Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

"Miss Qiao, may I take your pulse? You've suddenly forgotten things; perhaps you have some hidden ailment or discomfort."

"Does the young lady know medicine? Qiao'er thanks you in advance!"

Qiao'er wanted to put the baby down on the bed, but the little guy refused. He started crying as soon as he was out of her arms, his cries filled with heartbreaking, innocent sorrow.

"Oh dear, why is my little darling crying so sadly? Let Mommy hold you, don't cry!"

The baby stopped crying, so Qiao'er had no choice but to hold the baby and extend one hand to take Zuo Qiuchi's pulse.

Zuo Qiuchi had some knowledge of medicine, but he was practically unfamiliar with it. He stroked her wrist and probed it with his spiritual energy to sense her condition.

You can touch the physical body, feel its pulse, and sense its temperature; everything is normal. Just like the intelligence Chu Mingkong sent back, there's absolutely nothing unusual about it.

The biggest odd thing about this town is that you don't feel anything unusual about it.

However, after taking the pulse for a while, Zuo Qiuchi still noticed something amiss. The heartbeat was so normal it seemed unnatural. Even when he had calmed down, the rhythm of the heartbeat was so stiff, as if some external force was supporting it.

"Your pulse is very stable. It's probably because you're preoccupied with thoughts of love that you're occasionally forgetful. Get some rest, don't worry too much, and calm down..." Zuo Qiuchi said with a smile, trying to soothe Qiao'er's anxiety.

Qiao'er breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, young lady. I was really afraid that I might have some hidden illness, which would be troublesome."

Chu Mingkong wanted to complain about how his master could still act so respectably as to take pulses and diagnose others, but upon hearing Qiao'er's words, his heart suddenly sank and tightened painfully.

If we're being honest, we should say it now.

Joel, you weren't sick, but you're already dead...

But there are some things I just can't bring myself to say.

Chu Mingkong held the cup, praised the exquisite embroidery of the handkerchief, and then said:

"When I came to buy this handkerchief, I came with my sister. We bought all the ones that Miss Qiao had already made, as well as the half-finished ones, just so she could practice on them."

When Qiao'er heard about this, she smiled, thinking that her older brother was quite caring towards his younger sister, but then she sighed and touched her head:

"It's a pity I don't remember."

"It's alright, but I almost forgot the main reason I came here today. I came to say something bad about You Shu. How long has he been in the county town?" Chu Mingkong's expression suddenly turned stern.

Qiao'er was puzzled and said hesitantly:

"It's been quite some time, more than a month. What happened to him? Did he offend the officials of the prefecture with his words?"

The concept of time in this small town is indeed isolated from the outside world. How long has it been since that tragedy happened? From the time the incident was accidentally exposed to Tianya Tower, to his travels to the Crescent Moon Kingdom, and finally his assassination of the emperor and return to Xiling, it has been at least several months, if not half a year.

When he went to see Zhang Youshu earlier, he and his young wife didn't look like they had just gotten married.

It seems that the town is just repeating that period of time over and over again.

Just as Chu Mingkong was struggling to speak, a tremendous, resounding sound suddenly came from outside the window.

He recognized it as the sound of military footsteps, uniform and rapid, like a barrage of raindrops, making the listener's heart pound and their heart race!

This must mean the town's history has progressed to the point of massacre...

Qiao'er also noticed the voice, but her attention was focused on the matter of Chu Mingkong's husband.

“You Shu did not offend the high-ranking officials in the prefecture. He has found a new love. He accepted the invitation of Governor Zhang and became the governor’s son-in-law. He even changed his surname to ‘Zhang’. Although the prefecture is far away, it is not so far that he cannot even make a round trip in a month.”

Qiao'er was struck dumb, frozen in place. Before she could speak, her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as screams, cries of anguish, and pleas for help echoed from outside the window...

"Sir, spare my life!"

"Run! Soldiers are killing people!"

"What happened? Why are the officers attacking us?!"

Qiao'er hurriedly picked up the baby and walked to the window, where she saw troop after troop of soldiers flooding into the street like a tide, washing away every place they had passed with their blood.

Behind the soldiers followed a group of people dressed in black linen cloaks. They looked around at the corpses on the ground, occasionally pointing out a few and ordering them to be collected.

Clad in white armor and black robes, they resembled messengers from the underworld.

"What...what's going on?!" Qiao'er's eyes widened, thinking she should quickly take the baby and escape.

But she soon realized that there was no way to escape. Her house was near the town entrance. Because this area was relatively remote, the rent was cheap. However, the result was that those terrible people had already occupied the escape routes.

Is hiding it a viable option?

Chu Mingkong stood by the window, but he didn't know what to do. Would it be useful to talk to Qiao'er so much?

But Qiao'er, standing in front of him, was too much like a living person. This sense of detachment made Chu Mingkong unable to accept that such a being was being mocked.

The dead should be at peace, but the current situation forces her to be constantly fooled and forced to relive the horrific tragedy that occurred here.

Then the memory is erased, and everything starts all over again?

Zuo Qiuchi also guessed that everything here was fake, but the strong smell of blood gradually drifting in the air made her unable to sit still and watch.

Everything here may eventually have to start all over again, but at least this time, the ending should be changed.

She leaped from the window, her skirt billowing, a stunningly beautiful figure.

Standing alone on the empty street, ahead of him stood a bewildered crowd of soldiers, who were questioning him:

"Who dares to block my way!"

Zuo Qiuchi ignored it; perhaps everything in this town was an illusion.

Even if it's all fake, some people are human from beginning to end, while others are never human!

She raised her slender hand, and her sleeve slipped slightly off her jade-like arm, revealing her flawless white wrist, where a heavy sword appeared.

The cold light in Zuo Qiuchi's eyes was even more chilling than the sharpness of a sword blade.

With a single slash, the sword light swept across the road like a massive tsunami, reaching the very end of the road without stopping.

Chu Mingkong pursed his lips and said:

"And then there's... Qiao'er, you're actually dead, which sounds absurd. Regardless of whether it was Governor Zhang's intention or not, the town where Zhang Youshu abandoned you was massacred by the Prince of Jin's army, and you perished in the massacre."

Your resentment turned into a vengeful ghost, and I led you to settle that score, killing Zhang Youshu. And now, everything happening in this town has been repeated countless times…”

Qiao'er looked even more confused, but this was within Chu Mingkong's expectations. Who could accept it calmly when a person with normal self-awareness was suddenly told that they were dead?

Suddenly, the baby in her arms let out a piercing cry, a cry containing an aggressive force, though this force was not directed at Chu Mingkong—

The door was kicked open, and a soldier with a knife rushed in, but was immediately smashed to pieces by the impact of the crying, and blood splattered everywhere!

Chu Mingkong raised his hand to block the blood foam, preventing it from splashing onto Qiao'er.

A thought suddenly popped into his mind: what would happen to this town if he and Zuo Qiuchi had stopped some of the events that were happening here and wiped out all the Jin soldiers?

Moreover, judging from the ghost infant, it wasn't as ferocious as Wei's mother had mentioned, and she also wanted to prevent these soldiers from getting close to Qiao'er.

Let's just go along with this little guy's wishes for now.

Chu Mingkong walked out the door and subconsciously wanted to summon the white tiger phantom to clear the area, but he was afraid of provoking the ghost infant. Gui Chong was afraid of this thing, so he had no choice but to pick up a gun and come out to guard the door.

Each soldier who approached the area was given an egg to crack open, causing the yolk to splatter everywhere.

These soldiers weren't strong, at least not compared to Chu Mingkong and Zuo Qiuchi, but they were still quite effective against ordinary people.

Zuo Qiuchi was cutting grass on the street, and Chu Mingkong was guarding the door of the house.

These arrogant soldiers, who had been the recurring figures in the town's cycle of reincarnation, unexpectedly suffered a "mishap" when the master and apprentice duo slaughtered them to pieces.

There were a few casualties among the town's residents, but compared to the truly tragic end that occurred, it was much better.

Is that the end? And how did the trio of Taoist priests disappear?

Moreover, the lingering malevolent aura in the town still exists, suggesting that there is something else in the town besides the ghost infant!

A surge of intense resentment rose into the air, followed by a questioning voice echoing across the town:

"Who is preventing resentment from arising!"

Chu Mingkong breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that nothing would jump out for him to kill!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Ancient Shamans!

Ivan was an ancient shaman who did not reach the level of a wizard, but was once a rising star.

Unfortunately, he died from a lightning tribulation while attempting to break through to the wizard realm.

This failure may be due to insufficient opportunity, or a lack of destiny to reach that new stage. It may also be due to a lack of determination before the tribulation, hesitation, and a lack of the will to charge forward without fear.

Since he's already dead, there's no point in reflecting on it anymore.

However, this careful preparation prevented him from dying immediately after failing the tribulation; a trace of his consciousness remained, like a spark in a pile of ashes.

Unexpectedly, after a long period of time, this spark received external "fuel" and one day it woke up.

A true resurgence.

Ivan saw this weakened and unfamiliar world, and also discovered that some interesting things were happening in a small town that had suffered a tragedy on his former tribulation ground.

......

Chu Mingkong was worried that some remaining enemies might come to ambush Qiao'er and her daughter, but he quickly realized that he was overthinking it.

Zuo Qiuchi was nearby; she couldn't possibly be unaware of this danger. Besides, this town might be "reset" soon.

He stepped into the air and went towards the direction of the sound, where he saw a guy dressed in tattered animal skins, with a broken body and a white bone skull as his head.

Look at this guy, he seems to be rebuilding his body. Although his body is broken, the flesh hanging on the bones is very "fresh", clearly just sprouted flesh.

"Are you behind the strange occurrences in this town?" Chu Mingkong asked.

Faced with his blunt question, Ivan retorted, "Boy, do you know who I am?"

The skeletal man spoke with an archaic accent; although he spoke the language of this era, his tone was still rather strange.

Judging from the skeleton's words, he seems to be very eager to show off and wants people to know his name.

Chu Mingkong generously showed respect, gesturing for him to proceed.

"You could introduce yourself, and it would be even better if you could also confess to your crimes afterward."

Ivan was somewhat confused. He had clearly learned about the era's sights, language, and ideas from the three prisoners, but from the young man opposite him, he doubted whether the information he had gathered was somewhat outdated.

His attitude was clearly very respectful, but the content of his words sounded like a joke.

"Your attitude is very good, and you are very calm. You were not intimidated by my presence. I am Yifan, the youngest shaman in the Shamanic Tribe!"