I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 103 - 84: Deep into the Abandoned Residence
Kou Yushan spoke heavily, "Before the Witch Temple was abandoned, the storyteller was considered righteous. But in the more than twenty years since its abandonment, there have been tragic incidents caused by storytellers everywhere, and it’s unclear if the people behind the storyteller have changed."
"Our Tangyuan County is already considered a remote place, so for news to travel here means it caused quite the stir. That’s why the Evil Suppression Bureau has been offering a bounty for the storyteller. Providing effective leads on the storyteller can be exchanged for household registration in the state capital, a house, and one hundred gold coins. If the storyteller is captured, it can be exchanged for Shengjing household registration, a house, and one thousand gold coins."
Skinny added, "The money and the house are secondary; the household registration is what matters. The state capital is much safer than any other county, and obtaining residence there is incredibly difficult. Not to mention, with the Prime Minister overseeing Shengjing, it would definitely be safe with no danger."
Kou Yushan nodded, "Settling in the county is easier because the court needs the populace to farm and do business around the counties, but since the state capital is safer, if household registration isn’t controlled, everyone would choose to move there, leaving other places deserted. Although surviving around the counties is slightly more difficult than in the state capital, the taxes are much lower than in the state capital. There are pros and cons."
"However, some wealthy families, due to high costs of settling in the city, like the Ming Family, would hire Feng Shui Masters and craftsmen themselves. They would purchase bricks mixed with vermillion and use mortar mixed with glutinous rice to build a big mansion near the county towns, setting up a Feng Shui Formation to ward off ghosts and pray to a Ghost God for protection, ensuring safety."
Kou Yushan knew Sang Que didn’t understand much, so he explained in more detail when he mentioned it.
A mansion like the Ming Mansion shouldn’t have any changes without the storyteller’s intervention. Even after fifty years, evil spirits and ghosts wouldn’t approach this mansion.
It’s just that people mind the numerous deaths that happened here, so no vagrants or beggars come, and passersby wouldn’t enter for shelter unless necessary.
Sang Que grasped the key point, that the successors behind the storyteller might have changed, no longer the older batch from her biological mother’s time, which she needed to be cautious of.
Since everyone in Nine Songs has a responsibility, what role does her biological mother represent?
Kou Yushan asked Skinny to rest first, and Sang Que chatted with him a bit more.
Kou Yushan also knew very little; in Nine Songs, he only knew of the well-known ’storyteller’, ’Bell Doctor’, and ’Ghost Vendor’. He wasn’t clear on the role of Sang Que’s biological mother in Nine Songs.
Sang Que boldly speculated, the Witch Lady may be the image of the Mountain Ghost, who is very likely the leader of Nine Songs.
She is the big fish the storyteller wants to hook!
If she were to turn around and leave now to sleep at home, her mother’s story couldn’t continue, and her mother’s readers would criticize her for being timid.
But if she kept on recklessly, offering herself to get hooked, and nothing went wrong, it would be fine. However, if something went wrong, her mother’s readers might criticize her for being brainless, and it would also implicate her mother as an author relying solely on the female lead’s brainless recklessness to drive the plot.
Sang Que suddenly realized that being the protagonist of a novel is quite difficult!
No, she is already within the storyteller’s story, and any inappropriate actions on her part must be influenced by the storyteller!
Yes, let her mother write clearly then, the storyteller is the one to blame, not her or her mother for being brainless!
Thinking like this, Sang Que figured since she came, how could she not go in and see?
Regarding the storyteller’s specific abilities, Kou Yushan didn’t know much either; it was all hearsay and his own conclusions.
He just knew that once a name was written into the storyteller’s story, it was essentially doomed.
Even if the name wasn’t mentioned, as long as the characteristics matched, being a supporting character or passerby in the story, the likelihood of survival wasn’t high either.
Only those completely ignored in the background had a chance of surviving, provided they didn’t delve into the story and didn’t do unnecessary things, which would turn them into a piece driving the plot leading to a tragic death.
"Are you going in?" Kou Yushan asked worriedly.
Sang Que nodded, "Let Xia Chan stay to protect you. Once the rain stops and daylight comes, you can leave without waiting for me; I have my ways to stay alive."
Kou Yushan trusted Sang Que, especially since she easily dealt with Yan Daozi alone.
"Alright, then be careful."
Sang Que reassured Xia Chan to keep a close eye on Skinny and the old monk.
As long as the old monk didn’t harm anyone, he could do as he pleased. If Skinny did something strange, he was to be tied up.
Xia Chan, with a determined expression, clenched her fists, promising to take care of everyone, and Sang Que left her some food as a reward.
Afterwards, Sang Que called Xuan Yu down from the beam and ventured into the ruins of the Ming Mansion together.
*
In the corridor leading to the rear of the Ming Mansion, the storm raged, and thunder clapped loudly.
Meow——
Xuan Yu whimpered softly, jumped onto the horizontal beam of the corridor ceiling, cautiously treading with cat steps, its emerald eyes scanning the surroundings, constantly on alert.
Under the corridor, Sang Que’s long hair flew wildly, and her clothes fluttered loudly in the wind. Her gaze was focused and she was on full alert, holding an iron sword in one hand and an Exorcism Talisman in the other.
Although the Exorcism Talisman only had a repelling effect on Evil Spirits below the Second Layer, it could also be used as a warning bell.
Just a drop of blood to activate it. If any Evil Spirits approached silently, the Exorcism Talisman would instantly burn up, also slightly slowing down their attack and buying her a bit of reaction time.
There were corridors behind both doors in the reception hall. The corridor to the west led to the west side of the Ming Mansion, where vast eerie ghost fires floated in mid-air, flickering between withered trees and rockeries. Among the blood-red bellflower rain curtains, they wove a tapestry of deep and shallow hues, like a surging sea of blood.
If no surprises occurred, that side should be the Ming Mansion’s grand garden.
Sang Que chose the eastern corridor, and between the two corridors were rockeries, now reduced to broken walls and rubble, covered in weeds.
Red paper lanterns rolled underfoot, with half of the character ’happiness’ remaining on them.
Fifty years ago on the day of worship to the Nie God, something major must have happened here—there are no unwarranted great fires in horror stories.
At the end of the corridor was the main courtyard of the Ming Mansion, typically a place where the Family Head would be active. Under the charred walls, unburned funeral wreaths lay drenched by rain, and in the corners, piles of paper-made chests and horses lay, resembling the ten-mile red makeup of an ancient bride, yet made of paper.
On the right was a moon gate, where in the flash of lightning Sang Que saw a winding path seemingly leading to another secluded courtyard.
Without a clear map, exploring such a large mansion would certainly encounter all kinds of dangers and trigger some deadly rules.
She currently felt no sign of Evil Spirits, and Xuan Yu was keeping vigil from a high place. It would call out if there was danger; she had trained it well before, no problem should arise.
To find the storyteller, it was best to strike directly at the heart of the matter, avoiding other areas if possible.
According to what Skinny said, the two important locations in the Ming Mansion were the temple on the back mountain offering worship to the Nie God, and the northeast corner yard where the eccentric young lady resided.
Sang Que lifted her sleeve to look at the compass on her bracelet, decisively heading towards the right, the moon gate in the northeast direction.
"Xuan Yu!"
Upon her call, Xuan Yu jumped down from the beam, landing perfectly on Sang Que’s shoulder.
The Evil Mist spread out three meters around, and Sang Que, donning a bamboo hat, clad in black with a Hunting Bow on her back, walked through the rain curtain, water running down the iron sword into a stream that fell to the ground.
A pale, swollen arm stretched out from the puddle. Sang Que swung her sword casually, and the arm instantly turned to ash, becoming nourishment for the Yansheng coin.
The sword was enveloped in gray mist, hauntingly eerie.
This was the method of using Evil Mist that Sang Que had developed when instructing Xia Chan and Xuan Yu that day.
The Evil Mist itself was a manifestation of the Yin Child’s power, capable of harming Evil Spirits lower than the Yin Child’s level, allowing her to envelop it on weapons to destroy ordinary Evil Spirits. It could even be used on arrows!
If encountering Evil Spirits stronger than the Yin Child or Evil Ghosts, she would then use the currently more powerful Ghost Soldier Talisman.
As she swept along the path, a third of the sixth trigram of the Yansheng coin appeared, and Sang Que suddenly realized that on rainy days, she could encounter Water Ghost’s Little Ghosts repeatedly.
However, she still needed to be cautious, fearing that excessive encounters might summon the Water Ghost itself, which she absolutely couldn’t handle at the moment.
A small courtyard hidden among wild grass appeared before her. A nearby dead tree had fallen, crushing the courtyard gate.
She stepped over the ground covered with eerie red flowers. Ghost fires drifted like fireflies in the air. Sang Que sidestepped them, rubbing Xuan Yu on her shoulder, and entered the courtyard.
Everywhere bore the charred traces of fire, with broken doors and windows scattered on the ground. The main hall was pitch black, obscuring all view.
Sang Que approached a little closer, squinting to peer inside.
Boom!
Lightning’s silver gleam suddenly lit up the darkness, casting shadows in the eerie hall.
Directly facing the entrance, an old lady resembling Cixi sat solemnly on the center of a Taishi Chair, meeting Sang Que’s gaze!
Sang Que’s heart contracted sharply as she instinctively stepped back; only when the lightning subsided did she realize Xuan Yu hadn’t called out, indicating it wasn’t something unclean.
Cautiously, Sang Que entered the hall again. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw that sitting in the center Taishi Chair was a realistic paper figure dressed in burial clothes.
The paper figure’s hand rested on the table, under its palm was a page filled with written words.
