Chapter 48 Yin God Tattoo ① ① The "True Fan" Old Man is Back Again...
Jiang is well.
Jiang Wuyuan?
The Jiang family?
Lan Shuyin found it hard to convince herself that all of this was just a coincidence.
Could it be a coincidence that Wu Yang deliberately concealed the surname "Jiang"?
From Qigu Village to Xiangweng Temple, and now to the Chang family in front of us, the shadow of the Jiang family is everywhere.
But what is it about her that makes the Jiang family go to such lengths to get close to her?
A thought suddenly popped into my mind—the note that read "Feng Zhi Zhao Yin".
Could that also be the work of the Jiang family? Or even... Wu Yang!
But those eyes were so clear that no one could doubt them; if even that sincerity was a pretense…
Lan Shuyin's heart sank.
"Sister, wait for me a moment." Chang Jingyu's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. She clutched her stomach, looking a little embarrassed. "My stomach hurts. I'm going to the restroom."
Lan Shuyin nodded and had just sat down on the garden bench when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure flashing behind the bushes not far away.
She glanced over instinctively and saw a familiar figure from behind.
Wu Yang?
Lan Shuyin narrowed her eyes, recognized the person, and immediately stood up.
Since we can't figure it out, let's just arrest the person and ask them.
She immediately chased after him.
However, just as they reached the corner, they saw the figure nimbly cross the front courtyard and rush straight out of the Chang family's gate.
Lan Shuyin didn't stop and chased after him without hesitation.
She chased after the man, running all the way along the winding mountain road.
But after a turn, it suddenly disappeared.
Lan Shuyin stopped abruptly, breathing slightly heavily, feeling a little annoyed.
That's fast!
She cursed under her breath and was about to turn back when she suddenly sensed something strange.
A sudden chill ran up her spine from the soles of her feet; it was broad daylight, yet she felt cold.
I raised my arm and found it was covered in goosebumps.
The next second, a damp, cold cloth was suddenly placed over her mouth and nose.
Lan Shuyin staggered backward from the sudden force, but her body reacted faster than her thoughts. She lashed out with her left elbow while simultaneously stomping her right foot hard on the opponent's instep!
Taking advantage of the moment when the other person was in pain, she quickly turned her head to break free of the restraints, grabbed the other person's arm, and executed a clean and decisive over-the-shoulder throw—
"Well!"
A heavy thud followed by a muffled groan.
Lan Shuyin turned around, but a strong feeling of dizziness suddenly struck her.
Anesthetic? Or something else?
How could she encounter such an absurd situation?!
Her vision began to blur, and Lan Shuyin bit her tongue hard. The sharp pain brought her back to her senses for a moment.
Although it only lasted a few seconds, it was enough. She saw the bastard in the black mask on the ground, clenched her fist, and delivered a powerful blow to the side of his neck!
The other person immediately went limp and fainted.
Lan Shuyin felt a sense of relief, but finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground.
...
Lan Shuyin was awakened by a feeling of stuffiness and suffocation.
The moment I opened my eyes, all I saw was thick darkness.
She instinctively raised her hand, only to find herself in an extremely narrow space, unable even to turn over.
She fumbled around for her phone, which was still there. She pressed the power button, and the screen's cold light suddenly shone, making her squint.
A smooth, polished wooden wall suddenly appeared before her, only a few centimeters from the tip of her nose.
She tilted her phone slightly and scanned her surroundings with the light of her flashlight.
Wherever the beam of light reached, there were wooden walls of the same material, forming a regular, narrow space above her head, beside her, and under her feet, imprisoning her inside completely.
A strange, sweet fragrance filled the air, a mixture of wood and varnish, constantly wafting into the nostrils.
This looks like... a coffin?
Who did it?
Lan Shuyin felt a sudden panic.
But soon, she suppressed the tightness in her throat and forced herself to calm down.
In situations like these, it's crucial to remain calm. In this completely sealed environment, every breath of oxygen is incredibly precious, and any emotional fluctuation only accelerates the depletion of your chances of survival.
Lan Shuyin carefully examined the coffin she was in. The workmanship was extremely exquisite, with the inner walls polished exceptionally smooth, filled with delicate wood grain and intricate relief patterns, which inexplicably reminded her of the coffin in the Xiangweng Temple tomb.
The only difference is that there are no words here.
The symptoms of oxygen deficiency are starting to appear; my chest feels burning and tight. There's no cell phone signal.
She touched herself again; besides the tactical pen, all she had left was cinnabar and sea salt. The tactical pen obviously couldn't penetrate the thick coffin, and the cinnabar and sea salt... were useless in this situation.
But we can't just do nothing, can we?
Lan Shuyin used all her strength to press the end of the pen against the coffin wall above her head and began to chisel it away, stroke by stroke.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The knocking sound echoed dully inside the sealed coffin, and sawdust fell in a rustling sound.
But after only a few moments, his arms began to tremble uncontrollably, a tingling and numb sensation spread to his shoulder blades, and his strength rapidly dissipated.
This tactical pen was a gift from Mr. Wei when they first collaborated. It was made of a special, exceptionally hard material and had a delicate window-breaking awl at the end. She always carried it with her.
It's good that I brought it with me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see even the slightest possibility.
She knew she was about to run out of oxygen and her consciousness was starting to waver; otherwise, she wouldn't have thought of Boss Wei at this critical moment.
Thump!
Thump...
Thump—
The knocking grew weaker and weaker, and the vision gradually blurred.
Suddenly, a faint voice could be heard outside.
Hope ignited her last shred of strength, and Lan Shuyin frantically pounded on the coffin walls, her hoarse cries breaking through her throat, "Is anyone there? Is someone inside? Is anyone there!..."
The slapping and shouting nearly depleted the last bit of air in her lungs, leaving her ears ringing and a suffocating, deathly feeling rising within her.
Finally, she heard a hurried sound approaching. Immediately afterwards, there was the crisp sound of some kind of metal clip being pried open.
The heavy coffin lid was suddenly pushed open with a "clatter"!
Bright light and a large amount of fresh air rushed in instantly!
"Cough cough...cough..."
Lan Shuyin was drenched in cold sweat and collapsed weakly inside the coffin, breathing greedily. She felt dizzy from the sudden influx of oxygen and coughed violently.
After a long while, my blurry vision finally focused clearly.
Outside the coffin, Wu Yang—or rather, Jiang Wu Yang—with a face filled with astonishment and disbelief, was looking down at her.
"Oh my god... Sister Yin?! How could it be you?! What are you doing here?!" His voice trembled, clearly terrified.
Upon seeing him, Lan Shuyin's face immediately darkened.
Without saying a word, she suddenly propped herself up from the coffin and grabbed Jiang Wuyang by the collar.
"Sister Yin?!" The boy was so startled by her action that he leaned back.
Lan Shuyin ignored him and dragged him out quickly.
Only then did she realize her surroundings—she was in a funeral hall filled with a sea of white roses. The candlelight flickered, and the smoke from incense swirled slowly in the solemn air.
Outside was a mourning hall, with black and white mourning couplets hanging high, and a portrait of an unfamiliar young girl placed in the center.
Lan Shuyin pulled Jiang Wuyang along quickly, and wherever they went, the guests who came to mourn were all astonished and turned their heads.
Someone tentatively called out, "Young Master Wuyang, who is this...?"
Lan Shuyin didn't stop walking. She grabbed a pen and paper from the reception desk and answered without looking up, "You're all fine. Young Master is unwell and will be leaving first."
"Oh, this..."
"This is my sister Yin, my sister Yin..." Jiang Wuyang explained awkwardly and helplessly, finally managing to suppress those probing gazes.
Amidst a silence and a mixture of surprise and disbelief, Lan Shuyin dragged Jiang Wuyang to a secluded, deserted open-air platform.
She let go of his hand, turned around, and stared at the slightly flustered boy in front of her with a complicated expression.
"Jiang Wuyang?"
"Huh?... Yeah."
Hearing her pronounce the full name slowly and deliberately, a hint of obvious guilt flashed across Jiang Wuyang's face. He scratched his head, his tone slightly ingratiating, "Sister Yin, you already know..."
"You're quite capable, and your acting skills are superb. With such talent, why don't you venture into the entertainment industry and win a Best Actor award?"
“Who would go to such a boring place as the entertainment industry?” Jiang Wuyang muttered, then, noticing her displeasure and anger, her tone became cautious, “Sister Yin, are you angry? I didn’t mean to hide it from you, it’s just… my relationship with my family has always been quite strained, and I didn’t want people to know I’m from the Jiang family, so…”
His attempt to cover up the problem with family conflicts, as if he were completely unaware of the issue, made Lan Shuyin frown.
She couldn't help but interrupt, "Don't you know why I'm angry?"
"Why?" Jiang Wuyang was taken aback by her question.
"Qiangquan Fengzhi, do you know her?"
“Uh…” His eyes flickered.
"You're quite something, always appearing and disappearing from my side like a ghost." Lan Shuyin sized him up with her eyes. "The encounter at Qigu Village was a deliberate scheme of yours, wasn't it? You couldn't personally show up at Xiangweng Temple, but the expedition team sponsored by your Jiang family 'just happened' to arrive... You wrote that note from Chen Zigui back then, didn't you? And those black envelopes that have appeared under my door time and time again over the past year, weren't they also slipped there by you?"
Her voice was filled with barely suppressed anger and accusation, "Speak! What exactly are you trying to achieve by going through all this?!"
Jiang Wuyang initially listened attentively, trying to understand, but as she launched into a series of accusations, his expression gradually changed from confusion to astonishment, and finally he stared in disbelief, as if he had heard something out of the blue.
It took him a long time to process what was going on. His eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, what is all this? What temple? What note? What envelope?"
Lan Shuyin didn't believe his denial at all and directly shoved the paper and pen she had just taken into his hand, "Here, write it for me now."
Jiang Wuyang subconsciously took it, then was bewildered by her gesture. "What should I write?"
“Feng, Zhi, Zhao, Yin, found, you.” Lan Shuyin read out the words that had been lingering in her heart for so long, her eyes fixed on his hand holding the pen.
Although confused, Jiang Wuyang found a railing to lean on and obediently picked up his pen.
Just as he was about to put pen to paper, he looked up awkwardly, "Um, which words were they again?"
Lan Shuyin typed those words on her phone.
Jiang Wuyang said "Oh," lowered her head, and began writing obediently, muttering to herself as she wrote, "It feels quite yandere-like..."
"..."
Lan Shuyin frowned as she examined his handwriting—it was elegant and flowing, with a casual cursive style that had its own unique character.
She couldn't help but open her phone's photo album and pull up the picture of the note she had taken. The handwriting on the note was thin and sharp, with strokes as sharp as knives.
The difference is obvious when the two are compared.
They don't look like they were made by the same person at all.
Lan Shuyin's brows furrowed even more, and she urged him unwillingly, "Write again! Write 'The True Form of the Yin God,' write your birth date, write 'Farmers toil under the midday sun'!"
Jiang Wuyang was completely bewildered by her actions, but he still did as she said. The pen scratched on the paper, and after writing a few lines, he suddenly stopped, looked up a little embarrassed, and asked, "Um, how do you write the character for 'hoe'?"
Lan Shuyin was too lazy to waste words, so she grabbed the paper covered with writing and carefully compared it.
However, every stroke of his pen still differed greatly from the handwriting on the note.
Looking at their drastically different styles, and then at Jiang Wuyang's innocent and bewildered eyes, she couldn't help but waver.
Could it be... that there really was a mistake?
Lan Shuyin was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Were you the one who deliberately lured me out at the Chang family's house just now?"
"The Chang family?" Jiang Wuyang was clearly taken aback. "No, there's a funeral at home today, I haven't left the house yet." Seeing her furrowed brows, she added, "But the Chang family is just on the next mountain, only about ten minutes away... Sister Yin, what's wrong with you?"
Lan Shuyin didn't explain, but asked again, "You said you couldn't see that faceless spirit in the Haitao Building, but you actually could, right?"
Caught off guard by the question, Jiang Wuyang was momentarily speechless.
Lan Shuyin then said, "The spirit herself said that you lied to her and that you imprisoned her in that secret room."
"no!"
Jiang Wuyang immediately retorted, but when he met Lan Shuyin's sharp gaze, he deflated.
After a long while, he said softly, "Sister Yin, many things are hard to explain. I can only say that I don't agree with some of the unethical things my family has done. My eyes... do occasionally see some strange things, but I lied to her back then to save her, and I didn't mean any harm."
His words were vague, but Lan Shuyin's heart stirred, and she immediately thought of the things Wang Kui had said to Chang Xian earlier.
"Although I don't know why you suddenly have such hostility towards me, Sister Yin, I really don't understand what you're talking about."
Jiang Wuyang emphasized it again, his helplessness very genuine.
Lan Shuyin stared at him for a few seconds, then asked, "What about Wei Li? Why did you put hallucinogens in his water?"
“That’s not a hallucinogen!” Jiang Wuyang instinctively defended himself. Seeing her eyes grow colder, he shrank back and reluctantly explained, “Every time I go out, my brother makes me carry all sorts of life-saving things with me. The water contains ‘True-revealing Talisman Water,’ which he said was given to me by a master and can make some hidden things appear… Actually, I’m not sure if that stuff actually works.”
He paused for a moment, then said seriously, "But I saw it. There was a dark figure following behind Wei Li. I wanted to know if he was a human or a ghost, or... what his background was. I just didn't expect him to see through me... The water is harmless to ordinary people, otherwise I wouldn't have dared to give it to him."
"A shadowy figure?"
Jiang Wuyang nodded, "A ghostly figure with its face completely covered."
Lan Shuyin remained noncommittal, saying, "These are all just your side of the story."
I swear!
"Then tell me everything you know," Lan Shuyin said calmly. "I can tell that you actually know about 'Feng Zhi,' right?"
"I……"
"The first time I mentioned Feng Zhi, your eyes flickered. The second time I asked you to write it, you pretended not to know, but the character I showed you..." Lan Shuyin pushed the phone screen in front of him, zooming in on the character, "It's 'Zhi' (the bamboo radical with the 'stop' radical underneath wasn't displayed). You only glanced at it and wrote it correctly."
Jiang Wuyang was shocked. "Sister Yin, you're too cunning!"
"Otherwise, how can we get the truth out of you?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wuyang slowly composed himself, and after a moment of silence, said, "I can tell you. But Sister Yin, you must first tell me why you appeared in our family's mourning hall? And why you're lying in that coffin?"
"Wasn't it you who did this?" Lan Shuyin retorted.
“Sister Yin!” Jiang Wuyang’s face showed even deeper helplessness. “Even if you think I’m a bad person, I wouldn’t do something like this. Do you know? Today is the seventh day after my brother’s fiancée’s death. If he finds out that someone has disrupted the funeral, disturbed her resting place, and even her body has disappeared…”
He paused, then said in a low voice, "He'll go crazy."
His words revealed his brother's feelings for that woman, but Lan Shuyin only asked, "Then why aren't you nervous at all?"
"What?"
"The body disappeared, and you weren't worried. I dragged you here to question you for no reason, and you weren't angry either." Lan Shuyin stared into his eyes. "Why?"
Faced with her repeated questions, Jiang Wuyang sighed softly, as if she had no way to deal with her, "Because it's you, Sister Yin, have you forgotten? I'm your die-hard fan."
"So whatever you do, I feel there must be a reason behind it."
Stunned by this brainless comment from a die-hard fan, Lan Shuyin was a little bewildered and didn't know what to say for a long time.
Jiang Wuyang then added, "Besides, Sister Yin, think about it carefully. Doesn't this situation seem more like someone deliberately set a trap to lure you into interrogating me?"
His expression was open and honest, his eyes were bright, and his tone was sincere; he really didn't seem to be lying.
Lan Shuyin was silent for a moment before finally speaking slowly, "I was at the Chang family's house just now. I saw a figure that looked a lot like you, and followed it all the way to the mountainside, where someone smothered me with a numbing wet wipe from behind. When I woke up, I was already in that coffin."
After listening, Jiang Wuyang blinked, and a look of surprise and mischief suddenly appeared on her face. "So, does that mean I'm your savior?"
If what he said is true, if he wasn't the one who lured her out... then it really is.
Lan Shuyin pursed her lips slightly, ignoring his words, and said lightly, "Anyway, I didn't see any remains. When I woke up, there was only me in the coffin."
Jiang Wuyang pondered with a serious expression, "It seems we need to find the person who locked you up first."
"No rush," Lan Shuyin said calmly.
More than tracking down the attacker, she was eager to unravel the mystery of "Feng Zhi." The ever-present sense of being watched over her over the past year, and the mysterious notes, all pointed to this enigmatic family.
She couldn't help but look up at him. "I've already answered your question. Now it's your turn."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wuyang turned and leaned against the balcony railing, her voice lowering, "Feng Zhi... I do know a little, but not much."
"When I was a child, I would hide behind the curtains in the study and eavesdrop on my elders' conversations. At that time, Grandpa Chang was very ill, but he appeared in front of people in good spirits a few days later. My family said that the Chang family's backer was the Feng Zhi family. They had a method that could refine spiritual bodies and turn them into their own, which they said could defy fate."
"Later... I happened to see those spirits struggling in the magic circle once. Since then, I have tried to stay away from these things and have no desire to have much contact with my family."
A gentle breeze rustled through the railings, and the terrace fell silent for a moment.
Lan Shuyin asked at the opportune moment, "I heard that your Jiang family and Feng Zhi's family are very close?"
Jiang Wuyang shook his head, "I don't know. But I was curious when I was a child and asked around about Feng Zhishi. I was beaten several times by my elders when they found out, so it left a deep impression on me."
After listening to everything, I didn't get any particularly useful information.
Lan Shuyin seemed thoughtful. "You said you have an older brother?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wuyang knew what she was up to, and immediately said with a wry smile, "Sister Yin, it's not that I don't want to take you to see him. He just lost his fiancée and is still grieving, and now the coffin is... How about we talk about it in a few days, okay?"
Lan Shuyin remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Alright."
It wasn't that she was soft-hearted or had excessive empathy; she was simply worried that the other party would find out she had lain in that coffin and, in a fit of anger, call the police to arrest her.
Although she was also a victim, the matter is ultimately not very clear.
Just then, Jiang Wuyang's phone vibrated—it seemed to have been vibrating for quite a while. He glanced at the screen, his tone becoming urgent, "Sister Yin, I have to go back. My brother is looking for me. He probably found out something happened at the funeral hall."
He quickly pointed out the way to her, "Go this way, turn right after passing through the corridor, and you'll get out. You go first, I'll handle things here." He then turned and walked away quickly, turning back to add, "Contact me on WeChat if anything comes up!"
—Then it's best if nothing happens.
Lan Shuyin stood on the terrace for a while, feeling the tightness in her chest ease slightly, before leaving in the direction Jiang Wuyang pointed.
She went directly to the security office halfway up the mountain.
"I need to check the surveillance footage, specifically the footage from an hour ago near the path on the east side."
The security guard quickly accessed the system, but his expression changed slightly.
The surveillance footage, which lasted for nearly three hours, was completely black.
"How could this happen?" The security guard's voice was strained, his mind in turmoil. This affluent neighborhood had the highest level of security, with its surveillance cameras powered independently and equipped with dual backup power supplies; such a serious malfunction had never occurred before.
Lan Shuyin stared at the black screen, thinking to herself: Just as I thought.
The other party not only deliberately lured her out, but also sabotaged the surveillance beforehand. This was a meticulously planned scheme.
However, she remained calm.
The Jiang family is probably even more anxious than she is.
The person who set this up must also be the one who stole the body from the coffin; the Jiang family will deal with that.
As for Feng Zhi...
Perhaps there is a new breakthrough—that "Chang Xian" master.
As soon as I stepped out of the security office, the afternoon breeze, carrying the unique coolness of the mountains, hit me.
Just as Lan Shuyin was about to look down at her phone, a figure silently emerged from under the shadow of a tree.
Chang Xian remained calm, as if he had been waiting there for a long time.
"Miss Lan," his aged voice held a hint of weariness, "may we speak in private?"
Lan Shuyin paused slightly, then asked him, "Where are you going?"
She was just looking for him when he showed up on his own.
Chang Xian raised his hand to indicate the area ahead, "The park is quiet."
So they entered the community park one after the other. The park was quiet and deserted at midday.
Chang Xian stopped in front of a bench, but did not sit down. Instead, he turned to look at her.
“You have two kinds of smells,” he suddenly said bluntly. “One is utterly repulsive, while the other is delightful.”
Lan Shuyin smiled dismissively, "Did the master specifically seek me out just to say this?"
Chang Xian was silent for a moment, then his aged voice slowly spread in the wind, "About a hundred years ago, I was just a piece of spirit stone in the mountains that was about to turn into something. People feared me and wanted to destroy me. It was Chang Huaide—A Xin's grandfather—who saved me."
“At that time, I vowed to protect the Chang family for a hundred years. I watched Ah Xin grow up, but unfortunately, his fate was short, destined not to live past thirty. To repay this life-saving grace…”
He paused, a complex expression flickering in his eerie, cold vertical pupils. "I defied fate for him, seeking out all sorts of methods to prolong his life. But how could such an act against the natural order come without a price?"
He raised his hand, his withered fingertips tracing the void. "Every spirit that has been harmed because of me, every destiny that has been altered, the karmic burdens have backfired on me. I know that sooner or later, these causes and effects will completely devour me. In fact, the hundred years promised in the vow have long passed, but looking at that child..." He sighed, "I just couldn't bear it."
Lan Shuyin remained silent for a long time.
She finally understood where the dark aura on his body came from.
"Hmph..." She couldn't help but sneer, "It sounds like you're almost moved by your own actions? Using countless innocent people to prolong the life of one person, you don't think of this kind of immoral act as a tale of gratitude, do you?"
Chang Xian was not angered by her sarcasm. Looking at the children playing in the distance, her voice sounded a bit older, "I say these things not to excuse myself. I will bear the karmic burden myself, but that other scent on you... I really can't let it go."
He paused, then his gaze suddenly turned to her. "After you left that day, I cast a divination for you. The divination showed that your fate was incompatible with the Chang family. If you were alive, the Chang family would likely face annihilation. Your coming here today may also be the will of Heaven."
Almost the instant he finished speaking, a chilling hissing sound suddenly rang out from all around.
Lan Shuyin then noticed that countless pairs of eerie green pupils lit up one after another in the grass and under the shadows of the trees in the park.
One after another, brightly colored venomous snakes emerged from all directions, their triangular heads held high, slowly forming an impenetrable encirclement that trapped them in the center.
Chang Xian stood in the center of the writhing snakes, his expression complex and difficult to decipher.
His pupils had turned into cold, vertical ones, and his voice was low and resolute, "What I just said was simply to make you understand the cause and effect. I have planned this far for the Chang family, and I hope you can understand my painstaking efforts."
"As for karmic burdens..." He slowly raised his withered hand, and countless venomous snakes raised their heads in response. "Now that things have come to this, what's wrong with taking on one more burden?"
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