Chapter 43: The Past Can Be Pursued

That villager was extremely arrogant; the two vermilion moles before his eyes were dazzlingly bright. "Don't worry, miss, once I become your master, I will surely treat you well!"

Gu Yusheng glared angrily and struggled to sit up! The result was being pressed down by Mei Ruoxue. Although she also understood the villager's mockery, now they are the fish and meat, the villager is the cutting board; everything must be carefully planned, no rash action!

A few villagers laughed ambiguously, but the leading big brother stopped them: "Alright, the lake water will rise soon; pick your people, tonight we will soon get what we wish for, and live for a thousand years!"

Having said that, no matter what Gu Yusheng and the others asked, they remained silent; one person took a knife and silently dripped blood into the chosen candlestick.

Xiao Moyu's mind buzzed: "Could this be........ a soul-guiding formation? But this formation is clearly a product of the demon realm, yet those standing here are clearly humans!"

After the villagers finished this series of actions, they turned and left the door. As they were about to exit, Wu Li Shi arrogantly rubbed Gu Yusheng's handsome face: "Young man, to be honest, I'm still a bit reluctant to let you go, but I.... only took a fancy to your face; after tonight, you will be my beloved husband!"

Gu Yusheng turned his face away hatefully: "Today's shame, if I do not die, from now on to the ends of the earth, heaven or earth, I will surely repay this grudge!"

Drip, drip, the water on the roof grew increasingly urgent; they were like trapped in a sealed jar, as the water flowed more and more, the air grew thinner.

The air was so stuffy water could be wrung out, carrying the salty stench of lake-bottom mud welling up. The flickering murals inside the cave gave the cultivators an eerie feeling.

The other Tianque Sect disciples bound to the ground were all in a sorry state; their moon-white Daoist robes were stained with mud, and beneath several torn openings lay the bruise marks left by struggle—heaven's favored sons, tigers fallen to low ground, everyone held a stifled anger in their hearts.

"What exactly did he just mean?" He Bi shifted uneasily, heart filled with terror, feeling as if these villagers wanted to eat them.

"This formation is a soul-guiding formation!" the learned Xiao Moyu said, "This formation is a soul-guiding technique; it requires a person or demon with a thousand years of cultivation as the formation's eye, souls penetrating fleshly bodies to undergo soul swapping!"

He Bi was stunned, murmuring: "Could they be intending...."

"They want to swap souls with you! Exchange a thousand years of life!" Min Nan appeared again, sitting on a coffin, gazing pitifully at these cultivators; through the long ages, she seemed to see her former self as well.

Back then, she was merely a carefree little white snake, cultivating for a thousand years in the cave; following a group of monster sisters, she foolishly stepped into the God-Demon War, where divine power mercilessly struck her back to the human realm, covered in wounds she fell into the lake, on the brink of death.

A man passing by while gathering firewood on the mountain saw her floating in the lake, her snow-white serpent body covered in wounds; moved with compassion, he brought her home. Min Nan was weak and breathless, thinking she would become his snake soup, but instead the man diligently cared for her day after day, spending considerable time, and actually revived her.

That man's family was poor, living on plain porridge and vegetables each day, yet he was willing to buy medicinal herbs to save her little white snake, treating her entirely as his pet and confiding his joys and sorrows to her; Min Nan gradually sank into despair, transformed into human form, wishing to spend her life with him.

Unfortunately, the man was already engaged; his fiancée was Xiao Hua from the neighboring village, and Xiao Hua and the man were deeply in love. Although Min Nan was a monster, she still scorned being the third party that would break up their marriage.

For the first time in a thousand years she felt moved, but it lasted no more than three days; Min Nan was heartbroken, decided to retreat to the mountains to cultivate diligently. Fortunately, the village bordered the Monster Realm, and the God-Demon War had scattered much spiritual energy, which aided her cultivation. When the Heavenly Punishment arrived, Min Nan leapt to become a White Flood Dragon, unaware that her beloved man, in protecting Xiao Hua that very day, was accidentally beaten to death by officials.

Min Nan knew nothing of this, still believing that the man and Xiao Hua had lived happily together for a lifetime, using her demonic power to guard the village's peace, hoping he too would be safe.

After a thousand years, Min Nan endured the Heavenly Tribulation and leapt to become a flood dragon; because of her, the village was named Flood Dragon Lake Village, thriving and prosperous, its population flourishing—a paradise everyone yearned for.

Min Nan sensed she was about to ascend to dragonhood; one day, on a whim, she decided to wander the village, only to unexpectedly encounter the man's reincarnation—he remained handsome and kind-hearted, though he no longer gathered firewood, having become a street‑vendor scholar selling paintings.

Min Nan followed the scholar home and discovered he was still destitute, so poor he couldn't even lift the pot lid.

Over the long years, Min Nan's lingering affection for him had faded, yet she still remembered that she owed him her life; before ascending, she must settle the debt of gratitude and vengeance.

First, the scholar's dilapidated ancestral home suddenly unearthed a chest of gold, letting him instantly become the township's richest; next, Min Nan arranged for the scholar to bravely rescue the magistrate's daughter who had fallen into the water, making him the magistrate's son‑in‑law who rides a dragon swiftly.

Life's pursuit is merely wealth and power; Min Nan understood this well, and with her help the scholar leapt to become a winner in life, fully repaying the guilt she had felt for a thousand years.

But a monster is after all a monster; she cultivated to death yet never understood when human hearts ever feel satisfied—wealth and power in hand, beauty in arms, the scholar forgot his origins, running rampant through the countryside, incurring many karmic debts!

The workings of cause and effect in the world never cease; because Min Nan tampered with others' lives, it caused those originally destined for longevity to die due to the scholar, and families that should have been happy were shattered by him—these results require Min Nan, the cause, to repay them.

Therefore, Min Nan granted the villagers' every wish—seek wealth, get wealth; seek people, get people! The village chief gradually saw through Min Nan's true intent; he bound the scholar, threatened Min Nan to pull out her scales, signed a blood oath, binding her flood‑dragon life to protect Flood Dragon Lake Village in its entirety.

Just as heaven and earth changed color, Min Nan ascended; once she became a dragon, those vows of hers would all be nullified. The villagers of Flood Dragon Lake Village flew into a rage, swarmed and attacked, hacking the scholar into eight pieces, while Min Nan, who was undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation, was also killed by them in the chaos and thrown into the bottom of Flood Dragon Lake Village.

At death's door, Min Nan cursed the villagers that they and their descendants must never leave this village, or else their bodies would burst and die; the fearful villagers could only stay put, yet they did not expect Flood Dragon Lake Village to plummet a thousandfold—being remote and bordering the Monster Realm, with no one entering or leaving, it gradually became a dead village.

"What happened next?" He Bi pursued, asking, "Afterwards, why did you...."

Min Nan lowered her head; after a while she said, "Later, a cultivator passed by, unaware of the causes and consequences, only seeing my curse; to dispel it, he taught the villagers this soul‑guiding formation!"

She had originally sunk to the lake bottom, her corpse undecayed, yet the villagers fished her out, peeled her skin, pulled her tendons, crushed her bones and scattered her ashes; just like those villagers, she is trapped here, never able to leave.