Chapter 219
Chapter 219
Clearly, Tafeng Village had fallen completely under their control a long time ago.
Not only was there a Qilin Temple on the mountain and an underground palace beneath the village, but the entirety of Tafeng Village was also enclosed within a massive Formation.
I couldn’t help wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t come to Tafeng Village today, after Liu Junyan successfully completed the yin rubbing.
Even if his soul only left his body temporarily, and even if Liu Junyan’s Fate Pattern was powerful enough to withstand this Calamity, the outer defenses would inevitably fall during the time his soul was away from his body.
Feng Lishu wasn’t fighting alone. The entire Phoenix Clan stood behind her.
Even now, Liu Junyan and Hui Moqiong had to be leading their people in an attempt to break through the outer defenses.
I swept my gaze around the underground palace. Enclosed by layer upon layer of Formations, it was as impenetrable as an iron fortress. It would take them an enormous amount of time to force their way inside.
On top of that, someone had to protect my physical body, as well as Du Chan and Jiang Bin.
Feng Lishu had said it herself — she had spent years preparing for this day.
She hadn’t expected it to arrive so suddenly, either. But now that it had, she had no reason to let me leave again.
The flames flickered, dimming and brightening once more.
A Yin Wind swept through the chamber, and the Taiji Diagram beneath my feet began to turn.
As the Taiji Diagram rotated, the entire Eight Trigrams Formation turned with it.
Everything around me seemed to dissolve into hazy afterimages. I could only feel my Souls being swept along by the Formation, as though they were about to be twisted out of shape.
It had begun.
Feng Lishu had always wanted to take my physical body, and now the Body-Seizure Formation had been activated.
I tried to move, but I couldn’t budge so much as half a step.
Once the Formation’s rotation stabilized, I could already foresee what would happen. The two Yin-Yang Fish within the Taiji Diagram would exchange positions, and at the same time, Feng Lishu’s soul and mine would be swapped.
She was using the Taiji Eight Trigrams Formation to accomplish Body Possession.
I had to admit, it was an exceptionally ingenious method of Body Possession.
Right now, I possessed only a single wisp of Souls and had no means whatsoever to defend myself. Even my Lifebound Artifact had been sealed outside the underground palace.
Feng Lishu knew me far too well. Every technique and move I possessed was within her grasp.
After all, hadn’t she once held even my life and death in her hands?
The Symbiotic Curse had originally been created to help her control me!
Amid the shifting afterimages, I heard Feng Lishu laugh with the confidence of someone who had already won.
“Don’t worry, Linu. I won’t let you die right away. I’ll give you plenty of time to slowly savor the pain of the backlash you inflicted upon me.”
“It’s close. So very close. The moment I awaken inside your physical body, the Symbiotic Curse will disappear on its own. Everything you have will become mine. Tell me — do you think your Brother Yan and your Brother Yulin… will be able to tell that someone else is wearing your skin?”
“Are you afraid, Linu? Do you regret it?!”
I let out a quiet laugh. “Now that it’s come to this, do you really believe there are no variables left?”
The moment I spoke, Feng Lishu froze.
But a second later, she laughed even more wildly. “Variables? Do you still think someone will come to save you? Prick up your ears and listen carefully, Linu. Tell me — what do you hear?”
I heard the muffled rumble of thunder, as though it were directly above our heads.
Was that the heavenly thunder heralding the Calamity?
Feng Lishu said, “The Qilin Formation should be activating soon as well. Watch closely, Linu. Take a good look at the grand gift I’ve prepared for you.”
In an instant, everything around me seemed to become unreal. My gaze pierced through layer upon layer of earth, and I found myself looking upon Tafeng Village.
The first thing I saw was the rear mountain. Once again, villagers filled the ground before the entrance to the Qilin Temple, kneeling in rows.
But this time was different.
Everyone kneeling in those bizarre postures before the Qilin Temple was either a man or a child from the village.
I looked farther into the temple, and my heart jolted.
The Qilin Statue bearing a hundred children had cracked again.
This time, it had split wide open. Black energy poured endlessly from the fissures. Even the hundred children on the qilin’s back had been decapitated, black energy spraying from the severed stumps of their necks.
All the black energy surged out of Qilin Temple and rushed straight toward the Jiang Family home in Tafeng Village.
Meanwhile, every woman in the village had gathered at the Jiang Family home, their bellies swollen with pregnancy.
Mom lay on the bed, her belly enormous. She looked as though she could give birth at any moment.
The pregnant women had all crammed into the delivery room. Among them, I spotted Grandma.
Sure enough, her belly was swollen too.
But aside from Mom, black energy was pouring from every pregnant woman’s stomach.
The black energy first came from Qilin Temple and burrowed into their bellies. Then it streamed endlessly from them into Mom’s womb.
One by one, the women’s swollen stomachs gradually deflated.
It wasn’t just their bellies. Eventually, their entire bodies seemed to have been drained of all blood and vital essence, leaving them as nothing but skin and bones. Yet they remained standing rigidly in place, completely motionless.
Mom lay on her back, both hands clutching her massive belly as her legs thrashed against the bed. Blood kept spilling out from beneath her.
She was clearly going into labor.
She had only been pregnant for a few days. There was something truly sinister about this child.
But after seeing this, I finally understood everything.
The other pregnant women in Tafeng Village hadn’t been carrying fetuses at all. Their wombs had been filled with malignant yin energy. Only Mom was carrying a real child.
Ten months of pregnancy… No, as usual, the birth could come early or late…
But one way or another, when the time was ripe, the Jiang Family would welcome a boy named Jiang Bin.
If Jiang Bin’s Souls had already been successfully lured into Mom’s womb, then the infant before me would have become a vessel.
A monstrous fetus bearing the accumulated resentment of a hundred children!
But whoever was behind this had calculated everything except one thing: Jiang Bin had a father who was a master of Occult Embroidery.
Jiang Sique had performed yin rubbing several times, forcibly keeping Jiang Bin’s Souls inside Jiang Bin’s body.
Jiang Bin’s Souls had never left his body and entered Tafeng Village, which meant the baby in Mom’s womb had no soul.
Even if it was successfully born, it would be nothing more than a puppet saturated with malignant yin energy.
But… the baby wasn’t the important part. The real question was why they had released the resentment of the infants that had been suppressed in Qilin Temple for so long.
What were they planning to do with all that resentment?
And was the rolling heavenly thunder coming for me, or for that resentment?
Mom’s heart-rending screams and pleas for help filled the room. Beads of sweat mixed with tears and streamed from the corners of her eyes.
She screamed, “I don’t want to give birth! I’m never doing this again…”
This continued for more than a minute before Mom’s body suddenly convulsed. The blood beneath her gushed faster and faster, surging out like floodwaters through a broken dam.
Then, accompanied by a piercing newborn wail, a baby with blue-black skin emerged from between Mom’s legs.
Vengeful spirits formed from congealed black energy clung all over the infant’s body. Packed tightly together, they looked as though they had grown directly out of its flesh.
The baby dropped onto all fours, carrying the vengeful spirits on its back. Then, like a wild beast, it raced toward the mountain behind the village…