Chapter 313
Chapter 313
The monster’s origin had become clear.
It was Xiuzhu filled with resentment, and it was also the resentful spirit.
Its terrifying, indescribable form existed precisely because Xiuzhu constituted part of it.
The monster did not truly exist. Xiuzhu’s childhood imagination had created its appearance.
During Xiuzhu’s brief life, her warmest days were probably those when the Seventh Concubine was still alive. But she had been too young then to understand the people and events of the world.
After the Seventh Concubine died, Xiuzhu spent every day being beaten and scolded. When she became old enough to perceive the world and its people, all she sensed was malice.
That malice gave the monster its form.
What the monster reflected was the ugliest side of the human heart.
“Only one person survived the Luo Mansion tragedy: the Ninth Concubine.”
I continued, “Why did the monster spare the Ninth Concubine after seeing her? Because Xiuzhu still retained her true nature, thanks to her young age.”
“Children display every happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy on their faces. That is the innocent side of a child. The resentful spirit could not control her completely, and her true nature continued to govern her thoughts.”
“She knew that only the Ninth Concubine had treated her kindly, so she refused to harm her.”
“She warned Seventh Master and me repeatedly because she liked us and didn’t want us to be hurt.”
After learning the truth, I looked at the monster again. Its appearance had not changed, yet somehow it no longer seemed quite so terrifying.
Both Xiuzhu and the resentful spirit were victims worthy of pity.
No one had ever treated them kindly. Even the form they created embodied the world’s greatest evil.
When I finished, Seventh Master and the others sighed with sorrow.
Just as Song Xiaotian’s great-grandfather, Daoist Song, had said, this monster was a chain of cause and effect created by human hands. To resolve it, we had to trace and resolve that cause.
But how?
The only way was for Xiuzhu and the resentful spirit to release the grievances and hatred of their past.
Yet the most unfair demand in the world was telling victims to step back and let the matter go.
Persuading a resentful spirit and the Xiuzhu influenced by that spirit to relinquish their hatred was nearly impossible.
“Humanity has already destroyed the power that could suppress it.”
Seventh Master sighed. “Had the Thunder Ancestor Temple not been destroyed, it would have reincarnated by now. But the temple was demolished once, and then businessmen seeking profit tore down this place a second time. Nothing remains to suppress it, so it will inevitably harm the people for miles around.”
“I know eliminating it is unreasonable and unfair, but we have no choice. We must destroy it, or it will harm even more people.”
Seventh Master raised his right hand, preparing to activate the Black Talisman.
I quickly stopped him. “If eliminating it is unreasonable and unfair, why must we do something both unreasonable and unfair?”
Seventh Master frowned at me. “Don’t tell me you’re going to act recklessly at a time like this!”
I did not answer. I walked straight toward the monster.
Everyone gasped in fright.
“Chen Mo!”
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t go near it!”
Seventh Master hurriedly grabbed me.
I shook him off and walked toward the monster without looking back.
“We never endured its suffering, yet we want to persuade it to relinquish its hatred. If it refuses, we’ll destroy it.”
“Even if that’s what we must do, I should at least stand beside it. At the very least, I should sacrifice myself before talking about sacrificing it.”
The instant I reached out to touch the monster, black energy wrapped around my right hand.
Before long, the energy engulfed my entire body. My skin turned blue-purple at a visible speed, while black lines spread across it, making me horrifying too.
This was ghostification. A person whose soul was being consumed by a Vengeful Ghost, or whose body had been possessed by one, would ordinarily display this phenomenon. Given enough time, that person would become a ghost.
I turned and looked at Seventh Master and the others.
They were dumbfounded and retreated several steps, staring at me in terror.
“What are you afraid of?”
I shook my head. “I’m Chen Mo, the same Chen Mo you know. Even if I become a ghost, I won’t harm you. So why should you fear me merely because I’ve become one?”
I turned back to the monster and spoke calmly. “This world isn’t simply black and white, so I don’t fear you either. Part of you is Xiuzhu, and I know Xiuzhu won’t hurt me.”
“As for you, I don’t know who you are. But I know you must have endured inhuman torture and pain.”
“Life follows death, and death begins life. If death merely returns us to the place before birth, then life and death are only one journey. Why remain fixated on ‘life’ and ‘death’? And if we no longer cling to life or death, why cling to the love, hatred, attachments, and grudges within a lifetime?”
“If this journey contains only hatred, why not leave it early and begin the next? Perhaps the next journey will contain better people and better things. If you’re willing, I can go with you.”
I looked at the monster and enunciated every word. “I told you I wouldn’t abandon you. I didn’t lie.”
When those heartfelt words left my mouth, the monster suddenly changed.
Half its body disappeared, and the vanished portion became Xiuzhu.
Xiuzhu stared blankly at me, crystalline tears hanging on her cheeks.
Half of my body gradually returned to normal as well.
I took Xiuzhu’s hand and looked at the other half of the monster. “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t abandon you either, as long as you’re willing.”
When I finished, the monster vanished completely. A beautiful young woman dressed in Republican-era clothing stood before us.
She stared blankly at me and extended one hand halfway, but did not dare reach any farther.
Perhaps she had once reached out like this before, only for that attempt to condemn her beyond redemption.
I smiled faintly and reached out to take her hand myself.
Holding her hand and Xiuzhu’s, I walked toward the hotel’s upper floor.
Behind us, Seventh Master and the others followed from a distance, frightened and worried.
“Chen Mo, this is too dangerous!”
“Do you have a death wish?”