Chapter 46
Meng Yingying rubbed her temples as she walked out the door. Xiao Zheyu was waiting for her outside. After seeing her, he paused for two seconds and asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Meng Yingying lowered her hand and replied, "It's nothing. Where's my senior brother?"
Xiao Zheyu glanced at her, put a finger to his lips and said, "It wasn't him who contacted you, it was me."
Meng Yingying asked in confusion, "Sister Xiao? What do you want to see me about?" Meng Yingying looked at her with suspicion in her eyes. She really couldn't think of anything Xiao Zheyu could want to see her about. Xiao Zheyu lowered her hand from her lips.
Xiao Zheyu asked, "Did you know that Zhou Xiuqi has a younger brother?"
Meng Yingying: "Younger brother?" Zhou Xiuqi has a younger brother. Could he be in this village?
Xiao Zheyu nodded, glanced around a few times, and said, "This is not the place to talk. Let me in."
Meng Yingying invited her in, and after they sat down, Xiao Zheyu told her about meeting Zhou Xiuqi's younger brother that day. Meng Yingying stroked her chin, thinking, but her mind was a complete mess. She raised her hand and pounded her head, saying that this was how she always became when she tried to think.
Whenever she tried to think about the things deep in her mind, she felt the fog obstructing her view. She frowned in annoyance and suppressed her discomfort to ask, "When I came up the mountain, my senior brother was already there. Perhaps only my master can give us an answer about what happened before he became a Taoist."
Xiao Zheyu heard her answer clearly. Meng Yuan was also unsure whether this younger brother was real or fake. If he was real, then Zhou Xiuqi had memories of this place. If he was fake, then where did the real Zhou Xiuqi go, and who was this Zhou Xiuqi?
Xiao Zheyu frowned, her eyes thoughtful. A chill ran down her spine, and she turned away. Meng Yingying had used magic to open the door, and the setting sun cast its orange-yellow glow. Her expression turned grim: "It's almost night again. This timing is wrong."
Xiao Zheyu: "The time in a day is getting shorter."
Night fell, and a cold wind swept through, making every door shake. Meng Yingying leaned against the door and asked, "Senior brother, is what we're doing really going to work?"
Zhou Xiuqi gripped the hilt of his sword: "I'll hold out as long as I can." As he spoke, he stepped forward to block the door, while the evil spirit trembled wildly at his waist, but Zhou Xiuqi paid no heed.
Kong Fusheng pushed the door open with both hands, looking up at the door: "Can you smell the stench of a corpse?"
Meng Yingying sniffed: "The smell of a corpse?"
Zhou Xiuqi frowned: "His nose is more sensitive than most people's. The corpse is getting close. Push it back with all your might."
Kong Fusheng gritted his teeth and exerted his strength. Beside him, Meng Yingying looked down and rummaged through her small purse. Then she pulled out a large stack of bright yellow papers from the purse and threw them into the air.
The talismans floated in the air as if they were free, and Kong Fusheng's mouth dropped open: "Senior Meng..."
Meng Yingying smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's a talisman I drew."
Kong Fusheng swallowed twice before saying, "It seems you touched the wrong talisman; none of these have been drawn."
As Meng Yingying said, "How could that be?" she slowly squatted down and picked up a blank sheet without any trace of cinnabar. She hurriedly said, "Kong Fusheng, quickly smell it with your nose, how much longer until we arrive!"
Kong Fusheng took a deep breath, almost fainting from the stench, and the next second a sound came from outside the door.
Bang bang bang—
Bang bang bang—
Meng Yingying gritted her teeth, turned around and leaned back against the wall, rummaging through her purse with one hand. She blamed herself for always carrying too many different things, and after searching for a long time, she still couldn't find anything.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" The banging on the door came in quick succession, and black hand shadows were imprinted on the window. Everyone held their breath and remained silent.
"Hey you guys inside, hurry up and get out, there's a fire!" Through the window, they couldn't see what was happening outside, they could only hear people saying there was a fire.
The shaking intensified, and people outside crowded against the door, pushing it so hard it was about to break through.
Zhou Xiuqi grew impatient and drew the Evil-Slaying Sword: "I'm not going to block anymore, I'll just kill him."
He has never been very patient, and this short time was already the limit of his patience.
Sizzle.
A hand tore through the window paper and slipped in, standing between Kong Fusheng and Meng Yingying. The hand moved left and right, observing for a moment before decisively attacking Meng Yingying. Meng Yingying calmly retaliated with a backhand strike, and the Calamity severed the hand. The blue mist dissipated. Meng Yingying, of course, did not think it was anything good and quickly retreated.
"Senior Meng!" Kong Fusheng looked at the soles of her feet. Meng Yingying was not bracing against the door, but the door shook so hard that his back went numb. Meng Yingying blinked, and the mist had already disappeared.
A wisp of mist lingered at the tail end of the calamity's peak and was quickly absorbed.
The method of breaking through was learned, and the window paper sprouted out one after another like bamboo shoots emerging from the ground. The group no longer blocked the door, and the door slammed to the ground with a bang.
The scene outside was revealed: dark clouds filled the sky, red flames swirled around, and villagers were missing arms or legs, or even heads; no part of their bodies was intact, a scene of utter mutilation, a living hell.
The door was opened, and a hand, burned to a crisp, was pinned under the door. He hopped over on one leg, the sizzling sound of burning flesh echoing from his body.
"Hot...hot...so hot...help me!" Meng Yingying looked down, her head on the ground, staring at her menacingly, her eyes filled with struggle and fear, yet also with resentment.
Meng Yingying pursed her lips. Only by killing them could she help them find liberation. She firmly gripped the Calamity Sword, its wooden hilt becoming hot under her grip.
These corpses are not difficult to deal with. Calling them ghosts is too low-level, and calling them fully formed corpses is too high-level. They can only be described as a group of souls that cannot be released, trapped here, forming resentment. Year after year, they have been tormented in this way, and their resentment has grown stronger and stronger, just to nourish a source.
As the first rays of sunlight shone through the morning, Meng Yingying collapsed, burying the calamity into the ground. She exhaled a breath, finally realizing that daytime had arrived, and the corpses had miraculously vanished from the land.
Zhou Xiuqi took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the dust off his face before saying, "I know where the source is."
Meng Yingying glanced sideways and exchanged a look with Xiao Zheyu.
Zhou Xiuqi said, "This is where I lived before I became a Taoist priest, before I was six years old. Every family here has twins."
Meng Yingying was surprised. Zhou Xiuqi had laid his cards on the table. She hadn't even started to doubt him yet, but Zhou Xiuqi was already trying to dispel her doubts. It was frighteningly accurate.
"The people of Xinghua Village knew nothing of the outside world, and the outside world was unaware of Xinghua Village's existence. One day, an outsider shattered this peaceful and tranquil life—a woman named Teng Yu'e."
"She brought something unknown, which sparked curiosity among the villagers about the outside world. Some secretly ran away, married, and had children elsewhere, leaving fewer and fewer people in Xinghua Village."
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