Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The mountain was overgrown with weeds, and every step was a trip over an unknown weed. It was just past noon, and the sun was still very strong. Meng Yingying felt that the sun was very hot. A Qiao was carrying a tree branch and walked in front of them to clear the way, saying, "You've really come at the right time. Every year at this time, this monk stays in Xinghua Village for a while."

A-Qiao was a restless person, but along the way, apart from her occasional self-talk, very few people spoke to her. She couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

Her words reached their ears, and Meng Yingying wondered what kind of time it was. Her mind was completely blank; every time she tried to think, she felt dizzy and couldn't think of anything. Frustrated, she pinched her brow hard with two fingers.

It's said that pain can bring clarity, but Meng Yingying felt the pain without feeling any clarity. She slowly let out a sigh of relief and continued climbing the mountain tirelessly. No one responded to A Qiao's words, so she shut her mouth in frustration. The entire ascent was silent.

As the sun began to set, a dilapidated little temple came into view. Meng Yingying observed it for a few seconds and only noticed one thing: the temple was indeed dilapidated. She hurriedly took a few steps forward, but suddenly her foot slipped, and she lost her balance and fell backward. Almost instinctively, Meng Yingying thought that someone would be behind her to steady her.

Sure enough, she felt an arm pass through her waist. For some reason, she took a breath, her eyes widened, and a jumble of bells rang in her ears.

Shang Mang lowered his head and met her gaze. An awkward atmosphere arose as they looked at each other. Meng Yingying's gaze lingered briefly on his lips as she recalled the accidental kiss from last night. Was it just her imagination? Shang Mang seemed unusually lively today. Her mind was a mess, and she felt like her thoughts were no longer under her control. Her gaze was unfocused.

Shang Mang is a ghost child; he can turn red in the ears and face, possessing human emotions. Meng Yingying constantly tries to deny this, but Shang Mang can indeed be a normal, living person. She can't help but wonder why Shang Mang always appears whenever she needs him. She has to admit that she has always denied that Shang Mang is a monster; she doesn't understand why she is so convinced.

“I’ll say it,” he lowered his head and whispered in her ear, “how much longer are you going to watch?” Meng Yingying woke up with a start, straightened up like a spring, and stiffly apologized, “I’m sorry.”

Shang Mang narrowed his eyes, wearing his usual hypocritical smile.

"Isn't it only natural for an older brother to help his younger sister?" He spoke gently. Meng Yingying gritted her teeth in anger. Was he ever going to stop? He was getting addicted to being the older brother. Honestly, she should have changed their roles from the start, like he was the son and she was the mother!

Meng Yingying turned her back, and Shang Mang said again behind her, "Were you looking at my mouth just now?"

He always spoke in a sarcastic tone, often adding interjections like "ne" and "me," which made people feel uncomfortable. After hearing this, Meng Yingying took a deep breath, then turned around without changing her expression and mimicked his tone, saying, "Because you're pretty." After saying that, she walked towards a pillar by the dilapidated temple, wanting to get far away from him.

Shang Mang deepened his fake smile with an ambiguous expression, made a fist to his lips, and coughed softly twice.

The others ignored this side. Xiao Zheyu walked to the dry well in front of the temple. A breeze blew past her face. She calmly stretched out her hand, tentatively reaching out and stopping above the well opening. A wisp of wind flowed through her palm.

A hint of interest flashed in her eyes.

"What are you looking at?" a voice rang in my ears.

Out of the corner of her eye, Xiao Zheyu caught a glimpse of white. She didn't turn around, but looked at the well. "There's wind coming from below this well."

Zhou Xiuqi did not reach out to test her, but looked at her hand and said, "Your guess is correct."

Xiao Zheyu then looked up at him, her brows furrowing. Her eyes were upturned, and when she lifted her eyelids to look at someone, she always gave a cold, scrutinizing look: "You know?"

Zhou Xiuqi's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but in the blink of an eye, they smoothed out again. Xiao Zheyu looked at him, but the emotion he showed in that instant dissipated quickly, and she couldn't discern what his expression had been like just now.

"Do you know where Tan Yuhua is?" She stared intently at him. Zhou Xiuqi suppressed the urge to frown, then stretched out two fingers and drew and wrote in the air above the well. Golden runes appeared in the air. It was the first time Xiao Zheyu had ever seen him draw runes.

The rune remained above the well opening before Zhou Xiuqi spoke, "The more you do it, the more intuitive you become."

The reason was a bit far-fetched, and Xiao Zheyu naturally didn't believe it. A sudden pang of pain shot through her heart. She raised her hand to press her chest, shifting her feet slightly. Whenever she got close to him, her heart would ache. Xiao Zheyu didn't understand why and wanted to ask, but she didn't have a suitable opportunity. After all, he denied knowing her.

Meng Yingying reached out and touched the moss growing on the pillar, then brought it to her nose and smelled it. It was that damp smell. Her nose felt wet, and she thought she had accidentally gotten too close and touched the moss. But something was wrong. Warm liquid was flowing down from the tip of her nose. She slowly raised her head in horror and met the two embroidered shoes that were suspended in the air and soaked through.

Caught off guard, she felt a sudden tightness in her chest and took a few steps back.

"Someone's...dead..." A Qiao's terrified voice came from behind. Meng Yingying turned around abruptly. A Qiao tremblingly pointed her index finger at the spot. After preparing herself mentally, Meng Yingying looked up again, scrutinizing the woman closely. The woman's black hair was disheveled, her neck was broken, and her head was tilted to the side. Upon closer inspection, the skin and flesh were still attached to the neck, and the head was swaying precariously in the air. However, the embroidered shoes remained firmly in place throughout.

A Qiao's voice attracted the others. Zhou Xiuqi and Xiao Zheyu rushed over. After seeing the woman above, Kong Fusheng gasped. The sunlight shone on their backs, but no one looked well. Kong Fusheng felt a chill down his spine. Cong Rong walked to Xiao Zheyu's side and was relieved to see that she was alright.

A-Qiao, frightened, kept chattering behind Meng Yingying: "It's that ghost! It's that ghost coming to take revenge on us! It seems that day is coming again." She was incoherent. From her words, Meng Yingying gleaned information about ghosts and that day. What was that day? She turned to ask, but shut her mouth the moment she saw A-Qiao's face.

A string of blisters appeared on A Qiao's face, and the skin on her neck gradually began to turn black.

That day might have triggered Ah Qiao's emotions, which is perhaps the reason why this "death chant" was formed.

Meng Yingying reached into her bosom, took out a talisman, chanted an incantation, and quickly stuck it on A Qiao's forehead. A Qiao's expression was suppressed, and she stood still without moving.

Meng Yingying and Zhou Xiuqi exchanged a glance. Zhou Xiuqi nodded slightly. Kong Fusheng, who was studying nearby, couldn't hold back his question. "Senior Meng, is this a blocking talisman?"

Meng Yingying nodded, then touched A Qiao's forehead with her fingertip. No one interrupted her; everyone was focused on A Qiao's movements. The edges of the talisman began to deteriorate. Meng Yingying withdrew her fingertip and pondered, "It really was forcibly infused with resentment."

“Ghosts forcibly infused with resentment have no unbearable past, only endless resentment. These dead ghosts are sustained by the nourishment of their resentment.” A string of thoughts suddenly flashed through her mind, and she said it naturally, as a sword was drawn from its sheath by her ear.

Meng Yingying turned her head, and Zhou Xiuqi drew his sword. Before he could reach A Qiao's throat, Meng Yingying quickly pressed it down on him: "Senior brother."

Zhou Xiuqi looked up at her and said, "I won't kill her." Only after hearing those three words did Meng Yingying release her grip. Zhou Xiuqi held up his sword, the snow-white hilt gripped tightly with his long, slender fingers. He easily wrote a burning mark on A Qiao's face.

Zhou Xiuqi was quick and decisive in his actions, not in a heartless way, but in a very resolute manner, especially when dealing with ghosts.

Meng Yingying admired him very much. In her mind, Meng Yuan's memory was that Meng Yuan greatly admired Zhou Xiuqi.

Meng Yingying always hesitates a bit before doing things, and sometimes those moments of hesitation can affect how things develop.

The writing gradually faded from A Qiao's face. The talisman that Meng Yingying had stuck on fell off her forehead. The blisters on A Qiao's face disappeared, and the blackening faded. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted to the ground.

Zhou Xiuqi waved his sword to dispel the black mist before sheathing it. "She was burned to death."

It's not hard to see that Meng Yingying connected Li Youde with syphilis and understood a lot. Perhaps Li Youde came to this place and was burned to death when he finally left. It was a curse from resentment.

Meng Yingying looked down the mountain with a melancholy expression, feeling a terrible sense of unease. Was Tan Yuhua the mastermind behind this place?

After Meng Yingying finished her melancholy, she glanced at Xiao Zheyu and saw that she was still staring at the woman's corpse. Xiao Zheyu noticed her gaze and said, "Put her down."

It took several people some effort to place her safely on the ground.

Meng Yingying had already accepted it in her heart. She felt that her mental fortitude would definitely be strengthened here. She reached out and brushed aside the woman's black hair, which was covered in sticky blood. Meng Yingying felt inexplicably sad. Why was she killed in such a cruel way? After brushing aside the black hair, the woman's face was revealed. Meng Yingying's eyes widened, and a chill ran down her spine.

Kong Fusheng uttered the first sound: "A Qiao?"

Xiao Zheyu was also somewhat shocked, but she didn't show it on her face. She glanced at the corner of the female corpse's eye and said, "It's not A Qiao."

In that room, Xiao Zheyu had carefully observed A Qiao. There was a very obvious scar at the corner of her eye, neither too big nor too small. Xiao Zheyu noted it down, "Her eye corner doesn't have a scar, but A Qiao's does."

Meng Yingying straightened her slightly tilted head. This "A Qiao" lay flat on the ground, lifeless, while the other A Qiao had a happy smile on her lips, which was extremely eerie.

This place is too mysterious and confusing.