Soul Returns Home

"Madam Liu, listen to your auntie's advice. Li Guanqi isn't coming back! You shouldn't be so stubborn."

"Sigh, our Li family just isn't cut out for officialdom! Look, even the name Guanqi is taboo!"

"Exactly! Li Dashuan isn't bad. He's a bit old, but he has land and a house. If you marry him, you won't have to worry about food or drink. Isn't that better than being looked down upon like you are now?"

"You're so right! A widow's gate attracts gossip. With Guanqi gone, those ruffians will only get bolder!"

Inside the Li family stronghold, a group of women surrounded Madam Liu, urging her relentlessly.

Outside the courtyard, a few timid women lingered, watching the spectacle and whispering amongst themselves.

With every opening and closing of their mouths, they seemed to shatter countless reputations.

Madam Liu kept her head down, silent from beginning to end.

She was waiting, waiting for news from her husband.

She hadn't gone to the execution ground, partly out of fear, and partly to protect her husband's last remaining family assets.

Though naturally slow-witted, she knew that if she left the house, the Li clan would surely seize her husband's property and leave nothing behind.

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you ignoring us, Madam Liu? We're kindly trying to arrange a marriage for you, and you're not even grateful?"

"That's right! Do you really think we're eager to find you a husband? If it weren't for Li Guanqi, who would bother arranging a marriage for you?"

Madam Liu's silence finally enraged the match-making women.

Their sharp tongues lashed out, scolding her fiercely.

"Let me be blunt now: if you don't marry Li Dashuan, then get out and go back to your parents' home!"

"You miserable wretch without a man! After so many years, our Li family finally produced a scholar, and you're the one who jinxed him to death!"

"Bitch! Are you some kind of seductive fox spirit who's taken human form?"

Several Li clan women pointed at Madam Liu and cursed her venomously.

Facing their sharp and cruel words, Madam Liu still kept her head down, remaining silent.

The women cursed for a long time, but their anger found no release. They gnashed their teeth in frustration, yet were helpless.

"Fine, fine, fine! You're waiting for news about Li Guanqi, right? When they bring his head, let's see how you'll find someone to prepare your dead husband's body for proper burial!"

Another woman spat a venomous curse.

"If I can't afford one, I'll sew it myself!"

Madam Liu, who had been silent until now, finally looked up and retorted stubbornly.

"Ooh, you've finally decided to open that golden mouth of yours. I thought you were mute!"

The woman, seeing this, became happy instead of angry. Ah, it's not that she's afraid of you scolding, but afraid of you playing dead and staying silent.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you crying? Who are you crying for?"

The woman suddenly frowned.

Madam Liu, who had just retorted, suddenly had red eyes, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Husband—"

Madam Liu looked at the figure standing at the courtyard entrance. All her pent-up grievances could no longer be contained, and she burst into wails.

"H-husband?"

The match-making women turned back in alarm and saw a familiar young man standing at the entrance of the small courtyard.

"Li, Li Guanqi?!"

The women were terrified and in a panic. Filled with both shame and fear, they dared not remain in the courtyard any longer.

They fled the small courtyard in disarray.

"Didn't Li Guanqi get beheaded? Why is he back?"

"Could it be... His Majesty the Emperor issued a general amnesty?"

The women ran all the way to the open ground of the stronghold, panting. Amidst their gasps, they speculated with great uncertainty.

While they were still in shock, they saw a group of young men pouring in from the main gate of the stronghold.

Some were sighing endlessly;

Others were flushed with excitement.

Even some of the local ruffians couldn't wait to shout.

"Li Guanqi is dead! The county magistrate is dead too!"

"W-what did you say? Li Guanqi is dead?"

The match-making women turned pale upon hearing this.

"No way! I saw it with my own eyes. The executioner raised the executioner's blade and swung it down. Blood splattered far away, and Li Guanqi's head flew off... You won't believe it, but when Li Guanqi was beheaded, the county magistrate suddenly went mad. He grabbed Li Guanqi's head and tried to put it on his own neck. When he couldn't, he just ripped his own head off... Auntie? Auntie?"

The ruffian spoke animatedly, gesturing wildly as he described the scene.

However, as he spoke, his expression suddenly became hesitant and horrified, and he shouted.

The woman's increasingly fearful and contorted face sent an inexplicable, bone-chilling cold through him, making his blood run cold.

It was an expression more terrifying than beheading.

"Li Guanqi is dead? Then what am I seeing? Ah—Li Guanqi, don't come looking for me, it was Li Dashuan's idea! It was all his idea—"

The woman suddenly screamed, desperately hitting and pushing everything in front of her, and ran madly towards her home.

Leaving a group of young men looking at each other in bewilderment.

"What happened?"

They looked at the remaining, pale-faced matchmaker women.

"Li Guanqi... just went home!"

"What?"

"We... we just saw him with our own eyes!"

The funeral procession, with its music and fanfare, passed by the waist-high local shrine, scattering paper money that whitened the ground.

The weather was uncooperative, with heavy, dark clouds pressing down on the village, making it hard to breathe.

The Old Earth God, rarely appearing in daylight, bowed with a face full of fear. "This humble one did not recognize the true face of the immortal, and hopes the immortal will not be offended!"

Before the Old Earth God stood two figures.

Both were very young.

The one in front had peculiar, monk-like short hair and wore a patchwork outfit that resembled a beggar's robe, yet it had a certain dashing quality.

Behind him was the main character of the funeral procession—Li Guanqi.

At this moment, he looked at the funeral procession with a dazed expression, clearly not yet recovered from the shock of dying and becoming a ghost.

"It's nothing!"

Mo Chuan waved his hand. "Rather, I have a matter that I hope the Earth Lord can agree to."

"May I ask what matter the immortal is referring to?" the Old Earth God asked tentatively, not daring to speak too definitively.

"It concerns Li Guanqi..."

As soon as Mo Chuan brought it up, the Old Earth God's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that he wants me to take Li Guanqi in?

He had enjoyed the mountain village's incense offerings for over a hundred years, but his cultivation was only half a century. The fundamental reasons were: first, a lack of cultivation methods;

Second, the mountain village was too small, and the incense offerings were sparse.

Therefore, he was reluctant to share his incense offerings with anyone.

He wouldn't even agree to it for his own kin.

As expected, Mo Chuan's next words made his heart sink.

"...Humans and ghosts walk different paths. Since Li Guanqi is now a ghost, it's not good for him to disturb his wife. Considering he is a member of the Li clan and once offered you incense, how about taking him in as a junior to serve you?"

As he spoke, Mo Chuan raised his hand, and a stack of Ghost Subduing Talismans appeared in his palm.

"Please accept these few talismans, Earth Lord."

"Immortal, you mustn't. Li Guanqi is already my descendant; it is only right that I look after him."

The Old Earth God quickly waved his hands, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the Ghost Subduing Talismans.

"Then I'll trouble you to take care of him!"

Mo Chuan said, but he still pushed the Ghost Subduing Talismans over. Then, he looked at the dazed Li Guanqi and said:

"Mr. Li, from now on, you will stay here. Besides serving the Earth Lord, you can also look after Madam Liu."

No matter how dazed Li Guanqi was, he knew he owed his return to Mo Chuan's rescue. He quickly knelt and bowed, "Guanqi will remember his benefactor's words!"

After he spoke, there was no response for a long time. He looked up and saw that his benefactor had already vanished without a trace.

The Old Earth God looked astonished, thinking to himself:

"He can come and go as he pleases. What kind of immortal dao technique is this?"