Chapter 118: Impermanence 7: I Never Treated You as My Sister
In the servants' yard on the west side of Zhao Mansion, a boy in a coarse linen jacket squatted under the courtyard wall. He tilted his head back silently, listening to the faint and clear ringing of the bell, and looked at the place on the other side of the wall with familiarity.
There is a willow tree planted there, which is said to be thousands of years old.
The boy thought to himself, "Aren't trees really that long-lived? But isn't it tired? Unable to walk or speak, it just stands there in silence, pestling for a thousand years."
No wonder one can become an immortal. One has to suffer before becoming an immortal.
He touched his eyes and thought, "Am I also practicing cultivation? If I could have the power to be omnipotent, I would be willing to endure any hardship."
By then, their family would no longer have to rely on others in this big house, and my sister would no longer have to worry about marrying into the west courtyard.
Thinking of the west courtyard, the kitchen over there happened to start a fire, and the aroma of stewed meat wafted over the courtyard wall, and his stomach began to rumble.
Finally, a brisk and bright figure appeared at the end of the corridor. A girl with long braids was holding an oil-paper bag tightly in her hand. She walked past three or two old women who were sitting on the doorstep picking vegetables and hurried down the corridor.
"Sister!" Although he couldn't see, the boy could always sense Fang Cai's approach immediately: "You're back!"
Fang Cai pulled the boy over and looked him over carefully. "Did those naughty boys bully you today?"
The boy smelled a hint of the warm aroma of dates, and the corners of his mouth curled up as he shook his head repeatedly: "No, no!"
Fang Cai deliberately put on a stern face and tried to scare him: "Really? Then I'll go ask the gatekeeper. She's been guarding here the whole time."
The boy was frightened and shrank his neck, saying as honestly as a quail: "Yes, a little."
Fang Cai raised her eyebrows. "How can you say they're just bullying me? Okay, these little bastards, I'll tell them on their parents."
The boy was afraid that she would really leave, so he quickly reached out and held her arm: "I'm fine, they asked me to move the stool."
"With your eyes like that, why would they let you do the work?" Fang Cai was furious, but when she saw the boy's eyes covered with white film, her heart softened. "Next time, you must tell me if there's anything wrong. Got it?"
The boy nodded immediately.
Fang Cai blinked her eyes: "Don't lie to me."
The boy kept saying, "I won't lie to you. I will never lie to you!"
Fang Cai laughed and took out the jujube paste cake from her pocket: "You haven't eaten yet, right? I brought you some cakes from Baxizhai, you can eat it."
The boy took it happily and couldn't wait to take a bite. The rich sweetness filled his mouth and his breath was warm.
"Xiaowu, you can't tell Mom, okay?" Fang Cai touched his head and said playfully, "I only brought it for you, there's no share for them."
Xiaowu nodded happily again, a strange sense of satisfaction rippling in his chest.
"Xiaowu, is my sister good to you?"
"My sister is the best person in the world to me!"
"Hehe, when you grow up, buy cakes for your sister too."
"When I grow up, I will definitely give my sister the best things!"
…
"Hahaha...Xiaowu, but my sister is no longer alive."
In an instant, he suddenly opened his eyes. The world around him was still dark, but the warm light shining on his eyelids had also disappeared. He seemed to be standing alone in endless darkness.
The house, willow trees, corridors, smoke from the west courtyard... all disappeared.
This also includes the only sister who speaks softly to her.
"My sister is dead."
He repeated these words blankly, as if he had woken up from the same nightmare countless times.
No, no, my sister is the best person in the world, there is no way she will die.
He covered his ears tightly, as if if he didn't, the next second he would be invaded by the terrible sounds of fighting, breaking gold and jade, and screaming. He could even match those panic-stricken, mournful and desperate cries with the voices in his memory one by one: the gatekeeper, the uncle who drove the carriage, the housekeeper's second son who always bullied him... and his eldest and third sisters... his parents... his sister.
No! No!
Who will save them?
The willow tree next door that has lived for a thousand years... Madam Willow... Can she save my sister?
With wild joy in his heart, he groped and found the twisted and gnarled tree roots. He curled up in the dense hanging branches like an unborn baby, praying to the gods for their presence over and over again.
Willow branches stroked his body, and he faintly heard a sigh.
"My earthly ties are over, let's go and reincarnate."
He was stunned for a long time, thinking that he was dead too.
But after so long, he can no longer find his sister's soul. Is he going to the underworld alone?
The soul wanders among the ruins day after day, trying to search for traces of another soul's existence.
Until one day, someone pulled him out of the dark abyss.
"Haha, there really is a fish that slipped through the net."
The young woman smiled, and somehow she made a little light appear in front of his eyes. Then, he suddenly could see, from the deep blue sky to the endless fields and villages in the distance, everything, like stars, appeared one by one in his originally gray and black vision.
He stood there at a loss, stunned, and heard the other party's lazy voice: "Well, there is no embedded heart spell, the soul resentment is condensed, he is not the old man's son."
A kind male voice sounded beside him: "Since he is not a member of the Zhao family, he is just an ordinary vengeful spirit. It is useless for you to hold him. Just send him on his way."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Who said he's useless? I actually think he's quite talented. The group of alchemists employed in the West Courtyard didn't even have their souls left. He's the only vengeful spirit left in the entire Zhao Mansion. That's quite a feat."
The man's voice was calm and composed, he said, "So, what are your plans?"
"Of course, I'll help him become a ghost," the woman chuckled, turned her head and stared at the soul in front of her, and asked another question: "Hey, do you want revenge?"
The soul's color darkened and it seemed a little agitated.
"You ask me what revenge is? Haha, you're still a little brat." The woman covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes sparkling. "You didn't die here alone, did you? You must have relatives and friends with you? Hmm... they must have been in great pain when they died, right? Do you want the person who committed this sin to also feel this pain?"
The soul was soaked in resentment and gradually turned reddish-brown.
The consciousness inside shouted with hatred: I think, I am willing, since I can't find my sister, I must avenge her.
Feeling the violent beating of the soul fire, Zhao Fu flipped his palm and put it into his pocket.
The black car restarted and left the dilapidated village along the dim and muddy dirt road.
Wu Caishen closed his eyes and leaned back in the front seat, then asked, "You really are good at this."
Zhao Fu curled his lips and said, "That was his resentment to begin with. I just slightly fueled it."
"What are you going to do? Make him a puppet? Serve him like a ghost? Do heed your orders?"
Zhao Fu turned his head and looked at the faint reflection on the car window: "Let's keep him for now. I'll find him a wonderful place."
…
…
The door disappeared.
The ground began to shake, and countless resentments that had not yet been cleansed turned into a black feather, as if attracted, and pounced towards Meng Zhao.
The black resentful power merged into his body. Meng Zhao took off his glasses, and his pupils suddenly turned pale. His skin exuded a bluish-gray deathly aura, and spider-web-like indigo veins were slightly visible on his neck and the backs of his hands, making him look even paler and more transparent. Although his facial features had not changed at all, the feeling he gave people was very different.
Meng Caiyun looked at his transformation in disbelief, slowly clenching his fingers, anger brewing in his eyes: "Who are you? Where is Ah Zhao?"
The young man let go of his hand with a "huh" sound and slowly revealed his true appearance: "Sister, I am Ah Zhao, don't you even recognize me?"
He raised his hand slightly, and countless resentments surged from the ruins, carrying a chilling wind towards the crowd. Meng Caiyun swiftly slashed his scissors to shatter a black shadow attacking Bai Heng, turning back and shouting, "Use the Thunder Spear!"
The team members woke up as if from a dream and pulled the trigger one after another. Several light blue streaks were like winding lightning, cutting through the dark fog.
Meng Caiyun blurted out subconsciously: "Don't hit my heart..."
As she finished speaking, she seemed to realize something and suddenly stopped talking.
Meng Zhao is obviously not a living person now, so the heart may no longer matter to him.
Thinking of this, her eyes were filled with sadness, but her expression was full of determination.
"You led me into this formation. You wanted to seek revenge on the Meng family."
She used an affirmative tone.
Meng Zhao raised his index finger and pushed the frame of his glasses up on his nose. "Revenge? Yeah, yes. From the moment I died, I've been thinking about seeking revenge on the Meng family all the time."
He suddenly became excited, clasped his hands together, and when he opened his hands again, countless black paper figures surged out, like restless mosquitoes and flies by the river in summer, gathering together, waiting for the next attack order.
"Since your target is me, let them go first. I'll leave it to you!" Meng Caiyun stood in front of the crowd and said firmly, "I will never play tricks."
Meng Zhao stared at her with a complicated expression. Finally, he said coldly, "I told you, no one can get out."
As he finished speaking, black paper figures swarmed over like locusts. The team members fired at them with thunder guns, but they were unable to eliminate the source, and their bullets were about to run out.
The fat man angrily threw away the empty gun, pressed his hands on the ground to pry open a crack, and the surrounding land was squeezed out of the height difference. The paper people rushed towards him, leaving wounds on his cheeks and neck. His legs were stuck deep in the pit, and his whole body sank slowly as if falling into quicksand. The sudden surge of spiritual power also forced the paper people to treat him as a bull's eye, and shrouded him like a dark cloud covering a city.
In a moment, the fat man roared, and the cracks that had been dug began to merge.
Weiwei and Baiheng understood each other's intentions, their faces turned pale, and they shouted, "No!"
There was a loud roar from the center of the earth, and the fat man and countless paper figures on his body were buried in the pit. The cracks disappeared without a trace, and the land returned to its previous flatness.
Bai Heng cried out, "Meng Zhao, get out here right here! You coward! I don't believe this is you!"
She broke free from Meng Caiyun's support and stumbled forward, tears welling in her eyes. "It was you who went on the mission to protect them, it was you who bought everyone drinks at the company, it was you who worked so hard to eliminate the nightmare ghosts so that Sister Meng's ceremony would not be affected! It was you! Have you forgotten?!"
The corner of Meng Zhao's eye twitched: "I don't know what this means."
He habitually called back the paper figures, but found that most of them were buried in the soil. So he clenched his fist and raised one hand horizontally, slowly spreading out his ten fingers. In an instant, a strong wind blew, and his hair was almost blown up, and countless vengeful spirits wandered out from the ruins.
They were wearing clothes that were a hundred years old, and their facial features were completely unrecognizable, twisted into a vortex, as if they had all been people from the Zhao Mansion.
However, most of the souls of the victims of the tragedy have been reincarnated, and those that appeared before him were more like ghost soldiers created by Meng Zhao with his resentment.
The ghost soldiers howled and rushed towards everyone like a black tide, and the cold wind they brought made people's cheeks hurt.
The tip of the Imperial Spirit Scissors in Meng Caiyun's hands glowed with a brilliant azure light. She spun, wielding the thin blades. Wherever the light passed, the vengeful spirits shattered, turning them into dust and sinking into the ruins. As the scissors opened and closed, streaks of light streamed like colorful streamers, dancing in the wind, their trajectory difficult to follow with the naked eye. Her movements were fluid, merciless, and she shattered them one by one.
Weiwei threw away the empty magazine, pulled out the dagger tied to her leg, and sweat dripped down her face as she looked at the unabated number of ghost soldiers in front of her: "There are too many of them. If this continues, we might..."
While the Alien Management Bureau is an official organization, within the Xuanmen, the concepts of family and sect are deeply ingrained. When traveling abroad, people respect their surnames and their heritage. This is a pedantic and outdated concept, one that persists despite criticism from others.
Therefore, any younger generation with family support wouldn't rely on the so-called establishment. This was also due to the recent liberalization of thought, and the newcomers to the bureau were mostly unknown independent cultivators, plus the reserve operators trained by orphans. If it weren't for the support of people like Bai Heye and Wang Suqing, even these ordinary operators wouldn't be able to keep the cultivators, who had been rampant since ancient times, in check.
What's more, most people don't know the existence of Queshan Jade. They are still worried that the Alien Management Bureau has a backup plan and a trump card, so they dare not act rashly.
Therefore, when young operators go on missions, they only need a reliable leader. The other operators' martial arts level is not up to par in a true esoteric struggle. They can't even receive a real invitation to the Qingcheng Mountain Martial Arts Competition. At most, they are security personnel with some esoteric knowledge.
Meng Caiyun urged the Yuling Scissors in an orderly manner, his clothes fluttering, and he picked up several ghost soldiers by himself.
These things couldn't do anything to her, but the number was too much to handle. In the past, Meng Zhao only used paper figures to fight the enemy and had never used this trick before. She underestimated this "well-behaved" cousin.
The black shadows came one after another. Meng Caiyun bit her lower lip slightly. She had just retracted the scissors that had cut off a group of ghost soldiers when she caught a glimpse of a black shadow that had taken advantage of a gap and was about to pounce on Bai Heng behind her. However, she was standing in a position where she had no time to defend herself.
At this critical moment, Meng Caiyun suddenly reversed her grip on the scissors, bringing the blades to bear on her palm. Instantly, a drop of blood floated in the air. As she swiftly drew with her fingers, a blood-red talisman was drawn through the air, piercing everyone's hearts. From the blood talisman itself, ripples of light spread out like the rising sun, scattering the vengeful spirits it touched as if they were incinerated in a furnace. With a sharp humming sound, they gradually dissipated between heaven and earth.
Meng Zhao's eyes narrowed, but he was not surprised. He just raised his hand to recall several resentful spirits that had not yet dissipated. The black shadow sank into his palm, and the originally pale and transparent skin gradually became shrouded in a layer of black mist-like ghostly aura.
The members of Team Thirteen were dumbfounded when they saw this. They only knew that Meng Chengyin, the head of Taiqing Palace, could "make talismans with just a little inspiration" and could even make powerful talismans like the Five Thunder Talisman without any cinnabar or yellow paper.
I didn't expect Meng Caiyun to have reached this level... Although it was just an evil-repelling talisman with little attack power, it was made with her blood, and its power was enough to surpass that of an ordinary thunder talisman.
Meng Caiyun ignored the surprised and admiring looks of others and felt extremely anxious.
No, the situation is bad for them.
She could defeat the ghost soldiers in one go, but the surging resentment in this formation was Meng Zhao's natural supply, and since she could only use spiritual power, she would definitely run out of energy.
By then, will she still be able to protect the remaining four people?
Meng Zhao had been standing quietly behind the storm. He seemed to see through Meng Caiyun's thoughts and said softly, "Sister, let's talk."
He snapped his fingers, as if he really showed some sincerity for reconciliation. The vengeful spirits were instantly recalled, and the troublesome black shadows were swept away.
Meng Caiyun looked at him steadily and flicked the blood beads on his hand: "What do you want?"
She should have waited quietly for the other party to make an offer, but in the end she couldn't help but ask, "Can Ah Zhao come back?"
Meng Zhao stared at him lifelessly, then suddenly curled his lips: "Do you still think I'm not Meng Zhao?"
Meng Caiyun answered without hesitation: "You are not."
Meng Zhao pulled the corners of his mouth, revealing an unpleasant smile: "Meng Chengchun is determined to train a good helper who can help him realize his wishes. Maybe it doesn't matter whether I am his son or not. However, I don't consider the Meng family as relatives, and I have never considered you as a sister."
"Is it because Fangcai is your only sister?" Meng Caiyun raised his head, without any annoyance in his eyes.
Meng Zhao was stunned for a moment.
Meng Caiyun pointed in a certain direction and saw a faint shadow sitting under the corridor.
She was a girl with long braids and a dark blue waistcoat. She was combing her hair back and forth, and her facial features were blurry.
"Your ghost soldiers don't have 'faces', probably because you couldn't see them before."
"Among the shadows that just attacked us, this girl was the only one missing. She must be an important family member to you."
Meng Zhao opened his lips but didn't say anything, nor did he deny it.
Meng Caiyun stepped forward and said, "If Fang Cai were still alive, she would definitely want to protect Xiao Wu. Similarly, I will always protect my brother Meng Zhao."
Meng Zhao was filled with resentment: "Enough! I told you! I never considered you my sister!"
He trembled, and the black ghost shadow appeared again, twisted into a strand, and stabbed forward.
With a "clang", a floor tile was lifted up, blocking the attack and turned into pieces.
Ordinary floor tiles simply cannot do this.
Several people looked at the debris on the ground and found a bamboo paper talisman stuck on it, which was slowly burning out.
Meng Caiyun's mind moved and he opened his eyes wide.
That is...
"Whatever your conditions are, you can talk to me."
In the lingering haze, a man in black walked out with his hands behind his back.
He wore gold-rimmed glasses, black Chinese-style clothes and trousers, and had a casual posture and a gentle expression.
"Your target is me, right?"
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