Chapter 717: Side Story 2: The Living Dead

Zhang Jiao E's luck...... really is good.

Her grandson died a violent death.

The old Daoist used techniques to keep the grandson's corpse, turning it into a vegetative state, and transferred the grandson's remaining three years of yang lifespan onto Zhang Jiao E.

This matter cannot be verified true or false, but it planted a seed of sin in Zhang Jiao E's heart.

She felt like being bathed in holy light: oh, it turns out lifespan can also be reasonably extended through some means.

After Zhang Jiao E's sixtieth birthday, she fell seriously ill.

This illness left her bedridden, her appearance completely changed, showing signs of imminent death.

At that time, Zhang Jiao E summoned the old Daoist again...... that year, her son, on his way to get medicine for his mother, encountered bandits and was hacked to death.

Originally already laid out on the bier, waiting to change into funeral clothes, Zhang Jiao E stubbornly pulled through.

Everyone said Zhang Jiao E had made a trip to the underworld; King Yama refused to take her, so upon returning to the living world she would surely enjoy a long life.

And Zhang Jiao E did not disappoint; she lived a full eighty-three years before passing away.

I don't know why, but I keep feeling something is off: 'Did Zhang Jiao E really die this time?'

'How to put it? If you count carefully, she's already dead.'

Yu Nian explained, 'Zhang Jiao E's destined lifespan was fifty-seven years; the old Daoist gave her three more years of life, but it wasn't over once those years were up—he had to tie up loose ends, otherwise he too would suffer Heavenly Punishment. So in the year Zhang Jiao E turned fifty-seven, the old Daoist used a paper substitute to fool fate.'

I've long since grown accustomed to such dark arts.

Although I don't know exactly how it's done, I believe there are certainly more than one or two masters capable of this level in the world.

'Strictly speaking, Zhang Jiao E's name was already struck from the register of life and death the year she turned fifty-seven; her grandson gave her three more years of life, and during those three years her body underwent a series of changes—under her white hair black roots gradually grew, her skin was white with a ruddy glow; were it not for that illness, she would practically be returning to youth.'

'Between the ages of sixty and eighty-three, her body changed even more; she looked younger and younger, but only she herself knew she had no body heat—pricking her finger produced no drop of blood, she even lost appetite for food and instead liked to gulp down living creatures……'

I felt a chill down my spine: 'She…… she became a walking corpse?'

'No, she's an animate corpse.' Yu Nian said, 'Defying heaven to change fate invites Heavenly Punishment; without the old Daoist's means, backlash is only natural. From the initial joy of successful life extension, to the panic as her body underwent a series of strange changes, to the despair when she bit to death sixteen people in one night, Zhang Jiao E for the first time felt a longing for death.'

She hanged herself with a three-foot white silk; at the moment the sensation of suffocation came, she realized that, having gorged on relatives' blood, she actually felt alive again—young, vibrant, as if she had returned to eighteen……

I could hardly believe my ears: 'Unbelievable! What happened after? Does she need to keep drinking blood to maintain her state?'

Yu Nian shook her head: 'Maybe she drank enough at once; in the short term Zhang Jiao E didn't drink blood again, she moved somewhere else and lived her youth anew.'

'Live her youth again?' I was a bit dazed, 'What do you mean? She…… she wouldn't have remarried, would she?'

'Exactly as you imagined.' Yu Nian said, 'Zhang Jiao E is naturally smart and has over eighty-three years of life experience—who in this world could be her match? She changed her name and identity, fled to another place.'

Soon after, she 'accidentally' was rescued by a scholar; she called herself a widow whose husband had died, with no children, driven out by her in-laws, young and beautiful, with a little money, and she utterly bewitched the scholar, so they soon became lovers; even more shocking, three months later Zhang Jiao E discovered she was pregnant……

'Ah?'

This…… this is truly explosive.

Zhang Jiao E's actual age at that time was already eighty-three!

She could even conceive like an old oyster bearing a pearl!

No wonder she became enamored with this world—it was practically a reboot of life.

'But from the moment she discovered the pregnancy, Zhang Jiao E's body began to deteriorate, aging severely; at six months pregnant she had wrinkles and white at the temples, and by eight months pregnant she fully showed the signs of old age and faded beauty.'

What made her even more anxious was that the intense craving for fresh blood and living creatures surged back, while the scholar, at this point, having lost his novelty, kept making excuses to go to the capital to take the exams, repeatedly wanting to leave.

Zhang Jiao E begged desperately; the final time, the scholar was utterly decisive, lambasting her until she was worthless, and in her fury Zhang Jiao E opened her mouth and severed the scholar's carotid artery……

I thought that after experiencing all these events over the past century, having seen the world's wickedness, I would be unshaken by praise or blame, yet Zhang Jiao E time and again refreshed my understanding.

I couldn't help but ask: 'Was that child she carried born?'

'She was born, but couldn't survive.'

Yu Nian said it vaguely, just brushing past.

Then I understood how that child died.

'The scholar's death didn't bring any physical change to Zhang Jiao E; rather, it was that child……'

Yu Nian paused, then said, 'After this incident, Zhang Jiao E realized a truth: not everyone's flesh and blood can let her return to vitality; after many experiments she found that only a target with a special fate could achieve that effect.'

She also gradually realized she was no longer an ordinary person; having lived long enough, she had ample room for trial and error, and after repeated exploration she stepped into the gate of cultivation, even learning to project ahead, able to lock onto targets several generations in advance……

I frowned: 'Several generations ahead?'

'Yes, she constantly changes names and identities, constantly seeking targets; these targets might themselves be the fate she seeks, or they might be descendants among whom such a fate could arise.

She would, shortly after a target's birth, kill its parents and relatives, take the child elsewhere to live, acting as the child's mother, grandmother, or some other role, raising the child and personally building a harmonious family for it, until the destined person she awaits appears……

I felt a bit dizzy.

I felt my Soul Body becoming somewhat unstable.

So, the young couples I saw earlier at Dang Pu Xijiekou were actually all sacrifices once chosen by Zhang Jiao E.

And what Yu Nian finally described made me realize that I was the target that Zhan Jiao'e had locked onto several generations ahead of time……