Chapter Fifty-Four: Ghostly Shadows of the Western Garden
Without needing to listen to Luo Qi and his wife's nauseating conversation any longer, Rong Jiang could tell from the filthy aura of resentment and bloodlust emanating from Yue Niang that this family was rotten to the core.
That seemingly gentle and docile face formed an extremely distorted contrast with the ruthless nature revealed within, truly embodying the saying "all that glitters is not gold, but rotten cotton inside."
The information-packed conversation between the Luo couple left Jiu Ya speechless. She tugged at Rong Jiang's sleeve, her voice filled with disbelief as she transmitted her thoughts: "What do they mean by that? Could it be that the haunting female ghost... was actually a maid in their Luo household in her previous life?!"
Although phrased as a question, the tone was already quite certain. Even if she wasn't a maidservant born into the household, she was certainly connected to Luo Qi; it was his illicit affair that had caused her death. If she was truly persecuted to death by that couple, wouldn't it be perfectly natural for her to return as a vengeful ghost seeking retribution?
Rong Jiang's lips curled into a cold smile. "Whether it is true or not, we'll find out by asking the person in charge."
"But they've all become ghosts, and they've killed people, so they must be very fierce ghosts now, right? Can't they talk properly?" Jiu Ya subconsciously chimed in, about to say that ghosts are fierce and difficult to communicate with, but she suddenly stopped and almost bit her tongue—she had almost forgotten the identity of the person next to her! This was His Majesty the Underworld Emperor, who ruled over all ghosts! Making a few little ghosts respond was as simple and natural as breathing for him.
Ahem... Please forgive her, this transmigrator who grew up under the red flag and firmly believes in materialism. In her life, she has rarely seen ghosts, let alone watched horror movies. In the demon realm, she has only come into contact with demons, and her understanding of "ghosts" comes mainly from novels and movies. She has not developed a clear concept of them at all.
Rong Jiang seemed to sense her embarrassment, turned her head, and said with a hint of teasing in her eyes, "A-Jiu is also a cultivator with extraordinary cultivation. Have you never seen any ghosts or monsters during your travels?"
In her view, it is a natural law that people become ghosts after death and that old things become spirits. Unless the soul is scattered and the body and spirit are completely destroyed, it is common for living beings to become ghosts after death.
"Uh, well..." Jiu Ya blinked, her eyes darting around, pretending to be attracted by a huge golden Buddha's hand on the table in the room. She coughed twice and said in a serious tone, "To be honest, the cultivation path of my sect is rather... unique, focusing on tempering inner character and strength, quite different from Qing Yangzi's kind of person who specializes in catching ghosts and drawing talismans. So, we rarely provoke those things, and our knowledge in this area is indeed... somewhat lacking."
She readily admitted her "lack of knowledge" and tried her best to put on an arrogant air, as if to say, "We high-level cultivators don't play this game."
“Is that so?” Rong Jiang drawled out the last syllable, her phoenix eyes sparkling with amusement, but she didn’t expose him. “Then A-Jiu can broaden her horizons today and observe things closely.”
Jiuya immediately nodded her head like a chicken pecking at rice: "Looking forward to it! I'm really looking forward to it!" So what will she see today? A large-scale confrontation between humans and ghosts? Or His Majesty the Underworld Emperor conducting a trial of ghosts on the spot? Just thinking about it makes me a little excited!
Seeing her feigned curiosity and composure, Rong Jiang couldn't help but chuckle. This Demon Lord... was truly fascinating. "Qingyangzi will arrive before sunset. Before then, Ajiu, why don't you come with me to meet the 'client' here?"
There's no need to investigate Mrs. Luo and Mr. and Mrs. Luo Qi any further; they're full of lies and have ulterior motives. Next, it's time to hear the other side's "statement."
"Okay!" Jiu Ya agreed with unusually quickness. Sigh, she was the Demon Lord, ruling over all demons; was she afraid of a few little ghosts? ...Although she thought this, she secretly prayed that the images of those female ghosts wouldn't be too far beyond her imagination. She didn't want to relive the dark history of hiding under the covers at night reading horror novels, trembling with fear at the sight of demons described as bleeding from all seven orifices, with severed limbs and dragging long tongues, needing to sleep with the lights on. Her little heart was actually quite fragile.
Rong Jiang closed her eyes slightly, her divine sense spreading out like an invisible net, instantly locking onto her target. She raised her hand and pointed to the west side of the Luo residence: "The place with the strongest resentment is over there."
The two concealed themselves as they passed through pavilions and towers, arriving at the west side of the Luo residence. Here lay a small, exquisite garden, its vegetation clearly meticulously tended and exceptionally lush. Several ancient trees, some quite old, were covered in dense foliage, their massive canopies intertwining to cast expansive, thick shade. On a normal day, it would be a perfect spot to cool off in the summer.
"The Luo family is indeed very wealthy, owning such a large private garden in Linzi City." Jiu Ya looked at the size of the garden and clicked her tongue in amazement. This location is extremely valuable, and it is not something that ordinary wealthy families can afford. "The flowers and trees in this garden are very well taken care of, but... it feels very yin and chilly."
Even before she infiltrated the Luo residence, she sensed several chilling auras, distinct from both demons and the living. Combining this with Luo Qi's words, she knew it was ghostly energy. However, ghostly energy and demonic energy are ultimately different. Demonic energy tends to be violent, chaotic, or majestic, while ghostly energy is a pure aggregation of deathly stillness and resentment. She had never seen a ghost with her own eyes and knew little about it.
Standing here in the West Garden, the eerie ghostly aura seemed to solidify, chilling to the bone. Even without any malevolent spirits harming people, ordinary living people who stayed here for a long time would inevitably suffer damage to their yang energy, ranging from minor illnesses to shortened lifespans.
“Ah Jiu’s feeling was right.” Rong Jiang’s expression remained unchanged, her tone indifferent, as if the heavy resentment and yin energy were nothing more than ordinary fog. “The resentment here is entangled, and the grievances are not dispelled, which has formed a yin energy domain of its own.”
As she spoke with Jiu Ya, her thoughts subtly shifted. As the lord of all ghosts, her will was the highest summons. A vast and majestic aura quietly descended upon the garden, originating from the absolute authority of the underworld over all souls.
The next moment, the light in the garden seemed to dim slightly, and a cold wind swirled up a few fallen leaves. Under the shade of several of the most lush ancient trees, the air rippled like water, and several blurry figures gradually solidified and took shape.
"What happened?"
"How do we..."
Several women's bewildered voices rang out softly, seemingly not yet understanding why they had suddenly appeared in broad daylight. When they saw Jiu Ya and Rong Jiang standing not far away, they instinctively felt a surge of fear. They didn't recognize Rong Jiang, but the invisible pressure emanating from her made them tremble with awe from the depths of their souls.
Almost instinctively, the female ghosts knelt down in Rong Jiang's direction, their pale faces filled with awe and confusion. Not knowing how to address her, they could only timidly stammer, "Greetings..., Your Excellency?"
Over here, Jiu Ya suddenly saw several figures appear out of thin air. Despite being mentally prepared, she was still so frightened that she shrank back slightly, almost revealing herself.
She stared intently and saw several female ghosts, each with a different appearance. One of them wore a light blue, narrow-sleeved ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), her hair styled in simple double buns, with neatly hanging hair in front of her forehead. Only a simple silver-plated hairpin and a small pink velvet flower adorned her temples. Judging from her attire, she was likely a maidservant in the mansion. Apart from her deathly pale complexion and unnaturally bluish lips, her features were delicate and not much different from those of a living person. As a maidservant, her clothing could not exceed the prescribed limits, and the blue of her dress was extremely pale.
Beside them were two or three other female ghosts dressed in the same blue maid outfits, but their long hair was loose, covering part of their faces, and their clothes were soaked with large patches of dark red blood, which looked shocking.
The other two female ghosts appeared to be slightly older, around twenty years old. Their clothes were made of significantly more luxurious material; though plain in color, the embroidery was exquisite. They wore gold and jade hairpins in their hair, and their appearances were quite beautiful and graceful. However, dark red blood tears were slowly seeping from one of their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, while the other clutched her abdomen tightly with both hands, with copious amounts of blood gushing from between her fingers, staining her dress. Her expression was one of agony.
After seeing the appearances of these female ghosts, Jiu Ya was speechless for a moment. There wasn't the extremely terrifying scene of intestines being torn apart and limbs being shattered that she had imagined, but if these girls appeared together in the dead of night, staring at you eerily... that scene would be enough to make an ordinary person's soul fly away.
Rong Jiang did not object to the address "My Lord". Her gaze calmly swept over the kneeling female ghosts, and her voice was cold, yet it carried a reassuring power: "Are you all people of the Luo family?"
The female ghosts exchanged glances and, after some discussion, decided to choose the one with the most presentable clothes and bleeding from all seven orifices as their representative to speak.
The female ghost bowed gracefully, her voice soft. If it weren't for the blood and tears constantly flowing down her face, she would surely have been a gentle and beautiful woman: "Replying to Your Excellency, my name is Zhang, and I was originally... the concubine of Minister Luo."
"The Minister? That's Luo Qi's father?" Jiu Ya whispered to Rong Jiang. The position of Minister was at least a second-rank official in ancient times, and given Luo Qi's age, it was indeed unlikely that he would hold such a position.
Upon hearing the name "Luo Qi," the female ghost Zhang visibly trembled, and the tears of blood in her eyes flowed even faster. She whispered, "Yes... Minister, he is indeed the father of the eldest son, Luo Qi."
"Where are the others?" Rong Jiang's gaze remained fixed on Zhang Shi, her tone steady yet carrying an undeniable authority, as if she needed to know the identities and grievances of all those involved.
Zhang raised her trembling hand and first pointed to the female ghost beside her whose abdomen was bleeding profusely: "This is Sister Tao, she... she is also a concubine of the Minister." Then, she pointed to the four female ghosts in green, "This is Dongxiang, this is Xuemei, this is Qiuju, this is Zhushu... they, they are all maids in the courtyard of the eldest son Luo Qi."
Well, they were all from the Luo family, and judging from their deaths, none of them looked like they had died peacefully of old age.
Rong Jiang nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the female ghosts, her tone suddenly turning stern, "Since you are already dead, why don't you enter the underworld for reincarnation? Instead, you linger in the mortal realm, stained with blood, and harming people's lives?!" She looked at the garden filled with resentment, "Yin and Yang have their order, life and death have their laws! If you have committed sins for no reason and harmed the innocent, then don't blame me for immediately scattering your souls and preventing you from ever being reborn!"
These words carried immense pressure, causing the female ghosts to tremble. However, upon hearing the latter half of the sentence, especially the words "unjustified sins" and "harming the innocent," a glimmer of light appeared in the ghosts' dim eyes—this lord was not killing them indiscriminately, but giving them a chance to plead their grievances.
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