Chapter 106 The Old Trick This situation is truly…
The door was flung open, and Zhou Yaren rushed out like a whirlwind, bumping into a drunken man who couldn't walk in a straight line. The man spun around a few times, then, dizzy and disoriented, clung to a pillar, rolling his eyes and yelling, "Which reckless bastard hurt me!"
A gust of wind swept through the hall, lifting countless veils and skirts, startling everyone, and then vanished in the blink of an eye.
Zhou Yaren's divine sense instantly expanded several miles, sweeping out recklessly and urgently—he had seen innocent people summoned by the wronged twice before, but the scene just now in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion's private room, where she was bound by iron rings on her wrists and shackles on her ankles, a scene of torture and chains, was definitely not an ordinary case of the underworld.
Zhou Yaren subconsciously associated this with the situation where Bai Yuan was imprisoned by the shackles of injustice, implying the Taiyin/Dao body.
As she was being pulled away by that immense force of resentment, she said: "Someone fabricated a wrongful conviction."
Who is it? Where is it? What kind of injustice has been committed?
Zhou Yaren's mind raced. Could it be the salt certificate case that was executed today?
This conjecture shocked him greatly. How could it be? His Majesty had appointed an imperial censor to conduct a secret investigation in Hedong Circuit for several months. How could it be a wrongful execution?
However, Bai Yuan's use of the word "fabricated" made Zhou Yaren particularly alarmed.
So many heads were chopped off at the ferry today, and most of Ruicheng is talking about the false indictment case. Of course, even the yamen is no exception. Zhou Yaren walked quickly, focusing all his attention on it. He didn't miss a single sound in the yamen. All he heard were sighs of relief that this major case was finally over. From the county magistrate to the clerks, everyone in Ruicheng, those who deserved to be executed were executed immediately, and those whose crimes didn't warrant death were all imprisoned, either exiled or sentenced to three to five years of penal servitude. Censor Cao was talking to the people around him that the court would soon send a new official to Ruicheng to take up his post. He sounded like nothing was amiss.
There was no unusual activity at the county government prison. Besides that, where else would the innocent be summoned?
Without stopping or hesitating, Zhou Yaren headed straight for Fenglingdu.
When he was less than two miles from the ferry crossing, he heard several panicked and terrified cries: "...Ghost...ghost...there's a ghost..."
The dock where the executions were carried out today is now quiet and still. A row of heads hangs from the top of the sluice gate. Cui Jin and Chen Heyuan, who died with their eyes wide open, have not closed their eyes and are silently watching the wide Yellow River and the boats moored at the shore, without blinking.
The bloodstains on the execution platform had not been washed away; fresh blood was splattered everywhere, meandering like a stream along the cracks in the bluestone slabs, flowing towards the plank road, and then seeping down from the gaps between the wooden planks, dripping and leaking into the river until it was all gone and dried, forming several blood-red "maps" on the ground.
A series of messy bloody footprints were clearly branded on the stone slabs and wooden planks. They must have been left by the executioner when he waded through the blood while picking up the heads. The footprints extended all the way to the gate, where the heads were then hung up with iron hooks.
The banner that read "Protect the Salt and Keep the People Peaceful" was splattered with blood at noon and then dried by the river wind, filling the entire Fengling with a strong, unpleasant smell of blood.
The soldiers guarding the ferry crossing were all quite brave, but on this dark and stormy night, when they turned their heads and saw a row of heads hanging above the sluice gate, and occasionally their eyes met those of a fine head, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
A cold, fishy wind whistled into their clothes, making the soldiers shiver. A colleague next to them pulled a water bottle from his waist and handed it to them. It was filled with liquor and was still warm: "Have a sip to warm yourself up."
It can also embolden you.
The soldier took the canteen, tilted his head back, and gulped down a large mouthful. He wiped his mouth and handed the canteen back, not daring to take too much for fear of making things worse. Although he thought it was unlikely that anything would happen in the middle of the night, he was just in case: "This is a windy spot. Let's go to the tax office shed for a while."
The soldier rubbed Leng Mu's hands together and followed him toward the tax shed: "The wind is howling and howling; it sounds really ominous."
Snap!
Suddenly, a noise came from behind, like something had fallen down. The two battalions of soldiers shuddered and turned around at the same time. They saw a round head rolling on the bluestone slab, which had fallen from the top of the gate.
"Damn it!" the two exclaimed in unison, then exchanged a glance and both knew perfectly well to put their heads back on.
So they picked up the lantern, mustered their courage, and went over. Once they were inside, they looked at each other and exchanged glances, each wanting the other to pick it up.
Finally, one of them compromised, picked up a tree branch from the ground, squatted down far away, stretched out his arm, and carefully poked the branch into the hair bun on his head.
The head was quite heavy, bending the branch and making it sway precariously when lifted.
At the same time, a scraping sound came from behind.
The soldiers carrying the severed heads paused for a moment before regaining their balance and slowly turning their heads.
Not far away, under the dark, shady fence, something seemed to be lying on the ground, gently undulating and then shifting slightly.
Because it was so dark and they couldn't see clearly, and fearing that someone might try to cross the border illegally, the soldiers had no choice but to carry lanterns and carefully approach.
It's rubbing and scratching.
The thing lying on the ground finally emerged halfway out of the darkness. When the red lantern shone on it, the two soldiers who were about to step forward were immediately dumbfounded and stood frozen in place, their bodies as hard as rocks.
A headless corpse slowly and stiffly crawled out of the shadows. Its severed neck, as big as a bowl, was facing the two soldiers. The brownish blood had already congealed, and the severed flesh curled up and turned outwards like a withered trumpet flower, revealing the white bone fragments inside.
After the headless corpse stood up, a large patch of blood ran down its chest. It seemed disoriented, hesitatingly taking a step forward. Its heavy footsteps pounded on the wooden plank, the shackles clanging as they dragged against each other. It moved step by step toward the soldier carrying the head...
“…Ghost…Ghost…Ghost…” The two soldiers’ eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They threw down the lanterns in their hands and ran away as fast as they could.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the stars twinkled, illuminating the execution platform at Fengling Ferry. Congealed bloodstains steamed up in the silvery light, and several iron chains were pulled from the blood-soaked ground, binding a pale, translucent human figure. The figure seemed to be a ghost that had grown out of this pool of blood, dressed in white with long hair, shackled and bound.
The soldiers who were turning to flee were suddenly confronted with this scene and were terrified.
"Ahhh... Ghost! Ahhhhhh..." The soldiers were so scared they wet themselves, scrambling and crawling away.
The desperate screams alerted the remaining soldiers guarding the tax office and the tax office. As soon as they came out, they were all terrified, their faces as white as paper, and they fled in a frenzy.
The execution ground was surrounded by the Four Symbols, and the execution platform was arranged in the shape of the White Tiger, signifying execution.
Bai Yuan remained relatively calm, but the slightest movement caused the chains around her body to clang.
She looked down at her surroundings. Long iron chains dangled on the ground, winding out along the trail of blood, with a headless corpse tied to the end, being dragged forward and staggering.
This scene is truly...
Bai Yuan was almost laughing in anger. It was exactly the same as when she was first trapped in the Taiyin/Dao Body, bound by chains and captured alive by a blood array that sacrificed lives. The deaths of those sorcerers in the array turned into shackles, putting Bai Yuan in chains and binding her firmly in the Daoist prison of punishment.
Outside, time has changed, and Bai Yuan has lost count of how many years have passed.
Just like that blood sacrifice, someone has copied it and created a blood sacrifice array exactly like the one from back then. But this time, it's to hunt her!
What? You can't contain yourself now that you know she broke through the Taiyin body and was born?
“A thousand years have passed, and I thought the old ghost who sealed me had rotted into dust by now,” Bai Yuan stood on the execution platform, a cold smirk playing on his lips. “If you are an old friend, why not come out and reminisce?”
In the still night, only the howling wind and the waves intertwined, and the flags fluttered in the cold wind. The turtle that had its head tucked in showed no intention of showing itself.
Bai Yuan waited quietly for a moment: "How come after a thousand years, you're still using the same old tricks, fabricating wrongful convictions and creating unjust prisons? You never come up with anything new."
Iron rings firmly fastened Bai Yuan's limbs, connecting him to the decapitated prisoners. They slowly contracted and twisted within the blood array. Bai Yuan glanced at them and clearly felt the locks tightening. He had to admit, "Well, that's what happens when you fall for this."
So the Fenglingdu case was specifically designed to deal with her. Unfortunately, Bai Yuan lamented, "So many lives have been wasted for nothing."
As soon as she finished speaking, a chill descended from her body, and the iron chains were instantly coated with a layer of frost. Bai Yuan struggled violently, and the chains were pulled out of the blood sacrifice on the execution platform with a clang, then firmly stuck in the Seven Constellations Palace.
A flash of blood appeared in the star palace. The iron chains not only did not break, but sharp thorns also grew from the chain links and pierced the flesh. Blood immediately seeped from the handcuffed hands and feet.
An arrow pierced the air from the beacon tower. Bai Yuan ducked to avoid it, the arrow's trajectory scraping and cutting her flesh. She frowned, not from the pain, but from the cinnabar-coated arrowhead. Bai Yuan tried to stop it, but it was too late. The cinnabar sparks pierced the Seven Mansions constellation. Suddenly, a howl of wind and a tiger's roar were heard, and the White Tiger constellation, symbolizing execution, appeared—it was the White Tiger bringing execution!
It seems that it wasn't just the same old trick. The previous person didn't know how to deal with her, so he could only use the wronged dead to make shackles, use the laws of the Punishment Cauldron to suppress her, and create a Bixie to guard the gate of the prison, attempting to imprison her in the Taiyin/Dao Body forever.
Now, after so much time has passed, that old ghost has figured out a way to hunt her down.
What Bai Yuan feared most was being burdened with false accusations, like yin and yang, water and fire, mutually generating and restraining each other—a law and a principle. Therefore, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free of the shackles binding her. But she couldn't just surrender and give up, letting that White Tiger fiend kill her on the spot.
Ignoring the thorns embedded in his flesh and bones, Bai Yuan pulled hard, almost overturning the Seven Constellation Anchor Points nailed to the bluestone slab, and dragged the heavy chain, which seemed to be forged from black iron, to smash it into the executioner's body.
The metal and stone struck together, producing an extremely piercing clang, but they did not break apart.
Bai Yuan's hands were covered in blood, which was dripping down her face. She yanked the heavy chain and whipped it hard, the iron whip splitting the bluestone floor. Bai Yuan dodged several tortures in succession, the heavy chain she swung out was as fast as lightning. When she finally pulled the iron chain that was embedded in the blood-soaked ground, the headless corpse at the end suddenly exploded up, and the chains were held in the mouths of the four symbols that suppressed the execution ground.
The next moment, the four stone elephants uttered inscriptions, and the chains of punishment suddenly tightened and straightened.
Bai Yuan's expression hardened as a layer of skin was instantly scraped off his wrist, exposing the bone.
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