Chapter 22
Because of the Gou family's situation, the three of them rested for a few days. Taking advantage of this time, they went out to investigate the source of the dense fog. On their way to the cemetery, the fog reappeared in Jianye Town.
During the previous foggy periods, the group had remained within Jianye Town, and to maintain a low profile, they had not revealed their identities. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that there were no people on the road today, Shi Yunzhou flew into the air on his sword and observed the situation for a while.
As they came down, Xiao Mu asked, "What did you see?"
“This dense fog only exists in Jianye Town, and…” Shi Yunzhou couldn’t finish his sentence.
Xiao Mu was completely confused, but Zhou Xuanzhi understood what Zhou Xuanzhi meant: "When there is fog, some people will be murdered."
"So, they came from this cemetery." Zhou Xuanzhi turned around and looked at the cemetery filled with resentment, feeling that something was amiss.
A slight noise came from the cemetery, so they moved away and concealed their presence. Just then, they saw some women dressed in wedding gowns emerge from the cemetery. They had several bloody holes in their bodies, blood constantly flowing from their mouths, their faces were deathly pale, and some even had their mouths sewn shut.
The horrific state of these girls before their deaths unfolded before them, their faces contorted with intense resentment.
Just then, a dark shadow swept through the air. The three of them hid in waist-high grass, not daring to show their faces. Through the gaps in the grass, they could see the shadow sucking the resentment of the women, who seemed to have willingly allowed themselves to be consumed.
These women suffered such a fate; if they can't be reincarnated, then there's no justice. But if the resentment within them isn't resolved, they can't be reincarnated. And you can't just help them kill people, can you?
Some of these women are over two hundred years old. Those who harmed them have been reincarnated as humans, while these women are still here, trapped in a small grave.
"This is difficult," Shi Yunzhou said coldly. Each of these people harbors different resentments. Besides them, there's another "expert" in Jianye Town; it's unknown whether this "expert" is also involved in the ghost marriage.
"What do we do now?" Xiao Mu asked.
In short, there are many things to do, but the most pressing issue right now is the Zhang family's matter. Zhou Xuanzhi said in a deep voice, "Let's resolve the Zhang family's matter first."
Looking at the scene before him, Xiao Mu wondered if there was a better way, especially with the Gou family, whom he couldn't quite figure out, involved.
At night, no one in the Zhang family could sleep well. The dream-eating tapir, perched on the roof, was quite content. This was something the cultivator had ordered it to do; no one would catch it at this time anymore, and it could finally feast for a while. Life was very comfortable.
Looking at the small beast lying on the roof, Shi Yunzhou raised an eyebrow. He pointed to the Dream Eater above and said, "Don't you have anything to say?"
Dream-eating tapirs feed on people's nightmares. Sometimes they create nightmares for people so they can have a good meal. However, because they are too weak, they usually dare not do so openly. Fortunately, these kinds of monsters only give people one night of nightmares.
“The situation in Jianye Town cannot be resolved overnight; we cannot remain here indefinitely. Although the method is somewhat excessive, it is very effective.” Zhou Xuanzhi listened to the family having nightmares and felt that the Zhang family's matter should be resolved in less than a month.
The arrival of the three had already been noticed by the Dream Eater on the roof. Upon hearing the conversation between Shi Yunzhou and Zhou Xuanzhi, it immediately sat up, no longer displaying its smug demeanor.
Looking at the Dream Eater that had already sat up, Shi Yunzhou asked, "Where did it come from?"
Xiao Mu looked around and, seeing no one, replied in a low voice, "Guanxiang Peak, I went there for training before I came down the mountain."
Even though Tianyu Mountain explicitly forbids it, some people still secretly keep these harmless little beasts. Hundreds of years ago, there were even people who secretly kept ferocious beasts, but when the beasts ran away to play, they were discovered and sent back to Guanxiang Peak.
The disciple who secretly kept the ferocious beast was punished with thirty years of solitary confinement. After that, no one on Tianyu Mountain kept ferocious beasts anymore. They changed their targets and started secretly keeping small animals.
As long as it's not discovered by the sect, it's not a big problem. Besides, it's just a dream-eating beast like a tapir, which can only give people nightmares.
Zhou Xuanzhi looked at the little beast on the roof that was about to cry, nodded and said, "It's just a little dream-eating tapir, it won't cause any trouble."
Guanxiang Peak is not a place where a small beast like the Dream Eater can survive. Not to mention there are no mortals there, there are so many demonic beasts and ferocious monsters that the Dream Eater would be eaten sooner or later. The Enforcement Elder wouldn't be idle enough to drag people to Guanxiang Peak to count the demonic beasts.
"Whatever makes you happy." Shi Yunzhou's gaze towards the Dream Eater was extremely fierce, causing the Dream Eater to tremble in fear. It nodded; it knew that a full meal was good enough, and having a cultivator's protection gave it an extra layer of safety.
The people in the room kept waking up and falling asleep, sleeping and waking up. The nightmare had tormented them for days, and they hadn't been sleeping well and had little energy during the day.
Even when the cultivator arrived, he couldn't discern anything. The eldest daughter-in-law was truly at her breaking point; she desperately wanted to tell the cultivator that it was because a girl in the family had been killed to arrange a ghost marriage for her younger brother, and this girl had come for revenge.
The monk came again that day, saying he had found some methods that could help them get a good night's sleep. However, the reason why the female ghost appeared in the courtyard still needed to be investigated, and he hoped they would cooperate.
Hearing this, the eldest daughter-in-law really wanted to tell the monk the truth.
But her husband seemed to have seen through her thoughts. Every time she tried to approach the monk, he would pull her back into the room and whisper, "If you want us to die, just say so."
Upon hearing her husband's words, she asked, her eyes swollen with dark circles, "Why have we become like this? Because we killed someone."
The eldest son gripped his wife's arm tightly, his eyes glaring with murderous intent. "You killed someone to arrange a ghost marriage for my brother. Don't forget, you were involved too. You were the one who held her down, preventing her from moving. Have you forgotten all that?"
The eldest daughter-in-law was naturally not afraid of the threat. Everyone was involved in this matter, and no one was going to escape. She also said, "Don't forget, it was your brother who pestered you day and night, wanting you to kill Ye Lingxi to be his wife. It was because you couldn't stand it that you killed that girl!"
"Are you all alright..." Before the eldest daughter-in-law could finish speaking, her husband shook off her hand and pointed at her as he left the room, saying, "Try saying that if you dare."
The woman regretted her decision now that she saw the man like this. She regretted marrying into Jianye Town, and she lay on the bed crying.
After hearing what the Zhang couple said in the courtyard, Xiao Mu was furious. Couldn't they find a cultivator to deal with his younger brother? But since he was the cultivator who had rescued their family, he didn't show it on his face.
Zhou Xuanzhi, who was not far away, knew what they were thinking. He said, "That's his younger brother. Family scandals shouldn't be aired in public. Does he want everyone to know that his deceased brother is eyeing someone else's fiancée?"
Shi Yunzhou had seen too many things like this before. He shook his head and said, "In the end, they themselves know that they were the ones who made the mistake. They have a spoiled youngest son and an eldest son who only knows how to obey his parents."
The two men, who had been hiding, felt sorry for the woman after witnessing the couple's outburst. They thought it would be better for her to divorce now, return to her parents' home, and then have nothing to do with what happened here. However, they also considered that this woman was indirectly responsible for Ye Lingxi's death, and they felt she didn't deserve any sympathy.
The monk was searching for something, then looked at the elderly couple and asked, "Are you sure you want to tell me the truth?"
The old man looked at the cultivator and said firmly, "It's the truth."
Xiao Mu sneered. He hadn't slept well for days, and he was still being stubborn. None of the families he'd encountered during his training trip down the mountain were like this; they all spoke their minds, even complaining that he hadn't said enough. This family didn't utter a single truth. He really did resemble Shi Yunzhou, always speaking with a cold face.
He pursed his lips and said helplessly, "I don't have any solutions for now. You'll have to find someone else who can help you!"
He was about to leave when the old man objected. He grabbed Xiao Mu's sleeve and said, "I spent money here, aren't you going to solve this for me? Then give me my money back."
The monk took out a money pouch from his robes and handed it to the old man, saying, "Here's all the money. Go find the others!"
The person who received the money weighed it in their hand; it was more than double the amount of silver they had given before, so they considered it a good deal. They would go out and find a more reliable person tomorrow.
Just as Xiao Mu was about to leave, he turned back to look at the old man and kindly advised, "If you're unwilling to tell the truth about your family's affairs, then don't bother looking for those reputable cultivators."
The old man almost cursed, saying that those from humble backgrounds were useless and that they should invite those from prestigious sects.
“Cultivators from reputable sects have their own principles for doing things. If you are unwilling to tell me the truth, would you dare to tell the truth to those people?” The cultivator’s voice grew colder and colder, almost freezing people in place.
Upon hearing the cultivator's words, the old man was indeed frozen in shock. He had invited them here; even without saying a word, they would find out the truth themselves. Besides, the women were trapped in coffins; finding her would be easy.
The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became. The old man almost sat down on the ground. His wife saw this and quickly helped him up, asking, "What are you thinking about?"
He grabbed his wife's hand, looked at his eldest son who had just come out of the side room, and thought of the woman who had been troubling the family every day. He made a vicious decision in his heart: "Go to the cemetery later, dig that woman up and burn her."
"What are you saying?" The old woman naturally disagreed. Her son and this woman were buried in the same pit, and throwing out the woman's coffin would disturb her son's peace.
The old man paid no attention to what others were saying. He looked at his eldest son and said, "Go get the pickaxe and shovel. Let's go now."
"Dad, what's wrong with you?" The eldest son looked at his father, who seemed a little out of sorts, as if he were possessed.
He pulled his son aside and whispered in his ear, "The monk just said that this kind of thing will be discovered. We can't let anyone know."
The monk from before didn't seem to have said that. The eldest son thought his father might be a little mentally unstable from the torment he had been through these past two days, so he coaxed him, "Okay, but we have to do some heavy work in a bit, so we need to rest first, and then we'll go later."
He then helped his elderly father into the room, laid him on the bed, and went out to find a doctor.
Xiao Mu disguised himself as an unknown wandering cultivator and completed this act. After leaving the house, he went to a deserted alley, concealed himself, and met with Zhou Xuanzhi and Shi Yunzhou.
Shi Yunzhou crossed his arms and looked at the Zhang family members who were still inside the room, quite satisfied: "It seems that Ye Lingxi's matter will be resolved soon."
The three of them stood together, looking into the Zhang family's courtyard. For a long time, there was no movement, and the quiet was somewhat unsettling.
Xiao Mu was somewhat worried. The old man of the Zhang family had been dealt with, but he hadn't expected his eldest son, who always listened to his parents, to disobey them. He asked, "The Zhang family isn't going to skip the cemetery, are they?"
If we don't go, won't all our efforts be wasted?
Zhou Xuanzhi was also a little worried; this situation shouldn't have happened. Even though he was anxious inside, he maintained a calm demeanor and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, just wait a little longer."
Shi Yunzhou glanced at the two anxious people and said, "We were wrong. The eldest son of this family doesn't care about his parents; he cares about himself."
If things really escalated to the authorities, his eldest son would likely face dire consequences, possibly even imprisonment. He knew what he wanted, and he wouldn't allow himself to find himself in such a precarious situation.
This idea was proposed by Xiao Mu. He looked at Shi Yunzhou and was about to say something when he noticed something happening at the Zhang family.
Zhang's eldest daughter-in-law wiped away her tears, went outside, and looked at the empty courtyard, her eyes vacant, seemingly lost in thought.
She had vaguely overheard some of what the cultivator had said. All of this was orchestrated by Ye Lingxi, and she herself was one of the murderers who killed Ye Lingxi. They even wanted to dig up that girl from the Ye family—she'd been buried for a year, and they were still causing this trouble!
If something happens to them one day, will they treat me the same way they treated Ye Lingxi?
“This eldest daughter-in-law is someone we can target.” Shi Yunzhou heard the voice coming from his eldest daughter-in-law’s room, and he had also observed the person.
“I will stay by her side for the next few days to ensure her safety,” Zhou Xuanzhi said.
Shi Yunzhou dismissed Zhou Xuanzhi's claim, saying, "The Gou family knows who you are. If they see you following behind her, her safety will be hard to guarantee."
He glanced sideways at the Dream Eater watching the commotion from the rooftop and said, "You need to ensure her safety recently. If anything happens to her, I'll send you back to Guanxiang Peak."
The Dream Eater nodded immediately upon seeing Shi Yunzhou and extended its claws to indicate that it swore it would definitely handle the matter well.
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