Chapter 25 Not Human: A "Lightning Tribulation" Buries the Bones Deep Under the Earth...
"This morning at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), the Ghost Office was struck by lightning, which blasted the entire area into flat ground. All the houses collapsed, and all the walls fell down."
"The houses next to it were also affected. That tornado was terrifying; it blew the roofs off into the sky."
Some even said they saw many dark, ghostly figures inside the tornado, and at the time they thought people had been swept in.
Later, a few bolder individuals, unable to contain their curiosity, approached the ruins of the former government office. Upon seeing several exposed, pale human skulls, they were terrified and ran away in terror.
A lightning strike exposed the bones buried underground to the light of day.
Suddenly, people realized why the place was haunted; there were dead people buried underground.
The story spread like wildfire, eventually becoming: "This government office was originally built on a mass grave, and the ground there is full of dead people's bones."
This matter caused a great stir in Beiqu County, with everyone in the town, young and old, discussing it.
Some say they hear hauntings inside the Ghost Office, as if something is trying to escape, banging against the walls with terrifying noise. Wasn't that place once enshrined in a talisman array by the Taihang Sect? It's estimated that the seal was broken by the thing inside, and then heavenly lightning struck down with a storm, instantly obliterating it.
It is speculated that it is a thunder talisman placed here by the Taihang Mountains. Whenever the evil spirits inside try to break free of the restriction, the thunder talisman will summon heavenly lightning to shatter them, preventing them from coming out and causing trouble.
The reason why the Taihang Road led to Beiqubu was because more than ten years ago, a dead man's spirit came back to life and beat the grievance drum in the middle of the night. In the end, the county magistrate and several officials hung the beam in the court.
It is evident that the wronged spirit has likely been suppressed in the Ghost Palace by the Taihang Road for over ten years, unable to be reincarnated, hence its overwhelming resentment, which caused such a commotion last night.
Moreover, the magistrates and officials who died inside might still be haunting the place.
"Oh dear!" Suddenly someone slammed their hand on the table, startling everyone who was engrossed in telling the story. He said mysteriously, "I suddenly remembered that the wronged soul who beat the grievance drum more than ten years ago was the one involved in the murder case of the young master of the Shen family."
At first, everyone was confused, but then it dawned on them: "Oh, I remember too. Back then, it was said that he pushed the young master of the Shen family into the river and drowned him."
"Yes, so the government arrested him and put him in prison. He died in prison and then returned as a vengeful ghost to beat the drum and appeal for justice."
"Didn't the eldest young master of the Shen family go missing a while ago? The Shen family searched for him for a long time but couldn't find him. It turns out he was tied up in the Ghost Office."
Everyone exclaimed in surprise, "Is this really true?"
“My cousin works in the yamen. He told me personally that when Constable Lu led his men into the Ghost Yamen, they found Young Master Shen’s clothes. He must have been kidnapped.” The man lowered his voice. “As a result, Young Master Shen had just escaped from the Ghost Yamen and returned home that night when the Shen family was wiped out.”
Seven members of the Shen family died in total, with only one pregnant woman remaining, thus ensuring the family line was not completely wiped out.
An elderly man analyzed: "After all, the fetus in the womb has not been born yet, has not committed any sins, and has no connection with the wrongful case from more than ten years ago, so the wronged spirit left the child a way to live."
Everyone sighed in dismay, and when they connected these events, the truth was chilling.
"Didn't they say that the Shen family members were bitten to death by insects?"
“Those are no ordinary insects; they were brought out from the Ghost Bureau.”
Then the insider recounted how Doctor He from Baohetang went to the Shen family in the middle of the night to treat the eldest son of the Shen family.
"The wronged soul was trapped in the Ghost Bureau and could not get out, so it allowed the resentful insects to parasitize Young Master Shen and follow him back to the Shen family."
"It's that vengeful spirit demanding my life!"
As more and more people gathered, they pieced together the information, one by one, creating a massive amount of data.
Someone asked, "How did Sun Xiuniang die in the Ghost Office?"
"How could anyone survive going in that place? They must have run into some kind of evil spirit."
"No, why would Sun Xiuniang go to that place for no reason?"
"Oh, you know what, she and the eldest son of the Shen family are having an affair, right? Maybe they went to a place like the Ghost Bureau to meet in secret in order to avoid people, and ended up falling into the hands of that vengeful spirit."
"It can't be that bad, everyone knows that place is haunted."
"That's because everyone avoids that place, so you can meet there in secret without being discovered. Look at that young master Shen, who has been missing for more than half a month. He's been in the Ghost Government Office, but nobody even thought to go there to look for him."
Then this baseless claim was embellished and spread like wildfire.
Lu Bing only rested for less than half a day, bandaged his wounds, and forced himself to go out to look for people. Then, when he passed by a restaurant, he heard a waiter talking to the customers. When the Ghost Gate was making a commotion, on a dark and windy night, a group of them surrounded the street and saw a man covered in blood rushing straight in, and they couldn't stop him no matter how much they shouted.
Upon hearing this, Lu Bing paused in his tracks and asked urgently, "Was that person dressed in blue, with blood all over their shoulders and chest?"
The waiter nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, you were there too?"
Lu Bing's expression suddenly changed: "You mean he went to the Ghost Bureau?"
"Yeah, I don't know what happened, it was like it was possessed by a ghost, it wouldn't respond when we called it, it just rushed in."
Did you see him come out?
"No, he went in and the government office collapsed shortly after. The ground shook violently, with thunder and lightning. How could anyone survive? They're probably buried alive..."
Lu Bing didn't have time to listen to the waiter's words before turning around and rushing out. He accidentally bumped into a thin girl, but he didn't care. Without even turning his head, he ran straight towards the Ghost Bureau.
Lu Bing could never have imagined that just last night they had fallen into the ancient well of the Ghostly Government Office, mistakenly entered that evil Yin/Taoist body, and barely escaped death. Anyone would know to stay far away from that ghostly place, right? But in the blink of an eye, Zhou Yaren rushed into the Ghostly Government Office in a great hurry, and as soon as she entered, it was struck by lightning and collapsed into ruins. They didn't even know if she was dead or alive.
Lu Bing nearly gritted his teeth, suddenly regretting summoning Zhou Yaren from Chang'an. Why did this blind woman always seem to wander into the most dangerous places?!
Qin San, who had been knocked to the ground, glanced at Lu Bing's disappearing figure, silently picked up the medicine bag and got up. He didn't brush the dust off his mourning clothes, nor did he care about the scrapes on his palms. He numbly turned into a secluded alley.
The sky was extremely gloomy. She returned home under a dark cloud. Inside the house, a simple mourning hall was set up with white cloth. Two thin coffins were placed inside, and the ashes of paper money in the mourning basin were blown around the room by the wind.
Qin San paused in front of the mourning hall, then turned around blankly and walked to another door, raising his hand to knock.
A short while later, the door opened a crack, and Zhou Yaren, dressed in a loose white robe with her black hair hanging down and tied with only a blue ribbon, reached out and took the medicine packet from Qin San.
Thank you.
Qin San shook his head.
She stayed up all night at the mourning hall, disturbed by thunder and lightning. A strong wind howled in, like a mournful cry, extinguishing the ever-burning lamp in front of the mourning hall.
She almost thought her eldest and second brothers had come back to life. When she came out, she saw a man in blue robes covered in blood, holding a blood-soaked person in his arms.
Qin San was startled at first, then the man in blue leaned against the wall, exhausted, and with his last shred of consciousness, said in a hoarse voice, "Excuse me..."
Qin San hurriedly opened the door and rushed over to help, but Zhou Yaren raised her hand and subconsciously covered the person in her arms, as if afraid that she would see her.
Qin San hesitated for a moment.
Zhou Yaren explained, "She's badly injured, it will scare you. I can handle it."
Then they temporarily stayed at Qin San's house.
Qin San lowered her head, wanting to reply that there was no need to thank her, since she had saved her before, but the words caught in her throat. She asked softly, "Are you sure we don't need to call a doctor?"
So much blood was lost, staining her clothes completely red. She didn't know how many basins of water she had to fill, but in the end, all she brought out was blood.
Zhou Yaren's face was pale, as if she lacked vitality: "No need, I know a little about medicine, applying some medicine will do, thank you for your trouble."
Qin San shook his head again, said nothing more, and turned to go to the mourning hall.
Zhou Yaren closed the door, her mind momentarily dazed. Due to her injury and blood loss, as well as her prolonged lack of sleep, she felt dizzy and lightheaded.
He was already at his physical limit, but he still didn't dare to close his eyes. He spread out the medicine packet, walked unsteadily to the bedside, then bent down, carefully lifted the corner of the quilt, and sprinkled the medicine powder that Qin San had bought on Bai Yuan's torn and bleeding shoulder.
Her body was covered in bruises and wounds. In this situation, no one felt any sense of separation between men and women. Instead, her rotten flesh was horrifying, and no one else could bear to look at it.
Bai Yuan's eyes were tightly closed, and she appeared unconscious. Zhou Yaren applied medicine powder to her for a long time. Feeling that the other party was being slow, she finally spoke, her voice weak: "It's no use."
Zhou Yaren looked up: "Then what's useful?"
“I can heal the wounds caused by this kind of torture myself.”
"So, are we just going to leave it alone now?"
Bai Yuan wanted to laugh, but couldn't manage a forced smile: "Have you always been such a busybody?"
"Is this something to bother with?"
She thought for a moment and said, "Not really."
Zhou Yaren paused for a moment: "In the end, you didn't destroy Bei Qu, did you?"
Bai Yuan scoffed, "I was just suddenly feeling compassion." Besides, she was connected to that deadly formation; destroying it would mean being torn to pieces. Bai Yuan thought it wasn't worth it, but said, "Is this how you distinguish between good and bad? Is this how you consider me a good person?"
They met in this way. In that ghostly place called Taiyin/Daoti, who would dare to get involved with her? Ordinary people would be scared out of their wits, and even the bolder ones would run away like snakes and scorpions. If they bumped into a cultivator, they would definitely think she was a heretic and want to kill her.
This guy dared to rescue her, not only sharing a room with her but also applying medicine to her. How naive must he be? Even an idiot wouldn't necessarily consider him a kind soul.
Zhou Yaren, however, said: "Human nature is so complex, can you really distinguish between good and bad? I don't use good and bad to define people."
He doesn't seem to be some naive idiot. Bai Yuan opened his eyes slightly and said, "You're quite sensible, not stupid. It's a pity I'm not human, and I have no humanity either."
"Then what are you?" Zhou Yaren blurted out.
When Bai Yuan met his gaze, he suddenly fell silent and closed his eyelids.
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