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

...vital energy.

No, that ghost brothel wasn't you in disguise, was it? So Gu Wenkai and that trio of Taoist priests all gave up their life essence at your hands?

Chu Mingkong was taken aback and felt a wave of fear. Fortunately, he did not take his master with him, but went to find Qiao'er first.

"Perfect timing. I'll take this opportunity to test the methods of the Witch Clan by examining more of these resurrected witches." Chu Mingkong thought to himself, but he didn't intend to delay. He secretly began to activate the Moon River Goddess's technique to mobilize the power of extreme Yin.

Inside the house where Joel and her baby depended on each other for survival, everything happening outside made Joel feel like it was the end of the world.

She still couldn't quite understand what it meant to "be dead." Her sense of self was intact, and everything had been fine until today.

After eloping, the young man finally achieved his wish, passing the imperial examinations and gaining fame and fortune. His hard times were finally over; when their baby grew up, she would be the daughter of an official or noble family...

But the handkerchief that mysteriously disappeared and the extra silver in the cabinet were both reminders that the world she knew seemed a little... unreal, not the same as she perceived it.

The world is the world, the town is an island; she lives in the town, she lives on the island, but she doesn't live in the world...

If it's really as that skeleton man said, that everything in the town will start over in a little while, and she will forget everything, just like with amnesia, unable to remember what she knows right now, just like when she opened the door, not knowing why the handkerchief she had woven was gone, or why there was extra silver in the cabinet.

If this way she can stay with her daughter, Qiao'er doesn't really mind. If she doesn't remember, she doesn't remember.

But Joel also understood that some people were not to be associated with. The skeleton man seemed to be helping her daughter, but once he was no longer of any use, he would turn on Joel.

Just like Jiao'er's father, Yu Youshu...

In fact, she understood that since her husband hadn't returned for so long, and hadn't even sent a single letter, he probably had the intention of abandoning her after their initial infatuation. However, Qiao'er refused to believe it, which was why she kept looking at the town entrance and waiting, hoping that her bad premonition was false.

She couldn't imagine what would happen if she and her daughter were truly abandoned; she couldn't even fathom that future, because she had already devoted her youth to Yu Youshu, and they even had a child together...

Although she might still be with her daughter in the "new" town, Joel inexplicably felt the grief and reluctance of saying goodbye to her daughter on her deathbed.

Her face was pale, and the absurdity prevented tears from welling in her bitter eyes. She bit her thin lips and said with difficulty:

"My darling, did you do all this because you wanted your mother to stay with you and hold you forever?"

The swaddled baby in Qiao'er's arms did not respond. The baby only had attachment to its mother, but it could also vaguely sense something. It squirmed restlessly in its mother's arms and kicked its little feet.

"Mother doesn't understand how her precious child has become so powerful. I heard from them that something bad has happened to this town. But no matter what her precious child has become, Mother will always consider her to be alive and a healthy baby!"

...However, now that you've become so capable, you must keep your eyes open and not make friends with bad people. I'm ashamed to tell you this, but it seems I've found you a bad father, so you should learn from my mistakes.

Mother knows that her darling is a smart girl, and can understand her mother's words even at such a young age, so please stop being willful in this town, okay?

The people in the town have already suffered a great loss once, and they all want to rest well and not be woken up again!

Do you remember the previous owner of this courtyard? Before, Jiao'er was naughty and would cry and fuss at night, disturbing everyone's sleep. But then Jiao'er became very well-behaved, and it's the same this time. Jiao'er mustn't disturb the peace of the town..."

Chu Mingkong was ready. No matter how Ivan could recover, as long as he was sent away in one wave, there would be no further problems.

Even if the town's cycle restarts, there will still be some time before the town is massacred, and that time should be enough.

However, Ivan reacted with surprise: "The town hasn't recovered?!"

He was ready to immediately command the mountain demons to harvest the resentment the moment the town recovered. The towering shadows of the demons raised their arms, waiting for the town to recover, and then immediately swung them down.

But the people in that ruin did not recover as before.

This unexpected situation did not stop Chu Mingkong's attack.

A jet-black tide, formed from the power of extreme Yin, surged up from the earth, swallowing the illusory image of the witch's dance and halting all invocations and summoning of gods.

This time, Chu Mingkong did not draw his sword. His palm, like an eagle's claw, firmly gripped Ivan's skull, and the force of his fingers was so great that it cracked Ivan's skull.

"I don't have a pig cage for you, but how about you take a bath? Do you like lying to kids?"

Ivan's body was pressed into the black tide. The extreme yin power overwhelmed Ivan's body and corroded his flesh and bones. Even though there were ways to resist the extreme yin power in the witchcraft, he couldn't withstand being completely soaked in the extreme yin power!

Amidst screams, an ancient sorcerer resurrected from the dead was reduced to ashes, his soul scattered by the power of extreme yin.

......

boom--!

An underground stone door collapsed with a crash. Chu Mingkong shook his wrist, dusted off his fist, and stepped into the underground space left behind by the Prince of Jin.

The girl's sobs came from the dark depths, and occasionally the unclear words "mother" could be heard, as if she were calling for her mother.

Chu Mingkong followed the sound and walked to the end, where he saw a short, delicate girl huddled in a corner, crying.

The little girl looked only two or three years old, with a pair of small and cute horns on her forehead.

Chu Mingkong pulled the little girl into his arms and stared at her intently. One of the little girl's eyes was a pitch-black ghostly pupil.

She must be Jiao'er, the body of the Mirage Maiden preserved by the King of Jin for his experiments. The ghost baby Jiao'er, after becoming a ghost, coincidentally possessed the body again.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Clear in Dreams, Empty Upon Waking

Chu Mingkong carried the little girl back to the ground and walked towards the direction where Zuo Qiuchi was.

Along the way, he tried to strike up a conversation with the girl, but she didn't respond.

Chu Mingkong could sense that it wasn't that the little one was ignoring him, but rather that she wasn't old enough to communicate with people yet, just like Yue Hexi when they first met. She looked like a young woman in her prime, but in reality, she was just a little kid.

The little one in his arms now looks two or three years old, but is actually probably an infant, the baby that Qiao'er is holding.

When Chu Mingkong and Zuo Qiuchi saw the little creature in Qiao'er's arms, they guessed it was a kind of projection, projecting their original appearance onto their mother.

As for the little guy's original physical body... well, we'll probably have to ask the Prince of Jin's people about that.

After dealing with the enemies created by Yifan, Zuo Qiuchi returned to Qiao'er's room.

Chu Mingkong walked along the deserted streets of the small town, his heart heavy...

The surroundings were completely silent. This remote town, which had not long ago presented him with a sense of tranquility, had completely lost its vitality.

The fruit on the fruit stand was neatly arranged, but it had already turned black and smelled bad. Spider webs were everywhere. The house, which had just been destroyed, was aging at a visible speed.

All was silent, not a sound could be heard.

With each step Chu Mingkong took, it was as if he were stepping on a staircase of accelerating time, watching this place decay, watching this place fall into ruin, and watching this place return to its proper state.

That eerie tranquility had indeed vanished, but a void remained in my heart, as if a piece of it had been ripped out.

He glanced at a house, and the little one wanted to turn her head to look too, but Chu Mingkong covered her eyes.

"My dear, don't look inside..."

The people in that house, transformed into sand and stone statues, displayed expressions of fear and dread, desperately blocking the door, trying to keep all misfortune outside.

He looked at a few more houses, and they were all mostly the same.

Everything froze at the last moment when the town stopped its cycle of reincarnation; the endless nightmare came to an end.

In this final outcome, they escaped the slaughter by the soldiers, but the unchanging fear remained, etched into the terrified and powerless expressions of the sandstone statues.

Chu Mingkong's footsteps echoed on the deserted slope as he returned to the door and entered the room.

Zuo Qiuchi was waiting inside. She sat on the coffee table, looking slightly depressed and gloomy, her dark eyes staring in the direction of the bed.

There,

Joey, who has turned to sand and gravel.

She squatted by the bed, her head resting on the bed, as if she had been soothing a child late at night and couldn't help but take a nap.

The swaddling clothes on the bed were empty. The baby inside must have been immersed in a nightmare of being cared for by his mother, unwilling to wake up, fearing that everything would end when the nightmare ended.

In the end, however, the baby was still coaxed to sleep by Qiao'er.

The baby enters a dream in reality and wakes up in the dream.

The warm nightmare ends, and so does the cycle of life in the small town.

The little one in Chu Mingkong's arms reached out her delicate pink hand toward Qiao'er's statue, wanting to touch it, and her sweet nose began to sob again.

After a long silence, Zuo Qiuchi broke the silence first and asked, "Is this Qiao'er's baby?"

"Yes, it's a pity she can't speak yet, otherwise she should be able to respond to you a few times." Chu Mingkong placed the little one in Zuo Qiuchi's arms, thinking that as a woman herself, perhaps the little girl would feel safer in Zuo Qiuchi's arms.

Zuo Qiuchi took the baby in his arms, gently touching the little one's pink horn with his fingertips, and said:

"The Mirage Maiden, also known as the Dragon Maiden, is a relatively noble branch of the East Sea demon race. If the Prince of Jin dares to bring even a girl of such status into his possession, even if the Heavenly Pole Empire doesn't perish from within, it will be attacked by all sides..."

"Who knows? But the Mirage Woman probably doesn't have the power to bring this town back to life, right?"

"Didn't the sorcerer you fought say that there are some treasures here? And with the right timing and various other factors combined, the 'miracle' in the town happened. When you were looking for this little girl, did you find the treasures the sorcerer mentioned?"

Chu Mingkong shook his head. When he went to find Jiao'er, he paid special attention to whether there were any other auras or secret passages or chambers nearby, but unfortunately he found nothing.

If you ask Jiao'er if she knows, she won't answer. The only word the little girl can say now is the indistinct word "mother".

Finding no clues, Chu Mingkong led her out of the underground space.

"No, we can only send troops to seal off this place first, and then slowly search for the so-called treasure. We may have to consult Yun Nongyu." Chu Mingkong shrugged and made a rough judgment.

“Alright, we should go back first and settle this little girl down. However, Jiao’er’s existence is a bit special. We need to ask Master Yun if there are any taboos or anything. Jiao’er’s existence is considered half a ghost.”

"That's the way to do it, but I think it would be better to just call Master Yun over."

Chu Mingkong contacted her by letter, and after the message was sent, Yun Nongyu responded and immediately went to where Chu Mingkong was.

Chu Mingkong felt a pang of pity as he watched his daughter, Jiao'er, with her red eyes gazing longingly at her mother's statue. He wondered if he could restore the town's cycle of reincarnation and let Qiao'er wake up to keep her daughter company.

If we could get some means from Ivan to put the end of the town's cycle before the massacre, that would be great.

However, that feeling was also a long-lasting pain for the child; it was ultimately just a dream.

The unique timing that Yifan mentioned is probably the rare Yin-gathering star phenomenon that Yun Nongyu mentioned, which is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

When this astrological event ends, everything will be forcibly brought to a close, and it will still be a painful experience for the child.

It's best to end it here; there's no need to go through it again.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Yun Nongyu arrived. She heard the whole story from Chu Mingkong and sighed:

"If we can't sense the aura of that treasure, then it's probably because it's hard to find and has been buried somewhere here for a long time, rather than being part of the Prince of Jin's 'collection.' We'll have to wait for the right opportunity to find it."

As for this little girl, the Mirage Maiden is incredibly blessed. The fact that the original owner and Jiao'er were born together is a manifestation of the Mirage Maiden's own blessings. Furthermore, the influence of Jiao'er's own ghostly tendencies will be suppressed by the Mirage Maiden's blessings. You can understand it as... Jiao'er is now the little girl with psychic abilities that is occasionally mentioned in folklore.

This town is indeed a 'miracle' formed by a combination of multiple factors.

The opportune moment has passed; the 'miracle' is over—this was inevitable.

Chu Mingkong sighed, "Then let's take Xiaojiao back first. It'll be perfect for Yuehe Cat to play with you from now on."