Wen Ziqing suspected that a portion of Baopu Taoist's spirit remained outside Kongming, within his body. Even if Kongming completely refined Baopu Taoist's spirit within the space, this fragmented spirit would remain, posing a hidden danger to Wen Ziqing. If this spirit wasn't eliminated in time, it would disrupt Wen Ziqing's advancement, with disastrous consequences.
With the memory fragments that devoured him and Zhou Yuanyuan in front and the hidden danger lurking behind, Wen Ziqing decided to let Kong Ming release the remaining soul of Taoist Baopu from the Soul Transformation Pool bit by bit and "digest" him himself.
Of course, there are also disadvantages to Wen Ziqing's actions. If Kong Ming is freed by Baopu Taoist during the operation, Wen Ziqing's soul will be suppressed by Baopu Taoist. After all, the soul of a late Jindan is still very powerful. If Wen Ziqing is not careful, he may be devoured by Baopu Taoist.
Wen Ziqing and Kong Ming worked together for more than ten hours, and victory was in sight. Unfortunately, Wen Ziqing did not expect that Taoist Baopu's soul was filled with too many negative emotions, which affected Wen Ziqing's mood.
Wen Ziqing fell into his inner demons again. This time, instead of seeing Wen Yulong and Wu Xiuli, he saw Zhou Yuanyuan.
To be precise, it was Zhou Yuanyuan in the previous life.
From Wen Ziqing's perspective, a haggard and skinny woman was lying on a shabby wooden bed with her eyes closed.
This family must be very poor! Wen Ziqing judged.
What catches the eye is a yellow mud wall. It has not even been painted with lime, leaving its original mud color exposed. The wall is bumpy, and some places even have some mud pieces falling off.
The room wasn't big, only about ten square meters. Yet, it seemed empty. Besides a wooden bed, there wasn't even a box inside. No, it wasn't really a bed. It was a door panel joined with two wooden benches. It was narrow and short. Fortunately, the woman wasn't tall, or else her feet would have fallen through the "bed."
The woman was sleeping, but Wen Ziqing judged that she was still alive from the slight movement of her chest every few seconds.
However, the surviving woman did not look much better either. Her face was bruised and swollen, with a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth. Even in her sleep, her brows were tightly furrowed.
The shabby wooden door was kicked, making a dull "dong" sound. At the same time, a rude and hoarse voice rang out: "Damn bitch, come out and cook for me quickly."
The woman on the bed was awakened by the knocking and shouting. After opening her eyes, her body trembled noticeably.
"Hurry up and open the door, you bitch! Or I'll kick it down!" The man's voice rose an octave. The woman's eyes were still dazed. She slowly sat up from the bed without saying a word.
The next second, the shabby wooden door was kicked open by a big foot. The door panel hit the wall with a loud "bang" and a cloud of dust.
"Cough cough cough... You damn bitch, how dare you deliberately not cook and starve me? I'm going to beat you to death." A man in his forties waved the dust in front of him at the door, strode in from outside, grabbed the woman on the bed by the hair, and dragged her to the ground.
The man's movements were very rough, not caring whether the woman on the bed would be hurt or not. The woman's feet and waist hit the edge of the bed several times, and she let out a muffled cry of pain.
The man was big and strong, with a scruffy beard, and he looked very fierce when he glared.
"Ouch! Yuan Sixi, let go!" the woman cried out in pain.
"If I don't keep you company for three days, you'll be in trouble. I'm working myself to death outside, and you, a stinky bitch, are waiting for me at home with an empty stove and no pots and vegetables. You agreed that if you don't sleep with me, you will keep the house in tidy order. Since you don't follow the rules, I might as well sleep with you today. Damn it, I'm at a loss by marrying a wife and not letting her touch me." Yuan Sixi cursed.
"Let me go, let me go." Seeing the man start to touch her all over, the woman didn't know where she got the strength from, but she pushed hard, causing the man to stagger.
"What? Are you trying to rebel? It seems that unless I show you some power, you, Zhou Yuanyuan, will not listen to me." As soon as the man finished speaking, he slapped the woman in the face. The bruised side of the woman's face quickly swelled up.
The woman said nothing, but raised her head and glared at the man, unable to hide the hatred in her eyes.
"What are you glaring at me for? If you keep glaring, I'll dig your eyeballs out! You're a jinx! You've brought bad luck upon your father, mother, and your entire family. If I weren't so tough, you'd probably have killed me long ago." The man cursed, looking like he'd been badly wronged. "Those blood-sucking leeches from your family took 500 yuan from me as a betrothal gift, not even a penny of dowry. Bah! You're just my purchase, I can beat you however I want."
The man's face twitched with pain as he spoke of the betrothal gifts. According to the custom in Yuyuan County, the larger the betrothal gift, the larger the bride's dowry. He had gritted his teeth and agreed to a 500-yuan betrothal gift from Zhou Yuanyuan's family, figuring that even if the Zhou family's dowry was smaller, given her youth and beauty, he wouldn't be out of luck. Unexpectedly, the Zhou family actually went ahead and offered the bride no dowry at all, simply changing into a half-new red dress and marrying her.
The man's reminder reminded Wen Ziqing that this old, haggard woman, who looked as if she were about thirty-four or thirty-five, bore a striking resemblance to Zhou Yuanyuan from her previous life. Her eyes, in particular, were gloomy and sullen until she glared at the man named Yuan Sixi. Wen Ziqing hadn't even considered Zhou Yuanyuan. Only after she glared at Yuan Sixi did her eyes light up, merging with the bright, almond-shaped eyes Wen Ziqing remembered from Zhou Yuanyuan.
In his previous life, Wen Ziqing had met Zhou Yuanyuan once in H City. At that time, it had been three years since Zhou Yuanyuan had fled her violent home. After three years of recuperation, Zhou Yuanyuan looked much younger than the woman Wen Ziqing saw now.
His little girl, how dare Yuan Sixi?
Wen Ziqing was furious and was about to kill Yuan Sixi, but found that he could not enter that world at all.
"I... I have a stomachache. I was... kicked by you yesterday. I can't get up... to cook." Zhou Yuanyuan sat on the ground. Although her voice was weak, her attitude was firm.
Yuan Sixi's face showed suspicion. Could it be that he was really injured by him last night?
Bah! Maybe it is true.
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