Chapter 64: Deserted Village 6; Conch Pattern
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Zhao Yao hesitantly touched her nose and looked at Fatty with a puzzled face, “You’ve got the wrong person?”
Fatty exploded, he growled as he paced back and forth until he calmed down and said, “You are Xu Ani, I would recognize you even if you were turned into dust. Not to mention that you and Xu Ani look exactly the same.”
“But I’m Zhao Yao.” Zhao Yao pointed to the old professor and Zhao Gang, “They both know me. I’ve been with the professor since I started my college years, I am not Xu Ani. You’re wrong…… No, wait, how can a cat talk?” Zhao Yao realized this only after the fact and was shocked, “Are you a cat demon? But you only have one tail, you don’t really look like a cat demon?”
Fatty was enraged again, “Demon!? A lowly demon!?” If Chen Yang hadn’t stopped him, he would have used his claws to scratch Zhao Yao to death. Even though he did not scratch Zhao Yao to death with his claws, he still could use his weight to conquer Zhao Yao.
When Zhao Yao fell to the ground, Fatty jumped onto her lap. Her face was terrified, “My leg is breaking, my leg bone is breaking, my bone is cracking!” Zhao Yao’s face turned green as Fatty landed on her leg. 20kg of weight is really too much to bear.
Fatty said with a dark face, “I am a cat ghost.”
Zhao Yao was stunned, “Cat ghost? You mean the legendary Cat Gu, ghosts, and those evil things? I’ve studied this folk culture topic but I don’t know how to make a Gu, and I’m not Xu Ani. Really.”
The old professor and Zhao Gang also proved that Zhao Yao was not Xu Ani, and that her files from childhood to adulthood were all in the school system and could be retrieved at any time. Fatty looked at Zhao Yao suspiciously, still not convinced. Chen Yang squatted down and said, “Could it be that she is a reincarnation?”
Fatty: “Impossible. She has drank Jiangshi blood, she is already a Mao Jiangshi that is about to be cultivated into a Fei Jiangshi.” Fatty’s heterochromic eyes flashed a few times and he said, “Does anyone have a peach wood sword? If you are not Xu Ani then you should not be afraid of the peach wood sword, even if you are poked at the heart–“
“Hey wait, a sharpened peach wood sword could kill a normal person as well, if you poke my heart with a sword, let’s not say a Jiangshi, even a normal person would die.” Zhao Yao rushed to stop this crazy idea by Fatty, she completely suspects that Fatty was taking revenge randomly. “You can’t divert your anger to me just because I look like Xu Ani. In case that I’m not her, I’ll die of an injustice.”
Chen Yang picked up Fatty, whom he thought was definitely heavier than 19 kg. “Fatty, you really need to lose weight, otherwise no one can afford to hold you.” Fatty wagged his tail in anger, as if he was unwilling to be hugged. Chen Yang also said to Zhao Yao, “There is no need to stab the heart, the peach wood sword can not hurt ordinary people.”
Chief Wu Yi said to Liu Quanning, “Hey, lend me your peach wood sword.” Liu Quanning threw the peach wood sword to her, and Chief Wu held it and pointed it at Zhao Yao in the heart. Zhao Yao was shocked and fell back from the sudden action. The peach wood sword was then placed on her shoulder, but there was no reaction.
The Chief Wu put away the peach wood sword and concluded, “Not a Jiangshi.”
Fatty stared at Zhao Yao suspiciously, “You look exactly like Xu Ani, even if you are not a Jianghis, I am afraid you are her reincarnation.”
Zhao Yao said, “You can’t hold it against me just because I look like Xu Ani, Fatty. It’s obvious that Xu Ani is a Jiangshi and I’m an ordinary person. You still have to say that I am the reincarnation of Xu Ani, aren’t you just being delusional?”
Du Shuo picked up Fatty from Chen Yang’s embrace and fling him away from Chen Yang. Fatty landed steadily on the ground, he was a very elegant Fatty. Du Shuo said, “A person has three souls and seven spirits. The main soul leaves the body for reincarnation while the remaining two souls and seven spirits return to heaven and earth. A Jiangshi remains in the world by locking their breath of resentment. They are neither living nor dying. The remaining two souls and seven spirits are locked inside the body of the Jiangshi. After cultivating to become a Mao Jiang, the two souls and seven spirits become stable, and the soul that entered reincarnation becomes independent from the souls that are left in the body.”
Xu Ani had once died. She used a secret method and Jiangshi blood to turn herself into a Jiangshi. She then wandered around the world for a thousand years to cultivate herself into a MaoJiang. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, she caused many atrocities with a Cat Gu resulting in countless murders. Xu Ani should have been taken to Fengdu for trial and sent down to the 18th level of hell. However, Xu Ani is good at hiding and disappearing. She was also not afraid of sunlight, it was as if she was still alive.
Therefore, it was difficult to arrest her.
Zhao Yao: “I am the reincarnation of Xu Ani? Xu Ani? The Cat Gu Atrocities? During the Sui Dynasty, she was the servant of Empress Doku’s brother, Doku Tuo. Because she was the leader of the Cat Gu, she has a full name in history even though she was a woman and a lowly servant.” She showed an expression of interest and did not feel disgusted by it, “According to your Taoist saying, the main soul reincarnated, but the parts that are responsible for one’s ego, personality, wisdom, and knowledge are the two souls and seven spirits. If that is the case, then Xu Ani’s two souls and seven spirits are still Xu Ani, but mine are of Zhao Yao and not Xu Ani. Even if I am her reincarnation, I am still a separate person from Xu Ani.”
The old professor nodded in agreement, “Two separate personalities prove that they are two different people. It was the Jiangshi, Xu Ani, who killed the victims, not my student, Zhao Yao.”
Zhao Yao happily high-fived the professor, “Good cooperation.”
Chen Yang also thought that Zhao Yao and Xu Ani were two different people, but Fatty still thought that Xu Ani had evil intentions. Fatty pulled out a cardboard paper as Chen Yang said, “If you can talk, then just talk. Don’t you get tired of writing on cardboard?”
Fatty stiffened for a long time before lying at the window and saying to the moon, “You don’t know how cunning Xu Ani is, she is a born liar! Her mouth never speaks the truth, she always lies and deceives people. She lies full of emotions, and scam people till they die.”
Because of the anger, Fatty’s body fat was also vibrating. The layers of meat bounced up and down and his mumblings only seemed comedic and not scary. If the window was not two meters above ground, most people would have gone to pet the cat. While everyone was thinking how to pinch the meat mountain, only Fatty was still immersed in his anger of the past. “She raised a lot of old cats. Those old cats were raised at her side from birth. When they were about to die, they were all brutally killed and turned into cat ghosts to bring fortune and kill people for her. She cheated everyone and the old cats, the old cats that were killed had a grudge but they were all so easily fooled by her and loyally worked for her.”
Thinking about this, the angry meat mountain again bounced up and down with fervor. “To refine cat ghosts, the older the cat was the more spiritual they were. The more miserable their deaths, the deeper the grievance. The more evil they were, and the more powerful the cat ghost was. Many innocent people who she had harmed were framed in her place. Luckily the officials in Fengdu are fair and just. They record everyone’s sins during their lifetime, so even if the lies are perfect, they cannot hide from the eyes of Heaven. Xu Ani has sinned so much that she must go to hell to atone for her sins.”
Chen Yang: “Then how come Xu Ani became a Jiangshi and is still wandering around in the world for a thousand years.”
“……” After a long time, the fat mountain slumped and said, “Because I carried all her sins and in the end she was sinless and I was sinful. I died of natural old age. After I died she asked me if I would like to be made into a cat ghost to stay by her side. She had so many cats around her, but I was the only one who died of old age, so I thought I was special. She didn’t ask other cats for their opinions on being turned into cat ghosts, but she asked me if I was willing. Then she said something, and on impulse, I agreed to take on the burden of her sins.”
Chen Yang was curious, “What did she say? “
Fatty melancholically, “She said I am her baby, that I am as heavy in her mind as her heart and liver.”
Pfft. Chen Yang and the others instantly had a strange expression as they stifled laughter. Chief Wu Yi’s Witchcraft doll said full of mockery, “Ha ha ha ha 20 kilograms of fat weighing her mind, her head must have been crushed to pancakes.”
Fatty’s anger was filled to the brim. Turning his head, he dragged out the Witchcraft doll. A cat and a doll were on the ground fighting crazily. Finally Chief Wu Yi and Chen Yang acted as parents to pull them apart. The Witchcraft doll had a broken leg and arm. Its mouth was full of cat hair, but it was very happy. Fatty chewed up the Witchcraft doll’s arms and legs, and the top of his head was balding.
The bald-headed Fatty spat out the chewed remains of the Witchcraft doll, and his nostrils spouted air to mock the doll in a victorious manner. Zhao Yao suddenly reached out and touched Fatty’s bald head and laughed, “Xu Ani lied to you, but I won’t lie to you. Why don’t you come and be my baby?”
Fatty froze and then fiercely slapped his tail on Zhao Yao’s face. He left a piece of cardboard paper and ran away. Zhao Yao picked up the cardboard and read its contents, “You wish!” She laughed and said, “Is Fatty shy?”
Chen Yang: “Maybe.” He laughed and leaned backwards, behind him was Du Shuo. Du Shuo looked at Chen Yang who was in his arms, with a smile in his eyes, he said, “Chief Wu Yi, lend me your peach wood sword.”
The peach wood sword was handed to him by Chief Wu. After Du Shuo received the sword, he threw it backwards without looking behind him. Someone behind him reacted quickly and ran towards the door nimbly. But the peach wood sword that Du Shuo threw out seemed to have eyes that were firmly fixed on the shoulder of the fleeing person.
Zhao Yao looked at this and exclaimed, “Zhao Gang?”
The one who escaped was none other than Zhao Gang. The peach wood sword pierced through his shoulder/clavicle and pinned him firmly to the wall. Zhao Gang’s wound was bleeding differently from a normal person, and he could not move at all. The peach wood sword exposed his original form. His face was pale, his lips were blue, and two sharp teeth almost penetrated his lower lip.
Zhao Gang tried to pull the sword out, but as soon as his hand touched the sword, his palm was immediately corroded. He looked down and found that the Fengdu Emperor’s heart seal had been marked onto the peach wood sword. Zhao Gang asked Du Shuo, “When did you recognize me? “
The old professor and Zhao Yao looked at each other and looked at Du Shuo at the same time. They didn’t know that Zhao Gang had any problem at all, he was normal. He wasn’t afraid of sunlight and didn’t suck blood, he was a normal human being.
“I’ve seen you before, Xu Ani.” A thousand years ago, Xu Ani created two lengthy periods of Cat Gu Atrocities, both immensely increasing Fengdu’s workload. At that time, Du Shuo met Xu Ani once in Fengdu. Later on, Fatty took on all of Xu Ani’s sins, which caused Fengdu’s judges to be unable to judge her for a while. Xu Ani took the opportunity to escape from Fengdu, causing the case to pile up and remain unsolved.
Before Du Shuo met Chen Yang, he was a shut-in, so he did not go to the Yang realm himself to catch ghosts. Now that he happened to meet Xu Ani, it’s time to settle the score once and for all.
Chen Yang looked at ‘Xu Ani’ and turned his head to ask Du Shuo, “Didn’t you say Xu Ani was a maid?”
The old professor looked at Zhao Gang, went over and pulled open his collar. He didn’t have an Adam’s apple, “It’s a girl.” He and Xu Ani locked eyes, “Where is Zhao Gang?” Zhao Gang and Zhao Yao were both his students and had been under his supervision for two years. He knew that Zhao Gang was not a person with evil intentions. The only possibility was that Xu Ani had followed them into the village by pretending to be Zhao Gang.
Xu Ani smiled, “Dead. I peeled off his skin and pretended to be him.”
The old professor, with calm eyes, turned back to Du Shuo and asked, “Mr. Du, do you think she is telling the truth?”
Du Shuo, “There is no blood stench.”
The old professor nodded and said to Xu Ani, “Hear that? Even monsters have strengths and weaknesses. Not all ghosts and monsters can peel off a skin and wear it to disguise as others. You are not a person with dexterity. So, back to you following us all the way into the village, what is your purpose?”
Xu Ani looked behind the old professor at Du Shuo then said lightly, “You can ask him, he knows everything.” Then she swept past all the ordinary people and Tianshis in the room, her eyes were fierce. She suddenly laughed, “He could save all of you and bring you all out, but he does nothing. He just sits back and looks at everyone who is in trouble. The hungry ghosts, ghost cocoons, and dried corpses in the village can all be easily solved by him, but he just wants to stand by and watch you fall into despair. Don’t believe me? He noticed who I am and still brought me in here. I’m a Jiangshi.”
Naturally, the Tianshis were not easily provoked by a few words, but the ordinary people might not be so firm. A few of them looked at Du Shuo with a wary look in their eyes. Chen Yang saw this and pulled Du Shuo, who was a head taller than him, behind him, “Xu Ani? You followed the professor because you needed to protect the professor. Secondly, you need someone to reveal the existence of Hungry Ghosts and the Ghost cocoons in the deserted village. As for the bus that got lost in the fog and entered the village, it was also your doing. Your purpose was to give sustenance to the Hungry Ghosts and Ghost cocoons. As for the other intruders -” he pointed to the three young people and said, “They are originally villagers living here to begin with.”
The three young men who were identified looked uncomfortable and slightly frightened, and took a few steps back. As for the other six people, they all looked angry when they heard that the fog that caused the bus to get lost was caused by Xu Ani. But when they looked at her scary face, they were all frightened.
Xu Ani tilted her head, “Most of your guesses are correct, but it’s too late. The incident in this village will definitely come to light. There are more people who would choose to believe in ghosts than in Gods, as long as they have seen ghosts…… ” After a short pause, she said with a grim face, “Chen Yang, what is your relationship with him?”
She pointed at Du Shuo. The latter walked up to her and pulled out the peach wood sword, only to violently stab it into her heart. Before Xu Ani lost consciousness, she heard Du Shuo say, “Husband and wife.”
Xu Ani suddenly laughed, “Chen Yang, do you know that your man has been lying to you?”
“I just found out who Du Shuo was recently, and your instigation is a bit too late.” Chen Yang explained in a whisper in Xu Ani’s ear. While she was in a state of confusion, Chen Yang threw a lit talisman at her. The fire quickly burnt up, turning Xu Ani’s body into ashes.
Zhao Yao suddenly rushed forward and said, “Wait, we still haven’t found out the whereabouts of Zhao Gang.”
“I am guessing once you leave the village and call Zhao Gang, you will hear his voice answering the phone.” Chen Yang stopped Zhao Yao.
Zhao Yao was relieved to hear this, but she was still surprised, “Is he really ‘Xu Ani’? No wonder I feel like he was more feminine than usual. When did she get in here?” She asked Du Shuo, “How did you see that she had a problem? Is she gone now?”
He did not want to answer, but Chen Yang was also waiting for his answer. “Brother Du?” Chen Xiao Yang’s curious and adoring gaze, Du Shuo was completely defenseless.
He said, “I’ve seen her, so I recognize her. The actual fact is, the village will definitely be mixed with the people of Wu Lingjiu. They will appear as a person, even if it is not Zhao Gang, it may also be others.”
Chief Wu Yi asked, “So Xu Ani is one of the leading people, and now she is dealt with?”
“No. She ran away.” Du Shuo continued calmly, “Xu Ani is a Jiangshi that is almost a FeiJiang, she has many means of escape.”
Chen Yang: “I will go after her.”
Du Shuo pulled him back, “No need for you to go. “
No need for him to go? That means someone else is going to chase after the escaped Xu Ani. Chen Yang subconsciously scanned the room and found that Fatty had already run away for some time. Xu Ani was a thousand-year-old Jiangshi, Fatty was also a thousand-year-old cat ghost. Moreover, Fatty was carrying the sins sentenced by Fengdu, and also has made merits, so he may be able to defeat the thousand-year-old Jiangshi.
“We can leave Xu Ani to that cat ghost, there are still hungry ghosts, dry corpses, and the well with fish curse here to deal with. You should solve these things first, Wu Lingjiu did not even come to this deserted village.” Du Shuo pushed Chen Yang forward and landed a kiss on his cheeks as he was not looking. Chen Yang quickly snapped his attention back and looked at others in the room.
Chief Wu Yi looked calm saying that they had already gossiped about the relationship between Bureau head Du and Chen Yang before they entered the village, so they were not surprised at all. Chen Yang said quietly, “You should pay more attention, the impact on children is not good.”
Du Shuo was very calm as he caught Chen Xiaoyang and landed a few more kisses. Chen Xiaoyang said with a red face, “Wu Lingjiu is not in this village, so we can ignore that for now. The Hungry Ghosts can just be sent back to hell, as for the dried corpses, we can just bury them. But the nameless burial plates in the ancestral hall and the fish in the well -” Chen Yang’s tone changed and he said with a cold face, “We need to ask you guys in detail!”
The three young men jumped, realizing that Chen Yang was pointing at them and said: “What does it have to do with us? We are not villagers, you do not have evidence so do not talk nonsense. The villagers moved away a long time ago and who knows where they are scattered to, so don’t talk nonsense.”
Chief Wu Yi and Liu Quanning turned their feet and blocked the way of the three young people trying to escape. One of the young men, seeing this, grabbed the child from the woman next to him and threatened, “Let us go! You wanted to kill us, you’ve been trying to kill us for a long time haven’t you? You hold a grudge because we poured fish soup into your water bottles! Come on, what’s wrong with what we’ve done? We just didn’t want to die. Ask them if they wanted you to be trapped in the village just like them! People are selfish, and I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The woman was robbed of her child and burst into tears. If not for the people beside her who held her back, it was expected that she would go and become a new hostage. Chen Yang’s hand behind his back took off the red rope and let the ancient copper coin on the red rope slide down to his palm, between his two fingers. He said: “I do not want to kill you, I am only asking you to reveal the secrets of the water burial in this village. If you have not done anything wrong, why are you so afraid?”
The young people shouted in a meltdown: “We said we have nothing to do with this village, we were just here for fun.”
Chen Yang said, “Oh, I saw a ghost cocoon in the woods near the village today, the corpse inside the cocoon was very fresh. It died less than two or three days ago. There were other ghost cocoons in the forest not older than one month? six months? a year? The village has been deserted for many years. How can there be ghost cocoons when no one lives here? The ghost cocoons are buried in tree burials which were the funeral rituals of this village. So the corpses in the ghost cocoons are all villagers from the village. These corpses are not completely decomposed and have special marks on them.”
The young man holding the baby was in a trance: “What, what mark?”
“The conch mark.” The young man froze, Chen Yang took the opportunity to throw an ancient coin and hit him right in the forehead. The young man’s hand was in pain and the baby fell down. Chief Wu quickly picked up the baby and put it back into the mothers’s arms. The other two young men tried to escape, but were restrained by Liu Quanning and Tianshi Zhong.
The three were tied up, and they begged for mercy and denied everything in fear. Chen Yang took off the clothes of one person, and the rest of them gasped and got goosebumps. The young man, who was half naked, had dense conch patterns covering his whole chest and back that formed a horrible picture. It looked really terrible like countless maps as big as a conch layering one above another on the young man’s body.
The other two young people also have these conch marks on their bodies and they had these for a long time. When they gave the fish soup to the other people, it was also a deliberate act. They cried, “We were just in too much pain and confused for a while. It’s true, these conch marks started growing on our bodies as soon as we passed our 15th birthday. They eat our flesh and blood until our white bones are revealed. We had to feed them the black fish from the well in the ancestral hall of the village. But the more we fed them, the more conch marks grew on our bodies. When they got hungry, they all woke up and ate us. The pain was really horrible, and we didn’t want it.”
Chen Yang, “Isn’t this all your own doing?”
At these words, one of the young men retorted with emotion, “It’s not us! It’s our ancestors! They are the ones who were cruel and took the wrong path. What does it have to do with us? Why should we pay for their cruelty? Our fathers are separate people from us, and we are us. If those things have retaliated against our fathers, why are they retaliating against us as well?”
Chen Yang said, “Since you are so different from your fathers, why did you lure outsiders in and push them to become new victims of a water burial? Why did you let so many people drink the fish soup?”
“What? What do you mean luring outsiders? We were wrong to give them the fish soup, but we don’t know anything else.”
Chen Yang said, “Yesterday, a corpse was placed in the coffin behind the ancestral hall altar. He was attacked by hungry ghosts and died. This morning I found that he was buried in water, he was dismembered and thrown into the well. I remember that he did not have conch marks on his body, he was not a villager.” After saying that, he turned back to Tianshi Zhong to confirm.
The man nodded in affirmation, “There were no conch marks, and they were the ones who suggested placing their companion in the coffin at the back of the ancestral hall. They claimed that the coffin and this ancestral hall were discovered by accident. Now it seems that they knew about it from the beginning.”
Only three of the eight young people who sneaked in have survived so far, except for the one who died in the shrine. The remaining four’s wherebouts were unknown. It is certain that one of the four did not have conch marks and was not a villager. They were persuaded to come into the village to explore, but in fact were lured in as a sacrifice to feed the black fish in the well.
The old professor took out his notebook recording the Ghost cocoon corpses and said, “Almost all the corpses that have not decomposed yet have conch marks on their bodies. Those corpses basically died within six months. The village has been deserted for a long time. So it is reasonable that there would not be so many dead bodies buried in trees unless you have a reason to come back, or a rule that you have to be buried in a tree in the deserted village after death. Most of the people who died in the ghost cocoon were very young, not more than 40 years old.”
Zhao Yao then said, “It’s like a curse, even if you move out of the village, you have to come back to continue the cycle. The well in the ancestral hall and the nameless burial tablets have a lot to do with this.”
Chen Yang said, “My guess is that there was a famine in this village back then, and the corpses were piling up in Ergui Ridge. Your ancestors somehow learned of an evil method. On the surface they were conducting water burials, but in fact they were using human flesh as sacrifice to the river god hoping to bless the village. Those who were buried by water were all foreigners, “man-made” accidental deaths, dismembered bodies, buried in the belly of the fish. In order to prevent these souls from going to Fengdu and complain about their deeds, your ancestors built an ancestral hall and set up nameless burial tablets to imprison those souls in there. The spirits could not take revenge and cannot be reincarnated. Day after day they became ghosts and curses by possessing the black fish in the well.”
The well in the ancestral hall has an underground stream that connects to a river in the village. The villagers drew water from the river and unknowingly drank the curse of the ghosts, and their descendants were all cursed with strange diseases.
The parents of the three young men died because of this. They did not want to be tortured to death by a strange disease, nor do they want to die young, so they came back to the village to find a way to lift the curse. The black fish were limited, they will sooner or later run out. So they continued to lure foreigners to raise the black fish.
Zhao Yao shuddered, rubbing her hands and stammering, “Are you still human? This is even scarier than those hungry ghosts out there. At least other hungry ghosts openly say they want to eat people. You can fight with them and if you lose, you can still be reincarnated. You guys are good. You lure people in only to kill and dismember them, then you throw them into the well to feed the fish. After that, their souls are trapped here forever, forcing people to become ghosts. You deserve to be cursed. You should be subjected to these curses for the rest of your lives, and you will not be freed for ten more lifetimes.”
The three young men looked ashamed, “We didn’t want to. If we had a choice, we wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“You had a choice, you were just selfish.” Chen Yang said indifferently. He had been reminded by Du Shuo that ‘karma circles around, retribution is inevitable’, and so it was. But the ghosts in the shrine needed to be released, otherwise people would still be killed. He got up and said to Chief Wu Yi and the others, “There is a new body in the coffin in the ancestral hall, so there should be another water burial tonight.”
Chief Wu Yi: “Who is holding the water burial?”
Chen Yang, “The villagers that are in the forest where the Ghost cocoons are. “
Chief Wu Yi replied, “I understand.”
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