Chapter 50: She Is Still a Rural Woman at Heart

At night, snow began to drift from the sky, and the cold wind whistled past. Zhang Cheng relied on his magic power to protect his body, so he didn't feel much, only seeing the snow accumulated on the tree leaves being blown off by the strong wind.

The heavy snow did not stop as time passed, it only changed from goose-feather flakes to a sparse scattering, and Zhang Cheng, hiding in the tree, also had quite a bit of snow on him.

He was like a snowman, waiting until the Hour of the Rat.

He clearly saw a patch of fog appear in front of the Earth Temple, and immediately after, a human figure appeared at the entrance of the Earth Temple. She waved her hand, and the temple door opened inward by itself.

Following that, the woman picked up a shoe and began to knock on the threshold, chanting in her mouth, "The lingering winter is near, the New Year is approaching," her voice mournful and miserable, like a cuckoo crying blood.

The next second, a young, handsome Lingyunzi with long, flowing hair ran out holding a peach-wood sword, shouting, "Bold evil creature, surrender at once!"

Alin Sao ignored Lingyunzi and continued to pat the threshold. Lingyunzi was furious and took out a Ghost-Repelling Talisman, striking it onto Alin Sao.

Alin Sao let out a miserable scream. She looked up at Lingyunzi, puzzled, and said, "Daoist, why did you hit me? I did nothing wrong! I donated a threshold to the Earth Temple, and the temple keeper said my sins had been cleansed. Why did the Master and Mistress still drive me away? Wuwuwu..."

With Alin Sao's weeping, the wind and snow outside grew even heavier.

Lingyunzi's expression changed, and he was secretly surprised. Fortunately, this ghost's temperament was not bad; if she were evil-minded, he feared Nanchang would be flowing with blood. It was just right to seize the opportunity to subdue her.

Just as Lingyunzi was about to act, a sound of breaking air came from behind. Fortunately, he reacted in time and dodged the sneak attack from behind, only to see a female ghost in red appearing before his eyes.

Lingyunzi was furious and shouted, "What kind of petty thief dares to sneak attack your Daoist master from behind? Come out and die at once!"

Having said that, he immediately took out an Eight-Trigrams Mirror and shone it directly at the vengeful ghost. The ghost began to steam, crossing her hands to protect her face, and retreated while screaming.

A woman in a qipao walked out from the darkness and collected the female ghost, giggling, "Daoist, how very impressive, this little woman admires you."

Lingyunzi frowned and said, "Heretical paths, and you dare to show off before your Daoist master? Die!"

The woman seemed to be frightened out of her wits, covering her chest, and with a delicate cry, she fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the woman's affectation could not attract Lingyunzi at all; he went straight for the kill.

The woman was secretly annoyed that Lingyunzi did not appreciate the mood, threw a smoke bomb, and vanished instantly. When she reappeared, she was already wearing a ninja outfit.

Lingyunzi said in surprise, "Wokou? The Nine Chrysanthemum Sect!"

"It is the Nine Chrysanthemum School! This vengeful ghost, I, Mori Mariko, want her!" After saying this, she immediately cast spells to fight Lingyunzi.

Both of their actions were seen by Zhang Cheng. Seeing that no one else appeared in the Earth Temple, he immediately approached the Earth Temple.

While Lingyunzi and Mori Mariko were fighting, Alin Sao was there patting the threshold again, muttering, "I am truly stupid, really, sigh, I am truly stupid..."

Zhang Cheng walked to Alin Sao's side and heard the things Alin Sao was rambling about.

"They always mocked me, asking why I didn't just bump my head and die. I wanted to, but no matter how much strength I had, I couldn't beat a man's strength, and they were still there mocking me.

I originally wanted to die, but later I became pregnant with A-Mao, and I couldn't die anymore. A-Mao is a good child.

I only knew that when it snows, wild beasts in the deep mountains have nothing to eat and will come to the village; I didn't know they would come in the spring too.

I got up early in the morning and opened the door, took a small basket of beans, and told our A-Mao to sit on the threshold and shell the beans. He is a very obedient child; he listens to every word I say; so he went out. I was behind the house chopping wood and washing rice; the rice was in the pot, and I intended to steam the beans.

I called, 'A-Mao!' There was no answer. I went out to look and only saw beans scattered all over the ground; our A-Mao was gone.

I asked everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found.

I was anxious and begged people to go look for him. It wasn't until the afternoon that a few people found him in a mountain hollow,

and saw one of his little shoes hanging on a thorn bush.

Everyone said, 'It's over, I'm afraid he was taken by a wolf.' They went in further; sure enough, he was lying in the grass, his internal organs already eaten empty. Poor thing, he was still tightly clutching that little basket in his hand... The threshold, oh the threshold, the damned threshold, wuwuwu..."

"Wuwuwu..."

The wind blew even more urgently.

Alin Sao was a very pitiful person. She came from a small local village and was not from Nanchang. Her life was very arduous and bumpy. In her early years, she married a husband ten years younger than her, and she had a mother-in-law and a brother-in-law; the family made a living by chopping wood.

One spring, her husband unfortunately passed away. To escape the fate of being sold, Xianglin Sao came to Nanchang City alone and, under the introduction of Old Woman Sun, worked as a maid in the home of Master Xu.

Although Alin Sao was a widow, she was decent in appearance, her hands and feet were strong, and she often kept her eyes lowered; she was a law-abiding and hardworking person.

During her trial period, she worked diligently and energetically, and soon became a formal maid in Master Xu's household.

Days passed one by one, but Alin Sao's work did not slacken in the slightest. By the end of the year, she handled the preparations for the sacrificial offerings all by herself.

But not long after the New Year, her mother-in-law suddenly arrived at the Xu house and forcibly took Alin Sao away.

Her mother-in-law, in order to raise the bride price for her brother-in-law's wedding, forcibly married Alin Sao off into the mountains. Moreover, she took all of Xianglin Sao's wages and didn't leave a single cent for Alin Sao.

Under the pressure of the crowd, Alin Sao struggled and bumped her head, wanting to commit suicide, but she was saved, leaving behind a scar. In the end, she was married to her second husband, He Lao'er.

At the end of the year, Alin Sao's son was born, and the family's life was peaceful for a while. Not long after, her husband died of a cold, and then her son died miserably in the mouth of a wolf.

To make a living, Alin Sao came to the Xu house once again and resumed working at Master Xu's home.

But this time, Alin Sao was not only less agile than before, but her memory had also become much worse, and her face was like a corpse, without a trace of a smile.

She told everyone she met about her son's death and her own tragic encounters. At first, the villagers came over specifically to listen to Alin Sao's tragic story, but gradually they were disgusted by the people in the village.

Later, Alin Sao believed the superstitious words of Liu Ma and went to the temple to donate a threshold, attempting to wash away the sins on her body.

Master Xu believed that Xianglin Sao's conduct corrupted the customs, so from then on, he no longer let her handle the sacrificial rites.

After this, Alin Sao's situation went from bad to worse, and she was finally driven out of the Xu house, eventually falling to the streets and becoming a beggar.

One winter, just when every household was busy with the "Blessing" ceremony, Alin Sao froze to death at the entrance of the Earth Temple.

Zhang Cheng sighed and said, "Alin Sao, your child A-Mao has long since been reincarnated. You should go too."

Hearing the name A-Mao, Alin Sao stopped her movements and quickly stood up to look at Zhang Cheng. Her hands and feet were withered, and she said with a fawning expression, "Sir, has my A-Mao really been reincarnated? Is he doing well? So there really is an Underworld. Sir, will I go to the eighteen levels of hell?"

Alin Sao had too many doubts she wanted to ask. After listening, Zhang Cheng sighed. This was a vengeful ghost who could become a Ghost King, but in her heart, she remained just an ordinary, long-suffering rural woman.