Jiang Li's tone was firm and resentful. Yuan Ao stiffened upon hearing it and quickly asked, "What do you mean?"
Jiang Li let out a cold laugh and told what had happened back then in a hoarse voice. "A week before your mother was due to give birth, your grandma accidentally fell into the river and died. When her body was fished out, it was already swollen from being soaked in the water. Your father endured the grief and arranged the funeral. But on the day of the funeral procession, the big black cat your grandma had raised suddenly rushed out from somewhere. It was attached to its master. It blocked the coffin and meowed twice, then it actually rammed itself to death against the coffin. The old lady had died a violent death, and with the black cat ramming the coffin, she came back to life. In the middle of the night, she lifted the coffin lid and climbed out of the ground. She followed the scent and quietly returned to your home. In the middle of the night, your mother was sleeping when the old lady pounced on her and grabbed her by the neck. Fortunately, there were many people in your family that day, and they found out in time. Everyone tied the old lady up in a hurry. The old lady had turned into a fierce corpse without any consciousness. She would bite anyone she saw, and a bite from her was sure to be fatal."
At this point, Jiang Li coughed softly twice. A look of hesitation and hatred flashed across his face as if he was lost in deep memories.
"Your father guarded the old lady for three days and three nights. Finally, he had no other choice but to ask me to subdue his own mother. I used talismans to trap her in the tomb, and only then was the matter resolved without causing a greater disaster. But who would have thought that your mother was so timid that she lost her soul from the fright. From that day on, she refused to eat or drink and fell seriously ill. Your father didn't want to watch his wife and unborn child die, so he came to plead with me again. He swore to me at that time that he would surely repay me for saving their lives. I believed him. I cured your mother's shock and even sacrificed some of my own lifespan to save you and your mother. But I never expected that I would be repaid with ingratitude!"
As he said this, Jiang Li turned his head painfully towards the black cat in the coffin.
This action of his further convinced Yu Nian of his conjecture that one of Jiang Sheng's lost souls was hidden in the body of this black cat.
The black cat seemed to sense something. It struggled to jump out of the coffin but was too weak to move. It could only let out shrill meows from its throat.
Jiang Li frowned tightly, looking extremely pained.
"A year later, Jiang Sheng was born. This child was smart and good-looking, but he was in poor health. Before he was five years old, he hardly ever saw the sun. He had to rely on medicine to maintain his health all year round. I was extremely worried, so I checked the Book of Life and Death. To my surprise, I found that Jiang Sheng's lifespan was almost up... He was destined to die young! Unlike Yuan Ao's situation, this was Jiang Sheng's fate, and I couldn't interfere. That was the most painful period of my life. As a person who could travel to the underworld, I could save other people's children, but I couldn't save my own. I had to consult ancient books and ask many experts and strange people before I found a way - a substitute death. As a ghost messenger responsible for collecting souls, on the day when Sheng'er's lifespan was almost up, as long as I pulled some strings, I could go to collect his soul myself. Then I could pull a switcheroo and find someone to die in Sheng'er's place. However, the substitute had to have a very strong yin energy. They had to be born in the yin year, yin month, and yin hour with a pure yin constitution for me to get close and collect their soul. But it was not easy to find a child of the same age as Sheng'er with a pure yin constitution. After much thought, I suddenly thought of you."
Jiang Li raised his head. His faceless eyes were just empty holes. "Since I saved your life, it's only natural for you to repay me, right?"
Yuan Ao was being "stared" at by him. Countless terrifying speculations were swirling in his mind, like a cold-blooded snake slowly crawling across his heart, making his hair stand on end and filling him with despair.
Yu Nian quietly walked in front of Yuan Ao to block Jiang Li's "gaze." He frowned and asked, "So you abused your power and took Yuan Ao's soul away?"
Jiang Li let out a sinister laugh. "That's right. After I had prepared for a long time, I finally got the official document from the underworld. The name written on it was Sheng'er's. I used my own blood to set up an altar and used ink to change the name on the official document to Yuan Ao's. Then, following the rituals and rules of traveling to the underworld, I took Yuan Ao's soul to the underworld at night. Since Yuan Ao and Sheng'er were of similar age and build, this soul collection went extremely smoothly, and no one stopped me. But when I arrived at the Palace of Yama and presented the official document to Yama, he flew into a rage and ordered Ox-Head and Horse-Face to arrest me."
At this point, Jiang Li seemed to recall something extremely terrifying. He trembled all over. That soul-shattering fear was something Jiang Li would never forget. Every time he had a nightmare in the middle of the night, he would be drenched in cold sweat. This was also the reason why he planted a row of peach trees that could ward off evil spirits outside his house. Although they were of little use, they could at least provide some psychological comfort.
Feng Chengyuan frowned, looking a bit confused. "Didn't you change the name on the document to Yuan Ao's? Why did Yama arrest you?"
Yu Nian calmly explained, "The official document from the underworld is formed by spiritual energy. Naturally, the ink from the mortal world can't change the document from the underworld. If it were that easy to change the official document from the underworld, the Three Realms would have been in chaos long ago."
Jiang Li nodded, tacitly agreeing with Yu Nian's words.
"The document returned to its original appearance. I was stripped of my position as a ghost messenger for abusing my power and was severely punished. I lost my eyes. Yuan Ao's soul returned to the mortal world, while I was thrown out of the underworld. I was lying half-dead at the junction of the mortal and the underworld. In a daze, I seemed to hear Sheng'er's cries, but I couldn't do anything. Just then, I was saved by a strange man. He said he had a way to save Jiang Sheng's life, but I had to agree to a condition, which was to provide him with pure yin blood once every three months. Although I didn't know who he was, I knew that for self - cultivating spirits like animal and plant spirits, their blood could be used as medicine to assist in their cultivation. I couldn't just watch my child die, so I agreed to his condition. When I woke up, I found myself lying in my own bed at home, and Sheng'er, who had already stopped breathing, was slowly regaining his breath. I was bedridden for a month. To keep my promise, I started to capture monsters on a large scale to provide the man with pure yin blood."
Everyone fell silent after hearing Jiang Li's story.
Especially Yuan Ao. He stood there at a loss as if his worldview had completely collapsed. It took him a while before he wiped his face and cursed weakly, "Damn it! How could it be so absurd..."
But when he carefully recalled, some memory fragments that were almost forgotten were pieced together again.
It seemed that he had really been seriously ill when he was a child. He dreamed that he had wandered in the underworld in a daze. When he woke up, he found his father and mother crying while holding him. He had thought it was strange at that time, but now he finally understood that it was the fear and joy of having him back.
Yuan Ao told his father exactly what had happened in his dream. From then on, Yuan Ao's father regarded Jiang Li as an enemy, and the two never had anything to do with each other again.