Chapter 68: Going to report a death will only result in being summoned by those who died unjustly.

Huang Xiaoyun's grave has been dug up, the thin-skinned coffin is open, and the coffin lid, which was abandoned to one side, is damaged.

"How did this grave get dug up?" Little Dinggua looked into the grave pit and screamed as he backed away.

The fire started right from Huang Xiaoyun's grave. A skeleton, as dry as kindling, was burned to charcoal in the flames, and the withered trees beside the grave were also burning.

The eerie blue flames grew larger and larger, almost igniting the mist and affecting the wild grass, spreading even further. Little Dinggua shouted, "A wildfire has broken out!"

Flames rolled over, and Xiao Dinggua felt his whole body being roasted. Zhou Yaren scooped Xiao Dinggua back: "Quick, let's go, it's a sacrificial fire."

"What?" Little Dinggua didn't hear him clearly. Being dragged along by Zhou Yaren, his short legs couldn't keep up. He wanted to stop and catch his breath, but when he turned around and glanced at the fire, he immediately screamed in fright, "Ah, why is the fire coming over here? It's coming over here! Ahhh, it's burning my butt! Ahhh, why is the fire chasing us?"

Zhou Yaren unfolded her folding fan and abruptly fanned away the flames behind Xiao Dinggua's bottom: "This is the fire of the sacrificial ritual."

Liao means burning, and Ji means sacrifice. Liao Ji is the act of burning jade, silk, and sacrificial animals on a pile of firewood as a sacrifice.

However, the sacrificial offering at this time and place was not man-made, and the fire was not a yang fire. Zhou Yaren said, "It was the mass grave collecting offerings."

Little Dinggua, whose bottom was on fire, ran wildly.

"What? The mass grave is collecting offerings?" Little Dinggua was out of breath from running, his head buzzing from the news. How was he supposed to understand? "What does that mean? What offerings? Who are the offerings? Us?"

It is obvious.

Zhou Yaren didn't mean to scare the child. What made him suspicious was who dug up Huang Xiaoyun's grave. The Huang family, who had been making a fuss all night, had dug up the wrong grave. He was very sure that all the villagers had left at that time, and he had stayed behind. Under those circumstances, it was impossible for the Huang family to come back and dig up Huang Xiaoyun's grave again.

The burning sacrificial fire prevented him from stopping to investigate, forcing him to retreat from the mass grave and shake off the relentless sacrificial fire.

Little Dinggua finally escaped the flames, panting heavily and drenched in sweat. Only then did he realize the burning pain all over his body from the scorching heat. There was a river ahead; Little Dinggua could swim, so he tried to plunge into it. Suddenly, Zhou Yaren pulled him back. Zhou Yaren had been holding him there the whole time. Little Dinggua turned around, about to cry out that it was burning, when he noticed that the back of Zhou Yaren's hand, which had been protecting him, was covered in blisters from the fire: "You're injured."

"It's alright," Zhou Yaren said. "Don't jump into the river, it's dangerous."

"But I was burning up from the heat." When he looked back, the spreading fire had actually subsided quickly.

This fire is really eerie, it seems like it was really meant to burn the two of them alive as sacrifices.

That's terrifying.

"Bear with it for now, let's go back and check if you have any burns."

His buttocks were definitely on fire, because they were burning and stinging: "But where am we? Where are we?"

Looking around at the unfamiliar and desolate environment, Xiao Dinggua was completely lost, so they could only follow the river forward.

There was a narrow path, barely wide enough for two people, winding through the mountains and ravines. The path was rugged and uneven. Little Dinggua felt somewhat relieved that he was traveling with someone this time and didn't hear any more singing. The night's experience had been absolutely thrilling and fraught with danger; he vowed never to return to this awful place.

But his grandfather was still missing, and a whole day and night had passed. He himself had almost been burned to death in the fire. He thought to himself, "I might as well go to the authorities tomorrow."

After walking for about half an incense stick's time, the winding path was blocked by a large stone, two or three people high, with the three characters "Fengkou Village" carved on it.

Xiao Dinggua vaguely recognized the name. Although he had never been here before, he must have heard his grandfather mention it casually.

Little Dinggua was overjoyed because he had finally escaped the mass grave and reached the village.

Because the large rock blocked the entrance, Fengkou Village was probably named after it. People entering and leaving the village had to pass through the gaps between the large rock and the rock wall, and they could vaguely see the cave dwellings where the villagers lived not far away.

It was the dead of night, and the village was quiet, with no lights or human voices. However, a stray dog ​​covered in mange was tied to a cypress tree by the roadside. Its fur was bald, its skin thick, dirty, and smelly. Hearing the noise and the presence of strangers, it stood up abruptly and barked at the two outsiders.

Zhou Yaren led Xiao Dinggua around the barking mangy dog ​​and came to the door of an earthen kiln. She knocked twice, and the wooden door creaked open a crack. There was no bolt on the door.

They did not rush in, but asked several times, and only after receiving no response from the owner did they cautiously push open the wooden door.

At the same time, a chill suddenly gathered behind her. Zhou Yaren seemed to sense something and turned around. She saw a woman in white slowly approaching from the village entrance. She was covered in frost and cold moonlight. She walked through the heavy and desolate night and stepped into the world that was about to be lit. She met Zhou Yaren, who was covered in dust and grime, unexpectedly.

Zhou Yaren asked in surprise: "A white injustice?"

Bai Yuan was clearly surprised to run into them here: "What brings you here?"

Zhou Yaren and she asked in unison, "Why are you here?"

Bai Yuan looked them up and down, and it was hard not to suspect that these two had rolled in ashes: "What happened to make them look like this?"

Zhou Yaren didn't rush to answer, but instead asked, "Where did you go?"

Bai Yuan: "Go and report the death of a person who died unjustly."

Sure enough, Zhou Yaren asked, "Where?"

"Death row."

"You must clear his name?"

The words "Bai Yuan" were her name, but Zhou Yaren wasn't calling her by that name.

Bai Yuan raised his eyelids slightly and said, "I need to stay and take up a little more time."

"clear."

This made Bai Yuan laugh: "What do you understand?"

He thought he understood the true meaning of those two words, and also understood the significance of the existence of the innocent in the world: "You walk between life and death, report the deaths of the unjustly killed, and then take on the grievances of those pitiful people to clear their names and redress their grievances."

That's why she said to him from within the Taiyin Dao body, "I can help you."

He spoke every word perfectly, it seemed that this person had silently and completely figured out her background. Bai Yuan stared at him quietly for a moment: "Aren't you going to say that I'm a ghost judge?"

Zhou Yaren met her gaze and said decisively, "You are not the judge of the underworld, you are the innocent victim, not the innocent victim of injustice, but the innocent victim who seeks justice for the innocent victim."

“Don’t you find it hard to pronounce?” Bai Yuan’s long eyelashes fluttered, as if he could see a friend he had been separated from for a thousand years through the passage of time.

He was an old friend, full of vigor and spirit, even more dashing than the man before him, with bright and affectionate eyes. He picked up the umbrella used to announce the death, stared at the two seal characters engraved on the handle, and slowly read aloud: "Bai Yuan? Is your name Bai Yuan?"

From that moment on, she had a name.

From that moment on, it seemed as if she had a place to come from and a place to go.

She knew her origins, but never revealed them to anyone. She wanted to tell that person where she came from, but before she could, before everything was over, she was trapped in the Taiyin Dao Body.

In the blink of an eye, a thousand years had passed in the blink of an eye. Standing before him was only a blind man whose eyes had been blinded by smoke, with spiritual eyes that could only see the yin and evil.

That's why, whenever he looked at himself, Bai Yuan would think he was neither human nor ghost, and he certainly wouldn't feel very happy.

Bai Yuan asked him, "How did you two end up in Fengkou Village?"

Zhou Yaren then recounted the events of the night at the mass grave to Bai Yuan. The discovery that the severed-armed corpse had turned into a human skeleton didn't surprise Bai Yuan much; after all, based on the Gu Master's actions in Bei Qu, he was clearly a capricious and wicked person. However, he had only been idle for a few days before starting to kill and haunt again. This person was likely restless and would cause trouble every few days.

Bai Yuan frowned slightly when he heard about the sacrificial fire, but the latter did not notice and continued to talk about the events and doubts: "How could a sacrificial fire be formed in the mass grave? There must be a cause and effect."

"So you were burned to this point?"

Yes, and you?

Bai Yuan did not answer immediately. She gestured with her chin toward the half-open kiln door behind Zhou Yaren, indicating that they should go inside and talk.

There was no one in the cave dwelling. A thin layer of dust had accumulated on the table, indicating that no one had lived there for at least ten days or half a month. It was a convenient place for the three of them to rest, as they didn't need to disturb the sleeping villagers at this hour.

Bai Yuan lit a tinderbox to light a lamp. Xiao Dinggua found some bottles and jars used to treat bruises and sprains inside the hollowed-out wall. He swept them all up and put them on the table, instructing Zhou Yaren to pop the blisters before applying the medicine. He himself firmly refused everyone's offer to help him apply medicine and treat his injuries. He ran into the next room, closed the door, and grimaced as he pulled down his pants, because his burns were on his buttocks, which he couldn't expose to outsiders.

Bai Yuan casually picked up a silver needle and quickly popped the blister on Zhou Yaren's hand: "You can take care of yourself, right? Just apply the medicine wherever it hurts. You don't need me to apply it for you, do you?"

“I can do it myself.” Zhou Yaren had just reached for the bottle when Bai Yuan snatched it away and put another bottle in his hand. He thanked him, opened the seal, and slowly applied some ointment.

The medicated plaster felt cool on the back of my hand, relieving the burning sensation.

Just as he was digging out another piece of plaster, his chin was suddenly pinched by cool fingertips.

This action was somewhat abrupt, but Bai Yuan didn't notice at all. She lifted Zhou Yaren's chin and turned his face, seeing traces of dried blood seeping from his ear canal.

Bai Yuan wiped away the drop of blood from his earlobe and laughed angrily: "Do you think I don't need money to save you?"

“The situation was a bit special at the time,” Zhou Yaren explained weakly, “but I could pay for the consultation.”

"Go lie down on the tatami mat."

One sentence made Zhou Yaren pause for a moment. After a moment, he stood up and slowly groped his way to the kang (a heated brick bed) to lie down.

Bai Yuan spread out the silver needles, licked the tips with a flame, and bent down to insert them into the acupoint on Zhou Yaren's earlobe.

Her black hair inadvertently fell onto Zhou Yaren's shoulder, brushing lightly against the side of his neck. Because he was blind, his five senses were extremely sharp, especially at such close range, and a long-buried thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He didn't know why he had such an abrupt and fantastical dream that night. In the dream, he wasn't offending anyone, but rather being undressed. The person leaned down, their cool fingertips caressing his waist…

This shouldn't be the case; he considered himself to be pure of heart and had never had this desire over the years.

While it's not considered shameful for others to indulge in lustful desires when they're well-fed and clothed, he never entertained such thoughts.

Zhou Yaren closed her eyes, not daring to look directly at Bai Yuan who was leaning down at that moment, but her mind was filled with thoughts of that dream.

When Bai Yuan was inserting the third needle, he paused and asked, "Why are your ears red?"

Zhou Yaren was swallowing hard and almost choked. He covered his mouth and coughed in a panic. He immediately tried to sit up and distance himself from Bai Yuan, but Bai Yuan grabbed him and ordered, "Don't move."

Zhou Yaren had no choice but to lie back down.

Bai Yuan observed that Zhou Yaren's ears were getting redder and redder, and the redness spread all the way to her neck. She was a little puzzled. She hadn't seen any redness when she was given acupuncture before. Could it be that the needles hurt?

He never complained of pain even when he was seriously injured before, which shows he can endure a lot. Bai Yuan asked, "Is it pain or swelling?"

"It's bloated." Zhou Yaren mumbled a reply. To suppress his reverie, he could only change the subject. "Could you tell me about the person who died unjustly in death row?"

Bai Yuan casually burned the needle tip and stated plainly: "He was tortured to death by the jailers."

"How did they die from all that torture?"

"Do I need to go into details? You should know very well what they do in death row. If you refuse to confess, they take turns on you. In the end, they hang you upside down and whip you dozens or hundreds of times, pour chili water into your wounds, and then poke several holes in all directions to bleed you out. How many people can endure that? That's how they are slowly killed."

The innocence was described lightly, but Zhou Yaren fully understood the suffering of imprisonment. How many truly wise and upright officials were there? Most were wrongful confessions obtained through torture. He knew all too well that no matter how much he denied it, no one would believe him. They would only hold the instruments of torture, their smiles concealing daggers, and say to him, "What? You say you're innocent? You're in here now, and you still dare to say you're innocent? Young man, don't you see where you are now? I advise you, if you don't want to suffer, you'd better think carefully. Otherwise, let's see if your mouth is harder, or the knife in my hand is harder."

They have many ways to torture and inflict harm, regardless of injury or disability, and generally they won't actually kill the person. However, if someone above them or a powerful figure gives the order, they can cause the person to die suddenly at any time.

Zhou Yaren asked, "What grievance did that person have?"

“The jailer wrongly accused him of killing a woman, and that woman happened to be the daughter of the jailer who killed him.”

Zhou Yaren turned her head in surprise: "The jailer is taking revenge?"

"Don't move." Bai Yuan pressed against his cheekbone and pierced the acupoint near his ear with a silver needle: "The jailer knows he has killed someone and has probably already found a place to hide. The government is also looking for him everywhere."

"I thought I had avenged my daughter, but it turned out I had wrongfully killed the wrong person." Otherwise, there shouldn't be any question of wrongful conviction here; she would only be summoned by the person who died unjustly.

"That's right."

"Is the deceased's identity clear?"

I do know a little about it.

The deceased in prison was named Wang Sanhu, a local resident who lived in a cave dwelling on the edge of a plateau in Fengkou Village. He also worked as a laborer in a small coal mine on the plateau. His father had been buried alive in the mine years earlier, and the only man in the family who could earn money through physical labor had died. For several months, they went without food, and the mother and son endured a period of hardship due to hunger. His mother then ran away with a porter, leaving behind the illiterate Wang Sanhu.

To make ends meet, Wang Sanhu, barely twelve years old, had no choice but to follow in his father's footsteps, going down into the deep coal mines of his village to earn a living. Then, as expected, an accident occurred; after decades of mining, the small coal mine finally collapsed.

That night, three or five miners who were guarding the mine died, but Wang Sanhu was lucky enough to survive. However, three of his ribs were broken by stones, and his lungs were punctured. After being treated by Dr. Ding, he could no longer do heavy work and could only roll back home from the small coal mine. He would occasionally help the villagers herd cattle and sheep, and he would get a steamed bun every few days. At least he was able to survive.

Wang Sanhu probably felt that his childhood was too miserable, so he was still bothered by this experience until his death. He didn't distinguish between primary and secondary issues, and poured out his tragic childhood to Bai Yuan.

That's why she came here.

After Bai Yuan finished speaking slowly, before Zhou Yaren could express his opinion, the last silver needle was inserted directly into his scrotum.

You can't get fat in one bite, and you can't rush things. Zhou Yaren, however, wanted to work day and night without closing her eyes, insisting on working until she was completely exhausted. Even a person made of iron couldn't withstand that, let alone when one thing after another came one after another.

Bai Yuan looked up and saw him lying on his side, fast asleep. He sat quietly for a while, intending to stop the needlework after half an hour. His gaze unconsciously fell on Zhou Yaren's burned hand. He thought of the withered and charred ancient tree in front of Huang Xiaoyun's grave and wondered: What kind of cause and effect is this?