"Originally, I thought she was tough. Who would've thought that little bitch would just kill herself by jumping into the river after I beat her a couple of times," an old lame man said.
"I've already been kind enough to gather her body and throw it into the deserted pit in the back mountain. How could I bury a slut like her who never even had a proper wedding into our family's ancestral tomb!"
"Her parents told me not to bother. Who the hell are you to Shen Qing that you come to my door to settle scores with me?!"
As soon as Li Xian entered the village, he heard the old lame man arguing with several aunts. When he heard the news that Shen Qing was dead, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar and stopped in disbelief.
The aunts looked at the old lame man with disgust and pity. One of them shouted, "You stinky old bachelor! You can't even let a little girl go. Are you even human?"
"How old is Shen Qing? How could you bear to do such a thing to her? Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to sleep at night and will go to hell after you die?"
The aunts were in tears as they scolded the old lame man one by one. But the old lame man didn't seem to care. He spat on the ground, turned around, and locked the door.
Li Xian's head was buzzing. He couldn't believe that a young life had disappeared in just half a month.
He rushed to the deserted pit in the back mountain like a madman, hoping to find something. But when he saw the broken and rotten body of the little girl, the string of reason in his mind snapped.
It was as if a seal in his body had been broken. His eyes instantly turned blood-red.
Li Xian held Shen Qing's body in one hand and the sword his father left him in the other. He walked back to the village step by step.
He killed everyone who had bullied Shen Qing like a madman and burned the whole village to the ground. Even his senior brother who brought him there couldn't stop him.
Later, he took his revenge, but he died too.
The sect thought he was a monster for killing the villagers, so they joined hands to wipe him out. He was beheaded with a sword and died with his eyes wide open.
Ji Chongming held Lin Yibai in his arms and stood on the mountain peak, smiling at the soaring fire in front of him.
"Xiaobai, are you satisfied? This is the nightmare I created for them. This is just the first one. They will experience the second, third, and fourth nightmares in the Soul-Locking Banner. It will never end."
"It's indeed satisfying to kill someone, but the way I take revenge for you is to make them drown in sadness, despair, and pain forever without seeing a glimmer of hope."
Ji Chongming hugged Lin Yibai tenderly and looked at her expectantly, hoping to hear her admiration and praise as usual.
Lin Yibai weakly raised her head. Her lips were pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she was dying.
She stared at the bodies of Shen Qing and Li Xian on the ground angrily. "This is just a dream. I'm so angry. If only they had to go through such things in real life!"
"Only when pain and despair go deep into their bones can I relieve my hatred!"
Lin Yibai gritted her teeth as she spoke. Her intense hatred was terrifying.
Ji Chongming gently held Lin Yibai's face in his hands and looked at her affectionately. "Their souls are trapped here. For them, this is reality. My Xiaobai, they will never be able to leave..."
As he spoke, Ji Chongming snapped his fingers, and everything instantly returned to its original state.
When Shen Qing woke up again, there was still a deep fear in her eyes.
She covered her head. It felt heavy and dizzy. There seemed to be a memory in the depths of her mind that made her extremely afraid and desperate, but she just couldn't remember it.
While she was in a daze, Erhu's wife pushed the door open and slapped her across the face.
"You little slut! I told you to go up the mountain to pick matsutake mushrooms, but here you are daydreaming. Do you still want to eat or not?"
Her face stung, but Shen Qing just felt something was strange. It was as if she had been programmed to say, "Mother, a storm is coming. Let's not go up the mountain today. It's too dangerous..."
As she spoke, Shen Qing frowned.
She seemed to have said this sentence before...
Seeing that Erhu's wife was about to slap her again, Shen Qing rolled off the bed and pushed Erhu's wife away regardless. Then she rushed out of the door.
Looking at the familiar scenery around her, every plant, every brick, and every tile was something she recognized. But for some reason, Shen Qing felt extremely strange.
She looked at the road in front of her blankly and heard Erhu's wife's angry voice. When Erhu's wife caught up with her, Shen Qing started running towards the village entrance.
She seemed to remember that she was supposed to meet someone important at the village entrance.
But when she got there, there were only Shen Chuyun and a bunch of kids. They pointed at Shen Qing and laughed at her for being the old lame man's wife.
Normally, Shen Qing would have felt embarrassed, but for some reason, she always felt that someone was missing. She didn't even care about the mocking words.
"No, something's not right... There should be someone else here. Who is it... Why can't I remember?"
Seeing this, Shen Chuyun led the kids in mocking Shen Qing. "Hahaha, who are you looking for? Could it be your old lame husband?"
"Old husband, young wife. The old one is thick-skinned, and the young one has no shame!"
Shen Chuyun made up a rhyme and circled around Shen Qing, laughing at her.
For some reason, Shen Qing, who used to be afraid of Shen Chuyun, got angry when she saw him. So she reached out and pushed Shen Chuyun to the ground.
"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll beat you to death!"
But after saying this, Shen Qing was stunned.
Did she really say that? Was that something she would do?
Shen Chuyun was also stunned for a moment, then he started crying. "You pushed me! I'm going to tell my parents to beat you to death!"
Shen Qing looked at the kids around her irritably and felt that this was not the place she should be.
Then, without hesitation, Shen Qing turned around and left. But she searched the whole village and couldn't find the person she wanted to see.
Before she knew it, she had walked to the old lame man's shabby and remote house.
Normally, she was most afraid of coming here. Seeing that she had walked here without knowing it, Shen Qing shrank her neck and wanted to leave quickly.
But at this moment, there was a strange noise coming from the old lame man's house. A voice in Shen Qing's mind told her that she must push the door open and take a look.
Shen Qing steadied her mind, took a deep breath, and walked to the old lame man's house step by step. Then she slowly pushed the door open.
But the scene inside the house scared her.
A boy was holding a big machete in his hand, and warm blood was dripping from it. The old lame man was lying on the ground, covering his neck. His lecherous eyes were now filled with fear.
Seeing someone come in, the boy holding the machete turned his head sinisterly.
Shen Qing immediately saw the extremely beautiful amber pupils in the boy's eyes. The eyes that were originally full of killing intent instantly softened when they saw her.
There was a voice in Shen Qing's heart shouting that this was the person she was looking for.