Chapter 131: The sequel to Chapter 131 is over; finally, they enter the abandoned house.
Three days later.
Lu Zhitao is dead, and Li Ruoxin's soul has finally stabilized. Qingyu and her group are about to leave the Li family. The hottest time of the year is about to arrive, and apart from the cicadas chirping, everything seems to have calmed down.
Ironically, Li Ruoxin is currently using Lu Zhitao's body, while Lu Zhitao's soul has also died inside Li Ruoxin's body.
Such a matter of soul swapping was too absurd to be discussed casually even among cultivators. The Li family ultimately had no choice but to publicly declare that they had adopted Lu Zhitao as their goddaughter, while Li Ruoxin, having mistakenly entered a haunted house, was injured by a demon and tragically passed away.
It was somewhat infuriating, after all, Lu Zhitao had committed numerous evils—but as many things became entangled, the name "Lu Zhitao" continued to live on in this world.
However, Li Ruoxin herself didn't seem to have any objections to this. After being rescued, she was often silent, perhaps because her soul was unstable, or perhaps because she was still somewhat dazed by her current appearance.
In the end, it was all just a dream. No one knew Lu Zhitao's past better than her, and no one understood herself better than she did now.
...
Before setting off, Qingyu and his group did a lot of research on the "haunted house," just in case.
Lin Fanxiang has been staying with Li Ruoxin to help her fix her soul these days. Occasionally, Zhang Xuan will also come to check on her. When they chat and the haunted house is mentioned, Li Ruoxin can only shake her head helplessly.
Her memories of the haunted house were hazy, almost nonexistent. She only remembered that Lu Zhitao had broken the sealing formation, followed by boundless darkness and red light. The only thing Li Ruoxin could vaguely recall was a voice that seemed to come from nowhere, both ghostly and familiar, both laughing and weeping—
"With such intimacy, why must we separate?"
Peach blossoms should be kept in our hearts forever.
Everything is like a dream, occasionally, during the season when peach blossoms bloom in spring.
The woman would also cover her chest and softly murmur something, as if everything had passed.
...
Since they didn't get anything from Li Ruoxin, they went to ask Ji Shaowei as well.
This deputy envoy of the demon-suppressing envoy was very busy. After chatting with Qingyu early that morning, he was about to leave when Qin Tianshu ran into him and chatted with him for a few minutes.
That haunted house used to be a wasteland. Over the years, it was gradually incorporated into Qingzhou City. It was a place with heavy yin energy, and no one would go there.
Later, a high-ranking official embezzled money and used it to buy houses and land. He also bought the land and even turned it into a large mansion, which he used to store things that couldn't be exposed to the light.
Within a few years, this high-ranking official was brought down, and countless lives were lost during his execution. His residence also came into the public eye. It was considered malevolent and filled with yin energy; whoever lived there was destined to die. It even attracted many daring cultivators, but their fates remained the same.
At that time, the demon-suppressing envoy of Qingzhou was Ji San, the head of the Fengshui Ji family. He was well aware of the strangeness of that mansion, so he and the Lu family sealed it off together. Fengshui can detect the spirits and seal the yin, so ordinary people should not enter.
In the century that followed, some members of the Ji and Lu clans occasionally mentioned it, but it was nothing more than mysterious things like ghosts, demons, and immortals. In short, they advised against going there.
Nobody knows.
...
Qin Tianshu: "But now, the seal on that house has been broken by Lu Zhitao..."
Upon hearing this, Ji Shaowei smiled and said, "I heard that Miss Qingyu is skilled in formations. I was thinking of inviting her to seal this house together again in a few days."
Qin Tianshu glanced at him upon hearing this, seemingly understanding something. The scholar smiled and said, "Lord Ji only arrived yesterday, and you're leaving today?"
Ji Shaowei smiled generously at first, then replied, "I came in a hurry, so I have no intention of staying any longer."
Qin Tianshu nodded, "Then I'll have to trouble Lord Ji with the matter of the haunted house."
Once the haunted house is opened, the Demon Suppression Pavilion will have to seal it again to prevent mortals from accidentally entering. However, since they still want to explore it, they will inevitably have to deal with the people from the Demon Suppression Pavilion.
Ji Shaowei smiled noncommittally, without saying anything more. The young man turned to leave, but then paused, turned back to the scholar, and said...
"Fengdu, a realm of life and death, is a place where, regardless of the reason, crossing the boundary will inevitably come at a price—"
“Recently, a distinguished guest has arrived at the Demon Suppression Pavilion in Qingzhou, and the Demon Suppression Envoy has been too busy to attend to this matter. But everyone, please think about it again.”
...
Inside the carriage, before departure.
Qingyu sat on a recliner, the spirit flame lamp casting a faint cool air on the small table of the daybed not far away. The woman comfortably fanned herself with a round fan, closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, saying, "So, so we asked around... and didn't find out anything."
Lin Fanxiang sat at the medicine table, laying out paper to practice calligraphy. Amidst the soft rustling of ink and paper, the woman replied with a leisurely smile.
"No one has been there for a long time, and Li Ruoxin's memory is hazy, so we'll probably only know if we go there ourselves."
"Why,"
Zhang Xuan sat leisurely on one side of the daybed, casually blowing on the foam on his tea, and said, "Who knows?"
Qin Tianshu sat opposite him, flipping through a book. The scholar didn't even lift his eyelids. "We'll arrive the day after tomorrow... Speaking of which, if we want to enter Fengdu, what about the Nine Stars?"
Zhang Xuan: "Yes, that nameless stone..."
Qin Tianshu: "...Don't worry about that. I have a feeling it will appear when we get to Fengdu."
Qingyu chuckled, finding Qin Tianshu and Wuxin rather odd. "Whatever," she thought, "maybe whatever they say." But speaking of the Nine Stars… the woman asked, "What about the carriage?"
It was a place they had lived in for a year, a place that was both wonderful and warm. Now that it was being taken away, they were really reluctant to part with it.
Qin Tianshu turned a page of his book and casually said, "Let Wen Chuan find another container, these pages of mine are quite good—"
"Ring ring—"
The wind chimes rang, the car door was pushed open, and Wen Chuan's puzzled voice came from inside, "Uncle?"
"Oh! Luckily you didn't leave! We made it in time!"
The old man's strong voice came through, sounding both hurried and unhurried.
Qingyu opened her eyes upon hearing the tone of the voice. The woman smiled and got up, quickly walking to the car door. She squatted down and looked up, seeing Uncle He carrying a medicine box and hurrying towards them.
"Uncle, what brings you here?"
This old man is quite interesting. Even after becoming a retainer of the Li family, he only comes and goes on time. He rarely leaves the house and spends his time fiddling with medicinal herbs in the pharmacy. He's a man of two minds, one moment composed and the next eccentric. In his words, he's really old and does whatever he wants, regardless of whose face is more important; he treats everyone like a blanket.
"You guys, why didn't you say you were going to that dilapidated house sooner?"
Uncle He stood by the carriage, stroked his white beard, and glared at him, "You made me sweat all morning while I was running."
Qingyu was puzzled, but still got off the carriage. "Uncle, do you mean... you know about that house?"
"Well, not really."
Qingyu: "..."
Uncle He pursed his lips and said bluntly, "Little girl, have you forgotten? I told you back in Jizhou that I came to Qingzhou to find the elixir of life and death, hoping to cure the Cold Snow Poison."
"Yes,"
Qingyu seemed to be deep in thought, then looked at Uncle He and asked innocently, "And then?"
Uncle He: "...and then, and then, and then...tsk, what kind of response is that?"
Qingyu couldn't help but laugh, then nodded and said, "Yes, yes, we were wrong. We forgot that Uncle has traveled all over the country and seen the world. We should have asked you about that haunted house earlier."
Actually, it's not surprising that they didn't expect it... After all, they had been talking about the old house before, but Uncle hadn't said anything. He just acted like a profound doctor, not saying much or mentioning anything carelessly. He wasn't a local from Qingzhou either, so who would have thought that he would know about these things?
"Alright, alright, if I hadn't just heard Miss Li say all this, I really wouldn't have thought you were going to that haunted place."
"To be honest, as a mere medical cultivator, I've never been to that sealed-off house. But having lived for so many years, I've naturally seen and heard more than you have. Since I know you're going to that house, I might as well tell you everything I know—"
"Legend has it that the ghost realm is called Fengdu, the place where souls reincarnate, the land of life and death; in the human world there is Mount Tai, and Mount Tai has a river called Huangquan, where the soul crosses over when a person dies and enters Fengdu; apart from that, whether it is a living person or a living soul, once it enters Fengdu it will be discovered. Little girl, do you know why?"
As Qingyu listened to Uncle He's words, the woman blinked, thought seriously for a moment, and said, "Because... Lord Taishan separated a domain?"
Wait a minute, didn't we already say that if a living person enters Fengdu, their body will rot until they actually die... In short, it seems that only the dead can enter Fengdu.
It sounded like this was an isolated realm, refusing entry to the living. They were thinking, "We can't really have to die to get in, can we?"
Uncle He laughed, "It's water from the underworld."
The Yellow Springs are poisonous water.
If a living soul crosses this path, it will surely die.
Therefore, for thousands of years, no living person has ever entered Fengdu. Even if a wicked cultivator had developed the technique to extract the soul a thousand years ago, he would have been corrupted by the Yellow Springs water and would have ultimately become a ghost who sought his own death.
Of course, if an innocent person whose lifespan has not yet ended accidentally enters the world, Meng Po will examine them and brew a special soup to detoxify them, cause them to lose their memory, and finally return to the mortal world in a daze.
Qingyu: "That haunted house... is also an entrance to Fengdu... but it bypasses the Yellow Springs?"
Uncle He's eyes widened. "How did you know that... You, you, you guys are quite amazing."
He thought that with the deaths of Ji San's old friends, no one in the world knew more about the haunted house than him.
Qingyu smiled. "Connections, or rather, 'ghost connections'—how are they supposed to put it?"
"Alright, alright, it seems you've made quite a few preparations. I've said too much today."
"How could that be? If you hadn't told us, how would we know the secret of the Yellow Springs Water... But Uncle, how did you know? Aren't you a doctor? How do you know so much about these things?"
"Hahahaha, little girl. Your uncle is already a hundred years old this year. He has cultivated for a hundred years, healing the sick and saving lives. It's not surprising that I know anything, is it?"
Uncle He chuckled, saying he was getting old, while squinting his eyes and smiling like a child. He waved to Qingyu.
"Hurry up and go, just be careful."
He knew perfectly well what those teenagers were up to and why they were going to the haunted house.
What they want to go to is that ancient land of nine provinces, the place of reincarnation that everyone seeks.
Qingyu smiled and nodded. The woman was slightly confused at the end, "Uncle, didn't you ever think of stopping them?"
Along the way, whenever Fengdu was mentioned, Li Suheng, Ji Shaowei, and even the ferryman all advised them not to think about those things... Only Uncle He, who was over a hundred years old and still had his medicine box with him, ran over to talk to them about these things.
Uncle He was taken aback for a moment, but after understanding Qingyu's meaning, he laughed heartily.
"You're young, you can't stop them."
"Let's go, let's go, let's go early and come back early."
"Oh, I forgot to mention that..."
"Gentlemen, thank you for your help with Shangguan's matter."
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