For thirty years, he has roamed the Northeast, his divine might overwhelming all immortals under hea

"I hate! I hate this world! I hate those bearded men! I hate Zhu Laowai! I hate everyone in Zhujiakan! But what I hate most is myself! I hate how useless I was back then, unable to even protect my family! I watched them being killed right before my eyes, and couldn't do anything! I wish I were the one who died! But I didn't die! I survived!"

"For the past forty years, I haven't had a single peaceful night's sleep. Every night when I close my eyes, I see my father lying in a pool of blood, the blood on my mother's head, Cui'er being stabbed in the heart, and Chuangen being thrown to the ground, my crying abruptly ceasing! I can't forget! I will never forget!"

He roared, his voice echoing through the stone chamber, sending chills down one's spine.

I stood there, my heart felt like it was blocked by something, and I couldn't say a word.

His story is truly tragic, so tragic that it leaves listeners breathless.

His family was destroyed, his wife and children were separated, and he was driven out of the village by his own clansmen. He wandered with the bones of his family members, eventually becoming a grotesque figure, hiding in this cold mountain cave for forty years, all for the sake of revenge.

But he targeted the wrong person.

The bandit leader is dead, Zhu Laowai is dead, and those who drove him away back then are almost all dead as well. But he carried on their hatred to their descendants, using the most insidious methods to steal their souls and make them taste the bitterness of family destruction and death.

Xiulian is innocent, Eryatou is innocent. How many of those Zhujiakan villagers whose souls were bewitched were related to the bloodshed of that year? How many knew about that past? They were just ordinary farmers, working from sunrise to sunset, never harming anyone in their lives, yet they had to pay the debts of their ancestors.

I took a deep breath, suppressed the complex emotions in my heart, stared at Zhu Shouyi, and said, word by word.

"Zhu Shouyi, I sympathize with your vengeance. Your family was killed, and you were driven out of the village—it was indeed tragic and unjust. But to take revenge on innocent people—how are you any different from those bearded men? How are you any different from Zhu Laowai?"

Zhu Shouyi shuddered, raised his head and stared at me, a hint of confusion flashing in his bloodshot eyes.

"What...how am I any different from them?"

"There is no difference."

"The bearded man killed your family because they were evil, they were inhuman. Zhu Laowai betrayed you because he was greedy, he was afraid of death. You killed innocent people because you hated them, you were insane. You are all the same, you all wielded knives against innocent people, you are all beasts."

Zhu Shouyi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed again, a sad and desperate laugh.

"Beast... Yes, I am a beast. I've been a beast for a long time. The old Taoist priest said that once I learned the method of raising corpses, I was no longer human. I'm no longer human. I am a corpse, a living corpse, with only hatred, only resentment, only revenge in my heart. I live only for revenge, and once I've taken my revenge, what's the point of my life?"

As he spoke, he suddenly struggled to lift his head, staring at the soul pouch in my arms, a complex look flashing in his eyes.

"Are your relatives in that soul pouch?"

I nodded and said in a deep voice.

"I have my parents, and I have my betrothed, Xiulian."

Zhu Shouyi stared at the soul bag for a long time, then suddenly sighed, his sigh filled with endless weariness and sorrow.

"You're better than me. You can still save your loved ones. What about me? I can't even find all the bones of my family. Back then, I was holding those bones, trying to find a place to bury them, but the people of Zhujiakan wouldn't let me, so I buried them in this cave. Forty years have passed, and those bones are still there, but I don't know which one is my father, which one is my mother, which one is Cui'er, and which one is Chuangen."

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and pointed to a crack in the stone in the corner of the stone chamber.

"It's right there, I've blocked it with stones. If you pity me, take those bones out and bury them somewhere. They don't have to be buried together, just bury them anywhere, even separately. My father and mother were never separated their whole lives, and Cui'er and Chuangen were together too, but I don't know who's who, so I can only bury them together."

I looked in the direction he was pointing and sure enough, I saw a crack in the stone in the corner of the stone chamber, blocked by several stones.

The old dog glanced at me but didn't say anything.

I hesitated for a moment, then walked to the crevice in the stone, moved the stone aside, and found a small recess inside, in which was a tattered cloth bundle.

I took out the bundle, opened it, and found a pile of charred bones inside. Some were long, some were short, some were thick, and some were thin. I couldn't tell which piece was which.

The bones were well preserved; although they were charred, they did not rot, indicating that Zhu Shouyi had carefully kept them for forty years.

Holding those bones, I couldn't quite describe the feeling in my heart.

These bones belong to Zhu Shouyi's parents, his wife, and his son. He guarded these bones for forty years, guarding a dream of a family destroyed and its members killed, guarding a deep-seated hatred, and guarding endless pain.

He is both pitiful and hateful.

He deserves both sympathy and hatred.

I rewrapped the bundle, placed it aside, and turned to look at Zhu Shouyi.

"I will take these bones back to Zhujiakan and bury them in the Zhu family ancestral graveyard. No matter what, they are members of the Zhu family and should be buried on Zhu family land."

Zhu Shouyi was stunned for a moment, and tears welled up in his eyes again.

"You...you're willing to bury them in the Zhu family ancestral cemetery? Would the people of Zhujiakan agree to that?"

"Whether I agree or not is up to me."

"My words still carry some weight. These bones are innocent; they deserve to be laid to rest."

Zhu Shouyi stared at me for a long time, then suddenly lowered his head, pressed his forehead against the cold stone slab, and began to tremble violently.

He cried, cried like a child, cried heart-wrenchingly, cried so hard it was heartbreaking.

"Thank you... thank you..."

He choked up, his voice breaking intermittently.

"I...I'm so sorry...I failed to protect them...I left them to rot in the wilderness for forty years...I'm so sorry..."

I stood there, without saying a word.

The old dog stepped on his back but didn't move.

Only Zhu Shouyi's heart-wrenching cries remained in the stone chamber, cries that contained forty years of pain, forty years of hatred, and forty years of torment.

After a long time, Zhu Shouyi finally stopped crying. He lay on the ground, panting heavily, as if all his strength had been drained away.

I looked at him and said in a deep voice.

"Zhu Shouyi, you've harmed so many people, how are you going to settle this score?"

Zhu Shouyi raised his head, looked at me, and a sad smile appeared on his lips.

"How should it be settled? A life for a life, a debt for a debt. I killed someone, I will pay with my life. Kill me, avenge your family, avenge the people of Zhujiakan."

As he spoke, he closed his eyes, looking as if he were about to be executed.

Looking at his charred face and his closed eyes, the anger in my heart gradually subsided, replaced by a complex emotion that I couldn't quite describe.

Kill him?

He deserves to die; he harmed so many people, he wouldn't be enough even if he died a hundred times. But if we kill him, can those he killed come back to life?

No.

Killing him would only add another life to the list.

I took a deep breath and turned to look at the old dog.

The old dog stared at me with its bright yellow vertical pupils, without saying a word, clearly waiting for me to make a decision.

I remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.

"Zhu Shouyi, I won't kill you."

Zhu Shouyi suddenly opened his eyes, staring at me with astonishment in his eyes.

"You...you're not going to kill me?"

"Don't kill."

"But you've harmed so many people, we can't just let it go. Your evil corpse-raising technique must be destroyed. Your Yin Corpse King has already been destroyed by me, and you no longer have the ability to harm people. I will take you back to Zhujiakan and hand you over to the villagers to deal with. If they want to kill you, I don't care. If they want to release you, I don't care either. Your life is in their hands."

Zhu Shouyi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"Hand me over to the Zhujiakan people? They'll definitely want to kill me. I've taken the souls of so many of them; they'd love to skin me alive. Handing me over to them is no different from killing me!"

"There is a difference."

"Killing you was my decision. Handing you over to them was their decision. I'm not an executioner; I don't want to decide life and death for others."

Zhu Shouyi stared at me for a long time, a complex look flashing in his eyes, like admiration, or perhaps mockery.

"You are kind-hearted. But do you know? Kind-hearted people often don't live long."

Whether I live a long life or not is my business, you don't need to worry about it.

As I spoke, I turned to look at the old dog.

"Old dog, can the evil magic on him be neutralized?"

The old dog nodded.

"Yes. His skills are all supported by the evil magic passed down by that old Taoist priest. I can use my immortal yang energy to cripple his meridians, making him unable to use evil magic anymore. However, after crippling them, he will fall seriously ill and his body will be much weaker in the future, but his life can be saved."

"Then let's just scrap it."

Old Dog nodded, and with a slight exertion of force in his palm, a stream of pure and profound immortal yang energy flowed into Zhu Shouyi's body through his palm.

Zhu Shouyi's body stiffened abruptly, as if he had been branded with a hot iron. He let out a sharp shriek, and the yin energy surrounding him was instantly dispersed. He collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, panting heavily.

His face turned deathly pale, and the red light in his eyes completely disappeared, replaced by a murky, yellowish hue, making him look no different from an ordinary old man.

I looked at him, and I couldn't describe the feeling in my heart.

Forty years ago, this man was an ordinary farmer with parents, a wife, and a son. He lived a simple life tending his few acres of land.

But a sudden disaster destroyed his family and drove him out of the village by his own clansmen. In the end, he became a ghost, hiding in a cold mountain cave for forty years, taking revenge in the most insidious way.

But how many things in this world can be simply summarized as pitiful or hateful?

I bent down and picked up the bundle containing the bones of Zhu Shouyi's family, put it in my pocket, and then touched the soul pouch on my chest to make sure they were all there.

Old Dog grabbed Zhu Shouyi by the back of the neck and lifted him up like a chick.

Zhu Shouyi was so weak that he was like a lump of mud and could not even stand up. He could only stand up with the help of the old dog.

"Let's go."

"It's almost dawn, we need to get back before the sun rises."

I nodded and followed the old dog outside.

Stepping out of the stone chamber and through the cold, dark passage, we finally saw a faint light filtering in from the cave entrance.

That was moonlight, cold moonlight, shining on the wild grass outside the cave entrance, bringing this bloody night to a close.

I stood at the cave entrance, took a deep breath, and the fresh air rushed into my lungs, completely dispelling the putrid, gloomy atmosphere in the stone chamber.

Looking back, the darkness inside the cave was still so thick it seemed to hold countless secrets.

I touched the soul pouch in my arms and felt its faint warmth. My heart finally settled down completely.

Father, Mother, Xiulian, I'm taking you home.

When we emerged from the cave, it was almost dawn.

The eastern mountaintops were tinged with the first light of dawn, the stars were fading one by one, and the birds in the mountains began to sing. The morning breeze brushed against my face, cool and refreshing, carrying the scent of grass and trees.

Zhu Shouyi was being carried by the old dog, his head drooping like a dead dog, his body limp and powerless. His evil magic had been destroyed, and forty years of cultivation had vanished in an instant. Now he was just an ordinary old man, a skinny old man with a wrinkled face and a body full of injuries.

I walked ahead, carrying two bundles in my arms. One was a soul bag, containing the souls of my father, my mother, Xiulian, and the villagers of Zhujiakan. The other was a tattered cloth bundle, containing the charred bones of Zhu Shouyi's family.

Two burdens, two worlds. One is the hope of the living, the other is the remains of the dead.

We walked down the mountain path, following the route Zhu Shouyi had walked for forty years. He would occasionally look up at the surrounding mountains, at the familiar plants and trees, his eyes expressionless.

After walking for a long time, the sun came out.

The golden sunlight shone on the hillside, on the withered yellow grass, and on us. Zhu Shouyi shivered as if he had been burned by the sunlight.

"Forty years."

"I haven't seen the sun in forty years."

I didn't say anything and kept walking forward.

Zhu Shouyi was being carried by the old dog, staggering along as he muttered to himself.

"The cave was dark; day and night were the same. I spent every day facing those corpses, those bones, and I almost forgot what the sun looked like. I never knew the sun could be so bright, so warm..."

His voice grew softer and softer until it finally broke into a sob.

I don't know what he's thinking, and I don't want to know.

Back in Zhujiakan, I handed him over to the villagers.

Then the soul in the soul bag is released.

My father, my mother, and Xiulian are all the same as before.

My mother held me and Xiulian, tears streaming down her face.

My father, as always, was smoking his pipe alone.

As for Zhu Shouyi, the people of Zhujiakan still let him go, but the more they did so, the more painful it was for Zhu Shouyi than to be killed.

That kind of inner torment will accompany him as long as he lives.

Finally, on a snowy night, Zhu Shouyi knelt and died outside the Zhu family cemetery in Zhujiakan.

He never set foot in the Zhu family cemetery before he died.

As the village's shaman, I fulfilled my promise to him and buried his remains, along with those of his family, in a corner of the Zhu family cemetery.

This is a way of giving him an explanation.