As they spoke, the ground suddenly trembled lightly.
The eldest child’s smile vanished. “It’s starting.”
The five kids immediately guarded the corners of the room, warily watching the growing commotion outside.
Chu Zhou stared out, seeing the once bright sky now covered by thick dark clouds. The village was gloomy, and even the red silk decorations couldn’t mask the heavy twilight.
The festive villagers suddenly froze in shock.
The Spirit Woman staggered out of the Ling Hall, shouting, “The Holy Child is fake! The Ling Spirit is enraged!”
The Village Chief rushed forward to support her and questioned sternly.
The Spirit Woman quickly recounted what had happened inside the Ling Hall: after the Holy Child was led inside, she began the ritual to summon the Ling Spirit. But the spirit, once called forth, was attacked by the Holy Child.
She shouted angrily, “That’s not the Holy Child! It’s Zhuang Meng! She has turned into a demon!”
The Village Chief’s hands trembled as he glared toward the small two-story house where Chu Zhou lived. “Daring to anger the Ling Spirit! Zhuang Zhou must still be inside. We must find them and calm the spirit’s wrath.”
He raised his hand, signaling for others to follow.
The frenzied villagers surged after the chief, forming a massive group as they marched toward Chu Zhou’s home.
The five children bared their sharp teeth and let out low growls, watching the advancing crowd warily.
Zhang Ren quickly locked all doors and windows, looking to Xie Qi. “What now?”
Xie Qi fingered his Fozhu beads, waiting until the crowd reached the door before moving. He circled along the walls, making several of the little radishes shrink back, struggling to stand firm.
Xie Qi untied the bead string and took out four Fozhu, placing one in each corner.
The radishes groaned in discomfort. Xie Qi glanced at them indifferently and pointed toward Chu Zhou. “No need to guard here anymore. You all go over there.”
The radishes hesitated.
Seeing this, Chu Zhou quickly beckoned them over. The little radishes happily ran off.
The villagers gathered at the door, and the Village Chief shoved hard but couldn’t open it. He shouted, “Chu Zhou, you and your mother have angered the Ling Spirit. Do you want the whole village to perish with you?”
No one answered from inside.
Several little radishes showed their sharp teeth in anger. If not for Chu Zhou, they might have already charged out.
Seeing no response, the villagers grew furious and began pounding on the door. The tremors intensified, and distant roars could be heard.
The furious villagers returned for sickles and hoes and resumed battering the door.
The Fozhu at the corners glowed faintly, holding the fragile door steady.
Chu Zhou bit back his anger but couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Even if you send me out today, who will you offer next time? There are no more young people in the village, no newborns. After this, who will calm the Ling Spirit’s fury?”
The villagers banged on the door with reddened eyes, ignoring his question.
Qu Yanning stood beside Xie Qi, eyes fixed on the wooden door as thick black energy seeped through the cracks. He quietly asked Xie Qi, “Are these villagers really human or ghosts?”
Xie Qi tilted his face, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “Of course, they’re human.” If they were ghosts, they wouldn’t have waited this long.
Sometimes, madmen are scarier than demons.
The tremors came in waves. Outside, the roars grew louder, but the villagers kept hammering relentlessly.
Time passed bit by bit. Eventually, the tremors subsided, and the cloud-covered sky cleared.
The villagers outside screamed in terror and then scattered like birds and beasts.
The radishes cheered and rushed to open the door, jumping onto the newcomers.
Zhuang Meng, dressed in red and bleeding, stroked their heads gently. “It’s over.”
Chu Zhou stepped forward. “Mom.”
She tried to stroke his head but realized her sharp nails wouldn’t retract. She looked at Chu Zhou with gentle eyes and said, “It’s over.”
Chu Zhou held her hand. “What about you? Are you hurt?”
Zhuang Meng smiled faintly but couldn’t hide her sharp nails. She wanted to pull them back, but her battle had drained her strength. The claws remained pointed and stiff, signaling her difference.
Chu Zhou supported her to sit by the table and poured a cup of hot water. Hesitating, he moved it away. “I don’t know if you can drink this.”
Zhuang Meng shook her head and took a sip. Her dry throat eased a little.
Chu Zhou sat silently opposite her. “When did you become like this?”
Zhuang Meng’s expression was hazy, as if recalling a distant memory. “After I gave birth to you and woke up again, I was like this.”
Two or three years before, shortly after she became pregnant with Chu Zhou, his father died unexpectedly.
The villagers considered her unlucky and gradually cut off contact. With no elder relatives, she endured the hardest months alone.
Later, during a painful midnight delivery, she bit her lip and went to the village Spirit Woman. The woman lived at the village’s edge, while she lived at the head.
Halfway there, her pain was unbearable. She delivered the child in secret along the way and lost consciousness.
When she awoke, she found herself changed, unlike anyone else.
Fortunately, the villagers had little contact with her.
She raised her child carefully at home, hiding her differences.
Zhuang Meng said softly, “Later, you probably also learned the villagers wanted to offer Zhou Zhou to the Ling Spirit. At the time, I had no power and could only secretly send him away. But I never thought after all these years, they still wouldn’t let us be.”
“If that’s the case, the fishnet is broken.”
Chu Zhou stepped forward and gently embraced her, patting her back. He suddenly remembered how every winter, Zhuang Meng’s body grew cold and her hands would rot, but she told him it was frostbite.
Now he realized her body had been decaying all along.
Holding the cold body tightly, Chu Zhou whispered, “I’m sorry.” For all these years leaving you here alone.
Zhuang Meng patted his hand and smiled. “What’s there to be sorry for? I raised you. I can do anything.” She gestured toward the radishes beside her. “These are children I found by accident when you were little. You even played with them before.”
The village’s newborns had become fewer and fewer, and most that were born were rotten infants.
These children had been abandoned by the villagers, just like Zhuang Meng— they had died and come back to life.
The radishes stepped forward and hugged Chu Zhou’s legs, their height barely above his knees, shyly calling him brother.
Chu Zhou smiled and patted their heads. “What do we do next?”
The Ling Spirit had vanished, but the village’s problems were far from over.
Zhang Ren said, “The people who were coming to support us are still outside. What about these villagers…?”
Xie Qi said, “Living matters should be handled by the living.”
The villagers no longer posed a threat.
After some discussion, they decided to wait for the police to come and handle the situation once they left.
The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Ren prepared to leave the village and descend the mountain.
Qu Yanning and the others stayed behind, waiting for the police to finish before heading down together.
Zhuang Meng stayed in the village with several children, planning to hide when the police arrived.
Chu Zhou wanted to take them all back to Shen City, but Zhuang Meng insisted otherwise.
No one could persuade the other, and finally Xie Qi said that the whole village had already formed a Yin Gathering Pool.
It was unsuitable for living, but the best place for Zhuang Meng and the others to cultivate.
Forcibly removing them would hinder their cultivation.
Chu Zhou reluctantly accepted this.
After saying farewell to them at the village entrance, Zhang Ren walked out.
Crossing the narrow mountain valley, the veterans waiting outside were immediately energized when they saw him emerge.
Zhang Ren waved them off without saying much, and the group quickly descended the mountain.
Zhang Ren’s family had some connections upstairs, so there was no need to go through complicated procedures.
The local Police Bureau directly dispatched Armed Police into Wind Household Village.
Early on the third day, fully armed Armed Police arrived and tightly sealed off the village.
Zhuang Meng had already hidden several radishes.
The police split into small teams—one to search the villagers, another to investigate the Ling Hall.
With the Ling Spirit gone, the villagers looked despondent. When they came out of their homes, many looked pale and aged beyond their years, spirits drained.
Several wrapped tightly in cloth were also found.
These villagers were covered with large and small toxic sores.
The police didn’t know if these were contagious, so they isolated them first.
Another team searching the Ling Hall discovered a hidden passage behind it.
Following the passage, they found a deep cave.
The cave reeked of filth.
Police wore gas masks to enter and discovered countless bones of all sizes piled inside.