Chapter 20: Vermilion ink, used in blood-written seal script, is used to enshrine the four characters "Bless the Common People"...
wrong.
No, no, no, this is fucking wrong!
Lou Yan instinctively took several steps back until his back touched the door of the ancestral hall. He heard a muffled thud coming from behind him and felt the chill spreading up his back.
Is Tan Qiqi dead?
The people who went to the Eighteen Realms for help only said that she had disappeared. If she was already dead, then what had Tan Chengyi been looking for all these days?
wrong.
They set up a memorial tablet; they had known all along that Tan Qiqi was dead!
The icy rain slid down the roof ridge, swirling back and forth between the door cracks, and a chill suddenly seeped into one's back.
Lou Yan felt a chill run down her spine from the cold.
A clear mind seemed to explode in his head. He maintained his current posture, squinting as he peered at the small memorial tablet.
The cinnabar seal script glowed a dark red under the candlelight, and upon closer inspection, there was a faint smell of decay, likely from being stored in the dark and damp ancestral hall for too long.
This could not possibly have been made recently!
Lou Yan gritted his teeth, a murderous glint appearing in his shrewd wolf-like eyes. He stared at Tan Wangshi's retreating figure as she burned incense and prayed, demanding, "When did Tan Qiqi die?"
"You've already made this memorial tablet, so why are you only telling the public that she's missing?!"
Lady Tan did not answer, as if she had not heard Lou Yan's question.
After solemnly bowing before Tan Qiqi's memorial tablet, she clasped her hands together and chanted again towards the ancestral tablets high above, changing her words as if hoping that her ancestors would bless the Tan family to overcome this calamity.
Lou Yan wanted to speak again, but Heng Qichun gently tugged at his arm, signaling him to be quiet.
After a long while, Madam Tan finally finished reciting and turned her hunched body around.
Under the candlelight, glowing with the blood-red light of vermilion, her eyes were lifeless, and her face was ashen white.
If she was already terminally ill when Heng Qichun dispelled the demonic energy for her, then at this moment, she already showed signs of dying.
Lou Yan stared at that strange face and asked again, "Tan Wangshi?"
Tan Wangshi still didn't look at him. Her empty eyes scanned the room before finally walking toward the vermilion candle on the table.
She slowly reached out and picked up the burning hot candlestick. The dark red flames rose higher and higher in her hand, but she seemed to feel no pain at all, and simply held it up to the memorial tablet.
Lou Yan's heart stirred.
This is……
This is the reaction of a controlled puppet!
Even Tan Wangshi has been taken into custody!
Just as Madam Tan was about to light Tan Qiqi's memorial tablet with the cinnabar candle in her hand, Lou Yan couldn't help but tug at Heng Qichun's sleeve again and whispered, "Master..."
"If she really burns the memorial tablet, it will be too late for anything!"
There is a rumor in the human world that if one weeps with cinnabar and burns oneself with fire, the spirits of the dead can be released and their resentment dissipated.
But now Tan Qiqi's fate and whereabouts are unknown, and the demon lurking behind her is even more unknown. Even if Tan Qiqi is really dead, it would be unfair to the deceased to let Tan Wangshi burn her memorial tablet.
Heng Qichun remained silent, simply standing there waiting quietly, his sleeves swirling with spiritual energy, a faint lotus fragrance wafting in the air.
His face turned pale, and the longer he waited, the more fine sweat accumulated on his forehead.
The ancestral hall was dimly lit, and the thunder and lightning added to the eeriness. Lou Yan couldn't see his expression clearly, but he clenched his fingertips tightly, bringing his two fingers together and secretly condensing a ball of spiritual energy.
Damn it, things have come to this point, Heng Qichun isn't planning to just abandon us, is he?
Does he think Tan Qiqi is dead and therefore doesn't want to care about the deceased?
I told you he was a hypocrite!
Seeing that the flames were about to engulf the wooden memorial tablet, Lou Yan knew it was too late and raised his hand to strike out the spiritual energy.
"Certainly."
A clear, light voice spoke before him.
Tan Wangshi was forced to stand there in a bent-over position, one hand still holding the cinnabar candle, the wax dripping down the candlestick and extinguishing the already small flame.
Everything seemed to have come to a standstill.
This is the "Wind-Stabilizing Technique" of the Eighteen Realms.
A very simple magic spell.
Thunder roared again, and the ancestral hall was illuminated for a moment. In the dazzling light, Lou Yan could see Heng Qichun's face clearly.
Like mountains covered with a thick layer of snow in winter, devoid of any life force, her clear eyes were misty, all her emotions concealed by the immortal incantation she had just performed.
Then Lou Yan saw him bend over and vomit a mouthful of blood.
"Master!"
Lou Yan's pupils contracted sharply, and she pulled herself over in two steps. She subconsciously tried to reach out to help him, but after raising her arm, she reluctantly let it fall back down.
Heng Qichun had already covered his lips and wiped away the bloodstains, coughed lightly, and stood up straight, appearing to be unharmed.
Lou Yan stared at him without blinking, her sharp eyes beginning to turn crimson.
So it turns out he wasn't indifferent after all.
He was just too badly injured to even muster the most basic spiritual energy.
If it weren't so inappropriate, Lou Yan would have really wanted to ask him a question—couldn't you just tell me?
Tell me you are badly injured, tell me you can't use your spiritual power, tell me you are in a lot of pain!
But then he thought about it again and felt relieved.
Because this is Heng Qichun.
The last true god in the human realm, the faith upon which all living beings depend for survival, is far beyond the reach of the nine heavens, and has been upheld for thousands of years by the four words "protecting all living beings".
Once someone has sat on the altar for too long, it's not easy for them to come down.
The "Wind-Calming Mantra" was still faithfully performing its function. The withered old woman stood holding a candle, and the memorial tablets on the wall were silently revealed in the stormy night, which looked strange no matter how you looked at it.
Heng Qichun twitched his fingertips slightly, prompting Tan Wangshi to move her feet and walk towards them step by step.
"When did Tan Qiqi die?" he asked.
Madam Tan blinked, her lifeless eyes narrowing slightly as she made a thoughtful gesture before slowly replying, "It's been more than half a year..."
Heng Qichun frowned. "She's been dead for over half a year, so why did you only announce her disappearance recently? And why are you putting on such a show of desperately searching for her?"
Two questions were thrown at her in quick succession. Tan Wangshi moved her lips, but could only manage to utter a few obscure syllables.
She maintained a slightly open mouth, her expression turning utterly blank after a moment, as if she couldn't answer.
Perhaps these two questions are too complex, and difficult to ponder carefully under the influence of the Wind-Fixing Technique.
Lou Yan touched his chin with one hand, frowned and asked, "Then tell me, how exactly did Tan Qiqi die?"
Thunder and lightning flashed outside the ancestral hall.
Madam Tan blinked first, then burst into almost maniacal laughter. Suddenly, she turned around and pointed to the wall full of memorial tablets, repeating again, "It's all a tragedy!"
"Blame her mother!"
Lou Yan and Heng Qichun exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing deeply.
The madwoman in town is Tan Chengyi's wife, so isn't she also Tan Qiqi's mother?
Is there any mother in the world who would harm her own child?
Lou Yan stepped forward, stopping Tan Wangshi's hand, which was wildly flailing in the air, and gritted his teeth, asking, "What exactly happened?"
"That madwoman is trying to bring disaster to my family." Tan Wangshi grabbed Lou Yan's hand, her empty eyes filled with tears, and said urgently, "I didn't kill her daughter. Although I poisoned her food, she didn't die at the time!"
"Immortal Lord, this is all a tragedy!"
Lou Yan was shocked and looked at Heng Qichun in disbelief.
Immediately, a dense chill crept up his spine again, enveloping him like spider silk, suffocating him, making him numb and unable to breathe.
That was just a ten-year-old child.
Even if her mother did something wrong, she shouldn't have poisoned a ten-year-old child!
If this happened to their wolf clan, a wolf that abuses its cubs like this would definitely be bitten to death!
Heng Qichun's face turned pale, spiritual energy flickered at his fingertips, and his gaze was fixed on Madam Tan. He asked sharply, "Why did you poison her?"
The old woman, her words trembling and her throat constantly swallowing, chose this moment to utter the most vicious words—"Because they, mother and daughter, both deserve to die!"
As soon as he finished speaking, thunder rumbled outside the window, and the remaining vermilion lanterns were blown about by the hurricane, their flames flickering as if in a death struggle, before they were all extinguished in a short while.
The ancestral hall was pitch black, and amidst the roaring rain outside, Tan Wangshi screamed almost incoherently.
Lou Yan stumbled from the impact and instinctively used the Illumination Technique to find Heng Qichun. The faint light flickered and vanished in an instant, illuminating Tan Wangshi's bloodshot, scarlet eyes.
"Lou Yan," Heng Qichun's voice came from the shadows, "keep an eye on Tan Qiqi's memorial tablet."
Lou Yan stiffened, then forcibly shifted his gaze away from Heng Qichun, and flicked his fingertips to direct the spiritual energy toward the memorial tablet.
A faint golden light revealed the cinnabar-painted seal script. Amidst the darkness and Tan Wangshi's screams, the talisman bearing the three characters "Tan Qiqi" began to shift eerily.
Horizontal lines turned into vertical lines, and vertical lines turned into curves, quickly transforming into a ball of threads made up of dozens of blood-red lines. It rose from the memorial tablet and hung in the air, like the densely intertwined veins and blood vessels on a person's body.
Lou Yan blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating, and her heart began to pound restlessly in her chest.
He suspected that Xu Shengzi was playing tricks like illusion talismans in the dark again. He was about to pour in enough spiritual energy to split the blood mist in front of him in one blow when his nose twitched involuntarily before he could even raise his hand.
A strong, demonic aura wafted into the air.
It was that familiar smell, mixed with the fishy odor of the water, so pungent that it made your nasal passages feel tight and even slowed your breathing.
Lou Yan was exceptionally sensitive to smells and immediately detected the source of the demonic aura.
—It was that blood-red talisman.
In the darkness, one can still vaguely deconstruct the deformed seal script and reassemble it into the three characters "谭萋萋".
Could it be... that Tan Qiqi is really a demon?
Tan Wangshi's screams continued, her voice already extremely hoarse, yet she still pointed at the bloodstain and shouted almost maniacally, "Get out of here!"
"Go find your crazy mother!!"
The seal script seemed to understand something; it twisted strangely in the air, then shrank back and rushed straight out of the broken door.
The sky was covered by a thick fog.
Only then did Heng Qichun remove the hand that had been covering his chest, gazing thoughtfully into the long, silent night.
“Chase after them,” he said to Lou Yan.
A note from the author:
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