"What is the purpose of doing this? Isn't killing the Empress and her unborn child a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family?"
“I once heard my master say that in ancient times, some emperors would follow the arrangements of a sorcerer in order to change the fate of the country. They would find a woman born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour, crown her as empress, and make her pregnant with the emperor’s child until the seventh month. Then, they would feed a live poisonous snake filled with mercury into the woman’s stomach. Finally, they would seal the coffin and throw it into the water along with other coffins buried with her. They would then perform a ritual on the riverbank for forty-nine days to complete the ritual.”
Upon hearing this, not only Shen Ye, but also Bai Xuan and Xiao Shi were so shocked that their jaws almost dropped.
How can there be such feudal and superstitious people? Even if women are like clothes, the child in their womb is still their own. Even tigers don't eat their cubs!
“There’s nothing we can do about it; this is the fate of women in ancient times.” Master Huang continued, “Logically speaking, this female corpse should be dry but not decayed, yet she is as lifelike as if she were alive. It’s truly bizarre.”
A sudden clap of thunder echoed in the sky. Perhaps afraid of the thunder, the female corpse scurried back into the golden coffin, closed the lid, and slowly sank to the bottom of the river along with the coffin on the surface...
The coffin was no longer on the river, and even the river water was gradually becoming clearer.
Having found the source of the incident, the group did not linger and returned to the village along the same route.
As soon as he got home, Master Huang went into his room and told Xiao Shi not to disturb him, not even to call him for meals.
That evening, Master Huang finally came out, and his first words were: "I understand, I understand!"
The three of them were completely bewildered, having no idea what Master Huang was talking about.
"I know why the female corpse looked so lifelike now, because she ate the fetus in her womb," Master Huang said excitedly, picking up a carrot and taking a bite.
How to eat it?
"Of course, they cut open her stomach, took out the fetus, and ate it. The female corpse was full of resentment when she died, and in the end, she turned into a zombie and ate the fetus. The fetus just happened to be two-faced, so everything makes sense. In addition, the people in our village also became the female corpse's burial victims."
Master Huang spoke these last words in a very solemn tone.
Shen Ye was about to ask what "double-faced" meant when Xiao Shi interrupted, "Master, what does 'double-faced' mean? And didn't that female corpse cut out the fetus from her belly and eat it? But today her belly still looks like she's pregnant."
I started learning from Master Huang when I was six years old. I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of strange people and events, but I have never heard of a two-faced person.
"It means there are two faces, so it's called a double-faced child. Usually, such children must be burned to death after birth, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. As for the female corpse's belly, I still don't understand why it is like this."
The four of them speculated about why the woman's stomach looked like that, but after a long time, they couldn't come up with a solution. Finally, it got too late, so they went back to their rooms to sleep.
Shen Ye became increasingly sleepy, always looking like he couldn't wake up. Bai Xuan often felt sorry for him and would ask Xiao Shi not to disturb him.
Master Huang said that the reason for the darkness was that his shadow had been stolen. If the shadow did not return, he would die in his sleep.
The only solution right now is to destroy the Empress's Tomb; only in this way can the barrier be broken.
For several days, Shen Ye did not go to the Empress's Tomb with Master Huang and the others. Bai Xuan stayed in the village to watch over him and gave Shen Ye her Zhong Kui jade pendant.
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