Chapter 521

Chapter 521: She Is Not a Heart Demon

This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation

“Quick! Burn it all, including the coffin!”

“That shameless woman, she must have been deceived by some spirit and bore a coffin child. It’s an omen of misfortune!”

“Yes! Kill her, and our village will prosper again!”

“Once she’s dead, we shall pray for the gods’ forgiveness!”

“A coffin child dreams of being divine blood? Ridiculous!” The villagers cursed, their voices filled with anger. A few kind-hearted ones attempted to intervene, but their voices were drowned out.

Village Chief Li, a man of great influence in Bai Li Village, led the charge. The villagers, relying on him for their livelihoods, dared not oppose his decree.

Some among them covered their eyes, tears falling. “This is a sin. A terrible sin.”

“Who are we to decide whether the gods stay or leave? A-Man was born into hardship—losing her mother before she even took her first breath. If she has survived this long, how can she be a bringer of doom?”

“Only someone blessed with extraordinary fortune could live through such trials!”

“And even if the gods leave, what does that have to do with her? The old woman raised her without ever taking anything from the village. Yet now, she must bear the burden of our troubles!” Someone whispered the words of reason.

“Enough! Be quiet! A-Man has no kin here, no one to speak for her. Do you want to be thrown out by the chief for defending her?” Another pulled them aside, silencing their protests.

“A man must not forsake his conscience! The gods’ departure is merely an excuse—the chief simply needs a scapegoat to bear the villagers’ fury.” The kind-hearted woman trembled with suppressed rage.

Li Village Chief surveyed the vast crowd gathered at the village’s threshing ground. Bai Li Village was large, and a sea of people stretched before him.

Some glared at him with hatred, while others clung to him with flattery.

He saw it all.

“A-Man, don’t blame Uncle Li for being cruel. Blame your mother for her lack of virtue! She gave birth to a coffin child and dared to claim divine lineage, bringing calamity upon Bai Li Village!”

With a grand gesture, he signaled. Young men threw their torches forward.

With a thunderous roar, flames erupted into the sky.

“A-Man! A-Man! My A-Man!”

“Li, you treacherous villain! I agreed to leave the village, and yet you break your word! Is there no law left in this land?!” The old woman’s voice was filled with agony. She struggled to rise, only to be stomped down mercilessly.

She hated. Hated it all.

She hated this world! This was why she could never truly belong here!

Human lives were worth less than dogs. In this small Bai Li Village, the village chief ruled like an emperor, wielding power over life and death!

Li Village Chief stood before the crowd, no longer the humble, simple man he was in front of the gods. His eyes shone with cunning. “Law? Here in Bai Li Village, I am the law!”

“You claim to worship the gods, yet act with such cruelty. Do you not fear divine wrath?!” The old woman’s leg was broken beneath a heavy boot, her face pale with pain.

But watching A-Man sob in despair within the flames twisted her heart into unbearable sorrow.

“The gods? The gods would not be angered over a mere coffin child!”

“You don’t truly believe she is a divine offspring, do you? Hah! Hahaha!” Li Village Chief laughed wildly.

“If the gods no longer protect Bai Li Village, then offering her as a sacrifice may yet regain their favor!”

The old woman’s eyes were bloodshot, her body trembling violently.

“Let A-Man go! She is but a fifteen-year-old girl! You will suffer for this! You will all die wretched deaths!”

She had hidden A-Man at the foot of the mountain to keep the villagers from turning against her. Yet, in the end…

It had all been for naught.

“You damned heavens! What are you doing?! Open your eyes and see! You who brought me to this world with such great power—why won’t you save this poor child?! You blind gods!” The old woman screamed and cursed, only to be stomped down again, unable to rise.

The raging inferno blazed, smoke filling the threshing ground. Many villagers secretly wiped their tears.

But fear of the chief and the mob’s fury kept them silent.

“Mother… I am useless. I could not find the man who abandoned you. I could not even protect your remains.” A-Man clung to the coffin, the searing heat scorching her body, yet she refused to let go.

“Mother, don’t be afraid. Men cannot be trusted, but I will never leave you.” She had never blamed her mother. She was merely another soul forsaken by fate.

She felt the flames licking at her clothes, heard her grandmother’s anguished cries outside the fire.

As the inferno raged around her, she thought only of how she had failed her grandmother in this life.

She only hoped her grandmother could return to her home.

Lying atop the coffin, surrounded by roaring flames, A-Man’s vision blurred.

Perhaps she was hallucinating.

For why else would she see a god descending?

A rare look of panic appeared on the deity’s cold face. With a sweep of his sleeve, the towering flames were extinguished in an instant.

Only thick smoke remained.

A-Man lay sprawled on the coffin, her face smudged with ash, hot tears still streaking her cheeks.

She looked utterly lost.

The villagers of Bai Li stood in shock. The chief, however, was ecstatic. Yes! The gods were displeased with A-Man claiming divine blood! I was right!

Immediately, the village chief led the villagers in kneeling.

“Mountain God! Li Shu, that wretched woman, engaged in illicit relations and bore a coffin child! She dared to defile Your name! Today, Bai Li Village offers its repentance!”

“That wretched girl, A-Man, is Yours to deal with as You see fit!”

“Inside this coffin lies her mother—the woman who disgraced herself.”

“She entered the mountains with us to make offerings, yet did not return with us.”

“Two months later, she came back in disgrace.”

“She was found to be pregnant, yet refused to name the father. Instead, she stared at the mountains day after day…”

“We could not tolerate such shame. She was placed in a pig cage and thrown into the river. Yet her fate was stubborn! Even that did not kill her.”

“It was her—” he pointed at the old woman on the ground, “—who bribed her way to rescue her.”

“Though she survived, she lost her sanity. She sat at the foot of the mountains, muttering, ‘My husband is a god. He will come for me.’ It was she who tarnished the gods’ reputation.”

“Had she perished along with her unborn child, it would have been fine. But the wretch was stubborn! After she died, we sealed the baby in a coffin and left it in the mountains. Yet the child cried from within!”

“Our village never protected her. We never wanted to raise her. It was that old woman, mad and foolish, who took her in.”

“Please, do not punish Bai Li Village.” The village chief prostrated himself, shifting all blame onto A-Man and her mother.

Standing atop the smoldering pyre, Celestial Sovereign Yan Qing looked down at the fierce young girl, her eyes like a wolf’s, protecting the coffin with unwavering resolve.

“Inside this coffin… is it Shu—Li Shu?” The cold sovereign’s voice held an uncharacteristic hesitation.

His gaze fell upon the coffin as though burned.

Shu’er…

She had vanished into the mountains for two months?

Yan Qing’s eyes darkened, his breath unsteady.

Shu’er… she wasn’t just his heart demon?”