Refining the Infant Spirit
"Jade hairpin! Give it to me!" A little girl's shrill voice came, her limbs twisted in an extremely strange way, and she crawled towards Sanniang step by step.
Sanniang stood there, unable to move, tears streaming down her face. The girl blew a puff of ethereal purple smoke toward her, and she put away her fear. With a dull look in her eyes, she cradled the swaddling clothes and hummed a tune, then sat on a rock, rocking the swaddling clothes to comfort the child.
The little girl stood in front of her and whispered in her ear, "Sanniang, give me the jade hairpin."
Sanniang raised her head stiffly and handed the child to her.
The girl angrily grabbed the child and threw him at Wen Yici's feet. The swaddling clothes fell to the ground and an old skull rolled out.
Sanniang collapsed and screamed, "Child, child, my child!" She picked up the child's skull and put it in the swaddling clothes, singing a tune to coax it.
Yuanli moved behind her in fear. He protected her behind him and said, "Don't be afraid, my lady. I am here."
She had seen some little ghosts with missing limbs and some green-faced, fang-toothed monsters in the Wangchuan underworld, but this one was still so weird that it gave her goosebumps.
“My puppetry is ineffective against you, Shen Wuyou, you are worthy of being the daughter of the Jiangnan Shen family, the protector of the hairpin.” The little girl stared at her with gritted teeth and resentment, and the sound of her joints became louder and louder.
When Wu Jiu heard the names of the Jiangnan Shen family and Sanniang, tears welled up in his eyes and he walked straight towards Sanniang. Despite their cries, Wu Jiu ignored them and embraced Sanniang with open arms. His sobbing, questioning "Sister" shocked everyone present.
"Sister, I'm Shen Wujiu, don't you recognize me? How...how did you become like this? Why did you marry the murderer of my father? You...are so confused."
"Wujiu...brother?" Sanniang's eyes lit up again and she looked at Wujiu with tears in her eyes.
"Chen Wuyou, I helped you capture your brother. Can you give me the jade hairpin you promised me? Hehe." The little girl stood there smiling innocently, stretching out her pale little hands to ask for the jade hairpin.
Wu Jiu protected San Niang behind him and roared at the girl, "Don't even think about touching my sister again!"
The girl rolled her eyes and chanted some strange spells to a zombie. The zombie then rushed towards Wujiu with a knife. Wujiu did not retreat and tried his best to protect his sister.
When the knife was about to strike, Lin Jian drew his sword and rushed towards Wujiu to block the blow for him. Fortunately, he only scratched his arm.
"Lin Jian! Don't worry about us siblings, just go!"
Lin Jian turned around and gave Wu Jiu a faint smile, then immediately engaged in a fight with the living dead. Wen Yi Ci pulled her to Wu Jiu's side and joined in the fight, until the living dead's head fell to the ground, leaving Lin Jian and Wen Yi Ci breathless.
The girl said no more and launched an attack. Wen Yici was slightly at a disadvantage. Yuanli was anxious and had to secretly cast a spell to control the knife that was slashing towards him from behind.
Just as she was about to join them, two men in white, swords drawn, stood before them. One of them soared into the air, his sword swiveling as he dispatched the undead surrounding them. The other suddenly descended from the sky, piercing the girl's head with his sword. The wound glowed faintly red.
The girl glanced at the blood on her head in despair, then smiled strangely, "You thought that if you got rid of me, everything would be over..."
Before she finished her words, the girl vanished into thin air, but her smile lingered in Yuanli's mind.
"Thank you both for your help. May I know who you are?"
"Okay, okay. My name is Tianshu and his name is Yaoguang. We can't stay here for long. Let's leave first."
Everyone was about to leave, but Sanniang said nothing and turned back to walk towards the human skin.
Wu Jiu frowned and stared at San Niang in confusion. Suppressing his anger, he trembled and asked with a sob, "Sister, you...he is the son of the enemy who wiped out the Lin family. Why do you still care about him?"
Shen Wulian smiled tiredly and said, "Sister, I know, but we are husband and wife, so I can't just abandon him. I'll tell you about what happened back then when I get back."
After saying that, Sanniang picked up the broken human skin and the child on the ground and buried them in the back mountain.
The Shen family no longer existed, so she went to the inn at the foot of the mountain.
"You have nowhere to go, why don't you follow me back to the palace? I'll find a job for you."
"Sister, this is Princess Wen. I am also in the palace now."
Sanniang showed gratitude, stood up and knelt on the ground and said, "Thank you for your mercy, Princess."
Yuanli hurriedly helped Sanniang up, but Wen Yici said sternly, "Can I have a look at your jade hairpin?"
Sanniang carefully guarded the jade hairpin in her arms, but Wujiu took it from her and handed it to Wen Yici.
"Don't be surprised, Prince Wen. This jade hairpin has been guarded by our ancestors for generations, so I am a little cautious."
Wen Yici held the jade hairpin in his hand and carefully felt the patterns on it. He felt the man's breath on it.
It's her...
A tear rolled down Wen Yici's eye and landed on the jade hairpin. Suddenly, the hairpin emitted a red light, and runes appeared on it, then quickly dissipated.
"How did your ancestors get this jade hairpin?"
"Our ancestors of the Jiangnan Shen family were once entrusted by an immortal to guard the jade hairpin with their lives, waiting for the destined person to find it, and then their mission would be fulfilled. Since the jade hairpin can glow, I think it must be that destined person. So I entrusted the jade hairpin to Prince Wen."
Sanniang took a deep breath, smiled, and looked a lot more relaxed.
After settling Sanniang, Wen Yici went out to arrange his trip back to Beijing. After he left, Yuanli looked outside the door and closed it vigilantly.
"Um...Xingjun, I want to ask, why did the Emperor shed tears when he saw the jade hairpin? Is it something that belonged to his old lover?"
After saying that, Yaoguang and Tianshu avoided each other's gazes and said hurriedly, "Yaoguang-kun, didn't the Moon Fairy arrange to play chess? Ah Li, we're leaving first."
Yaoguang Xingjun said nothing, but nodded his head like a rattle. Before Yuanli could say anything, Yaoguang and Tianshu disappeared.
It seems that the Emperor really has an old lover. I wonder which woman could make the Ice Emperor so sad. Yuanli felt inexplicably lost. Perhaps she had been indulging in Wen Yici's gentle love for too long, and she really had the illusion that Wen Yici was hers.
The three words "old lover" reminded her that this marriage was just a mission, a tiny one in Sima Ming's countless sketchbooks.
At night, Yuanli lay on the bed in unbearable pain, her lips had turned white. Perhaps it was because of the magic she cast on Wen Yici during the day, which backfired. Wen Yici found a doctor for her, but for some reason, he could only hold her in his arms and could not sleep all night.
The next morning, Yuanli's complexion became a little rosier. Wen Yici brought her some porridge. Just when she had eaten half of it, she received another report that a woman in the city had her heart dug out last night.
The deceased died in a miserable manner. Unlike the other victims, this one died in a horrific manner. Judging from the body, it seemed that someone had dissected the heart out while the body was still alive. There was also a child's bloody handprint on the ground, but the woman was just an adult and there was no baby in her family.
"Lin Jian, go check in the city to see if there are any other women of the same age as the victim. Tonight, divide our forces into three groups and we must capture her."
It was still a little chilly at night in the early spring in the south of the Yangtze River. Yuanli had a stomachache last night, so she rested alone in the inn and left Sanniang to accompany her.
Wen Yici and his group waited for a long time but to no avail. It was not until a signal flare was lit above the inn that they hurried back to the inn. Wen Yici was the closest, so he arrived first. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Sanniang huddled in the corner, protecting Yuanli behind her.
A baby in a red bellyband was crawling on the ground, staring at them.
"Ari!"
Wen Yici screamed, causing the baby to turn around. Yuanli stared at him in shock. Thinking carefully, she realized that she had never told him her real name.
The baby had a rosy complexion, dark red lips, bloody tear marks on his face, and his body was dirty. The dust accumulated on his joints made his skin a little black.
"Don't hurt her!" Sanniang knelt on the ground pleadingly, shaking her head desperately and shouting at Wen Yici.
When the baby heard Sanniang's voice, it tilted its head to look at her, rushed towards her, stopped in front of her, and met her eyes.
Yuanli was not afraid of this thing, as it didn't look half as scary as the underworld. However, it really scared her when it suddenly rushed towards her.
The baby did not hurt Sanniang. It just stretched out its hand towards her, froze for a moment, then quickly rushed to the window and disappeared into the night.
When Wujiu arrived, Sanniang was already lying on the ground crying. He quickly hugged Sanniang to comfort her.
Wen Yici pulled Yuanli up from the ground and protected her behind him, anxiously checking if she was injured. However, Yuanli asked in shock, "Husband...did you call me Ah Li just now?"
She was now the mortal Princess Jiahe. Hengjin, reincarnated as a mortal, shouldn't have known her name was A-Li. Could it be that the Emperor had memories? That would be the end of it. She kissed and hugged the Emperor shyly...
"My lady, you heard wrongly. Who is A-Li?"
Wen Yici turned the tables, emitting an undeniable aura that made Yuanli feel inexplicably guilty. But why was she feeling guilty?
"Wujiu...that baby is my child."
"What baby?" Wujiu looked at his sister in surprise.
Yuanli was attracted by this, which made Wen Yici feel relieved.
"You said the one who just tried to dig out our hearts was your child? But isn't she just a pile of bones?"
"I won't make a mistake. There is a red flower-shaped birthmark on her shoulder. That's my child!" Sanniang became more and more excited as she spoke, her tears piling up. Her uneasy hands frantically grabbed Wujiu.
Wen Yici slowly said, "It's a refined infant spirit."
"Husband, do you know this?"
The more Wen Yici knew, the more suspicious Yuanli became of him. She couldn't help but keep some distance from him, fearing that he would draw his sword and kill someone if he regained his memory.
"It must be the puppet child! For all these years, she has been using illusions to control me, making me see a child instead of bones. By the time I realized it, it was already too late... I've been watching her for seven years, I can't be wrong, please believe me."
"Sanniang, we can't keep that child."
Wen Yici's words made Sanniang collapse on the ground helplessly. Although she was reluctant to let her go, she couldn't let her bring disaster to the world.
"Where is the corpse? We need to use the corpse to summon the baby spirit, and then use the jade hairpin to pierce its heart."
"I buried her in the mountains... If I send her away, will my child still be able to enter reincarnation?"
Wen Yici didn't say anything, avoiding Sanniang's gaze and looking elsewhere.
"I understand, I'll dig..." Sanniang stood up and walked back to her room in a trance.
Wen Yici moved to a guest room and fell asleep with her in his arms. The next day, after everyone woke up, they went up the mountain together. Sanniang bought some paper money, incense, and candles to burn for the child. She spoke to the child at the grave and then personally dug out the child's bones.
"Sanniang, when I activate the formation at midnight, you must drop a drop of blood from your fingertip onto the child's skull. You must eliminate it before dawn at dawn."
"good…"
At night, near midnight, a strong wind blew, rustling the leaves in the mountains. After Wen Yici activated the formation, all the doors around him opened and closed with a banging sound.
“Here I come!”
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