Chapter 139
Chapter 139
The monk’s words gave Xia Dong, whose heart had been reduced to ashes, a sudden glimmer of hope.
She shot to her feet.
Staring fixedly at him, she spoke with barely contained, disbelieving excitement.
She seized the wide sleeve of his robe and asked in a trembling voice, “Master…is that true? You can bring my daughter back to life and let her stay by my side forever?”
The monk smiled and nodded.
“A monk does not lie. Benefactor Xia Dong, since I said I have a way to resurrect your daughter, then I certainly do.”
“Tell me, Master! What must I do? No matter how much it costs or what sacrifice I have to make, I’m willing.”
Like a drowning woman grasping a straw, Xia Dong was frantic and desperate.
The monk smiled.
“It won’t cost any money. In fact, you won’t need to sacrifice anything. The method is very simple.”
He told Xia Dong to wait until night, then take her daughter’s body away while no one was watching. All she had to do was bury it in a depression on the mountain behind Xia Family Hamlet.
However, she must bury the body facedown with its back pointing upward, using a Face-Down Burial. This was a peculiar spell that could return the dead to life.
Ideally, she should also catch several frogs and snakes, kill them, and drip their blood around the corpse.
Then she needed only wait patiently.
After hearing the monk’s instructions, Xia Dong immediately decided to try.
At the time, she would have done anything if it meant resurrecting her daughter.
The monk added that she should wait until the dead of night and do everything alone.
Otherwise, the people around her would certainly object.
Before Xia Dong could ask more questions, he turned and left.
By that night, everyone was utterly exhausted.
The village officials and neighbors who had come to help had gone home to sleep, while several relatives stayed on the second and third floors.
Only Xia Degui and Xia Dong remained in the main room.
While her husband dozed, she lifted their daughter’s body from the coffin and ran out of the house.
Perhaps Xia Dong’s overwhelming obsession unlocked strength she never knew she possessed.
She was a frail, middle-aged woman, yet she carried her daughter’s body–dozens of pounds of dead weight–out of the village at night, rowed across a river, climbed a mountain, dug a grave, and buried the corpse.
Along the way, she even caught frogs and snakes.
Even a strong young man would have struggled to accomplish all that.
But a mother obsessed with her daughter managed it.
No magic was involved. Her strength came from maternal love. Granted, Xia Dong’s love had become slightly twisted and irrational, and it had caused grave consequences.
Yet it still came from a mother’s love for her daughter.
At dawn, Xia Degui and the villagers, who had been searching everywhere, found Xia Dong beside Xia Mi’s earthen grave.
I already knew everything that happened afterward.
When Xia Dong finished her story, she wiped away more tears.
Her emotions had steadied considerably.
With guilt and self-reproach, she said, “It was all my fault. It really was. All I could think about was bringing my daughter back… I never imagined I would harm her, deny her peace after death, let an evil being occupy her body, and cause the death of Fifth Elder Xia.”
“That monk was evil! He was a wicked man. He lied to me.”
Clearly, she had now recovered somewhat from the crushing grief of losing her daughter.
Dispelling her obsessive inner demon and the yin energy infecting her had undoubtedly helped.
Her story seemed to reveal the truth, yet it created even more mysteries.
Who exactly was that strange monk?
Why had such a mysterious rogue occultist, clearly a man of considerable cultivation, come to Xia Family Hamlet?
What did he hope to accomplish by deceiving Xia Dong into creating a vicious entity?
Surely he hadn’t harmed these people merely for entertainment or because he wanted to destroy a village.
The truth behind the vicious entity haunting Xia Family Hamlet had been uncovered, yet remained incomplete.
While I pondered the mystery, Xia Degui spoke in a peculiar tone.
“Honey, according to your story, that evil monk came on the afternoon I returned home. He entered the house and said all those things to you beside our daughter’s coffin?”
“Yes. That’s right. I remember it clearly,” Xia Dong replied.
“But…no monk came to our house that day! If one had, how could I not know?”
Xia Degui looked astonished.
Beside him, Xia Sanjin nodded in agreement.
“He’s right, Sister-in-law Xia Dong! I spent the entire day at your house too, remember? You were leaning against the coffin, drifting in and out of consciousness. No monk in gray ever entered. If one had, so many people would have seen him!”
Now Xia Dong was confused as well.
A strange expression crossed her face, and she murmured, “That can’t be. What happened? But now that you mention it… No wonder no one around me paid any attention to the monk. Even when I spoke to him, nobody looked our way. The ritual master performing the funeral rites didn’t greet him either.”
At the time, Xia Dong had probably cared about nothing except resurrecting her daughter.
Now that she had finally regained her senses, she realized how many details about the monk’s arrival had been strange.
Xia Degui frowned. “Honey, could you have dreamed it?”
Before Xia Dong could answer, I shook my head.
“It couldn’t have been a dream. An evil feng shui site combined with a Face-Down Burial and the blood of frogs and snakes to intensify sinister yin energy–that is an extremely rare and unorthodox technique. Only someone widely experienced and highly cultivated would know it.”
“Ordinary dreams can’t contain knowledge beyond the dreamer’s own experience. No coincidence could allow Aunt Xia Dong to dream up so many complicated techniques of the esoteric arts.”
“That wicked monk must truly exist. Aunt Xia Dong must have met him and been deceived by him. The question is, when did they actually speak?”
I frowned, rubbed my chin, and struggled to find an answer.
Xia Sanjin and Xia Degui had both been present and insisted no monk entered the house during that period.
Did that mean only Xia Dong could see him?
“What an incredible technique! Who is that monk? He doesn’t seem simple at all. If I ever faced him, I doubt I could win.”
I mulled it over.
But there was far too little information. Even his appearance came solely from Xia Dong’s description, which might not reflect his true form.
In the end, I could only stop thinking about it.
After all, speculation was useless. At least the matter of Xia Mi’s body transforming into a vicious entity had been resolved.
My task was complete. It was time to hurry home.
I had wanted to spend the National Day holiday with my parents and Master.
I bade everyone farewell, took my payment, and left Xia Family Hamlet.
Crossing mountains and ridges, I headed back toward Wujia Village.
Once I reached the village, I naturally visited Master’s house first.
Xia Family Hamlet lay in the same direction from the far end of our village, so her home was on my way.
“Master, I’m back! I lived up to your expectations and completed the task you gave me!”
I called happily as I entered her courtyard.
The prospect of boasting about my achievements to Master filled me with smug delight.
More importantly, my success would surely make her happy.
She would smile, wouldn’t she?
Master rarely smiled, but when she did, she was so beautiful that the entire world seemed to lose its color before her.
Whoosh!
The door suddenly opened, and Master’s voice came from inside.
“Enough bragging. Come in and tell me what happened.”
Laughing, I hurried through the courtyard, now filled with flowers and plants, and entered the house.
Master wore a graceful, old-fashioned dress and sat drinking tea at the table.
A freshly poured cup waited across from her, clearly prepared for me.
“Thank you, Master!”
Without any ceremony, I lifted the cup, drained it, and sat down. Then I began recounting everything that had happened in Xia Family Hamlet.
I spared no detail.
It took more than an hour to finish the story.
She listened quietly, saying little throughout and asking only a few casual questions about certain details.
“Master, what was going on with that evil monk? Xia Dong’s story completely contradicts what Xia Degui and the others said, but both versions felt true. None of them could or would have lied.”
“The only explanation I can think of is that Xia Dong alone could see the monk. But even then, wouldn’t the others have found it strange to see her talking to empty air?”
I voiced the question that had been tormenting me.
To my surprise, Master gave a soft, cold laugh.
“It seems the area around Lianghe Town has grown increasingly unsettled in recent years. Now even such sinister things as a Soul-Transfer Illusion and a malignant corpse spirit have appeared.”
What?!
Surprise and delight filled me.
She had named both phenomena immediately, so she must know what had happened.
I grabbed the hem of her dress, shook it, and pleaded pitifully, “Master, my wonderful Master… Hurry and tell me what happened. Curiosity is clawing at my heart like a cat!”
“Why is a boy acting spoiled? Behave yourself. Sit properly, and stop trying to sweet-talk me.”
Master lightly smacked my head again.
I immediately sat straight and put on my most obedient, attentive expression.
Then Master explained.
“There is an unorthodox technique called a Soul-Transfer Illusion. It creates, from a distance, an illusory environment almost identical to reality. The caster and a chosen target can then project their consciousness into it and communicate.”
“Xia Degui’s account is true. Xia Dong was indeed leaning against the coffin, sometimes awake and sometimes unconscious. But the unknown evil monk used a Soul-Transfer Illusion to reproduce the main room where the body lay, then drew her consciousness into the illusion to speak with her.”
“In the real world, Xia Degui and the others saw Xia Dong sleeping against the coffin. Xia Dong herself believed she was awake.”