I can't blame anyone for my pity for my child; I can only blame my bad luck...
Above the somber and silent wooden stairs, a faint and distant voice drifted over.
"Three wisps of smoke, one short, swirling around in all directions, do not seek it."
Wang Xiaotao's originally sorrowful expression was gradually filled with a kind of fear. If it were really those powerful sects of immortality coming here, it would be somewhat reassuring and make her feel more relaxed. But now...
She leaned on Peng Youcai's shoulder, her cloudy eyes revealing a true, deep-seated emotion, her parched lips murmuring: "Once I paid homage at the Void Heaven Palace, I wished to judge the seasons and pay homage to the immortals... I was originally a person descended from the heavens..."
A piece of snow-white paper floated out from the dark railing on the second floor. The paper was cut to about half the height of a person, and the face on it was painted with smiling eyebrows and red lips in thick ink.
On the paper figure's forehead, an old copper coin was pressed, and a tiny flame burned in the coin's square hole.
Because of this tiny, cold flame, the shadow of the paper figure on the wall opposite the railing appeared incredibly thin, enormous, and eerie.
Having been trapped in the wooden ladder for a long time, they were already filled with fear and trepidation, and then suddenly they saw this paper figure.
The stark white paper, the jet-black eyebrows and eyes, the split red lips—as soon as it floated out, it sent a chill down the spines of the three of them. A moment later, they began to feel weak all over.
The pomegranate flower is ultimately more fragile. Although it fears the paper figure, it is still unable to resist the most direct human reaction to what it fears.
She pressed her pale lips tightly together, her eyes wide as she scrutinized the paper figure. After a moment, she turned and ran downstairs, screaming shrilly, "A ghost!"
But when she was exhausted and panting, she knelt at the corner of the stairs, only to find, with utter despair, that her husband and mother-in-law were still standing on the stairs not far from her.
On the second-floor railing, the pale paper figure sat with his arms crossed in an eerie posture. The night wind swirled his white paper body, creating subtle ripples in the breeze.
Chen Liuhua dared not look any longer, curling up tightly in the corner, her back against the cold wall, shivering with cold.
The paper figure spoke in a very ordinary tone, as if casually greeting a neighbor while taking a stroll: "There are actually people who have descended from the heavens, what a pleasant surprise! Gentlemen, it's late at night and there's not much fun to be had, so how about we play a little game?"
Chen Liuhua was so frightened that she covered her head with her hands and cowered in the corner.
The extreme of fear is anger. She couldn't help but think to herself, "Where did this madman come from? He's as scary as a ghost. Who can sleep?"
Since they are not cultivators from those immortal sects, are they here to meddle or to steal things?
If you're bored at night, can't you just go to sleep? Nobody wants to play games with you!
But she was completely powerless, and all her past ruthlessness and recklessness seemed to vanish in an instant.
Even her anger turned into powerless tears and trembling, just as she had always despised.
Outsiders...
They are often the most vulnerable group of people; even if they die on the way, no one will notice for at least a month.
Even if they are discovered, it is a time-consuming and laborious task to trace their whereabouts before their death. They die in secrecy, and are often simply described as "missing," with no body ever found.
Not to mention those rogue cultivators. There was once a lone rogue cultivator who said that all her family members had died at the hands of evil beings. Although her cultivation was not high, she wanted to do something to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path. Before she died, she laughed loudly through her tears:
"What a pathetic endeavor! Decades of seeking a master and pursuing the Dao, all gone in a single night. I have lived a life of honesty and integrity, and I have no shame before Heaven or man. What a pathetic death!"
That's just how things are in this world. If your family is miserable, there's no reason you shouldn't be. There are so many people with good fortune, so why aren't you the only one? That's fate. What's the use of complaining?
If complaining were useful, how come some people are born into wealth and privilege while others are born only to be kicked into a ravine and fed to wolves?
How can some people sit high in palaces without any effort, while others have to pull plows and drag reins, exposed to the sun and rain?
How can some people live a peaceful and uneventful life, with their children living out their natural lives, while others are born north of Tengzhou when the demons descended to earth, and in the rare sunny weather of the north, their entire family perishes in the blink of an eye?
So where does all that resentment come from? When you're lucky, cherish it. When you're unlucky and encounter a dead end, what can you do?
But Chen Liuhua is no longer so open-minded, because today, she is on the path to her death.
The paper figures sitting upright on the railing made a sound as if the wind was blowing through the paper.
It calmly looked down at the three people on the wooden ladder, raised its neatly shaped fist in the cool night breeze, and said:
"Don't cry because you're worried about not knowing how to play. The game is very simple. In the first round, grab the box. Whoever gets the box from the old lady's hand first is the winner."
Chen Liuhua: So the reason I cried was because I was worried that I wouldn't know how to play games?
Peng Youcai's body was covered in cold sweat, his legs trembling from running while carrying someone and standing for so long. He turned back to look at his mother, his body trembling.
"Mother, is it one of your kind? If you had known this would happen, you would have surrendered to the immortal sect long ago."
Chen Liuhua stood up, her legs weak, and tried to snatch the wooden box from Wang Xiaotao's hand, but was kicked down by Peng Youcai.
Peng Youcai turned to look at the eerie, thin paper figure, his brow furrowed, and asked, "Are you here to take my life, or to steal my money?"
A cold wind howled along the dimly lit railing, causing the paper figure to flutter and its shadow to appear and disappear, sometimes real, sometimes illusory.
Its voice drifted on and on, sometimes soft, sometimes loud, sometimes near, sometimes far, like a nightmare: "Oh? Can't we have both?"
Peng Youcai swallowed stiffly. Wang Xiaotao, who was on his back, wanted to get off, but he held her legs tightly and carried her on his back.
"Mother, since that's the case, why not summon your demon immortal as well and fight it to the death? Perhaps..."
After a long silence, Wang Xiaotao finally said, "The demon fairy had already run away."
Peng Youcai's last hope was also shattered. He turned to look at the paper figure and said in a deep voice, "We have a relationship with the Jiang family of Yishan. If you can't tell who can be killed and who can't, in the end someone will still avenge us!"
The paper figure laughed loudly, its two paper legs flapping wildly in the wind.
"So there's also the Jiang family of Yishan. What do you think they'll do to you if I take you to Yishan? The Jiang family is so protective of their reputation. Time's almost up. The first game is over, and there's no winner yet."
Chen Liuhua seized the opportunity and ran over to snatch the wooden box from Wang Xiaotao's hand. She then leaped up three steps, her eyes filled with the will to survive. She nervously handed the wooden box to the paper figure from a distance.
Peng Youcai cursed, "You heartless bastard! How much of the money you stole from those people went into your pig mouth and bought you hairpins and jewelry!"
Chen Liuhua ignored him.
She was panting heavily, and with her back against the wall, she slowly made her way down three steps, trying her best to remain calm. She asked, "I'm the winner of the first round. Can I leave now?"
The wooden box floated to the person's side. The paper figure turned its head to look at her, its mouth split to the ears, letting out a whooshing sound. "Of course, but first you must receive your reward."
My heart was pounding like a drum, and cold sweat dripped from my forehead to the corners of my eyes, stinging them with a burning pain.
Chen Liuhua asked suspiciously, "What reward?"
The paper figure nodded to her and said gently, "I'll reward you with the opportunity to go out downstairs and retrieve the corpse from the backyard."
Chen Liuhua suddenly opened her eyes wide, and Peng Youcai and Wang Xiaotao's expressions changed drastically in an instant.
Wang Xiaotao struggled desperately to get off Peng Youcai's back. With a limp, stiff leg, she knelt on the steps, repeatedly kowtowing until her head bled, weeping as she said:
"Immortal Master! Please do not disturb my husband and son's peace. If you take my old life, I will not utter a single complaint."
The wind picked up, and a faint mist of rain hung in the air.
The paper figure sneezed and said in a muffled voice, "It's truly touching, but do the wives, husbands, and children of those who died at your hands have any complaints?"
It continued, "You old woman, though you possess the method of Xuanjiang, you lack the cultivation of Xuanjiang. Why is that?"
With her white hair flowing down her face, Wang Xiaotao kowtowed as she climbed the steps, saying:
"Master... Back then, my husband and I moved from Tengzhou to this area with our two children, hoping they would have a better environment in the future. My second child was born weak and sickly, and we didn't eat or drink well along the way. As soon as we arrived here, he fell seriously ill and it seemed he wouldn't make it..."
"No parent can bear to watch their child suffer..."
As Wang Xiaotao climbed to the last step, tears and sweat soaked her white hair, and the deep lines on her face gradually revealed the emotions buried within.
She braced herself against the steps, her eyes already somewhat numb.
“That night, an old Taoist priest came and said he knew some ways to change or prolong life… You haven’t seen my second son. He’s fair-skinned, sensible, and obedient. I haven’t suffered much since I was pregnant with him.”
“The Taoist priest said that the child was too young, and he couldn’t bear to take the life of anyone other than a blood relative… So, ha… I killed my man.”
Her tone was flat, as if she were talking about what she had for dinner.
“My husband is a good man and has always been good to me. But he was the one who suggested moving out of Tengzhou, so he has to take responsibility for my son’s illness. It didn’t take me much effort to kill him. He was chopping wood outside the door, and while he was eating, I smashed him to death with an axe.”
Peng Youcai stared in shock at his elderly mother. He couldn't believe that his mother, who always talked about his father's past, had killed his father for his younger brother who had died young.
Wang Xiaotao turned around and looked at her son's numb face. She immediately buried her head on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably, "But I didn't expect that the old Taoist's talk of prolonging life was only what I saw. My son still died, but in my eyes, he is still alive, and even my husband is alive."
"I have to use human blood to support their physical bodies and blessed lands. The old Taoist priest used this as leverage to teach me the method of summoning demon immortals and how to refine the dead into pills, which he then sold. Among them were people from the Jiang family of Yishan."
"The second person I killed was a widow who had returned to her hometown with her two children after losing her husband. I killed her and raised her two sons. Ha."
"Rogue cultivators with mediocre cultivation levels are excellent candidates. This old Daoist desires those with higher cultivation levels, but those with higher cultivation levels wouldn't fall into my hands..."
The paper figure chuckled coldly, “It truly is a heart full of love for your son. However, your son is indeed still alive, but because of this mother’s love, he has become a servant who is neither human nor ghost in the hands of others. What you see is merely an illusion in the incense. Otherwise, how could you only see them in the mourning hall in the backyard?”
"Nonsense! You're talking nonsense!"
Finding an opportunity, Wang Xiaotao suddenly became furious, pulled out a copper coin from her sleeve, and slashed her wrist, which was as hard as elm bark. She then threw the blood-stained coin at the paper figure.
Turning to Peng Youcai, he said, "What are you standing there for? Run! Go find the people from the Immortal Sect and tell them there's a monster causing trouble here!"
The blood on the copper coin ignited the paper figure with a "bang," and the paper figure floated up due to the fire. A few wisps of smoke twisted in the air, and the burnt black paper scraps fell like snowflakes.
Wang Xiaotao shakily got up and said calmly but fiercely:
"I can't blame anyone but myself for bad luck. I'm short-sighted, selfish, heartless, and a venomous snake. But if you try to hurt my son, I'll fight you to the death!"
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-04-21 22:41:32 and 2024-04-22 23:56:31!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Kengjie 35 bottles; Manaka 18 bottles; Yuye 10 bottles; Sansan 4 bottles; 42293163, Lanze Duofangcao, Fengxi Chuge, Suibiankankan, Gongyujianji, and Zhoumandejiangu 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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