"Um."
Cang Jin felt a strange magnetic field as soon as he arrived. He couldn't quite describe the feeling, but it was definitely not right.
"Qingqing, be careful tonight, something's not right here."
"Something's definitely not right. If it were right, I wouldn't have come."
The bed was covered with safety charms, garlic, and the peach wood sword; she had come prepared.
"You still came despite the danger? Is Qingqing someone very important to you?" Cang Jin couldn't understand who was worth risking her life for.
The only sound in the small room was the gentle patter of water from the toilet, and a light breeze caused the curtains to flutter in a noticeable arc.
Shen Muqing's voice came after a long pause, "I suppose so."
She just wanted all girls to live happy lives; she was soft-hearted and couldn't bear to see girls suffer.
I will help you.
Since it's what you want to do, I'll grant your wish.
"good."
The two slept on the small bed. As always, Cang Jin held Shen Muqing tightly, even tighter than usual, as if he wanted to meld Shen Muqing into his flesh and blood.
"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Cang Jin was acting very strangely today. He didn't do anything else in the evening, nor did he speak. He just stared at himself in silence.
"No, I just wanted to see you more."
"I'm not going to suddenly disappear, why would I do this?"
"You will be safe and sound, Qingqing."
He gently kissed Shen Muqing's forehead, as if he were kissing something very precious, cherishing and being careful.
Will you die?
Shen Muqing asked cautiously, realizing why Cang Jin was acting this way.
"I am already dead, Qingqing."
"That's right."
"Go to sleep, I'll wake you up when it's twelve o'clock."
"Um."
Shen Muqing slept restlessly for those few short hours, feeling as if she had just closed her eyes when it was time to go. Cang Jin gently woke her up.
Shen Muqing squinted as she woke up. Her body was awake, but her mind was still foggy. She sat on the bed rubbing her eyes, looking completely dazed.
"Get up, Qingqing, it's twelve o'clock."
"I know, let me calm down."
Cang Jin looked at her with doting eyes, his smile obvious.
The gate downstairs wasn't locked. The villagers had gone home to sleep early, and the streets were deserted and chilly.
Shen Muqing tiptoed out without disturbing anyone. She shivered; the countryside was so cold at night. She should have brought a thick coat.
She followed Liu Dajiao's route and saw the ancestral hall he had mentioned in just ten minutes.
"Azure Ashes, can you sense anything unusual?"
"Not at the moment."
It was very dark around here, and you could only see a little by the moonlight. Fortunately, the moonlight in the countryside was very bright, and Shen Muqing could see the road under his feet without needing a lamp.
The ancestral hall looked magnificent, but it was deserted. There were no villagers' houses around it, and it was the only building within a radius of several hundred meters.
It is backed by a mountain, and there is a very old and large tree at the entrance, with many red lanterns hanging under the tree.
"Cang Jin, you take the lead, I'll follow behind you."
"good."
Before Cang Jin could even enter, he hurriedly stopped, saying, "There's a barrier outside."
"What? It's this high-end? Is there a lot of gold inside?"
Shen Muqing stopped in her tracks. "Then what do we do?"
"This barrier is supposed to be for protection; I should be able to get in."
How did you know?
"I guessed. You wait here for me, don't wander off."
"good."
Shen Muqing watched Cang Jin go in from outside, and waited at the door. Whether it was because she was too nervous or just scaring herself, she felt very scared.
This atmosphere is just like the protagonist who gets lost in a horror movie, and the next second you turn around you will see something that shouldn't be there.
"Waaaaah~"
A very faint sound came from behind, like the wind blowing through a cave, much like a ghost's wail.
"Waaaaah~"
Shen Muqing is now certain that it's not just a rumor, but someone is really crying, and the sound is mournful and drawn-out.
She swallowed nervously. She couldn't be afraid; what she feared most was bound to happen. She turned to look behind her.
Then I saw a person squatting under the big tree. Oh no, a ghostly figure was there.
Because at this late hour, not only people would come out, only ghosts would, and they don't have shadows.
It kept crying, which made it seem even more eerie in the dim environment.
Shen Muqing slowly walked over, stopping a few meters away from it.
"Hello, do you know Xiang Sui'an?"
The ghostly figure slowly turned its head. It was actually quite similar to a human, except that its face was paler and deathly pale.
It had very long hair, so it must be a female ghost. She slowly got up, and then Shen Muqing saw her full appearance and was shocked.
She was only wearing a white dress, and surprisingly, she had no hands or feet, just four empty holes, floating in mid-air. There was also a long cut on her neck, from which blood was constantly seeping.
"Were you sent by Zhou Linqian to rescue me?"
"no."
The hope in her eyes vanished instantly. "Why hasn't he come to find me yet? Didn't he say he would come to save me?"
As she spoke, tears of blood streamed down her face, vividly red from her lifeless eyes.
Why hasn't he come yet?
She squatted back under the tree, repeating her previous actions, occasionally letting out a sob.
"I can take you to him."
"Really?" She turned around in surprise. At this moment, she looked strange and frightening. She floated in front of Shen Muqing, looking both comical and pitiful.
Not long after, she looked dejected again, "But I can't get out."
Shen Muqing was certain that she was the female lead, Xiang Sui'an, but she still asked again.
Are you Xiang Sui'an?
"It's been a long time since anyone called me by my name."
"Are you really Xiang Sui'an? What are you doing here?"
Xiang Sui'an moved her body, "I don't know, I woke up like this."
"Could you bring Zhou Linqian to see me?"
Her tone still held a glimmer of hope, a delusion that the man would come to save her—it was both laughable and pathetic.
"You still want to see him? Do you know why you've become like this?"
Xiang Sui'an lowered her head, her expression full of pain and sorrow.
You should already know the answer in your heart.
"I just want to ask him in person, how could he bear to treat me like this after we grew up together? I want to know if he has any reasons for doing this."
"Isn't the answer obvious? If there were a reason, they wouldn't have gone ten years without coming."
"Yes, I was just fooling myself."
Every word was written in tears; Xiang Sui'an harbored resentment and did not want to be reincarnated.
"Have you been here the whole time? Do you know why there's a barrier there?"
Shen Muqing asked her.
“I don’t know, I just woke up here and can’t leave this tree,” Xiang Sui’an whispered. “I can only sense that there are many of my kind inside, and some of them are even more resentful than I am.”
Shen Muqing's heart skipped a beat. Could something have happened to Cang Jin?
"I will definitely get you out. Wait for me, I'll go find someone first."
"You'd better not go in, you'll be in danger." Xiang Sui'an advised her not to take the risk, as she hadn't seen a single living person go in for a long time.
"No, there are very important people of mine inside, I have to go."
Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Xiang Sui'an had no choice but to let her in.
Shen Muqing didn't care about anything else. She was about to step inside when Cang Jin was less than five meters away from the door.
His expression was very unpleasant. "Qingqing, don't come in."
Cang Jin spoke sharply, indicating that there was something troublesome inside.
"Okay, hurry up and come out." Shen Muqing stood anxiously in place, quietly waiting for Cang Jin to come out. She knew that she wouldn't be able to help much and would only be a burden if she went in.
Several dark figures followed behind him, their approach menacing.
Finally, Azure Ashes has appeared.
"Cang Jin, are you alright?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine." He just used a lot of energy.
Beside the pillar, Shen Muqing and Cang Jin leaned against each other. After Cang Jin had rested, he began to recount what he had just seen.
"Qingqing, there are many ghosts inside. They are all eating the incense on the platform and fighting over it."
"Moreover, the layout inside is very unique and strange; it must be some kind of formation."
"It seems that Zhou Linqian has committed many murders, and he has more than one life on his hands."
Shen Muqing was utterly stunned. This was a ruthless demon who killed people without blinking an eye, harming so many innocent people for his own selfish desires.
"What should we do next?"
"Let's not alert them yet, let's go back first."
"good."
Before leaving, Shen Muqing made a special promise to Xiang Sui'an that she would definitely come back to save her.
Xiang Sui'an floated quietly under the tree, watching the two figures. A human and a ghost, what a strange combination.
The night passed without incident, and Shen Muqing went straight to bed and fell asleep as soon as she returned to her room, not waking up until noon the next day.
Seeing that Shen Muqing hadn't come down for so long, the landlady went to knock on her door out of concern.
"Girl, girl?"
There was no response from inside. The proprietress spoke again, "Girl? I'm coming in."
Shen Muqing quickly got out of bed and ran to open the door. "Sister, I'm fine. I was sleeping."
"I was so scared. It's already noon and you still haven't come down. I was worried something had happened to you. Since that's the case, I'll go down and you can continue sleeping."
The proprietress didn't linger and swayed her hips as she went downstairs.
"Thank you for your concern, sister," Shen Muqing called out to her retreating figure. The proprietress waved her hand to indicate that she understood.
Shen Muqing, still pondering the ancestral hall from yesterday, asked Cang Jin, "Should we go again during the day?"
"Can."
Then Shen Muqing quickly washed up and prepared to explore the ancestral hall again.
She went downstairs, greeted the landlady, ate a bowl of noodles with toppings at Liu Dajiao's place, and then headed to the ancestral hall.
The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall during the day is completely different from the one at night. When Shen Muqing arrived, there were already some people standing there.
They look like they've come to offer incense.
During the day, Chen Muqing could see the ancestral hall more clearly and directly. When she stepped inside, the incense was burning brightly, and there was no room left on the altar to insert new incense sticks.
It's a large, spacious place with an open terrace in the middle where rain can drift in when it rains.
It was a square-shaped room that looked somewhat like an urn from the outside.
The more Shen Muqing looked, the more it seemed to resemble the real thing, and there were unsuspecting tourists lighting incense there.
"Cang Jin, how do you plan to break this magic array?"
Cang Jin paused for a moment before speaking: "Burn it."
A single fire will burn everything here cleanly and efficiently, and all the evil here will vanish completely.
"Then what about the ghosts inside?"
Ultimately, they are still innocent. If the fire is completely burned, the ghosts inside will disappear, and they will be able to reincarnate.
"They must also want to be free."
"I'm thinking about it."
Shen Muqing's mind was in a bit of a mess. Wasn't there a way to have the best of both worlds? If the ancestral hall was burned down, would Xiang Sui'an be in danger?
"This method is still too risky; it should only be used as a last resort."
She surveyed the area. There must be something there to set up the formation; it couldn't have appeared out of thin air. It must be somewhere here.
And it's impossible for it to be in an obvious place, so if it's not here, then where could it be?
If a barrier has a defined area, how large is that area?
"Cangjin, let's come back here tonight."
There are too many people now, and it's hard to find Shen Muqing. I'm afraid it will attract attention and make things difficult to handle.
Having observed enough, she went outside and walked to the old tree, silently gazing at it, wondering if Sui'an was also under the tree at that moment, just like her.
Will I regret marrying someone I liked when I was young?
Just then, the wind blew by, and the leaves on the trees rustled, as if answering Shen Muqing's question. Shen Muqing reached out and caught a falling leaf. This is your answer, isn't it?
In response, more leaves fell, each one slowly drifting down, dancing gracefully.
"I see."
Shen Muqing gently stroked the thick tree trunk, touching it again and again, thinking she knew what to do.
She'll come again at night; the dark and windy night is perfect for doing bad things.
Back at the hotel, Shen Muqing rushed upstairs without even having dinner, and sat on the sofa to scroll through her phone.
Since she couldn't understand it, she could find someone who could. She refused to believe that none of the many people online were as capable as the people behind Zhou Linqian.
Since such a sinister method exists, there must be a solution.
Thinking about it, she went online to search and found that there were quite a few people claiming to be masters who were live streaming, claiming that they were omnipotent. Shen Muqing laughed as soon as she saw it, knowing it was fake at first glance.
She watched a few more videos, all of which were people saying they had encountered paranormal events and were asking for solutions.
Shen Muqing was thoroughly enjoying the reading; it was incredibly interesting. She couldn't leave the comment section; the more she read, the more fascinating it became.
As I scrolled through the comments, someone with a sky-themed profile picture kept answering other people's questions, and what they said actually made a lot of sense.
So she clicked on this person's profile, which stated that he offered consultations for 1100 yuan per consultation, honest and fair pricing, and no haggling.
It's quite interesting.
Without hesitation, Shen Muqing followed him and sent him a private message: "Hello, I recently encountered a formation. Do you have a way to break it?"
She thought it would take a long time for the other person to reply, but to her surprise, the reply came very quickly, as if the reply lived inside the phone.
Empty: 100 per transaction, transfer first, then answer.
Shen Muqing thought for a while and decided that even if he was cheated out of a hundred, it wasn't too much; a hundred it was.
Qing: Transfer 100.
The other party quickly clicked "receive payment" and their reply was noticeably happier.
Empty: Dear customer, what kind of problem do you need to consult? I'm not bragging, but there's no problem in the world that I can't solve.
Qing: Master, I recently encountered a barrier. Is there any way to break it?
Empty: What is it like?
Shen Muqing couldn't describe what kind of barrier it was, and she couldn't see that it was Cang Jin who discovered it.
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