Chapter 182 Blood Vine Woman
Bai Li turned and left. The casino was deathly silent, except for the rustling sound of new vines climbing between the beams.
From then on, whenever someone mentioned the words "wife selling" in this casino, the vines on the beams would move without any wind.
Later, a human trafficker who didn't believe in superstitions came here to do business, and that night he was found dead in his own bed.
Its entire body was covered in blood-red vines.
Bai Li and her children had long since disappeared into the morning mist.
There are only rumors that someone saw a woman in the deep mountains and forests with a blood vine that blooms around her wrist.
...
Time flies, and Bai Li has been living in seclusion in the deep mountains with her child for several years.
She cultivated a vegetable garden on a sunny hillside, growing crisp cucumbers and bright red peppers.
Several fruit trees bear fruit every year, and the persimmons in autumn look like little lanterns.
The vines were her most cherished children.
It would gather dew-kissed wildflowers for her in the early morning, gently wrap around her son's ankles when he was being naughty, and tenderly entwine her wrists in the stillness of the night.
Three years of severe drought left the land parched and barren. Fish bones gleamed a ghastly white on the cracked riverbed.
The trees in the mountains were withered and looked like ghostly claws, and the crops in the fields had turned into scorched earth.
But Bai Li's vines remained vibrant red, as if they were drawing not water, but some deeper power.
Until that day—
The long-awaited rain finally fell, and the parched earth groaned with thirst.
The villagers knelt in the rain, weeping with joy, but Bai Li stood under the eaves, staring blankly at her wrist.
The vines are withering.
It was curled up, its color faded to a dark brown, as if it had been drained of life.
Bai Li panicked and fetched mountain spring water overnight. She even cut her wrists and used her blood to irrigate the vines, but they still grew weaker day by day.
One night, she suddenly woke up with a start, her palm pressed against her wildly beating heart—
It is a secluded road.
The vines grew because of the secluded path, and now that they've withered, it can only mean that something has happened to their benefactor!
She hurriedly packed her bags and led her son, who could already run and jump, out of the deep mountains.
As I entered the town, rumors filled my ears like a cold wind.
"Have you heard? The Imperial Preceptor was ambushed on his way back to the capital..."
"That man is truly ruthless. The Imperial Advisor sacrificed himself for the sake of the people, yet he repays kindness with enmity..."
"They're currently trapped under the Broken Soul Ridge; it's said their souls will be refined."
Bai Li stood in the bustling street, listening to the storyteller vividly describe the scene of Lu Yao's suppression.
The vines in his arms suddenly trembled slightly, pointing north.
That place is the direction of Broken Soul Ridge.
“A-Teng,” she knelt down and straightened her son’s clothes, “Mother is going to save a very important person.”
The little boy looked up, his dark eyes reflecting his mother's resolute face.
When Bai Li arrived at Broken Soul Ridge, dusk had already enveloped the mountains.
At the foot of the mountain stood a dozen or so figures, their clothes of different materials fluttering in the night breeze.
Some wore plain white robes, while others wore embroidered skirts, yet all carried a similar sense of determination.
Upon seeing someone approaching, everyone turned around alertly.
When people saw the blood-red vines wrapped around Bai Li's wrists, they gasped.
"Are you the legendary Blood Vine Woman?"
It was Jiang Peiling, the traveling merchant, who spoke.
Her caravans traveled between states year-round, coming and going, and there was no news she didn't know, from official notices to rumors among the people.
Bai Li gently stroked the vines on her wrist, without denying it.
“It really is Blood Vine…” Jiang Peiling murmured.
She suddenly performed the most solemn fist salute in the martial arts world: "Three years ago, when the caravan was traveling on the official road of Huanzhou, I saw with my own eyes that blood-red vines emerged from the ground and strangled the matchmaker who was selling young girls."
Over the years, the legend of the blood vine has spread to various places.
Whenever a woman is sold into slavery, or when human traffickers commit atrocities, blood-red vines always sprout from the ground.
Some say they've seen it crush a creditor's right hand in a casino, others say they've seen it tear up a contract of servitude in a pawnshop, and still others say it opens the prison door for abducted women in the dead of night.
“It was Lu Yao who gave me the seed,” Bai Li said softly.
The woman in the foreign-style clothing suddenly burst into laughter, her exotic accent choked with sobs, "As expected of the Grand Preceptor! Only she could come up with something so satisfying!"
"We have all received the kindness of the Imperial Preceptor."
A woman stepped forward, smiling gently. Her features were warm and gentle, but her eyes were slightly dim, a consequence of years of studying late into the night.
This is Jiang Jinshu, the dean of Zhaoling Academy.
Bai Li's vines suddenly trembled excitedly, pointing towards the nine human-shaped stone tablets on the ridge.
She looked up and saw dark clouds covering the Broken Soul Ridge, with the faint sound of clanging chains coming from within.
"Let's go," Bai Li said softly.
Several women followed silently behind.
Facing the nine eerie and terrifying stone tablets, Bai Li walked up to the Death Tablet.
The mass grave where Zhu Tongwei abandoned her has another name.
Locals call it Death Slope.
But fate had mercy, and she met Lu Yao, who saved her from a desperate situation.
Bai Li turned to look down the mountain.
The wife who lay dying on that doomed slope back then thought she would rot silently and become a meal for vultures.
But she not only survived, but now stands behind countless women who were once abandoned by fate.
“Lu Yao,” she placed her palm on the cold surface of the monument, “we were all destined to survive.”
She planted the blood vine in front of the monument, and the vines instantly climbed up the monument, becoming even more crimson...
...
Memories surged like a tidal wave, and Bai Li trembled violently.
Scenes from my past life flashed before my eyes.
She saw herself huddled in a corner, the doors and windows nailed shut, and the curses of "husband-killer" and "jinx" echoing in her ears.
She saw herself kneeling on the cold bluestone slab, her abdomen throbbing with pain but no one cared, her skirt stained red with blood.
Seeing the withered woman in the mirror, her wrists covered in gruesome cuts...
Bai Li clutched her head in pain, her fingernails digging deep into her scalp.
Those forgotten despairs were now vividly tearing at her soul.
Lu Yao's fingertips glowed with a warm light, and she gently touched her forehead: "Don't be afraid."
Her voice was as gentle as if she were soothing a frightened child, "It's all over now."
In a daze, Bai Li saw an even more horrifying scene.
She was locked in the Luo family's luxurious suite, where she was kept in darkness, and her belly was swollen high.
On the day of delivery, she was in so much pain that she bit her lip until it bled. She heard the Luo family's servants outside the door breathe a sigh of relief, "Finally, the delivery is about to begin."
The moment the baby started crying, she struggled to get a glimpse of it, but was given a sedative.
I thought I was finally free, but when I woke up again, I found myself in a cold, dark basement.
Scarface chained her ankles and grinned maliciously, saying, "A uterus as good as yours shouldn't be wasted."
Her mentally unstable mother held up a missing person poster and called out her childhood name over and over again in the rainy night.
At that time, she was locked in a dark basement, listening to the heartbeat of the new life growing inside her.
"ah--!"
Bai Li let out a heart-wrenching cry, those memories gnawing at her heart like venomous snakes.
Lu Yao held her trembling body tightly and gently stroked her furrowed brows.
"Don't be afraid, none of that will happen."
Fluorescent light fell like snowflakes, gently covering those bloody memories.
Bai Li's breathing gradually became steady. In the instant before she fell into a deep sleep, she vaguely heard Lu Yao's unfinished words:
"...I'll be here for you from now on."
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