8.
I closed my eyes and sensed the resentment within a ten-mile radius rushing in one direction at incredible speed.
And that direction was precisely the northwest corner of the mausoleum.
If I'm not mistaken, Casey Johnson's death is connected to this.
Casey Johnson was a vengeful spirit with a hundred years of cultivation, yet he was still reduced to his soul being utterly destroyed.
The evil spirit in the southeast corner of the mausoleum must either be far more powerful than him, or possess a grudge so intense it reaches the heavens.
Either way, neither is something a small furnace demon like me can handle.
My face twisted, and I called out to the other three, who were still lost in their emotions.
"We need to get out of here quickly. If we wait too long, we won't be able to leave at all."
They snapped out of it and hurriedly followed me out of the mausoleum, running straight down the mountain.
When we arrived, the mountain was alive with the chirping of birds and insects, but now there wasn't a single sound.
The silence was terrifying.
We hadn't gotten far when Nhị Nha suddenly fell.
"Sis, I think I sprained my ankle."
I stepped back a few paces to help her up.
I glanced at Ethan Brooks. As the only man in the group, of course he should be the one to carry her out.
Ethan Brooks immediately understood, and without a word, he hoisted Nhị Nha onto his back and ran after us.
After running for a while, the three of us were exhausted and gasping for breath when Nhị Nha suddenly said, "There's a room in the northwest corner of the ancient tomb, and inside is a very frightening woman."
As she said this, a mature indifference appeared on her face, completely out of place for her age.
I stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "How do you know that?"
"I once secretly followed my dad in there. I heard him call her Songzi Niangniang, but after that, he never went back."
My expression turned cold. "Why are you telling us this now?"
Nhị Nha closed her eyes and fell silent.
I glanced at Nhị Nha and said in a low voice, "Keep heading down the mountain."
A look of inner struggle appeared on Nhị Nha's face as she hesitated.
"I... I want you to help her."
I let out a cold laugh. "The resentment of this entire mountain has been absorbed by that woman. Does she really need our help? In less than a day, the whole Dai Thanh Mountain will become her slaughterhouse. Are you trying to send us to our deaths?"
"She won't hurt anyone. I can feel her pain."
Nhị Nha struggled and slipped off Ethan Brooks's back, kneeling in front of us and begging.
"I'm begging you, please save her. I promise she won't hurt any of you."
"What good is your promise? Will she really listen to you?"
"She'll listen to me because... she's my mother."
I stared in surprise at Nhị Nha's tear-streaked face, unconsciously slowing my words: "If you want my help, you'd better tell me everything you know."
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything," she replied over and over.
"Our village is cursed. All the women can only give birth to daughters, never sons. Only... the woman in the ancient tomb can give birth to sons."
"So if any man in the clan wants a son, he has to go to the ancient tomb at night for a week."
A cursed village, a group of men desperate for sons, and a woman who can bear them.
You could guess what happened next with your eyes closed!
We had never heard of anything so horrifying. Bạch Lê's face turned pale with fear.
Nhị Nha continued, her eyes red with tears: "She gave birth to many sons for the village, but later the villagers discovered that all those boys died before they turned eighteen. After that, they stopped going to the ancient tomb."
Nhị Nha's words made my urge to leave flare up again, filling me with unease.
I couldn't help but sigh—so it really was impossible to avoid this.
"I'll go with you to save her."
"Bạch Lê, Ethan Brooks, you two go down the mountain first."
This was my own decision. Of course, I couldn't let anyone else risk their lives with me.
Unexpectedly, the two of them shook their heads at the same time: "Master, we'll help you save her."
I wanted to say something more, but the determination in their eyes left me speechless.
We returned to the mausoleum once again, this time entering from the northwest corner.
Along the way, there were low graves and nameless skeletons.
"Why are there so many bones here?" I asked Nhị Nha.
"These belonged to the women in the village who couldn't give birth to sons. Some were villagers, some were bought, and many of them were tortured to death."
No wonder there were so many vengeful spirits on Dai Thanh Mountain, and that woman was filled with so much resentment.
We entered the ancient tomb and pushed open the heavy stone door in the corner.
A truly horrifying sight appeared before our eyes.
A woman with hair trailing on the floor, her limbs shackled to the wall.
As I got closer, I realized she wasn't wearing any clothes—her entire body was covered by her long hair. Her breasts hung down to her belly, her stomach was covered in thick stretch marks, and her fingernails dangled all the way to her waist.
She hung her head, and it was impossible to tell if she was alive or dead. The black miasma within a ten-mile radius was constantly being absorbed into her body.
It seemed she was about to become a demon.
Nhị Nha stepped forward and gently stroked her hair: "Mom, I've come to see you."
The woman lifted her head as if sensing something, revealing an old, numb face and a pair of sorrowful, bloodshot eyes.
Now, only by resolving her deep resentment could we truly save her.
But this resentment was so thick and heavy that, with my current abilities, I couldn't possibly dispel it completely.
Moreover, with her body so ravaged, even if we succeeded, she would be like a dying candle—about to go out.
I tried to recite the exorcism chant my master had taught me, hoping to purify the woman's resentment.
But no matter what I did, the vengeful energy kept surging into her body.
9.
We were at our wits' end.
Suddenly, the mausoleum door was shoved open from outside, and a group of fierce villagers stormed into the ancient tomb.
They held shovels and rakes in their hands, glaring at us with hostility. Leading them was the village chief.
"The three of you came to my Cooperstown. I meant to welcome you kindly, but I didn't expect you to break into the village's forbidden ground. Since that's the case, I have no choice but to send you on your way."
Nhị Nha stepped forward and stood in front of us: "I brought them here. This has nothing to do with them. Dad, let them go."
The village head let out a harsh laugh, his eyes flashing with murderous intent: "I asked you to lead the way, and you dared bring outsiders here."
"Today, none of you are leaving."
Ethan Brooks couldn't hold back and cursed, "Forbidden ground? More like a place for beasts like you to harm people. You're all animals reborn as humans, but you don't know how to act like people, do you? If you don't, just slit your own throats and start over in your next life!"
I was stunned by his words. Over the past few days, he'd acted like a cold, noble gentleman, but I never expected him to curse people out like that.
The village head's forehead bulged with veins, his face dark and sinister as he glared at us with murderous intent.
“What are you staring at? I'm warning you, you'd better let us go. Bạch Lê and I have hundreds of millions of fans out there—if each of them spat once, it'd drown the lot of you. You still have time to turn yourselves in.”
The village head suddenly smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. "Ha, you're too naive. There are so many wild beasts on this mountain—if you get eaten, who's going to trace it back to us?"
He savored our terrified expressions, like a predator enjoying the last struggles of its prey.
Ever since they entered, I could feel the murderous aura behind me growing stronger and stronger. I couldn't help but curl my lips into a smirk.
The woman in the ancient tomb had been just a step away from becoming a vengeful spirit. Now, seeing these people, her resentment surged to new heights.
It's hard to reason with demons and ghosts. Fine—let them taste the consequences of their own evil.
Silently, I chanted a spell to break the chains binding the woman in the ancient tomb, and placed a talisman on her to speed up her absorption of the resentment.
"Sister, if you have a grudge, take revenge. If you've been wronged, seek justice. They're all here now—let the hunt begin."
A few villagers at the front raised their shovels and charged at us.
The next second, a shadow flashed by.
They looked down at the gaping holes in their chests, then collapsed to the ground.
Behind them, the woman from the ancient tomb, hair wild and tangled, was licking fresh blood from her fingernails, her face filled with satisfaction.
"A ghost! Aaah!"
The other villagers, terrified by the scene, tried to flee, but their escape was blocked.
The woman from the ancient tomb darted through the crowd at lightning speed—her white nails went in, red nails came out, every movement precise and deadly.
In no time, all the villagers were dead. The stench of blood filled the tomb, pooling across the floor.
Only the village head remained.
He dropped to his knees, begging for mercy, his whole body trembling. "Xu, please, let me go. They forced me to do it. I'm truly sorry."
The vengeful spirit sat down, staring straight into his eyes.
The crimes they committed on this land might be buried with their deaths.
But the souls still crying out for justice had yet to find peace.
Looking at the innocent souls who'd died so tragically behind the vengeful spirit, I was overwhelmed with sorrow. I began to recite the deliverance mantra my master had taught me.
At first, my master told me I didn't need to learn anything else—just memorize this mantra. If I got even one word wrong, I'd have to copy it a hundred times.
Back then, I didn't care. But now, I finally understood his intentions.
As I helped the souls move on, I saw everything each of them had suffered.
There were college students kidnapped and used as breeding machines, village girls violated to death, and women from other villages lured here to be tortured.
But the woman in the ancient tomb was different from them.
Her name was Olivia Cooper. She had accumulated great merit and was just one step away from the immortal realm.
By chance, she heard about this cursed village.
She wanted to help lift the curse, so she decided to stay.
After that, she met a villager who was very skilled at coaxing and sweet-talking, and Olivia Cooper fell in love with him.
One night, while drunk, that villager violated her.
She wanted to leave, but when she found out she was pregnant with Nhị Nha, she stayed with that villager.
Everything seemed normal until Olivia Cooper became pregnant again and gave birth to a baby boy.
The villagers were overjoyed.
Her husband sacrificed her to the villagers in order to become the village head.
So one night, her husband handed her a bowl of medicine.
A man from the village, his head covered, entered her room.
Then it happened a second time, a third time…
She tried her best to escape, but was imprisoned in an ancient tomb, her hands and feet chained.
During those dark days, she couldn't even die.
Then, she suddenly heard the voices of many women just like her.
They were women tortured to death for not being able to bear sons, women who were tricked and sold and died for many reasons, or young girls who never grew up.
They told her they could give her strength and take revenge together.
And so, as she endured those dark days, she absorbed more and more resentment…
10.
We demons have no tear ducts, but the sorrow in my heart made me shed tears without realizing it.
I kept reciting the Deliverance Incantation, trying to save them as quickly as possible.
The spiritual energy within me kept weakening, reaching its limit.
I swallowed the sweet, metallic blood in my mouth, struggling to save the last innocent soul.
Suddenly, the gates of reincarnation opened.
Hundreds of souls were freed at that moment, rising into the sky and passing into reincarnation.
My own body was also fading away…
I thought of the old man, who was also my grand-disciple, who had told me before ascending that I still had one trial left to overcome.
Sure enough, this was the one trial I couldn't pass.
As I was about to die, I saw Bạch Lê and Nhị Nha's tear-streaked faces, Ethan Brooks's sorrowful expression, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
Dusty memories slowly awakened, and at last, I remembered who I was.
I was originally a divine artifact, the Son Ha Cauldron, nurtured by the righteous energy of all directions, my lifespan as long as heaven and earth, shining as bright as the sun and moon.
At that time, war ravaged the world, corpses everywhere, the people suffering.
At the cost of my soul being utterly destroyed, I saved tens of thousands of wronged souls.
My grand-disciple found a few remaining fragments of my soul, kept them warm and nourished so I could continue to reincarnate in the body of a demon.
But every time I recovered a little, I would face another trial, and each time I died saving others.
In my second life, I was a fox spirit.
In my third life, I was a pillow ghost.
In my fourth life, I was a table demon.
In my fifth life, which is this one, I became a furnace demon.
Sigh!
Why is it that in every incarnation, I end up speechless, helpless, unable to understand, at a complete loss for words…
Thinking that, I drifted off to sleep…
It wasn't until about ten years later, when my spirit awakened again, that I found myself in a remote mountain village, backward and isolated.
It seemed there was some hidden secret here; everyone was very strange.
A pair of gentle hands lifted me off the ground and muttered, "Hey, why is there such an ugly mirror here?"
-END-