Home Spirit

The Great Hero!

Lu Chunying poked her head out again and stared at Li Banfeng for a long while, feeling that this young man before her was especially towering and heroic.

"Benefactor, take care of yourself!" Xiao Yeci turned and hugged Lu Chunying, swiftly leaving the backyard and heading for the front gate.

Dealing with a Home Spirit inside a House Cultivator's home?

This man was out of his mind!

Xiao Yeci led her daughter, Lu Chunying, out of the backyard. When they reached the front gate, Xiao Yeci turned back for a look and could not help sighing.

Lu Chunying said with a hint of mockery, "Stop looking. You're not pretty enough. The Great Hero isn't interested in you!"

Xiao Yeci frowned. "Don't talk nonsense. Have you no sense of propriety?"

Lu Chunying snorted coldly. "What do you mean, no sense of propriety? Do you really think you're my mother? Once I see the Lu Family, I'll tell them the whole truth!"

Xiao Yeci gritted her teeth. "You dare? If you dare say it, we'll starve together, sleep on the streets together, and get sold into a brothel together. We'll see who ends up crying then!"

Lu Chunying frowned. "If you want to pretend to be my mother, then change that verbal tic of yours. My mother never said 'you know' this and 'you know' that."

"What verbal tic do I have? I'm telling you, don't talk nonsense!"

As they spoke, the two left the residence and entered a patch of woods.

Lu Chunying lightly tugged Xiao Yeci and asked in a low voice, "I remember this was a village when we came here. How did it turn into a forest?"

Rustle~ Rustle~ Whoosh~

Chilling gusts blew one after another, setting the branches and leaves swaying and rattling through the forest.

Xiao Yeci grew nervous as well and hugged Lu Chunying close. "Something's wrong. Let's go back inside the residence first!"

The moment the mother and daughter turned around, the residence that had stood there moments ago had vanished.

All around them was a forest stretching as far as the eye could see.

"Where are we?" Lu Chunying clutched Xiao Yeci's arm tightly.

Xiao Yeci looked around, her expression calm. "This should be the Home Spirit's doing. We may still be inside the residence and unable to leave for the time being."

"Then what do we do?" Lu Chunying gripped her even tighter.

"Don't worry. I'll reason with him first. No matter where he came from, as long as I make the logic clear, he ought to let us go!"

Xiao Yeci looked resolute. Standing behind her, Lu Chunying felt more than half her fear fade away.

Xiao Yeci began reasoning with the Home Spirit. "Friend, I don't know where you came from, but the owner of this residence is already dead. You should think about where you ought to go next.

"The owner of this residence committed far too many deeds that outraged Heaven and violated reason. You were her accomplice. If the judges catch you and send you to the Netherworld, you'll be punished as well!

"I've read about it in books. I've seen the Judgment Book of the Punishment Department, and I've seen every manner of torture device in the underworld. I've seen the suffering endured by the ghosts there.

"Before, you could count as having been coerced by her, with all your actions beyond your control. But now that she is dead, why are you still doing such deeds that outrage Heaven and violate reason?

"Friend, let the two of us go. You'll erase one measure of sin and save up one measure of merit. Why not do it?"

Whoosh~

The chilling wind gradually subsided, and the branches and leaves in the forest no longer thrashed about so wildly.

Xiao Yeci's attempt at communication seemed to have worked.

The journey had indeed been fraught with danger. This "mother" who was not really her mother had shared grievances, arguments, and no small number of estrangements with Lu Chunying.

Yet whenever danger struck, Xiao Yeci had always stood before Lu Chunying without the slightest hesitation. Lu Chunying believed she was the most dependable person in the world.

"Come, follow Mommy!" Guided by instinct, Xiao Yeci walked straight ahead, with Lu Chunying close at her side.

After only two steps, a willow branch lashed out with lightning speed, striking Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying across the face with a sharp smack.

Xiao Yeci covered her face and bit down, refusing to cry.

Lu Chunying was young and could not hold it in. Her tears fell.

Xiao Yeci took out a handkerchief and wiped the bloody mark from Lu Chunying's face. Heart aching, she said, "NanNan, don't cry. I didn't judge the direction right just now. We should go left. Come! Stay close to Mommy!"

Each of them bore a bloody mark on her face as they turned left through the woods against the night wind.

After walking more than ten meters, another willow branch struck, again landing on both their faces.

Xiao Yeci shed tears, while Lu Chunying began crying aloud.

Now there was no longer one bloody mark on each of their faces, but two.

The two bloody marks formed an ×.

"Mommy may have gotten it wrong. Let's go right instead. Come! Stay close to Mommy!" Xiao Yeci firmly grabbed Lu Chunying's hand.

"Mom, you should go first. I'll just follow behind you." Lu Chunying shook off Xiao Yeci's hand.

She took back what she had thought earlier.

Xiao Yeci was not dependable at all.

Li Banfeng entered the Old Woman's room and examined every furnishing inside.

A bed, a table, two chairs, and a wardrobe.

The furnishings were simple. Li Banfeng inspected each item one by one, guessing which one might be the Home Spirit.

There was an Old Grandfather Clock on the table. It had not a trace of spirituality to it, so it clearly was not the Home Spirit.

Beside the Old Grandfather Clock sat a teapot that looked rather spiritual. Could it be the Home Spirit?

Beside the teapot was a Sewing Kit. The balls of thread were arranged neatly, and the needles stuck into them were neat as well. It looked very much like something with the temperament of a Home Spirit.

Beside the Sewing Kit was also a Rolling Pin. The flour smeared over it was spread very evenly, and it, too, showed traces of spirituality!

Which one was the Home Spirit?

Li Banfeng felt deeply conflicted.

I'm a House Cultivator. There must be some mutual sense between me and a Home Spirit.

Ding!

The Old Grandfather Clock chimed once.

Li Banfeng checked the clock face. It was half past nine.

With this kind of traditional Old Grandfather Clock, it chimed once at every half hour and chimed the corresponding number of times on the hour.

For example, at nine o'clock, it would go ding nine times.

At half past nine, it would only go ding! once.

That chime had interrupted Li Banfeng's train of thought as he searched for the Home Spirit, leaving him quite displeased.

He glared at the Old Grandfather Clock and continued examining the other objects in the room.

In the end, his gaze settled on a Feather Duster. He felt that this Feather Duster possessed the greatest spirituality.

First, its colors were rather vivid. Second, its feathers were quite smooth.

Li Banfeng picked up the Feather Duster, intending to use a House Cultivator's talent to have a deeper exchange with it, when the Old Grandfather Clock suddenly went ding, ding, ding... ten times in a row, each chime thunderously loud and completely drawing Li Banfeng's attention.

Ten chimes?

Li Banfeng looked at the clock face. The hour hand and minute hand pointed to ten o'clock.

It had just been half past nine, yet in the blink of an eye, it had become ten?

Could it be...

This Old Grandfather Clock was broken?

Li Banfeng had just been thinking that his Portable Abode lacked a timekeeping device and wondering whether he should move this Old Grandfather Clock over.

Judging by this, the clock was no good.

Li Banfeng communicated with the Feather Duster for a while and discovered that it gave no response.

Beside the Feather Duster sat an iron mooncake tin. Its paint had peeled badly, showing its age, but it was spotless and exceptionally clean.

Home Spirits liked cleanliness. Could it be inside this tin?

Li Banfeng forcefully pried open the lid and found nothing inside but a stack of old newspapers, yellowed with age and seemingly ready to crumble apart at any moment.

A Home Spirit could not possibly dwell in newspapers, could it?

Li Banfeng picked up one newspaper. Before he could open it, he truly felt something this time.

He felt the words on the newspaper touching him.

The tiny print, as small as fly heads, seemed to turn into little worms trying to burrow into Li Banfeng's fingertips.

It really is in the newspapers?

Click. Click.

The pendulum's ticking grew clearer and clearer, every sound tugging directly at his heartstrings.

Li Banfeng put down the newspaper and looked at the golden pendulum. Against the candlelight, the pendulum reflected faint images.

At first, the images were blurry, but after a while, they gradually became clear.

Li Banfeng seemed to see an old film with a dim yellow backdrop playing on the pendulum.

A beautiful woman in a qipao was drawing her brows before a mirror.

A man appeared behind her, took the eyebrow pencil from her hand, and gently traced her brows stroke by stroke.

After drawing her brows, he painted her lips.

After painting her lips, he bit her lips.

After biting her lips, there was something else he could bite.

The two faced each other and bit each other for a long while before the man moved behind the woman.

The pendulum swung click-clack, its sound growing ringing and crisp.

The man had originally held the woman's shoulders. Amid the collision, his left arm looped around her neck, while his right hand locked onto his own left hand.

He pressed his face against hers and used his left shoulder to pin the back of her head, forcing her head forward.

A rear naked choke!

This was not some singing rear naked choke.

This was an eye-gouging rear naked choke!

Li Banfeng was still analyzing the technical difficulty of it when the woman in the scene stopped moving.

She had been strangled to death.

The man pulled out, put on his clothes, and swiftly disappeared from the scene.

The woman's corpse remained in the room. The image seemed frozen, but light and shadow continued changing.

Dawn and dusk, day and night alternating—the woman's corpse gradually decayed and became covered in maggots.

Until one day, her body was discovered and moved away from the center of the scene.

People came and went. Many people appeared, their origins unknown. They carried away everything in the scene, including heaps of jewelry and heaps of Banknotes.

Only when the scene was completely empty did this story seem to end.

But what did this story mean?

Why had this Old Grandfather Clock shown him this story?

As he pondered, Li Banfeng realized the story had not ended!

A woman appeared in the empty room—the woman who had died earlier.

The woman was dressing herself up, smiling as she did so.

Inside the residence, the woman who had originally been strangled to death had reappeared.

She was dressing herself up.

There was no mirror left in the room. She was dressing herself up while facing Li Banfeng, her alluring smile making him feel an inexplicable sense of intimacy.

This should be the Home Spirit, right?

The woman suddenly vanished.

A man appeared in the scene.

Though he had changed clothes, Li Banfeng still recognized him. He was the murderer who had killed the woman.

He seemed to be searching for something. He carefully felt around the floor until he found a hidden compartment and took a knife from inside.

Li Banfeng recognized this knife. It was the Short Knife the Old Woman treasured greatly, and it was now tucked into his belt.

The man was very excited. This was the knife he had been looking for.

He lightly brushed a finger across the blade, but the hilt suddenly trembled violently and broke free from his palm.

The Short Knife floated in the air before the man.

The man was utterly horrified. Supporting himself with his hands, he rapidly crawled backward.

He crawled too slowly.

The Short Knife shot toward the man and sliced across his throat, sending blood gushing forth.

The man clutched his throat and struggled desperately. He looked much like the woman had looked when she struggled before death.

The woman's figure slowly emerged in the scene. Wearing a soft, alluring smile, she continued dressing herself up.

She ignored the man struggling on the floor. Her eyes remained fixed on Li Banfeng, carrying a chill laced with a faint sweetness.

Dress yourself up if you want to. Why do you keep staring at me?

Every grievance has its source, every debt has its owner. It wasn't me who killed you!

Li Banfeng wanted to shift his gaze away when he suddenly saw the woman set down her comb, pick up something like a key, and extend it toward him.

What? Are you going to make a move?

If this woman is the Home Spirit, do I have to defeat her before I can subdue her?

Li Banfeng went on high alert, only to see the woman open a glass cover and then slowly turn the key.

Li Banfeng watched carefully for a long time and realized it was not a key in the usual sense. It was a key for winding the Old Grandfather Clock.

The woman had not been dressing herself up for Li Banfeng. She had been dressing herself up for the clock.

The woman's room had not been completely emptied. One item had remained behind: this Old Grandfather Clock.

Li Banfeng had not watched this film from the perspective of an audience member. He had seen everything from the perspective of the Old Grandfather Clock.

The woman drew her brows, applied lipstick, raised her head, parted her vermilion lips, and asked softly,

"Am I beautiful?"

This was the first time Li Banfeng had heard the woman's voice.

Was she asking the clock, or was she asking me?

Her eyes were filled with eager anticipation.

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then replied, "Beautiful."

The woman smiled. She was very satisfied with that answer.

Then she asked another question. "Do you know my name?"

Li Banfeng thought for a moment, then lowered his head to look at the metal mooncake tin.

He took an old newspaper from the mooncake tin.

On the second page of the newspaper was a news report. Every word in it trembled without cease.

The headline read: Famous Beauty Luo Yuni, Dies Tragically at Her Lover's Residence.

The woman asked again, "Do you know my name?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "I think I do."

"Look at me. Keep looking at me. Say my name, and I'll be yours." The woman's smile grew even sweeter.

PS: Put together, today's two chapters are as long as four chapters. Salad is already utterly exhausted. Dear readers, please leave a comment, cast a vote, and give Salad a smile.

(End of chapter)