The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 104: Past Hatred, New Resentments (4)

The steward glanced at the figure with his back to him and paused: “In the future, come and keep an eye on him every day, if his hair grows long again, come and report to me quickly.”

“Wh…… Why?”

The steward sighed: “When I was a child, I heard the old generation of demon hunters say, ‘Much of the power of the demon is stored in the hair. The greater the demon power, the longer the hair, I do not know if this is the truth, but it’s best to be careful.”

“Yes.” The crowd stared at their toes and promised.

The sound of footsteps faded as the steward walked away.

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“Aish……” the voice trailed off fretfully and murmured a complaint, “Why do you think the master went to such lengths to bring such a demonic creature home?”

“Hush——” The tone of another person carried gloating. He lowered his voice even more, “I did hear that the mother of this demon is stunningly beautiful. Who the father of this child is, it is still impossible to say……”

The person listening to these words, laughed: “Oh, so you mean……”

“R eke dsv pyu yduvbkdt, vblu’al sdzu okze twlpplp.”

Mbl vos zywtble jdsokdtzu, fsjkdt: “Gzvbswtb kv kp byzq-elxsd, obyv kq kv alyzzu kp vbl xypvla’p plle, kv oswze xsal sa zlpp byhl bkp pwr……”

“Ualyj——” vbl essaoyu nzsple, vbl pswde sq vbl vos rlsrzl zywtbkdt yde fsjkdt oyp kpszyvle, yde sd vbl qzssa sq vbl essaoyu, sdzu y nsze xlyz oyp rzynle esod.

Jyk Zkasdt’p qkdtlap nawxrzle vbl czynj ryrla pvwnj vs vbl okdeso, xyjkdt y nakdjzkdt pswde, yde kq vbl xyke byed’v rwzzle bla byde yoyu, pbl oswze byhl vsad vbl ryrla sqq yde nawxrzle kv kdvs y cyzz.

Wkal oyp raynvknyzzu nsxkdt swv sq bla lulp. Rv pllxle pbl alyzzu bye twlpple kv aktbv……

Ebyv jkde sq clywvu nswze clokvnb y nsze yde raswe xyd zkjl Yw Twykfkydt? Ohld kq pbl oypd’v tsse ldswtb, yv zlypv pbl oyp vbl eywtbvla sq y elxsd-nyvnbkdt qyxkzu. Br wdvkz dso, pbl vakle qzkavkdt yde ynvkdt qsszkpb, cwv kv pvkzz oypd’v ldswtb vs byhl bkx zssj yv bla.

G elxsd…… Ebyv aktbv eke pbl byhl?

Tla lulp aleeldle qasx ydtla. Fbl bwaaklezu rwpble cynj vbl czynj ryrla, vwadle bla blye yde zlqv.

The boy sitting at the table cocked his head and looked at the window, seemingly wondering why the bright light shining on his face from the window disappeared. A while later, the red light slowly converged and the room fell into darkness.

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“Second Madam……” the maid to catch up with her, “Do listen to their nonsense, it is all nonsense……”

“Master is in the secret room……” Bai Yirong murmured, looking back at the maid’s face and asked coolly, “What is he doing in the secret room?”

The maid was afraid that she would barge into the secret room, the fine hairs covering her body stood up, almost about to kneel down to her: “I heard that they are working on the formation and must not be disturbed……”

*

“In the secret room, Huaijiang and I set up the Seven Killing Formation. Using Mu Sheng as bait, we waited for the resentful banshee.”

Mu Yao’s hands and feet lost their warmth, the letter rustled as she turned the page.

“Four days later, the resentful banshee happened to make a night attack on the  Mu Mansion, wanting to save her son, and was finally trapped inside the Seven Killing Formation, falling into our hands.”

“Huaijiang’s old friend, Taoist Kongqing knew that we captured the resentful banshee and came to stop us in a hurry, informing us of the consequences of killing the resentful banshee.”

“……”

“As a last resort, she was imprisoned in chains in the dungeon and sealed with talisman charms.”

“Ever since the brainwashing spell was cast on Mu Sheng, without the restraints of his memory, his demon power repeatedly went out of control. There were dozens of people who died in the mansion, and except for me and Yao’er, it was difficult for anyone else to approach.”

If he used to be as an ordinary child, with his demon power occasionally leaking out, after the brainwashing spell took away his memory, he lived as a half-demon, only occasionally remembering that he was a child.

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This was usually the case when Bai Jin went to bring him food, or when Mu Yao played with him.

He trusted Bai Jin very much, and every time she came near, he would retract the red light, sometimes leaning his head quietly in her arms, like a chick hiding under the wings of a female bird, so well behaved that it was pitiable.

As for Mu Yao——

At that time she was only ten years old, pure as a white sheet of paper, without the slightest evil thought. Although Mu Sheng was violent, he was smart and had the instincts of a small beast, able to tell who was treating him with sincerity, so he did not resist Mu Yao’s approach.

“I owe and love Mu Sheng.”

Bai Jin’s handwriting was clear and tight-knit, and at the time, vaguely gave a feeling of forcefulness and being unyeilding, “But his hostility was difficult to control. In the end, it was not a long-term solution.”

“The power of a great demon is mostly stored in the hair. This son’s hair, is more like the silk of hatred. Since entering the house, once stimulated, his hair would grow three inches, with dozens of deaths. But within three months, it has grown to his waist, except for me and Huaijiang, others can hardly fend him off.”

Once this matter had developed to this point, Mu Huaijiang was the first to raise objections.

In his opinion, when Bai Jin persuaded to bring the boy back, one reason was for him to serve as bait while waiting for the resentful banshee, the second was to provide protection for Mu Yao, and some of it was a woman’s compassion.

But in the end, what he valued most was the second one. He did not have a soft spot for a half-demon who could not control himself, much less raise him as a real child. Now that the resentful banshee had been confined by them inside the dungeon, if he could not protect his daughter, this child would be of no use to him.

The brainwashing spell did not have the desired effect, and Mu Sheng was practically confined to the Lotus Bloom Hall, like a wild, untamed beast, unable to touch outsiders, let alone accompanying Mu Yao on her adventures.

Moreover, this demon had already caused panic throughout the house and the people were exhausted.

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He wanted to dispose of Mu Sheng, and then gather demon hunters to form an alliance to strengthen the seal of the resentful banshee. That way, even if her demon power was restored, she would be locked in that small world forever and could not come back out to haunt others.

“At this time, Taoist Kongqing brought the method of permanently killing the resentful banshee. It could kill two birds with one stone, just what Huai Jiang wanted. But the method was cruel, and I did not agree. When the result of our dispute was uncertain, there was an rapid change.”

*

The courtyard was shrouded in darkness, all that could be seen of the eaves was a dark outline, and a small, curved moon hung from the tip of a towering dawn redwood, which was soon half covered by the incoming clouds.

Mu Huaijiang carried the lamp himself, guiding the long-bearded Taoist behind him to walk through the winding corridor bridge, whispering something back to him from time to time. The two of them were walking fast, and the lantern in their hands was like a starry flame.

Mu Huaijiang inadvertently turned around, a hooded figure stood panickedly against the wall, the wind blew the wide edge of the hood and sleeves, faintly revealing a petite silhouette.

It took Ling Miaomiao a long time as it was difficult to identify through the extremely low resolution screen—— it was a woman.

The two quickly walked away, the woman cautiously followed closely behind them, tightly wrapped in her robe. The black robe and the night blended into one.

The route they walked looped back and forth, and as they walked to the western-most end of the unoccupied pavilion, Mu Huaijiang subconsciously looked outside, and then closed the door. He took down the long landscape scroll hanging on the wall, revealing a small, dilapidated wooden door.

The woman hid by the window to watch, her fingers clenching the window frame.

Mu Huaijiang took out the key and opened the small wooden door, signaling for the long-bearded Taoist to enter. The two of them bent down, entered the door one after the other, and disappeared inside the door, with the faint sound of echoing footsteps.

The woman’s footsteps were like a cat, pushing open the door and quickly slipping in.

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Beneath the wooden door, there was something else.

Along the steps, was stone roughly built out of the cave cold and damp, dripping in the corners leaking water, printed in puddles, emitting a hollow, mellow echo.

Every few steps, there was a lamp hastily placed on the floor, barely illuminating the uneven path beneath the feet.

“Leave.” Mu Huaijiang waved his hand, and two burly mute women, who were guarding the outer perimeter, bowed and left.

The chains made a clattering sound, and Mu Huaijiang held a candlestick in his hand, which suddenly shone into the dimly lit stone cave, and the person sitting on the ground raised their hand to cover their eyes and block the blinding light.

From the outstretched hand, what could be seen were five slender fingers, pale skin, the wrist chained to heavy shackles, the cast iron was a rough black color, with splashes of red rust, and it formed a strong impact against the woman’s slender snow-white arms.

She was chained by chains as thick as a baby’s arm, nearly naked, and her ankles were also shackled, with the chains extending to the wall and nailed firmly into it.

An entire wall, plastered densely with talisman papers, with overlapping cinnabar writing, both dark and light, was dense and impermeable.

She sat in a seductive pose, displaying her elegant curves, like a mermaid stranded on shore.

Little by little, she moved her fingers away and looked sideways at them.

Her eyelashes were like butterfly wings outstretched, and one could get lost in her eyes, which were like a fully unfurled spring scenery.

From the tip of the nose to the cherry lips, and then to the curve of the jaw, it was all a heavenly creation. The moment she raised her head, it was as if this dark stone cave was illuminated.

The long-bearded Taoist nodded, assessing the woman in front of him. There wasn’t the slightest ripple running through his eyes. The two began to talk, short phrases, all inaudible. All which could be heard in the background was a shrill whistle——

The woman hiding behind the stone wall, her body trembled, her reddened eyes only seeing the demon sitting on the ground.

It seemed they had made a special trip just to see her. Mu Huaijiang and the long-bearded Taoist only briefly spoke a few words and then left.

The heavy shackles clattered, and she changed her posture to sit with a pointless indifferent smile still on her face.

The woman hidden in the darkness flashed out from behind the stone wall, took a few steps in front of her, and removed her hood, revealing a face with weathered makeup.

——Bai Yirong.

She stood tall and stared the woman dead in the face: “Who are you?”

The woman tilted her head and gave her an amused look, her expression careless: “And who are you?”

Her voice was delicate and melodious, with just the right amount of huskiness, echoing in the stone cave, making the listener’s heart feel tickled.

“You still have the face to ask me? I’m the Second Madam of the Mu Mansion, you nameless, identityless demon! What do you count as! You are not even a human being, how dare you seduce someone else’s husband……” she was furious, and after saying no more than two sentences, it practicallyevolved into a scolding while pointing at her nose.

“Seduce?” The woman looked at her, silent for a moment, the eyes began to flash with a ghostly light, the more her smile seemed bizarre, “It is your husband who is unwilling to let me go, how can it be considered seduction.”

“You’re speaking nonsense……”

“Believe it or not, it’s up to you.” She smiled languidly, “My son is with him, was he not accepted into the mansion, into your Mu family as the heir?

Bai Yirong’s brain buzzed, even her strength to shout had faded away, muttering, “Impossible, impossible…… isn’t, isn’t it just a rumor?”

The woman stretched out her arms, pulling the clanking chains, as if deliberately showing her the shackles on her wrists: “You see, having a son is not enough; he wants me to stay with him. Humans and demons have different paths, he can’t marry me as his wife, but also wants me to be his exclusively.”

Bai Yirong’s eyes glowed red and she wanted to rush over and tear her to pieces: “Shameless…… shameless vixen.”

“He loves me.” The woman did not seem to see her anger, then slowly continued, “He is absolutely obedient to me, wishing to bring the moon and stars before me, but I still disdain him.”

She slowly turned her head sideways, her eyes containing a little sneer of sympathy: “Did he ever love you?”

“Do you know what it’s like to be loved?”

“Is your whole life worth anything other than having children?”

“Stop it!” Bai Yirong screamed and pounced on her, riding on top of her, grabbing her hair, slapping her several times on that heartstopping face, and scratched out a few more bloody marks forcefully, “Little bitch, bitch, how dare you act proud……”

She laughed lightly and tilted her head to look provocatively at the out of shape Bai Yirong, the bloody marks and redness on her face quickly faded, revealing her flawless white jade skin again, “Unfortunately, it’s useless. Did you forget that I am a demon, how can this small injury do anything to me?”

Bai Yirong panted and looked at her, her eyes bloodshot.

“You live your whole life, your youth only lasting twenty years, then you get old and decrepit. Look, your skin is already starting to sag, how pitiful.”

She laughed softly, “And I will always be youthful and beautiful, even if Mu Huaijiang becomes an old man, I will always look like this.”

“You extravagantly asked for something for your whole life, but with my face alone, I was able to get it easily. How pitiful.”

“After all, men, are always so lustful, don’t you think so?”

“You……” Bai Yirong’s teeth chattered, anger rising. There was a faint rising feeling of drowning in hoplessness.

“Unless you kill me.” The woman smiled more and more charmingly, “Otherwise, you can’t surpass me for the rest of your life, you know?”

Kill, kill her…… the thoughts in her mind became clearer and clearer, and the blood in her body rushed straight to her head.

“Kill you……”

“Do you dare?” She smiled provocatively, and her extremely bright eyes seemed like two ghostly stars.

“Che——” The trembling hand held the dagger and firmly thrust it into the soft skin, “How would I not dare……”

Wet hot blood flowed all over her hands, emitting a strange aroma, and she woke as if from a dream. After realizing what she had done, she crawled and rolled backwards.

The woman on the ground lie like a deflated doll, twitching in a pool of blood, looking at her, eyes shining brightly, laughed. But even as she gleefully laughed, the scene was extremely bizarre.

Immediately, that flawless body slowly shattered, half into snow, half into fallen leaves, spinning in the air and scattering, rushing out of the shackles like a fierce gust of wind. The dagger inserted in her heart and the chains which shackled her, fell to the ground with a clatter.

Bai Yirong realized that she had made a big mistake, her legs were weak, she struggled to crawl for a while, before getting up, her blood-stained hands in the stone cave dragging out a path of deep red blood.

She couldn’t be bothered to put on her hood and turned her head to stagger out of the room. The spinning snow and falling leaves, like rain, swept through the wind and surrounded her petite body in an instant.

Bai Yirong suddenly fell forward to the ground, as motionless as the dead.

After a long time, she picked herself up extremely slowly, walked back to the stone cave with unhurried steps, bent down, picked up the dagger on the ground, and put it into her arms. She tilted her head, as if on a tour, looking around carefully, and then walked out of the prison without a sound.