Little Stone now looked exactly like a ghost. With a roar, he pounced on the Taoist priest Li.
Taoist priest Li let out a cold laugh. The whip in his hand suddenly whipped back and landed precisely on Little Stone's mouth. With a "crack", the corner of Little Stone's mouth split open, revealing two rows of tiny, sharp teeth.
"I want to find my mother. No one can stop me!"
The pain a soul endured was so intense that it struck directly at the heart and soul. Little Stone couldn't bear the pain, but he still wanted to find his mother. Undeterred, he rammed into Taoist priest Li and bit down hard on his neck.
Taoist priest Li groaned in pain. He reached out and grabbed Little Stone by the top of his head, tearing him off his neck. "You ungrateful little thing!"
He cursed under his breath. "But you're quite fierce! You'll probably last for quite a few years!"
Saying that, he grabbed a talisman from his cloth bag and pasted it on Little Stone's forehead. Instantly, Little Stone stood there stiffly like a wind - up toy whose spring had run out.
"Woo - woo - woo..."
There was only one little boy who hadn't been whipped by Taoist priest Li. He was so scared that he burst into tears. "Don't hit me. I won't dare anymore. Master Taoist, I'll do whatever you say. Please don't hit me!"
Taoist priest Li's neck hurt badly. He reached into his bag again and grabbed a handful of white glutinous rice, covering the bite wound with it. As a soft "hissing" sound came, when he let go, the rice had turned dark green, looking like it had gone moldy.
"Humph! Now you're a good boy!"
Taoist priest Li reached out and made a spell gesture. In an instant, the little girl who had almost escaped into the house was yanked back forcefully. She sat side by side with Little Stone, who was immobilized by the talisman. Then, he took out the bottle that sealed Uncle Wu. He tore off the yellow talisman, and with a "puff" sound, he shook the bottle. A wisp of Uncle Wu's soul was poured out, still in a fragmented state on the ground.
"You haven't eaten for three days, have you?"
Taoist priest Li showed a fake smile on his face. "Hurry up and eat him. Master Taoist will take you to enjoy yourselves in the outside world!"
"That's Uncle Wu!"
The little girl still had one small hand clutching her belly. There were still tear - stains on her face. "I can't eat him. He carried me out of the pile of dead people..."
"I don't want to eat either. Uncle Wu gave me a bun when I was almost starving to death."
The little boy who had pleaded for mercy shook his head like a rattle. "He's a good person!"
"Heheh!"
Hearing the children's words, Taoist priest Li's mocking smile grew even wider. "If Wu Shou is a good person, then there are no bad people in this world!"
At this moment, Uncle Wu, who was lying on the ground, twisted half of his head and turned desperately towards Taoist priest Li. His hoarse voice was full of despair. "Li Chengxian! Don't be so heartless! How many children's souls have I found for you to nourish your Well of Reincarnation? Even if I don't have merits, I have put in efforts. Now I've died a miserable death because of you. Instead of saving my soul, you let these little ghosts eat me... You'll never come to a good end!"
"Wu Shou, you can't talk like that!"
The Taoist priest named Li Chengxian was very satisfied with the situation he was in control of. He was also happy to talk to Wu Shou.
"I paid you when I collected the souls of the children from you. But you were just too greedy. You insisted on double - charging. I gave you one and a half silver dollars for each child, and you sold their flesh and blood to earn a few more dollars. What merits do you have? You're just a devil who eats children under the guise of charity... Now, it's only right that they eat you. This is just the cycle of cause and effect!"
He kicked the scattered soul on the ground and stepped on Wu Shou's face with one foot. "If you had shown a bit of respect, you wouldn't have gone to the Si family's mansion to ask for money from the female family members. What kind of status does the Si family have? How dare you, a mere commoner, try to blackmail them?"
"I... I didn't blackmail her. That woman ate the children I raised..."
Wu Shou still tried to defend himself. "I raised them with money. I just wanted to get back some of my costs!"
"Heheh..."
Li Chengxian sneered. "Your cost is your life... I really didn't expect that the Si family, a family with such an orthodox Taoist heritage, would also dare to harm living beings and raise corpses. I'll have to report this to our Qingwei Patriarchate and ask them to send someone to uphold justice!"
I was on the wall, being held by Si Jiangchen. Originally, I was just watching the show.
In such a chaotic world, everyone's fate was their own doing. I didn't want to meddle in other people's affairs, nor did I have the ability to. After fleeing with A Wen for so long, I had been worn down by the various states of life among the refugees and had lost all desire to help others.
I still remembered that when I first escaped from Du Yang Town, I was dressed like a young girl who had just reached adulthood. I still had some scattered copper coins in my pocket that I had saved to buy snacks.
When staying at an inn, I saw a girl about my age who had lost her mother. Her father wanted to sell her to an old man as a concubine. She was sitting at the inn door, crying so hard that she could hardly breathe. I felt sorry for her, so I gave her half of the money I had on me and told her to run away quickly before the buyer came.
The girl thanked me a thousand times and left with the money. Unexpectedly, she and her father tricked us into opening the door of our room in the middle of the night and tried to rob A Wen and me.
She thought I was a young lady who had eloped with someone and must have brought a lot of private money with me. If she robbed me, she and her father could make a fortune and buy a house and land in the provincial capital and live a life of luxury!
But they didn't expect that A Wen and I were also poor. Besides the same amount of copper coins as hers, we had nothing else.
The girl's father's dream of becoming rich was shattered. He immediately kicked his daughter in the ribs, almost killing her.
The girl endured the pain and said that if there was no money, they could sell me. I was prettier than her and would surely fetch a good price!
And the young A Wen could also be sold for a few copper coins!
However, their plan was aborted in the hands of the Du family before it could be carried out.
Among the branches of the Du family, Du Peiyun's branch was the most ruthless. They found out where I was. In order to capture me easily, they poisoned everyone in the inn. The father - daughter pair hadn't even had a chance to go out and find a buyer before they died with blood oozing from their seven orifices in front of us...
Since then, I had put away my kind - heartedness of "saving a life is better than building a seven - story pagoda".
But now, on the wall of this orphanage, hearing the Taoist priest Li Chengxian say such things about Si Jiangchen, I couldn't help but feel a burst of anger!
He was the one who harmed living beings! How dare he say that Si Jiangchen was a villain?
Looking at the children sitting on the ground crying, I couldn't hold back my anger and jumped off the wall!
"You little scoundrel, you're the real villain who does evil. Your Qingwei sect should at least expel you from the sect!"
Li Chengxian was a human being, not a soul that was invulnerable to swords and guns. If there was any danger, Si Jiangchen could immediately shoot him dead!
I felt very secure in my heart. Without even realizing it, I had regarded Si Jiangchen as my confidence to be bold.