Shen Cuiyu's eyes flashed with undisguised disgust as she looked at Wen Zimo, as if he were nothing but filth. She enunciated each word clearly:
"Even if you really manage to resurrect An Huai, so what? Will you kill her again with your own hands?"
Wen Zimo's smile froze instantly, as if the mask of feigned affection had been suddenly torn off, revealing nothing but ugly paranoia behind it.
After a long while, he slowly said,
"... That was just an accident. No one in this world loves An Huai more than I do. She can only be with me!"
Shen Cuiyu suddenly let out a soft laugh, her words full of meaning:
"I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."
"..... What do you mean?"
"Do you think the person who taught you such a vicious formation is a kind - hearted person?" Shen Cuiyu stared at him steadily. "Didn't that person tell you that this formation harms one's moral integrity? Even if it succeeds, you won't live long."
Wen Zimo was stunned for a moment. His face turned pale and then green. His eyes bulged with anger as he roared,
"You're lying! The celestial master wouldn't lie to me! It cost me ten thousand taels in total! I didn't even bargain a single coin! How could he possibly lie to me? It's you who's lying!"
The others exchanged glances. Taking advantage of Wen Zimo's momentary distraction, Dong Fangxiao suddenly stepped forward, pretending to attack Wen Zimo, and smoothly led An Huai away!
Pei Yu, on the other hand, somehow circled around and reached the center of the formation. With a slight flick of his folding fan, he cut the ropes binding Li Jinghuai's hands and feet!
Wen Zimo came to his senses and shouted,
"An Huai, stop them!"
An Huai's soul body immediately moved. In the blink of an eye, she was beside Pei Yu and Li Jinghuai. Her black nails, filled with bone - chilling cold, rushed straight towards Li Jinghuai's chest!
At the critical moment, Li Jinghuai quickly threw the red paper she had been tightly clutching into the fire beside her!
Suddenly, all was quiet. The crackling sound of the burning fire was especially clear. Li Jinghuai seemed to hear a soft - laughing female voice.
"Fool, you finally got smart for once."
It was Song Yanling's voice.
Almost instantly, a white figure quickly appeared in front of Li Jinghuai. She mobilized her ghostly power and stretched out a palm, firmly blocking a heavy blow from An Huai!
Song Yanling had died not long after An Huai. With the blessing of Li Jinghuai's religious ceremony, she could even fight An Huai to a draw!
Li Jinghuai stared blankly at Song Yanling, who suddenly appeared. Her figure was so familiar, as if she had never left...
Li Jinghuai's eyes suddenly turned red. Yanling had really crossed the boundary between the living and the dead to protect her!
Shen Cuiyu looked at Song Yanling, who appeared unexpectedly. For some reason, her expression was not very bright.
Wen Zimo didn't expect things to turn out like this. It took him a while to react. Then, he roared at Li Jinghuai in disbelief,
"I threw away your red paper back then. How do you still have it?"
Wen Zimo was always very cautious and would often check Li Jinghuai's personal belongings. When he found that Li Jinghuai had indeed prepared her hair and the red paper with her birth date as Song Yanling had told her, he quietly destroyed them. He never thought that Li Jinghuai still had some!
Li Jinghuai looked at Wen Zimo with cold eyes. Hatred welled up in her heart. Suddenly, she spat at him fiercely!
"If you can throw it away, can't I prepare a few more copies? I just realized today that you're both stupid and evil. An Huai and I must have been blind to fall for you!"
Li Jinghuai had always been gentle and submissive in front of Wen Zimo. When had she ever been so fierce? For a moment, Wen Zimo was so stunned by her scolding that he stood still!
After a long while, he smiled strangely and said,
"Do you think you've done the right thing? As early as when Song Yanling came to you in dreams every night, I asked the celestial master. As a ghost, Song Yanling has repeatedly interfered in the affairs of the living world, which is a disruption of the order. Now, she has even used magic to appear in the human world. In her next life, she can only be reborn as a brute! It's all because of you! Li Jinghuai, your best friend has sacrificed herself again to save you. How pathetic!"
Li Jinghuai's face instantly turned extremely pale. Her knees went weak and she fell to the ground.
"Yan... Yanling, is what he said true?"
Song Yanling's figure stiffened. Rarely, she didn't answer Li Jinghuai's question.
Just then, Zhong Shengwan found the eye of the formation. He quickly drew several talismans, cutting off the formation. At the same time, his slender fingers quickly formed a spell gesture and he shouted in a low voice, "Break!"
Snap!
It seemed that something had broken.
An Huai, who had been driven by the formation and fought for Wen Zimo, suddenly paused. For a moment, there was a glimmer of clarity in her completely black eyes, and the violent resentment that was almost devouring everything around her suddenly subsided.
Wen Zimo didn't understand what was happening yet. He just noticed in surprise that An Huai no longer obeyed his orders.
He anxiously urged her again and again. Then, he saw the blood - red figure in the distance slowly and extremely stiffly turn around and walk towards him step by step!
In An Huai's empty eyes, the resentment and grief that had been accumulated for several years were almost tangible.
Wen Zimo was all too familiar with this look - on the day when he accidentally killed An Huai, the last look she gave him was full of unwillingness and deep - seated hatred...
Wen Zimo's face suddenly changed. Only then did he realize that the formation he had drawn was now in complete disorder!
A chill suddenly ran down his spine. He stepped back while shaking his head and said, "An Huai, I did all this for you! What... What are you going to do? We were husband and wife. You can't treat me like this..."
His words suddenly stopped. Because a very strange and twisted smile slowly appeared on An Huai's face.
How familiar this scene was!
A long time ago, when he was beating her, she had also begged him so humbly.
Now, it was just a role reversal.
An Huai suddenly raised her ghostly hand, filled with the cold resentment that had been accumulated for several years, and slapped Wen Zimo hard on the face!
"Slap!" A sound that was not of physical contact rang out. An inky - black handprint with ominous black gas emanating from its edges instantly appeared on Wen Zimo's left cheek.
"Ah——!" Wen Zimo felt as if half of his face had been burned by a branding iron or pierced by countless ice needles. The pain was unbearable. He fell to the ground on the spot, howling like a pig, and his body curled up and rolled in pain.
"This is the mark of a fierce ghost seeking revenge." Shen Cuiyu's voice was calm, as if she were stating an ordinary fact. "The resentment has penetrated the bones. In a few days, the mark will fester and suppurate, going deep into the bone marrow. No medicine will work."
Hearing this, fear completely overwhelmed the pain for Wen Zimo. He even crawled and rolled towards Shen Cuiyu's feet, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Celestial master! Master Shen! Save me! Aren't you people who practice Taoism supposed to subdue demons and save the suffering? You can't just stand by and watch me die!"
Shen Cuiyu lowered her eyes and coldly looked at the embarrassed man at her feet. There was not a trace of pity in her eyes. "You're wrong," she said in a cold voice, but her words were as heavy as a thousand weights. "What I practice is not the merciful way of saving all sentient beings, but the iron law of cause and effect that good and evil will be rewarded accordingly."
An Huai died so miserably, and her soul was trapped for several years without being able to be reborn. If they didn't return the evil in kind, how could this huge injustice be avenged? How could this heavy karmic obstacle be resolved?