Burning bones and breaking
"It's so hot." Yun Qique couldn't help scratching, easily tearing the cloth strips, revealing a small patch of skin covered in bulging blisters. "It's so itchy."
Suddenly, he felt dizzy and the world was spinning. Yun Qique's head sank and he fainted in Yun Jinglu's arms.
In her ears, his calls gradually became the voice of the stone statue of the Bodhisattva Boy, sometimes far away, sometimes near, sometimes clear, sometimes blurred, accompanied by its eerie laughter, repeatedly calling her name. She was gripped by fear, but she could not move.
When she opened her eyes again, she was lying alone under a large light green umbrella. The umbrella surface had the same pattern and texture as the wings of the green umbrella's companion monster, Mimi. The edge of the green umbrella was decorated with densely packed glass bead tassels, blocking the view outside the umbrella.
Sitting up, she carefully parted the glass bead tassels and looked out through the gap.
A group of ferocious zombies with mutilated limbs and strangely twisted postures are besieging Yun Jinglu and Qingshan.
Yun Jinglu wielded a long, shiny, jet-black sword, slicing off the heads of the corpses one by one. Qingshan, still using her long, sharp nails, tore the corpses apart with her bare hands, and with a simple twist, she could sever their limbs.
She and Yun Jinglu cooperated with each other. Qingshan was responsible for breaking the corpse's limbs to reduce its ability to move, and then Yun Jinglu used a long sword to chop off its head.
A vicious corpse bumped into the hem of Qingsan's skirt, missed it, and fell to the ground.
Yunqi Que then realized that Qingsan had no legs.
At that moment, she was distracted. A fierce corpse with half of its head chopped off stumbled towards her. Because its right calf bone was broken, it ran relatively slowly.
Yunqi Que reacted quickly, immediately taking out the instant-explosive talisman from his waist, aiming at the top of the corpse's chopped-off head, calmly waiting for him to get closer, aiming at the right moment, and throwing out the instant-explosive talisman.
Immediately, half of the corpse's body was blown into pieces, and it lost the ability to move and collapsed to the ground.
Even so, its intact lower body was still struggling and twitching on the ground, trying to stand up again.
Seeing this, Qingsan, who came to protect her, was stunned and retreated, continuing to fight with the group of ferocious zombies.
Yunqi Que didn't feel nauseous at all. He approached the corpse and casually picked up the broken bones on the ground. The broken surface of the bones was gray and had dense tiny holes.
She used the fingernails that were not cut by the silk thread to scratch it, and with a little force, she dug out a small groove. There were still some bone fragments and powder remaining in the crevices of her fingernails.
He turned around to observe the side of the bone. The light in the bayberry forest was dim and it was difficult to see clearly, so Yunqi Que took it back to the green umbrella and took advantage of the faint light emitted by the green umbrella to take a closer look.
Only then did she see clearly that the side of the bone was rough, with holes of irregular sizes, caused by insects, and dark green moss inside.
She had read in an ancient book that the remains of corpses that had been exposed to the wilderness for years, and had been weathered by wind and rain, would become brittle and easily damaged, with a rough surface and covered with moss and dirt.
The green umbrella shrank back to its original shape and said to her, "The remains in your hand are the remains of the skeleton of a human-turned-demon after its death. They are full of resentment, so throw them away quickly."
Throwing away the bone, Yunqi Que asked, "What is a human-turned-demon?"
"Born as a human, but due to various bizarre and strange opportunities, forced or voluntarily became a demon. We simply call it a human-turned-demon. In fact, a human-turned-demon is not even half-demon, it's just a demon."
With Mimi protecting her by her side, Yunqi Que acted more boldly.
She went to the remains of the horrific corpse and examined the intact skin on its lower body. Judging by the livor mortis and the degree of skin rebound, it must have been less than seven days since death. The skin and bones did not belong to the same deceased, and there were traces of sutures on the inner thighs.
It is said that the resentful woman sewed the human skin corpse using old bones buried in the bayberry forest. However, this weathered set of bones could not have been buried underground for many years.
So who will be this group?
"Don't touch this dirty thing. The green umbrella can burn bones and sever the body."
"What is burning bones and cutting off rebirth?"
"As the name suggests, after Qingsan smells the smoke from burning bones, the skeleton's owner's past will emerge in her mind. However, what she can see is limited to the most unforgettable and deeply remembered fragments."
After saying that, Mimi flew back to Qingsan's side and said, "Found it."
Upon hearing this, Qingshan and Yun Jinglu changed their previous gentle tactics to conserve their energy and attacked swiftly. In a moment, they took care of all the corpses.
The green umbrella floated to the side of the human-turned-demon skeleton, cast a magic spell, and casually wrapped up two lumps of mud on the ground, turning them into two mud figures the size of children, and pulled the bones out of the flesh and mud skin.
Mimi's cheeks puffed up, and her entire head swelled more than twice its size. She then spat out water to wash away the blood, flesh, and dirt stained on her bones. After the bones were clean, Mimi's swollen head returned to normal.
Qingshan raised her right hand, and gently pinched and rubbed the pendant on the necklace with her index finger and thumb. Her finger was pricked, and bright red blood beads condensed and floated beside her.
After placing a hundred of them, the demonic energy released by Qingsan circulated the blood beads and evenly fell on the bones, corroding and burning them to produce wisps of fine white smoke. She blew a breath towards the pile of bones, and suddenly, a raging flame ignited, and the white smoke gathered into a stream and was sucked into Qingsan.
Qingsan's eyes were blank, covered by white mist, and he looked up at the sky, motionless.
In the forest, Crescent Moon crawled on all fours like a hyena, emerging from a dark corner and heading straight for the skull fire. She had a new, unfamiliar face, her skin intact, without a trace of cracks.
She was wearing the red wedding dress that she had worn when she married Lan Qu in front of the stone statue of the Boy Bodhisattva last night. The dress was torn in many places, and the hem and cuffs were covered in mud.
Mimi cast a spell, transforming it back into a large, pale cyan umbrella, enveloping them in protection. Before the glass tassels could harden, Yueya thrust half of her right hand inside, only to be caught off guard by the hardened tassels, which pinched her arm and severed it. There was a heavy, muffled thud, as she, unable to stop herself, crashed into the tassel barrier.
Her hands were still crawling on the ground, repeatedly hitting the tassel barrier, trying to escape.
The mist in Qingshan's eyes dissipated at this moment. "The owner of this corpse is named Chen Abao. I saw a water ghost trying to drag him to the bottom of the water and drown him. When he was about to die, a thousand-year-old turtle demon saved him, transformed him into a human and then cast a spell to make him fall asleep. It carried him underwater for several years until it was so-called resurrected. It also gave him countless gold nuggets and money buried underwater, allowing him to return home in glory. He returned home to reunite with his family and married Chen Yuefeng, the woman he loved in his youth. On their wedding night, Chen Yuefeng was afraid of him and resisted him, so he angrily beat her and forced himself on her."
"Doesn't he love her? How could he do something like forcing and beating someone?"
"Because he valued his own life more. The old turtle told him that he would die on his wedding night, but as long as he could have continuous intercourse with her at that hour of his death, the magic spell that the old turtle had cast on him in advance would come true. His soul would linger on her, and when the fetus in her womb was ready to possess a body, he would be the first to occupy the fetus's body, and through birth, he would truly become a healthy, living person. His father, as agreed in advance, placed his body in a coffin and hung it on the cliff behind the mountain to prevent his body from being buried. However, on the day of his birth, his father believed the old witch's words and killed him. He looked at the old turtle helplessly, but the old turtle's eyes were all on Chen Yuefeng, and he told her that he could help her, just like when he told him that he could help him, full of irresistible temptation."
After saying that, Qingsan's gaze slowly shifted to Yueya's severed hand, "Master, may I borrow your black sword?"
"Um."
Qingshan grabbed the black sword and pierced the severed hand, immobilizing it, ready to repeat the burning bones and severing the body for the afterlife. Mimi didn't spit water to clean the bones; she disdained to touch them, so she simply burned the flesh and bones together. After all, such a small amount of bones wouldn't reveal much of her life's memories.
The moment the raging fire started, Yueya's painful screams could be faintly heard.
The big green umbrella that Mimi turned into could block out some of the sounds outside the umbrella, so she couldn't hear the fighting outside when she woke up earlier. She could roughly imagine how loud Yueya's screams would be at this moment, and Lan Qu would definitely come here following the sound.
Not wanting to disturb Qingsan, she moved to sit next to A-lu and whispered in his ear, "What's going on out there? Yueya is screaming so miserably? A-lu, can I pry open a crack and take a look?"
Yun Jinglu habitually put his arm around her waist, listened carefully to what she said, and explained, "She screamed because she could empathize with the pain of a broken hand being burned."
The smell of roasted meat came, and it was not pleasant. Yun Jinglu took out a silk handkerchief from her arms and gently covered her mouth and nose. The handkerchief had a faint scent of floral dew.
She caught a glimpse of the pale pink lotus embroidered on the white silk handkerchief. Upon closer inspection, she found that the handkerchief was a bit old. Her intuition told her that it should be a woman's handkerchief and was definitely not hers.
Suddenly, Yueya's scream of pain stopped abruptly, and Qingsan's burning and breaking of bones also ended at this moment. The burnt broken hand bones loosened into a pile of black ash.
Yunqique took off her hairpin, used the tip to pry open the gap between the tassels, and looked out with great effort. However, she was afraid that her sight would be noticed by things outside the umbrella, so she didn't dare to open the gap too wide, so she couldn't see clearly at all.
Just as she had withdrawn her hairpin in frustration, Qingsan's fingertips brushed across the umbrella handle, turning the tassels transparent. Outside the umbrella, Lanqu stared at the umbrella with fierce and angry eyes, as if staring at her.
In Lan Qu's arms, Yueya was biting his arm desperately, with blood covering half of her face.
Less than three meters behind them, a stone statue of a boy Bodhisattva appeared behind the low grass, with only half of its body exposed.
The dark clouds that blocked the moonlight dissipated, and the bright moonlight penetrated the gaps between the bayberry trees and shone on the stone statue of the Boy Bodhisattva. Its face with half-open eyes and pursed lips smiling was clearly visible.
Of course, there is also the bunch of real lotus pods in its arms.
However, the lotus season has long passed.
Qingshan said, "The bunch of lotus flowers and lotus pods in its arms is a demon. It has such a strong demonic aura. My dear, do you need me to set up a formation and invite the Taoist priest Juyue immediately?"
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