Home Spirit

The greatest of heroes!

Lu Chunying poked her head out again, staring at Li Banfeng for a long time, feeling that this young man was particularly imposing.

"Benefactor, take care!" Xiao Yeci turned around, hugged Lu Chunying, and quickly left the backyard, heading towards the main gate.

Dealing with a Home Spirit in a Shut-in Cultivator's house?

This person was crazy!

Xiao Yeci took her daughter Lu Chunying out of the backyard. When they reached the front gate, Xiao Yeci looked back and couldn't help but sigh.

Lu Chunying said with a hint of sarcasm, "Stop looking. You're not pretty enough; a great hero like him wouldn't fancy you!"

Xiao Yeci frowned, "Don't talk nonsense! You have no manners!"

Lu Chunying snorted, "What do you mean, no manners? Do you really think you're my mom? When I see the Lu Family, I'm going to tell them everything!"

Xiao Yeci gritted her teeth, "You wouldn't dare! If you dare to say it, we'll starve together, sleep on the streets together, and be sold to a brothel together. Let's see who cries then!"

Lu Chunying frowned and said, "If you want to pretend to be my mom, change the way you talk. My mom never adds 'ya, ya' at the end of her sentences."

"What 'ya, ya' are you talking about? I told you not to talk nonsense!"

As they spoke, the two left the house and entered a forest.

Lu Chunying gently tugged at Xiao Yeci and whispered, "I remember when we came, this was a village. How did it turn into a forest?"

Rustle~ Rustle~ Whoosh~

A chilling wind blew, and the branches and leaves in the forest swayed, making continuous sounds.

Xiao Yeci also became nervous. She hugged Lu Chunying and said, "Something's not right. Let's go back inside the house!"

As soon as the mother and daughter turned around, the house that was there before was gone.

All around them was an endless forest.

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

Xiao Yeci looked around, her expression calm, and said, "This must be the Home Spirit's doing. We might still be inside the house and can't get out for now."

"What should we do then?" Lu Chunying gripped even tighter.

"Don't worry, I'll try to reason with it first. No matter what its origin is, as long as we can make it understand, it should let us go!"

Xiao Yeci's expression was firm. Standing behind her, Lu Chunying's fear lessened by more than half.

Xiao Yeci began to reason with the Home Spirit: "My friend, I don't know where you came from, but the owner of this house is dead. You should also think about where you should go.

The owner of this house did too many wicked things. You were her accomplice. If you are caught by the Judge and sent to the Netherworld, you will also be punished!

I have seen it in books, I have seen the Judgment Book of the Punishment Department, and I have seen all the torture instruments in the Netherworld. I have seen the suffering of the ghosts there.

Before, you were coerced by her, and everything you did was against your will. But now that she is dead, why are you still doing such wicked things?

My friend, let the two of us go. You will eliminate a portion of your sin and accumulate a portion of merit. Why wouldn't you do it!"

Whoosh~

The Yin wind gradually subsided, and the branches and leaves in the forest were no longer so wild.

Xiao Yeci's communication seemed to have worked.

Along the way, it had indeed been full of hardships. This "mother" who was not a mother had had complaints, disputes, and many estrangements with Lu Chunying.

But whenever danger struck, Xiao Yeci always stood in front of Lu Chunying without hesitation. Lu Chunying believed she was the most reliable person in the world.

"Come, follow Mom!" Xiao Yeci walked straight ahead based on her intuition, with Lu Chunying following closely beside her.

After only two steps, a willow branch struck Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying's faces with lightning speed, making a cracking sound.

Xiao Yeci covered her face, gritted her teeth, and didn't cry.

Lu Chunying was young and couldn't hold back; tears fell.

Xiao Yeci took out a handkerchief, wiped the bloodstains from Lu Chunying's face, and said with heartache, "NanNan, don't cry. I didn't see the direction clearly just now. We should have gone to the left. Come! Follow Mom closely!"

Both of their faces bore a bloodstain. Facing the night wind, they turned left in the forest.

After walking a dozen meters, a willow branch struck again, still hitting both of their faces.

Xiao Yeci shed tears, and Lu Chunying cried out loud.

Now there wasn't just one bloodstain on their faces, but two.

The two bloodstains formed an X.

"Mom might have made a mistake. Let's go to the right instead. Come! Follow Mom closely!" Xiao Yeci firmly grabbed Lu Chunying's hand.

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

She retracted her previous thought.

Xiao Yeci was not reliable at all.

Li Banfeng entered the old woman's room and examined every piece of furniture inside.

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

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

There was an Old Grandfather Clock on the table, completely devoid of spirituality. It was clearly not the Home Spirit.

Next to the Old Grandfather Clock was a teapot. It looked quite spiritual. Could this be the Home Spirit?

Next to the teapot was a sewing box. The spools of thread were neatly arranged, and the needles on the spools were also neatly inserted. It seemed to have the demeanor of a Home Spirit.

Next to the sewing box was a rolling pin. The flour on the rolling pin was evenly coated, and traces of spirituality could also be seen!

Which one was the Home Spirit?

Li Banfeng felt very conflicted.

I am a Shut-in Cultivator, and there must be a mutual connection between me and the Home Spirit.

Dong!

The Old Grandfather Clock chimed once.

Li Banfeng checked the clock face; it was nine-thirty.

This kind of traditional Old Grandfather Clock chimes once on the half-hour and chimes the corresponding number of times on the hour.

For example, at nine o'clock, it would chime dong, nine times.

At nine-thirty, it would only chime dong! once!

That single chime just now interrupted Li Banfeng's train of thought in searching for the Home Spirit, which made him quite displeased.

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

Finally, his gaze settled on a Feather Duster. He felt this Feather Duster had the most spiritual energy.

Firstly, its color was quite vibrant, and secondly, its feathers were relatively soft.

Li Banfeng picked up the Feather Duster, preparing to use his Shut-in Cultivator talent for a deeper communication, when suddenly he heard the Old Grandfather Clock chime dong, dong, dong... ten times in a row, and the sound was extremely loud, completely capturing Li Banfeng's attention.

It chimed ten times?

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

It was just nine-thirty a moment ago, and now it instantly turned to ten o'clock?

Could it be...

This Old Grandfather Clock is broken?

Just now, Li Banfeng was thinking that the Portable Abode lacked a timekeeping tool, and whether he should move this Old Grandfather Clock over.

Looking at the situation, this clock was unusable.

Li Banfeng communicated with the Feather Duster for a while but found that the Feather Duster didn't respond.

Next to the Feather Duster was an iron mooncake box. The paint on the box was severely peeling, showing its age, but it was spotless and very clean.

Home Spirits like cleanliness, could it be in this box?

Li Banfeng forcefully lifted the lid and found that the box only contained a stack of old newspapers, yellowed old newspapers that looked like they could crumble at any moment.

A Home Spirit couldn't possibly reside on newspapers, could it?

Li Banfeng picked up a newspaper, and before he could even open it, this time he truly felt a sensation.

He felt the words on the newspaper touching him.

The tiny, fly-head-sized characters seemed to turn into little worms, trying to burrow into Li Banfeng's fingertips.

It's really in the newspaper?

Click! Click!

The sound of the pendulum became increasingly clear, each swing striking directly at his heartstrings.

Li Banfeng put down the newspaper and looked at the golden pendulum. The pendulum, illuminated by the candlelight, reflected some images.

The initial images were blurry, but gradually became clearer after a while.

Li Banfeng felt as if he was watching an old movie with a sepia background on the pendulum.

A beautiful woman in a cheongsam was drawing her eyebrows in front of a mirror.

A man appeared behind her, took the eyebrow pencil from her hand, and gently drew stroke by stroke on the beauty's eyebrows.

After drawing the eyebrows, he drew the lips.

After drawing the lips, he bit the lips.

After biting the lips, he could bite something else.

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

The pendulum swung back and forth with a loud, crisp tick-tock.

The man was initially holding the woman's shoulders. During their movements, his left hand went around the woman's neck, and his right hand locked onto his left hand.

He pressed his face against the woman's face, using his left shoulder to press down on the back of the woman's head, forcing her head to bend forward.

Naked choke!

This wasn't a singing naked choke.

This was an eye-gouging naked choke!

Li Banfeng was still analyzing the technical difficulty of the move, but the woman in the picture stopped moving.

She had been choked to death.

The man pulled out, got dressed, and quickly disappeared from the picture.

The woman's body remained in the room. The picture seemed still, but the light and shadows changed.

From dawn to dusk, day and night alternated. The woman's body gradually decomposed, covered in maggots.

Until one day, her body was discovered and moved out of the center of the picture.

Many people came and went. Their origins were unknown, but they cleared out everything in the picture, including large amounts of jewelry and cash.

Until the picture was completely empty, it seemed as if this story had ended.

But what did this story explain?

Why did this Old Grandfather Clock show me this story?

While thinking, Li Banfeng realized the story hadn't ended!

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

The woman was dressing up, dressing up with a smile.

In the house, the woman who had been choked to death reappeared.

She was dressing up.

There was no mirror in the room. She was dressing up facing Li Banfeng. Her charming smile made Li Banfeng feel very close to her.

This should be the Home Spirit, right?

The woman suddenly vanished.

A man appeared in the scene.

Although his attire had changed, Li Banfeng still recognized him; he was the murderer of the woman.

He seemed to be searching for something. He carefully felt the floor until he found a hidden compartment. From the compartment, he retrieved a knife.

Li Banfeng recognized this knife; it was the short blade the old woman cherished greatly, and it was now tucked into his belt.

The man was excited; this was the knife he was looking for.

He lightly ran his finger along the blade, but unexpectedly, the handle trembled violently and broke free from his grasp.

The short blade floated, suspended before the man.

The man was greatly startled. He supported himself with his hands and quickly scrambled backward.

He was too slow.

The short blade lunged at the man, slicing across his throat. Blood gushed out.

The man clutched his throat, struggling desperately. His appearance was very similar to the woman's struggle before her death.

The woman's figure slowly emerged in the scene. She continued to groom herself with a soft, charming smile.

She ignored the man struggling on the ground. Her eyes remained fixed on Li Banfeng, with a hint of sweet chilliness in her gaze.

Groom yourself if you want, but why do you keep looking at me?

Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its owner. I didn't kill you!

Li Banfeng wanted to avert his gaze, but then he saw the woman put down her comb and pick up something that looked like a key, extending it towards him.

What are you doing? Are you going to attack?

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

Li Banfeng was on high alert, but then he saw the woman open a glass cover and slowly turn the key.

Li Banfeng watched carefully for a long time and realized it wasn't a key in the true sense; it was a winding key for the Old Grandfather Clock.

The woman wasn't grooming herself towards Li Banfeng; she was grooming herself towards the clock.

The woman's room hadn't been completely emptied; one item remained, and that was this Old Grandfather Clock.

Li Banfeng wasn't watching this scene from a spectator's perspective; he was seeing everything from the clock's perspective.

The woman drew her eyebrows, applied lipstick, raised her head, parted her red lips slightly, and softly asked:

"Am I beautiful?"

Li Banfeng heard the woman's voice for the first time.

Was she asking the clock, or me?

The woman's eyes were filled with eager anticipation.

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

The woman smiled, clearly pleased with the answer.

Next, she asked another question, "Do you know my name?"

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

He took out an old newspaper from the mooncake box.

On the second page of the newspaper, there was a news article. Every word in the article was trembling incessantly.

The headline of the news was: Famous Beauty Luo Yuni, Tragically Died in Outer 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 will be yours," the woman's smile became even sweeter.

PS: Today's two chapters combined are as long as four chapters. Salad is exhausted. Dear readers, please leave a comment, cast a vote, and give Salad a smile.