The remnants of the memories began to surface, showing what happened after Lin Yun and Bai Rouxia got married.
“Rouxia, there’s a lot of evil energy in Liansheng Town, and many people get sick easily. Do you think we could sell the evil-dispelling artifacts a little cheaper to the townspeople?” Lin Yun asked cautiously. Bai Rouxia was already dressed as a newlywed. “If you’re willing, I can go talk to Big Brother…”
“What are you going to talk to him for? If you talk to him, he definitely won’t agree.”
“Then… then…”
“I can make the decision on something this small. Just sell them cheaper. Doing some good and accumulating virtue—what’s wrong with that?”
Lin Yun’s eyes immediately widened. “Then… then th-thank you!”
Bai Rouxia burst out laughing and reached up to poke her husband’s cheek. “You really are such a little dummy.”
Just then, the light suddenly dimmed again, and the scene turned black once more. When it lit up again, Gu Mang suddenly found that the figures before him and the voices in his ears had become extremely blurred, like paper and ink soaked and spread out in water. He had to concentrate very hard to make out what they were saying.
Gu Mang tensed.
He knew that usually, when this happened, it meant only one thing—
This section of memory had already been extracted once when Lin Yun died. And Gu Mang was the second person to read it.
Then the person who had extracted this memory must be…
He had a pretty good idea, but he did not immediately dwell on it, because the hazy memory before him was still continuing in broken fragments. Gu Mang could barely make out that it was Bai’s eldest brother speaking to Lin Yun. His voice was naturally deep, and now it sounded even more terrifyingly low.
“…Ridiculous…”
The vague voice seemed to come from beneath the water.
“What do you think you are? How dare you alter the prices of the artifacts without permission?”
“This is outrageous. Someone, beat him!”
A woman’s furious voice rang out. Gu Mang recognized her immediately as Bai Rouxia.
“What are you doing? I was the one who told him to sell them cheaper! What’s wrong with that? Our family makes so much money. Sure, our lives are better now, but have you forgotten that we also came from poverty? We aren’t nobles either! Have you forgotten what kind of hard life Father and Mother used to live? I want to do some good deeds. What’s wrong with that? If you think we’re losing money, I’ll pay you back!”
Her apricot-yellow figure lunged toward Lin Yun.
“You’re all rebelling! He’s my husband. I won’t let you beat him!”
The servants looked at one another and hesitantly turned toward Bai’s eldest brother.
“Shopkeeper… this…”
Bai’s eldest brother waved his hand impatiently.
“Beat him.”
“Brother!! Is your blood cold?”
“Miss…”
“Don’t beat him! Big Brother! What’s wrong with making a little less dirty money? You’re trying to curry favor with the Yue family, so you imitate Yue Juntian in everything! You suck up to him in everything! Do you have any conscience of your own left?!”
As her shouts grew increasingly furious, her brother’s voice became colder and colder.
“Bai Rouxia. Remember this clearly. I am the one in charge of this family, not you.”
“…”
“You look down on me for begging Yue Juntian for favors, but what do you know? In Chonghua, you need nobles to back you in everything you do. If we offend the Yue family by changing our prices, we’ll all be finished!”
“So people who can’t afford artifacts deserve to die when their lives run out!” her brother said coldly. “I run an artifact shop, not a charity temple. If you want to save the suffering of the world with your impoverished husband, get out and start your own business.”
“You—!”
“Let’s see whether I’ll let you leave.”
Amid the struggle and chaos, Gu Mang heard Bai Rouxia scream.
Then everything before his eyes became even more blurred. The servants in red crowded together, and by the end, all Gu Mang could see was vast swaths of scarlet blood.
A long time later, Gu Mang finally managed to make out what had happened amid the shouting and chaos.
Bai Rouxia had resisted her elder brother, but during the argument, she had accidentally been shoved and kicked. She had not even known that she was pregnant at the time.
Bright red blood continued to spread through the memory.
Footsteps.
Curses.
Cries of pain…
In the end, only quiet sobbing remained.
People were divided into ranks and classes, and even within those ranks, there were further distinctions.
Although the Bai family’s daughter was already wealthy in the eyes of ordinary commoners, the Bai residence was deep and sprawling, and the Bai family itself had originally come from humble beginnings. Their lives were not nearly as glamorous as Su Qiao and the others imagined. Everyone was bound by circumstances beyond their control.
As for doing something for Liansheng Town, Bai Rouxia had truly done everything she could.
She lay on the bed, anger and resentment toward her brother, as well as the grief and pain of losing her child, all tangled together inside her. The countless emotions made it difficult for her illness to heal, and she remained dazed and lethargic all day.
She refused to see her elder brother. The only person she allowed to remain by her side was her husband, Lin Yun.
“Son-in-law, Miss Su has come to the residence. The Head Shopkeeper is furious and refuses to see anyone, and he ordered her to leave. But Miss Su refuses to go no matter what, so she sent me to ask you to intervene.”
Lin Yun held his wife’s hand. His dry lips moved slightly, and he stared blankly.
“Qiao-mei… she… what does she want?”
“She urgently needs two doses of Solitary Moon Life-Continuing Grass, but the Jiang Alchemist Residence doesn’t sell that herb to commoners. She knows our residence has some, so she wanted to—”
But Lin Yun only heard the words Solitary Moon Life-Continuing Grass. He did not even hear whom it was meant to treat.
He gave a self-mocking, choked laugh.
“I only took some of Big Brother’s most ordinary evil-dispelling artifacts with Rouxia, and Big Brother already rebuked us this severely. Solitary Moon Life-Continuing Grass is one of the most precious medicinal herbs in all of Chonghua. The few doses in our residence were obtained only after Big Brother went to great lengths to beg the Jiang Alchemist for them to make artifacts. In a situation like this, how could I give them to her? How could I?”
The servant hesitated, trying several times to speak, but whenever his eyes fell upon Bai Rouxia, lying unconscious amid the bedding, he ultimately did not dare say everything.
“Tell Qiao-mei to go home,” Lin Yun said. “It’s not that we’re unwilling. We simply… simply have no way to help…”
“…Yes.”
The servant could only bow and withdraw, quietly closing the door.
Seeing this, the words Mo Xi had told him earlier seemed to echo in Gu Mang’s ears again.
—
“The shopkeeper said something happened in her family. Her parents died one after another, and they thought she must have killed herself because she was overwhelmed with grief. Their family originally had a son, but he got married a long time ago, and afterward his contact with them became very limited. Even when his parents fell ill, he never came home to see them…”
Her parents were sick…
Solitary Moon Life-Continuing Grass…
Miss Su…
Gu Mang’s heart suddenly tightened.
This must have been when Lin Yun’s parents had contracted the plague and were in critical condition.
Su Qiao must have come to ask for medicine for her adoptive parents.
If that was the case, then many things made sense.
Perhaps after Su Qiao was refused, resentment took root in her heart. She believed Lin Yun had abandoned his roots after marrying into a wealthy family. Later, when Lin Yun’s parents died one after another, Su Qiao could not bear it. Her hatred twisted her, and she lured the Lin couple to the town under the pretext of seeking medicine for a child, then murdered them in revenge.
But that raised many questions.
For example, Lin Yun and his wife were not truly heartless. They would surely have learned of Lin Yun’s parents’ deaths afterward.
So why had they shown no reaction at all?
How could they even have been in the mood to come seek a child?
And Bai Rouxia’s miscarriage had happened shortly after their wedding. Su Qiao had come to ask for the Solitary Moon Life-Continuing Grass at precisely that time.
If she had failed to obtain the medicine, those two elderly people should have died long ago.
Yet according to the innkeeper, Lin Yun’s parents had only died recently.
How could that be?
And then there was another question.
Su Qiao was an ordinary embroiderer with no spiritual root whatsoever. If she really was the murderer, how had she arranged all these mysteries?
There were still so many questions that did not add up.
Gu Mang knew there had to be some crucial piece missing.
As long as he could uncover it, then…
But at that very moment, the memory he was standing in suddenly shook violently.
Gu Mang froze and looked around. His expression changed.
This was—
The next instant, the colors surrounding him began to collapse and disintegrate.
A mournful, chilling Qiang flute melody suddenly drifted in from outside, instantly shattering the entire memory.
Gu Mang felt as though he had suddenly plunged into a sea being battered by a storm after the rain.
The colors and warmth disappeared.
The memories buried deep within him were like scales beneath the surface of that sea, glittering faintly as they sank.
Not good!
Someone outside was attacking them!
.
“Ah! It’s this flute! This is the person who dug me up and buried me beneath the peach tree! He played this tune under the peach tree several times after reciting the spell! Ahhhhh, I can’t listen to it! Every time I hear it, I remember being framed and murdered! It makes me so angry! I’m going to kill someone! I’m going to kill someone!”
On the Burial Mound, the little wooden man shrieked and spun around in circles, repeatedly yelling:
“I’m going to kill someone!”
“You can’t kill anyone.”
Mo Xi did not even look at it.
In fact, the little wooden man was already beginning to lose control and erupt with resentment. Great clouds of black smoke poured from its mouth.
“I—blegh—! What—blegh—is going on?!”
“Sealwood. No matter how deep your resentment is, if your cultivation isn’t strong enough, all you can do is spit black smoke out of a piece of wood.”
As Mo Xi answered it, he pulled out the last Thunder Protection Talisman from the Qiankun Pouch.
He bit down on the end of the bandage around his hand and loosened it.
His wounds had not healed that quickly. Some of them had even stuck to the gauze with blood and flesh.
But Mo Xi did not care in the slightest.
His expression solemn, he suddenly ripped the gauze away.
“Thunder Barrier, activate!”
The talisman instantly ignited between two fingers, and a wall of light descended around Gu Mang.
“Come up.”
After finishing, he held out his hand to the little wooden man.
The little wooden man was still violently vomiting black smoke.
“Wha—blegh—are you doing?!”
“He can’t be disturbed by other sounds.”
Mo Xi glanced at Gu Mang, whose brows had already drawn together slightly.
“The Thunder Talisman won’t protect him for long. I need to think of something.”
“Then why are you taking me with you?!”
“You think I’m going to let you stay alone with him?”
“…”
The Qiang flute was clearly being played by someone who had sensed their movements and was hiding somewhere in the darkness.
The flute’s melody carried a magic that disrupted the mind, spreading eerily across the entire hill.
The little wooden man sat on Mo Xi’s shoulder.
At first, it merely continued vomiting black smoke.
But before long, its entire body began to tremble, and tiny flames flickered from the wood.
“No… no… this Qiang flute… this Qiang flute… it will…”
It would dredge up the memories people hated most deep within their hearts.
This was no ordinary musical weapon.
The sounds it produced were not merely attacks or healing.
This was a demonic flute.
It had only one voice, yet it seemed to assault them from every direction, making it impossible to tell where the flute player was.
“I can’t take it anymore!”
The little wooden man burst into tears.
Although no tears could actually flow from its wooden face, it screamed itself hoarse, clearly sinking into the hatred and resentment from the moment before its death.
“Why did you kill me?! Why did you use me as the scapegoat?! What did your marital quarrel have to do with me?! Don’t touch me! I hate you… I hate you…”
Mo Xi’s self-control was excellent, so he was able to endure it in silence.
But as the Qiang flute grew increasingly mournful, scenes of unbearable memories also began appearing before his eyes.
His father’s death in battle.
Mo Jianting’s seizure of power.
The half-closed bedroom door.
Mo Jianting’s vicious face.
His mother’s black hair spread across the entire table.
He suddenly dropped to one knee, his battered palm braced against the dead branches and fallen leaves. He formed the Clear-Mind Seal, suppressing the blazing resentment in his chest for the moment.
“This is not a Chonghua spell…”
He slowly raised his eyes.
“It’s a Soul-Seizing Technique from Liao.”
As the descendant of four generations of generals, Mo Xi had a deep, bone-deep hatred for this kind of dark cultivation from the enemy nation.
He gritted his teeth.
“How could there be a demonic cultivator from Liao in Liansheng Town?!”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! I want to tear you all apart! I want to destroy the hypocritical faces of you people! I want you all dead… I won’t accept this! I won’t accept this!”
The entire burial ground and the heavens seemed to spin.
Mo Xi tried several times to summon the Serpent-Transformation Whip, but each time only a wisp of golden-red smoke and ash emerged from his fingertips.
Then the trial ring on his wrist restricted his spiritual flow, accompanied by the faint voice of Elder Qianling, sealed within the trial ring:
Weapon trial. Summoning any high-level family weapon is prohibited.
“…”
Mo Xi cursed under his breath.
Liao’s demonic cultivators had already infiltrated the villages and towns of Chonghua, yet the only weapons available to him were ordinary iron implements and a few low-level spirit talismans!
The Qiang flute sounded like a sob and a lament, spreading throughout the hill.
Its resentment grew increasingly dense, almost becoming a series of invisible chains tightening around Mo Xi’s neck and penetrating deep into his organs.
For a moment, he seemed to hear some familiar, sorrowful battle song amid the rustling vegetation, winding its way through the desolate graves and withered burial mounds—
As winter wanes, yin and yang hasten the shortening days;
At the edge of the world, frost and snow clear beneath the cold night.
At the fifth watch, drums and horns sound mournfully;
Across the Three Gorges, the river of stars trembles in reflection…
His vision grew increasingly blurred.
In a daze, Mo Xi saw a tall, thin figure walking toward him through the flute’s melody.
Silver armor flashed.
His bearing was solemn.
“Xi’er…”
“…Father?”
Within the mist, the man’s face was indistinct.
He slowly approached and extended his palm toward Mo Xi. Behind him rolled thick clouds of pitch-black smoke.
“Good boy. Good boy. Come forward with me.”
The Qiang flute wound around them.
It was so clear, as though the person playing it were sitting right beside them.
Mo Xi closed his eyes.
No.
His father had died in battle long ago.
This was fake.
It was an illusion produced by the demonic flute.
He did not move forward.
He stepped backward instead.
Although every step consumed an enormous amount of mental strength, every step caused him to sink and struggle between reality and chaos…
The face of the man in the mist began to turn vicious.
His eyes became narrow and elongated, yet he still maintained that final trace of false affection.
“Xi’er, why won’t you come over?”
“…”
“Why won’t you—”
The flute suddenly became urgent.
The man’s face twisted in an instant, transforming into a vengeful ghost. He lunged violently toward Mo Xi, his voice shrill as an icicle driven into the ear.
“Obey me anymore?!”
Darkness instantly engulfed Mo Xi.
A cold presence seeped through him like seawater.
“Xi’er, don’t you hate them?”
“They treated you like that. Don’t you want revenge?!”
“Mo Jianting humiliated your mother. He bullied you…”
Each word was like a nightmare.
“He bullied you… Take revenge on him… Hate him… I’ll teach you…”
“Dili—!!!”
In the midst of waking and dreaming, an extremely shrill and thunderously loud musical sound suddenly rang out, as though a blazing fireball radiating dazzling light had smashed through the darkness!
The mist and illusions retreated like stampeding horses, dissolving in an instant.
“Dili—dilili—!”
The music that had broken the demonic spell continued playing at full volume.
Mo Xi gasped and rose from the ground.
Even the little wooden man gradually stopped sobbing and cursing. Sitting dazedly on Mo Xi’s shoulder, it slowly regained its senses.
“This is…”
Mo Xi listened for a moment, his expression becoming somewhat peculiar.
“…A suona.”
That was right.
It was the sound of a suona.
The mournful, sorrowful Qiang flute melody was crushed beneath the suona from the very first instant it sounded.
The suona’s music was like a hooligan who bullied men and women alike, charging recklessly across the Burial Mound and instantly drowning out every other sound.
The flute player initially struggled, apparently trying to push harder.
But it was useless.
After managing only two more notes, the melody was crushed inside the suona’s pipes, and the rest of the tune was dragged all the way to Java.
What had clearly been a mournful battle song was forcibly twisted into a messy, vulgar little tune by the suona, as though someone had grabbed it by the throat.
“Wolong and the Galloping Horse both end beneath the yellow earth; the affairs of men and the sound of letters drift through endless solitude—”
“Little girl, turn your head and look back, your big brother’s affection for you will last forever!”
Mo Xi:
“…”
If the situation had allowed it, this would actually have been pretty funny.
He heard the sound of dry leaves crunching behind him.
He turned around and saw Gu Mang walking out beneath the slanting evening sunlight.
In Gu Mang’s hands was an ancient-looking, long-piped suona, the white silk ribbon tied to its end fluttering wildly in the wind.
His young face was filled with disdain and contempt.
One hand rested on his hip, while one foot was planted on the gravestone of some unfortunate soul.
In the desolate graveyard of withered vines and old trees, he continued blowing note after note from the suona.
“Come into that gauzy tent with me, ah—!”
The sound pierced the clouds and split the sky.
Mo Xi looked at Gu Mang.
Gu Mang noticed his junior brother’s gaze as well.
Senior Brother Gu blinked his beautiful eyes.
The setting sun illuminated his radiant face, tracing his features with a layer of lazy, burnished-gold light.
“Don’t forsake your devoted lover—!”