Translator: CinderTL
Xu Sanyan swallowed hard. There had been absolutely no one outside the temple just moments ago, yet now two figures had suddenly appeared.
This place is utterly bizarre!
The old nun had a compassionate expression that immediately put people at ease. But Xu Sanyan felt a chill run down his spine, his guard raised to its highest level, not daring to relax for a moment.
At the entrance, two young monks stared at Xu Sanyan with wide, curious eyes, as if they rarely saw outsiders.
"Amitabha..." the old nun murmured softly, then said, "This humble nun is Ci Sheng, the abbess of Wondrous Sound Temple."
Xu Sanyan didn't dare take her lightly. He quickly returned the greeting, saying, "Junior Xu Sanyan pays his respects to Reverend Abbess."
Xu Sanyan raised his eyes, silently scanning the three figures. He could hear their calm breathing, and if he listened closely, he could even hear their heartbeats!
Living beings?!
Xu Sanyan frowned. He couldn't see through the old nun; perhaps her cultivation was exceptionally high, and her sudden appearance behind him was understandable. But those two young ones...
They looked like ordinary mortals, their cultivation at most in the Inner Qi Realm—a level Xu Sanyan could crush with one hand. How could he have failed to notice them?
Perhaps... the problem wasn't the people, but the temple itself?
Ci Sheng's voice was calm. "Layman, do you know where you are?"
Xu Sanyan shook his head. "Please, Reverend Abbess, enlighten me."
"This is the border between the Liang Kingdom and Desolate Sheep Mountain. If you continue forward, Layman, you'll enter Desolate Sheep Mountain territory."
"Desolate Sheep Mountain?" Xu Sanyan muttered to himself. He hadn't seen this mountain range on the token. Had he taken a wrong turn?
"No living person should enter Desolate Sheep Mountain. It's not a place for the living to tread," Ci Sheng's smile gradually faded.
No living person should enter...
"Could there be ghosts?" Xu Sanyan asked.
Despite his cultivation, he had never encountered a ghost.
Ci Sheng spoke slowly. "In the past, Desolate Sheep Mountain wasn't called that. It was called Envy Sheep Mountain, and many common people lived there. Though life was hard, they could barely fill their bellies."
Xu Sanyan grew increasingly impatient. Who the hell wants to hear your story?
Yet he dared not interrupt, forced to nod along. The old nun was simply too unsettling.
Ci Sheng continued, "Deep within the mountain was a large village of several hundred households. Five girls grew up together there, their bond unbreakable since childhood."
Xu Sanyan nodded in agreement, his eyes darting around. Suddenly, his brow furrowed. He felt... those two young monks seemed to be getting closer?
Ci Sheng looked up at the sky. "The village had a peculiar custom: before a girl married, she had to undergo a ritual called 'crimson piercing.' The villagers believed this would ward off misfortune."
"Crimson piercing?"
Xu Sanyan had never heard of such a thing before. "What do you mean?" he asked curiously.
"Heh heh... it means finding someone to defile her body," Ci Sheng replied, a deep resentment simmering in her eyes.
Xu Sanyan was stunned. That's twisted! Why wouldn't he want a perfectly good young woman? Why would he settle for a used one?
"The eldest of the five girls was about to be married, but the person who pierced her red mark was none other than... her own father," Ci Sheng continued, her words as shocking as a thunderclap. Xu Sanyan was momentarily speechless.
Incest?
He thought he was twisted enough, but it turned out there was always someone even more depraved. Compared to true monsters, he still had a long way to go.
Xu Sanyan snapped back to reality, his eyes wide with astonishment as he stared at the temple. Suddenly, he froze. The two monks... were getting closer!
It wasn't a hallucination. Initially, they had been about twenty steps away. Then it became seventeen or eighteen. Now they were only twelve or thirteen steps away.
Xu Sanyan's gaze sharpened. He fixed his eyes on the monks. With his current cultivation, he could hear the slightest rustle of grass within a hundred yards, yet he hadn't detected any movement from them.
Ci Sheng seemed oblivious, continuing her story as if nothing had happened. "The girl struggled desperately, her cries for help drawing villagers. She thought she was saved, but instead... the villagers helped her father hold her down..."
Ci Sheng's eyes welled with tears, as if she could fully empathize.
"The girl was forced into marriage. On her wedding day, she hanged herself in the bridal sedan chair. The other four girls watched from afar, knowing their own day would come."
Xu Sanyan suddenly interrupted, "Reverend Abbess, what time is it now?"
He didn't want to hear any more. He had a feeling the story would end with a "surprise" he wouldn't like.
Ci Sheng seemed not to have heard him and continued her tale. "Outside the mountains stood a temple. Some said that becoming a nun meant never having to marry or endure the ritual of having their cheeks pricked red. So the four girls decided to become nuns."
Xu Sanyan eyed the two nuns warily, ready to flee at any moment.
When his gaze met the young nun's, she shyly lowered her head.
Xu Sanyan pressed his lips together, feeling increasingly uneasy.
"But the temple was outside the mountains. The four girls agreed to meet the next morning before dawn, bringing their belongings. After a day's journey, they finally saw the temple. Their hearts swelled with joy, believing they had finally escaped their fate."
Xu Sanyan slowly backed away, trying to put as much distance between himself and the nuns as possible.
"But they never imagined that the temple was in league with the mountain village. Many girls from outside the mountains were abducted and sent through the temple into the village, where the villagers paid to buy them."
"The four girls were sent back after wandering around..."
Xu Sanyan's gaze remained fixed on the two nuns, who stopped approaching. He began backing away, his eyes never leaving them. Ci Sheng's voice grew fainter and more distant...
"The fathers of the four girls were furious. They locked each of them in their homes, preparing to marry them off."
Xu Sanyan froze, the clear voice of Ci Sheng sending shivers down his spine.
He had already walked nearly a hundred steps, yet her words still echoed in his ears.
She was still following him!
"The four girls had previously agreed that if they were forced to marry, they would hang themselves at home. The next day, all four families discovered their daughters swaying from the rafters, dressed in red corduroy."
"When their fathers returned, they only blamed the mothers for not watching the girls closely enough, regretting the silver they had lost by raising them in vain."
Xu Sanyan narrowed his eyes, his body flickering as he instantly appeared a thousand miles away. The temple and the two nuns had vanished from his sight.
Xu Sanyan breathed a sigh of relief.
"But even after the girls hanged themselves, they couldn't find peace. They were forced into ghost marriages..." Ci Sheng's compassionate yet sorrowful voice echoed in his ears again.
Xu Sanyan's gaze grew increasingly fierce. He whirled around to face Ci Sheng, sneering, "Hmph, you persistent ghost! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"
With that, a swirling mass of pitch-black fog materialized behind him, refusing to disperse. A slender figure emerged from the fog, its three sharp claws piercing Ci Sheng's chest.
Ci Sheng seemed unfazed, looking up at Xu Sanyan. "The girls refused to marry in life, choosing death instead. Yet after death, they were forced into ghost marriages, their resentment never fading..."
"Fuck your ghost marriages! Resentment never fading? I'll help you with that!" Xu Sanyan's expression turned savage. His clothes burst apart, revealing a crimson mist that enveloped him.
(End of the Chapter)
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