Chapter 71

Chapter Seventy-One

I didn't expect him to be so direct, but that's normal, and I hadn't even had a chance to speak. Shang Mang scoffed, "Get lost." He cracked his whip with both hands.

As long as you say he committed murder, he'll run away; he definitely will.

"I'm not leaving," I said directly.

“I want to see how you kill people,” I replied, looking him intently into his eyes.

Shang Mang turned to the side, unable to fathom this person's thought process. He only needed to let the blood mist flow into her body to know what she was thinking. Shang Mang moved his fingertips, and finally clenched his fist.

Everyone who approaches him is after him to kill him, so why should he bother to find out?

That's settled then.

Ignore her completely.

Shang Mang put away his whip, his eyes no longer on me. I watched his back. It seemed he intended to ignore me. That wouldn't do; my plan didn't include having him ignore me.

I quickened my pace to catch up with him, taking two steps to catch up with his one, but I held on tightly to his tail, always maintaining a certain distance.

In order to shake me off, Shang Mang had to keep his attention on me and keep his distance from me.

I was so focused on following him that I didn’t notice where he was taking me. When he stopped, I realized it was a dilapidated thatched hut.

Shang Mang didn't turn around to look at me. He kicked the door open, and I stood outside without rushing in. The moment the door opened, a stench of excrement and urine rushed out, and I couldn't help but back away.

Shang Mang stood outside the door, without moving.

The light from outside struggled to penetrate, and screams of agony rose and fell from within.

My gaze followed them inside, but for a moment I didn't know where to look, not because it was too dirty or filthy, but because it was packed with people. Everyone's eyes were filled with fear and unease.

Shang Mang let out a low laugh: "I found you again." Blood mist emerged from his body, swirling and completely obscuring his form. I couldn't see the people inside the house, nor could I see Shang Mang. I could only see the blood mist devouring something, struggling to penetrate it.

The woman inside screamed, "You monster! I should have stabbed you to death back then!" The woman cursed sharply, her voice trembling unnaturally. Perhaps she was afraid of death, but she was still able to speak so boldly in front of Shang Mang.

Shang Mang responded: "Yes, you didn't kill me back then, so now I'm going to kill you all."

The woman seemed even angrier: "Monster, monster, monster!"

"ah!"

There was a sound of someone falling inside; it must have been the woman. Another burly man spoke up: "Did I tell you to speak?"

"Are you only satisfied when you've killed everyone?"

The man scolded the woman, then his voice changed: "We let you go back then, so please spare our lives too."

He said ingratiatingly

Shang Mang sneered: "Fine, I'll kill one person today."

"You can choose who dies."

My master said that the Ghost Embryo is best at manipulating people's hearts, and he was right. I didn't make a move, not because I didn't believe that Shang Mang would kill them, but because I believed that they would not survive in the end.

From just a few words, I can guess what grudges there are that I don't know about.

I took a step back. This blood mist was dangerous. Last time, Zhou Xiuqi only inhaled a little and kept vomiting blood. It wasn't ordinary mist. I stretched out my fingertip and touched the edge of the blood mist.

The moment I touched it, the blood mist dissipated. I was stunned, not understanding what was happening, but a bold guess came to me: I plunged my entire palm into the blood mist. The blood mist then spread out in large patches.

Noticing something strange, I lifted my foot and walked towards Shang Mang, but the blood mist avoided me. It's really funny; is this a good thing or a bad thing? It doesn't want to touch me, and it doesn't even want to touch the blood mist.

That's a good thing; at least my life is saved.

I didn't walk over to Shang Mang; I stood behind him and smelled a faint, pungent, brain-inducing fragrance. It made me a little dizzy. Looking inside, I saw a large group of people crammed together. There was a huge vat inside, presumably used for disposing of excrement.

Looking at the number of people inside, I noticed that most of them were men, about twenty or so, while women probably only made up four or five.

They all looked around nervously, the man's gaze fixed on the women.

Shang Mang: "I don't have the patience to watch you take your time choosing."

I have a feeling that these men will push one of the women forward.

Shang Mang glanced to the side; she stood there without saying a word to stop him, her eyes indifferent as if she didn't care at all. This was their new, unique way of killing him, and he was somewhat intrigued.

My gaze lingered on the bearded man standing in the center, surrounded by everyone else. He must be the man who had been fawning over me earlier. I never expected that his appearance and demeanor would be so inconsistent. He looked so cheerful, but his actions revealed a calculating nature.

The bearded man was sweating profusely, his gaze sweeping over them. Those people, fearing his stare, lowered their heads, terrified of being chosen. The women cowered, the men hid; no one in the room wanted to die.

The bearded man gritted his teeth, reached inside, pulled out a woman, and dragged her in front of Shang Mang: "What do you think, is she alright?" I stared at the woman; she was probably only a teenage girl. Her green clothes were dirty and disheveled, and she was expressionless. She didn't show any anger or resistance when she was pushed out.

I took a deep breath, feeling crushed and repeatedly irritated, and turned my feet slightly to the side.

Shang Mang chuckled and rubbed the silver whip in his hand, saying, "I've changed my mind. Let her choose. Who among you will die?" Shang Mang raised his hand, grabbed the girl's head, and turned her towards the group.

The bearded man's voice suddenly rose: "Let her choose?"

Shang Mang nodded: "Yes, that's what makes it interesting."

I suddenly stopped and turned back. The girl in green raised her face, her eyes narrow and cold, and pointed her index finger to the center without hesitation: "I choose him."

The bearded man knelt down with a thud, saying, "Ah Jin, Ah Jin, I've led you all this way, it hasn't been easy for me either. You can't just choose me out like this, you can't, you can't..."

Her name was Ah Jin. Ah Jin's voice was numb: "I choose you to die, so that everyone can die. None of you deserve to live."

The bearded man opened his mouth to speak, but the silver whip lashed through his throat, spraying blood and scattering the people around him. They cried out in dissatisfaction.

I looked at Ajin, and a smile slowly appeared on her face.

Ah Jin slowly turned around and looked at Shang Mang: "Kill me." Shang Mang withdrew his silver whip, the blood was washed away by the whip, and then he looked up at Ah Jin: "No."

Ah Jin lowered her head: "Why? Didn't you just want to kill someone? Wouldn't it be better to just kill me and be done with it?"

Shang Mang looked at her and smiled, a smile as gentle as a spring breeze: "Killing you wouldn't cleanse my soul; my hatred will never end."

A tear rolled down Ah Jin's cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.

Shang Mang turned his back, and I followed him, looking down at the bloodstains on my Taoist robe. Oh no, I don't know how to explain this to my senior brother.

The door closed, and Shang Mang walked forward. This time, his attention was elsewhere; his pace was neither fast nor slow, and I could keep up. But his attention wasn't on me; he was thinking about something.

"If I kill him, will you hate me?" Shang Mang's voice came from the front.

I followed him, looking at my toes: "Yes."

Shang Mang spoke up: "How long will you hate them?"

I didn't rush to answer. How long would I hate him if he killed Zhou Xiuqi? Can hatred have an expiration date? I don't know. I've never hated anyone. I don't hate heart disease because I'm just unlucky. I don't hate my mother because she shouldn't be beaten by that beast for the rest of her life because of me.

I don't hate the beast because he gave me money for medical treatment. I don't hate anyone; I can't bring myself to hate anyone.

I changed my tune: "I can't bring myself to hate you."

Shang Mang paused, then turned around: "What does it feel like to not be able to hate someone?"

I didn't expect him to ask that, and it felt a little strange: "Very calm, very calm."

Shang Mang continued, "What does it feel like to be very calm?"

I pointed to the sky: "Like the sky you see every day when you look up, you know its tranquility will never disappear."

Shang Mang looked up at the sky. This seemed to be the first time he had seen what the sky looked like. He was not allowed to look at it when he was in the Prince's mansion, and he did not like daytime after he came out.

It's as if the sky hasn't changed; it's calm, so calm.

His heart pounded and pounded, and emotions flooded his mind: "Bullshit calm."

“Everyone deserves to die,” he said viciously.

Shang Mang's eyes changed. He suddenly bent down, trying his best to suppress something. I squatted down and leaned closer: "Why should everyone die?"

Shang Mang smelled a faint fragrance wafting from her. The fragrance... was wonderful, a scent that momentarily stunned him, a feeling that... well, brought him peace.

"What's it to you?" Shang Mang didn't straighten up, and sniffed.

I looked him straight in the eye and moved closer: "You asked me first, now it's my turn to ask you."

Shang Mang didn't reject her approach, probably because she was the first person to do so. No one in the world wanted to get close to him; even strangers kept their distance. If he took the initiative to approach, those people would disappear; he wouldn't remember them, he wouldn't remember anything.

Shang Mang focused his gaze, and her features gradually became clear. Her eyes were neither too big nor too small, her nose was small, her lips were thin, and her face was also very thin. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her complexion was not good.

He didn't speak for a while, his gaze fixed on me, seemingly searching for something. I finally spoke up: "What are you looking at?"

Shang Mang frowned, glanced up, and bit his lip: "Mind your own business."

I've never seen such an unreasonable person before. I pouted and straightened up: "Oh."

Shang Mang suddenly started staring at me with a strange look in his eyes. I wanted to ask him something, but I was afraid of making him angry, so I could only hold it in.

Shang Mang spoke up: "Meng Yuan."

I froze. He was calling her name. I couldn't believe my ears.

Her name and her image appeared in Shang Mang's mind; it was no longer empty.

After shouting, he seemed to suddenly realize something, pursed his lips, and walked forward in one go, as if he had been bullied by her.