113 - Divine Mastering Dragon System

Chapter 113: Eye for an Eye Kong Er broke his leg while chopping wood on the mountain. Xiang Shi Yan had almost forgotten about him, but memories of the time she took He He away from there flooded back, along with the people they encountered. Inevitably, she remembered the malicious boy who once tormented He He. At the riverbank, when He He and Kong Er met, Xiang Shi Yan was busy conversing with a system and didn't pay much attention to the boy. She didn’t hear Kong Er’s biting words; she only knew there seemed to be some animosity between him and He He. Upon hearing that he had broken his leg, Xiang Shi Yan was quite surprised and became a bit uneasy. After Kong Er, following the Lin Family's misfortunes, it felt suspiciously like something He He might do. Although Xiang Shi Yan didn’t believe He He was the type to inflict harm upon others, she couldn’t shake a sense of strangeness. She dismissed the thought and set some protective formations along the walls of the Lin Family's small courtyard. Even though Xuan Jiu was unlikely to return and such elementary formations wouldn’t stand against an attack, they could at least serve as a warning to Xiang Shi Yan, providing some comfort. The bad news followed her relentlessly. After declining the plea of a girl begging her to stay, Xiang Shi Yan returned to Xingyang City, only to find the Li Family in shambles. She hadn’t been away for long. It seemed as if she left just as the assailant arrived at the Li Family's place, and the horrific scene shocked her even more. Bludgeoning was Xuan Jiu's preferred method; she had used it in Huaihai City to torment the Xu Family's head before dying, and Lin Xiang too had succumbed to blood loss and organ damage. Or rather, those organs ended up being very far away, scattered as lumps of flesh unlike any other, dispersed throughout the small courtyard, eliminated in an instant by Xiang Shi Yan’s magic. Gazing at the three corpses on the ground, despite a survivor cowering silently in a corner away from danger, Xiang Shi Yan felt it wasn’t Xuan Jiu’s doing. Had it been her, it would have been even more gruesome. Regardless, the gruesome deaths of these three were terrifying in their own right. Li Fu Ren, who always appeared timid, lay collapsed to one side, her face pale. She died from a massive wound piercing through her chest, likely a swift death much like Lin Nai Nai. Yet, the two male family members’ deaths were far more wretched, indicating a connection to Xuan Jiu, even if she wasn’t directly involved. Xiang Shi Yan was unclear about what these people had done to warrant such revenge. Yes, such targeted, brutal killings were undoubtedly retributive. The link between the Lin and Li Families was the sister of He He, Zhao Di. She stood rooted to her spot, staring at the two men in the courtyard who seemed still alive with faint body tremors. But Xiang Shi Yan knew it was merely the body’s involuntary spasms preceding actual death. Compared to Li Fu Ren, who had begun to show signs of rigor mortis, Li Da Fu and his son’s bodies were fresh. It seemed she had arrived only a short while after the attack, but even if she had been timely, neither of the two could have lived much longer. The two men lay on the ground, face up, clothes flung open. They had been attacked at the same time as Li Fu Ren but managed to hold on until just before Xiang Shi Yan arrived. The reason wasn’t anything else—both men looked as if they were pregnant, their abdomens hugely distended. The surfaces of their abdomens were covered with blue and purple veins, and their abdomen skin was stretched thin. Only a single layer of skin prevented the bulges from bursting, sustained by ghostly energy, and Xiang Shi Yan could even see the black ghost fetus within, wrapped in ghostly aura. Someone implanted ghost fetuses inside them, and these parasitic entities thrived on the living, aggressively absorbing the host's vitality. In such a short span, they had grown to such a size, bloating the men’s bellies till only a terrifyingly thin skin layer remained and draining them of life till they were like dried corpses. Both men's stomachs bore signs of self-inflicted scratches, their hands covered in blood. Xiang Shi Yan could envision the father and son, aware of their distended abdomens and the throbbing movement of the ghost fetuses within, succumbing to the torment, frantically scratching at their bellies in desperate desire for death. There was one survivor in the Li Family—a daughter returning home, barricaded in her room, the door blocked with furniture to prevent anyone from entering. This was not to keep the assailant out but to keep her pained and frantic father and brother at bay. This reinforced Xiang Shi Yan's line of thinking. Neither Lin Xiao Niang nor the Li Family daughter were targets of the vengeance, thus spared their lives. Although their psyche was likely deeply scarred, it was better than losing their lives. The entity lurking in the Li Family left a troublesome trace—it had come and gone quickly, but its ghostly presence left an undeniable imprint. It truly was a formidable spectral creature. Xiang Shi Yan coldly observed the quivering ghost fetus within the corpses. It seemed near “birth.” She raised her hand, forming a seal, encasing the entire courtyard with a spiritual barrier to prevent the ghostly entity from escaping or harming the woman inside when it broke free from the corpse. She had lived over three hundred years and had only seen ghost fetuses twice before. This entity was eerie and peculiar, not just a means of torture but a ritual with profound significance. In her early hundred years, Xiang Shi Yan once followed her master on a journey and encountered a female cultivator who could control ghostly entities. Although this friend of her master outwardly praised her, she secretly attempted to have the spirit of her deceased lover possess Xiang Shi Yan to be reborn. Recalling this, Xiang Shi Yan mused that this senior's lover was probably female, hence her interest in Xiang Shi Yan’s attractive appearance. Upon realizing the "secret" of same-sex attractions, Xiang Shi Yan felt as though her world expanded, and past events began to make sense. Unable to forcibly take possession, the senior devised a bizarre plan, using the lingering spirit of her lover for implantation. Xiang Shi Yan had not seen her since and knew not of her fate. The second instance involved her sisters while out training. They accidentally stumbled upon a demon cultivator crafting ghostly banners. The demon had seeded humans with ghostly entities to produce ghostly soldiers. Even after many years, Xiang Shi Yan recalled the horrifying scene—it took the combined efforts of her and her sisters to slay the demon and prevent the spread of such dark arts. Before her was the third instance, and while the residual ghostly presence was significant, the expected newborn ghost fetus's energy seemed weak. Curiously, every ghost fetus she had seen before was within a female host. Logically, men without wombs couldn’t nurture stable fetuses effectively. The emaciated appearance of the Li Family men and the frail ghost fetuses made this clear. If cultivating ghost fetuses, the Li Family daughter and Li Fu Ren would have been more suitable. The creation of ghostly entities is always a ritual with deeper meaning, and the current spectacle conveyed one of “revenge.” Who was avenging against whom? Suddenly, Li Da Fu’s corpse twitched violently. Xiang Shi Yan’s eyes narrowed, her life-bound spiritual sword quivered slightly, responding to the gout of ghostly energy erupting from the abdomen’s fissure. A small black hand slapped against the inner abdominal wall. A dozen black hands, like entities within eggs, pushed to breach their confines, distending the belly taut with terror even further. “Snap.” The sound of the abdominal skin breaking was crisp and small, followed by it draping over the cavity like torn fabric. With no place for the seeds, the perpetrator had opened the abdominal cavity, implanted the ghost seeds, and sealed it again. The ghosts growing inside had consumed the men's internal organs, and with the barrier ruptured, they cried out piercingly like newborns. Yes, they were all young female specters. Remarkably, over a dozen ghost infants had crammed inside two men, some fully developed, some barely fist-sized and not fully matured, while others were just chunks of flesh with weak spiritual energy. Even without Xiang Shi Yan’s intervention, they would likely dissipate once the sun rose. With a flick of her finger, Xiang Shi Yan turned the frail ghost infants to ash. What was the point of it? Was it simply to retaliate against the Li Family father and son? Xiang Shi Yan then noticed a small wooden box beside the bodies. Even as the surrounding ghostly air dispersed, the markings on the box intended to reveal themselves lingered. She brushed off the bloodstains, picked it up, and examined it. Inside was a black pill emanating a strong herbal scent, crudely concocted. Xiang Shi Yan unfurled the cloth beneath it, and her expression grew heavy upon a cursory glance. She recognized the herbs, but the formulation baffled her. What was this medicine for? What kind of harm was it meant to inflict? The characteristically bold handwriting on the cloth was grayed, as if penned long ago. However, the corner bore another’s recent inscription, “Gender Transition Pill.” Transition? For what purpose? How does it transition? What was being transitioned? Was it effective? Xiang Shi Yan found herself puzzled by these questions, her mind freezing upon reading those words. In her worldview, understanding this harmful concoction's intended use was beyond her comprehension. After some time, the woman slowly put down the recipe in her hand, silently glancing at the bloody voids in the two men’s abdomens. She was momentarily at a loss for words. Xiang Shi Yan tidied up the corpses of the two men, laying them alongside Li Fu Ren’s body in the room, covering them with a sheet to prevent further distress to the Li Family daughter. When she broke in, she gave the woman a start. The woman was curled up on the bed, clutching a pillow and blanket, huddling into herself. The moment she heard footsteps, she cried out, throwing whatever she could find at Xiang Shi Yan. The female cultivator casually caught a vase, standing calmly by the door as she waited for the woman to recognize her. Once the woman had calmed slightly, Xiang Shi Yan asked, “Did you see who did it?” Li Er Jie knew exactly what Xiang Shi Yan was asking about. Xiang Shi Yan hadn’t expected her to have any useful information, especially since Lin Xiao Niang seemed so bewildered by everything, suggesting the survivor’s memory had been wiped somehow. To her surprise, the woman’s sobs quieted, and she muttered softly, “It wasn’t me. They drove you to death.” “Do you mean... Lin Zhao Di killed them?” Though Xiang Shi Yan had already pieced together a rough idea of what had happened to Zhao Di and suspected her connection to Xuan Jiu—and further, her possible link to He He’s disappearance—she couldn’t help but sigh when the woman nodded fearfully. This morning, she had barely noticed the girl holding the swaddled infant, whose features somewhat resembled He He. She had overlooked a crucial clue. Where should she go next to find He He? Standing in the Li Family courtyard, Xiang Shi Yan contemplated her next move. Ever since she arrived in Xingyang City, she felt an uneasy sensation, as if someone was watching her every move, as if all her actions were falling right into their plan. If Xuan Jiu truly possessed such abilities, then Xiang Shi Yan knew the other must be aware of her presence—no, Xuan Jiu certainly knew. The small box left in the Li Family courtyard was a message specifically for her, a declaration as it were, affirming the legitimacy of her judgment. Although Xuan Jiu had thus far acted rationally and justly and even appeared approachable, Xiang Shi Yan was wary of placing trust in her. In the original story, Du Ruo initially met Xuan Jiu under the guise of a righteous individual. Still, this courteous elder gradually revealed a deranged nature, by which time Du Ruo had allied with her, elevating her to the position of demon emperor to avenge her master. Whether through Xuan Jiu’s machinations or otherwise, Du Ruo ultimately trapped himself in an unresolvable dilemma of distrust and mistrust, and Xiang Shi Yan had no intention of following in her footsteps. If Lin Zhao Di was indeed connected to Xuan Jiu, she might at least protect He He for the moment... or perhaps the girl, now a resentful spirit, had entirely lost her memory and conscience, becoming a puppet of Xuan Jiu? As Xiang Shi Yan's gaze lingered on the shrouded corpses within the room, she wondered about He He's fate. Trying to comprehend Xuan Jiu using common logic seemed meaningless, and her previous hypothesis that Xuan Jiu retained some sense of reason was likely wishful thinking. If true, He He could end up treated like those corpses. Fortunately, though she felt blocked, Xiang Shi Yan could still vaguely sense He He's life and death. Where should she go to find her? Or rather, how could she find He He without being spied on by Xuan Jiu? Just as Xiang Shi Yan furrowed her brows in deep thought, a sharp pain suddenly pierced her eye, as if someone was stabbing a sharp object into her eye socket. Although the pain she felt lasted only a moment—merely a remnant of the torture endured by the girl connected to her—it took Xiang Shi Yan by surprise, forcing her eyes shut swiftly. She didn't share much of the pain, but she distinctly felt the grotesque sensation of her eyeball being gouged out. The female cultivator couldn’t help but cover her left eye with her hand, a thin layer of cold sweat forming on her forehead. Amidst her panic and disbelief, she lifted her head. Before her remained the verdant mountains of Jiu An Peak and the bustling sounds of Xingyang City. It was as if the buzzing in her ears and the girl’s suppressed cries were mere illusions. Someone had gouged out He He’s left eye. Author’s Note: In the next chapter, witness the impressive performance of the manipulative tea-party plotter. 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