Chapter 284: Chapter 248: A Blessing in Disguise

The cave was very large, and the furniture and artifacts were more luxurious than those outside, though mismatched in style, as if plundered from various places and casually placed together.

Sang Que walked to the round table in the center, took off the cloth bag she had been carrying, removed the coat soaked with black dog blood and sticking to her skin, and tore a strip of cloth to tie up her messy hair.

Early spring was not warm, but she didn’t feel cold at all, already having lost the body temperature a living person should have.

Sang Que pulled open her clothing to first check her chest; the flesh around the hole had already healed with no trace left.

In addition to killing in the woods, those red threads in the Ghost Realm also sucked the blood of those people, allowing her to recover so quickly.

Sang Que tapped her head, trying to organize what had happened over the past few days, but the images were intermittent, and thinking about it caused a headache.

What worried her most was not returning home on New Year’s Eve. It should be six days by now, and her mom would be worried about her.

Sang Que sat down and concentrated on the palm of her right hand, but the Yansheng coin did not even leave a trace.

Has it completely disappeared, or was there another reason?

At the thought that she might not be able to go back, Sang Que began to panic uncontrollably and became irritable. She took a deep breath telling herself not to rush. Wait until night to hunt some Evil Spirits and replenish the Yansheng coin’s power before checking again.

The Yansheng coin mustn’t have disappeared. This thing has existed a long time—an ancient relic that wouldn’t easily vanish. It’s likely its power was exhausted and needed replenishing.

Looking down, Sang Que saw the embroidered shoes on her feet. She reached to take them off but couldn’t, frowning, using the power of dismemberment, she then took them off smoothly this time without injuring her foot.

She had once been to the Hidden Realm, Sang Que confirmed this.

Putting the embroidered shoes on the table, Sang Que first took everything out of the bag.

The Evil Suppression Bureau’s token was lost, but the official seal and mask were still there.

Dao Bell, ink bucket, Human Bone Dice, copper mirror, half a soul candle, a small jar of Corpse Mud.

A red veil, a phoenix hairpin, two pieces of red nails, a Mandarin Duck Jade Pendant meant to press down skirt corners, likely little things dismembered from the Deceitful Bride by the Yin Child.

A specially made black flint obtained from Wan Xiangtou.

The Copper Coin Armor was still there, worn on the innermost layer, though at that moment all the copper coins were stained with a layer of dark brown blood, losing their original sheen, probably polluted and needed cleansing and reinvigorating.

There’s still an Exorcism Red Candle, Connected Branch, and a vat of Corpse Mud at the modern house.

“Where’s the key?”

Sang Que rummaged through the entire bag but didn’t see the key to open the Opera House, although she could still use it.

She turned the bag completely over and shook it, and a bronze token fell out.

Sang Que froze; she had thoroughly searched the bag just now but hadn’t seen the token. How did it come out?

Reaching to pick up the token, as soon as she grasped it, a flood of memories rushed back, another brain-splitting pain, countless scenes flashed before her eyes.

She remembered it all!

Bam!

Sang Que slammed her fist on the table, which immediately shattered into pieces, scattering everything on the ground.

“Get out of me!”

Sang Que shouted angrily, forcibly separating the Yin Child from her body.

The small Yin Child tumbled out of Sang Que’s body, eyes blood-red, a hollow hole in its chest, the village resentment that should have been in the Yin Child remained inside Sang Que.

As soon as the Yin Child fell out, it immediately stood up, lowered its head, avoiding Sang Que’s gaze.

Before Sang Que could get angry, the Yin Child bent its knees, kneeling directly before Sang Que.

Head lowered, compliant, honest.

Just then, there was a knock on the door from outside.

“Heroine, the hot water and meals you requested are ready.”

Sang Que stared at the Yin Child for a moment, then raised her voice, “Bring it in!”

The door opened, and two bandits carried in a large wooden barrel full of hot water, followed by an older woman holding a stack of clean clothes and a basket of food.

They were about to place them on the table, but seeing it shattered into pieces, they froze, not knowing what to do.

The Yin Child, facing Sang Que, was kneeling before the woman, invisible to her and the two carrying the barrel.

“Put it over there!”

Sang Que pointed to a distant cabinet, the woman quickly walked over and placed a plate of coarse grain buns, a bowl of porridge, and a pile of pickles on the cabinet.

Sang Que glanced at the three people who came in, not seeing their past images, the Ghost Eye ability had vanished. Previously she could use the Ghost Eye and dismemberment ability likely due to the Yin Child possession.

“The chicken stew on the stove will take a while longer, heroine. Please have a bite in the meantime.”

The woman placed the clothes on the bed and quickly left with the other two bandits, not daring to linger. The room was eerily cold, making them uneasy.

Li Ping stood guard outside, and as soon as they exited, he hurriedly shut the door, maintaining silence.

Earlier, he heard Sang Que scolding someone inside, but when he opened the door, there was no one else. The thought that it might be a ghost sent shivers down his spine, leaving him trembling in fear.

Sang Que ignored the Yin Child and went over to grab a steamed bun, biting into it. It didn’t taste good, but she didn’t feel nauseous. She still harbored a normal human hunger and longing for regular food.

Her body was cold and devoid of warmth because her real heart was gone; she was now living with the curse from the village resentment as her heart.

Strictly speaking, she had become like He Buning, turning into a half Evil Person—neither entirely human nor entirely ghost.

Back in Wangshan City, she risked giving her body over to a Yin Child but ended up being betrayed. Not only did she fail to save Yu Da, but her heart was also dug out with hopes to kill her.

The Yin Child thought that stepping into the Ghost Level would allow it to counter the Mountain Ghost Seal’s binding. Cunningly, after possessing her, it first depleted the remaining power of the Yansheng coin before digging out her heart.

Yet, the Yin Child still underestimated the Mountain Ghost Seal. If she were to die, the seal would ensure that the Yin Child would also disintegrate along with her.

Yu Da, coincidentally enraged at the time by the Yin Child, lost his last shred of sanity and went completely berserk. Yu Da, in his ghostly form, swallowed both her and the Yin Child.

The Yin Child, unable to break free, dragged Yu Da’s ghost into the Hidden Realm with it.

They spent five days in the Hidden Realm, during which the Yin Child used the realm’s mist to gradually erode the power of Yu Da’s ghost.

Sang Que previously wondered why hands, eyes, heart, and tongue were four items but possessed five abilities. She assumed that the two eyeballs had different abilities, but in reality, both Ghost Eyes shared the same power.

Both had the ability to perceive causality and see through the true forms of evil ghosts.

The Yin Child had a fifth ability in its hands, one for dismemberment and another for assembly.

Even without the Yin Child, the Evil Suppression Bureau had methods to dismember yin objects from evil ghosts. Otherwise, how would the bureau possess so many yin objects?

However, the ability to create Yin Walkers lay beyond the bureau’s current means. It was said that Shengjing could now manufacture Yin Walkers, but the specifics remained unknown to all.

The Yin Child’s assembly ability allowed it to piece together yin objects on corpses or living beings. As the Yin Child’s power grew, it became possible to piece evil spirits onto living people, artificially creating Yin Walkers.

The real reason the bureau valued the Yin Child was likely due to this assembly ability. It was manifested when the Yin Child reached the Third Layer, dismantling three human corpses and reassembling them into a new form.

This time she was saved by the Yin Child piecing the heart of village resentment into her body. Only she was alive, the Yin Child could survive as well.

Sang Que thought, perhaps He Buning’s earlier fusion with yin fire worked on a similar principle.

Possibly, the yin object that initially fused yin fire onto He Buning was the yin object the Yin Child now possessed. Ordinary humans couldn’t endure the costs of using such yin objects, compelling the bureau’s personnel to fuse them onto the Yin Child instead.

Alternatively, the first yin object the Yin Child fused with was the one possessing assembly abilities, allowing subsequent objects to be assembled onto it smoothly. The more Sang Que pondered, the more plausible her deduction seemed.

Back to the matter at hand, under those conditions, the village resentment’s power was insufficient. The Yin Child handed her the whole Opera House and the Golden Child as well. As long as she could survive, the Yin Child cared little about what she became.

In a twist of fate, she ended up in her current state with the entirety of the village resentment’s power now her own.

She didn’t lose control or go mad due to the substantial support from incense, while the Yin Child had enough strength to do these things because of the abundant Power of Fear.

Clearly, He Buning must have orchestrated something behind the scenes; otherwise, why would people in Jinzhou claim Wangshan City obliterated by the Yin Child?

Now, the Opera House and the Golden Child have formed her own Ghost Realm. The outer layer of this Ghost Realm consists of blood-sucking red threads that entangle people, temporarily transforming corpses into Ghost Slaves.

The center houses the Opera House brimming with ghosts, requiring no more sacrifices for use.

The interval between recovery now spans six hours, free of the tormenting tick-tocks of a countdown.

Additionally, the Undying Curse allows her to rapidly consume blood energy to heal her wounds.

Lastly, the Yin Child, in failing to gain something, ended up losing instead. The Yin Child originally intended to consume both the village resentment and the Golden Child upon reaching the Ghost Level, along with the power of two Ghost Eyes, to entirely suppress her.

Currently, the Yin Child has only reclaimed the two Ghost Eyes, barely reaching Ghost Level. As it tried to possess her, it became more tightly bound to her, allowing her to utilize the abilities of the Yin Child’s Ghost Eyes and dismemberment directly through her body—certainly, assembly too.

Previously, it required orders for the Yin Child to act, and the Yin Child frequently disobeyed orders.

Now, thanks to her part-human, part-ghost body, she possesses the tolerance needed to harness the Yin Child’s powers.

However, her use of the Yin Child’s power isn’t without limits. When she stormed the mountain stronghold, her vision blurred once, and her arms felt an icy stiffness. After careful examination, she discerned what those costs entailed.

Overall, one could say she was blessed in disguise by calamity. Had she recklessly tried to fuse with the village resentment alone, she wouldn’t have dared take the risk until reaching a desperate situation.

But…

Sang Que took a bowl and drank the gruel inside, with just a few grains of rice left. She turned to ask the Yin Child.

“Where’s Yu Da?”

She lacked the memories of this part and had no clue about what happened to Yu Da, who was trapped in the Hidden Realm.

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