Chapter 28: Of The Thirty-six Stratagems, Fleeing Is Best!
The ferocious ghost face had features very similar to the fierce ghost from earlier. It roared, wanting to rush out.
Nan Yuanman instinctively took out a heavenly lightning talisman from the cloth bag and threw it at his stomach.
The heavenly lightning talisman exploded with crackling sounds. The ghost face trying to rush out was instantly blasted back by the heavenly lightning talisman, while Old Master Nan’s entire body convulsed and trembled wildly.
When the heavenly lightning talisman ended, his sparse hair stood on end strand by strand, and he spat out a puff of white smoke at Nan Yuanman with bewildered eyes.
Nan Yuanman was shocked. Oh no! She forgot that Grandpa was now a zombie!
“Grandpa, are you okay? Sorry, Yuanman forgot. Are you hurt anywhere?” Nan Yuanman anxiously paced around Old Master Nan, her tears about to fall.
Her small face scrunched up, her heart full of regret. How could she be so careless!
Old Master Nan slowly raised his stiff hand, retracted his fingernails, and patted Nan Yuanman’s head, comforting her: “Aww~”
After comforting her, Old Master Nan frowned, picked her up by the back of her neck, and shook her like a rag doll. Only when he saw that she was intact, with all limbs present and no missing arms or legs except for a slightly pale face, did he humanely breathe a sigh of relief.
Nan Yuanman also inspected Old Master Nan’s body up and down, confirming that he was only slightly charred from the lightning strike and his limbs were mostly normal, before she heavily sighed in relief.
After the grandfather and granddaughter caught their breath, Old Master Nan turned his pale purple eyes and slowly shifted his gaze to Zhuang Zhuang and his sister, who were protected by Xiao Cao in the corner.
Zhuang Zhuang felt like he was being stared at by a large beast, couldn’t help but tremble, lay on the ground shivering, not daring to say a word.
“You can’t eat them.” Nan Yuanman raised her white tender little hand and cupped Old Master Nan’s cheeks with a slap, forcibly turning his face back.
A hint of regret flashed in Old Master Nan’s eyes.
“Grandpa, when did you wake up?” When Nan Yuanman put him into the small coffin, Old Master Nan had fallen into a deep sleep.
She originally thought Grandpa would sleep for ten days or half a month like before before waking up.
Old Master Nan blinked his eyes: “Aww.”
Nan Yuanman: “…” She couldn’t understand.
It seemed she needed to learn zombie language first.
Whatever.
It was already great that Grandpa woke up.
Nan Yuanman patted Old Master Nan’s hand, signaling him to put her down.
As Nan Yuanman walked toward the corner, Zhuang Zhuang, who was suppressed by Xiao Cao, suddenly trembled violently. He struggled to protect the dying soul body of the little girl with his own soul body, and hoarsely said: “It’s my fault, all my fault.”
“I killed people, I harmed people. My sister knew nothing. I’m willing to take on all the karmic obstacles. Please, let my sister go.”
…………
Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun were born in a small mountain village in Siam.
The villagers in that small mountain village made a living by planting prohibited plants, and due to national conditions, almost every household was addicted to drugs.
Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun’s father was a drug addict, their mother a secret brothel prostitute. They gave birth to Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun—one for labor, the other for old-age support.
But as soon as they were born, they were targeted by a black sorcerer looking for Kuman Thong materials.
The black sorcerer gave their father a large sum of money to raise them until two years old, but during that time, he wanted them to suffer all the world’s misery.
Thus, the swaddled, innocent Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun suffered unprecedented malice from their blood relatives.
Going hungry and cold was the norm. In daily life, most of it was malicious beatings and abuse from blood relatives, rejection and bullying from village children, making every day of his small life feel worse than death.
Because of this, Zhuang Zhuang knew from childhood that his only kin was his biological sister Xiao Chun.
In his little head, his greatest wish was for more dog food to be left over at home, so he and his sister Xiao Chun could have a full meal.
But that was too hard.
The leftovers from the dog’s food weren’t even for them siblings.
Zhuang Zhuang was too hungry and had no choice but to steal the neighbor’s dog food on his second birthday.
When he wanted to share it with Xiao Chun, the neighbor came knocking.
Father flew into a rage, took an arm-thick wooden stick and beat them to death, and to apologize to the neighbor, tied the siblings up and threw them into a fire pit to burn alive.
In the two years they were alive, the siblings never had a full meal.
Dead, they were starving ghosts.
Zhuang Zhuang didn’t understand. He was clearly his father and mother’s child, so why at home did they live worse than dogs.
Burned to death by his own father, immense grievance built in Zhuang Zhuang’s heart, turning him into a ghost infant, but he didn’t know how to use his power.
When he wanted to charge recklessly to take revenge on his father, a monk with weird runes carved on his body appeared.
He had a kind expression and a pitying face: “Poor child, your father was truly cruel to burn his own children to death.”
“Child, will you come with me?”
Zhuang Zhuang looked at him in a daze, his charred skin crumbling off. He hoarsely asked: “Can you let me and my sister eat our fill? Can you let me… take revenge?”
“Of course.” The monk smiled with compassion, collecting their and his sister’s corpses into a small pottery jar.
Later…
He was made into a Kuman Thong by the monk and personally killed that pair of incompetent parents.
He was then sold by the monk to many people, did many bad things, killed many people.
If asked about obsession, Zhuang Zhuang had no obsession. He just wanted… his sister to see more of the world, eat more good food, wear more pretty clothes.
Zhuang Zhuang lay on the ground, trying to hide the little girl’s weak soul body under him, and pleaded with Nan Yuanman: “I’ll bear all the karmic obstacles. I’m willing to be scattered to ashes and smoke, never to reincarnate. I just beg you, let my sister go.”
She shouldn’t, shouldn’t end her short life so hastily.
She should have, like any ordinary little girl, grown up healthy and happy.
It was he who dragged her down because of a moment of greed.
If only back then… he had let her reincarnate.
Nan Yuanman listened, her nose suddenly sour. She tightly gripped Old Master Nan’s rough, veined hand with her little hand, pursed her lips and said: “Even if you bear all the karmic obstacles, the evil deeds she did can’t be offset.”
“The bad things you did are all recorded in the underworld. After going down, there will be a reckoning.”
She took a deep breath, pulled out a purification talisman from the small cloth bag and held it in her hand, her voice soft and glutinous: “I… I’ll try to lessen your pain.”
Zhuang Zhuang was silent for a moment, protecting the little girl without speaking.
Nan Yuanman’s small face was serious as she slowly chanted the reincarnation incantation: “By the supreme decree, ferry your lonely souls, all ghosts and spirits, four births receive grace…”
Pale golden light slowly flew out from her body, gently landing on the pitch-black soul bodies of Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun.
In a daze, Zhuang Zhuang felt himself wrapped in warm water. His soul body, burned in life, slowly healed, the crusted black scars flaking off, the yin energy and grievance on his body gradually dissipating, slowly revealing their original appearances—
Zhuang Zhuang was very cute. His two-year-old little body didn’t look chubby, but his round face was like a baby doll in anime.
Xiao Chun, protected in his arms, looked very similar to him, but her features were even more delicate.
The moment the burns on their bodies healed, the talismans on the small corpses on the ground, wrapped in talismans, ignited spontaneously without fire.
The corpses, bound for years, suddenly loosened and turned into a pile of sand on the ground.
At the same time, deep in the mountains.
The middle-aged monk, smugly waiting for news from his nurtured fierce ghost, screamed, spat out a large pool of blood, and rolled on the ground clutching his chest in pain.
“Aaaah—”
Who was so powerful? Even the fierce ghost he fed with thousands of people was killed!
Was it people from Sanqing Temple?
No, no! He had to find a way to resolve the backlash from the broken curse, or he would die!
The middle-aged monk writhed, eyes bloodshot, struggling to reach for the kesa on the ground.
Before he could grab the kesa, the pain in his chest intensified suddenly. His whole body felt like it was placed in a blazing fire, the intense burning making him howl uncontrollably.
“No! No—!” The middle-aged monk’s eyes were full of terror, forehead veins bulging, looking ferocious and terrifying. He didn’t want to die! He didn’t want to die aaaah—!
But the pain from the third backlash was too intense. The middle-aged monk’s pupils contracted sharply, he vomited three more streams of blood, kicked his legs, and directly died.
After his death, weird burn scars appeared on his body, as if he had been thrown into a fire and burned to death…
–
Sensing the curse binding them for years was broken, Zhuang Zhuang’s soul felt light, his expression dazed.
Nan Yuanman looked at Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Chun’s appearances, feeling heartbroken, her nose sour, eyes reddening uncontrollably.
If they were born in an ordinary family, they surely could have grown up safe and healthy, right?
She sincerely wished from her heart that after atoning in the underworld, they could be reborn into an ordinary family and grow up safely.
Xiao Chun in Zhuang Zhuang’s arms gradually faded with the reincarnation incantation, and the ancient Ghost Gate opened behind her.
The moment the Ghost Gate appeared, the quiet Old Master Nan seemed to sense a natural enemy, pacing around the room, finally sticking his buttocks out and hiding his head under the bed.
Xiao Chun felt the summons and bewilderedly opened her eyes.
She instinctively wanted to look at Zhuang Zhuang, but suddenly someone pushed her hard from behind: “Go on, walk forward, don’t look back.”
Xiao Chun: “?”
“Brother?”
Xiao Chun anxiously turned to find him, but an underworld official suddenly appeared before her. The thick chain hooked her tender neck, taking her disappearing into the Ghost Gate.
Nan Yuanman watched the slowly disappearing Ghost Gate, then looked at Zhuang Zhuang still lying in place, seeming to understand something.
Zhuang Zhuang had taken on Xiao Chun’s karmic obstacles and refused her reincarnation.
Zhuang Zhuang smiled at her, revealing cute little tiger teeth: “This is good enough. Being human is too hard. Next life, I don’t want to be human again.”
“Besides, doesn’t the Meng family still need us as witnesses?”
Nan Yuanman’s little mouth pursed slightly, but she didn’t say much. She respected Zhuang Zhuang’s choice.
Nan Yuanman pulled out a small wooden figure from the cloth bag, stuck a talisman on it, letting Zhuang Zhuang temporarily reside inside.
After doing all this, she finally felt exhausted all over.
No matter how powerful she was, she was just a five-year-old young cub with limited energy.
Nan Yuanman plopped down on the ground, about to rest for a bit when the door was loudly knocked on.
Jiang Lixuan’s anxious voice came from outside: “Yuanman? Yuanman? I just heard a huge noise from your room. Did something happen? Are you okay?”
Nan Yuanman blinked, belatedly looking at the bedroom blackened by the heavenly lightning talisman: “…”
Could she run away now?
Nan Yuanman anxiously scratched her buttocks. Just then, the sound of a key turning in the door came from outside.
Nan Yuanman: “!!!”
She instinctively grabbed Zhuang Zhuang, who was trying to get used to the small wooden figure body, and threw him at Jiang Lixuan who was about to enter: “Don’t come in!”
Jiang Lixuan looked anxious: “Yuan…”
Before he finished speaking, he felt a small black dot flying toward him, thudding heavily on his forehead.
His vision went black, his tall body swayed, and he crashed to the ground with a clang.
Nan Yuanman: “…” Oh no, she caused trouble again.
She da-da-da ran over, using all her strength to drag Jiang Lixuan inside, looking troubled at the messy room and the unconscious Jiang Lixuan.
Moments later, Yuanman thought of a good idea: as long as she restored the room before Jiang Lixuan woke up, it would be fine? Broken things needed repurchasing.
She hurriedly picked up the dizzy small wooden figure from the ground and stuffed it into the small cloth bag, put Old Master Nan who was struggling to pull his head out from under the bed back into the coffin, and didn’t forget to take Xiao Cao.
Then she took out a piece of paper, left a few crooked words, opened the window, and jumped straight down.
Using the cover of the night, the short figure quickly disappeared inside the Jiang family villa…
–
After Nan Yuanman ran out of Tai Gu Villa, her little stomach growled.
She held her stomach, belatedly realizing she hadn’t eaten dinner. Now smelling the aroma from the street stall, she was instantly hungry.
Nan Yuanman blinked her eyes, sniffing the air like a puppy, and arrived outside a restaurant.
She tiptoed to look at the packed seats inside, planning to squeeze in to find a spot to eat.
As she was about to line up, a group of people suddenly came out. Leading was a woman in a red suspender dress with black hair and red lips, followed by four men and women.
Two of the women were supporting a girl in a white T-shirt and jeans.
The girl reeked of alcohol, seemingly drunk, being escorted home by her companions.
Nan Yuanman curiously glanced and looked away. As she twisted her little body to squeeze into the crowd, a flash of inspiration hit her, and she abruptly turned back to look at the group walking away.
Wait, wasn’t that supported girl the sister who gave her candy today?
