Chapter 17 Bloodline as the Guide, Soul's Return Journey
Last night we just saw off Xiao Wanxing, who died unjustly, and today we run into Xiao Xiaoman, whose soul has left her body?
Could it be that the Xiao family's feng shui has been compromised by someone digging up their ancestral graves?
She paused for a moment, then reached into the wide sleeve of her gray-blue Taoist robe and pulled out an old cell phone with a cracked screen.
With practiced ease, his fingertips slid across the cracks, dialing Jiang Yubai's number.
The call was quickly answered, and Jiang Yubai's voice was hoarse and tired: "Miss Chen?"
"Jiang Yubai," Shen Yuepo asked bluntly, "Does the Xiao family have a child named Xiao Xiaoman?"
There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.
A few seconds later, Jiang Yubai's voice suddenly turned cold, filled with suppressed shock: "How do you know Xiaoman?"
Shen Yuepo lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on her feet.
The young man in the red dress was squatting there, hugging his knees, his dark eyes looking at her timidly.
“I met a living soul, and she said her name was Xiao Xiaoman.”
"What?! A living soul? Xiaoman's living soul?!" Jiang Yubai's voice suddenly rose, followed by a series of chaotic footsteps.
A more composed male voice instantly took over the reins.
“Miss Shen.” Xiao Yizhou’s voice came through. “I am Xiao Yizhou. Xiaoman is my cousin’s only daughter.”
He spoke extremely quickly, giving the other person no time to think, "Where are you? We're coming right away!"
Twenty minutes later, a black Bentley screeched to a halt precisely at the alleyway where Shen Yuepo was.
The car door suddenly opened.
Xiao Yizhou got out of the car first. His black suit made him look tall and straight, but the barely noticeable red blood vessels in his eyes betrayed his inner anxiety.
His gaze instantly locked onto the bluish-gray figure in the alley.
Following closely behind were a young couple who looked to be no more than thirty years old.
The man was handsome, and his eyebrows and eyes bore a resemblance to Xiao Yizhou's.
He held his wife tightly in his arms, who was almost unsteady on her feet.
The woman's face was deathly pale, her eyes were horribly swollen and red, clearly she had been crying for a long time, and her body was still trembling slightly uncontrollably.
Xiao Yizhou strode up to Shen Yuepo: "Miss Shen?"
Shen Yuepo nodded slightly, cast a talisman on Xiao Xiaoman, and then stepped aside.
All eyes instantly focused on the small, semi-transparent figure in the corner of the alley.
"Xiaoman!"
Su Wan let out a heart-wrenching cry, broke free from her husband's embrace, and staggered towards him.
That was her daughter, the apple of her eye.
Although the body is illusory, the eyebrows and eyes, and the red dress she personally chose, are absolutely real.
Shen Yuepo reached out and stopped the person, "Don't go over there. You mustn't disturb the living soul."
Xiao Linyuan reacted quickly, holding his distraught wife tightly, his voice hoarse: "Wanwan, don't go over there. Listen to Miss Chen."
Looking at his daughter's ethereal figure, this usually composed man's eyes instantly reddened.
Xiao Xiaoman seemed to have been startled by Su Wan's cries.
She looked up blankly, and when she saw the familiar yet anxious faces at the alley entrance...
Her dark eyes instantly filled with tears: "Mom, Dad, Uncle!"
Her voice was filled with helpless sobs, and her tiny soul trembled violently.
"Xiaoman, don't be afraid, Mommy and Daddy are here!"
Xiao Linyuan suppressed his grief and panic, and tried to force a reassuring smile at his daughter, even though the smile was more painful than crying.
Shen Yuepo frowned slightly as he looked at Xiao Xiaoman, whose soul was unstable and who was almost overwhelmed by the emotions of her loved ones.
She stepped forward, standing between the spirit and the three members of the Xiao family: "Control your emotions. Her soul is unstable and cannot withstand disturbance."
One sentence, like a bucket of cold water poured over her head, made Su Wan, who was on the verge of collapse, suddenly cover her mouth.
She bit her lower lip hard, choking all her emotions inside, leaving only her body trembling.
Xiao Linyuan and Xiao Yizhou also held their breath instantly, forcibly suppressing their surging emotions.
"Where is her physical body? How far away is it?" Shen Yuepo turned to Xiao Yizhou, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
“She’s currently under close surveillance at a private children’s hospital owned by the Xiao family. It’s at least a forty-minute drive from here,” Xiao Yizhou said rapidly.
“Forty minutes…” Shen Yuepo’s eyes darkened slightly. This time was too long for Xiao Xiaoman’s living soul.
Her gaze swept over the three members of the Xiao family, finally settling on Su Wan—
The bond between mother and daughter is the closest.
“You, come here.” She pointed at Su Wan, “Drip a drop of your fingertip blood onto the wrist of her soul.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Wan composed herself and immediately bit the tip of her index finger, drawing out a bead of bright red blood.
Shen Yuepo pointed her fingers like a sword, and a faint golden light flashed, guiding the drop of blood from her fingertip to land precisely on the illusory image of Xiao Xiaoman's soul's right wrist.
The drop of blood touched Xiao Xiaoman's wrist but did not fall.
Instead, it transformed into a crimson line of blood, wrapping around Xiao Xiaoman's wrist.
The bloodline flickered faintly, like an invisible umbilical cord pointing towards the physical body.
"Blood ties guide the soul's return!"
Shen Yuepo let out a low shout, and his fingertips quickly drew a golden rune in the air.
The rune took shape, flashed with light, and instantly disappeared into Xiao Xiaoman's forehead.
The runes shone with golden light, and their powerful energy instantly enveloped Xiao Xiaoman's entire soul.
The crimson bloodline wrapped around her wrist suddenly glowed brightly.
"ah--"
Xiao Xiaoman let out a soft murmur, and her illusory body began to thin out like smoke in the golden light.
It seemed as if it might be blown away by the wind at any moment.
"Xiaoman!" Su Wan couldn't help but let out a suppressed cry of grief, but her husband covered her mouth tightly.
Shen Yuepo's gaze was piercing, fixed on the wisp of soul light that was about to dissipate, and he shouted:
"Bind the soul back to its body, by imperial decree!"
As the last syllable fell, golden light enveloped the last faint trace of Xiao Xiaoman's soul.
Following the direction indicated by the crimson bloodline, it suddenly transformed into a golden-red streak of light, indistinguishable to the naked eye, and shot towards the Xiao family hospital.
In the alley, the golden light dissipated, and the talisman turned into ashes and fell to the ground.
Only the spot where Xiao Xiaoman had been curled up remained, now completely empty.
Shen Yuepo slowly withdrew her hand, her face slightly paler than before.
Forcibly crossing space to pull a soul back to its body was quite taxing, even for her.
"Miss Shen!" Xiao Yizhou was the first to react and stepped forward to help Shen Yuepo.
Shen Yuepo shook her head, indicating that she was alright.
Just then, Xiao Linyuan's phone started vibrating wildly in his pocket.
He frantically pulled out his phone, glanced at the caller ID, and then abruptly pressed the speakerphone button.
On the other end of the phone, the nanny's excited, incoherent sobs could be heard:
"Sir, Madam! She's awake! Miss is awake! She...she just suddenly opened her eyes and called out 'Mama.' Then...she fell asleep again. The doctor checked her and said her vital signs are stable!"
"Waaah..."
Su Wan could no longer hold on. Overwhelmed with joy and exhaustion, her legs gave way, and she collapsed completely into her husband's arms, bursting into tears.
This time, it was tears of ecstatic joy at regaining what was lost.
Xiao Linyuan held his wife tightly, and even this tall man couldn't help but tilt his head back and take a deep breath.
He blinked hard to wipe the tears from his eyes: "Miss Shen, I can't thank you enough!"
Xiao Yizhou's tense body suddenly relaxed, and his gaze toward Shen Yuepo was filled with unprecedented complexity and inquiry.
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