Chapter 52: Soul Loss Part 2

“Auntie Zhang, how do we kill the demon?”

“Uncle Lin, you’re the village head’s cousin, so you must know more than us. Is that Miss Ruolian really a demon?”

“Fourth Uncle, I’m a bit scared.”

“…”

They slowly reached the foot of the back mountain, where a crowd had already gathered. Yu Ruoyin suddenly heard someone call her. “Xiao Yu!”

Yu Ruoyin looked toward the voice and saw Zhuang Ciyue, whom she had been separated from for a long time. Beside her stood Zhuang Huaisu and Nan He, along with three young Daoist priests in grayish-blue robes and four young nuns. They seemed to have drawn roles from a large family, as there were many people.

Zhuang Huaisu and Nan He seemed to have taken on the roles of grandparents. One of Zhuang Huaisu’s arms was linked by Nan He, while her other hand held that of Zhuang Ciyue, who appeared to be their little granddaughter. Their situation even resembled a family somewhat.

“Granny Zhuang, Sister Yue, Nan He!”

Yu Ruoyin wanted to move closer, but her feet refused to obey.

She could only follow the script, very passively circling around with Kang Miaoxian and the others to the opposite side of Zhuang Ciyue and her group.

Although she could see them, the distance was quite far.

The crowd naturally formed an encirclement, with the enclosure made of stacked haystacks. A wooden frame stood atop the haystacks, probably for binding someone.

Zhuang Ciyue shouted to her across the haystacks: “Xiao Yu, the Kang Family brats didn’t bully you, did they?”

She was calling Kang Miaoxian a brat?

Kang Miaoxian was older than both of them. Would Zhuang Ciyue end up resented by Kang Miaoxian?

Yu Ruoyin was still very worried for Zhuang Ciyue. She subconsciously wanted to defend her with a couple of words, but when she turned to look at Kang Miaoxian, she found that she didn’t seem angry at all. Like Yu Ruoyin, she gazed in Zhuang Ciyue’s direction, but hers was fixed on Zhuang Huaisu. Her brow bone twitched slightly, and a teasing voice slipped from her mouth: “Little Great-Aunt, long time no see.”

She was greeting Zhuang Huaisu, who tugged at the corner of her mouth but couldn’t squeeze out even a hint of a smile: “Best if we never meet again.”

Zhuang Huaisu wasn’t particularly warm toward Kang Miaoxian. Only when her gaze shifted to Kang Shuming did she show a different reaction: “You’re… Kang Shuming?”

Kang Shuming had kept her head lowered ever since arriving here, trying her best not to let others see her face. Now that Zhuang Huaisu had directly called out her identity, she had no choice but to lift her head and force a smile toward Zhuang Huaisu: “Little Aunt, it’s been a while.”

Zhuang Huaisu: “Weren’t you dead?”

Kang Shuming found it hard to explain clearly, but Kang Miaoxian took the initiative: “For that, we have to thank you, Little Great-Aunt.”

Zhuang Huaisu didn’t understand what she meant, nor did Kang Shuming.

But Yu Ruoyin was curious about something else: “You all know Granny Zhuang?”

As soon as she asked, she received a look from Kang Miaoxian as if she were an idiot. Yu Ruoyin immediately realized—Zhuang Huaisu and Kang Shuying had been endlessly entangled for so many years. As Kang Shuying’s “family,” it would be strange if Kang Miaoxian and the others didn’t know Zhuang Huaisu.

The Soul Loss Gu didn’t just mess with her heart; it also clouded her mind.

Perhaps shouting while talking was too odd, so Zhuang Ciyue didn’t speak to Yu Ruoyin again. They stood in different positions, playing the roles from their own past scenes.

Voices kept rising one after another, and the topics of conversation were mostly the same.

The village chief, the Daoist priest, and Ruolian.

The protagonists of the past scene story hadn’t appeared yet. The roles Yu Ruoyin and the others had drawn were probably those of very young juniors, so in a crowded place like this, they had even fewer chances to speak.

Kang Shuming took the opportunity to ask Kang Miaoxian: “What do you have to thank Little Aunt for?”

Kang Miaoxian didn’t like volunteering certain matters, but since Kang Shuming was willing to ask, she had no intention of hiding it.

Yu Ruoyin, following close beside them, happened to overhear.

Ying Zhu was the Wheel-Turning King, who managed the realm of Reincarnation. Although the Kang Family’s reincarnation method was special and outside her jurisdiction, fabricating an identity and a fleshly body for herself was the easiest thing for her. When a new pregnant woman appeared in the Kang Family, she used the blood of the child in the woman’s womb to condense an infant body for herself, turning what was supposed to be a male fetus into twins.

She became Kang Shuying, while the original boy became her brother—and Kang Shuming’s father.

Kang Shuying wasn’t truly of the Kang Family bloodline, so theoretically, she couldn’t become a Painting Witch. But that was only in theory.

A Yin God was still a god, and how powerful gods were was beyond their imagination.

The Kang Family had no one who could defeat a Yin God or see through one.

Playing the role of a Painting Witch was not difficult for Kang Shuying; she had always performed it perfectly. No one in the Kang Family discovered Kang Shuying’s secret, let alone outsiders. To Kang Shuming, Kang Shuying was a very, very good little aunt. To the Kang Miaoxian of back then, Kang Shuying was an excellent great-aunt.

Yes, back then.

The turning point in the story happened with Zhuang Huaisu.

At twenty-two, Zhuang Huaisu had torn her face apart with Kang Shuying. But their relationship had never been controlled by Zhuang Huaisu. Kang Shuying wouldn’t let go, so Zhuang Huaisu had no right to. It wasn’t just a gap in strength; there was also an emotional one. Kang Shuying had lived far too long and knew exactly how to fool and coax a woman, how to make her soften—especially since Zhuang Huaisu had been a young girl at the time.

Kang Miaoxian had known from a very young age that Zhuang Huaisu was her great-aunt’s lover. She would go along with her great-aunt and call her “Little Great-Aunt.” To be honest, she wasn’t all that satisfied with this Little Great-Aunt, because she was always throwing tantrums at her great-aunt. Many of the toys her great-aunt bought for her ended up smashed by the Little Great-Aunt before they even reached her hands.

Of course, she liked Zhuang Huaisu now.

If not for that day when Kang Shuming’s condition worsened, leaving her so upset that she wanted to go find her great-aunt for a talk…

If not for that day when Zhuang Huaisu argued with Kang Shuying, she might never have learned that Kang Shuying was the Wheel-Turning King.

Had she not known that Kang Shuying was the Wheel-Turning King, she wouldn’t have monitored her every move, wouldn’t have discovered Kang Shuying gathering the soul of the Kang Family ancestor, and thus wouldn’t have found a way to keep Kang Shuming.

Those wisps of remnant soul couldn’t even solidify, yet Kang Miaoxian still sensed immense power within them. So, while Kang Shuying was weakened from gathering the soul, she took away the remnant soul.

Soul and spirit were tonics for ghosts and monsters; powerful ones could nourish humans too.

Kang Miaoxian refined the remnant soul, fusing it into her own body. She then divided the purest power within it to Kang Shuming, ensuring that even after Kang Shuming died, she could live on inside her body. As long as Kang Shuming stayed close to her, she appeared no different from a normal person—she was alive.

Kang Miaoxian needed Kang Shuming alive because she was her last family… and her lover.

She no longer had the right to call Kang Shuming that, but that remnant soul had brought her not just power, but fragmented memories related to Kang Shuming.

In that first lifetime, they had been lovers.

Kang Miaoxian believed such fragmented memories weren’t unique to her. Kang Shuming, who had also fused with the remnant soul’s power, must have them too—even if fewer than hers, enough to recall parts of it. Of course, Kang Shuming was someone who even deceived herself; she wouldn’t admit it.

What if she didn’t admit it? Kang Miaoxian wouldn’t let go anyway.

They would entwine like this until their souls scattered and perished.

“Souls scatter and perish?”

Kang Miaoxian looked toward Kang Shuming and said smugly: “From the moment I awakened memories of my past life, I sealed both my soul and my aunt’s within our fleshly bodies. My aunt lives relying on me now. When I die, she won’t survive either. Then we can perish together, souls scattering—and the entire Kang Family will vanish with us.”

“The Kang Family?”

Yu Ruoyin was slightly taken aback but quickly understood.

The Painting Witch Clan now had only Kang Miaoxian left alive. If she refused to continue the bloodline, there would be no new life in the Kang Family. Those seventy souls in the Netherworld couldn’t reincarnate into the Kang Family anymore. With Kang Miaoxian’s death, there would be no Kang Family or Painting Witches left in the world.

Kang Miaoxian sensed Yu Ruoyin’s faint regret and shot her a dissatisfied glance: “You wouldn’t think a family burdened by a curse still needs to continue, would you?”

Yu Ruoyin shook her head.

The seventy-two souls of the Kang Family endlessly repeated their tragedies, endlessly forgetting and losing. Even in their happiest moments, they recalled past loves and Kang Family secrets. The newborns they held might be their ancestors or lovers from past lives. They couldn’t fully experience happiness and could only reenact tragedies over and over.

Kang Miaoxian was willing to be the one to end it all—wasn’t that saving those souls burdened by the curse just like her?

No one knew what would happen after the Kang Family bloodline fully ended, but the worst case was being forcibly continued and replaying the tragedy again.

Kang Miaoxian was willing to bet her souls scattering and perishing as the price.

She was mad.

And Kang Shuming, who seemed to be held back, appeared willing too.

Yu Ruoyin noticed that when Kang Miaoxian mentioned souls scattering and perishing, Kang Shuming clearly let out a breath of relief.

The resentment toward the curse had displaced not just Kang Miaoxian’s identity; Kang Shuming probably resented it too.

Yu Ruoyin couldn’t help sighing: “Isn’t the curse a bit too cruel?”

Yu Ruoyin had said something similar last time, pitying Lu Qichun’s fate then. She remembered Jiang Huaining’s face darkening immediately after she said it. Jiang Huaining had replied: “Curses don’t appear without reason. Perhaps they did something even more vicious in their past lives.”

Kang Miaoxian surprisingly agreed with her completely: “I think you’re absolutely right.”

Kang Shuming’s view differed: “A curse descends perhaps because we did something even more evil in our past lives.”

Kang Shuming had said almost the exact same thing as Jiang Huaining, making Yu Ruoyin look at her a few more times. Her expression was indifferent as she continued: “Little Xian, according to the Kang Family genealogy, our ancestor was a betrayer of the gods and spirits, who killed many people.”

“That was the ancestor’s doing—what does it have to do with us?”

“Perhaps we were accomplices.” Kang Miaoxian showed signs of losing control, and Kang Shuming soothed her: “We… even if we weren’t accomplices, betraying the gods and spirits would surely lead to…”

She couldn’t continue.

She resented the curse herself and hadn’t yet convinced herself to accept her fate—how could she convince Kang Miaoxian?

“Kang Shuming, you don’t actually believe gods exist in the world, do you? Have you seen them?”

Kang Shuming pouted: “That’s how the ancestors recorded it.”

“Just because it’s recorded doesn’t make it true.” Kang Miaoxian’s eyes reddened, and she couldn’t help growling lowly at Kang Shuming: “Even if it is true, the sinner is Kang Nanhua, not you or me!”

“But your memories aren’t even complete—how do you know we’re innocent?”

“…”

She finally admitted she had fragmented memories too, which hurt the most.

Kang Miaoxian and Kang Shuming fell into a silent standoff. Yu Ruoyin didn’t dare interject and could only ponder their words alone.

Gods? Did gods really exist?

The lively crowd suddenly fell silent. After a brief quiet, an even noisier clamor erupted.

Yu Ruoyin heard someone shout: “Demon! The demon’s here! The village chief brought the demon!”

The crowd naturally parted to form a path. A woman with a cane walked at the front. She was clearly young but hunched her back, playing the role of an elderly person. Behind her followed a woman in Daoist robes, who held a rope in her hand. The rope bound a young woman.

Flaming red hair, scarlet red eyes.

Yu Ruoyin recognized her.

Xia Yu.