The scarecrow, clutching Xiaojiu's soul, rushed straight towards the Yellow Spring Road.
Watching them blend into the flickering blue fluorescent lights, I finally came to my senses and exclaimed, "Can Xiaojiu enter the reincarnation cycle again?"
"Exactly!"
Zhu Youjian was being torn by countless black hands and falling into the abyss. "Your zombie spiritual power and my obsession have paved a way for her reincarnation..."
Those black hands were Zhu Youjian's obsessions. Originally, those obsessions had tightly entangled Xiaojiu's soul. Now that she was wrapped in my scarecrow, it was like being put into a protective shield. Then, with the Soul - Summoning Spell chanted by two highly - skilled sorcerers, Si Jiangchen and Lu Tianchang, she safely made her way to the Yellow Spring Road.
"Si Jiangchen, save him!"
Seeing Zhu Youjian's white robe being grabbed by those black hands, with only the upper half of his body exposed, I instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm, which had stopped struggling. "Don't die either..."
Zhu Youjian's body was very light. I thought that as long as I exerted a little more strength, I could pull him out. But he showed no sign of struggling at all. His daughter now had a future, and he could finally let go of his obsession to survive. Instead of facing his ancestral immortals in the Nine Netherworlds, it was better to be devoured by the evil spirits born from his obsession and disappear into nothingness.
"Let go!"
Zhu Youjian didn't hold my hand back. He just gave a sad smile.
"No! Don't give up. Don't you want to see what your daughter will be like after reincarnation?"
I knew that in his short life, he had only lived for the imperial court of his family. In the hundreds of years after his death, he had felt extremely guilty for the daughter he had dragged down. Whether as a human or a ghost, Zhu Youjian had lived a hard life. I really couldn't bear to see such a pitiful person disappear from the world.
"...No need. As long as I know she can live a good life... that's enough."
Although he said so, I could see a glimmer of expectation on his face.
He also wanted to see his daughter, who had accompanied him for hundreds of years and had not yet fully grown, have a good ending...
However, in this endless abyss, he didn't think anyone could reach out to save him. How could a living soul like me, who had already had a part of my soul split, pull him out of this space that could devour everything?
"Go!"
He looked up at me. "I've repaid what I owed Si Jiangchen. Your soul has recovered, and the zombie spirit has accompanied my daughter into the underworld... You don't have to eat people or suck blood anymore. You can live in the mortal world."
I was stunned. Was it that simple? I thought there would be a thrilling religious ceremony, a confrontation with the laws of heaven and earth...
Just like this, a simple scarecrow had solved everything?
"Go!"
Suddenly, Zhu Youjian wriggled his wrist and pulled his hand out of mine. At the same time, I saw a pair of black hands reaching for my face. There were two venomous eyes on the palms, glaring at me fiercely.
"Ah!!"
A woman's voice instantly rang in my mind. "Slut, I've finally waited for you!!"
Qiu... Qiu Zhuqing?
In an instant, the name of that woman popped up in my mind. Why was she in this abyss of obsession?
"I hate so much!"
One of the black hands had already grabbed my neck, and the other was on my face. The single eye on the hand had blood vessels wriggling like red nematodes in the white of the eye, overflowing from the eye socket and crawling towards my face. "Why do you get to be the mistress of the Si family... I should be! I've waited for more than a decade... I'm not willing! Slut, you have to stay with me!"
"Stupid thing!"
I retorted without hesitation. "You think no one knows you killed your sister, right? Do you know why you're here and can't enter the reincarnation cycle?"
After Qiu Zhuqing followed the man she had killed into the underworld, she didn't even reach the Ten Palaces of Yama for trial. Instead, a powerful evil aura captured her soul and crushed it into this abyss of obsession. At first, she was in a daze, only knowing that there was a deep - seated resentment in her heart. So she stretched out her hands, trying to grab anything that fell from the abyss and tear it to pieces.
Unexpectedly, she saw me at a glance!
Only then did she remember what her obsession was: to marry into the Si family and marry Si Cheng, the man she had lusted after for more than a decade!
Actually, since her sister's death, Qiu Zhuqing had always wanted to divorce her decrepit husband and marry her handsome and imposing brother - in - law.
But Si Cheng always said that Si Jiangchen was still young. When he could stand on his own and get married and have children, he would be willing to marry her.
Qiu Zhuqing thought it made sense. After all, it was said that a wife was not as good as a concubine, and a concubine was not as good as a lover on the side. This situation could make Si Cheng crazy about her. After a few more years, when Li Jiuming died, with neither a husband nor a wife, they would be a perfect match. Who could say anything?
Unexpectedly, she had waited for more than a decade.
Qiu Zhuqing originally wanted to marry her daughter to Si Jiangchen. As the saying goes, "Don't let the fat water flow into other people's fields." Li Mingyue was beautiful and had grown up in the Si family. She and Si Jiangchen were like childhood sweethearts.
Unexpectedly, Si Jiangchen had no interest in Li Mingyue.
Although Li Mingyue always wanted to pester Si Jiangchen, Si Jiangchen was either practicing outside or leading troops to fight. He rarely stayed at home.
Li Mingyue was a woman who couldn't bear to be lonely. Once, after getting drunk, she had a one - night stand with her uncle.
Qiu Zhuqing never expected that her daughter was just like her, willing to offer herself. And she had snatched her mother's position. When she saw Li Mingyue crawling out of Si Cheng's bed shyly wrapped in a quilt, she was almost furious!
Like a wife who had caught her husband having an affair, she rushed to the bed and slapped her daughter hard several times.
Li Mingyue, in pain from the slaps, cried and threw herself into Si Cheng's arms. Then she turned to Qiu Zhuqing and said, "Uncle hasn't married yet. I'm also qualified to marry into the Si family as the clan leader's wife. Since Si Jiangchen has no taste and doesn't like me, I might as well marry uncle!"
Qiu Zhuqing was speechless about her muddle - headed daughter.
She had experienced the pain of an old - man - young - wife marriage. Although Si Cheng still looked in his prime, there was a thirty - year - age gap between him and Li Mingyue. By the time Li Mingyue reached the prime of her youth, Si Cheng would be an old man approaching seventy. Qiu Zhuqing didn't want her daughter to follow in her footsteps!
On one hand, she resented her daughter for being so shameless and not understanding her good intentions. On the other hand, she blamed Si Cheng, this "insatiable" man who could even sleep with his niece!
But what could she do?
She was the woman who was going to be Si Cheng's wife. She had waited for this day for more than a decade. Even if her daughter stole her lover, she wasn't going to back down!