Chapter 169

Chapter 169: What Filial Son Would Bring People to Kill His Own Mother?

Yu Zhi Yi nodded and said: “You are right. This is the truth behind the eight strange deaths in Cao South Village thirty years ago.”

Li Chang Huai slowly woke up. He still trembled under Cao Zhao Di’s terrifying pressure, but when he saw she did not seem ready to hurt anyone, he started picking at Yu Zhi Yi again and said: “So it is true just because you say so? This is only her side of the story. Maybe she is lying to wash herself clean and escape punishment.”

Yu Zhi Yi gave him a mocking look and said: “What punishment can you give her?”

Li Chang Huai choked. Cao Zhao Di was dead, and a fierce female ghost at that. Punish her? Don’t joke. [As long as it doesn’t swallow me whole, that would already be a blessing.]

A cold voice sounded and said: “Human laws truly cannot do anything to it. But there is law in the underworld too. Maybe it is lying to escape the law of the Netherworld.”

Yu Zhi Yi looked at that person with doubt and asked: “Are you really Dragon-Tiger Mountain’s chief disciple?”

Ou Yang Shuo could not stand anyone questioning his lineage and status. He darkened his face and said: “Absolutely.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s expression grew even stranger. She said: “If you are truly the chief disciple of Dragon-Tiger Mountain, how can you not know the truth of cause and effect and sure retribution? The Way of Heaven is not a human official.”

“Human officials can take bribes and twist the law, but Heaven and true justice only accept facts.”

“If Cao Zhao Di truly killed people, then even if she lies, Heaven would not accept it. When the Netherworld judges later, the Register of Life and Death will clearly show the sins of her life.”

“But if she did not kill, then no matter how others frame her, the Register will not admit it.”

Ou Yang Shuo frowned, but he said nothing.

Liu Fei Yang asked with interest: “Young Madam Du…”

She cut in and said: “Call me Official Yu.”

Du Zi Heng’s body went stiff. Liu Fei Yang changed right away and asked: “Official Yu, does the Netherworld really exist?”

Yu Zhi Yi glanced at him and said: “When you die in a hundred years, you will know.”

Liu Fei Yang muttered: “Thanks, then I don’t want to know.”

Du Zi Heng suddenly asked: “And… and after that? What happened to Cao Yao Zu?”

Liu Fei Yang also looked curious and said: “Right. I have lived in the Capital for years, and I have never heard that Lord Fan’s family recognized some extra grandson.”

Cao Zhao Di said nothing. Yu Zhi Yi answered something else instead and said: “Let them go. I do not want to fight you.”

Cao Zhao Di had become a fierce spirit, but she had never killed anyone. On the contrary, she was a pitiful person who still carried a reputation she did not deserve even after death. Yu Zhi Yi pitied her. Unless there was no other choice, Yu Zhi Yi did not want to make a move.

Cao Zhao Di was silent for a moment, then asked: “Do you mean to let him return to the Fan clan?”

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head and said: “Good and evil will be repaid in the end. Those who do evil must pay for their deeds.”

At last, a smile bloomed on Cao Zhao Di’s blood-soaked face. She said: “Alright. I believe you.” It was not because she felt she could not beat this unusually beautiful young woman, but because Yu Zhi Yi carried a power that made her both fear and admire her. She did not know what that power was, yet she trusted it by instinct.

The black fog that had covered the village slowly spread apart and showed the village’s true face.

It was ruined.

After the chain of killings thirty years ago, people moved away one after another. This sinful village declined as its people left. When the last person left, the village was as good as dead. The thatched huts no longer kept their shape. Some walls were gone. Only a single post held up what was left.

In one room, six people lay on the floor with their eyes closed. Though their eyes were shut, fear showed on every face. It was clear they were not having sweet dreams.

All of a sudden, the six opened their eyes at the same time, and two of them shouted: “A ghost!”

Hearing each other’s voices, those two looked at one another for a second, then tried to run like scared animals. A man around forty or fifty spoke in a dark tone and said: “Idiots. If there really is a ghost, do you think you can run around like that and get out alive?”

The two stopped and asked: “Then what should we do?”

This man was Cao Yao Zu. He looked at the other three men. These three wore yellow robes that only Daoists wore. Cao Yao Zu bowed his head and said politely: “Masters, didn’t you say you could drive out the evil thing in this village?”

The oldest yellow-robed elder looked uneasy, but he still tried to pose like a lofty expert and said: “Before we came, you did not say this evil thing is a Vengeful Ghost of thirty years. Her hatred reaches the sky. This is not something ordinary people can remove.”

The more he spoke, the more he felt right, so he blamed Cao Yao Zu and said: “It is your fault for not telling the truth and making this master come unprepared to this killing ground. Find someone better.”

He finished and ran for the door with his two disciples. They had not gone far when three screams rang out.

The three who stayed inside jumped in fear. The two non-Daoist men said: “Brother Yao Zu, the masters you hired just ran. Shouldn’t we run too?”

Cao Yao Zu frowned hard and said: “Fine. Run.”

But the three never reached the edge of the village. They were sure they were running toward the village entrance, yet somehow they found themselves at the small river behind the village.

Above the river, the female ghost with a smashed and shapeless head watched them with interest. The three Daoists were also standing by the river.

Seeing this terrible scene, Cao Yao Zu’s two companions almost fainted. Cao Yao Zu was afraid too, but he stayed steadier than the others. He trembled and called out: “Mother…”

Cao Zhao Di was amused by that form of address and said: “Mother?”

The two companions snapped wide awake and stared in shock, then blurted: “What do you mean? That female ghost is your mother?”

Blood tears slid from the ghost’s eyes as she said: “I am not your mother.”

“No, you are my mother.”

Cao Zhao Di smiled, but her smile looked worse than crying as she said: “What kind of son brings Daoists to blast his mother’s soul to pieces?”

The Daoists and the two companions all stared at Cao Yao Zu in disbelief. Then the old Daoist pulled his two disciples back a few steps and said: “Though the righteous and the evil have been enemies since ancient times, I am a reasonable man. This brat hid the twists and turns from me. If I had known he wanted me to scatter his own mother’s soul, I would never have come.” [And it was definitely not because he could not beat the female ghost.]

Cao Yao Zu’s face sank. Since it was all out in the open, he stopped pretending. He looked at Cao Zhao Di and accused her: “Isn’t all this your fault? If you had told me my maternal grandfather’s rank back then, why would I have taken such a risky path?”