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墨書 Inktalez
There is a type of Rouge made from the blood of the deceased. Anyone who applies this Rouge will take on the appearance of the dead person in their lifetime.
When Xing Ruyi woke from her dreams, she happened to hear the sound of a vendor outside. Rubbing her eyes, she stepped out and onto the street. At the corner stood an old woman with silver hair, dressed in a pitch-black outfit. The old woman's pants were wide enough to almost cover her entire feet, only revealing a bit when she moved. Her shoes were also black, but they had a striking red lotus design on them. The old woman was selling various items like needles and threads, but when she saw Xing Ruyi, she rummaged through her basket and pulled out a box of Rouge.
"Miss, why not try this Rouge? It will surely make you even more beautiful."
Xing Ruyi considered herself not easily swayed, yet at that moment, she felt as if enchanted, unable to control her feet as they moved toward the old woman. She took out some silver coins and bought the box of Rouge.
The box looked like an ordinary Rouge container, but its corners were worn down, suggesting it was an old item that had been used for many years. Upon opening it, a strange scent wafted out, and the mesmerizing red color captivated her. Xing Ruyi dipped her finger into it and slowly applied it to her cheek. Looking in the mirror, she indeed looked beautiful.
Just as she was reveling in her appearance, her face began to feel hot. Wherever she had applied the Rouge, wisps of white smoke started to rise, and before long, much of her skin was corroded away.
"Ah!" Xing Ruyi screamed and threw the mirror away.
"Fox Demon! Fox Demon, wake up!"
"Yin Chensi?"
Xing Ruyi opened her eyes to see the anxious and urgent face of a fox reflected in her dark pupils, mixed with a hint of worry.
"Yin Chensi, what are you doing here? And why is it so dark?"
As Xing Ruyi struggled to sit up, she realized that her right foot seemed to be stuck in something.
"Fox Demon, are you alright?"
"I—" Xing Ruyi looked blankly at the fox, the slightly cold object in her hand causing her to lower her head.
In her palm, she was holding a box of Rouge. The worn edges and old patterns reminded her of her scorched, corroded face.
"Yin Chensi, my face! Is my face gone?"
"Fox Demon, don't panic! I'm here! I'm right here!" The fox gently hugged Xing Ruyi and then reminded her, "Yin Yuan is also here, don't scare him!"
"But Yin Chensi, what should I do?" Xing Ruyi tightly covered her face with her hands, looking pitiful and helpless. "My face is gone; do I look terrifying now?"
"Not terrifying at all, not one bit!" The fox comforted her softly and then conjured a mirror: "Look, your face is still fine."
In the mirror, Xing Ruyi's face was not rotten; there were just dark blue patches on both sides of her cheeks.
"What is this?" Xing Ruyi pointed at her face. "Don't tell me this is a birthmark that I just noticed!"
"Of course not!" The fox looked at Xing Ruyi and slowly said, "This is livor mortis!"
"L-livor mortis?" Xing Ruyi scratched her head in frustration. "How long would I have to be dead for such large patches to form? No, I don't have any on my hands or arms; I can't see any on my legs either. Why do I have them on my face? Also, I am dead, but I've been reborn! My soul has crossed over; even the King of Hell has allowed it. Why would I still have livor mortis?"
"Fox Demon, please be quiet and listen to me slowly, okay?"
"No way!" At this point, Xing Ruyi didn't care about her image anymore; she simply sat down on the ground, pouting angrily. "I have livor mortis on my face, and you still want me to listen to you calmly? Do you think your story is more interesting than how I'm feeling right now?"
The fox smiled and affectionately patted the Fox Demon's head. That's just how she was; when big issues came out of her mouth, they seemed less serious. It was a relief that she had just been worried; it seemed she had wasted a thousand-year-old fox's heart on nothing.
“Fox Demon, you have fallen for someone else's trap! That corpse stain does not belong to you, but to another.”
With this reminder from the fox, Xing Ruyi suddenly recalled. The memories that had faded away began to rapidly reorganize, flooding back into her mind.
Xing Ruyi remembered that she had left after watching the fox fall asleep. Her intention was clear; she was heading to the western suburbs to confront Wei Shu, who had devoured many children. She wanted to throw him into the depths of hell to suffer, letting Ghost Messenger peel off his skin, extract his tendons, and refine his bones and blood into oil, nourishing the vibrant blooming Red Spider Lily along the banks of the Yellow Springs.
However, after leaving the city, Xing Ruyi regretted her impulsive decision to venture alone into the western suburbs. Even though she possessed ghostly powers and was unafraid of wandering spirits, if what lurked in the night was not a ghost but a human, with her limited skills, it would be difficult for her to escape unscathed.
The further west she went, the darker it became. By this point, she could no longer see the path ahead. She felt surrounded by overgrown weeds, with not a glimmer of light above her. Just as she hesitated about whether to wait for dawn before continuing, her foot suddenly sank, causing her body to tilt to the right. The lantern she held, which had already been ineffective, completely extinguished.
Not checking the calendar before leaving and acting on impulse had led Xing Ruyi to realize that she was finally paying the price for her recklessness. What made her feel even more foolish was that as an ancient person walking at night, she had forgotten to bring fire-starting tools. It was truly enough to be ridiculous and foolish.
After coming to this realization, she reluctantly glanced at the dark lantern before discarding it aside. With a flick of her fingers, she conjured a purple-blue Ghost Fire. Although the flame was somewhat cool, it at least allowed her to discern her surroundings and scare off any well-meaning ghosts or creatures hiding in the dry grass.
After enlarging the Ghost Fire, Xing Ruyi began attempting to pull her foot out of the sinking spot. The soil beneath her feet was soft; mixed with decaying branches were other things. Looking down and identifying them, she discovered they were bones of both humans and animals. Xing Ruyi was not skilled in anatomy but could recognize that these bones did not belong to the same person or animal. In other words, she was standing on a mass grave.
To put it more formally, this was a potter's field. Those buried here typically fell into three categories: one group consisted of beggars who lived without support and died alone; another group included criminals executed by the court without family members to claim their bodies; and a third group comprised innocent victims discarded here by evildoers to erase evidence. Regardless of which category they belonged to, all possessed enough malice and resentment, making this potter's field one of the most sinister places in existence.
In later years, as land became expensive, places like potter's fields were often transformed into schools and hospitals, using gathered crowds to suppress and balance yin and yang. After thirty or fifty years of harmony between yin and yang, this land would once again become valuable property.
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