CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 52: REVIEW (WHITE ALLIANCE LEADER +1)

On the way back to Xu Shufen’s house, Xu Yichao secretly returned the security guard Old Tian’s key to Sang Que.

Sang Que was a bit surprised after seeing it. She had thought that the keys would disappear along with the village resentment, but being able to bring them out meant that these two keys were themselves yin objects.

Sang Que wrapped them up and put them away. Although this trip was extremely dangerous, she had made quite a profit.

The Yin Child’s ability to devour village resentment had increased, and she had completely suppressed it. She discovered the true use of the Yansheng coin and obtained two yin objects as well.

The only loss was five Ghost Soldier Talismans, and there might be a scar left on her neck!

Meow~

The sound of a cat meowing came from her feet. Sang Que looked down and into the round green gemstone eyes of the black cat and smiled faintly.

In the small courtyard, Xu Yichao helped Zheng Wujun temporarily place Zheng Letian’s body in the coolest spot, tidying up the remains.

Xu Shufen relocated the Mountain God Statue back in the shen kan, and the black cat jumped onto the incense table, sat down, and began to lick its paws.

Xu Shufen raised her hand to rub the little fellow’s head, "Thanks to you tonight, too."

Turning around and seeing Sang Que’s puzzled gaze, Xu Shufen explained, "This one is no ordinary cat. It snuck into my room to steal food when it was little. When I came back, it was crouching in front of the Mountain God, and this piece of cloth fell to the ground, which gave me quite a scare. But the little guy was perfectly fine."

"Its originally amber-colored eyes turned green. It seems to have received a gift from the Mountain God. Unfortunately, it doesn’t care for me, the old lady, and would rather roam the village than follow me. Cats, they’re born to read people. It will choose to follow the strong, so don’t disappoint it in the future."

Meow~

The black cat seemed to agree, letting out a cheerful meow.

Sang Que felt a bit flattered. She hadn’t really done much, just fed it a sausage stick.

"Alright, I’ll take you home for a canned treat later."

Sang Que scratched the black cat’s head, and the black cat leaned into her hand, purring contentedly.

In fact, both she and her mom loved cats. Her mom had raised one when she was little, but it got sick and passed away later. Her mom was so upset that she never kept another at home, just took time to feed stray cats.

There’s a black dog at home now, hopefully, the two won’t fight.

Xu Shufen helped Sang Que simply bandage the wound on her neck, reminding her to go to the hospital for disinfection and stitches in the morning.

Afterward, she found a set of her clothes for Sang Que, instructing her to wash the blood off in the bathroom.

At ten o’clock, four people and a cat were sitting in Xu Shufen’s living room, beginning to review the events from this afternoon to tonight.

After seeing the Mountain God Statue, the terrifying visions were gone, but the two three-year-old children were still chasing each other around the statue.

The rocking chair under the mourning portrait was gently swaying, and the old man was still holding the newspaper without any reaction.

The black cat jumped onto Sang Que’s lap and lay down asleep, making itself comfortable, urging Sang Que to rub its belly, purring contentedly.

Despite the situation, Xu Yichao suddenly sat much more upright in front of Xu Shufen, not saying much and sitting obediently beside her, occasionally sneaking glances at Sang Que wearing an old-fashioned floral cotton sleepwear, trying to hold back a laugh.

"How did you all get in? Didn’t I have Dongzi’s uncle watching the village entrance?" Xu Shufen asked.

"We snuck in, and not just us, there were four other streamers who sneaked in too," Xu Yichao replied.

Xu Shufen sighed, "I promised him a month of square dancing together, and this is how he handles things!"

Xu Shufen joked, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. Sang Que secretly glanced at the rocking chair, seeing the old man still holding the newspaper, with no reaction.

Zheng Wujun remained serious.

Xu Shufen placed the small, pitch-black figure discovered inside the grandfather clock on the table, "It should be this thing that nurtured the village resentment. Those two brothers probably made a fortune in the Southern Ocean when they were young, believing in this kind of Southern Magic. This matter is my fault, for not detecting it earlier."

Sang Que spoke slowly, "It’s good to deal with problems as they arise. Blaming is the least useful thing; it only adds to negative emotions."

Meow!

Zheng Wujun nodded slightly, while Xu Yichao was shocked for a moment, then felt a bit aggrieved, thinking it’d be great if his mom understood this principle. At home, if his mom couldn’t find something, she’d blame him for sitting there and messing with her mind.

Xu Shufen smiled wryly, starting to tell the others slowly.

"I don’t know much about Southern Magic. This thing was definitely brought back by the brothers seeking fortune. The Xujiawan Village is a special place, acting as the yin acupoint of the Dragon Spine Mountain. This thing was enshrined in the clock shop, breeding evil thoughts, absorbing the resentment of the villagers, eventually forming the ’village resentment.’"

"I reckon that the brothers deliberately built the Skywell Building to concentrate yin energy for this offering, which eventually backfired, bringing ruin to their entire family at the hands of this evil spirit. We were planning to use the power of the two Mountain Gods before the Mid-Autumn Festival to eliminate this ’village resentment,’ but it didn’t go as expected..."

Xu Shufen let out a heavy sigh. Sang Que knew she wanted to say that the ’village resentment’ had the power to manipulate time.

At this moment, Zheng Wujun spoke up, "’Village resentment’s’ ability can only work within the Skywell Building. It’s not true time reversal but is rather a draw upon the resentment from past memories within a minute, regrowing its strength."

"Hold on, I don’t understand," Xu Yichao said, puzzled.

Sang Que moved her fingers slightly, understanding what Zheng Wujun meant.

If it were true restarts, reading back to a minute before, then after the Yin Child first killed the village resentment, the four trigrams she collected should have vanished in the reset.

But they didn’t. The trigrams remained and after killing the village resentment a second time, she obtained another four, completing the eight, imprinting the ’Mountain Ghost Seal’ on the Yin Child’s head, thoroughly controlling her.

If there were enough Ghost Soldier Talismans, this would indeed be a great place to ’farm experience’!

I wonder if after the Yin Child devoured the village resentment, it would gain a similar ability...

Zheng Wujun glanced at Xu Yichao, adding, "This time we were lucky to have someone cooperate from outside, disrupting what was inside the grandfather clock during the village resentment’s weak recovery phase. Otherwise, we’d have had to fight and refight it over until it exhausted all accumulated resentment from past memories."

Sang Que looked down, meaning that the resurrection of the village resentment was limited, not endless.

Xu Yichao couldn’t help but ask, "Then what about everything we experienced in the Skywell Building? Why did we get lost on the stairs? And what was with all those filthy things in the rooms?"

Zheng Wujun, with the look of explaining to an outsider, patiently said, "Those are all memories within time, memories imbued with resentment. Each part of the building is like a jumbled puzzle of different times, shuffled and randomly pieced together. The stairs you take might lead from the third floor at midnight a year ago, and the next section to the fifth floor at 3 AM six months ago."

"The stairs all look the same, making it hard to find differences, but the differences between floors are much bigger, so simply jumping floors could break this, but there are also rules inside to guard against this."

"Moreover, the field created by the yin evil spirit includes a level of illusion, changing according to the fears of those within, and it’s not entirely real, nor can everything be perfectly explained. In these incidents, there’s no need to dwell too much; surviving is the most important thing."

Finishing, Zheng Wujun looked at Sang Que, "May I boldly ask about your master?"

Xu Shufen also looked at Sang Que with curiosity. Back then, she and Zheng Wujun were trapped in different time segments. After the village resentment was destroyed and the grandfather clock cracked open, they reunited in the normal timeline.

Although they didn’t see Sang Que dealing with the village resentment in action, they clearly witnessed the evil spirit behind Sang Que using the same methods as the village resentment, indicating that the evil spirit had devoured the village resentment.

Despite their assistance, it was Sang Que who delivered the final blow to end the evil spirit.

That was something neither Xu Shufen nor Zheng Wujun’s entire family could do!

Xu Shufen also very much wanted to know why Sang Que lied to her last time.