Chapter 31: Haunted Hill House (31)
Yan Shixun first tried to turn his head to confirm the environment around him.
Because of Xishuang's own confusion, there are currently three different worlds overlapping in Ghost Mountain. One is the fourth floor where Xishuang is isolated from herself, one is the memory world constructed by Xishuang, and the other is the Ghost Mountain where the program team entered and encountered a crisis.
He must first confirm which world he is in so that he can predict what dangers he will encounter and prepare for it.
But he failed.
Yan Shixun couldn't control his body, and couldn't even do the simplest action of turning his head. He couldn't feel the blood vessels and muscles that a normal human would feel when turning his neck.
It was as if he had no body at all, not even his neck.
Just one head.
It should have been a dire and critical situation, but Yan Shixun instead confirmed the situation he was in at the moment.
——In the identity of Xishuang, who was dismembered by bandits, he entered a world of memories constructed from real events that happened a hundred years ago.
According to what he had seen from the perspective of the bandit leader Zhou Shi, he, or Xi Shuang, should have been abandoned in the woodshed at the edge of the garden.
When Yan Shixun was observing the memories of the past as Zhou Shi, he always had doubts in his heart.
That memory world came to an abrupt end due to the departure of the nanny's soul. He did not see what happened in the villa after the bandits celebrated wildly.
So why would the murderer fear the victim?
Why would the vicious bandits be afraid of Xi Shuang? What are those blood-red humanoid monsters scattered all over the mountain? How did the rumor that passers-by have died in Ghost Mountain for hundreds of years come about?
The words that the nanny said to Yan Shixun at that time, "The young lady mistook you for a bandit," made Yan Shixun certain that it was because of his actions that Xishuang determined her identity and perspective in the memory world. If he wanted to know what happened later, he would probably have to rely on Xishuang's perspective to truly see the complete memory.
So, with doubts in mind, Yan Shixun provoked the hiding female ghost Xishuang to appear from the mirror, and used the information he had already learned to make Xishuang recall things that happened a hundred years ago while her soul was unstable. He used his position to confuse his own identity, and thus was able to successfully enter the memory world with the help of Xishuang's identity.
Xishuang is the key to the existence of the entire Ghost Mountain.
Only when her resentment and obsession are completely eliminated, will the Ghost Mountain, which serves as a prison for her hatred, be broken.
Only then can everyone in the program team leave Guishan, go to Guishan, and return to the normal world.
However, because he borrowed Xi Shuang's identity, just like when he borrowed the bandit leader's identity before, Yan Shixun could do nothing and could not change what had happened.
He could only stay in Xishuang's body and watch as the story of a hundred years ago was replayed as a bystander.
In the summer mountains, the night wind was still bitterly cold, and the garden was filled with a strong smell of blood, which blew towards Yan Shixun's nose along with the wind.
Not far from the head, there were burlap bags piled in the woodshed filled with the bodies of those who had died in the villa, including the wet nurse's body.
The broken limbs and flesh were scattered all over the ground.
The blood flowed into a winding stream, flowed into the garden, seeped into the soil, and watered the white rose bushes in the garden.
Xi Shuang opened her eyes wide and stared at the waning moon in the night sky.
Her soul was still trapped in her body, but it was broken into pieces. She cried out in anger and pain, her voice full of tears, calling out the name of her lover and her nurse.
However, no one heard it.
No one responded to her.
She could only stare hatefully at the brightly lit villa from which bursts of laughter were coming from with her blood-stained red eyes.
Pain and resentment accumulated in her broken body and soul. Blood dyed her originally exquisite and gorgeous cheongsam red. All her past kindness turned into boundless hatred. Her obsession to kill the bandits and wash away her hatred with blood became stronger as she heard the bandits drinking and laughing.
Killing someone means paying with your life, that is only natural.
Before the first ray of dawn appeared in the sky, a ghost with a tall hat and chains in hand appeared in front of Xi Shuang, wanting to take her to the underworld to settle the score between good and evil and to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.
But he was rejected by Xishuang's soul filled with resentment.
Xi Shuang's originally neatly and exquisitely bunted hair had been scattered all over her shoulders during her struggle and confrontation with the bandit leader Zhou Shi, casting a large shadow on her pale and stiff face.
Only her pair of red eyes still held a gleam of hatred, making her gloomy and resentful brows look even more sinister and creepy.
And her red dress stained with blood was the only color in the darkest night.
'Kill someone... pay with your life. He killed me. I remember his face and his name. I want to wash away my hatred with blood for my nanny who died tragically, for those people, and for myself.'
Xishuang covered her face with her hands and looked down, tears of blood streaming from her red eyes.
She expressed her resentment to the ghost and questioned whether there was any justice in the world.
The impatient ghost wanted to forcibly take away the many confused ghosts wandering in the garden and the mountains, but was driven away by the angry Xi Shuang's desperate attack.
At 12 o'clock midnight, the most vicious ghost is the female ghost who died tragically in red clothes.
The moment when two days meet is the moment when yin and yang and dates alternate. Only that second belongs neither to the world of the living nor to the world of the dead. It is when the ghost opens his eyes.
Xi Shuang, who was filled with hatred and anger, was so ferocious and desperate under the moonlight that even the ghost catcher was defeated and had to flee.
As for Xi Shuang, she was wearing a red dress and standing among the rose bushes stained red by blood in the garden, staring coldly at the celebratory scene in the villa through the window of the living room.
These bandits brutally killed her nanny whom she regarded as her mother, and also killed people she was familiar with, so that she would never have the chance to wait for the day when her lover would marry her. Then, they stole the wealth, took the villa for themselves, and celebrated their "bravery" with laughter!
Unforgivable.
Unforgivable!!!
Xi Shuang's soul gradually dissipated as the morning light rose from the horizon, leaving only her pair of red eyes that firmly memorized the faces of all the bandits.
The names they called each other were deeply engraved in Xishuang's soul, and even death could not make her forget this hatred.
…
The sun rises and the moon sets, and the moon rises over the mountains.
The female ghost in red stood silently in the garden, staring at the figures in the villa with silence and resentment.
Hatred surges and anger roars.
The waning moon has become full.
On the seventh day after Xishuang's death, the moon rose again from the distant darkness, as round as a jade plate.
The moonlight is pale, yet perfect.
From the sun's extreme yang to the full moon's extreme yin, and the final variable of the first seven days...
Tonight, it is appropriate to raise the corpse.
Yan Shixun, who had been waiting calmly, opened his eyes and looked around calmly with the help of Xishuang's eyes.
If he guessed correctly, tonight would be the most important turning point.
Under the dual nourishment of the full moon and the first seven days, the Yin power reaches its peak. The Yin gate opens wide, and ghosts seek revenge.
As a wandering lonely soul, Xishuang's strength will also be greatly increased.
If Xi Shuang was ever going to gain the power to kill all the bandits and make them still fear and dread them a hundred years later, it would definitely be tonight.
A sudden change is about to happen!
Dark clouds gathered, gradually covering the full moon, and the night was as dark as ink without any light.
Just as Yan Shixun was holding his breath and waiting, a low, intimidating voice came from a distant void that did not belong to the human world, piercing through the darkness and reaching Xishuang's ears.
"Newly deceased ghost Xishuang, I have heard your request - I have become a fierce ghost, and I want to gain power and take revenge on those you are angry with and resentful of."
Yan Shixun's heart sank and he immediately looked in the direction of the sound.
The clouds obscured the moon, and only a few dim lights illuminated the rose-filled garden.
A tall figure slowly walked over from a distance, with nothing under his feet, only the long robe draped over his shoulders dragging on the ground as he walked through the flowers. Wherever he passed, the flowers and plants withered and lost their vitality, and the ground was scorched and dead silent.
When Yan Shixun, who was lying on the ground in Xi Shuang's severed head, looked against the light, the figure stood not far in front of him, and the thick ghost energy continued to erode the vitality around him. The angle of looking up from the ground made the figure too tall, enough to cover the sky and the moon.
It was as if, under the extremely cold and gloomy full moon, that figure was the only ruler at the junction of yin and yang.
With the help of the faint light, Yan Shixun could barely see the specific appearance of the figure.
It was a face that did not belong to any of the ghosts or monsters that Yan Shixun had ever seen. In contrast to the strong ghostly aura, it was a handsome face that was more like an adult human male. The lines were sharp and hard like those carved by a knife, and it carried an aura of inviolable majesty that came from being in power for a long time.
Only the two strange black lines near his temples distinguished him from ordinary humans.
In Yan Shixun's eyes, the figure continued to emit thick black air, and it looked like a humanoid monster made up entirely of darkness and eerie ghostly aura.
Even if Xi Shuang, who had turned into a fierce ghost a hundred years later, the danger he felt was not enough to offset one ten-thousandth of the vigilance this man brought him.
Since being picked up by his master and following his master around the country, Yan Shixun has seen countless ghosts and monsters, but none of them has made him feel such a strong sense of crisis as at this moment.
Even if he dug up all his memories, he could only recall one time when he was a child, before he was picked up by his master, when he had a vague but similar feeling.
Just when Yan Shixun was extremely alert and focused on observing this eerie figure, Xi Shuang agreed without hesitation.
'That's right! I want those people to experience the same pain as me, no! A hundred times more pain than me!'
The wronged souls screamed: "Unforgivable, unforgivable! They are not worthy of being human beings, they are not qualified to wear human skin and continue to harm others! Why can't anyone judge them, why can't anyone punish them! They must die, they can't take a single step out of this mountain, they must die here, stay here forever, and never hurt anyone again!"
'Have you made up your mind?'
The figure's voice was low and cold, like the ghost god sitting high in the Fengdu Palace judging the dead souls.
'Becoming a ghost means giving up on reincarnation. You will be forever trapped by your own hatred. Until the law of nature turns cruel and the only remaining variable appears, you will have a chance to reenter reincarnation.'
"I don't care! I just want Zhou Shi and those other bandits to pay with their lives!"
Xi Shuang was so filled with hatred that tears of blood flowed from her eyes and fell into the soil, making the charred and withered blood-stained rose bloom again.
Yan Shixun seemed to hear the figure laugh, but it was so slight that it seemed like an illusion. When he listened carefully, there was nothing.
'If the underworld doesn't judge, Fengdu will rule.'
The voice was extremely majestic, like the way of ghosts themselves: "The new ghost attacked the frost, rise up--"
The dark clouds suddenly cleared, and the sky was as high as the eaves of a palace.
The pale moonlight suddenly fell, illuminating Xishuang's already rotten skull.
A strange rustling noise came from the sacks filled with body parts in the woodshed.
The blood that had long dried up began to wriggle and gather again from the dry firewood on the ground. The body parts and broken flesh were pieced together into a human shape and rolled onto the head beside. The pair of cloudy and dim red eyeballs suddenly opened wide.
On the night of the full moon on the seventh day of the lunar month, Xi Shuang, who died with hatred in her heart, returned as a fierce ghost amidst the ghostly aura that filled the entire garden.
At this time, the villa was still lively and bright with people drinking until dawn.
The moment Xi Shuang stood up, Yan Shixun used her eyes to quickly scan where the figure was standing.
However, the moonlight was bright and the figure had disappeared at some point.
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