Zong Jiu didn’t debate with him on this issue. Changing the topic, he asked, “More evidence or tangible signs are indeed needed to validate it. However, since there’s this possibility, we should prepare for the worst. What does senior think?”
Black-Robed Azan’s expression eased, “Naturally.”
If it was really the worst case scenario, this village’s situation would be more complicated and tricky.
Black-Robed Azan knew better than anyone else how difficult to deal with ghosts born from human hearts were. The scarier thing was that ghosts being born from human hearts wasn’t completed in one go. Ghosts would hide in human hearts and only break out of the body when things had accumulated to a certain point. Having their hearts and souls being devoured by an endless amount of evil thoughts, they would become evil ghosts wearing human skin.
AD
After getting the information that he wanted, Zong Jiu rushed without stopping towards the mud house in the north of the village.
In the last round, when the sky had just brightened, Wang Shou had rushed out with injuries. Since they knew all the essential information, they obviously couldn’t dilly-dally.
When Zong Jiu had rushed to the front of the mud house, Xu Sen, who was guarding the door, quickly reported to him quietly, “We haven’t discovered any movements yet.”
Towards this, everyone else also felt that it was a bit strange.
According to what they knew, the woman should’ve secretly entered the house this morning before the sky brightened, most likely because she wanted to see if her daughter was still here. But she encountered Wang Shou and, in desperation, stabbed Wang Shou once before escaping in a rush.
So everyone was lying in wait. The best solution was to get here before the woman and stop her before she entered the mud house. This way, they could avoid engaging with the villagers head on, leaving a chance for peaceful resolution and discussion.
“Continue to keep watch. It should be around this time.”
Zong Jiu raised his head, glanced at the color of the sky, and then also squatted by the corner of the wall.
Over a dozen people surrounded the village head’s house tightly. As long as someone rushed out or entered, they wouldn’t be able to escape from their watch.
After about ten minutes, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the woods behind the mud house.
All the trainees exchanged a glance and then walked over there.
Once they had gone over, a few trainees had already subdued the person.
In order to not let anyone in the village hear anything, they could only block the woman’s mouth with a strip of cloth first and bring her somewhere far away from the mud house.
Walking in the other direction, the scarlet red top of the temple could be vaguely seen through the covering of the trees.
Once they had reached a glade in the woods, they untied the strip of the cloth and formed a circle.
Not only was Zong Jiu’s team there, the other team obviously also had the same goal as them. Seeing them subdue the woman, they followed along.
The woman’s face was filled with panic. Opening her mouth, she yelled, “Help! Help! You leechers!”
“Auntie, we don’t have any malicious intent.”
Xu Sen quickly went forward to comfort her. However, obviously the other person was very agitated. Not only was she agitated, but she also tried to break through the encirclement.
This havoc continued for almost a stick of incense’s time before the woman finally quieted down a little.
“You all really didn’t lie to me? You all really weren’t sent by Wang Shou, that bastard?”
Seeing her attitude finally easing, everyone let out a breath of relief, “We really aren’t.”
It seemed that the woman believed it now. She suspiciously looked at the trainees, “Then you all step aside first. I need to find my daughter.”
Speaking of this, everyone was silent for a moment.
“Tfrafgvjs, sbeg vjeutafg tjv jigfjvs yffc…”
Coafg j ktlif, rbwfbcf tjv pera bqfcfv atflg wbeat, sfa Ibcu Ale vlgfmais lcafggeqafv atflg kbgvr.
“Cecalf, kf obecv sbe ab jrx bcf atlcu. Po sbe jgf kliilcu ab afii er, cjaegjiis, kf’ii rfcv sbe yjmx klatbea jcs tjgw.”
Ktf kbwjc rcffgfv, “P pera xcfk sbe jii kfgfc’a ubbv qfbqif.”
Towards her accusation, the white-haired young man completely treated it as if he didn’t hear it.
He stared closely at the woman’s eyes, “Three years ago, the elderly woman living in the back of the old locust tree, just how did she die?”
The woman’s expression slightly changed, “Wh-what did you say? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t understand?” Zong Jiu laughed, “Your daughter is already six or seven. It should have already been three or four years since you got married and came here. How could you not understand?”
He continued to say, “These few days, villagers who mysteriously died in violent ways have already appeared in the village. As someone who came here from your maternal family’s side, you should’ve at least heard something about it. The other people have said that that elderly woman has come back to seek the lives of all of you.”
Once he had said this much, the fluctuation of emotions was more obvious on the woman’s face.
In this round, the other team’s trainees also saw that something wasn’t right.
Because her expression didn’t contain any other emotions, except avoidance mixed with obvious fear.
Clearly, the woman was really scared that the fierce ghost mentioned by Zong Jiu would come to seek her life.
With one look, everyone knew that this was promising. This was clearly the reaction of someone who did something against their conscience.
She opened her mouth, “If that elderly woman really came back, what use is it to tell you all?”
This time the one who opened their mouth was Black-Robed Azan.
“If you didn’t do anything against your conscience, you would naturally not be afraid of a ghost coming to knock on your door. If you did do something against your conscience… if you have a sincere and repentant heart, maybe the ghost would let you go.”
Those words were like giving the woman a calming pill. Thus, after hesitating for a while, she was finally willing to talk about it.
“Three years ago, at that time, I had just brought my daughter and married into this village not for too long.”
The woman was originally the neighboring village’s widow. She was beautiful, but her husband unexpectedly died early, and she became a widow at a young age.
Her husband’s family didn’t have a lot of money. A widow wouldn’t have a good time in the village. Her mother’s side of the family more so wouldn’t care about a woman who had already been married out of the family. Thus, her days became more and more difficult.
It just so happened that Tongbai village’s head was also a widower. His previous wife died of difficult childbirth after birthing him a son.
However, after she married over, the woman’s stomach didn’t match up to expectations. She was unable to conceive even after a long time, and her position in her husband’s family became lower and lower, only being able to receive cold snorts from the village head as she lived her days. In addition, Wang Shou often yelled at her and hit her.
In Tongbai village, it was what the village head said that went. Coincidentally, the famine started that year. People weren’t able to make a living, and she more so wasn’t able to receive any food.
“That elderly woman was also someone with no sons or daughters, and her husband left early. However, her age was up there, so she lived alone in that old mud house.”
The elderly woman believed in Buddhism.
The woman said that before the appearance of the bodhisattva in Tongbai village, only the elderly woman believed in Buddhism in the village.
Before then, no one cared about the bodhisattva soil in front of the temple. The temple was also short and run-down, its original appearance indistinguishable.
“Only that elderly woman believed in Buddhism, taking care of that bodhisattva soil day after day, sprinkling water day and night. She even often went to the temple with a broom to clean.”
Speaking up till this point, the woman slowly said, “Not only this, but she also had the hobby of eating bodhisattva soil.”
“However, she was a kind-hearted person. During the famine, she herself would eat dirt, and she would give her remaining food to other people in the village. It’s just that the fact that she would eat first was found out by the people in the village. So the people in the village also took soil back and copied her in eating it.”
“There was originally only a thin layer of that bodhisattva soil, not a lot at all. If everyone in the village ate it, she wouldn’t have enough to eat. Because of this, she had a huge fight with everyone, complaining that the other people ate the food she gave yet still came to vie with her for soil.”
“Then, after that, there wasn’t enough bodhisattva soil, so she starved to death in that old mud house.”
Her gaze flickered, “The people in the village only found out after over ten days. By then, the corpse was already rotten.”
“For this, although the people in the village weren’t very honorable, when there’s a famine, who cares about what’s right or wrong? Everyone only thinks of how to survive. We did indeed wrong the elderly woman and treated her badly; no one sent food to her. Maybe it’s because of this that she carried resentment in her heart, causing the current… sigh.”
The woman’s gaze contained a bit of anger, “However, afterwards, the village also raised funds to make a memorial tablet for her. If she still wants to kill everyone after this, that’s a bit too much.”
Many trainees revealed expressions of understanding, as if it now made sense.
Only Zong Jiu and Black-Robed Azan were still frowning.
“That’s enough. You all wanted me to say it, and I have already told you all. Now you can let me go, right?”
Zong Jiu indifferently said, “Okay, let’s go.”
After speaking, he signaled to Xu Sen and them to loosen the ties and leave with him.
The latter couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but after these few days, he had already become accustomed to obeying Zong Jiu’s instructions. Thus, he didn’t ask anything and directly followed the white-haired young man who was walking out of the woods.
In contrast, Anthony’s team of veterans obviously still wanted to get more information from the woman. They didn’t interfere or stop them; rather, they coldly watched the newcomers leave.
It was worth mentioning that Black-Robed Azan quietly muttered a few sentences and then also left the veterans’ team by himself.
Zong Jiu didn’t have the intention of wasting time. He led the newcomers straight towards the temple at the back of the village.
Xu Sen quietly asked, “Brother Jiu, isn’t there something wrong with what that woman said just now?”
They weren’t like Zong Jiu, who had heard the conversation between the village head and Grandma Yin; they weren’t able to reason out the contradictions between the narratives. In fact, if he hadn’t gathered any other information before, then the words of the woman could roughly resolve all points of uncertainty.
“The elderly woman turning into a ghost and coming back to take revenge on the village, that’s not impossible.”
Xu Sen pondered out loud, “Whether it’s the timeline or the reason why the villagers were scrambling to eat bodhisattva soil, they all match up, but…”
He remembered the scratch marks that covered half of the old mud house’s wall and felt that there was something amiss. As for what exactly felt wrong, Xu Sen couldn’t figure it out.
“There is something wrong. Of course, there’s something wrong.”
Zong Jiu shrugged, “She’s lying. It couldn’t be more obvious.”
“As for why it’s hard for you guys to tell, it’s because her lies were extremely well constructed. It wasn’t fabricated all the way from beginning to end. Rather, truth and lies were mixed together.”
[Fuck, I knew that she was lying.]
[That’s right. Since that woman said that she cared about her daughter so unabashedly, then why did she not bring her daughter with her when she ran away?]
[Sigh, it’s too hard. They finally found a trail of clues, but it turned out to be fake. Even until now, there still aren’t any particularly useful clues. It’s really driving people insane.]
When the woman was talking a while ago, Zong Jiu was carefully observing her expression.
When a person lies, their expression would have certain changes, not to mention that she obviously hid some extremely important things.
“Thus, my guess is that she not only lied but is possibly one of the accomplices too.”
“Okay, this clue has already been obtained by us. Since the living people can’t provide any more information, then… next would be finding dead people to obtain information.”
Hearing him say this, the other people remembered that Grandma Yin from the temple had said before that she would try to enter the nether world in a few days.
Entering the nether world was Yin walking, also referred to as crossing through the nether world or descending. Roughly, it meant to traverse into the nether world from the mortal world.
There were two methods of Yin walking. One method was the Yin walker entering the nether world alone, finding the specified ghost, and then inviting the ghost to possess them, allowing the living person who missed the dead person to communicate with them.
The other method was similar to Guan Luo Yin. They would bring a living person and enter the Yin world together. However, this method was extremely difficult and had high risks. Unless they were a Taoist with exceptionally high strength, people normally wouldn’t even attempt it.
Zong Jiu was very certain that the present situation in Tongbai village was definitely not the elderly woman transforming into a fierce ghost and coming back to take revenge on the villagers.
Since the elderly woman didn’t transform into a ghost, then it was possible to use Yin walking to try and find the elderly woman’s soul.
The villagers’ words were filled with lies, and they did things against their conscience. It would be a lot simpler to ask the person in the midst of all of it.
Even Black-Robed Azan, who silently followed them, also nodded his head in agreement, believing that this method was feasible and holding the same view as him on this.
Maybe because the ruckus they caused before the sky had even brightened was too large, the village finally had signs of waking up.
Far off in the distance, the villagers, who all held hoes in their hands and had gathered in front of Wang Shou’s house, were walking towards the woods.
Xu Sen was worried, “They seem to have found out. What do we do?”
“The sky has just brightened. Would the temple be open this early?”
“Who knows? I just know that if you guys don’t hold onto your props properly, we might just drop dead right here.”
Subconsciously, the large area filled with trees suddenly became quiet.
The trainees also realized something wasn’t right. Caught off guard, they all pulled out their life-saving props at lightning speed, vigilantly surveying the surroundings.
In the cracks between the leaves, the shadows of phantoms flashed past.
Not far away, the other team of trainees was running like the wind. Behind them, a large group of villagers was gathered together, cursing and yelling.
Zong Jiu ordered, “Run!”
Zong Jiu didn’t debate with him on this issue. Changing the topic, he asked, “More evidence or tangible signs are indeed needed to validate it. However, since there’s this possibility, we should prepare for the worst. What does senior think?”
Black-Robed Azan’s expression eased, “Naturally.”
If it was really the worst case scenario, this village’s situation would be more complicated and tricky.
Black-Robed Azan knew better than anyone else how difficult to deal with ghosts born from human hearts were. The scarier thing was that ghosts being born from human hearts wasn’t completed in one go. Ghosts would hide in human hearts and only break out of the body when things had accumulated to a certain point. Having their hearts and souls being devoured by an endless amount of evil thoughts, they would become evil ghosts wearing human skin.
AD
After getting the information that he wanted, Zong Jiu rushed without stopping towards the mud house in the north of the village.
In the last round, when the sky had just brightened, Wang Shou had rushed out with injuries. Since they knew all the essential information, they obviously couldn’t dilly-dally.
When Zong Jiu had rushed to the front of the mud house, Xu Sen, who was guarding the door, quickly reported to him quietly, “We haven’t discovered any movements yet.”
Towards this, everyone else also felt that it was a bit strange.
According to what they knew, the woman should’ve secretly entered the house this morning before the sky brightened, most likely because she wanted to see if her daughter was still here. But she encountered Wang Shou and, in desperation, stabbed Wang Shou once before escaping in a rush.
So everyone was lying in wait. The best solution was to get here before the woman and stop her before she entered the mud house. This way, they could avoid engaging with the villagers head on, leaving a chance for peaceful resolution and discussion.
“Continue to keep watch. It should be around this time.”
Zong Jiu raised his head, glanced at the color of the sky, and then also squatted by the corner of the wall.
Over a dozen people surrounded the village head’s house tightly. As long as someone rushed out or entered, they wouldn’t be able to escape from their watch.
After about ten minutes, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the woods behind the mud house.
All the trainees exchanged a glance and then walked over there.
Once they had gone over, a few trainees had already subdued the person.
In order to not let anyone in the village hear anything, they could only block the woman’s mouth with a strip of cloth first and bring her somewhere far away from the mud house.
Walking in the other direction, the scarlet red top of the temple could be vaguely seen through the covering of the trees.
Once they had reached a glade in the woods, they untied the strip of the cloth and formed a circle.
Not only was Zong Jiu’s team there, the other team obviously also had the same goal as them. Seeing them subdue the woman, they followed along.
The woman’s face was filled with panic. Opening her mouth, she yelled, “Help! Help! You leechers!”
“Auntie, we don’t have any malicious intent.”
Xu Sen quickly went forward to comfort her. However, obviously the other person was very agitated. Not only was she agitated, but she also tried to break through the encirclement.
This havoc continued for almost a stick of incense’s time before the woman finally quieted down a little.
“You all really didn’t lie to me? You all really weren’t sent by Wang Shou, that bastard?”
Seeing her attitude finally easing, everyone let out a breath of relief, “We really aren’t.”
It seemed that the woman believed it now. She suspiciously looked at the trainees, “Then you all step aside first. I need to find my daughter.”
Speaking of this, everyone was silent for a moment.
“Tfrafgvjs, sbeg vjeutafg tjv jigfjvs yffc…”
Coafg j ktlif, rbwfbcf tjv pera bqfcfv atflg wbeat, sfa Ibcu Ale vlgfmais lcafggeqafv atflg kbgvr.
“Cecalf, kf obecv sbe ab jrx bcf atlcu. Po sbe jgf kliilcu ab afii er, cjaegjiis, kf’ii rfcv sbe yjmx klatbea jcs tjgw.”
Ktf kbwjc rcffgfv, “P pera xcfk sbe jii kfgfc’a ubbv qfbqif.”
Towards her accusation, the white-haired young man completely treated it as if he didn’t hear it.
He stared closely at the woman’s eyes, “Three years ago, the elderly woman living in the back of the old locust tree, just how did she die?”
The woman’s expression slightly changed, “Wh-what did you say? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t understand?” Zong Jiu laughed, “Your daughter is already six or seven. It should have already been three or four years since you got married and came here. How could you not understand?”
He continued to say, “These few days, villagers who mysteriously died in violent ways have already appeared in the village. As someone who came here from your maternal family’s side, you should’ve at least heard something about it. The other people have said that that elderly woman has come back to seek the lives of all of you.”
Once he had said this much, the fluctuation of emotions was more obvious on the woman’s face.
In this round, the other team’s trainees also saw that something wasn’t right.
Because her expression didn’t contain any other emotions, except avoidance mixed with obvious fear.
Clearly, the woman was really scared that the fierce ghost mentioned by Zong Jiu would come to seek her life.
With one look, everyone knew that this was promising. This was clearly the reaction of someone who did something against their conscience.
She opened her mouth, “If that elderly woman really came back, what use is it to tell you all?”
This time the one who opened their mouth was Black-Robed Azan.
“If you didn’t do anything against your conscience, you would naturally not be afraid of a ghost coming to knock on your door. If you did do something against your conscience… if you have a sincere and repentant heart, maybe the ghost would let you go.”
Those words were like giving the woman a calming pill. Thus, after hesitating for a while, she was finally willing to talk about it.
“Three years ago, at that time, I had just brought my daughter and married into this village not for too long.”
The woman was originally the neighboring village’s widow. She was beautiful, but her husband unexpectedly died early, and she became a widow at a young age.
Her husband’s family didn’t have a lot of money. A widow wouldn’t have a good time in the village. Her mother’s side of the family more so wouldn’t care about a woman who had already been married out of the family. Thus, her days became more and more difficult.
It just so happened that Tongbai village’s head was also a widower. His previous wife died of difficult childbirth after birthing him a son.
However, after she married over, the woman’s stomach didn’t match up to expectations. She was unable to conceive even after a long time, and her position in her husband’s family became lower and lower, only being able to receive cold snorts from the village head as she lived her days. In addition, Wang Shou often yelled at her and hit her.
In Tongbai village, it was what the village head said that went. Coincidentally, the famine started that year. People weren’t able to make a living, and she more so wasn’t able to receive any food.
“That elderly woman was also someone with no sons or daughters, and her husband left early. However, her age was up there, so she lived alone in that old mud house.”
The elderly woman believed in Buddhism.
The woman said that before the appearance of the bodhisattva in Tongbai village, only the elderly woman believed in Buddhism in the village.
Before then, no one cared about the bodhisattva soil in front of the temple. The temple was also short and run-down, its original appearance indistinguishable.
“Only that elderly woman believed in Buddhism, taking care of that bodhisattva soil day after day, sprinkling water day and night. She even often went to the temple with a broom to clean.”
Speaking up till this point, the woman slowly said, “Not only this, but she also had the hobby of eating bodhisattva soil.”
“However, she was a kind-hearted person. During the famine, she herself would eat dirt, and she would give her remaining food to other people in the village. It’s just that the fact that she would eat first was found out by the people in the village. So the people in the village also took soil back and copied her in eating it.”
“There was originally only a thin layer of that bodhisattva soil, not a lot at all. If everyone in the village ate it, she wouldn’t have enough to eat. Because of this, she had a huge fight with everyone, complaining that the other people ate the food she gave yet still came to vie with her for soil.”
“Then, after that, there wasn’t enough bodhisattva soil, so she starved to death in that old mud house.”
Her gaze flickered, “The people in the village only found out after over ten days. By then, the corpse was already rotten.”
“For this, although the people in the village weren’t very honorable, when there’s a famine, who cares about what’s right or wrong? Everyone only thinks of how to survive. We did indeed wrong the elderly woman and treated her badly; no one sent food to her. Maybe it’s because of this that she carried resentment in her heart, causing the current… sigh.”
The woman’s gaze contained a bit of anger, “However, afterwards, the village also raised funds to make a memorial tablet for her. If she still wants to kill everyone after this, that’s a bit too much.”
Many trainees revealed expressions of understanding, as if it now made sense.
Only Zong Jiu and Black-Robed Azan were still frowning.
“That’s enough. You all wanted me to say it, and I have already told you all. Now you can let me go, right?”
Zong Jiu indifferently said, “Okay, let’s go.”
After speaking, he signaled to Xu Sen and them to loosen the ties and leave with him.
The latter couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but after these few days, he had already become accustomed to obeying Zong Jiu’s instructions. Thus, he didn’t ask anything and directly followed the white-haired young man who was walking out of the woods.
In contrast, Anthony’s team of veterans obviously still wanted to get more information from the woman. They didn’t interfere or stop them; rather, they coldly watched the newcomers leave.
It was worth mentioning that Black-Robed Azan quietly muttered a few sentences and then also left the veterans’ team by himself.
Zong Jiu didn’t have the intention of wasting time. He led the newcomers straight towards the temple at the back of the village.
Xu Sen quietly asked, “Brother Jiu, isn’t there something wrong with what that woman said just now?”
They weren’t like Zong Jiu, who had heard the conversation between the village head and Grandma Yin; they weren’t able to reason out the contradictions between the narratives. In fact, if he hadn’t gathered any other information before, then the words of the woman could roughly resolve all points of uncertainty.
“The elderly woman turning into a ghost and coming back to take revenge on the village, that’s not impossible.”
Xu Sen pondered out loud, “Whether it’s the timeline or the reason why the villagers were scrambling to eat bodhisattva soil, they all match up, but…”
He remembered the scratch marks that covered half of the old mud house’s wall and felt that there was something amiss. As for what exactly felt wrong, Xu Sen couldn’t figure it out.
“There is something wrong. Of course, there’s something wrong.”
Zong Jiu shrugged, “She’s lying. It couldn’t be more obvious.”
“As for why it’s hard for you guys to tell, it’s because her lies were extremely well constructed. It wasn’t fabricated all the way from beginning to end. Rather, truth and lies were mixed together.”
[Fuck, I knew that she was lying.]
[That’s right. Since that woman said that she cared about her daughter so unabashedly, then why did she not bring her daughter with her when she ran away?]
[Sigh, it’s too hard. They finally found a trail of clues, but it turned out to be fake. Even until now, there still aren’t any particularly useful clues. It’s really driving people insane.]
When the woman was talking a while ago, Zong Jiu was carefully observing her expression.
When a person lies, their expression would have certain changes, not to mention that she obviously hid some extremely important things.
“Thus, my guess is that she not only lied but is possibly one of the accomplices too.”
“Okay, this clue has already been obtained by us. Since the living people can’t provide any more information, then… next would be finding dead people to obtain information.”
Hearing him say this, the other people remembered that Grandma Yin from the temple had said before that she would try to enter the nether world in a few days.
Entering the nether world was Yin walking, also referred to as crossing through the nether world or descending. Roughly, it meant to traverse into the nether world from the mortal world.
There were two methods of Yin walking. One method was the Yin walker entering the nether world alone, finding the specified ghost, and then inviting the ghost to possess them, allowing the living person who missed the dead person to communicate with them.
The other method was similar to Guan Luo Yin. They would bring a living person and enter the Yin world together. However, this method was extremely difficult and had high risks. Unless they were a Taoist with exceptionally high strength, people normally wouldn’t even attempt it.
Zong Jiu was very certain that the present situation in Tongbai village was definitely not the elderly woman transforming into a fierce ghost and coming back to take revenge on the villagers.
Since the elderly woman didn’t transform into a ghost, then it was possible to use Yin walking to try and find the elderly woman’s soul.
The villagers’ words were filled with lies, and they did things against their conscience. It would be a lot simpler to ask the person in the midst of all of it.
Even Black-Robed Azan, who silently followed them, also nodded his head in agreement, believing that this method was feasible and holding the same view as him on this.
Maybe because the ruckus they caused before the sky had even brightened was too large, the village finally had signs of waking up.
Far off in the distance, the villagers, who all held hoes in their hands and had gathered in front of Wang Shou’s house, were walking towards the woods.
Xu Sen was worried, “They seem to have found out. What do we do?”
“The sky has just brightened. Would the temple be open this early?”
“Who knows? I just know that if you guys don’t hold onto your props properly, we might just drop dead right here.”
Subconsciously, the large area filled with trees suddenly became quiet.
The trainees also realized something wasn’t right. Caught off guard, they all pulled out their life-saving props at lightning speed, vigilantly surveying the surroundings.
In the cracks between the leaves, the shadows of phantoms flashed past.
Not far away, the other team of trainees was running like the wind. Behind them, a large group of villagers was gathered together, cursing and yelling.
Zong Jiu ordered, “Run!”
