In ancient times, they secretly became gods in the deep mountains.

Chapter 73 The truth comes out
"Minmin, tell your grandmother, who exactly is Caoya? Why do your parents have such expressions?" Old Madam Wu's face was solemn, with a hint of anger flashing in her eyes.

She had a gut feeling that her daughter and son-in-law were hiding a huge secret from her.

Wu Minmin silently shed tears: "Grandmother, Cao Ya was a little beggar that my father picked up when I was seven years old. My father said that Cao Ya would be my personal maid. Cao Ya was clever, obedient and intelligent. We became very good playmates. Suddenly one day she left without saying goodbye. My father said that Cao Ya had found her relatives and was taken back by her family."

She took a deep breath, her body trembling with heartbreak: "But today I learned that Cao Ya never left the Wu family at all!"

"Could it be that her death has something to do with your parents?" Old Madam Wu stared at the red-clothed ghost with extremely strong yin energy, her face ashen.

She was forcibly separated from the water monster by Gu Yuexi, and her soul was severely damaged. At this moment, she lay weakly on the ground, trembling all over.

"brush!"

Suddenly she looked up, revealing a pale and terrifying face, with dark pupils that had no whites and were staring intently in one direction.

Her limbs moved limply in that direction as if they had no bones, moving slowly but in a way that was chilling.

"what!"

Seeing the red-clad ghost suddenly raise its head, Wu Hui'er screamed in fright, "Don't come any closer! I didn't kill you, don't come any closer!"

Zhang Heng stood in front of Wu Huier, his face showing no fear, but a closer look revealed a sinister glint in his eyes: "If you have any problems, come at me. Don't hurt my wife."

Wu Minmin looked incredulous: "Dad, Mom, is it really your fault that Caoya has become like this?"

The couple paused simultaneously upon hearing the sound.

There was nothing that Wu Minmin and Madam Wu didn't understand.

Old Madam Wu angrily rebuked, "Foolish! What did she do to make you resort to such cruelty?"

Wu Huier cried out, "Mother, I didn't mean to!"

She prostrated herself on the ground and kowtowed, pleading, "Golden Saintess, please subdue the demons and save us!"

"You killed someone, and you still have the nerve to beg the Empress to save you? What sins did my Wu family commit to give birth to such a fool as you!" Old Madam Wu trembled with anger, wielding her wooden cane and striking her daughter.

"Clap clap clap!"

The cane struck, but Zhang Heng blocked it all.

"Smack!" Suddenly, a cane struck him on the head, and blood streamed down Zhang Heng's forehead.

"My husband!" Wu Hui'er cried out in a trembling voice.

Zhang Heng shook his head: "I'm fine."

He covered his head and looked at Madam Wu: "Mother, this matter is entirely my fault, please don't blame Hui'er."

"Heh! One's stupid, the other's wicked, they're a match made in heaven. No wonder they're so deeply in love." The water monster couldn't help but mock.

After stripping away the ghosts, it finally became less scary.

The yin energy dissipated from his body, his dark gray skin turned white, and his blood-red fingernails returned to normal. Although the fish scales covering his body looked strange, he looked much better than before.

He gained a new understanding of Lady Jin Sheng; perhaps she was so powerful that she was invincible.

At first he was resentful and wary, but now he feels only respect and gratitude.

She gave herself a chance to be reborn.

Without the parasitic spirit, he discovered that he could absorb spiritual energy again, which was an incredible surprise to him.

He was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face!
Seeing blood flowing from Zhang Heng's forehead, Wu Hui'er panicked.

"Explain what exactly happened and what the cause of the matter is!" Old Madam Wu put down her cane and took a deep breath.

Wu Minmin sobbed, "Mother, why? Why did you kill Caoya? She was a beggar since she was little, never having enough to eat or wear, enduring all kinds of hardships. She was a pitiful person. Why did you do this to her?" She couldn't understand how her usually gentle and kind father and her not-so-bright but cowardly mother could be so cruel as to harm a child. What kind of hatred could they have?
Madam Wu tapped the ground with her cane and gritted her teeth, saying, "Speak!"

Under her mother's stern questioning, Wu Huier stammered out the truth: "Actually, all of this... was a misunderstanding..."

Seven years ago, she discovered that her husband often went out and secretly suspected that he was having an affair. She was furious, but she couldn't find any evidence against him.

Later, her husband brought home a little girl. The little girl was fair-skinned and had a personality somewhat similar to her husband's. She thought that her husband had brought home the child she had with another man, so she beat and scolded the little girl. Although her husband did not stop her, he also did not explain the little girl's identity.

"I accidentally pushed her against the corner of the table once, and by the time I realized it, she was barely breathing..."

Zhang Heng continued, "She wasn't dead at that time. I was afraid of causing trouble, so I strangled her and threw her into the lake in the abandoned backyard. Later, the servants in the house often heard a girl crying from inside. I guessed that it was the ghost of Cao Ya. So I found a Taoist priest to build that warehouse to suppress the ghost of Cao Ya. After that, nothing happened again."

"Perhaps that's how this unexpected turn of events ruined this brother's cultivation!"

He finally admitted everything!
Wu Minmin and Madam Wu felt a deep chill in their hearts, as if their own flesh and blood were ice-cold.

"You know Hui'er is foolish, so why don't you explain to her clearly that Cao Ya is not your concubine's daughter, and instead allow Hui'er to beat and scold her at will?"

Madam Wu clutched her chest, filled with regret: "Zhang Heng, you've always been wise, which is why Master married Hui'er to you back then. But look at what you've done, even with your wisdom! You've killed someone!"

"I'm sorry... hiss..."

Zhang Heng suddenly clutched his chest and frowned in pain.

Wu Hui'er asked anxiously, "Husband, has your heart condition flared up again? What happened? Hasn't it been like this for years?"

“I… phew…” Zhang Heng’s face turned deathly pale instantly.

Wu Hui'er was extremely anxious and cried out in distress, "Husband! Your Majesty, my husband's heart condition has flared up again, please save him!"

Gu Yuexi originally let them resolve their grievances on their own, but something unexpected happened halfway through, so she had no choice but to step in.

Gu Yuexi looked closely and asked, "Heart disease?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. My husband has suffered from heart disease since childhood. Seven years ago, we found a wandering Taoist priest who saved my husband. He had not had a heart attack for several years, but unexpectedly, it flared up today."

Gu Yuexi suddenly noticed that Zhang Heng was surrounded by demonic energy and shook her head: "Zhang Heng, besides the matter of Cao Ya, is there anything else you haven't told me?"

Old Madam Wu asked in a trembling voice, "Hui'er, Zhang Heng, what else did you two do?"

Zhang Heng remained silent, never expecting that all his secrets would be exposed.

Wu Huier wiped away her tears.

Gu Yuexi answered for him: "He dug out someone else's heart and put it into his own body. He thought it was foolproof, but he didn't dig out the heart of his own kind. Instead, he dug out the heart of a demon. The demonic energy corroded his flesh and blood. His body couldn't withstand the impact of the demonic energy. Sooner or later, that heart will instantly lose its activity because the demonic energy dissipates. At that time, he will die."

"As for the recurrence of my heart condition, this is just the beginning."

"what?"

The blow to Madam Wu was too great.

"Ha!" Zhang Heng laughed sadly, no longer hiding it: "Back then, Hui'er suspected that I was keeping a mistress. Actually, I found a Taoist priest to catch a few little demons. I heard that eating the heart of a demon could prolong life, so I replaced it with a demon's heart once and for all."

"Back then, the Taoist priest advised me to think twice, but I didn't listen to him. I just wanted to live, to live a long, long life, and to grow old with my wife. Unfortunately, what is an ordinary wish for others is separated from me by countless lives."

Overwhelmed with grief, Zhang Heng revealed the whole truth.

All the truth is revealed!
Zhang Heng suffers from a heart ailment. Seven years ago, he met a wandering Taoist priest who told him that eating a demon's heart could save his life. So he asked the priest to capture a demon and eat its heart.

Wu Huier mistakenly believed that he had a mistress, but she couldn't find any evidence against him. She took all her anger out on Cao Ya, the little beggar that Zhang Heng brought with him. She accidentally injured Cao Ya and, to prevent further trouble, Zhang Heng cruelly strangled Cao Ya to death.

He abandoned the grass shoot in an abandoned courtyard of the Wu family. The grass shoot was filled with resentment and parasitized the carp spirit, which inadvertently hindered the carp spirit's cultivation and made the carp spirit's five hundred years of hard work go to waste.

In retaliation, the carp spirit placed a type of corpse worm on a piece of cloth, incurring public wrath and making the Wu family a pariah, hated by everyone.