Pure and Reclusive Woman
Just as Yuanli's mind flashed with the fantasy image of various white flower juices dripping onto her body and corroding her flesh, a drop of water happened to fall squarely on the woman's head.
However, there was no corrosion reaction.
Just like, an ordinary drop of water.
She raised her hand and touched her hair where the water droplets had fallen. She stopped and withdrew her hand. She looked at her fingers, put two fingers together and rubbed them together. The slight moisture on her fingers completely dried up.
She slowly turned her head and stared at Yuanli with an expressionless face for a long time without blinking.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Yuanli asked with a wry smile, breaking the stiff and weird atmosphere.
"Why don't you come in, girl?"
After asking, the woman looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly, another drop of water fell into the still woman's eyes. The water overflowed from her eyes, like tears, and slid down her face.
When something foreign gets into the eye, most people would blink and squeeze it to clear it out, but she didn't have any discomfort.
"The desert is dry. Even though it hasn't rained in a long time, for some reason, a few drops of water always drip from the ceiling of this wooden house from time to time. Perhaps it's because of these lush vines."
The woman looked at the flowers all over the room and walls, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
However, when Yuanli saw her smile, he found it extremely creepy, and reminded him of the ghost or crazy murderer described in horror stories.
From the moment the woman stepped into the door of the wooden house, she seemed like a different person. Her demeanor and words were no longer as kind and approachable as before.
The woman's smile faded, and her face returned to its lifeless and serious expression.
"Don't worry, it's just ordinary water droplets, harmless and non-toxic. If you stay here long enough, you'll actually like it. Let's continue our tour from the second floor."
The wooden staircase leading to the second floor is located in the center of the house. It is very spacious and even five strong men walking side by side would not feel crowded.
Perhaps the wooden planks of the stairs had been in disrepair for a long time, so when Yuanli and others stepped on the stairs, they would hear a creaking sound from time to time.
Until she reached the second floor, the woman made no sound as she stepped on the wooden steps.
During this time, Yuanli deliberately and tentatively stepped on the wooden steps that the woman had stepped on. There were two steps in the same place. The woman made no sound when she stepped on them, but she made a sound when she stepped on them.
The second floor was dark and gloomy, with a cool breeze blowing, causing goose bumps to crawl all over my back.
The doors and windows were all tightly closed, blocking out the light from outside. The only light was a candle at the top of the iron frame on the right side of each door. The already weak candlelight was almost blown out by the wind several times.
The light was even darker at the ends of both sides, and only the outline of the long altar table in front of the wall could be seen.
"Sister, I wonder... which gods, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas are enshrined on the incense tables on both sides?" Yuanli asked.
"What we worship is the house spirit, and also the family spirit."
"House Fairy? Forgive my ignorance, please enlighten me, sister."
"That's all right. When I first arrived, I didn't know what a house fairy was. I asked the senior who practiced in seclusion here, just like you did. She told me that every wooden house in Floating Butterfly City is built from ancient, spiritual wood. Coupled with the excellent feng shui of this place, and the long hours of chanting by the practitioners, they've already awakened their spiritual wisdom, attained enlightenment, and become immortals, protecting their homes. As long as one is sincere and respectful, the house fairy will forever protect the devout practitioners in the wooden house, hoping they will soon attain enlightenment and live in health and happiness."
Well, it’s another cult.
Yuanli was speechless and hated these evil ways that harmed people, but now she had no choice but to pretend to be nice and curry favor with them and try to get their words out.
She clasped her hands together and bowed repeatedly in the direction of the altar. "Then I have come to the right place. May the gods of my family bless me, may the gods of my family bless me."
The woman must have been very satisfied with Yuanli's action, and her stiff smile softened a little.
"As long as you offer your worship devoutly, the family deity will surely protect you."
"Sister, have you ever seen the spirit of the family appear?"
"I have seen it, but my cultivation is shallow, so I can't see the family spirit appear. I have only heard the family spirit's whispered reminders and the sounds it made when it came. For example, your arrival is the prophecy of the family spirit appearing in my ear while I was half asleep and half awake, reminding me. That's why I am waiting in front of the painting."
Yuanli was startled.
Could it be that this evil cult really has the ability to predict the future?
They just arrived in Fudie City today and stayed in a wooden house in the courtyard. They suddenly discovered something strange and decided to enter the tunnel and come here. But the woman had already received the prophecy and guidance of the "family fairy" last night?
No, no...
There is another possibility...
Could it be... that the mastermind behind this was deliberately guiding them from the moment they were arranged to stay...
But just reporting any of the known secrets and related events of Floating Butterfly City to the Heavenly Court would be enough to cause them huge trouble. As the Lord of Floating Butterfly City, how could Cai Dai let...
Yuanli was filled with worries and couldn't help but frown.
"The girl's expression is... disbelief?"
Yuanli, having regained her composure, quickly lied, "No, no, if you didn't believe it, you wouldn't have chosen to come here to cultivate, right, sister? Alas, I just heard that the family spirit is so powerful, and it reminded me of a difficult matter that has been bothering me for a long time. I wonder... if the family spirit can appear and enlighten me after I practice diligently."
"Everyone who comes here to practice meditation does so to solve unsolvable problems. The more distressing the problem, the more determined one becomes to practice. Otherwise, I really don't know how one can avoid being driven crazy by loneliness in these lonely days. What difficulties have you encountered, young lady?"
Yuanli thought of the two children in the "nightmare". After she woke up and thought about it carefully, she always felt that it was not a nightmare, but that she was haunted by "dirty things".
To test him, she feigned sorrow and said, "The pain of separation from one's own flesh and blood, the pain of losing and not being able to get back, for a mother, is as terrible as a flood or a beast. My sister is single, and I'm afraid she can't understand my feelings. I..."
Yuanli tilted her head and buried her face in Jiuwei's chest, thinking about all the sad things in her life, and brewing a violent cry.
Kyuubi's worry and panic came from his natural reaction to her sudden crying, so it didn't seem flawed in the woman's eyes.
"Alright, alright, don't cry, my lady. We won't talk about it anymore. We won't talk about it anymore."
"I understand, very well, the pain of separation from one's loved ones."
There was a softer sympathy in the woman's sad tone.
Yuanli immediately caught the emotion in the woman's words, and a bold guess emerged in her mind:
Could those two dirty things that were haunting her be the woman's dead children...
Yuanli knew when to stop, wiped away her tears, and couldn't hide her sobs. She still deliberately maintained a sad and pretentious expression, showing her grief and loss.
The woman said nothing more, turned around and led them to the innermost room on the right.
The door was opened and a stale, gray and moldy smell hit me in the face.
At the same time, a gust of cold wind blew, and the candle on the iron frame on the right side of the door went out. The woman turned her head to look at the extinguished candle and the table for worshiping the family gods, then went into the house.
The room was so dark that one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face. The woman went in for a moment and lit three candles in succession.
With the help of the dim candlelight, Yuanli vaguely saw that on the woman's bed, the brocade quilt was pulled up to cover the pillow, and the flat quilt cover was bulged into a long strip, as if someone was sleeping there.
"This is my room, please come in, young lady."
Yuanli felt inexplicably resistant. Just as she was trying to figure out how to politely reject her without causing her to become suspicious and unhappy, Heng Jin telepathically said to her, "There's a skeleton lying on the bed, and the room is covered in ashes. It can't be a place where people often sleep. Don't go in."
Heng Jin rejected the woman on Yuan Li's behalf and said, "Thank you for the invitation. The three of us men are following the lady closely, so it's not convenient for us to go into her boudoir to visit. Standing at the door and observing from a distance will suffice."
"It's okay, the girl can come in and visit alone."
Heng Jin put his arm around Yuan Li's shoulders and pulled her into his side, rejecting her decisively and firmly.
The woman didn't insist any longer. After she walked out of the house, she slammed the door shut with a heavy gust of wind.
The woman said sympathetically, "I understand. You are so lucky to have a husband who treasures you so much. You are the envy of others."
"Sister, don't be envious. With your beautiful face, it's only a matter of time before you find a good husband."
The woman quickly led them to the first floor before answering Yuanli, "Thanks for your kind words. I hope I can find a man as precious to me as you and your husband soon."
When the woman said this, her eyes were fixed on Heng Jin.
Yuanli saw greed, satisfaction, and desire in it...
Since most of the first floor was covered with white flowers and green vines, the tour was completed quickly.
The woman brought a few wooden stools for them to sit on, but did not make any tea for the guests. They just sat there looking at each other.
When the woman sat down, her loose and long robe piled up at her feet, still covering her feet completely.
At this moment, the courtyard was already pitch black at night. Caidai's wooden building next door was also dark, with no candles lit. The surroundings were extremely quiet, with only the shrill sound of the wind blowing past his ears.
Lian Lian telepathically transmitted to Yuan Li, "During our visit earlier, I took the opportunity to cast a spell to sense the entire wooden house. Aside from a skeleton lying on the couch in the woman's room, there were no decaying corpses or bones inside. The other rooms hadn't been opened in ages, and the dust inside was thick. However, beneath our feet, we do find the skeletons of two young children. Green vines have dug deep into the ground, countless vines tightly wrapped around the two children's skeletons like a tangled mess. A fruit, roughly the size of a fist, grew on each child's chest, right in the middle of their chest."
Since she sat down, the woman's eyes have been fixed on Yuanli without even blinking. Therefore, Yuanli didn't dare to talk to Yuanli for too long through telepathy, for fear that she would lose control of her expression at any time.
Yuanli wanted to get more useful information, so she began to deliberately find topics to chat with the woman.
"I never thought that my sister and I would have similar experiences. It really is fate. Since that day, I have been immersed in the pain of losing my son and cannot extricate myself. Whenever I think of it, I am filled with grief and sorrow. I wish, I wish it were me who died. No one understands me like my sister does. They all say that I have so many young and strong husbands, and that new children will be born in the future, but I want my dead child..."
Yuanli leaned sadly in Jiuwei's arms, tears streaming down her face and wetting her sleeves.
"I understand you. My children were less than five years old when they died in my arms."
The woman leaned forward towards Yuanli excitedly, "As long as you are willing to give up your freedom and stay here to practice pious cultivation, you can be reunited with my child like I have."
"Seriously? Sister!"
Yuanli sat up quickly with excitement. The moment he held the woman's hand with both hands, the woman quickly pulled her hand away.
After just a moment of contact, Yuanli also felt the woman's warmth.
As cold as death.
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