Chapter 64.2

In the past, Xie Yuzhen had shown her loyalty; now she felt a subtle strain and could not fully grasp his intentions.
Lu You trembled as she placed her hand on the door panel. Inside, the vicious dog grew restless, barking and crashing against the door. She furrowed her brows, silently wishing for that thing to come out quickly, hoping not to anger Xie Yuzhen.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning split the dark clouds, illuminating the sky as thunder struck, shattering the wooden cabin’s roof and scattering debris everywhere!
Lu You screamed as the creature lunged at her, biting her skirt. Xie Yuzhen dove down and pulled her arm, shouting, “Run!”

Moments later, raindrops as big as soybeans began to hammer against the dried leaves and wooden shards on the ground. A half-broken chain lay on the ground, and that place was now devoid of people.

*

The thunderous sound startled Mrs. Zhao awake.
A foul smell wafted beside her; she turned her head, eyes widening in shock. In the darkness, a pair of eerie green eyes floated like ghostly fire, watching her.
The silvery lightning illuminated the room, revealing a “shadow” squatting by the bed: the figure was emaciated, ribs protruding, covered in long hair, with eyes devoid of color, sharp silver fangs, and drool dripping from above. It made a gurgling sound from its chest.
“Master, Master.” Mrs. Zhao could hardly speak as she pushed Zhao Fukun beside her. Zhao Fukun, still dazed, mumbled, “What’s wrong?” just as the figure pounced onto the bed.
Mrs. Zhao screamed and fell to the floor, only to hear Zhao Fukun’s anguished cries. She turned back to see the creature squatting on the bed, gnawing at Zhao Fukun’s arm with a horrifying crunching sound.
Mrs. Zhao wanted to call for help, but her legs felt weak, and she couldn’t make a sound.
Zhao Fukun let out another blood-curdling scream, and suddenly the door was pushed open. A slender figure floated into the room, swiftly drawing a silver sword, and immediately slashed down.
The beast was knocked back, crashing heavily against the wall. It whined and charged at him again. He swung his sword again, sending it flying far away.
Mrs. Zhao kept screaming as the room filled with flashing swords and lightning. She crawled behind the figure, looking up to see it was Zhao Qinghe.

However, his expression was cold and murderous, very different from her daughter.
“Please, that’s my son! Please don’t kill him,” she cried as she clung to “Qinghe’s” leg.
The spying curse had yet to fade, and Shen Suwei had no intention of killing him. He took a branch from a vase and, with a flick of his wrist, transformed it into a mother cage, trapping the creature inside.
The creature thrashed and bit, crashing against the cage, its barking shaking the rafters.

Footsteps approached, and Ruan Zhuqing rushed in with her skirt lifted, suddenly stopping and raising a talisman. She pressed it against the cage, sealing it tightly, saying, “Sister, I’m here to help you! You must not be reckless; only one person can bear the backlash!”

After saying that, she spat out a mouthful of blood. “Sister, my name is Xiao Ruan. I am an inner disciple, dual-trained in swordsmanship. I’m very wealthy! If I’m gone, you must remember to find me!”
Shen Suwei wiped the faint bloodstain at the corner of his lips, looking at her with a complex expression.

“You won’t be gone,” he said. “Once he is out, the curse’s effects will gradually fade. I am here to restrain him; there’s no need for you to intervene. Just go check on Zhao Fukun.”
He patted Ruan Zhuqing’s shoulder and gently pushed him. The energy within that push was abundant and warm, stabilizing his mind.
Shen Suwei then helped Mrs. Zhao up, but she trembled violently and couldn’t stand.
“You say he’s your son. Is he human or a ghost?”
“Yes, I don’t know.” Mrs. Zhao cried despondently. “Junzhu died seven years ago. That year, Qinghe picked up a little dog outside. We all told her that as a young lady, how could she carry a dog all day? Just let the maid take care of it, and she could play with it when she thought of it. Moreover, it was from outside; how dirty could it be? But Qinghe refused.”

Mrs. Zhao continued, “She has always been quiet and reclusive. After getting that dog, she was closer to it than to us. Junzhu wanted to play with the dog, but she wouldn’t allow it, saying Junzhu bullied the dog. Junzhu resented that his elder sister wouldn’t play with him, so he started to hate the dog. Whenever things didn’t go his way, he’d kick or hit it. But the dog bit him once, so we wouldn’t let him near it anymore. Later, while Qinghe was at school, he had the servants catch the dog and killed it to eat.”

Shen Suwei looked at her in shock. “You ate it?”
“I didn’t eat it; the master might have taken a bite. Mingtang didn’t know. Junzhu ate quite a bit.” Mrs. Zhao said, “What was there to eat from such a small dog? He didn’t mean any harm; it was just to have a quarrel with his elder sister. When Qinghe came home from school and found the dog missing, she saw him eating meat and was heartbroken, so she never spoke to Junzhu again.”

“If that’s the case, it’s not so bad—just a dog; she’ll forget it eventually.” Mrs. Zhao said, “I don’t know what kind of sin was committed. That night, Junzhu came back from playing and encountered four or five big dogs.”

“I don’t know whether they were dogs or wolves; anyway, they were the fiercest dogs I’d ever seen.” Mrs. Zhao’s eyes filled with terror. “By the time we found him, he had been torn to pieces by the dogs…”

“Fortunately, a passing immortal lord performed a spell to piece Junzhu’s remains back together and infused him with a bit of spiritual energy, saving his life. But for some reason, he… could no longer speak like a human and grew more and more like…”
“Dog…”

At this point, acknowledging the situation made it clear that karma was indeed in play, and Mrs. Zhao collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.
Shen Suwei asked, “Does the passing celestial lord have a name, and how does he look?”
Mrs. Zhao shook her head.
It’s fine; since they have committed wrongs, they must take on forms, so how could they allow others to know their identities?
Shen Suwei asked again, “You wanted to use the Guo family’s soul-locking artifact to subdue him; was that also at the behest of that celestial lord?”

Mrs. Zhao turned pale when her thoughts were exposed: “No. That celestial lord left years ago, and after his restrictions loosened, my son began to hurt and bite others. I heard that when the Guo family was transporting goods, they obtained a magical artifact from the celestial sect called the ‘Soul Lock,’ which can subdue demonic energy. For these years, seeing Junzhu in this state, we didn’t really hope he could get better; we just wanted to hold him down for a year or so, to leave a normal heir for the Zhao family…”

Shen Suwei said, “So those maidservants tied up in that small room were all meant to be brides for Zhao Junzhu?”
“Yes.” Mrs. Zhao pleaded, “We only strayed for a moment, entertained wrong thoughts, and didn’t actually do anything; all four maidservants were released! It’s because Second Young Master Guo was quite difficult to deal with; no matter how much money we offered, he wouldn’t sell us the Soul Lock, nor could we borrow it. He insisted on marrying our Qinghe and wanted a sword from Fanghua Building in exchange.”

“A dead person cannot be revived.” Shen Suwei mentioned the cage, “Zhao Junzhu died when he was eight. This entity is already a malevolent spirit, notorious for evil deeds, and it’s bound to die.”
Mrs. Zhao kept pleading for mercy.
“Do you love Zhao Junzhu?” Shen Suwei suddenly asked her.
Mrs. Zhao replied, “Of course I love him. I would even give my life for him. Why did he have to die young?”

“If you love him, why did you scream for help in the middle of the night when you saw him?” Shen Suwei said, “If you love him, why didn’t you take care of him in the wooden house instead of letting others take action?”
“If you fear him, how could you dare to say you love him?”

Mrs. Zhao’s face went pale, speechless. Zhao Qinghe’s clear eyes stared straight at her, and if there was guilt in her heart, she showed hesitation: “Those maidservants and servants who died tragically in the residence were all from poor families. They also have parents; they are others’ children. You two allowed the demonic energy to rampage in your household; someone will hold you accountable.”

After saying this, she said no more and took the cage to leave. Mrs. Zhao suddenly called out to her: “Qinghe, is my Qinghe still here?”
Born in the Water Moon Flower Realm, she knew that her identity, replaced by cultivators here, had likely been consumed by the demons, so she became worried about her daughter.
“Qinghe is still here. But if you treat her like this, she probably won’t come back.” Shen Suwei turned her back to her and said, “Mingtang is gone.”

Mrs. Zhao let out a long wail.
If she had let go earlier, Mingtang wouldn’t have been implicated.
Inside the pavilion, Xu Qianyu saw her senior sister hadn’t returned for a long time. She wanted to go look for her, but outside, thunder roared, shattering the window panes, scaring the two maidservants into covering their heads and fleeing. She comforted them for a long time before they stopped crying. She had no choice but to stay inside with them.

At that moment, Zhao Qinghe returned, drenched in the chilly night rain. Xu Qianyu then instructed the maidservants to sleep outside.
“Sister?” Seeing Zhao Qinghe with her back to her, Xu Qianyu reached out to touch her hand; her senior sister’s hand felt colder than usual today. “Are you alright?”

Shen Suwei kept his distance; today he had been slightly injured by a forbidden gaze spell and couldn’t let her smell the scent of blood. Xu Qianyu touched his hand, and he didn’t move, thinking she would grasp it like the previous days, but she only brushed against it before withdrawing her hand.

Was it too cold?
His fingers curled slightly, and he couldn’t quite express the feeling in his heart, which seemed a bit vacant.
After a while, he felt rustling behind him as Xu Qianyu clumsily pulled up the blanket for him. “You’re cold; I’ll cover you up more.”

Then her hand slipped under the blanket, finding his hand and grasping it. Xu Qianyu’s hand was warm, and as she tried to pull away again, he held her hand firmly: “Take care of yourself tomorrow.”
Xu Qianyu replied with an “mm.” Her senior sister held her hand for just a moment before letting go, as ethereal as ever, free and unburdened.

Looking at her senior sister’s back, Xu Qianyu felt a twinge of sadness for some reason. She had grown accustomed to having someone by her side, and once she went to the Guo family, she would be alone again, so she blurted out, “Sister, I don’t want to part with you.”
There was silence on the other side for a long while.

After a moment, Zhao Qinghe turned around and looked straight at her. Xu Qianyu widened her eyes, for her senior sister’s eyes were exceptionally bright, as if she wanted to smile but hadn’t, her gaze flowing quietly with brilliance. She lightly asked, “What do you not want to part with me for?”

After asking, she even joked: “Not wanting to part with the odd thing that’s going to be taken away from me.”

Her tone was as light as a whisper, making it hard to tell if she was comforting or mocking.
Xu Qianyu’s feelings of longing were interrupted, and she shot her a glare, not saying a word and turning away to sleep, the accumulated sadness dissipating like smoke.

After a long time, she felt her senior sister covering her with the blanket from behind, her heart racing. She had quietly blown out the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
Xu Qianyu closed her eyes. The world fell silent; only the faint sound of rain could be heard.