Li Jinghuai rubbed the red marks on her hand left by the old woman's grip. Still in shock, with red - rimmed eyes, she whispered softly,
"When I first married into the Wen family three years ago, my mother - in - law was already a bit poor at judging people... The situation has only gotten worse over the years. At first, she just disliked me and refused to even drink the tea I offered as a new bride... Later, she would drive me away, scold me, and even beat me whenever she saw me..."
Li Jinghuai's voice grew softer and softer, filled with helplessness and a faint, barely perceptible sadness.
...
As the sky gradually darkened, the yellowish afterglow was completely swallowed by the inky blackness. Outside the window lattice, the shadow of the pagoda tree swayed menacingly in the wind. Li Jinghuai unconsciously wrung the corner of her clothes and felt restless.
After the Ghost Festival, she had dreamed of Yanling every night. Since then, sleeping had become a terrifying thing.
Shen Cuiyu noticed her panic and took out a calming incense stick and lit it. The clear and elegant fragrance gradually dispelled the tense atmosphere in the room.
"Jinghuai, after you fall asleep, we will use a talisman as a guide to enter your dream. Don't be afraid. No matter what happens in the dream, it's all fake. We will protect you."
Li Jinghuai had met quite a few celestial masters during this period. Although the young girl in front of her was young, her character was very calm and she acted with composure. Somehow, she made people trust and rely on her.
She nodded and tried to relax as she lay on the bed. Looking at Shen Cuiyu's beautiful profile not far away, she felt a long - awaited sense of peace.
Li Jinghuai really hadn't had a good night's sleep for a long time. Now, enveloped by the gentle fragrance, she actually fell asleep unconsciously...
It wasn't until Li Jinghuai's breathing gradually became steady that Shen Cuiyu took out a bright yellow talisman paper. She quietly attached a wisp of spiritual consciousness to the talisman paper, parted her thin lips slightly, and a soft incantation escaped.
The surrounding disciples also held their breaths and tried to channel their spiritual power, using the talisman paper to peer into Li Jinghuai's dream.
The light of the candle in front of them suddenly faded, as if swallowed by thick ink. In its place was a vast expanse of thick, almost suffocating grayish - white mist!
Li Jinghuai opened her eyes and found herself standing alone in the middle of the sea of mist. The cold was bone - chilling.
She instinctively hugged her arms tightly and looked around in horror.
This place still seemed to have the layout of the Wen Mansion, but all the scenes were distorted and inverted, as if seen in a mirror, exuding an indescribable sense of strangeness.
Just as Li Jinghuai was filled with suspicion, Shen Cuiyu's soothing voice suddenly rang in her ear.
"Don't panic. We're in the dark."
Li Jinghuai was slightly stunned. Only then did she remember that it was all a dream. She took a deep breath and summoned up her courage to stay where she was.
At the same time, deep in the thick fog, a vague figure gradually coalesced and became clear.
It was the figure of a young girl in an old - fashioned dress. However, a large bloody hole on her forehead was clearly visible. The blood trickled down, staining half of her pale face red. Her eyes were empty and venomous - it was exactly the terrifying appearance of Song Yanling when she died a violent death!
"Yan... Yanling?!" Li Jinghuai's voice trembled. Instinctively, she wanted to take a step back and run away.
But Song Yanling's ghostly figure had already approached with a bone - chilling cold wind. She was so close that Li Jinghuai could almost smell the strong, rusty smell of blood and the putrid smell of the earth on her.
"Why didn't you listen to me..." Song Yanling's voice was hoarse and distorted, filled with endless resentment!
"It's too late... It's already too late!!"
"You're such a fool!"
Li Jinghuai was extremely terrified and trembled all over.
"What... What's too late?"
Everyone was even more at a loss because of this sudden outburst.
"Do ghosts curse?" Dongfang Xiao scratched his head and asked.
But Song Yanling in front of Li Jinghuai suddenly widened her blood - filled eyes, as if she had seen something that terrified her. Before Li Jinghuai could react, she actually used all her strength and pushed Li Jinghuai away forcefully!
Before everyone could fully understand this sudden turn of events, the surrounding dream shattered and reorganized with a bang!
The mist dissipated instantly, but they didn't return to reality.
Instead, there were four towering, bottomless blood - red walls!
Without the obstruction of the mist, Shen Cuiyu and the others quickly came to Li Jinghuai's side and looked around with bated breath.
They saw that the surrounding walls were as smooth as mirrors, but there were no doors or windows, trapping everyone in a narrow space. Looking up, there was only a square, gloomy and oppressive sky...
In the middle of the courtyard, a huge pagoda tree stood alone. Its branches and leaves were so lush that they were almost demonic, casting a thick, ink - like shadow that almost covered the entire courtyard.
"Four high walls surrounding a tree..." Zhong Shengwan gasped, her voice extremely low due to shock. "This... This is clearly a huge 'trap' pattern!"
A pagoda tree in the house, the trap pattern... It was as if something was going to be trapped in a certain place forever.
Shen Cuiyu frowned tightly. Recalling Song Yanling's words just now, she suddenly realized that the truth of the incident seemed to be very different from what was described in the mission book!
"What... What's going on here?"
Just as the disciples were completely confused, an even colder and more silent aura than Song Yanling's surged in like a tide from all directions!
Somehow, a strange, sweet fragrance, a mixture of old - fashioned powder and dust, had quietly permeated the air.
"It's not Song Yanling..." Shen Cuiyu's voice was extremely low, but it could be clearly heard by everyone. "This aura is more ancient, with a... long - imprisoned venom." Her ability to sense the underworld became extremely sharp here, and she could clearly capture the ancient resentment that filled the air and was almost integrated with the pagoda tree!
Almost at the same time, as soon as Shen Cuiyu finished speaking, the huge pagoda tree moved without wind. Its branches and leaves rubbed against each other, making a soft rustling sound, as if something was hiding behind it, quietly peeping at the uninvited guests in the courtyard!
Li Jinghuai was so frightened that she trembled all over and could hardly stand. Instinctively, she leaned tightly against Shen Cuiyu, who was closest to her. Shen Cuiyu looked solemn. She quietly made a spell gesture with her fingertips and stepped forward to protect Li Jinghuai behind her.
"Be careful!" Pei Yu shouted in a low voice.
They saw a strong, nauseating resentment, like a substantial black mist, suddenly surge out from the deep shadow of the tree trunk!
At the same time, in the black mist, the outline of a red - dressed woman gradually coalesced. Her figure was even more blurred than Song Yanling's, but she exuded a heart - rending sense of despair and madness.
She didn't roar like Song Yanling. Instead, she let out an extremely faint whimper that could pierce into the bone marrow, as if her mouth had been sewn shut and she could only let out a silent wail in the endless years.
At the same time, countless messy bloody handprints began to appear silently on the four red walls! They were dense and overlapping, as if someone had once desperately slapped and scratched here, trying to escape from this desperate place!