Chapter 89 The Key to Breaking the Impasse
As the first rays of dawn shone upon them, everyone felt the warmth.
The morning sunlight wasn't particularly warm, but Ah Chen and the others felt as if the chill around them had been swept away.
The warmth of the morning sun completely dispelled the chill of the night, and the town returned to how it looked during the day yesterday.
Early-rising women swept dust and debris from their front doors with brooms in both hands, while burly men carried buckets to fetch water from the well near their homes.
A loud rooster crowed from someone's yard, and a pancake vendor shouted, "Freshly baked scallion pancakes! Fragrant and crispy, they crumble with every bite!"
Looking at the vibrant scene around them, Ah Chen and the others wondered if they had been bewitched by some kind of illusion last night.
But reason told them that everything that happened last night must have actually happened, and was definitely not a fictional illusion.
Because illusions can't be this real!
"What exactly happened in this town?" Lin Zixia asked with difficulty. The tragic scenes from before had just passed, and the thought of them made her feel particularly heavy-hearted.
"Do you remember the old woman we met when we entered the town? She said this place was called Guixu."
After we entered the town, we didn't hear a single person mention the name Guixu, but they also didn't mention the name of the town.
Therefore, we still don't know whether this town is actually called Guixu.
But last night, when the town caught fire, the female shop owner and her ex-husband mentioned the town's name twice during their argument—Baiyun Town.
If this town is called Baiyun Town, then why did the old woman tell us that this is Guixu?
Meng Hanhai had previously said that Guixu was a gathering place for vengeful spirits, and considering the tragedies that happened last night, I speculate that this town is indeed Baiyun Town.
But it is also a return to nothingness.
Because many years ago, Baiyun Town was burned down by the female shop owner's ex-husband, Mo Wuxin, together with his evil cultivator wife, Lin Miaoyan.
The townspeople all turned into vengeful spirits, while the female shopkeeper herself became an even more terrifying malevolent spirit.
Although the female shopkeeper, now a vengeful spirit, eventually killed the adulterous couple, the people of the town would never be brought back to life.
Because too many vengeful spirits gathered there, the town eventually became a desolate wasteland.
Every day in Guixu is a repeat of the town they remember, where everyone works at sunrise and rests at sunset, a lively and peaceful place.
However, the most painful memories of the vengeful spirits are not completely erased, so every night, the town reenacts those most painful scenes.
But when dawn breaks, everything returns to normal, and the cycle repeats itself.
"Everyone, do I make sense?" Nie Xiaoxiao analyzed.
Everyone looked at her and nodded in agreement.
No one expected that this little girl would have such strong observation and analytical skills!
"Senior Sister Nie, I think most of what you said makes a lot of sense, but I still have some questions."
First of all, how exactly was this gathering place of vengeful spirits preserved intact?
Secondly, since the female shop owner is a vengeful spirit, her instinct should be to devour vengeful spirits, so why are all the vengeful spirits in the town able to survive? "Achen asked.
"Hmph! Since you can spot the problem, you should be able to answer it too, right? Hurry up and give me the answer!" Nie Xiaoxiao glared at him fiercely.
"I guess... there must have been some kind of formation or powerful magic artifact that purified the malevolent energy of the vengeful spirit, which turned the female shop owner into an ordinary vengeful spirit."
"Or perhaps, for some reason, the female shop owner restrained her instinct to devour vengeful spirits, which allowed the town to maintain its current state," Ah Chen said.
“Mo Yusheng! The only and most powerful reason that could make a vengeful spirit restrain its instinct to devour is her maternal instinct!” Lele suddenly said.
“Even maternal instinct can’t resist the instinct of vengeful spirits to devour vengeful spirits, right? It’s said that vengeful spirits are irrational; they are only driven by instinct and devour all vengeful spirits, just like a starving person will eat all the food in front of them,” Lin Zixia said.
“No, you’ve never been mothers, so you don’t know what a mother will do for her child!” Lele said firmly.
Every child born in District 50 came from an impoverished family, yet their mothers would rather go hungry themselves than waste their meager food on their own children.
Without the support of strong maternal love, no child in District 50 could have survived, let alone grown into an adult!
"So, the key to breaking the deadlock is to find Mo Yusheng's soul? But she has clearly already self-destructed her soul, so she should have been reduced to ashes."
"How could the female shop owner possibly do this for her..." Ge Hui shook his head and said.
"Her soul did indeed self-destruct, but even if it exploded into fragments, they should be scattered throughout this town."
If the entire town is sealed off, the female shopkeeper may be able to gradually gather the scattered fragments of her soul and restore her to a complete daughter.
"So I think the key to breaking this deadlock is to help the female shop owner find the missing fragments of Mo Yusheng's soul," Achen said.
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.
They are not afraid of difficulties, but they are afraid of not being able to find their direction.
They've overcome such difficult challenges, including encountering hordes of monsters and traversing the swampy terrain of the Spirit-Severing Zone.
They're just searching for soul fragments; there's no real danger, so they'll definitely make it through!
Since the key figure is the female shop owner, everyone decided to visit her cosmetics shop again today, hoping to find some useful clues.
However, the thought that she might be a potential vengeful spirit sent chills down everyone's spines.
The evil spirit can corrupt any pure soul. Once tainted by it, the soul will be corrupted and extremely difficult to cleanse.
A corrupted soul can constantly trigger a cultivator's inner demons.
For many cultivators, inner demons are fatal. They can destroy your Dao heart, causing your cultivation to stagnate and never advance again; or even severely damage your cultivation and lead to your death.
"When you go to the female shop owner's shop later, be careful and try to avoid topics related to her ex-husband and daughter. Don't provoke her."
"The kind of thing called 'vengeful spirit' is most susceptible to stimulation. While vengeful spirits may not be as terrifying as vengeful spirits, they can also transform into vengeful spirits after being subjected to strong stimulation," Leng Qiuchan said solemnly.
It was rare to see them looking so serious, and everyone nodded earnestly.
When the group returned to the inn, Jin Liu was already pacing anxiously back and forth at the gate. As soon as he saw them return, he said, "We agreed that our group would guard the last section, why didn't you call us?"
"There was a problem along the way, and I didn't have time to call you before I went out. I'll tell you the details when we get back to the inn," Achen said, patting the back of his hand lightly.
"Okay!" Jin Liu nodded and turned back to the inn.
Everyone had gathered in Achen's room. After setting up a soundproof barrier, Achen recounted in detail everything he had seen the previous night and shared his analysis with everyone.
Meng Hanhai's eyes widened. Nothing had happened when he and his three-person team were on night duty, but after they went to sleep and Achen and the others took over his night duty, such a big thing happened!
If it weren't for the fact that everyone returning from their trip had the same expression, with such obvious grief on their faces, he would have suspected they were making up a story to amuse him.
They were surprised that such a bizarre thing could happen to them. He had been complaining in his heart, thinking that Ah Chen was lucky. If he were in charge, there would be no monsters, only a peaceful town.
Unexpectedly, everyone in this small town was not human.
It's a vengeful spirit!
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