Chapter 178 Her Rebirth Was Never an Accident
Achan's fingers rested on his wrist as she met his gaze: "Bai Xiuming, aren't you unhappy?"
"Why would I be unhappy?" he asked in return.
"Because... I envy Huixue for being able to become a demon?"
Bai Xiuming chuckled: "I'm not that domineering, that I would restrict even what you think."
Achan blinked. For a moment, she almost asked him, "If I really become a demon, what will you do?"
But she didn't ask the question aloud. Instead, she smiled at the man beside her and said in a light tone, "Let's go. I need to go to bed early. I've made plans to go out with Huixue tomorrow."
"The High Priest said you've been helping her prepare offerings all day, so you're not going to help tomorrow?" Bai Xiuming asked casually.
Before the ancestors of the Wu tribe, there was no distinction between high and low, noble and lowly. Even the high priest had to work. He was ordered around for a whole day, and it seems that Achan didn't escape it either.
“I’m not going,” Achan said angrily. “She told me today that I should find the Liexing to learn the sacrificial dance and dance with them during the ceremony. I suspect she’s deliberately trying to make me look bad.”
Bai Xiuming raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze sweeping over A Chan's body inch by inch, and suddenly smiled: "I'm quite looking forward to it."
Ah Chan went to bed early tonight. She took a bath and went to sleep shortly after it got dark.
So much had happened during the day, she thought she wouldn't be able to sleep, but perhaps because of the medicine the high priest had given her, she slept soundly, and even the cries of the nine-headed bird at night didn't wake her.
The next day, as usual, Lie Xian invited Bai Xiuming to his home for dinner. At the dinner table, after hearing A Chan say that she was going out to play with Shen Huixue that day, Lie Jiang turned around and warmly invited Bai Xiuming to continue contributing to the ancestors of their Wu tribe.
Bai Xiuming paused slightly in his chopsticks, his tone tactful: "As an outsider, is it inappropriate for me to be overly involved in the construction of the altar?"
Liejiang waved his hand and said, "Of course not. Our ancestors treated all races equally. Anyone who comes here is a friend."
Ah Chan smiled to herself, thinking that this was probably the first time Bai Xiuming had been so passively made friends with someone.
That wasn't enough. Liejiang added, "If you have time, you can also go outside and hunt some game to send to the high priest. When the sacrifice is performed, you can send it up together. Once the ancestors receive the offerings you send, they will surely bless you."
Fearing that Bai Xiuming might not believe him, he added earnestly, "It's true."
Bai Xiuming remained silent, always feeling that Liejiang was trying to get something for nothing.
Shen Huixue arrived shortly after we finished eating.
Ah Chan hurriedly got up to greet her, then took her arm and waved to Bai Xiuming: "I'm going out to play, you have to work hard!"
Bai Xiuming didn't even bother to lift his eyelids; he didn't want to pay any attention to her.
After the two left the village, Shen Huixue transformed back into her original form. After arriving here, her demonic power gradually stabilized, and her original form was more than twice the size that Achan had seen yesterday.
Achan sat on her lap, and her white figure darted away like lightning.
Shen Huixue led her to a place in the woods behind the village. The woods were winding and full of various trees. Huixue nimbly avoided all the branches and led Achan forward.
After walking through the forest for about half an hour, Achan saw a towering ancient tree in her sight. The huge ancient tree had lush branches and leaves that blocked out the sun, and there were no other trees growing around it.
On either side of that tree, there was a wooden house.
On the shelves outside, there were dried herbs, and some household utensils were piled up in the corner.
As they approached the ancient tree, Achan vaguely heard snoring coming from it. It was clearly an old tree spirit who liked to sleep and showed no curiosity whatsoever about their arrival.
After putting her down, Shen Huixue transformed back into human form and whispered to her, "I heard that this tree was planted by the witch clan of the village when they migrated here, and it is already several thousand years old."
"To be precise, he is 5,300 years old."
A voice sounded from behind them. Achan turned around and saw a thin old woman dressed in a black robe. One of her eyes was black, and the other was white with no pupil.
Seeing that Achan was looking at her, she introduced herself: "I am Wu Yang, you can call me Grandma Yang."
"Hello, Grandma Yang, my name is Achan."
“I know.” Wu Yang walked past them, went to the house to the left of the ancient tree, pushed open the door, and then turned to them and said, “Come in and sit down.”
Achan and Shen Huixue followed Wu Yang into the house.
The room was decorated much like the high priest's place, but with lots of green plants, giving it a more vibrant feel.
After the three sat down, Granny Yang knocked on the wooden wall three times. Soon after, a vine came in carrying three bowls of honey water. She placed the honey water in front of Achan and the others, and before leaving, she tugged at Shen Huixue's clothes.
“Grandma Yang, I brought Achan here because I want to ask you about some things,” Shen Huixue said first.
Grandma Yang picked up the honey water that the vines had brought her, took a sip, and said slowly, "No rush."
She asked the two of them, "Have you had breakfast?"
“I ate it,” Achan replied.
Wu Yang nodded and said to Shen Huixue, "Then let's have lunch here."
Shen Huixue was somewhat flattered. She had visited Grandma Yang's place several times before, but had never been invited to stay for a meal.
She had heard from the villagers before that Grandma Yang was cold-hearted and didn't interact much with others.
If it weren't for helping Achan gather information, she wouldn't have come looking for her. Although Grandma Yang became much gentler towards her because of her initiative, she wasn't particularly close to her.
"Alright, then I'll take my leave." Shen Huixue nodded hesitantly.
Grandma Yang smiled and said, "A flock of black phoenixes recently migrated to the depths of the forest. I've heard that their meat is delicious and perfect for making soup."
Shen Huixue and A Chan were both tempted at the same time.
However, Shen Huixue quickly understood Granny Yang's purpose. She probably had something to say to Achan in private and it was inconvenient for her to stay here.
She turned to look at Achan, who winked at her. Shen Huixue then stood up and said, "Alright, I'll go and meet those black phoenixes. I'll be back later."
"Be careful on the road," Achan reminded her.
Don't worry.
After Shen Huixue left, only Granny Yang and Achan remained, and the room suddenly became quiet.
After hesitating for a while, Achan finally spoke: "Grandma Yang, do you recognize my mother?"
She didn't introduce herself, thinking that since the High Priest knew her, then Granny Yang should know her too.
Grandma Yang did not answer Achan's question immediately. She seemed to recall something, and her gaze became somewhat distant.
After a long pause, he slowly spoke: "I am your mother's disciple, and I have been learning from her since I was a child. I saw you and your sister when you were born."
Ah Chan's voice choked up. She had been by her mother's side since she was little. How enviable.
"Then... do you know how she and my father died?" Achan asked the question that had been nagging at her.
Grandma Yang fell silent, and just when Achan thought she wouldn't speak, she finally said, "Your mother didn't tell me about this, but I guessed it."
"What did you guess?" Granny Yang's attitude made Achan subconsciously feel nervous. A sense of panic rose in her heart. Was her father and mother's death related to her?
Grandma Yang didn't look at Achan. She turned her gaze to the side, her voice heavy: "Have you heard of the massacre our witch clan once suffered?"
Achan nodded: "I know, it was the Demon Emperor who did it."
She had no memory of the Demon Emperor, because by the time she was born, the Demon Emperor had already been buried in the long history of the demon race.
However, many elders and even grandmothers on Qingyu Mountain occasionally mention the Demon Emperor with a tone of awe and longing, as if they miss the time when the Demon Kingdom had not fallen apart.
“Your father and mother met by accident. I heard that he fell in love with your mother at first sight and shamelessly followed her back to our tribe.” Wu Yang recalled that past and slowly told A Chan, “At that time, we did not know that he was the Demon King’s most valued subordinate.”
Achan frowned. She didn't know much about her father's past, nor did she know about his relationship with the Demon Emperor, because her grandmother wouldn't tell her these things, and no one on Qingyu Mountain would tell her either.
"We didn't have much contact with the demon race, and at first our tribe rejected him. He lived in our tribe for a long time, living with everyone, hunting together, driving away ferocious beasts, and worshipping our ancestors. Gradually, our tribe accepted him."
Later, your mother was moved by him, and they got together.
Suddenly one day, he received a letter from home, saying that he needed to go home. "Wu Yang's voice gradually became low and deep. "Not long after he left, several powerful demon armies suddenly appeared. They slaughtered the Wu people, captured the high priests of various tribes, and demanded that the high priests offer up the inheritances of each tribe.
Some high priests refused, and their entire clansmen were slaughtered in front of them. Those who submitted also met a tragic end.
Our tribe suffered the least damage thanks to your mother's intervention, but we all knew there was no hope left. Just then, your father returned, the demon army retreated, and we survived.
Achan realized that this story was destined not to have a perfect ending.
Speaking of the past, Granny Yang's eyes were filled with sorrow: "It was so tragic back then. There were corpses everywhere, from the witch clan to the demon clan. Only we survived."
"Is the appearance of the demon race related to Father?" Achan didn't believe that her father would do such a thing, but so many coincidences made it impossible to explain.
She finally realized why her mother hated her and Amian so much, refusing to even look at them. Her mother hated the demon race, and she also hated her father.
Wu Yang shook his head: "He explained to your mother that he had only returned to Qingyu Mountain and had not told the Demon Emperor about the Wu Clan, but no one believed him. Later, he thought about it and realized that the Wu and Demon Clans have been enemies since ancient times. The Demon Emperor wanted to go further and had his eyes on the Wu Clan's heritage. Whether he knew about your father's relationship with the Wu Clan or not, he would still take action."
"And then?" Achan pressed.
"Then, separated by a blood feud, your mother and father completely broke off relations." From then on, the High Priest and Lord Xijing were never seen together again in the clan.
Their ending was as sudden and unexpected as night falling in the wilderness.
"Not long after, your father left, and we struggled to survive here under your mother's guidance. Our lives slowly improved, but then we heard that the demon race was divided and your father had betrayed the demon emperor."
Granny Yang recounted the bloody and turbulent past of the demon race in a simple way: "Then one day, we heard that the Demon Emperor had died, and your father and his friends joined forces to kill him."
"With our great revenge achieved, Mother should be happy, right?"
Granny Yang's aged face held a hint of barely perceptible bitterness: "When the Demon Emperor died, your mother discovered she was pregnant."
Achan's voice was very soft: "Mother didn't want to give birth to us."
She doesn't like them.
Grandma Yang looked at Achan, who had her head bowed, and sighed, "But she still gave birth to you."
If she hadn't given birth to these two children, would everything have been different? Wu Yang had sat here countless times, asking herself this question, wanting to know the answer.
But no one would give her an answer.
Now, with this child named Achan sitting right in front of her, she suddenly knew the answer.
There are no "what ifs," and the teacher would definitely have given birth to these two children.
Achan held her breath, her voice trembling slightly: "Grandma Yang, we...were related to Father and Mother's deaths, weren't we?"
If there were no connection, Grandma Yang wouldn't have started from the beginning and continued all the way to her and A-Mian's birth.
“Yes.” Wu Yang gave A Chan an affirmative answer. She said, “Before he died, the Demon Emperor cursed your father.”
Achan opened her mouth, then managed to utter with difficulty, "What did you curse him for?"
"May his bloodline be cut off, and may his descendants... all die a terrible death."
Wu Yang did not have the opportunity to witness the death of the Demon Emperor, nor did she know what exactly happened at that time or why the Demon Emperor left behind such a curse.
But that was a curse left by the Demon Emperor, the most powerful demon in the history of the demon race. It had taken effect, and no one could break it.
"Oh, I see." Achan suddenly realized.
No wonder she couldn't find A-Mian anywhere. Maybe A-Mian had already met with an accident by then, and later she died. Then, she came back to life in Ji Chan's body.
Achan thought of the altar she had seen yesterday. The high priest said that every time the altar was awakened, it would show a scene of the underworld. She had also seen her father being tortured in the underworld.
What kind of sins deserve to be punished in the netherworld?
Asan thought, if she was destined to die, how could she possibly be so lucky as to have the chance to be brought back to life?
Her rebirth was never an accident.
What price must be paid to bring her back to life, someone who should have died? Achan could hardly bear to think about it.
Wu Yang said, "Your mother was the smartest person I've ever met. Almost all the various recipes that have been passed down in the tribe were improved by her. Those recipes were more effective than before, and the methods of making them, the materials used, and even every step were simpler and clearer. But later, she gave up this research."
Wu Yang looked at A Chan: "She has begun to study the forbidden arts of the Wu clan."
Achan felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped by a hand.
"The reason it's called a forbidden technique isn't just because it's forbidden by heaven and earth, but also because forbidden techniques have irreversible effects on the caster. Before she disappeared, her consciousness was already unclear; she forgot her familiar clansmen, and didn't even remember who I was."
Two days later, your father also disappeared. Later, we found the altar; there were traces of forbidden magic used around it.
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