A Slave to His Wife

According to Tsen Demon, Gonpo demons are the manifestations of living people who have suffered greatly and died violent deaths.

Similar to a fierce and malevolent spirit.

According to Zhou Yang's Mindfulness perception, the thing that had previously possessed Zeweng was undoubtedly a Tsen Demon.

Since Zeweng is possessed by a Tsen Demon, it shouldn't have much to do with living people.

However, since no other clues could be found at the moment, Zhou Yang nodded and said to Zhima, "Ajia, tell me."

"Ajia -la" is a term used to address older, less familiar women.

Similar to the meaning of "auntie".

"Is that the man who brought the body the day before yesterday?"

Upon hearing his wife's words, Zeweng realized which "strange living person" she was referring to, and asked her a question.

Zhima responded, glanced at her husband, and then turned to Zhou Yang and said:

"The day before yesterday, just as the sun was rising, a man brought over a body. The dead woman was his wife. When she was herding sheep for the chieftain, she saw a golden glint in the water and, thinking there was gold sinking in it, reached out to pick it up, then fell in and drowned."

"The man only brought the body over several days after the person had died."

"At that time, the house and the piles of bricks were filled with a very bad smell. It took a long time to burn incense to get rid of the smell."

"This kind of corpse is actually considered a violent death, but the man was very sad. He said he didn't have much ghee and tsampa to give us, Zeweng took pity on him and didn't charge him much."

"Actually, at the beginning, this man seemed quite normal."

"I even whispered to Zeweng at the time, 'This man clearly loves his wife very much. I've never seen anyone like him, weeping uncontrollably when bringing the dead here— Aji, you know him, right?'"

"In our culture, one cannot be happy or too sad after death, and children and relatives cannot shed tears when they visit the deceased."

"Because the deceased sensed the emotions of their loved ones, their soul was unwilling to leave, thus preventing them from ascending to heaven and entering the cycle of reincarnation."

Zhou Yang nodded. "Yes, I know."

"Ajia, let's get to the important stuff."

Upon hearing this, Zhima gave him a strange look.

She felt that every word she said was important, "That man loved his wife very much. He didn't even call for a body carrier at the time, saying he didn't want anyone else to come into contact with his wife; he carried the deceased up the mountain entirely on his own."

"When they got to the mountain, he told Zeweng that when Zeweng dismembered his wife's body, he should close his eyes."

"I can't bear to see his wife naked."

Zeweng smiled and said, "Dead people all look the same. The flesh is starting to rot. If I didn't have to watch where the knife goes in, I would be willing to close my eyes too."

"And his wife had been in the water for a long time... she actually looked quite frightening."

"Yes," Zhima nodded, "Zeweng must keep his eyes wide open to know where to strike."

"Only in this way can the body be dismembered quickly and offered to the Dakini."

"The deceased can ascend to heaven more smoothly."

"So Zeweng didn't agree to his request, and explained why to him. He nodded reluctantly."

"When we were dismantling the body, he kept crying and tried to rush onto the platform several times. Zeweng and I cursed at him to stop him. After we finished dismantling the body, he suddenly changed—that's when I realized something was wrong with him."

"After dismembering the body, on the way down the mountain, he followed behind Zeweng and tried several times to push Zeweng off the steep path."

"I saw it all clearly from behind and yelled at him. He turned around and glared at me—the look in his eyes was as if... as if we were the ones who drowned his wife."

"The hatred in his eyes terrified me so much that I dreamt that night that he was going to kill me and Zeweng!"

"Even after we came down the mountain, he looked at me and Zeweng with eyes full of hatred!"

He said he would never see his wife Naqu again, and that if Naqu hadn't been sent here, Naqu would still be with him.

He said he regrets it now...

"What a madman! The corpse is already rotting, and he still wants to stay by his side. Can't he smell it? Can't he see what the corpse looks like?"

"I was terrified. Zeweng also sensed something was wrong with him, so he grabbed a big stick and beat him out. We didn't get any payment from him. Luckily, he didn't come back for the next few days..."

Zhima had finished recounting the whole story, but everyone around her remained silent.

As Zhima recounted her story, they all felt a strange sense of unease, as if ice shards were stuck to their skin, giving them goosebumps and making them feel indescribably uncomfortable.

Someone shivered, finally snapping everyone out of their daze.

"That person must be crazy..."

"But he truly couldn't bear to part with his wife." "He was still shedding tears as he watched Zeweng dismantle the body. How could the soul of the deceased ascend to heaven smoothly?"

"Perhaps he kept shedding tears because he wanted the deceased's soul to stay with him forever, instead of going to heaven..."

The crowd started talking all at once.

Zhou Yang frowned, deep in thought.

Even though he had never been there in person, just hearing Zhima's account, he still sensed a strange and eerie atmosphere.

Before Zhima spoke, he felt that the Tsen Demon on Zeweng's body shouldn't have much to do with living people.

But after hearing what Zhima said, he changed his mind.

The thing on Zeweng's body must be closely related to the living man who brought his wife to dismantle the corpse!

Zeweng dismembered the man's wife, and the man kept weeping during the dismemberment process, probably genuinely believing that his constant weeping would preserve his wife's soul—but in the end, he grasped nothing.

They would think that Zeweng had hidden his wife's spirit.

That's why the thing possessing Zeweng, when it went mad earlier, kept asking, "Where is she?"

The only thing Zhou Yang couldn't understand was whether Tsen Demon could possibly spawn in a living person. "Do you know that person's name and where they live?" Zhou Yang asked Zeweng. "Could that person have a secret mantra lineage passed down from the temple, or have a family that has produced a mantra practitioner?"

He suspected that the reason Zeweng had gone mad earlier was because that person had cast some kind of curse on Zeweng.

To master a poison spell, one must at least be an Eba sorcerer.

Upon hearing this, Zeweng shook his head and said, "No, that won't happen."

"Those with a family lineage of esoteric mantras are like gold in the sand; they cannot be ignored by the local chieftain or steward. They will either be kept under strict guard or become good friends with them."

"People like this are more useful than ordinary black bones, and their lives won't be too bad."

"But that man's life looked very poor. I asked his name and knew where he lived. He was a black-boned man from a nearby village called ' Manitang, ' and his name was Quzha."

"The Quzha of Manitang?"

Zhou Yang noted down the man's name and background, and then asked, "Was Quzha's wife truly killed by accidentally falling into the river?"

"Could she have been pushed into the water and drowned? Can we find any traces on her body?"

"I can't see anything." Zeweng shook his head repeatedly. "The corpse stinks terribly, its eyes are barely open, and it's bloated from being soaked. You can't see any trace of it."

Zhima then asked Zhou Yang, "Do you think Quzha's wife died abnormally? Did Quzha's wife drive Zeweng mad?"

Without realizing it, she used the respectful form of address "you" when addressing Zhou Yang.

Upon hearing this, Zeweng's expression changed.

When talking about living people, even if that person seems strange, they are still alive. They may feel something is wrong, but they won't be afraid for long.

But when it comes to the dead, everything is different.

Even the most ordinary dead, when tainted with an eerie atmosphere, can cause them endless fear!

"No." Zhou Yang shook his head. "Quzha's wife should be alright."

"It is not the root cause of your Zeweng's madness."

"But I heard you say that Quzha's wife drowned herself while collecting gold in the river... This story must have come from Quzha, right?"

"Could it be that he deliberately pushed his wife into the water and drowned her?"

Zhima and Zeweng shook their heads in surprise upon hearing this.

"He loved his wife so much, he seemed so reluctant to part with her, how could he push her into the water to drown her? It's impossible, it's impossible..."

"But this kind of 'affection' sounds really perverted just from the description..." Zhou Yang muttered to himself. "His wife's body had already stank before it was reluctantly sent to the body dismantler."

"According to local customs, the deceased should depart in a complete and clean manner, which should be a great relief. Anyone who completes such a matter will have one less knot in their heart."

"But Quzha actually thought that it was the person who dismantled the body who prevented him from ever seeing his wife again..."

"This person's mentality is truly twisted!"

Zhou Yang frankly told the others that they might not understand his thoughts.

He could only ask indirectly, "If Ruozeng died of madness today, would Zhima Ajiala feel sad?"

Upon hearing this, Zhima burst into tears.

She was about to experience something like this firsthand, so sadness was natural.

"Now that Gongbu is going to perform the sky burial for Zeweng, will Zhima Ajiala shed tears?" Zhou Yang asked again.

His words Zhima hesitate for a moment.

Then Zhima wiped away her tears, sniffed, and said, "I won't cry. He's going to the next life, and I want him to leave without any worries, so that in his next life he can be reborn into a good family by virtue of his good fortune."

"It's a good thing he doesn't have to be a black bone anymore."

"Yes." Zhou Yang nodded. "This is the one you truly love and cherish. You can't bear to part with him, but you know what's important, so you let him leave in peace. But Quzha for his wife are not true love and cherishment."

He kept his dead wife at home for many days, letting her body rot, but he refused to let her leave.

"It's like a child catching a little bird. The bird is beautiful, it belongs to the sky, and the child knows this, but he won't let the bird go—because he feels that it belongs to him."

"For Quzha, his wife was his possession."

At this point, some people around suddenly realized what was going on.

"I understand!" Jiekan exclaimed, "Quzha treats his wife as Master of Zhandui as he treats us!"

"He kills us at will, cuts off our hands, gouges out our eyes, but if we escape to another place, he will be furious, curse the masters of that other place, and even fight with the masters of that other place for our sake, killing even more people!"

Jiekan's explanation was surprisingly appropriate.

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed, they lowered their heads, and most remained silent.

Gonpo then murmured, "This is the relationship between master and slave..."