Chapter 47 How do you know who the murderer is? ...
Master Mo had someone bring over a small box. When it was opened, the glittering gold inside dazzled many eyes, but Wei Chi remained unmoved.
He took out several talismans and had his servants place them in various locations before saying, "I have already trapped the evil spirits in the mansion, and now we just need to subdue this thing."
He stepped out of the room, followed by a large group of people. When they reached the abandoned courtyard, the gold-threaded red bean bracelet on his wrist accidentally fell off.
Just as Master Mo was about to pick it up, another hand snatched it away first.
Wei Chi put the bracelet back on his wrist and tightened it at the loose knot. He checked it repeatedly to make sure it wouldn't come loose before he was relieved.
Master Mo stared at his hand for a long time, feeling that the red bean bracelet looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
As Wei Chi stepped into the side courtyard, her thoughts were swept away, and she hurriedly called out to him, not pausing to think.
"What are you doing here, Taoist priest?"
The servants dared not follow them inside. For several nights, they had heard women singing from there, and the lady and young master were all terrified and fell ill, plagued by nightmares every night.
"This is where yin energy gathers."
"Then the Taoist priest should quickly subdue the evil spirit."
Wei Chi walked around the well and stepped into the house. He pushed open the door, and under the red gauze, a slender figure stood by the window with her back to him.
The reprimanding words softened abruptly: "Why did you harm people?"
The shadows are silent, heads bowed and faces turned to the side.
Wei Chi only saw a pair of tearful eyes before the face turned away, and his voice softened even more.
"Please feel free to speak your mind if you have any grievances. I am not very talented, but I can still stand up for you."
She remained silent.
Having no other choice, Wei Chi took out a palm-sized gold and bronze gourd from his waist and said, "Since you have nothing to say, I will take you in."
She still didn't say anything.
As soon as Wei Chi lifted the copper lid, the shadow was sucked into the gourd without any resistance; it was far too easy.
When Wei Chi came out, Master Mo hurriedly asked, "Is it resolved?"
Wei Chi nodded.
Master Mo was overjoyed. "Someone prepare a banquet. I want to thank the Taoist priest properly."
No rush.
Wei Chi walked to the well. "What's inside that needs to be weighed down with stones?"
Master Mo's expression changed, and he stepped into the side courtyard. "There's nothing there. It's just that ever since someone died here, the well became so foul-smelling that it was sealed off."
He's talking complete nonsense.
Wei Chi's patience was wearing thin, and he said in a bad tone, "What I just captured was a vengeful ghost. If I don't help the person pass on to the afterlife, the resentment here won't dissipate, and I don't know if it will attract other evil spirits."
“The well is where the resentment runs deep; do you dare say there’s nothing in there?”
Master Mo's face turned pale and then he explained, "Alas, I originally married a concubine who was frail and sickly. The doctor advised her to rest in the room more, but she insisted on coming out to enjoy the scenery."
"Who knew he would slip and fall into the well? By the time the servants found him, he was already dead."
"They said he died of illness so that it would sound bad if it got out."
Wei Chi: "Why not retrieve the body and give it a proper burial?"
Master Mo: "That's the strange thing. No matter how hard the servants tried to fish it out, they couldn't. They almost fell in and lost their lives. I found it very strange, so I ordered the well to be sealed."
"Since the Taoist priest said to give the person a proper burial, then we must at least try to get them out of the water."
Several servants used ropes to weigh down the rocks, but after searching for a long time without finding a trace, they switched to iron hooks to try and pull the person up.
"Stop! What if you ruin a young lady's appearance by using this?" Wei Chi cursed without any politeness, almost pointing his finger at him and calling him an idiot.
He took a rope, tied it to a tree, grabbed it with one hand, and jumped into the well.
The well water wasn't deep, only up to his waist. There was a woman with disheveled hair floating in it, facing underwater right next to him. He couldn't understand why those idiots couldn't pull her out.
"I'm sorry for the offense."
The corpse stank, but Wei Chi didn't mind. He felt that a young girl in the prime of her life shouldn't be left at the bottom of a well.
He grabbed the rope around his waist and used it for leverage to jump out.
The sight of the wet, smelly corpse in their arms frightened everyone away, and they dared not approach.
Only Wei Chi carefully placed the person on the ground, and when he saw the face that was swollen from being soaked in water, it was like a bolt from the blue, tearing his heart in two.
How could he not recognize this face? Even though it was deformed, every part of it—eyebrows, eyes, lips, and nose—was etched in his heart.
Her fingertips trembled as she touched her wrist, where the string of gold threads wrapped around red beans remained firmly tied to her hand.
Red beans symbolize longing and love, and our love will never be apart.
She said those words herself, and she also put the red bean bracelet on Wei Chi's wrist herself.
Wei Chi never dared to forget, but he had only been away for half a year, so how did his Wan Zhu become a ghost at the bottom of a well?
Blood vessels appeared in his broken eyes, and in an instant, the once dignified and upright Taoist priest became a completely different person, looking at people with a gloomy and frightening expression.
"Why would Master Mo marry her?"
This man already seemed unapproachable, and now he was even more intimidating. He stammered, "Who wouldn't like a beautiful woman with both looks and virtue? I took good care of her, how could I have known she would suddenly be gone?"
"Master, is there a problem?"
Wei Chi remained silent.
The servants were urged by Master Mo to carry the body, but Wei Chi waved them away. No one knew what kind of magic weapon he used to hide the body away.
Mr. Mo was finally relieved and his heart was filled with joy. Even Madam Mo and Young Master Mo recovered their health, and the Mo family was thriving.
A grand banquet was held to entertain all the guests.
At the table, only Wei Chi remained silent with a somber expression, not touching his chopsticks.
"Please don't be shy, Daoist Master. These dishes and wine are simple, but they taste excellent. They were made by a famous cook. Why don't you give them a try?"
"Is the Ugly Lady's dish ready?"
"All done, sir." The woman with a burn scar on half of her face used her hair to cover her hideous features as she deftly served the dishes.
Master Mo was only at ease after having each person take a piece from the plate and let the Ugly Lady eat it.
"Master, you may start eating now."
Wei Chi couldn't listen to anything, let alone eat.
The ugly woman walked to the side, took a refreshing slice of lotus root, and put it into his bowl.
"The lotus roots from Jiangnan are the most refreshing, would you like to try some, Daoist Master?"
Wei Chi glanced at her face and stared at her for a long time.
The ugly woman said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I frightened the Taoist priest."
“No,” he said hastily, “you look like the sister of an old friend of mine.”
The ugly woman's smile faded. "The Taoist priest must have misjudged."
Wei Chi didn't say anything more. He picked up the crisp lotus root from the bowl, and the copper gourd at his waist suddenly moved and knocked his chopsticks away.
"What happened?" Master Mo asked.
"It's nothing, I just slipped." He carefully put the copper gourd away and asked quietly, "What happened?"
No one responded.
"I wonder where he'll end up, so that my good-for-nothing son can learn a thing or two from him?"
Looking at Young Master Mo, whose eyes were as vacant and dark as those of Master Mo, Wei Chi felt even more disgusted. "Evil desires destroy the body; if the mind and body are not upright, great disaster will surely befall them."
Master Mo's face darkened. "Why did you curse my son, Taoist priest?"
With his short sword held beneath his sleeve, ready to strike, Wei Chi extended his right hand, revealing a red bean bracelet: "Master Mo, do you really not recognize this?"
Suddenly, the image of a woman crying flashed through his mind. Master Mo's dark face turned ashen: "This is...that woman's. What is your relationship with her?"
She is my fiancée.
Everyone at the table paled. Master Mo's eyes flickered. "She never said she had a fiancé. I really didn't mistreat her. Her death has nothing to do with me. I took her into my household because she was sick and helpless. I didn't know she would suddenly pass away, which is why I was given the title of concubine."
He looked at Wei Chi's gloomy face and said, "Since you are a Taoist practitioner, you are compassionate. Are you going to blame me for this accident?"
With his hand gripping the short sword tightly, Wei Chi remained silent, unable to suppress the boiling blood in his veins. Seeing this, Master Mo tried to persuade him a few more times, and Madam Mo also wiped away her tears. Only Young Master Mo's eyes revealed impatience.
He slammed his hand on the table and roared, "Are you going to kill someone in front of everyone? I'd also like to ask how your sect teaches you this?"
All the guests in the courtyard looked over, only to see that Young Master Mo's expression suddenly changed drastically, and he was vomiting blood incessantly.
"What happened?"
Mr. Mo was shocked and suddenly realized something was wrong. Both he and Mrs. Mo suffered from severe abdominal pain and vomited blood.
He looked at the food, "It's poisoned..."
Then he looked at the ugly woman who was tasting the food, and she was also clutching her stomach and vomiting blood.
If it wasn't the cook who poisoned it, then it must be—
The only person at the table who was still unharmed.
He didn't touch a single dish from beginning to end.
The guests in the courtyard were all terrified. They quickly dropped their chopsticks and tried to vomit, but they didn't vomit their food or cough up blood like Master Mo.
Their food wasn't poisoned, except for the food at Master Mo's table.
Wei Chi withdrew his gaze, grabbed the ugly woman's wrist to check her pulse, but she forcefully pushed him away.
"Don't come any closer."
Wei Chi paused, then heard the ugly woman say, "Master, you really didn't harm that girl?"
At this moment, Master Mo felt that his time was coming to an end, so he knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately, "I really didn't kill her."
She pointed at Madam Mo, "It was her, it was her jealousy that drove that woman into the well."
Young Master Mo nodded in agreement, "It's her, it's her, please let us go."
Madam Mo never expected that she would be the first to be kicked out, and even the flesh and blood in her womb would turn around and bite her. She immediately spat blood and foam in Master Mo's face.
"Isn't it because you, old bastard, are lustful and licentious that you forcibly abducted people and locked them in your mansion?"
Madam Mo completely lost her composure, cursing incoherently, and then pointed at Young Master Mo: "You're no better, you want to covet the people I want too. If it weren't for the sake of this family, to prevent the Mo family from being ridiculed in the future, I would have gone after them, haha... You're all heartless bastards."
Wei Chi could barely stand; his body trembled violently, and his soul felt shattered.
Hearing the pleas for mercy all around me only filled me with disgust.
Only one person remained uninvolved in this farce.
His consciousness broke free from Wei Chi's body, his fingers holding the paper talisman, waiting to chant the incantation and summon the general.
As expected, Wei Chi did not save them, and the entire Mo family was wiped out.
The scene was chaotic for a time, and in the end, someone secretly sent word to summon people from the immortal sect.
Wei Chi was pierced through the heart by a sword, which surprised everyone. Wei Chi was completely unprepared.
The dead souls were trapped in a void of illusion, and now was the perfect time to summon the generals, but Xu Cangyu remained stunned for a long time.
Wen Qianchu frowned and looked on. Surprisingly, he was not at all bothered by Wei Chi's past life. That's good, but why was he standing there blankly?
Finally, he saw Xu Zangyu move and walk towards Wei Chi.
Wen Qianchu was not surprised, but he was also disappointed. In the end, he had overestimated Xu Zangyu.
Xu Zangyu chanted an incantation, and the paper figure floated up, flying straight towards the ugly cook next to Wei Chi.
Wen Qianchu: "???"
As the illusion dissipated, the ugly woman's face became ferocious. She refused to be controlled by Xu Zangyu and reached out to pinch him, but she froze instantly under the pull of the red thread on Xu Zangyu's fingertips.
Xu Zangyu tried it and found that he could actually control her at will; the paper doll technique was truly amazing.
Wen Qianchu was still puzzled. Had Xu Zangyu really made the right choice?
"You knew she was the murderer?"
Xu Cangyu opened her innocent eyes wide and asked, "Huh? She's the murderer?"
"...??????"
"Don't you know why you called her?"
Xu Zangyu laughed infuriatingly: "Can't we order her? I've discovered that this cook's cooking is truly exceptional; just the smell alone makes one's mouth water."
Wen Qianchu: "………………"
He actually guessed right!
Seeing Wen Qianchu's expression falter, Xu Zangyu smiled slyly and pulled the cook over with a flick of his finger: "You know Wei Chi."
The tone was completely affirmative.
He examined the other half of the cook's face. "Wei Chi said you resemble the sister of one of his old friends, and you really do look quite alike."
She said regretfully, "Would you really risk ruining your own face to avenge your sister?"
The cook calmed down and looked at him seriously. "You're better than those idiots."
She wiped off her mask, and the impact of her face became even stronger. Although her face was gentle and her features were rounded, her eyes were sharp, and she looked almost 80% like her sister.
Why don't you suspect Wei Chi?
Xu Zangyu said, "Given Wei Chi's abilities, he wouldn't need to use poison to kill the Mo family. If he wanted to use poison and distance himself from the matter, he shouldn't have deliberately done it in public."
"The cook is naturally the one who can most easily poison the food. Even Master Mo suspected you first, but he didn't expect you to be so ruthless as to eat the poisoned food yourself."
“Wei Chi didn’t know either, so he wanted to save you after you were poisoned. The reason he didn’t eat the food you picked up was because Miss Wan Zhu knocked over her chopsticks and saved him.”
“And I guess he recognized you and knew that you were the one who did it, so he didn’t defend himself and took the blame for you.”
"I don't need this heartless man to take the blame for me. What is he anyway? He toyed with my sister's feelings and then left. I only regret that I couldn't kill him with my own hands," Qi Wanyan said bitterly.
Xu Zangyu felt that Wei Chi was not the type to play with people's feelings. Wei Chi was clearly heartbroken after learning of Wan Zhu's death, and Xu Zangyu could empathize with his feelings. It didn't seem fake.
He shouted towards the empty surroundings:
"Wei Chi, since you are here, if you have a clear conscience, why don't you show yourself?"
A voice drifted on the wind:
I feel guilty!
Qi Wanyan: "It's good that you know!"
Accompanying him was a woman as serene and elegant as an orchid, who pleaded for Wei Chi.
"Wanzhu, he didn't leave without saying goodbye. He said he went to ask his master for permission to marry me?"
"Only you, silly sister, would believe that. How could his master agree to him marrying someone who can't cultivate and is plagued by illness? This kid has probably run away."
Qi Wanyan grew angrier the more she thought about it, "Even after you're dead, you still lied to my sister. You bunch of cultivators bully others with your abilities, not a single one of you is any good."
Xu Zangyu, who had been inexplicably gouged out and scolded, said to Wei Chi:
"Master, I'm not trying to be mean, but if you have something to hide, just say it. If you keep dawdling, it's no wonder people will misunderstand you. It's a good thing Miss Wanzhu has a good temper. If she had met someone like me with a bad temper, she might not even have her head on her neck."
Wen Qianchu glanced at him. Bad temper? Although he was indeed annoying, he wasn't too bad compared to others.
Wei Chi looked at Wan Zhu, his voice hoarse: "I went to beg my master, but he disagreed, so I knelt for a month. Who knew that my legs would develop problems and I would have to recuperate for a long time."
"Fortunately, my master finally agreed to let me go find you. I couldn't find you, so I kept asking around. I happened to hear that evil spirits were causing trouble here, and that's how I stumbled upon you."
Wanzhu finally smiled, and her sickly complexion brightened. "I knew you wouldn't lie to me."
The two embraced, but Qi Wanyan stared wide-eyed, too angry to speak.
Xu Zangyu was not surprised at all; there was indeed a misunderstanding. However, since both of them had already died, they were able to join hands. He wondered if this could be considered a successful union.
He thought that if he had known this would be the outcome, he would have preferred never to have met her.
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