The possessed Zhang Dongyun's chest heaved violently, and sorrow rose in her eyes.
"I... I was too obsessed. I couldn't let go of you children, and I clung desperately to my attachment to this world."
"That thing's power couldn't drag me completely underground right away."
"All I could do was follow behind you, reminding you again and again..."
"But I couldn't speak or touch you. I could only watch helplessly as you walked into danger, step by step."
Before she finished speaking, Zhang Dongyun swayed abruptly, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
The white fog around them began to churn, and the grains of white rice scattered on the ground cracked and shattered one after another.
Jiang Meng's expression changed drastically. "This is bad! The possession is breaking down!"
"That thing below has noticed us questioning her!"
Rumble...
The ground trembled slightly.
The tremor was extremely faint, as though something deep underground had turned over.
Yet that single tremor was enough for everyone present to feel it clearly...
A chill shot up from the soles of their feet, like an icy snake crawling up their spines.
A muffled, indistinct rumble came from beneath the soil.
It was like a giant beast disturbed in its sleep.
"Go! Hurry! It's noticed us!"
Dean Granny's voice grew broken.
Zhang Dongyun's eyes kept switching back and forth between her own gaze and Dean Granny's.
"Don't linger here. Don't investigate the truth. Don't wake it..."
Before she could finish, Zhang Dongyun's head snapped backward. Her whole body convulsed, her eyes rolled back, and she began to topple stiffly backward.
Jiang Meng strode forward and caught his wife with one hand. With the other, he swung his wooden blade, sharply chanting an obscure banishing incantation.
The shattered grains of rice on the ground released a haze of white