I have a weird dynasty

Chapter 17 Heart Lights

"mother……"

"Shouan, you're awake. That's great. Shouan is awake. Woo woo ...

Inside the He family's house, Qin Fangru tightly hugged He Shouan, who had just woken up, and couldn't hold back her tears. He Erniang was also beside her, covering her mouth with her hands and crying. He Baosheng, with red eyes, looked at the three of them with a silly smile.

Old man He stood at the door of the house, wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes, turned around and burned incense at the tablet of He Youniang in the hall.

At the table, Sang Que blew out the soul lamp and slumped on the stool. He felt that the soul lamp had burned out his mental strength and he felt dizzy.

Seeing this, Skinny Monkey hurriedly took the kettle, poured a glass of water for Sang Que and handed it to him, his eyes full of disbelief. He had never thought that Sang Que could succeed. After all, if it were him who did this... he wouldn't dare!

"Why are you still soaking wet? Where did you find Shouan's soul?"

"Lake... cough cough..."

Sangque drank the water too quickly and choked and started coughing, without being able to finish his words.

The skinny monkey and Kou Yushan beside him opened their eyes in shock when they heard this. The skinny monkey said in surprise, "You went into the lake? Didn't you encounter a water ghost? Even Yan Daozi didn't dare to approach that place, it's impossible!"

Kou Yushan was speechless. He had thought that Sang Que was powerful, but he didn't expect her to be so powerful that she was not even afraid of water ghosts. However, she was the daughter of the temple keeper, so she must have the favor and protection of the witch.

"Mother...I saw Empress Wu..."

He Shouan spoke in a daze in Qin Fangru's arms, shocking everyone in the room, and Qin Fangru quickly interrupted him.

"Don't talk nonsense. We can't worship the witch lady anymore."

Before the Wu Temple was abolished, the main deity worshipped by the villagers of Heishan during festivals was Wu Niangniang, and almost every household had a statue of Wu Niangniang.

When He Shouan's grandmother was still alive, she told He Shouan a lot of stories about Wu Niangniang. In He Shouan's heart, Wu Niangniang has always been a good ghost.

When Sang Que heard what He Shouan said, she thought of the figure that protected He Shouan. Could it be the ghost in the witch temple? Was it him who saved her?
Sang Que tried to recall carefully, but her head ached and she could not remember what the figure looked like. Or rather, she could not see it clearly at all.

"Mom... I also saw Brother Tiancong. Brother Tiancong took me to play by the lake. Brother Tiancong said he wanted to go home too..."

He Shouan in Qin Fangru's arms spoke again in a weak voice, which frightened Qin Fangru and others so much that they turned pale.

He Shouan was talking about Zhao Tiancong, the missing person from the Zhao family.

"That cough from the Zhao family...what kind of cough is that..." Sang Que asked, putting down the water cup.

Kou Yushan described to Sang Que Zhao Tiancong's characteristics and what he was wearing on the day he disappeared.

After listening, Sangque sighed, "He's in the lake."

Now everyone in the room widened their eyes. The skinny monkey swallowed hard and said, "No, you really went into the lake?"

Sang Que couldn't explain in detail, nor did she have the energy to say much, so let's just assume that she had gone down. Anyway, she did see a water ghost.

Next to the earthen kang, He Baosheng, who had to summon the soul himself before, looked pale and felt a sense of fear in his heart. If he had snatched the things to summon the soul earlier, he would surely die.

Moreover, if you die at the hands of a water ghost, you will become its slave, leading your family or villagers to be sacrificed to the water ghost, which will cause endless troubles.

Thinking of this, He Baosheng knelt down at Sang Que's feet.

"I, He Baosheng, have offended you before. I hope you will forgive me. I will work like a cow or a horse to repay your kindness."

Sang Que was at a loss. Qin Fangru put the child down, pulled He Erniang to kneel down together, and kept kowtowing to Sang Que to thank her.

"Thank you, Yu Niang, for saving my family's safety today. From now on, my husband and I'm yours. I'll do whatever you ask me to do and I won't say no!"

He Erniang didn't know what to say, she just followed her parents in kowtow, with genuine gratitude in her eyes.

At this moment, Sang Que didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt a warm current surging in his heart out of nowhere, suppressing the coldness in his body even deeper.

The three men kept kowtowing, and Sang Que quickly stood up and reached out to help them.

"Get up, no need..."

Sangque jumped up too fast, and blood rushed to his brain. The world suddenly spun around, and darkness encroached from the edge of his vision. All that was left in his ears was a sharp tinnitus.

*
In a daze, the cold wind blew on my face.

Rumble!
A loud thunder tore through the darkness. Sang Que trembled all over and suddenly woke up. When she saw her surroundings clearly, she opened her eyes in horror.

She arrived at that bottomless, boundless abyss again... Jiuyou!
This time she did not fall. Under her feet was a flight of stairs standing in the air, uncertain as if it were mist.

The dark fog was filled with scarlet blood and crisscrossed black iron spikes, like a thorny jungle, both spectacular and terrifying.

As far as the bird could see, there were several shriveled corpses stuck in the thorns, looking up at the sky in pain.

There was fog and darkness all around, and the sound of the wind was like the cry of a ghost, which was creepy.

Pieces of flaming feathers floated down. The mulberry bird looked up and saw tree-shaped lightning silently crossing the sky above its head. The flaming feathers landed on the mummy in front of it, and the mummy was burned to ashes in an instant and blown away by the wind.

The iron thorns seemed to be growing slowly, pricking all over Sangque's body. She hurriedly felt around her body, trying to find something to illuminate her so she could get a closer look.

Suddenly, a faint light appeared at her heart, like a spark, swaying in the wind, tenacious and inextinguishable. Under this light, the steps under her feet seemed more real and stable.

When the light came on, the growth of the surrounding iron thorns also slowed down significantly. Through the light, Sangque found three words written on the stairs under his feet.

One, zero, eight.

She looked back up, avoided the iron thorns and tried to move upwards. Just as she raised her foot, a cold wind suddenly blew up, the misty darkness dispersed, and a small figure appeared above the stairs.

Blood flowed from the empty eye sockets, staring at her calmly.
Something blew, and the flame in Sang Que's heart went out instantly. The stairs under her feet disappeared, and the sharp spikes on the surrounding iron thorns flew out and pierced into her body.

!!!

Sang Que suddenly woke up and sat up, his head covered in cold sweat and his heart pounding wildly.

He Erniang sat on the edge of the earthen kang holding a handkerchief, looking concerned, "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

When Sang Que saw He Erniang's face clearly, she felt bitter. She was still in Heishan Village and had not returned to her home.

The morning light filtered through the half-open window; it was already the second day.

Realizing that his clothes had been changed, Sang Que hurriedly touched his face, which was clean and moist without any dirt.

"Don't worry, I changed the clothes." He Erniang put the handkerchief in the basin beside her. "This is my room. No one else has come in since last night. You are so beautiful, why did you deliberately make yourself dirty and black?"

"Scared." Sang Que said casually.

He Erniang nodded in understanding, "Yes, in this world, beautiful women always have a hard life, but Taoist Master Yan is not interested in women, but his disciple Mingzhang always made advances towards the girls in the village."

"Can you help me...find some carbon ash?"

He Erniang brought a basket of charcoal ash that she had prepared long ago to Sangque without asking too many questions. Born in such a world, they had long learned to suppress their curiosity.

"There's a basin over there. I'll go out and prepare some food for you. Um... I was wrong to be cold to you yesterday. Thank you for saving my brother. If you need any help in the future, feel free to come to me."

"what's your name?"

Hearing Sang Que's question, He Er Niang stopped at the door. Everyone in the village called her He Er Niang and didn't care about her real name at all.

"Shouhui, my name is He Shouhui."

Sang Que nodded, watched He Shouhui go out, and then closed the door.

Quickly returning to her state as she was yesterday, Sang Que walked out and saw the He family had prepared a sumptuous meal in the main hall. No one picked up their chopsticks, and they all looked at her eagerly and gratefully.

He Baosheng stood up holding a purse and was about to say something when Sang Que quickly took two hot and soft cornmeal buns from the table.

"I still have something to do."

Sang Que bowed slightly to apologize, took a bite of the steamed bun and turned and ran away.

"and many more!"

He Baosheng chased after him, but failed to catch up, so he could only walk back in disappointment with the purse.

Seeing this, Old Man He said, "Yu Niang is a good girl and has abilities, much better than Ming Zhang. If she could learn the abilities of Taoist Master Yan and stay in Heishan Village, our village would be blessed. What a pity..."

It's a pity that Yan Daozi is not a good person. Sang Que may not be able to learn all his skills, and it is unknown how long he can survive in his hands.

*
As soon as Sang Que came out of He's house, he heard an old woman sitting on the ground crying in the courtyard of the Li family next door.

"What shall I do? What shall I do?"

The yard was littered with chicken feathers, chicken blood, and dead chickens that had been torn to pieces.

Sang Que's eyes sank slightly. The black shadow she saw last night was not an illusion. Could it really be a ghost?

Looking at the Liu family across the street, it was quiet and nothing was happening, but the quietness made people's hair stand on end.

Thinking of the old woman who jumped into the well at Shouhou's house, Sangque finished a steamed bun in three bites and ran outside the yard of Shouhou's house.

"The stone is blue, with many white spots... eighteen men and eighteen women... so bloody, so bloody..."

"Oh my dear mother, could you please stop singing? It scares me so much. Where on earth did you learn this song?"

Seeing the hunched old man in front of the skinny monkey, Sangque's pupils trembled slightly. It was the old woman who jumped into the well last night.

Looking at the corner of the skinny monkey’s yard, the ground was flat and there was no well at all!

"Eh? Yu Niang, are you awake?"

When Skinny Monkey saw Sang Que standing outside the yard, he greeted him enthusiastically. Sang Que looked unhappy, took two steps back, turned around and ran away.

"Yuniang, why are you running? I'm not a ghost."

Sang Que's head was buzzing. This was really a village of outstanding people and beautiful scenery. This must be a hell-level novice village. She didn't want to stay here for a moment. She couldn't even tell whether what she saw was a human or a ghost.

Running into the yard where Yan Daozi lived, Sang Que actually felt a little more secure.

The black donkey in the yard barked at her again, but Sang Que glanced at it and ignored it, taking a deep breath and walking towards the main house where Yan Daozi lived.

Seeing this, the black donkey in the corner of the yard kicked over the stone trough.

The door of the main room was ajar. Just as Sang Que was about to knock on the door, he heard Yan Daozi's voice from inside.

"come in."

The door was pushed open with a creaky sound, and sunlight came into the dim room. Yan Daozi was still sitting crookedly at the middle table, using her fruit knife to cut a bone. There were still two cups of tea on the table.

Sang Que looked at the locked house on the left. She still felt a desire to go in, stronger than yesterday, but the talisman on the door made her feel very dangerous.

When he withdrew his gaze, Sang Que suddenly discovered that a long and thin human-shaped shadow vaguely appeared on the empty seat next to Yan Daozi. It was like a stretched human skin, with a taut face without facial features, which was both scary and weird.

It is the evil spirit controlled by Yan Daozi!
She can see it!
(End of this chapter)