That night, Gu Qingyun did not squeeze onto the single bed with the other two girls. Instead, she sat in a chair with her eyes closed, resting her mind. Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohe poked her arm gently.
“What is it?” Gu Qingyun asked.
“Cousin Qingyun, if you think it's too cramped, I can sit here. You go sleep in the bed.”
Gu Qingyun shook her head. “No need. I'm used to patrolling the night and staying awake. I'll just sit right here. You two go ahead and sleep.”
Seeing that she could not be persuaded, Zhang Xiaohe glanced back with every few steps as she returned to the bed. The two sisters lay there like terrified pups, curled up and too afraid to move. Looking closely, one could even see the blankets trembling around them.
With a wave of Gu Qingyun's hand, the oil lamp in the room was instantly snuffed out. She closed her eyes and began meditating in cultivation. In the silent room, only the two girls' ragged, heavy breathing on the bed could be heard.
Gu Qingyun's own breathing was scarcely audible.
Though she was cultivating, Gu Qingyun kept her mind clear, not entering a state of total absorption.
Within her perception, the swaying of flower branches, the swimming of fish, and the rustling of leaves all reached her ears.
The breathing throughout the entire Zhang family compound fell clearly into her hearing, allowing her to discern whether everyone was asleep. She could not quite describe the sensation, only that everything around her entered her awareness.
Around the third watch, an uninvited guest arrived at the Zhang family residence while everyone was fast asleep, like a drop of ink falling into the canvas of Gu Qingyun's perception.
“Woof, woof, woof... Woof, woof, woof...”
The dog kept in the front yard began barking frantically. It was no ordinary bark, but a shrill, desperate howling, as if facing a mortal foe in a desperate last stand.
She could sense that from the very first bark, everyone in the compound jolted awake, trembling beneath their covers.
Gu Qingyun opened her eyes. Looking past the door, she saw a dark figure lingering near the courtyard gate, exuding a rancid stench of rot and blood.
She stood, casually picking up the saber from the table.
“I'm going out to check. Make sure you close the windows tight.”
With that, she opened the window and leapt straight out. Gu Qingyun's timing was impeccable; had she been a step slower, the dog in the yard would surely have lost its life.
Smelling the foul stench drifting into the courtyard, she narrowed her eyes. Damn it all—scaring people was one thing, but making it smell so revolting was just pure spite.
Gu Qingyun sized up the fiend cloaked in black mist. Although its face was hidden, she could feel its calculating gaze sizing her up in return.
Perhaps sensing danger from Gu Qingyun, the creature stood motionless, confronting her in a standoff.
Gu Qingyun had no desire to stand at an impasse all night, but neither did she want her saber tainted by such foul fiendish energy. Stepping forward abruptly, she materialized her spiritual power into a long whip that lashed straight toward the creature.
The fiendified Aunt Zhang twisted her hideous features and dodged deftly to the side, trying to evade the lash. But how could Gu Qingyun let her escape?
With supple precision, the whip wrapped firmly around the fiend. Black mist sizzled away under the purifying spiritual energy, prompting Aunt Zhang to throw her head back in a ferocious roar.
That ghostly wail terrified the yard dog so badly that its tail clamped tightly between its hind legs, whimpering nonstop.
“Ahhh! I hate them! I hate them! Why? Why did I have to die?! I want nine lives from the Zhang family! I'll make the Zhang family live in terror forever!”
Gu Qingyun frowned. “You still retain your senses?”
Dragging the fiend behind her, Gu Qingyun ran out until she reached an open expanse. She poured more strength into her grip, and under the reinforcement of her spiritual energy, the yin energy clinging to Aunt Zhang began to visibly dissipate, gradually revealing a human silhouette.
It was a woman in her forties, though her face looked closer to sixty, showing how severely she had toiled and exhausted herself in life.
She wore burial garments caked in mud. Gu Qingyun cursed silently—how utterly unfilial. They hadn't even provided her with a coffin.
The woman's face was grotesque, blood oozing from all seven orifices. An ordinary person seeing this would have been scared sick.
Gu Qingyun drew a sharp breath. The gruesome manner of her death was indeed horrifying. Yet her face remained unfazed as she addressed Aunt Zhang.
“Aunt, you've already dragged two people down to the grave with you. Cease this.”
Gusts of yin wind whirled around the female ghost. Were it not for the fact that she was no match for the girl before her, she never would have stayed here to converse.
“Heehee, not two. Tonight I already killed three more.
“My second son, and those people who always bullied me and badmouthed me in the past—I killed them too. If not for you being at Zhang Zhuzi's house, someone there would have died tonight as well.”
“Why? How did my grandmother's maiden family offend you?” Gu Qingyun asked in a level voice.
“Because their family is harmonious, of course! Everyone gives birth and raises children, so why did all of mine turn out to be ungrateful wretches, while everyone in his family is obedient, honest, and hardworking?
“I couldn't bear to see them so happy. I want them to end up like me—with their families ruined and their lives destroyed!”
A look of disgust crossed Gu Qingyun's face, and she sneered.
“I thought you were simply full of resentment because of a wrongful death. I never imagined you harbored so much malice in your heart. You killed your husband and your son—I have nothing to say about that. But you have killed multiple innocent people, so you cannot be spared.
“Timid in life, yet upon turning into a fiend in death, you slaughter the innocent without restraint. Those you killed became your nourishment, robbed of even the chance to become ghosts. You deserve to die.
“Thunder Arts: Dispel Evil!”
Drawing a talisman in midair with one hand, Gu Qingyun slammed the Thunder-Calling Talisman woven from spiritual energy directly onto Aunt Zhang. The moment the spiritual talisman struck her, dense thunderclouds gathered in the sky.
Gu Qingyun abruptly retracted her spiritual energy and retreated at lightning speed. A blinding bolt of lightning struck Aunt Zhang directly.
Aunt Zhang let out a piercing shriek. The black mist roiled violently and contracted. As a second bolt struck, her figure grew fainter and fainter, the foul stench gradually dispersing.
With the black mist dwindling, Aunt Zhang slowly returned to her living appearance. A faint smile touched her lips.
“This is for the best. Being human was too exhausting. When I became a fiend, my mind knew only slaughter; the tiny bits of malice harbored during my life were magnified without end until I no longer seemed like myself.
“Now, suddenly realizing that I bear five lives on my hands... let it all end here.”
She smiled faintly. As the final bolt of lightning crashed down, her silhouette faded into a wash of white light, leaving behind only scorched and battered earth.
Gu Qingyun sighed. Tomorrow, who knew how many more households would have to hang up white funeral banners. Aside from her malice, there was another reason Zhang Musheng's mother had killed.
A soul transformed into a fiend could neither reincarnate nor break free from this place, condemned to wander this road day after day. If she wished to escape, she had to fill the tally with nine human lives.
Nine was the absolute pinnacle of yang numbers. Using the yang qi of nine living souls would neutralize and magnify her resentment, allowing her to break free from this land—never entering the cycle of reincarnation, remaining an evil fiend for all eternity.
Therefore, Gu Qingyun could not let her live. This was also the first malevolent ghost she had ever seen, reinforcing her resolve to cultivate diligently. She had to become stronger.
The next day, after informing the Zhang family that the fiend had been eliminated, she told them to find a feng shui master to examine the gravesite and relocate Aunt Zhang's grave. Then, she set off on the journey back with Old Lady Zhang.
As for what happened in Xigu Village, one could hardly say who was right and who was wrong. Should one blame Zhang Musheng's family for being too heartless, or the villagers for being so indifferent that not a single soul visited Aunt Zhang when she was sick?
Nor had anyone lent a helping hand after she died of illness, burying her so haphazardly? Every peck and sip is preordained by Heaven.
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