Chapter 28: Past Events (I)

I opened my eyes again to find Wen Ye and I already standing by the dry well under the jujube tree in the courtyard.

This…this is teleportation plus wall-penetration magic?!

I was a little excited. Magic really exists!

“Shhh!” Wen Ye put a finger to his lips, and I covered the scream that was about to burst out of my mouth.

Le Xiaomai, don’t make a fuss. Your worldview has been overturned since the first day you met this sprite. Don’t get so worked up over a little magic; it makes you look ignorant.

I forcibly suppressed my excitement and looked around. The main hall where Great-Granny lived and the door to my east wing room were both half-open, and there were several puddles of black congealed substance on the courtyard’s square bricks.

A careful sniff revealed a bloody scent in the wind!

My heart clenched instantly because there was the most blood at the entrance to the main hall, where a shoe had fallen.

“There’s something inside. I’ve put up a barrier to shield you. Inferior spirits and monsters below my level can’t see us,” Wen Ye warned solemnly in my ear. “You have no cultivation right now. If you make a sound, the breath will break through the barrier, and we’ll be exposed.”

I nodded emphatically, pointing at the main hall with eyes full of tears, looking at him pleadingly.

Ring, ring, ring… Ring, ring, ring…

Outside the courtyard wall, the branches of the large locust tree stretched into the front courtyard. The evening breeze rustled, and locust blossoms scattered in.

Whether it was the flowers or the wind that disturbed the fine lines Great-Granny had buried in each corner of the wall, they had small bells on them.

She said they were for protecting the courtyard but didn’t tell me exactly what they were for.

The ringing of the bells was ethereal, especially eerie in the empty courtyard filled with the smell of blood.

When I was little, I was very afraid of Great-Granny’s courtyard. It took me six years to finally call this place home, and the previous sense of dread resurfaced.

If Wen Ye hadn’t brought me to the corridor of the main hall, I would have been too scared to stand, let alone go forward.

He took out the dagger he used to shatter the old thing’s hand in the elevator from his work pants pocket, gently squatted down, and used the corner of the blade to lift the shoe – a man’s leather shoe.

“Looks like someone came to your house,” he said, wiping the dagger with a disinfectant wipe and tucking it into his lower back.

“This blood is likely from this man.”

As he spoke, he led me into the main hall.

The smell of blood grew stronger. There was a deep, dragged bloodstain on the floor, and another shoe lay in front of the Eight Immortals table in the outer hall.

If this blood belongs to a strange man, was he killed by my ninety-year-old, not-so-nimble Great-Granny?

That’s impossible!

Ring, ring, ring…

The irritating, ethereal ringing came intermittently from the courtyard again.

Wen Ye suddenly turned his head, and the red light in his eyes flashed, scaring me so much that I grabbed his wrist, almost throwing myself into his arms, shame be damned.

What did he see?

How terrifying. With my mortal eyes, I couldn’t see any evil spirits, but I felt danger everywhere.

I was so nervous that I was about to cry.

“This blood is indeed from the intruder. Your Great-Granny should be fine.”

Hiss… Hiss…

A sticky hissing sound came from Great-Granny’s room, like a snake spitting its tongue.

He lowered his eyes and tugged at the hand I was clutching his arm with: “Let go.”

I shook my head vigorously. No! No! I don’t want to!

“You stand here. I’ll go in and see what’s going on. I’m worried you’ll get startled and scream,” he explained, frowning, and forcefully pried open my fingers.

I’ll hold back from screaming. Don’t make me let go.

Seeing that I was holding on tightly, he sighed helplessly: “Listen to me. Do you still want to save your Great-Granny?”

I nodded and slowly let go, watching nervously as he walked into the inner room.

The inner room and outer hall were separated by a door curtain, and Wen Ye’s back blocked my view.

The moment he lifted the curtain, I could feel a gust of fishy wind blowing from inside, even standing at the door of the main hall.

Wen Ye quickly entered the room, and there was a burst of crackling and banging sounds.

Wasn’t he shielded by a barrier? Shouldn’t evil spirits with lower cultivation than him be unable to see him?

“Jiaoling?!” Wen Ye’s voice came from inside, his tone full of disbelief.

Could it be that the evil spirit inside has a higher cultivation than him?

Trembling, I took out the bracelet and talisman paper from my bag and stumbled into Great-Granny’s bedroom, my legs weak.

The moment I lifted the curtain, a huge, bloody mouth opened wide, facing me.

I saw its staggered, sharp poisonous fangs, forked tongue, red and white scales, and the human foot that hadn’t been completely swallowed down in its throat!

A snake… a huge snake!

Ahhh! I was so scared that my whole body went limp, and I lost consciousness.

Just when I thought I would become food in its mouth, a white light blocked in front of me, and Wen Ye pushed me out to the outer hall. I landed on my butt, my back hitting the corner of a bench.

That hurts!

“Idiot, don’t you know how to dodge!” Wen Ye stood in front of me, turning his head with annoyance.

Tears and snot streamed down my face. Terror and pain left me speechless.

The red and white giant snake crawled out of the inner room, its body nearly as thick as the door frame. It raised its head, its elongated golden pupils staring straight at me.

Wen Ye made a hand seal, and the dagger in his hand transformed into a long sword. He flourished the sword, and it whistled through the air.

He pointed directly at the giant snake and said sternly: “If you dare take one step forward, I will surely scatter your soul!”

Hiss… Hiss…

The giant snake’s body grew smaller and smaller, until it was only the thickness of a forearm.

But its belly was bulging, with a human figure inside. Even more terrifying was the human face in the belly, its mouth wide open and pressed tightly against the snake’s belly!

It had two red horns on its head. It did not move forward but just spat its tongue.

Wen Ye paused, lowered his sword, and tilted his head to ask me: “Is this jiaoling raised by your family?”

I was so scared that snot bubbles came out. I shrank under the table and shook my head with my eyes closed: “No, no, I’ve never seen it before… so scary, ahhh…”

How could there be such a terrifying thing in my house!

The jiaoling dragged its clumsy body and crawled back into Great-Granny’s room. Wen Ye only paused for a few seconds before stepping back in.

“Come in. Your Great-Granny is here.”

I leaned on the Eight Immortals table and struggled to stand up, my legs soft. I lifted the door curtain with difficulty. Great-Granny’s room was a mess.

It must have been the giant snake’s body that crushed everything. Its body could fill most of the room.

At this time, the jiaoling was coiled at Great-Granny’s feet on the bed, looking at me and spitting its tongue, then lowering its head.

Great-Granny’s breathing was weak, as if she was asleep.

I have been afraid of snakes since I was a child. I crawled to the side of the bed farthest from the jiaoling and called out to Great-Granny in a trembling voice.

No response.

Wen Ye made a hand seal and touched her between her eyebrows, but she still didn’t wake up.

He shook his head and frowned at me: “Her soul has left her body. We need to call her soul back.”

“How do you do that?” I looked up, puzzled, glancing at the jiaoling on the bed from time to time.

Even if it was smaller, it was still the size of a small python. How terrifying.

Ring, ring, ring…

“I’ll summon the ghost messengers to take away the wandering spirits in the courtyard first.” Wen Ye stepped outside, and I immediately followed him out of the main hall.

I dared not be alone in the same room with the jiaoling. Judging by its intimacy with Great-Granny, it must have been raised by the old woman.

How many secrets does she have that I don’t know about! No wonder she often told me not to be alarmed if I heard any sounds at night. It turned out she was raising such a terrifying behemoth behind my back.

I grabbed Wen Ye’s clothes, following closely: “The wandering spirits in the courtyard you mentioned, is that the man who was swallowed by the snake?”

The reason he made the judgment that my Great-Granny was fine was probably because he saw the man’s wandering spirit.

He nodded, making a hand seal: “Your courtyard has an evil-banishing array. External spirits cannot enter, and internal ones naturally cannot leave.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the heavy wooden door creaked open…