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墨書 Inktalez
Xing Ruyi could not get agitated; whenever she did, she easily resorted to foul language. This was the first time since arriving in the Golden Tang Dynasty that she felt no curse words could perfectly express the anger in her heart. She mentally went through countless insults but could not find a single word to hurl at the old man before her! She wanted to hit him, but as she raised her fist, she found herself unable to bring it down upon his head of white hair.
"Who are you? Who exactly are you?" Xing Ruyi felt powerless, yet the words of the fox echoed in her mind. They already knew the true identity of the old lady, so what was the true identity of the Old Man?
"I am Gou Hai!"
"Gou Hai?" Xing Ruyi momentarily lost her train of thought and turned to look at the fox.
"Gou Hai! In a way, he should be her Father-in-law, her Grandfather!” The fox pointed at the cursed female ghost and then at the old lady. “Of course, I mean his soul, not his physical body."
"Wait a minute, my head is a bit muddled!" Xing Ruyi shook her head. "Are you saying he is that Gou Hai who did leather business in the city and then settled his family here, but died early due to a disease? If he is indeed Gou Hai, then he married his own granddaughter!"
"From a spiritual perspective, yes, but from a physical perspective, no!" The fox wrapped an arm around Fox Demon's shoulder. "I know this sounds absurd to you; in your hometown's terms, it would be considered a destruction of worldview. But for those who use dark arts to harm others, having a blood relationship often makes them the most suitable materials."
"Materials?" Xing Ruyi struggled to equate those cold words with living people.
"That's right! I am Gou Hai! I am the true master of the Gou Family Ancestral Home!” The Old Man spoke again, this time looking outside toward the direction of the original Gou Family Ancestral Home. “Before I met that person, I was just an ordinary leather merchant. My mind was sharp, and I had my own ways of doing business, so my trade was quite prosperous. Besides leather goods, I also dealt in herbs and even privately contacted some blacksmiths to tinker with weapons. At that time, during times of chaos, people needed not only clothing but also healing and protection for themselves, so I made quite a bit of money.
Just like what happened to Ruyi, once someone has money, it is easy for them to develop bad habits. Back then, I was young and my wife had a strange temperament, so I often sneaked off to those Brothels. Frequenting such places inevitably led me into trouble; eventually, I contracted diseases that were hard to hide and could only wait for death.
I knew very well that my illness was incurable and that I would die in a particularly ugly manner. So I made an excuse to go out for business, hoping to find a place to end my life. Just when I decided to take matters into my own hands, I met that person who could help me.
I originally didn’t believe him, but my desire to survive compelled me to give it a try. The method he told me for prolonging life was actually borrowing life from others; he even gave me this village.
To borrow life, one must first find people with the five elemental destinies: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. I don’t know if it was by design or coincidence that all five types were in this same village. So I followed that Taoist’s instructions and gave some money to the Landlord, settling myself in this village where I also acquired land and built a house.
To ensure my perfect rebirth, I personally planned my own death so that everyone in the village—including my wife—would believe I died from a disease. Meanwhile, using the methods given by that person, I created various accidents and successfully borrowed lives from individuals with metal, wood, water, fire, and earth destinies."
"Is this your current identity?" Xing Ruyi asked.
The Old Man shook his head. "No! The first life I borrowed was from a homeless man. To be honest, deep down inside me at that time still lingered a trace of kindness; I couldn’t bear to destroy more families just to satisfy my personal desires. So I chose that homeless man. But for some reason, my body began undergoing strange changes—changes that terrified me—so I decided to borrow life again!
The first time I borrowed life, although afflicted by illness, I was still a strong Young Man. However, by the second time, I was already feeling weak; thus, I decided to find myself an assistant. Just as I was secretly looking for someone suitable, my Son brought her back."
The old man pointed to the female ghost who had been cursed.
"I never intended to harm her. At that time, I didn't know if I could continue living, so I often sneaked back to check on her. I saw how my son treated her and knew she wanted my son dead. Although my son was a bad person, he was still my son, and I wouldn't allow that to happen.
At that time, she was already pregnant, and I urgently needed a helper. So I decided that after she gave birth to our child from the Gou Family, I would use the method taught to me to turn her into my Puppet. Disguised as a Taoist priest, I secretly found her and told her how she could take revenge, convincing her to willingly become my Puppet. After she hanged herself, I took the fetus from her womb.
Everything was supposed to be perfect; she died, leaving behind a descendant of the Gou Family. As for my son, I would find him a suitable woman later. But I never expected that she, just turned into a ghost, would possess such powerful energy that I couldn't control. By the time I arrived at the Gou Family Ancestral Home, my son and my wife had already been killed by her.
They were my only family, yet I was the one who caused their deaths. I couldn't face it and didn't know how to deal with them; all I could do was lock them in the Gou Family Ancestral Home."
"You lie! If you truly loved your son and cared about your wife, you would have found a way to let them go where they should be. But you didn't; you just turned them into walking corpses, into your other Ghost Slaves, forcing them to continue doing harm!" Xing Ruyi pointed at the old man. "From start to finish, all you cared about was yourself!"
"Maybe you're right!" The old man did not refute this but looked up at the night sky and smiled. "Maybe you're right; I've always been a selfish person. I've only ever cared about myself. Otherwise, how could I have brought myself to do those things later?"
"Those who intruded into the Gou Family Ancestral Home were also harmed by you?"
"That's right; it was me!"
"Why? Since you succeeded, why did you still harm those people? Just because they entered your house?"
"Of course not! The reason I killed them was that I wanted to live. Although I borrowed life once more, it still wasn't perfect; there were still various problems arising. I frantically searched through texts related to magic and finally found a solution: to consume others' souls, continuously absorbing others' souls. But not all of them—just one soul and one spirit would suffice."
"So those who entered the Gou Family Ancestral Home suffered from hysteria? No! It wasn't hysteria; it was because you took their one soul and one spirit!"
"Yes! It was me who took their one soul and one spirit. In fact, I never intended for those people to die, but for some reason, they still did. And after they died, their souls lingered around me; all I could do was lock them away one by one."
"The second life I borrowed is the body I'm using now. He was an orphan in the village, raised by eating from various families' tables—quiet and rarely drew attention from others. Moreover, at that time he was only seven or eight years old; he was my ideal choice. After successfully borrowing his life and given his age, people in the village wouldn't associate what happened with the Gou Family with me.
This Mr. Fox is correct; part of the story I told you earlier was fabricated—at least in terms of timing and sequence adjustments—because all these events began when we moved from the Gou Family to this village after Gou Hai's death."
"What about Granny Han? You knew very well what your relationship with her was; why did you still marry her?"
"I don't know! At least I didn't know when I married her!" the old man shouted angrily. "Every time I borrowed a life, there would be a brief blank in my memory. After she was born, I had other matters to attend to, so I temporarily entrusted her to another family. Later, my son died, my wife also died, and the Gou Family became a haunted house. Naturally, I couldn't go back to retrieve her. Then, because of problems with my health, I needed to borrow a life again and had no time to consider her. She was passed around by her adoptive parents several times before finally ending up with that family. Even after borrowing a life again, I was not the same as before; even if I stood face to face with her, I might not recognize her as my granddaughter, as a descendant of the Gou Family."
"So by a twist of fate, you became a family!"
"I know I'm not looking for common people. I'm also worried that others will discover my secret, so I've always lived cautiously and never dared to think about marriage. Until the matchmaker brought her before me, I felt an odd familiarity and a desire to protect her. At that time, I had already merged well with this body, so I agreed.
Looking back now, I find it utterly ridiculous. That feeling was not some destined connection from past lives; it was simply blood relation. Unfortunately, by the time I realized all of this, it was already too late! Too late!"
"When did you find out?"
"The time when Han'er barged into the Gou Family Ancestral Home! Initially, I intended to take the lives of those children; who would have thought Han'er would follow them? Later, Han'er fell ill and was taken by my puppet—she took away one soul and one spirit. Although that person taught me how to take others' souls and showed me how to borrow lives, he never told me how to return the stolen souls. Just when I was at a loss for what to do, that person appeared again."
"Who is that person?"
"I don't know; he calls himself 'Moxu You,' a Taoist from Zhongnan Mountain. But in my eyes, he is also an evil practitioner. If it weren't for him, how could I have learned this wicked art of borrowing lives?" The old man chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"Moxu You!" Xing Ruyi exchanged glances with the fox.
This name had finally appeared once again!
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