Villainous Malevolent Ghost (9)
Song Xuyi has a habit of first conducting planning before doing things.
After deciding to take Bai Yu as family, Song Xuyi unconsciously started planning in her mind, only thinking about letting Bai Yu live more happily in the human world.
After all, this is the human world that Bai Yu once strived hard to protect, and thousands of years later, she more than anyone else should be qualified to enjoy this lively and prosperous world.
Therefore, Song Xuyi’s planning was detailed to every aspect of life, even including a future plan of going abroad once a year.
“Beyond the ocean, there are foreigners with high noses and deep-set eyes, their customs and traditions are very different from ours here, you probably haven’t seen them before…”
Song Xuyi’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Bai Yu, growing more and more excited: “Over there, customs in some aspects are slightly more open than domestically; we can appreciate different customs and even watch beauty pageants. Those young ladies’ swimsuit shows are very nice to see! Each one with exotic beauty and long legs…”
Song Xuyi’s appearance-control attribute flared up for a moment and she couldn’t help but speak, but after speaking, she remembered that in front of her was a gentle and reserved ancient person, causing her to blink guiltily and change the topic: “In short, you can just rest assured and follow behind me. I will strive to help you integrate into this society and make sure you live very happily…”
Bai Yu always listened with a smile to Song Xuyi’s words. She actually wanted to tell Song Xuyi that when she was fifteen years old in her previous life, during her first spiritual communication, she connected with heaven and earth, her consciousness swept across many places, and she had already seen foreigners with high noses and deep-set eyes. That was her first realization of the vastness of the universe’s lands and the mystery of the world… At that time, she wasn’t interested in overseas people and matters, only thinking about improving her own cultivation and protecting her own country.
However, she didn’t know why, but listening to Song Xuyi’s descriptions of these sceneries made the originally dull and tasteless overseas world suddenly become vivid to her.
But Bai Yu only smiled and responded with a “Mm.”
As a cultivator, Bai Yu understood better than anyone the principle of the mind moving with intention: the scenery of the overseas world actually has never changed; what changes is one’s own state of mind, as she was influenced by Xuyi’s expectations. Because being with Xuyi, even the most ordinary scenery becomes radiant.
The influence Xuyi had on her seemed to be even deeper than she had imagined.
But…
Bai Yu thought for a moment and secretly made a resolution—since Xuyi now considers her to be an ancient person who knows nothing, she will continue this kind of ignorance: in short, beauty pageants and the like… she is absolutely determined not to go along with Xuyi’s inclination to watch them!
The group bought tickets for their return trip on the morning of the fourth day.
Due to the episode with Huang Feng, the second day’s itinerary was considered wasted. On the third day, everyone wanted to relax their tense nerves a bit, so they went to the most famous amusement park in the nearby city to have fun.
The amusement park in the nearby city boasts the existence of the “most thrilling haunted house on the entire continent.”
In this country that believes in metaphysics, the existence of a haunted house naturally has the potential to offend certain spirits. To ensure the safety of tourists, the entire haunted house is guarded by a formation set by a highly skilled person, and they even spent a high price to place a metaphysics master’s relic in the center of the haunted house for protection.
In recent years, the haunted house, with its eerie scenes, lifelike props, and intricate secret passages, has indeed attracted countless tourists. However, in recent years, many similar haunted houses have been built in various places, leading to a significant reduction in tourists at the amusement park in the nearby city for a time.
Song Xuyi and the group happened to arrive coincidentally and encountered the haunted house reopening event. To promote the reputation of the newly reopened haunted house, the amusement park teamed up with the local TV station to hold a seven-day event. The haunted house increased the challenge difficulty for challengers — each time ten people enter, and as long as they successfully come out of the renovated haunted house within one hour, they will receive a gift from the organizers.
Logically, with more people, the strength should be greater, and coming out of the haunted house should not be difficult. However, six days passed, and those who could get the gift were few and far between, even a self-proclaimed celestial master with some real skills, a small internet celebrity, returned defeated.
Online, simultaneously, revelations about this haunted house began to spread. According to those tourists who did not come out within one hour, when they reached a certain place, they suddenly felt a chill down their backs, and the passage before them suddenly seemed infinitely long, as if they were dizzy and couldn’t find their direction, unconsciously dispersing from the group. After leaving the haunted house, they felt extremely tired…
The amusement park officials timely released scientific explanations, stating that this was all due to adjusted lighting, causing visual illusions for tourists, with no harm to their bodies. They also broadcasted videos of tourists inside the haunted house. The videos showed that at certain dimly lit forks in the road, tourists indeed wandered off on their own.
Therefore, even though it had not been long since reopening, due to the online buzz, the haunted house in Lincheng once again gained fame. Many people said they would take advantage of weekend holidays to come and play.
Song Xuyi originally did not plan to participate in such activities, but the rest of the group was somewhat eager to try. They came on a working day when there were not many tourists. The TV station’s reporters, seeing this team of youthful and beautiful young people, naturally did not want to let them go. Under the reporters’ enthusiastic invitation, the group finally joined in and, along with another team of a family of three, formed a group to walk into the haunted house.
Song Xuyi did not want to ruin everyone’s interest, yet felt inexplicably uneasy, probably due to psychological reasons, always feeling that there was something unpleasant inside the haunted house. Before entering the haunted house, Song Xuyi used the excuse of going to the restroom to call Bai Yu out—
“Celestial Master Bai Yu, the ghosts in the haunted house are not real; they are all impersonated by people hired by the haunted house owner to achieve an entertainment effect…” Bai Yu, being an ancient person, was someone Song Xuyi was somewhat worried might misunderstand the existence of the haunted house, so she explained first to Bai Yu.
Bai Yu indeed encountered a haunted house as such ‘entertainment’ for the first time. In her era, evil spirits caused countless killings, and celestial masters suffered countless deaths and injuries to make the evil spirits retreat. Everyone avoided evil spirits, fearing them greatly, and mentioning them changed their complexion, let alone pretending to be evil spirits for entertainment.
Only in a completely peaceful world would people dare to use evil spirits for amusement!
Bai Yu sighed in her heart. According to her original nature, she felt she should be comforted, as this world had become the peaceful world she once dreamed of. However, in her heart, there seemed to be a voice sharply and coldly laughing—
What was that voice laughing at?
Faintly, Bai Yu discovered that her emotions seemed somewhat off: once she got near this haunted house, she felt extremely irritable. She had died many years ago, and logically, she should not have a heartbeat. However, walking beside this haunted house, Bai Yu found that something seemed to be burning hotly in her heart—
In her mind, some sudden fragmented images flashed, sharp and piercing.
Bai Yu knew her memory was gradually awakening. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t dare to let Song Xuyi know about this matter, so she slightly lowered her eyes, maintaining her usual obedient appearance: “I understand, I will not come out casually.”
Looking at Bai Yu’s obedient and gentle appearance, Song Xuyi was reassured and returned to the group.
The group took the haunted house map, boarded a boat-like machine, and waited for the staff to start it and reach the underground haunted house maze.
Xia Tian had a talkative nature and inquired about the family of three they teamed up with. She learned that today was the fifteenth birthday of this family’s daughter. The girl, wanting to prove her bravery, had always wished to visit this amusement park. However, there is an age restriction for entering the haunted house, requiring participants to be fifteen years or older, so the girl’s family chose today to come.
“Today, sister will definitely help you win a gift!” Xia Tian teased the little girl, confidently boasting.
While waiting for the machine to start, Song Xuyi carefully examined the map, which was drawn on old parchment, depicting the entire layout of the haunted house and a brief plot summary. In the upper right corner of the map, there was a drawing of an old dagger, with the handle carved into a crooked six-pointed star. The entire plot of the haunted house revolves around this dagger—
Song Xuyi stared at the dagger for a while and slightly frowned. She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she always felt as if she had seen this dagger somewhere before.
“Hundreds of years ago, a great artisan set up a complex maze in his tomb, and only by finding the dagger that guides the exit could one leave the maze. One day, a tour group accidentally entered the underground maze…”
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Accompanied by the mechanical electronic sound, the game began, and the machine sank into the ground. Song Xuyi listened to the whooshing wind on both sides, her heart tightening, and she couldn’t help but hold onto the safety handrails on both sides. She didn’t know why, but it felt as if there was an invisible string pulling, causing inexplicable pain in her heart area.
Not long after, the machine stopped, and the group arrived at an unfamiliar place.
This was the newly renovated entrance to the maze. The air was still filled with the undissipated smell of paint, yet upon careful sniffing, Song Xuyi always felt that the wind carried a familiar smell, as if something was rotting.
The curse stone bead on Song Xuyi’s wrist became extremely hot at that moment.
Song Xuyi’s footsteps paused, and she pursed her lips. She hadn’t expected that after just instructing Bai Yu, she would be contradicted:
These familiar situations only indicated one possibility—that this underground maze truly harbored evil spirits.
However, in the maze ahead, what was most lacking were ‘ghosts.’ In the eerie, terrifying environment, no one knew where the evil spirits might be hiding in which corner. Moreover, the others had already stealthily walked into the maze…
Song Xuyi couldn’t think of a reason to tell the group to leave this place, and even if she suggested it, everyone probably wouldn’t believe her and would just think she was timid… Countless thoughts flashed through her mind for a moment, and Song Xuyi finally sighed gently, lightened her steps, and followed them.
Probably… this time, she would again owe Bai Yu a favor.
In the dim light, there were eerie skulls and terrifying strange sounds everywhere. The sides were decorated with lifelike moss and vines, and occasionally, ‘ghosts’ with disheveled hair wandered around. Once anyone in the group stepped on a mechanism or made a noise, these ‘ghosts’ would come to chase the tourists.
Everyone had already read the rules and naturally was careful not to touch anything. However, when they walked to a certain dim corridor and were about to choose a fork, the wall suddenly extended two lifelike withered claws!
One claw extended from the lower wall and ‘bang’ grabbed Song Xuyi’s ankle. Song Xuyi, always on guard against the underground evil spirits, was startled and quickly covered her mouth to avoid screaming. Unfortunately, the other withered claw grabbed the shoulder of the birthday girl—
The fifteen-year-old girl, who pretended to be brave but had never seen such a scene, had been suppressing her fear since entering. When caught by the prop, she completely lost it and immediately screamed loudly.
And this scream indeed attracted the wandering ‘ghosts’!
In haste, Song Xuyi only had time to remove the withered claw from the trembling girl’s shoulder before the ‘ghosts’ from behind chased over. Thirty to forty ‘ghosts’ chased vigorously, and Song Xuyi, unconsciously caught up in the atmosphere, desperately ran forward—
After the five-minute ‘ghost’ chase time passed, Song Xuyi, panting heavily, stopped and found only four people left beside her: Bai Jin, Xia Tian, and the little girl. The others had run off somewhere unknown…
This is the psychological warfare of this haunted house: when there are many people, they naturally won’t be afraid, but once they disperse, fear will exponentially increase, and the decisions made will naturally not be as rational.
The little girl had already curled up in the corner crying, also afraid of attracting ‘ghosts,’ and cried in an extremely suppressed manner, looking very pitiful.
None of the group had experience comforting a little girl, so they could only look at each other in dismay. Finally, Xia Tian reluctantly spoke: “Sister, do you want to continue with us? Otherwise, we can press the emergency button and let the staff take you out?”
“No!” The little girl, however, shook her head with tears in her eyes: “I promised dad and mom to walk out by myself!”
She stood up again, particularly relying on Song Xuyi, who had helped her remove the withered claw before, holding onto Song Xuyi’s clothes, and followed behind her.
At this time, after running chaotically, the maze’s scenes appeared similar everywhere, and the group did not know where they had run to. Bai Jin compared directions and decided to go inward, but Song Xuyi’s eyebrows furrowed even tighter at that moment: the rotten smell in the air seemed to be getting stronger.
Time was pressing, and the group couldn’t afford to hesitate, so they grabbed a path and moved outward, quickly reaching a crossroads.
The light at this intersection was extremely dim and distorted, causing headaches if looked at for too long. The intersection was decorated with many vines, with several skulls strung on them, seemingly for realism. The originally flat road had also become somewhat uneven, with many protruding roots growing from the ground.
The already panicked little girl tripped on these protruding roots and, during her fall, instinctively tried to grab the vines on both sides. However, those vines were unstable decorations, and the little girl still fell, even ‘crashing’ down a patch of vines…
“Bang,” something fell on the ground.
Song Xuyi looked at the infrared surveillance that fell down with the vines pulled down by the little girl, squinted her eyes, and quickly pulled a few people to step back a few steps—
And almost at that moment, a strange sound echoed around.
It sounded like the wind, yet also like something crawling and wriggling underground, rustling from all directions.
“Xuyi—” the system in her mind sensed something wrong and anxiously spoke out.
Song Xuyi’s vision gradually blurred, her head dizzy for a moment, and she couldn’t help but step forward two steps. The curse stone on her wrist became scorching hot at that moment, and Song Xuyi instantly sobered up!
“Xia Tian!”
“Bai Jin!”
Song Xuyi widened her eyes, watching as Xia Tian and Bai Jin, with dazed expressions, walked toward another direction—
Behind Song Xuyi, the once empty passage was somehow already overgrown with vines. Those vines twisted and coiled, densely filling the entire space and extending to unknown places. The foul stench almost filled the entire space. Song Xuyi didn’t know why, but the pain in her heart was growing stronger, and she couldn’t help but cover her chest.
The little girl who had always held onto Song Xuyi’s clothes also stood up, her eyes hollow, stumbling toward the cave—
Song Xuyi grabbed the little girl’s hand.
The originally frightened little girl suddenly became incredibly strong, and Song Xuyi simply couldn’t hold her. She was even dragged forward two steps by the little girl.
A vine quietly crawled up from the ground, tightly wrapping around Song Xuyi’s leg, even trying to climb further up—
Song Xuyi’s face flushed red as she struggled desperately, gripping the curse stone on her wrist tightly.
—At that instant.
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The sound of the wind and the eerie music instantly disappeared, and the entire outside of the cave seemed to be covered by an invisible shield. In front of Song Xuyi appeared a pair of white embroidered shoes with pearls hanging on the tips.
The vine entangled around Song Xuyi let out a scream and silently turned into black ash. Song Xuyi couldn’t help but look up at Bai Yu in the air.
In mid-air, countless vines twisted to attack Bai Yu. The white clothes on Bai Yu moved without wind, and her black hair flew, accompanied by complex hand seals. The vines gradually became charred black, twisting angrily in the air like ferocious giant pythons.
Although it looked like our side had the upper hand, Song Xuyi felt extremely worried. Bai Yu in the air had one hand covering her chest, and her face was extremely pale.
The pain I felt was transmitted from Bai Yu, right?
With such intense pain felt through our symbiotic connection, Bai Yu must be feeling even worse at this moment.
Even with a pale face, Bai Yu remained gracefully captivating. Her eyes appeared even more strikingly dark, and her eyebrows were tightly furrowed. Golden light swords continuously overflowed from her side, piercing into the vines one by one until the vines completely disappeared bit by bit.
“Is it over?” Song Xuyi frowned, smelling the burnt odor in the air. Probably because the battle had just ended, she always felt that the surrounding still had that kind of rotten smell.
Bai Yu lightly floated down to the ground.
Song Xuyi breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the side, just about to ask Bai Yu why there was a sudden heart pain. Suddenly, a much more intense pain than before radiated from her heart area. Song Xuyi gasped, covering her chest, and Bai Yu, even more affected, covered her chest and squatted on the ground, fiercely biting her lower lip—
What on earth is going on?
Song Xuyi worriedly embraced Bai Yu, only to find that Bai Yu’s body was as cold as a piece of ice, and her lower lip had already turned a bluish-purple color.
Remembering that Yang energy could heal Bai Yu, Song Xuyi immediately bit her own index finger and brought it to Bai Yu’s lips—
Song Xuyi, focused on wanting to heal Bai Yu, did not notice that the little girl with dazed eyes had already turned around, with a touch of crimson in her eyes, her gaze becoming strange and clear.
As she looked at Song Xuyi and Bai Yu, a thoughtful look flashed in the little girl’s eyes. Suddenly, a sinister smile appeared on her lips, and behind her, with lightning speed, two vines suddenly grew—
The vines directly aimed to stab down at Song Xuyi’s heart position!
Song Xuyi only heard a sound like a whip swishing through the air, immediately followed by a pair of hands embracing her shoulders and pressing her to the ground, her lips touching something soft—
Song Xuyi widened her eyes!
Is Bai Yu craving Yang energy to the point of losing her sanity again?
However, Song Xuyi immediately noticed something was wrong—
“Pu,” two sounds, were the sounds of something piercing into flesh.
Bai Yu groaned, her dark eyes squinting as she bit her lips tightly.
With unknown strength, Bai Yu laboriously turned around, grabbed the escaping vine and squeezed it hard. With a sharp scream almost piercing the eardrum, after clearly seeing the situation in a corner of the wall, Bai Yu’s eyes narrowed, and she seemed to lose strength and fainted…
Song Xuyi felt her hands full of blood.
The blood of a guardian is not the same as human blood. Bai Yu’s blood is silvery in color, and it gurgled through Song Xuyi’s fingertips, disappearing into the air, like Bai Yu’s gradually fading vitality.
Strangely, even though Bai Yu’s spirit body was pierced by the vine, Song Xuyi did not feel any pain.
She recalled the information about symbiosis she had found: the two in symbiosis share a soul-bound relationship, and only harm that touches the soul will transfer from Bai Yu to Song Xuyi.
But, for no apparent reason, how could Bai Yu’s soul suddenly suffer such a serious injury?
However, this was not the time to think about it: Bai Yu’s face was extremely pale, and those fair and slender fingers had already started to become faintly visible like when first seen…
Song Xuyi hurriedly placed her bleeding finger to Bai Yu’s lips, but the unconscious Bai Yu did not react.
Has she already lost the strength to actively absorb Yang energy?
Song Xuyi’s heart grew increasingly anxious: because Bai Yu was seriously injured, the barrier she had set up also started to crack, and outside, strange cries were continuously coming. At any moment, someone might discover the damaged surveillance and come over—
“In urgent situations, use discretion; just consider it artificial respiration!”
Song Xuyi bit her lower lip, looking at Bai Yu’s pale and quiet face, trying hard to overcome the shame in her heart, and slowly bent down—
Bai Yu felt herself returning once again to an extremely cold place, her body bound with countless shackles, and everywhere hurt. The most painful was the area around her heart, which seemed to be continuously bleeding, like the pain of needle pricks.
She didn’t know when, but a warm stream slowly flowed into her body, and the pain gradually eased…
Bai Yu opened her eyes.
When she woke up, the first thing she saw was Song Xuyi’s flushed face very close to her—
Bai Yu blinked, feeling the strength filling her body, and instantly understood everything. She knew that according to the rules of propriety, she should take the initiative to speak. However, Bai Yu didn’t know what was wrong with her; she greedily just wanted to feel the breath of Song Xuyi between her lips and teeth, so she remained silent…
But Song Xuyi quickly noticed Bai Yu’s open eyes, hurriedly sat up, and was just about to speak when Bai Yu grabbed her hand.
With a complex gaze, Bai Yu bent down, her lips gently brushing over Song Xuyi’s fingertips, until the wound on Song Xuyi’s fingertips disappeared. Only then did Bai Yu slowly raise her eyes.
Facing Bai Yu’s dark eyes, Song Xuyi bit her lower lip and couldn’t help but turn her face away—again! It was that tingling feeling in her heart again.
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Bai Yu did not notice Song Xuyi’s awkwardness: she waved her hand and set up another barrier, then cast her gaze toward the corner of the wall.
“It’s a twin vine!” Bai Yu softly spoke, looking at the burnt plant in the corner.
Song Xuyi blinked, recalling the legends of this world about the twin vine: the twin vine has the ability to regenerate; when one vine dies, another immediately grows. It is an extremely difficult-to-deal-with evil spirit, very hard to recognize, and it always grows only beside great evil things.
Why would a twin vine appear here?
Seemingly knowing what Song Xuyi was thinking, Bai Yu approached the burnt plant and discovered a small secret door behind it.
Bai Yu pushed open the secret door, and Song Xuyi saw an ancient dagger inside a brocade box.
When she had seen the picture, it felt familiar, and now seeing the actual object, a voice suddenly appeared in Song Xuyi’s mind—”Elder sister, I made this myself, a gift for your birthday.”
In Song Xuyi’s dream, this was something Bai Yu’s younger brother gave to Bai Yu, which Bai Yu always treasured and often carried by her side.
Obviously, Bai Yu also remembered this memory; she pursed her lips and picked up the dagger—
And almost at the instant Bai Yu’s hand touched the dagger, a memory suddenly flashed in Song Xuyi’s mind:
—A snow-white dagger with a hexagram engraved on the handle, facing Bai Yu’s incredulous eyes, directly stabbed into Bai Yu’s heart!
Bai Yu died under this dagger!
The author has something to say:
(●—●) Dabai is about to awaken, hehe~
LP: Re-translated on September 20, 2024