CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 21: THE MASTERMIND

The cold wind howled, piercingly chilling.

Sang Que didn’t remember how long it had taken for her to fall asleep, but a sudden clap of thunder jolted her awake.

Abyss of darkness, thunder streaked across the sky, and a plume of fire drifted down—a dream realm of the Nine Netherworld.

The thunder was the hallmark of the Wind and Thunder Prison on the First Layer, the fire plume signified the Second Layer’s Fire Shadow Prison, and the iron thorns surrounding her were from the Third Layer’s Vajra Prison.

The light from Sang Que’s chest glowed a tad brighter than the previous night; she first checked the numbers beneath her feet.

One, one, eight... ten more levels.

Without a Heart Lamp strong enough to anchor the soul, exceeding nine hundred ninety-nine levels of the Third Layer would drive a person insane.

At this rate, she could survive for over eighty days, possibly less. She hoped to gather enough incense fire wishing power when she returned to the present to anchor her soul in time.

The surrounding iron thorns continued to grow slowly. Any movement would pierce her body, so she stood still, gazing up toward the stairs.

"The Yin Child should be at a higher place than me. How did I see so far last time?"

As she pondered this, a blurry vision appeared in Sang Que’s mind: the Yin Child standing amid a misty, flowing darkness, stairs beneath its feet flickering in and out, the number showing... ninety-one.

Sang Que was prepared this time, so she wasn’t the least bit flustered. The Heart Lamp’s light was quite stable.

"I don’t know what your name was originally. If you’re willing, you can tell me. Since we’ve already been bound together, can’t we try cooperating instead of being in a constant life-and-death struggle?"

"I know you’re searching for the missing parts of your body. I can help you, but I need your help first. I don’t ask for much—only for you to lend a hand unconditionally three times within twenty-four hours... that is, within twelve hours. I’ll definitely retrieve your things from the Daoist for you."

The Yin Child remained motionless, its hollow eye sockets staring blankly and calmly at Sang Que.

Sang Que frowned, "You should’ve realized by now, every time you’re trapped inside me, you’re suppressed. Only when I voluntarily release you can you go out. If you don’t agree, you’ll be stuck here until I die."

"The door to the room where the Daoist keeps things is sealed with a talisman. Who knows what else is set up inside? But I’m alive, and I’m not afraid of traps that deal with evil spirits. My being alive is most beneficial to you. After all, you’ll eventually have to deal with that Daoist. Is it not better to have an extra helper?"

The mist around the Yin Child slowly billowed.

Sang Que paused and added, "I promise, if twelve hours later I can’t get what you want, my life will be yours!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a chill wind rose, Sang Que’s Heart Lamp flickered, and a thick fog obscured her vision.

The wick burst; Sang Que opened her eyes to find herself lying on a wooden table, the soul lamp candle extinguished on its own.

Her left arm felt stiff and cold. Confused, Sang Que checked and suddenly saw two crooked, water-written characters on the table, her fingertips wet.

"Gui Chou? A combination of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches? Is that a name?"

Sang Que didn’t know if other evil spirits were like this, but this Yin Child named Gui Chou was rather agreeable. Despite being a girl, she was literate and capable of writing, which was rare and skilled enough to comprehend her meanings—quite intelligent.

What exactly was her origin?

Suppressing her curiosity for now, Sang Que picked up the Exorcism Talisman and the bamboo tube filled with black dog blood, decisively got up, and walked into the outer courtyard.

She never fought unprepared and needed to verify the use of the Yansheng coin, so she would test the Yin Child’s power once.

The night was cool as water, the moonlight dim.

Leaves rustled, and a female corpse hanging from the tree swayed slowly, the hemp rope scraping the bark with an eerie creaking sound.

As soon as Sang Que stepped into the courtyard, the body swayed and slowly turned its toes toward her.

Reciting the words ’Gui Chou’ in her mind, Sang Que’s thoughts triggered a swirling gray Evil Mist, which rapidly spread around her.

The scent of blood filled the air, the stone mill ahead gradually becoming stained with dark red smudges. All sounds vanished within the Evil Mist, frighteningly silent.

The mist flowed past the female corpse, and her turning toes ceased, then rotated in the opposite direction.

When the Evil Mist expanded five meters from Sang Que, she felt like she was trying to push a massive stone.

The Evil Mist of Gui Chou could envelop half a village. Why did it only cover about five meters around her?

The Evil Mist could induce hallucinations, with built-in Ghost Wall effects and blocking abilities. Five meters were enough for her.

Running a few steps within the mist, although lacking the instant teleportation of the Yin Child, her senses were greatly enhanced, making her body light and agile.

If the opponent’s senses were blocked in the Evil Mist, leaving them unaware of her presence, she could completely exploit this to launch a surprise attack.

Next...

Sang Que slowly lifted her head, once again facing the female corpse hanging on the tree that had scared her several times.

Kou Yushan said that the suicide rope is a very common type of evil spirit, because in such times, under the constant pressure of extreme fear and evil spirits, people inevitably have suicidal thoughts, giving the suicide rope an opportunity to strike.

The suicide rope is not weak, but the rules for killing are simple and easy to avoid.

In the hazy evil mist, the female corpse beneath the suicide rope had her toes pointing outward, her back facing Sang Que. Even when she looked up, the suicide rope did not follow the rules to kill her, restricted to under the tree, unable to escape.

There is hierarchical suppression between evil spirits; Gui Chou is obviously stronger than the suicide rope. Ming Zhang told her this before, which is why she dared to look directly up at the moment.

Sang Que circled to the front of the female corpse, which kept rotating, refusing to show Sang Que its face.

Seeing this, Sang Que charged forward with a swift step, finally seeing the female corpse’s face, a mix of laughter and tears.

Sang Que raised her hand and grabbed the female corpse’s ankle. A sense of cold penetrated through her arm, and the female corpse’s limbs broke off like puzzle pieces, falling apart as black smoke, leaving only a dark red grass rope with a knot for hanging around the neck in her hand.

Corpse spots slowly appeared on the back of Sang Que’s hand, her arm stiff and cold, no longer agile, yet she could grab the suicide rope’s body with her bare hands, which a fruit knife couldn’t cut.

"Didn’t expect this when you scared me before, did you!"

Sang Que tightened her grip, and the rope finally disintegrated into ash like paper, merging into her body along with the surrounding black smoke.

Sang Que suddenly hallucinated, her vision blurred as if she became someone else, full of resentment and bitterness when faced with the neck-wrapping knot in front.

"Why! Why do I have to die! Why, why!"

Her body fell, the knot tightened and rubbed against her neck, an overpowering suffocation surged forward. Sang Que, immersed in the hallucination, desperately clawed at her neck, trying to pull the rope down.

Sang Que relied on her strong willpower, gritting her teeth and telling herself that she was Sang Que, not the resentful Liu Caifeng!!

The hallucination shattered, the bone-chilling cold washed through her body, inside and out, while her palm felt a burning sensation.

She raised her right hand, the mark of the Yansheng coin was like a prairie fire, rapidly recovering in her palm.

Sang Que’s eyes gleamed, unable to suppress a smile.

After being stifled for so long, the suffocating feeling in her heart finally came out!

The mark of the Yansheng coin in her palm showed the side with the Eight Diagrams. After the suicide rope’s power flowed in, one trigram quickly appeared, one long horizontal line, two short horizontal lines, stopping after one short horizontal line at the end.

Her mother once wrote metaphysical novels for a period, researching Eight Diagrams and Qimen Dunjia every day, watching various explanation videos during meals, with phrases like "Qian three-linked, Kun six broken." Sang Que’s ears almost developed calluses from listening during that time.

She didn’t remember much of the classical Chinese required for the college entrance exam, yet she was quite familiar with this stuff.

Now the trigram appearing in the Yansheng coin is the Geng Trigram, with one long horizontal line at the top and four short horizontal lines below.

The Geng Trigram represents the mountain, and in Qimen Dunjia, it corresponds to the ’Life Gate.’

Sang Que boldly speculated that once the Geng Trigram was fully displayed, she would be able to open the Life Gate and go home.

However, the third line of the Geng Trigram is currently missing one short horizontal line.

Still, Sang Que didn’t feel regretful. Even if just the power of a suicide rope could let her open the gate to return home, she must first fulfill her promise to Gui Chou, or she would die upon returning.

"It’s not good if it’s discovered that this mark is on the palm."

Sang Que murmured, just about to find a way to hide it, when she noticed the mark slowly fading, yet she could still feel its presence.

The surrounding evil mist had dissipated, Sang Que quickly retreated into the house, intending to rest in the east room, when suddenly there was a ’pop’ behind her, something fell.

Sang Que turned her head and, as expected, it was that unsettling blood-stained book again.

After thinking for a moment, Sang Que gave up the idea of touching the book. She eradicated the suicide rope because she understood it, dared to do so.

This book made her feel extremely ominous, and she completely didn’t understand it, maybe it was the root for Liu Family’s third son’s disappearance and being forgotten.

Without a resurrection coin, better not court death.

Returning to the east room, Sang Que stuck the two exorcism talismans she carried on the door and window. With hope on the horizon, she finally managed to sleep a little more peacefully.

Tomorrow, going home!