The time was almost up. Jin Shanyao took out a talisman and pretended to light it in the air... Then, a protective Spiritual Power descended, and the familiar itching sensation made the two children's hearts sink to the bottom.
Sure enough, a caravan of horses approached from afar the next moment. The wagons were loaded with grain, and the soldiers transporting the grain were chatting and laughing. One of them shouted, " Shi Dun, can your son recognize me as his godfather?"
"Go away... His real father is still alive, why would he use you as his godfather?" This remark drew laughter from the crowd, and the procession suddenly stopped at the gate of the courtyard.
Shi Dun called out to those ahead, " Little Zhao... why are you stopping?"
Little Zhao rubbed his eyes and said excitedly, "Little General... Little General has come to see us!" Everyone rushed over upon hearing this, and when they saw that it really was Shen Yan, they were all very excited.
Little Zhao squeezed forward, saying happily, "Little General, what brings you here? Are you worried about us?"
Shi Dun punched Little Zhao on the shoulder, glared at him, and then chuckled at Shen Yan, "Little General, don't listen to his nonsense. We didn't delay this batch of grain at all."
"I guarantee the road-building laborers will have rice to cook before dawn, young general, don't worry. We can't ruin the reputation of the North-Pacifying Army, right..." Shi Dun shouted to the crowd.
The crowd echoed loudly, "Yes... we can lose face, but we can't let the young general lose face."
Shen Yan's tears fell without warning, and the group of people who were still laughing and joking were suddenly stunned. No one was the first to notice the bandage on Shen Yan's neck.
He shouted sternly, "Young General, who hurt you...? Was it those Tiger Roar Battalion taunting us again? Wait till we get back, and we'll beat them to a pulp!"
Shen Yan smiled through his tears, looking at the vibrant faces before him, wishing he could strangle himself. Why had he agreed to lend them the people? If he hadn't, they wouldn't have died.
The laughter gradually subsided, and they looked at each other in bewilderment. "Little General, what happened? Did someone bully you? If so, tell us, and we'll get revenge for you."
Shen Yan was already in tears, the cold wind stinging his face like knives. He took a deep breath and smiled, "It's alright, you all hurry up and deliver the grain, don't delay the journey."
Shi Dun exclaimed, "We've all forgotten... Hurry, it's almost dawn, let's go, let's go..." The carriage moved slowly, and the twenty-eight people waved to Shen Yan.
He shouted, "Young general, a man sheds blood, not tears, but you've shed tears!"
A burst of hearty laughter drifted into Shen Yan's ears on the wind. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn't manage a smile.
The Earthbound Spirit completely disappeared from sight, but Shen Yan remained standing in the same spot, refusing to leave.
Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci were afraid of all kinds of ghosts, but they were not afraid of these twenty-eight heroic spirits.
They followed their aunt back into the house, and the group sat silently on the kang (a heated brick bed), no one speaking; the air was eerily quiet.
Meng Anci handed a small purse to Shen Yan, "I'll give you all my money, whether you want to tell fortunes or dig up corpses."
Meng Anzhi also handed him the purse, saying, "Natural disasters and man-made calamities... no one could have predicted them. Please accept my condolences."
Shen Yan, clutching the purse, looked at Jin Shanyao, "Is it truly a natural disaster or a man-made calamity?"
Jin Shanyao looked back at him, "Want your fortune told? One coin."
Shen Yan's tears fell in streams, his smile more painful than tears. He turned around, picked up the pen and ink from the kang table, took out a piece of paper that Meng Anci had used, wrote an IOU, and handed it to the siblings.
He then stuffed the entire purse into the hand of the Jin Shanyao, "Fortune telling..."
Jin Shanyao chuckled, "I told you, there's no deal I can't close... What are you trying to calculate?"
"I want to know who killed my brothers, why they became Earthbound Spirit, and why they keep doing the same thing over and over again."
Jin Shanyao away her purse and tossed it to Meng Anzhi. "No problem..." She instantly released her Spiritual Power and followed the Earthbound Spirit northward until they reached the foot of a mountain.
She watched helplessly as the twenty-eight people walked into the formation, the ground collapsed with a deafening roar, and the people and horses were instantly swallowed by the sinkhole. Countless beams of light rose from the edge of the sinkhole, and banners suddenly appeared all around.
Inside the sinkhole, Little Zhao climbed up the Shi Dun, using its shoulders as stepping stones. "Climb quickly, climb out to find the little general..."
Little Zhao was just a kid; he wasn't originally supposed to be on the grain transport mission, but he was bored in the military camp and insisted on coming along.
When the others saw that they couldn't lift the Shi Dun, they formed a human wall, hoping that if even one of them got out, their little general would come to their rescue.
Little Zhao struggled to climb to the edge of the pit, but was blocked by an invisible wall. No matter how he knocked or changed his position, he couldn't find a way out.
Just when everyone was in despair and helplessness, a spell suddenly rang out from above, followed by a large area of earth tilting down.
No matter how much they cried and begged for mercy, it was to no avail until the sinkhole was filled and everything returned to peace.
The so-called landslide was just a symbolic drop of soil; the real burial site was directly beneath the official road.
The Jin Shanyao its Spiritual Power like a mad bull, blasting open the sinkhole formation with a deafening roar... The ground shook violently, and a peasant woman outside cried out, "Earthquake! Husband, run! Earthquake!"
"Huh? It's stopped moving?"
Shen Yan's gaze was fixed on Jin Shanyao, and seeing her slowly open her eyes, she anxiously asked, "How are you?"
"Solved. Travel exactly forty li north, and digging in the same spot will lead you to the burial place of the fallen soldier."
Shen Yan stood up, shocked, and said, "You mean it's under the official road??"
"Yes... they were sacrificed to the heavens."
Shen Yan felt as if his head had exploded, and his vision went completely black, almost causing him to faint. It took him a long time to recover.
No wonder that official road, after being repaired and rebuilt repeatedly, suddenly became as solid as a mountain?
No wonder not a single intact body was found after the landslide.
Why did those twenty-eight men of unyielding spirits become Earthbound Spirit, wandering the mortal realm unable to be reincarnated?
Why did labor escape incidents occur before and after the incident?
One by one, the cases were suddenly solved in an instant. Even the assassins and warnings that appeared out of nowhere made Shen Yan instantly realize who was behind it all.
He murmured, "Why do this... those are soldiers protecting our country."
The Jin Shanyao. "Ordinary vengeful ghosts, filled with resentment, are easily devoured. Only the heroic spirits of soldiers can subdue the earthly demons. They cherish their country and their souls are pure and fierce, making them the most effective and least likely to be detected."
Shen Yan silently clenched his fist, stood up, and bowed deeply to Jin Shanyao, "Thank you for your help, Miss Jin."
After speaking, he turned to Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, "Thank you both for your generosity. I will repay you three times the amount I owe you."
"Miss Jin, please allow me to go ahead. The remains of my twenty-eight brothers are still buried in the sinkhole, and I must personally bring them out. I hope you will wait for me here for one day so I can perform a ritual for their souls."
After saying that, he turned and left...
Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci silent for a long time, their hearts heavy with sorrow. "Auntie... I saw the Shi Dun. Isn't that Zhang Su'e's husband?"
Jin Shanyao pulled the two children into her arms and gently hummed in agreement. "Those twenty-eight soldiers did not die on the battlefield or at the hands of the enemy, but they died because of the selfish desires of those in power, and at the hands of their own people."
Anci, if you intend to pursue a career in government, remember two things: First, are there any innocent people who have died under your protection? Second, are you guilty of condoning those who harm others who run rampant?
Meng Anci with a serious expression, "Don't worry, Aunt! If I come to power, I will never indiscriminately kill the innocent or tolerate evil."
But if someone bullies him, that's a different story. He wouldn't say this to his aunt, after all, he's her good boy.