my ear and grabbed it with my hand: "But you can help me find the hostile energy that's with you, that's a good thing!"

"I don't want to! I won't do it! I want to get out! Let me out!"

It kept bumping around in my palm, trying to break free, but my bones had withstood all the divine punishment and were incredibly strong, so it didn't react at all: "Don't waste your energy. If you help me, I might be able to neutralize your resentment and find you a good reincarnation!"

"Hmph..." A cold snort, followed by relentless pounding...

I heard incantations resounding around me as I tried to dispel the malevolent energy. Then I looked at the malevolent energy in my palm and said, "Listen, all your companions will have to be dispelled. If you don't help me, I'll have them all be saved too. Then there really won't be a future for us!"

"Ah..." it cried out, "What is this thing? Ahhh...it hurts...it hurts so much..."

I could almost see it clutching its ears in pain, so I pressed my advantage: "You'd better think about it quickly, time waits for no one."

"Ahhhhh...it hurts...ah..." It kept screaming in agony. I noticed its body had become quite pale, so I asked again, "Really not going to reconsider?"

"Ahhh...okay...okay, I'll help you, ahhhh...make them stop..."

I quickly called out, "Ah Shi!"

The sounds of incantations around them immediately stopped. Ah Shi approached the magic circle, her voice tinged with anxiety: "What's wrong, Aunt? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, I'm fine, but I need a malevolent aura to help me find its companions. Do you have any way to prevent it from dissipating?"

“That’s easy. I’ll give Auntie a spirit stone, and you can let it hide inside.”

"Set up an encirclement, I don't want it to escape as soon as it comes out!"

"Okay, I understand, Auntie."

"You, you, you, you..." The murderous aura in his palm grew angry: "You're such a bastard!"

"If I'm not a bastard, you have to run away. So just consider me a bastard!"

A moment later, a spirit stone rolled in. I gestured with my lip towards the spirit stone, indicating my hostility: "Hurry up, go in."

"If I don't go in, you say you'll let me go if you want to help me, but what if you don't? Would I have to keep working for you forever?"

"Fine, then you can die if you don't go in." After saying that, I called to Ah Shi, "Ah Shi, continue!"

When the sounds of incantations resumed, it struggled painfully in my palm. I released it immediately. Although my bones had large cracks, they still provided some protection. As soon as I loosened my grip, the sounds of incantations grew louder. I saw that the malevolent aura on its body had faded a bit. I just looked at it without saying a word.

Finally, it couldn't hold back any longer: "Fine... save your life first."

Then it rushed into the spirit stone, only to be bound by the fine threads formed by the array within it. It was somewhat angry: "Why are you binding me?"

"Aren't you going to be bound by the formation that will corrode your spirit stone?" I tapped the small spirit stone: "Just stay put!"

"You treacherous villain, you broke your word, you bastard, you scum..." The malevolent energy kept cursing me from within the spirit stone, but I ignored it, patiently waiting for the surrounding malevolent energy to be completely dispelled by the magic...

Once all the malevolent energy within the formation was dispelled, and no more malevolent energy emerged from the soil, the malevolent energy within the spirit stone, exhausted from its tirade, began to pant heavily...

I looked at that hostile aura: "What's your name? I can't call you 'Heroic Aura,' can I?"

It snorted and turned its face away without saying a word.

"Not going to talk? Then I'll call you Little Huang!"

"Little Yellow is a dog's name!" it retorted angrily.

"Let's call him Puppy! It's quite simple."

"I don't want to!" it protested.

"It's settled then. From now on, you'll be the Imperial Observatory's dog!"

"You bastard! You idiot..." it started cursing again, annoyed by my outburst.

I calmly looked at Ah Shi outside the formation and asked, "Ah Shi, is there any way to beat it up? It's too noisy."

"Yes! How about using a needle? Just prick it directly."

"Alright!" I looked at the malevolent energy within the spirit stone: "Let's use the needle that smelled the fragrance!"