Chapter 12: Formed from the bones of a young child, it is a Bone Child.

The two walked to the place ingrained in Hong Hui’s memory.

Gu Wang took one look and said, “Are you sure it’s here? There shouldn’t be any bones here.”

At least, he didn’t feel any cold Yin energy.

Hong Hui, however, was certain: “No mistake, I remember the terrain here clearly, I’ll never forget it as long as I live!”

She snatched the entrenching tool and began digging frantically.

However, she dug for over an hour but found nothing.

Hong Hui couldn’t bear the blow, her expression collapsing. “How could this happen… I remember clearly… I remember…”

Gu Wang comforted her, “Don’t worry, let’s find someone to ask first. If you collapse now, who will look for your daughter?”

Hong Hui was persuaded by him, took a deep breath, and gradually calmed down.

The Candle Maiden arrived upon hearing the commotion. After Gu Wang asked, she immediately replied, “Twenty years ago, someone did bury the bones of a little girl here.”

Hong Hui hastily pressed, “Then where are the bones? Were they taken away?”

Candle Maiden: “No, five years ago, she crawled out herself and left.”

Hong Hui froze. “What?”

The Candle Maiden looked at Gu Wang. “You should know, right, sir? What the bones of a deceased young child can become…”

Gu Wang sighed. “A Bone Child, right? If a young child’s resentment is very strong at the moment of death, and their bones are buried in a place where Yin energy gathers, the bones will turn into a Bone Child and wander around.”

However, for bones to turn into a Bone Child in just fifteen years showed that this land was indeed unusual.

Tears streamed down Hong Hui’s face as she repeatedly asked, “Where is she now? Will she go hungry? Will she be bullied? Will Taoists and monks catch her?”

Gu Wang, recognizing her deep maternal love, repeatedly reassured her, “Don’t panic yet. First, explain the whole situation clearly, then we’ll find a way to get the child back.”

Knowing that sleeping tonight was out of the question, and not wanting to bring her to his own simple cement bungalow, Gu Wang simply took her to the Embroidered Building.

The Lamp Shadow Hag and Sun Fei hadn’t rested either; they weren’t particular once off work and simply floated over when they saw people.

Fortunately, Hong Hui had no energy to notice these peculiarities and began to tell her story.

Hong Hui was born in Hongjia Village, Yaoguang City. Forty years ago, it was the poorest place in the City.

Hong Hui was the fourth child in her family, with older brothers and younger brothers. Unloved by her parents, she was forbidden from studying after elementary school.

At fifteen, after two years of working at home, her father married her off to a thirty-something farmer in the neighboring village. That same year, she gave birth to a daughter.

Hong Hui spoke of her experiences with an expressionless face, only showing a hint of a smile when she talked about her daughter’s birth. “She was so tiny then, not even as long as my forearm, and so soft. I didn’t even know how to hold her.”

Sun Fei couldn’t help but ask, “What happened next?”

Hong Hui’s lips trembled. “Later… I was young then and didn’t understand much. I didn’t know what those people were discussing behind my back. That morning, I woke up and found her gone.”

“I searched like crazy for several days. That man beat me, then told me he had given our daughter away.”

“I desperately tried to find out about my daughter. As soon as I heard anything, I’d pester him. If he didn’t tell me, I’d defecate and urinate at his doorstep… They all said I was crazy.”

Hong Hui had been a store manager for nearly ten years and had long known how to dress and present herself to maintain a brand image.

Now, sitting here, glamorous, she talked about those things without any hesitation. Maybe those people were right; she had been driven crazy a long time ago.

“Later, I finally found out where my daughter had been sent. I walked for a day and a night to get there, but when I arrived, I found that my daughter couldn’t survive the high fever and had already passed away…”

“That family pitied me and drove me here on a motorcycle, letting me see the child’s burial place. They said a child who dies young cannot enter the ancestral grave, so they made a grave for her here.”

“I crawled over, crying, and only saw a small mound of earth, small enough to put my arms around. It was the dead of winter; how cold she must have been…”

Her voice suddenly choked, and silence fell.

Everyone felt a suffocating sensation in their chests, especially Sun Fei. If ghosts could shed tears, she would be wailing loudly right now.

After a moment, Hong Hui continued, “Later, I fell ill. After I recovered, I stole my ID card and ran away. I didn’t want my daughter buried here. I wanted to build her a real grave, no, I wanted to buy her a plot in a cemetery, even a small one would do.”

“I got on a train to the capital. In a big city, people don’t starve. At first, I begged for a few days, then I worked at construction sites, moving bricks, mixing concrete, and later selling socks, being a nanny… I struggled for over ten years and finally became a store manager. But…”

A tearful yet smiling expression appeared on her face. “When I used all my savings to buy a cemetery plot, I found out I needed a death certificate, cremation certificate, household registration book… I didn’t have any of these. I couldn’t even prove I had a child. She was sleeping on the cold ground…”

She murmured, “What could I do? Was I supposed to dig her up and hide her under my bed?”

She had actually thought about that.

Her former colleagues called her a superwoman, working tirelessly for money. But ever since she realized she couldn’t move her daughter’s grave, that fighting spirit she had suddenly dissipated.

Everyone around her said she looked significantly older, and she even rejected a highly regarded promotion from headquarters.

In this vast city, she had no family or friends, and her only thought was of that child who died before she turned one.

Now, even that was gone.

Hong Hui suddenly felt so tired. Let it be. Perhaps she should go down and accompany her child. She was an unfit mother and shouldn’t have clung to life for so many years…

“Exorcise evil and bind demons, protect life and body. Wisdom is bright and clear, mind is at peace, quickly, as commanded!”

A clear, gentle voice, bearing a spell, pierced her mental barrier.

Hong Hui snapped back to reality, breaking out into a cold sweat! How could she have thought that just now? Her daughter was suffering somewhere, and if she died, who would protect her?

Turning her head, she met a pair of slightly curved eyes. Though he was much younger than her, his gaze was full of understanding and compassion. Is this what a true master looks like?

Hong Hui’s eyes welled up. “Master Gu…”

Gu Wang joined two fingers and drew a talisman on her left arm. “May the three souls be eternal, and the seven physical souls never scatter!”

Hong Hui felt a cool sensation pour in from the top of her head. The darkness in her heart vanished, and her limbs warmed up.

Gu Wang: “Maintain your composure. Don’t let inner demons disturb you.”

Hong Hui nodded, her reason finally returning. She wished she could kneel before Gu Wang. “Master Gu, please help me find my daughter! I’ll give you all my money, anything you want!”

Gu Wang quickly helped her up. “I know you’re anxious, but let’s talk slowly. A Bone Child isn’t a geocentric spirit; if she wants to, she can go anywhere. To find her, I’ll need your help. You two are blood-related, so I’ll need a drop of your blood.”

Hong Hui: “Is it heart blood?” She didn’t even care about gender distinctions, immediately tugging at her clothes, as if she were about to cut into her chest.

Gu Wang quickly signaled the Candle Maiden to stop her.

After much coaxing, he finally persuaded Hong Hui to rest, as he still had some things to prepare.

The next morning, Hong Hui, her eyes swollen, came downstairs, whether she had slept or not.

Downstairs, a spell formation about a meter wide had been drawn.

Gu Wang stood in the center of the formation and said, “Drip a drop of blood from your fingertip here and silently chant your child’s name in your heart.”

With that, he handed her a small knife.

Hong Hui didn’t hesitate and cut deeply across her fingertip.

Blood immediately welled up as she silently whispered in her heart, “Xiaobao, where are you? Mommy misses you…”

The fresh blood fell, stopping about a centimeter from the ground. Then it lengthened, forming an arrow. The arrow spun around a few times, then stopped, pointing in a specific direction, holding steady for half a minute before dissipating.

Both looked in that direction; it was neither toward Hongjia Village nor the adoptive family.

Gu Wang explained, “This child was too young when she died; she probably doesn’t have many memories from when she was alive.”

He was also trying to prepare Hong Hui for the possibility.

Hong Hui was very calm. “I understand, Master Gu. I hope Xiaobao is doing well. It’s okay if she doesn’t remember me. It doesn’t matter if she becomes a demon or a ghost. If she wants incense, I’ll burn it for her. If she wants human flesh, I’ll cut my own flesh to feed her. I just want her to be well.”

Sun Fei, listening in, couldn’t help but weakly say, “We, ghosts, don’t eat people.”

Hong Hui smiled gently and understandingly. “I understand.”

Last night, she was too emotional to think clearly. But today, if she couldn’t discern anything, she would have wasted twenty years struggling in society.

Still young, Sun Fei moved closer to her and continued asking, “Sister Hong, that man, your daughter’s biological father, where is he now?” She had been angry last night and decided to get the man’s address to scare him.

Hong Hui’s eyes turned cold. “Dead. He found out I was in the capital, came to look for me, and was hit by a car and died.”

As for her role in that incident, it went unsaid.

Sun Fei’s expression changed several times before she finally cursed vehemently, “Serves him right!”

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Gu Wang cleared his throat. “Alright, it’s time to go. Candle Maiden, you all watch the house carefully. I’ll open the park again when I return.”

He also thought to himself that he needed to hire more people, at least another ticket seller, otherwise he’d have to close the park whenever he left.

The Candle Maiden and the others naturally agreed, watching them get into the car and drive away.

Not long after Gu Wang left, a dazzling beauty with fiery red lips and a bright red dress appeared before the amusement park’s white mist, smiling. “Such an illusion, what a grand gesture. As expected of someone who dared to take my fox clan’s enchantment bead.”

Her eyes subtly shifted, and she vanished from sight.

Gu Wang and Hong Hui followed the arrow’s direction until, an hour later, Gu Wang called a halt.

They got out of the car, and before them was a welfare institution.

Gu Wang looked up and could see wisps of Yin energy rising from mid-air.

It seemed they hadn’t come to the wrong place.