Chapter 49

No wonder this house had a unique atmosphere amidst its antiquity; it turned out to be the outer residence of a famous courtesan.

Luo Yuni.

This woman was the famous courtesan Luo Yuni who, according to the newspaper, had died tragically in an outer residence.

Was she the old woman's House Spirit?

Where did these newspapers come from?

And what connection did Luo Yuni have with the old woman?

Seeing that Li Banfeng hadn't said her name for a long time, Luo Yuni seemed to understand his concerns.

"Do you want to know what happened afterward?"

Clang! Clang! Clang! The grandfather clock struck eleven times, the pendulum swayed, the picture switched, and Luo Yuni continued to tell her story.

The murderer who killed her was dead, his corpse lying on the ground.

Luo Yuni sat beside the corpse, continuing to groom herself earnestly.

The man's corpse was taken away, but not long after, the man returned, holding an eyebrow pencil beside Luo Yuni, wanting to draw her eyebrows.

This was clearly not a living man; this should be the man's ghost.

Luo Yuni didn't even look at him, waving her hand casually, sending the man flying out of the window.

There was a willow tree outside the window, and the man just hung there on the willow tree.

Luo Yuni continued to groom herself, letting time pass, her smile always charming.

The man hanging on the tree looked at Luo Yuni in the room day after day with a look of obsession.

I don't know how much time passed, but a young couple moved into the house.

The husband wore a white shirt and black suspenders, leaving early and returning late, seemingly having a relatively decent job.

The wife was busy with housework every day, seemingly never having seen that there was another woman in the house, a woman who had always been earnestly grooming herself facing the old grandfather clock.

She couldn't see her.

If Luo Yuni hadn't taken the initiative to appear, Li Banfeng wouldn't have been able to see her either.

Life was plain but sweet, until one day the husband saw Luo Yuni grooming herself, and he felt that everything was not so sweet anymore.

He felt that his wife wasn't that beautiful; compared to a true beauty, his wife perhaps had never been considered beautiful.

Luo Yuni looked at the man with pity, gently extended her arm, and handed the comb to him.

The man was incredibly excited.

He carefully took the comb from Luo Yuni's hand; being able to comb Luo Yuni's hair once became the achievement he cherished most in his life.

Li Banfeng couldn't understand his thoughts, couldn't understand the obsession and intoxication on the man's face.

The man repeatedly combed Luo Yuni's hair, seemingly unwilling to let go of a single strand.

It wasn't until Luo Yuni got tired and looked at the man that the man reluctantly put down the comb.

After putting down the comb, the man picked up the eyebrow pencil, wanting to draw Luo Yuni's eyebrows.

Luo Yuni shook her head, and her figure gradually faded.

She left, leaving the man standing there with the eyebrow pencil, feeling lost and helpless.

He stared blankly at the grandfather clock all day long, indifferent to his wife's complaints and crying.

One day, he used the eyebrow pencil to stab into his own temple, stabbing it in again and again; the pain and smile on his face were twisted together.

He saw Luo Yuni again; as long as he kept stabbing his temple with the eyebrow pencil, he could be with Luo Yuni.

He held the blood-stained eyebrow pencil, wanting to draw Luo Yuni's eyebrows.

His wife saw this scene and ran out of the room in fear, but she couldn't run out of the courtyard.

The ghost hanging on the tree waved the willow branch to entangle her and brought her back to the room.

No wonder these willow trees wouldn't let anyone leave the courtyard; these trees were hung with many ghosts, all of whom were Luo Yuni's slaves.

Her husband stabbed himself to death with the eyebrow pencil.

She was tied up by the willow branches until late at night, and then her throat was cut by Luo Yuni with a short blade.

The wife died, the blade was stained with blood, and the blood quickly disappeared.

The picture then stilled, and Luo Yuni said softly to Li Banfeng: "This knife likes to drink blood at the hour of the Rat; the more blood it drinks, the sharper it becomes.

I spent three years figuring out the mystery of this knife, while that old hag spent thirty years and didn't figure out anything.

We are meeting for the first time, and I have already told you the secret of this knife; isn't my sincerity enough?"

Luo Yuni smiled even more movingly, but Li Banfeng's attention wasn't on her smile.

"You're lying," Li Banfeng shook his head. "The old woman knew the mystery of this knife; she wasn't in a hurry to kill me and deliberately kept me until the hour of the Rat just to let this knife drink my blood."

Luo Yuni laughed: "That's because I told her this secret last night. Didn't you notice that her two sons didn't understand why they had to keep you until the hour of the Rat? Because the old hag hadn't had time to tell them about it.

That old hag is just that stupid; if I hadn't told her, I'm afraid she would never have seen through it in her entire life. Cultivating with her was an insult and torture to me."

Li Banfeng asked: "Then why did you choose her?"

Luo Yuni shook her head: "It wasn't me who chose her; it was she who chose me. She was the only Residential Cultivator I encountered; she called my name.

Before meeting her, I was just a resentful spirit; it was only with her summoning that I became a House Spirit."

Li Banfeng's eyes lit up: "How can one summon a House Spirit?"

Luo Yuni raised her eyebrows: "Don't you know? Aren't you also a Residential Cultivator?"

Li Banfeng also raised his eyebrows: "You can tell?"

Luo Yuni laughed out loud: "How could I not tell? Every move you make in this house cannot escape my eyes.

You have a special house, a house that ordinary people cannot see, a house that even ordinary House Spirits cannot see.

But I am not ordinary; I can see it. I know you have a key that can open the house; it is precisely because you returned to the house that you were able to quickly resolve the poison Decai gave you."

Hearing this, Li Banfeng realized that unless absolutely necessary, he should not easily enter a Residential Cultivator's house in the future.

Luo Yuni asked softly: "Do you want to cultivate a House Spirit? Why go to so much trouble? I am willing to be your House Spirit; there is one ready-made, why don't you want me?"

Li Banfeng frowned: "Why didn't you tell me the method of cultivating a House Spirit?"

Luo Yuni shook her head: "It's time-consuming and laborious, and really useless."

Li Banfeng lowered his eyelids: "You hid things from me, which proves your sincerity toward me is not enough!"

Luo Yuni sighed softly: "Very well, I will do as you wish."

The pendulum swayed, and the story in the halo continued to be presented.

The ghosts of that couple were hung on the willow tree, both looking at Luo Yuni with obsession.

I don't know how many more years passed, but more than a dozen families moved into this house one after another; they couldn't live there for long before they all died at Luo Yuni's hands, and one by one, their ghosts hung all over the willow trees around the courtyard.

With the switching of perspectives, Li Banfeng was surprised by the size of the courtyard; this courtyard was very large, and the courtyard in the picture was much larger than the courtyard Li Banfeng saw.

Another family moved in—a haggard woman, looking to be in her thirties, moved in with two children.

The old woman?

The woman moved into the house, lived there for a few days, and her thin cheeks gradually became plump, and her pale skin regained some color.

Her originally dull eyes became spirited, and she had more strength when doing housework.

She had merged with the house; Li Banfeng had had a similar experience.

When wiping and cleaning in the main room, she would always sniff and smell everywhere, as if she could smell a different aura.

When enjoying the cool in the courtyard, she would look up at the willow trees all around, as if she could perceive the ghosts on the trees.

She often fell into deep thought, and the entire house seemed to become quieter and more profound along with her deep thought.

One day, she brought back several bundles of old newspapers and carefully flipped through them one by one.

She picked out more than a dozen, looking carefully at the news in the newspapers, looking at every photo in the news.

She didn't recognize many words, but she recognized the photos.

This was the house in the newspaper.

Late at night, she coaxed her two children to sleep in the room on the east side and came to the main room alone.

She lit a candle and stared tightly at the old grandfather clock.

She held her breath, and the room was silent.

Li Banfeng carefully observed every move of this woman; he discovered that staring at the grandfather clock was a key element.

In the woman's pupils, the reflection of the grandfather clock could be clearly seen.

He vaguely heard her heartbeat slowing down; the entire house trembled along with her heartbeat, and the willow trees outside the house trembled along with the house.

They merged.

Li Banfeng could perceive from the light and shadow that the woman had merged with this courtyard.

This was the power of a Residential Cultivator.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The bell rang, and the grandfather clock in the woman's eyes became spiritual; she perceived the location of the House Spirit.

The woman took a deep breath and called out her name: "Luo Yuni!"

Clang!

11:30.

One bell ring.

Luo Yuni's voice sounded in Li Banfeng's ear: "She heard the bell; from that time on, I became her House Spirit."

Li Banfeng asked: "Didn't you confirm it with her in person?"

In the picture Li Banfeng saw, Luo Yuni had never appeared at the same time as that woman.

Luo Yuni's laughter sounded: "For thirty full years, I never let her see my true face, nor did I let her hear my voice. At most, I would give her some hints; I would feel disgusted even looking at her one more time.

She did everything she could to please me; seventy percent of the ghosts hanging on the trees were sent to me by her. I never felt any gratitude toward her; besides, she made a living by this anyway.

Cultivating with her was purely out of helplessness; my comprehension was much better than hers, and my level was much higher than hers. I could have given her higher cultivation, but I only let her cultivate to the first layer because I loathed her."

Li Banfeng was also very curious about this: the old woman was at this age, why was she still only at the first layer of cultivation? "Isn't it said that one can gain a layer of cultivation every ten years? She cultivated for thirty years, why is she still at the first layer?"

Luo Yuni shook her head slightly upon hearing this: "You are very strange; when you kill people, you're like a veteran, but when you speak, you're like a novice.

Cultivators cultivate step by step; without any mishaps or mistakes, it takes ten years to gain a layer of cultivation.

How many cultivators dare to say they haven't had any mishaps or mistakes in these ten years? How many cultivators dare to say they haven't made any mistakes in these ten years? Cultivators who can go from the first layer to the second layer in ten years are few and far between."

Li Banfeng asked: "Then what mishaps did that old hag have, to the point that she couldn't cultivate to the second layer in thirty years?"

Luo Yuni laughed: "Her mishaps were because of me. If a Residential Cultivator and a House Spirit are not in harmony, the House Spirit will suppress the Residential Cultivator. That old hag makes me sick; even if she cultivates for another hundred years, she will always be at the first layer."

Indeed!

Indeed, it's not that easy to cultivate by lying at home.

Both the Peddler and Ma Wu had said that the House Spirit is the key to a Residential Cultivator; if one is not on good terms with the House Spirit, the Residential Cultivator's cultivation will not improve.

Speaking of this, Luo Yuni sighed: "You don't know how disgusting that old hag was. She didn't look for men for thirty years, nor did she let her sons touch women. Even if I said a word to her two sons, she would go crazy.

She didn't even let her two sons go out, forcing her two sons to live in this courtyard with her for a lifetime.

Her eldest son, Decai, practiced martial arts since childhood and wanted to buy medicine from the Peddler to enter Wu Xiu, but the old hag wouldn't let him. At the age of thirty-five, he was forced by the old woman to enter Poison Cultivation. Decai didn't know many characters and randomly mixed medicine using a few old books, almost poisoning himself to death.

Her second son, Demao, also practiced martial arts, but the old hag wouldn't let him either. He was relatively lucky; he asked someone from the Jiang Xiang Gang to secretly buy Wu Xiu medicine and reached the first layer last year. Unfortunately, there was no one to guide him, and he could only learn some routines from books. When he encountered you, who doesn't follow routines, he was just asking for death.

Encountering such a disgusting person, I hoped every day that she would get out of this courtyard. Why would I let her improve her cultivation?"

Li Banfeng nodded: "That is indeed disgusting; it feels disgusting just hearing it."

But why didn't she just kill the old hag?

Weren't there precedents of House Spirits killing their masters?

Li Banfeng held back and didn't ask this question.

All the pictures disappeared, leaving only Luo Yuni grooming herself facing Li Banfeng. She smiled charmingly and said to Li Banfeng:

"From the moment you entered this courtyard, I knew that my true master is you.

If I had gone all out, you wouldn't have been able to beat that old woman at all; you wouldn't have had half a chance of winning.

But I just fancy you. Call my name, and I will be yours. Come, I'm waiting for you, Master!"

If it were any other man, this "Master" would have made him give up all resistance.

But Li Banfeng was unmoved; he shook his head and didn't speak.

Luo Yuni frowned slightly and asked: "You don't want me?"

"It's not that I don't want you." Li Banfeng shook his head.

Luo Yuni pondered for a long time, trying to guess Li Banfeng's thoughts: "You don't want this business. You saved that mother and daughter; you are a kind person.

I also loathe this business, and I also loathe the days of killing people. I am willing to disperse all the ghosts in this courtyard; as long as you accept me, I am willing to live a hard life with you."

Luo Yuni slowly extended her hand toward Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng didn't take her hand; he silently left the position facing the old grandfather clock.

The old grandfather clock was Luo Yuni's true body, but Luo Yuni's soul might not be in the old grandfather clock at all times.

For example, right now.

From a visual perspective, Li Banfeng was talking to Luo Yuni.

But from the reflection of the pendulum, Li Banfeng and Luo Yuni were in the same room, both facing the old grandfather clock.

To put it another way, the two were likely sitting in the same position, sitting very close.

At this moment, Luo Yuni's soul was beside Li Banfeng, or behind him.

PS: Eight thousand words updated today; leave a comment and vote for Sala!

(End of chapter)