Chapter 549

Every sentence the woman spoke, every word, was like a key that unlocked the lock of my memory.

Those memories that pierced the heart like floodwater surged up, almost instantly submerging me.

Before Nirvana, the fire witch god told me through Feng Wu that once I underwent Nirvana and remerged this memory, it would be disastrous for me.

But after I successfully underwent Nirvana, I indeed recalled some fragments of past memories, but they were far insufficient to affect my life.

Even A Cheng's eyes affected me even more.

So the key to unlocking the memory lock… is here!

From Feng Wu Jiu to Phoenix Raccoon Slave, then to Xiao Jiu, from such a young age my entire life has been toyed with by this mother‑son pair in the palm of their hand; all the suffering of me and my whole clan, all separations and deaths, were caused by them.

How could I not hate!

I almost instinctively condensed all the true qi in my body into my right hand in an instant and grabbed at the woman's face.

But that face, at the instant my fingertips touched it, scattered…

Immediately after, I heard that word again: "nightmare".

This reminded me of the scene when Feng Li Shu used a single‑character spell to control me; it turns out her little ability comes from this.

I snorted coldly in my heart, and instantly my mind flashed back to how I had broken Feng Li Shu's single‑character witchcraft; just as I was about to raise my fist to smash Dìshì, my mind suddenly went blank.

Born on the first day of the eighth month of the Year of the Wood Rooster, at dawn, this child is the reincarnation of the Official of the Mao Sun Star; they will surely achieve great things!

"Ah ya, little sis, how does this child have a tuft of white hair on her head? I'm not just scaremongering—this child cannot stay; if you keep her, someone in your family will die every three years…"

"A lone shrike brings only mourning; every year on the first day of the eighth month, when the geese fly south, the shrike flies to meet them and kills any goose it sees—she is a bird that kills people!"

She is…… a bird that kills people……

"Older sister, wake up! Come back! Quick!"

A Cheng's voice suddenly pierced my ears, and my consciousness was jerked back.

In the instant my vision cleared, I saw behind Dìshì a large bird, completely black except for a tuft of white hair on its forehead, staring at me with scarlet eyes, coldly gazing.

The next moment, a white light flashed before my eyes; a powerful sword shadow swept past with Liu Junyan's tall figure, and a hand pulled me down from the execution platform.

On the execution platform, the sword shadow flashed, the great bird had vanished, leaving only Dìshì, trapped between life and death, still there.

Suddenly, dark clouds rolled overhead, with lightning and thunder.

Liu Junyan and A Cheng together pulled me, quickly retreating from the execution platform.

All the way until we got in the car and it steadily drove toward Wufu Town, I remained immersed in my thoughts, unable to extricate myself.

Liu Junyan drove, I and A Cheng sat in the back, and A Cheng's hand kept holding mine.

Liu Junyan occasionally glanced at me in the rearview mirror, wanting to speak but stopping.

The atmosphere in the car was oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Until A Cheng spoke, breaking the heavy atmosphere, his voice came from his chest: "Older sister, she is a shrike, a bird that has existed since ancient times and kills people."

After a pause, he corrected: "No, to be precise, the shrike not only kills people, but also kills its own kind and souls…… she is the sin of this world."

I turned my head and stared steadily at A Cheng.

He has no head, so I cannot see his expression and cannot judge things from his facial features.

I could only ask directly: "A Cheng, how do you know she is a shrike?"

Older sister, the reason I went to the execution platform is because you said my head is there." A Cheng said, "My head is inside some formation array that blocks the connection between us; if it's a bit farther away I can't find it, but just now at the edge of the execution platform I sensed it again and also awakened some memories."

I nodded.

I never expected that my and A Cheng's views would, in the dark, actually reach a consensus.

Yes, that great demon that crawled up from the Wangshui River should be the 'shrike'.

On the day I was born in Tafengcun under the identity of Jiang Wantiang, I was given the label of 'shrike'.

The midwife said I was a bird that kills people; the phrase "A lone shrike brings only mourning" almost ruined my life.

Is this her punishment for my defying her?

Does she want me to retrace her path?

Originally, the phoenix couple exerted all their strength to suppress the shrike, sinking it into the Wangshui River, but they never expected it not to be dissolved by the river water; instead it crawled out, joined with the three‑legged crow, and Dìshì is the egg she left before dying—now it seems her death might not have been anything but a perfect cicada‑shell escape.

A Cheng's words made me ponder.

In other words, the shrike wanted revenge but lacked the power, so she changed tactics, parasitizing her own child's egg, waiting for the moment of revenge.

When Dìshì grew its first golden true feather, hatred blinded his eyes; he ambushed my parents, causing their grisly deaths—this might not have been without the shrike's meddling.

This mother‑son pair truly are the "birds that kill people".

I suddenly realized something: "You said earlier that the great demon that crawled up from the Wangshui River is immortal; now that view probably doesn't hold, right?"

Since we know she is a shrike, the shrike must have a true form.

A Cheng said, "In theory she should have a true form, and you just saw her appearance, didn't you?"

Yes, I saw it.

That was a large bird, completely black except for a tuft of white hair on its forehead.

Up front, Liu Junyan gripped the steering wheel with both hands, driving seriously while listening to our conversation; upon hearing this, he said: "Xiao Jiu, you and A Cheng have both entered the Wǎngsǐ Chéng and fought the enemy face‑to‑face; you've grasped all the needed information, so let's hand over this side of the Wǎngsǐ Chéng entirely to the Seven Halls Yama, then we'll go back, tidy up, and head to the Zàng Qū."

A Cheng keenly sensed something and asked, "Do you suspect the shrike's true form is also in the Zàng Qū?"

I'm not sure if she still has a true form," Liu Junyan said, "but regardless, she presently depends on Dìshì to exist; and aside from that shattered true form on the execution platform, Dìshì has already successfully created another physical body, which should now be in the Zàng Qū.

That is Dìshì's three‑legged crow true form, obtained by riding on Feng Xianqiu's true form, scraping my Nirvana Tribulation, shattering and then re‑merging.

After the battle in the graveyard of the willow grove, he fled; then he went to Wufu Town, abducted Bai Shulan and Bai Jingmo from the Bai Family, and after that left no trace…… squeak……

The car suddenly braked sharply, the screech of friction cutting off my thoughts.

Immediately after, I saw a familiar shadow open the passenger door and sit in.

It was Hui Moqiong.

The car restarted, and I instinctively asked, "Hui Fifth Lord, how are you here?"

"I came to find you." Hui Moqiong said, "Old Fang called you several times but no one answered."

My phone was already destroyed.

I asked, "What happened?"

Hui Moqiong said, "Do you still remember the temple that Old Fang located using your string of skull prayer beads? His people have been lying in ambush around it for several days, and just last night, chanting suddenly came from inside the temple."