Chapter 55 Blasphemy 4. Please, show leniency and spare Mingxin...
Chu Shenxiang was completely unaware of the chaos that had erupted at the Shen family home early that morning.
He withdrew his divine sense and stopped paying attention to the Shen family's affairs. Sending Shen Mingxin back was already outside the plan, and he suspected that his actions were due to the humanity that had just returned to his spiritual sea. However, considering the Shen family's twenty years of prosperity, he went along with it and wouldn't care about anything else.
Having rid herself of troubles and cleansed the statue of the deity, Chu Shenxiang sank into the depths and fell asleep once more.
This sleep might last another twelve years, or even longer; who knows?
Such a long slumber was actually quite dangerous for a mountain deity like him, whose worship was dwindling and whose lineage could end at any moment, but Chu Shenxiang didn't care. What difference did it make whether he was dead or alive? Nothingness.
He slept soundly.
He thought that after this sleep, when he opened his eyes again, the world would have changed completely, but to his surprise, before a day had even passed, he was woken up again. And the one who woke him up was once again his adopted younger brother, Shen Mingxin.
"It's so hot..."
"Brother, I'm so hot..."
Just after midnight, a low, hoarse, and urgent voice called out.
A hot, fiery hand climbed up Chu Shenxiang's waist and abdomen.
Chu Shenxiang lowered her eyes and saw the young man, barely twenty years old, dressed in a red robe with wide sleeves, crawling into her arms, his clothes soaking wet.
If this person was still human yesterday, then today it seems as if he has shed the physical form created by fireworks and become a spirit.
Except for the red robe he wore, his clothes were falling off, revealing his bare skin as he moved. His long, slender, white legs and jet-black hair clung to his shoulders, back, waist, and hips, the ends of which were soaked. His body was supple and graceful, like a water snake that had just swum up from rippling water.
Beneath the soft red, the black is extremely black, and the white is extremely white.
Her already radiant face flushed with a rosy hue, glistening with sweat, her skin reddened, her beauty astonishing, as if she had already suffered unspeakable torment the moment she touched him.
But tonight, clearly nothing has even begun.
Chu Shenxiang was astonished.
Feeling the intense heat clinging to the statue, far greater than yesterday, he paused for a moment before belatedly realizing what was happening.
High fever.
He thought the man must have a fever.
Yes, last night I was completely naked, lingering on the cold stone statue for a long time, my body covered in sweat that kept drying and then regenerating. In the end, I was exhausted and weak, and then I stood in the cold wind and rain of early autumn for more than an hour. If I haven't fallen ill yet, that would be truly remarkable.
It's rare for someone who's sick to be driven by evil spirits to sneak here and avoid being seen.
However, the evil was swept away during the day, so how come it has reappeared in the blink of an eye?
Chu Shenxiang had seen evil spirits before, but this was the first time she had actually dealt with one.
His dark blue eyes, like deep fog in the mountains, scrutinized Shen Mingxin without revealing his emotions. Only when Shen Mingxin was deeply moved, his back trembling and rippling with fine waves, did he use his divine sense to pick up a bit of fresh water and examine its details.
"It doesn't seem to be a simple contamination, but rather a parasitic infection, with the scent of incense lurking beneath..."
Chu Shenxiang noticed the difference.
His adopted brother seems to have been chosen as a sacrifice by some demon or wild god, and has been infected with the seed of incense. When the evil deeds are rampant, he will be transformed into a human sacrifice and have his heart and lungs ripped out on the altar where the demon or wild god is offered.
Last night, Chu Shenxiang didn't pay much attention to this evil spirit and didn't notice this detail.
It seems that to completely resolve this scandalous trouble, we must remove the seed of incense.
Judging solely from his divine sense, Shen Mingxin appeared to be completely normal, both in his physical body and soul.
The incense seeds were indeed hidden.
Chu Shenxiang pondered for a moment, and when Shen Mingxin recovered and came to kiss her again, she slowly flicked her knuckles.
The statue glowed with a shimmering light, and a half-real, half-illusory shadow of azure rock rippled out.
That was an arm.
It stands straight and strong, long and powerful, shrouded in a green sleeve, surrounded by clouds and mist, filled with the desolate coldness of the mountains and fields, devoid of blood and untouched by human presence.
It looked as if it hadn't moved in a long time and was not used to it. When it was first raised, it was stiff and twisted, extremely unnatural, making the protruding, very clear veins and bone lines on the back of the hand look a bit strange.
This handsome yet enigmatic hand clamped Shen Mingxin's face askew, covering even her mouth and nose, which were exhaling hot, moist air.
Shen Mingxin let out a very soft groan, her breathing becoming rapid.
Chu Shenxiang ignored her and pressed her index and middle fingers against Shen Mingxin's tongue, which had not yet retracted, and slid it inward.
With his current divine power, his divine sense is still somewhat limited. There are always places he cannot see inside through his physical body. If he wants to see completely, he still needs to borrow some power.
My fingers melted in the even hotter lips and teeth.
They transformed into countless fine vines, like spider silk, clustering together and growing rapidly, swiftly climbing over the soft tongue and slender throat, growing deeper and deeper.
"Hmm!"
Shen Mingxin trembled, and his throat tightened to the size of a pinhole in an instant.
He reached for Chu Shenxiang's hand, pulled back, and fell backward, instinctively struggling.
Chu Shenxiang glanced at him, and four black arms around her immediately slithered over like pythons, grabbing Shen Mingxin's hands and feet and locking him tightly.
Shen Mingxin was unable to move, imprisoned on the altar by dark arms. His mouth was wide open, tears welled in the corners of his eyes, and he let out mournful cries. His empty, dreamlike expression was filled with unbearable trembling.
Chu Shenxiang acted as if she hadn't seen anything, and continued to investigate.
Lungs, heart, stomach, intestines...
As if it had a life force, the slender vines grew wildly, crawling from his throat to his internal organs, over every inch of Shen Mingxin's flesh and blood. The dense web invaded his chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and blood vessels, swelling and filling them completely.
Before the arrogant young master was even sacrificed by the villains, he seemed to have already become someone to be manipulated by the gods before him. His skin, his bones and blood, from the inside out, were covered with fine vines transformed from the gods, and if he stayed any longer, flowers would bloom from the cracks in his bones.
Under the immense, inhuman impact, those dark eyes gradually dimmed.
Shen Mingxin stared blankly at the pitiful yet eerie statue before her. After a moment, she suddenly bit her lip hard, her teeth trembling, and her whole body shook violently.
"Found it."
Chu Shenxiang's brow twitched.
He released his grip, using a thin vine to unfurl the illusory, gray incense seed. A foul stench emanated from it; the seed was contaminated with too much mortal evil, making the incense extremely impure. Unable to discern its origin, he lightly flicked his fingertips and dispersed it.
Although it's unknown where Shen Mingxin offended these people, demons and evil gods usually choose human sacrifices in batches, so one more or one less Shen Mingxin wouldn't make a difference. Shen Mingxin is nothing special, and even if he's lost this time, most of them wouldn't care.
In this way, the trouble is truly over.
Chu Shenxiang breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't care about life or death, gods or humans, or purity or impurity, but he also didn't want to be forced to wake up at midnight every day and be rubbed by a smooth and soft body.
After dealing with this matter, Chu Shenxiang turned her gaze to her sworn brother.
He had already fainted; if it weren't for the black arm supporting him, he would have collapsed to his knees long ago, his knees bruised.
"It's even dirtier now."
Chu Shenxiang scrutinized her coldly.
He acted just in time tonight, causing trouble only twice, yet things still turned out this way.
Chu Shenxiang raised her hand, and a gentle breeze arose within the hall, sweeping over Shen Mingxin's body and clothes, as well as the area around the statue. Large swaths of water and the few patches of pale yellow were cleansed away, leaving everything looking brand new.
Just like yesterday, Chu Shenxiang used her divine sense to transform into a white cat and send the person back.
Chu Shenxiang felt that everything was fine, and indeed it was. The second, third, fourth, and even fifth nights after that, Shen Mingxin did not come again.
The small temple once again became empty and desolate, devoid of any vibrant life or color.
Chu Shenxiang gazed at the futon beneath the altar, her indifferent eyes remaining still for a long time before finally falling asleep peacefully.
However, this slumber was not peaceful.
Perhaps it was because of the clamor of humanity that followed her return, or perhaps it was for something else; in any case, even Chu Shenxiang, a goddess, began to dream.
In the dream, there were crows and rotting rats, bones scattered everywhere, and armored cavalry dragging long swords, harvesting diseased wheat stalks, cutting off the heads of displaced people in droves. In another moment, there was soft, white skin, and hazy red clothes. The sleepwalking prince looked dazed, his face red and tears streaming down his face.
Rotten, sweet; eerie, sensual; bloody and cruel, alluring and seductive—
A jumbled mess of images, a frantic jumble of memories, a beauty clinging to a corpse for warmth, her lips and tongue sprouting endless spiderwebs.
Chu Shenxiang reached out, as if to grab something, but was interrupted by a stick of incense that emitted an unusual aroma.
The dream dissipated, and Chu Shenxiang silently opened her eyes.
The once empty temple now has a person inside.
It wasn't Shen Mingxin, but Shen Mingxin's grandfather, Shen Zhuan.
He knelt in the temple for an unknown amount of time, during which many incense sticks burned out. Each time a stick burned out, he would light another, cutting his wrists to offer his blood, then devoutly kowtowing until his forehead bled.
"...We've summoned countless doctors from Xiling County, but they all shook their heads, saying there was nothing they could do and that we should prepare for the worst. But Mingxin is so young, having just come of age not long ago. How could a mere cold take his life? I dare to guess that you've come to collect a debt."
Shen Zhuan raised his face, tears streaming down his face, his eyes pleading as he looked at the statue: "God Xiangjun above, this old man dares not speak presumptuously, but if you truly wish to collect debts, please take my life. Mingxin was truly dragged down by me back then; I was the foolish one, and I was the greedy one..."
"Please, show leniency and let Mingxin off the hook!"
Chu Shenxiang frowned.
He was trying to decipher the meaning behind Shen Zhuan's words, but he was a little confused.
Six days ago, Shen Mingxin caught a cold, but instead of recovering, it got worse and he was going to die? Shen Zhuan came up to him not to ask for help to save him, but to ask him to let Shen Mingxin go. He said he would collect the debt from him instead.
Account?
What makes you even talking about this?
Chu Shenxiang had no idea that he had any debts with the Shen family. He had lost some of his memories, but that did not include the past twenty years.
Shen Zhuan offered incense with his blood and continued for another half an hour until he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Only then was he forcibly helped away by the old steward who was waiting outside the door.
Before leaving, with his eyes still blurry, he tossed the divination blocks and asked about the contents of the cup.
The two divination blocks are both facing forward, their meaning regarding deities is unclear.
Shen Zhuan gave the old steward a pitiful, bitter laugh: "It's all my fault!"
The old butler sighed, his face also furrowed with worry: "Master, if things are uncertain, then there's still a chance..."
"No need for words of comfort," Shen Zhuan said tremulously. "Go back... and send someone to call Chou Ge'er back. Mingxin probably won't make it through the night. From now on, the Shen family will truly be entrusted to him..."
"If only I had known then what I know now, I would never have... Sigh, sigh!"
Amidst his bitter lamentations, Shen Zhuan was half-supported and half-carried away from the small temple.
Chu Shenxiang glanced at the hunched figure walking away and brushed away the blood-stained incense ash.
This is karmic energy; he won't accept it.
After doing this, he closed his eyes again, remaining still and silent.
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Author's note: Celebrating 5k nutrient solution points will be announced in a couple of days [glasses emoji].
I've been busy with work lately, and being a stingy author, I don't want to release too many drafts, so there will be a slight delay. [Hands clasped in prayer]
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