"Stop—so what does this story have to do with you?"

Nan Xian raised her hand to interrupt the weasel spirit's vivid description, tapping her watch. "Can you get to the point?"

Yu Lin, who was engrossed in the story, snapped out of his reverie and realized, "Yes, you've told us so much, but it's all other people's stories. You still haven't explained your origins!"

The weasel spirit scratched its head. "Well, to make a long story short, after that man strangled his wife to death, he didn't want the news to spread, so he poured gasoline in the village and set it on fire, burning the whole village down. He died in the fire himself."

Nan Xian and Yu Lin exchanged a glance. "And then?"

The weasel spirit said, "Dozens of innocent villagers from Buxian Village were burned alive. The resentment of those who died unjustly has been gathering here for a long time. We were attracted by this resentment, but when we entered the village, we found that the bodies of those villagers who were burned to death were lying perfectly fine in their own homes, without a single scratch. If it weren't for the fact that they had no breath or soul, we would have thought they were alive!"

"As you know, we weasel spirits cultivate our entire lives just to attain human form, but in this world, spiritual energy is scarce."

"It's already at its limit if it can support us absorbing even a tiny bit of spiritual energy; trying to cultivate into human form is practically impossible... With a ready-made container right in front of us, how could we not be envious..."

Nan Xian raised an eyebrow, "So you took it upon yourselves to possess the villagers' bodies and impersonate them?"

The weasel spirit nodded. "But our demonic essence is incompatible with human bodies. To keep our bodies from decaying and collapsing, we must absorb human essence. So we've worked hard for a long time to turn Buxian Village into a popular tourist destination. Some tourists have very abundant essence, so we sneak up on them and take a little from one person and a little from another. Little by little, it's enough to keep us from giving ourselves away."

After listening, Nan Xian pondered for a few moments, then suddenly her eyes darkened and she let out a cold snort.

She suddenly found herself holding a willow branch in her hand. With a flick of her right hand, the branch whistled through the air before landing with a "thud" on the weasel spirit's foot.

At first, it didn't react, until it felt a sudden burning pain in its foot and realized what had happened. It clutched its foot and howled, looking at Nan Xian pitifully with teary eyes, "I...I told you! Why did you hit me?"

Yu Lin couldn't bear to watch any longer and couldn't help but plead for them, saying, "Sister, they're not some great villains. If you really want to say something, the development of Buxian Village is largely thanks to them."

Upon hearing this, the weasel spirit nodded hurriedly, looking at Nan Xian with an innocent expression.

Nan Xian wasn't buying it. She squeezed the willow twig in her hand, her knuckles making a cracking sound.

"It avoids the important points and deliberately omits the key information. Let me ask you, what would happen to a person if their essence were taken away?" The willow twig pointed directly at the weasel's forehead.

Yu Lin's expression changed slightly, and he turned to look at it.

The weasel spirit avoided his gaze, lowered its head guiltily, but dared not not answer.

"You'll...you'll have bad luck, there will be bloodshed, and if you don't get it back for a long time, you'll become mentally impaired..."

"Anything else?"

The weasel spirit trembled. "And, and... a short lifespan. If it's a young child, they are very likely to die young after their essence is sucked away."

Yu Lin's expression changed completely upon hearing the first half of the sentence. After hearing the rest, he was furious and grabbed the willow branch from Nan Xian's hand, whipping it hard several times.

"You murderous wretch! You deserve to die!"

The weasel spirit was whipped until it curled up on the spot, its fur all droopy.

Yu Lin was still not satisfied and wanted to hit her a few more times, but Nan Xian stopped him.

"Don't actually kill yourself, I still have questions to ask."

He clenched his fist and took a half step back.

Nan Xian stepped forward and looked down at it from her vantage point.

“You lied just now. I’m giving you one last chance. Tell the truth and I’ll only kill you. If you continue to hide the truth, your entire clan will be wiped out.”