Chapter 5: Parental Love (Part 5): From Today On, I Take You as My Master Part 2

At her words, ripples appeared on Shang Shan’s calm face. She snorted, suddenly clapped her palms together, and extinguished the fire.

Li Biyuan said, ‘Looks like she’s really angry.’

Mu Qian Tan said, ‘Shut up.’

The coffin lid wasn’t closed. Before the firelight fully faded, they could see it slanted on the stone platform nearby, with a pair of shoes scattered by the coffin edge. That meant Liu He was currently lying inside.

What rotten luck to have to deal with these perverted lunatics.

Mu Qian Tan shot out a ball of spiritual power. The dark blue light wasn’t as bright as flames but allowed a vague view.

She walked to the stone platform, slowly climbed the steps, one hand moving to her waist to grip the knife hilt. Her gaze locked dead on the coffin edge. As her body rose, her view cleared.

The spiritual power’s faint glow spilled into the coffin, outlining a man so emaciated he was skin and bones.

He curled up like a fetus, his clothes unchanged for ages, reeking of pickled cabbage fermented for years in a sealed space. His long hair was full of lice, disheveled and unkempt, though his face bore no beard.

No telling how long he had stayed in this secret chamber, but his cheeks were deeply sunken on both sides. No one in the residence could have locked him up, so why had he starved himself into this state?

Mu Qian Tan thought it was bad; this guy looked completely mad. Could they still count on him to recall Liu Cai Liang’s soul?

She shifted the spiritual glow to the side and saw a female corpse with intact hair lying under Liu He. Her clothes were rotted away in many places, flesh melted, eye sockets sunken, leaving only dry, withered bones.

A corpse…

Mu Qian Tan’s eyelid twitched, nausea surging up, which she suppressed. This wasn’t her first time seeing a corpse. The last one she saw was even freshly dead. What was there to fear?

She closed her eyes, enduring the familiar headache as that scene reappeared in her mind.

The outside wind was knife-like, the person’s body still warm. His unclosable eyes stared dead at her, like the prelude to an evil ghost’s curse.

Mu Qian Tan’s hand trembled slightly. She thought she could handle it, but the flooding memories made her violently dizzy. Her strength vacuumed for an instant, forcing her to tilt sideways. The spiritual power in her palm also dispersed.

Shrill screams pounded in her ears, her heart drumming like thunder. She adjusted her breathing, habitually pinching her fingers one by one. Once the dizziness passed, she opened her eyes again and, in her gradually steadying vision, saw beggar-like clothes on her body.

She hadn’t fallen; Shang Shan had caught her.

Before Mu Qian Tan could say anything, once she stood steady, Shang Shan let go, spat out another fireball, and observed the scene in the coffin.

The chamber was quiet, save for Liu He’s mutterings.

The damp chill gradually receded, and Mu Qian Tan’s dizziness faded. She lifted her gaze and saw the girl’s jade-like face in the firelight. She held the fireball in her palm, her solemn expression unchanged, seemingly pondering why Liu He had become like this.

Though she knew her temper was bad, Mu Qian Tan wasn’t the heartless type who pretended not to notice when someone helped her.

But the best moment to thank had passed; saying it now would be too awkward.

Li Biyuan suddenly said, ‘I found it!’

Mu Qian Tan refocused and asked, ‘The Transcendence Method?’

Li Biyuan said, ‘No, the Soul Guiding Method. I found the simplest one. You just use spiritual power to build a bridge for the soul, and place something the departed soul cares about on the other end of the bridge to draw it away.’

Mu Qian Tan repeated, ‘Something it cares about…’

She looked back into the coffin, deliberately avoiding the corpse and focusing on the abnormally skinny man. An idea gradually formed in her mind.

Just then, noise came from the passage again—this time multiple footsteps. Looking back, sure enough, Liu Ying and Miao Lan had come together.

He had probably run there and back, drenched in sweat, panting, one shoe nearly flying off. But his daughter was fine, nestled safely in his arms, not even a hair out of place.

Miao Lan touched her daughter’s forehead to check her temperature, then glanced at the cold, damp stone walls around and drew closer to Liu Ying. With misty eyes, she looked toward the two on the stone platform.

Mu Qian Tan said, “Don’t move. Just wait there.”

She turned and approached the edge of the coffin, trying to wake Liu He. However, his eyes remained tightly shut, his lips were purple, and his body still trembled. There was no hope of him responding. It seemed she truly had to use the Soul Guiding Method.

Li Biyuan informed her of some details for performing the technique. Mu Qian Tan curved two fingers against her temple and memorized them one by one. It did not sound too difficult. She only hoped it would be effective.

Earlier, time had been too urgent for explanations, but now with a brief moment of leisure, Liu Ying quietly explained to Miao Lan what had happened.

Upon learning that the one who harmed her daughter was Liu He, Miao Lan was heartbroken and furious. She gripped Liu Ling’s little hand and shed endless tears.

Over there, fortunately, Mu Qian Tan’s bag contained basically everything. She easily prepared the needed items.

She uncorked a porcelain vial and applied the special solution to Liu He’s brow, then used a knife tip to carve a small cross. Afterward, she released a large amount of spiritual power, constructing an azure spiritual power bridge between Liu He and Liu Ling.

The effects of the Evil-Expelling Incense and Green Water had long worn off. The departed soul had already hidden its form, but drawn by the spiritual power’s summons and the blood qi of its kin, it slowly revealed its complete shape.

Liu Ying finally saw his father’s departed soul in its true form. Even though he already knew it was a person from another world, he could not help calling out, “Dad.”

The departed soul had no intelligence left, yet it still responded with a sound.

Seeing that he had not moved for a long time, Mu Qian Tan stepped down from the stone platform and went to Liu Cai Liang’s side. She discovered he did not want to let go of his granddaughter, so she covered Liu Ling’s mouth and nose with her palm, briefly blocking her breath.

Liu Cai Liang’s face immediately showed confusion. He slowly released Liu Ling. Standing there at a loss for a while, he was then drawn by the blood qi of his kin. He lifted his foot onto the spiritual power bridge and walked toward Liu He, like crossing the Naihe Bridge.

Just as the departed soul withdrew, Liu Ling gasped deeply as if surfacing from drowning. The deathly pallor that had covered her face gradually receded. She would likely recover soon.

Liu Ying and his wife exchanged a glance, both with tears welling in their eyes. Looking again at Liu Cai Liang, he had reached the coffin’s edge and was gazing down at his emaciated eldest son. He let out a soft sigh.

Suddenly, beside him appeared the remnant soul of a woman. Liu Ying recognized her and cried out, “Mom!”

The woman did not respond. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Liu Cai Liang, her figure flickering in and out, as if it might vanish at any moment.

Liu Cai Liang took her hand and whispered something in her ear. The woman shook her head and sighed as well. She reached out and gently placed her hand on Liu He’s head, rubbing it just as she had when he was small.

In the next instant, the spiritual power bridge shattered with a boom. The two standing departed souls also dissipated in a moment.

The room returned to quiet. Liu Ying stood stunned for a moment, handed his daughter to Miao Lan, and rushed to the coffin. He discovered that Liu He had opened his eyes but was already dead.

Witnessing his elder brother’s corpse with his own eyes, Liu Ying was overwhelmed with grief. He knelt by the coffin and fell silent.

Mu Qian Tan stepped forward, glanced into the coffin, and asked, “He was your blood brother. Why were your personalities so utterly different?”

Having suffered the loss of family, Liu Ying had no heart left to conceal anything. He began recounting from the beginning.

It turned out that when their eldest son Liu He was born, it was the poorest time for the family. Father bustled about for the family business, and Mother labored outside as well. Both were extremely hardworking, so they lacked even the most basic education for their eldest son and overly neglected his inner world.

Though they had not fulfilled their parental duties, the child had been extremely well-behaved from a young age. He never caused trouble and even willingly took on household chores. Worried that a child his age was unsafe at home alone, Mother often brought him along to do odd jobs.

One day, Mother took on a laundry job and brought Liu He to the riverbank. Midway, she needed to relieve herself and told her son to watch the clothes so no one would take them.

Liu He watched his mother limp away and knew she was exhausted. He wanted to help with the work. But he was too young, and the winter clothes were thick and heavy. He focused all his energy on the laundry and did not notice the moss on a stone. He slipped and fell into the water.

The river was a common play spot for children and was not inherently dangerous. But he was extremely unlucky. That day, a pot-sized old turtle was lurking in the river. Seeing a little boy enter the water, it mistook him for a small fish and bit down.

By the time Mother arrived, that part of him was already gone. He barely survived afterward but remained frail and sickly his whole life, forever unable to marry or have children.

Five years later, Father’s business stabilized, and Mother fell ill from overwork and needed rest. He no longer traveled everywhere and stayed home to care for Mother and the sons.