I suddenly jumped down from the wall, startling Li Chengxian.
He quickly took two steps back before he could clearly see my appearance.
"I wondered who it was!"
After recognizing my face in the dim dawn light, Li Chengxian actually showed a surprised and delighted expression. "Isn't this Miss Du from Duyang Town? How did you end up here?"
"How do you recognize me?"
I was also taken aback. This was Luocheng! It was hundreds of miles away from Duyang Town. How could there still be someone who recognized me?
Li Chengxian's look made the hairs on my back stand up.
"Good luck! Just good luck!"
Li Chengxian grinned. "Miss Du, come with me quickly! Your family has been extremely worried about you after you've been wandering outside for so long!"
My family?
My family members were probably long gone, their bones gnawed by wild dogs!
Moreover, I would never recognize parents who had schemed against me so thoroughly, even if they were still alive.
I wasn't stupid enough to play out those cheesy scenarios like "no matter how big the mistakes your parents made, they gave birth to and raised you, so you should forgive them."
"I have no family!"
I rolled my eyes and also guessed Li Chengxian's identity. He should be an acquaintance of Du Peiyun's branch of the family.
"Little girl, you're joking. If you have no family, did you pop out of a rock?"
Li Chengxian sized me up from head to toe. He didn't look like a refined and other - worldly person at all. His expression was just like those wild dogs I saw in the desolate graveyards, looking at the coveted flesh.
"I only have a fiancé I'm about to marry!"
I spoke coldly while secretly forming the Soul - Soothing Spell that Granny Bai had taught me yesterday. I slapped it right on the Baihui acupoint on the head of Xiaoshi, who was already in so much pain that he had lost his mind.
The Soul - Soothing Spell was the first spell Granny Bai had taught me. Its function was to soothe the dead spirits, using the divine sense and mental power in Taoism to disperse the lingering resentment of the souls who died with grudges and let them enter the underworld to be reincarnated.
After the slap, Xiaoshi's mouth, which had been distorted, immediately closed. He let out a whimper like a normal child. His pale little hands tried to grab my clothes, but after several attempts, they passed through my body. Finally, he broke down and cried, "Sister Xiaohe, please, I want to find my mom..."
"What for?"
I didn't know if it was because the spell Granny Bai taught me was so powerful. I casually pointed my finger at Xiaoshi's forehead, making him cover his head with both hands. "Your mom abandoned you here. She obviously doesn't want you anymore. Still looking for her? Do you want her to sell you again?"
I knew that if a soul had an obsession, it would surely stay in the world and be reluctant to leave.
So, I spoke very harshly, just wanting to quickly crush Xiaoshi's hopes and prevent him from lingering here and being captured by Li Chengxian to become his "zombie ghost" to do his bidding!
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it..."
Xiaoshi was scared by my words. For a moment, he forgot to cry and stared blankly at me. "...Mom won't abandon me! Sister Xiaohe, you're wrong. Mom treasures me. She said she'd come back to pick me up soon!"
I kicked Wu Shou, who was wriggling and trying to escape, and stepped on half of his skull with my foot. "Tell me, where's Shitou's mom?"
"Miss, save me. I don't want to be eaten. I still want to be reincarnated and be born into a good family!"
Wu Shou showed a pitiful expression on half of his face.
"Then tell the truth. Where did Shitou's mom go?"
My cold expression frightened Wu Shou. He had seen me in Si Jiangchen's villa but didn't know that I knew the art of catching ghosts. "Shitou's mom... She... They..."
He stammered and was reluctant to say. Unexpectedly, Li Chengxian beside him spoke up. "The children in the orphanage are either stolen or snatched. Poor parents who can't afford to raise their children will surely sell them. Who would send a lot of money here for nothing?"
His smile was like that of a ghost in the dim dawn light. Looking at Xiaoshi, he said, "Your mom doesn't abandon you! Your mom was probably sold to a brothel by your Uncle Wu here to be a prostitute. She has no way to come and find you! You'll never see her again!"
"Why... Why?"
Xiaoshi originally showed a faint smile on his face when he heard that his mom didn't abandon him. But Li Chengxian's last words made him frown again. "Mom can't find me. I can go and find her!"
"She can't see you!"
Li Chengxian laughed like a devil. "Your Uncle Wu sold your heart, liver, and flesh. Two nights ago, someone ate your heart and liver raw. Now, I'm here to buy your souls and corpses to refine you into little ghosts. You'll serve me for all eternity..."
"Shut up!"
I had already sensed that something was wrong and wanted to stop Li Chengxian from talking. But unexpectedly, he whipped Xiaoshi with the whip in his hand. "Do you hate Uncle Wu? If you do, go and bite him!"
"And you two!"
Saying that, he pointed at the other two children. "Where did you come from the unmarked graves? Wu Shou strangled your parents to death before bringing you back. He's done this kind of cost - free business countless times! And you still call him 'Dad'? Don't you want to avenge your parents?"
"Ah!"
The three children were excited by Li Chengxian's words and let out shrill screams. The ghostly cries pierced my eardrums. I only saw that the eyes of the three children instantly turned completely white.
"Uncle Wu, give me back my mom!"
Xiaoshi suddenly knelt on the ground, hugged Wu Shou's head with both hands, and howled as he opened his mouth. A row of small and sharp teeth bit into Wu Shou's cheek!
"You're lying! Uncle Wu, you said you picked me up from the pile of dead people!"
The little girl also cried and bit Wu Shou's ear. "It turns out that my mom and dad were killed by you!"
"Wuwuwu..."
In an instant, the three children gnawed Wu Shou's soul to pieces. That evil - doer didn't even have time to defend himself or scream before being devoured clean by the little ghosts he had harmed.
After the three children ate Wu Shou's remaining soul, their whites of the eyes were dyed blood - red. With their mouths full of tiny sharp teeth, they pounced on me.
"I'm so hungry! Sister Xiaohe... I'm so hungry!"
Xiaoshi still had a glimmer of reason. As he pounced on me, he even called out.
I didn't know if it was because they had devoured Wu Shou, but I could feel the bone - chilling cold from the three little ghosts directly invading my body. Their little hands, which couldn't touch me before, were now clawing at my body like sharp claws.
"Sister, we want to eat meat!"
The little girl with the buns on her head no longer looked cute. Her face was cracked like dry land, and she bit at my face.
"Hehe, after eating souls, they're going for living people..."
Li Chengxian still laughed sinisterly beside me. "My little ghosts are going to be invincible, aren't they?"
"You fool!"
A cold voice replied to him. A tall and slender black figure jumped down from the wall. "These are just some insignificant evil arts. Do you really think that's the art of controlling ghosts?"