Chapter 274

The murders continued, the sky over the whole city shrouded in gloom, this killer like a strange phantom; we exerted all our strength trying to catch him, but could not keep up with his steps.

Han Duo's spirit was not well, growing increasingly decadent, her worried, heavy-hearted appearance made one feel pained to see. I and Pangzi were looking after Chan Yi Hall, while Seventh Lord and QingSongShu had not a moment of leisure. The whole day was spent pursuing the killer.

But the other party was not an ordinary person either; even if QingSongShu violated the yin rules, trying to summon the deceased's spirit to question it carefully, the summoning ended in failure at the end. Mei Hua divination and Qimen Dunjia often pointed in the wrong direction.

The heavenly secrets have been veiled; all forms of divination could find no trace of the other party.

On the fifth day after I discovered the corpse, I went to Yao Yirong's home. Yao Yirong's appearance grew even more wan; the tumor in her brain seemed to have taken effect. One moment she was talking and laughing, the next she suddenly asked me: "How did you come here?"

That day, at the Yao household I saw the current inheritor of the Plowshare Witch Sect, Yao Wenju and Yao Yirong's father, who was also my master's junior fellow disciple, Yao Song.

This old man, with a refined and restrained aura, leaned on an old wooden cane; although he appeared to be in his sixties, his upright stature and the restrained divine light in his eyes all spoke of his extraordinariness.

"Are you Hai Sheng, the disciple of my second senior brother Li Feng?" Yao Song gazed at me with a sighing look: "Your eyes are just like my second senior brother's."

My master and I both had issues with our left eyes, but I was born with a white eye, while my master's eye was blind. However, what Yao Song said was actually about my right eye. He said my gaze, like my master's, carried a sense of vicissitude and melancholy.

We talked for a long time, and when I learned that Yao Song was preparing to defy heaven and change fate for Yao Yirong, my heart was overcome with tumultuous waves.

To change fate, the price is the very life of the diviner. It would mean that even more innocent people would be implicated. The method of altering fate is stringent; perhaps you could steal another's feng shui fortune, using countless people as mediums to divert it. But doing so, the cost would be your own life.

It is fair, give and take; even if you deceive the heavenly secrets for someone else, what you ultimately suffer is always annihilation. After death, your soul cannot ascend to the nine heavens nor descend to the Yellow Springs; you can only wander as a lonely wild ghost in Yangjian for eternity. You are destined never to be reincarnated, destined to receive no protection from your ancestors. Even as a ghost, you must endure the bullying of other lonely wild ghosts.

Upon hearing Yao Song's decision, I instinctively wanted to stop him; birth, aging, sickness, death—these are all heaven's ordained. No matter how powerful the means, once this order is broken, nobody ends well. Yet I knew Yao Song would not listen to me, nor would Yao Wenju.

I personally fed Yao Yirong a bowl of red, viscous herbal medicine, spoonful by spoonful into her mouth. After she fell into a peaceful sleep, I bade farewell to everyone in the Yao household and returned to Chan Yi Hall.

"Is Yirong feeling better?" As soon as I entered, Pangzi grabbed me and asked.

"A bit better," I replied half-heartedly, walking into my own room.

I lit two incense sticks for Little Fat; it had been ages since I last teased him. As I offered the incense, Murong Jiaja drifted out from a piece of dark jade nearby. This was the first time in ages she had actively sought me out; her elusive self, still dressed in white that outshone snow, seemed like a fairy stepping slowly from a painting.

"Hai Sheng, I'm afraid I must leave you!" Murong Jiaja whispered.

I was startled, my already heavy heart tightening inexplicably.

"What are you saying? Why would you suddenly say such things to me!"

Murong Jiaja shook her head: "I don't know, but for these many days I've had a premonition; perhaps I am to return to my true self."

"Yourself? Aren't you already yourself? Or, who are you?"

Murong Jiaja's words left me with countless doubts; my intuition told me she was hiding something from me, but I could neither guess nor fathom it, while her gentle visage remained, concealing a faint sorrow and melancholy.

"Hai Sheng, what are you doing?" As I stared at Murong Jiaja, Han Duo burst in holding a bowl of soup.

"She is...?" Seeing Murong Jiaja, Han Duo's expression froze instantly.

"Go back for now, we'll talk later..." I stored Murong Jiaja away, turned around, and explained to Han Duo: "Nothing, she's just a lonely ghost I once collected."

"Hmph, I was wondering why you were holed up alone in your room—turns out you have a gorgeous female ghost keeping you company." Han Duo's face curled into a bewildered smile.

Yes, to me it seemed utterly bewildering, as if mixed with anger, a hint of mockery and teasing. A variety of emotions coalesced into that complex smile.

"Here, I just finished cooking this." Han Duo handed me the bowl.

It was a bowl of fermented bean curd and pork stomach soup; when I took it, the steaming broth still gave off a peppery aroma. The morning before yesterday I saw Han Duo boiling soybeans, yet there were no soybeans on the table. It turned out she was boiling the soybeans open to make fermented bean curd.

"So fragrant..." I took a small sip; the peppery heat, the fragrance of the fermented bean curd with a hint of sweetness slowly melted in my mouth.

"If it's fragrant, drink a few more bowls; I see you have little appetite today, so I made this especially for everyone to drink." Han Duo smiled sweetly, revealing a little dimple.

She was lying; she had been boiling soybeans the day before yesterday—how could she suddenly decide to make this soup today on a whim?

"Heh... if you don't become a chef, you're really wasting your talent." I didn't expose her, but instead picked up a piece of fermented bean curd, put it in my mouth, and chewed slowly.

"Actually I've also thought about it: once the children of Tongyuan Bay all have books to read and no one needs to worry about their three daily meals, I'll open a small eatery, no longer be a witch, and peacefully spend the rest of my life wielding a ladle." Han Duo sat beside me, propping her chin, and rarely showed a hint of childlike innocence.

"Hehe, I'm already imagining you holding a ladle." I let my imagination run wild and burst out laughing.

"Get lost, you're so improper—I'm being serious!" Han Duo laughed and scolded, shoving me. Then she lamented: "But if I'm not a witch, what else could I do? Even if I become an ordinary person, who knows who would come to eat the rice I cook?"

"How could that be? Little millet, don't worry—you're so beautiful and your cooking is so good, surely many would vie to marry you; why fret? At worst, if no one pursues you, I'll go ahead and bully you for you." I followed up.

Only when Han Duo revealed that half-blushing sweet smile did I belatedly react, wishing I could give myself a hard slap.

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Han Duo showed two sweet dimples, her eyes narrowed into crescent moons, and a blush rose on her lovely face.

"Um... I, I have no appetite, I don't want to eat rice." The hand holding the spoon trembled slightly.

"Then I'll make some sweet water for you to drink; sweet water isn't like rice, it's very appetizing." Han Duo asked again expectantly.

"Oh oh oh, okay," I replied absentmindedly, my mind troubled.

Night fell quietly; I slumped in the corridor, gazing at the bright moon above, and let out a long, meaningless sigh: "This life is truly lonely as snow."

With a creak, I turned my head and saw that a rabbit had somehow appeared beside me. The rabbit lay strangely on the steps, its two ruby eyes as if gazing up at the moon; that squeak seemed also a lament to the moon. Its odd sight made my mouth twitch, leaving me deeply torn.

When did a rabbit become so vexing, so full of sorrow and sentiment?

"The sweet water is ready, hurry up and drink it while hot." Just then, Han Duo came out holding a bowl of sweet water.

Han Duo handed the sweet water to me, urging: "Drink it quickly; once it cools it won't taste good."

I lightly scooped a spoonful, lifted a spoon of red beans into my mouth. Han Duo suddenly asked sweetly: "Is it good?" I didn't think, answered absentmindedly: "Pretty good."

Only after Han Duo left did Pangzi come out with a bowl of sweet water and sit beside me; then I noticed something was off.

"Holy shit, why is yours red bean sweet water while mine is just cooling tonic? This is totally unfair, deliberately letting Lord Wang starve!" Pangzi's face twisted in bitter complaint.

My heart suddenly tightened; I looked down and discovered to my surprise that my bowl of sweet water contained red beans, while Pangzi's bowl... was just the cooling tonic.

"Delicate dice holding red beans, deep longing knows not!" As this poem surfaced in my mind, there also appeared a pale, fragile visage—Yirong.

"I hope it's not just my overthinking," I shook my head, trying to shake off this tangled, endless thought.

"How boring, life truly is lonely as snow, squeak..." The voices of the rabbit and Pangzi, filled with gloom, sounded; I looked left and right, then finally decided to follow the crowd's direction, let out a sigh, propped my chin, and gazed at the bright moon.

At this moment, the only thought left in my mind was a tear-streaked one: "Life is truly fucking beyond compare."