Chapter 53 The Night of Rebirth Arrives
Shang Su, in his high position, was like a strategist pointing out the direction of the country, manipulating the ghost messengers to swarm forward.
Bai Yuheng first set up a barrier for Chen Ping'an, who was watching the battle unarmed, and the three people who were setting up the formation. Then, the golden snake transformed into the most handy weapon and fought against ten people at once, shaking off the nearest group of ghost messengers.
A long whip lashed through the air, making a crisp cracking sound. With a single swing, it swept across a vast area. In an instant, the ghost messengers fell and rose again, only to be knocked down once more. Shang Su, who was controlling the ghost messengers, found it somewhat difficult and became extremely vigilant, not daring to underestimate the person before her.
Bai Yuheng's long whip transformed into a handy bow, pinning the fallen ghost messenger firmly to the ground.
The sharp blade pierced through the skin, embedded itself in the hard, iron-like bones, penetrated, and drove itself into the ground.
Bai Yuheng could draw her bow and shoot arrows at lightning speed, firing four arrows in a single stroke. Her aim was impeccable, hitting her target with every shot. In no time, she had dealt with most of the ghost messengers.
At this moment, the formation set up by the three also emitted a fierce light, so dazzling that everyone covered their eyes to avoid it. Beams of light, like sharp arrows, stretched out claws, lifted up the ghost messengers pinned to the ground, and opened a deep, dark passage in mid-air, sucking the ghost messengers in one by one.
Bai Yuheng seized the opportunity, fought her way out, and aimed a golden, sharp arrow at Shang Su's heart.
"call out--"
The arrow pierced the air like a snake with its jaws wide open, aiming at its prey, or like a sharp, hard hand reaching for her heart, its five fingers outstretched, heading straight for her chest.
"Susu! Watch out—"
"Pfft—"
The sound of an arrow piercing flesh, accompanied by gushing blood, caused the person blocking the way to fall to the ground with a thud.
"Safety!"
Shang Su stopped casting the spell and instinctively hugged the person who had fallen in front of her.
The arrow did not stop there, but went straight for the fragment of the square mirror in Shang Su's heart.
Just as he was about to pierce her heart, Chen Ping'an, clutching his pierced arm, knelt before her and cried out, "Immortal Master, please forgive her!"
Bai Yuheng tied Shang Su up, but did not take out her heart.
"Thank you, Immortal Master..."
"Don't thank me so quickly, I still want her heart." Bai Yuheng stepped forward, her hand only half an inch away, Shang Su's bony chest cavity was right in front of her.
"Immortal Master! Immortal Master!" Chen Ping'an grabbed her hand to stop her from making a move, his eyes cold and wary as he stared at her. "Let her go, and I'm willing to give my life for her."
A sharp gaze shot over, and the cold silk twisted his hand that was holding hers behind him, the force so great that Chen Ping'an cried out in pain until he released her hand.
“We don’t intend to take her life, but she has the fragments of the Four Directions Mirror that we are looking for on her,” Cen Ying said. “This is the demon-suppressing artifact of our Tianyan Sect, and we must take it.”
Chen Pingan said anxiously, "But what about Susu if you take it away?!"
"Could she be dead?"
Upon hearing this, Shang Su suddenly became furious for some reason.
"Shang Su is long dead! He died on the cliff of Broken Arm! He died under the talons of eagles! He died in the raging fire of your Chen family!"
Shang Su unleashed a torrent of fierce rage and hatred. The empty heart beneath the white skeleton trembled violently, not only snapping the golden ropes binding him but also summoning back the ghost messengers who had just been sent away and were in dire need of purification. At this moment, the hall was filled with ghostly spirits. The ghost messengers, now without their skins, seemed devoid of thought, staring blankly and deeply at everyone present.
A chilling aura emanated from the room, and the sight of countless pairs of eyes staring at him sent shivers down his spine, leaving him drenched in cold sweat.
Shang Su's eyes were filled with hatred as she pointed at the hall full of souls and said, "These are all people from your Chen Family Village! I want them dead so they dare not live. I want them—" Her skeletal fingers brushed over a few of them, "and you too, all of you, to be buried with me, and with my child who lost his life!"
Chen Ping'an stepped forward and hugged her, "Su Su, Su Su, calm down..."
Shang Su broke free from Chen Ping'an's grasp, her voice trembling with grief, "Let me go! I want them all to die with me! You want my heart? I can give it to you! But only if you can defeat me!"
"All ghost soldiers and demons, heed my command!"
"No!" Chen Ping'an grabbed her, preventing her from giving orders. "Susu, stop hitting! We'll definitely find a way to solve this, Susu, calm down, calm down..."
"How can you expect me to stay calm? If it weren't for this fragment protecting my remains and allowing me to revert to my original form, what's standing in front of you now would be a rotten, stinking skeleton!"
"Anyway, I don't want to live any longer, so let's all die together!" Shang Su said with a maniacal laugh.
Meanwhile, Bai Yuheng and the others, taking advantage of Cen Ying and Li Tiankuo's obstruction, secretly set up an array to send those floating souls to the path of rebirth.
"By the Supreme Decree, your lonely soul is liberated. All ghosts and demons, all living beings, shall receive grace. Those with heads are liberated, those without heads shall live..."①
"Susu, Susu, do you want to see your older brother?"
Shang Su paused for a moment: "Immortality?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Wasn't Changsheng dead? He's still alive?"
A complex look flashed in Chen Ping'an's eyes: "No, my brother was killed by Chen Chengcai, but we brought him out, and Chen Chengcai also died under the temple."
"Where?! Where is he?!"
Bai Yuheng had finished chanting the incantation. Upon hearing Chen Ping'an's words, she released Chen Changsheng from the Qiankun bag.
"How did he become like this?!" Shang Su exclaimed in disbelief, her beautiful eyes wide open.
She hadn't seen Chen Cheng threaten her with the use of the longevity potion when she wanted to kill him. But when she saw the person in front of her turned into a human skin skeleton, Shang Su's eyes filled with tears.
"It's all Chen Changsheng's fault!" Chen Ping'an gritted his teeth, wishing he could tear that man apart! He told Shang Su the whole story.
Upon hearing this, Shang Su collapsed to the ground, her face contorted in pain, yet no tears came out.
"So, everything was done by the Chen brothers, Cheng and Cai?" Shang Su suddenly realized, muttering to herself, "After you went to the capital for the imperial examination, one day, Chen Chengdong came and instructed Uncle Rong to go out. He almost defiled me, but luckily I had arranged with Granny Zhang to have her deliver some seasonal vegetables to my door that day, which is how she saved me..."
"After that, Chen Chengdong held a grudge against Granny Zhang, so I gave her the money you left behind, so she could go out and lay low for a while..."
Chen Ping'an was also taken aback, never expecting things to develop this way: "That money was all part of my plan to secure your future. If the people of Chenjia Village try to harm you, Uncle Rong will take you to the dock, where I have arranged for a boatman to take you onto a ship bound for the capital. That silver is for your extra expenses along the way..."
Shang Su hadn't expected any of this. She choked up, "No wonder, no wonder... That day when I took Granny Zhang to the dock, the boatman asked me why I wasn't coming with him. I told him to take Granny Zhang away, but I said I wouldn't go. I wanted to wait for you to come back..."
Chen Ping'an covered his face and wept, repeatedly saying, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is..."
“After that day, Chen Chengdong ordered Uncle Rong to take away the nameplate, saying that my birth chart was indeed that of the holy maiden they were looking for. Then, using the excuse that my family members had died because of my bad luck in bringing misfortune to their husbands, he imprisoned me... Afterwards, he chose an auspicious day, and the whole village put me on the Broken Arm Cliff, letting eagles and vultures gnaw on me, wild beasts tear at me, and let the wind and rain beat on me, saying that this would allow the soul of the holy maiden to return and enter my skeleton. But in the end, there was no reaction. Those people were furious and started a fight. Finally, they burned my bones with a fire!”
Shang Su clutched her chest, recalling, "What they didn't know was that long before they were about to burn me, one night, something like a shooting star fell upon my remains, leaving behind my soul and my bones..."
In the blazing firelight, she was reborn like a phoenix, gaining the ability to control everything, and was revered as a saint by these evil and foolish villagers.
She avenged herself. In the name of the Holy Maiden, she turned all those who had harmed her into the ghost messengers they had always longed to become, and then burned down the entire Chen Family Village!
The raging fire could not extinguish the hatred in her heart.
"I started the fire in Chenjia Village, and I did the fire at the Liang family's residence too." Shang Su sneered sarcastically. "They think they can stand up to me by finding someone else. They're being far too naive."
"So I lent a hand." Shang Su proudly raised her head, her tone carrying a hint of excitement and pride.
"I never expected that person to be you..."
"But it's alright, I know magic now. I can erase your memories. I'll kill them all..."
"Everyone was wailing, but no one else could hear them except me. They were begging me to let them go and to forgive them."
“Susu…”
Shang Su glanced at him, her smile vanishing, and said coldly, "Didn't I tell you to stay at the Liang residence? Why did you come out again?"
"I've come to see you." Chen Ping'an looked at her, hesitant to speak, "I want to make things clear to you..."
Shang Su turned her head away, unwilling to look at him: "It's not necessary. Not everything needs an explanation."
Shang Su stood up, knowing that he was no match for the four people in front of him. He looked at Bai Yuheng and the others and said, "I can give you the fragment, but you have to agree to one condition."
She glanced at Chen Ping'an as she spoke, and then said, "Please move aside and let's talk."
Bai Yuheng nodded: "Okay. Please."
-
Countless souls flow into the black hole, a passage to the afterlife.
Once you enter this path, it will determine whether you can be reborn as a human, enter the animal realm, or be forever condemned to eternal damnation, based on your life's deeds.
The gates to the afterlife were wide open, and many long-lost souls took the opportunity to rush in.
"Ping'er, Ping'er!"
When Granny Zhang woke up, she rushed to Broken Arm Cliff and saw her biological parents waving to her.
The cliffside was bustling with activity, filled with all sorts of spirits.
She heard it, but kept a cold face and refused to go up.
He even considered turning back and leaving.
“Ping’er has grown so much.”
"Live well."
Her biological parents smiled and waved to her, as if saying goodbye or calling her back.
“Ping’er, please forgive us. We didn’t mean to abandon you back then…” Her mother flew to her side, looked at her old appearance and cried, tears streaming down her face before she could speak. “Your birth chart is the same as the four guardians of our sect’s Holy Maiden. We entrusted you to others to raise in order to protect your life.”
"Why are you telling me all this?" Granny Zhang said coldly. "I don't want to know at all."
"Now that the cult has been destroyed, you no longer need to worry."
Grandma Zhang didn't speak again, but just silently watched them. Her mind was clear, but her vision was blurry.
"The time is almost up, we are about to go to hell, Ping'er, live well..." The unfamiliar voice gradually faded away with the wind, as if it had never been there.
The gate to the afterlife is closing.
Chen Ping'an stood in front of Chen Changsheng, wanting to hug him, but his hug went through nothing.
"elder brother……"
Chen Changsheng remained silent, only lovingly stroking his head and smiling with satisfaction.
"We're leaving. You live well and take our place," Shang Su said with a smile.
"Brother! Su Su!" Chen Ping'an tried to grab them, but missed. He could only watch helplessly as Shang Su led Chen Changsheng by the hand and walked in with the many souls, merging into the crowd until they disappeared from sight.
What awaits them is the judgment of hell.
Chen Ping'an fell to the ground crying, as if he had returned to his childhood. He watched his parents take his older brother out, and he cried and made a fuss, wanting to go with them.
His brother used to always agree to his requests, but now his brother can no longer hear him or respond to him.
Chen Ping'an was so heartbroken that he almost fainted.
Seeing this, Cen Ying, who was standing not far away, stepped forward and inserted a silver needle into Chen Ping'an's acupoint.
It calmed his mind and made him lose his senses.
Dusk was falling on the horizon; night was approaching.
Tomorrow will eventually arrive.
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Author's Note: ① The Mantra for Saving from Suffering and Rebirth in the Pure Land
Happy Children's Day! Wishing all the children happiness and carefree days! [Sprinkling flowers]
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