Chapter 27 Cultivating Spiritual Veins "You could learn from Sun Xiuniang, maybe I..."
He was still able to open his eyes by sheer luck. It was unclear whether the other party was willing to let him go or simply didn't have the strength to kill him. Zhou Yaren leaned more towards the latter.
He remained in the same position he had been in before he fell into a coma, sitting on the cold ground with his back against a low cabinet. He had been sleeping for a day and a night, completely exhausted. At this moment, his whole body was sore and stiff, and his legs were curled up and felt numb.
He remained silent for a while before finally standing up, leaning on the low cabinet. However, his limbs were still weak, and he felt dizzy and lightheaded, most likely because he had not eaten or drunk anything.
Bai Yuan lay there quietly, his eyes closed, unresponsive to everything around him.
Zhou Yaren stared at her for a long time, making sure she was unconscious, before turning around, opening the door, and walking out.
Qin San had knocked on the door several times, but no one answered. He was getting anxious when Zhou Yaren opened the door. Before Qin San could speak, Zhou Yaren put down the basket full of paper money and came over to ask, "Your injury..."
"After applying the medicine, there's nothing seriously wrong."
Although he couldn't see, he could almost sense Qin San's distraught state and could smell the incense and paper money burning in the air. He also knew about Qin San's family's plight. Her two older brothers had both been murdered and were currently in mourning; he shouldn't have been disturbing them.
However, his situation was special at the time, and he could hardly move an inch. He thought that he would take Bai Yuan away soon, but he could not bring him into Lu Bing's house. Unexpected changes were hard to predict, and there were too many people around. The safest way was to find an inn nearby to settle down.
Zhou Yaren tried to comfort Qin San and tell him to take it easy, but her words seemed particularly pale and powerless in the face of the grief of losing a loved one.
Qin San had almost cried all her tears. With her eyes red and swollen, she stared at him, as if she had only heard his previous words of farewell. She asked, "Are you leaving?"
"It's not convenient to disturb you here..."
Before he could finish speaking, Qin San lowered his head, almost pleadingly, "You're injured, you can stay here, I won't bother you. I'm all alone, all alone now, just me..."
In the end, she almost uncontrollably repeated, "I'm all alone, I'm all alone," her despair and sorrow so profound that Zhou Yaren couldn't bear to listen.
He called out to Qin San, interrupting the other's almost irrational ramblings, and asked softly, "Is there anything to eat at home? I haven't eaten for two days, and I'm a little hungry."
Qin San then sobered up a bit and quickly said, "Yes, yes, I cooked some porridge, I'll go get it for you."
Zhou Yaren nodded: "Thank you for your trouble."
However, what was served was a bowl of raw rice soaking in cold water. Zhou Yaren couldn't smell any porridge, so she ate a bite of hard, gritty rice.
He didn't spit it out immediately, but instead chewed the uncooked rice and swallowed it without making a sound, asking Qin San, "Have you eaten?"
Qin San nodded slowly: "I ate. If you're still hungry, there's more in the pot."
Zhou Yaren: "..."
He really didn't know what to say. The girl was clearly overwhelmed with grief, and she was in a daze, not quite thinking straight.
He had originally planned to ask a few questions about Sun Xiuniang, but facing Qin San like this, asking anything would be tantamount to stabbing him in the heart.
Zhou Yaren hesitated several times before speaking, refraining from provoking her.
Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from afar.
Someone arrived, followed by a shout: "Qin San."
The voice sounded familiar; Zhou Yaren remembered who it was.
The old woman staggered over the threshold: "I just went to ask Liu Dashan to find a few strong men to help carry the coffin. The fortune teller said that people who die a violent death should have their funeral at night, and I've already arranged that with them... Oh, we have guests..."
As soon as she entered the room and saw Zhou Yaren, and then noticed the bowl of uncooked rice on the table in front of him, she immediately fell silent, looking at the absent-minded Qin San with pity.
The old woman came twice yesterday and saw this girl shoveling uncooked rice into her mouth like she was in a daze, swallowing it without even chewing it.
The old woman quickly snatched her rice bowl away, went back to her own kitchen, and brought her a bowl of wild vegetable porridge. She talked to her for a while, urging her to take care of herself, since the deceased was gone and no matter how bitter or sad, the living had to live their lives well.
Qin San ignored them, carrying a large bowl of wild vegetable porridge to the two coffins, calling out to her eldest and second brothers to get up and eat.
Now the old woman saw a bowl of uncooked rice on the table, sighed deeply, and mumbled incoherently, "What a tragedy, how pitiful! Why does God have to be so cruel to these three unfortunate children?"
Zhou Yaren sat upright without speaking. He knew that there was suffering everywhere in the world.
He didn't intend to trouble anyone. He picked up the bowl of soaked uncooked rice, roughly determined the location, and found the kitchen where Qin San had just been. He slowly fumbled around to put the rice and water into the pot. He started a fire and cooked two bowls of thin porridge, which he ate to fill his stomach. He then gave the other bowl to Qin San and told her to eat it.
Qin San held the steaming porridge in her hands and stood there in a daze for a while before turning around and entering the mourning hall. She walked to the coffin and called out to her eldest and second brothers.
The old woman shook her head at the sight.
Qin San was raised by the eldest son of the Qin family, and the deep bond between the three siblings goes without saying. Now that her two older brothers have passed away one after another, this blow is unprecedented and would be difficult for most people to bear.
Zhou Yaren withdrew, not intending to interfere in other people's joys and sorrows, because to Qin San, he was just a bystander.
He pondered for a moment, then decided to go out himself. While Bai Yuan was fast asleep, he went to a clothing store and a pharmacy.
Along the way, I heard people talking about how the ghost government office was struck by lightning and collapsed because it was haunted.
When the county magistrate learned that there were bones buried underground, he was terrified, fearing that he had broken some taboo and that the strange incident from twelve years ago would happen again. Therefore, he dared not take any rash actions, sealed off the place, and urgently sent people to Renzu Mountain and Taihang Road to invite Taoist priests down the mountain.
Zhou Yaren estimated the time; the Taihang Dao cultivators, having gone there and back, should be on their way to Beiqu.
Because the "Taiyin Black Book Imprisons Ghosts and Spirits" formation, the Taihang Daoist sect clearly knew about this formation. If they came here and found that the Taiyin/Daoist body had been shattered, they would certainly not sit idly by and wait for their doom.
Zhou Yaren walked back quickly, but a strange worry arose in her heart that "the innocence might not be concealed."
The resentment emanating from her was so intense that no cultivator needed to distinguish between evil spirits and demons. Evil spirits would cause chaos, and ultimately, yin beings would not be tolerated by the world.
Thinking of the evil spirits causing trouble, he recalled the ghostly incident that Bai Yuan had caused in front of the yamen twelve years ago, in which a row of officials had actually hanged themselves.
When she used the lives of Lu Bing and the others to blackmail him, she was a ruthless and evil figure, even though she didn't end up taking any of their lives.
Zhou Yaren returned to his residence in thought, when he suddenly heard Qin San scream from inside. He had a bad feeling and rushed into the house.
Bai Yuan was awake, staring at Qin San, who was paralyzed with fear, with a gaze as cold as frost.
"You...you..." Qin San stared wide-eyed, red and swollen from crying, at Bai Yuan on the bed in utter terror. The man's neck and face, exposed outside the quilt, were covered with hideous and terrifying scars.
The two scars on the faces of those homeless people outside are frightening enough, let alone such a crisscrossing network of scars.
Zhou Yaren immediately stepped in between them, shielding Bai Yuan behind her, and comforted the terrified Qin San, saying, "She was seriously injured and her face was disfigured. She didn't mean to frighten you. I'll take her away in a bit."
What kind of situation would result in such severe injuries?
Qin San's face turned ashen, and he scrambled to his feet and rushed out.
Compared to the two who were startled and flustered, Bai Yuan was extremely calm. She didn't care at all that people saw her ugly and terrifying appearance, nor did she care at all that people would be afraid or disgusted by her.
Zhou Yaren closed the door and casually placed the clothes and medicine bag on the table. The clothes were specially purchased for Bai Yuan, and included a face covering.
They should leave immediately.
Zhou Yaren guessed that Bai Yuan's injuries had not yet healed and that he might have difficulty moving around, so she wanted to lend a hand and asked, "Do you need any help?"
Bai Yuan scoffed, "How dare I?"
Zhou Yaren knew she had done something wrong, and that whatever she did would be seen as having ulterior motives. After all, no one could believe that someone who had just tricked them would have any good intentions.
Zhou Yaren was unable to explain: "I'm just worried."
"What are you worried about? Would this evil spirit of mine run away and cause trouble when you're not looking?" Bai Yuan hit the nail on the head; how could he not see through the other party's intentions? "You want to keep an eye on me? Do you think you can keep an eye on me? Do you think your underhanded tricks behind my back can do anything to me?"
As Bai Yuan spoke, a thin layer of frost instantly covered half of Zhou Yaren's body. He was startled and before he could retreat, he was frozen in place like an ice sculpture.
"You..." Zhou Yaren's first thought was, "Is the talisman useless?"
The thin frost vanished in an instant, leaving only a chilling sensation on the skin.
He quickly realized that this might be due to a lack of stamina. Zhou Yaren had reason to suspect that Bai Yuan had tried to break through the spiritual veins and regain some strength, then tried to unleash his power and turn the tables on him, which was quite intimidating.
At the same time, the scabs that had just scabbed over reopened and started bleeding again, a consequence of her forceful attempt to intimidate people.
"What happened?"
Bai Yuan coldly replied, "Look what you've done."
He was indeed partly to blame, but even though the other party was injured like this, he didn't stop. Zhou Yaren kindly advised him, "Don't try to break through your spiritual veins."
That's ridiculous: "Are you suggesting I just sit here and wait to die, and then be controlled by you?"
“It’s only temporary. Let’s talk about it after you’ve recovered from your injuries,” Zhou Yaren said honestly. “That’s right. I was afraid you would commit murder and arson because I released you. If anything went wrong, I would be held responsible. That’s why I used such methods on you. Now that I have the opportunity to succeed, I can be even more ruthless…”
“That’s because you had ulterior motives. You were hoping I would help you through your tribulation, which is why you didn’t go all out.” Bai Yuan readily agreed, staring into his slightly pale pupils. “Right? You also think of me as the so-called ghost judge they talk about?”
Zhou Yaren was taken aback, and subconsciously denied it: "You don't only give it to those who died unjustly..."
“Yes,” Bai Yuan casually suggested, “you could learn from Sun Xiuniang; maybe I can show my spirit.”
Zhou Yaren wasn't fooled: "Twelve years ago, that person died unjustly in prison and accidentally touched the array, which inadvertently summoned a wisp of your divine consciousness. Twelve years later, the daughter of that unjustly killed man offered her life as a sacrifice at the Ghost Bureau. Who taught her this method, and how did she know that offering her life to seek justice would summon you?"
Bai Yuan frowned.
Zhou Yaren simply turned her attention to the other party: "Twelve years ago, you took the opportunity to cause a well-known 'ghost' incident, hoping to lure various powerful cultivators to Beiqu to break through the Taiyin/Dao Body, but in the end, you failed. Perhaps your wisp of divine consciousness did not dissipate, but was imprisoned in the Ghost Bureau's formation by the Taihang Dao, and had no choice but to lie dormant there for many years. Finally, one day, you encountered Sun Xiuniang and the young master of the Shen family who broke into the Ghost Bureau. Naturally, you would not miss the opportunity and used the same trick again, only with a different method, planting a Gu induction on the young master of the Shen family..."
The one who instigated Sun Xiuniang to sacrifice herself was actually Bai Yuan herself.
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