Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sanzhen Mountain, Goddess Temple.
The hot wind blew past the ears of the three celestial masters, gradually making their hearts restless.
From their perspective, they could vaguely see the pointed corner of the main hall.
If what Yuanyuan said is true, the statue of the goddess should be enshrined in the main hall and receive incense offerings from the people of Jiangbei Prefecture.
The people prayed to the goddess to protect their descendants and bless their families with prosperity.
They had unwavering faith in the goddess's power, and placed their newborn children in the murky waters, hoping the children would drift with the current to the goddess's other shore and enjoy eternal happiness.
Zhang He's mind raced with thoughts as he turned to look at Yuan Yuan.
Yuanyuan's left cheek was very smooth. From the side, she was a delicate little girl, but her lips were tightly pursed, and she kept blinking as she looked at the gate of the Goddess Temple.
A bird startled by the mere twang of a bow.
Zhang He felt a pang of pity, but still voiced his doubts: "Of all the children who came from the Temple of the Goddess, are you the only one who remembers this place? Why have we never heard of these things outside?"
Yuanyuan turned to look at her, and the ugly scar on her right cheek, running from the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth, was displayed in front of Zhang He.
The girl looked into Zhang He's eyes and said, "They forgot that under the care of the divine servants, they forget the memories of yesterday every day until they leave this place."
Seeing that Zhang He was about to say something, she interrupted him, saying, "I'm different. I seem to have been different from them from birth. I can remember a little bit of things. Later, I became a godmother, and I can remember even more."
Upon hearing Yuanyuan's words, Baozhu, who was in the box, suddenly recalled the memories of the female ghost Lianxin. That's right, Yuanyuan was different from the other children in the inner quarters since she was a child. So that's why.
Zhang He's expression relaxed a bit. He nodded and said in a deep voice, "If you were like everyone else, you would have died long ago."
After saying that, he lowered his head and fell into deep thought.
After Li Zhi spoke up saying he would do his best, Zhang He immediately gave him a sharp look. The three of them had already discussed it in the city, and after going up the mountain, they would listen to Zhang Tianshi in everything. No one was allowed to act without Zhang He's approval.
Seeing that he remained silent, Li Zhi and Pei Xuanji exchanged a glance.
Just as Pei Xuanji was about to speak up to persuade him, Zhang He suddenly looked up and asked Yuanyuan, "How many divine servants are there in the Goddess Temple?"
Yuanyuan quickly replied, "When I have memories, there was an abbot and more than ten attendants. We rarely saw the abbot; most of the time, the attendants were responsible for taking care of the children."
Where do they live?
"The abbot lived in a small courtyard behind the main hall, while the attendants lived in the back courtyard with the children."
"Since you are not ordinary and have learned a lot from demons, you must be able to tell. I ask you, are the gods and servants in the temple mortals?"
After asking the question, Zhang He stared intently at Yuanyuan.
Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment, then said uncertainly, "The divine servants must be mortals. It is very hard for them to take care of the children themselves, so they beat and scold the children if they are not happy. I think if they had cultivation, they would not have to do it themselves."
“You’re not sure what the abbot really is,” Li Zhi interjected quietly.
Yuanyuan bit her lip, slowly shook her head, and said honestly, "I've only seen him a few times. He always wears a cloak and a hood, and I don't even know what he looks like."
After Yuanyuan finished speaking, she stared wide-eyed at Zhang He, awaiting his judgment.
Zhang He looked into Yuan Yuan's eyes, and Yuan Yuan met his gaze.
The self-proclaimed composed Zhang Tianshi slowly asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
“Absolutely true.” Yuan Yuan said firmly.
“Take us on a loop; we can’t just swagger in through the main entrance,” Zhang He said.
Yuan Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, then lowered her body and said to them, "Stay close and be careful, there are a lot of small creatures along the way."
Just as Zhang He was about to follow, Li Zhi suddenly punched him in the back, not too hard, not too soft.
Without turning his head, he said cheekily, "What? I told you I'm the boss. Do you think you're stealing all the limelight?"
As she spoke, she nimbly followed Yuanyuan.
"To do everything in my power? I can't think of such a powerful phrase." Zhang He muttered to himself, somewhat unconvinced. "When I was young, all I knew was 'Where are you going, monster?'"
"You still haven't read enough books," Li Zhi chuckled softly behind him.
These words clearly hit a nerve with Zhang He. He grumbled and mumbled for a long time, unable to come up with any powerful response.
Pei Xuanji, who was bringing up the rear, listened to the two bickering and grinned.
All four were quite skilled, and in no time they had circled around to the back of Sanzhen Mountain.
Perhaps because it was closer to the secluded temple of the goddess, and because the back mountain was rarely visited, the four of them found it very difficult to move forward when they arrived here, as there were magic arrays and traps everywhere.
One careless move and they could wake up a mountain and end up drowning themselves.
Zhang He, drenched in sweat, looked at a large magic array on the ground and painstakingly unraveled it bit by bit. He groaned softly, "When I was cultivating in the sect, my master said that I didn't study seriously and had no patience, so I would suffer a lot in the future. And now I'm suffering."
The four of them accidentally triggered the magic array and dared not move, waiting for Zhang He to break the array.
Yuanyuan maintained an awkward posture, squinted her eyes, and carefully observed Zhang He's expression as she explained, "I could get there by myself before."
"Four people won't do, this magic formation is like this." Zhang He muttered the incantation, sometimes drawing with cinnabar, sometimes fiddling with a peach wood sword. After a lot of effort, the four of them finally escaped from the magic formation.
Zhang He wiped his sweat and looked up at the road ahead.
Behind him, Yuanyuan and Pei Xuanji supported each other to steady themselves, while Li Zhi placed his hand on the straps of the trunk.
All four of them stared at the unremarkable courtyard wall in front of them.
The vermilion paint on the wall was already peeling and covered with vines; it looked like an ordinary place no matter how you looked at it.
Yuan Yuan, who was next to Pei Xuanji, began to tremble even just looking at the wall. She quickly whispered to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, you're not in there."
Sadness appeared in Yuanyuan's eyes. She lowered her head and did not answer.
Zhang He walked to the courtyard wall, looked around for a while, and then turned back and said, "The wall is clean."
“It’s normal to let your guard down when doing something familiar.” Li Zhi stepped forward and gestured to Zhang He, “Should we climb over?”
Zhang He told them to step back, then flipped over and floated to the courtyard wall like a kite.
Behind the courtyard wall was an unremarkable courtyard. Apart from being quite large, it had nothing unusual about it. It was the time when mortals were sleeping the most soundly, and the backyard was quiet except for the occasional snoring from the two rows of side rooms.
Zhang He gave his companions a look and then fell to the ground like a leaf falling from the wall.
The second was Li Zhi. Although his agility was not as good as Zhang He's, he cast a lightness spell on himself and landed silently in the courtyard.
Yuanyuan wanted to be the third one, but Pei Xuanji stopped her.
“You haven’t been inside for a long time. If you go in, you’ll be no different from us. Why don’t you stay outside and provide backup? If we don’t come out, then you should run far away,” Pei Xuanji said gently.
Just as Yuanyuan was about to refuse, Pei Xuanji took out a letter from her bosom bearing her personal seal and handed it to her, saying, "We haven't come out yet. Take this to the capital, to General Pei's mansion, understand? Everything is in your hands."
This letter was originally supposed to be sent to the capital before she set off, but Pei Xuanji, after much deliberation, brought it with her here. It just so happened that she met Yuanyuan here, who helped her make a decision.
When she left home, Pei Xuanji declared that she would never accept any help from her family again. Since her family did not support her, she did not need anyone's support either.
Only after struggling and learning her way up did she realize how naive she had been.
Yuanyuan put the letter into her bosom and stood there silently, watching Pei Xuanji climb over the wall and enter.
"You are good people..."
She watched the figures of the Taoist priests disappear before her eyes, then reached out and clutched the letter to her chest.
The letter was clearly cold, but Yuanyuan felt a burning sensation.
Li Zhi and Zhang He, who were walking ahead, were unaware of Pei Xuanji's actions.
They exchanged a glance and walked towards the side room, one on the left and one on the right.
Li Zhi was in charge of the left wing. He silently stepped on the ground and slowly approached the door.
He heard breathing sounds coming from inside; the servants were all fast asleep.
They seemed to have been living in comfort for too long under the protection of the Jiangbei Prefecture's high-ranking officials, so long that they had forgotten that the business they were engaged in was dangerous, and normally at least one person should be on night watch.
Not only was there no one on duty, but Li Zhi also noticed several magic arrays in the courtyard, all of which had lost their effectiveness due to lack of maintenance.
Li Zhi gestured towards Zhang He opposite him.
They walked toward the room in the very center of the courtyard.
While Li Zhi and Zhang He were inspecting the side rooms, Pei Xuanji quietly climbed onto the roof and stood guard from a high vantage point. Seeing her companions heading towards the middle room, she silently stepped on the tiles and followed them there.
One person was on the roof, and two were on the ground, surrounding the silent room.
Li Zhi leaned close to the wall, listened to the sounds coming from inside the room for a while, and then stuck a talisman on the window.
The window, which was originally tightly closed, quietly opened a crack.
Li Zhi cautiously peered through the crack.
The room was dimly lit, and it took Li Zhi a lot of effort to see what was inside.
Inside, several beds were arranged crookedly, and several children, about two or three years old, lay motionless on them.
They had shaved heads, making it impossible to tell their gender, and wore simple clothes.
There used to be a staircase leading underground, but it was simply blocked off by a few wooden sticks placed on top.
Li Zhi withdrew his gaze and leaned against the wall.
He made a gesture to Zhang He next to him.
Zhang He squeezed through the crack in the window that Li Zhi had opened, as if he had no bones.
After a while, he returned the way he came and gestured to Li Zhi, saying, "That's all, that's all."
The room was huge, with a massive underground space. They had initially thought there might be hundreds or even thousands of children inside. Li Zhi was already considering how to accommodate them if they were rescued.
But when Zhang He went inside to investigate, he only found a few children that they could see. These children were already quite old, and according to Yuan Yuan, they would soon be able to tell what they looked like and would be sold.
Why?
Li Zhi thought of the dried-up Xiaoshui River, because the Xiaoshui River did not dry up in an instant. Have they not received the children sent by the people from upstream for a long time?
How absurd, because of the evil caused by the turbulent waters, and because the turbulent waters were briefly stopped.
Li Zhi then gestured to Zhang He, pointing to the main hall.
The children and the priests who cared for them were not the purpose of their trip.
They wanted to see the goddess's true face.
Zhang He climbed onto the roof and replaced Pei Xuanji.
Looking out for each other, the three of them made their way from the backyard of the temple to the front.
The magnificent main hall stood before them, but next to it, an inconspicuous courtyard caught their attention.
Li Zhi stopped at the entrance of the courtyard and looked at his two companions.
This is the residence of the abbess of the Goddess Temple that Yuanyuan mentioned.
Pei Xuanji pointed to the main hall, indicating that she wanted to go there first.
Li Zhi stood at the entrance of the courtyard, indicating that he preferred to explore the place first.
Zhang He looked around, pondered for a while, and then led the way into the abbot's courtyard.
Just as Li Zhi was about to follow, Baozhu, who had been silent the whole way, suddenly spoke up behind him, "I'm leaving for a while, don't worry."
After Baozhu finished speaking, she jumped out of the box without waiting for Li Zhi's reply.
Li Zhi only had time to feel the weight on his shoulder before he turned around to look behind him, but Baozhu was already gone.
The fox jumped out of the cage and headed towards the main hall.
It wasn't that she suddenly had a whim to start an adventure with a fox spirit.
But inside the main hall, many voices were calling to her. When she was down the mountain, those faint voices were just like someone whispering in her ear.
As she climbed the mountain, the closer she got to the main hall, the louder the voices calling her grew, crashing towards her like a tsunami, carrying with them endless sorrow and pain.
"Come here, come here."
"We are waiting for you, waiting for you, always waiting for you."
The women with their tender, clear, and charming voices seemed to materialize before Baozhu's eyes. They varied in height and weight, some were charming, and some were resolute.
They looked at Baozhu with pleading eyes, their eyes filled with tears.
"Come here, please, save us!"
The grief and tears enveloped Baozhu, washing over her soul again and again.
No one can understand them, no one can see them. They are being destroyed by suffering. Only the pearl can save them, only the pearl can hear them.
Baozhu couldn't stand idly by; she seemed to have been one of them before, how could she bear to do this?
When they arrived at the main hall, the main hall door was tightly closed. The fox demon looked up at the incredibly tall door, stopped in her tracks, and squatted down on the ground.
At this moment, she finally felt a little scared.
What's inside? Who is summoning her?
Baozhu resisted the force of attraction that drew her in, and took a difficult step back.
"We are the same kind of people."
"Don't resist us, even though you've done it before."
Seeing Baozhu resist, the voices grew louder, sometimes crying, sometimes angry, countless emotions mixed together, impacting Baozhu wave after wave.
Baozhu struggled dazedly, saying, "I am a fox demon, I am not one of you, I am not—"
She's not a ghost.
Baozhu remembered who those voices belonged to.
Countless ghosts, female ghosts, male ghosts, little ghosts, countless tens of thousands of spirits, are hysterically crying out Baozhu's name somewhere behind this door.
"Help me!"
"You saved one of us, please save me too!"
"Kind fox spirit, please save me."
A deafening wail echoed in Baozhu's mind.
She murmured, "If I can't do it, how do you know I can? I'm so weak."
"You can do it, only you can do it, come on, come on."
"We're really suffering so much, please, you can do it."
The phrase "ten thousand ghosts grieve together" means that the feeling of grief has been multiplied ten thousand times.
Baozhu felt a sharp pain in her heart. She finally stopped struggling and instead stretched out her front paws to gently push the door in front of her.
"What if... what if I can't do it?" Her hand froze in mid-air, and she hesitated inwardly, "Will you eat me?"
The ghosts were silent for a moment, then resumed their chatter, speaking sweetly and enthusiastically.
"I am willing to lend you my strength."
"Me too."
"So you can definitely do it."
"Come quickly, come and save me!"
Encouraged, Baozhu finally pushed open the main hall door.
She looked up at the statue of the goddess enshrined in the hall. The goddess had a full, round face and a compassionate expression. She wore a cloak, and her hands, clasped together, were visible outside the cloak as she quietly gazed at the precious pearl before her.
The statue of the goddess, which is ten feet tall, can touch the roof of the grand main hall.
She is solemn, dignified, and possesses a power that encompasses all things.
Under the gaze of the goddess statue, Baozhu unknowingly walked up to her.
The deafening noises around her vanished; before the goddess, they dared not be presumptuous. Or perhaps, by this point, the last vestiges of power they possessed to summon the orb had finally been exhausted.
The goddess lowered her gaze and quietly looked at the precious pearl.
Suddenly, the clay goddess statue opened its mouth wide, bent down, and swallowed the fox demon who hadn't even had time to react.
The pearl was drowsy and rolled around inside the goddess's belly.
After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the ground.
Baozhu was not injured, but she was a little sore from the fall. She struggled to get up from the ground and looked around at her surroundings.
This was a huge cave, almost two zhang high, with only scattered light inside. In the dim light, the pearl's boundaries could not be seen.
The cave was extremely cold, while outside in Jiangbei Prefecture it was so hot that you could fry a chicken in the sun. Inside the goddess's belly in Sanzhen Mountain, the fox with thick fur couldn't help but shiver.
Not only was it cold, but water was also dripping from the cave walls.
The fox fell from the top of a cave that was two zhang high.
Puzzled, she crawled out of the ground and looked around. The ground was covered with a thick layer of something that had cushioned the impact on the pearl. She gently poked at the thing with her front paws and then discovered—
Layer upon layer, there were countless human bones.
Baozhu gasped and stumbled back several steps.
Looking at the scattered lights in the cave again, I was shocked to realize that they were blue will-o'-the-wisps.
Baozhu was stunned by how many people had perished here.
It took her a long time to come to her senses.
"Where are you?" she whispered, as if afraid of disturbing someone.
As soon as she finished speaking, a semi-transparent female figure suddenly appeared there.
Next was a child who only reached the height of a woman's thigh.
Then came a tall man with only one arm.
A child with a hunched back, whose gender was indistinguishable—
It was as if someone had lit a lamp, and then all the lights in the cave came on.
Countless figures appeared before Baozhu's eyes. The cave couldn't even hold so many ghosts. They apologized to each other, layer upon layer, densely overlapping, leaving only a small foothold for Baozhu.
Their faces were stacked one on top of the other, and Baozhu could no longer make out their features. She could only look randomly into the air, searching for what might be eyes, and said, "Why are there so many ghosts here?"
“We are trapped here and cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation.”
“Whether we grow up here, die here, or die somewhere else, our souls will always return here.”
“Some people are taking advantage of us, stealing away our ingrained convictions time and time again.”
"But he hasn't come over for a long time. We kept working hard and finally gained some strength of our own."
Hearing such horrifying news, the fox demon couldn't help but tremble. She said, "So, you've finally gained a little power, and you're using it to summon me?"
“You met the only sister we sent away. She spent too long by the Celestial Master’s side and her connection with this place has faded.”
"We used our combined power to send her out, hoping she would encounter a divine soul that could save us."
"We met, it was you."
“It’s you.”
"You are our savior."
The same words came from countless ghost mouths.
Countless sounds overlapped and echoed in the cave.
Countless eyes gazed longingly at the jewel from all directions.
“After you arrived here, we were certain that you could save us.”
Yes, only you.
"There is only you in this world."
"You're lying to me!" Baozhu shook her head frantically in fear. "I was devoured by that goddess statue. Who knows if you're in cahoots with the goddess! Besides, you already have such great power, and there are so many of you ghosts, why are you sealed here!"
The sky filled with ghosts fell silent for a moment.
They gazed sadly at the precious pearl and said in anguish, “Because we are just ghosts. Ghosts have no physical body; they only have obsessions. Our obsessions are harvested time and time again. We are like cattle and sheep raised in caves. Because we were lowly and insignificant in life, we will become useless ghosts after death.”
Baozhu looked at them, and they looked at Baozhu.
The ghosts jostled and huddled together to find a spot, leaving a little space for one of the sisters.
She was the first female ghost to reveal herself.
The female ghost curtsied to Baozhu and said, "Look at us, we are all useless ghosts like me."
Baozhu stared intently at the female ghost, trying to discern her features.
Her obsession flashed through Baozhu's mind. The fox demon didn't even need to refuse, because the female ghost had no ability to imprison Baozhu.
The female ghost covered her face and retreated, and the other ghosts made way for her, revealing a small ghost.
This little devil is even more fragile, and his obsession with being reborn is barely noticeable to Baozhu.
Baozhu looked at them in disbelief and said, "You are so weak, why don't you unite together?"
"We can't do it. We're all ghosts, how can we stick together and send that sister out of Sanzhen Mountain? We've already exhausted all our efforts."
“No wonder, since Lianxin comes from Sanzhen Mountain, she should be lingering there, but she appeared outside Xiaoquan Village.” Baozhu muttered to herself, “That’s right, if she were too close to Sanzhen Mountain, she would have been discovered and wiped out by the Celestial Master immediately.”
"Then, are the natural disasters outside also because of you?" Baozhu remembered something else and found it even more unbelievable. "You are so weak, yet you can cause such a great disaster."
"The person who used us hasn't appeared for a long time. Although our obsessions are small, when there's nowhere to vent them, they add up to a huge force."
“Then, what should I do?” Baozhu looked up at the cave ceiling from which she had fallen. “I can’t even defeat that goddess statue, so how can I help you?”
Baozhu's tone softened, and the ghosts cheered loudly.
Their laughter echoed through the cave.
“There’s only the abbot outside. He’s just a puppet guarding the ranch. The goddess statue was given to him by someone else to guard us. If we break the goddess statue, we won’t be able to be trapped.”
"Do you want to borrow my power?" Baozhu asked doubtfully. "But didn't you say that you can't stick together? And that you are too weak on your own?"
"So only you can save us."
"Only you can be our savior."
The ghosts bowed to Baozhu, praising her and expressing their gratitude.
"Because of you, even though your soul is incomplete, you can still accommodate so many of our brothers and sisters."
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