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Join the ServerMu An was startled, but he did not step back, “Shizun, what is going on here?”
“They are lingering obsessions.”
Looking at the densely packed souls, Shen Shengqing remained unperturbed, “They are not ghosts, but the powerful lingering obsessions of all those baby girls before they died. These obsessions gathered together and gradually affected this river. They are neither spirits nor do they possess self-awareness; they merely act on the raw instinct of their obsessions.”
“Even if the obsessions are temporarily destroyed, they will regenerate if the root cause is not resolved.” Holding Mu An, Shen Shengqing soared up to the riverbank and turned his head to look at the villagers fleeing in all directions.
“The only way to dispel these obsessions is to offer them salvation. They will only dissipate once the things they are fixated on are resolved.”
Hearing this, Mu An pursed his lips slightly.
Just now in his dream, he had been able to feel the little girls’ intense longing; they were extremely lonely, which was why they had pulled at Mu An, wanting him to play with them.
They yearned to grow up, so they had attempted to steal the memories from Mu An’s mind.
If Mu An guessed correctly, had he not woken up in time, his memories would likely have been stolen just like Yunnan You’s, turning him into a blank sheet of paper to float away from this village along the river.
The obsessions made no sound, and within moments, those soul-like entities instantly dissolved into faint shadows, completely vanishing without a trace as a gust of wind blew past.
Yet, Mu An’s heart felt as though it were weighed down by a massive boulder.
“Shizun, is there any way we can help them?”
Shen Shengqing was puzzled, “They are not living entities. Unlike actual souls, they do not require rites of passage to enter reincarnation. They do not need our help.”
On the contrary, the ones who needed help were the people of Chen Village.
If the obsessions did not dissipate, they would be deeply affected, whereas the obsessions themselves, not being living entities, would remain unaffected.
Mu An froze for a moment, understanding his meaning.
At this moment, he even felt like washing his hands of the entire affair, leaving Chen Village to its own devices to reap the bitter harvest of their own making.
But he could not do that.
Shen Shengqing lowered his eyes to look at his reaction.
Reaching out, he took hold of Mu An’s tightly clenched hand, and his own spiritual energy slowly flowed into Mu An’s body, bringing warmth.
Mu An snapped back to reality, realizing that his clothes had already been dried by Shen Shengqing using spiritual energy at some point.
Looking up, he met his master’s concerned gaze.
Belatedly realizing that he had caused his master to worry, he forced a smile, “Thank you for saving me, Shizun.”
Shen Shengqing furrowed his brow imperceptibly and averted his gaze, “You are my disciple. Naturally, it is my duty to save you.”
Mu An’s smile widened.
He led his master back into the tent; although he could no longer sleep, it was still better than braving the cold wind outside.
The next day, when Mu An stepped out of the tent, he saw the village chief and several burly men pacing around not far away.
They seemed to want to draw closer, yet they were terrified of being attacked by ghosts or monsters.
Seeing Mu An come out now, they finally put their minds at ease and strode forward.
“Great Immortal! Great Immortal, you must save us! What was going on with that spirit yesterday?”
The village chief spoke with a flushed face, clearly in an extreme state of anxiety.
Mu An swept a cold glance over them, “You have come at the perfect time. Gather everyone together. I have an important matter to announce.”
“What important matter is it, Great Immortal?” the village chief inquired tentatively.
“If you want to stay safe, go and call the people. I do not wish to repeat myself,” Mu An said coldly.
The village chief quickly nodded in agreement, “Then, Great Immortal, please follow this old man to the ancestral hall first. We will assemble there and await your instructions.”
Mu An nodded and led his master to the Chen Village ancestral hall.
Before long, the villagers began to arrive one after another, whispering and muttering among themselves, clearly terrified by the scene that had unfolded the previous night.
Within the crowd, some were already expressing a desire to move out of the village, but the moment the words were spoken, they were met with accusations from all sides.
“Chen Village is the root of our ancestors for generations. If we leave the village, how will our children trace their ancestry in the future? We absolutely cannot do something that forgets our ancestors.”
“We cannot move! Our ancestral graves are all here. If we relocate, where would we go? Where is there a piece of land large enough to accommodate our entire village?”
Although the villagers spoke in hushed tones, Mu An, possessing the cultivation of the Golden Core stage, could hear every word with perfect clarity.
Once everyone had assembled, the village chief immediately called for silence, urging the crowd to listen to Mu An’s instructions.
Mu An stepped forward, using his spiritual energy to project his voice so that everyone could hear him, “You all saw the strange phenomena by the river last night, didn’t you? Even if you didn’t see it, you must have heard of it. I will explain it to you now: those were not ghosts, but lingering obsessions.”
“Obsessions?” The crowd below buzzed with murmurs.
“Your Chen Village has been superstitious about rumors, sacrificing countless baby girls over hundreds of years.”
The moment these words were spoken, the crowd fell silent for a brief moment.
Mu An continued, “There is no evil dragon beneath your village, but there are countless skeletons of baby girls. Those deceased young girls harbored immense resentment, and their obsessions before death coalesced. Over time, this affected this entire territory.”
“The most severe of these is the great river behind the village. Affected by these obsessions, a collective river-dwelling obsession formed, unconsciously enacting vengeance upon the people of your village.”
“By way of nightmares, they draw the young boys of the village to the riverbank to play with them. Because they yearn for another kind of life, they consume the boys’ memories. You should be grateful that they still retain a child’s innocence and bear no murderous intent; otherwise, the people of your village would have faced far worse than mere disappearances.”
Hearing this, the village chief turned pale with green undertones, having never imagined that those young female children possessed such capabilities, filling his heart with a mix of terror and dread.
The crowd below broke into a chaotic murmur, and an elderly woman suddenly burst into tears.
“Gr… Great Immortal, how do you suggest we resolve this?” the village chief pleaded for help.
Mu An fell silent for a moment before stating plainly, “Lingering obsessions cannot be killed.”
Instantly, the commotion below grew even more disorderly, with someone even shouting out, “Why don’t we just relocate the village!”
“Let’s move the village, Village Chief!”
“Village Chief…”
The village chief grew dizzy with rage, slamming his cane hard against the ground. “Great Immortal, is there truly no other way?”
“Our only course of action now is to resolve their obsessions and make them vanish,” Mu An said, his gaze piercing as he looked over the crowd.
“Those who have committed shameful deeds must repent and make amends. Only by earning their forgiveness will these lingering obsessions dissipate.”
Hearing this, the village chief’s complexion improved slightly—as long as it wasn’t completely hopeless, anything was fine.
He walked over to a few other respected elders in the village and conferred with them for a long while.
Ultimately, they decided to gather the names of all those sacrificed over the past century, erect a monument for them, perform rites, hold a Daoist funeral service, and appeal to the entire village to come to the riverbank to repent.
Holding rituals and services wasn’t something Mu An and the others excelled at, so the village chief went straight to the City Lord to report the matter and ask for help.
In the end, the City Lord brought in several Buddhist cultivators to assist.
They collected whatever they could to the best of their ability. Finally, with the help of the Buddhist cultivators, they held services day and night for over ten days while the entire village knelt on the ground in repentance.
Miraculously, a portion of the amnesiac individuals began regaining their memories.
The very first person to recover his memories was Yunnan You.
Remembering the foolish things he had done over the past few days—remembering himself in the brothel calling his junior brother “this humble servant” with every breath, calling him “Patron” in melting tones, and remembering sitting in his junior brother’s lap while tenderly feeding him wine—Yunnan You wished he could punch himself back into a state of amnesia.
It was simply too agonizingly embarrassing!
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Only After Becoming a Good Girl Can I Keep Other Women from Stealing Her Away! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Only After Becoming a Good Girl Can I Keep Other Women from Stealing Her Away
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