49. Punishment
This hellish place was far from a paradise.
Everything here was a deliberate illusion, a human-blood hell despised by the countless resentful souls who died here.
Compared to this, what were the so-called underworlds and netherworlds?
These resentful souls had all died tragically, their suffering in life gradually accumulating after death. And with a Ghost Essence Crystal conveniently located underground, this place had naturally become its namesake.
A true Hundred Ghosts Ridge.
“Now do you think they deserve it?” The red-haired woman asked calmly. “If no one will do anything for the dead, then I will.”
“You…?” Gong Yiling, after a moment of thought, couldn’t help but ask, “Are you also one of the children abandoned there?”
The red-haired woman nodded. “I was born with a cleft lip. My family naturally left me here to die.”
“But they never expected me to have the talent to communicate with ghost essence. Nourished by the Ghost Essence Crystal, I not only survived, but I was also cured of my congenital defect.”
So, in the previous memory, the power this girl possessed must have come from the resentment stored in the Ghost Essence Crystal.
For the sins they committed, they would naturally be punished. Revenge from an abandoned child, this was natural justice, beyond question.
“How long do you plan to imprison them?” Gong Yiling asked.
“They will not only experience their most desperate moments, but also the wrongs they have committed.” The red-haired woman said, “If they can understand their mistakes and break free from them, this imprisonment will end.”
“If they can’t see all this, they will be trapped here forever, and even death will not end this cycle.”
“Then,” Gong Yiling continued, “how will you do all this?”
The red-haired woman was silent for a moment, then slowly closed her eyes.
When she opened them, a palm-sized, purplish-gray crystal appeared in her palm.
On this crystal, Gong Yiling could feel a very strong ghost essence.
Yes, this must be the Ghost Essence Crystal Gong Musheng had mentioned.
“I will leave everything to the Ghost Essence Crystal. It will do everything for me. But…”
The red-haired woman seemed hesitant.
“What’s wrong?”
“Once the power of the ghost essence is fully released, I am very likely to be trapped in it, unable to extricate myself. At that time, I wonder if I could trouble you to keep an eye on the people here.”
“If they show any signs of repentance, please come and tell me.”
This conversation made Gong Yiling feel a bit wistful.
“The hearts of the glamorous are as ugly as demons, while you, who are accompanied by resentful souls, still have a bit of compassion.” Gong Yiling smiled calmly. “This is quite strange.”
“There’s nothing strange about it.”
The red-haired woman also chuckled and shook her head. “They are demons, and I am a human. That’s all.”
—
—
Everything that followed was as the woman had said.
That day, an endless black mist erupted from the Hundred Ghosts Ridge, sweeping through the entire village with lightning speed.
At that time, the people, still in their dreams, were directly sent into an endless cycle by this strange ghost essence.
Every day, they had to make the same choices they made in the original incident, and the consequences of their wrong choices were all tragic.
Either they were disgraced and committed suicide, or they were scared to death when they saw themselves turning into the abandoned children, or they were haunted by vengeful spirits in the middle of the night, their bodies grotesquely twisted.
After everyone in the village had successfully killed themselves, the second round of the cycle naturally began again.
The whole process was not much different from the flow of time in the outside world. A complete cycle of self-destruction would take several days.
Of course, each time they went through the cycle, they would have no memory of the previous one. These experiences could only make them numb and perhaps slowly realize what they should do.
“What’s your name?” Gong Yiling, following the red-haired woman through the deserted village to the entrance of the Hundred Ghosts Ridge, couldn’t help but ask, “I don’t think I’ve heard it.”
“I don’t have a name.” The red-haired woman smiled bitterly. “I was abandoned here by my parents at birth. Naturally, I don’t have the luxury of a name.”
“If you want to call me something, you can call me ‘demoness’ like them.” She joked, “It’s a special name.”
Gong Yiling stuck out her tongue with a smile. “How could anyone think they should be a demoness?”
“Hua Qiyang.” The red-haired woman said, “This name was given to me by those ghosts. If you want to call me something, then call me that.”
Gong Yiling didn’t hesitate to praise her. “It’s a very nice name.”
“And you?” Hua Qiyang asked in return. “What’s your name?”
“Me—”
Just as she was about to say her name, everything around them dissolved into a dreamlike illusion.
Then, her vision gradually cleared.
Finally, she found herself back in the original timeline.
“So?” Yan Chuyue couldn’t help but ask curiously. “What did you see?”
“The truth about this place.” Miss Gong sighed helplessly. “Well, this place is quite incredible.”
She thought this was just an ordinary village and a strange secret realm.
But in fact, the village outside was, in a sense, the starting point of this strange secret realm.
And before she came here, when she passed by the wedding scene, she didn’t notice any emotional fluctuations on the old father’s face.
Although she didn’t know how much time had passed since that girl started her dream of perdition…
Just from these people’s reactions, Gong Yiling could see.
They never thought they were wrong. So, it was very difficult for them to reflect on the past in a situation where they didn’t even know what they had experienced in the last cycle.
What could be said about this? Perhaps only when they faced an eternity of reincarnation would they understand something. And even then, it wouldn’t be because they truly felt they were wrong, that they had repented.
But because they were afraid, afraid of being trapped here for a lifetime, or even several lifetimes.
Did they truly repent?
