Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Help Them Find Release

Yu Zhi Yi walked toward Xia Hou Li step by step: “To cultivate to the peak of qi refining with only average talent, you do have skill and deep luck. But…”

Xia Hou Li snapped back: “But what?!”

Xia Hou Li threw everything she had at the invisible barrier in front of her and still could not break through; [I’m finished today.] This orthodox sect disciple was even harder to deal with than she had imagined, and the other woman must be carrying a powerful magic tool.

Hatred and jealousy flashed in her muddy eyes as she spat out her bitterness: “What would an orthodox sect disciple born with a silver spoon know? You have a master to teach you, elders to protect you when you go down the mountain to train, and your sect hands you magic tools. You get easily what takes me endless effort and pain to gain.”

She ground out the words, her voice rough: “And me? Just because that Daoist priest said I had no spiritual root and no insight, I was locked out of the orthodox path. If I hadn’t been lucky, I would have been like the village women, married at thirteen or fourteen, a swarm of kids by twenty, my life sucked dry by children, a husband, and his family, turning into an old crone while still young!”

She bared her teeth in a cruel smile: “He said I had no spiritual root, so I cultivated anyway. Later… I killed him.”

She laughed wildly, her harsh voice like a broken windmill spinning in a storm: “You say I killed my sister, but if I hadn’t, she would have lived like my mother, trapped forever by children, a stove, and that shabby yard, working like a beast from dawn to dark.”

She lifted her chin, as if righteous: “I was helping her!”

Yu Zhi Yi’s face did not change. People this selfish never think they are wrong; if anything bad happens to them, it must be someone else’s fault. She had seen countless people like this in this life and the last; nothing in her heart stirred.

She spoke evenly, as if stating a list of facts: “You were born into a family that favored sons. You and your sister were only born along the way while your parents kept trying for a son.”

She continued, calm and clear: “After your brother was born, you became tools to serve him. At home you had to care for your parents and serve your brother. When you married, you were expected to bring in a large bride price for your brother, and even after marriage, to squeeze benefits from your husband’s family for him.”

Her tone softened only a little: “Your sister was three years older. She was the only one in that house who truly loved you. She worked the fields, washed clothes, cooked, already exhausted, yet still dragged her tired body to help you because she feared you could not bear it.”

She looked into Xia Hou Li’s eyes and went on: “One day she saw you come home in tears. She asked and learned you wanted to cultivate but had been rejected. She took the few coins she had saved and went to beg that cultivator to take you away.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s voice lowered: “She hoped her beloved little sister could have what she wished for, and even more, she hoped you could escape that suffocating swamp.”

For a heartbeat, Xia Hou Li’s expression went blank. A century had passed; many things had faded, but she remembered her sister’s kindness. Her gaze turned feral as she hissed: “Since she treated me well, why shouldn’t she offer her life as a sacrifice for my cultivation?”

“Stubborn and benighted,” Yu Zhi Yi said with a cold smile: “I have seen many heartless people, but your selfishness goes beyond them all. You are worse than a beast.”

She added, plain and sharp: “I only pity your sister. For you, she gave up a bright road, yet in the end she was betrayed by the one she loved most, slain, and her bones and marrow were drained.”

Xia Hou Li frowned: “What bright road? She was just a farm girl. What bright road could she have?”

Yu Zhi Yi looked at her without warmth: “She had a spiritual root. When she went to plead for you, that cultivator noticed her and wanted to take her as a disciple. She refused because she worried you would not live well if she left.”

Her eyes stayed steady as she concluded: “She stayed for you. You sacrificed her life.”

Her voice grew colder: “With someone like you, even if you get another turn at life, you will never meet sincere hearts again. Those you meet will only use you and humiliate you.”

Xia Hou Li, who cared little for blood ties or friends, still found the words harsh: “You dare to curse me!”

Yu Zhi Yi shrugged: “Take it as a curse if you like.”

She tipped her head, as if listening to an unseen clock: “Time is almost up. This needs to end.”

She flicked her wrist, and a strip of talisman paper appeared between her fingers.

Xia Hou Li stared, then her face changed: “You were stalling!”

Yu Zhi Yi did not deny it: “If I didn’t stall, how would I save Constable Song?”

The day Constable Song came to her, she had sensed something wrong, yet for some reason she could not feel any yin energy on him. After her breakthrough, she slipped close to him and finally caught a faint thread of yin. She could feel its source: the scabbard of Constable Song’s blade.

To avoid alerting the snake in the grass, she had not acted then. She waited for the mastermind to show herself, and at the same time arranged for officials from the Court of Judicial Review to secure the people at Constable Song’s home and seal that object.

The scabbard had been secretly switched. It was no ordinary scabbard but an item like the fox paperweight from Prince He Ping’s Manor, a thing that could host malevolent spirits.

Yu Zhi Yi had never found the souls of the murdered pregnant women. At first she thought the female demonic cultivator had burned them to ash. Only when she saw the scabbard did she realize their malevolent spirits were hidden inside it.

The scabbard carried the woman’s soul restriction. If Yu Zhi Yi touched it, the demonic cultivator would know at once and order the vengeful ghosts inside to rush out and attack.

Yu Zhi Yi did not fear being attacked; she feared the innocent Constable Song would be harmed. So she revealed herself to draw the woman’s attention, while the Court of Judicial Review sealed the scabbard at Constable Song’s house with the talismanic seals Yu Zhi Yi provided, fixing the vengeful ghosts inside so they could not break the situation.

By the time all that was done, it did not matter if the demonic cultivator realized she had walked into a trap. Without those vengeful ghosts, she could not use common folk to hold Yu Zhi Yi back.

Yu Zhi Yi’s eyes were cool: “I respect life. For criminals, I prefer to hand them to the law. But demonic cultivators as vicious as you and your husband… better you do not remain in this world to foul the air.”

Her fingers twitched, and the talismanic seals leaped into the air.

Xia Hou Li screamed in a rasping voice, rage twisting her face: “Wretch, without elders from your sect to back you, you think you can kill me?”

She licked her lips with hunger as she hissed: “Fine, this fresh body of yours will do nicely to extend my life…”