Xie Lian said, “Maybe, it was eaten.”
The wealthy businessman shuddered: "Eaten?!"
Xie Lian nodded. The wealthy merchant said, "Then, Taoist Priest, what should we do now? I have a pregnant wife, Mrs. Ru. What if that demon comes again?!"
There is actually a pregnant woman in this person’s home!
Xie Lian raised his hand and said, “Please be patient. Let me ask again. Does your wife still remember where she encountered this child in her dream?”
The wealthy businessman said, "She vaguely remembered a large house, but she definitely doesn't remember much else. It was just a dream, who could remember it so clearly?" He gritted his teeth and continued, "I... I was over forty when I finally had a son. I've been so miserable! Taoist priest, can you catch and kill this monster? You can't let it harm my family anymore!"
Xie Lian said, "Don't panic, don't panic. I'll do my best."
The wealthy businessman was overjoyed and rubbed his hands together, saying, "Great, great, what do you need, Taoist priest? Remuneration is no problem!"
Xie Lian said, "No reward necessary, just a few favors. First, please find me a set of unused women's clothing, loose enough for a man to wear. Also, I'm afraid I'll need a lock of your Madam Ru's hair for the ritual."
The rich businessman ordered his servant: "Write this down!"
Xie Lian continued, "Secondly, please tell your pregnant wife, Madam Ru, to sleep in a different room. And no matter where or when, if she hears a strange child calling her 'mother,' she must not answer. Absolutely not answer, and it's best not to even open your mouth. Although people often don't realize they're dreaming and are often confused and demented, if you repeat this in her ear so that it becomes ingrained in her mind, it might still be effective."
The wealthy businessman also agreed. Xie Lian said, "Third, I brought two children with me. I'd like you to take care of them and arrange a good meal for them."
The wealthy businessman said, "This is a small matter. I can handle even a hundred of them, not to mention two!"
Finally, it was time for the most important last one. Xie Lian said, "Fourth."
He pulled out a talisman consecrated by the Puqi Temple from his sleeve, handed it over with both hands, and said solemnly, "Please say loudly to this amulet, 'Your Highness, please protect me!' - this way, this matter will be recorded in the name of our temple."
“…”
That night, Xie Lian changed into women's clothes again.
Although he seemed to be familiar with dressing up as a woman, this was his first time pretending to be a pregnant woman. He dressed in front of the mirror, and in no time, he put on his makeup. Finally, he stuffed a pillow into his stomach and hid a lock of hair he had taken from the pregnant woman inside the pillow. Then, Xie Lian lay down on the bed. He calmed his mind, slowed his breathing, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Xie Lian slowly opened his eyes. What came into view was no longer the wealthy businessman's concubine's house, but a magnificent pavilion.
Xie Lian's first reaction was to feel Fang Xin's presence beside him. Only after he felt it did he feel reassured. Fang Xin, after all, was a precious sword, bound tightly to him. Then, he slowly sat up, and suddenly felt something sticky on his hands. He lifted them up and saw he was lying on a bed covered in horrifying, still-dry bloodstains, staining half of his body a horrifying red.
Xie Lian was not surprised. He got off the bed and took two steps. Suddenly, he felt something fall off his body. He looked down and saw that it was the pillow. He quickly picked it up and put it back in. After taking two more steps, his stomach fell off again. Xie Lian had no choice but to hold it in both hands and observe his surroundings.
Having been raised in the imperial palace, influenced by his surroundings, Xie Lian had his own unique sense of what was beautiful and what was not. This small building, while ornate, seemed to him to be suffused with the air of femininity. He'd guess it might be a restaurant or a place of pleasure. Furthermore, compared to today's popular architectural styles, the style was decidedly archaic, resembling a house from centuries past. His exact location was unclear.
So, it was unlikely that the ghost of the wealthy merchant's aborted daughter was haunting him. Because the illusions created by the evil spirit were based on its own perception. Clearly, this ancient house, hundreds of years old, could only exist within the perception of a centuries-old evil spirit. After walking around and finding no one there, Xie Lian returned to the room where he had first lain down.
This was a woman's bedroom, furnished with a dressing table and an open cabinet containing children's clothing, dolls, rattles, and other toys. Xie Lian inspected them one by one, finding them all brand new. It was clear that the woman of this place cherished these items with great care. In other words, this woman possessed a deep affection for her "children."
After flipping through the clothes again, Xie Lian was suddenly shocked to find a protective amulet hidden in the child's clothes. And this amulet was actually his!
Extremely surprised, Xie Lian couldn't help but double-check. Yes, this was indeed his amulet. Furthermore, it wasn't the simple amulet he made now, gathering herbs from the mountains, weaving it himself, drawing the talisman himself, and tying it with red string himself. It was the kind of amulet that circulated throughout the country eight hundred years ago, during the heyday of Prince Xianle, when practically everyone had one. The materials and patterns were exquisite, and their provenance and whether they had been consecrated were clearly visible.
Could it be that the hostess of this house was once his believer?
At this moment, in the dead silence, Xie Lian suddenly heard a series of giggles.
It was a child's laughter, abrupt and scattered, emanating from nowhere. Xie Lian remained silent, yet inwardly he wondered: This voice sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. Where, exactly?
Suddenly, a string of childish voices rang out in his mind: "The bride. The bride, the bride is riding in the red sedan chair.
"With tears in my eyes, I cross the hills. Don't smile under the veil..."
On Junshan Mountain, in the bridal sedan, he heard the voice of Tong Ling!
When Xie Lian suddenly woke up, the child spirit's laughter also stopped abruptly. He turned around abruptly, but there was no trace of it.
After the incident at Yujun Mountain, he had also questioned the child spirit within the spiritual communication array, but at the time, everyone else had told him that no child spirit had been found on the mountain, and he was the only one who had heard the child spirit's voice. And now, this child spirit had appeared before him for the second time. Was it a coincidence, or was it intentional?
The child spirit stopped smiling and said, "Mother."
The sound of "mother" was so close, yet he couldn't tell where it came from. Xie Lian remained silent, holding his breath and listening intently.
After a long silence, the child's voice said again: "Mom, hug me."
This time, Xie Lian finally discovered that the sound was coming from his stomach!
Xie Lian had been holding up his fake belly with both hands, but he was shocked to find that the pillow he was holding had become heavy. He slapped his palm down, and with a "pop", a ball of something rolled out of his clothes. It vaguely looked like a pale child, and it spat out a few balls of things from its mouth, rolled into the darkness, and disappeared in an instant. Xie Lian rushed over to take a look, and saw that the things it spat out were a few balls of cotton wool and a strand of black hair. It seemed that his deception had worked. The little ghost wanted to eat Xie Lian's "child" like it had eaten the child of the previous pregnant woman, but it ate the cotton substitute that Xie Lian had placed in front of his belly. Then, Xie Lian heard the thing scream miserably: "Mother!"
No matter how it opened its mouth, no matter how shrill its cries, Xie Lian remained composed, not even opening his mouth. He concluded that the child spirit was a fetus, and that this room was where its or her mother had lived. Because it lacked a specific form, it would appear in the form of a certain age if it had died at a certain age, but most of the time it was a cloud of black smoke or a vague white shadow, indicating that it itself was unsure of its own form. Furthermore, the small clothes in the closet were clearly unworn, and given the horrific bloodstains on the bed, Xie Lian deduced that the woman of this house had suffered a miscarriage, and her unborn child had already formed and developed a sense of its own. After transforming into a fetus, it sought to return to its mother's womb, and so sought out the wealthy merchant's wife.
It cried out "Mother" in the woman's dream, and the woman's evilness was that she agreed. You have to understand that the bond between "mother" and "child" is extraordinary, and this agreement was a "permission" to get whatever she wanted. When she opened her mouth again, it gave the evil creature an opportunity to slip in. The little ghost slipped into her mouth, slipped into her belly, and devoured the fetus that was already in her belly, thus poisoning the magpie's nest. Although Xie Lian was a man, he was unsure whether the child spirit would take the opportunity to slip into his belly if he agreed, but just to be safe, it was better to keep his mouth shut.
So, keeping his mouth shut, he held the Sword of Heart, searching everywhere for the child. Xie Lian had always had a strong intuition about danger, honed through countless battles. He didn't even need to look closely; he would just stab wherever he suspected it was, and nine times out of ten, he was right. Although Xie Lian's damage to it was significantly reduced by the illusion created by the child spirit, it was still likely that Xie Lian had stabbed it several times, which was enough to make it look bad. After a while, Xie Lian felt a sharp pain under his foot; he had stepped on something extremely sharp, and he paused slightly.
Seeing him struck, the child spirit let out a short, sinister laugh. Though childish, the sound was unbecoming of a child. Instead, it sounded like that of a malevolent adult, a stark contrast that was terrifying. Unexpectedly, Xie Lian remained calm, not stopping for a moment. He thrust his sword forward again, striking again. Another strike!
The child spirit cried out in agony, and retreated far away. Xie Lian then glanced down at the sole of his boot. He had stepped on a small, sharp needle, standing upright. The child spirit must have placed it there intentionally; it seemed it truly hoped Xie Lian would cry out in pain. However, it miscalculated. Xie Lian was incredibly pain-tolerant. Even if he stepped on a needle, or even had his leg caught in a several-foot-long trap, he could still hold back a sound if necessary.
The needle was tiny, deeply lodged. Xie Lian had intended to remove it, but the child spirit, frustrated, leaped out. Fearing it might escape and harm others, Xie Lian stepped on the needle and chased it out of the house. Soon, the pain subsided, and it trotted away like a lightning bolt. After searching the small building for the child spirit but still unable to find it, Xie Lian wondered, "Could it be frightened by my attack?" Just then, a nearby window opened without a breeze.
Xie Lian immediately ran over and took a look, only to be stunned. Outside the window, there was no street, no mountain view, no pedestrians, only a bottomless pool.
Across from the deep pool stood a house. Inside sat two children, Lang Ying and Gu Zi, eating around a table. Unaware that a thick black mist was swirling above them, it was chuckling and giggling, and calling out crisply, "Mother! Mother!"
Xie Lian's heart suddenly jumped. He placed his hands on the window frame and subconsciously wanted to warn them, but he remembered that he couldn't speak and forced himself to keep quiet.
Although this was just a hallucination of the child spirit, he wondered if Lang Ying and Gu Zi had been dragged in as well. If so, the damage they suffered here would return to them in reality. He looked around for a vase to throw over as a warning, but there was nothing to throw. The tables and chairs couldn't be thrown, and there was a large lake between the two rooms. Was he expected to swim across?
At this time, Gu Zi was listless and yawned. The black smoke suddenly gathered and seemed to be about to slip into his mouth.
A child's body's defenses were very weak. Even without permission, this thing might still be able to invade. Xie Lian didn't have time to slowly ponder or swim. Immediately, Xie Lian shouted, "Shut up! Run!"
As soon as the words came out, Lang Ying and Gu Zi woke up in shock. They both shut up and jumped up in fear. The child spirit suddenly disappeared, and the next moment, a cloud of black smoke exploded in front of Xie Lian!
Although Xie Lian stopped drinking after finishing his drink, he could already feel a chill rushing into his mouth. The black smoke entered his stomach, and his internal organs felt as if they were freezing in an instant. He clenched his teeth and quickly opened several amulets, removing the herbs and talisman paper inside, chewing them vigorously and swallowing them. A moment later, his throat felt itchy, and he violently spat out the black smoke again!
Xie Lian covered his mouth with his sleeve, coughing uncontrollably until tears welled up in his eyes, and he quickly thought of a response. The black smoke he exhaled still enveloped his upper body, clinging to it. So, Xie Lian pressed his hand against the window frame and leaped into the lake outside.
With a thud, Xie Lian dove deep into the lake. He held his breath, crossed his legs, folded his hands, and assumed a meditation pose, letting his body slowly sink into the icy water. After his heartbeat calmed, he looked up and vaguely saw the black mist hovering above, locking the entire surface of the water. As soon as he emerged from the water, he would inevitably inhale sharply, and as soon as he inhaled that breath, he would definitely suck the child spirit into his stomach. If a man suddenly got pregnant, it would not look good at all.
However, he had only jumped into the water to find some time to think. After a while, Xie Lian had figured out how to deal with it. He thought, "What if I swallow it? I can just swallow her heart as well." He had also learned the art of sword swallowing when he was a street performer. Although swallowing it would probably hurt his body, it didn't matter. At least as long as he could capture the child spirit, that would be all that mattered.
Having made up his mind, he let go and swam to the side. He heard a dull sound of water from above, and suddenly, his vision was filled with large expanses of blazing red.
A tangle of jet-black hair filled his entire field of vision. The splashes and bubbles grew denser and denser, blurring his vision. Xie Lian blinked, straining to push aside the tangled threads and crystal-like bubbles. Then, he felt a pair of strong hands. One wrapped around his waist, the other gripped his jaw.
The next moment, something cold and soft blocked his lips.
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