Chapter 204: Changing Shapes to Enter the House and Stealing Souls
When you open your mouth and exhale, you can see white smoke flying upwards. Children, bored, will blow air for fun, watching the white smoke slowly dissipate, imagining themselves as gods breathing in and out wind and clouds.
The woman looked at the child rolling restlessly on the bed, smiled and shook her head, and said, "Go to bed early. Your father will come back to collect the debt and take you to the market to play tomorrow. If you can't get up, I won't take you with me."
The child immediately lay down quietly, closed his eyes tightly, and said loudly: "I am already asleep."
The woman smiled and shook her head, then continued to sew shoe soles in front of the oil lamp, waiting for the man to return.
After a while, the child asked in a low voice: "Mom, when will Dad come back?"
The woman glanced out the window, a bit worried, and said, "It should be soon. Just go and reconcile the accounts. It should be soon."
The woman walked to the bed, tucked the child in, and said, "Go to sleep."
The child squinted his eyes and looked at her secretly, saying, "Mom, I want to eat meat."
"Okay." The woman touched his face and said, "Let's buy it tomorrow."
The child closed his eyes contentedly, and his breathing gradually became heavier.
The woman went to the lamp again and started sewing the soles of shoes. Stitch by stitch, she gradually felt her eyes were a little blurry.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.
The woman got up to open the door, but she didn't notice that the lamp on the table suddenly dimmed, as if it was covered by black smoke, with only a little dim light barely showing through.
When I opened the door, I saw the man standing outside and asked, "Why are you so late today?"
The man looked at her in silence, and she sighed, "I didn't get it again? Why does a wealthy family like the Wu family always owe money to us common people?"
She closed the door and said distressedly, "It's so cold outside. You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'm warming up some food on the stove for you. Eat something first to warm yourself up."
The woman was about to walk towards the kitchen when she was suddenly hugged from behind by the man.
The woman struggled slightly but couldn't break free. She patted the man's hand and said, "The child has just fallen asleep. Don't disturb him."
The light in the oil lamp struggled hard, but it only jumped and disappeared with a whoosh, as if it had been pinched out.
The room fell into darkness, and the man moved closer to the woman, his face pressed into the crook of her shoulder.
The woman only felt that his body was cold, as if it had no temperature at all.
The face pressed against her shoulder was clearly very close, yet she couldn't feel his breath.
The woman felt a chill in her heart and struggled, "I'll go heat up some food for you."
But her voice fell into the darkness, like a rabbit stuck in a quagmire, unable to escape.
The darkness completely enveloped her, and she could only hear faint sounds in the room. After a moment, silence returned.
"Knock knock knock—" There was another knock on the door, and a man's excited voice rang out: "Sister, I'm back. Are you asleep? Open the door for me."
The knock on the door woke up the sleeping child. The child opened his sleepy eyes and looked towards the door, only to see darkness. There seemed to be a black shadow standing there like a ghost.
He was so frightened that he burst into tears: "Dad! Mom!"
The man got anxious after hearing this and banged on the door, saying, "Xiaobao, what's wrong, Xiaobao?"
The dark shadow inside the door slowly walked towards the child, and the child screamed and cried even louder.
The man was anxious and banged on the door hard. After two bangs, he pushed the door open. The lantern in his hand illuminated the darkness in the room, and he saw a man who looked exactly like him standing in the room, holding his wife's hand.
"Who are you!" The man rushed into the room. When the light came on, the man turned into a ball of black smoke and flew out of the door, sticking to the ceiling and walls.
The woman fell limply to the ground, and the man hurried to help her up, but when he touched her, she was ice-cold, without a trace of warmth.
"Big sister! Big sister!"
The cries of men and children echoed in this cold winter night, but were soon drowned out by the howling wind.
The next day.
At the Shanyin County City God Temple, the temple priest, county officials, and several monks and Taoists gathered together.
The county magistrate said, "Everyone, another one died last night. It's only been five days, and over ten women have already died. What kind of demon is this? Where did it come from? Don't you have any solutions?"
The temple keeper frowned, "That demon is like a shadow, like black smoke, and only moves at night. Even the ghost messengers can avoid it. The City God is also worried to death."
The county magistrate looked at one of the old Taoist priests and asked, "Master Luo, do you have any solution?"
Taoist Luo, with his white hair and youthful features, had a certain sage-like air, but at this moment he shook his head and said, "That demon steals people's souls. After killing someone, it doesn't even have a chance to summon their souls to question them. The Great Immortal Beilai has gone to investigate, but there's been no news yet."
The county magistrate then asked other monks and Taoists, but none of them gave a definite answer.
The county magistrate paced anxiously, saying, "This demon can change its appearance, impersonating a close relative to approach the deceased. It can also escape in the form of shadows or black smoke, appearing and disappearing without a trace. I wonder how many more people will be harmed."
"What kind of demon is this? Why does it only harm girls from good families?"
Luo Laodao's heart moved, and he asked, "Do you have the files of those deceased people?"
The county magistrate said, "Yes."
The group moved to the county government office, where they saw the files of the deceased. The files showed that they were all beautiful women, not only in terms of their beauty, but also in the way others described them.
Some are virtuous and talented women, some are loyal and chaste women, some are kind to their neighbors, and some are filial to their parents and respectful to their children.
The more they read the files, the heavier their hearts became. These beloved and respected women were murdered by demons, leaving behind a bloody accusation.
A monk said, "This demon preys on beautiful and virtuous women. The county magistrate should inform the rest of the county and have them be on guard."
The county magistrate gave a wry smile and said, "The daughters of Lanzhu are so beautiful, and they carry the legacy of the painters. They have always valued virtue. How can we prevent this? If word gets out, I'm afraid everyone will be in danger, and it will lead to disaster."
The monk sighed and said, "I made a mistake."
Taoist Master Luo said, "Although we can't pass the news to the county, we can wait and see."
Taoist Priest Luo looked at the county magistrate and said, "I remember your daughter was known as the talented woman of Shanyin. She was also kind and generous, and her kindness had long been praised by people."
The county magistrate was furious and asked, "How dare you use my daughter as bait?"
Daoist Luo sighed, "It's not that I'm using your daughter as bait, but your daughter's reputation is well-known, and that demon will sooner or later become interested in her."
The county magistrate seemed to have aged a dozen years. He said, "I'll go back and discuss it with her and tell you."
After leaving the county government office, the other fellow Taoists sighed, "Senior Luo shouldn't have said that. If something really happened to the county magistrate's beloved daughter, I'm afraid he would take his anger out on you."
Taoist Luo said, "I have no selfish motives. The county magistrate is wise and upright and will not blame me for this."
"I'm afraid he won't be able to get over this."
Taoist Priest Luo said, "Capturing that demon is the most important thing. Otherwise, if I hadn't said this, wouldn't she have been targeted?"
"You're right. I just hope we can find the demon as soon as possible to prevent more people from being harmed."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
