Chapter 30
The two members of the Gou family had already begun to take action.
Ding Jiangyi seems to have forgotten that the initial talisman sheets used in this array were Zhou Xuanzhi's own. When Zhou Xuanzhi opened a crack in the array, the two puppets transformed into two figures, sitting in the center of the array, seemingly chatting.
When the two came out, they went to the room of the Gou family master. There were some things they needed to ask, and they also needed to let the Gou family know that these Ding fellows had no good intentions.
Resurrecting Gou Tingxuan? They weren't that kind-hearted. Besides, the cost of resurrecting someone who had been dead for so long was too high, something the Gou family couldn't afford.
Disguised as servants, they wandered around the courtyard for a long time without finding the master of the Gou family because they were unfamiliar with its layout.
The Gou family, including those few surnamed Ding, can only use magic on themselves to change their aura. They absolutely cannot use magic to wander around the Gou family. If they are discovered, all their previous efforts will be in vain.
Not knowing where they had wandered off to, the two decided to stop and rest for a while.
Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Xuanzhi said anxiously, thinking of the previous plan, "Junior Brother Xiao should act now."
There are over a hundred wronged souls in the cemetery. To dispel their resentment would take Xiao Mu at least ten days to half a month, even with his strength. He could only hope that the man surnamed Ding hadn't discovered the situation in the cemetery yet. So, they didn't have much time left. It was also tough on Xiao Mu; his injuries hadn't fully healed, and he had to go and eliminate the resentment.
So everyone split into two groups. They went to the Gou family and confronted Ding Jiangyi and his group head-on. Everyone suspected that Ding Jiangyi and his group were the ones who were using this resentment.
"Let's move around too!" Shi Yunzhou had just observed some maids, and those who were dressed better must serve their masters. He pointed in a direction and said, "Let's go take a look over there." The group of maids had all said they came out from that direction.
Zhou Xuanzhi pulled Shi Yunzhou back, still somewhat uneasy, "Are you sure Ding Jiangyi and the others aren't in the main house?"
Having forgotten about that, Shi Yunzhou thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we split up?"
It seems there's no other way now. Zhou Xuanzhi released Shi Yunzhou's hand: "Be careful."
They're already struggling to even defeat Ding Jiangyi, let alone the one who hasn't yet shown his true strength.
"Okay, I will. Be careful too."
"If you find anything amiss, don't linger in the fight," Zhou Xuanzhi instructed again.
So Zhou Xuanzhi headed in the direction of the Gou family couple. Shi Yunzhou looked around, as they still hadn't figured out the Gou family's location, and they didn't know where the Ding brothers were.
Watching his senior brother's departing figure, Shi Yunzhou mustered his courage and set out to find their location, hoping to rescue Miss Ma. He would then return directly to the Illusionary Sea; he refused to believe they would dare chase him there!
There were indeed some maids and servants on the way to the main house, but they were all busy with their own things and no one paid any attention to this unfamiliar face.
Finally arriving at the main house, he looked around before entering. There were no magical restrictions or formations set up. This showed that Ding Jiangyi and his group had come for their own selfish reasons; otherwise, setting up a formation near the main house would have been a simple matter.
They hadn't even set up a single formation, which showed that the Gou couple weren't very important to them. However, this was actually quite convenient for them, making their actions easier.
Zhou Xuanzhi took out the magical artifact left by his master from his bosom. This artifact was a jade pendant, but it was engraved with complex runes.
The formation activated, covering the entire main house.
This magical artifact was crafted by Master Zuo during his prime, with the help of Senior Uncle Zuo. Ding Jiangyi and the others naturally had little chance of detecting it, but there are always exceptions. Zhou Xuanzhi waited outside for a while, and seeing no movement, before entering the Gou family couple's room.
In their childhood, in his spare time from instructing himself and his junior brothers in magic and swordsmanship, their master would research and improve some magic techniques or magical artifacts. At that time, the pots and pans on the back mountain had some new uses, and they had to be careful when using them, otherwise they might explode.
Countless bowls exploded while they were eating, injuring people a few times. At that time, their master was fasting, but they were young and needed to eat. Bowls exploded every day, and they even suspected that their master was doing it on purpose.
"No one needs to serve you here, you can leave!" The two people in the room didn't even look up. The lady was looking at her son's portrait, and the master was looking at the account books on the table.
But after saying this, he didn't hear anyone leave. Only then did Master Gou look up at the newcomer. However, there were too many servants in the house, and he hadn't recognized them all yet. In addition, there were some cultivators in the Gou family recently, so he really couldn't recognize the person in front of him.
So he repeated, "Go outside and wait!"
Zhou Xuanzhi then spoke: "I am Zhou Xuanzhi of Tianyu Mountain."
Upon hearing that they were from Tianyu Mountain, the old couple finally looked at them properly. The removal of their pretense and the revelation of their true faces made Old Master Gou sit back down in his chair.
"Is it you?" Madam Gou was quite calm. Two people had come to the Gou family before, but they only took Miss Ma away.
Unlike his wife, the master was not calm. He was determined to bring his son back to life, no matter the cost. As he looked at Madam Gou, he rushed out the door shouting, "Help! Help!"
Zhou Xuanzhi looked at the people shouting outside the door and said leisurely, "Stop shouting, there's no one here. Ding Jiangyi and the others can't hear you."
After waiting for a long time without anyone coming, Master Gou gave up on the idea of finding someone to rescue him. He walked up to Zhou Xuanzhi and asked fiercely, "What exactly do you want?"
"What do you want? Why involve innocent people?" Zhou Xuanzhi felt very guilty for not being able to save Miss Ma before.
Upon hearing Zhou Xuanzhi's question, Master Gou seemed to realize something and regained his composure. He calmly replied, "What do you mean 'innocent'? This woman's father doesn't want her anymore. Who are you to her? What right do you have to stand here?"
Indeed, they have no right to be treated this way; that's just how this era is. A girl's life isn't in her own hands, but in the hands of her father, and her future will be in the hands of her husband—it's never in her own. Girls who can escape this fate are truly fortunate.
Looking at Master Gou, Zhou Xuanzhi suddenly thought of her master. Her master had also encountered a similar situation before, and she couldn't understand it at the time, but later she figured it out.
“We have no right, and neither do you. Even if she was a slave you bought, you still have no right to kill her.” Zhou Xuanzhi approached Master Gou step by step. “Even if we go to the government to reason with them, we will still be in the right.”
Since his family is not satisfied, then we will use their mortal rules to restrain and threaten him.
"You cultivators are really annoying. What does my family's business have to do with you? Why do you keep harping on my family?" He laughed as he said this. "This woman's father didn't care about her after death. Who are you to her?"
"It's her honor that she risked her life to bring my son back." Old Master Gou was no longer rational and was capable of saying anything.
Seeing the madman of Master Gou, Zhou Xuanzhi sighed, "Are you so sure that it will be Gou Tingxuan who comes back?"
Gou Tingxuan has been dead for so long. Even if he hasn't been reincarnated, he should be waiting in line to be reborn. How could a few cultivators just pull his soul out of the underworld like that? Do they really think the ghost messengers are just sitting around doing nothing? Besides, his son and Miss Ma's destinies are incompatible. How could they possibly use her life to bring Gou Tingxuan's life back?
"They expended so many resources and so much power just to resurrect your son? What did you give them? Was what you gave them worth such a huge price?" With each question Zhou Xuanzhi asked, the Gou family patriarch's suspicions grew. What he could give was utterly mundane in the eyes of cultivators, of no benefit to their cultivation.
Taking advantage of this moment, Zhou Xuanzhi approached Madam Gou. He knew that this lady still had a shred of kindness left. "Madam, Miss Ma is innocent."
Thinking of that poor girl, she felt a pang of heartache. That night, the plan was to extract the girl's soul and then make her be buried with her son; if it weren't for the sudden appearance of this person, the girl would have died.
"What do you want to know?" Madam Gou was now able to accept that her son was no longer alive.
"Where did you find these cultivators?" Zhou Xuanzhi really wanted to know where these people were, since their purpose was not pure.
"We didn't seek them out; they came to us." Madam Gou ignored her husband's reddened eyes and gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Where would a family like ours find a cultivator with such power?"
“They came to my door, saying they could resurrect my son.” She became more and more ashamed as she spoke, and slowly lowered her head. “He was my only son…” she said, and began to sob.
That was her son. She would pay any price, including her own life, to bring him back to life. When those cultivators offered to exchange their lives for hers, she stepped forward without hesitation. But the cultivators refused to give their own lives; they had stipulated special destinies for them.
Then this young lady came to their home.
There are some things they didn't want to think about in detail, and now that they've been exposed, the strength that kept them going has disappeared.
“I don’t know what they want to do,” Madam Gou said, wiping away her tears. “They said they wanted that girl to arrange a ghost marriage for my son. Later, when you took the girl away, I was relieved, but then Master Ding came and said that only Miss Ma could bring my son back.”
“We really thought it was a ghost marriage. They only mentioned exchanging lives at the beginning. It was my fault, all my fault. If only I could have saved Tingxuan.”
Madam Gou's crying calmed Mr. Gou down as well.
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